Under The Nile - Sleeping Doll and Banana Toy

So, we have been pretty determined to build a more natural home and I went all crazy-gaga about getting natural toys for J. After pulling all-nighters for weeks, researching on the best natural toys, I got these from Under The Nile.

Why I love them?

They are made of 100% organic Egyptian cotton. Yes, even the filling! And that's probably why it is incredibly soft and smells really good. Not kidding. I had a good sniff of the toys right after it was done in the dryer.

Oh, And it can be machine washed and tumbled dry, so double yay!

What makes me love it more?
This is why.

How we feel about the toys

Animal print sleeping doll ("Lovie" as on Amazon)

I love how soft and cuddly it is. It screams "Baby!!!" all over. Just look at the colours.

I wish it was bigger though. This doll measures around 20 cm from the tip of the hat to the base. In fact, it is so little I think it didn't even catch J's attention. Its neutral colours didn't help either. (I specially picked this print because it resembles the one on our pillows which J loves.) She can't really hug it because the cotton-filled area is too small so she just flings it around. Like a handkerchief.

I introduced it as the "Lovie" to J once I got it washed and dried. I asked J couple of times, "Where's the Lovie?" and she behaved as though the doll is not there. I told the husband that night that I should have gotten the Scrappy Dog instead because it is bigger. This is so small that it seems barely noticeable to J and he went "Where's the doll doll?"
J immediately bent over to pick up the lovie which was left lying among the other toys in the playpen and passed it to him. 

!!!

So J actually noticed the doll, prefers to call it "doll doll" and choose to not play with it so much because it is too small?

J still doesn't seem to enjoy the sleeping doll as much as the banana so I think I'm gonna make it mine. Heh... :)

Under The Nile banana toy

Ah. This, is bigger than what I expected so it's good. I was searching for natural teethers and this popped up. I was actually looking for wooden rings but the ones I like don't ship to Singapore for free. I guess organic cotton isn't so bad either. Especially when the filling is organic as well. I said that already? Right.

J seems to prefer the banana, perhaps due to the bright colour. I've spotted her hugging it a few times. And of course, it's long and easy to bite on, and so, is serving its purpose well as a teether.

I'm looking at getting more Under The Nile toys in future (if the $$$ permits. It's a spurge-item after all.) You know the fruit tote (or if anyone can help, the veggies in a crate) would be great kitchen-play toys.

The search for safe, non-toxic dolls

This is hard.

Family and friends may think I have gone a little nuts, but after reading reports like these:
Toy test reveals toxic results,
Toxic toys set off recalls and checks,
how can I still grab random toys off the shelves and give it to J, especially when she mouths *almost* EVERYTHING.
I feel like I'm feeding her lead, phthalates and what-nots.

These are the local reports. There's even a longer list from the States.
For the past few weeks, these search terms have constantly appeared on my Google Search bar.
"safe toys for baby"
"organic dolls"
"(brand name) dolls toxic"
"(brand name) dolls made in china"

I'm avoiding "Made in China" toys as much as I can for now. They don't seem to have a very good reputation in this aspect and so it scares me. Even my mom starts to think likewise.



I want to get a doll for J for her first birthday.
Partly because every girl should have at least one doll.
And partly because we feel that having a doll will teach her to be more gentle towards younger babies. As of now, she shows affection through hitting our faces. We try to correct her but she somehow hasn't got it yet.

It's confusing reading so many reviews, and articles, and comments so these are some notes for my husband's reference (as if he reads the blog):

HABA Pure Nature dolls:
Exterior: Organic cotton
Filling: Polyester
Made in: China
Price Range: ~$20+
Amazon Shipping to Singapore? Some

MiYim Good Earth dolls
Exterior: Organic cotton
Filling: Recycled Fiber
Made in: China
Price Range: ~$20+
Amazon Shipping to Singapore? Some

Under the Nile Jill Doll
Exterior: Organic cotton
Filling: Organic cotton
Made in: Egypt
Price Range: ~$50+
Amazon Shipping to Singapore? No

Kathe Kruse dolls
still searching



If anyone reads this, and are on the same journey in getting natural and organic toys for your babies, do you have any other brands to recommend? Your help is much appreciated!

A week of "Happy" 01

There have been no updates but we have been taking baby steps in ensuring that we lead a healthier lifestyle.

Reducing chemicals in the house.

Attempting to make healthier choices in foods.

Purging and uncluttering the house so as to reduce the amount of dust bunnies at home.

Oh, that was therapeutic. It's tiring but the sense of satisfaction from throwing bags and bags of unwanted items away, whoa!

Inspired by "#100happydays" on Instagram and "Happiness is..." by A Happy Mum, I decided that I should place some importance on mental health too and being happy/grateful is just one way.

100 consecutive days of happiness is a huge commitment to me so I figured it will be easier to go in weeks.

So, here's Week 1 of Happy!

1.  Getting diapers on a sale

I was bummed when RedMart sold out their diapers during the period of the Motherhood Exhibition. That was a really good deal. I'll take discounts on prices over free toys any time.

Then we dropped by Cold Storage Nex over the weekend and realise that they have the same deal as they did in Cold Storage Changi City Point.

That sense of relief and elation was beyond my imagination.

2. Waking up to this... 

... and feeling grateful that I chose to be a SAHM (and the hubby strongly supports it.)

3. Finally getting it right

No more porridge that is too hard for the baby to chew on!

4. Skies like these...

... that makes me feel like I'm in another country, and not sunny island Singapore.

Dr Bronner's (Magic) Castile Soap

Our little 'quest' to cut down on chemicals in the house...

I get food poisoning a lot more easily than the people around me.

I don't get why. We'd be eating the same food off the same plate and I'll be down with food poisoning while the others are fine.

One day, after my nth episode of food poisoning, I decided that I've had enough and told the husband that I didn't want to use the antibacterial hand soaps anymore.

(I am not sure if that is the reason but I have this bad habit of constantly washing my hands that I picked up after I started cooking. Didn't use to get food poisoning in the past before I did that, so...)

I'm pretty sure the husband was more than delighted to hear that because he took the chance to introduce castile soap to me - something he has been wanting to get for quite a while.

So we dropped by Brown Rice Paradise the next day and got ourselves this.

Not quite sure if it works this way but we got the one with tea tree oil due to its disinfecting properties.

I love it!

Let's talk about the packaging.

Doesn't it look like it's could have been from an apothecary many years back?

Rather vintage looking, eh?

I've read in some reviews that they don't fancy the messy labels with messages splashed across it, yet none that states the directions of use.

That's exactly why I love it.

Never mind that most of the messages sound pretty religious.

It's really entertaining, especially when you are taking a little too long on the potty.

I read every single one of it.

Directions of use (and dilution proportions) can be found here.

I'm pretty sold on the product after I saw some slides on harmful chemicals that a friend sent me.

This doesn't contain tricloson.

No parabens.

No Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS).

No alcohols.

Very natural.

Bye bye toxic chemicals!

This liquid soap has tonnes of uses (18 they say!) but we've only used it as a hand wash so far.

We have been using it for a month now and I love it.

I still wash my hands excessively but never found my hands dry.

(Unlike when I was using Bath and Body Works, which I love too, but gave me dry hands at the rate I wash them.)

The tea tree oil smells good too and that's a bonus.

It's important to dilute the soap because it comes concentrated.

For the hand wash, we mix 1 part soap with 4 parts water (20% soap, 80% water).

It helps to put it in a foaming bottle too.

Because we loved it so much, we purchased more of Dr Bronner's Castile Liquid Soap.

I'm thinking of trying it out as a shower foam and shampoo partly because now I'm starting to get more concerned about what I put on my skin and hair.

We got all of these from Qoo10 - The Good Earth.

I like that they have small bottles available so that we can try out the different scents.

I chose all the scents except almond because it doesn't seem to have fantastic reviews online.

We got ourselves the baby mild soap to try it out on Lil' J as well.

Sidenote: The seller was really prompt in his reply and fast in delivery. We received these on the same day! 

We have been reusing the Kirei Kirei foaming bottle for the hand wash for quite some time now so we thought we should get ourselves a proper foaming bottle.

Isn't it cute?

Now I can't wait to try them all!

Little Steps (To improving our health)

While I was pregnant, the husband thought that we should start eating healthy, and start using products that are more 'natural' and 'less toxic'.

I didn't pay much attention to it because I wasn't quite the believer. 

You want to buy organic foods? 

Sure, go ahead! 

But I never once initiated buying or using products that were 'natural', or 'green' or 'healthy' because well, that was never my area of interest.

I did toy with the idea of making some homemade cleaners because I see them so often on Pinterest. AND that is a good excuse to buy some pretty bottles to decorate and have fun with.

*

Then on Friday night I read this blog post while googling on what was the best teething toy to buy for Lil' J. Her current favourite 'teething toy' is my almost-witch-like chin. I don't think that will be a good option after she sprouts her pearlie whites though.

And I found this blog post while googling on Hape toys because they look so attractive and I'm tempted to get some.

And my friend posted this article on Facebook.

AND a Taiwanese TV program was talking about how our common, regular foods can be toxic. (No..! Not cod fish!)

All in one night.
I have to be honest that it was rather overwhelming.
I remembered going to my husband, telling him "The world is so toxic!!!!"

I'm not sure how to react to this, actually.
A part of me wants to clean out the house immediately and replace our current products with homemade, non-toxic ones.
A smaller part of me thinks that's going too far.
I don't want to turn out like a freak but neither would I want to expose Lil' J to all these toxins now that I know they exist.

We are not going to get obsessed but I know we have to try to reduce baby's exposure to these not-so-friendly stuff. I don't want her to look back 20 years later and tell me "Momma, you fed me rubbish and my health suffered."

For now, we are thinking of cutting down on
1. processed food
2. plastics (for foods, at least)
3. chemicals

It is probably not going to be an easy journey since I do not have many like-minded people around me. I know from the comments and looks I got when we started on organic foods earlier (though I didn't quite believe in organic food either. Then.)

We are going to try anyway.
Because it's my baby we are talking about.