FunBites!

With kindergarten just around the corner for my oldest daughter one thing that is very daunting to me is packing a school lunch.  I've never really been a food planner and for breakfast and lunch it's usually just a spur of the moment decision as I'm getting ready to cook.  However I know for school I'm going to need to be more on the ball and most likely even prepare and pack her lunch the night before.  With social media as big as it is these days I can tell that some parents go ALL OUT with their kids lunches.  I'll be honest and say that with 2 other young kids at home my time is valuable and fancy lunches most likely aren't going to happen.  Or so I thought!  A few months ago I came across FunBites!  These food cutter sets make creating a fun lunch SO easy.  FunBites was nice enough to send me their pink hearts set to try out and we have absolutely loved it.

The cutter is a two piece set which is great since you don't have to fiddle with getting your cutouts out of the mold once you are done pressing them.  There is one open piece that has the openings to cut your designs and the second piece is all the shapes filled in so once you press it down, the cutouts easily pop out. Super easy!

What I love the most about FunBites is how versatile they are.  I have tried other brands of sandwich cutters before and they are just that...sandwich cutters.  FunBites, however, are made of a super hard plastic which allows it to cut more than just bread.  It can cut cheese, fruit, sandwiches thicker than a generic pb&g.  Seriously, this can get through anything!  To add to the versatility as you can see in the picture the heart cutout is made up of hearts, half circles, and triangles!  This allows for so much creativity when making your designs.  My kids loved building circles and castles.  The possibilities are endless.

Here are examples of strawberries, cheese, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I tend to prefer using it to cut out fruits/veggies/cheese and other things that are either very thin or very hard.  I noticed with the peanut butter and jelly that the cutter is so strong that it almost squished the sandwich down to nothing.  The kids didn't seem to mind it though, so it's still a win for me!

Now here is the best part, FunBites are normally $9.99 each.  Today though FunBites has teamed up with Good Morning America and they have a deal that can't be beat!  If you visit THIS link there are 3 different sets of four FunBites for just $18!!  (Shipping for me was $5, not sure if it is different depending on region)  I'm excited to have so many options for making lunches this upcoming school year.

Also be on the lookout because this fall, FunBites is releasing a PAW PATROL cutout!!!  My son is going to be so excited to try them and I am too!

thredUP

For as long as I can remember, I have always had a love/hate relationship with children's clothing.  I find something I like, buy it, and 5 minutes later its been outgrown!  What a pain.  I feel like all we do is spend spend spend on clothes and I'm not going to lie, my kids are rough on their clothes, so it hurts when we put out so much money just for them to be ruined or outgrown after only being worn a few times.  Okay okay, of course they aren't really ruined to the point that they can't be worn, but of course stains and marks are going to happen and those drive me crazy.  Shopping seems to be more of a hassle than anything because I struggle to balance what is cute vs. what is practical while still getting a good deal.  Now, I don't have to worry about that anymore!

Last week, I got to talking with my sister-in-law Danielle about kids clothes and she told me all about a site she uses called thredUP which is a virtual consignment sale.  I'll admit I was a little leery at first as I feel like my experiences with resale shops has gone downhill lately.  Clothes are disorganized, overpriced, and very obviously worn.  You could spend hours looking for what you need because stuff is thrown around everywhere.  It's just not fun!  ThredUP takes all the hassle out of consignment shopping.  After Danielle pointed me in the right direction, I spent 2 hours browsing the clothes.  Everything is neatly sorted by categories making things so easy to find plus there is a search bar at the top so you can see if they have the perfect item you are looking for.  Seriously, SO EASY!  After all that browsing, I decided to pick 2 items for each kid just as a test run to see how their stuff was.  I placed my order on Friday and it already arrived today!!  Just 4 days which I found super impressive.

The box was adorable and packaged like a gift which I loved.

I dug right in to check out all our new clothes and boy was I impressed!!  Of the six pieces five of them were in impeccable shape.  Honestly, I would have never guessed that they were second hand clothes.  The last item has the faintest of stains and you really have to search for it so it doesn't bother me in the slightest.  Each piece of clothing has its own thredUP tag which I thought was the perfect touch and made me feel like I was getting brand new clothes.  I loved this!

Eliza was napping when the box came and Zach's clothes are for the summer so I only had Samantha to model her clothes.  She looked SO cute in everything.  She got the khaki shorts and jeans!

I am honestly shocked by how impressed I was by the whole shopping experience and quality of the clothes.  Now here is the great part, you have 14 days to decide if you want to keep your items.  If you decide to return them, thredUP proves you a prepaid postage label to return them!  If you return your items for store credit there is no charge, however, if you want your payment returned to your original payment method there is an $8.99 fee.  ThredUP also gives you the option to request a Clean Out Bag so you can send in your old clothes for PayPal or store credit.  Now, I read that they are super strict with their clothing and only accept <40% of what is sent into them.  Like I said before, we are rough on clothes and I seriously doubt they'd take any of our stuff so I haven't yet sent anything in.  However, it's easy to navigate the site to find out how to send in your items and what brands they will and won't accept.

But wait, there is more!  As of 2/10/2016 thredUP has teamed with 18,878 schools across the country so when you shop your school earns!  You can search for your K-12 school and once selected 5% of your purchases will go right back to the school you chose.  You can even designate your payouts from Clean Out Kits to go back to the school rather than yourself.  At this time, thredUP sends out checks to the schools' PTA twice per year and the check must be at least $100 or the money your school has earned is lost.  Unfortunately at this time, I am the only shopper linked with my daughter's future school so I better get to shopping!

For someone who has been turned off from consignment shopping, I can definitely say that I will be frequently visiting this site from now on.  I can't wait to start searching for summer clothes!  If you haven't yet tried thredUP and are interested in doing so, you can sign up via THIS link and get a store credit just for singing up!!  (I am not sure how much the credit is as the e-mail link gives $10 and facebook share gives $20, comment if you sign up and I can edit my post!)  You can try out the clothes and not have to pay out that much if anything!  After the bonus I got from signing up through my sister-in-law I only paid $24.93 shipped for all 6 items.  You've really got nothing to lose!

Premium Breastfeeding Cover by Soins de Bebe

For the past 4.5 years, I have pretty much been constantly nursing one of my 3 children.  Over this time, I have become pretty confident nursing in public without covering up, however, I know this is not the case for everyone.  I know a certain someone (who I won't name here!!) is definitely not comfortable when I nurse in public.  That's where this awesome premium breastfeeding cover by Soins de Bebe comes in.

I chose the purple cover, which can be purchased on Amazon, because I love purple!!  I am normally not a huge fan of paisley but I think it is gorgeous.  As you can see in my photo, the cover is very generously sized and covers everything with room to spare.  I have only covered up while nursing a handful of times in Eliza's 16 months so she was not a fan of having the cover on her.  Even with her flailing around and trying to move things around there was more than enough fabric to keep me covered and I never worried about anything being exposed.  The cover has 3 features that I found fantastic.

1.) A reinforced neck.  The top of the cover has some sort of plastic in the neck so that you can easily look down and see your baby without having to move your hands or the cover.  This is great especially when your child is young and still needs assistance latching on.

2.) Stainless steel D-Rings create a completely adjustable strap so that this carrier can fit any woman.  You get the perfect fit, not too tight and not too loose, every single time.

3.) The cover has a padded portion in the bottom corner to use for any drips and spills you may have.  Eliza enjoyed holding this end and rubbing it on her face while she ate and again due to the generous sizing nothing was exposed!  This is perfect if you forget your burp cloth.

Besides the nursing cover, the package also included a cotton burp cloth and breastfeeding bracelet.  Eliza ran off with the cloth before I was able to take a picture of it and was using it with a blanket so I'd say she loves it!  In the short few seconds I held it, it did feel a little rough to me, though I'm sure it will soften up nicely with a wash.  The nursing bracelet has numbers 1-12 and little dots for each 15 minute increment.  I breastfeed on demand so I don't have much use for this, but for mom's who either prefer or are required to feed in set intervals this would be great.  I remember when Zach was little and not gaining weight it was so frustrating to constantly need to be on my phone to see when I last fed him.  While this tool wouldn't replace a feeding log, it would definitely be extremely helpful in telling you when you need to feed your baby again.  The only change I would make to this bracelet would be for it to have some way to tell which side you last fed on.

All of these items came in a coordinating bag perfect for a purse or diaper bag.

Everything was wonderfully made and I would absolutely recommend this set to any mom looking for a nursing cover.  Thank you to Soins de Bebe for providing this cover for free in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rockabye Baby! Review and Giveaway!!!

Back in August of 2011, I was introduced to Hushabye Baby when I won a contest on my friend Lindsay's blog.  After receiving my lullaby renditions of Dolly Parton I was left wanting more so I set to google to see what was available.  I found out that Hushabye Baby was the country cousin to Rockabye Baby! and when I checked out their website I was instantly in love.  With nearly over 50 CD's to choose from there is something for everyone.

I slowly started a little collection for us which now includes The Beatles, Bon Jovi, Elvis, and Queen.  I was obsessed!  As a matter of fact while I was in the hospital having Zachary he went to the nursery one day and upon bringing him back the nurse told us a funny little story.  There were a few babies in the room and they were all screaming.  The nurses decided to switch off the classical music they were playing and put on the Beach Boys.  Once the music changed every single one of the babies stopped crying.  I knew I had to have a Beach Boys CD.  Luckily for me, Rockabye Baby does have a Beach Boys CD!!  When Zachary was 4 days old I hurriedly ordered it and it has been a favorite ever since.

This past week, I have had the awesome opportunity to review Rockabye Baby!'s Lullaby Renditions of Elton John.  The CD features 12 full length songs that have been turned into lullabies. This CD did not disappoint and I must admit, I found myself listening to it even when the kids weren't around!  Some of the songs include: Tiny Dancer, Crocodile Rock, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Can You Feel the Love Tonight.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I even enjoyed the rendition of Benny and the Jets, which is a song I typically hate to listen to.  There honestly wasn't a song on here that I didn't like.

One cute aspect of these CD's are the little pamphlets that are included.  The main pamphlet is full of activities for the kids to do.  Samantha isn't quite old enough to do them yet, but I will definitely keep it for when she get solder.  There is also a sheet that contains a recipe to make a baby food creatively named after something to do with the artist.  The recipe we got is called "Carrot Man", so cute!!

I seriously cannot say enough good things about Rockabye Baby!  These CD's have been there for us through thick and thin and we listen to them all the time!  They are especially helpful when going to visit my family in Chicago and Chris's family in Connecticut.  The CD's provide soothing music that helps the kids sleep and I am still able to hum along.  I love that they are fun upbeat songs turned into lullaby's and not the boring Twinkle Twinkle and Mary Had a Little Lamb on endless repeat.  It's actually pretty refreshing.  Ever since the time change a few weeks ago Zach has decided that between 4-5:00 is the best time to wake up.  I must say I don't agree but he is up and ready to go like clockwork.  Our routine is to come downstairs and I relax while Zach plays.  Now we've added our Rockabye Baby! into the mix and rather than having the tv going (I thrive on background noise) we can enjoy the calming sounds of Elton John.  Even if it doesn't put Zach back to sleep, I definitely think it helps us get our day off to a good start and the soothing sounds always help me feel more calm and refreshed.

I can't wait to add more music to our collection!  On October 29th, Rockabye Baby!'s newest CD came out featuring lullaby renditions of Nickelback.  This CD, plus many others, can be purchased directly from Rockabye Baby! for $16.98 or as an MP3 album on iTunes for $11.99.  I have done both in the past and I definitely prefer having the actual CD.  My husbands car doesn't have an aux port so it's always frustrating when I can't plug in my iPod to listen to my music.  I am so excited to share that Rockabye Baby! has graciously offered to let one of my lucky readers win a CD of their choice.

This giveaway will be open until 12:00 am on 11/25 and is open to US residents only.  All entries will be verified so please make sure you've done what the entry asks or your entry will not count!  Have fun!

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