Planet Wise Wet Bag Giveaway Winner!

Jun 4,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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If you didn’t win, don’t despair! There’s a review and giveaway for a new Planet Wise product coming up in the next few weeks, along with a spotlight on Planet Wise!

The winner is Angela. Congratulations Angela, I’ve contacted you by email!

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Radio Flyer wood “classic walker wagon” for the Birthday boy!

Jun 3,2010 / By Maria / 2 Comments

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We knew we wanted to get my son something “bigger” for his first birthday, especially since we only spent $20 for his first Christmas (in my defense, he was only 6 months old, didn’t care, and got tons from other people!) and didn’t do Easter stuff for him. I settled on a walking toy.

I looked around and most of the plastic ones were in the $40 and under range. I didn’t really want plastic though, so I looked (online) at the EverEarth Activity Walker and the Parents Around the Block Wagon. They both seemed OK, but still a little expensive for something that would be outgrown so quickly.

Then I found the Radio Flyer Classic Walker Wagon. It was more than double the cost of the plastic walking toys, and more expensive than the other wooden ones as well.

I got a decent deal on it, free shipping and went through a cash back site. The site where I purchased it is also one that offers discounts to new customers, and referral credits as well. It was very expensive, but we didn’t do a party, I made the cake and this wagon will be played with long after cake and party favors are forgotten!

It was a breeze to put together, I sat on the laundry room floor and did it myself while I was waiting for a load of diapers to finish.

My Grandparents were visiting around my son’s birthday, and my Grandpa was surprised that the wagon is all wood (aside from the wheels & handle of course!)

It has a nice little “bumper” to protect your walls and doorways, and the stake sides easily come off so little ones can climb in and out, or put things in and take them out.

For me? I can’t believe it!! Note the adorable shirt! It was custom made for me by Nikki’s Little House. It is beautifully embroidered on a high quality shirt (not paper thin like some.) It was very reasonably priced too! I love that we have a unique Birthday shirt instead of the same one everyone else picked up at Gap.

He loves it! My son is ~~lazy~~ not walking yet, so thus far, he’s only riding in it, putting things in it, standing hanging onto it, or pushing it without moving his legs (and being caught by yours truly before the inevitable face-plant.) It has little plastic “clickers” that slow it down a little bit, to help him when he’s ready to start pulling up all by himself.

In closing, just for cutes:

Let ~~them~~ me eat cake!

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Bummis Swimmi Review and Giveaway (CLOSED)

Jun 1,2010 / By Maria / 325 Comments

I actually bought this Bummis Swimmi swim diaper over the winter, when I thought we were going to do swim lessons at the YMCA (we didn’t.) Notice the strange color of the first few photos, that’s because there was snow on the ground reflecting light into the windows!

The small fits 9-15 pounds, medium 15-22 pounds and large 22-30 pounds.

I got the turtle print, since it’s all I could find in a medium. It is cute though!

Like other disposable and reusable swim diapers, the Bummis Swimmi is not absorbent, and is simply designed to catch solid waste. It has a polyester mesh lining, sandwiched nylon and a printed cotton outer. It has very easy to use hook and loop closures.

This is my little guy at about 17 pounds and 28″ wearing a medium.

There’s not much to say about it! It’s cute, fits well, easy to use and should do the “job” fine! I would use it under a swimsuit if your baby can open velcro!

~~Want your own? Win it. I’m buying a Bummis Swimmi for one lucky blog reader.~~

How to enter:

Do as many or as few of the following as you like. You can do one without the other, though I don’t know why you’d skip the first one. 😉

1. Just leave me a comment on this blog post to get an entry.

2. Follow my blog publicly, comment saying you follow to get an entry.

3. Fan (Whatever! Old dog/new tricks and all) me on Facebook, comment saying so to get an entry.

4. Follow me on Twitter, comment saying so to get your entry. Just don’t “follow” me in a creepy way, heh.

5. Tweet this giveaway. Please include a link to this post and @chgdiapers. One tweet per day, comment with a link to your tweet to get your entry. You can use this tweet if you like: @chgdiapers has a #giveaway for a Bummis Swimmi reusable swim diaper http://bit.ly/aFZPbT (6/11)

6. Blog about this giveaway and link back to me.

I’ll accept entries until Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 9:00, P.M. EST. I will choose a winner with random.org’s true random number generator and email the winner. This giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only.

Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment if it isn’t visible in your profile. If you win and I can’t contact you, I will choose another winner.

The winner will choose her size, print and an alternate print from in stock prints. I will purchase the swim diaper for the winner and have it shipped directly to her. I reserve the right to make substitutions if necessary.

~~Please note that this review and giveaway is neither affiliated with nor sponsored, endorsed or approved by Bummis or Abby’s Lane LLC.~~

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Giveaways Guest Posting

Giveaway roundup and other news

May 28,2010 / By Maria / 2 Comments

>I try to keep posts interesting and on topic, without a bunch of junk posts, so I’m putting lots of info here!

First, I now have a blogroll page. I just added it, so it’s definitely under construction! If you would like to be listed, please give me a link to your blog, the title of your blog, and what category you’d like to be listed in (humor, parenting, thrifty, green etc.) I’d love to be listed on your blogroll as well, or you could grab my button and put it in your sidebar. That’s not required though.

Second, Fitteds and Pockets and Snappis, oh my! is going to be featured on Simply Stacie on July 9th. I’m excited about that, her blog is a great resource for new bloggers.

Next, I wrote a series of guest posts for Village of Moms that are basically cloth diapering 101. We all know I’m no expert, but I wrote basic cloth diaper info with FAQs and photos, from the viewpoint of someone who was a cloth diaper noob not long ago! My posts will start June 5th.

You might want to hang around her blog during June, after her “Green Baby” segment, she’ll be doing “all things baby and toddler” followed by “Journey to Healthy Living.” Here are some of the giveaways she will be doing: HappyBaby and YoBaby, GroBaby cloth diapers, Rethink Crafts cloth diaper cover, BabyLegs, Posh Little Tutus, Seventh Generation Kit, Fresh Organics, BioKleen and more.

Here are my current giveaways:

Planetwise wet bag (ends 6/3)

BabyKicks Bumboo Pocket Diaper (ends 6/7)

HappyBaby (ends 6/9)

June will have more giveaways, including several cloth diapers, a swim diaper, cleaning products and a new Planetwise product!

dreawood.com has a Sleepy Wrap and Boba Carrier up for grabs, but it ends May 31st. I see about 280 entries right now, that’s not many for such an awesome prize! Go here to enter.

The Etheron’s Blog has a Ergo giveaway! It ends 6/25. Go here to enter.

Little Yaya’s Blog also has an Ergo giveaway. Ends 6/3. Enter here

Enter your own giveaways in the linky, or enter other good giveaways you’ve found. Have a relaxing, long weekend!

You can copy & paste this code into your own blog post to have all of these links show on your blog as well.

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Happy Baby Review & Giveaway CLOSED

May 26,2010 / By Maria / 215 Comments

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HappyBaby products are all organic and 100% natural with no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no genetic modification, and no preservatives. All of their packaging is BPA free and phthalate-free, recyclable and earth-friendly! HappyBaby works with Project Peanut Butter, and every package purchased contributes to the effort.I’ve talked about Happy Baby Food’s puffs and yogurt melts before, but they have a lot more than that! HappyBaby sent me coupons for the HappyPuffs, HappyMelts, HappyBellies cereal, HappyBites, HappyBaby Frozen and HappyTot pouches.

The puffs, cereal and yogurt melts are available to me locally at Target, my grocery store, ToysRUs and my local organic market. To find the other items, I made my first trip to Whole Foods (2 1/2 hours round trip), but I still couldn’t find the pouches!

The other day, we all taste tested the HappyBites chicken bites, salmon stix and mac + cheese.

I do wish the bags were recloseable.

The chicken bites and fish bites said to bake at 400 for 8 minutes; the mac + cheese take 15 minutes.

I popped all 3 in the oven and planned to take the chicken and fish out, and leave the mac + cheese in for another 7 minutes, but when I took them out, they were still frozen almost completely solid! After a total of nearly 20 minutes, they were heated through.

The HappyBites have “hidden” vegetables like chick peas, cauliflower, butternut squash and potato (varies based on the product.)

The mac + cheese was like baked shells and cheese in patty form.

My son absolutely inhaled the chicken bites; I couldn’t break them into bite size pieces fast enough. They had a crispy exterior and a creamy interior the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes.

The salmon stix were my husband’s favorite. I thought they smelled like crab cakes as they were baking, and he commented that with a firmer interior, they would taste like it too. He thought they were a little bland, but this is coming from “Mr. Hot Sauce.” I thought they were mild tasting enough that kids would like them, but had enough flavor to exercise their little palates. I reminded him that he wasn’t their target audience!

My 5-year old daughter was being a brat acting like a 5-year old and claimed not to like any of it. She was just angling to get dinner over with so she could go camping.

Prices seem to vary a bit depending on where you go. Where we live, the yogurt melts are $3.29-$3.69, puffs $2.79-$3.29, cereal around $3.79. The HappyBaby frozen were $4.69 and the HappyBites were $4.99-$5.99.

I haven’t been able to find the pouches. Whole Foods is supposed to have the best selection of HappyBaby, but they only had other brands of pouch baby food. I could have sworn I saw them at ToysRUs, but they were another brand as well.

I’ll continue to choose HappyBaby food for their “no junk” promise, tasty organic products, BPA free packaging and social responsibility. I’m hoping that more stores will carry their products so it will be easier to find!

Want to try some? HappyFamily is sending an awesome package to one lucky blog reader. (Value is well over $40, depends on your store’s prices of course!) It includes:

2 free trial coupons for each of their products: HAPPYBABY, HAPPYBELLES, HAPPYBABYPUFFS, HAPPYMELTS, HAPPYBITES

1 FAQ on Probiotics & DHA
1 Nutrition Guide, co-authored by Dr. Sears
1 HAPPYFAMILY Recipes

Here’s how to enter: (entries 2-8 are optional and you may do as few or as many as you like.)

1. Visit HappyBabyFood and have a look around. Leave me a comment with what product looks tastiest to you.
2. Follow my blog publicly. Comment saying you do to get your entry.
3. Fan me on Facebook. Comment saying you’re a fan to get your entry.
4. Fan HappyFamily on Facebook. Comment saying you’re a fan to get your entry. I would appreciate it if you left a comment on their wall telling them you’re visiting from my blog, but it’s not required.
5. Follow me on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.
6. Follow HappyBabyFood on Twitter. Comment saying you follow to get your entry.
7. Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to include @chgdiapers and @happybabyfood in your tweet. One tweet per day. Comment with a link to your tweet to get your entry. You may use this tweet if you like: @chgdiapers has a @happybabyfood #giveaway until 6/9 http://bit.ly/bDVxth #organic #babyfood
8. Blog about this giveaway and be sure to link back here. Leave a comment with a link to your blog post to get your entry.

Open to residents of the U.S. only, I’ll accept entries until Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 9:00 P.M., EST.

I’ll select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and contact the winner by email. Please leave your email address in a comment if it isn’t in your profile. If I can’t contact you I will choose another winner.

Thank you to HappyFamily for providing the free product coupons for the review and giveaway. The freebies in no way affected my review.