Black Friday...What Do YOU Do?

Well-let's face it, Black Friday is nothing but a chaotic mess! I always avoid going out to the stores for that reason alone. I can honestly say that I do not think that I have ever been shopping on Black Friday. I honestly don't see the point in fighting over the things on sale. I think it's ridiculous and I don't like to get heated over an item at the store. I guess I just like to save myself the headache.
Now I am not saying all Black Friday shoppers are crazy-just those who camp out in like-run in the store-and fight over items.
I have however gone online and caught some good deals! I was up until 1am so I decided to go to www.sandboxlane.com and check out the Black Friday sales. I got 3 Incredibum cloth diapers for just $30.00!! Free shipping! Yep-just $10.00 each!! They also will be giving away free holiday leg warmers to those who order (while supplies last of course).
So how do you do your Black Friday shopping? Or do you even bother?

I have been slacking!

It has been a crazy week and I have been slacking on my blog posts! I will be back so stay tuned!

Product Review: My Caring Cross

I received a beautiful, hand carved, wooden cross last week from My Caring Cross. Upon opening the package, I must say that I was very impressed with the craftsmanship. The cross is about 4″ high and 2.5″ wide. The olive wood is very smooth. You can rub it without getting a splinter and it fits perfectly in a purse and can also be displayed in a house.

This handicraft is authentic Holy Land Olive Woods from Bethlehem. Here are some pics…

You can see how beautiful it is.

I carried the cross in my purse for a week. Needless to say, it has been a very good week. Was it because I was carrying the cross? I am not sure. Here it is in my messy purse…

Another nice thing about these crosses is that you can give them as wedding gifts. Initially these crosses come with a pouch, but for wedding gifts, you can use the cream colored bag (as pictured below):

See the card inside of the bag? It is a card that has the names of the people to get married with the date and a little message saying “Thank you for being apart of our special day.” Simple, nice and a great little gift to be a spiritual lifter.

These are perfect for church events/fundraisers as well.

Right now My Caring Cross has a Christmas special on their website: 2 crosses available for $10 and 8 crosses for $32 delivered within the US.

Check out their website:

http://www.mycomfortcross.com/

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free usingTomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

I've Gone BANANA's For Charlie Banana!!

Ok, so I found this website www.sandboxlane.com that is having an AWESOME deal on Charlie Banana cloth diapers. 15% off of Charlie Banana until 11/20/11!! They come with 2 inserts, small and med/lg.

Since I received my first pair last week, I have fallen in love with them. They are super soft, they hold well, and they fit my son perfectly. Since then, I have accumulated 3 Charlie Banana OS (One Size) cloth diapers and 1 Charlie Banana trainer for my youngest daughter. I love them all!

Here’s my shipment that came in both the same day! I was so excited!

And here is my son in his Matthew Langille Charlie Banana

They are a great fit! I love Charlie Banana’s and I love www.sandboxlane for having the sale that they are! FREE shipping on orders over $30-always!

You can believe that I will be ordering more before the sale ends!! I love these!

Product Review: Bryton Pick

Bryton Pick sent me 2 free tooth picks to review. I received them the other day and read the info that came with it. The first thing that I saw was that this is recyclable. I think that is great because we know how I strive to recycle everything that I can. Another awesome thing is that it is made of 100% recyclable materials!

This pick can be used for up to 30 days because the stainless steel cleaning strips are germ-resistant. It comes in a little pouch about the size of a credit card so you can carry it with you where ever you go! It’s thin and flexible and have been tested, developed and designed by dental professionals. This is FDA registered. The really neat thing about this dental pick is that it has rounded and blunt edges to reduce the risk of hurting your gums or disturbing any dental work that you may have had done. The Bryton Pick is sold in packs of 3 so you will be good for 3 months!

ADA statistics show that only about 12% of the population flosses regularly and the main reason is because floss is not convenient or easy to use. This pick is perfect for a quick on the go flossing.

While trying the pick I noticed how easy and quick it was to use. It glided right in between my teeth with no problem at all. It was easy and quick. This is definitely the better way to floss. I hate how when flossing you end up getting a gum bleed, with these picks, there is no chance of hurting your gums.

They have a variety of colors too! To check out their website: www.brytonpick.com

Here’s some pics of the pick:

And here are places where you can find this pick:

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Do you like free stuff??

Ok, we all like free stuff! Of course! Why not, right?! Well, a while ago, I found this really awesome site where you can get rid of things you don’t want or need and get free things in return that you do want or need. I have actually gotten a lot of neat things off of this website such as a brand new Vera Bradley purse, vintage abalone buttons, clothes, baby sunglasses and much, much more! I have even gotten new cloth diapers on there! Somethings on there are new and some are not. I currently have my 1st generation IPod Nano & Shuffle listed as well as a cell phone and a Palm Z22. Some people offer free shipping but you can charge if you are not able to cover shipping or do not want to. I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff that I have not used in a while and that was just taking up space.

This website works off of points. So it’s like ebay with points and not money. The more you list and people bid on your item, the higher your points get and when your listing closes, you get your points!

I highly recommend this site! If you want to check it out, click on this link and see what it is all about! http://www.listia.com/signup/460443

My other blog...

I decided to start another blog because I noticed that Wordpress offers more of what I have been looking for in a blog.
If you would, please drop by that blog and follow it!!

http://onmytoesbusymomof3.wordpress.com/

SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF DIAPERS!!

There are so many different types and brands of cloth diapers. As of right now, I had 2 WAHM diapers, 1 Baby Alva, and the rest are BabyLand’s. I was thinking of trying Charlie Banana diapers. I really like the diapers that have the 3rd row snaps because they fit and stay on my son better. I noticed that while the BabyLand diapers do the job and hold very well, the tabs keep moving under the snap part and exposing the baby to where he could leak.

The only thing that drives me insane is that these name brand diapers are so expensive. Most of them range from $15+ a piece! I understand that in the long run you save money, but goodness! I have seen some as high as $50+ and that’s just for one!!

I personally like to use pockets and I wouldn’t be opposed to using AIO’s (All In One’s). I am thinking that Charlie Banana will do us well. But at the moment I am shopping around to find the best price and which brand I would like to try. Ultimately what I would like to do is little by little, test out different brands and see how well they work for us.

As of right now, I am thinking I may purchase a Fuzzibunz and a Charlie Banana. I see eBay has the best prices so far. The prices I have seen are $16 (Fuzzibunz) & $17.88 (Charlie Banana) and these include free shipping.

Buying and looking at cloth diapers are fun and exciting! Ever since I started cloth diapering, I have been addicted to looking at them and debating on which one’s I will get next or try. I go on cafemom or my mommy group from cafemom moved to facebook and ask them for their opinions about certain brands.

And now my purchases are complete!! This is what I got!!

Charlie Banana-The Matthew Langille Collection

And then I got Fuzzi Bunz-Diaper Talk

I actually got a GREAT deal on the Fuzzi Bunz. I found it on ebay for $11.01 + $1.99 shipping.

I am so excited! I can’t wait until they come!! I will have to write about my experience with them 

I had to cancel my mom's meet :(

I had a mom meet planned for today. I had planned this probably about 3 weeks ago and it was to be my first mom meet since becoming a mom ambassador last month. I decided I would hold 1 meeting a month and I would rotate from daytime/during the week one month and night time/weekend the next month so that the moms who could not make it, could go the following month.

I planned my meeting to be held in a local park, which is popular because it has HUGE trees that shade the whole playground and park itself. There isn’t dirt around the equipment, they have the rubber chips everywhere. This park is popular on the weekends to have birthday parties. At any rate, I planned it to be today from 10:30am-12:30pm. I figured the kids could run and play and get worn out so that after we were done they could go home, the kids could take a nap, and we could all get a little bit of quiet time, lol. I woke up this morning before my alarm went off because I heard my 2 yr old crying. When I woke up, I heard rain so I looked outside and saw that I heard right, it was raining. Great. So I drive my oldest to the bus stop and waited with her for the bus. While I was there I put up a post on my mom’s meet group on facebook and told them that we may have to re-schedule. When I came back, I got ready for the meet. By the time 9:30am rolled around, it had stopped raining but it was all wet. I knew that wet playground equipment isn’t ideal for me, so I know it can’t be with the others. I texted everyone that was going to show up and told them we need to reschedule.

I am kind of bummed. I really wanted to gather everyone together and hand out. I bought water, organic lemonade, organic sweet tea, organic green tea, organic chips, organic cookies, and organic crackers. I was ready! Oh well. I will re-schedule this next week, but I will be sure to check the weather first!!

Have you tried it?? Sprout Baby Food?

Sprout Baby Food is made by a chef/father named Tyler Florence. He decided to come up with a baby food that is not only nutritious but also tasteful.

When I go to the grocery store, I am always looking for new baby food for my son to try. While I was in Winn-Dixie, they were having a sale on Sprout baby food. It was buy one get one free so I decided to grab each flavor they carried in the #3′s. Here are some of the flavors that I happened to pick up:

Don’t those look yummy?!

My son really enjoyed most of them! I was happy that he seemed pleased with the food. I know how dull baby food can be with the bland tastes that it offers. These foods actually smelled like real food. The texture was much chunkier and thicker than the normal Beechnut or Gerber #3 baby foods.

So is it as great as it seems?

I think so! The other thing that caught my eye with this baby food was the fact that they are in eco-friendly pouches! I went online to see what TerraCycle (as states on the back) was all about. I actually wrote a blog post about Terracycle in this post http://onmytoesbusymomof3.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/another-way-to-go-green-and-its-free/.

I really think this food is great and I think it’s even more awesome how they were thinking of not only the health of our children but the health of the planet as well!!

So go ahead and try it!! To visit their website: http://www.sproutbabyfood.com/

Cymbalta...Hmmmmm....

So, I have Fibromyalgia and Myofacisal Pain Syndrome. I was diagnosed back in 2009 for Fibromyalgia and then in July this year for MPS. I know I have had this at least since 2001, if not before that. I have been taking many different types of meds that my insurance wants me to try first. So I tried Gabbapentin and a dozen other medications. Now I have tried Lyrica in the past and Lyrica has not worked for me. My doc just prescribed me the Cymbalta and I was able to pick it up on Friday, my insurance FINALLY approved it! I noticed a difference in my pain, it has subsided. I am very thankful for that. Rather than taking 4 muscle relaxers to compliment my other meds, I am now only taking 1-2 daily. My ultimate thing is that I need to be fully functional because I need to be able to care for my 3 children without any issues. This muscle relaxer that I am on is the last one before they will put me on Soma, and I am NOT wanting to go on that med because I know how it makes people. I do not want to be out of it.

Now one thing that I have noticed with the Cymbalta is that I don't really get tired, but I yawn and I yawn a lot and hard to where I shake and feel weak afterwards. I noticed that after day 2, it has subsided and isn't as bad.

I am just happy to have relief because I have been in tremendous amounts of pain.

Another good thing is that this is an anti-depressant which is also used for anxiety. I also have an anxiety disorder. Go figure, but all 3 of these issues go hand in hand. So I have been feeling pretty good the past couple of days and even noticed that I am not waking up dead tired. It's great!!

Iphone 4s...is it as great as they made it sound like??

OK-I am no techie. So I couldn't tell you all the technical terms or anything like that but I can tell you how the IPhone 4s works for me. I previously had an IPhone 3GS.
Now, I did break my 3GS a couple of weeks before Mother's Day. I dropped my phone in the garage and the screen shattered. My husband told me to go get a new phone and because the HTC Inspire was pretty new and there was a promotion, I took it. Yeah-the big screen was cool but there is nothing compared to the IPhone so my mother in law offered to fix my IPhone if she could take my HTC. I did that. Well, the IPhone 4s pre-orders started on Oct. 7th, my birthday, so my wonderful husband told me to put my order in. I was so excited and kept checking to make sure I was in fact getting it on the 14th. Well, sure enough, my phone was coming on the 14th and I wrote about my excitement Read Here. The phone finally came in a little after 11am and I immediately opened it up. Of course, as with any phone, it needed to be activated. I could not get it activated for almost 6 hours and that included a 45 min. call to AT&T. WOW. But anyway-I got it up and running.

The IPhone 4s is PHENOMENAL! I could not even begin to tell you how much I love this phone. It's super fast due to the dual core processors. It's like an IPad 2 fit into an IPhone. I noticed that even downloading apps go much quicker than my 3GS.
Siri is super awesome and creepy at the same time. Asking her off the wall questions can sometimes give you really off the wall responses. But I did ask her if she would marry me (to see what she said), and she told me her user agreement didn't include marriage lol. Siri is really good for checking local resources and events or restaurants in the area as well as checking things online or seeing if you have a meeting or appointment scheduled. You can even talk to her and have her schedule a reminder for you and so forth and so on.
The talk to text is pretty good and reads your words better than other phones. I haven't really used this feature much though.
The camera is really nice. The pictures come out much more clear. The recording is nice as well since it records in 1080p. I love it, what can I say, but coming from the 3GS, it's to be expected!
Another thing I noticed is that the battery life for me is much better. The power on my 3GS would drain pretty quickly. I can actually get through the day without having to put the 4s on a charger.
And the last thing that I have to say that amazes me is that I seem to get better reception or 3G in areas that are remote and that I never had reception before. I like that! I don't know if that is normal but I noticed the difference.
So all in all, does Apple live up to the hype about the 4s? Why yes, yes they do and they did a wonderful job, so thank you Apple for mastering yet another phone. I will never own anything but, ever again!

The hustle and bustle of being a mom of 3

I am so exhausted. Having 3 kids is NOT easy. My children are 9, 2, and 8 months. It wasn't so horrible handling the 2, but when my little guy joined our family-things got really tough. I am always running around after my youngest daughter or breaking up an argument between the girls. And then again if I am not running after the girls then I am tending to the boy and his needs/issues. But it doesn't stop there. I am always on the move-cleaning, cooking, laundry and the list goes on. I handle it all and it's all too much for me. With my FMS & MPS, I feel like I never get relief. I am always moving and always hurting. I am always tired and drained. I wish I could just do my daily routine without dealing with all of this.

So today I took a trip to Walmart and grabbed a few things that we needed and then came home to make lunch for my youngest daughter, myself, and my husband (since he comes home for lunch)-and then when I was done with all of that, I ran back out to the store and finished up my grocery shopping. I feel like I have been hit with a truck.

The day would've been ok but my little boy has been very fussy, on and off the whole day. I am not sure why though. He is calm now but wasn't earlier.

So I guess while I have it, I will enjoy my little bit of peace until it gets crazy again...

Ugh...I am so disappointed...

This cloth diaper that I received that I am testing for is terrible. I mean-the first one I got is absolutely wonderful but is made from a different WAHM. The 2nd one that I received I have used twice. Both times (once during the day, once at night) he has soaked through. It's super cute but it's not great. Last night I put it on him with 2 inserts. Usually that is enough to hold up and he never leaks, but with this diaper, he did. At first I figured I didn't push the insert up enough, the first time I used it-but then after last night, I figured out that that wasn't the case and that it is just the diaper. So disappointing :(
Here he is...

Another way to Go Green!! AND It's FREE!

Ok, I think all recycling is free lol but this one is pretty awesome!

Sprout Organic Baby Food comes in pouches like many other organic baby foods. But this program that I found doesn't just limit you to sending in baby food pouches-oh no! They also collect chip bags, old make up, old pens, etc.

Now, they have a points system, kind of like the Pampers points. I believe you can redeem them on things but you can also contribute them to charities (and I believe you can even contribute to schools!).

So here is another awesome way to recycle! Check it out! Save the planet some more!!

http://www.terracycle.net/en-US/

And I sit here waiting...

Yep! I am waiting with excitement and anticipation!

My birthday was Oct. 7th and my hubby told me to pre-order the Iphone 4s as my birthday present. Well, for the past 3 days, it has been sitting at UPS in Louisville, KY (assuming sealed and locked up since they weren't released until today). At any rate, it was in Orlando until this morning and is now on the UPS truck--SO--if UPS comes as they usually do, I will receive my phone this morning!! I hope I will at least!
I opted to have them send it to me because I refuse to wait in line for a phone with 2 small kids. I'll bet there were people camped at the Apple store. It comes on a first come, first serve basis and Apple was sold out of their 4s' so I didn't want to risk not getting mine on Friday! Not only that but some people are waiting for their phones beyond today :(

Siri is gonna be very different. You should see this! Watch this clip, Siri is insane!

Here he is! In his tester!!

OMG! This tester is soooo stinkin' cute! But here he is! And he's also sporting his cafemom onsie too!

Moms Meet Mom Ambassador Blogger

So I just got the awesome news that not only am I a mom ambassador, I am also a mom ambassador blogger!! I am so stoked! So now, I may be able to review some really awesome things like organics and so forth. Moms meet is all about promoting how to save the planet and eat right. Basically how to do things as naturally as possible and how to take care of the planet in return. I am all about all of those things, so I decided to sign up to be a mom ambassador! The best part about it, is you get to have meetings with other mothers and just get out and socialize! It's really neat! If you are interested in becoming a mom ambassador in your area, just click on the icons to the right or go to this website to sign up. It's free and you may be selected to try great things!
http://www.greenmomsmeet.com/mom-ambassadors/

The past week...cloth diapering....

Cloth diapering has been going very well this past week. I haven't had not one leak issue and my son seems to be a happy camper. I found a wipe solution online, so I made my own from that recipe. Let me tell you, it works a lot better than the disposable wipes. The solution wipes everything away with only 1 cloth wipe and leave a pleasant, baby oil smell. I am going to invest in some organic, cloth diaper safe butt balm because he looks slightly red, not a rash, but a little pink I guess you could call it.
I've had 6 diapers for the past week. It's been tough because I have been doing laundry 2 times daily for the past week. I did get 2 more diapers in yesterday, thank goodness! I am a little disappointed though, because I won 4 cloth diapers off of Listia, with free shipping, and I do not think that person is going to send them. They are no longer an active member and that really upset me. I needed those 4 diapers. Anyways, Listia gave me my points back for that mess.
So, I just got my tester diaper from one of the WAHM's that I have been working with. Here is a pic of the diaper...

Let me tell you, this diaper is beautiful. Here is her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/JessieJeanClothDiapers. 

At anhe quality of her diaper's is phenomenal. I will post a pic of my little guy once I put it on him. It'll be in the morning though because he was grouchy and decided it was time to go to bed. The diaper is currently in the wash. The diaper has an all natural inner and the insert is made of organic hemp terry. The insert snaps on and off to allow a faster drying time! This diaper is a OS AIO.

I am currently expecting another tester diaper from another WAHM. This diaper is a OS pocket diaper. I will more than likely get it tomorrow, so I expect. Here is a pic of that one...

I will let you guys know how that comes along when I receive it.

And the result is....

So on Wednesday night I put the Alva cloth diaper on my little boy. It took me forever, almost 30 mins. to get it right lol. I wasn't too sure and my little guy was becoming impatient with me. So with my first attempt, I put 3 mf (microfiber) inserts in. This is what the poor boy looked like lol....

But then I realized that this was too thick <sigh> so I went and took one insert out. Then it took me a good 5 mins. to get the diaper back on! Here he is...

Ok, much better. So I put him to bed wondered what I would wake up to in the morning.

So morning time came and because he had a swallow barium test, I couldn't feed him, so I let him sleep for as long as he would. When he did finally wake up, I took him out of his crib and brought him in my room to get him changed. This is him...

AND....

He was DRY!! I mean, he didn't leak out of his diaper and he had it pretty full! I then put a Pamper on him because we were going to the hospital for his test and I didn't want to risk him leaking...after all, I am new to all of this!

So after I got home, and later that night, I put another cloth diaper on him. In the morning, we had another leak free night!! This is my little guy, he was upset with me because he was ready to eat-not concerned about cloth diapers, diaper changes, or pictures for that matter lol.

So I was at 4 cloth diapers then. On Friday, which was my birthday, I received 2 more cloth diapers! Here they are!

So these have been washed as well and have been used. We have been cloth diapering all day yesterday and so far all day today. No leaks at all. I am very pleased :) Since I am awaiting 14 more, I am washing these dipes more frequently. I have a load in right now because I am down to 2 clean left.

The washing becomes a bit of a pain because I put it through 3 loads, all with extra rinses. It takes a while but I am ok with all of this lol.