Disney Family.com (formerly family.com) has added recently added a Self Section.  I recently attended the launch of this new section, which features beauty, diet & fitness, and relationships. It struck a chord with me, because with 2 children and a third one on the way, I don’t do much for myself anymore, beyond semi-regular haircuts. I haven’t gone clothes shopping in a while and I haven’t bought any new makeup (except my favorite lipstick, Paula Dorf’s Spunky, and my beloved Mac Studio Fix Powder) in years.  I’ll be going back to work in the fall and I’m going to need some help getting stylish!

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Got a leaky straw cup? For a true spill-proof version, check out Tommee Tippee’s Truly Spill-Proof Straw Cup ($7.99 for a 2 pack). I reviewed several of Tommee Tippee’s products last month and loved them – click here to read my post.

My two children, ages 4 and 2, use straw cups constantly. While we love one very popular brand, I am sick of seeing milk dribbled on my carpet. Tommee Tippee’s Truly Spill-Proof Straw Cup were truly spill-proof — nothing my children (or I) did made these cups leak! I turned them upside down, shook them and I was thrilled to see no leaks! The 9 oz cup is BPA-free and suitable for children ages 12 months and up. In fact, all Tommee Tippee’s products are BPA-free.
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Thinking about having a baby?  Know someone who is expecting?  Already pregnant?  Whether you’re shopping for a gift or just for yourself.  Here is my list of the top 7 items that have kept me happy (and sane) these past 8 months of pregnancy. 

Number 1: Maternity Pillows 

I can’t imagine these past few months (and the next one) without my Select Comfort Maternity Pillow.  About the middle of my second trimester I began to wake up with a sore back and realized that I needed some extra support.  I tried sleeping with a throw pillow between my knees, propping an extra pillow under my head and building a pillow blockade to keep me from rolling over onto my back.  None of these seemed to do the trick.  It wasn’t until I received Select Comfort’s pillow that I began to sleep soundly again.  The pillow is really two pillows in one.  A pillow to support your back and one to rest your ever-expanding belly are connected by an adjustable velcro pad in the middle.  It folds in half and has little cloth handles for travel.  And believe me, this pillow has gone with me anytime I was planning to sleep away from home.  The pillow is currently on sale for $29.99 on Select Comfort’s website, but hurry – the sale ends at the end of January!

Number 2: Leggings

I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be pregnant at a time when leggings are in fashion!  To me, they are the most comfortable thing to put on besides sweatpants, and I’m even able to dress them up to wear them to work.  The best part is that you don’t even have to buy maternity leggings – since they’re stretchy you just have to go up a size. 

Number 3: Organic Body Products 

Even before becoming pregnant I dabbled in natural and organic body products.  But from the moment my pregnancy test turned positive, I tossed all the old face wash, lotions and body wash and replaced them with products that I knew were safe for both me and my baby.  I figure that I’m exposed to so many chemicals and pollutants from everyday life, that the least I should do is try to reduce any additional contaminants I put in my body when I actually have control of it.  Sweetsation Therapy has a wonderful line of organic body products.  Two that I’ve been using throughout my pregnancy are the Aqua*Tica Organic Botanical Night Cream and Q*Lumiere Organic Day Creme with Cucumber and Co Q10.  Both of these pregnancy-safe skin treatments not only prevent wrinkles, but also treat skin discoloration that often occurs during pregnancy.  The ingredients list on both of these products is full of vegetables, flowers, herbs, and plant extracts.  They smell fresh and they’ve certainly done a fine job of replacing all the face lotions I used pre-pregnancy.  Sweetsation Therapy has a wide range of organic and natural products on their site for everyday use, pregnancy and even for babies.  Use coupon code Mommies with Style at checkout to receive 20% off of your purchase.

Number 4: Water Bottle

For someone who’s never really thirsty, the amount of water you need to drink while pregnant is staggering.  I quickly learned that if it wasn’t in front of me at all times, I was definitely not drinking enough.  Very early in my pregnancy I purchased a 750ml, BPA-free water bottle that has been filled with water and hasn’t left my side since.  It’s kind of like a baby bottle for pregnant women, though it’s certainly kept me from getting in trouble with my doctor!

Number 5: Layering Tees 

Pregnancy and layers just go hand in hand.  I could be overheating and sweating while my husband’s teeth are chattering in the car.  It’s the complete opposite of my life for the past 30 years, but it’s something I’ve learned how to overcome…it’s called layers.  It’s not very often these days that I leave the house (or my room for that matter) without at least one or two layers of clothing that I’m able to take off througout the day.  Between my tank tops and long cardigans, I’m usually wearing a long-sleeved tee.  One of my favorites is one I received from Love My Belly.  They are an online maternity clothing shop specializing in tees, though they also sell dresses, bottoms, and baby clothes.  My double-sleeve tee is a short sleeved black t-shirt with longer, patterned sleeves sewn into it.  It’s perfect with a pair of jeans or leggings to be casual or paired with a long skirt and short-sleeved cardigan for work.  And it’s extremely comfortable.  Place an order on the Love My Belly site with coupon code MWS20 and receive 20% off.

Number 6: Yoga DVD 

Now I have to be completely honest – I haven’t used my Pregnancy Yoga DVD much.  However, just the knowledge that I have it and that it’s ready for me whenever I have the motivation to actually use it keeps me feeling pretty good.  Pre-pregnancy I was all about working out and going to the gym.  Staying active and fit was pretty important.  There’s just something about being pregnant that takes that drive out of you, but that’s where a good yoga DVD can come into play.  I received a Yoga 4 Pregnancy DVD led by Brenda Strong of Desperate Houswives.  It’s a great workout for all three trimesters.  She even gives some great labor techniques that you can do with your partner.  The exercises aren’t too challenging and I’m sure they will certainly help during labor.  So if you’re expecting or may be in the near future, it’s definitely something to have on hand….just in case!  You can purchase the DVD for $24.95 from the Yoga 4 Fertility website.

Number 7: Accessories, Accessories, Accessories! 

I’ve always loved adding accessories to any outfit, though since I’ve been pregnant I’ve learned the value of doing so.  All it takes is a coordinating scarf, a chunky bracelet, or some big earrings to take the focus off of an ever-expanding baby bump.  Plus, with all the stretchy cotton pieces you’re likely to wear while pregnant, some fun accessories can help to make any outfit a little bit more exciting.  Twister Silver has some stunning jewelry that will liven up any outfit.  Despite the name, they have more than just silver and the styles range from delicate to showstoppers and from classy to bohemian.  Their prices are extremely reasonable and the pieces are definitely unique to anything you’d see in a department store.  I have a pair of their Glacier Earrings with a Victorian design and dangling Swarovski crystals.  They’re definitely stunning.  Check out all Twisted Silver has to offer on their site.  Their jewelry makes a wonderful gift for any woman, expecting or not!

Samples of some of the above products were provided for review on MWS.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Here are Mommies with Style, we’ll be highlighting products that support the cause over the course of the month.

One that I thought was very cool was this pink line from Master Lock.  They are making a donation towards the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for every purchase made from this product line.

Master Lock’s PR firm sent me some of these locks to check out, and although I never imagined I’d have an opinion about something as trite as a combination lock – these are cute.

They have padlocks and bike locks as well as good old fashioned combination locks like the ones we all used with our lockers in high school.  View the entire line on Amazon this month.

Here I am with Jillian - she was so nice

So I had a blast yesterday.  I headed up to NYC with MWS Writer Zareen to meet Jillian Michaels (The Biggest Loser, 30-Day Shred) and see a debut of her soon-t0-release Wii game, Fitness Ultimatum 2010.  It’s not yet available for purchase (you can pre-order on Amazon) - but it will be available next month and I have to say it looks pretty cool.

Zareen from MWS, Elizabeth from Party Planning Professor (love her!) and Moi

We had a chance to test it out and true-to-character, Jillian encourages and yells throughout the game.  The game is family friendly - as Jillian demoed the game she encouraged us to have our kids play as well.  (In the meantime, check out the 2009 version if you want to get playing now.)

What shocked me the most: how sweet and wonderful Jillian is!  I have to admit, I’ve never watched The Biggest Loser but I’ve heard she’s one tough cookie on the show.  She was down-to-earch and extremely genuine in person.

Many thanks to Beth from Role Mommy for organizing the event!

Chatting with Jillian (although have to admit, she's not laughing at anything witty I said!)

A shot of all the bloggers with Jillian. Zareen and I are over on the right. (Image is from Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife's camera - thanks Jo-Lynne!)

Weight Watchers Second Annual Lose for Good Campaign started on August 30 and will go to October 17. For every pound members lose, Weight Watchers will donate up to $1 million dollars to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger. Weight Watchers members will be bringing cans of food to their local meetings to donate to food banks.

“Lose for Good” Ambassador Jenny McCarthy and Weight Watchers CEO David Kirchhoff kicked off the 2009 “Lose for Good” Campaign at the Arroyo Head Start in Altadena, California. This community garden, designed and installed by Teich Garden Systems will bring healthy and fresh food to a community in need. Jenny McCarthy and David Kirchhoff broke ground this garden and along with Bill Shore from Share Our Strength, Sarah Copeland from Food Network’s Good Food Gardens, and several Weight Watchers Leaders, actually planted with young students. Maria Menounos from Access Hollywood covered the event.

I was invited to this kickoff, along with 5 other incredible bloggers, Melissa of Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, Arianne of To Think is To Create, Esther of FaintStarLite, Rebecca of Does This Blog Make US Look Fat, and Ronni of RonisWeigh. Click here to see my Whrrl slideshow of the event.
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Weight Watchers Second Annual Lose for Good Campaign starts August 30 and goes to October 17. For every pound members lose, Weight Watchers will donate up to $1 million dollars to Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger. I was honored to be asked by Weight Watchers to help promote awareness about this worthwhile campaign, which empowers Weight Watchers members to become healthier while also doing good for others.

Last year, Weight Watchers donated $1 million dollars to Share our Strength (which fights childhood hunger nationally) and Action to Hunger (which provides solutions to hunger globally), 2000 local food drives were established and 1.5 million pounds of food was donated by local food banks by Weight Watchers members – not to mention that Weight Watchers members lost a total of 4 million pounds!

To help kick off the the Second Annual Lose for Good Campaign, Mommies With Style will be giving away two 3-month memberships –good for in-person meetings or online membership. Current members who want to extend their membership by 3 months are eligible. 

If you want to donate to a food bank and aren’t a Weight Watchers member, google “Food Banks” to find one near you.

The Giveaway is now closed. To enter our Weight Watchers Giveaway:

The giveaway question is What do you  have to “gain” by losing weight? This is courtesy of my Weight Watchers Leader Rosalie, who posed it to us this morning. Please leave a comment under this post with your answer to be eligible to answer.

For extra entries:

1) Follow @mommieswstyle and @mwsnancy on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway to the hashtags: #loseforgood and #mommieswithstyle. Then leave a comment under this post letting us know you did.

For example, tweet something like this:
RT @mommieswstyle Enter the #loseforgood Weight Watchers Giveaway http://bit.ly/154nrp #loseforgood #mommieswithstyle

and/or

2) Become a fan of Mommies With Style on Facebook (Click here to find our fan page) and leave us a comment letting us know you did.

You can enter once a day on this site, Twitter and Facebook. We’ll choose the winner randomly on September 7th, 2009. You must be living in the US. to enter.

Getting outside is a daily requirement for sanity in our house, and one of our favorite summertime activities is to hop on our tandem bike, load the kids in the bike trailer and ride down to the beach. We’ve tried out a handful of trailers over the years, but none has been as impressive as the Baby Jogger Switchback Hybrid.

The Switchback is not only an incredible bike trailer, it also transitions quickly and easily into a jogging stroller. There are other bike trailers on the market that can do this, but most require you to purchase a conversation kit separately ($$!), require tools and time to switch back and forth between modes and don’t offer a way to store the extra pieces for the other mode on the trailer itself. The Baby Jogger Switchback Hybrid does all of this. And more.

The Interior

Compared to many other trailers the Switchback feels like a four-star hotel! The padded seats cushions and harness covers are luxurious and soft (though practical and machine-washable too) and there is ample legroom (26” length). There is even enough room to store towels, toys and our picnic lunch at my kids’ feet without diminishing their legroom. Suitable for either one child or two (up to 100 lbs. total), the Switchback provides two 5-point harnesses, interior pockets for holding sippy cups and snacks and a sturdy floor board to provide stability when entering and exiting the trailer. On nice summer days, we’ll roll the front wind/rain cover up and just use the zippered bug screen to provide lots of ventilation. But if it’s too cold/windy/rainy and we need to put the wind/rain cover down, I love that the Switchback has two side window vents that still allow the kids to get fresh air (and me to be able to hear if they are behaving).

Now for my two favorite features – the solid, continuous bench seat and the built-in helmet pockets. A previous trailer we used had a fabric seat that didn’t have any solid construction in it. Perhaps it would have worked decently for one child, but when we put two in, both kids would fall into the center, leaning on each other and inevitably leading to a battle of space. Though the Switchback is narrower than some (23” internal width) with the solid bench seat, both kids stay put in their seat space. My other favorite feature is the built-in helmet pockets. In many trailers, when kids wear helmets (as they must), they can’t fully lean their heads back against the seat which usually results in them being in a permanent nod position. The helmet pocket allows kids to sit comfortably while staying safe with a helmet.

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For $27.99, you can customize your own Sigg water bottle on Cafe Press.  What a great gift this is – choose from several different designs, put in your own text and voila, instant personalized Sigg water bottle.

Each bottle is one liter – which is a nice size.  It’s great for stashing in the car or taking it with you to the gym.  And best of all, you’re of course cutting back on your use of plastic and waste in the environment.

The tagline for this product, “Make your mark on a Sigg bottle, not on the environment.”  Love it.

As a bonus, we have 3 Sigg water bottles to give away – with the Mommies with Style logo!  Thanks to Cafe Press for making up these great bottles for us to use.  Three Mommies with Style winners will each win one bottle (retail value $27.99 each) – to enter to win, subscribe to our weekly newsletter.  Three winners will be selected at random from our newsletter subscriber base after June 22st.

My 5K walk is this Sunday and I think I’m ready. Last weekend I finally broke my usual 2.5 mile practice record and did 3.25 miles at a local park. I did 3 laps around the trail (equal to 3.25 miles), when I would usually do two (equals 2.5 miles).

The first lap was easy. The second lap was difficult. I wanted to stop but pushed myself. The last lap was surprisingly much easier. So, I’m hoping my walk Sunday is just as pleasant. My fabulous mother-in-law, and possibly my neighbor will be walking with me.

The 5K I will be participating in is the Autism Speaks’ 2009 Walk Now For Autism 5K which will be held on June 14th in NYC. Start your own team, or click here to join/support the Mommies With Style team. If you want to follow me on Twitter, to know how I did, use @MWSNancy.
For more details & other perks about the Weight Watchers Momentum Challenge, go to www.weightwatchers.com/walkit.

So, now I’m turning to you, readers. Any ideas for how to walk 3.1 miles easily?