Monthly Archives: January 2008

The First Adventures of Incredible You: personalized book

January 31, 2008Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Books, PersonalizedAlicia

The First Adventures of Incredible You is a personalized book about the most memorable experiences of early childhood, those that we want to hold on to forever. An iParenting media award-winning book, The First Adventures of Incredible You, is the perfect gift for the special child in your life.

Rhyming verses and rich, colorful illustrations will keep the attention of your younger child while the people and places mentioned in the story will delight your older child to no end. Because faces are not shown in this book, it is perfect for any child no matter what their race, gender or family lifestyle is.

The book begins with a dedication page for which you can request a special dedication from mom and dad. The dedication in Madelyn’s book is "This book was custom made for Madelyn Rose Hagan who arrived on May 9th 2006. We Love You! Mommy, Daddy and Sebastian – 2008.

The First Adventures of Incredible You is a story about the first adventures
of your child’s life. What child doesn’t love a story about them self? Your child is the main character in the story but the personalization doesn’t stop there. The story
includes the people and places that are most important to your child,
including your local zoo, park, and sports team, as well as her favorite food and the street where you live no doubt bringing the story to life every time she hears or reads it even as she gets older.

If you want to buy The First Adventures of Incredible You for a friend or family member’s child and don’t know the name of their local park, zoo, or favorite friend that’s not a problem. You can order a book gift certificate so the parent can fill out the form and complete the order.

Custom Made for Kids personalized chidren’s book

The Mommy Insider readers get 15% off with code insider15

My Fruit Rollups – the perfect Valentine’s Day surprise!

January 30, 2008Food and Drink, Holiday, PersonalizedAlicia

Are you tired of the same old princess and superhero Valentine’s Day cards? I am. It’s the same thing every year. We go to Target to get Valentine’s Day cards and the shelves are full of tacky Pokemon, Bratz and other character cards. What happened to creativity? I remember making Valentine’s Day cards for my friends, myself. That was about 25 years ago. I suppose times have changed.

Fruit Rollups brings creativity back into Valentine’s Day and just about any other special occasion, with their new Fruit Rollup Invention Center.

The website is colorful, fun, and action packed. You start by selecting a picture, personalized message or both, from the Invention Center. If you are ‘creative challenged’ and don’t want to design your own Fruit Rollups, you can select from their design suggestions. After you have designed your personalized Fruit Rollups, you will create an account and tell them where you want your Fruit Rollups shipped.

Personalized Fruit Rollups are the best of both worlds. It’s a Valentine’s Day card and treat all in one!

GIVEAWAY!

I have THREE promotional codes good for a free order of 30 personalized Fruit Rollups to giveaway. All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment using the comment link below, telling me the sweetest Valentine’s message you have sent or received.

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Digital Voice Recorder: $149

January 26, 2008Electronics, Fun stuff for parents, Gadgets, OrganizationAlicia

Digitalrecorder
When I received this Sony Digital Voice Recorder to review, I knew right away that it isn’t an ordinary recorder.. and is definitely not like the recorder I had when I was young which is the last time I used one.

Dory from Finding Nemo is a distant cousin of mine and we share the same short term memory loss problem. My mother will call to remind me to register Sebastian for baseball and she will ask me how I am going to remember what she just told me. Pretty bad. Now I can record a remind while we are on the phone.. she is finally convinced I will remember. Being small enough to fit in a pocket, enables me to carry the digital recorder with me anywhere, anytime. Once a day I download my recordings using the USB cord and cradle.

Great for when you think of something important while driving.
Record your child singing her favorite song.
Dad can take it to the PTA meeting so you can listen to everything later.
Record your parent teacher conference so you can listen to it again later.
Note important dates such as doctor’s appointments without having to write them down while standing at the receptionists desk.
You can file messages/recordings in folders directly on the recorder. I have one folder for personal reminders, one for work, and one for the kids.

Another really fun feature of this digital voice recorder is the alarm. I recorded ‘Wake up Sebastian!’ and set the alarm for 6:20a.m. and he was awakened by me without me in the room. He thought he was hearing things. Why not record a romantic message for your husband to hear when he walks in the door in the evening. What a great Valentine’s Day idea! You just have to know when he will be home so you can set the alarm feature.

This is a great tool for the tech savvy parent. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated by all of the buttons and functions at first but I learned to use and appreciate them in no time.

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Spy Video Car: $79+

January 26, 2008Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Electronics, Gadgets, ToysAlicia

Spycar All children wish they could spy on their sibling at some point or another. While I don’t condone spying, I will tell you that the Spy Video Car is a great spy tool because it is surprisingly quiet and drives very smooth on both carpet and hardwood floors. Our testers, ages 8-9, agreed that the Spy Car is ‘perfect in every way’. We found that as long as there are no obstructions in the path of the car the video reception is good up to 75 feet. When the driver was in a closet or tried to steer the car through a few rooms further and further away, the video reception would be good up to about 60 feet which is fine for most homes.
The components are well made and were put to the test with several ‘accidental’ falls down stairs, the antennas were tugged on, and unfortunately the Spy Car had the opportunity to ‘drink’ some juice at least once.

The Spy Video Car includes a headset, screen and hand-held controller. The Spy Video Car requires 12 AA batteries so I recommend purchasing a battery charger and rechargeable batteries.

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Wild Planet or Amazon.com

Care for Kids DVD: $19.99

January 25, 2008Music & DVD, SafetyAlicia

Careforkids
Nothing will happen.. You’re going to be fine.. That won’t happen to you..

I can’t tell you how many times I heard those three statements. Then I had a bad car accident. Six years later, I had another. ‘It’ did happen to me and it happened when and where I least expected it. It can happen to you too and you don’t know if ‘it’ will happen in the car, in the kitchen or the bathtub so you have to be prepared. I don’t like saying it, but it is a fact that more children die each year from preventable injuries than from all childhood illnesses combined. That’s huge!

Did you know that 60% of poisonings in children ages 5 and under are not from pharmaceuticals but cosmetics, cleaning substances, and toys? I didn’t know that until I was introduced to the ResponsibleFamily.com website and their Care for Kids DVD.

The Care for Kids DVD covers medical emergencies, demonstrations in a hospital/doctor’s office setting, and step by step instructions for caring for injuries.

This is a great DVD to have on hand and to share with friends, family with kids, and Grandparents. I feel more confident in treating Sebastian or Madelyn’s injuries after watching Care for Kids than I did before. Parents can pop the DVD in the player and spend 30 minutes making sure
that the babysitter knows when to call 911 and what to do in the
meantime.

One thing I wish was covered on the DVD is CPR. I understand their point of wanting parents to take a CPR class but for those who haven’t, can’t or won’t, CPR instruction would be great.

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Responsible Family