I actually bought my ticket for the BlogHer 2012 conference in New York City months ago but I never announced it here. It’s not earth shattering news or anything. Then I figured that maybe I should make a little announcement just in case any readers or other bloggy friends were going so that we could arrange to meet in person. This is all part of my New Year’s Resolution to have more fun. It was a total blast to go visit Detroit earlier this year and meet up with dozens of other bloggers. In New York there will be a pool of thousands of bloggers to meet, chat up, and attend parties with. Plus, it’s the Big Apple. What could be more fun?

Well, actually I am not sure because it will be my first BlogHer but I am pretty sure it will be  blast. I made a deal with myself that I would not do any business trips or blog conferences until my kids were older. That way it wouldn’t be extremely hard on them or anyone that I enlisted to help care for them. It made me sad to pass on opportunities to travel (which I LOVE) and be more sociable with bloggers and brands but the mom part of mom blogger had to come first. Anyway I started blogging when my middle child was a newborn and now my youngest just hit lucky number six last month. It’s time to get out there and have a bit of fun.

If you are going please leave a comment on this post. I would love to know who to look out for! I would also love to hear any tips you have if you have been before.

I am also looking for a sponsor or sponsors… maybe. I say maybe because I am pretty picky about who I work with, what with all the greenwashing that goes on, but I know there has to be a potential fit out there somewhere and I am willing to chat about partnerships.

Hope to see you there!

When I attended the Auto Show in Detroit last week I met lots of interesting business people and bloggers that is a large part of why it was so much fun. As I was standing in line to get into the Ford press conference I met Jonathan Marshall of Parks By Nature and we chatted for quite awhile about the company and their mobile apps. I just got a smart phone a couple months ago and my main reason for upgrading was to have access to apps that would make it easier to geocache and explore our city and state parks. Parks By Nature offers an app close to my heart, though sadly they do not have one for my state just yet. Even so, I wanted to recommend it for anyone who lives in a state where they have an app and also so you can keep an eye out for your state to become available, if they don’t have it yet.

Basically, it is a mobile tour guide of your state parks. It has maps of the trails and campgrounds, weather info, event info, and lots more. You can make reservations and plan your visit using the app as well as use it to navigate if you get a little lost. From what I can tell it is very well done (ie user friendly) and very attractive to the eye as well. The rep that I met was also very excited and passionate about what they do and how it can benefit families.

If it is one of your New Year’s goals to get out and do some local exploring or take a Staycation in your own state check out Parks By Nature and @PocketRanger on Twitter. Enjoy!

I mentioned a few days ago that I would be traveling a bit and I actually just got back from Detroit yesterday evening after a whirlwind trip. The last few days were spent in the Motor City enjoying the North American International Auto Show. Ford sponsored the trip so obviously most of what I experienced was viewed through Ford colored glasses. It was a spectacular experience and I learned a lot about subjects that I am woefully uneducated in. For three days I learned about auto manufacturing, sustainability innovations and plans, marketing, and of course Ford’s new pride and joy, the brand new Ford Fusion models coming out in the Fall.

Oh, and don’t tell Ford but the BEST thing about the trip was that they invited several of my friends as well. It was a great experience anyway but great experiences are always maximized when you get to experience them with people you care about right? So I cannot go without sharing those particular highlights first… namely Diane at Big Green Purse, Jenn at The Green Parent, Anna at Green Talk, and Stephanie Moram of Good Girl Gone Green. The first three I have known and spoken with for several years via a green moms group and Stephanie is a fairly new blogger that has become a fast friend.

Below is Stephanie, Mara (a Canadian Blogger), Jenn, and Anna. Love these ladies!!

Okay, so the purpose of the trip. Well, I think it differed for everyone who was invited because we all had very different backgrounds. There were 150 bloggers invited form all over the world. There were bloggers from Turkey, South Africa, France, Spain, and Canada for instance. Few of the bloggers actually write about cars though. There were fitness bloggers, fashion bloggers, design bloggers, daddy bloggers, mommy bloggers, and of course green bloggers. I think everyone had their own interests and take away from the show so I can only speak to my own.

I went into this experience knowing next to nothing about green cars. What I knew about hybrids, electric cars, and other greener car options was not enough to fill a 30 second elevator speech. Mostly this is because they are out of my price range and I have never had to do in depth comparisons as I would if I were buying some other product. I have three vehicles at the moment and the “youngest” is over 12 years old. All were bought used. I believe in buying used and not buying something that will depreciate after I drive it off the lot. I hate car payments with a passion. But for a couple years now I have toyed with the idea of getting a newer, used Ford Focus. Some family members of mine had one and I know they get good gas mileage. Of course after this trip what I REALLY want is a Ford Fusion, which was in many ways the star of the show at the NAIAS. I gravitated towards the sea foam green car as you can see but it’s not just the color that knocks this baby out of the park. This particular Ford Fusion is a plugin hybrid and it gets 100+ MPGe. Being as ‘out of the loop’ as I was, I never even knew such a thing was possible. For the record the Ford Fusion (Eco boost engine) gets 37 mpg, the Hybrid get 47 mpg. All three are great options. If you check out Ford’s web site you can see better photos of them and get more info.

Another interesting tidbit is that the chief engineer working on the Fusion stated that 90% of the car is recyclable and they are working on all the plastic components to eventually bring that to 100%.

I have had to stop and think about the idea that I may lean toward Ford BECAUSE of this experience and honestly I may. Since I knew nada about green cars I have no special place in my heart for a Prius or any other well publicized green car. It is thanks to Ford’s generosity in deciding to educate me that I now have more knowledge about this issue. I think that a used Ford Focus is still the most likely option in my future but other possibilities are now on my radar. I think the cost savings would be worth it to eventually purchase a Fusion hybrid or plugin hybrid. One of the things that helped solidify that in my ever frugal mind was the fact that these cars (hybrids/electric) hold their value, unlike most regular automobiles. This may be hyped a bit but I did hear a Ford exec saying in a conversation that he has seen some used Ford cars coming in with 300,000 miles on the original battery. That is phenomenal if it is true.

Some of the other green bloggers and I spent some time walking the show and comparing the Fusion with other hybrid and electric hybrid offerings. There were really only two that stacked equally or perhaps better in my mind. Most of the other offerings were lacking. One company in particular had a plugin hybrid for a whopping 67K price tag. Ford has yet to announce the pricing structure for these new cars but I am optimistic it will be more reasonable. Folks in my neck of the woods can buy a decent house for that earlier price. It was nice to be there with some green bloggers who knew enough about the subject matter to ask the tough questions and help us all make better comparisons.

This is Diane, firing away with her questions. She is even more amazing in person than I ever knew and I so enjoyed meeting her. She is amazing!

Of course this trip went beyond the unveiling of the new cars. All the bloggers that attended also got to speak one on one with many Ford executives, go to Ford World Headquarters, and the Ford Product Development Center. We saw how they are using digital advances to reduce costs and use fewer resources. When they have gone as far as they can with digital images and design THEN they make scale and full size models out of plasticized clay. They reuse as much of that clay as they possibly can. This is most likely about dollars and cents more than sustainability but I love how intimately connected those two things seem to be at Ford. Another example would be all the money and research spent in designing sustainable materials for the interior of their cars. They are working with coconuts, soy, corn, wood fibers, wheatgrass, and other natural materials to make plant based plastics and other car components like their soy seat cushions. This helps them get an edge in the green market of course but it also helps them reduce the weight of their cars. That translates into better fuel economy and a more attractive car for consumers.

None of the auto makers will likely appreciate this thought but the fact that money can be such a huge motivator to make them go green further proves to me that government legislation is needed. Our government needs to step up and give them incentive and/or deadlines for making gains in greater fuel economy, sustainability in materials and manufacturing, and a greener life cycle all around. But that said I still think Ford is making progress. Much of what we saw at their product development center was stuff they have been working on for many, many years. And a brief Ignite presentation by a Futerist at Ford made me more aware of how they plan for what the world and society will look like years down the road. We may not know they are working on solutions to what may impact us ecologically down the road, but they are. They want to remain profitable no matter what so they plan for every possible future. I am SURE that planning includes rising to overcome tougher Government legislation in auto making.

In addition to an appreciation of their green initiatives I also like the company. Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford, was a really fun and likeable guy. I also met a man at the dinner on Sunday night who is a 4th generation employee of the company. He insisted that this in no way makes him unique though. I think it says something really powerful when people spend their entire careers at one company and their kids and grandkids do as well. It is also still a family business, despite its size. We saw William Ford at the press conference. This experience definitely made me more aware of Ford as a company but also as a group of really talented and interesting people.

This write-up has gotten really lengthy so I think I will wrap and post about some other aspects of the trip later. Inevitably people wonder if Ford sponsoring such a trip will influence one in their favor. I am not rushing out to buy a new car but the possibility is now on my radar more than ever. This is in large part because I actually know a little something about what is on the market now and not from a magazine article. I have seen these cars, touched them, sat in them, and spoken to people who had a hand in designing them. How can that not influence me? It does. I will still being doing research to find the best car for me if and when I am in a position to actually buy a hybrid or plugin hybrid (probably the former). I will however being comparing them with the amazing cars I saw at Ford this week.

** Ford Motor Company paid for my travel and accommodations at the 2-day Innovation and Design Fantasy Camp event, I was not compensated in any other manner for my time. Opinions posted here are my own.**

It was about two years ago now that I wrote about the issue of toxic bubble bath. That post was spurred by a Campaign for Safe Cosmetics report that highlighted known carcinogens in baby bath products and Johnson & Johnson appeared on the report several times. This just happened to coincide with a blogger campaign the company was running, trying to get mom bloggers to endorse their products. I was pretty livid at the time and while I hoped that J&J would clean up their act, I highly doubted they would. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics called upon Johnson & Johnson to reformulate its baby shampoo and remove formaldehyde releasing chemicals. So did they?

Yes and no it turns out.

Between July and October of 2011, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reviewed labels of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo sold in 13 countries to see if the products contained quaternium-15, a chemical preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde.

We found that Johnson’s Baby Shampoo sold in the United States, Australia, Canada, China and Indonesia contains quaternium-15, while Johnson’s Baby Shampoo sold in Denmark, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the U.K. contain non-formaldehyde preservatives.

Obviously, it is possible for Johnson & Johnson to make baby shampoo without formaldehyde, and that’s what the company should be doing in all countries.

Wow. They prove that they can in fact do the right thing and make a safer product but apparently have decided to do so only in the countries with tougher product standards. American babies still get the cancer causing chemicals. Only after this latest report came out has J&J promised to phase these chemical nasties out of their products worldwide but I think a boycott is in order until they do. There are plenty of other companies who were ALREADY doing right by babies and they should be the ones rewarded with our patronage.

A better brand to try:

Earth Mama Angel Baby - USDA Certified Made With Organic Ingredients. No 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, or phthalates. No sodium lauryl sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine or other synthetic surfactantsNo artificial preservatives (parabens, phenoxyethanol, etc).

In particular you might like the Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash. They also have some great soaps and washes for the whole family, mom approved.

• Calm & Clean Hand to Toe Wash – Soothing Lavender & Vanilla
• Happy Mama Hand to Toe Wash – Invigorating Ginger & Grapefruit
• Natural Non Scents Hand to Toe Wash – Unscented

They smell great, they work, and they aren’t filled with questionable and potentially unsafe ingredients. A+

For a budget alternative you can do what I personally do and use Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap. They have an unscented variety for babies. We use the peppermint. I dilute a few squirts in some water and usually add some essential oils as well, inside a Ball jar. The jar sits next to our shower and we shake it up and pour a tablespoon or so into our hand and then use on our hair and bodies. Works like a charm and my kids get snarly when some other shampoo product makes an appearance. They prefer the Dr. Bronners.

Do you have any alternative suggestions?

October is attachment parenting (AP) month. You may or may not be familiar with this style of parenting but many green, natural, crunchy, granola parenting types are. It seems to mesh really well with lots of the other things we hold dear. A group of green/natural mom bloggers have recently gotten together to form a weekly column called Green Moms Weekly and the first question that was posed to the group honors attachment parenting month. The question is “How do you balance your busy lifestyle and manage to keep a focus on attachment parenting?”

For me, AP it is about letting my mommy instincts direct my actions. As a younger mom I loved to hold my babes close to me and breastfeed. I let them do this until they were ready to stop, to honor their need for this closeness and because I knew that breastmilk was the best nourishment for them. My mommy instincts also told me to go to my babies when they cried and that is what I did, ALWAYS. I never listened to mainstream advice that babies need to be on schedules and that letting them cry alone will teach them independence. I let them sleep with me as long as they wanted because it was easier on both of us. Mainstream advice that declares you will never get kids out of your bed once you let them in is just a bunch of hogwash.  When my kidlets cried and wanted to be held when I needed to make dinner of do some other chore, wearing them on my back allowed me to meet their need for attention AND get my work done. When they misbehaved I knew that deciding I didn’t want to strike them wasn’t going to result in a brat… despite what all the “spare the rod, spoil the child” folks had to say. For me AP is all about listening to my instincts and my heart.

So why the question about how to balance a busy lifestyle and still be an attachment parent? Well, AP is “get off your butt parenting” in my mind. The contrary advice to let kids cry it out, stick them in bouncing seat when you need to do dishes, spank them when they run into the street, and give them a more convenient bottle is all a way to make parenting easier for us, but not necessarily better or easier for the child. An attached parent will likely create a family bed so that everyone can sleep together. They will wear their babies in a wrap or hold them instead of delegating that duty to a swing or bouncy seat. They breastfeed and/or pump well into the toddler years because it is important to their child and it is the best source of nutrition. They will be supervising their child closely so that the running into the street moment can be used to gently teach and coach. In fact they anticipated that moment because they have gotten good at reading their child. Because they always use their words instead of their hands… their kids respond well to reasoning. Hitting becomes a senseless and irrational choice.

Attachment parenting is very involved parenting, and for that reason it can sometimes conflict with the more hurried pace of lives today. I don’t know that what works for us will work or other attached parents but I know we have made many very conscious decisions to slow our pace of life and give our kids the attention they need and desire. Being too busy for attachment parenting isn’t an issue when you simply make sure you are never too busy. We wanted to stay attached at the heart AND live our best lives. I became a stay at home mom so that I could be the primiary caregiver for our kids. This allowed me to breastfeed exclusively and for extended periods of time. I chose natural childbirth for my last two births and we kept interventions to a minimum so that bonding and breastfeeding could happen immediately after birth. I wore two of my babies in slings and wraps and all of them slept in bed with me. My 5 year still does quite often. We decided early on to always try and use positive discipline methods and to respect our kids. We tried to find ways to meet everyone’s needs simultaneously and sometimes that was a lot of work.

Balance was much harder when our kids were young because very often we had to compromise and make sure their needs were met first and foremost. Their need to co-sleep trumped my need for not getting kicked in the stomach at night. Their inability to handle the excitement of traveling meant we had a staycation instead of a vacation. My husband’s need for a sane, well rested wife was trumped by the needs of a small infant who who used me as an all day milk buffet, which meant I was often hormonal and tired. I guess I feel that when our children are young they should be the priority. Aka breast feeding even if your dog tired or co-sleeping even when you’d rather have your husband all to yourself. As my kids get older I think they benefit more from seeing parents who love themselves, take care of themselves, and have varied interests that they actively pursue. I also think it is important for them to see that their parents prioritize each other too. As they get older they benefit less from having a shadow to meet their every need and more from seeing good examples of others doing and living for themselves. We don’t tell them how to live, we just live, and we let them watch. So in terms of priority for the first five or so years of their lives it was all about them. Now the priority list looks somewhat different but it works well because the foundation was so well laid, they are happy independent kids that are accepting of that much needed shift.

To keep things balanced and attached now, we mostly just have to listen. We listen to them daily, carving out certain times that are distraction free, and we stay attached by staying in the loop. We help with homework and we stay connected to teachers. We homeschool when or if we need to. We put our family before “things” and “stuff” so this means we work as little as we can and make do with less. Our kids may have fewer toys and electronic gadgets than the kids next door but we have more time to spend with them. We have a neighbor child who is always bragging about her toys and video games, trying to goad my children but then every weekend this same child looks at us longingly as we pull out of the drive to go apple picking, to a Pumpkin Festival, to a movie, or to some other local event that her own parents don’t have time for. I know how lucky we are and I think our kids do to. Balance is about spending time doing activities with them and yet allowing them to pursue their own independent activities when they need and want to. For us it is also about knowing which child needs a bit more attention and giving it to them. Since we have two a-typical kids… one with some severe developmental and speech delays and one with high functioning autism, it is helps greatly to be flexible and unhurried in our daily lives.

For us, life during these years of their development is less about balance and more about figuring out how to stay tuned in to them as we ALL become more independent and find new priorities and interests. I am sure it will be no less exciting than the baby and toddler years. In fact I am sure it will be even more so because with older kids it really does feel like we are all in this together… this wild and crazy journey called life.

Leave a comment to tell me how you stay connected to your kids in this fast paced life and be sure to visit the other Green Moms Weekly to read about how they answered this question. Enjoy!