"The moon will soon rise, and the sun has just set,
But it’s still not my birthday yet..."
My little guy, Oliver, loves birthdays. He just turned 3 in September and every week for the six months previous to it he asked incessantly about his party and who would be there and how old he would be and what we would eat. Every birthday party we attended for other children was met with ridiculous amounts of excitement and boisterous renditions of the 'Happy Birthday' song for days leading up and following. But really who could blame him? Who doesn't like birthdays and parties?
I am guessing Oliver's enthusiasm was something he got from me. Since he was born I've put a fair amount of effort into making sure that his birthdays have been special and have created a few traditions for our family to keep it interesting, like telling stories about my pregnancy and his birth or making only his favourite foods on that day. The most intentional tradition I started was to theme his birthday celebrations around our favourite books. His first birthday was a indoor picnic style lunch based on 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carly; His second a wild rumpus that would make Maurice Sendak, Author and illustrator of 'Where The Wild Things Are' very proud; and just this year we celebrated over cookies at an 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie' party based on the book by Laura J Numeroff. With the literary love showing through in our birthday celebrations I was quite Intrigued when I was approached by Joni Rubinstein about her book "The Night Before My Birthday" illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal.
"The Night Before My Birthday" was written in the spirit of creating family traditions to enhance the excitement and anticipation children seem to bounce with leading up to their birthdays and to highlight how special it is for the whole family to celebrate the birth of their cherished little members. It isn't an everyday book but meant to be read on the eve of the child's birthday as a special tradition.
In order to write this review we were sent a hardcover keepsake copy of the book and since it was only a few weeks after Oliver's real birthday we totally cheated and read it a couple times (I have since put it away so that it will still be fresh and new and exciting in ten and a half months). When I asked Oliver what he liked best about the book he -of coarse- said that it was about birthdays but when I pressed a little further he seemed to really take to the page about dreams featuring a beautiful illustration of fluffy flying sheep:
"The moon will then rise and glow while I sleep,
On white puffy clouds like fat fluffy sheep."
He was also quite impressed by the fact that the book 'knew' he was three years old (The book is written with blank spaces where you can say the age your child is turning each year).
My favourite part of the book is the extra keepsake pages in the back where you can record the date, your child's name and age, and who read the story that year. I like that there are lots of spaces provided so that many years from now I imagine I will be able to look back and remember several children having this book read to them on the eve of their birthdays.
I also really appreciate that the images in this book feature families of many different backgrounds and make ups. The lack of diversity in the vast majority of children's literature out there is a whole other post for another day but needless to say the inclusiveness of this book makes me just that much happier to make it a part of our family's birthday traditions.
This book would make an excellent gift for children of all ages and their family and if you order it from the website $1 of each purchase goes to direct aid and research charities which help children living with serious illnesses reach more birthdays. So really, there's no good reason why you don't need a copy!
Joni has generously offered to give away another copy to one of our readers as part of this review, please fill out the following wigit to gain up to 10 entries plus the chance to earn an entry per day until the contest closes. This contest is open to all and will remain open from today (11/12/2012) until Midnight on Sunday November 25th. The winner will be announced via the Connected Mom Facebook page on Monday November 26th and contacted via email. Good Luck!
I have been trying to find a new natural living and parenting magazine since Motherhood stopped their print issues, and so many of my friends in this community rave about The Mother Magazine. I kept putting off reading it, though their facebook page is loaded with information.
I was sent three issues of the magazine from this year, and as soon as I opened the envelope and saw what was written in each issue had me hooked. However, what really sold me was an article in the May/June 2012 issue.
We are, for now, following a more unschooling program than actual homeschooling and doubts creep in regularly whether we are doing the right thing and if she will ever "catch up" to other children her age. She is teaching herself to read and is very interested in it, but she just isn't there yet.
The article in the May/June issue is titled Unschooling: inspired thinking or educational neglect? by Chaley-Ann Scott. The title drew me. The same thoughts had run through my head. She writes about how unschooling works in her home, how her children thrive at their own pace, and how unschooling has grown in many countries, including the US. She discusses both sides of the unschooling 'debate' and explains why there is such a huge divide between homeschoolers and unschoolers.
Though I will say for me, the best part of the entire article was her discussing when her children learned to read. Her daughter learned at six, in almost the same way that my daughter is learning, but her son didn't have any interest until he was eight. She discusses how she felt during the long wait for her late reader, but that she knew to wait for him.
I thumbed through the rest of the issue and was blown away by the amount of information on so many diverse topics. One issues goes from Vitamin K information to barefoot babies. Another discusses The Red Tent Movement to maternal health in Nigeria. There are beautiful pictures within, whether they're babywearing, nursing, birthing, or families interacting. Every issue contains healthy recipes, which I have yet to try, but they look delicious and simple.
This magazine is everything I have been looking for since Motherhood stopped. I actually think it is better than Motherhood ever was. The topics are real questions parents and families ask themselves, and they're written by people that have been there and researched this for months.
If you have anything you want to write about, you can send in submissions to them, and be published in the magazine, which is one of my favorite parts. You aren't hearing from random big shot sources like other parenting magazines, you're hearing from real people.
The very best part? The Mother Magazine is giving away ten free issues to ten lucky families! This magazine is one that you truly want in your library, even if just for the recipes, pictures, or to have on hand in case you ever need a bit of advice.
Just complete the form and you can get 10 easy entries for your chance to win!
Today we are excited to share a guest post from The Connected Mom's founder, Gennifer Albin!
Gennifer Albin is a recovering academic who realized she could write
books of her own and discovered, delightfully, that people would read
them. She lives in Kansas with her family and writes full-time. Her
debut novel, Crewel, the first in a trilogy, will be published in
October 2012 by FSG/Macmillan.
You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook. She also blogs infrequently at genniferalbin.com and weekly at The League of Extraordinary Writers.
For today's guest post Gennifer shares her thoughts on balancing her passion with family life and her aspirations for her children's education. Striving for Balance is, in my opinion, the most important of the eight principles of attachment parenting yet it is often overlooked. Many thanks to Gennifer for sharing what balance looks like for her family.
***
When I
got my book deal, I was faced with a decision: keep squeezing in writing or put
the kids in preschool. It was a big
decision because I’d long flirted with the idea of homeschooling, which is
something I very much admire.
A lot of
factors went into my choice, but really it came down to balance and accepting
my own limitations as a mother. Even
though I loved the idea of homeschool, I knew it wasn’t going to be a good fit
for my personality, and I also knew that trying to meet demanding deadlines of
the publishing world while being a stay-at-home mom would be a challenge.
As luck would have it, I had 3
months of editing and revising with the kids at home to give me a taste of what
life would be like if I chose the first option, and it wasn’t pretty. Personally I saw the increase in television
and take-out and crying as a sign that I wasn’t going to find balance without
help. So I began the great preschool
search and decided very quickly on a Montessori-based program.
As a mother who favors natural
parenting and alternative schooling, Montessori’s focus on the child-centered
learning spoke to me. My children
participate in group and individual activities.
They guide their learning by choosing the topics they are interested in
and studying them at their own pace. My
two year-old delights with her clever Montessori coat trick at gatherings, and
at the end of the day, we come home and have a family life — most of the time.
I also appreciate the sense of familiarity
and attachment, my daughter has developed with her Montessori teacher. Something that is especially beneficial to
her as I now travel quite a bit for book promotion.
It wasn’t easy to choose a place
for my children outside of the home, but we approached it with a sense of
adventure. It was an opportunity to make
new friends and engage with people from different cultures and family
situations. Both of my children are
thriving. I find it easier to disengage
with work at the end of the day and focus on family. And most of the time, I meet my deadlines.
***
As Part of this blog tour, Gen's publisher has generally offered to give away a copy of CREWEL along with a selection of literature for the whole family. The winner will receive a bundle including:
CREWEL/Gennifer Albin
BEAR HAS A STORY TO TELL/Erin & Phil Stead
A IS FOR MUSK OX/Erin Cabatingan
ABE LINCOLN’S DREAM/Lane Smith
HELLO BABY/Roger Priddy – mirrored board books!
Please complete the following steps to earn up to 10 entries into the contest.
As a devoted cloth diaper user, I felt like I’d tried just about every style and every brand out there, until I discovered the wonderful world of small, family owned and wahm-based diaper companies. I first found Loveybums while looking for wool. They are a family owned and operated business in Massachusetts, and all of their products are made in New England with eco-friendly fabrics produced in the US. They make incredible wool wraps, that are exceptionally trim under clothing. I decided to give the jersey and crepe covers a try, and I was not disappointed. After receiving my first package, I quickly realized that the only thing that topped my love for Loveybums wool wraps was my love for their velour fitted diapers. After trying multiple brands, these had everything I had been looking for! I was so in love, in fact, that I volunteered to write the review based on my experience with the products I’ve previously purchased.
[*Note: All photos are of my personal washed and worn Loveybums diaper, and unfortunately I was unable to fully capture the vibrant color, or the squishiness!]
The velour fitteds are constructed of the softest, squishiest organic velour, with hidden layers of organic interlock and fleece. But don’t let the squish fool you – they are also one of the trimmest fitteds I own. There is no sacrifice in absorbency though, as they are also crowned as my favorite in that department as well! They are so beautifully made in vibrant, hand-dyed organic velour, and the fit is outstanding. Three snaps on each side prevent wing droop, and the stretchy, well crafted elastic gussets offer the snuggest of fits. My daughter is 33 inches and 27 lbs and still fits into her larges on the smallest settings (without using the crossover snap). The rise fits her beautifully without any lower belly sagging. My first ones have been in heavy use for four months and show little signs of wear.
There is a snap in soaker that generally stays completely attached in the wash, that goes right up to the edge of the gussets. I particularly like this feature when it comes to poop. As many of you may have experienced, some diapers have skinnier inserts where poop can get trapped beneath them, or in the case of multiple layer soakers - sandwiched throughout, and it can be difficult to track it all down if you use a diaper sprayer as I do. These are by far the easiest fitteds I own to spray clean, and the stretchy gussets hold in the biggest of messes. The simple one piece, hourglass-shaped soaker is fully absorbent and does the job in spades. There are doublers available if you’re looking for more holding power. In fact, I have found that a doubler paired with a fleece topped hemp doubler was all I needed to make my loveybums fitted last 12 hours through the night!
In all, my only tiniest of tiny desire for something more with these diapers would be a stay-dry option. I fully understand the need for many mamas to keep their fibers natural, but some of us have little ones with tender, sensitive tushies, and I get awfully tired of dealing with skimpy stay-dry fleece liners. In my fantasy dream world I wish there were a stay-dry option so I would have one less piece of diaper laundry to tangle with.
Overall, Loveybums offers many beautifully crafted products that are worth consideration. Some are periodically offered at deep discounts to facebook fans, and with coupon offers as well as seconds and overstock sales, there are always great deals to be had. But these products are worth every penny. And certainly, one of the best aspects of the company is not only its commitment to selling products manufactured entirely in the US, but Pam of Loveybums has always given stellar customer service. She promptly answered all of my questions prior to purchases and has been a pleasure to deal with. I am always happy to give my business to amazing companies such as this.
For your chance to win your very own Loveybums Velour Fitted in the gorgeous Aquamarine color with your choice of size make sure to leave a comment on the blog post with your choice of diaper size and tell us your favorite loveybums product!
For this and additional entries,if the entry box does not automatically appear, please CLICK ON "READ MORE" BELOW FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!
I am still amazed by how wonderful Stephanie Casemore has been through this. It shows through the kindness in her book and through the emails sent. I have never met an author that truly cares about this topic more than her.
Here is the Q&A between Stephanie and myself and after, there is a giveaway so you can win your own copy of her new book, Breastfeeding, Take Two!
1. In the book, you discussed many times how your nursing relationship with your son in ways made you more determined to nurse your next child. How did you personally prepare for your next experience?
A good deal of my personal preparations for my second breastfeeding experience came through the research and education I gained writing my first book, Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk. When my son was born, I had no understanding of lactation and how milk supply was initiated or controlled. Exclusively pumping for a year, and the subsequent research for my book, filled in many of the gaps in my knowledge.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I spent a lot of time reading about “normal” birth and really focused a lot of my preparation there. The birth experience has a great impact on breastfeeding initiation, and the more I read about normal birth, the more I knew that was what I needed. This, I think, also helped to overcome the loss of a “normal” birth the first time around. Books such as Ina May Gaskin’s Ina May’s Guide to Chidbirth helped to reframe my expectations and understand this continuum between birth and breastfeeding, as well as books by other authors such as Michel Odent and Jean Liedloff.
Emotionally, my preparations were a bit more challenging. Writing my first book certainly helped to work through some of the emotions from my first experience, and communicating with many women who were exclusively pumping and grieving their own breastfeeding losses helped me reframe my own experience. I also had a much stronger social support system around me and knew where to go for support. My husband was also able to take a few weeks off work which provided a great deal of support. When my son was born, my husband was in school and so I had been on my own a lot.
Once my daughter was born though, I was really quite unprepared for the resurfacing of emotions left over from the experience with my son. What I thought had been sorted out was clearly still at play.
2. What made you actually sit down and write this book?
That’s a really great question. The idea for the book started to form in 2009, shortly after my daughter weaned. I was likely a bit nostalgic for the breastfeeding relationship that had just ended and beginning to really consider what it meant to me as well as contrasting it to the breastfeeding relationship I had had with my son—or perhaps more accurately with my breast pump and his bottle. It was clear to me that the opportunity to nurse my daughter for three years had really played a pivotal role in healing the remaining hurt and sense of loss I felt over my son’s experience, as well as cementing in my mind the impact of breastfeeding on the mother-baby relationship.
Around that time I also began to recognize a recurring theme in the emails I would receive from mothers who were exclusively pumping and who were looking for information and support; so many women felt a keen sense of loss, an overwhelming sense of guilt, and a fear of what would happen the next time around. This, I realized, was the same experience I had gone through.
When I started searching for books already written on the topic, I realized there were none.
When I did an internet search though, I realized there were many women who were feeling this sense of anxiety about breastfeeding after a difficult experience and these women were posting on various discussion boards looking for information, support, and understanding. Toni Morrison, one of my favourite authors, said, “If there is a book that you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” And so, since the book I wanted to read hadn’t yet been written, the idea began to incubate and grow.
I wasn’t sure that what I had to say on the subject was something of value. But finally through communication with a couple women in the lactation community—women I greatly respected for their knowledge and dedication to breastfeeding and their support of mothers—I was encouraged to write the book and decided that I did have something to say. My daughter started kindergarten in the fall of 2010 and it was at that point I started writing in earnest.
3. As you were writing this book, did you wonder if it would be any help to another mother wanting a successful nursing relationship the next time?
Of course! I knew the ideas and information I was pulling together were meaningful to me. All of the research I undertook, and my own experience with my children, kept leading me to the importance of the biological element of breastfeeding, but also highlighting the divide within society that made breastfeeding so challenging. I felt this pull of influences in my own life and experiences, but there is never any way to know if anyone else will see things in the same way. Ultimately, I kept returning to the reminder that teachers often give students: if you are wondering about something, chances are others are too, so go ahead and ask the question or start the discussion. I’m starting the discussion.
4. Your son was born very early, at 31 weeks, and you exclusively pumped for a year. Are there any words of wisdom you can give women that have very premature babies and have the same worries that you did about feeding?
Being the mom of a preemie is hard. Not only do you have the worry of your baby’s health and development, but often there are complications with your own health that led to the premature delivery of your baby. Logistics of hospital visits and work can be challenging. Having to pump with great frequency amid all the other busyness of the day can seem like a monumental task. And often the people around you are completely focused on your baby and forget about the trauma that you have just gone through.
My advice would be to be kind to yourself. Recognize the experience can be very stressful and that you need to care for yourself. Ask for help. Don’t try to do it all. Do kangaroo care with your baby and spend as much time as you can with your baby. Remember that you are your baby’s mother. In the NICU it can seem like you are secondary and if it’s your first baby, it can be a daunting task to jump in and become a mother when your baby is so small and everyone around you seems to know what they are doing. But you were your baby’s home for the months leading up to their birth, and you are still the best, most comfortable home they know. You also have the right to speak up, demand options, ask for clarification, request to actually see the neonatologist, and generally be given a say in your baby’s care.
With regards to feeding specifically, ensure you get excellent information about initiating your milk supply with a pump and be as committed to pumping as possible to prevent difficulties down the road—but recognize that we all have limits. Understand why you are pumping so frequently, and realize that it isn’t going to last forever. Use a hospital grade breast pump, at least in the early weeks. Realize that staff in the NICU are not often breastfeeding specialists. Ask to see a lactation consultant early on. Be patient when you begin nursing your baby and allow your baby to set the schedule. I highly recommend the work of Dr. Suzanne Colson (biological nurturing) and Dr. Christina Smillie (baby-led latching) as methods to approach breastfeeding. While it is exhausting pumping every two hours around the clock in the early days, it will help to ensure you establish a strong milk supply, and a strong milk supply will ensure that you have options down the road.
5. In the book you talk about how throughout your life you never truly saw breastfeeding. Most children now are still at that disadvantage. Are they any ways mothers can show their children and help them understand that nursing is a completely normal activity, especially if the women themselves have had trouble nursing subsequent children?
This is such a challenging area. Formula and baby bottles are so ingrained in our society that most little girls grow up knowing and understanding the use of a bottle, yet not having a true understanding of the biological purpose of breasts! In my own experience, I do a few things. The first is that I try not to miss out on an opportunity to talk about breastfeeding and “normal” infant feeding with both of my children. I always throw away the baby bottle that comes with dolls and will often say to my daughter that the doll doesn’t need that because a baby has their mommy’s milk. My daughter likes Dora and I’m always annoyed with the story when Dora becomes a big sister because Dora immediately helps to feed her new brother and sister by bottle. I will usually question my kids as to why the mother wouldn’t nurse her new babies. Formula advertising on television is another thing I usually make a comment about—although that is usually an angry rant!
These may seem like small things, but they are meaningful. And it is important to emphasize with all children the idea of breastfeeding as “normal”, regardless of whether they were breastfed, or whether they saw their siblings breastfeeding. My daughter who was breastfed will just as readily grab for a bottle for a doll as will any of her friends who may not have been breastfed. This is a social issue, not a personal issue, and the power of the media is overwhelming to our children.
Generally, I think it is important to have open communication and not shy away from talking about breastfeeding with our children. If we want our society to see it as normal, we need to treat it as normal with our children. Also encouraging other forms of nurturing—holding, babywearing, responsiveness, co-sleeping—in our children can help them understand breastfeeding as one method of many for nurturing our babies.
If breastfeeding challenges arise again with another child, talk about it with your older child. Explain the situation. Explain that because of difficulties you have to feed formula and that it’s good that we have formula for times like these, but that many mommies breastfeed their babies. Young children understand more than we think they will.
How can we show breastfeeding to our children? I think the best way is to be a supporter of other women who are breastfeeding. Encourage and support mothers who you know and even say a word of encouragement to a woman you might see in public nursing her child. Speak to your government representatives about rights for breastfeeding mothers. Encourage and support businesses that make it easy for moms to breastfeed without relegating them to a closet in the back; and likewise, let businesses that treat breastfeeding mothers as second-class citizens know that they need to change their ways. In order to give our children the opportunity to see breastfeeding as normal, we have to support breastfeeding as normal in our society. They will never see it if it’s not there! One thing I would like to see in every school is a meaningful unit in health class on mothering and breastfeeding, for teen girls and well as boys. Our children will never see breastfeeding until we demand change in our society.
We need to do a better job of talking about breastfeeding in our society. Too often it becomes a formula vs. breastfeeding debate, but this isn’t useful. It’s not an either/or discussion. If children grow up with the knowledge that babies nurse at their mothers’ breast and that formula should be a life-saving intervention when needed, then breastfeeding will be seen as normal.
A number of year ago when I started to look around my own world and consider how I talked about breastfeeding, I realized that I too saw it as an option and spoke about it as a choice, not as the biologically normal way to feed a baby. And while I am by no means a prude, I saw breasts not as a nurturing aspect of a woman, but as the sexualized object my society suggests they are every day in film, on television, in magazine, and in fashion. This is a belief that I have had to question and examine, and ultimately change, since having my own children. Changing your own perspective, and then simply talking with your kids when the opportunity presents itself, will help change our children’s view of breastfeeding.
6. While pregnant, even if they don't have any children, how can a woman know what kind of support she will need after birth so she can find it?
Support is important and there are different types of support everyone needs. Most importantly every woman needs support that is in line with her goals and support people who will respect her goals. There are a few types of support that I think every woman needs, regardless whether this is your first baby or not.
You need to have your doctor on board—or at least know ahead of time that they will not be the source of support you need. Every woman should evaluate her doctor in terms of breastfeeding knowledge and support. Dr. Jack Newman has a great handout on how to know if your doctor is breastfeeding friendly. It is important to realize that not all doctors are breastfeeding friendly, just like not all people are breastfeeding friendly.
You need the support of your nuclear family. Ensure your partner and older children are aware of your intentions to breastfeed, what that will mean in terms of your time and schedule, and how they can help you. Fathers play a large role in breastfeeding success and can be great supporters through difficulties.
You need the support of your extended family and friends. Have an honest discussion with your family and friends. Let them know how important it is to have their support after your baby is born, but also let them know how important breastfeeding is to you and your baby. Ask them not to intervene or offer advice that is not supportive of that goal. Making it clear ahead of time may help to ease any hurt feelings after the baby is born if you need to stand up for yourself or ask someone to stop offering advice.
You need logistical support. Gather a list of friends and family you can call on to help with life: cleaning, shopping, childcare, cooking. While maybe you won’t need this kind of help, you’ll appreciate having it prearranged if you do. It’s unfortunately that in our society we isolate new mothers and too often new moms are expected to pick up where they left off almost immediately once their babies are born. Focus on your baby for those first few weeks at home and either let the house take care of itself, or allow your family and friends to help out. Giving the services of a housekeeper or a post-partum doula as a shower gift to a new mom would be a great thing for a group of friends or family to offer.
Finally, you definitely need to prepare for specific breastfeeding support. Before the birth of your baby gather as much information about breastfeeding support in your community. Create a list of names, phone numbers, and the services offered—and then call them! I really encourage women to make contact before the birth of their children. Go to a breastfeeding support group and arrange to meet with a lactation consultant. You’ll be more confident and comfortable to call after the birth of your baby if you’ve already forged a relationship. And don’t wait to ask for help. It’s never too early, and much easier to correct problems if they are caught early.
7. How can someone distinguish between the guilt of feeling like a failure and changing their level of satisfaction with their nursing relationship so the feeling of failure disappears?
Guilt is felt because you have done something you know you shouldn’t have, or you have not done something you know you should have. When it comes to breastfeeding, many women say they feel guilty because they should have breastfed but didn’t, or they weaned early and shouldn’t have. Moving past these feelings of guilt requires you to honestly investigate what you did do in the situation.
There are very, very few women that I have met who did not do everything possible to breastfeed. Some women in fact, go above and beyond what anyone who ever expect. Consider what you did do to make breastfeeding work. Consider the information you were given and support you had access to. If you did what you could and tried to access both information and support, then there is no reason to feel guilty. You may feel regret. You may experience grief. You have not failed if you did everything you could to make it work. Only you can determine what “everything” is.
Recognizing your efforts to breastfeed, and also identifying the areas that hindered your breastfeeding relationship, will help you to move beyond feelings of guilt and failure and help you to understand the strength you exhibited in a difficult situation, recognize the areas where you were failed by society, and help you to grow from your experience.
I think a more valid conversation is one of satisfaction as opposed to failure or guilt. Regardless of how long you breastfed, you were a breastfeeding mother if you put your baby to breast after they were born. However, if, for example, you had planned to breastfeed for a year and ended up weaning after only three weeks due to pain or your baby’s poor weight gain, you’re breastfeeding experience will likely not have been a satisfying one.
Satisfaction and feelings of failure are two separate issues. I don’t know if you will ever be able to feel satisfied with an experience that was less than what you had wanted, but you can move past feelings of failure. There is no magic cut off mark that makes you a breastfeeding success or failure. There is no governing body that establishes criteria that conclusively determines your success or failure breastfeeding. Your experience is your experience. Learning from it and making peace with it will allow you to move forward and grow from it. If you don’t have another opportunity to breastfeed, then your experience will inform your choices in other areas of your life, or you will have the opportunity to support women around you who are beginning a breastfeeding relationship. Moving forward from your experience in a positive way and making use of your experience is the best thing you can do to become satisfied with it.
***********
Now is your chance to win a copy of Stephanie's book! The entries are below, the contest will run from today until the 1st of November, open to those in the US and Canada, and good luck!
I was recently sent a Boba 3G baby carrier to review! Isn’t
that exciting? Boba sent me the sample free of charge but I received no other
compensation. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Preconceived ideas:
To be perfectly honest while
I was incredibly excited about the chance to try one out, I never really considered buying
a Boba carrier for myself. I mean, I’d seen them in stores and even tried one
on that I really liked but I usually swear by my woven wrap and ring sling so I never really
thought that a structured carrier would be the one for me, or at least not the
top of my must-have carrier list. The Boba 3G has certainly changed my outlook.
My past experience with structured carriers involved quite a
bit of annoying pinching and a lot of back pain, not to mention one very
uncomfortable little baby. I knew that the two structured carriers I had tried
were cheep and poorly made but still I had it in my mind that all structured
carriers would have the same issues.
However, as my son Oliver turns two and is suddenly growing
taller at an alarming rate I found my mind opening. I was concerned that my son’s legs had gotten so long I was having
difficulty making sure the fabric of my woven wrap went from knee to knee to
properly support his legs in every carry. It had been mentioned to me quite a few times that a Boba would solve this problem.
First Impressions:
The first thing I noticed about the Boba is that it
certainly is not even remotely like any of the other structured carriers I had
used in the past. Every part of it seems to have been made with comfort in
mind. The fabric is soft and flexible, the straps and clips are well made,
padded, and fully adjustable to make sure that the weight of your child is
evenly spread over your shoulders and back. Baby is kept comfortable with a
nice high back for head and neck support and proper support for baby’s bum and
legs.
At the fabric store in the Boba!
The Boba is not only comfortable but also incredibly easy to
use. Where as both my ring sling and wraps were a bit of a learning curve and
it took a few days or weeks to feel comfortable with each new carry or
variation, the Boba was fitted, secure, and ready for our first excursion
within minutes of being pulled from the box. That first excursion was to the
fabric store; Oliver felt light as a feather and he stayed content on my back
the whole trip. (Note: When toddler is on your back and they grab something off
a shelf it is incredibly hard to get it back!)
That same outing my Husband was able to try out the Boba. He
didn’t let me take any pictures because he doesn't like it when I post pictures of him on the internet, but you’ll just have to take my word for it that it looked great and
even though my husband and I are drastically different sizes and shapes it was
really fast and easy for us to adjust the Boba to swap back and forth. This
easy use and adjustability makes it a great carrier for sharing between parents
and also with babysitters or other caregivers!
Impressive features:
As I mentioned before, my son’s legs have gotten quite long
and I worry about making sure they remain properly supported when I carry him.
A good carrier should always support your baby in a position where their bum sits
at the same level as their knees or lower with the fabric of the carrier
stretched from knee to knee in a position similar to if they were seated in a
chair. This position promotes proper hip joint and back development. The Boba comes with adjustable
straps that hook onto the waist band and support the child’s feet so that they
do not dangle in an uncomfortable position even after they grow too big for the
fabric to reach from knee to knee. Meaning I can continue to comfortably and
properly carry my toddler no matter how long his legs get!
I should mention that this carrier is good for babies and
toddlers of all ages from 7-45 pounds, but I feel like it was MADE for toddler
wearing. And because I know that toddlers sometimes end up with siblings before
they out grow being worn I thought I’d test it out in a tandem situation. Of
coarse, my son does not yet have a sibling so I tried it with the boy I was
babysitting and ended up with over 50lbs of toddler trapped to me while I
grocery shopped.
Tandem wearing with the Boba 3G: A self portrait
That’s a woven wrap on the front in a torso carry with Oliver as
he’s the lighter of the two, and the Boba on my back with our friend, Charlie,
who is the same age as Oliver but quite a bit heavier. It was surprisingly
comfortable and definitely a show stopper. I got many questions and comments
about it, one man even slammed on his breaks in the parking lot and ask if I needed him to donate a stroller. But I digress;
the point is that I would definitely suggest this carrier to anyone thinking
about tandem wearing.
We also tried Breastfeeding in the Boba. It wasn’t overly
comfortable for us because, like I have mentioned, Oliver is quite tall but I
am finding that this is becoming a problem in all of our carriers. I had some luck loosening the shoulder straps to feed to that Oliver had room to lean forward and latch, it worked, but at an angle that made his latch sore for me to put up with for very long. Even a few
months ago breastfeeding in the Boba would have been a breeze and I could see
the removable hood feature being really helpful to mothers who choose to cover
while nursing. Unlike other carriers with similar hoods that I’ve tried this
hood stays securely in place without slipping or bunching, I can see myself
getting some use out of it this winter as an extra bit of protection from the
wind.
Last but not least, my favourite features of the Boba are
the pockets. I feel like I am constantly trying to figure out how to carry
Oliver AND everything else I need to carry. While baby wearing allows my hands
to be free it often restricts the use of my shoulders and makes carrying a
backpack or purse difficult or uncomfortable. But not only does the Boba have
pocket room enough for my wallet, phone, and keys it also has this really
fantastic snap on each shoulder that I can use to secure my purse or grocery
bag straps so they aren’t sliding and falling all over the place.
Is there anything the
Boba can’t do!?
There are only two things about the Boba that I was not
totally happy with (and they are by no means deal breakers for me)
The first is that because Oliver is so tall, if I try to sit
down with him in a front carry his head ends up where my head should be, and we
either need to hug the whole time (fine with me!) or sit cheek to cheek while
he leans into me. Of coarse this isn’t a problem most
of the time because when Oliver is in a carrier we are usually walking around and he prefers to be on my back,
but in the case of taking public transit anywhere it can be quite awkward depending
how long the ride is. I have had some success taking the bus with the Boba on my
back, but that can be awkward if there isn’t a bench seat available
that I can sit sideways in. I also managed a short bus ride while standing but I would not exactly recomend it as the extra weight of your child can put your balance off. This would certainly not be a problem at all for a
smaller baby; if I had this carrier when Oliver was younger I think it very
well may have been my go-to bus carrier.
The second is that when I am not wearing it the Boba is
quite bulky. Where as a ring sling or wrap can be folded into my bag if we end
up at a park or other public area where I want to let Oliver run around I
either have to keep wearing the empty Boba which I peronally find kinf of awkward, find some place to put it
down and hope no one walks off with it, or make my husband carry it around
which makes him grumpy. This of coarse is not at all a problem when I am
anywhere else, Oliver is content to sit in the Boba for long periods so it’s
great for long walks, concerts, art galleries and museums, shopping trips and
other errand running, and pretty much anything else you can think of!
I am so happy that I got this opportunity to try out the
Boba for myself. I honestly couldn’t be happier with it. The Boba is certainly
not any of the things I assumed a structured carrier would be and I was so glad to
be proved wrong.
Boba Inc. is hosting a giveaway to
celebrate the launch of the new Boba Carrier 3G and their new brand
image! Enter to win a $500 travel voucher and a
Boba Carrier 3G. With the new 3G it is easier than ever toto
put it to use in a destination of your
choice. To enter to win,
“Like” them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boba), follow them on Twitter (www.twitter.com/boba)
and tweet about them! Also, make sure to check out
Boba’s new website – www.bobafamily.com.
Dryer balls. Most in the natural community have heard about these, but not many have tried them. They're cleaner than dryer sheets, they leave no waste, and they can help dry your clothes faster so you use less energy.
A few months ago, I got an amazing deal on six organic wool dryer balls from Raw Organic. I will admit, I was skeptical at first that they could help dry my clothes faster, but not having to buy dryer sheets won me out. Dryer sheets, even the sensitive kind, would make my skin itchy and nothing I did made it better, but I had to have something or my clothes were static mine fields.
I ordered the six dryer balls, and they arrived within 2 days! She lives on the other side of the country, and I was shocked they came that fast. I couldn't wait to use them, so I did a load of laundry just to see.
The difference in my clothes was amazing! They dried thirty minutes faster, came out without smelling of anything, and there was no static. My shirts felt softer, and I was instantly sold.
Since, I have used them in every load of laundry I have done, and they are still working like they are brand new. I do laundry once a week, with 6-8 loads, and I am still so impressed with these dryer balls. Nothing I have ever used has made me this happy with my clothes.
From her page specifically about the organic dryer balls:
These are solid wool dryer balls, no artificial acrylic core. Its a labor intensive process that requires felting a core, then adding a second and sometimes a third layer. They will weigh between 2 and 3 ounces each and depending on how they felt be about the size of a baseball or tennis ball, with some larger.
Why wool? Wool is naturally anti-bacterial and anti-microbial. It can absorb up to ONE THIRD of its weight in water before feeing wet. It has natural anti-static properties. Gently bouncing dryer balls will soften your laundry without dryer sheets or chemical fabric softeners. Wool is mostly non-allergic. For those with sensitive skin, wool is a great choice. Wool is an easily renewable natural resource and is biodegradable. Each dryer ball should last a year or more, saving you money with each load!
This was by far the best investment I have ever made. My energy bill has dropped because each load dries faster, my clothes are softer, and there are no chemicals in my clothes from dryer sheets.
Special for you readers, in case you would like to buy from her if you don't win or want your dryer balls sooner than 2 1/2 weeks from now, use the code "heartsandhandss" at checkout from her etsy store (remember, two s's or it won't work) to get 15% off your total order! This code will run until the first of October, so get your orders in before then for the discount! There is also a free shipping coupon, "freeship", but you can only use one or the other, and shipping is normally under $5.00.
My favorite part, she is giving away four organic wool dryer balls to one lucky winner, a $40 value!!!
Basic Rules:
This giveaway is open only to US and Canada (So sorry to the readers in other parts of the world!)
You *must* complete the mandatory entry or the other entries don't count
Each entry must be its own comment
As always, please make sure to leave your email address, or have your email on your public profile so we have a way to contact you if you win
Entries (each number is ONE entry):
(Mandatory entry) Go toRaw Organic's Etsy Store and check out her items. Let me know what you thought of it or which one you would want :)
Follow @theconnectedmom and @Raw_Organics and tweet about the giveaway. You can use: "I'm trying to win organic wool dryer balls from @Raw_Organics and @theconnectedmom! http://bit.ly/nqcAk9" (Limit 2 entries per day. Make sure to put both twitter handles in the tweet so it counts)
"Like" The Connected Mom on Facebook (If you already like us, it still counts)
"Like" Raw Organics on Facebook (If you already like her, it still counts)
Subscribe to The Connected Mom's monthly email newsletter (coming soon!). You can find the subscription box on the right sidebar
Follow us publicly through Google Friend Connect
This giveaway will be open until September 13th at 11:59pm. The winner will be drawn on September 14th via random.org. I will email the winner, and you have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose another winner. Good luck, and hope you win!
I bought the dryer balls on my own a few months ago, and she is giving the dryer balls to the winner for free, with no other compensation. This review is my own.
My family loves music, but love anything that we can sing to. My daughter is getting to the age where she loves musicals and remembers most songs after hearing them only once. I had been looking for a lullaby CD that we could listen to while going to sleep that was both calm and songs my daughter would love, and finally, we found it!
Filled with songs that most people already know and a few written by Emma herself, sung by Emma, whose voice is beautiful (and I don't enjoy many female singers because they are too airy), and my daughter was able to fall asleep to calming music that she had heard and enjoyed before.
The songs are both the classics, yet changed so that they fit the style of the CD and the beauty of Emma's voice. Most nights that this CD played, I found myself drifting off with my daughter because they melted the stress away and led to such relaxing sleep.
There are 11 tracks, seven of which are written by Emma, and they are my favorite. Beautiful songs to help sooth hurts, calm fears, and help with an amazing night of sleep.
The best party, I received an extra CD to give to one of you!
Basic Rules:
This giveaway is open only to US and Canada (So sorry to the readers in other parts of the world!)
You *must* complete the mandatory entry or the other entries don't count
Each entry must be its own comment
As always, please make sure to leave your email address, or have your email on your public profile so we have a way to contact you if you win
Entries (each number is ONE entry):
(Mandatory entry) Go to Emma's site and listen to one of the previews. Let me know what you thought of it :)
Follow @theconnectedmom and @iamemmamusic and tweet about the giveaway. (Limit 2 entries per day. Make sure to put both twitter handles in the tweet so it counts)
"Like" The Connected Mom on Facebook (If you already like us, it still counts)
"Like" Emma Wallace on Facebook (If you already like her, it still counts)
Subscribe to The Connected Mom's monthly email newsletter (coming soon!). You can find the subscription box on the right sidebar
Follow us publicly through Google Friend Connect
This giveaway will be open until July 25th at 11:59pm. The winner will be drawn on July 26th via random.org. I will email the winner, and you have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose another winner. Good luck, and hope you win!
I received this Lullaby CD to review, the views expressed are my own, and no other compensation was given
I used the random number generator at Randoml.org to select our Barefoot Books giveaway winner!
Comment number 15 was left by Jen Blizzard who told us that a Barefoot Books story about her children would be titled 'Interesting and troubled Children'.
Congratulations Jen! I will be contacting you by email to confirm which title you would like to have sent to you!
My niece, Celeste, aged 9, is everything you could ever ask for in a kid, she is outgoing, curious, smart, funny, curious, ambitious, and did I mention curious?
Being Celeste's aunt prepared me in many ways for parenthood. She taught me that babies don't always sleep the way you see in the movies, that 4 year olds really DO hear EVERYTHING you say (and repeat it at daycare), and that being bored can always be remedied by making a big huge mess in the name of experimentation. Like the time she decided to see what would happen to the soapy bubbles in her bath if she turned on the jacuzzi jets & filled my parent's entire bathroom with suds.
There have been a lot of big changes in Celeste's life in the last two years. Oliver, and Celeste's little brother, Charlie, were born within just two months of each other, and while she loves them both and is an amazing big sister and play mate, the boys often mean that our time together when I babysit is spent baby wrangling and not getting into trouble like we used to.
That's why when I saw Kid's Kitchen: 40 Fun and Healthy Recipes to Make and Share from Barefoot Books, I knew that it would make the perfect project for Celeste and I to do together. I set up a play date at which there would be helpers to distract the boys, and promised that we would have some fun together.
The Kids Kitchen cook book is actually not a book at all. It is a set of bright and flashy colour coded recipe cards that come in a great box with a flip lid. The first few cards explain about the different food groups and the different kinds of nutrients we get from our diet.
I love that this information is included and presented in such a clear and fun way. It's a good feature for kids learning about nutrition, and a great reminder for health conscious parents.
I had originally planned to let Celeste go through all of the recipes and pick one or two for us to make together, but when I saw a card proclaiming 'Specked Vanilla Ice Cream' I knew I didn't even have to ask. Of coarse we were going to make our own ice cream!
Our kitchen date was also scheduled for the same day that a local church was holding their annual Strawberry fair fundraiser, so our second recipe choice was 'Fruity Faces'. The recipe card calls for dried apricots, but we went with fresh strawberries instead and it worked out beautifully!
I really liked that the recipe cards all include a list of items, as well as ingredients that you will need to have ready to make the dish. I really REALLY liked this feature, I am that person who gets half way through making mashed potatoes without realizing she doesn't own a potato masher.
I had Celeste read each ingredient and step out loud as we went. The instructions were all clear and very easy to follow, except for the measurements being in Imperial.
Both Celeste and I are Canadians who learned basic math skills after the 1970's. We are most comfortable using the metric system, and all of our ingredients and measuring tools are marked in metric, a recipe calling for 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate totally blew our minds.
How's this for a math problem?:
If you have a 170 gram package of dark chocolate in 6 cubed pieces, how many pieces of chocolate do you need to make 1.5 ounces?
Luckily both of the recipes we used were super forgiving and both turned out very well despite my less then stellar math skills, and Celeste got to learn about unit conversion.
We also learned that a custard won't thicken smoothly if you accidentally let it boil while you are sneaking chocolate chips, that chocolate dipping strawberries and adding white chocolate chip faces is a fine art that only a nine year old can truly master, that separating egg yolks is harder then it looks, and that fresh vanilla beans make things taste and smell about a million times better then artificial vanilla.
When our dish was finished, I could only snap a few quick photos as the pack moved in to feed.
Cooking with kids is a great way to encourage healthy eating, (or in this case, eating deserts with fresh and wholesome ingredients) and a good way to teach a number of valuable lessons in a practical setting. But more then that I have to say that cooking with kids is just FUN.
Even though I am someone who really enjoys cooking, I find that too much of the time I am rushing through my routine making dishes I've made a dozen times before just trying to get it done so I can move on to the next thing on my list.
My afternoon cooking with Celeste reminded me of all the things I love about cooking, about trying new things and experimenting in the kitchen. It reminded me what it was like to cook for the fun of it without knowing exactly how it will turn out or if you're going to like it, and not caring one way or another. More so then that, Celeste's pride in what we made and the enjoyment she got from watching everyone else enjoy her creations reminded me to put the love back in my kitchen and really cook to nourish my family body and soul.
If you would like the chance to win Kid's Kitchen, or any other book of your choice from the Barefoot Books online catalogue, please visit our giveaway! You can even get an extra bonus entry by completing the following step:
Post a picture of your family cooking or eating together on The Connected Mom Facebook wall, then leave a comment on THIS POST telling us that you have completed this step!
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