Super spiffy stroller at Momdot.com

Isn't this stroller a work of art? I want, I want it, I want it! And I'm throwing my name in the hat over at Momdot.com for a chance to win it! Strollermama.com is generously giving this BumbleRide Flyer Stroller to one lucky, lucky momdot reader. If I were you, I'd race over and get in on the action; there are lots of ways to earn lots of entries!

The Party Is Starting Early!

Breaking News From MomDot:
“Hey BlogoSphere! MomDot is so excited about our launch! We had been working hard to get going for August 1st, but with all the amazing support of mom boutiques and mom bloggers, we are ready to get the Party Started! We want you to come every day starting on July 28th with the party ending on August 31st, including prizes daily and feature bloggers, just in time to bang out the end of summer and into the school year. Don’t forget to list your blog for free and connect with other mommies on our forum!”

Be sure to join the party tomorrow and spread the word!

Mandatory Domestic Goddess Attire

Domestic Chicky at The Apronista is holding a giveaway where the winner gets her choice of a gorgeous vintage apron from Rick Rack Attack. There really are a bunch of darling aprons to choose from here, I had such fun scrolling through the site. Do you think this Domestic Goddess vintage apron would help me improve my in-front-of-the-stove skills? Deadline for entries is July 25th, so hurry!

Winner Gets to Choose in Baby Luxe {daily} Contest!

Here's another lovely giveaway from Baby Luxe {daily}. Click over before July 30 and enter to win your choice of anything your heart desires from The Sweet Line. This is a site where you choose your item and whether you want a name or a saying embroidered on this item.; you even get to choose the thread colors you’d like! The stuff here is adorable and I love the cute style of embroidery. I'd customize this short sleeve dress for my Pudding Pie.

Here's Your Chance to scoop up a $100 Gift Certificate

BabyLuxe {daily} is running a scrumptious contest: Tiny Truffles is giving away a $100 gift certificate to one lucky reader! Head over to BabyLuxe {daily} and check out the entry requirements. Oh my, this store has some beeyootiful stuff. This is the object of beauty I'd put that $100 towards:

The Schoenhut Elite Baby Grand Piano

Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce: A Review

This weekend we had the chance to try out The Original Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. And it really is an all-purpose sauce: We had it with chicken nuggets on Friday night, we smothered our burgers in it on Saturday and, this evening, we used it to marinate a London Broil. Each culinary expedition with Country Bob was a success; this sauce is tasty! It added flavor to every meal it accompanied, and we happily give it a firm thumbs up.

Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce has been tantalizing tastebuds since 1968, and those who try the sauce tend to remain loyal users. It's easy to see why; this steak sauce will add a sweet, tangy zing to any meal you choose to enjoy it with.

The Country Bob products include:
• All Purpose Sauce
• Spicy All Purpose
• Seasoning Salt
• Barbeque Sauce

Shop online here, or find a store here.

Sign up for their newsletter and the folks at Country Bob's will send you a coupon for a FREE bottle of their original All Purpose Sauce.

Awesome double stroller giveaway at LaLaGirl

Need a double stroller? Zoom over to LaLaGirl and enter to win a wonderful Trevi Twin Double Stroller from Chicco. The stroller retails for $219.00 and can be used for your little ones from birth all the way up to 40 lbs - awesome! Contest ends July 31st.

New mom blog site is brewing . . .

There's a new mommy blogger site brewing . . . Come August 1st, MomDot.com is going to officially be a fantastic place for mom bloggers to come together! To celebrate the launch, they're holding a month long launch party, with oodles of delicious prizes up for grabs. You don't want to miss out on this, so get over there, get listed and join the fun at MomDot.com!

You'll Flip for this one

This is a good one! Heather at A Daycare Life is holding a fabulous contest: She's giving away a Flip Video Camcorder! These little guys are too cool and so very user-friendly, they even come with batteries included. Enter Heather's contest before August 1st.

This girl loves her veggies and fruit

One of Pudding Pie's all time favorite foods is peas, and broccoli skids in a close second. She also loves her tomatoes, carrots, green beans and corn on the cob.

When it comes to fruit she's equally enthusiastic. While stopping by Tar-jay today we picked up some strawberries and she was quite beside herself when I said she'd have to wait until we got home before she could have at 'em. She happily chomps her way through bananas, apples, mangoes, peaches, pears, grapes, kiwis, the list goes on . . .

No one's told her that kids aren't supposed to be so crazy for their veggies or fruit, and for this I am grateful. I imagine there will come a time when she isn't such an ardent fruit and veggie lover, but right now I'm enjoying feeding my little health nut!

BabyLuxe {daily} is having an anniversary giveaway!

Hop and skip over to BabyLuxe {daily} and wish Sarah a happy one year blog anniversary. Post your thoughts on the question she's asking her readers and on her 'Top 5' baby products, and enter her scrumptious giveaway! Contest ends July 24th.

Snag a pair of Riley Roo Shoes for your little one

Do stop by A Simple Review if you are as obsessed as I am with finding neat shoes for your little one. They're holding a giveaway for a pair of adorable RileyRoos from Rosie Toesies, and you get to choose the pair you'd like! I am leaning heavily toward the Chessie White style, pictured below, a perfect summer pair for Pudding Pie! Giveaway ends July 21st.

Pudding Pie's day has been completely out of sync. This morning, we raced around getting ready for a playdate then, at the very last moment, it had to be cancelled and we found ourselves at a loose end. After that, I couldn't seem to get my act together and we waffled the day away doing nothing in particular. I am now paying for our low-key and somewhat lethargic day: Pudding Pie has been bored, restless and irritable; she's gone to bed way too early; she's probably going to wake up just as I'm ready to bed down for the night - and I have only myself to blame - ahh! I hate these days when I'm a slob mom. Tomorrow will be better Pudding Pie, I promise!

Sand Baby
This is poor, unstimulated Pudding Pie during more energetic times this past weekend, partying at her favorite place - the park.

Ice Cream Cyber Social: Some fun facts!

As part of the fun during the Ice Cream Social that Christine is hosting over at From Dates to Diapers, I'm tossing out these fun facts about ice cream:)

• The largest ice cream sundae in the world weighed 54,914 pounds. It was made in Alberta, Canada, in 1988 - by Palm Dairies Ltd.
• An ice cream shop in Venezuela, Helados Coromoto, is named in the Guinness book of World Records as serving the most flavors - 550!

Piñata Pinafore giveaway

Kathleen over at Grosgrain has created this most adorable vintage-style Piñata Pinafore and people, this is the sweetest oufit ever. For me, there is just nothing cuter than a little one wearing big frilly bloomers sticking out from underneath a puffy little frock. Kathleen, you have outdone yourself! Here's the good news: She's giving it away! Visit her site and get in on the fun!

Saturday Morning

'On the phone'

Well, here we are at Saturday again. I'm always amazed at how quickly the week rolls by. I entered domestic divahood for a brief moment this morning when I made homemade Oatmeal and Applesauce pancakes for Pudding Pie - and I was rewarded for my efforts because she scarfed 'em up - most gratifying! I love it when a culinary expedition is not in vain. Pudding Pie now sits on my lap and attempts to staple a receipt with my itty bitty stapler while I type over the top of her head. We're about to head to the park so she can wear her little self out playing in the sand, then splashing in the sprinklers. I'm readying myself for a few hours of sticky, sweltering heat . . .

Beautiful Shoes For Your Little One

Andrea at The Laughs Will Go On is hosting a most excellent contest. Visit her blog before July 18th and check it out: See Kai Run is giving away your choice of their darling kids shoes/sandals. These shoes are truly cute, I'm conjuring up all my good karma for this one! Pudding Pie would look even more precious than usual in the Emilie style pictured below. Don't miss this one!

Cyber Baby Shower!

I've just been over at Mamanista and they're holding a cyber baby shower for Candace. Come join the fun and leave a snippet of advice for the expectant mum! If you'd like to be eligible for some of the fabulous door prizes, be sure to join Mamanista's bloggy party before July 17th!

My inspirational story: I was in my very late 30's and resigned to the fact that I'd never be a mom when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. She changed my life; she's not yet two, but she's taught me that life is unbearably precious and every sweet moment should be savored.
I worked until the day I went into labor. On that day I walked around feeling so uncomfortable, I had terrible back pain, but I refused to attribute it to labor because I was still eleven days away from my due date . . .

At the end of the day I left work and drove a very uncomfortable 60 miles home, where I was supposed to pack for a planned road trip to visit friends in a city three and a half hours away. Problem was, every few minutes my feeling of discomfort turned to body-rocking pain and I couldn't get anything done. It began to dawn on me that this could be labor (finally!). I called my husband but he was as much in denial as I was and he suggested false labor symptoms. I told him there was nothing false about the way I was feeling and he'd better get home!

After that, things were a blur. Myhusband got home, timed my contractions, called the hospital and said we were on our way!

I was 5-6cm dilated when we got to the hospital and, the way things were going, we didn't think it would be long before our daughter arrived. But after that my daughter took her time. In fact, she decided that the trip down the birth canal was not the way to go after all and around 5:30am the following morning, she was quickly hauled out via c-section.

I had always liked my OB-GYN, but after the birth of my daughter, she was elevated to the status of goddess. She was a calm, comforting, friend through everything: during labor, when things became problematic and finally during the c-section. What a gal!

Fabulous Nest:
Our place has just the one bedroom, so we're all in together! My daughter's 'nest' is on the one side of the room. You can see the edge of the 'big bed' in the pics (lol!). When I was pregnant, to compensate myself for not getting to decorate a nursery for her, I went out and bought the prettiest (priciest) bedding I could find: Pottery Barn 'French Rose' - isn't it lovely?!
PS: The furry beast under the toy table also resides in this bedroom . . . !





Worst Advice I've Ever Received:
I have three snippets to share:

"If I were you, I'd feed her formula, it's just as good - and much more convenient"
This when I was just learning to breastfeed and was tired, sore and actually quite proud of myself for sticking with it!

"Let her cry it out, she needs to know who is boss"
This when my daughter was not yet 6 weeks old . . .

"You need to start her on solids at one month." In defense of this advice-giver, she proved to me that a doctor had indeed given her this advice when her children were a month old (I saw the doctor's script), but that was forty plus years ago and we know better now!

Mom Generations launches with a huge giveaway!

Pinks and Blues is now Mom Generations and, to celebrate their big name change, they're having a huge giveaway! One lucky person will walk away with a grand prize package valued at almost $400.00 and four other winners will each win a nice stash of Johnson's Baby Products! Visit Mom Generations and enter to win one of these five fab prizes!

A very fancy giveaway

Pink With Sparkles is hosting a particularly fabulous giveaway. Up for grabs: A $100 gift certificate to My Fancy Princess! My Fancy Princess is an online boutique that is home to, among other things, the most adorable dress up clothes . I loved browsing through this site and I fell in love with this Wings of Grace porcelain tea set, isn't it darling?

This is what you need to do to get in on the action:

Get the word out about this contest - post about it, blog about it ! Then head over to Pink With Sparkles and comment on what you've done. For two entries, sign up for the My Fancy Princess mailing list (this will also get you regular email coupon codes). For three entries, blog about this. Good luck to ya!

I am one lucky duck! Yes, the winner of the Graco Pack 'n Play from From Dates to Diapers is moi! I am so thrilled! I told my little Pudding Pie all about what we have coming in the mail and, although I'm quite sure she didn't get a word of it, she cottoned on to my excitement and nodded her head enthusastically - Life is so good today:)

Grosgrain: Ice Cream Social Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Yet another darling offering from Kathleen at Grosgrain, this mom has more than her share of sewing talent, it's not fair! - And the rate at which she whips her stuff out is mind boggling! Lucky for us, she's sharing the love. Enter before Monday for a chance to win this polka dot creation with a bright green ribbon.

This dress is just darling

Another giveaway at Grosgrain! This exquisite rick-rack pinafore is up for grabs and you have until Friday to enter for a chance to win. Is it not just too darling and don't you wish you had this talent?!

Something small and so, so sweet

Talented Kathleen over at Grosgrain is hosting her first raffle post and she's giving away this tres delightful Strawberry Quart Caplet! How can you resist? Do hurry and sign up because the giveaway ends today! Click here!