4moms :: baby guessing game

For those of you who have been with SIMPLE for a little while now, this company may sound familiar to you? Well, that's because they have been reviewed before on SIMPLE for their MamaRoo by Kate! (You can read the original review HERE).

Today I have for you some "insider" information on a little, fun contest that 4moms is having as well as a giveaway on their site.

First thing I want to mention, if you aren't already a 4moms "insider", you should do that. It really is great because you get to hear about specials, sales and new products FIRST. Click HERE to learn how you can sign up.

Second, you can enter to win a MamaRoo right now over at 4moms! They are giving 10 away! Yes, you read that correctly, 10! Just sign up now to become a 4moms insider and you will have access to this contest. They have revamped the MamaRoo and it's even better now - not that they needed to, but they just continue to improve!! :) I sure do have my eye on one of these for my newest addition due in July!

Last, I want to tell you about today is their Baby Name Contest they have going on now. It is and online game and is geared towards expecting parents and their families and friends. Not only will it be fun, but it is a GREAT way for the moms to earn discounts on 4moms products. Here is a great summary of how it works:

"4moms has just launched the Baby Guessing Game! This easy and free game lets the friends and family of parents-to-be predict the new baby’s arrival. If you're expecting or know someone who is, invite your friends to guess the baby’s gender, arrival date, and birth weight. Once the baby is born, enter the baby's info to find out whose guess was most accurate, and they're the lucky winner! Winners and game hosts earn 4moms Insider Points, which can be redeemed for discounts on 4moms products (like the mamaRoo): the more guesses in your game, the more points you get! Setting up a game is quick, easy, and free! You can get started HERE!

Sounds pretty fun doesn't it! I hope you are able to get some good use out of this site and earn some cool stuff along the way. Be sure to let us know if you do!

*I was not provided with anything in order to post this review. I think it's some great information and wanted to share it!*

Teach My...

Baby...Toddler...Preschooler? Just teach them all!

When I was at Toy Fair in New York this year, I ran into Christy the owner of Teach My and fell in love with her product! Genius I personally think. My husband and I are very involved with our children's education. From the time our girls are just babies, we are working with them on anything where they can learn. We always make learning fun, and these kits just add to our arsenal of learning goodies!

Not only are these learning tools, but they are FUN! My girls just love it. We were sent the Teach My Toddler set and both my girls are very interested in the whole kit. There were even a couple shapes that my Lili didn't know so she thought it was super fun to work with Adalynn, teaching her along with learning herself. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?! :) Makes a momma proud!

One other great thing about these kits is the fact that all the learning materials fit in ONE kit - whether it be the baby, toddler or preschooler one! Boom! How great is that? So for those of you who have a lot of things in your home, or for those that have a small home (like yours truly), this is just great! It fits right on the shelf, or under my desk...and everything fits in the box. I know I have said that once before, but I wanted to repeat it in case you missed it the first time :)

One more thing I want to mention, this is a great item for the Grandparent's house or maybe for a babysitter's house. It won't take up a lot of space and you know your kids will have the opportunity to be learning versus watching TV.

Teach My, award winning educational toys for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. No need to spend hundreds of dollars going to several stores buying individual teaching tools, Teach My kits provide everything necessary for preschool learning, all in a portable and storable case. The perfect baby shower gift!

Teach My Baby: $49.99
Teach My Toddler: $49.99
Teach My Preschooler: $49.99
And to find out where you can get one of your own, click HERE and you will be directed to the page that tells you this!

{ ** GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED ** }

WIN ONE: One lucky SIMPLE reader will win their choice of your own Teach My. Here is how to enter:

• Mandatory Entry - Go check out Teach My, come back here and tell me what set you want AND why you want it!
• "Like" Teach My (and tell them we sent you!) and SIMPLE on Facebook - two entries possible.
• Follow Teach My on Twitter and tweet something like the following: Enter to win your choice of an @teachmy set over at @simplereviews: http://tinyurl.com/4bdt8oj #giveaway #contest #win Please RT!
• Vote for us in the Top Mom contest. Just click the thumbs up on this link: http://www.circleofmoms.com/blogger/839 (vote daily for more entries)
• Vote for us in the Top Mommy Blogs. Just go to our home page and click on the blinking logo...that's it! (vote daily for more entries)

Winner will be randomly chosen on April 1, 2011. Good luck!

*I was sent the Teach My Toddler Set to conduct this review using personal experience. The opinions expressed are my own.*

sweet paper lane

As many of you know I had a baby girl on 8.9.10, (I am loving he date of birth). Of course I need baby announcements, so when sweet paper lane contacted me about a review I was definitely excited.

It took me a really long time to decide on what design I would like for her announcements. I wants something simple and cute. I knew exactly what photo I was going to use.

When I received the announcements, I was so excited I loved how they turned out. They were on a thick cardstock with a matte finish. They are perfect.

sweet paper lane has chic designs, whimsical, festive, trendy, classic or simply elegant, it's at Sweet Paper Lane for any occasion. They always have the fresh and trendy styles you are looking for.

GET YOUR OWN: sweet paper lane - Birthday Invitations, Chic Bridal Shower Invitations, Baby Shower Invitations, Birth Announcements & Halloween Invitations

A SIMPLE COUPON: sweet paper lane wants to offer our simple readers 15% off holiday cards. Just enter the code simple to receive the discount.



*I was provided with 50 announcements free of charge to conduct this review.*

I potty trained my child in 3 days...

...yep, it's true.

Thanks to the 3 Day Potty Training Method by Lora Jensen, my 3 year old was fully potty trained in 3 days. I am now counting this as my #1 parenting tip. You can read our success story on my personal blog here.

We have featured the 3 Day Potty Training Method here on SIMPLE once before. I was so pleased with the program, that I asked Lora if we could feature her program again.

If you are anything like me, potty training is a dreaded task. I WAS NOT looking forward to it, hence the reason I didn't even ATTEMPT it until my child was 3! And although it was A LOT of work, I can honestly say the the whole experience was really fun. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to nurture and have fun with my little boy as we tackled this milestone in his life.

Through Lora's program, you will learn to guide your child through the potty training process. She teaches you how to gently potty train your child without "forcing the issue", yet help them cultivate the desire to get to the toilet when their body tells them "it's time!" Even the STUBBORN ones!

With the 3 Day Potty Training Method, you get an eBook that's a quick read (only about 50 pages), printable potty charts and stickers, and lifetime access to their online helpdesk! I used the helpdesk several times - they were always prompt in their response and gave me tips that WORKED!

GET YOUR OWN!! Head over the 3 Day Potty Training Method website, and download the program for just $24. They even offer a version for your iphone or Blackberry. Your child could be diaper free 3 days from now!

WIN YOUR OWN!! We've got TWO eBooks to give away! (a $24 value each) To enter, visit the 3 Day Potty Training Method website, then comment here telling us something you learned about the program.

For additional entries: (make additional comment for each)

• "Like" SIMPLE on Facebook
• Become a new follower of SIMPLE (add yourself on our sidebar)
  
• Blog about this giveaway linking back to SIMPLE and 3 Day Potty Training
  
• Tweet this giveaway

Winners will be randomly selected and announced 6/24/10. Good luck!

Free Entertainment with Learning;)

In these cold winter months, we are always looking for ways to keep the kids entertained and busy. What's even better is keeping them busy with activities that encourage their learning:)

I have been a fan of STARFALL for years... first working with Anna over 3 years ago on learning her letters. I now sit with Lydia and Christopher working on letters and simple reading activities and watching Anna read some of the stories!! I love that this site provides the kids with different levels of learning as well as activities and opportunities to learn that are fun and enjoyable to them:)


We are currently working on Ancient Greek history and they can enjoy the stories even more with Starfall Greek Myths... yes, my kids watch/read the Trojan Horse story over and over during their computer time!! And Lydia has loved the classical music page and growing flowers for Spring:)

Check it out for yourselves!! From learning letters to reading stories to celebrating holidays STARFALL is great for preschoolers to early elementary students:) And there are printables if your kids are learning their letters:) ENJOY!!!!

If you have any more free learning websites to share with the SIMPLE readers, leave a comment:) We'd love to find more of these treasures:)

The What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home Growth Chart

I've realized that having different children of all different ages can become a cleaning and sanitizing nightmare if I let that out of hand.

My 4 year old needs constant hand washing because she's outside touching everything - and then eating her lunch with her fingers.

My 2 year old is potty training, so teaching her proper bathroom cleanliness is a number one (and two) priority.

Additionally, in just a couple short months I'll be adding a newborn into my life and my home. Bottles will need to be washed, rattles will need to be cleaned, and every one who wants to hold the baby will have to be dunked in sanitizer.

Keeping up on the cleaning is not only important to the image of the house, but to the health of my family.

Sometimes it's seems the creating a healthy, clean home is an impossible task. While it might feel overwhelming, it doesn't have to be. The folk at Clorox and What to Expect When Expecting (remember that book?) have developed a nifty tool to helping parents keep their house clean for all stages of childhood.

The What to Expect Guide to a Healthy Home is a free down-loadable growth chart of to all things "clean".

Since downloading it myself, I've found some really useful tips that I've started to implement in my home. For instance, throwing the stuffed animals in the washer/dryer after a play date with friends. It's a no-brainer to wipe down the plastic toys, but the plush animals sometimes get left out of the deep clean!

With cold/flu season just around the corner, I highly suggest giving this free online tool a read - it just might keep the sickies away!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox and the What to Expect Guide and received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Flip N Flush

As someone who's potty trained a few kids, and is currently going through it one more time, the discovery of the Flip N Flush potty seat has me more excited that it probably should.

PU Digital offers an entire potty training kit, including the Flip N Flush seat, to make the difficult task of potty training your little one a whole lot easier. The Flip-N-Flush potty seat is designed to fit on your existing toilet to give you the potty training help you need without sacrificing your valuable space. I love that it snaps right onto the toilet so that I don't have to keep taking it on and off, and that it can just flip right out of the way when an adult needs to use the facilities.
No more little behinds dipping into the water unexpectedly, and no more messing with the potty seat or seat insert in a cramped bathroom space. The design is genius. And? It comes in fun colors, too. I wonder if my son would learn to potty train quicker if I let him choose what color seat he wanted?

BUY YOUR OWN: The Flip-N-Flush Potty Seat can be purchased from the website FlipNFlush.com

Mama's Reading - Queen Bees & Wannabes

Growing up in my family, I was the oldest of 4 girls. I remeber often feeling that my parents had no clue as to what was going on in my life. And even if they knew, they would never understand.

Fast forward 15 years, I now have 2 little girls of my own (and pregnant again, my bets are on another little girl). Knowing what I know about my pre-teen life, I'm totally scared to watch my daughters grow up and have to deal with social pressures that come with middle school and high school.

I believe it's all so much more complicated now than it was back then. I've told my husband numerous times how I'm so relieved that there was not the social media outlets like facebook, youtube and cell phone texting when we were growing up. Social pressures have gotten so much more complicated.

I just finished reading an eye opening book by Rosalind Wiseman called Queen Bees and Wannabes. If I've learned anything from the book (coincidently the basis for the movie Mean Girls) I've learned that being 13 today is a whole different slumber party than it was when I was that age.

Queen Bees and Wannabes gives you a first hand glimpse into the lives of pre-teen girls. I found it fascinating to learn about the construction of a clique, from the "Queen Bee" to the "Sidekick", all the way down the popularity chain to the "Target".

What I've loved about this book is that it not only exposes what might be going on in your daughters life, it gives sound advise and tips on how to deal with the issues. I've always said, I want to be my daughters friend, but not at the expense of loosing her as my daughter. I'm ok with not being the cool parent - but I do want to be the kind of parent that my girls can come to me anytime, with anything.

This book will definetly be going on the bookshelf and used as a manual in the coming years. Queen Bees and Wannabes is not only for Mom's to read. I've been hinting to my husband that he needs to read it as well. A great (and fast) read for any parent of girls.

Mamapedia - finding answers fast

Often as a mom, we're faced with issues and questions regarding our children that we need answered - and are not sure where to turn. Sometimes we don't have an appropriate friend or family member that we feel comfortable discussing our kid-related problems with. The internet has been for me a go-to place where with the click of a mouse, I can find a myriad of answers very quickly.

A new site, Mamapedia is kind of a "google" of sorts for all types of Mama advise. It's like getting recommendations from a mom that has "already been there, done that". Think of Mamapedia as your bff who always answers her phone, always responds to your email with the quickest of urgency, and is always ready to chat - even if it's 3 am. Oh, and she's always ready with the right answers.

I've given Mamapedia a whirl for a couple weeks and have found it very helpful answering my pressing questions. I've search everything from "breakfast ideas for preschoolers" to "toddler constipation" to "quick and easy craft ideas". A virtual meeting place for all things mom wisdom, the site quickly and effectively finds the answers you need.

So, if you ever have a pressing questions (may it be big or small), make sure you've bookmarked Mamapedia.