Archive for Product Reviews
Cute Brands Review and Gift Card Giveaway!
Posted by: | CommentsI’m really excited about this giveaway for several reasons! First, this is another chance for one of my lucky readers to win a great prize! But, secondly, I’m partnering with a friend from grad school on this one, so I’m particularly excited.
I’m always impressed by true entrepreneurs—especially ones who are brave enough to launch their businesses during bad economic times—so I’m very proud of my former grad school classmate, Louie Lam, and his wife for opening their online store, Cute Brands. Cute Brands is an eco-friendly line of children’s and adults’ clothes.
The Cute Brands clothing pieces are emblazoned with several different characters. Each character has a back story and helps bring social awareness about a different environmental crisis. You can read about each character and his/her cause on the Cute Brands website.
To top it all off, the company donates a percentage of its annual profits to charities dedicated to helping endangered animals. It’s great to find a small business that’s environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and charitable. Join me in supporting this wonderful store—plus the clothes are super cute to boot!
Louie was kind enough to send me a Love Panda shirt for myself and a Kung Fu Tiger shirt for my son. I’ve worn mine twice already. It’s really soft and fits really well (you can see me sporting it in the picture above). Unfortunately, my son has been a sick, snotty mess for a few days now, so I haven’t been able to get a good picture of him wearing his Kung Fu shirt. But it’s also nice and soft, 
so I’m sure he will really like it once he’s back to his normal self. My only criticism is that the sizes run small, so be sure to order up at least one size for your kids.
Cute Brands has generously agreed to give one reader a $30 gift card to their store. You can support a great new business and have a chance to win free stuff, too! Here’s how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:
You must “like” Cute Brands on Facebook and “follow” Cute Brands on Twitter.
Bonus Entries:
1. Go to the Cute Brands website and leave a comment telling me what you’d buy if you win the gift card.
2. Follow My Boss is Teething on Google Friend Connect. (1 additional entry)
3. Like My Boss Is Teething on Facebook. (1 additional entry)
4. Follow BossIsTeething on Twitter. (1 additional entry)
5. Tweet this to your followers: Win a gift card for eco-friendly children’s clothes!! http://mybossisteething.com @BossIsTeething (2 additional entries)
To verify your entries, please leave a comment below for each entry. You can submit entries until Thursday, November 10. I’ll choose a winner by using www.random.org’s automated number generator and announce the winner on Friday, November 11. Good luck! Please leave a valid email address when submitting your comments in case you win.
Baby in Bliss DVD and CD Giveaway
Posted by: | CommentsMy Boss is Teething is returning from its 
short hiatus with another giveaway! Baby in Bliss is a soothing CD and DVD combo filled with songs chock full of positive messages for young kids. I played the CD for my son several times during our recent car trips back and forth between our old house and new one. Since he tends to prefer more upbeat music, he wasn’t overly enthused by the songs. However, it worked well as a naptime CD for him. I’m sure younger babies—especially newborns—would enjoy the music more. It’s ethereal in nature and features such song titles as “Spirit,” “Gratitude,” and “Freedom.” Baby in Bliss has a nice, peaceful feel to it.
Two lucky readers can win a Baby in Bliss in CD and DVD set! You can use it for your own kids, or the music could make a great baby shower gift or expectant parents. Here’s how to enter:
Mandatory Entry:
Leave a comment below telling me your child’s favorite song or type of music.
Bonus Entries:
- Follow My Boss is Teething on Google Friend Connect. (1 additional entry)
- Like My Boss Is Teething on Facebook. (1 additional entry)
- Follow BossIsTeething on Twitter. (1 additional entry)
- Tweet this to your followers: Win a baby music CD and DVD set! Two people will win! http://mybossisteething.com @BossIsTeething. (2 additional entries)
To verify your entries, please leave a comment below for each entry. You can submit entries until Thursday, May 5. I’ll choose a winner by using www.random.org’s automated number generator and announce the winner on Friday, May 6. Good luck! Please leave a valid email address when submitting your comments in case you win.
Pirose Nursing Cover Review
Posted by: | Comments
Though my breastfeeding days are nearing an end, I had the opportunity to test out a the Pirose nursing cover recently. The cover is designed to give a nursing mother and her baby some privacy when nursing in public but also can be worn as a stylish scarf.
The Pirose cover does serve as a decent cover for nursing in public. It is sheer, so modest mothers might not find that it’s a thick enough cover. Also, while you can wear the Pirose cover as a scarf, it’s not personally my style. However, it can be folded very compactly, so even if you don’t want to wear it as a scarf, it’s easy to carry in your diaper bag.
You can buy the cover for $35 here (http://www.renorose.com/).
This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by Reno Rose for this review.
Swing Set Searching…
Posted by: | CommentsOur house hunt is still ongoing (unfortunately). We’ve seen many properties at this point and we’re just hoping we can find one that’s in our price range with the kid-friendly amenities we’re looking for. We live in a townhouse now, so we’re particularly interested in getting our own backyard in the next house. Oh, to have a swing set in the backyard! Wouldn’t that just be the American dream?
CSN sells a variety of wood swing sets, if you are also in the market for one. CSN is one of those jack-of-all-trade online stores, and in addition to swing sets, they sell lots of baby gear, baby furniture, and baby toys.
Regardless of where we end up living, I’m so ready for spring. My son is an outdoorsy little dude, so being cooped up inside for most of the winter has not been easy on either one of us.
Happy Friday! I hope you all have wonderful, spring-like weather this weekend! I hope we do, too, since we’re hosting Pudge’s 1st birthday party tomorrow!
Disclosure: CSN has given me a gift card for mentioning their link in my blog post.
Phoebe Goes to Earth Book Review
Posted by: | CommentsI’m a total book junkie, so I love being asked to review children’s books. Phoebe Goes to Earth, by Demetrice Jefferson, is a newly published book about a little girl from the planet Zion who hops in her brand-new space shuttle and heads for planet Earth. When she gets to Earth, she finds it to be beautiful and meets many species of dinosaurs. 
After a fun-filled day of exploring the Earth with the dinosaurs, Phoebe heads back to her family on Zion just in time for dinner. The story is cute and introduces children to the idea that there is a big world out there for them to learn about and explore.
While I think this book is aiming to teach children about loving the Earth and all its people, it really focuses quite specifically on dinosaurs. It explains to the reader the names and attributes of several different dinosaur species. Because Phoebe is from another planet (Zion), the book also introduces the idea that there may be life on other planets. I think kids will enjoy this book because it is light-hearted and tells a nice story, but it is quite a literal story without much depth (even though it seems the author is intending it to have deep meaning with global appeal). Also, the illustrations are very elementary, but they do fit the story.
All in all, a cute story that any dinosaur-loving child will enjoy! You can order a copy for $9.99.
Plus, don’t forget to enter my Ella’s Kitchen organic fruit and veggies pouches giveaway and my Stride Rite shoes giveaway!
Ella’s Kitchen Organic Baby Smoothies Review and Giveaway
Posted by: | CommentsHave you heard of Ella’s Kitchen smoothies? They are made from 100% organic fruits and veggies, and come in cute and colorful pouches. Babies can sip the smoothie straight from the pouch making it not only a tasty snack but a fun one, too! Ella’s Kitchen was generous enough to give me a few pouches to test out on my son. He LOVED them. Even though he’s not a terribly picky eater, he definitely has favorites. He even passed up his beloved blueberries for an Ella’s Kitchen smoothie! If that isn’t a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.
In addition to the wonderful nutrition, I like the pouches because I think they can help babies learn to drink from sippy cups and/or straws. Though my son rarely uses a straw (other than a few sips from my cup once in a while), he knew right away how to drink from the Ella’s pouches. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy they were for him to use. Though the pouches can be given to babies as young as 4-6 months, older babies and toddlers would enjoy the pouches as well (heck, even I’d like them as a snack on the go!).
Ella’s Kitchen has agreed to give away one dozen pouches of assorted flavors to one lucky blog reader (a $24 value)! And if you like them, Ella’s Kitchen pouches are easy to find because they are now available at Target. Please enter for a chance to win these super-nutritious snacks!
Mandatory Entry:
Visit the Ella’s Kitchen website and leave a comment telling me which flavor pouch you’re most excited for your child to try!
Bonus Entries:
- Follow My Boss is Teething on Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)
- Like My Boss Is Teething on Facebook. (1 additional entry)
- Follow BossIsTeething on Twitter. (1 additional entry)
- Tweet this to your followers: Ella’s Kitchen Organic Baby Food Giveaway! Ends 2/17! http://mybossisteething.com @BossIsTeething. (2 additional entries)
To verify your entries, please leave a comment below for each entry. If you already follow this blog on GFC, Facebook, or Twitter, just leave a comment letting me know, and you are entered in the drawing!
You can submit entries until Thursday, February 17. I’ll choose a winner by using www.random.org’s automated number generator and announce the winner on Friday, February 18. Good luck! And please leave a valid email address when submitting your comments in case you win!
The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari
Posted by: | CommentsFirst, let me apologize for the lack of blog post yesterday. Truthfully, after an extremely busy weekend, I just needed a day off! I know all you moms can relate. 
So, on to today’s topic. One of the best things about being a blogger is getting the opportunity to review books and baby products. Random House was kind enough to send me a copy of a new children’s book called The Dragon and the Turtle Go on Safari. The book tells a cute story of two friends, Roger the Turtle and Padraig the Dragon, who intend to brave the wilderness on a safari. As the story unfolds, however, we learn that Roger and Padraig are merely outside one of their houses, so the “scary” safari sounds they hear are really neighborhood cats, squirrels, etc. But the two friends use their imaginations to turn mundane nighttime sounds into a real safari.
My son is a probably little too young for this book (based on the amount of text on each page), so he didn’t sit for the whole book. As I read through it myself, I found the story enjoyable enough. I’m guessing one or both of the authors is British because the story is peppered with British phrases like “cheerio,” “jolly good,” and “my good fellow.” The book might be well-suited parents who want to teach their school-aged children about cultural phrases.
While I did find the story a little disjointed and unnecessarily wordy in spots, overall the book is a light-hearted and cute story. The illustrations are simple but fit the plot well. And the irony that a fire-breathing dragon is supposedly scared of the “leopards” and “elephants” he sees on his imaginary safari was not lost on me!
If you are interested in purchasing the book, it retails for $11.99 and you can buy it here.
