you know, i don’t feel comfortable using the palmer’s cocoa butter all the time and so i stumbled upon some products from bella b that’s supposedly all natural and very safe for pregnant women. of course, i bought some to try so we’ll see how they work when they arrive on monday.

click here for a special on bella b’s tummy to toes lotion – $2.99 plus shipping

i swear, when i was reading the description of this product, i felt like it was made for me. i got melanin from my last pregnancy and have been wearing sunscreen a lot this time around to hopefully prevent more from forming on my upper cheekbones. $12.75 from amazon.

i needed thing to replace the palmer’s that i’m using. since palmer’s got a bunch of ingredients in there, i’m just hesitant about using it everyday, kwim? if i like this, i’ll be ordering more. $15.01 from amazon.

i bought this to try from the learning curve special they’re currently running. otherwise, i would have pass. will see how it works. $2.99 plus shipping from learning curve.

i also found out that you are not suppose to use certain products while pregnant. yikes! i’m breaking out like crazy and was using olay’s age defying night cream for 2 days and stopped because it contains beta alpha hydroxy. see more of what not to use from babycenter.

thankfully, i usually stop taking care of my face because i get too lazy with my pregnancies. LOL i just got back into the skin care routine and am using zia’s products.

on a side note, i gained about 27lbs and counting. *sigh* but that’s okay. i’ll work out (hopefully) and lose some of it afterwards. i’m carrying this baby very low and have a lot of back pains and sciatica. i know how an 80 year old woman feels. i’m so stiff sometimes i can hardly walk. my baby is moving and kicking me so much!! sometimes, very early in the morning, he’s already kicking me and i’m hardly awake yet. then at night times, i’m trying to go to sleep an he’s still moving around. i just love to hear the baby move. i find it all very fascinating.

2 thumbs up for this free, easy, and light defraggler from the makers of ccleaner so it’s free too!!

i have it on my pc for a while but never got to defragmenting it because i just didn’t think about it. two nights ago, i got brave and opened it up and had it on defrag during the night. i love this thing! it’s so light and free up 50gb of space on my harddrive. isn’t that just wonderful?? i love using ccleaner too so this is a great combo in my book! get it if you haven’t! it only takes a long time to defrag the first time.

mmm…i just picked up their citrus medley shampoo and first crush conditioner from sonoma soap company to try out because they don’t have much ingredients in them.

so far, i’m loving it!! their citrus shampoo smells delicious and i find it’s cleans my hair but isn’t heavy. same with the conditioner – i think it’s doing a great job. plus i love the smell of it.

they retail for about $8.95 a 12 oz bottle and i got it for $3.99 each. i should stock up…

shampoo ingredients:

Ingredients: water, cocamidopropyl betaine, disodium cocoamphodiacetate, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, sodium lauryl glucose carboxylate, sodium lauryl glucoside, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, coco-glucoside, glycol distearate, certified organic aloe barbadensis leaf extract, glyceryl stearate, paradisi (pink grapefruit) oil, beta glucan, glyceryl oleate, sapindus mukurossi peel extract, natural aroma blend, chondrus crispus (carrageenan), bisabolol, citric acid, certified organic lavandula angustifolia (lavender) flower extract, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, citrus aurantium dulcis (sweet orange) peel oil, sapindus mukurossi peel extract, polysorbate 20, certified organic honey extract, potassium sorbate, certified organic vitus vinifera (grape) seed extract, sodium benzoate, citrus tangerina (tangerine) oil, phenoxyethanol

conditioner ingredients:

Ingredients: water, behentrimonium methosulfate, cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, hydroxyethylcellulose, sorbitol, triticum vulgare (wheat) germ oil, certified organic vitus vinifera (grape) seed extract, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, tocopherol (vitamin e), certified organic rubus idaeus (raspberry) fruit extract, panthenyl triacetate, certified organic pyrus malus (apple) fruit extract, natural aroma blend, certified organic aloe barbadensis leaf extract, bisabolol, panthenol, citric acid, certified organic honey extract, ethylhexylglycerin, phenoxyethanol

wow, it’s march already! i’m halfway done with my pregnancy! woo-hoo!

i’m going to try cloth diapering my baby again. i tried it with jaelynn and boy, it was pretty overwhelming! and i went overboard with buying a bunch of things! *yikes*

i re-evaluated what i did and i’m going to give it a try again. actually at first, i was going to try gdiapers only, which imo, is a hybrid kind of thing – not a disposable and not a real cloth diaper. after looking at how much the disposable flushies cost, i’ll just do CD. i can see myself not saving anything with gdiapers.

i started building my newborn stash since i sold everything i bought for jaelynn. it’s going to be simple this time – just prefolds, covers, and a few fitteds for when we go out. i tried pockets and aio’s for jaelynn and i do not like them.

i’m not buying everything completely new either! i have been hanging out on the diaperswappers board and getting some in used but great conditions from the FSOT forum. i also gave myself a budget so i won’t be impulsively buying things which i can do. i even made a spreadsheet – james love that!

i have spent about $110 and am almost done with getting everything i need. just some more prefolds, wet bags, and pail liner left. i got a great deal on some gdiapers to try out too! some mamas had luck inserting a prefold into the snap in instead of using the flushies. i’m going to try that since if that work, i’ll save more money not buying them.

i want to get everything i need and wash and prepped them before the baby arrive. i’m getting enough to last abut 3 days until i do laundry. *sigh* i really want this to work for me…i feel guilty using disposables! 

have you ever see one of those head and shoulders commercial? i really really like them. especially the “healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp” line they have going.

so a few weeks ago, disregarding the fact that their shampoo have tons of ingredients my scalp probably wouldn’t like, i bought a huge container at costco.

after 3 days of using it (and i just never seem to get the clean scalp or beautiful hair without dandruff), i was getting a bunch of tiny little reddish bumps at the back of my hairline. and they were really itchy and irritating. i asked james to see if they were pimple-like and he said no. but boy, were they itchy or what! i couldn’t stop scratching them and he said maybe it was something i used.

i tried really, to use more natural-like or products without a bunch of ingredients – such as parabens or in this case with shampoos and conditioners – methylchloroisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone. everytime i see these ingredients, i think, do i want to use this product? i remember reading something about these a year or so back and had in mind it’s not something i’ll want to use.

but the “healthy scalp and healthy hair” line really got to me so i did. big mistake, i know. i’ve also tried regular brands like tresemme, dove, patene, vivie, and a bunch of others.

i went back to using my regular stuff – shikai’s color shampoos & conditioners and yes to carrots (oh try their conditioner – smells great and make your hair smoother). while i haven’t yet reach the “healthy scalp and healthy hair” stage, at least i don’t have an itchy scalp.

the super adorable cuttlebug!!

in the last few days, i’ve been in and out of arts and crafts stores more than all the other times combined! i got myself a super cute cuttlebug from joann’s along with some emboss folders that are so cute! i then waste no time in getting more things for my bug. i bought 4 sets of fonts from ebay for way less than retail so i can justify the spending. ^^ this little machine is so easy to use and the details are just lovely! plus, i’m partial to green and this “bug” comes in a very cute pastel green. i need some dies too…

i spent a small fortune at joann’s (obviously) because most of their scrapbook supplies are 40% off! i’m ready to get creative…lol

thanks vera for the link. i found two autograph book designs that i’m going to scraplift. in fact, i’m almost done with one. i do need to stop at joann’s (again!) to get a crap-a-dile because my poor hole puncher cannot punch holes in the chipboard pages. you should see the palms of my hands, they are red and sore after trying to punch holes in three of the pages. i give up.

on a random thought, i feel like i need a new layout.

my ulta retractable kabuki brush is wearing out after lotsa abuse. so i’m looking to get a few new brushes and didn’t want to repurchase the sameone because…well it’s $30! i got it on sale way back but i just can’t justify spending that much on a brush…yea.

eco tools 5pc brush set – $10.99

eco tools powder brush – $7.99

i’m not sure what i was doing but i suddenly remember reading in one of my many magazines about these new eco tools make up brushes. so i googled it and voila! these look awesome and just about all reviews are good. plus the fact that it’s more environmental friendly and uses recycled material sold me. of course, the price is super attractive too! i’m making a special stop at walgreens tomorrow to pick these baby up.

ah…prestige cosmetics. 3 days ago, i’ve always passed the prestige cosmetics aisle without really looking at any of their products. probably because i’m not a big make up person. then the ulta ads came in and of course they have all prestige cosmetics at buy one get one free. since i obviously had alot of free time, i checked the prestige reviews on MUA. there were glowing reviews of their waterproof lipliner and wonder-full lipgloss. so i head to ulta and picked up the nude lipliner and the gloss in lavish – a peachy sparkling color that i really like (definitely HG status). i also picked up a couple of single eyeshadows – gold, green, black and pink. all very pretty even though i’ve only tested the gold.

st ives elements olive scrub – $6.99

st ives elements warming scrub – $6.99

and of course, on another of my magazine, there was a small sampe of st ives’ new elements olive scrub. after trying this i really like it. it hasn’t dried my skin out yet so i’ll keep using it until it does. coincidentally, the ulta ads had a coupons for 50% off all st ives skincare. okay, that was a sign. LOL i bought their elements olive scrub, and warming scrub for about $1.75 and $3 each respectively. this is the first time i’m trying out st ives skincare and very impressed so far. their elements line are “natural” and without parabens – a plus to me.

i guess i need to stop looking through magazines. *sigh*

radius intelligent toothbrushes – $7.95

radius kidz toothbrushes – $3.69

oh i got to join another frontier coop and i got these new toothbrushes called radius. looks interesting so i gave it a try – one for me and 2 for the girls. i don’t know why, but i prefer toothbrushes like these to the electric ones. oh well…