We’ve been adding products to our shop at a dizzying pace lately.  (If you’re a GB newsletter subscriber, you’ll hear about that soon; if you’re not, belly up to the lower left portion of your screen and sign up, won’t ya?!)

One of the newest additions that’s getting us all excited is 3 Sprouts’ lineup of organic hooded towels and organic storage bins.

We love this little Canadian, design-obsessed company, and we’re super happy to be working with them…So head on over to the storefront and have a look at all the fresh stuff we’re stocking.

Wow – a year ago I was in the hospital getting settled into a room waiting for the pitocin to kick in so I could deliver our daughter.  I was 39 weeks and being induced.  It was a very tough pregnancy…so rough that I had to wear one of those support belts to hold my stomach up since my muscles weren’t strong enough to do it for me.

Needless to say I was excited – I think at that moment I was as excited to meet my daughter as I was to no longer be pregnant.  And then 9 hours later there she was!  A perfect little baby girl.  10 fingers, 10 toes and bright pink.

But that’s when the real difficulties started.  She cried.  A lot.  All the time.  And didn’t sleep and spit-up and seemed in pain.  Jesse (our almost 3 year old) cried when he was a newborn too, but his cry was different and turned out to be gas pain that we found remedies for, and he was fine.  Sabrina was not.

The doctor said it was pretty severe acid reflux.  And so we began our search for a solution – food that Sabrina could keep down.  (I had been breast feeding but my milk stopped coming in after 2 weeks, probably from the stress.)

We tried soy formula and sensitive formula and lactose-free and partially pre-digested formula (yes, they make that).  We tried mixing each with oatmeal and then with rice cereal.  It took 6 weeks of sleepless days and sleepless nights and spit-up and constipation and diarrhea, but we finally figured out what worked for her (a return to the first formula we had tried, Similac Advance EarlyShield mixed with rice cereal).

But through all that time Sabrina was still perfect!  And at 9 months the reflux miraculously disappeared, just like our doctor said it would. And now, 3 months after that, my baby girl is turning one.

The truth is that until I actually just wrote this post I had forgotten how hard those first few months were.  They say as a parent you forget the tough times so you keep having kids.  I think this must be the case because all that effort, all that worry and all those sleepless nights don’t really matter.

What does matter is that I have a happy, healthy, beautiful one-year-old girl whom I love with all my heart and for whom I would do anything.

Happy Birthday Princess Sabrina!

Your mommy loves you.

This is one in an ongoing series of posts from the Green Daddy’s wife, Courtney, who will weigh in periodically with thoughts on being a proud (and occasionally frustrated) mama.

Some sad news this morning from one of our favorite partners, Adiri.  Without warning, Adiri sent us word that it was ceasing all business operations effective immediately due to financial difficulties.

If you’re not familiar with Adiri, it’s the small but forward-thinking company behind the Adiri Natural Nurser, a baby bottle designed like no other.  Meant to mimic the texture and shape of a woman’s breast, Adiri has generated a loyal, growing audience since the introduction of the Natural Nurser, and won the accolades of numerous design and parenting groups.

Unfortunately, creating a truly unique and breakthrough product was not enough to keep Adiri afloat during these tough times, and they’ve been forced to call it quits.  While many of you will take this news in stride, a good number of you will be affected by this news.  Please know that Greeno Bambino will continue to sell through its remaining stock of Adiri Natural Nursers and Warming Caps, but once they are gone we will not be able to secure additional inventory.  If you have previously purchased Adiri bottles from us and need product support, please contact us and we will do whatever we can to help.

Hopefully before long the talented minds behind Adiri will be back with something new and inspiring for us all.

Our kids’ nanny called in sick yesterday.  Not that I blame her, she was.  Sick.  And how could she not be?  She schlepps the kids from one petri dish to the next.  (I obviously have germ issues and it’s a miracle I can take both kids out of the house – though truth be told we go through at least a pack of wipes per outing.)  Anyway, our nanny called in sick so naturally I called my mom, who is always there in a pinch.  (And also not in a pinch, thanks mom!)

The kids are lucky; my mom happens to be a teacher of 2 1/2 year olds (same age as our eldest).  So while she’s a terrific Mammie, the kids are always learning something when they’re with her, too.  The thing is, I had to work, so my amazing husband dropped the kiddies off at grandma’s in the morning, picked them up a few hours later, gave them lunch, put them down for naps (unfortunately NOT at the same time), got them up from naps, gave them snacks, put them in the car, took them to the park and played all afternoon.  In other words, he Mannied for the day.  And by all accounts he loved it (not only is he an amazing husband, but also an amazing father).  And OF COURSE the kids loved it too.

I, on the other hand, arrived home only in time to make dinner, give Sabrina the usual bath and bottle and help put them both to bed.  I do love that my husband has his own company, can work from home when he needs to, and has the flexibility to take care of the kids in the morning and at night when I’m in the car commuting an hour each way to my office job.  But I am often jealous that he gets to spend so much more time with our kids.  I will admit, they are a tough twosome, demanding and stubborn just like their mommy.  But they’re sweet, funny and entertaining too – so he is lucky to be with them so much.

But this sick day made me jealous not just of my husband, but of the kids…It made me realize how lucky they are that every morning and night, while I’m trudging to and from the ‘burbs, they get to spend quality time with their daddy.  I wish I got to hang out with him more too.

This is one in an ongoing series of posts from the Green Daddy’s wife, Courtney, who will weigh in periodically with thoughts on being a proud (and occasionally frustrated) mama.  If she keeps penning poetic prose like this, she’ll be featured daily.

Woke up this morning and thought I saw a flying pig in my backyard. Then I realized it was too dark out to see anything, and my hallucination was merely the result of delirium. Five straight days of rising at 4:45 in the morning due to my son’s growing penchant for pre-dawn cartoons will have that effect.

Turns out my over-tired brain was simply mixing its signals. What I think it was trying to tell me was “look out, the swine flu is coming, and it’s coming for you.”

I do my best to keep the big bads at bay, and swine flu most definitely qualifies. So I figured I’d share with you a quick article from Planet Green that hypes two of our favorite products here at Greeno Bambino: Clean Well Hand Sanitizer and VMV Hypoallergenics Grandma Minnie’s Kid Gloves Hand Sanitizer. Both are highly effective, and of course non-toxic.

Check out the article for yourself here.