Category Archives: Store Reviews

Play Town from Learning Curve

Age 1-3, Store Reviews, , ,

Playtown1Little girls love playing house. At least I did. I had tons of dolls, Barbie’s, the Barbie van, the spa, a really neat doll house my grandfather made me, and the list goes on.  I am in my thirties now, and I haven’t been exposed to Barbie’s and dolls in quite a few years, but I am thrilled to see that Madelyn has the same passion for playing with dolls, and doll houses as I did.

The Play Town Family House from Learning Curve is Madelyn’s first official doll house and she loves it. Geared for babies ages 1 and up, it comes complete with three people, a mom, a dad, and a child as well as several pieces of everyday furniture.

There are a few things that make the Play Town doll house stand out from others that are geared for one year olds.
1. The Play Town Family House is made of plastic and wood which makes for sturdy construction.
2. The three little people are just the right size for little hands to hold.
3. There is a storage compartment/attic at the top of the Family House that holds the people and the furniture for easy travel.
4. The Family House features two sides of play,
with a "growing" garden, attic storage area–over twenty fun, imaginative play
features.

Where to buy: Learning Curve

dreambaby safety accessories

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Pets, Store Reviews

Dreambabygate
Madelyn has been walking for a couple of weeks now. At first, she wouldn’t wander far from us so we didn’t worry about gates… we were always within 5 inches of her. Now that she is more confident in her walking skills, she is all over the place. She’s all over the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the den, and her favorite is the stairs. Luckily, dreambaby sent us a couple of their safety gates so I know now what a really good safety gate is. When Sebastian was a baby, we used the wooden pressure gates all over the house so I wasn’t accustom to the metal/sturdy gate that dreambaby sent for review. I quickly warmed up to them though and now I won’t use or recommend anything other than dreambaby safety gates.

dreambaby safety gates can be used in hallways, doorways, and they have baby safety gates especially for use at the top of your stairs.

Installation of the hallway gate was simple and the use was even easier. To install the hallway safety gate, you simply turn/screw the knobs until they are tight against the doorway or wall. That’s it. There is a little ‘slide’ button on the top of the handle of the gate that you simply shift while pulling up and out on the handle to open the gate. It’s a one handed process. It took me longer to write that sentence than it does to open the gate. What I love is that I don’t have to put Madelyn down while opening the dreambaby gates like I did with the wooden pressure gates. I can use one hand and it’s easy!

Another dreambaby product that I love is the cabinet safety locks. I never took into consideration that there would be a difference in cabinet safety locks from brand to brand, but there is. We have two dreambaby safety cabinet locks that I love and have been using for a while, and when I needed more, I purchased a three pack at Target by the brand that they carry. I don’t like them.  You don’t realize how nice a product is until you use a similar product that stinks. The other brand is very difficult to open compared to the dreambaby brand. The dreambaby cabinet locks do a great job at keeping Madelyn out of the cabinets, so I don’t see why I should use a more difficult lock. I am ordering more dreambaby cabinet locks so I don’t have to use the other brand.

dreambaby sells a lot ofther safety products including a bathroom line which I will review soon.  They sell a complete safety value pack with 46 safety products.

Where to buy: dreambaby

The Adventure of Bento Babeys

Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Books, Music & DVD, Store Reviews

Bentobabeys
Do you know what your baby is doing in her spare time?  Did you know there are babies with secret karate skills?  I bet not!  Mikey, Shonda, Pedro, and Sahi, are four very special babies with karate skills that keep the city safe while we sleep at night. Isn’t this every child’s dream?  I think this is an awesome concept because this type of story that we read to our children usually focuses on adults being the "hero", not other children. The Bento Babeys book can be a great educational tool as well as a wonderful confidence booster.

The book comes with a colorful figure for each character so your child can play along with the story or make up her own stories using the characters in the Bento Babeys book. What a great idea!

A CD featuring songs with easy to understand lyrics and music that your child will love comes with the book.

Sebastian, my seven year old, loves anything to do with martial arts. When I got the Bento Babeys book to review on The Mommy Insider, he was so excited.  He loves the figures and really enjoys the CD and best of all, he actually WANTS to read the Bento Babeys book and share it with his classmates at show and tell.

Sebastian really appreciates the section of the Bento Babeys website where the facts about each ‘babey’ are told. Apparently, his favorite character Sahi once ate a fuzzy caterpillar which made her throw up! It’s funny things like this that make Bento Babeys easy to related to and enjoyable for children.

Where to buy: Bento Babeys
 

Baby Meets Family – Personalized baby video

Age 0-1 year, Age 1-3, Age 3-5, Music & DVD, Personalized, Store Reviews

BabymeetsfamilyI know you don’t like to put your baby or child in front of the TV while you clean the kitchen but sometimes it has to be done. Now your baby/child can have a positive, educational entertainment experience while in the TV zone.

Baby Meets Family DVD’s include up to ten photographs that the parent submits. Each photograph is displayed several times throughout the show. The show itself is very cute and keeps Madelyn’s attention unlike regular TV shows.  Now that Madelyn is old enough to recognize me and Tim (daddy) she ‘gets it’ enough to wave at the TV. It’s so cute! 

Baby Meets Family videos are a great tool to use when leaving your child with a babysitter or nanny. 

The video itself is fun to watch. Even Sebastian, who is seven, enjoys watching it!  The video features toys, puppets, and animal scenes, that are soothing, easy to follow, and colorful.

You can watch a demo on the Baby Meets Family website.

Don’t forget to buy extra copies for the Grandparents!

Where to buy: Baby Meets Family

The best bag on the block!

Diaper Bags, Maternity, Store Reviews,

Miabossi1
I am not one to spend hundreds of dollars on a handbag… but give me an all-in-one diaper bag, handbag, and laptop bag and I’ll give you the money! I am IN LOVE with this Mia Bossi ‘diaper bag’.

I put this bag to the test.  First of all, most of you know that I’ve got two kids, Madelyn is 10 months and Sebastian is seven years old. We are always on the go.. to Grandmother’s house, the doctor, the bookstore, grocery store, Target, Starbucks, etc. I’ve been using the same great diaper bag for months but when I received this Mia Bossi bag to review, I immediately switched all my ‘stuff’ into the bag.

Besides the beautiful design, the quality of the leather, and the accents, this bag has an incredible feature that you won’t find in other bags. When needed, you can easily convert this bag from a diaper bag to a handbag or laptop bag. The day after I received the Mia Bossi bag, I found a reason to take the diaper bag insert out and use the bag as a laptop bag. I felt like a celebrity when I walked into Starbucks! I’m not kidding.  I had three moms and two women ask me about the bag.   

Mia Bossi offers several great styles for moms with all types of personalities and needs. I love the fact that I can use this bag long after I stop toting Madelyn’s stuff around and not feel like I am carrying a diaper bag.

I am thoroughly impressed with how much ‘stuff’ I can put in the bag. ‘Stuff’ includes: several diapers,  wipe case, toys, Sebastian’s Leapster, a bottle, snacks, telephone, wallet, a notebook,  two activity books for Sebastian and a few other things.

There are two outer pockets. One of which allows for easy access to my cell phone so I am no longer worried that I am going to miss an important call because I can’t find my phone.

Where to buy: Mia Bossi

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