My youngest son’s favorite lovey is his Snoedel, even now after his second birthday. Originally, when my oldest son was born, he had to stay in the NICU for 5 days. This was where we received our first Snoedel to help with the bonding process between myself and him since I was not able to hold him and cuddle with him the way I wanted to. I was told to hold the Snoedel close to me so that it could capture my “scent” and that he could become closer to me while he lay in his NICU bed. Three years later that original Snoedel is still with us, having been adopted by my youngest son as his absolute favorite lovey, that he has affectionately named “Buddy”. We even went so far as to order a second “Buddy” since he is now attending daycare and needed a second one to snuggle with during naptime at daycare. His Snoedel now go with us wherever we travel and he always sleeps with them at night and naptimes. We would truly be lost without these wonderful loveys - they have been the one and only thing to keep him happy and comforted when he sleeps and when he’s at daycare.

From the website : “Snoedel is the original sleeping and bonding aid for babies completely handcrafted in the United States by moms, grandmothers, and female college students under “newborn-safe” conditions (environments free of tobacco and perfumes.) It is comprised of 100% natural fibers and has been safe for use with all babies including newborns, premature infants, and other babies in Neonatal Intensive Care units.”

Snoedels are a soft cotton flannel doll, which is designed to absorb a parent’s scent. The premise of the Snoedel is that a babies sense of smell is the first thing that bonds the child to the parent. Not only is the Snoedel wonderful for initial bonding, it can serve as a security blanket or lovey later in life, as it has with my 2 year old. The Snoedel is completely safe for machine washing and drying and is able to be sterilized in a hospital environment.

Popularity: 22% [?]

My children have been in Britax car seats all their lives, and I couldn’t be happier knowing that we are safe anytime we have to drive anywhere. Britax is the leader in the car seat industry. They have several patented innovations which help make your child safe in your vehicle and work to minimize movement of the seat and your child in the event of a collision.

The first is their patented True Side Impact Protection™ system which helps transfer energy away from your child in the event of a side impact collision. As explained on the BritaxUSA.com website, the design features of their True Side Impact Protection™ system include: 1) an energy-absorbing foam liner over a stiff structure to distribute crash forces; 2) side walls that shield the child from vehicle intrusion; 3) deep head wings and side wings for head and body containment; and 4) an adjustable head support to minimize lateral head movement during a crash. These features are extremely important since data shows that 25% of all vehicle crashes are the result of a side impact collision.

Second, Britax’s patented Versa-Tether® system reduces movement of the seat in both the forward and rear-facing positions by having two attachment points on the child seat and anchoring the top of the car seat to the vehicle. The two attachment points feature the LATCH system, but the seat can also be installed using your vehicles seat belts if it is not LATCH capable. I have found that my Britax car seats were very easy to install with the LATCH system and are incredibly stable having nearly no movement side-to-side or forward and backward, no matter how hard I try to push on them.

Third, Britax offers five-point harnessed seats with their patented HUGS™ (Harness Ultra Guard System) which reduces a child’s forward head movement in the event of a crash. These car seats also allow for higher weight capacities up to 65 pounds in convertibles and 80 pounds in youth seats. Their seats also have the feature of being able to remain rear-facing up to 35 pounds. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children ride rear facing to the highest weight or height allowed by the manufacturer, so this is a wonderful feature that allows your child to remain rear-facing longer than other car seats.

Britax car seats come in several styles, from compact convertible to combination booster, in order to best fit your child for their specific age and weight. For more information regarding Britax car seats and their safety features please visit their website at BritaxUSA.com.

Popularity: 20% [?]

A new obsession has swept my house, and that is Disney Pixar’s Wall-E. Wall-E is an adorable little robot with the huge task of cleaning up Earth after it becomes covered in garbage. He is the last robot left of the “Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class” robots that were assigned 700 years ago to clean up the environmental mess left by man-kind. Even though Wall-E doesn’t say anything in the first 25 minutes of the movie, he has captured my son’s heart and we’ve watched the movie it at least a dozen times.

My son now wants to wear his Wall-E shirt to preschool, and also wants to take his plush to show-and-tell. He sleeps with his plush and carries him around the house, talking to him as if he were his best buddy. Disney has done a great job in marketing this new Pixar movie, by having a huge amount of Wall-E merchandise. You can get a Wall-E lunchbox, backpack, blanket, sheet set - the list goes on and on. And he is just so darn cute that it’s hard to resist!

So, if you and your kids haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it. But just be aware that they may be asking for a bunch of Wall-E stuff for Christmas or their birthdays!

Popularity: 24% [?]

I just got the news that Baby Gizmo is playing Santa Claus! I had reviewed their fantastic book The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide and now they are having 12 fun-filled days of Christmas giveaways of their most favorite items for mom and baby! There will be lucky winners, one each day between December 1st and December 12th, of amazing prizes including products from: Maclaren, Svan, Kelty, JJ Cole, Mutsy, pediped, Stokke, Fisher Price, Moonlight Slumber, Kushies, Skip Hop, & Baby Bjorn.

The best thing about these giveaways is that all you need to do is log in to be entered to win! So head on over to Babygizmo.com and log in everyday for your chance to win one of these fantastic prizes! Oh and don’t forget about the Santa Baby Photo Contest starting today where you can win a sassy Peg Perego Skate Stroller.

Popularity: 16% [?]

“Potty Training” - those two words can sometimes cause quite a bit of anxiety among parents. I know that I certainly had a lot of apprehension when it came to trying to train my oldest son. Right before my his second birthday, I thought I had a few more months to get myself prepared and ready for the challenge that lay ahead. However, my son had other plans - I knew the time had come since he starting removing his soiled diaper any chance he got. The first few months was tough. I certainly spent a lot of time cleaning my carpets and washing a lot of clothes, all the while searching for answers on how to make this process easier and more enjoyable for the both of us. In hindsight, I can only wish I had the Potty Tots Potty Training Program from the very beginning of our potty training adventure.

The Potty Tots is a unique and amazing potty training tool for toddlers, consisting of a diverse cast of preschool friendly characters that encourage. In the kit, parents will find everything they need for a fun, stress-free potty training experience. Included in the kit are:

• Potty Training Guide Book - A colorful story book which addresses the challenges of potty training.
• Illustrated Potty Training Chart - A step-by-step chart which goes over the six essential steps of potty training.
• Animated DVD - The animated story of the book featuring the Potty Tots characters and fun songs to learn.
• Progress Game - A positive-reinforcement game which allows your child to track their progress with potty training.

In addition to the kit, parents can access online community resources to help with the potty training process on PottyTots.com.

Although my son was already day-trained when I received the kit, we were still having issues with nighttime wetting and also with not wanting to poop in the potty. I decided to give Potty Tots a try in order to see if we could work on these two issues. Within, three days my son was waking up dry in the mornings and had his first real poop in the potty. He was still inconsistent with the pooping but by the time two weeks went by, he had successfully pooped four times in the potty without any intervention on my part. I now look forward to using the Potty Tots kit with my youngest son who is a few months away from tackling potty training. I know this is going to make the task so much easier for the both of us.

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POTTY TOTS Potty Training Kit GIVEAWAY!

The Wise Mommy, along with Potty Tots, is happy to host a giveaway for a Potty Tots Training Kit! We will be giving away two kits - one for boys and one for girls!

Take a look at the Potty Tots website and then just leave your thoughts about Potty Tots and whether you would need a boy’s kit or a girl’s kit! The giveaway will run until Nov. 24th 11:59pm EST. Two random winners (one for the boy’s kit and one for the girl’s kit) will be chosen on Nov. 25th and the winners will be notified by email. Good luck everyone!

Popularity: 18% [?]