What's with the Name?

I figure at least one of you has wondered why the name, Teal Elephant. Well, I would love to explain!

When coming up with a name for the store, I wanted something fun and different. I liked the sound of two words. I also wanted it to eventually be able to just use a picture to say the name of our store.

We strive to be environmentally responsible so I thought that should show in the name. But all of the words to describe that seem so overdone these days. So "green", "eco", and the millions of others like it were out. But I kept thinking of colors. So I looked through all of the colors in the "green" category and saw Teal and knew that I had to have Teal in the name somehow. So, that's how we came to the name Teal. Simple, huh?!

The Elephant part of our name is much more fun and meaningful. I decided an animal name would be cute. I wanted a meaning behind it so I googled "best animal moms". Elephants were in the top ten list. The more I read about them the more amazed I became. Who doesn't think elephants are adoreable!! (Well, I'm sure those who have pachydermophobia don't!!)

First off, the more mother's have a 22 month pregnancy! Can you imagine?! Twenty-two months pregnant with an elephant!! I loved being pregnant but at the end of my 9 months and 1 week I wanted my baby out!! Oh, and their babies average 200lbs!! They win, hands down in the biggest baby contest! Secondly, elephant calves are born dependent on their moms. Some animals are born and can do things by their self but elephant calves are like human babies and they depend on the mom for their lives.

But the biggest reason for choosing an elephant was that elephants live in a matriarchal society. All of the other female elephants in the herd help take care of the new elephant calf. In the event that the mother dies during birth or is killed in some way, the other female elephants step in to raise the elephant. Sadly, in most cases if there is no milk source for the infant elephant, if will not make it. But these other females will do everything they can to help this infant.

Elephants were everything I wanted this store to be!! I was blown away! We as women, mothers to our own children or those around us, should step out and help our fellow mothers. It's not always easy and sometimes we ourselves are at our wits end. But by simply purchasing items from stores like this, we can help out another person- a infant, a child, and a mother.

We purchase items all the time, so why not find a way to make the way we shop make a difference.

At this moment Teal Elephant is only offering a handful of items, mainly cloth diapers. But we plan on growing--to Elephant size!!! And we will offer items that every mom can use with her baby and child and even items women who aren't mothers to young children can use. We are starting small, like a baby, but we will grow and grow and grow, so we can help more and more and more babies and women!!!

Nice to Meet You!

Hi World!!

My name is Samantha Kitchenman. I'm a wife to an incredible husband, Justin. He's my best friend and the person I would pick a million times over! I am a mom to an adorable daughter, Abigail, who is our newest addition! I have no idea what we did before her. (Well, we slept, but other than that, I can't remember!) It's amazing seeing my husband and myself in her little face! She has the most beautiful smile that can make your worst day instantly better! And also the worlds best laugh!! I am also a dog owner or as I have always said, mom to Rabb, our handsome golden retriever. He has the best personality of any dog I have ever met! He loves Abigail, although he tries to hide it.

And the reason behind this blog is that I am the owner of Teal Elephant. What is Teal Elephant, you ask? Well, Teal Elephant is an incredibly awesome baby boutique that is starting out online and with an office in Nashville, TN. We are literally  just getting going!! Our focus is on socially responsible items and environmentally friendly items. All of the items we sell come from companies that are very involved with charities and their communities. We also are charitable. For every 100 items that are purchased, we will give a cloth diaper to a needy mom in the Nashville area!!

Oh yeah, we sell: (this list will grow as we do!!)

CLOTH DIAPERS and Accessories:

FuzziBunz
gDiapers
Happy Heinys

We will get into more of why cloth diapers or so incredibly awesome but just a small tidbit: Did you know you could save $1500 just by cloth diapering one child??? How awesome is that!!

I will introduce you to the companies and items we carry in the upcoming posts.

A few other things you should know about me personally. I am not the best speller. I am also not super great with grammar. And if you haven't already noticed, I like exclamation marks!!!!!

I am so excited to start this journey!! I invite you to follow along and learn more about us as we grow and learn!!

Also, check out our website and Facebook page!!

We will announce contests and hours and other awesome information on Facebook! So you should "Like" us now!!