No, seriously! It does!

Recently, MamaAsh introduced me to the amazing Laundry Tarts. These ladies really know their laundry! With a name like "the Laundry Tarts", aren't you just a little bit curious?

I received (thanks to MamaAsh) a sample of the Laundry Tarts' Key Lime Pie laundry detergent.
"A sparkling splash of lime topped with delicate maple meringue foam" is how the detergent is described. That is exactly what it smells like.

Those who know me, know how much I love key lime pie. While I contemplated and deliberated over which laundry detergent scent I wanted to pick, I was clearly drooling over my keyboard and computer monitor. With scents like lemon meringue, banana bread, cinnamon buns, vanilla dulce, oatmeal almond, black forest cake, birthday cake, mint hot chocolate, orange spice, maple pancakes, caramel apple, candy cane, ginger bread cookies, chocolate, apple pie, orange creamsicle, cookie dough, grapefruit, rootbeer float, strawberry shortcake, bubblegum, pina colada, tiger tail ice cream, orchard peach and cookies and cream, how could you not drool?!?!

The ingredients are all natural. Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Sodium Carbonate (Soda Wash), Sodium Percarbonate (Powdered hydrogen peroxide) Sea salt, Saponified coconut/canola oil, rosemary extract, phthalate free essential and fragrance oils.
  
My husband and daughter both have very sensitive skin. I have to be extremely careful of what I wash their clothes in. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that neither Hubby nor Little One reacted to the key lime pie laundry detergent! Hooray for me...because I love the smell of key lime pie! I'm torn between orange creamsicle and vanilla dulce for my next load of laundry!

For any eco-conscious consumer, the Laundry Tarts will make you proud. They are committed to providing products that do not harm the environment. They are passionate about the environment and reducing their carbon footprint. How cool is that? 


Read about the amazing duo behind the Laundry Tarts here and order your Laundry Tarts detergent here!

For 23 months I have lived in false security that Little One was the pillar of health. Some of Little One's buddies from the NICU have had a few setbacks with respiratory issues and whatnot. I counted my blessings each day that passed when Little One didn't get sick.

For 23 months she has been warded off influenza, RSV, and other ickies.

Until now.

We've all been sick for the past few weeks. Little One just never recovered. My gut feeling told me to take her to the hospital. Some people told me that it's just something her little system needs to go through herself. All kids get sick and just have to let their immune systems work it out. I totally agree with that. I do.

At the same time, Little One was a preemie and all I could hear in my head were the talks we had with doctors about how sometimes preemies have respiratory issues or if they get sick, they sometimes have a hard time bouncing back. My gut feeling told me to take her to the ER.

After three hours of being in the ER with her and her being under observation after being given an inhaler, we finally got to go home. The ER doc said to come back first thing in the morning for a chest x-ray and a visit with the ER doc again.

After yet another sleepless night (for Hubby, Little One and myself), I took Little One to the hospital again. There's just something so wrong about a toddler coughing so hard that it sounds like she's going to cough up a lung. It's painful to watch and to see.

The chest x-rays showed that Little One has pneumonia. She's on some strong meds and hopefully she'll be back to her normal, spunky, full of energy self again.

There's nothing more difficult than seeing your little toddler so sick and helpless. Wow. No one could have prepared me enough for this parenting thing! It's so much harder than I could have ever imagined.

My poor monkey. :(

Little One just turned 23 months old four days ago. To me, she is still my little baby. I think I've underestimated her ability to comprehend various requests and instructions. Her range of vocabulary has also hit me like a ton of bricks since I don't recall teaching her some of the words she knows!

Yeah, yeah. I sound like one of those gloating parents who boasts about how smart their kids are. Really, I'm not. I'm telling you that I am truly and honestly SHOCKED.

The other night, I was coughing up a storm and had a whole bunch of Halls wrappers on my lap. I don't know what possessed me, but I asked my toddler to "put these in the garbage for Mommy, please!"

To my surprise, she took the cough drop wrappers, and pitter-pattered to the bathroom, where she deposited the wrappers into the garbage bin. Whoa! What on earth? Where did she learn that? I totally didn't think she'd know what I was talking about!

She also shocked me by pointing to the moon and saying "moon", poking her belly button when asked "where's your belly button?", yelling "Baaaaaaaa!" when she sees a picture of a sheep in her books, and so on. She also says short phrases like "kiss baby", "up and down, up and down" (from The Wheels on the Bus), and "All done!" (when she's finished eating).

The biggest shock for me was seeing how she is with my Mom and Dad. Since I'm teaching ESL again, my parents watch Little One during the work week. I happened to catch some of their time together at lunch. Little One is awesome with my parents. She is so happy at their house. When she sees me, she's always so clingy and whiny. She claws at my pant legs with her arms outstretched for me to lift her up, and screams "Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama!"

Anyway, at home, when it's time for her to take a nap, we just put her in her crib and she goes to sleep. At Lola and Grampy's, they take her for car rides to get her to nap! Crazy! This one afternoon in particular, I noticed Little One start to rub her eyes. She does that when she's sleepy.

Me: I think Little One is trying to tell you she wants to take a nap.
My Mom: Yeah! Look at her!

Little One went to the other room, put on her boots, grabbed her raincoat, stood in front of Grampy and waited for him to pick her up.

My Mom: HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my gosh! I don't believe it!

Apparently, Little One now associates going out for a drive with taking a nap!

You know how much I love Wean Cubes, right? Well, here's yet another amazing find I'd like to share with you. I love, love, LOVE Today I Ate A Rainbow! In fact, when it comes to getting kids to eat healthy, Wean Green and Today I Ate A Rainbow go hand in hand. In fact, they're like BFFs!!!
As parents, we all know that kids need a minimum of 5 fruits and veggies a day...every day. PTPA Award Winner, Today I Ate A Rainbow provides parents, grandparents, babysitters, daycare and other caretakers tools to raise healthy kids.

The first time I had ever heard of Today I Ate A Rainbow was a few months ago. Kia Robertson was on a few of the online communities for Moms that I was in. I'm so glad we "met"! Her rainbow package is a brilliant tool for encouraging kids to eat their fruits and veggies. The interactive chart makes eating healthy FUN! The colourful cartoon magnets make tracking all the fruits and veggies lots of fun. The rainbow shopping list is pretty cool too! Oh, and Little One LOVES listening to me read the Rainbow Bunch story book!The package contains the following:
• Complete "Today I Ate A Rainbow!™" Chart
• 1 Today I Ate A Rainbow!™ chart
• 4 sets of coloured magnets
• 4 achievement magnets
• 2 fridge magnets
• 1 colour-coded shopping list
• The Rainbow Bunch Book
• BONUS! Rainbow Bookmark

Excerpt from the Today I Ate A Rainbow website:
"Many phytonutrients give fruit and vegetables their bright colour… the brighter the better! Our chart is made up of these major colour groups: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue-Purple. The different bright colours signify the different phytonutrients that each fruit or vegetable contains, therefore we use the Rainbow colours as a guide to getting a wide range of phytonutrients and nutrients in your children’s diet. Young children don’t need to know what specific nutrients each fruit or vegetable features: this chart makes it really easy for them – they just need to Eat a Rainbow every day!"

Oh, and how cute is this??


Seriously, what could be easier and more fun? Little One is still very young (she's only 23 months old), but she LOVES eating rainbows. Luckily for me, she always goes for the brightest foods on her plate. She loves raspberries, blueberries, sweet potato, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant...The brighter/more colourful, the better!

While Little One is still very young, I am actively trying to instill healthy eating habits. The chart and magnets are really attractive for young kids. We have a lot of kids who are a bit older than Little One who come over and they LOVE the rainbow chart and magnets!

Some may think it's too soon to start teaching Little One about eating rainbows, but I think it's never too soon when it comes to habit forming. Can you imagine how proud I was of my toddler when she turned down the cotton candy my friend's daughter offered her and opted for an apple? That's my girlie! :)

BUY IT!
You can purchase your Rainbow Kit here: https://www.todayiatearainbow.com/products-page/
These make fabulous birthday presents and are great to have in classrooms too!

WIN IT!
Lucky for you, Today I Ate A Rainbow is giving one of you a Rainbow Kit! All you have to do is check out their site, come back here and tell me why you want to win a Rainbow Kit of your own. (1 entry)

For more chances to win:
Please comment separately for each entry :)

Follow Today I Ate A Rainbow on Facebook! (4 entries)
Follow Today I Ate A Rainbow on Twitter! http://twitter.com/eatingarainbow (4 entries)
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Follow Random Thoughts and Musing from the Island REVIEWS on Google Friend Connect. (2 entries)
Follow us on Networked Blogs. (2 entries)
Follow us on Twitter @chancesmommy and Tweet this contest. (4 entries)
Grab my button and leave me the link to where you posted it. (3 entries)

Contest ends at midnight (EST) on Friday, October 29th, 2010.
I received a Rainbow Kit from Today I Ate A Rainbow for reviewing purposes. The thoughts and opinions on this blog are my own.

I was cooking up a storm for Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey. Check.
Ham. Check.
Stuffing. Check.
Sweet potatoes. Check.
Corn. Check.
Mashed potatoes, veggie tray, salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits/rolls, fruit tray, apple pie, pumpkin pie. Check, check, check, check, check, check, check!

Hubby walks into the kitchen.

Hubby: Ummm...Did you take the giblets out of the turkey?
Me: Yeah. I'm using them to make the gravy.
Hubby: Those aren't giblets.
Me: WHAT!?!?!?
Hubby: Yeah. That's the neck. Giblets look more like intestines, gizzard, liver, and other visceral organs.
Me: OMG! OMG! OMG! (sheer panic, as there would be about 30 dinner guests in attendance)
Hubby: You cleaned the bird and checked inside the cavity, right? The giblets usually come in a plastic bag stuffed inside the cavity.

I started freaking out. To be honest, this is the SECOND turkey I have EVER cooked. I've only hosted Thanksgiving dinner once before. I was vegetarian for most of my Thanksgivings in the past (and now I'm married to a beef farmer)!

Hubby opened up the oven, took out the piping hot bird. Checked it. Nope. No giblets in there.

PHEW!

Now, the question is...What happened to the giblets? And, will I have Thanksgiving dinner done in time for us to get our annual family portraits done by PhotoCaptiva AND take our out of town guests sightseeing at the Bridal Veil Falls? Gahhhh!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian family and friends! What are you thankful for today?

As parents, we love our kids. We love to cuddle them. We love playing hide-and-seek and we love reading to them. We love feeding them the healthiest foods possible. We take special care in feeding them wholesome and delicious meals. We make sure that nothing but the best goes into their little bellies. Why not make sure that we serve and store their healthy foods in something eco-friendly, safe, and stylish? You guessed it! Of course I'm talking about Wean Green Glass Baby Food Containers!

In case you hadn't guessed, we love Wean Green!

Imagine my excitement when these little beauties arrived at my doorstep!
What's not to love? The glass cubes are super cute. They're fabulous, compact, leak-proof, and durable.

• Safe & environmentally friendly
• BPA, PVC, Phthalates, and Plasticizer free
• Glass is 100% recyclable and sustainable
• Smart Clips lock and secure food inside
• Measuring lines help you monitor food intake
• Stands up to the extreme temperatures required to make, store, freeze, heat, and serve baby food
• Four fabulous colors: Raspberry, Blueberry, Peas, and Carrots

If you make your own baby food, Wean cubes are the perfect way to store your baby food and keep it fresh. When Little One was just starting on solid food, I made all of her baby food from scratch. I really wish I had discovered Wean Green when I was making Little One's baby food last year! The cubes are convenient and perfectly sized for just the right portion for your wee one.

Even though she's no longer eating "baby food", the Wean Cubes are perfect for toting around Little One's snacks and other finger foods. I pack Cheerios, raspberries, goldfish crackers, apple sauce and other yummy items in the cubes. Little One, being the independent little lady she is, loves holding onto her Wean Cubes herself and snacking on her own.
Though I'm all about using safe and environmentally friendly baby products for Little One, it sure helps that Wean Cubes are the coolest looking food storage cubes around! I even got excited when I saw the wild flower seed paper that the instructions were written on! Yes, tucked neatly into the box was a piece of recycled seed paper! Add soil, plant, water, and watch grow! How green is Wean Green?! I'm tellin' ya! They are too cool!
Don't forget to follow them on Twitter and on Facebook!

I know what I'll be getting all my friends' babies and toddlers for Christmas this year!

**GREAT NEWS!!!**
Wean Green is giving my readers a 20% discount on their Wean Green orders up until the end of the month!
Simply enter this promo code: RANDOMTHOUGHTS at checkout!






I received a set of Wean Cubes from Wean Green to review. The opinions on this blog are my own.

A winner for our Krafty Creations Contest has been selected via Random.Org.

#7

Kady L. said...

Follow you on Networked blogs!
kady@thebeerguy.ca

September 22, 2010 6:57 AM

Kady, you are the winner of an adorable crocheted beanie! Please e-mail us your mailing info to us so Krafty Creations can send your prize to you!

If no response has been received within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected by Random.Org.

I remember when Little One started eating solid food. I waited months to start her on solids. I didn't want to start her too early. She was a preemie, and I wasn't sure how developed her digestive system was and just didn't want to rush her. I also think that secretly, if she started on solids that would confirm that she was no longer dependent on me for nourishment. I know. Stupid.

There was no stopping our little preemie though. She wanted to eat! She did the whole baby cereal thing. We did the rice, oats, barley cereals and then she graduated to fruits and veggies. She loved everything. She loved her meat purees too!

On a trip to visit family in Montreal, a friend of mine gave Little One a few Cheerios. My friend has a daughter Little One's age and she was already eating finger foods. I didn't know how Little One would fare, as she had never been introduced to finger food.

Also, because she was a preemie, I was always told that preemies have a tendency to be delayed developmentally. I was told that Little One's fine and gross motor skills would not be the same as that of other babies her age.

"She's going to choke! She's got no teeth!!!", I exclaimed.

"Chris, don't worry! The Cheerios will dissolve in her mouth. They'll get soft when she puts them in her mouth. She won't choke", my friend assured me.

I winced and hesitated. "Oh, I guess you're right".

To my surprise, Little One was able to pick up those tiny Cheerios and put them in her mouth! It was that moment that I just knew our little preemie was fine and not behind developmentally. Thanks to Cheerios! Cheerios were Little One's very first finger foods.


The good people at Cheerios have come up with yet another fabulous opportunity for parents and kids. They are offering parents a chance to win some pretty nifty prizes. Enter the Cheerios Milestones contest and you can WIN $10,000 towards an RESP from TD Canada Trust! Not only that, but your child can also be featured on a special edition Cheerios Box! Visit the Cheerios website and see how easy it is to enter!
Twenty finalists will be chosen to be on a special edition Cheerios Box and win Cheerios for a year! All you have to do is upload a photo of your favourite moment. Contest closes on December 15, 2010.

Think that's great? Well, MomCentral Canada and Cheerios have yet another cool contest for you! They have given me the chance to offer a wonderful giveaway to my readers. One of you will win a Cheerios play book! The Cheerios play book is perfect for learning and for fun! I know, since Little One was given a Cheerios play book from my friend last Christmas! She LOVES it!

To enter, leave a comment sharing a story about one of your child’s milestones.

The Cheerios play book contest is open from October 5th to the 29th.

Disclosure - I am participating in the Cheerios Milestones program by Mom Central on behalf of General Mills. I received a gift card as a thank you for my participation. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Feeding times were so much easier when Little One was still little. Now she is a 22 month old girlie who is as independent as can be. She doesn't want any help eating. She can feed herself with her own fork, thank you very much. Help her spoon her yogurt into her mouth? I think not!

Along with her independence and eating on her own come the terrible table manners. Little One has the tendency to throw her food on the floor once she's had enough. When she gets full, she swipes all the food off her tray and "cleans" it off. *sigh*

Every meal, we go through the "No thank you. We do not throw food on the floor!", "Throwing food on the floor is NOT nice!", "Please do not wipe your food all over your face!" and "STOP THROWING FOOD ON THE FLOOR!" We go through this E-V-E-R-Y S-I-N-G-L-E T-I-M-E!

I don't know which table manners story is the funniest. The one where Little One smeared pasta and pasta sauce ALL OVER herself during an evening with friends or the one when she decided it would be funny to wear her hamburger on her head like a hat?She thought it was funny, and she certainly succeeded at making all our guests laugh! Mommy wasn't impressed with the flying food. I've got homemade lasagna stains on my ceiling to show for it!

Thankfully, Barber Foods and The Product Review Place are presenting "a special Table Manners Twitter Dinner Party. Join us on Thursday, October 14, 2010 from 7:30-9:00 PM EST. Tweet with us and table manners guru Sherry Thomas who’ll help answer your most pressing questions and solve everyday dilemmas when it comes to bringing peace to your dinner table."

I was recently asked to share some of our skin to skin photos for the development of educational materials for Mount Sinai Hospital. Looking back at Little One's earliest photos was bittersweet. I must have been on auto pilot mode (or maybe in denial), because I never worried once that Little One wouldn't be okay. Our days in the NICU were a roller coaster ride, but I just knew she would be fine.

I trusted her doctors and nurses to the utmost degree. I trusted that all would be fine.

One of the things I am really impressed with and thankful for is how the nurses kept encouraging me to do kangaroo care with her and to hold her skin to skin. I really do feel that this helped connect my preemie to me. We bonded, and that warmth of having her close to me really touched my heart. I treasured those moments so much, since it was nearly two weeks until I got to hold her.

Initially, it was a bit intimidating and I was afraid to hold that tiny, fragile, itty-bitty baby. I was afraid I'd break her. Honestly! She was only 2 lbs, 3 oz and full of leads, a CPAP, NG tube...It was all a bit daunting!

Her primary nurse told me to take off my shirt, tuck Little One underneath my hospital gown, and hold her.



Hubby was scared to hold her at first. He said she was so tiny and so fragile. After his first hold, he was hooked! He also treasured his quiet time with her. Skin to skin is also important for Daddies! Here he covered her up with a little face cloth so she wouldn't be cold!
Many thanks to Mount Sinai, the NICU, the lactation consultants, and the Linden Fund. We wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for all of you.