Bright Starts Sunnyside Safari Saucer

We bought the Bright Starts Sunnyside Safari Saucer for our son towards the end of last year when he was around 6 months old. Definitely needed something to provide him some entertainment! I will say that it took him a little bit to be "amused" with everything this toy has to offer. I, as the mommy, just find the jungle theme so cute! The only slight complaint we have is that the bar arms with the mirror, hanging toy, and fabric crinkle leaves come off so easily. Our son was pulling them out of the toy within no time&still does. lol! But obviously, I'm so sure that's really preventable. Other than that, we have no complaints! We bought it at Wal Mart for $54.97+tax. In my opinion, it's definitely worth the buy! :)

Here's a full list of the product features:

3 adjustable height positions allows entertainer to grow with baby

Seat rotates 360° for nonstop interaction with 7 activity stations

2 overhead toy bar arms with mirror, hanging toy and fabric crinkle leaves

Hanging elephant toy

Bendy giraffe teething stalk

Bead chaser with easy to grip textured beads

Lion popper with spiraling beads

Rotating ladybug barrels with fun textures and beads

Rocking toucan on leaf stalk

4 link loops for attaching more toys

Additional Features:

Lays flat for storage

Built-in toy tray is easy to clean

For babies 4 months & up, weighing less than 25 lbs. and up to 30" tall

 

Gerber Graduates Sip & Smile No Spill Sippy Cup 12m+

Absolutely love this cup! We went through quite a few cups before finding one that my son did good with. I bought this cup at a local grocery store for around $7. Totally worth it! So far, we have no complaints! No spills or leaks, easy for him to hold, and only 1 extra part (leak proof valve), and cute design! Love it :)

My review of the Dohm-DS by Marpac (Sound Machine)

Back in 2009, after we had our daughter, we were having problems with her waking up at every little noise...A few people we knew suggested getting a "white noise" machine to see if she would sleep better. Figured why not! We were ready to try anything! We first bought one from our local WalMart. It plugged into the wall. Not even sure what it was called now that I'm thinking about it, but it just wasn't worth the money. It was constantly having problems. No thanks!

We looked on Amazon.com and ended up finding a Sleepmate/Soundscreen 980A. It was around $50.00, but we figured we would give it a try as the reviews were all great! I have to say I am soooo glad that we bought it! Totally worth the $50! 4 years later, and it still works great!

It took a little bit to get used to the noise of it, but it didn't take long and we hardly even noticed it was on. Other people that would come over were always like "how does that not drive you nuts?" Told them you just get used to it! I, for one, was never the type to sleep good in total silence. I'm a very light sleeper, so any little noise woke me up! Bleh =/ I actually sleep better now after hearing these for the past 4 years :)

Our daughter slept through most storms and was taking good naps thanks to this machine. It is amazing! We had a son in May of 2012 and we bought the same machine for him. It has worked wonders! Only they now changed the name of the machine to the Dohm-DS. Same machine, just different name and just made it "dual speed."

The Dohm-DS now has dual speed operation. Plugs into the wall, so will run all night. I can't stand the one that are on timers. Yes, I'm weird lol. But they just never worked for my kids. Everyone has different opinions about the use of noise machines. But in my opinion, they are worth the money! Especially if you have little ones! So if you are searching for a good noise machine that's worth the money, definitely recommend that you purchase the Dohm-DS! We ordered our first one on Amazon.com and then the next one from WalMart.com.

 

 



~Jamie

Cash Crate

Hey all! I just did a review of Inbox Dollars in my last post. I have found another program similar to that. It's called Cash Crate. They've been around since 2006. You have to be 13 or older to sign up. It's FREE. I've just started it, but it seems to be just like Inbox Dollars.

You make money by:

• Completing offers (most of which are FREE)! Just remember that you need to cancel trial offers before trial end date ;)
• Taking daily paid surveys
• Watching videos
• Surfing the web
• Cash tasks
• Online shopping
• Referring others

There is actually a Payment Wall where people have posted pictures of the checks they receive from Cash Crate. Minimum payout is only $20! So instead of having to reach $30 before you can request a check like with Inbox Dollars, you only have to reach $20 before requesting a check from Cash Crate!

You can also earn prizes, participate in Live Contests to win extra cash, search forums, etc....MULTIPLE ways to earn :) And the best part is, it's actually FREE. No hidden fees! Head over and check it out! Link is below:

http://www.cashcrate.com/4805985

Have a great day!

~Jamie

Inbox Dollars

Most of us stay-at-home moms are looking for something to make a little extra cash. It's so hard to find something that actually works! I've been as far as trying referral marketing programs. I tried them for a couple months without making a dime of that "easy" money. Plenty of people say they make good money doing it. I guess it's just not for me. And only 1 out of the 2 programs I actually tried were FREE.

 

Anyway, I've come across a program called Inbox Dollars. Definitely not something considered "get rich quick", but I can honestly say that I have actually made money doing this! Took me a little bit, but I DID end up getting a check for $40! There is a"cash out" of $30, just meaning you can't request a check until you have $30 in your account. And the best part, it truly is FREE to join and there are MULTIPLE ways to make some cash!

 
**You get paid to read emails, take daily paid surveys, completing offers (Most of which are FREE) Just be sure to cancel trial before trial end date ;)......you can also make money by searching the web, playing games, completing "easy cash tasks", watching videos and also referring people to try it out!

 
*They even credit your account $5.00 just for signing up!!* Pretty cool I think. So come on and try it out! You have nothing to lose! Just click on the link below!

http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref13089209




 

Have a great day!

~Jamie
  

My review of the Graco NasalClear Aspirator

As mommies, we all know the "joy" of trying to suck out a little one's nose with the good ole bulb syringe! Oh, so much fun, right? lol! Before trying the Graco NasalClear Aspirator, my husband went out and bought a new bulb syringe as our other wasn't doing anything. Not even sure of the name right now, but oh my lord! It hurt my hands so bad to even squeeze the thing to suck our kids noses out! It's not enough that the kids are already screaming because they know what's about to happen, but then add the pain of trying to squeeze this bulb syringe, and oh it is such a wonderful time! NOT.

 

I finally gave in and went and bought the NasalClear Aspirator. Let me tell you, I am sure glad that I did! It's battery operated. Comes with 2 different silicone tips for, I guess you would say, different kinds of snot (LOL.). ..It does have a clear collection cup that attaches to it so you can see if you are actually sucking anything out. As gross as that sounds, it's nice to know that you aren't putting them through this for nothing! You just put it in their nose, push the button and it sucks it out. Still had to hold my kids down when doing it, but it was SO much easier. It does play 12 music tunes, but I've honestly never used those. I pushed it once and yeah pretty sure it didn't help the screaming any! haha. But I guess it's a nice thought. lol. It's easy to clean and you can actually make sure that it's clean unlike with the bulb syringe you just kind of guess&hope that you got it clean. YUCK.

 

The NasalClear Aspirator requires 2 AA batteries to operate. I found it at our local Wal Mart for $19.87. Sounds like a lot just for a nose sucker, but in my opinion, it's worth the money! :)

Jamie

 

 

Diaper Tryouts!

Being the mother of 2, I have had the chance to "tryout" quite a few diapers; from Huggies, Luvs, Pampers and even the cheaper brands of Parent's Choice and Baby Soft.

With both kids, we started out using Pampers Swaddlers. Let me just say, they are amazing! Never noticed any leaks. Seem to hold quite a bit! They have a blue strip down the middle that lets you know when your baby is wet. They have a soft cloth type feel to them. Also have a cute "baby" Sesame Street design! We only used them up to size 2 and then switched to Pampers Cruisers at Size 3.  

PAMPERS SWADDLERS

 

 

 

Pampers Cruisers start at size 3. Great diaper. Held quite a bit! For whatever reason, we seemed to like these better for our son than we did for our daughter. She was a Huggies baby, our son seems to be a Pampers/Huggies/Luvs/other brand baby LOL ;)- We switched from the Pampers Cruisers because our son developed a rash, some sort of rash. We weren't sure if it was from the diaper. So we tried other brands. Ended up finding out it wasn't from the diaper, it was just a yeast type rash. We ended up sticking with Luvs diapers due to cost.  Anyway, Pampers Cruisers are definitely a diaper I would recommend. Cute Sesame Street design! High back for those not-so-lovely diaper moments! ;)-

 

 

PAMPERS CRUISERS

 

 

On to the Huggies brand diapers that we've tried..

 

With our daughter, we tried the Huggies Snug&Dry. They were a good diaper. They just didn't fit my daughter right, so we ended up switching. As far as leakage, we didn't notice any. Cute Mickey Mouse design on them :)

 

HUGGIES SNUG & DRY

 

 

 

Huggies Little Movers were awesome for our daughter! Only weird thing with them is they left a green lines on the inside of her legs? I'm going to guess from the dye or something? They worked really well other than that. We tried them for my son and just decided to go with a "cheaper" diaper.

They do have a cute Winnie Pooh design on them! So cute..very flexible diaper for when baby is crawling all over!

HUGGIES LITTLE MOVERS

 

 

Huggies Overnite diapers are HANDS DOWN, in my opinion, the BEST diapers for nighttime! We have used these for both of our kids and they have held up so well. They were the only thing that worked for our son. He is a heavy wetter and  sleeps 10+ hours at night. Thank god he was a little on the bigger side when he was born, so he fit into these sooner than our daughter did. He was peeing through every diaper at night before he fit into these. They start at size 3. Cute Winnie the Pooh design on them. Only problem we have ever had with them in the 3+ years that we have used them, is we had apparently bought a "bad batch" of diapers the one time. The tabs kept ripping off and we were barely even pulling them. It was at least half the diapers in a smaller pack. I wrote Huggies and told them about the problem and they got back with me within 24 hours and sent me some coupons. Other than that, haven't had any complaints! :)

 



HUGGIES OVERNITES

 

Don't really have too much to say about Huggies Little Snugglers, other than we did use them once for our son when he was a newborn. We got them as a gift from a friend. I'm gonna say that they don't go well with little boys who like to pee a lot ;) lol..our little man managed to pee right out the back of them EVERYTIME. It was crazy! Never tried them with our daughter though. They are still cute though :) Winnie the Pooh seems to be popular!

HUGGIES LITTLE SNUGGLERS

 

 

On to Luvs diapers. We tried these with our daughter and just didn't care for the fit of them. Of course at that time, we also had the money to spend on the more expensive diapers. Times are a little different now and we actually seem to like Luvs this time around! They have a little bit of a "perfume" smell to them. Which is kinda nice! They seem to hold quite a bit. Haven't noticed any leaks yet :)  Boy do they sag when he pees enough though LOL. Cute little monkey design on them!

LUVS ULTRA LEAKGUARD

 

 

 

We did try a couple of the "cheaper" diapers. First one we tried were the Parent's Choice diapers. They worked okay for our daughter. Didn't notice any leaks. I honestly just didn't care for how thin they were. Made me feel like the "mess" was gonna go right through! It never actually did though, thankfully haha. We used them for her back in 2010. We tried them on our son end of last year and he peed right through them. Not sure what they did different, but I definitely did not care for them this time around. Probably doesn't help that he's a "super soaker!" LOL.

 

PARENT'S CHOICE

 

 

Lastly! We tried Baby Soft diapers. Actually aren't too bad for "cheap" diapers. Held up pretty well. Don't contain any perfumes or anything like that. Tried these when we thought our son had gotten the rash from the diapers we were using. Went back to Luvs after we found out that wasn't the case because Luvs end up being cheaper (per diaper) when buying the bigger box. You get more for your money. They definitely have a soft feel to them. Have Clifford on them! :) If I had to choose between these and the Parent's Choice diapers, I would choose these. They definitely seemed to hold up better than the Parent's Choice. If looking for a good, cheap diaper....recommend these!

 

BABY SOFT DIAPERS





 

These are obviously just my opinions about all the diapers that we have had to "tryout" :) Enjoy!

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 



 

 



My Crazy, Beautiful Life!

I'm Jamie, a 28 year old stay at home mom to 2 amazing kids! Married to my high school sweetheart, Joe. We have a 3 year old "princess" named Jaylin and a 13 mth old "prince" named Jaxson. We apparently have a thing for J's ;)-

I met Joe when I was a freshman in high school. Been together 13 years as of April of this year.Will be married 7 years on August 19th. Time really just flies by! 

We started trying to conceive in 2007. After trying for a little over a year, we made a visit to our doctor; only to find that I had pcos (polycystic ovaries)...I was put on medication and things were starting to look up. In November of 2008, my cousin Michael, died in a house fire. My other cousin, his sister, was 6 months pregnant. Our minds obviously shifted gears to that and a little less on trying to conceive our first baby.

Months went by and finally in February 2009, my cousin  had her baby boy and named him Michael after her brother that died. I cried tears of joy and deep inside tears of sadness for myself in that I wanted so badly to have a baby of our own. A week later, I wasn't feeling right. Decided to take a pregnancy test. We were FINALLY pregnant!!

We welcomed our beautiful  6lb 9oz baby girl on October 8, 2009. We named her Jaylin Grace..."our little grace from god". Words cannot express that moment when you become a parent. It's absolutely amazing. She will be 4 in October and let me tell you, she is such a smart little girl...has the attitude of her father (whether he says so or not ;) lol..some of the things she comes up with absolutely amaze me!

In August of 2011, we found out we were expecting baby Ridenour #2! We welcomed our 8lb 4oz baby boy on May 31, 2012. Named him Jaxson David James. He has two middle names just like his daddy. The middle name 'David' is the same as one of Joe's and the middle name 'James' is after my father who passed away back in 1999 from a lung disease. He is 13 months old now..and WOW...I'm starting to wonder if we should have named him George...he's definitely curious! haha


'Life in the Mommy Lane' for me, is just like a racetrack. I feel like I'm constantly just going in circles with a few 'pit stops' along the way! :) Being a mommy is definitely a blessing, sometimes trying, but always a blessing. Something to never take for granted.