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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Winner Winner!!

Rafflecopter has randomly chosen a winner for the Black & White Nourish Mommy Necklace and the winner is....


Congrats Mayla!  I appreciate all who entered and I hope you all will continue to read my little 'ole blog!  I look forward to doing more giveaways in the future!

It just so happens that Mommy Necklaces also reached 19,000 followers on Facebook yesterday and they are offering a deal on their website!  You can get two chic strands for $19!  It only lasts for a few more hours, so hurry over!

Monday, February 9, 2015

Must-Have Monday: Baby Toys for 6-12 Months

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Must-Have Monday...it's back!!  I admit, I got a little bogged down with the must-haves.  To be honest, nothing is really a must-have.  I mean, food, water, shelter.  Those are must-haves.  Baby toys? Not really.  But, I like making lists.  And I like sharing my favorite things.  Call me Oprah.  Without the money.  Baby girl got a TON of toys for Christmas.  More than any baby needs, if you ask me.  She'd be happy with a box and a remote.  But a real remote.  Not one of those fake Fisher Price deals.  She knows the difference.  Baby genius.  But anyways, I thought I'd share some of her favorites.  If you can even call it that.  Do I really know they are her favorite?  No.  It's not like she's talking to me, telling me, "Hey, I really like that toy over there.  You should put it on your blog so other babies who have sucker mommies will buy it for them too!"  But, she does show some preference to some toys.  And there are some toys that I just really enjoy as well.

1.  Green Toys .  My sister-in-law found them in a specialty toy store, but I found them on Amazon.  I win.  First of all, they're made in the USA. Who doesn't love that?  Second, they're green.  Not the color green. Well, some of them are.  But they're made from recycled milk jugs!  We have these stacking cups and a little toy car.  So while you're teaching baby how to stack (they also nest for easy storage), you can also teach her about the environment and recycling.  Kidding.  Kind of.  They also have numbers 1-6 printed on them and they also are "volumetrically accurate."  Who knew volumetrically was a word?  I think I like it.  Anyways, as baby gets older, you can teach math concepts with these as well.  If you pour water in the cup labeled 1 and the cup labeled 2, together they will fill up the cup labeled 3.  Pretty cool, right?  I'm excited to make a water/sand table this summer and play with these.

2. Bright Starts Having A Ball Toys, Count and Roll Buggie.  This is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  First of all, it teaches counting and numbers.  It also teaches hand-eye coordination, because babies put the balls into the bug to make it start.  Once all three balls are placed in the bug, it starts rolling around and playing music, then eventually the wings open and dumps the balls out.  My baby is not a crawler yet, but I'm sure she will have so much fun chasing them around.  Fair warning, it doesn't roll very well on carpeted floors, but everything else works great.

3. Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Toys.  We have more Fisher Price Laugh & Learn toys than I know what to do with.  We have the medical kit, shopping tote, vanity mirror, and lamp, among others.  I actually just bought the Learning Home second hand on a local selling wall. Big time score!  Baby girl and her big brother LOVE to have tea parties though.  I dare say he enjoys it more than she does right now!  He was very disappointed when a little girl in his class had a tea party for her birthday and only invited the girls.  :(  The tea pot sings and counts.  It also teaches manners by saying, "please" and "thank you" and has sound effects as you tip the kettle to "pour" into the cup.  Of course, it's always fun to pretend to eat the yummy desserts.

4.  Cloth Crinkle Books Of course, books are always a great thing for kids of all ages.  Baby girl especially loves the touch and feel books right now, but the cloth crinkle books are also a great option.  My kid loves the sound of the paper at the doctor's office.  The crinkle books make the same sound, and she goes wild for them!

So these are just a few of our favorite toys right now.  The neat thing about these toys is that they really do grow with the child.  So if your child begins to get bored, put them away for a while and get them back out in a few months.  Just don't be like me with my first and put toys away and never get them back out again!  Anyone else have other recommendations for baby toys?  Feel free to comment to add to the list!


This post contains Amazon affiliate links, but I was not paid for the review of any items.  I, or someone else who loves to spoil my kid bought everything on this list for her.  

Sunday, February 8, 2015

What's Your Excuse?

The whole "What's Your Excuse?" thing started when Maria Kang posted a picture of herself in workout attire surrounded by her three young children. It bugged me then, it still bugs me now. Even moreso, I'm starting to see my "friends" on social media starting to use the #whatsyourexcuse hashtag. At first I couldn't pinpoint what exactly unnerved me about it. Was it because I have a million excuses? Was it because I wish I could find time to workout, but I really, truly can't? I really didn't think that was it. I finally brought it up to my husband. My husband does find time to workout. He goes to the gym about four times a week. So when I told him I was severely bothered by the whole #whatsyourexcuse movement, I wanted to know his opinion. Was I jealous of these friends? I told him I felt like it was an almost self-righteous statement. Like an "I'm better than you" sort of thing. He agreed. This coming from a same "friend" who posted the new commercial with all the moms judging each other's parenting and said "I'm sorry for judging my fellow moms." Really? Because I'm pretty sure every time you brag about getting up at 6am on a Saturday to work out with your trainer and say #whatsyourexcuse, you're judging. If we posted a picture of our nice car sitting in the driveway of our nice house with the hashtag #whatsyourexcuse it would be very distasteful, and something I would never dream of doing! Here's the deal. Even though you're asking, you don't care one bit about my excuses. I have a million of them, and a lot are very valid, but it doesn't matter. You're posting #whatsyourexcuse because you think you are better than me. You are judging me. Everyone comes from all walks of life and has different circumstances. Circumstances that you don't know about, and to be honest, are none of your business.  I workout whenever I can, whether I can sneak away 45 minutes to go to the gym, or do a 20 minute fitness video at home.  I don't feel the need to make a spectacle of myself every time I do so.  If you are a #whatsyourexcuse gal, good for you for working out and staying in shape!  I'm sure you feel good about yourself after every workout.  Just don't make others feel bad about themselves for not being like you.







Friday, February 6, 2015

Snow Day Fun! Snow Ice Cream!


I LOVED snow days as a kid.  And now, since I'm a teacher I get to enjoy them with my kids!  There's just something thrilling about getting that 5 am phone call.  I'm not even kidding.  It doesn't even make me mad to get woken up that early.  One of my favorite snow day traditions is snow ice cream.  Even if it's too cold to go outside to play, we still will go out long enough to fill a bag with snow so that we can make some delicious snow ice cream.

There are TONS of variations that you will find on the web, but this is our tried-and-true recipe.  I offered to add chocolate once and my son almost lost it on me.  We don't mess with the original snow ice cream!

You will need:

That's it, people!  No need for the sweetened condensed milk or any of the other crazy ingredients I've seen.  These are all things we always have on hand, just in case a snow day hits us by surprise!  Just kidding, we obviously have these things on hand for other reasons.  Like cookies.




So after you've gone outside to play in the snow, grab a gallon-sized bag.  Better yet, take it out with you so you don't have to traipse snow throughout the house and get everything wet.  There's nothing worse than wet socks.  Fill the bag with snow that you haven't touched yet and hasn't touched the ground, then come inside to warm up and get started on the ice cream.  After you're nice and toasty, fill the bag with the sugar, milk, and vanilla, then have fun mixing.  The kids love this part.  Shake, shimmy, turn on some music and dance.  Once you feel like it's well-mixed, you're done!  Serve in bowls or eat it right out of the bag!

Even baby girl got a taste!



Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Mommy Necklaces-Perfect for the Nursing Mother!

Between my two kids, I have nursed for 21 months, and still going strong with the baby girl.  Because I worked with my oldest, he mostly got bottles of pumped milk during the week, but I always nursed him on the weekends.  Since I'm home with baby girl, she nurses exclusively.  Even with all my experience, I never realized how distracted the nursing baby can get!  As much as you can say, "I've been there, done that," kids will always surprise you.  When I found Mommy Necklaces, I decided I needed to get one.  I was so pleasantly surprised by how much both myself and baby girl enjoyed it that I decided to contact the company to see if they would be willing to giveaway a necklace to one of my readers.  And guess what....(drumroll..)..they said YES!

So what are Mommy Necklaces?

Mommy Necklaces are durable, yet stylish necklaces that moms can feel safe wearing around their babies.  My child has already broken one of my gold chain necklaces, but I don't have to worry about her pulling on my Mommy Necklace.  Mommy Necklaces come in several different designs.  The original, dangling donut strand is designed to catch the eye of a nursing baby.  The necklace can be worn with or without the donut charm.  They also offer teether donut strands, that I just might be purchasing in the near future!  The locked donut strands are another option, but the donut charm cannot be removed.  Flat facets and short strands are other Mommy Necklace designs.

The faceted rocks strand is what I purchased, and love.  It's trendy, and reminds me of the beautiful costume jewelry that you can purchase at parties, but for a whole lot more money.  Unlike the Mommy Necklaces, that jewelry is not safe around babies.  The standard length of the faceted rocks strand is 20" but you can pay a little extra for a longer length.  I wear a lot of v-neck shirts, and I do wish my necklace was a bit longer, both for style and for practicality.  My baby loves to play with my necklace, especially while nursing, and a longer strand would make it easier.

There are several color options to choose from as well.  So much, in fact, that it makes it so difficult to choose just one!  I went with Entice, which I think matches both my style and my personality.  I'm not into flashy, showy jewelry, and the light purple, cream, and light green beads are easy to match most of my outfits.

photo credit: www.mommynecklaces.com
For my giveaway, I chose the the Nourish Necklace in black and white.  It is a standard 34" strand, the perfect length for a fiddling, feeding baby!
photo credit: www.mommynecklaces.com

How do I enter?

a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (sorry readers in China!).  The giveaway ends on February 11, 2015 at 12:00 midnight EST.  I purchased my own Mommy Necklace and contacted the company for a giveaway.  They provided this giveaway necklace in exchange for an honest review.   
 

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