Stuff Parents Need

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

bobble Super Stylish Water Jug Review and GIVEAWAY! 3 WINNERS!!!

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One thing I have really been struggling with this pregnancy is drinking enough water. I totally get that I’m supposed to be staying hydrated. And I make feeble attempts to drink some water every day, but in all honesty, I’m drinking one to two glasses of water each day, when I should be getting eight.

And that has caught up with me. At my 35 week appointment I had an ultrasound, and I was told that my amniotic fluid was a bit lower than ideal. When I asked what I could do to help out, my doctor immediately said, “You need to be drinking plenty of water each day.” Sigh…that’s something I had known for months, but now I was faced with the fact that it really was having a negative impact on the baby.

Something had to change. But what could I do to make sure I was meeting the daily suggestion of water (eight 8 ounce glasses)? Fortunately, I had the perfect solution in my fridge. It was my water pitcher! No, I’m not talking about a big, clunky Brita pitcher. That has been replaced, my friends, with the bobble Jug!

The bobble Jug is a beautifully designed filtration system for your home. From their site, “It is a faster, smarter, sleeker reimagining of the squat, slow-filtering water jugs that have hogged space in refrigerators for generations.” I completely concur with this! While it doesn’t hold as much water as the old Brita, it holds the perfect amount for one person to consume in a day. And if multiple people are using the jug, you won’t be spending a lot of time at the tap refilling it….you’ll be amazed at just how fast its built in filter gets that water through! It’s such a breath of fresh air!

We have also just moved into a house with a smaller fridge, so real estate is harder to come by in there. I absolutely love that the bobble Jug is so slim; it doesn’t take up any more room than is necessary, leaving more space for our other food items.

Finally, the bobble Jug is cute! It looks great out on the table. I wouldn’t hesitate to put it out when hosting company for dinner.

I’m really impressed with the design and functionality of the bobble Jug, and I’d enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for something a little more stylish, a bit slimmer, and sized perfectly for one person’s water intake each day!

Win it!: THREE Stuff Parents Need readers will each win a bobble Jug in one of the hot new colors! You lucky ducks!

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YooHoo & Friends “Wannabe” Review

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On Easter morning, Darah found something very interesting from YooHoo & Friends waiting for her in her basket.

It was a stuffed lemur.

And it was dressed up in a horse costume!

This unique stuffed animal comes from YooHoo & Friends. YooHoo & Friends originally hit the scene in 206, and since that time, approximately 13,000 have been purchased EVERY SINGLE DAY, for a total of over 14 million! They are quite popular!  YooHoo & Friends wannabe collection

These new characters, the “WannaBes” are so much fun. They are the Yoohoo & Friends creatures that are also so loved by many, dressed up as other animals (for example, a giraffe, elephant, lion, tiger, horse, cow, cat and dog). When you squeeze your wannabe, they make the sound of the animal that they are dressed up like! Their hoodies are removable so that your child can play with their friend in costume or not in costume.

Now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too sure if Darah would like this new toy, or if she would just find it to be a strange “sort of horse/sort of lemur” combo. In fact, she fell instantly in love with it. After we explained what it was, she started giving it kisses and telling it that it was so soft and sweet. And she LOVES the horse sounds that it makes when you squeeze it! She has been toting her lemur with her everywhere since she got it, and she also likes to brush its hair and practice putting it to bed (by reading it a story, taking it to the potty, putting it in her bed, putting covers on it, and singing to it. CUTEST. THING. EVER.). child with YooHoo & Friends wannabe horse

(Sorry for the poor lighting in the picture. My child wakes up before the sun…)

If your child is just a little big older than Darah, they might also enjoy the interactive website which compliments the line has is based on animals all around the world. Definitely check it out when you have a minute!

Buy it!: YooHoo & Friends are sold nationwide (find your nearest retailer here). Because they tend to sell out fast, the website recommends that you call before heading out to the store to make sure they have some in stock! They are also currently sold on Amazon.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a WannaBe animal from YooHoo & Friends!

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Eco Sprout Cloth Diaper Detergent Review and GIVEAWAY!!

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Some people cite the need for “special” detergents as a downside to using cloth diapers. I see it as a positive thing, for sure! It is because we started using cloth diapers that we took a good, hard look at the detergents we had been using for our clothes, and realized that we were polluting the environment and leaving chemical residues on our clothes unnecessarily. There are some really great alternatives out there, and they don’t have to break the bank!

Today I’m featuring a very cool line of cloth-friendly detergent that is made by a work-at-home DAD! It’s called Eco Sprout, and I’ve been really impressed with it in the time that I’ve used it. I’m washing all of our baby girl’s clothes in this detergent, because they disclose all of their ingredients (which is not required in the U.S., by the way) so I KNOW that this stuff has no phosphates or enzymes in it. These are known allergens that cause things like eczema, and skin reactions. Babies are especially sensitive to these types of things, so I feel really good knowing that they won’t be present on our little one’s clothing. We’ll also be using it to wash her cloth diapers.

Cloth diaper veterans know that after time, “stink” (ammonia build-up) can become a problem on cloth diapers. Other users of Eco Sprout are reporting that this simply doesn’t happen to their diapers when using this detergent, so there’s no need to do any extra stripping or buy any extra products to battle the stink down the line. Love that!

Finally, I love that there are some really nice scent options for the cloth diaper detergent. I’ve noticed that the smell is light enough to not linger on the clothes after they have been washed, but they do make for a pleasant washing experience (which is so nice to have, especially when you are unloading a wet bag full of stinky dipes!). We’ve been using the Green Tea scent, which is so pleasant and calming. We’ve also had the opportunity to try out Warm Vanilla Sugar. Oh man, that stuff smells GOOD!!!

Overall, I’m just so excited to have this in my laundry room for when baby #2 hits the scene. I feel 100% confident with it based on my experience so far, and based on the experience that others are reporting having. You can pick up a 24/48 load of detergent for just $7.95. If you’d like to try samples first, those are also available for $1.75 and each do 2/4 loads!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a 24/48 load bag of Eco Sprout Detergent in your scent of choice!

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New Jammies (Organic!) Review and GIVEAWAY!!!!

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Darah is really starting to enjoy picking out her own clothes. She still chooses to wear dresses 6 out of 7 days of the week, pretty much. She likes to experiment with different colors and patterns and to admire her fashion creations in the mirror each morning.

Bed time is yet another opportunity for her to demonstrate her budding fashionista skills, and she insists on picking out her own pajamas. Lately she has had a clear favorite: her New Jammies. She has a shirt and shorts set (so nice for our unseasonably warm weather right now!) that has adorable Flower Girls all over it. Even though her jammies aren’t a dress, she likes that the characters on her jammies are sporting cute dresses.

Let me tell you what I like about these jammies (adorable print aside). I like that they are made of organic material. When they arrived in the mail, Darah wanted to put them on immediately. I didn’t have to tell her to wait until they got washed, first. That was nice!

I also love the bold colors in the fabric. The set is just so vibrant; I can’t help but smile when I see her in it. And of course, the fabric is super soft to the touch, which means that these jammies are quite comfortable.

Finally, I love the fact that this company was created by a woman with a background in chemistry, who has a true love and passion for the power of chemicals in our life, but at the same time, saw a need to reduce exposure to some of them in our day-to-day lives. The company also supports a variety of nonprofits, which is something I ALWAYS love to see. That means a portion of your purchase is going back to the greater good. Woo hoo!

New Jammies make a fantastic birthday or holiday gift option for little ones, or just a special treat. I can tell you from experience that they hold up beautifully in the wash, and we aren’t yet experiencing any color fading. They have a great variety of short and long-sleeve organic pajama sets from which to choose. They also have onesie sleepers and options for preemies. The set we reviewed retails for $31.00

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of New Jammies in your choice of size and style!

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Veggie Tales Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men DVD Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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I remember VeggieTales making their debut at some point in my teenage years. I was too old for them by the time they hit the scene, but that didn’t stop me from thinking they were pretty darn funny. I recall that we would watch VeggieTales on occasion at youth group lock-ins, just as an alternative to other silly cartoons, and they always cracked me up.

As a parent, I can appreciate the lessons that are wrapped into these silly stories. Veggie Tales has many episodes that present bible stories in a very entertaining way, while still getting the main point across, which might be about bravery, unconditional love, or standing up in the face of injustice. Good stuff!

The latest release from VeggieTales is not from the bible, but from a beloved story. It’s called Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men. It also features a bonus new short story and a new silly song from Larry (the silly songs have ALWAYS been one of my very favorite VeggieTales components).

Check out the trailer from the show to get a taste for what you’ll see!

Darah is absolutely delighted with this, her very first VeggieTales DVD! There are lots of great lessons in the dvd that give us a lot do discuss during and after watching it. I also wanted to point out that the VeggieTales website has a lot of free games and stories for you to check out on their site. Don’t miss it!

Buy it!: Right now you can score Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men for just $11.97! Sweet!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Robin Good from VeggieTales!

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Crave Foods Review and GIVEAWAY!!

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Despite what Pinterest might have you believe, not everyone can recreate all types of cuisine in their homes. For example, I have tried on more than one occasion to make delicious Indian food from home. Every time, I FAILED. Not a small fail, mind you, but a mind-blowing fail. Each and every attempt was a major bust. I’ve learned through experience that if I want Indian food, I need to get myself over to the nearest Indian restaurant (or at least call them to get take out). There’s just no point in trying to re-create something that clearly takes a knowledge base, skill set, and perhaps even spice selection that is far superior to my own.

But here’s the thing: there are only 2 Indian restaurants in my entire city (and I live in a mid-sized urban environment!). They can be inconvenient to get to from my house. Additionally, sometimes I just need to not spend $12 on dinner for one, know what I’m saying? I’ve got to keep that budget under control!

Enter Crave Foods. This company offers a gourmet line of ready made sweet and savory pies and samosas. Samosas are my favorite thing to order at Indian restaurants! While they can’t help me recreate an entire buffet of foods, I can at least get the item I love the very most and all it takes is a bit of patience while I wait for them to cook in my oven. They are full of spice and flavor, just as I would expect them to be if I had ordered them straight from a restaurant. I think they are terrific!

Crave Foods also has a nice selection of sweet mini pies, and here’s the best part: they are gluten-free! My mother-in-law has a wheat allergy, so she never gets to eat pie. When she was visiting recently, she had the opportunity to eat a mini pecan pie from Crave Foods and she said it was a delightful treat. I’m glad to know about them now so that I can get more for her the next time she is in town.

Want to know how to get your hands on some of this yummy food for your freezer? Click here for a list of local retailers.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win 2 packages of savory pies/samosas AND 2 sweet mini pies from Crave Foods!

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Space Saving Device: Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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We are currently in the process of moving from one house in our beloved neighborhood to another. We are excited to be getting about 150 more square feet of living space, and an additional bedroom for our second daughter (who will be here in just a few weeks!). The house, overall, is just great.

Except for the kitchen. We are remodeling it so that we can make the most of the space. The TEENY TINY SPACE. Oh heavens it is a small kitchen! This wouldn’t be so bad if we didn’t cook so much. Tim comes home for lunch every day, and we rarely eat out, so we seriously use it 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.

As we have been working on the remodeling plan, it has been of the essence that every single square foot of this room be used very well. We are working hard to maximize the space. Some elements of this include good design. Other elements include good organizational products.

Which is why we have turned to Rubbermaid to help us keep our recycling area functioning well in this new space. In our old kitchen we had the floor space to simply put a bin our for recycling to go in. It wasn’t pretty (in fact, I really hated how it made the room look so, well, TRASHY). But it worked. In this new kitchen, there is absolutely no room for that; we needed a different plan, and we weren’t interested in simply ceasing to recycle. No way! The blessing in disguise of our situation is that I realized our recycling was going to have to be hidden, somehow. It would be tricky to figure out, but it sure would look a lot better!

Rubbermaid has just introduced a new product called the Hidden Recycler, and it is absolutely perfect to meet our needs.

This will easily be tucked away under one of our cabinets, and is the size of 5 gallons. It is large enough to hold 1 gallon jugs! When it gets full, just pick it up by its convenient handle and take it out to your outdoor recycling bin. Easy! The bag itself has a leak-proof liner and is washable. The bag is also made of soft material, so if it needs to squish up a bit against other items in your cabinet, that’s no problem.

I think this is a spectacular product, especially for those of us with limited space in the kitchen, or who simply want our recycling to be kept out of sight! It retails for just $15.99. You can purchase it at Rubbermaid.com or at Meijer stores across the nation.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler!

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Wayfare Dairy-Free “Dairy” Products Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

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A common childhood condition is to be allergic to dairy products. This was something that affected Tim as a child. Many people outgrow this condition. On the flip side, many people (including my father) discover in adulthood that they have developed lactose intolerance, which makes dairy products tricky to consume, at best, and impossible to eat, at worst.

Personally, I have a tough time imagining what it would be like to completely remove dairy from my diet. I LOVE milk and cheese! The founder of Wayfare products felt the same way. He grew up in the dairy business, as his grandparents operated a dairy farm that was famous for its cheddar cheeses. Alas, he discovered later in life that dairy product had to be removed from his family’s diet altogether. How heartbreaking! As he searched for products that could be viable alternatives, he became very disappointed with what he found. So, he set out to create a solution that would taste great.

He did it! And the source of his success came from an unexpected place – mostly oatmeal. All the products are certified gluten-free and 100% dairy free and soy free.These products can be found at a variety of stores, including Whole Foods.

We’ve been sampling some of the delicious Wayfare products over the past few weeks and have been really impressed with how yummy everything is. The company sent us three different types of “We Can’t Say It’s Cheese” to try (mexi dip, cheddar spread, cheddar-style dip and hickory smoked spread). All three have been yummy and a great snack option. They are more like “cheese” spreads, and they go on crackers very smoothly. Two thumbs up for all 3 flavors!

I also recently used some “We Can’t Say It’s Sour Cream” in a recipe that called for sour cream. I couldn’t tell the difference AT ALL! I honestly wasn’t expecting for the result to be so good!

Finally, we have tried out their puddings (butterscotch, vanilla and chocolate). They are AWESOME! Each one tasted like a cup of heaven coupled with an iced coffee. What a treat!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win an assortment of samples from Wayfare, just like what I received. You will love it!

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Bumper-Free Bedding for Baby #2 (and a Pinterest Contest!)

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I absolutely adore the bedding set I picked out for Darah. I spent HOURS pouring over different options, trying to find good deals, and eventually going back to a set I fell in love with during the first 30 minutes of my epic quest. It was a splurge, but I didn’t care. I never regretted that purchase for a second. You can find an image of it on my Pinterest board if you are super curious!

The set did come with a bumper. And yeah, I had heard some rumblings and mumblings about how bumpers were no longer considered to be all that safe. But to be honest with you, I dismissed them, figuring that generations of babies had done just fine with bumpers in their cribs. Plus, it was so darn cute!

And then the American Academy of Pediatrics decided to weigh in on the issue. They officially came out against crib bumpers. And that’s when I finally got my head out of the sand and started paying attention.

HALO, the fabulous brand behind the super smart and super safe SleepSacks, has risen to the challenge of creating worry-free bedding by creating the Safe Sleep Crib Set, which is designed to create a safe sleep environment for babies (and a cute one, too!).

The five-piece set has everything your baby needs for a healthy and happy night of rest. It consists of the following:

  • HALO SleepSack wearable blanket
  • SleepSack Swaddle
  • Two coordinating crib sheets in soft cotton jersey
  • matching crib skirt
What I really love about this bedding set is that it goes beyond what might look cute and provides you with exactly what the baby needs for sleep, leaving out all the accessories like bumpers and quilts that can actually pose a breathing threat to babies. With our old set, I knew the quilt shouldn’t go in the crib and only used it as a decoration, hanging above the crib like a tapestry. But how many other parents opted to put it inside the crib as a blanket for their infants? I love that this set comes with a SleepSack and SleepSack Swaddle to provide plenty of coverage for baby, with no risk of any fabric getting in their face.
You can find the HALO Safe Sleep Crib sets now on Amazon as well as Babiesrus.com. The sets retail for $109.99 but are on sale currently at both sites! It is available in six different patterns including pink, blue and neutral tones. We have picked out the Caroline’s Garden Set (below). Adorable, no?
Would you like to win a set for yourself? Well, it’s not so hard to do if you are on Pinterest (and if you aren’t on Pinterest….GET ON THERE, NOW! YOU ARE MISSING OUT!). HALO is sponsoring a “Pin It to Win It” contest. Click here for all the details on how you can win your own set. The contest ends on April 15th, so hop on over now and get entered!
If you’d like to stay up to date with all the HALO happenings, follow them on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Disclosure: I received a complimentary safe sleep set for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.