This is a very personal subject matter for me and it hurts to even write about it right now but I must in order to bring awareness and raise money. In June of this year I lost my Uncle to suicide, it shocked me to the core never ever in a million years did I think he would do something like that. Not only was he my uncle he was my godfather, we even share a birthday. My uncle Carlos was crazy, you never knew what he was going to say but did he have a heart of gold.
I wish he would have told someone how he was feeling, maybe he was too ashamed. I know old school people think being depressed or having suicidal thoughts make you " crazy " not in the way I not used the word in the paragraph above but as in straight jacket crazy. Older people think it's wrong to need antidepressants or a therapist to talk too. Some people are ashamed of needing either pills or someone to talk too. At one point I was ashamed because I was told I was going to see the crazy doctor when I was going to see my therapist...that's not right. If it helps clear your mind then go for it. That is why we need this awareness. We need to make people aware that it's okay to need someone to talk too or it's okay to need an antidepressant or anxiety medication.
On September 20th there will be a walk on the North Shore to help raise this much needed awareness. I am walking in my uncle's honor "The Lourenco Team " we will be wearing blue ! If you want to join in with us that would be awesome or if you would like to donate that would be great too. I would hate to see other families lose members to suicide, if there is anything we can do to prevent it lets do it. It's harder than you can imagine. I miss Carlos a lot, we were not extremely close but we were close enough, I think about him daily and know he watches over us now. Please follow this link if you are interested in walking or donating. Also here is a picture of Carlos and my daughter, this was Christmas of 2012.
http://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=600823
Once again I was lucky enough to have some goodies sent to me to try out and review out my little monkey Gina.This times around I got Walgreens' new line of Baby Care products called Well Beginnings, I was sent diapers, wipes, baby wash and Oral Electrolyte. The products are reasonably priced and are well made in my opinion.
First let's talk about the diapers; they are adorable, although looks are not important but when you are trying to get a wiggle toddler to stay still it helps when they are admiring the new elephant on their diaper ! I normally purchase Pampers Swaddlers so I kept comparing the Well Beginnings brand to the Swaddlers. They were soft enough, and the tabs were easy enough to maneuver, nice stretch on the wast line and the fit her nicely. We had no leakage !!! That is always a strong feat and an A+ in my book. They were not bulky at all however a little on the thin side, great for the day but I would not use them over night, that is just me personally. Overall great value for your dollar. I am not going to talk about rashes with the diaper because Gina has super sensitive skin and gets rashes all the time, it would be unfair to say the diaper caused one because she gets them with ALL diapers even the beloved Swaddlers.
Moving onto the wipes....I LOVE them. I normally use the Pampers Sensitive wipes which is what I compared these wipes too. These wipes are the most durable wipes ever, I swear. I tried pulling them apart and they did not give easily, it was just a test I do not normally go around tearing apart wipes for entertainment purposes. They cleaned up a lot of mess in one swipe. They did not irritate the skin at all and I have made the switch. They are not too wet either even when you get to the bottom of the package like other brands.
As for the baby wash I was not blown away by it really, do not get me wrong it did it's intended job; get baby clean with a gentle formula but I am a person who longs for the baby smell and it was not there. No smell was there really. Like I said it cleaned Miss Gina, did not cause her to break out at all and that was that ! We normally use Johnson & Johnson Lavender Body and Hair Wash which is what I compared it too..guess that was not fair.
I have not had the chance to try the oral Electrolyte drink thank goodness because that would mean Gigi were sick ! I have a feeling will be just as good if not better than Pedialyte just cheaper, lol ! I like having a bottle on hand for when the inevitable does hit our household.
I would like to thank Walgreens and Green Moms Meet for offering me this wonderful opportunity. I was not compensated in anyway and all opinions were my own. I was sent all the reviewed products for free.
Yup it's true ! I was recently offered an opportunity to try our a service called esalon by bzzagent for free. It came at the perfect time, I swear the bzz agent bees saw the state of my hair and threw this campaign at me, lol.
I logged onto https://www.esalon.com/ and filled out my profile which included uploading a photo and choosing a color. I actually had a good time doing this, maybe I do not get out enough ( shrugging ...) I went with Mahogany Red, after choosing my color I got to choose some extra goodies, up to $60 worth as part as my campaign; I went with Shampoo, Conditioner, Clips, bowl and brush so I can feel like hair dresser while coloring my hair. Shipping was super quick, took a matter of days and it was tracked.
To my surprise when I opened my box, which was so nicely packaged inside I got a free bottle of hair color, stuff to put around my hairline and ears (essentially Vaseline ) and stain remover for the places I missed, whoop whoop ! After I got my tot to sleep I busted out the old towels and slipped on the rubber gloves...I did the usual mixing like a mad scientist and then for the first time ever I clipped my hair into sections and used the hair dresser bowl and brush to paint my hair, well that did not go so well it's so much harder than it looks doing it to yourself especially the back of your own head. I ended up just using my hands like I normally would with a box from Target or someplace similar. I hate to say anything negative but I must be honest, the smell of the dye was horrible it made my eyes water for the whole 30 minutes it was in my hair, I could not wait to rinse this stuff out. After rinsing and conditioning the smell was gone thank goodness.
The color was more mahogany than red until the sunlight hit my hair THEN it was red, red, red ...I LOVE it. With esalon you never have to worry about running to the store to buy more dye they will deliver every 4,6 or 8 weeks and charge your card accordingly and you can cancel anytime or just order here and there. It's all up to you. It's all reasonably priced as well. Please check out my before and After pictures as well as my box of goods.
Boring disclaimer: I received esalon products for free, I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are mine :-)
I noticed that I have not written in a month, I feel guilty ! But in all honesty it has been such an emotionally exhausting month, if it were not so personal I would indulge everyone as to what has been going on but it's still fresh, raw and again too personal. Please accept my apologies for my absence and be rest assured I am back and fingers crossed I will not I have go through that ordeal again.
I have missed writing now that I am on here. I do have some exciting reviews coming up soon so stay tuned my friends.
