One of my top favorite boutiques to haunt is Alice + Olivia.  Everyone who knows me knows I adore the beautiful and modern designs, and my closet reflects said addiction.  During my morning ritual of stalking the designer sample sales, I came across Alice + Olivia KIDS.  My heart stopped beating and my stomach flipped upside down.  The sale is happening now at Gilt Groupe.  Check out all the beautiful dresses, tops, and coats!!  They are all must haves for any girly girl.  Every little girl needs a couple dry clean only dresses!!  Come on they are half off!

Gummy fruit snacks are by far my daughters favorite snack.  Requested daily, I’m constantly battling her with  reasons why she can’t be eating this sugary treat so often.  I was excited to discover that Tasty Baby Organic Fruit Snacks has less grams of sugar per serving than most popular brand of snack treats geared towards children.  With only 10 grams of sugar per serving, Tasty Baby Fruit Snacks are definitely becoming a staple in our house.  These snacks are certified organic, contain no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, made with real fruit juice, vegan, fat free and cholesterol free.

As soon as I popped open our first pack of Tasty Baby fruit snacks the fruity fragrance filled the air and we all dug in!  Between me, my husband and my three year old daughter we polished off two packs of snacks right away.  Each gummy is shaped as it’s fruit of flavor and with strawberry, raspberry, tangerine, peach and lemon flavored pieces we couldn’t decide which was the tastiest.

Tasty Baby also offers a scrumptious variety of baby foods including frozen organic purees and infant cereals.  They don’t just stop there either. Tasty Baby uses biodegradable cardboard packaging, BPA free plastics and vegetable based inks. So important for the future of our planet. Check out their whole line of products here and search for a local retailer near you that carries them. Your local grocery store doesn’t carry Tasty Baby?  Send them a letter asking them to carry this yummy organic food for your children.  Follow Tasty Baby on Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and their Blog. 

Thank you to Tasty Baby for providing samples!

Pregnancy.  It’s a beautiful thing.  But if you hope to retain your prepartum skin, there are a few precautions and steps to take.  First, drink a lot of water! Second, worship Mama Mio and their products.

A lot of women slather their tummies religiously with balms, butters, and salves (we recommend Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter) to keep away those dreaded stretch marks.  But what a lot of these women don’t realize is, it’s a lot more than your tummy and hips that need to stay hydrated.  Other parts of your body grow and shrink with pregnancy like your, ahem, breasts.  Sure you love your new attention grabbing gourds now, but they will not last.  It’s an evil trick played on pregnant women across the world. Some brave women take them in stride but I, personally, am pretty attached to my smooth skin.

Postpartum breasts can become another battlefield for stretchmarks if you’re not careful.  What can you do?  Well a leader in skincare, Mama Mio, has given all pregnant moms the answer, the cure, the holy grail, the Boob Tube.  Clever isn’t it?  The Boob Tube is a bust and neck firmer that will keep your skin moisturized, pliable, and smooth throughout your transformation.  This delicate skin needs attention and this is the perfect product for the job, trust me, it works.  With ingredients such as COQ10, avocado oil, fenugreek, shea butter, and milk thistle, this product really delivers.  Defy gravity ladies.  Keep them youthful, dewy, and perky, and send a thank you card to Mama Mio.  Look for these Mama Mio products in the new ITKM pregnancy swag bag, Anticipating…

Wow, what a turn out for the ModKat giveaway!! Thanks to everyone who entered, and a super special thanks to ModKat for providing such a great giveaway! To order your own ModKat, please head here.

The winner is, drum roll please, Conor!  Winner has been emailed.  Congratulations!

I found this great recipe from FamilyFun Magazine. My daughter is finger food fan who doesn’t typically eat things if it doesn’t fall into that category, so I love finding healthy snacks to change up our boring old routines. This Balls of Energy recipe did just that and I’m planning on making a batch of them for the Fair this weekend when we’re walking around. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 small banana
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• Finely chopped peanuts, mini-chocolate chips, or shredded coconut for coating

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, mash together the banana and peanut butter.
2. Stir in the wheat germ. Roll individual tablespoons of the mixture into balls, then roll the balls in one, or a mix, of the coatings listed above. Chill until firm. Makes 14 balls.
3. Variation: For a peanut-free version, substitute sunflower-seed or soy-nut butter for the peanut butter and omit the peanuts and chocolate chips (which can contain traces of peanut).

The heat moves in, and out come the bugs.  I can remember when I lived on the east coast, the humidity and bugs were almost unbearable in the summer.  Bug repellent was an absolute necessity.  Out here in the desert, we have special breeds of desert bugs that appear in spring/summer months.  I’m already seeing them pop up.  We also have “ant season” where once a year the ants go marching 100 by 100 into our house.  There’s no stopping them, but you can get rid of them.  The only problem is that those harsh chemicals are NOT kid or pet friendly.  I feel like I have to lock my daughter and cat into a room to keep them away from just the fumes!

EcoSmart has come out with some amazing organic, plant based pest killer products that are safe to spray around your house, even the kitchen.  And get this, they actually work!  Believe me, I tried it out on the large flying desert bugs that have recently started coming in.  I thought the best part about the products is that they smell so good!  After your spray the pest killer, you’re left with a pleasant minty smell.  Now that is amazing!!  Check out their super interesting blog here.

I tried out the Picnic Bundle and the products were just fantastic!  The Home Pest Control is non-toxic yet kills and repels over 100 home invading pests.  It is great for indoor and outdoor use on common pests such as ants, beetles, cockroaches, crickets, spiders, and other crawling pests.  For those flying bugs, EcoSmart has a can spray that zaps them on the go. The Flying Insect Killer kills  flies, gnats, mosquitoes, moths, wasps, and other flying insect pests on contact.  Just spray in 2-3 second bursts and then wipe away any of the non-toxic residue.  EcoSmart also makes an organic Insect Repellent that keeps away mosquitoes, ticks, gnats, and more.  One application repels for hours and the product contains no DEET.  The smell is soo pleasant as it contains lemongrass oil, cinnamon leaf oil, and rosemary oil.

Other products that EcoSmart sells include: Ant and Roach Killer, Weed and Grass Killer, Wasp and Hornet Killer, Lawn Insect Killer, Garden Fungicide, and Garden Insect Killer.

GIVEAWAY: To enter to win ANY VALUE BUNDLE OF PRODUCTS, leave a comment about which BUNDLE you most need.  To see all the bundles, click here.

EXTRA ENTRIES: Please leave a comment for every extra entry you complete

1. Blog about this Giveaway
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Contest ends March 28, 2010 at Midnight PST.  Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed.  If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Special thanks to EcoSmart for providing samples.

I love memory books, I really do. I use them to channel my inner creativity, I know, I need therapy. I’ve turned my daughter’s memory book into a scrapbook with photos, clippings and cute sayings. It’s crazy. The problem I’ve run into are where to place the smaller keepsakes, the hospital bracelets, baptism mementos, locks of hair and other items we’d love to cram into the memory book if possible.  I stumbled across Petit Collage’s Deluxe Baby Book & Memory Box available at Chronicle Books and instantly knew this was the ultimate memory book.

Petit Collage’s Baby Book has pages to fill out regarding your pregnancy, news from the day your child was born, information on mommy and daddy, each of your child’s firsts, monthly data, a family tree and so much more. I love that the book fits right into a top portion of the Memory Box with a ribbon marker to easily lift out the book to make your updates quickly. Pull out the little drawer in the front of the box and you’ll find 15 glassine envelopes along with several sticker sheets to label each envelope mark each cherished item. There’s so much room in this memory box that you’ll no longer have to keep that baby hat from the hospital and other items you just can’t seem to donate in separate places. Every item will fit neatly in one place for you to one day hand down to your child. Such a brilliant idea!

Head over to Chronicle books here and pick up the Petit Collage deluxe baby book & memory box for yourself and your child’s memories.

Special thank you to Chronicle Books for providing a sample for this review.

Being just one day before one of my favorite holidays, I thought I’d throw together a few fun ideas I’ve seen all over the net to inspire you with some crafty ideas for St. Patrick’s Day.

A cute blog called Living My Sweet Life put an adorable spin on a tutorial from another blog called Crap I’ve Made (LOVE that name!) for creating applique tie shirts. She picked up some St. Patrick’s Day fabric in the dollar section at Target, the Tie pattern from Crap I’ve Made, Wonder Under to adhere the pattern to the shirt and a few simple stitches and this is what she created.

Some yellow Jell-O cut into little squares and placed in a bowl suddenly turns into a pot of gold!

Kris from Jesse Kate Designs shares on her site how to create some fun and edible centerpieces that are sure to get your kids excited!

Martha Stewart always has a few tricks up her sleeves when it comes to creative crafts, food and decorations. I love this green pepper shamrock as a healthy and fun snack.

One of my favorite blogs, Full House, shares how she created the most adorable Leprechaun Hats out of yogurt containers. I love when you can use items that typically we just recycle or throw away to make adorable crafts and/or decorations.

My daughter has recently taken a liking to gardening.  She’s always loved flowers, trees, all plants really, making sure to name the trees in our yard.  Well a current project in this house was the removal of the  palm tree in our indoor garden, and replacing with something new and fresh.  We decided to go bigger and go with a Flowering Plum tree with gorgeous blossoms.

True to form, my daughter wanted to be involved with the planting process, and continues to want to help with the watering of said tree.  With her new West County Gloves, this is an easy task for her.  No dirt on this girls hands! The gloves are super cute, come in fun colors, and are very durable. The lightly padded palms and fingers are reinforced to protect small hands from blisters and thorns.  The tall cuff gives extra forearm protection, featuring an adjustable wrist tab that holds the glove gently in place.  And bonus, they are machine washable and will not shrink!  So she is right there with me with her trowel, handfuls of soil, and watering bucket!  Yet another fun family hobby.  Purchase your own gloves (adult and child) straight from West County Gloves.

Congratulations to Jennifer, winner of our Smart Girls Who Surf giveaway!  She will receive a Sun Savvy Kit and a logo sun visor.  Thanks so much to Smart Girls Who Surf for this great giveaway.  Winner has been emailed.

You may remember our recent Earth Mama Angel Baby post.  I boasted about this company and am excited that they’re releasing a brand new product, Happy Mama Body Wash!  This body wash is made for the pregnant mama, with ingredients such as fresh ginger to help fight nausea and bright citrus essential oils to lift those groggy and tired spirits.  As with all of Earth Mama Angel Baby products this body wash contains zero toxins, is chemical free and has USDA Certified Organic ingredients.  It’s so pure and natural you can even use it on your little ones when in a pinch and out of their usual wash.  I was lucky enough to try Happy Mama Body Wash and love it!  If you visit Earth Mama’s website before March 16th you get a free bottle of Happy Mama Body Wash with the purchase of  Mama’s Pregnancy Essential’s bundle, so hurry!

Special thanks to Earth Mama Angel Baby for providing a sample.

Can you guess what his Kimochi is:)

Being a mom to a three year old is, to sum it all up, an adventure! Sometimes, I’m sure that the terrible two’s has got to be hyphenated, “two-three’s” and we all just missed the memo. They are just learning how to sort out and communicate their preferences and opinions with us and their peers. When I think about it, it has got to be insanely difficult to be so small and so limited. Don’t you wish there was some way to intervene in the middle of those dramatic temper tantrums? With the help of Kimochis, take the opportunity to make it a teaching moment that is both fun and positive.

Plushy Feely Corp., home of Kimochis Toys with Feelings Inside is a company founded by Moms who are dedicated to promoting social and emotional wellness in children and families. Their vision is to provide families with fun, playful and engaging products and educational resources to help develop emotional intelligence and strengthen parent child connections. Feel good inside and out!

Kimochi(key-mo-chee) means “feeling” in Japanese. And Kimochis are what come inside each character! Kimochis are small pillows with a feeling (happy, sad, silly, brave…) printed on one side, and a corresponding facial expression on the other. Each character has a special pocket where kids can store their “Kimochis”- or feelings. Using the characters and their Kimochis, kids can get in touch with their emotions in a fun and comfortable way through puppetry and play. When kids are comfortable talking about their feelings, they build self esteem and confidence.

Tiny Tester:

I love so many things about these little plushies. Kade is my visual, kinesthetic, and tactile learner. Being able to see, feel and act out how his emotions are and should be in a fun and creative way has been amazing! He is now less inclined to enter the downward spiral that is the temper tantrum. My sweet, sometimes emotional, boy can be so much more in tune with his feelings and initiate the conversation about them all on his own! The Kimochis website has teaching tools and guidelines to help you best utilize your new helper. Each plushie has their own personality, challenges and cute little quirks. We chose Huggtopus, who is cute and cuddly, but sometimes overbearing and doesn’t realize her own strength. From the moment Huggtopus was in Kade arms, he has been obsessed with showing me how he feels. And, how adorable are the “KI-motions”?! Not to mention, it’s ridiculously cute to hear him say,”KEE-MOW-CHEE”:)

Sorting his feelings

Then, his brother discovered them. That did not make Kade too happy.

And he got right to telling me how it made him feel:(

GIVEAWAY: For your chance to win a Kimochi and two sets of Mixed Feelings, leave a comment below telling us which personality best fits your little one.

To read about each character and their story, click here.

Extra Entries: Please leave a comment for every entry you complete.

1. Blog about this giveaway
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10. Join our Message Board forum here
11. Vote for our blog in Top Baby Blogs(right sidebar)

Contest ends March 20,2010 at Midnight PST. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and emailed. If they do not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

Special thanks to Kimochis for providing samples.