Have you heard about Boudreaux's Butt Paste? (Free Sample!)

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Boudreaux's Butt Paste. All opinions are 100% mine.

If not here is your chance! Now I have to admit the name does give me the giggles as I am sure it does to many people but don't let that deter you in any way from trying out this miracle cream!

Many of you out there in blog land may not have babies anymore or at least babies in need of diaper rash cream but Boudreaux's Butt Paste can work for you in many other ways!!! 

My husband and I have both found ourselves reaching for diaper cream for various ailments, especially in the humid summer time! Did you know diaper cream can prevent chafing? It does an amazing job at protecting sensitive skin areas that may be bothering you due to being rubbed the WRONG way!

What is even better about Boudreaux's Butt Paste compared to other diaper creams out there is that it is easily washed away! So no being left behind with white stuff all gunked up under your fingernails after applying!

Boudreaux's Butt Paste has been featured on The Oprah Show, The Today Show, The Tonight Show, People Magazine and more! 

What is really great is that you can head on over to the Boudreaux's Butt Paste website and request your very own sample to try it out for FREE! Now who doesn't love free?! 

Skin MD Natural Shielding Lotion Review and Giveaway! EXTENDED!

 

I was selected to do a review on Skin MD Natural Shielding face and body lotion, this could not have come at a better time! My husband and I both struggle with awful, itchy, dry skin especially in the winter months! We are always trying out new lotions and creams trying to find the best ones that are most effective to get rid of those winter itchies! Enter Skin MD Natural Shielding lotion!

This lotion goes on sooooo light which would make you think it would not be very effective, but boy is that NOT true! This stuff works like a dream and if you pair it with a good dead skin removal method (I am a ped-egg fan myself!) you will have smooth silky heels in no time! Also a good thing to remember is a little goes a LONG way! I made the mistake of

My husband suffers from winter excema and gets the classic rasied itchy dry bumps on his arms and legs in the winter and he even started using the Skin MD....the words straight out of his mouth to me one morning as I looked to apply some..."Get your own bottle!" Yup there it is; totally, completely husband approved in our household!

Additional information from the kind people at Skin MD:
Skin MD Natural is the lotion that goes on easily, absorbs fast and has no greasy feel at all. It's unique formulation and natural ingredients makes this shielding lotion far superior to any convention skin cream. Feel as soft a silk with Skin MD Natural, that's the "wow" factor when you try it. You feel the results but you don't feel the lotion. However, behind the softness that you feel, a shielding lotion does the real
work to prevent dry skin in two ways.

First, it assists the inner layers of skin to absorb moisture. The humectant (an ingredient that attracts moisture) used in Skin MD Natural is unique to
it and has been laboratory tested to be 6 times more effective than any other you will find in common creams.

Second, a shielding lotion enhances the power of the top layer of the skin
to resist environmental irritants while protecting the inner natural
moisture. This can be a big benefit for those who cook, wash dishes and garden because
Skin MD Natural helps skin retain its natural moisture and oils in the face of all those irritating soaps and chemicals.

Skin MD Natural is also an eco friendly skin care option. Our product is
made in the US using solar power energy. Our lotion is never tested on
animals and contains no animal ingredients making it both vegan and cruelty free!

BUY IT!: Go to Skin MD Natural Today!

WIN your own Free Bottle!!! Enter a seperate comment for each below!

• MANDATORY You must Follow my blog, let me know that you do ;)
• Follow me on Twitter (see button at top right!)
• Like SkinMD on Facebook
• Add my button to your blog and share the link here (5 entries!)
• Follow Skin MD on Twitter
• Tweet about this Giveaway up to 4x a day! (retweet button in top of this post) Leave a comment with link to each of your tweets!
• Enter any of my other giveaways!

Contest ends Friday January 14th 2011 @ 9:00 pm eastern time  Contest NOW ends Friday Februrary 18th at 10 pm eastern time!

*A free sample was provided to me for review purposes, I was not paid and all opinions are my very own.

New Year = New Me!

Ok here it goes a list of my goals for 2011! Lets see how many of these I can accomplish this year! I plan to have this as a tab to refer to, which will in turn HOPEFULLY keep me motivated to acheive ALL of them!

• Lose 40 to 50 pounds (seriously this is not about vanity this is about getting to a healthy realistic goal weight I NEED to stay at this time around, last time I was in this weight range was in 2003....)
• Complete 2010 Project Life album (journaling will be the real task so need to keep on top of it for 2011 so I don't have this same dilemma next year!)
• Keep up to date on 2011 Project Life album so that I won't be having a repeat performance of this goal in 2012 ;)
• Organize Basement! This will involve a LOT of purging and a LOT of rubbermaid bin purchasing. I have a very tidy vision in my mind with stacked rubbermaid totes labeled clearly so that I know exactly where things are as well as a food pantry area!
• Scrapbook area organized and also labeled where needed!
• Hair chopped (it is past my shoulders now and plan to go back to a below the chin bob) and dyed back to a brownish color that is closest to my new adult real hair color!
• Complete first year of Grad school successfully!!! EEEKKKK so nervous yet so excited!
• Buy giftcards each shopping trip so that we have them to fall back on next December for Christmas gifts and shopping trips etc... (whatever we may need them for...for some reason this seems it will work better for us then trying to put money into savings, one of those mental games I guess with us hahaha)
• Paint my nails and not just my toes! Serioulsy even once a month would be nice and it is not like it is THAT hard to do haha
• Enjoy days at the beach while WEARING a swimsuit this summer with my family!
• to do some more scrapbook pages but not set really any deadlines and to not stress about when things need to be done (besides Project Life) but instead to just enjoy the process!

Hmmm I would say that pretty much sums it up! What are your goals for 2011???

B1G1 FREE at Little Caesars

Tired of cooking during the holidays?  Take a day off and order Little Caesars Pizza.  Click here to print a coupon for Buy 1 Hot and Ready Pizza Get 1 FREE.  Two pizzas for only $5!!!  Don't have a printer?  You can also get a mobile coupon on your phone.  Only valid through Dec. 28th.

Thank you so much Coupons Equal Cash for sharing! I know what we are having for dinner tonight :)

Happy Holidays 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas despite some drama...now we are soaking in a day of relaxation and watching season two of Weeds. Gabby is off with her dad until Wednesday and it is amazing how quiet it seems without her around :(

Lainey chose her favorite toy and it happened to be one the dog received LOL! Just figures aye? She is also enjoying her blocks and her lovey with a doll head on it though as well as a discovery cube that cost like 5 bucks! It is so nice when the kids are soooo easy to please!

notice Bruno sulking...haha

the new edition is Julie in the jeans ;) 

Miss Gabby loved her AG doll as well as her other goodies so overall I would say Christmas was a success!

Coming up I still have a couple reviews I have been slacking about doing as well as posting my yearly goals! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

9 Months

Your 1st Birthday is coming up so quickly we just cannot believe it! Pretty ironic how slow my 9 month pregnancy went yet these 9 months of your life have gone by so FAST! You are growing way too quickly for us my dear!

• Crawling still like a wounded soldier but you are also crawling on all fours when you can be bothered ;)
• Pulling up to standing not only on the dog but on the furniture, walls, doors, your swing!
• Cruising! Cannot believe how fast this skill is being perfected by you!
• Dancing! Either just sitting in swing or high chair swaying head back and forth with ear to ear grin and even dancing while standing! You bop up and down and head goes back and forth, you are LOVING Christmas music :)
• You are still nursing 3 or 4 times a day on days Mommy works (as well as 2 to 3 bottles of 3 oz each pumped milk from Daddy)
• You eat lunch and dinner every day and are loving homemade egg and chicken salad on toast sticks! You also still love pear and apple slices as well as avocado and banana.
• You hated Santa heh heh.....Sorry mommy laughs about it but for some reason I crack up at kiddos that are freaked out about the big red guy ;)
• Wearing size 9 month stuff but 12 month stuff can pass easily too! Yet you are still in 0 to 6 month shoes!
• Cannot wait to find out your stats for 9 months but we don't go to doctor until December 23rd so will have to update then, my guess is over 20 pounds for weight though definitley!

ETA: Lainey's doctor stats from 12/23/2010 so 9.5 months
Weight 20lbs 8oz (75%)
Height 27 inches (25%)
Head (10%)

A New Car Battery....just what we wanted for Christmas

Do you see the sarcasm dripping from my title up there? So that cost us 120 bucks.....we were hopeful that we wouldn't have to dip into the 100 we just got from my Grandma for Christmas (as we were going to use it to actually live off of rest of the month!) but we ended up having to spend that plus another 20 for the stupid car. It makes me relieved we only own one car I will tell you that!!!

Well at least I am home today from work so we can get some gifts wrapped which will hopefully bring a bit of the Christmas spirit back to me......

December Ponderings.....

Just some randomness in my mind...

• First off I want to say this is one of the 1st Christmases in a LONG time I remember being SO extremely excited and in the spirit of things! I am not sure if it is because it is Lainey's first Christmas (which makes no sense since she won't remember hahaha) or what exactly it is but I know it is NICE! I have been listening to Christmas music every day since I think even before Thanksgiving even! This is SO not like me as sure I enjoy it but never went out of my way to listen to it before especially so often as I have been this year...
• I have so many ideas in my head (per usual it seems) that I would love to do but either no money for the resources needed or not enough time needed it seems! (Note to self:Cut some branches of pine trees in yard to stick in vases around the house.....)
• I have ideas in my head to whip up a few Christmas cards for my nearest and dearest just need to sit down and create!!!! (they may be late but it's the thought right?)
• Last of all I am sooooo beyond excited for the new year! There are going to be so many new adventures! I am re-joining weight watchers meetings (my insurance will be paying YAYYYY!), I start Grad School end of January (GULP OH EM CHEESE!), Lainey turns 1!, Our friend from England comes to visit again in March, maybe just maybe I will have more funds to get supplies and photos to get more projects completed!

What are you pondering about this month?

Ahhh the changing wishlists for Santa!

So Gabby changed her biggest wish from Aurora to of course an American Girl doll (over double the price of COURSE!)....well Santa came through and now Miss Julie (who Gabby says she will call Julia since it sounds prettier ;) ) is on her way to our home to be wrapped up extra special from the big red guy!

I am actually really excited about this change...despite the additional cost I know how wonderful these dolls are! Gabby is the owner of one of the AG Just Like me dolls that she got for I believe her 4th birthday and that doll (whom she has started to call Krystal) sleeps beside her either in her very own doll sized bunk bed or right beside Gabby all tucked in (wearing a nightgown every night of course!).

I would much rather spend the money on one really nice gift instead of same amount of money on a bunch of little junk she does not need (we do that enough as it is LOL!).

We are pretty much done shopping for the girls though so that is a great feeling! Now to get everyone else finished and then of course to get it all wrapped!

Scrappy Sunday (over a week later...)

Just a few past projects we have done on recent Sundays....

card and matching giftbox for my mom's birthday

And guess what? We forgot to bring the turkeys to give out on Thanksgiving in the end! Oopsie!!!!

Boon Inc. Review

Have you seen all the amazingly rad boon products?! If I could own them all I totally would! They are not only useful but stylish! 

Some of my faves include.....

Now I could even see these 2 items above in a craft room....just picture all your crafty tools poking out of the cute grass or stashed in these very cool modules! 

And just how amazing and rad is this highchair?!

I have been trying like crazy to win one of these as my sesame street one just does not equal stylish to me LOL! 

Boon was so generous to offer me the very cool Groovy bowl and Benders cutlery set to review! 

Now Miss Lainey is just approaching 9 months but we have been doing baby led weaning with her so she is pretty dang good at feeding herself. We have just started to introduce a plate and cutlery to her though and I have to say these Boon products are PERFECT! The bowl has a nice grippy bottom and is heavy enough to not just be tossed around. And how cute are the little add on dipper bowls for condiments and such?! (I cannot wait for Lainey to be ready to use those as they just make the design of the bowl in my opinion). The Benders are so nice as well....you can actually bend them in what ever direction to ease the baby into learning how to get it to their mouth! Perfect for right or left handed babies ;) 

Here are Lainey's attempts to eat baked beans, peapods, and turkey burger with her boon set!

Pretty successful! We will definitely be purchasing additional boon sets for her in the near future!

Please check out Boon today for unique and modern baby goods! Also you can find out more about Boon products on their various social networks!

 Follow on Facebook

      Follow on Twitter

  Check out their Blog

Thanks so much Boon for creating such amazing and cool products!

Pink Princess Dress Review and Giveaway!

Are you looking for a special outfit for your little one? Pink Princess offers not only perfect dresses for your little princess but also adorable formal outfits for little boys as well! Pink Princess offers a huge variety of holiday dresses, flower girl dresses, flower girl accessories, first communion dresses, Christening gowns, kids costumes, pettiskirts, and more!

One great thing is that Pink Princess offers free returns and free shipping on ALL apparel! Now that is some great customer service especially when looking for such a perfect outfit for your little one, you want it to fit just right!

Pink Princess was generous enough to let me choose a dress for Miss Lainey and I chose the pink and brown polka dot taffeta dress. When the dress arrived I was in awe of what a gorgeous dress it was! It was wrapped so nicely in a clear bag hung on a hanger and not a wrinkle on it! So pretty!

I chose the 12 to 18 month size in hopes I would have Lainey wear it for her 1st birthday party....well the dress ran small! This is where the free return would come in handy! Lainey is not quite 9 months old yet and wears almost all clothes in the 6 to 12 month range and lots of 9 month sleepers and things. Well this dress is already a bit snug on my chubby bunny! It looks just adorable though on her!

Please don't mind her sleepy appearance she is currently suffering from her first cold :(

Pink Princess is a perfect place to find that special occasion dress or outfit for your child so please check them out today!

Buy it: Visit Pink Princess

Win it: Pink Princess is giving away one of my readers a $15 gift certificate! To win please enter a separate comment for each method! Contest ends January 1st 2011!

• Follow my blog and let me know you follow (THIS IS MANDATORY ENTRY!)
• Visit Pink Princess and let me know what you would put your gift certificate towards
• Follow me on Twitter (let me know your twitter name)
• Follow me through networked blogs
• Tweet 1x a day with a link to this giveaway (leave me link of your tweet)
• Follow Pink Princess on Twitter

Thanks so much and best of luck!!!

Chicken,augratin potatoes,asparagus

Lainey usually eats a little of what we are having each night (major bonus to BLW!) Her selection tonight included a new flavor in the augratin potatoes (now these were the boxed kind which def are not healthy but everything in moderation right?).

She LOVED those potatoes (she is my daughter after all and this mama has yet to meet a potato variety I don't like!)

Lainey is also starting to get more interested in our use of silverware so I figured I would start letting her try out her Boon benders we received (review coming soon!).

She of course didn't dive the fork right into the food but when we gave it to her pre-loaded with potato or chicken she didn't hesitate to put it in her mouth!

Lainey has also been using sippy cups more after mama couldn't handle the sound of her little teeth against the ceramic shot glass she had previously been using to have sips of water out of haha!

We have a tommee tippee cup and we take the valve out of it so the flow comes out like a normal cup! For on the go we have a think baby sippy which is more like a bottle with handles but works great for now!

And here is a video clip I would like to share of Lainey enjoying those potatoes :)

Oh and for some reason this is the face we get at the end of a lot of meals LMAO....

Bean Burrito

Lainey got to try one of Mama's fave foods this month....refried beans! YUMMO! Now I usually have loads of cheese melted into mine but figured I would let Lainey first try them in the pure form ;) I usually always buy the fat free or vegetarian varieties since they do not contain lard like regular ones do! I warmed them up a bit inside a flour tortilla and let her have a go! Lainey's first bite she was a little unsure....

 And the next bite she still wasn't sure about this new flavor and texture combo....

 But she kept trying more and was soon sucking those beans right out of the tortilla haha! Notice she would not let go of her red pepper slice (another new fave!). She skipped the pear chunks (these were the del monte packed in water variety but she was not keen at all but maybe it is because she prefers to take the bites herself off her pear slices!).

Pros: good protein source in all beans and fiber too! Good texture for those a bit nervous about BLW
Cons: MESSY! Also of course can cause gas ;)

Toast w/laughing cow cheese

Toast soldiers aka toast sticks are great for the BLW babe! Not only can you let the baby try different varieties of breads this way but they also have endless possibilities to top them with other flavors, or for baby to use as dippers! On this day at the end of  October I gave Lainey some whole wheat toast with some laughing cow swiss cheese spread on it! She loved it! Since this she has had egg salad, chicken salad, lemon yogurt, and cream cheese on different varieties of bread sticks and has loved all those too!

Pros: EASY PEASY which this Mama LOVES! Always have some sort of bread in the house as well as different things for Lainey to have on it or to dip the bread into!

Cons: mess factor can be high!

Potato,avocado,pear:letting baby decide!

Letting the baby decide is a big part of BLW. Of course offering them healthy choices to choose from is ideal since that way we are at least steering them in the right direction towards healthy eating! Lainey is loving being independent in deciding what she wants to eat and is becoming such a confident eater even with just 2 bottom teeth! On this day in October I offered her a selection of steamed potato, avocado, and pear slices. Lainey went straight to the avocado which remains a favorite but she did eventually have a nibble of the potato and the pear (Which has made it into favorites lately too!).

Pros: well all of these choices were easy to prepare and offered Lainey 3 different tastes and textures to explore!

Cons: none at all besides the mess of avocado ;)

Pasta with meat sauce

I thought I would let you give pasta with a semi-homemade meat sauce (jar sauce with added in ground lean beef) but you were def not too sure about it!

I think you were thrown off by the texture of the ground beef which was quite gritty and dry compared to the chicken breast you have been having! We will def keep trying though as pasta with a homemade sauce is such a great way to get in several food groups and your varieties are endless! 

Pros: economical, lots of ways to prepare it, can sneak in many food groups!

Cons: the sauce obviously adds to mess factor, baby may not take to the mix of textures right away