*Disclaimer - I received the products in this post from Build a Bear in order to facilitate this review for my readers. They are also sponsoring a giveaway for a $25 gift card to their store.
Hugs a Plenty Small fry puppy:As you know, Build a Bear sells a big size Hugs a Plenty Puppy, and now they are doing the small fry puppy too, for Valentines Day this year. The size of this animal is small, and the price is only $10, so go get one for the child in your life who would love to get one this Valentines Day! My daughter loves her puppy and named her, Rose.I love you Big Top Bearemy:This Valentines Day, Build a Bear offers a good few new selections to choose from and one of them is the I love you Big Top Bearemy that I received. This is a full size lovable bear for any child to enjoy! The price of this one with the outfit is $41 in value. He is pretty big and fluffy. My son loves his bear he received from Build a Bear for this review.
This bear comes with the following:- Tuxedo T-shirt- Classic Jeans- Black canvas high tops- Plush rose bouquet
Photos of the animals I received:
*Disclaimer - I received the product in this post from Dorm Co in order to facilitate this review for my readers.
My review of this comforter I received for my son:I was looking for a soft but little larger size than normal twin sized comforter for his twin bed, to keep him warmer at night. He is 6. He loves his new Jersey Knit Twin XL Comforter from the awesome company, Dorm Co. It fits comfortably on his bed and keeps him very warm at night. The comforter isn't too heavy or bulky in size, and it comes with a jersey bag to store it in if you choose to do so which makes it very convenient for college students who are on the go so often. The price of this comforter is only $54.84 on their website! Get in on this great deal.
This comforter is of course made of a super soft t shirt style jersey knit comforter which is 100% cotton. This is actually Dorm Co's very first jersey knit comforter. This one is made to fit, as it is made for twin XL dorm beds, so it's 90" long and is very soft. This one is sure to give you a nice long night's sleep with all of the comfort it provides in its warmth. The jersey knit bag it comes with makes a good laundry bag, so be sure to keep it for later! It'd definitely make a good graduation gift for those that you may know who are heading off to college in the fall, to make sure their bedding is taken care of ahead of time. The color that this one comes in is called Avacodo. It's a fluffy comforter which also makes it all the more home like feeling when you go to bed at night for a restful sleep. My son's bed is a simple twin bed, so it's still plenty big for the bed, but fits fine for what he needs.
Photo of the comforter:
My crockpot recipe for chili in the crockpot:- Use 3 or 5 lbs of hamburger- Chop 1 - 3 onions depending on how much of onion you'd like in the chili- 1 large can of dark red kidney beans. Drain the juice before placing it in the crockpot- 1 large can of diced or whole tomatoes. Don't drain the juice before pouring it in crockpot.Put the hamburger at the bottom of the crockpot and turn it on high, then add the rest of the contents right after. Cook it for 3 - 5 hours on high, stirring it once an hour. Then, turn the crockpot on low until the hamburger is cooked and it tastes right to you.
*Disclaimer - I received the product in this post from Tommee Tippee in order to facilitate this review for my readers.
Review of this manual pump:My best friend had her baby two days ago and last night, I went to the hospital to give her the pump because they only had them available right now for the NICU moms to use. It's a manual, so of course it's going to take awhile to pump an adequate amount of breast milk into the bottle, but it worked decent for her.
It's a good pump if you just need a manual hand pump for using at home, and you can order this one here. If you need a double electric like most people would prefer, then click here to see if it's the one you'd prefer. The price of the manual pump I received for my friend is $46.99 at Babies R Us or $39.99 at Target.
What's included with this manual pump:- Soft touch flexible cup- One 5 oz Closer to Nature feeding bottle- 2 milk storage pots (containers)- 6 disposable breast pads- 1 microwave sterilizer box
Photos of the manual breast pump I received to review for my friend:
I have two children ages 5 and 6, so potty training has been out of our life for a few years now, but I thought I'd make a blog post about potty training as I know a lot of my readers are moms to younger kids and toddlers so it maybe a helpful topic for them.
Potty training for my children:
My son was 18 months old when I started to potty train him. Some may say that's too young, but I don't think it is if the child is ready and willing to start trying to be a big kid. He always wanted to go when we did, so once he took a diaper off I said don't buy anymore diapers and my mother in law bought him a potty chair and a pack of underwear and we bought pull ups for night and nap time only. At first, I would give him a cup of watered down juice to get him full and needing to go and after a bit he caught on pretty quick. By 2 1/2 years old, he was completely potty trained curing the day, and also at nap time and bedtime. Of course accidents occurred during the training process as it does with everyone, but he caught on quickly. Of course, by 2 we got rid of the plastic potty chair and just bought a potty type seat for the toilet.
My daughter was also 18 months old when I started to potty train her. She wanted to be like her big brother (they are 10 months apart in age) and have underwear and a potty chair. She also didn't get another diaper once she took one off. She caught on a little quicker when it came to the cups and potty time, so it wasn't long before that wasn't needed to encourage her to want to go. She was 2 years old when she was completely potty trained during the day, as well as nap time and bedtime. It was a little after her 2nd birthday that she was done with pull ups for good!
A piece of advice:- Not all children are the same when it comes to potty training, so you may start him or her at 18 months and they be done before 2, but you could also be working on it until 3 years old. I know people who didn't even START potty training until 4 years old, which to me is totally rediculous in most cases, unless of course they are unable to truly understand what it means and can't talk, but in general I'd suggest to introduce the potty around 18 - 20 months to see how they do and go from there.
- If he or she has an older sibling, it's pretty likely that the potty training can and will start early on as they want to do everything their brother or sister do, including potty training which is a great motivation!
- Award him or her each time they go to the bathroom, whether it's with praise and recognition or M&Ms as I did with my two kids or a toy at the end of the week with no accidents.
- Do not allow a drink of water, juice, or milk 2 hours prior to bedtime. It will help a lot when it comes to narrowing down the number of accidents your child may have at bedtime. Make sure he or she goes to the bathroom before it's time to take a nap or go to bed.
I work in a daycare facility in the infant room, so I thought I'd make a blog post for my readers regarding what you should pack for your baby to go to daycare with them, if you have your child in a one while you work. What items should you pack for your infant to go to daycare?
1. Diapers - In our infant room, we ask the parents to provide us with 1 pack of diapers for us to have for the child through the week and we let them know once the number of diapers is below 6, so that they know they will need to get more for the following week to have there. Your daycare center should let you know how often diaper changes are done. At the one I work at, we change the babies every 2 hours unless of course he or she feels wet or is dirty, then we change them right away.
2. Can of formula or bags of breast milk to store in the freezer to thaw out as needed with a bottle to keep at the daycare center. In our infant room, we have a cabinet that we use to keep each child's formula in with their first and last name on it, and once it gets to below the half way point we let the parent know that we're running low on formula so they know to bring some in the following week. If you breastfeed, your daycare facility likely has a freezer that you can store a gallon bag full of breast milk bags, so that when it's time for a feeding the daycare provider can thaw 1 bag per bottle for your child.
3. Baby rice / oatmeal or baby food - If your child is on cereal or baby food, let your daycare provider know and you will need to provide enough to last through each week, so that they can feed the proper amount in a feeding for your child, such as fruits and vegetables.
4. Burp cloths - If you'd like your child to have their own burp cloth at the daycare center, simply write his or her first name on the bib and give it to the provider to place in the child's bin with their stuff to stay there.
5. Blanket - If you'd prefer your child to have their own blanket with them at the daycare, write his or her first name on the tag and give it to the provider to place in the child's crib. I know at the daycare I work at, we ask the parent(s) to take the child's blanket home each Friday or if they are only part time to take it home on their last day of the week, to clean.
6. Bottle - If you'd like to take a bottle into your child's room each day, just be sure to provide them with enough bottles to last your child through the day, whether it's formula or breast milk. If you would like the provider to keep the bottle there, just ask them to write his or her name on the bottle for you.
7. Change of clothes - Of course there are times when your child may have what we call a blowout and the clothes get dirty when it's diaper changing time, so be sure to provide them with 2 - 3 outfits or sleepers for him or her to have in their bin at the daycare center. They will be sure to let you know when you have to take the clothes home to wash.
