Gearhead Mom

Going Cuckoo for This Clock

IKEA is now selling one of the best kid clocks on the market. I don’t think they realize it—because it’s not in the kids’ section—but it’s perfect for my son, Max, and is saving my marriage.

Reusable Drinking Straws

I saw these reusable, polished stainless steel drinking straws the other day and thought they looked pretty nifty. They’re dishwasher safe, too. Anyone ever tried them? At first I wondered if they’d hold up after a few million bends from a four year old’s paw, but then read that they are angled into a rigid position. So my next question was whether or not my four year old would break them by trying to bend them a few million times.

RSVP International makes a fabulous line of products, by the way. I love that metal composter. The site is marketed for wholesalers though, but I found them on Amazon as usual.

Happy Friday!

MacGyver Baby Monitor

Diaper bag? Check. Baby Bjorn? Check. Food for toddler (just in case)? Check. Pumpkin pie? Check. Green bean casserole? Check. Out the door we go to Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house. We’re only 30 minutes late.

As soon as we walk in the door, we show off Baby G to the family, some who haven’t even met him. We know we have a short time window before he needs to go to sleep for the night. And this will be the first time he’s ever gone to bed outside our house.

About 20 minutes later, after being passed around from relative to relative, it was bedtime. Missy took Baby G to the spare bedroom and nursed and rocked him to sleep. Dinner was now being served.

Sy was having a blast with her cousins and aunts and uncles so I knew she was fine. I wolfed my dinner down so that I could relieve Missy. And then it occurred to me…

Crap. We forgot the baby monitor.

Ladybug Earbuds - Ladybuds?

I was up all night with one offspring or another. So instead of talking, let’s just look at something snappy, shall we? Jenny just got these earbuds for an adult, but I think they’d be pretty cute for the tween set, too.

Punchie Punch, Munchie Mug

Move over Snack Trap, there’s a new spill resistant infant and toddler snacking cup that is both BPA and phthalate-free and manufactured in the good old United States of America; Sonoma, California to be specific in town. Invented by a grandfather of six and manufactured by a machine he built, the Munchie Mug is committed to child safety and parent convenience.

The Munchie Mug when dropped or turned upside down does not spill any little snacking treasures inside out onto the carpet, couch, backseat of the car, grocery store floor, etc. It is made of 100% recyclable polypropylene #5 and all FDA food-grade approved materials. The Munchie Mug is dishwasher safe and baby safe. The soft fabric enclosure overlaps to keep snacks in, and it is soft enough to not irritate little hands trying to get snacks out.

OK. Sounds good, right? But let’s get down to brass tacks - did my girl like it?

The Guardian Angel Is a Devil of a Product

This just in from my uber techie husband. Thanks, dude!

Am I just too used to well-made and well-designed products? Is it too much to ask for something that works as you expect it?

Since Baby G’s arrival, I was tasked by GHM to find a better monitor system. My feature list was simple:
- One handheld monitor, two camera system
- Night-vision in the cameras
- Monitor can automatically cycle between the cameras
- 900 MHz or 5.8 GHz (so it doesn’t interfere with our Wi-Fi network)

It literally took me days of research. A single camera baby monitor is simple. We have used the Summer Infant handheld baby monitor since Sy was born and it’s been great. (Sure the picture’s a little fuzzy, but it’s good enough to make out what’s going on.) But once I started to look for a system with multiple cameras, the search got much more complicated.

Is That a Pump in Your Purse?

My friend Kate wrote a review of her favorite pump for us. Thanks, Kate!

I am a pumping queen. I pump every three hours, day and night. My pumping odyssey began in February when my son was born prematurely. Due to his premature birth and the calories it takes to suck, I was only allowed to breastfeed him twice a day for ten minutes each time during his stay in the NICU. I was struggling with my milk supply and so, during this time, I started pumping every two to three hours to establish my supply and produce enough to keep up with his feeds. After he was discharged, we never successfully transitioned from the bottle to the breast and so I continued pumping and bottle feeding. 

I’ve used EVERY SINGLE Medela double-electric pump on the market.  I’ve even burned through the motor on a hospital grade Medela Symphony pump. The Medela Freestyle is, hands down, the best Medela pump on the market. Originally, I had purchased the Medela Pump-in-Style Advanced, which was a great pump but it is in a large black tote, and was just not super portable. At nights, I used the Medela Symphony, which isn’t portable at all. Then the Freestyle was released. The Freestyle touts itself as Medela’s first hands-free, double-electric pump. It fits in the palm of your hand and is completely portable. All of this is true, and more. As it stands, I am writing this while pumping both breasts.

How Fast They Grow and How Fast the Digital Pictures Add Up

OK so I am totally intrigued by this company, check it out. How Fast They Grow, a mom-run company, is putting a digital twist on traditional scrapbooking. After the birth of her child four years ago, founder Cathy Bennett became disillusioned with the time-consuming nature of scrapbooking. So instead of sitting around and complaining about it like I would, she went and figured out a way to digitize the scrapbook.

How Fast They Grow allows parents to make lovely scrapbook pages on their computer in about 7 minutes and have them printed by HFTG. Just drag and drop your digital images into a cagillion different pre-designed templates, enter your own copy and boom, you’re done. You can even design and order just one printed page at a time. I like the idea of getting it done per event. Not as much pressure as sitting down with three rolls of printed pictures and no clue where to start.

Flipping Over FlipClips

OK, so I read about FlipClips over the weekend while reading my Martha Stewart magazine and I am totally going to make one.

FlipClips are individually crafted flipbooks, created using your own digital video. You start by uploading a video under 30 seconds in length. Next, choose a book size that meets your needs. Select a cover design, and add a title and Bob’s your uncle, you just made a book. The books are made from acid and lignin-free, heavy bond digital paper with industrial-strength binding. Their design team will even make you a custom cover.

The books start at $8.99 (what a superb gift for grandma for Mother’s Day). They even make books in greeting card format (shorter videos) that you can mail.

Now I have to go pour through the hours of Sy doing AMAZING THINGS like, you know, eating, walking, talking. Clearly she’s the first child to ever accomplish such great feats. I’ll review the product and process once I’ve received the completed book.

Labels, Labels Everywhere

At Sy’s pre-school we have to label everything; shoes, jackets, cups, bags, you name it. I end up just taking a sharpie to most items because let’s face it, the clothes I send her to school in are certainly not the poshest of combos. And as usual, I’m lazy. But my friend Micky got one of the Mabel’s Labels combo packs for all of her daughter’s gear. She’s had them for a while (over six months) and the labels still look great. They are dishwasher and microwave safe, although Micky usually hand washes her daughter’s cups. They even have stickers for allergy alerts, which I like since my girl is allergic to eggs. Although I must admit, I was boggled by the statement that said the stickers were made in a “nut-free facility for your safety.” Are there a lot of sticker factories that have sideline businesses making peanut butter cups?

And for those of you complete neat freaks (oh, how I wish I were in that category), they even have a cord-management pack! Mompreneurs after my own heart.

Hitch a Ride All the Way to the Gate

OK, so check out these nifty carry-on, ride-able suitcases. My friend across the street has two daughters, four and six. They went on vacation recently and took their two Trunkis along with them. According to the site, Trunki is “the world’s first ride-on kid’s suitcase. Designed for family vacations, children can pack, sit-on and ride their own luggage, whilst parents can keep them in tow. Trunki’s light weight and durable design is hand luggage approved, with generous space inside for toys, games, books and spare clothes.”

A Trunki suitcase weighs less than 4 pounds and is made of the same hard plastic that adult suitcases are made of. It is 18” x 7.9” x 12” and has a five gallon capacity. The case comes in both blue and pink. I like that it has a soft rim built in to protect little fingers from being pinched.

Here’s what my pal had to say about them.

Heaven’s Gate

The Retract-A-Gate is hands-down the best gate ever. I’ve owned several different respected types of gates, so I feel I can make such a bold statement. Sure, safety is the No. 1 concern—and it meets all those requirements with flying colors—but the main reason why I love this gate is because it practically disappears and is so easy to operate.

Peter Piper Picked a Potty

Ed. Note: Since I don’t have a son, I begged my pal Andie to write this review. Thanks, Andie!

Name aside, this Peter Potty is pretty hilarious—I get laughs from friends and strangers who venture into my bathroom to discover a pint-sized urinal. “That’s the coolest potty I’ve ever seen!” is the usual response, especially if it’s a guy. Potty training, however, is no laughing matter. It’s a pain in the ass (pun unavoidable), especially when you have a little guy who gets too caught up in his playing to hear his inner bodily fluid warning siren. Enter the Peter Potty. In the middle of playing with Thomas trains? No problem—standing and aiming a penis into a potty is way cooler than pushing Thomas through a tunnel. Right in the middle of building a block tower? Never fear—the Peter Potty has a working flusher that operates from a refillable water reservoir.

Boon Baby Feeder

A friend of mine received this all in one squirt baby feeder by Boon at her baby shower recently. Of course she hasn’t used it yet so I can’t twist her arm into reviewing it for me. I can’t tell if it’s a overly-designed uni-tasker or a lifesaver for travel feeding.

I just keep looking at the picture and thinking, would I use that? I never found it all that laborious to dip the spoon into Sy’s bowl of food to feed her when she was wee. Would it really be helpful on a plane or in the car? Of course, in today’s world of travel, you couldn’t fill it up until you were on the plane, and knowing my luck, we’d hit turbulence and I’d pour it in my lap in the process.

It’s not that expensive ($8.00), is made of BPA-free plastic and is dishwasher safe, which is good because I can’t imagine how I’d get it really clean with a sponge. I wonder how comfortable it is for the feeder to hold the large spoon handle and squeeze every time they need to feed the feedee? I guess I’ll have to wait for my friend’s report because I am just not at all tempted to buy this uni-tasker.
-Missy

Martha Stewart Crafts + Sale = Perfect for Your Pirate Party

I was checking out Martha Stewart: Crafts for their Valentine’s Day selection, but I found it underwhelming. So instead I took a little jaunt into the sale section. I think these little pirate flag food toppers would be perfect for a pirate themed birthday party. On sale along with a lot of cute Christmas craftiness.