Baby Allergies?

Spring is in the air, and so are allergens.  Since moving to Germany, my husband has been popping Claratin daily and since spring has arrived, I've had to take a Sudafed or two.  And with the May showers came coughs and sneezes for our baby girl.  But with all of the coughing and sneezing that she has been doing, it hasn't effected her mood.  She still has a pleasant disposition, smiles and coos, naps well and her appetite is just fine so I was going with the assumption that this wasn't a cold that is ailing her but rather allergies.  I went to Google to try to find out a little more about allergens, allergies and how they effect babies.  There is a great amount of information out there but the article I found the most helpful is from BabyCenter.com.  Here is their checklist of questions for you to answer if you are wondering if your little one is suffering from allergies:

Because the symptoms of nasal allergies are much like cold symptoms — runny nose, watery eyes, cough, nasal congestion, sneezing — it can be tough to tell the difference. There are some telltale signs of allergies, though.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Does it seem like your baby always has a cold? Colds usually wind down in a week to ten days; allergies don't.
• Is your baby's nose continually stuffy or running?
• Is she constantly wiggling, wiping, or pushing her nose up in what doctors call the allergic salute?
• Is the mucus that drains from her nose clear and thin (as opposed to yellow or greenish and thick)?
• Does she seem to sneeze a lot?
• Are her eyes itchy, red, and watery?
• Does the skin under her eyes look dark or purple or blue — what doctors call allergic shiners?
• Does she breathe through her mouth?
• Does she have a dry cough?
• Is her skin irritated or broken out in an itchy red rash?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, there's a good chance your baby is allergic to something in her environment. 

(Click here for the entire article)  Since I answered "yes" for almost every question it's time for me to get going on de-allergifying (huh? Did I just invent a word?) her environment. All of her blankets and bedding are going into the wash in hot water, the bathroom attached to our bedroom is getting scrubbed with Soft Scrub with bleach (mold is a huge trigger) and that mountain of clothing on hubby's side of the bed? Well, that needs to be sorted through and put away. In the meantime I'll continue putting saline drops in her little nose (I totally recommend Little Noses Saline drops, you can find them here at Amazon.com) and reclining her head slightly when I lay her down so she can breathe a little easier. 

Plastic facts

This information is taken from reusablebags.com. 

Top Facts - Consumption

• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
  
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year. 
  
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion) 
  
• According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year - 900 per person. 
  
• According to Australia's Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year - 326 per person. An estimated 0.7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.
  

Top Facts - Environmental Impact

• Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
  
• Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade - breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
  
• As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected. 
  
• Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
  
• According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78 degrees North [latitude] to Falklands 51 degrees South [latitude]." 
  
• Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
  

All the more reason for you to go green and help protect our environment with reusable sandwich and snack bags, market bags and totes.  To purchase these bags, check out my Etsy shop or contact me at fraybaby@live.com to place an order. 

Fabulous Finds for Baby Girl

I've been hunting for cute baby items for Hannah and there sure is a lot of sweetness in Etsyland!  I think I'm in trouble having a baby girl, they are fun to shop for!  Here are some of my great finds....

Oooo - I want this SO BAD! I'm just afraid of scratching or choking since Hannah likes to have her hands in her face and mouth. 

 Misha BLING Baby Bracelet by ccbabyinc

ButterflyGem has AMAZING items in her shop - from bracelets to bows and all sorts of stuff in between!  Here are 2 of my favorites from her shop.

VerySweetBows has, in fact, very sweet bows!  Check out her fun shop for all sorts of hair decor.

momsblankies has cute blankies but what I really adore are her little sloopers!!  Slipper shoes for baby and they are so stinking cute!  What's even better is that she has an amazing clearance section as well - nice! 

I'm still on the hunt for a great sunhat or two for Hannah. I've found a few but have a hard time coughing up $30 for something that she'll wear for 1 season.  If anyone has a great item for me to check out, leave a link in the comments!

Craft Fair!

I'm almost ready for the craft fair this weekend. I have a bunch of items - gobs of bibs and burp cloths, blankies (from swaddling size to mini ribbon blankies), tote bags and fun new purses and items to go into those purses - address books, photo brag books and mini wallets, oh my! After Saturday I plan on putting more items into my Etsy and 1000 Markets shop but bear with me, it might take awhile. :) Here is your sneak peek at all my craft fair items!

Photo brag books and address books, all in a fun crate that my neighbor painted for Hannah - she is going to do the craft fair with me selling a bunch of adorable hand painted crates like this one - I can't wait!

Messiest room of them all.

I'm getting ready for a craft fair which means TONS of cutting, ironing, sewing, snapping, stitching, pressing, etc, etc, etc....All of which results in a HUGE MESS! But amid the chaos, there is calm - all that mess makes sense to me - i know what is in every pile and where everything is spread out makes sense to me. My husband walks in that room and just shakes his head but he knows that it will all be cleaned up once April 18th, craft fair day, is here. Plus, my parents are coming in town in May and they kind of need a place to sleep. I don't think they'd want to cuddle up in all that mess.

Great additions for the Easter basket!

I'm getting ready for Easter and thinking ahead about what I (or the bunny) will be putting into Luke and Hannah's baskets. I've been searching on Etsy and have found some adorable items. I took the plunge and purchased 1 of the items I had been eyeballing and when it arrived, it was even MORE adorable than in the pictures! What did I purchase? Well, for eight whole dollars (that's IT!), I bought 2 (TWO) adorable stuffed bunnies (softies) from Lori of Kid-N Around Creations on Etsy! She lets you pick from dark brown bunnies, light brown bunnies or white bunnies and she makes them in little boy or girl "clothes". I got 2 little light brown bunnies, 1 boy and 1 girl and I can't wait to see how they look in the Easter basket.  I then made a great trade with her - 4 mini wallets for a large "family" of hand puppet bunnies.  I received a mommy and daddy bunny (hand size) and 4 baby bunnies (finger puppet size) and they, too, are just TOO CUTE!  Click here to see the family of bunnies.  Lori also has adorable Easter crayon rolls what would just be perfect for your kiddo's Easter basket as well penguin puppets, flower softies and soft little baby blocks and burp cloths.  Check out her shop for the perfect additions to your kids' Easter baskets.  And now, if you order from Lori's shop and mention this blog (FrayBabyBibsandMore), you will receive FREE SHIPPING!!!  How awesome is that?!?!  

Baby Wraps

When my baby girl was almost 3 weeks old, I realized that she loved being held a whole lot more than her big brother ever did. I was having a hard time getting things done in the 10 minute windows she allowed me to put her down (I mean, can YOU clean a kitchen in 10 minutes?) and really wanted the use of BOTH my arms at once (i.e - it takes a LONG time to peck out an email with 1 hand). I knew that I had stumbled upon some baby wraps on Etsy so I went to check them out and research them a little further. I found a great shop called LoveyDuds and she has fantastic feedback and has made hundred and hundreds of baby wraps. So I purchased this one and 4 days later it arrived in the mail and not only is mommy happy but Hannah is in heaven when she is wrapped up in there. So imagine my delight when I get a package in the mail and open it to find this! My mom sent me another wrap and Hannah and I took it for a test drive yesterday and she loved it and it is so comfortable and easy to wrap and wear. You can only imagine the things I get accomplished with her happy as a clam and with both my arms free. I'm tempted to have Brian take pictures of me at the sewing machine with her wrapped to me. :) Here are the pics of me and my little papoose.





There is a great article at baby zone about the benefits of slings and baby carriers - click here if you would like to check it out!

AND - I just found out that SugarSweetBaby is giving away a FREE Bamboo Baby Wrap! AWESOME!! If you have a little one or know someone who has or is having one, ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY! It is super easy to do - just go to her blog and do any or all of the 5 options to get GOBS of chances to win! Click here for a link to information on her shop site about Bamboo Wraps. Winner will be picked March 17th.

Homefront Market at 1000 Markets

As you may know, I opened a new online shop at 1000Markets.com.  You may not know that many of the friends I made on Etsy, who are also military spouses, have also opened shops on 1000 Markets.  One of those amazing sellers, SmocksNStuff, took it upon herself to ask for a Homefront Market - a market made up of military family members who create beautiful handmade items - and her wish was granted.   The Homefront Market on 1000 Markets is absolutely gorgeous and we invite everyone to shop on by to take a peek and do a little shopping.  Support our military, support our spouses....We keep the homefires burning.

Taken from Homefront Market's Grand Opening blog post - 

"What is the Homefront? Who we are and what we do is a little bit harder to explain than the average person. From the outside this group might just seem like a group of people that just all love there artisan work and are trying to promote. On the inside it stems much deeper. We are a group that are from all walks of life, but are bonded by something much stronger than most people could ever imagine. We struggle with a life with many daily challenges the average person does not face; Living life with uncertainty and fear, but only showing pride, is our way. We deal with deployments, duty, disaster preparedness, exercises, training, emotional strife and severe traumatic experiences, wills, powers of attorney, and even the worst in the possibility of death. This is the life we have willingly entered. The service to our country and our family and unimaginable strife is what bonds us. Take care and appreciate all the tiny moments in life that make every hard moment worth it! We have gotten to live in amazing places, and see amazing things. There is a also a huge sense of camaraderie to people you've never even met. It is not an easy life, and we have sacrificed many things, but we are a close knit family, and we are proud. There is no sugar coating. We live life the best we can every day at a time!"