Cassius

We welcomed our beautiful son, Cassius Alexander, into the world on Tuesday 7th September, weighing in at a healthy 8lbs 14oz. He didn't hang around either, labour lasted 2.5 hours from waters breaking to his birth so just pleased Daddy was working from home as would have missed the whole thing if he had had to commute back from London. We were all home and tucked up in bed 6 hours later, very different to Forrest's birth, thank goodness.

The first few weeks have been a bit of a blur of happiness, tiredness, hormonalness and trying to keep Organic Monkey running. I must be mad launching a business whilst heavily pregnant but at least it has kept me occupied and busy and it is all starting to pay off with the Twickenham Baby Show and the Fairtrade Press Day being hugely successful, receiving more fantastic reviews and testimonials and generating numerous enquiries and orders from new stockists. Exciting stuff!!

Forrest is slowly adjusting to life with a sibling although for the first couple of weeks I know he was wondering when this 'noisy baby' would be going again. He has certainly found it challenging and he has been more sensitive and demanding of our attention as a result but its important not to underestimate how much his little life has changed with another little man taking attention away from him. Thankfully Cassius is like his brother in character; content and relaxed, sleeping and feeding well although slightly more sickie than Forrest was. Cassius projectile vomited his milk up just as I was leaving the house last Friday so had to meet friends in the park with a crusty, damp patch on my jumper and smelling slightly rancid! Nice!

Tomorrow is D-day, Daddy is going back to work so I am on my own. I have no idea how I will cope, how I will manage to make it out of the house with 2 children to organise, trying to time feeds and nappy changes with military precision, how I will deal with Forrest's bath and bedtime routines when they coincide with Cassius' cluster feeding frenzy which seems to happen between 4 and 7pm. I am sure I will find a way and will be in a routine soon enough but it is still a daunting prospect, lets just hope for a good (as good as it can be with a demand fed baby) nights sleep tonight.

I feel my consumption of coffee, cake and chocolate might hit new heights over the next few days!!!

Wish me luck!

Heidi
Organic Monkey's Managing Director

New addition coming!

Heidi and her bump!

We are so excited here at Organic Monkey HQ at the imminent arrival of Heidi, our Managing Directors baby, due this coming week!
Heidi hasn't stopped working for a moment in the last few months formulating new ingredients, batching our products and contacting new suppliers.
The new addition to the Organic Monkey team will be welcomed into the world surrounded by bottles and balms!

Teething Pain?

Here at Organic Monkey we have been dealing with teething babies for what seems like months and months! Just when we think it's all over, another tooth pops through and we are back to square one dealing with sore, aching little mouths, constant dribbling and sleepless nights all round. Personally I'm dealing with Dylan crying when I try to feed him, not wanting anything other than a dummy or a bottle of milk in his mouth or him chewing his hands.  There are days when I'm truly worried because he goes off his food, and as a mother all you want is for your baby to be comfortable, safe and well fed. These teething times are so hard on both us mummies and our little ones.

Cheeky Monkey

There are a number of things I've used for Dylan, from ice lollies (all natural of course!) to homeopathic granules all of which help at different times but we felt more could be done so, the Organic Monkey team have spent months formulating a teething oil to help and have now launched our 'Cheeky Monkey Cheek Rub Oil'.  Just rubbing a small amount onto their little cheeks really soothes and offers relief. The arnica oil, well know for allievating aches and pains combined with the healing and calming properties of Lavender and Roman Chamomile works wonders .

Don't just take our word for it, we received this testimonial from another satisfied customer too:

“Just wanted to say how much we love the Cheeky Monkey cheek rub. It really soothes and calms and smells wonderful too. Thank You for making the teething process much more bearable!” (Henrietta, Poppy’s mum)

Claudine, from the Organic Monkey Team 

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Our Bumfluff Nappy Balm helps empower women and improve facilities for poverty stricken children.

Shea butter is a key ingredient in our Bumfluff Nappy Balm as not only is it incredibly nourishing and moisturising, it contains vitamins A and E which get to work deep in the skin, leaving it feeling soft and smooth.

Our raw Shea butter has been certified organic by the Soil Association and Fairtrade by the Fairtrade Foundation and is sourced from Bolgatanga, a poverty stricken area in the upper east region of Ghana. The Akoma Cooperative Multipurpose Society that we source it from is comprised of all women working to improve their quality of life.  In this area of Ghana, unemployment is a critical issue. Collecting, processing, and selling shea nuts and butter at the Akoma Multipurpose Society is a main source of income for women in the community. The Fair Trade premium ensures that workers receive the most return for their hard work and can make sustainable changes in their community.

The Fair Trade price has enabled Akoma Cooperative Multipurpose Society to establish various social and productive programs. Your contributions to the premium from purchasing our Bumfluff Nappy Balm are being used to build and furnish an information technology centre for the Pusu Namogo primary school.  Over the next five years, Akoma will use the premium for education and developing facilities for children. This will include a library, desks and school equipment.

A boat made out of 12,500 plastic bottles.....x

Here at Organic Monkey we really care about the environment, that's why all of our bottles and jars are manufactured either from recycled glass or post consumer regrind (PCR) raw materials. PCR is a resin that has been previously used in commercial consumer applications such as the manufacturing of mineral water bottles, shampoo bottles etc. Which have then been collected, recycled, cleaned and reused in the manufacture of new bottles and jars. This reduces the depletion of new fossil fuels and helps create a sustainable packaging solution.

This weekend we were tracking the wonderful but eco-tragic adventure of the 31 year old David de Rothschild who made a catamaran out of 12,500 bottles and set off from America to the Pacific.....

Taken from the Observer article this Sunday:

"Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth's waters....

Plastiki, a revolutionary catamaran, is kept afloat by 12,500 plastic bottles in its hulls; the "eco-adventure" has been designed to draw attention to our systematic pollution and over-fishing of oceans. In the three and a half months since De Rothschild, the refusenik 31-year-old son of the banking dynasty, and his crew of five set out from San Francisco they have discovered many things, but mainly, he says, they have learned about the sea, about its power and about its fragility......"

See full article here:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/11/plastiki-rothschild-plastic-bottle-catamaran

Track the Plastiki here:    http://www.theplastiki.com/

Supporting Sparks

A charity very close to our hearts is Sparks, the children's medical research charity whose sole remit is to fund research across the whole spectrum of paediatric medicine. Sparks' pioneering work on infant body and brain cooling was instrumental in saving co-founder Heidi's son, Forrest, when he was born.

Heidi's husband, Duncan, ran the London marathon this year on their behalf:

"I decided to run the London Marathon 2010 to raise money for Sparks. Without Sparks my son Forrest would not be alive today. When Forrest was born he suffered from birth asphyxia and did not breathe for over 30 minutes. Thanks to the wonderful medical team based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the use of the ‘cooling technique’, (a pioneering treatment funded by Sparks) where Forrest’s body temperature was reduced to 33.5 °C over 3 days to enable his body to recover, he is a very happy, healthy 18 month old little boy.

 

I have to say that despite not being able to walk properly for a few days, I really enjoyed my run (apart from miles 21 to 23 where I had to consume handfuls of jelly babies to give me the energy to finish). Everyone was incredibly supportive, it felt like a great achievement and was fantastic to be able to contribute and raise money for such a wonderful charity.

 

I will be continuing my support by running the Brighton marathon in 2011.
Organic Monkey are looking to continue raising funds for this fantastic charity. We have added a donation option to the website, giving all of our customers the opportunity to add £1 to their order for Sparks to help fund more pioneering research and save even more lives.
http://www.sparks.org.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=951

We are launched and live!

We had a lovely time at the Baby Expo in Brighton on Sunday. The sun was shining as we managed to chat to hundreds of people about our new range and handed out lots of samples of our lovely Bumfluff nappy balm to mummies and mummies to be. We hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for coming to see us on our stand, the feedback was really positive and we cant wait to get our products on the shelves of all your favourite stores.

If you didn't get a chance to catch us at the show, visit our website: www.organicmonkey.co.uk

Happy Shopping!

xx