Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

AlternaVites Kids Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We have a few strategies we are using in our home to teach Darah about pills. We want to teach her not to fear them, and we also want to teach her never to take them unless we have given them to her. Darah is actually in charge of putting mom and dad’s vitamins into our mouths and “supervising” while we swallow them. Every day I ask her if she should take one of my vitamins and she says, “No silly! These are not for me!” I really hope that lesson sticks!

Darah has gummy vitamins that she chews and enjoys. I hope that in time she will not have a problem swallowing pills. I was TERRIFIED of swallowing pills as a child, and even struggled with them quite a bit in my teenage years. It would have been so great if some more alternatives had existed.

If your child has a tough time taking pills, or if you feel they are simply too young to try, check out alternaVites Kids. These are vitamin packets in powder form, and I personally sampled them and they taste great! They sort of remind me of Fun Dip like you’d get at the movie theater!

AlternaVites Kids are recommended for ages 4 and up, so Darah is still too young to personally use them. But I could see these as being really handy for road trips or even overnight trips to a friend’s house (btw I’m REALLY looking forward to when those start!). I wouldn’t have to burden the adult with supervising her while swallowing her vitamin pill.

I’m also a fan of alternaVites Kids because they contain no aspartame, no HFCS, no artificial colors or flavors, and it is specially formulated to not contain any major food allergens such as eggs, milk, peanut, tree nuts, wheat, soy fish and shellfish. Basically, alternaVites Kids covered all the bases to make sure your little one can get his or her multivitamin with ease!

Buy it!: I’m excited to let you know know that all Stuff Parents Need readers can get a 20% discount off their order at alternatives.com by entering the code mom20 at checkout!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a one month supply of alternaVites Kids!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

FuzziBunz Perfect Size Diaper Review: One of the Best!

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I’ve been hearing about FuzziBunz diapers ever since I started using cloth back in early 2010. They are a very popular brand, and I usually find that when a brand is so well-known, it is because it works so well.

That’s why I was super excited to see FuzziBunz on the list of diapers I received with my cloth diaper rental. FuzziBunz had a great line of Perfect Size diapers, and they were absolutely critical to have in the newborn stage. Even know with an almost 5 month old (WHAT?! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!), I still appreciate the fit of a sized diaper.

With my newborn stash, I noticed that the FuzziBunz diapers were the ones I reached for first from clean pile. They consistently worked and they looked super cute. So I reached out to FuzziBunz to see if they wanted to be featured on Stuff Parents Need, and they said yes!

If you are on the fence about whether or not to try this line, I want to encourage you to buy FuzziBunz cloth diapers. I really don’t believe that you will regret your purchase for a moment! You also don’t have to go through an independent cloth diaper boutique if you don’t want to, as customers can now shop directly at the FuzziBunz website! I think that is a smart option, because in the unlikely event that there is an issue with the diaper, you can easily go straight to the manufacturer.

Speaking of customer service, this is something that FuzziBunz is known to be exceptionally awesome at providing. A few months ago I listened to a podcast that had the CEO of the company on it, and she was such a down-to-earth person. Listening to her, it was obvious that her primary focus was on making the best cloth diaper available, and not strictly on her bottom line. She said that she had been discouraged from making a product that could be used so many times (and then re-sold!) before it wore out. But she felt that’s what a cloth diaper should be able to do, and she’s sticking with that instead of creating a product that will have to be replaced after just one child. BRAVO!!!

FuzziBunz Perfect Size Diaper

I love the fact that the Perfect Size diapers have 14 color options! We went for cotton candy this time around. I mostly avoided gender-specific diaper colors for Darah since I wanted to re-use them for baby #2, but since I think she’s our last and she’s also a girl, I’m loosening up and embracing the pink!

Here’s a pic of the diaper and the insert. The insert is nice and thick (and absorbent!), yet the diaper is actually quite trim! I would actually like to purchase some additional FuzziBunz inserts because I’m so fond of them.

FuzziBunz Perfect Size diapers

Layah is modeling the size M, which fits her chunky 16 pound frame now and will fit her up to 30 pounds. I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of this diaper, I think!

FuzziBunz Perfect Size diapers

Here’s the size chart for the Perfect Size diapers, if you were wondering which size would be best for your little one!

fuzzibunz size chart

What about you? Have you tried this brand of cloth? Were you as impressed as I was? 

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Fun Activities in the Garden with Kids

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I got some great ideas from this guest post about ways to have fun outside this fall with Darah! I hope it gives you some good ideas, too!

Fall Activities in the Garden

Fall presents a wonderful opportunity for children to learn through play in the garden and outdoors. Although summer is over, the blustery colorful change in season in no deterrent to fully take advantage to play alfresco.

Numerous creative activities can be combined with clearing the garden after the summer months in preparation for winter and putting it to bed.  Depending on the child’s age and learning level the garden provides a perfect space for promoting color recognition, social play, fine motor skills, mathematical concepts, sharing with friends and imaginative play. There is also scope for the use of natural materials combining learning about the garden with other development skills.

Children can help with all the garden tasks converting them into a fun activity rather than a cumbersome chore. All the necessary jobs to prepare the garden to get through the winter ready for the following spring such as weeding, trimming the borders, dead-heading, plant protection and preparing the lawn can become a fun challenge for a child. Counting how many plants you need to dead-head, what color leaves have fallen onto the lawn, what the leaves feel like, the noise they make when they are scrunched up, how many borders need trimming, everything can be turned into a tool for learning.

Weekends can be occupied with fun educational activities for children. Packing up the garden is the perfect time to teach a child all about different garden tools and their uses, where they are stored in different garden sheds and how one should take care of them. Naturally a child may not be able to handle actual tools at they could be potentially dangerous but they can practise on their mini imitation tools!

If you have a wooden garden shed you may wish to spend a day cleaning it out, painting a protective layer over it, dusting and sweeping, reorganising and making space for potted plants that have finished bringing in the tubs. A child could be in charge of cleaning all the pots and planting bulbs that will last through the winter. The bulbs that they plant they can be in charge of monitoring, learning how to care for new life and observing things grow at the same time, both fantastic educative opportunities.

A great idea is to allot a child their own section in the garden for them to care for, decorate as they wish with pebbles and stones and watch life grow once the winter is over.

Not only does fall present obvious tasks in preparation for winter which can be made into learning experience for children, wonderful imaginative, creative games can take place. Fallen leaves provide a perfect supply of material for numerous craft activities such as leaf collages, leaf stencils and home-made cards.  Scavenger hunts are exciting; children can be given a set of words and a bag and sent out to the garden to find all the objects (leaves, feathers, acorns, conkers, bark etc).

All the sticks, twigs and foliage that is cleared from the garden provide resources for imaginative play, building tepees, reconstructing imaginary villages, for dressing up, the possibilities are endless for children to explore and play expanding and learning all the while.  The fall season is a great opportunity to take advantage of different dimensions for learning through play.

This guest post was brought to you by Tiger Sheds.

Fall Safety Reminders and Master Lock GIVEAWAY!!!

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Darah has been asking me recently why the sun isn’t awake yet when she is getting ready for school. There’s no denying that the sun is coming up later and later every day. It’s just that time of year! And once daylight saving hits in a few weeks, it will be dark SO EARLY! Fall and Winter are on their way!

It is important for us grownups to remember that we are also heading into the two biggest seasons for burglaries. I know the topic isn’t tons of fun to think about, but trust me, it is so much better to think about your family safety and security plan and to beef it up in a few areas now, than to play Monday-morning quarterback after your things have already been stolen. It’s also important to make sure that every family member is on the same page about expectations for things like children’s weeknight and weekend curfews, and if your children are old enough to ever be home alone, what processes your child might need to go through when they get home (locking the doors right away, sending mom/dad a text message that they arrived, not answering the door, etc.).

While the weather outside is still nice, take a bit of time to do any home improvement projects that can help with overall safety matters. Make sure your front and back porch lights are in good working order, and note if they provide sufficient lighting. Think about if additional lighting might help deter would-be intruders from targeting your home. Also be sure to prune your hedges and make sure that your house number can very clearly be seen.

If you haven’t already put your outdoor grill and any other outdoor pieces that could theoretically be picked up and moved on lock down, I can’t stress enough how important this is (remember my post about how our weed eater was stolen? ). Master Lock has a 3 pack of red, blue and green cable locks that we are definitely loving and that we would recommend to anyone. I especially like that they are keyed alike for easier access (on the part of the owner, NOT on the part of the person who wishes they could steal it!). I love that there are several ties to go around, so every child, for example, could have their own secure bike lock, and can get in the habit of locking it up every day. Should a key get lost during this learning process, it is also not as big of a deal, since the remaining keys will also work.

Finally, take a moment to write down some ICE (in case of emergency) information for you kids to keep in their backpacks or wallets. Most people do not have phone numbers memorized since our phones do that for us. If your child ever needs to get in touch with you and doesn’t have his or her cell phone on hand, this could be a problem! This simple step will only take a minute or two but could make it so much easier for your child to reach you when needed.

What are you doing this season to make your home and its contents more secure?

Giveaway! One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of cable locks!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I am a member of the Master Lock Live Secure Safety Squad, and as such, I receive complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own, however. 

Win Organic Halloween Candy and Natural Face Paint!!!

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If you are like me, you are still scrambling to put together a Halloween costume and to gather candy for the big day. Darah has asked to be a ladybug, and I’m feeling thankful that she requested something fairly easy!

Here’s a chance for you to win some naturally good products for your Halloween. Darah loves these lollipops and your trick-or-treaters will, too! And how nice to have the face paint covered this year and not have to worry about if it is toxic! Good luck, everyone!

Halloween Naturally with Blog It Forward Media

WELCOME TO THE HALLOWEEN NATURALLY GIVEAWAY FROM BLOG IT FORWARD MEDIA

With Halloween just around the corner, Blog It Forward Media is bringing you the perfect prize pack to get your little goblins ready for the big event. The two sponsors for this event are YumEarth Candy and Elegant Minerals.

YumEarth Candy is offering a 5 pound bag of their delicious Organic Lollipops

YumEarth is a brand of candy produced by YumEarth. Everything YummyEarth makes is certified organic or all natural, gluten-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, and has no chemical colors, artificial flavors or high fructose corn syrup. YumEarth Organics Lollipops come in eight mouthwatering flavors: Very Very Cherry, Too Berry Blueberry, Strawberry Smash, Sour Apple Tart, Pomegranate Pucker, Razzmatazz Berry, Mango Tango and Wet-Face Watermelon.

To make all your costumes as authentic as possible, Elegant Minerals is offering a complete set of Face Paints in 15 colors along with all the tools you will need to apply the make-up as well as the remover to return your ghoul to normal after all the fun.

Elegant Minerals offer a safe alternative to harsh petroleum-based products. All of their colors are lead-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic and made in the USA. You will get all the benefits of mineral make-up in your Halloween Make-up. The prize pack includes all of these colors: White, Black, Light Blue, Royal Blue, Light Green, Dark Green, Aqua, Purple, Hot Pink, Red, Silver, Gold, Yellow, Orange, and Brown. Also included are: 1 – 12 count package of latex-free sponges, 1 – 5 piece package of latex-free disposable applicators and 1 bottle of organic make-up remover.

Enter to win today! This contest closes on October 16, 2012. Good Luck!

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This giveaway is open to the US only. Must be 18+ to enter. Giveaway closes on October 16 at 11:59pm est. Only one person per household/IP address may enter. You only need to enter the giveaway on one of our blogs. Stuff Parents Need is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series GIVEAWAY (ARV $79.95)!!!

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Do you remember The Magic School bus books, which of course launched the wildly popular tv series? Get ready to feel old, because The Magic School Bus is celebrating its 25th anniversary! The books actually first were published by Scholastic in 1986. The tv series premiered in 1994. I remember watching The Magic School bus with kids I would babysit. Even as a teenager, I always learned something when I watched an episode!

If you aren’t familiar with the series, you are in for a treat! It’s all about the world’s coolest teacher, Ms. Freizzle, who takes her students on AMAZING travels all over the world in her magic school bus. Each episode is chock-full of educational content that captivates children, as they are learning in the mist of a major adventure!

Scholastic Video is pleased to announce the release of The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series. This set has every single episode from the series available for your viewing (and learning!) pleasure. You probably already know from experience that this show is awesome, but if you need some convincing, just know that it has won the following awards:

  • Daytime Emmy®
  • Six CINE Golden Eagles
  • National Educational Media Network Gold Apple
  • Parents’ Choice Gold Medal for Excellence in Children’s Programming

The complete series has 8 dvds with 52 episodes, and extensive guides for parents and kids that help enhance the learning experience with more experiments and other ideas you can do together. There are also some fun activity sheets you can download right now! Click here and scroll down to middle part of the right section of the page. This set is so popular that it is currently on backorder! It will ship as soon as new stock is in, and it is listed at $79.95.

There are also two 3 packs (each featuring 12 episodes) for $24.95 as well as four single episode dvds for $12.95. But c’mon, don’t you really just want to have them all?!?

Here’s your chance!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series! EEEE!!
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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

Heinz Cleaning Vinegar Helped My Coffee Get It’s Groove Back!

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Between the rise of Pinterest, the hipness of green cleaning, and the increased appreciation for being thrifty, this really is vinegar’s time to shine. It has SO many purposes and my goodness, what a bargain it is!

In my home, we use vinegar as part or our cleaning arsenal primarily because it is a way to have chemical-free cleaning, but we are also drawn to it because of its cost-effectiveness. Vinegar is part of a cleaning solution for our mop.

 

We also use it as part of a conditioning rinse for our hair in lieu of store-bought products. And yes, it really does work well!

(Looks like our bottle could use some deep cleaning with vinegar!)

And we use it in our dishwasher as a rinse aid.

Until recently, I thought that all vinegar was the same, and so why not buy the absolute cheapest vinegar I could find? After all, isn’t being thrifty part of the point, here?! Heinz has recently come out with Cleaning Vinegar, which is specially formulated for the types of jobs I mentioned above, along with lots and lots of other cleaning possibilities. You can learn all about my shopping adventure and my close look at all the different vinegar products I found at Walmart here.

When inspecting the vinegar labels, I did notice that the #HeinzVinegar offers a higher concentration of vinegar (6% instead of 5%, which is a 20% increase). That means that this really is specially formulated for better cleaning results, and that this isn’t just clever packaging. Heinz Cleaning Vinegar really is different from everything else available on the shelves.

While I was reading the label, I saw the recommendation listed to use vinegar to clean coffeemakers. Evidently vinegar can remove mineral build up that occurs over time.

how to improve the taste of coffee

I was very intrigued by this, as I use my coffee maker about 5 days a week to make my beloved iced coffees. I was very curious to see if I could taste any difference after cleaning my coffeemaker, so I did an experiment. I made coffee as usual and set aside a glass for myself. Then I followed the instructions for cleaning the coffeemaker, which included using full strength vinegar and doing a brew cycle with it, followed by two brew cycles with plain water to rinse.

The water after the vinegar “brew.” It was definitely a little discolored!

Then I made a pot of coffee and I used the exact same coffee, same filter, same sweetener, and the same milk. I even used the same glass and the same straw! 🙂 The coffee on the left is the “pre-vinegar” coffee and the coffee on the right is the “post-vinegar” coffee.

I was expecting, at best, to taste a very slight difference. But that’s not the result I got. The result was…well…sort of MIND BLOWING! The best way I know to describe the taste difference would be that the coffee on the left tasted like my tastebuds were wearing sunglasses, and the coffee on the right tasted like my tastebuds were basking in sunshine. The difference was so extreme that I threw out my old coffee (and you guys, I’m not one to waste precious coffee. EVER.).

I actually did a little dance in my kitchen as I sipped on my new coffee. It tasted SOOO yum! And then I got my planner out and made a note to clean my coffeemaker once a month with Heinz Cleaning Vinegar.

How can Heinz Cleaning Vinegar help you find cleaning solutions that work for your family? Did you know that natural cleaning could be so effective?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and HEINZ #CBias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Three AWESOME Giveaways Coming Up: Bloggers Get Signed Up!

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The holidays are right around the corner (how did that happen??) and I’m looking out for you guys, wanting to make sure you have a chance to win some of the most coveted items for the season! In the next few weeks, you’ll see the following giveaways go live here! If you are a blogger, here’s info on how you can get signed up!

iPad3 Holiday Event is hosted by Mom Blog Society. Bloggers sign up here.

Prize: iPad3

The event dates: 10/4 – 11/1

Creating Holiday Memories Fujifilm FinePix Event is hosted by Mom Blog Society. Bloggers sign up here.

Prize: Fujifilm FinePix S4250 Black 14MP Digital Camera

The event dates: 10/8 – 10/22

Get signed up for this great giveaway here. Facebook links are free and other links are $3 each. I can’t wait to help give away so many awesome prizes, just in time for the holidays!!!

Parenting Tip: Get One Truly Great Pair of Shoes for Each Size

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We all know that buying shoes for kids can be a frustrating experience. They grow out of them so quickly that it can seem quite ridiculous to spend much on them. I totally understand that sentiment, and I have definitely opted for “as cheap as possible” shoes for Darah before. What’s the point in spending $40 on shoes that will be too small in 6 months?

Well, I also happen to know, deep down, that there is something to be said for getting the highest quality shoes possible for those little growing feet. After all, I had the child who refused to wear shoes until she absolutely had to, and even then, she would only wear one brand because that was the brand that felt good on her feet. You see, toddlers don’t buy the “fashion hurts” philosophy that so many grownups yield to in life. If it doesn’t feel good, they don’t want to wear it, plain and simple. A $7 pair of shoes is a waste of $7 if your child doesn’t want to wear the shoes. I’ve had several “bargain” pairs of shoes that Darah wore less than 5 times, and not because her feet grew that fast. And consistently throughout her growth, she has been interested in the shoes that offered more support to her feet. She doesn’t know the name brands, and even if she did, she doesn’t yet care about labels. She simply wants to wear what feels good.

Without fail, Pediped shoes ALWAYS feel good to her. That’s why pediped is the one quality shoe that I am willing to spend a bit more money on for Darah. I know that they are put together well enough that Layah will also be able to wear them, which doubles the lifetime usage we’ll see out of them. Most of Darah’s cheaper shoes haven’t made the cut to be passed on.

I aim to have a pair of pedipeds for Darah to wear for every size, if I can. Check out my video review of Darah’s brand new shoes from the Flex line of pediped shoes. These are PERFECT for preschoolers with lots of energy to run and play!

Additionally, pediped has just launched a line of cold weather boots. At Darah’s school, having time outside to play is valued very strongly, to the point where if it isn’t raining or snowing, the kids WILL have outside time. Even if it is REALLY REALLY cold! So dressing appropriately is a must. These pediped boots are designed to keep toes nice and toasty in really cold conditions.

Pediped also has a new athletic line available. They are very smartly designed, including being machine washable. Check out what Major League Baseball player Tom Glavine has to say about them by clicking here!

You’ll find over 80 new styles of pediped shoes to fit every child and most every occasion, all without sacrificing quality and a great fit. You can stay in the loop about new styles, great sales, and special promotions by becoming a pediped Insider! Visit the pediped website and enter your email address. It’s that easy!

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.