Have you met eebee? Well, eebee is the star of eebee’s adventures, a series which feature eebee, the baby’s baby, along with infants 6 months and older who play and discover in a world that is real, engaging, and rich with possibilities.

eebee’s adventures focus on behaviors—what babies and toddlers can and want to do— while offering practical and playful insights and ideas for how and when parents can join the act.

My son and I recently had the chance to review a great new book from eebee’s adventures – Mix & Mash: Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You It’s just been released and is the first-ever cooking with your baby book!

Normally I would say you’ve probably read about all the problems I’ve had recently with my picky little eater but I’ve been spending so much time trying to resolve the situation that I haven’t even had time to blog about it.  Let alone blog about the fact that he wants to help me do EVERYTHING. Cook, clean, do laundry.  I have to admit that lately I had been getting a bit overwhelmed with all the help I was receiving.  So when the opportunity came to review the book I thought to myself “can this really work?”.  I let him help with everything else, why not in the kitchen as well?

The book features 6 baby-friendly recipes for children 6+ months, accompanied by a dvd that shows you just how to go about letting your baby get involved in the kitchen. Up until now letting him help in the kitchen isn’t something I had considered but these recipes are so simple that you’ll wonder why you hadn’t come up with them yourself.

After checking out the book to be honest I was still a little nervous about letting him help. That’s where the dvd comes in. When Vincent and I watched the dvd he loved eebee. He kept saying “baby baby”. I thought it was a bit strange how he knew she was a baby, but he did.  The dvd is sort of like a how-to guide and totally worked to reassure me that it wasn’t hard at all to get your child involved and have some fun while doing it!

It’s my opinion that this book would make a perfect gift for any parent who’s toddler is just getting to the 6+ month stage and beyond. My son is 18 months and these recipes were perfect for him. Even though he has a mouth full of teeth, these recipes are good for children with or without teeth.

The only complaint I have about the book is that it’s not big enough! I hope they’ll come out with more baby-parent cookbook’s in the future.

You can purchase eebee’s Mix & Mash: Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You directly from Amazon or on the eebee’s adventures website.

This book was provided for review by eebee’s adventures and Sterling Publishing.

___________________________________________________________

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to eebee’s adventures and Sterling Publishing one reader will win their own copy of eebee’s Mix & Mash: Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby & You

To enter:  Please complete the required task(s). If the required task(s) are not completed then none of your entries will count.  After that you have several other ways of getting extra entries.  Make sure that for each one you do you leave a separate comment. Each comment counts as one entry. Please leave your correct email addy. If I have no way of contacting you, your entries will be deleted before I choose the winner.

Required

* Please take the time to visit the Eebee Adventures shop (click here), browse around and tell me about one item you’d love to give to a child in your life. (I will be checking that you actually visited the page)

AND

* Please follow eebee’s adventures on Twitter @eebeebaby OR become a fan on Facebook
(Leave your twitter name in your comment)

Earn Extra Entries

1 Extra Entry -
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You can Digg, Stumbleupon and fav on Technorati by clicking the “ShareThis” at the bottom of this post

1 Extra Entry Per Day -
* Follow me on Twitter @detroitmommy and then Press the Green Retweet button at the top of this post. Leave me a comment with a link to your tweet.  You can come back each day and retweet for 1 extra entry per day. Just make sure to leave a comment each day you do it!

Good Luck!

Giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada, 18 yrs of age or older. Any posts not including the requested information will be deleted. This giveaway ends: Sunday November 29, 2009 12am EST. Winner will be contacted and announced Monday November 30, 2009. In the event the winner does not respond to email within 3 days I will choose another random winner. I will be using random.org to do this.

Congrats to Lauren

@ http://mommyisrocknroll.com/

with lucky  #2

and as always, thank-you to everyone who entered!

Totsy.com an online private flash sale site dedicated to giving moms and moms-to-be access to coveted and essential products and brands at sample sale prices (Up to 70% off retail prices) has officially launched and you’re invited.

Totsy is by invitation only and free of charge. Membership gets you exclusive deals and preferred pricing.

Totsy will offer prenatal care products, baby gear, travel accessories, bedding and bath, children’s clothing, toys, DVDs, and educational materials. And that’s just a sampling of a selection that promises only the best in quality and designer brands.

The sooner you join, the better. Each sale lasts only 48 to 72 hours.

Best yet, with every purchase you make through Totsy.com, they will plant one tree in the name of your child to help reduce the effects of deforestation.

Just click on the on the cute little ladybug which I’ve embedded with your official invitation code and away you go.

About a month ago I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of: See Mom Run: Side-Splitting Essays from the World’s Most Harried Blogging Moms by Beth Feldman founder of Rolemommy.com.

When I first took a look at the book, I thought to myself “This shouldn’t take me long to read at all.”  you know, between the sleeping 4-6 hrs a night, bath time, fixing 3 meals and 2-3 snacks a day, grocery shopping, washing piles of laundry, paying the bills, cutting the grass and finding time to exercise.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  O.k., actually I do.  I was thinking in the “Pre-mommy” mode.  You know? The mode where for a split second you totally forget that you’re the mother of an 18 Month old that never stops moving.  The mode where you completely forget that you don’t have the luxury of reading books for hours on end, or get to take showers that last for more than 10 minutes.

Once I brought myself back to reality I decided the only time I would actually get to read it was during my son’s bath.  So I brought See Mom Run into the bathroom with me. I usually sit next to him on a little stool, twiddling my thumbs thinking about all the things I need to get done, so reading during bath time would be easy, or at least I thought.

Between being splashed and responding to “want want want” every 2 seconds, even though I could be considered a speed reader, I was only able to digest 1 story each night.  For me that was perfect though.  Even though I’ve never  been one of those people who like to read funny books or watch comedies (except for a select few) I guess when the comedy could be starring me  it’s a different story. It sort of puts things into perspective when you realize you’re not the only one to go through such silly situations.  Best of all though.. when you are done reading one of these stories you start thinking back to your own funny happenings. Which for me, always left me in a better mood than I started with.

Every single story in this book will make you laugh out loud. From the story by Danielle Dardashti talking about the time she was asked if she was pregnant 5 months after her pregnancy to the hilarious story by Jenna McCarthy, author of  The Parent Trip who describes in hilarious detail her experience while on a day trip with her 3 and 5-year old kids, which included car sickness, stepping in dog poop and being forced to walk into Target with only a bathing suit on.  If that story alone doesn’t make you laugh then you have absolutely no sense of humor.

I won’t spoil any of the stories for you, but you can read a few pages right here. Just click on the cover and it will come up full size.

More about See Mom Run

See Mom Run is due out in November 2009 and includes contributions by:  Mom 101, Because I Said So, Momma Said, Twinfatuation, Lost in Suburbia, Crafty Mamas, NYC Moms Blog, SVMoms Blog, Real Moms Guide, Jenna McCarthy, Ciaran Blumenfeld, Suburban Jungle, Ex Marks the Spot, Modern Jewish Mom, Ageless Body Timeless Mom, Your Single Parenting & more.

You can Pre-order your copy at Amazon.com today.

About Beth Feldman

Beth Feldman is the founder of Role Mommy, an online community and events company dedicated to inspiring, entertaining and empowering today’s busy moms to pursue their passion while raising a family. Feldman is a former television network executive who pole vaulted off the corporate ladder to become the president of her own PR consulting agency, and she’s the host of Blog Talk Radio’s brand new Role Mommy Radio network. Additionally, Feldman was recently named the co-editor for the Just For Fun section of LifetimeMoms.com.

Feldman is also the co-author of Peeing in Peace: Tales and Tips for Type A Moms (Sourcebooks) and is a contributor to True Mom Confessions (Penguin).  You can read more about her on Rolemommy.com

If you’ve read my other posts you’ll know that my husband recently had surgery for a hernia.  This surgery was done only a month (#$@!) before our pre-existing waiting period was going to be over.  So now the Ins. co. is trying to decide if they should pay it or not.

I’m in a total panic here because the surgery, anesthesia and all that amounts to over $11,000.  That’s money we do not have.  I’m not to blame for all of this but in the end if we have to pay I’m going to be the one partially responsible for it. It’s bad enough we’ll have to pay 10% when my husband is going to be out of work for a few more weeks.

So what I am utterly confused about is the definition for “pre-existing condition”.  Our handbook says this:

Pre-Existing Condition – A condition
(mental or physical) which was present and for
which medical advice, diagnosis, care or
treatment was recommended or received within 6
Months of the period ending on your Enrollment
Date. Pregnancy is not considered a Pre-Existing
Condition. Genetic information may not be used
as a condition in the absence of a diagnosis.

The word “within” which I put in bold is really throwing me off. Can anyone interpret this?

I love reviewing products and holding giveaways, and just as much as I love doing that, I also love to enter them.  I don’t usually blog about other people’s giveaways because I simply don’t have a lot of time. However, I couldn’t resist telling you about some of the great giveaways Mission Mommy has  going on over at her site.  You are going to want to check them all out.  Here’s a small sample, you’ll find many more at her site, so get moving.

FairyTales Brownies Giveaway -   Win the Magic Morsel 24 In it, you’ll receive 6 each of Original, Caramel, Chocolate Chip and Walnut flavor 1.5” x 1.5” bites. Ends September 22, 2009

PUR Flavor Options Pitcher Giveaway -  PUR Flavor Options is the first and only water filtration system to date that allows you to choose unflavored or flavored filtered water.  Win the pitcher and flavorings    Ends September 23, 2009

Pillsbury Ready To Bake Giveaway -  ruler, pencil case, pencil sharpener and a lunch bag for back to school. And,  Pillsbury school bus shaped cookies to celebrate the new school year.   Ends September 24, 2009

Luvs Take A Stand Campaign and Giveaway – One reader will win a one month supply of Luvs diapers. You’ll choose the size and style if you win.  End September 28, 2009

Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® Mayonnaise have teamed up with musician and actor Billy Ray Cyrus to encourage people of all ages to celebrate their favorite childhood ritual of swapping sandwiches.  They’ve come up with a fun and free way for you to help feed our nations hungry.

When you join the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program on Facebook you will help to raise money for Feeding America®, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

For every sandwich created as part of the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program on Facebook.com/hellmanns, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® will donate 7 lunches to Feeding America®.

If that wasn’t great enough, each sandwich created will automatically enter you for a chance to win a $250 grocery store gift certificate.  And for every friend on Facebook that you share your sandwich with, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® will donate an additional 7 lunches to the charity.

A lot of us are going through hard times right now and may not have the resources to help others. This is a great way to help people who need it and have fun at the same time… So go! Now you have no excuses

You may already know that a few months ago I was lucky enough to become a Purex Insider. You can go over there and find my review and face on their site.   I was 1 of only 200 chosen to review their newest product, Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets.  I already had a product that I liked and was commited to, but after checking out the Laundry Sheets I fell in love. You can read why in my original review HERE

Now Purex is giving it’s Insiders a chance to win $500. Whoever has the most unique visits to the url made specifically for them by Purex will win.

I can’t tell you enough how much this would help me out.  $500 is enough money to pay for around at least 6 months of diapers OR maybe even buy a new washing machine.  If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll know that right now I’m using a 15yr old portable machine that regularly loses it’s plug and it’s water all over my floor! For a family living on 1 small income during this horrible economy $500 would help so much.

What’s in it for you?

Well, you can grab a coupon over at the site to try the sheets for yourself. You can then tweet about it directly from their page  for a chance to win free products AND if you have a blog or site you can post their button for a chance to win a years worth of Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets.  You can get extra entries by following them on twitter and on facebook.  CLICK HERE to go directly through using my personal link.

Won’t you help this mom out? I’d really appreciate it.  If you’re feeling extremely kind today won’t you also click the retweet button at the top of this post before you head over there and let all your followers know. Thank-you so much and if you ever need me to return the favor all you have to do is ask

Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you!

to everyone who “voted” for me by clicking my link.  Although I didn’t win, I had fun trying.  I hope I introduced some of you to a great product. If you haven’t already tried the 3-in-1 sheets, you need to do that!

Phew…. although the holidays were made a lot brighter for me this year due to it being my son’s first Christmas I have never been so glad that they were over. I single handedly wrapped all but one gift. That’s 9 people in my husbands family, 5 in mine and then all the gifts for the baby! I delivered a package to the post office in one hand w/ a baby in the other during a blizzard! I attempted to make cookies but failed miserably, and I took down all the decorations with just a little help from my brother. It’s been hectic.

I have to admit that the season was tarnished for me because I was a little annoyed about how much it costs us to send gifts to Europe for a certain members family that won’t even acknowledge my effort or kindness. I sent bday gifts last year a week before I was due and spent a whopping $250 when I could have been spending it on my coming baby and never so much as got a thank-you card or note from the kids and no one even told me if they liked their gifts, so far for Christmas it’s the same situation. Because of the cost of postage ($50 for a small box) my husband and I can’t even exchange gifts so I think next year we’ll have to come up with a new plan. Maybe only the children in that family get something (theres 4 of them! 3 of them we’ve never met) and from now on no birthday gifts, just a card. When we received their gifts from them, there wasn’t anything for my son from the parents, just one of the children. I thought that wasn’t very nice but what can I do. It was the same thing with the card we received. It was addressed to my 9 month old son! Get real… you know? Oh well. I have officially stopped caring.

I’m just going to be the better person and make sure that when my son grows up he knows that it is nice to make an attempt to thank anyone who does something for him. I know Thank-you cards or notes are completely out of style but I still believe in them, especially when both parties live so far away. It’s nice once in a while to have some correspondence that takes a little more effort than pressing the send button if you know what I mean. I’m really glad that at least his grandparents over there still understand and appreciate that.

Anyway! I am glad to say that everyone else thanked us kindly for our gifts.. and both sets of grandparents made it a really wonderful Christmas for my son. Lots of clothes and toys. It was perfect timing because he was still playing with things from when he was a newborn! I’m sure if you have a child and you’re reading this you realize just how expensive toys can get. He now also has lots of pajamas for the coming months.. we should be good until spring arrives. I hope!

The baby has been changing SOOOO much these past few weeks and I have so much to update. I’ll have to get to that later though because theres only so much time during the day. He’s getting into everything these days.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

So you’re thinking about breastfeeding and then someone comes along telling you horror stories, giving bad advice or just making crude comments. What do you do? Ignore them at all costs!

Things I may or may not have experienced myself (In no particular order):

1. Bombard the father-to-be as soon as you find out about the pregnancy with emails about how your child likes to suckle from your breast and how great it is, making sure to include the word breast as many times as you can in your email. Then proclaim how his wife HAS to breastfeed. Guess what? In one ear and out the other, or better yet, straight to the junk mail. Most men will let their significant other decide for themselves when it comes to this.. and he certainly does NOT want to hear explicit details about how great it is from his own relative when he hasn’t even had time to register that his life is about to completely change. Creepy!

2. If you are a nurse, immediately after the baby is born and mom is still traumatized.. ask to help the mother and then squeeeeeze the nipple as hard as you can while telling her “this is how you do it” then proceed to jam babies head into the breast as fast as you can. All the while her friends and family are in the same room and you’re making it their most memorable experience about the birth.

3. Tell the mother that it will be extremely painful at times, you might get chapped nipples or mastitis “like I did!” and have to go to the doctor. You and your baby could even get thrush! But.. it’s the best experience ever. No one likes fearmongering. How about sticking to the good reasons to start with?

4. Tell your significant other “You WILL breastfeed” For a hormonal pregnant woman sometimes threats alone are enough to make you not do something.

5. If you are a nurse and you work with other nurses at the hospital make sure you all give conflicting information. “Oh, baby should have formula if you haven’t produced milk yet”. “It won’t hurt a thing”. “Don’t give baby any formula it will decrease your supply”. Can these people get on the same page for the sake of the mothers frazzled nerves? geez.

To sum it up. If you’re a breastfeeding mom, try to encourage someone. If you don’t know what the word encourage means (which I think a lot of people don’t) then you need to look it up. You don’t encourage someone with horror stories, weird emails, through someone else instead of talking to them directly. Just offer to give help if they need it and ASK before you give too much advice. Too much advice can be just as damaging as not enough.

I’ve thought of many ways to start this new blog over the past few weeks, when today I came upon a touching story on cnn I knew I found my first topic. You can read the story here: Prom king with Down syndrome goes to college.

When I was born my mother was only 19 years old and single. Being so young, it was difficult for her. For many years off and on I lived with my maternal grandparents. One of my mother’s older brothers had down syndrome and he lived with my grandparents. Growing up around someone with down syndrome was interesting to say the least.

When I was young I didn’t really know how different my uncle Fred really was. He used to go to a school for retarded children every day. My grandfather and I would get up and drive him each morning. When we’d arrive at the school all the boys and girls would welcome us with huge smiles and warm greetings. I don’t recall exactly what Fred did at the school because I was so young at the time but I do remember that he used to run the cash register in the cafeteria for a while. He was even able to count the change himself. For many years he also participated in the Special Olympics as well. He had tons of ribbons hanging around his room that he was very proud of.

Fred always had a limited vocabulary but this didn’t stop him from conversing with everyone he knew. He had his own way of speaking. For instance, “goo goo” was chicken. “papa” was dad. I was “baby”. If he wanted to tattle on someone for smoking he would pretend to puff on a cigarette. He liked to tattle. He liked to swear (the result of growing up with brothers who liked to teach him bad things) and he also liked to fight! He had a pair of boxing gloves that he used to wear all the time and punch the air. It was always amusing to watch. I recall one day while up north visiting my Aunt and her family he talked my cousin into boxing with him. He punched her square in the nose so hard it blooded it and she ran off screaming and crying. That’s the day I realized how much strength he had for such a small man. He was only 5’2.

When we were at home Fred loved to play the guitar. He could only strum it but he’d do so for hours, while singing. He also had a harmonica that he loved to play around with. The house was always filled with music. He loved to watch Grand Ole Opry, westerns and The Three Stooges. He’d sit up at night in the wee hours after everyone else had gone to bed and laugh it up all night long. Sometimes he’d put on his Native American clothes and pretend to play cowboys and Indians.

Everyone who knew Fred loved him. He always loved to shake your hand and then hold his out for some cash. He loved collecting one dollar bills. He’d sit in his room for hours counting it and then stashing it away. He never really spent it, only collected it. I remember always being so envious that people were so generous with him. I wanted free money too!

The greatest thing about my Uncle Fred was that if you were sad and upset, even though he could be a mean old bugger he would come over to you, put his arm around you and pat your back.

Once my grandfather died (in a cruel twist of fate I’ll write about some other day) my grandmother had a hard time caring for him. She hadn’t retired yet and worked afternoons. Eventually he went to live with my Uncle down south for a few years where he made tons of new friends and absolutely loved it. My grandma was always so lonely without him. Unfortunately my grandma had a lot of strokes and various other problems that made it difficult for her to watch after him. When she finally convinced my uncle to bring Fred home it wasn’t long after that, that my aunt put him into a nursing home. I didn’t agree with what happened because the nursing home was so far away from my grandma and since she was no longer driving she barely got to visit. It was a very sad time for her.

Eventually Fred’s health deteriorated and hospice was then called in. I was told by my mother that he was in a great deal of pain before he passed and he was crying out. The one thing that touched everyone was that before he died he reached out and said “papa”. It was as if he was joining my grandfather after so many years apart. The thought of it now makes me cry.. but in a happy way, knowing that he was finally at peace and in no more pain.

When I moved back to this home (my grandmother now lives down south) last year when I was pregnant my husband was away working for weeks at a time. I was very lonely. One day while I was taking a nap I am absolutely sure that I heard a harmonica coming from the sound of my Uncle Fred’s room (which is now my office). I quickly awoke and ran to the bedroom. I knew I owned a harmonica but it was packed away, or so I thought. When I looked on my desk, there it was. Now even though I am not a religious person it was then that I knew my Uncle Fred was still here. It made me happy and it made me feel protected. As I sit here now in his room typing this and crying a little I can’t help but wonder if he is touching my shoulder telling me it will be ok.

If you know someone with Down syndrome.. please be kind to them. Don’t call them “retards” and don’t teach your children to say such things. They’re just like you or I, only more innocent. If you get to know them they just may change your view of the world. Don’t ever be ashamed of them. They are capable of just as much love, and probably even more than we are. Raising a child with down syndrome is a life-long commitment. When I was pregnant I worried a lot that I would have a child with down syndrome. I wondered if I’d be able to be as strong as my grandmother was. I don’t know if I could have. I do know one thing though.. and that is, knowing my Uncle Fred taught me a great deal of compassion, patience and love. Even if you could never see yourself in the position to care for someone like this you must respect those who choose to keep their down syndrome baby and raise them, undeterred by all the ignorance in this world. I believe it’s one of the most unselfish acts anyone could ever do.

If you’d like to read more about Down Syndrome, you can do so here:

National Down Syndrome Society

National Association for Down Syndrome

National Down Syndrome Congress – A link for expecting parents.