Our Mommyhood

Archive for the ‘Mommy Must Haves’ Category

I grew up in a family that cooked. All through my childhood the freezer rarely had anything in it. My mother was a fantastic cook, who took a lot of pride in what food made it to the kitchen table. Now, I am continuing that tradition. My husband cooks too and it seems like our home is always the gathering place for our friends and nothing brings people together like good food.

The more entertaining my husband and I do, the more attention and upgrading our kitchen receives. It was a happy day when we got a larger sink. A few more serving dishes also made a big change. However, the one thing that I have always wanted since we moved into our house was a pair of big beautiful wall ovens.

My husband and I saved-up for this Kenmore Elite 30″ double wall oven and are in love. The double oven allows us to make several dishes at different temperatures all at once. We can start dessert as dinner is cooking, or move hors d’oeuvres in and out while a turkey roasts in the other oven. Additionally, one of our friends has a severe food allergy. By cooking his problem-free dishes in a separate oven we can all rest assured that they aren’t contaminated.

At 30″ wide and 35″ deep these ovens can fit a lot in. The unit is 50.5″ tall and weighs 302lbs. The ovens are electric and both have convection wattage at 2500 watts. The lower oven has a 4000 watt broiler element. The oven has a child lockout and locks while in a self-cleaning cycle. It also features some exciting bells and whistles. There is a temperature probe that communicates with the oven. You can set it to turn the oven off once the inside of your dish reaches a certain temperature.

I’m in love with my new oven and it’s certainly made entertaining easier. It makes a fantastic addition to our hectic home and is an essential part of my dream kitchen.

Holly Watson is a stay at home mom who spends her extra time blogging on behalf of Sears and other deserving brands she enjoys. She enjoys running, baking and traveling with her family!

Join us in our patriotic celebration!  With Memorial Day just around the corner and the 4th of July on our heels, we decided now would be the perfect time to share some great baby clothes finds with you.

My Baby Clothes Boutique is a great place to find affordable baby fashions and all the accessories to make it complete – tutus with matching baby headbands, adorable little newborn hats, and even baby shower gifts. for your precious new bundle of joy or your growing toddler.  With selections from newborn to 4T there are plenty of styles for everyone.

Mission Statement from My Baby Clothes.com:

“There is nothing more precious than a little baby girl or boy.  At My Baby Clothes Boutique we strive to bring you the most fashion forward and unique baby clothes on the web, all at a Guaranteed Lowest Price!  Our team searches to find the cutest, most comfortable, and highest quality clothes and accessories available.  Our goal is to offer these unique and trendy boutique style clothes at affordable prices.”

Make sure to dress little princes and princesses in these adorable patriotic outfits this year!  Don’t forget to add matching diaper covers and baby shoes!

We know you will love the wide selection and don’t pass up the free shipping on every item in the store with no strings attached!  No minimum purchase and no code required!

We are excited to offer one of our readers a $50 gift certificate!  Don’t miss your chance to win!

The great giveaway will end at 11:59 pm on 6/10/2011. Open to US Residents only!

Mandatory entry:

1. Leave a comment on My Baby Clothes Facebook page.

Extra Entries: (optional)

1. “Like” OurMommyhood on Facebook.
2. Follow OurMommyhood on Twitter.
3. “Like” My Baby Clothes on Facebook.
4. Follow My Baby Clothes on Twitter.
5. Refer your friends to our Facebook page and have them enter the giveaway. (2 extra entries)

(Have them leave their name and your name so that we know who recommended them.)

The winner will be chosen using random.org and will have 72 hours to respond before another winner is picked.  Thank you so much for entering and good luck!

I was given a wonderful opportunity by Episencial to review 3 of their products.  As a mom to a sensitive skin little boy, I was thrilled to try this product.

The Sunny Sunscreen with SPF 35 was great!  My little boy is very fair skinned and gets red/burnt easily.  Not to mention, he also has very sensitive skin.  I have to be careful which lotions  I choose to put on him.  This organic sunscreen, was perfect!  He didn’t have any reactions and was able to wear it all day.  Yay!

I would highly recommend this sunscreen for your little one’s this summer.  It is great for blocking UVA and UVB rays without any exposure harsh chemical sunscreens. Read the rest of this entry »

By Mommie V, Staff Writer, My Little Slice of Mommie Heaven (@mommiev1)

The previous posts in the series talked about the philosophy (link to that post) underlying the tools and an online to-do tool (link to that post) to use to manage your lists. Next up in the discussion: The Calendar.

Outlook? Google? Outlook? Google? I first started using Outlook since it’s attached to my email at work. For several semesters it was very helpful, and it even helped me to prove that I did, indeed, have 176 advising meetings over two semesters one year. I could put my classes in as a repeating appointment, I could color code them and I could print out a weekly calendar.

Then I had a kid, moved down the street from my mom and we started trying to figure out how to coordinate schedules easily.

We tried to use Cozi. While Cozi will let you import any kind of calendar you want into their calendar tool, they don’t let you export your calendar to anything else. So there is no way to sync changes between my Outlook calendar and Cozi.

My solution was to start to use Google calendars. I made a MommieV calendar and a Dr.V calendar. The Dr.V calendar could be shared with selected colleagues and/or students trying to schedule advising appointments. The MommieV calendar could have personal and family events and could be shared with my mom. I could select to view them both at the same time, so I could at least see everything, but the sharing could be kept compartmentalized if necessary.

By Julia Magnusson, Staff Writer, It’s Not Like a Cat (@notlikeacat)

My Maya ring sling used to be my must-have item with a baby. It worked great for most of Max’s first year and for Ben’s early months.

But for Ben, my second baby, the ring sling just wasn’t quite as useful. I am constantly leaning forward or crouching down (or crouching down while leaning forward) to help Max with something or to pick up Max. Ben didn’t feel as secure in there and I never had both hands free, as I was trying to keep him from falling out.

Imagine my glee when he was finally big enough to ride in the Ergo baby carrier. You can get an infant insert to wear a baby in an Ergo, but I preferred to wait until Ben was big and old enough (four to six months is the recommended age). Ergos retail for about $90 (price varies depending on style). With comfortable, padded shoulder straps and a wide, padded waist strap that sits on my hips, the Ergo is a great way to secure my baby to my front or back.

I was even more gleeful when Ben was ready to ride on my back. The Ergo is so comfortable. When we go to the grocery store, onto my back he goes. I can carry groceries and herd Max (or carry Max, or put Max in the cart, or whatever). I can hike with Ben on my back or wear him while I walk Max to daycare. It’s quick and easy to put on and put him in. If he falls asleep, there’s a nifty hood that can go up over his head to support it. My back, shoulders, waist and hips don’t hurt when I wear Ben in this carrier. I even still wear Max now and then and he weighs almost 35 pounds!

I even wear Ben on my back in the house sometimes, if he is fussy and doesn’t want me to put him down.

Best of all—and this is the real reason the Ergo is a mommy-must-have, I confess: I can ski (cross country) with Ben on my back. I love to ski. First major snowstorm? I was out there with Ben dozing on my back, skiing around by the river with my husband before we picked up Max from daycare (at which point Ben went into the Baby Bjorn and Max went into the Ergo, so we each carried a child, although for the last two blocks I wore both children, which I do not recommend unless you like skiing while wearing more than fifty pounds of very small boys).

When we taught Max to ski this year, I wore Ben the whole time. He took his morning nap on my back, in fact, while Max figured out how to ski. Ben is quite happy back there and loves when I go “fast” (the “fast” I go with a baby on my back is not at all like the “fast” I go without him on my back, but he thinks it is fast, which is really what counts!). He shrieks with glee and babbles happily away the whole time, if he’s awake.

Not only does the Ergo help in my daily life, but it’s enabled our family to enjoy many outdoor winter outings.

Plus, Ben keeps my back warm when we’re out in the snowy woods for hours. What more could I ask for?