Babies Gotta Have It

When I first met Ashley, the lead singer/songwriter for the faboo kids rock band, The Jimmies, she was talking about my home state of Pennsylvania.  And even better, Pennsylvania Dutch whoopie pies. Which, and my apologies to all you Mainiacs, are the best whoopie pies on the planet.

The Jimmies, despite the seemingly unavoidable ice cream sundae analogies, are everything a Pennsylvania Dutch whoopie pie should be: they are delicious, they make you smile, they come in lots of flavors, and they are filled with frosting.  Okay everything except that last one.

The Jimmies CD, “Make Your Own Someday” (and yes I did just type “Make Your Own Sundae” and then I had to go back and fix it) is totally delicious.  Literally and figuratively.  There is one song entirely about food (”The Peanut Butter Polka”), as well as lots of references to food throughout.  And all of the songs are deliciously hummable.  The CD is targeted to kids ages 4 - 8 but my 14 month old dances when I play it and I know yours will too.

Which brings me to how this CD makes me smile.  It’s got a clever, quick wit that will appeal to Moms and Dads as well as kiddos.  In the song “Cool to Be Uncool” you kids will rock out to lyrics urging them to wear appropriate winter gear: “Mr Weatherman, Mr Weatherman, what should we wear to wear to school? Mr. Weatherman, Mr. Weatherman. It’s cool to be uncool.”

Did you know that whoopie pies come in many flavors?  Kind of like ice cream. Of course there’s the traditional chocolate with white cream, but go to the farmers’ market in my hometown and you’ll find Banana, Pumpkin, Peanut Butter and more! The songs on this CD are just as varied.  Yeah the Jimmies rock, but they also do Swingin’ Salsa, Reggae, Country, Ballads…by the end of this CD your little music lover will have been exposed to a wide variety of musical genres and sounds, all with kid-appropriate themes and lyrics.

I do love so many of the stories these songs tell.  For germaphobic moms like me (you know you’re out there…put down the purell and raise your clean clean hands) there’s a fantastic song called “Do The Elephant” about learning how to sneeze into your elbows rather than all over the dinner table (”When you’re feeling funky, use your arm like a trunky”).   If the story of Taddy the tadpole and his return to the pond doesn’t make a sweet little tear come to your eye (”Livin’ in my room wasn’t really fair to Taddy. He had a froggy for a Mom, he had a froggy for a Daddy.”)…well then nothing will.

I love this CD.  And I know your kids will love it too.  And you know what I love even more?  The fact that The Jimmies are giving one of these fantastic CDs to a lucky Babies Gotta Have It Reader!  Music is a baby and kids must-have!  So enter for Pete’s sake!  Woo Hoo!

To Enter the Giveaway:

1. Go to The Jimmies Website and check it out.  I especially urge you to watch one of their videos (look for a Jimmies DVD soon).  Come back and tell me your favorite thing about the site!  It’s that easy! 

***Want an extra chance to win? Blog or twitter about this giveaway, leave me an additional comment letting me know you did (please include the url), and I’ll put your name in the hat twice! Not a blogger? Email a friend about the giveaway, cc me in the message at babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com (I promise I will not spam you or your friends - cross my heart) and you’ll have two entries. Make sure you include your email address with your entry.***

Giveaway open to those with U.S. addresses.  Giveaway begins on Thursday October 30th and ends on Thursday November 6th at midnight Eastern Standard Time. On Friday November 7th, my baby girl will draw the winning name and I’ll email you immediately.  It’s not a terribly scientific drawing, but I assure you it could not be more random.  Thanks for entering!

• Congratulations Kellie!  I will send you the awesome Pearly Grey bib and I’ll put you in touch with the lovely ladies behind Happy Babee and Beyond and Girlie Bird Boutique.  Thank you so much to our three amazing bib designers and everyone who entered.  Check out their shops!  You won’t be sorry!  Be sure to enter the Mama’s Gotta Have It Nokia Smartphone Giveaway and keep checking back for more!
• Thank you also to everyone who listed this giveaway:  A Contest Blog, Prizeatron, Samsakara, Mom Giveaways, An Island Review, Blog Giveaways, Contests 4 Mamas, Moms Take On Things, No Time Mom and Laura Williams Musings. If you linked to me and I missed you drop me a comment! I want to thank you!
• The quest to give the adorable personalized “John David” bib from Girlie Bird Boutique to an actual John David continues!  I will keep this giveaway running until I have a winner!  If you know a John David please do email me or leave me a comment and you’ll win this adorable bib featuring a VW bug for him!

• If you think it’s hard to figure out what you feed yourself three times a day (come on admit it…you too have lived on cereal and ramen noodles)…just wait until you have to start feeding your baby!  A Baby Cookbook is a must-have item!
• I recommend 1,2,3, Cook For Me by Karin Knight, RN and Jeannie Lumley.  If you’re into whipping out the blender or the whizzer to puree yams and prunes for baby, I’d also try The Baby Cookbook: Tasty And Nutritious Meals For The Whole Family That Babies And Toddlers Will Also Loveby the same authors.  Both books contain recipes for children 6 months to 2 years old!  Pair the two, add a set of Baby Cubes food storage containers, and you’ve got a really wonderful baby shower gift you can bet will be the only one Mama-to-be receives!

For the last seven months I’ve been talking a lot about what babies gotta have.  Awesome toys, adorable clothes, safe bottles, wonderful books and more.  But if Mama is so stressed out and exhausted that she routinely burns the fish sticks, puts her underwear on inside out, and locks herself out of the house, as the old saying goes, ain’t nobody happy.

If there was one thing I could give all you hardworking Mamas out there, stay at home, work at home, work outside the home, or otherwise, it would be time.  We’re all too busy. We’re all too stressed out.  Every night it seems we find ourselves at the close of the day, exhausted, frazzled, our new jeans covered in applesauce, spit-up and Boudrueax’s Butt Paste and only half of our to-do lists done!  Wouldn’t it be grand to have just a wee bit of help?

Fortunately, people with clearer heads than mine have gotten wind of this dilemma and rallied their considerable organizational skills to help you get your life in check.  If you’re a NYC area Mama like me, Julie Morgenstern Enterprises can show up at your home or office to help!  As they state on their website, they organize people not stuff!  They offer office organization, home organization, time management coaching, and (I totally love this) teen organization!

Even better, Nokia is hosting an event with Julie Morgenstern herself next Tuesday, October 21st from 6 pm to 8 pm at the Nokia Flagship store  here in New York!  There will be cocktails and hors d’oeuvres (cause you know Mama’s gotta have a drink and a mini quiche!) on the first floor, a family friendly fingerfood atmosphere on the second floor, and even a spectacular giveaway of a Nokia E71 Smartphone (now all you Non-NYC moms don’t go away mad…keep reading because there’s something fantastic in it for all of us!).  Julie Morgenstern will be on hand to offer time management tips and tools, and you’ll be surrounded by awesome Nokia gadgets designed to help you streamline your crazy life using technology.  (Now if they could just invent a phone that would feed the cat and clean oatmeal off the ceiling fan we’d really be in business.)  If you’re a Windy City Mama, a similar event is being held by Nokia at the Chicago Flagship Store on October 23rd and all Babies Gotta Have It readers are invited to both events!  I’m going to be there on Tuesday and I’d love to see you too!  If you would like to attend either event email me at babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com and I’ll hook you up!

For you Mamas in the country and the burbs, Julie is a prolific writer (heck if she’s writing for Oprah and Martha she’s gotta be doing something right) who offers all kinds of books and products to help you maintain that tricky balance between work and play.  Check them out!

And you know who else has stuff designed to do that…?  Nokia!

So for all you loyal Mamas who’ve been hanging out with me and my gal for the last seven months, it’s time for you to get a little somethin’ somethin’ for yourself.  Nokia is graciously offering a Nokia E71 Smartphone to a lucky Babies Gotta Have It reader.  Check it out on the Nokia website.  This device offers constant email access, and a “Dual Mode” button allows for you to have two home screens–one for work and one for play. You can customize each with separate email accounts, calendars and more.  This is a nearly $500 amazingly cool tricked-out phone.   I am not joking.  Awesome, right?

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

1. To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling us all what you’d do with one extra hour a day. (click on the word “Comments” below and scroll all the way down to the bottom to access form) I really want you to win.  It’s that easy!

***Want an extra chance to win? Blog or twitter about this giveaway, leave me an additional comment letting me know you did (please include the url), and I’ll put your name in the hat twice! Not a blogger? Email a friend about the giveaway, cc me in the message at babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com (I promise I will not spam you or your friends - cross my heart) and you’ll have two entries. Make sure you include your email address with your entry.***

Giveaway open to those with U.S. addresses.  Giveaway begins on Friday October 17h and ends on Wednesday October 29th at midnight Eastern Standard Time. On Thursday October 30th, my baby girl will draw the winning name and I’ll email you immediately.  It’s not a terribly scientific drawing, but I assure you it could not be more random.  Thanks for entering!

Update! So I went to this event last night with my friend Karen the photographer, and let me say, it was really really cool. First of all the Nokia store is just awesome. Inviting, hip, colorful…reminded me a bit of 10 Forward from “Star Trek The Next Generation” though I’m fairly certain they were going more for 21st century ultra high tech rather than mid-90s semi-lame sci fi. Still I felt cool and wished Whoopi Goldberg were there serving me some drink that smoked. The Nokia people were lovely, the Nokia products were amazing, and if you have never had a grilled cheese sandwich with truffle oil, I strongly urge you to find some cute guy in a tux with a fancy serving tray to give you one…or fourteen as the case may be. And Julie Morgenstern really had some perceptive things to say!

Since you missed it, here’s my take home version of Julie Morgenstern’s thoughts on technology and time management!

1. Multitasking is a fallacy.  We are least productive when we try to do several things at once. Do one thing at a time and do it fully.  Whether it be work or play, schedule your time into “buckets of activity” (even Julie made the analogy to preschool and arts & crafts), commit your attention and care entirely to that pursuit, and (particularly if you’re at work)  use your cell phone alarm to let you know it’s time to move on to the next task. This is true for work and play. Create “edges” and maintain them.
2. Do not check your email at home in the morning before you leave for work. Be fully at home, and fully present with the people or animals you live with.
3. Give yourself permission not to check your email for the first hour you’re at work.  I know you’re all like “what you talking about Willis?” But Julie stands by this one.  Don’t let your email rule you.  Rule your email. Use that first hour to be creative and proactive. You set the agenda for your day; don’t let your entire day be lived in reaction to what has arrived in your inbox.
4. And for all you Moms who are breastfeeding, laughing quietly to yourselves, and thinking “schedule my time! yeah right. that’s a good one,” Julie has thoughts for us as well.  So yeah, maybe 90% of your time is subject to the needs of others.  Julie poses the question, what do you do with that other 10%  Maybe you find yourself with 40 minutes during an afternoon nap.  Again, use the time consciously and fully to recharge yourself.  Don’t just idly surf the web, flip channels or answer emails because you do so reflexively out of habit. Instead, make a thoughtful choice to use your time in that way.  Cuz hey, that’s how I spend nap time.  But Julie encourages us to be mindful of that time. Use it how you like, but don’t let it get away without making a real choice as to what YOU want to do.

So not to get all Oprah on you…but hey, this gal has been on Oprah so it’s not entirely out there.  But I really left with a renewed commitment to use my time mindfully (I also left with a rice krispie treat shaped like a flip flop but that’s another post).  So get out your dry erase boards and start scheduling your time into buckets of activity!   Or use your new phone to do it for you!

• Last year at Christmas time my mom went on a Granny rampage.  She had had it.  Up to here.  With toys made in China.  She began scouring yard sales for vintage toys, local toy stores for new toys made in the U.S. and Europe, and the internet for sites that would offer a wide variety of educational, safe, and stimulating toys for kids.  Enough with the batteries.  Enough with plastic.  Enough with worrying about whether her grandkids would be safe when they inevitably put the toys in their mouths (my Mom knows this will happen…she’s an early-childhood specialist).  Here you are Granny.  A site for you and your grandkids.  And an amazing toy too!
• Holgate Baby Blocks totally rock.
• I love these blocks for so many reasons!  All the components of the blocks are made in the U.S.A. They exceed all U.S. safety standards, are decorated with non-toxic paint, and they come from my home state of Pennsylvania.  Secondly, I like playing with them–they are smooth, solid, and have that wonderful depth that only wooden toys have (see video).  Third, the Holgate Toy Company has been around for 200 years, producing heirloom quality wooden toys.  They are everything an American toy company should be.
• But none of that would matter if my baby didn’t love playing with the blocks.  And she loves playing with them.  Just watch the video!
• Look for Holgate Baby Blocks at NMC Toys (Not Made In China Toys!) and while you’re there, check out the all the safe, stimulating, educational, and super cool toys they offer. Holiday shopping here comes Granny!

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN $33 Worth of Bibs! 

Got a messy kid of your own? You know I know you do! Enter now to win three beautiful, beautifully made, and functional bibs by these fantastic craftswomen. The winner will receive a bib of his or her choice from Happy Babee and Beyond, a personalized bib of her or his choice from Girlie Bird Boutique, and the sweet mushroom Big Baby bib  from Pearly Grey my gal and I reviewed in the video! This giveaway is a $33 value!

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

1. Take a look at my video and the photos posted above from each of these amazing Etsy stores.
2. Leave me a comment (click on the word “Comments” below and scroll all the way down to the bottom to access form) telling me what you like best about each of these sellers’ bibs!  Three sellers–three favorite things!  I wholeheartedly encourage you to stop by their stores to learn more about any one or all three of them!  Make sure you include a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. It’s that easy!

***Want an extra chance to win? Blog or twitter about this giveaway, leave me an additional comment letting me know (please include the url), and I’ll put your name in the hat twice! Not a blogger? Email a friend about the giveaway, cc me in the message at babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com (I promise I will not spam you or your friends - cross my heart) and you’ll have two entries. Make sure you include your email address with your entry.

Giveaway open to those with U.S. and Canadian mailing addresses.  Giveaway begins on Tuesday October 14th and ends on Tuesday October 21st at midnight Eastern Standard Time. On Wednesday October 22nd, my baby girl will draw the winning name and I’ll email you immediately.  It’s not a terribly scientific drawing, but I assure you it could not be more random.  Thanks for entering!

***SPECIAL “JOHN DAVID” BONUS GIVEAWAY!  I love the VW Bug “John David” bib featured in my video, but it’s not quite right for my little gal!  Do you know and love a baby named John David?  The first person to leave me a comment regarding the baby John David they know, wins it!  Thanks Jackie!***

So let me start this post off by saying, my husband and I registered at L.L. Bean when we got married.  We didn’t register for fine china.  Or crystal.  But we got a heck of a tent, sleeping bags, a propane stove, a lantern, sock liners (you heard me, sock liners)…all kinds of awesome camping gear that still works perfectly,  is in great condition, and could be returned today if it malfunctions, no questions asked, because that’s the kind of place L.L. Bean is.

So you can only imagine the spasms of glee that I experienced when I got a peek at Bean’s new line of baby clothes, L.L. Bean Baby in a recent catalog.  They are L.L. Bean so you can pretty much count on the fact that if you buy them for your first child, your tenth will still be wearing them.  Then so will her grandchildren.  They will not wear out.  Or fade.  Or get pilly.  They will be sweet and woodsy and soft and fleecy until you decide to pass them on to a friend.  And they will make you and your baby feel like you’re in Maine, but without the clunky boots and having to scrape your car windows every single time you go to the grocery store.

The Cashmere Sweater Set is to die for. It’s pictured above Primrose Heather with a bunny rabbit design, but all four of the styles (Colonial Red Heather with a moose, Gray Heather with a lobster, and Light Blue Heather with a polar bear) are scrumptious.

And I want a Cozy Fleece Hoody with bear ears for my wee gal and a matching one for me. Maybe minus the ears on mine. Ok maybe not.

What was I saying about clunky boots?  I’ve had a pair since 1989 that I love and refuse to abandon.  But I think my gal’s first pair should be a bit softer.  Maybe if we leave out enough Maine whoopie pies, Santa will bring her these…

Even Santa knows a thing or two about lust…right?