A little bit of heaven for mom! I thought I would include something yummy for moms as part of the reviews. And here is one of my favorite picks! Gevalia coffee has been my coffee of choice for several years now. Gevalia has been around for over 140 years, and now has an online membership service for connoisseurs of gourmet coffee. It offers over 40 varieties of coffee and tea for delivery right to your home. You can keep your kitchen stocked with their great coffees by deciding how often you want them to send you your selections. You can also change or cancel selections at anytime! Gevalia also has a gift shop and e-shop where you can pick out unique gifts for those coffee lovers in your life, or you can get coffee related products for your own kitchen.

Gevalia coffees are brewed with the finest 100% arabica beans, and you can order either the whole been or already ground versions. My personal favorite has to be their Chocolate Raspberry blend - just heaven! And my husband loves the Amaretto and French Vanilla varieties. The taste of all of their coffees that I have tried is very smooth and not acidic at all, the way I like them!

So, if you want to start drinking some really great gourmet coffee, visit Gevalia Kaffe and enter Offer Code: 117214 and you’ll get a free (shipping included!) 12 cup Stainless Steel Coffee Maker with your first $10+ shipment!

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Evenflo Exersaucer is a fun and colorful activity learning center for babies. It may seem like your little one will only use this item for a few months, but oh what a glorious few months those can be! My son loves his Exersaucer. It keeps him happily occupied for long stretches at a time, which allow mommy to get things done around the house, such as loading the dishwasher without him trying to load himself into it! He loves that he can bounce up and down and play with toys, all while spinning around 360 degrees. Even when he is not sitting in the Exersaucer, he’s cruising over to it and holding onto it standing up, trying to play with all of the toys. Also, it’s quite portable, so I can bring it into whatever room I need and he’s right there in view.

The Evenflo Exersaucer has seven toys arranged in a 360 degree fashion around the child as he sits in the center. The seat is removable and washable. The Exersaucer can be adjusted to 3 different heights so that it can grow with your child. There are also 3 flip-down feet which stabilize the unit if you do not want your little one bouncing around too much. The manufacturer recommended age of use is at least 4 months. From my own experience, I believe it is best if your child has great head control and pretty good trunk control as well, which was a little older than the recommended 4+ months.

Popularity: 12% [?]

What a cute little show! The Wonder Pets are some of my son’s favorite characters on Nickelodeon right now. Currently, his favorite (and seasonally appropriate) episode is “Wonder Pets Save the Reindeer“. This cute DVD features the Wonder Pets (Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming the Duckling, and Tuck the Turtle) in a quest to save Santa’s baby reindeer who is stuck on cracking ice.

The whole premise behind all of the Wonder Pets shows is teamwork -working together to save or help a different baby animal in each episode. The Wonder Pets travel to different lands and countries and have the opportunity to encounter unique animals along the way. Each show has 2 mini episodes, averaging about 12 minutes each. Each episode is filled with music of varying genres and memorable lyrics with which your toddler can sing along. At the end of each episode, the Wonder Pets celebrate their great teamwork with a stalk of celery - and I have to tell you, this is the reason my son actually decided to try to eat celery in the first place! Thanks to the Wonder Pets, I finally am able to get my son to eat at least one vegetable - now if they would only start eating others, so that he could follow suit!

The Wonder Pets episodes are shown on Nick Jr. and they are now coming out on DVD - three DVD’s have been recently released, with two more scheduled for release in 2008. The DVDs contain several (usually 8 ) mini episodes, with a few exceptions such as the “Save the Reindeer” DVD which has a full-length episode along with 6 mini episodes.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I have some dangerous tables in my house which I purchased before I even thought about having children. The coffee table and end tables in my living room are wrought iron and granite with square edges. I needed a relatively stylish way to baby proof these tables all the way around and not just on the corners, so I ordered three black Toddler Shields, one for each of my tables. The black color does a good job of blending in with the furniture in the room. They are super easy to clean - you basically just wipe them with a rag. They come with extra foam padding which you can place in the corners too. I believe the Toddler Shield has done a wonderful job of protecting my children from sharp corners and edges.

The Toddler Shield comes in two colors: cream and black; and in three sizes: S(60-140″), M(141-192″), and L(193-270″). It fits all shapes of tables from square to oval or round. The material is non-toxic and flame retardant. You can purchase the Toddler Shield online at many of the baby safety stores, or you can purchase them through Amazon.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I recently went to my local grocery store after they remodeled the whole place, changing around where everything was located. I was so upset when I looked for my Hyland’s Teething Tablets and they were no longer on the shelf in the baby aisle where they used to be. Why the dissappointment? Well, Hyland’s Teething Tablets have been one of the most effective remedies in my household for relieving teething related crabbiness. And currently my 9 month old is in the throes of teething crabbies right now, which is why I ended up scouring the grocery store for another half an hour, before I finally found them in the pharmacy aisle.

Hyland’s Teething Tablets are a homeopathic remedy for the temporary relief of symptoms of simple restlessness and wakeful irritability due to cutting teeth. The tablets dissolve almost instantly when placed under the tongue. The Hyland’s Teething remedy is also available in a gel version which you just rub on your little ones gums. I’ll be honest - I don’t pretend to know how they work, all I know is that I have a happier little guy after giving these to him. I usually give these to my little one right before it is time to take a nap or bedtime, and they seem to help calm him down (i.e. he stops crying and is able to settle to sleep much better).

Hyland’s makes many different homeopathic remedies for babies’ ailments, ranging from colic to bedwetting. For more information about Hyland’s Teething Tablets or any of their other homeopathic remedies, please visit Hylands.com.

Popularity: 5% [?]

For a long time, I had heard great things about Robeez shoes, but I have to admit it took me a while before I finally broke down and bought a pair for my son. So, what exactly was the straw that broke the camel’s back? A 9 month old little tornado that became obsessed with slipping and sliding all over my kitchen tile floor. Yes, my son, the wild child that he is, absolutely loves to cruise on this slippery surface, and more often than not ends up slipping in his socks and falling down, quite unhappily.

When I bought the Robeez shoes, my intent was to get a soft soled leather shoe, as he is not ready for anything with hard soles, and also to get a shoe that was most importantly non-slip. Well, the Robeez shoes I bought him were just adorable, and they did wonders for his “ice”capades in my kitchen. They fit really well and stayed snugly on his feet (i.e. he wasn’t able to take them off himself, which is a plus!).

Robeez shoes are all leather soft-soled shoes that come in various colors, patterns, and designs for both boys and girls. The are durable and washable (another plus for leather shoes!).  They run in size from 0-6 months to 3-4 years. Robeez also makes hats, bibs, bodysuits, t-shirts and also the cutest booties, which I will be getting soon as the weather continues to get colder here.

For more information and to purchase Robeez products please visit:

Popularity: 8% [?]

Sometimes it is so nice to have a toy that does not need weekly changes of batteries. The Melissa and Doug Learn-to Play Piano is a brightly painted wooden upright piano, which does not require batteries and plays pretty much like a small version of a real piano. I have had this upright piano in my house since my son was able to sit upright (about 6 months old). I would sit him in front of it, and he would happily bang away on the keys. It kept him busy, because he was so fascinated by the sounds he was able to make by swatting his hands wildly about on the keyboard. Now, at age 2, he randomly bangs out an indiscriminate tune while trying to sing along to a song he just made up. I believe, though, that his little brother is going to become the new Mozart. He gently taps his fingers on the keys and listens intently as each key plays softly. Again, he can be kept busy by this piano for a long time.

The Learn-to-Play Piano has 25 keys for two full octaves. It is available at retailers such as Toys R Us and even online at QVC and Amazon. For more information, please visit the Melissa and Doug Website.

Popularity: 6% [?]

My 2 year old recently got over quite a bad illness where his temperature was soaring above 104. My husband and I had to monitor our son’s temperature constantly because he has a history of febrile seizures - about every four hours we would have to take my sons temperature. Worst of all, this bug lasted well over 2 weeks and my youngest son caught it as well! We were lucky enough to have bought the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer a few months ago to have on hand. Our children would never be able to sit still enough for either a rectal or underarm reading, so with all the many temperature readings we went through just recently, it was nice to be able to non-invasively and quickly read our children’s temperatures.

The Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer uses infrared technology to allow you to sweep the thermometer gently across the forehead and get a very accurate temperature reading in less than a few seconds. It’s also extremely quiet, letting off very soft “beeps”, so typically it won’t wake your child up when using it while he or she is sleeping. It takes a few tries to get the hang of how to use the thermometer accurately, but once you do it becomes the easiest and quickest way to measure your child’s temperature day or night.  Also, because the Temporal Artery Thermometer is used externally it is sanitary, reduces the spread of germs, and is easy to clean.

For more information about the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer, please visit the Exergen Website.

Popularity: 7% [?]

My son was diagnosed with really bad reflux at the age of 3 weeks, and at the time he was receiving some of his nutrition through bottle feeds as I was pumping breastmilk for him. My pediatrician suggested I try to use Dr. Brown’s bottles to decrease the air that he swallowed, thus preventing him from spitting up as much when he was burped. As my son got older, I needed to thicken my son’s feeds, again to decrease his reflux and spitting up. I found out that Dr. Brown’s makes a Y-cut Nipple for thickened liquids for just this reason. After using the Dr. Brown’s bottles with the Y-cut Nipples, my son’s reflux greatly improved and the frequency of his spitups decreased. I had a much happier baby and way less laundry! Also, my son had no problems with latching onto the nipple of the bottle, and we did not encounter any nipple collapse either - this was important because a few other bottle brands that we tried had the problem of the nipple collapsing while my son was feeding.

Dr. Brown’s bottles are marketed for colicky and gassy babies, but can be used by any baby comfortably. They feature a patented venting system that basically prevents a vacuum effect inside the bottle and lessens the amount of air that is ingested during bottle feeding and lessens fluid in the ear. The premise being - reduce the air bubbles, reduce the gas, and reduce the colic associated with uncomfortably distended air in the stomach or fluid-filled ears. Dr. Brown’s make these bottles in standard width and wide width. I personally find the wide bottles to be more comfortable to hold and easier to clean. Dr. Brown’s bottles also have several nipples with various flow rates to adjust to the needs of your child as he or she gets older.

For more information, please visit Handi Craft, the maker of Dr. Brown’s products.

Popularity: 6% [?]

How do you tactfully get across to other people that you would rather them not kiss or touch your children? How about when someone tries to touch your child without washing their hands first? Or how about when someone lights up a cigarette near them? Well, Wordsies Wear makes it easy to make a statement, without having to actually “speak” a word. Wordsies is a line of unique infant and toddler shirts that tell and remind others that babies need that extra special care and caution.

I received my Wordsies shirt in a package just before Thanksgiving, and I was delighted when opening it. It was packaged with such care and it looked like it was wrapped to be ready for gift-giving! The shirt was just adorable, made of the softest cotton. And the statement “Please Don’t Smoke Near Me” was so fitting, as I have on numerous occasions been in the presence of people who didn’t realize that I did not want them to smoke in the presence of my children, and I never knew how to tell them tactfully to stop. I always just took my child and left, without trying making a scene. This Wordsies shirt is just what I was looking for because I am so non-confrontational, and this allows me to make my stance on smoking known to everyone around me without offending anybody.

Wordsies shirts come in short or long sleeves onesies or t-shirts that range in size from 3 months to 24 months. Wordsies has also just expanded their line with new embroidered hats that are super cute. And best of all, Wordsies is a philanthropic company, donating a portion of all its proceeds to SIDS research. For more information about these products and to order Wordsies Wear, please visit the Wordsies Website. Use the coupon code “Germs″ and receive 10% off of your purchase!

Popularity: 8% [?]