Anyone in the mood for a GIVEAWAY?  It’s a pretty sweet one too, IMO.

ROCKIN’ GREEN!  This stuff is simply fab, and pretty well-known in the cloth diaper laundry detergent world.

I got to try out a few different scents and mmm, mmm, MMM do they smell tasty.  I’d have to say my favorite scent is Lavender Mint Revival.  I do believe I took my diapers out of the wash, sniffed them, then told DH, “these smell like angels.”

(Yes, he thinks my CD obsession is crazy weird.)

For those of you who haven’t heard of Rockin’ Green before, I guess I have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Rockin’ Green is a cloth diaper detergent that is totally amazeballs.  I can’t get over the fact that it’s SCENTED.  I’m one of those weird people who associate good smells with clean, so I love these about a thousand and fifteen times more than my scent free detergents.

Not a cloth diaper user?  Never fear!  There are plenty of other uses for Rockin’ Green!  Pee in carpet, mopping the floor, tub and toilet cleaner…if it’s stinky or dirty, I think Rockin’ Green can help!  (Well, except your husband…you may have to stick him in the shower. )

So because Rockin’ Green totally ROCKS, they’re giving away a full-size bag of Rockin’ Green detergent to one lucky reader!  You choose the scent, you choose the formula!

Okay, okay…I know you’re all impatient.  Here’s how to enter!

MANDATORY ENTRY

• 1 entry for “liking” Rockin’ Green and PeasAndCoos on Facebook.

OPTIONAL, EXTRA ENTRIES

• 1 extra entry for thanking Rockin’ Green on their Facebook wall for the giveaway at PeasAndCoos (Must tag PeasAndCoos in post.)
• 1 extra entry for following PeasAndCoos with Google Friend Connect
• 1 extra entry for following PeasAndCoos on Twitter
• 1 extra entry for following Rockin’ Green on Twitter
• 1 extra entry for visiting the Rockin’ Green website and commenting what scent you’d like to try
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Tweet button at the bottom of this post (Can be done daily until giveaway ends!  Tweeting from “giveaway only” Twitter accounts WILL get you disqualified!)
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Share button at the bottom of this post (Must tag Rockin’ Greeen and PeasAndCoos in post.  Can be done daily until giveaway ends!  Sharing on a “giveaway only” Facebook profile WILL get you disqualified!)
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Like button at the bottom of this post (Liking on a “giveaway only” Facebook profile WILL get you disqualified!)

***Please leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry. If you put multiple entries into one comment, it will only count as one entry. Giveaway ends on Friday, September 30th at 6pm CST.***

Good luck everyone, and happy Friday!

Disclosure: No compensation was provided for this giveaway/review, only sample product to try out.  All opinions are my own.

I started buying cloth diapers when I was pregnant with little B, but I never knew I’d become SO. ADDICTED.

My wee little stash.  And yes, this is the most organized
place in my entire home.

I love them.  Cute prints, big butts.  Lovelovelove.  And you know what else?  Doing diaper laundry is exciting to me.  First time you’ve ever heard the words “laundry” and “exciting” in the same sentence?  It’s okay, I’ll give you a second to process this.

…

SO.

I’ve got quite the little stash coming along.  I only started using cloth diapers full time when B was about 10 weeks.  I didn’t like the way they fit her before that, and quite frankly I was caught up in other things.  (Like having a newborn, duh.)  My current stash consists of a couple BGs, an HH, Thirsties and Bummis covers, prefolds, a Kawaii, and 4 diapers from the WAHM, Rumpkinz.

O.M.F’n.G.RUMPKINZ.

I became a tester for her fitteds and fell. in. love.  So I bought 2 of her “seconds” pocket diapers.  You really can’t even tell they’re “seconds”!  Her diapers are FANTASTIC.  Then I organized an event for The Big Latch On…so of course Blakelyn needed a Rumpkinz diaper with the breastfeeding logo on the butt!  I love that I’m supporting a WAHM when I buy dipes from her and I really can’t tell you how amazing the quality is.  She makes other things too!  Wipes, unpaper towels, wet bags, you name it-she’ll probably embroider it!  She offers a ton of deals on her facebook page so I definitely suggest you go take a looksie.  (I also suggest you “like” the photo of my daughter on her page to vote for her so I can get half off a custom diaper.  But that’s just my suggestion )

PLUS!  Yours truly is doing a…*drumroll*…GIVEAWAY!!!!  (This is the part where you cheer and clap.)

I’m providing one lucky reader with a FREE custom cloth diaper ($28 value) from Rumpkinz!  Because I love you all so much, and I love her diapers too!

So how do you win?

MANDATORY ENTRY

• 1 entry for “liking” both the Rumpkinz Facebook Page (tell her PeasAndCoos sent you!) and the PeasAndCoos Facebook Page

OPTIONAL, EXTRA ENTRIES

• 1 extra entry for “liking” and voting for my daughters photo on the Rumpkinz page
• 1 extra entry for following PeasAndCoos with Google Friend Connect
• 1 extra entry for following PeasAndCoos on Twitter
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Tweet button at the bottom of this post (Can be done daily until giveaway ends!)
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Share button at the bottom of this post and tagging Rumpkinz and PeasAndCoos (Can be done daily until giveaway ends!)
• 1 extra entry for hitting the Like button at the bottom of this post

***Please leave a SEPARATE comment for EACH entry.  If you put multiple entries into one comment, it will only count as one entry.  Giveaway ends on Wednesday, August 31st at 6pm CST.***

Disclosure: No compensation was provided for this giveaway.  One (1) product to will be provided by me to be given away to one (1) reader.  All opinions are my own.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m pretty much glued to my iPhone.  (It’s bad.  So very bad.)  Needless to say, since becoming pregnant I have definitely downloaded every “pregnancy app” out there.  They tell me the fruit sizes of my wee one, what to expect today/this week, link me to articles, hook me up with other expecting mamas in forums, and so on.  So when I got the opportunity to review the Similac Baby Journal App, I jumped right on board.  I haven’t started exploring the world of “once you have the baby” apps yet, and the Baby Journal falls into that category.  So, no.  I can’t exactly put this app to use but I had tons of fun pretending and playing!  *Cue excitement that I’ll have a little real life baby girl here soon!  AHH!*

This is the perfect app for moms with little bitty babies.  It tracks how many dirty diapers they’ve had, sleeping, growth, and eating.

Feedings

I was slightly skeptical that this app (being from Similac) wouldn’t have anything for breastfeeding m

oms which would make me super sad but they do!  So that is one hugehugeHUGE pro in my book.  So for breastfeeding moms, you’re able to track if you started on your right side or left side.  Click the “Start Feeding” button and you’re good to go!  It times how long baby eats for and you’re also able to put in if baby ate from both sides or not.

For the bottle feeding moms?  Drag the line to how many ounces you’re feeding baby, hit “Start Feeding”, then drag the line down to how many ounces are left when baby is done eating.  TAH DAH!  Easy-peasy!

Sleeping

This app makes keeping track of your baby’s sleep a BREEZE!  Start the timer, then just fahgetabatit!  (Note: I do not suggest literally forgetting about the fact you do have a baby somewhere sleeping.  That would be bad.)

Diaper Changes

So this is pretty cool and disgusting, but leave it to a mom to do it!  Gotta keep track of those dirty diapers!  This part of the app allows you to record what was in the diaper, the texture of what was in the diaper, and the color of  what was in the diaper.  How amazingly gross!  There is also a note option and a spot to record if the diaper was leaking.

Other Awesome Features

I think my favorite part of this app (other than the fact it included breastfeeding-can’t get over it!) is the “trend” feature.  Since it keeps track of everything, you’re able to view your baby’s “stats” in a graph format.  I think this is SO valuable for helping you get to know your babe.  It can help you get to know how many ounces to feed, about what time he or she might go down for a nap, and how many diaper changes to expect for the next day!

There is a growth tracker too, which is pretty basic and self-explanatory.  Good feature to have and they also provide averages for your child’s age group.

I also really like that there is a tip/advice section with some good little tidbits of information.  There is also a link to the StrongMoms tips website which has a bunch of helpful advice from other moms!

Overall

All in all, I’m really excited to start for-realsies using this app when I have my daughter.  Being the huge iPhone lover that I am, this is so convenient and easy and I definitely see myself using this daily.  The only two downfalls I see with this app are the fact that if you for some reason miss a feeding from earlier and would like to put it in later, it is possible, but it’s a pain.  Start timer, stop timer, then you can edit the information to be an earlier time/date/whatever.  It also was a little bit confusing to use at first, but once you get past the learning curve and have it down pat it’s golden.  OH.  Did I mention this app is free?

I highly suggest those of you mamas with iPhones go download and try out the free Similac StrongMoms Baby Journal.  Already use it?  Schweet.  Whaddya think of it?  Share your opinions in the comments, I’d love to hear them!

Disclosure: I was compensated by Collective Bias for my time and review.  I was not compensated to write a positive review and the review provided is my own, personal opinion.

It’s so convenient and easy that Mike and I find ourselves filling up our memory way too fast!  It’s amazing to see a commercial for a show I’d like to watch later that night, go into the guide, hit record, and I can count on it being there to watch whenever I please!

It really reminds me of the days of recording things on VHS tapes with VCRs.  Wow, I barely even think about tapes anymore!  But I think everyone remembers what I’m talking about when I bring up putting tape over them to protect what’s on there.

Traveling back to 2009, what do you love?  Head over to The Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.

I swung by Barnes and Noble yesterday with a friend not intending to buy anything.  I managed…at first.  We made it to the checkouts where, as most of you probably know, is where B&N likes to showcase TONS AND TONS of impulse-buy items.  This mini-book caught my eye.  It was bright red, had the word kid in the title, and the boy was cute.  ”Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me” by Cynthia L. Copeland.  I looked at it and decided it would be a cute read and make for some good blog material.

So…now what?

Every so often I’ll give you wonderful readers a quote from the book and we’ll share thoughts on it.  Okay, so maybe you don’t want to.  That’s cool!  I’m not into peer pressure.  But I will at least be sharing my thoughts on the quote and you can feel free to chime in!

Todays “Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me” quote is:

Jump right in or you might change your
mind about swimming.

Amazingly true both about swimming and about life.  I’m definitely not one for cold water.  I always know I should jump in, but do I?  …sometimes.  But other times I’m chicken.  I’ll say things like, “I’ll just dip my foot in to see how it is”.  Or even, “I’ll climb in slowly to get used to it”.  It takes forever, and I usually end up wishing I just jumped right in in the first place.

Really though, isn’t that the way life is at times?  You’ve got to do something you dread-but you put it off, do it slowly, or attempt to and fail.  Then, when you finally get it done, you think back at the extra time/effort you wasted by not just doing it.

So next time you’re doing something that doesn’t particularly sound fun, remember to just
jump right in.

(Note: Sadly, this is not another product review.  I really should get on that though shouldn’t I?)

When I was new at being a nanny I had to figure out my groove.  Making lunch, serving lunch, spoon feeding baby, cutting up food for toddler, pushing dog away from table, minimizing food on floor for dog to eat, reducing screaming, convincing picky eater that he really does like this food, and so on.  That part I started to get.  It was chaotic and busy, but manageable.  Then the problem came with cleaning up in a timely manner to get back to the chaos.  One day I discovered my cleaning product angel…

There they are, in all their glory!  Disinfectant wipes.  A gift from the nanny-heavens, I swear!  They make cleaning up anything and everything SO MUCH EASIER.  After lunch I’d take one and wipe down the table.  Oops, there’s a spill on the chair, wipe it!  Hmmm…the counters seem to be a bit dirty, wipe!  Spit up on the floor?  You guessed it, WIPE!

I’m not all about the Clorox though.  Off-brand is MUCH cheaper and still does the job and smells just as good too!  The one thing that does bother me is the fact that it’s not as “green” as a washcloth would be.  Using these wipes as religiously as I do creates a significantly larger amount of paper waste, but maybe the nanny-heavens will once again hear my cries and come out with an eco-friendly version of my beloved disinfectant wipes?  Maybe they exist but I haven’t found them yet?

(Oh, and this isn’t a product review, I just really love this product.  Though I am thinking maybe product reviews would be something I’d like to do…stay tuned for more on that.)

Pros: Easy, affordable, convenient, time-saver.
Cons:  Not (yet to my knowledge) eco-friendly.

Either way,
I love these wipes.

P. S.  Want more Things I Love Thursdays?  Visit Diaper Diaries!

First off, there’s Missa.  Her name is actually Melissa but when she was a very itty bitty wee one she couldn’t pronounce “Melissa” and it came out “Missa”.  The name stuck.  She’s nine years old with an attitude of a 14 year old, but I love her.

Then, meet Sam.  Full name: Samuel.  He is (believe it or not) a boy.  I give him props.  It’s his choice how long he wants his hair.  He knows people call him a girl.  And yet, he doesn’t care.  What an amazing kid that he can have so much confidence at only seven years old.

Last is Kenna.  Her full name is Makenna.  It’s spelled that way because my mother didn’t want to name her child “McKenna” and have people thinking of various McDonald’s food items.  She’s a peanut.  Probably the smallest five year old I’ve ever seen.  She’s the only one of my siblings that even looks a tad bit like me.  I can tell her personality is going to be a lot like mine too.  Good thing?  Bad thing?  Hm…

ANYWAY.

We started off the night decorating shirts (as you saw in the pictures above) with puff paint.  Tons and tons of puff paint.  Then came the flip flops!  We had ribbon, feather boas, rhinestones, and foam cut outs to decorate our plain, solid-colored flip flops.  The feather boas were a hit and I tied little bows out of ribbons to put in the center.  (Sam didn’t participate in this too much but he did take it upon himself to grab some markers and color a white pair of flip flops with scribbles.  Yes, he wears them.  Yes, they make his feet colorful.  Yes, he loves it.)

Kenna, Missa’s friend Courtney, and Missa
decorating shoes.

Then it was time to set the crafts aside and have Sam become my little helper.  He helped me prepare the foot soaks, grab wet washcloths, and his favorite part?  Getting to use my camera and video camera to take pictures and video of whatever he wanted.  Ahhhhh, yes.  Nothing like blurry pictures of a puff paint stain on the carpet and another picture of a lamp to take up space on my computer.  But what do I know?  Maybe he’ll become a famous photographer someday and these will be a few of his famous photos?

Getting back on track, the real spa part of the spa party!

The girls soaking their feet in a relaxing foot soak with facial
masks and steaming washcloths on their faces.

What pampered little princesses!  This post here is the reason I sometimes wish I had an older sister.  Although, it makes me feel pretty awesome to be known as the coolest big sister in the world (heehee).

I massaged them, scrubbed the dead skin off their feet, trimmed/filed their nails and I think the girls were very excited about the end product.

All done!  The toe spacers were too big for Kenna and she
was a little sad.  Pink with a purple french tip
and a glitter topcoat of course!

All in all, it was a very fun evening.  They got to stay up WAY too late but it was fun.  The night ended with lotsa popcorn and giggles.  :)

Also: did anyone notice all the girls had matching boxers?  I got all of us (including me!) some cheap-o boxers to match our decorated shirts.