Sun Fun

Yesterday my little girl turned 14 months old! Wow, the weeks have just been flying by. Although I don't want her to grow too fast and have the weeks pass us by, I am anxiously awaiting cooler weather and secretly wishing it was closer to September. I love the Summer but the heatwave we've been having has just got to go.  It makes it hard to run any errands during the day because my poor child is sweating in her car seat and I hate getting her out in the heat. Not to mention there aren't many fun things to do during the day anyway, except swim.  Forget going to the park, going on walks or swinging in her tree swing.

Luckily, we were invited to our friend Vanessa and Andrew's playdate at their pool yesterday to cool off.  As soon as we got there, Luna was ready to get in. But first we had the lovely chore of getting her sunblock on.  It's always a slow process to get it rubbed in all over her body and making sure we get all the little crevices and hard to reach places like her ears.

At one point as the moms were getting our kids ready for the sun, the topic turned to the bad ingredients in sunscreens. Have you heard about this?  Environmental Working Group has rated sunscreens and SPFs. Check out the link here where they review all the popular sunscreens and which ones work and which ones don't.  It is also amazing to read about SPF moisturizers us adult mommies use, that can rub off on our children.

I remember when I was newly pregnant and about to open my new tube of low dose Retin-A for my anti-wrinkles. I gasped as I had forgotten that it says not to use when pregnant. Thankfully I had not rubbed it all over my crows feet yet, but it make me think. If this stuff is absorbed into our skin and causes birth defects, what else do we put on our skin that gets rubbed in and causes problems? Self-tanners? Lotions? Makes you really think!

I quickly went thru all of my moisturizers last week to make sure they were on the safe list. I am a big SPF daily moisturizer user. I've been that way since I was 24 because I am desperately trying to prevent sun damage being white as a ghost. And the minute I walk out into the sun, I swear I get a new wrinkle and freckle immediately!  I curse you dark and olived skinned women out there :)

So much to my horror, several of my moisturizers had the dreaded ingredient Oxybenzone in them! So I trashed those and went up to Whole Foods to buy more of my favorite moisturizer, Pomegranate Daily Protection by Skin Organics. Why I had stopped using it, who knows. Probably because I had found another one that promised more wrinkle control, which of course we all know is a lie. None of the darn things work, but at least this one is safe, has 30 SPF in it and does not make me feel like I slathered Crisco all over my face.

And as for our babies?  I found California Baby is safe to put on our children and it works to protect from UVA and UVB rays.  I am not happy with the 18$ price tag it has though and will have to try a cheaper version like Babyganics and Aveeno Baby Natural Protection next time.

So I slathered Luna's expensive sunscreen all over her body yesterday before we entered the sauna of the Dallas outdoors.  Overall we had a nice time at the playdate.  Luna loved splashing around with her friends.  The sunscreen was a success as Luna did not get a sunburn.  But even though we cooled off in the water, the poor thing had rosy red cheeks when we got home, and not from a sunburn. She was just hot from being outside and the car ride home.   If only the temperature would come down just a little bit. Come on rain, give us some relief!