Since being pregnant, my quest for enough fiber has been a never-ending one, as I'm sure you all can relate.
I have to share my newest discovery... Fiber One's Granola Bars. Seriously, I cannot stop talking about these granola bars because they are sooo delicious, and the best part is that they have 35% of your daily fiber. 35%!!! Do you know how many vegetables I have to eat in order to get to 35% of my fiber?!
I have never had tastier granola bars than these, and I tried both flavors- Oats and Chocolate and Peanut Butter, and both were fantastic. I thought that maybe I was crazy because I loved these bars so much, but I ran them by both Josh and my parents, and all agreed that they are sweet and yummy. More like a candy bar, than a granola bar. I even made my mom take me straight to the grocery store in California to pick some up, because I love taking a short break in the afternoon with one of the granola bars and a cup of decaf coffee as a quick pick-me-up.
The funniest thing is that I googled the granola bars to see where I could find them here in California, and there were tons of blog posts about them, so I'm not the only convert.
I'd definitely give them a try if you are also in the hunt for fiber, and if you don't like them, send them my way!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
public service announcement for new moms
I told Gabriel that it's about time that he starts making a living around here, we're not running a free joint. So Gabriel and I have been hard at work for the past couple of weeks reviewing a product from the Parent Bloggers Network- the Burpcatcher. The Parent Bloggers Network reviews all kinds of kid and parent appropriate products through blogging. I've been looking at their products for a while now and have found tons of items that are interesting, so check it out if you have a minute!
If this is your first visit to the Halloweenlover household, welcome! I'm a new mom to an 8 week old baby boy (Gabriel), on maternity leave from my law firm in Boston, married to a business school student (Josh) who is currently knee deep in his post-graduation job search, and living with our two adorable pooches.
I have to admit that many things about being a new mom were a surprise to me- the explosive and leaky diapers, the socks that constantly slip off, the dry skin (for both of us), and definitely, DEFINITELY, the spit-up. My mom never mentioned the spit-up and my niece and nephew never seemed to do it, at least when I was around, so I was wholly unprepared for the prolific, ahem, liquid that could appear without warning. So when the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review the Burpcatcher, I was psyched!
Funnily enough, I'd just seen an advertisement for the Burpcatcher when I received the email from PBN. The Burpcatcher is just like a regular burp cloth, but with a pocket at one end. Once you place the Burpcatcher over your shoulder or arm, the pocket automatically hangs open, and stays open, to catch any spit-up that might ensue from a burping session. The Burpcatcher comes in a couple of options, both costing $9.99. You can either purchase a package of two flannel Burpcatchers with a ribbon lining in pink, blue or green, or one fleece Burpcatcher also coming in pink, blue or green. Gabe was a little disappointed to receive his sample Burpcatcher in pink, but after some convincing he agreed to try it out anyway.
See? Doesn't he look a little moody about the pinkness?
The Burpcatcher is the first burp cloth to include a pocket that catches spit-up rather than letting it run down your back, or over your arm and onto the rest of your clothing.
The hardest part about using the Burpcatcher, is to remember to pick it up every time you go to burp your baby, or if you know that you are approaching a fussy time that often includes spit-up. In our case, Gabe doesn't consistently spit-up so I occasionally risk it and leave off the burp cloth, but since I was trying the product I made an effort to use it constantly and it certainly worked.
We've found over the last 2 months that regular burp cloths aren't absorbent enough, so for the most part we stick with cloth diapers. I was happy to find that the flannel fabric was just as absorbent as the cloth diapers we've been using and caught most of the spit-up before it reached the pocket, but the pocket did save my sweater a couple of times. We also draped it over the boppy and leaned him onto the boppy for some modified tummy time. It caught some unanticipated spit-up then too. I even brought it to my new mommy's group to see what some of the other mothers thought, and those of us that have experienced the spit-up agreed that it would have been a great gift. The colors are simple enough to go with anyone's style. It would be a cute shower gift if you were in the market for gifts.
Now if only Burpcatcher could come up with a burping bib with a pocket too, for those spit-up episodes when I'm sitting Gabe up in front of me for a chat!
All in all, I was definitely pleased with these burp cloths and found them easy to use and pretty cute. One of the other reviewers mentioned that in her dryer the Burpcatchers were the last things to dry, but I didn't have that experience, although now I'm wondering if maybe I'm overdrying my clothes! I'd definitely recommend them to a new mom or anyone looking for a baby gift.
If this is your first visit to the Halloweenlover household, welcome! I'm a new mom to an 8 week old baby boy (Gabriel), on maternity leave from my law firm in Boston, married to a business school student (Josh) who is currently knee deep in his post-graduation job search, and living with our two adorable pooches.
I have to admit that many things about being a new mom were a surprise to me- the explosive and leaky diapers, the socks that constantly slip off, the dry skin (for both of us), and definitely, DEFINITELY, the spit-up. My mom never mentioned the spit-up and my niece and nephew never seemed to do it, at least when I was around, so I was wholly unprepared for the prolific, ahem, liquid that could appear without warning. So when the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review the Burpcatcher, I was psyched!
Funnily enough, I'd just seen an advertisement for the Burpcatcher when I received the email from PBN. The Burpcatcher is just like a regular burp cloth, but with a pocket at one end. Once you place the Burpcatcher over your shoulder or arm, the pocket automatically hangs open, and stays open, to catch any spit-up that might ensue from a burping session. The Burpcatcher comes in a couple of options, both costing $9.99. You can either purchase a package of two flannel Burpcatchers with a ribbon lining in pink, blue or green, or one fleece Burpcatcher also coming in pink, blue or green. Gabe was a little disappointed to receive his sample Burpcatcher in pink, but after some convincing he agreed to try it out anyway.
See? Doesn't he look a little moody about the pinkness?
The Burpcatcher is the first burp cloth to include a pocket that catches spit-up rather than letting it run down your back, or over your arm and onto the rest of your clothing.
The hardest part about using the Burpcatcher, is to remember to pick it up every time you go to burp your baby, or if you know that you are approaching a fussy time that often includes spit-up. In our case, Gabe doesn't consistently spit-up so I occasionally risk it and leave off the burp cloth, but since I was trying the product I made an effort to use it constantly and it certainly worked.
We've found over the last 2 months that regular burp cloths aren't absorbent enough, so for the most part we stick with cloth diapers. I was happy to find that the flannel fabric was just as absorbent as the cloth diapers we've been using and caught most of the spit-up before it reached the pocket, but the pocket did save my sweater a couple of times. We also draped it over the boppy and leaned him onto the boppy for some modified tummy time. It caught some unanticipated spit-up then too. I even brought it to my new mommy's group to see what some of the other mothers thought, and those of us that have experienced the spit-up agreed that it would have been a great gift. The colors are simple enough to go with anyone's style. It would be a cute shower gift if you were in the market for gifts.
Now if only Burpcatcher could come up with a burping bib with a pocket too, for those spit-up episodes when I'm sitting Gabe up in front of me for a chat!
All in all, I was definitely pleased with these burp cloths and found them easy to use and pretty cute. One of the other reviewers mentioned that in her dryer the Burpcatchers were the last things to dry, but I didn't have that experience, although now I'm wondering if maybe I'm overdrying my clothes! I'd definitely recommend them to a new mom or anyone looking for a baby gift.
Thursday, November 2, 2006
monitors anyone?
There is an awful lot going on in the halloweenlover household these days, most of them relating to the bayyybeee that is possibly arriving in this household in the coming weeks. This Monday was our 32 week appointment, at which time the pumpkin showed off its wriggling skills and moved in and out of the reach of the doppler several times, making it difficult for the doctor to get an accurate read on the heartbeat. He or she probably weighs around 4 pounds, based on her manual estimates and measurements. All appears to be well, and we're very happy to be crossing the threshold into 32 weeks. For some reason, this whole baby thing feels very REAL these days.
Over the past couple of weeks, Josh and I have been fortunate enough to play around with a new product sent to us for our review. A very, very new BABY product, that has just hit the shelves at your neighborhood Huge Baby Store, the Philips DECT Baby Monitor.
Now, a baby monitor was something we'd thought long and hard about. Should we get a video monitor or an audio monitor? What were the relevant features? What about interference? Would it block the cordless phone and internet (we've experienced this problem before)? What about price? What about size and looks? There were a number of things to think about.
Once you've made the choice for an audio monitor rather than video, the Philips monitor definitely comes out as a front runner. After owning it and playing with it for a couple of week, albeit without a baby, here are my thoughts:
1. It is the cutest baby monitor I've seen out there.
These monitors, both the one that remains in the baby's room and the one that goes along with you, are pretty sleek and modern-looking. The monitors are white with yellowish/orange accents. The parental unit comes with an attachment to wear it on your belt or around your neck. It is small, about the size of a small cordless phone or largish cell phone.
2. The features and perks are very nice.
Both monitors have bright displays that are easy to read. Both show you the time, volume, and temperate in the nursery. The parental unit (handheld one) can activate a few lullabies and a nightlight from a remote location. We tested this one out and could scroll through and turn on lullabies from downstairs! The nightlight can also be turned on from downstairs, and it seems to be a good strength, nothing so crazy that it would wake up a baby, it just sort of casts a soft glow over the room and displays little stars on the light up portion. You can also use the parental monitor to talk to the baby from another room. I'm not sure how much we'll use this feature, but I didn't see it on other monitors. Of all of these, my favorite feature was seeing the temperature in the nursery since I'm a little paranoid about that room getting too hot, since it is very small.
3. Best of all, NO INTERFERENCE.
We used the monitors near the computers while surfing the internet, and tested them with each of our cordless phones and even while the microwave was running. This was a problem we'd had in the past with tons of electronics, so it was a relief to get away from it! Apparently, Philips uses "digital enhanced cordless telecommunication" to make sure you don't hear your neighbor's baby instead of your own by scrolling through up to 60 channels to find a clear connection. I don't know anything about the technology, but it definitely worked. Our neighborhood is full of kids and even when we left it on for hours, we never heard anything but our own house. Josh and I had a good time using the monitor as a walkie-talkie and running around the house chatting to each other. When we aren't making noise, I hear absolutely nothing from the monitor- no background noise or strange sounds or buzzing or anything. I think I'll appreciate that when I'm trying to sleep.
The monitor is really new, and I've only seen it on display in the glass display case at Huge Baby Store, looking all petite and cute next to the other models. I was nervous to have a review a product like this one, because I've been so picky about other baby items, I was convinced I'd be disatisfied. But truthfully, I'm very impressed with how easy to use and functional I think the Philips monitor is. I'd definitely recommend it to other new or expectant parents I know. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions! And I'll do another review once the littlest member of our family is here. I'm sure I'll have more opinions once there is a baby on the other end, instead of Josh making scary noises and trying to terrify me.
Over the past couple of weeks, Josh and I have been fortunate enough to play around with a new product sent to us for our review. A very, very new BABY product, that has just hit the shelves at your neighborhood Huge Baby Store, the Philips DECT Baby Monitor.
Now, a baby monitor was something we'd thought long and hard about. Should we get a video monitor or an audio monitor? What were the relevant features? What about interference? Would it block the cordless phone and internet (we've experienced this problem before)? What about price? What about size and looks? There were a number of things to think about.
Once you've made the choice for an audio monitor rather than video, the Philips monitor definitely comes out as a front runner. After owning it and playing with it for a couple of week, albeit without a baby, here are my thoughts:
1. It is the cutest baby monitor I've seen out there.
These monitors, both the one that remains in the baby's room and the one that goes along with you, are pretty sleek and modern-looking. The monitors are white with yellowish/orange accents. The parental unit comes with an attachment to wear it on your belt or around your neck. It is small, about the size of a small cordless phone or largish cell phone.
2. The features and perks are very nice.
Both monitors have bright displays that are easy to read. Both show you the time, volume, and temperate in the nursery. The parental unit (handheld one) can activate a few lullabies and a nightlight from a remote location. We tested this one out and could scroll through and turn on lullabies from downstairs! The nightlight can also be turned on from downstairs, and it seems to be a good strength, nothing so crazy that it would wake up a baby, it just sort of casts a soft glow over the room and displays little stars on the light up portion. You can also use the parental monitor to talk to the baby from another room. I'm not sure how much we'll use this feature, but I didn't see it on other monitors. Of all of these, my favorite feature was seeing the temperature in the nursery since I'm a little paranoid about that room getting too hot, since it is very small.
3. Best of all, NO INTERFERENCE.
We used the monitors near the computers while surfing the internet, and tested them with each of our cordless phones and even while the microwave was running. This was a problem we'd had in the past with tons of electronics, so it was a relief to get away from it! Apparently, Philips uses "digital enhanced cordless telecommunication" to make sure you don't hear your neighbor's baby instead of your own by scrolling through up to 60 channels to find a clear connection. I don't know anything about the technology, but it definitely worked. Our neighborhood is full of kids and even when we left it on for hours, we never heard anything but our own house. Josh and I had a good time using the monitor as a walkie-talkie and running around the house chatting to each other. When we aren't making noise, I hear absolutely nothing from the monitor- no background noise or strange sounds or buzzing or anything. I think I'll appreciate that when I'm trying to sleep.
The monitor is really new, and I've only seen it on display in the glass display case at Huge Baby Store, looking all petite and cute next to the other models. I was nervous to have a review a product like this one, because I've been so picky about other baby items, I was convinced I'd be disatisfied. But truthfully, I'm very impressed with how easy to use and functional I think the Philips monitor is. I'd definitely recommend it to other new or expectant parents I know. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions! And I'll do another review once the littlest member of our family is here. I'm sure I'll have more opinions once there is a baby on the other end, instead of Josh making scary noises and trying to terrify me.
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