Mommies With Style

In honor of Earth’s Best’s 25th anniversary, they are inviting parents and grandparents to share their own wishes for their baby’s future. The company wants to hear about the hopes and dreams parents have for the next generation. These wishes will be shared with the online community and entered into a sweepstakes where one lucky child will win a $25,000 savings bond from Earth’s Best.

To enter:  Visit www.earthsbest.com and submit a wish to be entered.

Sweepstakes Prizes:

* 1 Grand Prize: $25,000 US Savings Bond

* 4 First Prizes: Earth’s Best Organic Birthday Bash ($850 value)

*25 Second Prizes: Earth’s Best Gift Pack ($38.99 value)

Monthly Prizes: Each month, 25 winners will be randomly selected to receive a $25 US Savings Bond and $25 in Earth’s Best coupons to help them save for their baby now and in the future.

Everyone who submits a wish will be mailed $4.00 worth of coupons for the complete array of Earth’s best products. Parents can also print and frame their wish – choose from 12 wish styles, all are printable and will fit 6×4 frame as a keepsake (for free).

Go to http://www.earthsbest.com/earths-best-wishes/wishes for more information. Wishes can be entered from now to March 31st, 2010.

I have been so impressed with Bravado Designs while wearing their bras the past month. They sent me samples of the Sublime Nursing Bra and Panties and the Allure Underwire Nursing Bra and Panties and I have to tell you that all the Bravado bravo is completely warranted. There’s a reason this nursing bra line has such a reputation: it looks good, feels good, works well with baby and (best part) holds up well through multiple washings.

When Bravado offered to send me a set of each of these lines (both the bras and the panties to match) I was happy to try them out. A little skeptical, I wondered how much I would enjoy these bras more than others? For all the reasons above, Bravado bras have been fantastic.

And, whewee!, are they sexy! I was  never a lacy-unders wearer and wearing the lacy-little-Sublime necessities I know I look sexier than when in my bulky old nursing bras. So this Valentine’s Day, I’m sure I’ll wear my Sublime Nursing Bra and matching panties and I’ll feel sexier.

I’ll also share that I was very skeptical about wearing the Allure Underwire Bra when breastfeeding. As I’ve shared in the past, my boobies have become alternately known as my saggy baggies, and I know that underwire lifts those bags and adds shape. Still, as a breastfeeder, I worried that the underwire would inhibit my flow. Not at all. I’m not a professional fitter, but I can easily compare bras with bras and tell you that if the bra is made well and fits right, its not going to bother you when feeding.

So, the giveaway: Enter to win an Ultimate Nursing Bra Wardrobe like mine. One winner will receive one set of Allure Underwire Nursing Bra and panties and one set of Sublime Nursing Bra and panties. Please comment to this post on Mommies with Style telling us why you want to win. Make sure to include your e-mail address because if we can’t contact you, you won’t know you won. Winners will have 48 hours to respond to our e-mail before forfeiting the prize. Winner’s name will be drawn through random.org on Sunday, February 14, a gift for one lucky Valentine.

Bravado sent me samples of both of these bra sets for this review. They are also providing the giveaway prizes, which will be shipped from their location. Completely separate from writing this review and hosting the giveaway at Mommies with Style, Bravado Designs invited me to be a Bravado Mama Ambassador on my personal blog, Just Precious.

Congratulations to Brenda D. in NC for winning last month’s giveaway from Family Dollar.  For the rest of you, don’t forget to enter this week’s Kraft giveaway!

In honor of some social media outreaches that Kraft’s been doing, they are giving away one gift basket to one lucky reader on Mommies with Style this week.

Here’s some info about the gift basket:

Kraft Foods has generously provided 2 Kraft Foods gift baskets filled with 4 delicious holiday recipes from the Kraft Foods Kitchens, a Zak Designs garlic peeler, an HA Mack olivewood mixing spoon, NEW Velveeta Rotini and Cheese Whole Grain, Planters cocktail peanuts, Planters pecans, Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, Stove Top, Honey Maid cinnamon crackers, Jet Puffed marshmallows, Oreos, Kraft salad dressing, NEW Maxwell House Blend coffee, NEW Ritz Brown Sugar Cinnamon crackers and NEW Wheat Thins Flatbread crackers.

To enter, comment and let us know what your favorite Kraft product is!  One winner will be selected at random after January 29th.

Check out the cool ways you can interact with Kraft online these days:
Kraft Foods recently re-launched their Facebook fan page <http://www.facebook.com/KraftFoods> and The Kraft Foods Channel on YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/KraftFoods>. Both sites have delicious recipes and seasonal tips…just in time for the holidays! They also provide a forum to exchange ideas and recipes, ask questions and provide feedback.

Kraft Foods also launched the Twitter handle: @KraftFoods <http://www.twitter.com/KraftFoods>  for tweets of popular recipes from the Kraft Kitchens.

Looking for a way to stay sane till the frost melts? Gotta keep those active kids entertained indoors?  I can’t praise the Rody horse from Maukilo enough. Maukilo has a site chock full of toy goodness, but the Rody holds a special place in my heart. It’s the perfect solution for active indoor play on all those chilly, snowy, rainy days when your kids have energy to burn. Read to the end of this review for a chance to enter to win a $50 shopping spree from Maukilo.com

Rody horses have been in my house for over a decade. Our original red Rody horse is still going strong after hopping many a mile around our neighborhood and around our living room. But I hopped (pardon the pun) on the chance to review a new yellow Rody Horse. Our one problem with the original horse is its popularity. We’ve had fights break out over the thing. At one point I purchased a cheap Rody imitation to try and deal with this. It promptly popped.  Nothing but the real thing for us from now on! It’s no coincidence that the motto on the Maukilo site is “Buy Once. Play Forever”. That about sums up what I love most about the quality european toys sold at this site.

Over the years I’ve recommended Rody countless times to friends and family. Some of the questions I’ve heard are :

Q:  How old does a kid have to be to enjoy Rody?

A: The packaging states 3 yrs, however my children enjoyed this toy with supervision from a younger age. My youngest child was able to sit and bounce on Rody from a yr old, though he needed help getting on and off. By 18 months he was bouncing around the house without anyone holding on.

Q: Don’t your kids get sick of Rody?

A: No. Not at all, even after ten yrs my 13 yr old tries to get on one.

Here’s a little video I made of my sons bouncing around on Rody. Note that the red one has been in our house for many years. It never gets old!

Ready to enter for a $50 shopping spree? Visit the Maukilo Site and select your favorite toy item. Enter below by posting a comment with a link to the item, who you like it for, and why you like it. Please note, you cannot enter simply by commenting “I want this” etc or duplicating a previous entry. You have to actually tell us the what, why and who to qualify!

One winner will be picked at random.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that it just keeps getting easier to feed your child healthy organic baby food. What was once a laborious task, with my oldest child (shopping, preparing, freezing, etc) has just become a no brainer with Ella’s Kitchen baby food products. A friend brought over a starter pack recently, suggesting I review them for Mommies With Style and I just want to send her a big public thanks! Even though we are not really in the baby food stage any more I will definitely buy this product to have on hand “in the mix”. If you are just starting out with baby foods or in the thick of infant feeding, seriously, you need this! Want to try it for yourself? One lucky reader will have the chance to try out a sample pack and I’m you’ll agree!

All the Ella’s Kitchen Stage 1 baby foods contain JUST organic fruits and vegetables, no fillers, no added salt or sugar, and unlike most baby foods, not even added water which would dilute its food value (if you look closely you’ll see that often up to 40% of many baby foods’ ingredients are actually water). The fruits and vegetables are pureed until smooth, gently pasteurized and popped into handy, light, re-sealable pouches.

Did I mention how much I like this packaging? It could not make eating on the run easier. The pouches have a sort of spout and a lid. You unscrew the lid to serve the food – just squeeze out what you need and recap, placing the remainder in fridge or freezer. If you’re in a pinch to serve a snack in the car, older toddlers can actually slurp the smoothie fruits and any of the Stage 1 blends, juice pouch style.

I never liked carrying glass containers of food in my bag, and frozen baby food is just not easy to deal with on the road, or on the spur of the moment. The fact that this food never needs to be refrigerated prior to use and has a 12 month shelf life without preservatives is just mind boggling and a little rock my world-ish. I had to read more about how they managed to do this. The secret is in the packaging, a method similar to canning but they’ve managed to preserve the nutritional integrity. Clearly the concept appealed to me from the start. There was only one last test to pass… The taste test!

For the taste test we brought in my 21 month old son. He’s past the baby food stage, clearly, but that did not dampen his enthusiasm for Ella’s kitchen foods. He happily slurped up the Smoothie Fruits and wanted to try all the Stage 1 foods. We let him try one a day (note: he would have happily tried them all at once, but moderation kiddo!) He actually would select the pouches himself, thinking carefully then announcing “I want yellow!” or “I want green!”. We packed pouches in his bag for the daycare at the gym and took some with us when we went out on errands or to dinner.

So far every pouch has been pronounced “yummy” and not “gucky” which is toddler for yucky, and in liberal use at our house. This overwhelming endorsement of non guckiness is like an awesome Michelin rating as far as we are concerned. I’m recommending this stuff to all my friends and buying more to have on hand for those days when all my son wants to eat is pasta and I want to get something else into him.

And now the giveaway… Leave a comment below telling us what flavor of Ella’s Kitchen Baby Food you think your child would enjoy the most. One winner will be chosen at random to receive a sample pack containing all 6 Stage 1 baby foods and the Smoothie fruits.

Congratulations to the winners!

Lise scored a Learning Curve SuperWHY Touch & Learn Super Duper Computer

and Adina won Chicco’s Billy FunWheels!

Enjoy!

There are items appearing under the tree this year for my 3 year old daughter from a company I didn’t expect. Avon. When I hear Avon, I usually think make-up. But they offer so much more. One item that I know will be a huge hit is Natalie, a Madame Alexander doll. Made by the world-famous doll maker, the three dolls offered are Avon exclusives. Each doll is 18″ tall and is poseable. For the collector, the dolls come with certificates of authenticity. Madame Alexander dolls are known for their quality and these dolls are no exception. Avon is offering them for $49 each, which is less than other dolls in this category. You can even purchase an outfit for your daughter to match your doll’s. So cute and so much fun.

Avonalso recently introduced their first-ever kid’s collection, featuring both cozy knits and dressy ensembles. Avon’s 2009 Fairytales Collection has items for both boys and girls and best of all nothing is over $49. Avon is giving away one clothing item or set from this collection to one lucky Mommies With Style reader. Enter to win by subscribing to our newsletter. If you are already subscribed, you are already entered! This giveaway runs through December 28nd. One winner will be announced on or after December 29rd.

Avon provided samples for review.

Caution: this post involves my boobs, make-up and my penchant for John Hughes films. Consider yourself warned. What does Virgin Mobile’s Rumor2 phone have to do with all this? Let me explain.

I should start by saying, I’m not giving up my iphone. Not a chance. I love that thing. I love it so much that I love it to DEATH. On a regular basis. I’ll be crafting a live story on Whrrl or using it for an emergency tarot card/horoscope reading when a bird poops on me. I’ll be competing against my 5yr playing Flick Fishing or taking pictures of stuff, like uh, you know, my own cleavage. And then poof. That battery goes from 10% to R.I.P. in six seconds flat. Right when I was supposed to do a conference call.

This is why I leapt at the chance to review an LG Rumor 2 phone from Virgin Mobile. Virgin’s model is pay and go and a good value at $50/month for unlimited calls without a contract. It’s a great phone with all the bells and whistles, at a great price. No contract needed. This is a good thing for a backup phone, or phone you give to your tween or teen part time, or to a sitter or grandparent while watching the kids. They sent me the phone, prepaid for a month. I had to swat away my teenaged daughter’s twitching texty fingers and find a safe place to secure my emergency back up.

I found that place. In my bra. Laugh if you will, but a bra is a great place to carry your cellphone in a pinch!

Virgin is currently running a Sexiest Mouth in America contest where you can take a picture of your smoocher and win cash and a free phone and a year of free calling. They’ve partnered with E.L.F. on this effort. Here is my segue way into the John Hughes thing. I was at an ELF Makeup at Home Party last night, talking about the phone in my bra thing, and trying on lipstick. I started to reminisce about Claire/Molly Ringwald from the Breakfast Club and attempted to recreate the lipstick application scene. The color was Trendsetter from the mineral line, by the way. Love that color & collection! Click the link above to see the party.

If only I could phone home AND apply lipstick from my cleavage. Then I could win this “Sexiest Mouth” contest for sure.

So I recently received a pitch from Family Dollar for the holidays.  It hit my inbox and I thought, duh, all of these dollar stores are such a great place to shop for stocking stuffers and small gift ideas!  I know, I know, the rest of you are rolling your eyes at me because you already know this.  But it was a great reminder of a place I could find affordable gifts.

Family Dollar sent over a box with some sample products, each item $5 or less and I was impressed with the items and their price tags.  Check out this list of seasonal toys they currently have for sale.  If you have a local Family Dollar, be sure to take a visit for any last minute gifts you are looking for.

And as a bonus, Family Dollar has donated one $50 gift card for one lucky Mommies with Style winner.  Enter to win by leaving a comment below.  Do you shop at your local dollar store?  What do you like to buy there? 

This giveaway will close end of day, December 22nd.  One winner will be selected at random on or after the 23rd.