Thursday, November 25, 2010

Winner!

Soooo I just realized I never picked a winner for the baby Prodigy DVD giveaway! I was out of town for my brother's wedding and completely spaced it! Sorry about that!

Without further ado, the winner (thanks to Random.org) is h2babe! Congratulations! Please email me (ljotritabaugh at gmail dot com) with your name and mailing address. Thanks!

Thankful Thoughts.

Today, on this day of Thanks Giving, I have much to be thankful for. I have an abundant life full of love, laughter, happiness and joy and I know that I take it for granted more often than not.

So in the spirit of the day, I am trying to focus on those things rather than the fact that my house is a mess, I have yet to make my two side dishes, Blogger is being wonky and not letting me start new paragraphs,  my two year is being, well, a two year old and this mega snow storm was anything but mega (nothing is more disappointing than a promised snow storm that doesn't deliver. NOTHING).

I am thankful for:
~My family and friends and their love and support.
~ My health.
~A roof over my head and food on my table
~My husband and all that he does for me and our family. I know this is something I take for granted on a daily basis and for that I apologize. Thank you for everything CT. 
~My beautiful, amazing daughters who remind me everyday how to love and laugh. And be patient. Some days are better than others, but at the end of the day I love you both more than I could ever imagine and for that I am thankful.
~My other child, Jacob P Jones, whose soft ears and blue eyes are like Prozac to me on the days that my patience is worn thin.
~Dairy-free baked goods. Enough said.
~ My husband's job and the fact that it allows me to stay home with the girls. I can say this in November, ask me in August and my sentiments might not be so loving. ;) 
~The internet. I know that sounds incredibly shallow and ridiculous, but without it I would not be able to stay in touch with family and friends who are far away. And I'll be honest, sometimes the internet is my sanity saver.  Facebook, The Bump, Craigslist, Allrecipes, CNN, Amazon, YouTube, Hulu, Pandora, I love you all.

Now obviously, this is an abbreviated list, but you get the point. I am blessed. Abundantly blessed.

And now I need to get my thankful butt in gear. Hope you all have a Thanksgiving full of love, family and food!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

International Superstar

I meandered over to my blog stats page this afternoon to see what kind of traffic I have had recently. Not that it matters, I just find it interesting. I don't really expect people to read the nonsense I write and the fact that people do kind of blows my mind.

Anywho, I noticed there was an "Audience" tab so I clicked on it and it brings up a list of countries that the people who visit this blog come from. The United States is the most common but get this. Just this week I have had people click on my site from Canada, Denmark, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Japan, Georgia, Russia and Latvia! How crazy is that?!

I am sure most of you got here by some random mistake, but hey, I'll take it! 

So now I am curious, how did you get here my international friends? I mean, besides the draw of the superbly witty and eloquent writing...

I want.

Have you heard of PlasmaCars?
 
They are super cool ride on toys that are powered by turning the handle back and forth. No batteries, pedals or gears. These bad boys can go up to 6mph! And they can hold riders up to 220lbs so mom and dad can get in on the action too.

I have always been intrigued by these cars and know that Olive would love one. Ok, I would love one.

I bet you would love one too! So go enter to win one over at The Eco-Friendly Family

Friday, November 12, 2010

Bite Me. Part 2.

So apparently Olive felt that cutting molars wasn't enough on her plate so she added pink eye (both eyes), an ear infection (both ears) and a cold to the mix. I think she was trying for chicken pox too, but no such luck.

And being the lover that she is, she spread the cold love to Penelope. And me.

All we need is love people. And hand sanitizer. And tissues. Lots of tissues. 

Keep your fingers crossed that we are all healthy and in tip top shape when we jump on a plane to Virginia Beach next week for my little* brother's wedding! We can't have one of the bridesmaids and the star of the show flower girl sniffling down the aisle! (I will be sniffling no matter what. Me + weddings = lots of tissues.)







*And by little I mean, he's 24. And 6'2". So really, not that little. But to me he will always be a little twerp who puts ice cubes down the back of my shirt and throws me off the dock. Because let's be honest, he was bigger than me when he was like 8.

SSOF: Weekly Check-In

Sadly, not a whole lot to report.

Still doing daily stretching, ab work and push-ups, but that's about it. But I have to say, I am proud of myself for at least doing something! And the number on the scale hasn't gone up at all so that's always a good thing.

I've decided I need a personal trainer. A kick ass personal trainer. That makes house calls. And will say things like "Get off your butt you lazy bum! Drop and give me 20!" or whatever it is kick ass personal trainers say.

But until I win the lottery that's not going happen. I need to be my own kick ass personal trainer.  So, "Get off your butt you lazy bum! Drop and give me 3!"

Actually that's a good idea, ass kicking. Great way to warm up those leg muscles.

And speaking of warming up, my cookies are done. :) 

Until next week, keep on keeping on.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Molars. Bite me.

Olive is sprouting some major chompers right now. Poor girl has a molar that can't decide if it's coming or going. Makes for a very "ouchie mouth".  Too bad we're fresh out of brandy...

In other news, Penelope was *thisclose* to rolling over! She rocked herself up onto her left side and then decided being an over achiever did not suit her personality so back to her tummy she went. 

Big doings in this house, big doings.




 


Friday, November 5, 2010

Baby Prodigy DVD Review and Giveaway!

The wonderful people at baby Prodigy recently sent me three of their educational children's  DVDs to review. And by recently I mean three months ago...sorry guys! They were very understanding about the whole "just had a baby and completely spaced it, sorry!".  Baby Prodigy was started by a mom with a colic-y baby who was looking for something to help calm and soothe her baby, so I am sure she understands the chaoticness that having a newborn can bring to a household!

Here is a little info about baby Prodigy;

"The Baby Prodigy Company is the award-winning creator of infant developmental products that provide parents with quality, educational entertainment for their children from birth through the years of early childhood. Baby Prodigy products, along with main character Dookie Duck™, utilize music and colors along with playful puppets and animation to captivate children of all ages. Currently, Baby Prodigy products include award-winning Videos, DVD’s and classical music CD’s. Many more projects are in the works for this fast-growing children’s entertainment company, including collectible stuffed toys of their characters."


I have to admit, I am not a big advocate for kids watching TV or videos. I hate that they get sucked in and pretty soon they are in the Twilight Zone with no idea what's going on other than what's on the TV. That being said, I am a huge advocate for quality, educational material, especially for young children. And if that is in the form of a DVD, then I am willing to look at it with an open mind. So my trusty research assistant (aka Olive) and I took some time to sit down and watch these wonderful DVDs. They were a nice treat on a few rainy, cold days we were stuck inside.


First up was Baby Preschool. This DVD is geared towards children 1 year and older. Olive really enjoyed watching it! The two main puppets Dookie Duck and Dottie Duck were her favorite and she kept asking  "when are those guys coming back?" whenever they weren't on the screen. She loved all the music and colors as well. I liked that the DVD has a viewer interaction element to it. They ask questions to the viewer about what's on the screen or going on in the story.  It did a great job of keeping her attention without causing her to zone out.


We also watched Baby's First Words 1, which is geared towards children 6 months and up. While it is geared towards a younger audience, Olive still enjoyed it. Once again Dookie and Dottie Duck are here to entertain and educate the viewer. This DVD also has great classical music, colors, familiar toys and objects and engaging scenes with puppets. The main focus is to introduce familiar words such as plane, dog and flower. The words are introduced with a sight word, pictures, animation and toys. Olive really liked saying the vocabulary words with the narrator and talking about all the different representations of the words (toys, picture, puppet, etc).


The third DVD we were sent for review is titled 30 Minutes to a Quiet Baby. This DVD is geared towards babies 3 months and older. So for this DVD we also enlisted Penelope for her input. Penny is only 2 months old, but she seemed to be attracted by the music and colors on the screen. And it must work to quiet a baby since she fell asleep about 4 minutes in! Olive liked the simplicity of this DVD. She liked dancing to the music and talking about the toys and animations on the screen. She also got really excited when she heard some of her favorite songs like "I'm A Little Teapot" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

I can certainly say that the baby Prodigy DVDs were a hit in this house! We still won't make a habit of watching TV, but if the need arises, I know we can watch any of the baby Prodigy videos and see quality, educational programming. That won't lead to the Twilight Zone...

You can buy baby Prodigy products on their website and at Toys R' Us. DVDs retail for $12.99.

Or you can enter to win a baby Prodigy DVD set right here!

baby Prodigy has graciously offered up a DVD pack containing the same DVDs I reviewed for one lucky reader!

Mandatory Entry: 
Tell me who you would give the DVDs to if you won! 

Additional Entries:
Leave a separate comment for each entry.
Make sure to include your email address on all comments so I can contact you if you are the winner.
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  • Like baby Prodigy on Facebook
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  • Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post
  • Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post

Winner will be drawn November 19th. Open to US mailing addresses only. Good Luck! 

    Land of 10,000

    hits! The hit counter just rolled over to 10,000!

    Thanks family and friends and random internet strangers! I feel so loved! 

    SSOF: Weekly Check-In

    So this week was not quite as successful as last week. But i am trying not to be too hard on myself and just accept it and move on.

    I haven't done a Bootcamp video since Saturday, but I have been doing daily stretching, sit up and push ups.Well, I've attempted to do push ups. I can do about 5 "girl" push ups before my arms turn into wet noodles. But considering I'm holding or carrying around a 13 pound infant most of the day, I figure my arms are getting a fairly good workout. Not to mention lugging her around in her carseat, iy ya. I should be able to lift cars with one hand pretty soon. (I'm talking Smart cars, not Escalades.) Just call me Hulk. 

    I am quite excited to tell you, dear readers,  that sometime in the near future I will be reviewing an ab workout/fitness program that guarantees results. I can't wait to try it out!

     And on a very unrelated note, did you know that Oreo's are dairy free? Which is kind of gross if you really think about it, but awesome for those of us who are avoiding dairy! 

    Mmmm, oreos. Now if only Oreo Blizzards were dairy free....hey, a girl can dream can't she?!

    Tuesday, November 2, 2010

    Help! I've fallen

    off the wagon and I want to get back on! 

    This cold has seriously knocked me on my butt. I need to pick myself up and get back to it. Now, who is going to come over here and make me do it? 


    Bring cookies!