Caution: Clothing can harm you.

So apparently this is not something new nor does there seem to be an easy solution. We noticed lately that Julian scratches and scratches at the back of his neck area. We thought that maybe he was just itchy or that maybe he had dry skin but the itching was pretty specific to the back of his neck. I remember reading an article way-back-when about chemical burns being caused by the "tagless" tag on infant clothing so I decided to dig around and see if maybe this is what was causing Julian's scratching. Sure enough, this is it!

Gotta love the blogosphere and being able to find all this information. I found this one blog, Mom's Journal, and her daughter's rash looked exactly as Julian's did. He was wearing Gerber onesies almost exclusively as his base layer and this is what this little girl used to wear too. We stopped wearing them 2 days ago and his back is almost totally healed and he hasn't scratched all day.

It's not only Gerber, but also Carter's, Circo, and BabyGap. I just don't understand how the clothing companies can get away with this? I also hate that I'm not entirely sure what my options are to find safe clothing for Julian as clothes with tags (hard to find as 'tagless' is becoming the industry standard with infant/children's clothing) make him itch, too.

Here is the original article I read a few months ago about this issue. If anyone has comments or recommendations on how to get around this, please let me know! I hate the idea of having to tape all his clothing but if that's what has to happen, well, so be it as long as my little guy stops itching!

Happy Easter!

What a great weekend we had!!! We are finally getting caught up with things around here (basement is done, all we have to do is hang things up on the walls again) and we were able (finally) to have a very enjoyable weekend of relaxation and friends without sickness or whirring fans. Our dear friend, Eve, moved to Delaware to work for a firm last year and we haven't seen her in ages. She came down for the day yesterday and we were able to visit! Julian was curiously watching her as he ate his raisins but eventually warmed up and was very friendly. Mama Yost was also able to come and hang out! What a lovely saturday!

This morning we had a wonderful brunch and were joined by Terri, Brian, and our friends, the Doughertys. Argia and I met a few months ago at a random wednesday morning Stroller Strides class in Alexandria, hit it off right away (I was wearing TNT clothing and she was a former participant/Campaign Manager), and the rest is history. Her son, Inaki, was born 10 days after Julian and it has been wonderful having another like-minded mommy to bop around with and share this crazy mommyhood journey together. Her husband, Keegan, joined us, too, for brunch, followed by a trip to the swings, and eventually we made our way to a neighborhood easter egg hunt.


Personally, the whole idea of the Easter Bunny kind of freaks me out....big bunny man handing out hidden chocolate eggs? Something isn't right about this, but still, we couldn't resist going to the hunt and see the mayhem of children running around looking and possibly grabbing a photo op with a lonely egg. Inaki was a trooper, smiling and playing with the egg. Julian, on the otherhand, didn't want any part of it and well, I think this picture speaks volumes as to how he felt about the whole thing.


We are so very fortunate to have great friends and family nearby. What a wonderful weekend and we hope you all had great Easters on your end, wherever you may be. We are really excited for next year when Julian will hopefully want to participate in the egg hunt.

Happy Easter!!