Born February 23, 2009 at 10:38 pm at Detroit Evolution Laboratory
Image: PANGAIAN WILDS by Daniel Mirante. Thanks Daniel!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Dreams of Aya
Many people have been writing us to share that they've had recent dreams of Aya and we think that's pretty cool. I asked our friend Lindsey if we could post her simple & beautiful dream here:
Last night, I had a dream where Aya had already been born. He was a beautiful, chubby, laughing sort of child, just the kind of baby that everyone, including me, just wanted to hold. I remember holding him and bouncing him on my hip and thinking that things were better, when you had this delightful boy in your arms.Thanks so much Lindsey! We're so excited for Aya's birth!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Aya's Baby Shower Insert
I want to share this "green" baby shower guide that Angela and I put together for Aya's shower. If you can use it to make your life easier please do! We included this on one side and the info from healthychild.org on the opposite. The insert was then quartered and sent in these beautiful shower invitations that were hand made by our very talented friend and co-conspirator Karen LePage. In Health - Gregg
Thank you so much for assisting us as we prepare for Aya's birth. As you all know we have dedicated our lives and work towards social and environmental justice and strive to share this with others through example and education. We are blessed by the opportunity to raise Aya in a healthy, humane and sustainable lifestyle though we admit to its challenges. With this in mind, we’ve put this guide together.
To be as sustainable as possible we’ve elected not to purchase items until we identify a need and explore any alternatives. To this end, gift cards and monetary support are appreciated and will assist us to purchase items as necessary in the months ahead.
We are registered under Angela Kasmala or Gregg Newsom at Target, in-store and at http://target.com, and http://myregistry.com. Our registry lists specific staple items that will be greatly appreciated. Of course, we welcome other more personal gifts, but ask that you be mindful of the information below.
Toys and Books: We request no plastic toys, rather positive and educational toys made from natural materials. Please read the included guide to healthy toys.
Clothing: Conventional cotton crops alone account for $2.6 billion in pesticides used each year. Even though cotton only uses 2.4% of all cultivated land, 25% of the world’s pesticides and 10% of the world’s insecticides are used on it yearly. The problems with clothing production do not stop in the field. During the conversion of conventional cotton into clothing, numerous toxic chemicals are added at each stage – such as harsh petroleum scours, softeners, brighteners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia and formaldehyde. With this in mind please consider items made of organic cotton, hemp, wool (second-hand), or bamboo. We would appreciate gently used clothing as well. We are asking for clothing size 0-12 months.
Baby Personal Care Products: Recent studies have shown that traditional baby personal care products include unhealthy ingredients such as parabens and pthalates. We have included products we trust on our registry. A good rule of thumb is to stick with products made with only natural, organic ingredients.
Gift Wrapping: To reduce paper waste please consider wrapping gifts in recyclable or reusable materials like baby blankets, reusable bags or storage containers.
We also encourage your support of local businesses rather than large corporate chains. Here are a few close by:
Ladel's Children's Bookstore
1413 Brooklyn Street
Detroit, MI 48278
Little Seedling
3555 S. Zeeb Road, Suite C
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Sweet Peas and Little Sprouts
580 Forest Ave.
Plymouth, MI 48170
Once Upon a Child
21323 Telegraph Road in Southfield
6029 Rochester Rd. in Troy
We thank you for the extra time and effort that these considerations require. We’ve found the benefits of this path worth the extra effort and we appreciate your care, support and love as we welcome Aya and move into this new illuminating phase of our life together.
Angela & Gregg’s Guide to a
Local, Humane, Healthy and Sustainable Baby Shower
Local, Humane, Healthy and Sustainable Baby Shower
Thank you so much for assisting us as we prepare for Aya's birth. As you all know we have dedicated our lives and work towards social and environmental justice and strive to share this with others through example and education. We are blessed by the opportunity to raise Aya in a healthy, humane and sustainable lifestyle though we admit to its challenges. With this in mind, we’ve put this guide together.
To be as sustainable as possible we’ve elected not to purchase items until we identify a need and explore any alternatives. To this end, gift cards and monetary support are appreciated and will assist us to purchase items as necessary in the months ahead.
We are registered under Angela Kasmala or Gregg Newsom at Target, in-store and at http://target.com, and http://myregistry.com. Our registry lists specific staple items that will be greatly appreciated. Of course, we welcome other more personal gifts, but ask that you be mindful of the information below.
Toys and Books: We request no plastic toys, rather positive and educational toys made from natural materials. Please read the included guide to healthy toys.
Clothing: Conventional cotton crops alone account for $2.6 billion in pesticides used each year. Even though cotton only uses 2.4% of all cultivated land, 25% of the world’s pesticides and 10% of the world’s insecticides are used on it yearly. The problems with clothing production do not stop in the field. During the conversion of conventional cotton into clothing, numerous toxic chemicals are added at each stage – such as harsh petroleum scours, softeners, brighteners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia and formaldehyde. With this in mind please consider items made of organic cotton, hemp, wool (second-hand), or bamboo. We would appreciate gently used clothing as well. We are asking for clothing size 0-12 months.
Baby Personal Care Products: Recent studies have shown that traditional baby personal care products include unhealthy ingredients such as parabens and pthalates. We have included products we trust on our registry. A good rule of thumb is to stick with products made with only natural, organic ingredients.
Gift Wrapping: To reduce paper waste please consider wrapping gifts in recyclable or reusable materials like baby blankets, reusable bags or storage containers.
We also encourage your support of local businesses rather than large corporate chains. Here are a few close by:
Ladel's Children's Bookstore
1413 Brooklyn Street
Detroit, MI 48278
Little Seedling
3555 S. Zeeb Road, Suite C
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Sweet Peas and Little Sprouts
580 Forest Ave.
Plymouth, MI 48170
Once Upon a Child
21323 Telegraph Road in Southfield
6029 Rochester Rd. in Troy
We thank you for the extra time and effort that these considerations require. We’ve found the benefits of this path worth the extra effort and we appreciate your care, support and love as we welcome Aya and move into this new illuminating phase of our life together.
Much Love,
Angela & Gregg
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Handmade US Toys and Garments at Risk!
Please take a moment and sign the petition and write a letter to your congress person or senator:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatroy testing will likely drive them out of business.
*A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
*A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes dolls to sell at craft fairs must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
*A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
*And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys.
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/how-you-can-help
Use our sample letter or write your own.
This information was provided by the Handmade Toy Alliance.
Thank you!
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.
All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatroy testing will likely drive them out of business.
*A toymaker, for example, who makes wooden cars in his garage in Maine to supplement his income cannot afford the $4,000 fee per toy that testing labs are charging to assure compliance with the CPSIA.
*A work at home mom in Minnesota who makes dolls to sell at craft fairs must choose either to violate the law or cease operations.
*A small toy retailer in Vermont who imports wooden toys from Europe, which has long had stringent toy safety standards, must now pay for testing on every toy they import.
*And even the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007.
The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust: Toys made in the US, Canada, and Europe. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.
If this law had been applied to the food industry, every farmers market in the country would be forced to close while Kraft and Dole prospered.
How You can Help:
Please write to your United States Congress Person and Senator to request changes in the CPSIA to save handmade toys.
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/how-you-can-help
Use our sample letter or write your own.
This information was provided by the Handmade Toy Alliance.
Thank you!
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