Just For Moms - Palm Bay Coolers

While lying in the tub with my book and a drink last night, I thought, hey - every mom needs this! An hour to ourselves to just escape into something other than our own lives (and what could make this even better than a cold cooler to help you relax?)

This summer my new fave coolers are Palm Bays. They come in 3 flavours: Pineapple Mandarin Orange, Ruby Grapefruit Sunrise and Strawberry Pineapple. The last flavour is a new one and definitely my least favourite of the three. While I soaked in the tub I tried to think about why these are my new favourite coolers and I came up with these three reasons:
1. They come in cans not bottles.
2. They come in a six pack not four.
3. They taste REALLY good.

So, when you have a few minutes to yourself and are looking for something yummy, I would definitely recommend picking one of these six packs up!

Could It Be Baby

I have a new post up on Could It Be Baby, "What Schedule?". Check it out at www.coulditbebaby.blogspot.com!

Toddler Favourite - Adventure Play Tent

While visiting my parents the last few weeks, Hudson enjoyed playing with this cool toy called an "Adventure Play Tent" which is made by Blue Hat (the same company that we got the Kids MP3 player from). It is basically two tents that are connected by a tunnel. He loved not only just playing inside of the tents, but crawling through the tunnel back and forth. I can see that this would be a great toy if you had two or more children, but as it was just Hudson there, I was the other kid who had to play in it. I could fit into the tents, but the tunnel was a bit iffy! :)

Now that we are home, I have been trying to find this tent online. Every site I go to says that is currently unavailable??? I did find however, a similar tent, made by Discovery Toys, but it only comes with one tent and a tunnel.

My mom purchased the tent from one of those companies that brings things in to your workplace, so I am going to try and contact the woman who I bought the MP3 player from and perhaps she can get me the tent also.

The only con I can see about the tent is that it needs a lot of room when set up. It was easy to put together and seems somewhat durable. I could see little ones storing their toys in it and having a lot of fun!

Even just a kids tent as a toy could be hours of fun!

New Feature

I have added a new gadget where it suggests other things that you might be interested in after reading a particular post. The suggestions are computer generated (I don't choose them), but I thought is was kinda neat! What do you think? Do you like it or is it too busy??

Could It Be Baby

I have a new post up on Could It Be Baby, "The Mommy Worries". Check it out at www.coulditbebaby.blogspot.com!

Feeding Favourite - Fisher Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat

A booster seat is a definite must for visiting and travelling - it even comes in handy when babies are visiting you! I have tried a few different ones and so far I like this one the best. It folds up nice and small which makes it easy to carry and store away. The tray snaps in 3 different heights and it is dishwasher safe. H loves to sit in it and we often just put it on the floor and he plays with it there.

This particular seat has many good reviews when you search it online - which is also nice to hear! Check some of them out at http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=2687904

I purchased it from Sears, but when I just looked on their website today, I couldn't find it? You can also get it from ToysRUs.

Summer Favourites - Little Tikes Bike Trailer

Jillian shares:

"A must have again! We have used this bike trailer now for 2.5 years and have had great quality family time. We can easily fit two children in the trailer and it has a decent storage space at the back. I have also used this trailer as a stroller and was amazed at how easily it went through snow and over snow banks."

Thanks Jillian! We recently picked one up too and H loves to go for rides in his. Our is another brand - InStep - but it sounds very comparable.

Toddler Favourites - Step 2 Push Buggy

There was somewhat of a break from the heat yesterday and we actually got out for a walk after dinner. We took H in his push buggy car which is one of his favourite methods of getting around lately. It is a car that he sits buckled into that has a long handle so that we can stand upright and push him around in. He absolutely loves his car - probably because he has more freedom and space to move around.

We picked this toy up from Kijiji for just $15 and it was one of our best finds yet! We have taken this car for walks around the waterfront, to visit family and even to an 80th birthday party last weekend where the older kids spent a lot of the time pushing H around for us! I have even seen one set of parents bring them to ToysRUs to push their kids around while they shopped instead of using a cart. It is a great alternative to a stroller and makes the whole concept of being strapped in a bit more fun.

But there are two cons to this toy: #1 it is very loud as the wheels are made out of hard plastic and #2 there was some sort of recall on them lately as the handles were coming detached from the car and I guess kids were getting away from their parents (not sure what parents couldn't run and catch them??) The pros outweigh the cons for us though! (I was just on the Step 2 website and they are still selling them brand new so some sort of change must have been made to compensate for this.)

This car is an absolute must and can be purchased brand new for about $69.99 but I would suggest looking online at Kijiji or another online shopper as I see them up there quite often.

Looking For - Favourite Bath Products

A friend of mine, who is a soon to be mommy, sent me an email today wondering about which products she should use for shampoos, creams, etc. She has been doing a lot of research on it and is feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the "hypoallergenic, natural, none of this added or that added and not to use this because it can cause this" that she has been coming across. I use the Johnson products (lavender) but I know that they are quite perfumed and I have also tried some of the Aveeno stuff and both have seemed fine for my little H.

We are putting it out there to all of you for some of your favourite shampoos and creams - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. To add your favourites just click on the comment link below this post.

Please and Thank You!

Just For Moms - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

When H was about 3 months old he didn't want to nap. I was going crazy!!!! I didn't know what to do... so I first borrowed "The Baby Whisperer" from the library. After reading just a small section of the book I was crying as according to her I was doing everything wrong. I tried the methods from the book and stressed about this (and cried some more) for a few days, until a friend suggested I look at another book called, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child."

I went into this book with the realization that I was just going to get some ideas from it, not jump into it full swing. I absolutely loved this book. Now it did say that I was doing a few things wrong (i.e. letting H fall asleep in the swing, rocking him before putting him down, etc.) but it also gave me a few great ideas.

Number 1, work on one nap at a time - get the morning nap routine down pat and then worry about the afternoon nap. I loved that!
Number 2 - it suggested introducing some sort of comfort item like a blanket - BINGO!

I started trying some of these methods when he was about 4 months old. First, I would wrap him in his blankie and rock him (yes I know) until he was almost asleep and then lay him, with his blankie still wrapped around him, in his crib. At five months, I just had to rock him for a few minutes until he was settled and then lay him still awake into his crib with his blankie. At six, months he just didn't want to be rocked anymore - all he needed was to feel his blankie on his face. From this point and still now we just have to lay him down and cover him with his blankie and he goes to sleep without any complaint. Now, he may have a blankie until he is 10 (hahaha) but at least nap and bedtime are actually happening and are not so stressful.

The book also has suggestions for sleep all the way to the teen years. If napping/sleeping are an issue for you, I would highly recommend this book. But remember, you don't need to follow it step by step, just use it for some good ideas!

Another New Adventure for Me

I thought that just creating and writing this blog was going to be my big adventure - but I have now begun a second. I have just started writing for another blog called, "Could it be baby". It is a place for moms to go to read about helpful everyday hints or experiences that other moms are going through. I am very excited about this new venture - check it out at www.coulditbebaby.blogspot.com

Summer Favourite - Kids Pool

While at a Canada Day BBQ yesterday I was discussing with a friend how I wanted to pick H up a kids pool so that he could sit in the water and it would be a bit warmer for him than our above ground pool. She mentioned a great feature that I should look for, so I decided to share it with all of you. She suggested getting a plastic pool that had the edge that went right down to the ground (see picture #1). Speaking from experience she said that her children had cut themselves on the somewhat sharp edge of a previous pool (like picture #2) where the edge only curved down a bit. After looking at pics of both types, I totally understand what she is saying. So, while perusing the Internet this morning, I discovered that ToysRUs has the exact pool that I am looking for on sale this week for just $19.99 - YEAH!

Guess where I am heading this afternoon after H wakes up from his nap?

Thanks Jillian for the great advice yesterday!