Stuff Parents Need

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

Master Lock dialSpeed Electronic Combination Lock GIVEAWAY!!!

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Just in time for back-to-school (and back-to-lockers for many kids!), Master Lock has brought forth an innovation in combination lock security. It is my pleasure to introduce you to dialSpeed Electronic Combination Lock.

Electronic combination lock…what the heck, right?! Well, there are lots of handy dandy things this cutting edge product can do!

It offers an electronic interface which makes it quicker and easier to use than a standard combination lock.

It comes with a resettable primary code and the option of creating 3 additional guest codes. If you share a locker space with someone at the gym, for example, you can both access the locker without having to memorize the same code! That’s especially cool if the code you use happens to be used elsewhere for you.

There is also a permanent backup master code at masterlockvault.com for your device. This means that as long as you can get online, you won’t be locked out forever if you forget your code!

This lock comes with a CR2032 battery that has an estimated 5 year life span before it needs to be replaced. There’s also a low battery reminder so that you aren’t ever surprised to find a dead bolt (snort! snort!) on your hands.

I just got my dialSpeed in the mail, and it looks pretty darn slick! I’m impressed with this new way of approaching how to work a combination lock. I think the generation of kids currently in high school would really love it, too! It speaks to their electronic sensibilities!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a dialSpeed from Master Lock!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Disclosure: 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. 

 

Earth’s Best Organic Formula: GIVEAWAY!!!

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When Darah and I were having trouble with breastfeeding, starting when she was about 6 months old, I really panicked. I didn’t know anything about formula other than the fact that I didn’t want to give it to her.

But if you’ve ever seen your baby be hungry and seen your body fail to produce what is needed, you quickly get over yourself and figure out what your options are to feed your baby. So I started doing some research online on different formula types and makers to determine what would be the safest choice for Darah.

We had already introduced solid foods at that point and I was feeding Darah exclusively organic products, such as Earth’s Best organic rice cereal. I was interested in finding some organic formula for Darah, as well. Earth’s Best was the only company I could find at that time that was offering such a thing. It wasn’t offered for sale at any grocery store near me, so I had to order the product online. I would actually order it from Diapers.com by the case, and by ordering in bulk, the price per can dropped significantly so that it didn’t cost much more than name brand traditional formulas. I used the product in the red can, seen in the photo below.

So why go organic for formula? The dairy ingredients found in Earth’s Best organic formulas come from cows that have not been treated with growth hormones, steroids, and antibiotics. The other ingredients are also organic, meaning that they were produced with pesticides and made without genetically engineered organisms. These things were important to me, since I was already working to avoid these pesticides and GMOs in her solid foods. It gave me a lot of peace of mind to know that I wasn’t introducing her to those elements through her formula, either.

Earth’s Best has introduced a new organic product for parents who might have a fussy baby. It’s called Earth’s Best Organic Sensitivity Infant Formula, and it is the first FDA approved infant organic formula that has lower lactose levels to help ease fussiness and gas.

If you are concerned about introducing harmful pesticides to your infant, but need to use formula for whatever variety of reasons, I highly recommend that you try out Earth’s Best. And if your baby has sensitivities, Earth’s Best now has an option for you, too!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a can of Earth’s Best Organic Sensitivity Formula!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Disclosure: I am a blog ambassador for Earth’s Best, and as such, I have received complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

 

So Many AWESOME Discounts from Educational Insights and a GIVEAWAY!!!

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Educational Insights has got to be one of the very best online destinations for educational materials that kids will really love.

I’ve mentioned before Hot Dots and how much Darah enjoys playing with them. Thanks to these cards, she is learning logic, patterns, sequencing, letter recognition (uppercase and lowercase) and basic science. I’m so excited that there are so many different types of Hot Dots cards for her to use as she gets older and is ready for more complex concepts. We recently snagged some cards that I’m going to keep in our game closet for about 6 more months before trying them out with her. I haven’t even told her about them, because I know she’d want to give them a whirl right away if she saw them! But since she is still working on mastering her sets that are already open, I think we should just stick with those, for now.

Educational Insights has a really impressive selection of Hot Dots cards, and I very highly recommend them for kids. We have certainly enjoyed the Hot Dots, Jr. sets, and look forward to continuing to use the Hot Dots sets as she grows. And before you know it, Layah will be using them, too!

I also want to point out that Educational Insights has a Pinterest page, and it is loaded with great ideas for kids educational activities. In the future, they are going to be holding Pinterest exclusive giveaways, so be sure to follow them there so you don’t miss out!

But wait, there’s more! You can earn $10 off an EducationalInsights.com purchase just be filling out a SUPER short (4 questions!) suvey here: http://www.educationalinsights.com/category/id/119977.do

May I suggest what you put this fabulous credit towards? Some Hot Dots! Now through August 11th, you get a free Hot Dots pen with the purchase of two card sets! That’s an $11 value! Enter code HOTPEN at checkout!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the Hot Dots pen as well as two card sets of your choice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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. 

Milk Nursingwear Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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I’m not one of those “on the go” moms who runs errands every single day with baby in tow. I actually plan rather strategically so that I can do most of my shopping and other outside-the-house tasks done either by myself, or just with Darah while Tim stays with Layah. I’m not afraid to go out with her; I just know the tasks will be completed much faster without a baby.

But there are times when I simply need to be out for a long time, and my entire family is with me. For example, when we went to Atlanta for a mini-vacation a few weeks ago, we had several things we wanted to do during the day before heading to the hotel (a trip to Ikea, which I’ll blog about later, a trip to Trader Joe’s, and a trip to the Varsity for some dinner). I wasn’t going to let the fact that I needed to breastfeed Layah multiple times during that trip spoil it for me.

All I needed to do was dress appropriately so that nursing her would not be too difficult. Milk Nursingwear had the perfect top for me to wear during our marathon day, and I have to say, it made breastfeeding a breeze. It also made me feel stylish, which is a HUGE accomplishment for nursingwear.

Here I am at the Varsity enjoying my meal. Layah enjoyed her meal afterwards! Ha!

To get a better idea of what the shirt looks like  and how it works for nursing, here’s a image from the Milk website:

The cowl neck nursing shirt is really soft, and I love the color. I wore this all day, and probably fed Layah 4 times while wearing it. I was never uncomfortable and never had a hard time feeding her on account of my wardrobe. It was really quite refreshing! At home I just wear whatever, and often have to completely remove my top to feed the baby. That’s fine if I’m in my own house, but it actually gets kind of old. I’ve started wearing this shirt at home for convenience sake, and if I’m out with the baby, I almost certainly am wearing this. It’s my favorite nursing shirt!

Milk Nursingwear has the best selection of affordable and fashionable nursing clothing I have ever found. The company is also founded by a mother of four. Elisa knows first hand how important it is to have modern styles that support breastfeeding. She’s done a wonderful job with her company, I think!

I also want to point out the sale section of the site. That’s a great place to find a bargain! 

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a $35 gift certificate to Milk Nursingwear!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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

Keep Little Snackers Out of Your Pantry: FishClip Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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Lately I have been noticing some unusual things happening in our pantry.

It seems that we have little elves who are going into our pantry during the night and opening up our food.

Or perhaps we just have a toddler whose fine motor skills have reached the point where she can open up the food items on her level.

We need some reinforcement to keep food off limits during the day! But not just any old chip clip is going to get the job done, as Darah knows how to get those off in a heartbeat.

We’re gonna need some FishClips.

Sure, they are cute, but don’t be fooled…they hold on to rolled up bags like a piranha! Check out how they work with this short clip:

Darah actually really likes to play with these, but she is not yet able to successfully use them. I know the day will come when she will be able to open them, but even then I’ll be glad to have them around. They do a really excellent job of keeping our food in bags fresh!

You can also think beyond a bag of potato chips for these clips. Try them on your coffee, with frozen food, or even to hold small cords in place! FishClips also have magnets on their backs so that you can put them on the fridge! 

Buy it!: FishClips are available in packages of 3 for $6.99. They are really useful and also make great gifts! They are available at many retailers online, including Amazon.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win two sets of FishClips!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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. This post does contain an affiliate link. 

Elizabeth Grant Eyeshadow and Lip Gloss Review and GIVEAWAY!!

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Elizabeth Grant is a Canadian makeup and skincare company that I have featured before. They have exceptional products and some of the most clever packaging I have ever seen. I think of them as the Carrie Bradshaw of skincare…bubbly, fun, and putting up a really good fight against aging.

Recently I was sent two of their new makeup products, and I love them both!

First up, their new lip gloss line called Light Up Your Lips is AWESOME!!! I’ve never seen packaging like this before, and it makes me smile every time I put it on. As you twist open your gloss, an LED light comes on at the base of the applicator. There’s also a gold mirror attached to the cube. You can easily reapply your gloss in any setting this way. It is SO COOL! This line of lip gloss offers high pigment, lots of shine and deep hydration. It isn’t sticky, which is great, because that’s one of my pet peeves about most glosses. I have the color Natural and I think it is really beautiful. Light Up Your Lips retails for $20.00.

The second product I have been trying out is the Beautiful Colours Liquid Eyeshadow, which retails for $18.00.

The product actually looks very similar to a lip gloss in terms of how it is applied. I was a bit nervous about this, as liquid eyeshadows can be overpowering, and also can crease very easily. This was not the case for the Elizabeth Grant products. I found the color (Vienna Roast) to provide sufficient color so that I look put together, but it didn’t go on thick, as I expected (and feared). The shade is quite beautiful, and absolutely perfect for the summer. I also found it to have good staying power.

Elizabeth Grant already impressed me with their skincare products. Now I’m a fan of their makeup as well. I highly recommend them!

Also, be sure not to miss the HUGE giveaway on the Elizabeth Grant site! In honor of their anniversary on The Shopping Channel, they are giving away over $5,000 in products! All you have to do to enter to win is provide your name and email address! Easy!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a lip gloss and eye shadow from Elizabeth Grant!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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. This post may contain affiliate links. 

Sorting Game for Preschoolers: Attribute Apples Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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There’s a new game we have in our home, and Darah asks me to play it with her every single day. It’s called Attribute Apples, and it is available at the online store I love and have highlighted several times before, Learning Resources.

The game is designed for kids ages 3-8, and it is basically a bucket full of 27 different apples with different attributes (3 different sizes, 3 different colors, 3 different physical characteristics such as having a worm, having a leaf, or having a stem).

The purpose of the game is to work on classification skills, and my child really loves the challenge. It keeps her engaged for a long time, and she does a lot of good critical thinking every time she plays.

The bucket comes with a removable divider so that you can put your apples in 3 different sections in the bucket. Darah loves to use the bucket to sort her apples, and as soon as she finishes, she dumps them out and starts over!

Her very favorite apples to find are the ones with the worms in them. While she is hunting for those, she ends up sorting out the ones with leaves and the ones with stems in the process.

Once your child masters color, size and characteristics, there are also other, more advanced things you can do with attribute apples so that the fun can continue. One example is to use the apples to make patterns. This is too advanced for my child at this point, but over time we’ll be able to use the apples for this purpose.

This product is very simple, but is getting played with VERY frequently. I think it is well-designed and really captures the attention of little ones. I highly recommend it! It retails for $21.99.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win Attribute Apples!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

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

My Favorite Board Game Gets zAPPed: Monopoly Review

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Growing up, my family’s very favorite game to play was Monopoly. It was a good fit for our family, who valued healthy competition, wheeling and dealing, and seeing something through to the end, even if it took hours! A short monopoly game in my house would last 2-3 hours, and I even recall a few marathon games that lasted more than a day to finish (with breaks for eating and sleeping but not too much else!).

If you have an iPad and are a Monopoly fan, then you are in for a real treat, because this board game has officially been zAPPed! There’s now a version of Monopoly that incorporates your iPad for a more interactive version of the game.

Tim and I played a round together last week, and I’ve been itching to play again ever since! One of the features I really love and that feels very updated for the modern world is that there are no dollar bills to mess with. Every player gets a bank card that gets used for transferring funds. That actually makes the game go a bit faster, and nobody is burdened with the task of being the banker.

There are also fun additions to the classic game. For example, there is a fun little game you can play to try to get yourself out of jail when you land there. And some of the chance games involve all players so that everyone has a crack at a potential reward.

My only complaint about the game is that the bank cards are not quite as sensitive as I think they should be. Sometimes you have to scan the card multiple times before it takes. I think that’s a small problem in the grand scheme and isn’t so annoying that I wouldn’t recommend the game. I’m actually thinking about buying a copy for my brother and his family this Christmas. I know he loves the game, and I think he’d really enjoy this version as well.

Monopoly zAPPed is $29.99 and is best suited for those 8 and up. It is available at mass merchandise retailers.

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

107 Days Until I Transform Into a Greek Goddess: Halloween Prep!

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Halloween is in 107 days. That probably still sounds like plenty of time to decide what you’d like to be for Halloween.

That’s right, I’m talking about YOU. Not your kids.

Are you wondering why on earth you should be dressing up for Halloween? I’ll tell you why: because IT IS FUN! And your kids will absolutely LOVE that mom wore a costume when taking them trick or treating, or to the local harvest carnival.

I will tell you truthfully that last year I didn’t dress up to take Darah trick or treating. I was in the throes of morning sickness and it was an accomplishment for me just to get out of the house. But Tim dressed up as Harry Potter, and Darah LOVED that her daddy was in costume.

So I’ll be joining the ranks this year. And I decided to go with the same type of costume that was my all-time favorite from all my childhood years of trick or treating: Greek goddess.

That probably sounds like an unusual choice for a child! In the third grade my class did a unit on Greek mythology and I loved it so much that I asked to be Aphrodite for Halloween that year. From the Greek titans all the way down to the half god/half mortal beings, I found the entire concept of Greek mythology to be completely fascinating. I still do, in fact! So it seemed like a great choice to go with.

I chose a goddess costume from Anytime Costumes. I can’t show you a picture of me in it, because to be 100% honest, it doesn’t yet fit. And I did that on purpose. This costume is part of my inspiration for fitness. I’ve got a goal to participate in a 5K in mid-November, and I’ve already started my slow, but steady training to be ready.

One of the benefits of getting my body in shape to do a 5k will be a bit of weight loss. I believe that with 15 pounds shaved off my body, this costume will fit beautifully, and might just make me feel immortal, if only for a few hours!

I have taken a closer look at the costume, and while the quality isn’t something akin to what you’d find in the formal section of a department store, I still think this costume will hold up pretty well for several years of use.

There are 3 1/2 months until Halloween. I want to first encourage you to dress up with your kids this year. It will be a great family memory. And next, I want to encourage you to think about what you want to look like at Halloween. There’s still time between now and then to make some lifestyle changes if you would love to look like a goddess!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.