RECALL NOTICE: Daisco Wooden Toys

Wooden Toys Recalled by Daiso Due to Choking Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: Wooden Toys
Units: About 430
Importer: Daiso California LLC, of Burlingame, Calif.
Hazard: The toys have small parts that can break and detach, posing a choking hazard to young children.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported.
Description: This recall involves four models of Daiso wooden toys including Penguin Handbell, Pull Doll, Alligator Pull Toy and Rolling Animals. The Penguin Handbell has a small metal bell inside its hollow interior. The Pull Doll’s limbs move up and down when the string is pulled. The Alligator Pull Toy is green and yellow will move in an undulating fashion when pulled. The Rolling Animals are in the forms of a dog, rabbit, cat and mice, and their tails are connected to their bodies by metal springs. Daiso is printed on the product’s packaging.
Sold at: Daiso stores in California from December 2008 through May 2009 for between $1 and $4.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled toys away from children and contact Daiso for a free replacement toy or a full refund.
Consumer Contact: : For more information, contact Daiso toll-free at (888) 580-8841 between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firms’ Web site at www.daisorecall.com

Please visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10005.html for photos of recalled items.

RECALL NOTICE: Daiso Children’s Toys, Purses and Pen Cases

Daiso Recalls Children’s Toys, Purses and Pen Cases Due to Violation of Lead Paint and Phthalate Limits

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: Children’s Toys, Purses and Pen Cases
Units: About 130
Importer: Daiso California LLC, of Burlingame, Calif.
Hazard: The surface paint on the balancing toys and zippers of the purses and pen cases contain excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint ban. The inflatable baseball bat toys contain excessive levels of DEHP, violating the federal phthalate standard.
Incidents/Injuries: None reported.
Description: This recall involves balancing toys in the shape of dragonflies, children’s purses in the shape of the head of a lion, frog or bear, children’s purses with rainbow stripes, children’s pen cases shaped like a piece of candy with stitching “cool ice cream,” “sweet cake,” or “fad hamburger” on the front, and inflatable baseball bats with “Home Run” printed on the side. Daiso is printed on the product’s packaging.
Sold at: Daiso stores in California from March 2008 through May 2009 for between $1 and $4.
Manufactured in: China and Vietnam
Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled products away from children and contact Daiso for a free replacement product or a full refund.
Consumer Contact: : For more information, contact Daiso toll-free at (888) 580-8841 between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firms’ Web site at www.daisorecall.com

Please visit http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10004.html for photos of the recalled items.

Traveling Without Your Kids

First let me say that I know Wiggle Bean is way to young for us to even consider traveling without her.  We have not even been able to leave her overnight yet (much to my sister's dismay, sorry!). 

In 2006 my husband and I took our first real vacation since our honeymoon.  I say real vacation because it was the first trip that was not traveling to see family or a trip that included other family members.  We went to Disney World with a bunch of my husbands family and even though I loved the Disney part, the trip was not all that relaxing or vacation like.  For our first real vacation we went to Jamaica for 8 days.  We stayed at a fabulous resort, Couples Sans Souci and loved every minute of the trip.  One reason we selected this resort is because it was adult only.  I know what you might be thinking, and no by adult only I do not mean like Hedonism. I mean that they only allow guests over the age of 18 and you must be traveling as a couple, no singles allowed. The Couples Family of resorts are some of the highest rated in the Caribbean.  In 2009 Travel and Leisure named all four of the Couples Resorts among the Top 8 Resorts in the Caribbean on the World’s Best list.  The resort was beautiful, the staff was so friendly, the food was to die for (and drinks were free!!!), and we met some really great people.  One thing I really like about the Couples resorts is that it truly is all-inclusive, you are not allowed to tip any of the staff  (with the exception of the Spa staff).  Employees can actually get in trouble for accepting cash tips.

We had such a great time that my husband took us back to Jamaica and Couples Sans Souci for my 30th birthday in 2007.  This time we went for 2 weeks.  What an amazing birthday, he will be hard pressed to ever top it.  Again, we had a wonderful time. Some of the staff that we met the first year were still there and amazingly remembered us from our first trip.  We would have our favorite drinks ready for us when we arrived at the beach, staff members would greet us by name and were always asking what they could do to make our trip more special.  To my surprise, my husband mentioned that it was my 30th birthday trip to guest services and when we went to dinner on my birthday, they had made me a cake.  The restaurant piano player sang to me and my husband arranged for the jewelry shop to send over the most beautiful bracelet that the server delivered with my cake.  It was an amazing birthday and an even more amazing vacation.  We still refer to it as our second home.

We met so many people that were traveling without their children.  They explained to us that they take a "couple" trip every  year to reconnect as a couple and then a family trip with the kids.  Since we did not have children at the time, a "couple" vacation sounded reasonable but now that I have Wiggle Bean, I am not sure that I could travel with out her.  I understand the importance of staying connected as a couple but how do you leave your baby for a week or two at a time.  I might be able to do a few days but when it takes 27 hours  (from leaving our house, waiting at the airport, flight time, a zillion layovers, trip through customs and shuttle drive to resort) to get to our resort, anything less than a week just does not seem worth it.

Would you consider traveling without your children and at what age is it appropriate?  If you have traveled without your children, how long did you leave them?

Wet Baby

***Warning, this post is about Baby Pee so if you are bothered by the topic, stop reading now***

I need help from all you experienced mommies out there.

When my Wiggle was a newborn, she wore a variety of types of jammies.  We used the footy jammies at first but found that we had to buy them a size or two bigger because she is so long and her feet were always squished.  After that we tried the gowns but I was always afraid that her legs would get cold since we were not supposed to use blankets.  Then we tried the non-footy type and I just put socks on her.  

As the weather got warmer, she decided (by screaming every time I attempted to put her in PJs) that she wanted to sleep in nothing but her diaper.  I let her, if that makes me a bad mommy,  oh well.  It was hot in her room and it seemed to help her sleep better.  Which in turn let me sleep better (I know how selfish of me!)

Now that it is getting colder, I decided that she needs to start wearing jammies again. The problem (and reason for the post) is that when she wakes up for her 2:30ish feeding, she is soaking wet.  Jammies, Sheets and everything.  I have tried one piece PJs and two piece sets and it does not make a difference.  This has happened 3 of the 4 nights that we have been wearing clothes to bed. 

It seems like the jammies are acting like a wick and pulling the pee out the top of the diaper and onto the clothes,sheets and teddy.  She is usually wet only on one side, depending on if she was sleeping on her back or front.  Yes, I let her sleep on her stomach.  She likes it and if I turn her over she just flips back over to her stomach.  I think it is OK now that she can lift her own head and roll over.

So without waking her up in the middle of the night, I have to strip her and the bed down and put on new sheets.

We go potty every night before we have our bed time bottle. If you are asking, how  I know she goes potty it is because we started some basic potty training about 2 weeks ago. She goes potty in her pink Bjorn potty every night before bed.

She usually takes about 8 ounces of milk before bed therefore her diapers are pretty full in the night.  I am sure that is the root of the problem but how can I not feed her if she is hungry?

My questions to all of you are:  How do you keep baby dry overnight?  Am I doing something wrong?  Is there a special night diaper I am supposed to be using?

Man, why doesn't anyone tell you about all of this stuff before you have a baby!  Someone should write a book with all these weird things so that those of us who are clueless will get a real picture on parenting.

Any advise is greatly appreciated, my laundry is piling up and I am tired of holding a wet baby!  We won't even talk about what I hold when she decides to take half of her diaper off in the night and it is full of something other than pee.

Fisher-Price Customer Service

 I wanted to give a big kudos to Fisher-Price and their customer service. 

We have almost the entire Rainforest collection for our daughter (excluding the play yard that was recalled).  One of her favorite things is the Peek-A-Boo Waterfall Soother for her crib.  Lately it has been getting difficult to turn it on so I figured that maybe the batteries needed to be replaced.  Of course I did not have the batteries that I needed so I had to go to the store to get more.  Man, I need to buy stock in batteries!

I gave my husband the batteries and asked him to change them for her.  He came out and his hand was wet.  He thought it felt sticky and said that it was the liquid from inside the waterfall soother.   The crib was dry but there was practically no liquid left in the toy. 

Since the liquid felt sticky, we removed the toy from her crib.  I figured that the liquid was safe (after all it is a childs toy) but I was not going to take any chances.   On September 12th, I called Fisher-Price's customer service line and talked with a very nice lady.  I informed her that the liquid was leaking out of the toy and I was jsut curious as to what it was for saftey reasons. 

She assured me that it was just colored water and 100% non-toxic.   Then she did something that surprised me.  She told me that she was going to send me a mailing label to return the straps from the toy.  Once they received the straps they would send me a new waterfall soother free of charge. 

I did not even mention wanting a new toy.  I was just concerned that the liquid was safe for my daughter.

I had the mailing label in my inbox  within a few hours.  It took me a few days to get the straps in the mail.  I mailed it out around Friday the 18th, on the 21st I received an email that they received it and that they would email me again when it shipped.  Wednesday the 23rd, I received a notice that they shipped it and yesterday it arrived on my doorstep.

I was impressed with not only how fast they processed the "claim" but that they were the ones to offer me a replacement.

Even better, I still have the original that even though it does not have any water left, still works.  Now she has that one to play with in the living room, since it has no straps, and one for her crib.

It is hard to find great customer service these days, especially from some of the larger companies.  Fisher-Price has definitely surprised me with their outstanding customer service.  Thanks to them my daughter has a new working Waterfall soother, we like to call it her TV.  She loves watching her TV.

Children's and Infant's Tylenol recall

September 24, 2009

You may have heard that McNeil Consumer Healthcare (the makers of TYLENOL®) is voluntarily recalling certain lots of Children's and Infants' TYLENOL® liquid products that were manufactured between April, 2008 and June, 2008. All products manufactured met internal specifications. However, the company is implementing this recall because during this period, an unused portion of one inactive ingredient did not meet all quality standards. Therefore, as a precautionary measure, it was decided to recall all Children's and Infants' TYLENOL® liquid products listed below, which were made during this time.

Parents and caregivers who have questions or concerns should contact their child's health care provider or our consumer call center at 1-800-962-5357 (available Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time). Consumers can find the lot numbers on the bottom of the box containing the liquid product and also on the sticker that surrounds the product bottle. The lot numbers of the affected products are listed below.

These actions do not apply to Children's TYLENOL® Meltaways and Junior Strength TYLENOL® Meltaways. The voluntary recall applies only to select lots of Children's and Infants' TYLENOL® liquid products.

Recalled Products - Full List

Lot #	Product Description
SBM041, SBM067, SCM037, SDM027, SEM109	Children's Tylenol Plus Cold MS Suspension 4 oz. Grape
SBM042, SCM015, SCM036, SDM034	Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Grape
SBM043, SBM044, SCM029	Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Bubble Gum
SBM045, SCM011, SCM030, SDM035	Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Strawberry
SBM064, SCM033, SDM020	Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops 1/4oz.
SBM065, SCM005, SCM006, SDM032	Infant's Tylenol Suspension 1/2oz. Cherry
SBM066, SCM068	Children's Dye Free Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM068, SCM035, SCM070, SCM080, SDM005	Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM069, SBM070, SCM081, SDM006	Children's Tylenol Plus Cough & Runny Nose 4oz. Cherry
SCM012, SCM067, SDM007, SDM068	Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1/2oz. Grape
SCM013, SCM014, SCM069	Children's Tylenol Plus Flu 4oz. Bubble Gum
SCM016, SFM024	Children's Tylenol Plus Cold Suspension 4oz. Grape
SCM017	Children's Tylenol Plus Cough/ST Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SCM082, SDM039, SDM040	Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM083, SCM084, SDM008	Infant's Tylenol Dye Free Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM064	Children’s Tylenol Pediatric Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM038, SDM009	Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Cherry
SDM033	Children's Tylenol Plus Cold/Allergy 4oz. Bubble Gum
SDM078	Infant's Tylenol Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM034	Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops H/G 1/2oz.
SDM028	Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry, Hospital Govt.

 

Earth's Best Baby Food Winners

Winners for the Earth's Best Baby Food Giveaway have been selected.

Random.org was used to pick the winners and they are

19
2
23
31

Timestamp: 2009-09-25 12:37:49 UTC

Congratulations to:  Summer, Stacy, FDP 4 Life, and Donna.

 All winners have been notified by email and have 72 hours to respond.

Thank you to everyone that entered and made the first giveaway on Over Thirty Mommy a success.  Keep checking back, there are some great giveaways coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday - Wiggle Bear

GRRRRRRR.  Watch out for the Wiggle Bear!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes For Mom or  http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/

Early Potty Training

Has any one tried early potty training?  What is a good age to start?

I ask because this weekend I purchased the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair in pink of course.  My intention was to get Wiggle Bean acquainted with having the potty around so that when we were ready to start potty training it would not be a new thing to her.   Saturday evening she started making her push face (and noises) so I thought it would be interesting to see what happened if I put her on the potty.  


She was a little confused at first but it only took a few moments for her to return to the task at hand.  I was shocked when she actually pooped in the potty.  I did not really count it as potty training since she was already pushing on her own before I got her on the potty but it was still exciting. 


I was confused what to do next.  I did not think that through.  After the poo was in there, I was lost with what to do.  It took a minuted but I figured it out.  I know, it should have been a no brainer but it was my first time, cut me some slack!


Today when we got home from work, I took her to the bathroom with me and put her on her potty.  I told her that mommy was going to go pee pee in the big potty and asked her if she was going to go in her potty.  To my shock and amazement she looked at me and then started going potty.


I spent the next ten minutes running around with her giddy about her going potty.  We cheered and laughed.  I texted my sisters and told them and ran to meet my husband at the door to tell him when he got home.


I know that it was probably a timing thing more than a start to potty training but it is a step in the right direction (I think!).


Can you start potty training at 8 months?  Should I keep putting her on her potty or wait until she is older to do actual potty training?  Any good potty training tips are greatly appreciated.

Hosting a Baby Shower

My sister is having a baby in January and  I am hosting a baby shower for her in November.  Don't tell her but I have no idea what I am doing.  She threw me a fantastic shower last year before I had my baby and I want to do something just as nice (if not nicer!!! we are not at all competitive!) for her.

I co-hosted a shower for her when she had her first son, 7 years ago.  It was a poor excuse for a shower.  My only excuse is that I did not have kids at the time and neither did any of her friends so I had no idea what I was doing.  For her second son, our mom told her she could not have a shower.  I know there is shower etiquet about showers for subsequent children but she got rid of all her baby stuff after her second child and needs to start over.  Also, I think she deserves a proper baby shower.

Kimberly at http://mommiestimeouttoday.blogspot.com has graciously offered to design and provide me invitations to match my sister's nursery theme.  I will will do a full review about them after I get the final design but I am sure they are going to be adorable!

So what I need is your tips for how to host the best baby shower ever.  Games? Location? Prizes? Decorations? Food? Basically Everything!  HELP!!!!! I am lost (Don't tell my sister!)

They Grow So Fast!

Wiggle Bean will be eight months next week.  How can it have been eight months since her birth?  It seems like just yesterday, we were in the hospital recovering from my nightmare delivery (but that is a stoyr for another time)

I am amazed how fast she grows and learns.  When she was born, she was 7 pounds 8ounces now she is almost 17 pounds.

Last week she could not sit up on her own (she could sit but could not push herself up from a lying position).  Saturday, I laid her on the bed in her room and ran back to my room to get her wipes.  When I got back she was sitting.  I was shocked and confused as to how she did it.  I thought that maybe she rolled up on the pillow and used that to sit up but then I had her on the play mat in the living room and watched her roll onto her side and push herself up.  I was so excited!

She has not begun crawling on hands and knees yet, but put that girl on her belly and she can army crawl at lightening speeds.  Why do they always crawl towards the one thing in the room that is dangerous.  Her new favorite "toy" in the living room is the ottoman to my glider chair.

She seems like she wants to just skip the crawling thing altogether and move right on to walking.  She prefers standing over sitting and being on her belly.  She can pull her self up to a standing position with the help of her toys, the coffee table, and the railing of her crib.

The first time I caught her pulling herself up in the crib, I panicked.  She was trying to stand on the bumper pads to get higher.  I know there is controversy about bumper pads but I like them and they help her.  After the pulling up episode, I immediately removed them and she would get her leg caught between the bars while sleeping (that girl is all over the place when sleeping).  Due to this, I compromised and put them back in but tucked them way down close to the top of the mattress so that she can not slide her foot out and can not stand on them.

She has been saying DaDa for a week or so now.  Don't even get me started on how upset I was that she said DaDa first.   I have been trying to get her to say Mama since I brought her home.  Monday, I was home with her since daycare was closed and all the sudden I hear MOM. Clear as day, MOM!  Then all day it was Mom, Mom, MOM MOM MOM MOM!!!!  I am so happy, I love hearing it.  She gets all excited and claps.

I mentioned the latest accomplishments to her daycare lady to "warn" her about the army crawl and the sitting up.  What does she say, Oh yeah she was doing that last week.  WHAT?  Man, I miss everything!

If we did not need for me to have a paycheck, I would stay home with her (at least part time) in an instant.  I like interacting with my co-workers but I love spending time with my daughter more.  Maybe they will let me telecommute!  Probably not (I already asked and they said no).

Sometimes I wonder if working is worth it, I feel like she is growing up right before my eyes and I hate missing these moments.  It is times like these that I wish I lived in Canada and got to spend a year with her. 

Wordless Wednesday Queen Kong

That Monkey didn't have a chance against Queen Kong!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/

Kelly Ripa and Electrolux team up to support Ovarian Cancer Research

During September, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Electrolux and Kelly are holding a "Text-a-Thon for a Cause" to help raise support for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund whose mission is to fund research to find a method of early detection and ultimately a cure for ovarian cancer.  Together, they are launching another exciting campaign that utilizes a form of communication that many of us use every day - texting!

Throughout September, you can donate $5 to the cause by texting "KELLY" to 85944 from your mobile phones (standard text messaging rates apply) - or logging on to
www.kelly-confidential.com.  Also, every time you log on to the Web site, you'll be entered for a chance to win an amazing contribution to your home - a luxury front load washer and dryer from Electrolux in Turquoise Sky, the color inspired by the teal ribbon of ovarian cancer awareness.

Also during September, visitors to Kelly Confidential can help spread awareness for this important cause by sending a virtual T-shirt to a friend.  For every virtual t-shirt sent, Electrolux will donate $1 to the OCRF.  Fashion-forward Moms can also purchase a limited edition T-shirt designed by Ripa; 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the T-shirts will go to OCRF. 

Date Night!

Woo Hoo!  Hubby and I got our first night out since Wiggle Bean joined the family.  Ok, so we did go out for dinner for our 10 year anniversary but we were only gone an hour.   My sister volunteered to come up to our place to watch Wiggle Bean Friday night while hubby and I had date night for his birthday.  THANK YOU!!! It was much needed relaxing adult time.  Date Night ended up turning in to hang out with some of Hubby's friends from back home but it was still nice.

We thought and thought about what we wanted to do with our evening as a couple.  I knew I wanted to go to dinner. I tried to get him to agree to take me to a movie but he is anti movie theater movies.  He thinks they are to expensive and a rip off (OK, they are but it is still nice to go once in a while)  We finally settled on putting some major smack down on the all-you-can eat shrimp at Red  Lobster  and then playing it by ear for the remainder of the evening.  Things changed Thursday night when he got a text message (a little last minute!) from a buddy, from Wyoming, who was flying in Friday for a weekend wedding.  Him and his wife wanted to get together to "catch up".   So we changed our plans and met them at the Chapel Pub in Portland.

We have been fans of many of the McMenamins Hotels and Pubs for quite some time and wanted to check out the latest addition.  The Chapel Pub is located in the renovated Little Chapel of Chimes.  It was originally Wilson Chambers funeral home.  The McMenamin brothers open many of their pubs and hotels in old renovated buildings with interesting pasts.  The Edgefield Hotel used to be an insane asylum and The Kennedy School was actually an Elementary school that opened in 1915.  The list goes on and on, I could do an entire post just about their neat places but that is not what this post is about , so back on track!

While on the way to meet the friends, we talked to hubby's brother who was also an acquaintance of the guests so him and his girlfriend.  So just like that we went from date night to double date night to group gathering.  We still had a great time.  The out of town friends were both well on their way to tipsy when we met up.  The wife was a little on the loud side but her and I had a great time.  We talked about our kids, swapped photos and made fun of the boys and their stories of old.  We shared a bottle of wine (my first since before getting pregnant) and had a great time.  I was feeling a little tipsy after my first glass but since it was my night off, I went ahead and had a glass or two more.  We could not waste the bottle!  Man, I am a light weight now.

*** For anyone thinking I am a bad mom for drinking alcohol, I did not nurse my daughter after getting home.  I waited the recommended amount of time for the alcohol to leave my system before nursing.  I had set aside bottles for her in anticipation of having a drink or two***

We got home around 11:00 (I know not that late but it was our first outing!) and Wiggle Bean was already in bed.  I missed tucking her in but made up for it when she got up in the night to feed.

Just wanted to give a huge THANKS to my sister for watching Wiggle Bean for the evening.  It might not have been the date night I planned but it was still nice to get out and interact with adults.

Wordless Wednesday #4 Biker Baby

Got the handle bar, now if I could just reach the foot pedals!

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom

Earth's Best Baby Food Review and Giveaway - 4 winners!!! CLOSED

Did you know that the average non organic fruit contains more than 20 pesticides? 


If you are eating dairy or farm produce then you are also eating the chemicals, drugs and growth hormones given to the animals.

Pound for pound babies consume two to four times more fruits and vegetables than adults and are exposed to a higher proportion of potential
contaminants.

  
What sets Earth's Best apart from the rest?  

• Organic ingredients grown without harmful pesticides
• No Genetically Engineered Ingredients (GEI)
• Most items made only from whole grains
• No added salt, modified starches or refined sugars
• No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives
• Kosher (excluding meat varieties)
• Rigorous Product Testing

We followed the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics and waited until Wiggle Bean was about six months before beginning any solid foods. We started with Earth's Best Whole Grain Rice Cereal. It was a challenge (and messy!) trying to get her used to eating her food, but she quickly figured it out and we began adding a new fruit or vegetable every 4 days.  With each new food, she would make the funniest faces as she tasted them for the first time.  Things changed when we tried  Earth's Best Sweet Potatoes and Chicken Dinner, she couldn't get enough of it from the first bite.  She ate the entire 4oz jar, she never eats that much in a single sitting.


The Most Memorable Feeding Contest is in full swing over at Earth's Best.  Enter a video of your baby's most memorable moment eating Earth's Best products for a chance to be one of 25 Grand Prize Winners.  In January 2010, the new faces of Generation Pure will debut at www.earthsbest.com. In addition to being featured on the website, each winner will receive a FREE month of Earth's Best food, diapers and wipes (over $200 value). Contest runs from August 15, 2009 and ends on November 30, 2009.

As a bonus, Earth's Best will donate one product to support the Feed The Children charity for each uploaded entry.


GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Earth's Best, 4 of Over Thirty Mommy's readers will each win 3 coupons for a Free Jar of Earth's Best Baby Food!


How To Enter

Mandatory entry: Please visit Earth's Best, come back and leave a comment about which jar of Earth's Best Baby Food (can be a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd) you think sounds the yummiest!



You must complete the mandatory entry before doing any extra entries.

Extra Entries

1 entry -   Follow Over Thirty Mommy publicly (join followers on right-hand sidebar)
1 entry -   Subscribe to Over Thirty Mommy via Reader.

1 entry -   Add the link to this giveaway on a Mr Linky on a blog giveaway site, forum, carnival. (leave a comment with the link)

2 entries - Post a blog about the giveaway on your site and link back to Over Thirty Mommy. (leave a link to 
                your post in your comment)

2 entries - Grab my Blog Button and add it to your blog (let me know in your comment where I can find it)

3 entries - Enter a video into the Most Memorable Feeding Contest (be sure to let me know which entry is    

yours)
Please leave a separate comment for each entry. Please leave a valid email address for winning notification purposes. Good luck!

Winner will be chosen via Random Drawing.  Winners who I am unable to contact and who doesn’t claim their prize within 72 hours of being sent their winning email notification and me posting the winner of the prize in the winner’s section will forfeit their prize

Giveaway ends midnight PST on 9/23.

Time for a Sippy Cup?

Wiggle Bean is just over 7 months old but she does not hold her own bottles.  I think this is more out of laziness (because she knows I will do it for her, smart on her part!) than the lack of ability to hold it on her own. That being said, I think it might be time to get her a sippy cup or transition her to a regular big girl cup.  

*** Disclaimer!!! No alcohol was consumed by Wiggle Bean, I do not condone giving alcohol to minors***


Every time I have a cup, soda can or anything else that one would consume liquid out of, she makes a dive for it.  I have given her a cup with a few drops of water in it and she has no trouble tipping it up and trying to drink out of it.  I am not sure if she has ever actually drank out of a cup or if she just ends up wearing it but she sure gives it her all.


One day last week, I forgot the lids to the Medela bottles that I use for pumping.  I ran to the store and purchased the Nuby No-Spill Sippy Gripper Cup to store my milk in for the day.  I figured it would be good since she will eventually need a sippy cup anyway.   I really like the cup, especially the no spill feature but I do not think that she is quite ready for that type of spout yet.  I think that the Pressure sensitive Vari-Flo spout might be to different that her bottle for a starter cup.  Also, I would actually say it is spill resistant rather than "no-spill" because I can tell you from experience, if the cup is dropped (thrown) on the floor, it does force the valve open and some liwuid is spilled. 

Guess I am now on the hunt for a different cup design to see what will work for her so that we can do away with bottles.  Don't get me wrong, I love our Dr. Brown's bottles but man I would love to not have to wash all those parts all the time. 

All the shopping  is one of the best parts of being a new mom!  There is nothing hubby can say about it either, after all it is for the baby! 

How can you deny this face anything?

How Do You Balance Being a Mom, a Wife and an Individual?

There never seems to be enough hours in the day to be everyone that I need to be.  How does one person find the time to be a great mom, attentive wife, capable employee and still have time to be herself?

My day starts at 5:00 A.M. (when Wiggle Bean does not get us up early).  I get up and shower for work.  Then I start the wife duties, I make fruit smoothies for breakfast for my husband and myself and pack our lunches.  Back to mom tasks of washing the baby bottles used the day before and packing her milk for daycare.  By this time my husband is up and in the shower, I might get a few minutes to pick out my clothes before Wiggle Bean is awake.  Usually, I bring her in our room while I am getting dressed, doing my hair and putting on my makeup.  Then I feed her, get her dressed and feed the dogs.  We run out of the house around 6:45 (if we are on time!) and get her to daycare.

My husband and I car pool to work.  I drop him off about 7:10 and continue on another 20 minutes to my office.  I work from 7:30 to 4:00with 30 minutes for lunch.  I spend my break periods and lunch period pumping milk for the next day's daycare supply.  After work, I drive to my husband's office and we travel together to pick up Wiggle Bean from daycare.

Once home, I feed the dogs and sort through the mail.  After that, I nurse her.  About 5:45, I start preparing dinner.  After we eat, if I can get her to wait that long,  it is her dinner time.  It usually takes about 30 minutes to get her to eat a decent amount of solid foods.

After her dinner time, we have either play time or bath time.  About 7:45 I get her bed time bottle ready for her.  We go to her room where I read her a story, feed her the bottle and tuck her into bed about 8:30.

She has never really liked to be on her own, so from the time I get home to the time she goes to bed, I am either holding her or playing with her.  When cooking, I move her activity center to the entrance to the kitchen so that she can still see me.

After getting her to bed, I clean up dinner and have about 45 minutes where I try to get on my computer to check email and try to catch up posts from the blogs I follow.  About 9:30, I pump one last time for the night and head to bed around 10:00.  I am usually so tired that I drag myself to bed.  This past Friday, I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30!  Look out, I am a party animal!

Weekends are not much better, there are always chores to be done but I can not go outside and help with them because someone has to be inside to keep an eye on Wiggle (unless she is napping).  It is go go go until the end of the day when I just crash.

My husband and I have not had "date night" since Wiggle Bean was born.  I take that back, we did get to go out to dinner, just the two of us for our 10 year anniversary but we were only gone an hour.

As experienced moms, how do you find time or balance between being mommy, wife, employee and yourself?

Wordless Wednesday #3

 

Not quite ready for summer to end, Rocking our Baby Banz Sunglasses.

For more Wordless Wednesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom. 

BUTT POST!!!

WARNING: This post might contain a topic you consider TMI!! I will try to keep the graphic details to a minimum.

Saturday we had a birthday party to attend for my nephew, who was turning 16. He got a car! I never got a car but that is another story. I like Wiggle to be the cutest on there so we tried on about 12 outfits before making our final selection which was super cute. She was the life of the party (like always!) and everyone loved her outfit and tiny Nike tennis shoes (thanks mom!). OK, back to the topic at hand (or butt!).

All day she was her happy self. She got a little plastic slinky that she decided was a chew toy and spit sling (everyone was covered in spit but since it was Wiggle spit, they though it was cute). I kept an eye on her to make sure she did not get it all the way in her mouth. She drank bottles like normal and when we got home had her usual Organic Sweet Potatoes and Apples.

I noticed that all day Saturday her output (both #1 and #2) was very low. She is usually pretty regular but did not have a BM (bowel movement) all day. She had one Saturday evening and it was more formed than usual and just one "lump". Sunday she had a couple more lump type BMs. I thought it was odd, especially since she is breastfed and everything I read said that breastfed babies rarely get constipated. Sunday she ate organic carrots and a Sweet potato apple mix for lunch and had her normal bottles of breast milk. By Sunday evening she was getting very upset with the hard BM.

About 7:00 I was changing her and while wiping her a drop or two of bloody liquid came out. This totally freaked me out (I admit I am a first time mom and still freak out about everything). I immediately put a call into the on call advise nurse. I told her all that was going on and she said to just watch her and if there was more blood call back and to go to the Dr. if it got worse or she seemed to be in pain.

She appeared fine except for when she was having a movement. She would tense up and get fussy and they were a little smellier than usual. I put some diaper cream on her since she was getting a little red, we like the Boudreaux's Butt Paste since it seems to bother her the least. We tried another brand once before and she literally screamed until I wiped it off.

She does not usually have BM overnight but during our middle of the night feeding, she was a little gassy. I normally do not change her during the night but decided to since she was already more awake that usual and I wanted to keep on top of the problem. There was no BM, but there was a strange jelly/mucus type substance in the diaper and it was mixed with a little blood. There was also a really bad odor. Now, I do not claim to have a baby whose poop smells like roses but this was beyond anything I have smelled from her before. So at 3:00 AM, I decided that I was taking her to the Dr. in the morning even if it was nothing. That is my right as a parent!

She got up for the day at 6:30. I was changing her diaper every 15 minutes because she would have a BM and she did not like them in there. The poor thing cried every time she had to push and cried even more when I would clean her up. These were not small lumps, I would say they were about an inch across and long . Being that small, it must have hurt pushing that out. I did not put any Butt Paste on so that the Dr. could see how it looked.

I called the same day service and they said I could bring her in at 8:00 when they opened. I was right there waiting for them at 8:00 because I wanted my happy baby back. It breaks my heart to see her cry (I know, I have a lot of heartbreak coming over the next 20+ years). We could not see our regular pediatrician but the same day service Dr. was very nice. Albeit a little aggressive in treatment but I was OK with that. He was pretty sure it was just constipation but the blood bothered him a little and he wanted to rule out a intussusception so off we went for X-rays.

For anyone that has not had X-Rays done on their baby, it look painful and did not make Wiggle Bean happy. First they kicked my husband out of the room stating that only one of us could be in there at a time. They they strapped her in this contraption called a Pigg-O-Stat Pediatric Immobilizer and Positioner.
This thing looked so painful and the seat was like a tiny hard plastic bicycle seat. It squeezed her shoulders and pinned her arms over her head (which they made me hold so that it stretch her chest up). Then they wanted me to make her cry harder so that she would take a deep breath in for a better X-Ray picture. What are they trying to do, make me cry!

Now I know that these devices must be necessary, so you have to take fewer X-Rays and limit the radiation exposure but can someone invent something that is less like a torture device and more baby friendly.

Mean while my husband is in the hallway waiting. The X-Rays come up on a screen for the tech to see and he tells my husband that he is not allowed to look at the images (that were clearly visible to him in the hall) until the Dr. can look at them and present them to us. After being kicked out of the room, this made my husband furious but he remained calm.

Then came laying down X-Rays. This made Wiggle Bean less mad but the tech had my husband come back in so that he could assist in holding her still. Not sure why it was OK for both of us to be in the room now but what ever! The X-Rays were clear and we were scheduled for an abdominal ultrasound later in the day.

We took Wiggle Bean home and my husband had to get to work. She was so exhausted that she went to sleep mid feeding. She napped from 10:30 to 1:00 when I had to get her up to go for the ultrasound. This was a much better experience than the X-Rays and she was happy and playful with the tech. Ultrasound was clear so we were sent home with instructions for Glycerin Suppositories (FUN!!!).

I wanted to try an alternative before going the suppository route so I talked to my mom and sister who suggested Karo syrup in water. We tried a little bottle of this and she crank it up. By the evening things were more of a thick past rather than lumps. So it must be working. My only concern now is how do I help her little butt heal. Around the hole is so red and raw that she won't let me near it to wipe her. It was suggested to use a warm water spritzer to rinse then pat dry with a soft cloth. This is working pretty well but I am still unsure what to put on for healing. One person says powder and no diaper cream and the next says absolutely no powder but use cream.

What is a new mom to do?

So here I am asking for advise from more experienced moms that might have a trick or two up their sleeves.

Please help! My Wiggle's Butt is raw and I do not know what to do.

All Tuckered Out

After a couple really rough nights things are slowly getting back to normal.

I talked to daycare and we are working on setting a regular nap schedule. Well as regular as you can get with a 7 month old. She was never really the best at napping and would often go with out any naps during the day.

Now that we are regulating naps at daycare, she seems to be going to bed a little earlier than usual. She has been wanting her bedtime bottle early and falling asleep between 7:30 and 8:00. Sometimes (like in the photo above) she does not even make it to the bottle and passes out while we are waiting for it to finish warming up.

She is waking up more during the night lately, around 3 times now when she was only getting up once, but she is going right back to sleep most of the time.

She is so peaceful when she is sleeping (see below) that it totally makes up for all the nights of interrupted sleep and the 2:30 AM feedings.














(she is not in her own bed, unlike the bed in the photo, her crib is free of excess blankets). She does take her baby bear with her to bed, no matter where she sleeps)

I wanted to thank everyone that made suggestions and gave tips on my post I need Sleep!!!

I really appreciate you each taking the time to stop by and give me advice and encouragement. I even appreciated the comments about how long your babies slept poorly. Those comments made me feel less alone and helped ease my anxiety that it might be caused by something I was doing wrong.

I Need Sleep!!!!

I LOVE my Wiggle Bean but man I need some sleep! Wiggle Bean will be 7 months old this weekend and has only slept through the night a total of 4 times, and none of them were consecutive nights.

A standard evening schedule is feeding around 5:30 when we get home, solid food dinner around 6:30, and an 8oz bedtime bottle around 8:00. She is typically in bed asleep by 8:30. She used to wake up about 3:00 for a snack and then would go right back to sleep, waking up around 6:00 for the day.

On weekends when she would wake up, I would go in and we would sleep together on the spare bed in her room until about 7:30.

These past couple nights have been rough! She has been wanting to go to bed a little earlier, around 8:00, and is really cranky if you try to keep her awake. Last night, I woke up about 2:15 (darn that internal timer!) wondering why she had not gotten up yet for her snack. Just as I was dozing off (about 2:30) she woke up. So I got up and went in to her room for our usual snack but apparently it was not snack time, it was play time.

So at 2:30 AM, I am trying everything I can think of to get her to lay back down to sleep. We tried tummy time sleeping, co-sleeping, I put her in her crib and tried to let her "cry it out", I put her in her pack-n-play in my room thinking her room might be to warm, we tried laying on the couch. Nothing worked, she cried and I got more and more frustrated (and tired!). Finally about 4:30 AM I gave up and we played blocks in the living room, she couldn't have been happier.

At 5:00 I usually get up to shower and prep everything for the day and get ready for work. So I brought her into the bathroom with me. She sits in her bouncer and plays while I shower. The steam has been really good for the cold that I posted about Sunday. After my shower, I took her back to the living room with me and she played with her blocks while I made breakfast and lunch for hubby (who was happily snoring away during all this!) and I. About 5:40 Wiggle Bean started crying and throwing a tantrum. She was obviously tired. I fed her and she passed out so I put her in her bed and finished my morning routine in peace and quite (except for the angry grumbling about how I would have loved to be sleeping that was going on in my head).

About 6:30 (15 minuted before I needed to leave) I went in her room and flicked the light on. Did she wake up? NO! I had to drag her snoring body out of bed. I picked her up and put her on my bed (which was empty because hubby finally got out of bed so he could get ready for work), changed her diaper and got her dressed all while she was still sleeping (MUST BE NICE!!!).

All total, I got just over 4 hours of sleep last night. I have had worse but I could use a few days of catch up sleep.

I have been trying to figure out what is causing the change in sleep pattern and here is what I have come up with:

• Teething: She currently has her 2 front bottom teeth and her upper gums are not swollen
• Growing: I thought they slept more during these periods.
• To hot: It has been 90+ these past couple days and her room was 84 last night.
• Daycare: I asked at day care and she apparently slept most of the day on both Monday and Tuesday.
  

I am leaning towards daycare being the cause of my lack of sleep but if she is tired during the day, how do you force her to stay awake?

Any Suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday

Wiggle Bean's Baptismal Dress

Visit 5 Minutes for mom for more Wordless Wednesday Photos

Wiggle Bean's First Cold

With all the great first we have had since Wiggle Bean came in to our lives, First smile, first laugh, first time sitting, first tooth, first solid food experience, I was least looking forward to her first illness.

Clearly I was caught unprepared for the experience of having my little Wiggle Bean sick. The feeling of helplessness is almost unbearable. Unable to determine what hurt or how to help her made me feel like a terrible parent.

Last Thursday, when we picked Wiggle up, the providers youngest daughter was not feeling well and her mom had her "confined" to her room so as to not make the rest of the kids ill. We did not think anything of it since she had them separated.

Friday when I picked Wiggle Bean up from daycare, the care provider informed me that Wednesday one of the parents brought their child to daycare sick. She told the parents he could not stay but he was there for about 3 hours before they picked him up. This is what caused her daughter to be sick on Thursday and she wanted me to watch Wiggle for signs of illness as she was starting to get a little stuffy nose.

By the time we got her home, she was fully congested and by 6:00 she was running a fever. I knew that I did not need to panic about a fever unless it was over 101 but that was the extent of my knowledge on how to care for a sick baby.

All I could do was hold her and try to soothe her . I admit it, I am a helicopter parent. The tiniest sign if her unhappiness and I am right there. I pick her up when she fusses and rush to her room in the night at the smallest peep. I know, I should not but what can I say I am a first time mom!

To say I felt helpless is an understatement. I was lost. I felt useless.

The only thing I could do was hold her. We put cool washcloths on her neck and forehead and stripped her down to a diaper. She was so congested by bed time that I could not lay her in her bed. I tried but she could not sleep, she kept waking up. We have a small twin bed in her room so I propped up on a pillow and put her little body on my chest, hoping to absorb her sickness while we slept. I know that sounds ridiculous but there was nothing else I could do for her, they no longer suggest cold medicine for infants.

By morning her fever broke but her congestion was as bad as ever. We snuggled all day Saturday and by Sunday morning, I was experiencing a sore throat, sniffles and minor body aches. If she felt this bad, I am so sorry Wiggle Bean. I wish there was more I could have done for you.

Fast forward a week and she (and I) still has major congestion. I am not sure what I can do for her at this point so I put a call in to her doctor. They tell me that I should put a cool mist humidifier in her room (check), elevate the head of her bed (check), and use saline drops for her nose. I think her congestion is breaking up because she is draining like there is no tomorrow but she hates the sucky bulb (Nasal Aspirator) and wants it no where near her.

No cold medicine and no baby Tylenol since she no longer had a fever. Oh, and she told me that she is seeing the congestion lasting about 2 weeks in infants. Great, another week of feeling helpless to look forward to.

Any advise for the first time mom?

Spotlight on PR

Feels Like Home and Adrienne’s House are hosting a Spotlight on PR event. I would love to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the PR professionals out there! I am still new to blogging. I have been following various blogs since January while I was on maternity leave and started my own blog in July 2009, not to do reviews or giveaways, but to share my trials and successes of being an "older" first time mom all while trying to balance family and work life.

I am interested in building a relationship with companies and or PR firms that would be interested in working with me on reviews and/or giveaways for products, services and entertainment geared toward families.

A little about me

I have been married my husband for 10 years. We wanted time to be a couple before starting a family. After 9 years of couple fun, we decided we were finally ready to give up the couple life and start our next journey. In January 2009 we welcomed our first child, a beautiful baby girl. Wiggle Bean (her blog name, not her real name!) is the joy of our lives and we can not imaging life before or with out her. My sister will be assisting me with the blog and will be posting on her family woes as a Mom of two (soon to be three) boys. Her boys are 7 and 3, with her third due in January. We have two great dogs that love Wiggle Bean and have claimed them as her own. Max our 10 year old Malamute is a bit on the husky (not breed, but chunky!) side, tipping the scale at 135lbs and Takara our female is a beautiful blue eyed Siberian Husky who never lost her puppy hyperness. Our family enjoys spending time with our extended family & friends. My hobbies (when I am not spending time with my daughter) include surfing the internet, reading, gardening, various crafts and shopping (especially for clothes, shoes and purses!) My husband enjoys riding his motorcycle, playing video games and paintball. If you ask me, he also LOVES working on the car, mowing the yard and chopping firewood. I used to help with these chores fun activities but now (thank you Wiggle Bean) I have to watch the baby. Someone has to do it and that is the sacrifice I make as a loving mom! As a family we love going for walks, fishing, camping and most any outdoor activity.


We believe that doing reviews is a great way to learn about products and get the word out to others who might benefit from reading about actual hands on experience with the product. I love sharing my opinions and thoughts with others. If you choose to work with me, I will commit my full attention to your product. I will post an informative and honest review. Hosting giveaways is another part of review blogging that would like to be involved with. It is very exciting to see how happy it makes people to enter a giveaway or learn about a new product that might simplify or brighten their life. We are open to listening to pitches for most any product. We are especially interested in baby/child friendly products, any thing that make mommy or daddy's lives easier and pet products.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and visit! If you think my blog would be a good fit for your company, please contact me at over30mommy{at} gmail {dot} com. I look forward to working with you!