thinksport/LIVESTRONG Sunscreen SPF 30+

With so many sunscreens sporting more toxins than protection, it can be a real challenge to decide whether it is less risky to forgo it altogether. But then, in the back of your mind, the skin cancer questionwill always remain - nipping at you slowly but surely. And for those of us with aesthetic concerns, the idea of sun spots and wrinkles creeps in as an all too definite reality without sunscreen. What's a person to do?

LIVESTRONG and thinksport are making it a lot easier on us! How, you ask? They've developed a "formulation that is already top ranked for safe sunscreen by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and is free of biologically harmful chemicals." The active ingredient is non-nano zinc oxide (20%) and this sunscreen is ranked safe (1-2) by the EWG.

Since zinc oxide is a physical sunscreen (meaning it blocks sun rays by reflecting them), it can be quite unattractive as solid cream on the skin. To minimize the opaque nature of zinc oxide, it is typically scaled down to 30 to 200 nm. This allows for less noticeable application to the skin, but still keeps it large enough not to cross through the skin (such as happens with nano-particles). According to the LiveStrong website and SmartSkinCare, "zinc oxide has a slight edge over titanium dioxide. While titanium dioxide is effective at blocking ultraviolet-B and short-wave ultraviolet-A rays, it is less effective than zinc dioxide at blocking long ultraviolet-A rays. Zinc oxide's ability to block different types of rays makes it one of the most effective sun protection products on the market at fighting the sun's rays. Zinc oxide is often combined with additional ultraviolet-B blockers to provide the most complete broad-spectrum sunscreen." The thinksport website has plenty of useful information to absorb too, including the differences between chemical and physical sunscreens, the truth about SPF ratings, and what's up with nanoparticles and why you should be very careful about your product purchases. You can read all about it here (scroll down to the "what else you might want to know" section!
With sunny weather quickly becoming the norm, we have been applying the thinksport/LIVESTRONG suncreen for a few weeks now and have found it to be very effective! Not only is it water-resistant, it has a SPF of 30+. Of course, the higher the SPF, the more protection a sunscreen offers against UV-B (sunburn). So this means that you can stay in the sun over 30 times longer than you would normally be able to without getting burned! At the modest price of $15.99, your wallet will be just as happy as your protected skin! And as if that wasn't awesome enough, the purchase of this product guarantees a minimum $1.5 million donation towards the fight against cancer!

Shop thinksport

Baby: Innobaby Packin' Smart 4-Tier Stack-n-Seal

Everyone knows that kids grow like weeds, but what most non-parents don't realize is the reason why they shoot up inches each month! I'm going to go ahead and break the sworn secrecy contract of parenthood and let you in on a little secret...children eat ALL OF THE TIME! Seriously, not barely an hour goes by during their waking hours that kids aren't nibbling on one thing or another. And if you don't have food on hand at any given moment, they're likely to start chewing on other things like their hands or worse yet, your hands!

To prevent this very common childhood affliction (incessant hunger), experienced parents know the many benefits of keeping a stash of snackage supplies on and at all times! Now, this is fairly easily accomplished if you're at home or happen to be in a populated area with other stocked parents or restaurants; however, you never know when you're going to end up somewhere with no access to snack foods and if you're unprepared, the infamous toddler meltdown may occur.

My recommendation? The Innobaby Stack-n-Seal ($17.99 US) container allows you to carry up to 4 generous toddler-sized portions wherever you venture. One of the great benefits of the Innobaby design over other similar models is that each tier provides it's own "easy pour spout" lid for easy disbursement of snacks without accidentally pouring out the entire thing all at once! It can be easily customized to fit your needs; 1 container, 4 containers, or more (they only sell up to the 4-tier but you can buy more and screw them all together just the same). The plastic is recyclable polypropylene (#5) which is known to be non-leaching. And what I really like is that it is the perfect size for my diaper bag, slipping unnoticed into the inside corner and there's no digging around to find it since it is a tall container.

Available in several colors and designs.

Visit Innobaby

Fabric Napkins = Fabkins!

Want to save $250 and eliminate 67 pounds of waste every year? Switch to fabric napkins for your or your child's lunch {or both}!

Fabkins are FABULOUS! Created from 100% certified organic cotton, these nifty napkins are geared towards kids but are stylish enough to work for anyone. Each set is embroidered with a themed picture, or you can purchase them with custom monogramming! Measuring 13 inches square, they are the perfect size for on-the-go meals or lunchboxes.

Some other fantastic earth-friendly facts about Fabkins:
*meets Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS)
*sustainably produced
*fair-trade/socially responsible practices
*low-impact dyes (AZO & heavy metal-free)
*exceeds CPSIA standards for safe children's products
*lead-free
*phthalate-free

And perhaps the best part is how absolutely simple they are to keep clean! Just pop them in the washing machine after use and wash them up with the next load. We've actually taught our kids to take their plates to the kitchen and then go drop their fabkins immediately in the washer post-meals. Our kids are absolutely loving the designs and it makes them more likely to use their napkins rather than clothing to wipe their mouths. The only drawback we noticed is that if you want them wrinkle-free, you need to fold them immediately out of the dryer or resort to ironing. If you're a busy mom like I am, the fabkins will get used so often that wrinkles won't matter much!

Highly recommended!

Visit FABKINS