Our Mommyhood

Posts Tagged ‘product review’

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird, (@funkymamabird)

I love Mom’s Night Out. No. That’s not strong enough. Mom’s Night Out is my lifeline, my oxygen, my one and only chance to get out of the house some months. To put on lipstick and heels and feel like someone other than “Mama” for a few hours.

Dressing for Mom’s Night Out, at least in my area, is done with care. We go All.Out. to make sure we are making the most of this day. So when Shabby Apple asked me to review one of their dresses, I knew just where I would wear it.

I chose the Cider dress; I love orange.

I knew this dress would be perfect for my one night out a month, and it totally was. The fabric is thin, but stretchy, letting me move easily. The color is very vibrant, and the ruffles around the neck were a fun touch. The other moms were completely in love as well; I spent the first ten minutes I was there repeating, “Shabby Apple” and “I know; it’s fabulous” over and over again. Want to see the best part?

The zipper is what totally sold me. That little dash of purple was the perfect touch, even though I wound up covering it with a cardigan for most of the spring evening.

Looking for something to wear to a Mom’s Night Out? Go bold, go all out and go over to Shabby Apple to see what they have to offer; you won’t be disappointed.

*This dress was received free of charge for purposes of review. All opinions belong to the author.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird, (@funkymamabird)

I come from a long line of chefs. My great-grandfather was the head chef at the two hotels open on Cape Cod at the beginning of the 20th century. His daughter, my grandmother, went on to become a chef who wrote cookbooks, a weekly recipe column and hobnobbed with celebrities over a plate of her amazing cooking.

I love to cook nearly as much as they did and have amassed quite the collection of cookbooks in my time. So when I heard that bon appetit wanted to partner with Our Mommyhood for a review and giveaway of their new dessert cookbook, I jumped at the chance both to get my hands on this book**** and to offer our readers the chance to get one for themselves.

Whether you like to bake or you just like to eat, this cookbook will have you drooling by the end of the first section. It’s filled with hundreds of recipes and variations for pies, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, tarts and more. I wanted to lick each and every picture to try to get a taste of each amazing confection.

As I mentioned, I own quite a lot of cookbooks, including the one penned by my grandmother, and what struck me most about this book was not just its great recipes and photos. Accompanying some of the more complicated recipes are tips and techniques that even the most amateur baker can follow with ease. Never made a crepe before? Don’t worry about it; this book can show you how to make it and how to present it smothered in caramel and pecans.

Want one for yourself? bon appetit is graciously giving away a copy to one of our readers. Giveaway entry details are below:

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- (Required) Follow Our Mommyhood (blog) in some way, and tell us how you do.

Additional Entries

-Follow @OurMommyhood on Twitter, and leave us your Twitter handle.

-Tweet about this giveaway, using @OurMommyhood in your tweet, then come back here and tell us you did.

*This giveaway will remain open until Saturday, December 18th at 1 pm EST.

**Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

***If your email address is not linked, please leave it in a comment for us to contact you if you win. Gift certificate will be sent electronically.

****I was sent a copy of the book free of charge for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

By Liz, Editor, a belle, a bean & a chicago dog (@bellebeandog)

My Baby Clothes Boutique offers unique, fashion-forward clothes for newborn, infant and toddler girls and boys.  Along with their outfits, coats and shoes, My Baby Clothes Boutique has a great selection of gifts like bibs, blankets, diaper covers and tutus.

If you are a mom who loves to accessorize your baby’s wardrobe, you won’t want to miss their assortment of hats, headbands, and socks.

I was fortunate enough to receive the Call of the Wild clip set and White Fleece Puff Hat for my girls.****

The Call of the Wild Clip Set is a matching set of 2 zebra-print bows with pink centers.  The inside of the clip is lined with the zebra fabric for extra hold.  The bows stayed in place well and held back the thick hair of my 5 year old.

The White Fleece Puff Hat is very soft, and has faux fur around the face.  It comes in size 2-4T, and comfortably fit both my 5 year old’s and my 2 year old’s heads.

My Baby Clothes Boutique is offering 1 Our Mommyhood reader a $25 gift certificate to use in their shop!   Giveaway entries listed below.

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Entries for our My Baby Clothes Boutique giveaway include:

- (Required) Follow Our Mommyhood (blog) in some way, and tell us how you do.

Additional Entries

-Follow @OurMommyhood on Twitter, and leave us your Twitter handle.

-Visit My Baby Clothes Boutique and leave us a comment with what product you’d buy with your gift certificate.

-Tweet about this giveaway, using @MyBabyClothes or @OurMommyhood in your tweet, then come back here and tell us you did.

*This giveaway will remain open until Saturday, December 11th at 1 pm EST.

**Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

***If your email address is not linked, please leave it in a comment for us to contact you if you win. Gift certificate will be sent electronically.

****The clip set and hat were sent to me free of charge in order to perform the review. All opinions expressed are my own.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird (@funkymamabird)

Whether you exchange cards with only family or you sign up for a card exchange with hundreds, sending holiday cards can be a stressful scenario for many.

Getting a great family photo, selecting the cards, ordering the cards and then licking, stamping and signing can be enough to make your hair fall out from stress before you even brave the Black Friday crowds. While getting a great photo may still be your white whale, the rest of the process gets a lot easier with Tiny Prints.

Photo Holiday Cards

Photo holiday cards are not a new service. For decades, you’ve had the option of visiting your local one-hour photo lab or even the local CVS and having photo cards made from a set number of stock designs. The photo paper was shiny, the cards an odd size that required special envelopes and you were at the mercy of the photo handler who may decide to boost color saturation until your retinas began to bleed.

Today, photo cards can be created through a number of services. The most simple of which are online programs that allow you to choose from hundreds of designs, upload your photo yourself and arrange for text, greetings and overall visual appeal at home.

Taking the Process Further

Tiny Prints, a photo card and invitation service, has made the process much more intuitive. Choose from Christmas cards, Holiday Photo cards or Holiday Invitations to begin your order.

Vintage cards, generic holiday cards, whimsical cards or photocentric cards are just a few of the options available to help you narrow your search. Once a design has been selected, upload the photo of your choice into the editor to see how it will look.

Text options allow for a line of text followed by greetings from the entire family; no need to sign cards any more. Dozens of fonts, sizes and colors allow customization to complete the card.

Stuffing, Addressing and Stamping

While postage is something that you’re ultimately responsible for, Tiny Prints takes the drudgery out of sending holiday cards with the option of address labels. For a small fee, eliminate a large part of your card sending process, leaving more time for tree trimming and popcorn stringing.

The Tiny Prints Advantages

What sets Tiny Prints apart even further is their “extras”. The cards are printed on recycled card stock; a glossy option is available, but the matte finish cards bring an extra level of luxury and class to the job. You have the option of customizing the back of your standard cards, or printing on the inside of folding cards, all at no additional cost to you. If you purchase square holiday cards, which normally rack up extra postage, Tiny Prints sends along some rectangular envelopes free of charge so you don’t bear the extra costs at the post office.

While they won’t take your photo for you, the Tiny Prints site does offer helpful tips on how to dress for and get a great holiday photo. Using this service from start to finish can help significantly lower your holiday card stress levels.

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Purchasing and sending holiday cards should be a pleasant activity, filled with fond thoughts for loved ones. Let Tiny Prints help make this happen with their easy to use system, pre-printed address labels and gorgeous card stock. Once the holidays are over, keep these same easy to use features in mind for your other, photo card needs.

This review has been sponsored by Tiny Prints. Cards were received free of charge for the purpose of review and the links have been paid for. All opinions of the service are the author’s own.

By Betsy, Contributor, Funky Mama Bird, (@funkymamabird)

I have siblings that are 11 and 13 years younger than I am. Siblings born when I was old enough to not only remember their infant days, but to be an active participant when my mom needed a break. And did she ever need some breaks since both my sister and brother had colic as infants.

Fast forward many years and when I was pregnant with my son, I broke out in a cold sweat just remembering those days when I was an extra pair of hands. Now the primary hands would be mine and I felt doomed. DOOMED. So I did what many mother’s do and I bought a copy of  The Happiest Baby on the Block.

Great book and I highly recommend it even though my son did not, as it turns out, have colic. What I took away from the book was the suggestion to swaddle. I loved the idea of swaddling, particularly if my kid was anything like my siblings. The problem of course was that whole, “Up, snug, down, tug” whatever that the book instructed you to do. Um, yeah. No. I could barely make sense of that thing while I was fully rested. I could only imagine the horror that would occur at a sleep deprived 3am.

So I checked in with the expert authority on material goods, Google, to see if there were any easier methods of swaddling a baby. And this is where I discovered the Miracle Blanket.

The design of the Miracle Blanket is simple; one long piece of fabric with a built-in pouch for the feet and two flaps to hold down the arms. Simple, easy to use and completely effective. When my son was wrapped in it, we referred to him as The Blue Burrito. Observe:

Gunne Bear LOVED that thing. No really; he loved it. Swaddle = Sleep in our house, with our swaddled baby clocking in at 12 solid hours a night by 10 weeks of age. Unwrap even one arm, though and he couldn’t sleep for 12 minutes.

We swaddled when he was sleeping, napping or just upset and it worked every time. My one and only complaint about the Miracle Blanket is that it only comes in one size. One size that my son grew out of at 4 months of age, during a crucial developmental leap that more or less required us to strait jacket him 24 hours a day for two weeks straight. So I made my own Extra Large miracle style blankets out of flannel, using his outgrown one as a template and enlarging it by 4-inches all the way around. Worked like a charm until he outgrew those at 6 months of age and we weaned him to a sleep sack.

For new moms, expecting moms or moms of colicky or sleepless infants I have only this advice: Go buy a Miracle Blanket. In fact, buy two because when the kid spits up all over one, you’ll be happy you have the second one handy so you can all go back to sleep without having to run the washing machine at 2:43am. Not that I know anything about that.

To the makers of the Miracle Blanket I say this: Thank you! You saved us and your product rocks like Bob and the horse Bob road in on. Now please, make your blankets in a larger size for those of us who have kids who still startle awake at 6 months of age. I have every intention of swaddling my next child in a Miracle Blanket and I’d like to think that I won’t have to reinvent the wheel next time around.

In summary: The Miracle Blanket, it makes The Best (Blue) Burrito I’ve Ever Eaten Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!