Lunapads

Calling all Vancouverites. I invite you to visit me during an in-store demo of Lunapads at the Deep Cove Super Valu (415 North Dollarton Hwy, North Vancouver) on Saturday October 27th from about 3 - 5pm. Just minutes away from my house, I’m so pleased to see our products hitting the local shelves. In an effort to support our retailers and create some buzz, I’ll be at the store showing Lunapads to local shoppers. As an added incentive to stop by, visitors will be treated to a sampling of delicious chocolate from Zazubean (because periods and chocolate go so well together, don’t you think?) And, if you purchase the Pantyliners or Maxi Pad and Liner, you will receive a bonus wing liner (or more chocolate!) I look forward to seeing some of you. Bring your curious friends too.

About a year ago I moved from my hometown of Chicago to a small city in the very southwest corner of Arizona. There is not a whole lot of green here, literally or figuratively. Although the brown desert landscape has its charm, the not-so-environmentally-friendly culture is a bit hard to swallow (as is the entire ultra-conservative vibe of the region…but I digress). For example, there are essentially no recycling options in the area for most recyclable products. Since I couldn’t force myself to throw a cardboard box in the garbage even if I tried with both hands, I now have a garage filled with recyclables. They just sit there, hopefully waiting for this town to get it together, or for my next trip to California. Although collecting garbage in your garage is not what you might call an ideal situation, it does make you more aware of the waste you generate. In fact, living here has made me stop and think about a lot of my habits. When I started looking at the choices I make in my daily life, I realized that I was doing a lot of things I simply didn’t agree with out of habit.

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We invite you to enter the latest contest at Pajama Mommy to win a Lunapads Intro Kit. What originally started as a blog, Pajama Mommy is an online community that is “a nice cozy spot on the web for mothers”. Pajama Mommy does book reviews, interviews, tips on blogging, and of course product reviews. When Pajama Mommy featured Lunapads as a product in the Going Green section on their site last month, we were thrilled and rewarded them with an Intro Kit to give away. To see the contest details and enter, visit their site. Good luck!

Over the years we have experimented off and on with making products for babies and new moms - cloth diapers, hooded bath towels, breast pads etc, but always ended up “sticking to our knitting”, as a friend of mine is fond of saying. In other words, we make really great menstrual pads and underwear and sadly don’t have time for much else, at least when it comes to actually making it ourselves. That said, we get lots of requests for these kinds of products, and so we’re delighted when we find others who have different knitting, as it were, especially if the business is local, woman-owned and aligned with our values.
Which brings us to Bamboobino, a Vancouver-based, Mom-owned company that is making gorgeous Mom and baby accessories with bamboo fabric. Sharon Chai is the talent behind Bamboobino. She chose bamboo fabric for its softness and eco-friendliness - not to mention its other compelling qualities such as absorbency, anti-bacterial properties, and durability. Her cuddly bath wraps first caught our eye at our production partner’s factory, and we soon had an email from her introducing herself and the company.

With Suzanne still nursing Garret, she was able to test drive the breast pads and the Baby Bath gift set (which includes a hooded bath wrap, hat and washcloths, shown) and so now they’ve been added to our Comfort section. Bathtime is key to baby’s day, and regular towels don’t work all that well when it comes to a wriggling babe. Sharon’s ingenious design is like a little towel-sack that keeps baby’s whole body covered, and is self-belting to boot. It would be a great way to keep baby warm while giving her a pre-bed massage, and naturally would be a perfect gift. A final note: I appreciate how gender-free these products are in a world where everything to do with babies seems to feel the need to be either pink or blue!

October is a banner month for new products at Lunapads and we’d like to tell you about some of them. First off, huge thanks to those of you who provide feedback and request new products - it may take a while for us to respond, but we’re listening! Keep ‘em coming!
We have already had an impressive response to the new Wide Maxi Pad. Thanks to requests from plus-sized customers who felt that our regular Maxi Pads were a bit on the narrow side for their needs, we added 3/4” to the width and teamed it with a wing liner for added lateral protection.
With the addition of our new Heavy Wing Liner (that’s me demonstrating how to use it in the photo!), we’ve been able to fine-tune our new Post-partum Kit, as well as pair it with the Heavy Pad + Liner for perfectly compatible protection for very heavy or post-partum flow.
And speaking of heavy flow, check out our new Heavy Flow Starter Kit, designed specially for those of us who (well, obviously!) have heavy flow.
All these products are on sale this month, so take advantage of these introductory savings!

After we had moved into our new house in Comox, my husband started an ‘organic’ non-genetically modified food kick that followed us here to Ontario. I have to admit that the selection here isn’t as good as it was back home, and I might buy a banana or avocado here or there that isn’t organic to help us stay on budget. But we try our best and the lifestyle change is firmly embedded into our cereal choices (General Mills will never set foot in my pantry again… I know never say never, but for now Nature’s Path and Kashi are staples in our grocery list). So now it is my turn. I know nine ladies who are expecting at the moment and two really new moms (it’s an epidemic!). I know that at least 30% of those ladies are planning on cloth diapering at least part time. This got me to thinking (and reading) and I am now on a reusable kick.

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Canadian customers can now watch for our our gorgeous new retail packaging to hit the shelves. Thanks to all of you who let us know that they’d like to see Lunapads at their local health food store, our new packaging is not only eye-catching, but also fully bilingual. We love the colors so much, in fact, that we used them to paint our new office!

If you don’t find Lunapads at your local shop, please ask for them. Lunapads are available through the following distributors: in Western Canada, Horizon or Tara Natural, in Ontario via Corwin and through Directa Distribution in Quebec. You can also send us an email letting us know the name of the store that you’d like to see them in, and we’ll see what we can do!

Customers in the USA: we want to see Lunapads on the shelves of your local stores too! Ask your retailer to contact us directly. This is the best way for us to get listed.

Calling all Facebook fans…
Most of us here at Lunapads enjoy using Facebook.com as a way to stay connected with current friends, not to mention finding long-lost old ones, joining groups that matter to us or that just make us laugh - in short, it’s fun. So much fun that we decided to make our very own “I heart my Lunapads” group!
My personal favorite thing about it so far is simply seeing the photos of our sister Lunagals, but we’re also excited about its other applications: activist alerts, talking with other Lunapads and DivaCup users to share tips and suggest new products, and best of all getting access to Facebook friends special deals at lunapads.com!
So if you’re not already on Facebook, check it out. And for all you Facebooking gals out there, join us: we’ll be sending out our first Facebook-only special offer before the end of October!

Anyone who has spent any amount of time working with Lunapads has heard some creative and often funny ideas for alternate uses for them: pot holders, eye pillows and barbie bedding are some top suggestions. Well, my daughter just introduced me to a new one: training pants for toddlers.
As followers of this blog are already aware, Suzanne and I have been reporting recently about our journeys with diapering (cloth, otherwise and skipping them altogether!) and toilet training. In a recent post I was lamenting that I was caving on using disposables at night, and have good news to report: we’re not doing it anymore, thanks to my daughter and Lunapads!
As a classic two-year-old (so I’m told), Gigi is all about helping with all manner of tasks, insisting on doing things herself, and has recently acquired her very own “big girl” bed.
We were spending the afternoon at home a few days ago when I discovered that I had started my period. We duly went to my Lunapads basket to choose the right one (Gigi is fond of sorting them according to size and colour). Later that evening when it was time for bed, she was adamant: no diaper, she’s a big girl now. I was stressed: what if she peed the bed? And yet - she needs to learn, and it’s my job to help her, not worry about laundry. We found a compromise: “How about you wear one of Mommy’s Lunapads, just in case?” To my surprise, she went for it immediately, and back to the basket we went. That night she was pretty restless, but summoned me in time to help her to her potty, therefore giving her a dry night. The subsequent nights have been a mixed bag, but we’re getting there, happily in a diaper-free way. I am so proud of her!

Please share with us your artwork or poetry that reflects your experiences as a woman with The Red Moon, menstruation.

Prize: Lunapads Intro Kit

Contains: 1 Maxi Pad, 1 Maxi Liner, 1 Maxi Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pad, 1 Mini Liner, 1 Mini Wing Liner, 1 Mini Pantyliner and 1 Teeny Pantyliner, all conveniently packaged in a small mesh laundry bag. Includes one washable Nylon carrying pouch.

Submission Guidelines: Submit up to three (3) pieces of artwork and/or poetry by email as a jpeg or word document to ncarere@gmail.com Subject line: Red Moon Contest Or Mail to: Re:Connection Magazine P.O. Box 57 South Slocan V0G 2G0. Please inform us if you wish for your artwork or poetry to be returned.

Contest Deadline: EXTENDED To… November 1st, 2007

Questions: ncarere@gmail.com or 250-509-0593
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Re:Connnection
a grassroots mindset magazine
www.reconnectionmagazine.ca
Fall/Winter 2007-08
SPACE & TIME
ONLINE Mid-October