It’s time for another Free Gift Friday! With any purchase at Clemetnine NW today, you can also get Preggie Pops for free! Just add them to your cart. How easy is that?

Using essential oils, aromatherapy, a slow mode of delivery, and all natural ingredients Preggie Pops work to quell the nausea of morning sickness or labor. A must have for any pregnant woman!

How cozy does this organic baby blanket look?

1. Borrow maternity clothing, or buy used. We wear maternity clothes for such a short amount of time that it almost seems silly to buy brand new. Plus it will save you money!
2. Eat organic. The foods that you eat during pregnancy are also sustaining your growing baby. Seek out lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. If you haven’t chosen organic foods yet for yourself, start now for your baby. You will greatly reduce the amount of harmful chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and growth hormones all of which have been shown to cross the placenta) and increase the nutritive value and health of the foods you eat by choosing organic.
3. Green your clean. There are companies that make more eco-friendly cleaning products that actually do work! I like Biokleen and Seventh Generation. You can also try homemade cleaners with baking soda and vinegar as the base ingredients. No toxic chemicals!
4. Use safer personal care products. Start reading labels on your cleansers, lotions, shampoos, and deodorants. Harmful ingredients are as important for you as for baby, especially since the harmful chemicals and fragrances can and do penetrate the skin and enter the bloodstream. I love Earth Mama Angel Baby and many of their products can be used for other things. The Angel Baby Shampoo & Baby Wash makes a great facial cleanser!
5. Start drinking filtered tap water. Pregnant women need lots of water, but skip the bottles! Buy a stainless steel water bottle for on the go and fill up the glasses while at home. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
6. Use your library. If you are a research and book lover like me, you want to check out the numerous baby books out there, from baby names to childbirth to how to make baby food, the library has it all! Skip the “What To Expect..” books and scope out some that will help support your green lifestyle.
7. Walk more, drive less. Not only is driving less good for the planet, but it’s wonderful for you and your baby’s health too. Getting or staying fit during pregnancy can make for shorter and easier labors, plus makes it that much easier to shed the baby weight later.
8. Start choosing reusable whenever possible. This is great on your wallet once you’ve made the initial investment. Cleaning cloths instead of paper towels, cloth napkins instead of paper, and reusable water bottles and coffee mugs instead of plastic and paper is a great start!
9. Change the shower curtain. Many shower curtains are made with PVC, which contain hormone disrupting chemicals. Choose a natural fiber or EVA shower curtain for a safer option.
10. Choose safe decorating and remodeling options. If you are getting the nursery ready or feel the need to change the whole house, there are many eco-friendly options that will greatly benefit you and your baby’s health. Make sure you are aware if there is any lead paint or asbestos you need to worry about before starting in on any projects! Choose no-voc paint, eco-friendly flooring, and organic fabrics whenever possible.

This is our very first guest post and is a topic near and dear to my heart. My grandfather passed away in 2006 after a difficult battle with mesothelioma. I can only hope that one day we won’t have to worry so much about harmful products still being used…

What You Should Know About Products That Are Still Being Made With Asbestos

You probably know that asbestos is dangerous. It can cause diseases such as mesothelioma, a deadly lung cancer, and asbestosis, a debilitating disease that interferes with breathing.

You may have heard that asbestos is banned in the United States, but it isn’t.  It is still being used in some kinds of flooring and roofing materials; in some automobile parts, such as brake pads; in some fireproof clothing; and in a number of other products. Should this be a concern?

Maybe.  It is thought the danger is small, but small is not zero. And asbestos has been banned completely in many other countries. Why isn’t it banned in the U.S.?

Here’s the scoop: In 1989, the Environmental Protection Agency drew up regulations asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act. However, two years later, a New Orleans circuit court of appeal overturned the regulations. As a result of the court’s decision, a ban on new uses of asbestos remained in effect, but old uses remained legal.

Asbestos is a mineral that breaks into small fibers when disturbed. The fibers are dangerous if ingested and more dangerous if breathed into the lungs. There are two primary kinds of asbestos,  called serpentine and amphibole because of the shapes of the fibers. Amphibole asbestos has been banned globally since the 1980s. It is considered the more dangerous type of asbestos because, if you breathe it, it stays in your lungs longer and causes more damage.

However, serpentine asbestos, especially a form called “chrysotile,” is still in commercial use in the United States and some other countries.

So, asbestos isn’t just something found in the attics of old houses. It might be in a product made this year. Which products should be a concern?

Auto parts, especially brakes or clutch linings.  Major U.S. automakers say they do not use asbestos in their parts. However, “aftermarket” suppliers of replacement parts sometimes do use asbestos. If you buy “off brand” parts to save on auto repairs, there could be asbestos in the brake pads and shoes, clutch linings, and other “friction” car parts. Don’t assume asbestos isn’t in auto parts just because it wasn’t listed on a label.

Asbestos in brake pads or other parts shouldn’t be a danger to drivers or passengers. However, auto shop workers and home mechanics do risk danger of exposure to asbestos. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has guidelines for minimizing the asbestos danger of working with car parts.

Construction materials such as roof shingles, floor tiles, cement pipes and boards, caulking compounds, and joint cements. The asbestos in these products is unlikely to break away and become airborne with regular, day-to-day use. If these products someday crumble from age or disaster, however, cleanup crews should take care not to breathe the dust.

Fireproof clothing and protective gear.  First, if you aren’t a firefighter, stay away from fireproof clothing or fire protection gear. Especially as the clothing and gear become worn, fibers could break away and get into your lungs. If you are a firefighter, wear respirator masks with approved HEPA filters when fighting fires or training in fireproof clothing and gear.

If you do work with such products, please don’t be complacent just because you feel fine now, seek mesothelioma treatment. It can take many years for symptoms to develop after exposure to asbestos.

— Barbara O’Brien

Fall is here and we need to do some sprucing up here at Clementine NW! We have discovered some fantastic new products since we created our original eco-friendly gift boxes and baskets for mamas and their sweet babes. We want to hear from all of you about what products you would love to give or receive as a gift. So… Clementine NW is going to have a contest for the best new ideas for gift boxes and baskets! Check out our new gift packaging options for your creations.

How It Works:

Choose a category and a price range and use your creativity! Work off of a theme, choose your favorites, whatever gets those ideas flowing!

Categories:

1. Gifts for Baby
2. Gifts for Mamas
3. Gifts for Mama & Baby

Price Ranges:

1. under $25
2. $25-$50
3. $50-$100
4. $100 & up

How To Enter:

You can enter once for each category and each price range, for a total of 12 entries. These entries must be e-mailed to us at info@clementinenw.com by Nov. 15 at 12pm PST. Entries left as comments on this blog will NOT be counted.

Prizes:

If your gift basket design is chosen to be used on our site, you will also be entered to win one of the chosen gift baskets. This basket will be worth at least $50 and will be chosen at the sole discretion of Clementine NW, although we will consider requests from the winner.

All contest participants will be entered to win several fabulous prizes (winners selected by random generator). The more participation we have the more prizes we will award:

Additional entries may be earned by sending an e-mail (info@clementinenw.com) with any of the following:

1. 1 entry- your favorite product available from Clementine NW.
2. 1 entry- a suggestion for a product you would love to see us carry that we don’t currently.
3. 1 entry/Up to 3 entries- follow Clementine NW on Twitter: http://twitter.com/clementinenw and tweet about this giveaway. Then send e-mail with the link to your tweet. (Find the tweet URL by clicking on the tweet’s timestamp.) You get 1 entry per tweet, up to 3.
4. 1 entry- become a fan of the Clementine NW on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clementinenw Then send an e-mail and tell us you’re a fan.
5. 3 entries- blog about this contest and send us a link to your blog post.
6. 1 entry- subscribe to our newsletter by creating an account and selecting “subscribe”.
7. 5 entries- make a purchase from Clementine NW, any purchase will do.

You are welcome to do as many as you wish and can send all info. in one e-mail or several.

**Contest is now closed. Winners will be notified no later than Friday, November 20. Thanks to all those that participated.**

Awake… 

To Nap…

Fabulous alphabet book.

Well the server crashed last night while I was working on today’s post, so I thought I would share some of the strangest searches that have landed people here on the blog. I have to wonder what exactly some of these were looking for? And why?

Top 10 11 funniest google searches:

1. “autism days of giant”
2. “bacon china ’sold in the u.s.’”
3. “congratulations massage baby girl borned”
4. “hot pink newborn”
5. “items for $33.93″
6. “perfect girl hip size ?”
7. “shape wordless boo”
8. “supersecret how to find the second piece of sids watch”
9. “tranny in bodysuit”
10. “what does nuzzleing the neck mean”
11. “+hear spiter legs”

Okay, now fess up. What are the strangest searches you’ve ever made? What are the funniest ones that have landed people on your site?

Clementine NW is happy to introduce the new Happy Birthday To Me: A Keepsake Album Of Celebrations. This album is a wonderful gift for any new mama or baby’s first birthday. Perfect for busy parents to keep birthday memories organized and safe for years to come.

The roomy pockets hold invitations, and there’s space to fill in guest lists, party locations, gifts received, and any other moments of a child’s special day. There is room for up to 12 birthdays in the album and since you fill in all the information, it can be started at any age!

So, if you know a little one who has a birthday coming up, whether it’s her birth day, first birthday, or second, third, or fourth, this would be a wonderfully unique gift for both parents and child.

On some surprise Fridays we are going to offer a free gift with purchase. This week we are featuring the Earth Mama Angel Baby teas.

Wise women through the ages have looked to medicinal plants and herbs to support mamas through pregnancy, natural labor, birth and baby! They well knew the herbs that were useful during pregnancy, as well as which herbs were to be avoided. Generations have handed down their knowledge, just as science has rediscovered these natural gifts from the earth to help modern mamas through all the stages of pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.

Earth Mama Angel Baby’s natural pregnancy products combine ancient wisdom and contemporary knowledge to help comfort women through pregnancy nausea, heartburn, hemorrhoids, pregnancy anxiety, swollen feet, stretch marks and more. Whether a shower or blessingway gift, or just comfort for yourself, Earth Mama Angel Baby products honor pregnancy as a completely natural process that can be supported – naturally!

Make any purchase today and get an Earth Mama Angel Baby tea for FREE! Choose from Earth Mama Heartburn Tea, Earth Mama Morning Wellness Tea, Earth Mama Third Trimester Tea, or Earth Mama Milkmaid Tea.

Little Ostu Come Along Weekly Planner

On sale now… 20% off!