YAY, BABIES!

It’s amazing how it seems that everyone I know manages to get pregnant at the same time.  There will be a few months of regular life and BAM! Five women are expecting.

Everyone should know by now I can’t have anymore babies but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to review baby gear!  Talk about awesome, I get to have the joy of giving my expecting friends and family the best gifts on the planet for free!

When the folks over at Mâkaboo.com offered to have me review their product line, I was THRILLED with their timing. My cousin just have birth to a beautiful baby boy and he was born with medical complications.  He was a preemie with blood in his lungs.

Everyone wants to send along that perfect gift but in a situation as delicate as this, I wanted to send something truly special.  The offer to review the Mâkaboo.com line of personalized baby gifts came as soon as we knew our new addition was going to be okay and I wanted to send her something truly special. (more…)

“I want!  I buckle!”

That’s the standard saying in this house from my two year old son, Joshua.  Everything, everywhere.  Grocery store carts – “I buckle!”, Car seat – “I buckle!”.  He buckles.

I do a lot of reviews and I always accept the ones suitable for my family (and me, I’m a fan of me) and when I was contacted by BuckleyBoo about their line of buckle items for toddlers, it was like the angels sang from above.

I little dramatic, you think?  NO.  Not when you’re child is mine.  Buckle.  Buckle, buckle, buckle.

I vlogged the cutest thing you’ll ever see so instead of me writing about our experience, you can see it first hand.  Before you watch the short clip that is so cute you’ll melt into the floor, I’ll give you a few details about the company-

Toddlers are fascinated with buckles, often bypassing a “developmental” toy to play with the buckles on their diaper bag or highchair.  Emily Ross and her mother, a child psychologist, observed this fascination with buckles and created BuckleyBoo, a collection of stuffed toys and crib accessories that encourage cognitive and motor development while appealing to toddlers with a bevy of buckles!

BuckleyBoo toys encourage cognitive development through multi-stage learning.  Starting at 15 months, a child embarks on a developmental journey where each mastered task serves as a springboard for the next level of learning.

Matching is the first developmental step with BuckleyBoo.  The child learns to scan and match the five brightly patterned ribbons, i.e., match polka dot to polka dot and stripe to stripe. At 18 months, children are ready to buckle, but are still not able to unbuckle, making BuckleyBoo a toy that is shared between parent and child.  Now that they have five of their own buckles with which to play, toddlers will likely leave all the other buckles in their environment alone. At three years, children will have both the physical strength and the problem solving skills to buckle and unbuckle which will keep them busy for hours and add another year of meaningful play while they continue to use their lovable BuckleyBoo pal in their imaginative play.

The BuckleyBoo line includes a variety of animal characters including BuckleyCat, BuckleyBunny and BuckleyMonkey, among others.  The line includes three-buckle and five-buckle versions. The BuckleyMobile includes four removable Click Buddies, which are both finger puppets and rattles that buckle into a cloud canopy and can be clipped onto a stroller for the toddler on the go.

All BuckleyBoo products are available at www.buckleyboo.com and retail for $20-$30 (depending on size) and $50 for the crib toys.

Toddlers are fascinated with buckles, often bypassing a “developmental” toy to play with the buckles on their diaper bag or highchair.  Emily Ross and her mother, a child psychologist, observed this fascination with buckles and created BuckleyBoo, a collection of stuffed toys and crib accessories that encourage cognitive and motor development while appealing to toddlers with a bevy of buckles! BuckleyBoo toys encourage cognitive development through multi-stage learning.  Starting at 15 months, a child embarks on a developmental journey where each mastered task serves as a springboard for the next level of learning.

I love Macy’s.  They have the BEST baby gifts ever.  If you’re looking for a layette, you can’t beat First Impressions.   Six years ago, I found out I was pregnant with my first son.  Once announced, people kept telling me I had to register for a layette set.  I had absolutely NO IDEA what that meant.  Even though I was married and 27, I was one of the first to get pregnant out of all my friends, so layette’s weren’t exactly something we talked about regularly.

Well then the months passed and I got to do the baby registry thing and I was happily zapping away.  THAT was when I learned what a layette was.

According to First Impressions,  a layette is made up of all the soft pieces your newborn needs for his or her fist days and weeks.  These include: (more…)

Babies, babies, babies!

Seems like everybody’s having them these days, doesn’t it?

I remember when I was pregnant with my first child, I armed myself with my baby registry scanner and registered for just about every single thing I could find.  I registered for bottles, pacifiers and toys I’d never even use.  When a friend of mine asked me if I registered for a layette, I said “A wha-?”

I honestly never even thought about what I’d bring the baby home in.  I had no idea they took pictures of the baby in the hospital and I seriously didn’t know that I should get a super cute outfit to put on my baby when it was time for the pictures.

When I was finally schooled on the facts and traditions of parenthood, I then had to choose the layette I’d want my baby to wear.   I looked in stores and online and really wanted to make sure I chose what would not only look adorable, I wanted something that was super soft and okay against my babies sensitive skin.

According to First Impressions,  a layette is made up of all the soft pieces your newborn needs for his or her fist days and weeks.  These include:

• 6-8 Footed Coveralls
• 1 Hooded Towel
• 1 Hat
• 4-6 Convertible Gowns
• 4-6 Blankets
• 1 Robe
• 4-6 pair of pants
• 3 Take me home sets
• 9-12 bodysuits (more…)

“How is it?”

“It’s AWESOME.”

“Yeah?  Why?”

“Because it’s chewy.”

If my one year old could talk, that’s the conversation I would have had with him about the Smart Mom Teething Bling necklace.  How do I know this?  Because I have a 30 year old friend who chews on EVERYTHING and I had that conversation with him.

These cool Teething Bling pendants and bangles are non-toxic, latex-free, food–safe, even dishwasher-friendly!  I got the turquoise pendant and everyone seems to be fighting over it.  My baby, the one it’s intended for, happily ripped it off my neck (it comes with a break away feature) and then my four year old took it from him.

This was after I had that conversation with my 30 year old friend, of course.  Everyone wants to try it.  Even I decided to chew on it a little.  Between you and me, I actually have this on my side of the bed because it prevents me from biting my nails when I read at night.

Never in my life have I managed to quit biting my nails.  I get so into the book I’m reading at night, I don’t even notice that I’m doing it.  With the Smart Mom Teething Bling necklace I got, I absentmindedly chew on that and I’ve now got nails I actually get to paint and file!  They were actually getting TOO long and I had to shorten them the other day, so how cool is that?!

These super cute, super stylish teething products are designed for adults to wear to soothe and entertain babies with emerging teeth. Children with fully developed teeth may be able to bite through Teething Bling. Therefore, parents need to determine what is best for their own situation and child and as always, Smart Mom reminds everyone that children should never be left unattended with jewelry of any kind.

In honor of the many mothers and children who inspire us daily, a percentage of all retail sales goes to these worthy organizations:

http://www.curesearch.org

http://www.dressforsuccess.org

(in special memory of Maria Jankowski Maurer)