Infantino Flip - Front & Backpack Carrier

My views on my "Infantino Flip Carrier"

Believe it or not I've never actually used an infant carrier, ever... I've always just carried my baby on my hip (usually on my right side), or in their infant carseat when it was convenient, this usually was to about 15 lbs and then my little arms couldn't take it anymore..  I actually have no idea why I never thought about ever using something like this.. especially due to my petite frame. Most of my children were above average at birth, meaning my boys were the biggest weighing in around 10lbs and my daughter the smallest at 7 lbs 4 oz, and here I am at 5'1 normally 90 lbs on average. (Yes after having baby...)

I'm pregnant with my "4th"  angel and I'm actually going to give this a try, not only because its supposedly easier but because my back is screaming at me to do so as well!  With features like flippable, flexable, and breathable, doesn't that just all scream comfort? Even Dad can get in on the fun, now that's teamwork and great parenting if I must say so myself!

Be sure to check back because my angels are bit "too big" for this carrier but I'm actually going to show some pictures and a video of me wearing the Infantino Flip with a life size baby doll to give you a general idea of how it works for me!


About about the Flip Carrier

FLIP – Front & Backpack Carrier

Crafted for moms yet cool enough for dads, our Flip front and backpack carrier is a great all-arounder. It lets baby ride facing in or out, or in the backpack position. It also has padded lumbar support to distribute weight evenly, special BreatheMesh fabric to help keep you cool and a stylish, reversible Wonder Cover carrier bib. And Flip’s simple looks make it perfect for dads. It’s a flippable, flexible, breathable little wonder that will keep your compass pointed towards go.

• ~Watch this video to see How to use the Flip - Front & Backpack Carrier~
  
• The video is meant to help you become familiar with your carrier but is not a substitute for the instruction manual.  Be sure to read that!!!
  
• The Flip Carrier is available at Target and Babies R Us for around $29.99
  
• Looking for other carriers by Infantino? See great descriptions, along with images, and videos at Infantino's new blog! Click HERE
  
  
  Specials:
  Babies R Us will offer $10-off the EcoSash and Balance carriers from August 11-September 21st.
  Be on the lookout for that, also to view all Infantino products that Babies R Us carries, click here.
  
  Infantino Pages of Interest:
  
  • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Infantino/125340400811871?ref=search
  • YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/InfantinoMomsRule
  • Twitter: http://twitter.com/infantino
    

Become a fan on Infantino's Facebook page, today is the last day for a chance to win 1 of 5 bouncers!

Keep up to date on the latest products with the Infantino Blog too!

“I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products as part of my participation.”

Infantino Flip - Front & Backpack Carrier

Belli Birthday Bash - 30% until 9/3!!!!

The 3rd annual Belli Birthday Bash is here!

  To kick-off the party, Belli and its partner sponsors will have a drawing for a prize each day so hurry on to the party because the 3rd of September is just around the corner! Today you can enter to win a Lily & Seascape bed set! Click here!
If you are preggo or now someone who is this a great time take advantage of the discounts!!!!
Not only does Belli have skincare solutions for moms to be, also for moms, baby, and more!
I'm interested in the Kelo-cote Advanced Formula Scar Gel.. since I've had c-sections with my previous births, I know another one is scheduled for my "4th" angel, and from what I've read on the Kelo-cote Advanced Formula Scar Gel gives me hope! Because I always tend to have an issue in the middle of the c-section scar because a keloid will form due to the excessive amount of  pressure upon healing ... no matter how much cocoa butter or other lotions I have used the middle still will not fade! I will post my results after the baby is born so be sure to check back for that!

  Belli is also  offering 30% off store-wide discounts and amazing deals such as free ground shipping for purchases over $75.00.

code: BELLIBASH AT CHECKOUT

Happy Birthday Belli!

Belli Birthday Bash - 30% until 9/3!!!!

Win $1000 - Fall Wardrobe Styling Challenge - Polyvore

What will you be wearing (or swooning for) this fall? Thanks to Polyvore you will have the opportunity to win a $1000 wardrobe!!!

Create a Mini Editor with up to 100 of your favorite products for fall by using the widget below:

Powered by Polyvore



Get to creating fun fashionable outfits for your chance to win, leave a comment below if you do! I can't wait to hear about your fall fashion picks!!!! Read all the extra details by clicking here.

Win $1000 - Fall Wardrobe Styling Challenge - Polyvore

Avocado League - Blog Tour -Yummy Recipe Inside!

The "Big Hit" Contest and Avocado League

The Avocado League is featuring hometown recipes in Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C 

• The Avocado League recipe with the most votes during the "Big Hit" contest will win the title of Avocado League MVP and the grand slam prize ­ a $5,000 grocery gift card! Second and third place winners will receive a $2,500 and $1,500 grocery gift card, respectively. Each of the top three winners will also receive a year's supply of avocados! The five Avocado League runner-ups will each receive $100 grocery gift cards. 

Image via Wikipedia

Be sure to get in on the fun! Submit your own absolute favorite avocado recipe and you may be featured as an “all-star” recipe. 

Voting & recipe submission will take place
September 1st.

Avocado League participants will be announced on Wednesday, September 1 and public voting for the recipes submitted begins in late September!

I'd also check back in October too because you will have the chance to sign up via Houseparty.com to host a party for the playoffs! http://www.theamazingavocado.com/bighit/throw-a-house-party

I love AVOCADOS!!!! (My views on this green fruit!)

I'm originally from Georgia (the Athens area) and I love avocados! My favorite is avocados' sliced and placed on sandwiches or in a spicy dip for tortilla chips! I even love em' with a bit of salt/pepper in a bowl. 

A quick easy recipe for a great sandwich that I love:



Buffalo Grilled Chicken & Avocado Sandwich:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon Texas Pete hot sauce (or to taste)
1 pound chicken breast cutlets
1 fully ripened avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and cut into 16 slices
4  flat rolls (about 4 inches)
1/2 cup prepared blue-cheese dressing
4 Romaine  lettuce leaves
1 large ripe tomato, cut into 8 slices


Directions:

Preheat grill.
Combine oil, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce in a medium bowl. Add chicken cutlets and toss until all are coated with the mixture.
Grill until chicken has cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes, turning once. Brush tops of cutlets with remaining hot sauce to taste.
Split rolls crosswise almost in half and spread the bottoms with 1 tablespoon blue-cheese dressing each. Divide lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, and avocado slices among rolls; top with remaining blue-cheese dressing and close rolls.

Serves 4 people.

Fun Facts:

Avocados' are not only yummy but also pretty good for you, did you know they grow on trees and are also a "fruit"?

A bit of history and quite funny is that Avocado comes from the word Nahuatl word ahuacatl ('testicle', a reference to the shape of the fruit). Too funny eh?

Some nutritional facts:

Avocados are high in valuable fats and appear to have a beneficial effect on blood serum levels. For a typical avocado:

• About 75% of an avocado's calories come from fat, most of which is monounsaturated fat.
• Avocados also have 60% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K.^[25]
• Avocados have a high fiber content among fruits - including 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber.^[26]
• A fatty triol (fatty alcohol) with one double bond, avocadene (16-heptadecene-1,2,4-triol), is found in avocado.^[27]
• ^{Avocados are good for you and me, but not for our furry friends.. they are quite toxic to them!}
  
  Another super Cool fact: It was believed that a Mayan princess ate the very first avocado and that it held mystical and magical powers.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association. Mom Central also sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Avocado League - Blog Tour -Yummy Recipe Inside!

Oh No You Sunk My Battleship - Review

Sponsored by Tomoson.com

"Oh no, you sunk my battleship!! Do you remember this classic game?

Now you can play Battleship with the Battleship key chain! Its a mini reproduction of the game that you can open and once inside you'll see the game board which includes removable game pieces! 

These are great for back to school, just hook them on your children's backpacks. Having a birthday party? These make great party favors! Don't forget stocking stuffers for this Holiday season!
You can find more classic gaming Key Chains at WholeSale Keychain, the largest variety of keychains I've come across on the web! No more worries about having to stop at a gas station looking for super cool keychains, Wholesale Keychain's has you covered!  

Sponsored by Tomoson.com

Thanks to Tomoson & WholeSale Keychain for the opportunity to review. You can join the Tomoson review program too! I was sent the Battleship Keychain at no charge for my own personal review. Bloggers interested in the Tomoson Blogger Program? Check it out here: http://www.tomoson.com/bloggers

Oh No You Sunk My Battleship - Review

How to Keep Kids Organized for Back to School - Interview with Amy Morris

5 Ways To Keep Kids Organized

tips from Amy Morris -  GotFamilyGetOrganized.com

Hub Of The House –

Create a central location to hang a bulletin board that will hold important school and family information. Teach kids to update the calendar upon receiving new information and get in the habit of checking it the night before for the following day’s activities so that they can prepare in advance. GotFamilyGetOrganized.com – An organized parent sets a good example. This website stores in a unique, simplified, and easy to use format, important family information: school schedules and extracurricular activities, social and sport information, and medical, just to name a few, and it is all available in a central location that can be accessed anytime and anywhere – from any computer, iPad, or smart phone.Organize Backpacks – A backpack is your child’s personal assistant. Teach them how to keep it neatly organized by only filling them with necessary school day items and keeping out unnecessary loose papers, non-school items and liquids.

Make Lists – Teaching kids to make and prioritize lists will provide them with a greater sense of accomplishment - as they complete items and their lists become smaller, they will feel more productive and they have a greater sense of satisfaction in themselves. Kids will take ownership for their tasks, shape their own time, and gain greater independence.

Student File Storage – Teach your kids to sort and effectively file school papers in an organized manner. It will be crucial to them at exam time – especially if midterm and end of year final exams are inclusive of all the material covered to date.

Organization is an awesome opportunity for kids to gain self-confidence and independence and not lose their sanity or you lose yours.

My Interview with Amy Morris:

I has some questions of my own for Amy Morris the mom of two teenagers and founder of GotFamilyGetOrganized.com with some tips on how to keep organized for you and your family!

• What is the first step you recommend to a family who is in need of organizing?

Decide what aspects of your home and personal life need organizing.

• Have you been a very organized person to begin with or did this venture start upon realizing things weren't as organized?

Yes! I have always been organized. In fact, in middle school I wrote a term paper creating a personal organizing system based on the alpha-numeric labels used in medical office.

• What do you find is the most frustrating thing to keep track of in your daily life or one that most families tend to have issues with keeping track of?

For most families, scheduling is one of the hardest tasks to keep under control as it takes into account all family members. It requires good communication to make sure everyone is accounted for with proper transportation and with the materials they need at the right time needed.

• Can Dad or a significant other get involved with your organizational methods?

Most definitely. Organization is a team effort.

• Can organizing your family be a quick project that can be constantly updated without hassle?

 Organization is a learned skill that may take some effort to master, but once in place must be maintained to reap the long-term benefits. However, if kept up with on an ongoing basis, the effort is minimal to remain organized.

  

• What is your number 1 tip for organizing?

Organizing is not something you should expect to do overnight. Have realistic goals for what you want to accomplish. Make a list of the areas you want to organize and tackle them individually and separately until everything is complete.

 

• What is the most frequently asked question you get about organizing?

It is difficult to pinpoint a specific question as families’ needs very and hence, their questions. The questions vary widely: from anything to do with organizing space, to the family’s important papers and even sorting mail.

 

• Is there anything you haven't covered yet that will be covered in the near future for making life simpler with organizing?

There are always new situations that arise where being organized will promote efficiency. Emergency preparedness for disasters, hurricanes, floods or any emergency situation is a blog currently being worked on and will be posted soon to GotFamilyGetOrganized.com.

 

•  Is getting organized affordable?
  
  Yes, getting organized is affordable. I recommend using resources you currently have on hand, such as shoe boxes for storage of small items, versus going to the store and purchasing new boxes. For example, organizing papers is almost cost free – it only requires inexpensive file folders and a place to store them, like similarly inexpensive banker boxes.

•  Is there one tip you'd love to share with Loving Heart Mommy's readers?

  

Hub Of The House – Create a central location to hang a bulletin board that will hold important school and family information. Teach kids to update the calendar upon receiving new information and get in the habit of checking it the night before for the following day’s activities so that they can prepare in advance.

 Thanks to Amy Morris for her time and hopefully these organizational tips will help you and your family to start getting organized!

How to Keep Kids Organized for Back to School - Interview with Amy Morris

Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase - Book Review

Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase (Light paranormal, Book 1 in a new series)

 

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; 1 edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402236611
• ISBN-13: 978-1402236617

 Visit Ashlyn Chase on the web by clicking here.

 

About the Book:

When all-star pitcher and shape-shifter Jason Falco buys a small apartment building, he sees it not only as an investment but as a place to escape the demands of major league baseball. That is, until he meets his tenants— a sarcastic unemployed crime-fighter vampire; a wereraven with a morbid sense of humor; a super-friendly salesman werewolf; and two witches with an owl who work as phone sex actresses. Not to mention a beautiful, all-too-human nurse. But with all the hooting, howling, and hollering going on, how's an all-American shapeshifter supposed to sweep a girl off her feet?

About the Author:

Ashlyn Chase has been a registered nurse for 20 years. During those years, she wrote articles for professional journals and a thesis, but eventually, thank goodness, discovered the joy and freedom of writing fiction.



Ashlyn considers herself lucky. Her degree in behavioral sciences is a combination of psychology and sociology, so she has worked with and studied people most of her life. She never has to write out exhaustive character sketchesto understand her characters or predict how they will behave. That doesn't mean they don't surprise her. Sometimes they take her on grand unexpected journeys. For her, it gives "character driven novels" a whole new meaning.

Ashlyn has learned to go with the flow. To enjoy the journey is not only one of her writing goals, but also a challenge in life so she tries to follow where the story takes her. As such, she has lived in 17 different places over the years. At last, she's all settled down and comfy in New England.

Is there a grand design or do we decide our own fates? Perhaps if the powers-that-be have a plot, then they also give us the right to revise it. Ashlyn has certainly made detours on her path, but she thinks she's better for it. She's having fun at any rate and hopes that if she enjoys the journey, so will those around her—including her readers.


My Review:
If your a fan of romance you'll love Ashlyn Chase's with her book "Strange Neighbors". The story is funny, romanctic, and a bit on the freaky side, paronormally I mean.

You'll meet witches, vampires, people with special abilities, and even ghosts! You read right, there's a bit of it all in this book. Ashlyn keeps the reader entertained, with lots of humour and spicy romance.
 In the story you follow Jason Falco a well known American baseball player with more than just an all-star power when it comes to playing the field. He's on a search for more than just a few home runs, he's out looking for Ms. Right. When he meets a sweet nurse who just moves into his housing unit he is instantly head over heels. With all the supernatural events going on, keep in mind this isn't an ordinary housing complex, we've got witches, ghosts, and some vampires too, one which happens to reside in the basement of all places! Will he be able to charm her without all the paranormal activities that surround them?

You have to read this charming story to find out! You'll definately want to read more from Ashlyn Chase and your in luck because this is the first book of this new series!

 

Where to BUY IT:

 

AMAZON.COM on sale now for only $6.99!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for the opportunity to review. I was not compensated in any way, other than a free review copy for my own personal opinion!

 

 

 

Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase - Book Review

Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles - Book Review

Roseflower Creek - Jackie Lee Miles

About the Book:

"The Morning I died it rained. Poured down so hard it washed the blood off my face."

Thus begins the story of Lori Jean, whose short life and death are woven into this poignant, heart-wrenching novel set in the rural South of the 1950's. Told from the point of view of ten-year-old Lori Jean, a sensitive dreamer of a child who longs for a "normal" family, Roseflower Creek is raw with the emotions of a child burdened by the harshness of her life. Abandoned by her father when she was five, her world is filled with a self-absorbed mother who can't seem to hold her life together and an abusive, alcoholic stepfather who can't — or won't — keep a steady job. Yet Lori Jean is filled with the curiosity and hope common to all children.

After Lori Jean's stepfather, Ray, begins attending AA meetings, he seems like a changed man, and Lori Jean begins to think that finally she and her mama are going to experience some long-overdue happiness—be a real family. But tragedy strikes anew, and Ray, unable to cope, returns to the bottle and his shiftless ways. Fired from his job at the cotton mill, he resorts to stealing, and when Lori Jean uncovers his secret, things begin to spiral out of control. Unable to keep silent, Lori Jean pays the ultimate price for what she knows.

Poignant and bittersweet, Roseflower Creek is a story of the loss of innocence. Told with an honesty and authenticity that only a child narrator could achieve, it is a remarkable first novel that will move readers with profound emotions and haunt them long after the last paragraph has been read.

"Finally we was gonna be a family. Have ourselves some happy times to look back on. Git ourselves one them futures — just like regular folks."

About the Author:

Jackie Lee Miles lives and writes in Lilburn, Georgia. Roseflower Creek was her first novel.

• Read more on Jackie Lee Miles at her official website by clicking here.
• Be sure to check out her blog too for sneak peaks on upcoming titles!

 

My Review:

When you open this book and start to read the prologue for "Roseflower Creek", you begin to feel as if you know ten year old Lori Jean. The book is written as Lori Jean narrating to you, she's telling you her story, whether you continue to listen is up to you, but believe me you will not be able to put this book down and if you do you'll be right back eager to read, eager to listen to Lori Jean tell you her story.

I intentionally wanted to read this book because I knew it was set in Georgia and I like southern stories. Young Lori Jean takes us back to the 1950's in the deep south of Georgia. The accents used in the book are exact, Jackie Lee Miles' describes sites, sounds, even smells of ol' country cooking to where you can taste them.

I will warn you, some parts of this book are not for the weak of heart, I'm pregnant and many parts were very emotional to me, I wouldn't recommend you having your pre-teen daughter read this. It is a story about child abuse/abuse.

Jackie Lee Miles' has a way of writing to where you feel soo connected to Lori Jean you that you want to save her, but since her story has been told we can only save those we know in our own personal lives who may be in need of that kind of help. I hope this story opens your eyes to what does go on around us even now, it may not be the 1950's anymore but these things are still going on. If you see something happening, don't turn and run, stop and help in which ever way you can. I can't stand to hear of child abuse, its wrong on all accounts, but its extremely worse to hear that parents, step-parents, grandparent's and so on are performing these wicked acts on the innocent.

A very moving story, I will always feel that Lori Jean is an angel in a world full of darkness, all she ever wanted to do was shine her light, but the darkness of the world wouldn't allow her to shine. Keep your little lights shining, don't ever let the darkness put them out.

I don't want to give too much more away, this is a book you need to read for yourself. Highly recommended with a box of tissues.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Review program for the opportunity to personally review this book, I was not compensated in any other way other than with a free review copy.

Roseflower Creek by Jackie Lee Miles - Book Review