Ten Little Puppies - A Book Review

I've been asked, "What age should I start reading to my child?" My answer is always, "When they are babies." They may not appear to be listening, but they love the sound of your voice.

Babycenter is a great source to go to for early baby stages. They mentioned that you can start reading to your child even when they are in the womb. Babies that are read to begin to understand words more so than babies that are not read to. That doesn't mean they'll talk earlier. It just means that they will understand what you are saying better. With books they see the connection between words and pictures.

When shopping for early readers look for fabric books, plastic bath time books and board books. You want books that can take a beating.

I was lucky enough to review a board book called Ten Little Puppies (Eyeball Animation) By Jim Harris and Marian Harris.

My son couldn't of been more happy to get his own mail! We were both sick with strep throat last week; our moods were not very chipper. When he opened his book, a smile went all the way across his face.

As soon as my son Isaak was well enough to go back to preschool Ten Little Puppies went in his backpack for Show and Tell. The moving eyeballs were the talk of the classroom.

The illustrator did a wonderful job filling the pages with a lot of visuals, yet still maintaining that one focal point.

Cost: $16.99.
ISBN: 9780740784811

This book is filled with fun puppies, lots of bright colors and fun eyeballs throughout!

Check out my review of Stick To It Pets - A Magnetic Book here.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Andrews McMeel Publishing  provided to me a free product to help with this review.

Bebe au Lait Nursing Cover Giveaway!

This is one product I wish I would have had when my children were babies!

*Pictured below is not what the giveaway item looks like. If you win it will be light yellow.

Source

Mom4Life has a lot of options for nursing covers! I picked the Bebe au Lait to giveaway.

 

I love this product because it is something fun for mom. It allows you to breastfed in public, while staying private.

 Features include:

• It can be washed in the machine. 
• The material is 100% cotton.
• It's versatile! It can be used not just as a nursing cover, but also a sunshade, blanket or put over them to block out the world for them to go to sleep.
• It's big, so there is plenty of room for your baby to wiggle around.
• It contains a pocket for for binkis, breast pads or other things you need.
• It has a neckline that allows for ventilation. It gives space for you to make eye contact with your baby.

Care:

Machine wash warm under gentle cycle, tumble dry low heat or hang. You may need to iron it.

Mom4Life gave me one .  I decided to give them away to one Bebe au Lait to giveaway. It does not have a pattern. It's just a soft yellow, which will work for boy or girl. I'm choosing to give this away.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I received a Bebe au Lait cover to giveaway. from Mom4Life to help with this giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. This is a US giveaway.

Bamboobies Giveaway

What I love about Bamboobies breast pads:

• They are soft! The material is made out of bamboo. If you've ever felt bamboo sheets, or any other material fabric made out of bamboo, you know what I'm talking about. 
• They are heart shaped. It's just fun!
• The seams do not show up under your shirt. I had circle breast pads that could be seen under some shirts. 
• The packaging!

Care:    

They are so easy to care for. You just wash them in the washer, and dry them in low heat.  I happen to use a laundry bag when I washed mine. 

One of my US readers is going to win a set of Bamboobies breast pads!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I paid only shipping and handling to help with this giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. This is a US giveaway.

The Sleep Easy Solution Book Giveaway!

The Sleep Easy Solution is a wonderful book about putting your child to sleep.  It's geared from birth to 5 years old.

One of the common things I hear from parents is, "I just can't get my child to go to sleep at night!"

Babysitters that come over to my house have said, "WOW your kids go to sleep so easy!" Now my children have faults. I have to say putting them to seep is pretty simple at my house.

What I've Done to Get My Kids to Go to Sleep:

• I never kept things quiet. I wanted to be able to get things done, while they slept. They were used to noise and slept right on through it.
• I listen to their my children's cues. If they act fussy or naughty there is a reason. Sleep in the main one in my book. If you have to adjust their bedtime to be earlier that's ok. 
• Try and be consistent. That is contradictory from the last thing I mentioned. Making your kids stay up late isn't going to help them nap the next day. Talk to your partner and decide when a good time is to put them down. 
• Do things before bed. Kids love routine. At our house I have the boys pick out their shirt, we have bath time every other night, we read stories and we brush teeth. They know what they have to do before bed because it's what they've always done. My 4 year old reminds me if we haven't done something. 
• We did something we called, Tour de Clocks. Early on when the boys were only 6 months or so, we'd take the boys around the house at bedtime. We'd show them the clocks and that it was bedtime. They LOVED this! After awhile we stopped Tour de Clocks. They got too heavy to carry around. They also just knew when we said it was bedtime it was bedtime.

One of my US readers will win The Sleep Easy Solution! Cara Familian Natterson, M.D. Author of Your Newborn Head to Toe said, "Filled with sound advice, this is the one sleep book you'll need for your child's first five years of life."

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I bought this book to help with this giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. This is a US giveaway.

BabyLegs Giveaway!

We had our first snow yesterday. It melted just about as fast as it hit the ground, but it was still wet and cold. Now is the time to start bundling your kiddos up.

Mom4Life has a wonderful selection of BabyLegs! They can be used for baby's legs of course, toddler legs and arms, children arms and adult arms.

 

For Baby:

• I love that they can easily go under a baby's pants. 
• They can be pulled off without even taking their pants off. 
• Since there are no snaps, they make diaper changing so easy.
• They help protect cruisers legs from getting dirty, or bruised from crawling on hard floors.

 For Toddlers and Children:

• Cover their legs with them for easy potty training. 
• Pair up BabyLegs with shorts for in between seasons. In the morning if it's cold BabyLegs can go on. In the afternoon when it warms up slip the BabyLegs off.
• Pair them up with your favorite short sleeve shirts for the winter time. They still get to wear the shirts they normally wouldn't be able to. Get as much use out of their clothing as possible.
• For girls they look great with skirts and tutus. 

For Adults:

• Even adults can wear them on their arms with a short sleeve shirt.

Mom4Life gave me a pair of BabyLegs.  I decided to give them away to one of my readers! One reader will win the White Burst BabyLegs as shown above.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I received BabyLegs from Mom4Life to help with this giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review. This is a US giveaway.

Labor and Delivery

One thing you really need to be prepared for when pregnant is your stay at the hospital. Make sure you have a birth plan, have a few pair of pajamas that fit, a breast pump if you plan on breastfeeding, a good nursing bra that you get fitted soon before delivery, some type of nipple gel for sore cracked nipples, clothing for yourself and clothing for you baby. I had two c-sections. My stay was longer than a vaginal delivery.

I wish I would have gotten more pajamas that fit right and my own Gownies Delivery Gowns by Baby Be Mine Maternity. They make some really stylish ones. 

Some Features Include:

• Great for breastfeeding and recovery time
• Stylish for newborn photos
• You'll have a chance to try it on ahead of time to know it fits right and is comfortable
• Comes in 3 different sizes
• Approved by the hospital staff
• Off the shoulder front snap for easy breastfeeding and examinations
• Snaps to close from top to bottom
• The trim is satin
• 100% cotton that is machine washable
• They are not expensive $29.99 with free shipping

Whether you plan on breastfeeding or not it's great to take LilyPadz. They help with extra leaking and remain breathable. 

Some Features Include:

• Tested by Dermatologists
• Free of adhesive
• Breathable
• Free of latex
• Non-Absorbent and Non-Collecting
• Made in the US
• Thin
• They are on sale right now List price: $22.95 Price $19.99 with free shipping

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Mom4Life provided to me a free product to help with this post.

Keep Their Arms and Legs Warm With BabyLegs

This is the time of year where the weather goes up and down. On Saturday it was in the 70s and on Sunday it was in the 30s. Now that it's getting cold outside it's time to think about covering up your baby or toddlers legs.

BabyLegs are wonderful because you can put them on; as the day warms up you can slip them off. They are so easy to remove. They simply slide off without hassle of snaps.

As you can see in the photos above older kids can wear BabyLegs on their arms to. I loved hanging onto BabyLegs for my older kids. They work great for cold mornings. If they got hot, they just slipped them off. Plus they are very stylish!

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Mom4Life provided to me a free product to help with this post. 

Did You Know it is SIDS Awareness Month?

What is SIDS?

It's Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and is the leading cause of death of babies in the US. Many times SIDS happens because a baby may have abnormal or  immature functioning of the heart and/or breathing. The bottom line is that no one knows for sure why SIDS happens. 

There are things we can do as parents try and prevent SIDS from happening.

• Put your baby back to sleep. Meaning, don't lay them on their tummy. This doesn't mean that your child shouldn't get tummy time. Just try and give them tummy time when you are in the same room. 
• Buy a swaddle blanket, or a baby sleeping bag. These are handy and your child can't get all twisted up in them like they can with a blanket. Plus it keeps them warm because they can't push it off like they can a blanket.

Source

• Get rid of the bumper. Many crib sets still come with a bumper. There are some safe ones out there, but there aren't many.  I cut my son's up and made pictures on the walls with them. The room still looked cute and I felt better knowing he was safe.
• Give them the binky. There's been thoughts that the pacifier is bad. It's good to give them when your baby knows how to latch to feed. Once that is established, give them the binky. What you don't want is nipple confusion to happen. Once they are ready for the binky, the sucking motion keeps them breathing. It's a good thing. When they start throwing their binky out of the crib it's their sign of saying, "I'm done with this thing." After they get a lot of teeth, a pacifier isn't the best on them. 

Mom4Life has their prevention of SIDS products on sale this week.

Music Helps Children Develop

I am really excited to share with you a children's CD called Bubble Ride by Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys.

I'm giving Bubble Ride away on my site called Planet of the Apels. Please go and enter here!

How does music help children develop?

Much of my information I'm getting off of MedicineNet.

Music stimulates the emotions, brain, and the body all together. Communication is developed in auditory impulses. Music holds many ingredients to advance speech, movement, and expression.

If parents, healthcare providers, and early childhood educators on these great benefits of music, we'd have very happy children!

Some ways I've encouraged my kids to listen and enjoy music:

1. We listen to music in the car. This makes road trips less of a drag. Happy music makes our children chipper. If our children just woke up from a nap, we play classical music. They are not in the mood for beat when they've just woken up.
2. We listen to music when it's time to clean up. I hear negative responses when it's clean up time. As soon as the music goes on, the negativity seems to disappear. They dance, sing and clean. We have races to see who can clean up the most before songs get done.
3. We jam to music. Daddy grabs a mop to be a fake guitar, Isaak grabs a kitchen bowl for a drum, Mica grabs pencils to drum on the leather couch cushions, and I grab a brush to be a fake microphone. We laugh at our silliness. 
4. We act out songs. There is a song called Tickle Monster on Bubble Ride. We end up tickling each other during the song.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. I received a CD of Bubble Ride to help with this review/giveaway. I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

Betty Lukens Flannelboard - Fun on Farm Review

I am very happy with the Betty Lukens Flannelboard. We happened to get Fun on Farm to review.

It was pretty fun to play with all the people and animals. 

We love that Betty Lukens contains the following:

• Learning
• Conversation
• Fun
• Doesn't require batteries
• Is a quiet toy

Here is the board Mica started out with:
 

I really like that the barn was one of the pieces. From the package on the website it almost looked like it was part of the background. Mica new what to do. He even made up a story to his felt board creation. 

Betty Lukens Flannelboards are $16.95. The scene is 13"x15" with over 20 farm animals.

I think it's a great toy to play with. Mica needs a quite toy to play with after school. He gets so stimulated during school. The boy is tired when he gets home. They are also an excellent toy for homeschooling kids.

Like Betty Lukens on Facebook and Twitter to see future promotions, deals and learn more about their products.

Disclaimer: The opinions on the post are my personal take on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. I am not compensated to provide my opinion except for receiving the products themselves to test out. Betty Lukens provided to me a free product to help with this review.