Warm Milk’s Baby Hobo Convertible Diaper Bag ($95) converts into a nursing pillow. Just take this awesome diaper bag (which we’ll talk about later) and place on your lap (make sure it’s zipped shut first), and then clip it around your waist (using the shoulder strap) and pull it snug. It will fit mommies of all sizes. Then lift up the secured flap and unzip around to reveal the plush pillow. Place baby on the pillow and you’re good to go!

You can place a water bottle and a book in the pockets that hang down (so you can be comfy while you nurse). When you’re done, zip it back up (hint, do it BEFORE you stand up, so it doesn’t go flying). The diaper bag, has an insane amount of pockets (17), both inside and outside, a cushioned changing pad, 2 insulated bottle pockets with a cinch cord (so you can contain spills), stroller attachment rings (any brand of stroller connectors should work -we used Fleurville’s), and the adjustable, cushy non-slip shoulder strap. And another reason to love the Baby Hobo Convertible Diaper Bag – I can pack it full and it’s still light and easy to carry. The dual functionality of this diaper bag is terrific and it really did help me to breastfeed out of the house.

The company, founded by Patricia and Markus Peters, just introduced two new luxe styles, the Black Swan and Pink Celestial Dragon — which will be on sale in October.

The Month 1 Box from Citrus Lane includes all these great goodies pictured

Hey pregnant Moms & Moms of newborns, here’s a great giveaway from Citrus Lane:   The folks at Citrus Lane would like to give away one of their care packages.

The winner can choose from any of these four existing boxes, Newborn, Month 1, Month 4, and Bedtime for Year 2. Check out the pictures and click the ”See inside the box” link to see more details for each one.

Each box is valued at $45. Think of Citrus Lane is similar to a book of the month club.  It’s a subscription based service and subscribers receive 4-5 products in each box geared toward a specific baby age (newborn, one month, 18 months, etc, depending on which you choose).

It’s a surprise in each one!  Which is pretty neat because each product inside is a tried and true product that has been tested by real Moms.  You’ll may get products you didn’t even think to buy but can’t live without!

It’s a cool concept.  And one lucky Mommies with Style winner will receive one box of their choosing. Just enter by commenting below. One winner will be selected at random after September 6th.

Official Third Party Rules for Citrus Lane giveaways

With my son being 8 months old I had to learn very quickly that almost anything in his reach goes into his mouth. That’s why I find it very important to surround him with items that are safe and good for him, not to mention soothing for his teething gums. The MAM Baby products fit all these categories and offers a ton of products that your child will love at any age from newborn on up.

MAM Baby products offer a large range of products such as pacifiers, teethers, and items for breastfeeding, drinking and oral care. That pretty much encompasses all things that can go into your baby’s mouth. MAM pacifiers are developed by pediatric dentists and orthodontists. They also offer a wide variety of pacifier sizes that suits baby’s various developmental stages. This is good to know because not all children are the same, and may have different needs. Not to mention what they like one day they dislike the next….so hard to keep up! At least with tons of pacifier styles you can find one to suit your baby’s individual needs.

One product I found to be really cool is the MAM Hold Me Bottle.

What I thought was so neat was the little handles that make it easy for your child to learn to hold the bottle. The Hold-Me Bottle comes with a nipple and extra soft spout to help baby transition from sucking to drinking.  Not to mention that it will make for an easier transition to the sippy cup!

My little guy has no teeth yet, but before I know it he will have a mouthful. I would guess that it’s important to practice good oral health, to teach good brushing habits early on. The MAM Training Brush allows for mom, dad and baby to brush together. The handle is long so parents can assist perfectly with the first cleaning strokes. What a great idea! Once my guy gets his first teeth I will be sure to keep them clean with this brush!

MAM Baby is a great brand and has your baby’s needs in mind with all of their products. A baby uses it’s mouth for many things, and it’s important that you allow only the best and safest products to make their way into that mouth. MAM Baby is the perfect brand for the job.

Giada showed us how to make Linguine with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Olives and Lemon and Mini Caprese Burgers using the products she developed with Target.

I had a front row view and had a great time watching her cook and hear how she worked with Target. As she did her cooking demo, she chatted with us about kids and dealing with picky eaters (something that I deal with everyday with my oldest child). We found her to be warm and welcoming- plus the food she made was delicious.

Giada told us she prefers to strain her pasta by using a pasta scoop – not just draining a whole heavy pot into a strainer in the sink. She showed us the one she developed with Target called the Giada De Laurentiis for Target® Scoop and Strain Stainless Steel Colander ($14.99). We were given one to take home and it’s my new favorite kitchen tool. I don’t burn myself with the steam anymore by draining a whole pot of pasta — and since I make pasta for my children just about every day, it’s getting a lot of use. She also showed us her Panini Press and Mezzaluna Knife, as well as her Dutch Oven (which at $89.99 is pretty reasonable). As a mom who cooks every night, her tools (which were affordable and quality) are going to inspire me to create even more fun dishes for my family.

For dealing with picky eaters, Giada recommended making a few pasta shapes together to keep kids interested and to have my oldest child help me in the kitchen. We sampled her new specialty foods — note: you’ve GOT to check out her Charred Tomato Vinaigrette ($2.99) and her Pesto! New for 2011 is Bucatini, Galleti, Fuscilli Corti and Gobetti Pasta. The pasta has fun shapes and is organic. Prices range from $2.49 – $2.79.

I couldn’t possibly mention all the great Giada De Laurentiis for Target Products we saw, plus all the amazing Archer Farms and Target branded foods, but we love the selection and all the different specialty items we saw. One theme was rampant– they were affordable and still had quality ingredients. As Giada told us, “Only Target could have the resources to make her pasta sauce $2.99 and not skimp on good ingredients!”.

Thank you to Target who hosted Giada De Laurentiis’ Cooking Demo. We were given a samples of Target Grocery items to take home.

The Electric Single Breast Pump ($149) has four suction levels, which is super easy for a mom to control the speed and suction she wants. The soft silicone flange massages and flexes and stretches to fit. You can choose to plug it in or run it on the battery. It comes with a way to store the milk directly too — which is very smart. You can pump milk directly into Tommee Tippee’s bottles (in the 5 oz or 9 oz size) or into little storage pots (will hold up to 4 oz of milk). The little pots have storage lids (that won’t leak!). Included is a two spare valves, one 5fl oz bottle with slow flow nipple and protection lid, microwave sterilizer box, one milk protection lid, , two milk storage pots, six disposable breast pads. More bottles and milk storage pots are available for purchase.

As a mama to a teething babe, I love Tommee Tippee’s Chewthers Line. They worked with pediatric dentists to help support children’s oral development (by supporting lip seal, muscle coordination and jaw development) and helps your babe get some relief from teething. We especially love the Stage 3 Chewther Key Ring for 6 months + ($6.99). Besides providing teething relief — my baby loves playing with it!

Thank you to Tommee Tippee for providing samples for product review purposes.

If you have a baby or toddler, you’ve hopefully heard of HappyFAMILY, a wonderful family that makes organic and healthy food options for young children.  I received a pitch from them in my inbox about using some of the products in lieu of candy for the Easter eggs and I thought it was a great suggestion!

They suggest HAPPYBABY Pouches for Easter Egg hunts for the baby!  The pouch is fun to squish, brightly colorful and perfect for a backyard hunt.  The Pouches are made with only the purest organic fruits and vegetables, with no added sugars.

They also mention using HAPPYPUFFS are the perfect swap. Made with whole grains, packed with vitamins and minerals, and available in a variety of delicious flavors, HAPPYPUFFS replace those empty calories with a healthy snack to sustain additional hunting!

I thought I’d mention both as I think they are fab ideas.  The email was timely too as I had recently bought several boxes of Annie’s Organics Bunny Rabbits that I kept meaning to tell you all about.

My boys love these little organic cookies and I plan on putting these into Easter Eggs that I hide around the house.  Thought they were appropriate since they are little bunnies and all.

So far, my little guy is partial to the Sweet Peas and Garden Green Beans. This puree was bright green (and matched our Mamas and Papas Loop High Chair). Skylar loved it. We also sampled and liked the Roasted Bananas & Brown Rice flavor (yum), Roasted Pears & Apricots, and a few other types. We give Sprout a big thumbs up! I loved that it’s organic and a little more exotic than I would think to make (like adding mint to peas and green beans).

The pouches shouldn’t go in the trash – they can be sent to TerraCycle to be upcycled into new pouches. Go to http://www.terracycle.net for more info.

Click here for Sprout coupons.

Thank you to Sprout Food for providing product samples.

It’s four-in-one-product – you can steam cook with it, blend with it, defrost, and reheat. It’s got a 2 cup capacity and cooks super fast (less than 15 minutes for some foods). They’ve got a small recipe book included, but I wasn’t as impressed with that. But I was impressed with how easy the Babycook was to use. If you want to steam and puree carrots, for example, pour some water into the heating unit, put your carrots in the steamer basket in the bowl, put the top on, and turn the dial to steam to cook. Come back 15 minutes later to take the basket out of the bowl (be careful, use the provided spatula to lift it out), and put the carrots directly into the bowl. Put the lid back on the bowl and turn the dial to puree. That’s really it!

I used to make baby food on the stove in the steamer basket and puree it in my food processor. While that’s pretty easy (and low cost), I just don’t have the time to do it and I don’t like to leave pots on the stove unattended. With the Beaba, I can basically set it up, turn it on the steam, come back when its done and puree it. Much easier and foolproof and I just have one thing to clean. Once you play with it, you can figure out how to make almost any kind of baby food in it. The only thing I didn’t like is that instead of being able to walk away while the food purees, you have to hold the dial to the puree setting (in order for it to work).

While the Beaba BabyCook isn’t cheap, think of all the money you can save with making your own baby food at home! And the biggest plus of all is that you will know EXACTLY what is going into your baby’s food and you can easily make 7 servings (of 1/4 cup each) at a time to freeze. I use the steamer function to defrost also. It take longer than microwaving it, but I don’t like to microwave food for any of my children if possible.

I recommend getting the silicone multi -portion tray ($20) and I can’t wait to try out the rice cooker insert and the seasoning ball. While my baby just started solids, I already have several portions of foods made — like chicken with apple puree, apple puree, carrot puree, blueberry puree and banana puree in my freezer. Just pop the portions out of the multi-portion tray and put them into a sealable plastic bag or container (remember to label what you made). I also use the mult-portion tray for freezing the steel cut oatmeal I make in batches. I plan to find more recipes to make for my baby, once he gets beyond simple purees.

The Beaba Babycook is on sale for $134 at the Right Start.

Thank you to Scandinavian Child for sending a sample of the Beaba Babycook for review purposes.

One of my favorite features was the built-in bottle holders on the purple pump unit, so I didn’t knock the bottles over (yes, that’s happened to me before and I do cry over spilled milk). The pump is designed for everyday long term use and I was really happy with how it performed. It’s guaranteed to prevent milk backup in the tubing & pump and everything is BPA free. The pump comes with two extra white valves, two bottles and caps for pumping.  It doesn’t fit the same size bottles I have from another company, so I recommend purchasing more bottles if you plan on pumping often. I wish that I could use Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags to pump directly into, but they do not work with it (too bad, because I love them).

All parts can be steam-sterilized in a microwave bag except the tubing which never needs to be cleaned or sterilized because it does not come into contact with breastmilk. You can also use boiling water to sterilize as well.

If you are going to store your milk – here are the guidelines on the Lansinoh website.

Thank you to Lansinoh for providing the Affinity Double Electric Breast Pump for product testing purposes.

The Svan Chair by Scandinavian Child is the perfect blend of functionality and fashion. Here’s why I’m a fan:

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Gorgeous: Constructed from birch wood, the Svan Chair is available in 5 different finishes (whitewash, natural, cherry, mahogany, and espresso) which means you can choose a color that compliments your kitchen or even seamlessly blends in. You can also choose from 12 different cushion colors for added comfort and a nice pop of color.

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Space-saving: True, it’s no hook-on high chair, but for a traditional high chair it’s got a pretty small footprint – 19 x 18 x 33.5″ – or about the same size as a normal kitchen chair.

Easy to clean: Each seat comes with a plastic tray cover which is easy to wipe down and is dishwasher safe. Since the rest of the highchair is constructed of smooth pieces of wood, the Svan chair has fewer places for crumbs and drips to hide making it a breeze to keep clean. (The cushion is also easy to remove and machine washable.)

Design: The design of the Svan chair keeps it stable and balanced, and the lack of bulk makes it easy to pull the chair up close to the table – even right up to the table with the tray removed.

Long-range use: With the removable tray and guard rail and the ability to change the seat depth and footrest height, the Svan chair will work from infancy (roughly 6 months) up to adulthood.

The Svan Chair isn’t cheap ($280, not including the cushion), but they look stunning, hold up beautifully (you’ll definitely be able to use them for multiple kids) and can last a child from infancy on up.

With my third now big enough to start noshing on smashed bananas and pureed pears, he’s quite content doing it it in the Svan (he even hangs out in it while I’m making dinner!) – and I’m thrilled to have a sleek, space-saving high chair that blends into my kitchen.

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Note: I was sent a Svan sample for this review.