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
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.
Between all the houses Sy plays in and pees in, we’ve tried out about six little training type potties. We have two potty seats that fit over the big toilet (to be reviewed tomorrow) and two stand alone potties, both made by Baby Bjorn. One I like, the other one, not so much.
I do not like the Baby Bjorn Little Potty, I do not like it, Sam I am. It seems way too small for a kiddo to sit comfortably on. The kids always look all hunched and scrunched up, and their bottoms never look like they fit on the seat. Lots of time pee comes spraying out the front when one of the boys in our crew sits on it. If you potty train your little one at say, nine months, it’d probably fit them just fine. Maybe it’d be good on the road in emergencies, but I find this one to be messy, too small, and not worth the ten bucks. Clearly, I bought this one first. I keep it around for days when we have lots of kids playing here, but otherwise, it’s been banished to the bathroom closet.
The Baby Bjorn Potty Chair, however, is a much better mousetrap.
Potty training opens the door to yet more gear. Training potties, potty seats, fabulous pairs of Elmo underwear. So much for all that money saved on no more diapers, right? We have all the basics, but my favorite is the Primo potty folding seat. It’s exactly like what it sounds like it is, a folding portable potty seat. The white seat (yay! no Dora! no Backyardigans!) folds into quarters into a small little wedge. It slips into a purse or diaper bag no problem. I like to keep mine in a plastic bag since I am a total germ-phobe.
Our cousins just had a baby a few weeks ago. They were brave enough to haul him along to the family Christmas party. He was sleeping while we ate (brilliant child, letting his parents eat). They had the monitor with them, but they also had this totally nifty little device called Itzbeen. I can’t give this thing a proper review it since I’ve never used it, but I must say, we all thought it was one neat gadget!
The Itzbeen has four timers with little icon buttons: one for diapering, one for feeding, one for sleeping (or lack thereof) and one for miscellaneous (like administering medicine). It even has a little button on the bottom to remind you which side you fed your baby on last! My cousin set the timer for the last time she’d fed, diapered and gotten her new babe to sleep and got herself to the dinner table. The alarm went off when she needed to feed him again and off she went. It even has a soft light so you can see it in the dark. I wish I’d had one of these when Sy was wee! For $24.99, I think it’s a perfect shower gift.
Ahem. I was checking the price for this item on Amazon and looked at their “Better Together” section, you know, where they add an item that would make your purchase even MORE FABULOUS! Anyway, can you figure out what item with which they paired this? You guessed it: Breast Milk Alcohol Test 3 Pack. So, are they inferring that if you need a timer to remember when you last fed your kid, it’s because you’ve just downed an entire bottle of red wine while watching reruns of Oprah?
I’ll start reviewing products again in the new year, but I just can’t resist some after-Christmas bargains.
Just like buying a new car, I think this is the best time to buy a stroller, too. Most stores are making room for new 2008 models. Check your local shop or some good buys online. I noticed that the Maclaren Quest is on sale, as is the moderately priced Maclaren Volo (mostly mesh, lightweight, and under $100 on sale!).
The cool thing about having a website is I get to share groovy deals with all you readers. Here are some great sales for all the frenzied shopping we love to do on Black Friday.
The Discovery Channel Store is one of my favorites for cool, gadget-y toys. Come to think of it, it’s one of my favorite channels too, I mean, who doesn’t love Shark Week? I loved our ant habitat when we were little. This one, like most things these days, is a bit more advanced. How cool is blue nutrient rich gel? Is that just marketing speak for “sugar water”? Anyway, check out their Friday deal, 25% off with free shipping for purchases over $75.00.
For all of you shopping for the small tykes in your life, Babycenter is having a store wide sale (up to 40%) through the 25th of November.
Check out deals at Mini Boden and Amazon’s massive Black Friday sale after the jump.
I love the idea of making a gingerbread house, but the follow through is never as great. My pieces are poorly constructed, I eat the candy, the frosting dries too fast. I still try to make them every few years and enjoy it, but it never comes out quite as “Martha” as I’d hoped. Add a two year old who loves to make her own bread out of seven cups of flour and a bowl of water on the kitchen floor, and I just don’t see it in my holiday plans this year.
Enter the Twinkle Kids Gingerbread House Kit available only through Mahar Drygoods. The cake is made of wool felt over upholstery foam on a corrugated plastic cake plate. It has 70+ felt decorations, packaged in white cake box and tied with grosgrain ribbon and the whole shebang is handmade. My almost six year old niece would go nuts for this thing.
Ah. Autumn is here, the time change has finally happened, the stores are already decorating for the holidays. I love autumn, but as a parent, the change in season brings more to our house than crisper nights. Not only are the leaves are falling, but the snot is flowing. Time to stock up on tissues and bust out the humidifier box.
I come from a long line of croup. I got croup. My niece gets croup. My sister still gets croup. Sy miraculously did not come hard-wired for croup (thank you, Roger, thank you). But regardless, we got a humidifier last year for those nights when her cough got wheezy or the snot level was just too much for her to bear. Because we have not had to worry about croup like the rest of my family, we did not splash out on an expensive model. We used the Evenflo and I do not recommend it. It pumps out a lot of moisture, not fine mist and it also gets soggy near the unit itself. I always put a towel underneath it so it does not soak the table or chair near it. This also means I am usually a bit soggy myself when I wake up since if Sy is that sick, she’s usually sleeping with us anyway. It’s also fairly irritating to clean. The unit is easy enough to disassemble for cleaning, but I find it hard to shake the last bits of clean water out after I’ve washed it and it’s not like I can reach in to dry it off all the way. I put it in a sunny spot and hope for the best. Don’t get me started on the filters. Since simple humidifiers like this are breeding grounds for bacteria, next time I have to get a humidifier, I’m going to get a super-duper humidifier like my sister’s.
During cold season, my sister and her family spend many nights running a sick kid out into the cold night air or cranking up the humidifier (usually both). Since a croup cough responds much better to cold mist, the humidifier is also much more convenient than tripping over the (now pissed off) cat as she trots her sick, groggy kid outside once again to get some cold, moist air into her lungs. Gwen has a total workhorse of a humidifier, and it’s the same kind of humidifier as my friend Andie uses, too. Two people with kids that get nasty colds using the same kind of humidifier must mean something, right?
More after the jump on the exalted Air-O-Swiss.
So the other day, Apartment Therapy: The Nursery had a sale alert regarding fabulous trick or treat bags from Williams-Sonoma. Of course I got a set of spider treat bags for Sy and her cousin. (On sale for $2.99 each!).
Anyway, while I was there I noticed that Williams-Sonoma now has a kid’s section, wsKids. I dig the flatware. I’d love to see if they are worth the money. Anyone tried them yet?
I’m so thrilled that good design is finally migrating to the world of kids.
I fell down an internet rabbit hole today. It happens to the best of us, right? Anyway, I got sucked right into the Crazy Hip Blog Mamas and spent way too much time there. Since I am on such a “mama power” rant, it fit right in. We moms sure are cool.
All the way back in September (feels like a lifetime ago, September), the Hip Mamas were talking about a groovy line of organizational lists made by lobotoME. I love me a good list. I especially liked the MomMe weekly planner. Like I’d ever be that organized these days, but it’s nice to dream, right?
Happy Saturday!
When I was pregnant, all of my friends told me that I was a fool to register for the Diaper Genie. They complained of having to purchase special bags which was wasteful, it was expensive, twisting the diaper into a bag-encapsulated sausage every time was tedious, etc. Go with the Diaper Champ, they said. One flip of a lid and the diaper is gone. Being the rookie that I was, of course I registered for everything my friends loved and got the Champ. It even comes with blue trim or pink trim if you really want to drive home the difference in the gender of your diapers.
Two Champs later (once the funk sets in, there aint no going back), I finally started to listen to my friends’ current opinions for diaper removal. I recently succumbed and got the Diaper Genie II. Very important distinction, the I and the II.
Editor’s Note: Here’s the second brave soul to guest review on the site. This entry is written by my pal Andie, a professional writer by trade and a darn fine mother by nature. Thanks for taking the time to write this, Andie! Enjoy.
If you’re like me and find yourself rushing to board the plane on time, be prepared to answer the questions of onlookers coveting this little baby (and I don’t mean your baby—I mean the Travelmate). Every parent, grandmother and curious child will stop you and say one of three things:
1) I wish they had those when I was lugging around my kid’s seat!
2) Did you make that?
3) Where did you buy that? That’s the smartest invention I’ve seen in a long time.
I try not to lie to the poor mom with the car seat weighing heavily on her shoulder (“Yes, I made it while my son was napping Tuesday afternoon.”) and instead, as I make my mad dash to the boarding call, blurt, “Yes, it’s fabulous, and you can buy it online.”
I can’t sing enough praises for this. The gogo Kidz Travelmate essentially turns your child’s car seat into a stroller by attaching a frame with wheels directly to the car seat. Side note: Earlier models only fit Britax seats, but now the company includes with the newer model several different attachments that make most car seats attach to this little wonder. The newer model also features easily detachable wheels so you can fit the outfitted seat through the x-ray machine.
Like diapers, I feel like we’ve tried all the sippy cups there are to try. I currently have two in rotation, and yes, I have tried them all too.
1) Born Free Sippy Cups
BPA-free and all that. This cup/bottle is easy to hold, has a removable handle and you can go from a bottle nipple to a sippy cup spout without changing the bottle on your kid, too. The flow is fast while using the hard spout attachment and it feels more like drinking out of a cup with a lid
There are six parts to the cup while cleaning which feels a bit excessive. I usually throw them all in a big bowl of hot soapy water at the end of the day and wash ‘em all up. I put them in the dishwasher once a week for an extra clean since they are dishwasher safe. I’ve noticed that the soft spout tends to break down pretty quickly. I even had to throw one away as bits of the rubber were breaking off and Sy handed me one straight out of her mouth. I did not worry because she does not swallow things unknown to her, but it might give me pause if she were younger. I now use the hard spouts only. They sell the nipples and spouts separately and all work with the same basic bottle.
9/29/07 update: I just had to throw away another spout because the opening basically disintegrated into a bigger hole and there were little bits hanging off. I am going to attempt contacting the manufacturer about this and see what their plans are for fixing the problem, I doubt I am the only one with this issue.
Snapshot for Born Free
• I love the idea behind it, to have a safe bottle for my kid, but how safe are the spouts?
• Not so cheap, but readily available both online and at Whole Foods.
• The bottles also come in glass.
So as I mentioned yesterday, Sy was slammed with a random stomach virus. She’s allergic to eggs so sometimes I wonder if she ate something that flew under the radar, or did she just run her hands against the wrong germ pool? Perhaps it’s because the words “Back to School” are in the air, which in my house means, “Back to Sickness.” Germs must throw a party of their own on Labor Day weekend.
My girl tends to pick up every single solitary stomach bug. Some bugs are a few hours, some last a week. She’s a gagger and a hurler by nature, so it’s just her go-to illness. She used to puke down my shirt about every ten days for the first year and a half of her life. Ah, memories.
So anyway, this here house of ours is prepared should we be hit with a vomit-a-thon. After we got back from the hospital in the Spring we were so ready for anything that came our way.
Here’s my first Top Ten List to clean up during and after a tummy bug.
