With Earth Month starting tomorrow, I wanted to get a general idea on what people were doing to green their lifestyles. Just recently I participated in Earth Hour, which was an event held all over the world with a designated hour to turn off all the lights. We went a step further and did not use electricity, except for our refrigerators.  Although it was complete darkness and my daughter claimed she saw monsters, all in all, it was nice to sit back, relax, and support a great cause.

In April,  I will be bringing to you some amazing green products, as well as writing about some of my “green” moments.  I would love for you to comment and take my poll.  It’s always great to hear and see what others are doing to help our Earth thrive.

I think the perfect diaper for any parent, are ones that you don’t have to constantly change, ones that keep your baby smiling for hours, and ones that don’t leak.  Need I say more, Pampers with Dry Max to the rescue!

With these diapers, I did not know what to expect, since I have been exclusively using cloth diapers with biodegrable inserts (for various reasons) for my baby.  Initially, we had used disposable diapers for the first month of the baby’s life, but switched over to cloth diapers, and have not touched them since.

Even before I started to test these diapers, I had some reservations about them.  Would they leak? Would poop squirt out all over the back? Are we going to deal with another bad diaper rash?  Will my baby want frequent changes from discomfort?  These were all legitimate questions to ask and probably what most parents think about when purchasing their next diaper, besides cost.

To all those questions, I am happy to report: No, no, no, and no.  I was very pleased as to how the diaper held up and like its name “Drymax,” it really stayed dried.  After each change, I literally felt the inside of the diaper and pressed on it, and the diaper’s inner linings were completely dry (with the exception of a poopie diaper).  My baby was so content and comfortable, I literally had to check the heaviness of the diaper, for me to give her a change.  The diaper had great absorbancy, so no leaks or messes to deal with.  What’s more exciting was that my baby was diaper-rash free (thank goodness).

Pampers definitely hit the mark (the right mark) with their diapers with Dry Max.  It’s like when Nike came out with their Air Max, it started a new sneaker revolution.  I definitely look forward to a new and improved diaper revolution!

The diapers fit well, had great absorbancy, no weird fragrances to sniff, and most importantly, kept my baby dry!  I wish these were around will my older child.  I would have been free of all the mess I had to deal with, that probably took a couple years off my life.

The Pampers Diapers w/ Dry Max also won the PTPA Stamp of Approval for the Spring Campaign!

Pampers has offered not one, but two of my readers the chance to win a pack of their new Cruisers or Swaddlers with Dry Max, plus a limited edition Liz Lange diaper clutch. The clutch retails for $50 and is 100% polyester with a genuine leather trim.  So in order to enter (mandatory), leave a comment telling us how this new diaper could help you!

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Giveaway ends April 4th, 2010 at 11:59pm PST. Please make sure you leave a valid email address so that we can notify the winner. We will notify the winner, and the winner has 48 hours to respond. If the winner fails to respond within that time period, we will choose a new winner.

Thanks and Good Luck to all my readers!

It’s Spring time and I don’t know about you, but about this time, I love to clean out my closets, reorganize everything, donate unused items, and do some heavy duty cleaning from the inside out.  It’s almost like nesting, but after having the baby.

My baby has now hit the 8 month mark, so now I can put away or pass on clothes that are all in the newborn stages to 6 months and put some unused items in a pile to take over to new mothers.  I can also tackle on my closet to go back to it’s pre-pregnancy days, long before maternity clothing started to slowly make its way into my wardrobe collection.

While reorganizing, moving things around, and gathering items to donate are pretty simple tasks, one thing I dread the most is trying to clean the dust particles, hair, and other miscellaneous stuff off the floor.  If I sweep up the floor with a broom and dust pan, I still see stuff flying around, and I feel that I have done more harm than good.

Our whole place is gleaming with hardwood floors, besides the kitchen and bathroom, which have vintage tiling from the twenties (which I love).  In order to clean the floors, my mother purchased a floor steamer for us.  The steamer is suppose to kill all the bacteria because of the level of heat which it produces.  However, unless we pick up all the dust and particles off the floor, it just becomes one big mess.

I used the above model which is GGU350

In order to pick up the particles, I used the Germ Guardian 2-in-1 Upright & Canister Vac.  It was very easy to setup and use.  In order to pick up everything off the floor, I had it laying flat and I just let it follow my lead.  After my first use, I was very satisfied because it did not miss a thing and picked up everything, even the most itt-bitty teensy-weensy particle.  Walking on the floor after vaccuming was refreshing because I did not feel anything rough or anything attaching itself to the bottoms of my feet.

There are so many notable features to this vacuum, but there are some that stood out to me as a consumer.  The 2-in-1 design gives you the option to clean on carpet or bare floors.  Having children, the Silver Clean technology fights the growth of odor-causing bacteria and mold, and the HEPA filter captures up to 99.97% of dust and allergens.  I liked the fact that it was bagless, so when the dirt cup was full, I just pressed a button and removed the dirt into the trash.  For more information and a list of features and benefits, please refer to the site.

Using the Germ Guardian 2-in-1 Vac for my Spring cleaning helped me tremendously.  I was able to get order back into my life and manage to clean the floors in less than 30 minutes (something that would have taken me up to an hour before).  The suction power was impressive and left my place dirt and dust-free! 

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the product.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

I remember going to a mall when my baby was about a month old and this nice looking grandmother reached into the stroller to touch my baby.  At the time, it was so abrupt and unexpected, we were caught off guard.  After she had touched the baby, she had started to cough really hard (I could hear the phlegm in her throat), and then proceeded to try to reach towards my baby again.  At the time, my mother in law was with me and she strolled away as fast as she could.

The fact of the matter is that you have a cute baby and people want to touch, look at, play with them.  But as parents, we want to create boundaries, especially with strangers.  When someone reaches at your baby, it’s one of those uncomfortable moments.  Within a matter of seconds, depending on your comment, you can become the mean parent or the concerned parent.  Of course you want to be polite, but you also want to stand up for your baby.

When I received My Hands Are Clean, Are Yours? sign as a gift, it was a simple solution to those uncomfortable situations.  I snapped it on my stroller and it was visible to every person who came near our stroller.  When we went to one of our hospital visits, the nurse came in and saw the sign, and loved the idea.  She also had a baby herself and told me that she couldn’t stand people who grabbed her baby like it was their own.  Moreover, one day I was in an elevator with a lady who was about to touch my daughter’s cheek, and she stopped herself after looking at the sign.  I love having the sign because it stops people from touching my baby and I don’t have to be the mean mommy who says, “Please don’t touch the baby!”

(Disclosure: This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

I really never thought about Strep until I got it over the weekend.  Some of my symptoms included: Body aches, muscle soarness, headaches, high fever, body chills, and major throat pain.  What stood out the most was my throat pain.  I was in so much pain, I couldn’t even swallow water.  Every time I tried to swallow, I felt as if my ears would burst open, and my throat would close up.  The level of pain was indescribable.

When I went into Urgent Care, a lot of people were there for flu-like symptoms.  I too, had flu-like symptoms, but my throat was in so much pain, I had money on me having Strep Throat.  Even with all bets set, I still didn’t know what Strep Throat was.  I heard of it, and heard of other people getting it, but I never knew what it really was. 

The nurse went to swab my throat and his first reaction was, “eww.”  He said that it was extremely swollen and red.  After a couple minutes, the stick positively confirmed that I had Step.  My doctor prescribed me some antibiotics to take (ones that I could take while nusing my baby) and told me to keep a watch on my throat to make sure that it didn’t get worse because it could become life-threatening.

When I went home, I looked up Strep Throat. Strep throat is caused by Group A Streptococcus bacteria. It is the most common bacterial infection of the throat.  Some of the symptoms include: Difficulty in Swallowing, fever that begins suddenly, loss of appetite, nausea, rash, red throat (sometimes with white patches), sore throat, and tender lymph nodes.  Other symptoms associated with this disease are: Abnormal taste, headache, joint stiffness, muscle pain, nasal congestion, nasal discharge, and neck pain.

A lot of symptoms can go hand in hand with other diseases, so sometimes its hard to know what you really have.  For me, my throat hurt so much I knew it had to do with something in my throat, ears, or nose.  I think most people want to know how you can get Strep.  You can get it from person-to-person contact.  Usually, the infection is spread with nasal secretions or saliva, often times among family or household members.

One way to prevent Strep is to get a new toothbrush after you are in the clear of passing on the infection.  The bacteria can live in the toothbrush and can re-infect you when the antibiotics are done.  Moreover, it’s also good to keep all the family’s toothbrushes separate, unless they have been washed.

Strep Throat is very uncomfortable.  For me, it was beyond painful, and made me want to sleep all day long.  Not being able to swallow anything, even water, I was completely lethargic and had zero energy.  If you ever suspect that you or your child has Strep, make sure you go to the doctor to get it treated because the more you wait, the worse it gets!

We all know that we live in an age where we are constantly on the move and we stay connected through our mobile phones.  Whether we need to make calls to the pre-school, take part in a conference call, check email, surf the web, tweet a little, or facebook, it’s all at the palms of our hands, anywhere and everywhere we go.

Living in a society that is globally connected through a piece of device, how do we make sure that this mobile movement will be safer, rather than being sorry.  With people being on the phone all the time, especially in their car, since it’s usually a downtime to connect with loved ones, or taking a last second business call on the road, there are so many hazards involved.  I’ve seen them first hand.  My husband was side swiped and rear ended, in a month time-span because each driver was either texting on the highway, or holding onto their mobile phone while doing a lane change.  Sounds crazy, right?  The fact of the matter is that it happens everyday and probably almost every minute of the day in this world.  So how do we make sure that we keep it safe?

Safety is more important then any device or call made in this world.  While your own safety is top priority, other people’s safety is as equally important.  Being a parent has made me become more cautious than ever because I am responsible for my children’s safety as well. 

After another car almost hit me, as the driver was clearly engaged in a conversation, I decided that I had to get some sort of hands-free device for my car. I hate the ear buds that came with my Blackberry, as they break after a month of use (I’ve bought it 2 more times, same thing happened), and I also purchased a high-end Bluetooth earpiece that hurt my ear so much, I could no longer bare the pain.  For a couple months, I literally stuck my phone in my bra, and called it a day (it’s hands-free).

One day, my phone in my bra completely went down my shirt and I was like, okay, time to get a bluetooth for my car.  So after looking through multiple sites, I came across a little gem of a bird named Parrot.  From the Parrot line, the Parrot Minikit Slim was perfect for me and my lifestyle.  It was sleek and lighweight which made it visually appealing and practical.  It was so easy to use, as you just had to charge it, turn it on, stick it on your sun-visor, and use it. 

I was so excited to use the Parrot Minikit Slim, I literally called everyone on my phonebook to test it out.  The sound quality was perfect and you could adjust the sound to make it right for you.  Also, when my friends called in, the phone would say my friend’s name, and with the right pronuncation.  It was amazing and I named the gal on the my Parrot, Sheena (she sounds like a Sheena)!  If you want to go back to your phone to speak, you can press the button on the hands-free and it will transfer the call back to the phone.  It’s just so simple to use!

I think the Parrot Minikit Slim is perfect for anyone who is looking for a no fuss hands-free Bluetooth for their car.  It’s attractive, has nice sound quality, and super easy to use.  At the price of $99, it’s definitely worth it!  Plus, I use it to talk to my friends when I am in the bathtub, it’s just the ideal bluetooth for me.

For more technical specs and information go here.

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the product.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

Perfect for the eco-beauty-gal, or just about anyone who uses or wants to use cotton rounds. Better for Grownups Organic Cotton Reusable Face Rounds are more luxurious than any store bought cotton rounds I’ve ever used, and even better, they don’t contribute to the ever-growing landfills.  You merely wash them like your cloth diapers and use them, re-use them, over and over again!  I don’t know about you, but that sounds like heaven to me.

As I get older and more wiser, I have come to appreciate the environment more and therefore have made a conscious effort to preserve it.  Personally, I choose not to use cotton rounds or even cotton balls for that matter because I try to dispose as less as possible.  Everything we do, the choices we make, how we live our lives directly impact our environment and ultimately our entire earth.

With the little make-up I do wear (very limited), I use my fingers in place of any cotton rounds, sponges, or beauty utensils.  However, with anything in life, you want to be able to have options.  Better for Grown Ups face rounds, let’s you do the regular things in life, with a happy environmental twist to it.

Obviously, the eco-friendly aspect to the cotton rounds caught my attention first, however after trying these cotton rounds, it offered way more. They were super soft, super absorbant, and super healthy!  Made of two layers of organic, fair trade cotton velour, they were silky soft and chemical-free. 

Since the rounds were organic and chemical-free, I loved using them on my own children (for a variety of reasons).  Like any product I believe in, it felt good to have confidence in the product I was using (especially on my children). 

They come in a reloadable dispensing box which contains 20 rounds and a little bag for washing.  At the price tag of $24.50, it may be a lot pricier than your local store bought disposable cotton rounds, but it will save you money in the long run, and also save the earth!

If you want to feel good inside and out (reduce your carbon footprint), these re-usable cotton rounds would definitely be the way to go!

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the product.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

I do.  When I am making weird odd noises, contorting my face into different facial expressions, and doing my own version of Cirque de Soleil, I wonder what goes on in my baby’s mind.  Is she really liking it or is she laughing at me because she thinks I’m a freak show?  For all that I do, and I do A LOT, I want to be able to see things from my baby’s perspective.

Look no further, Just Ask Baby gives you just that.  It’s an online video membership service that let’s us parents, take a glimpse into our baby’s world at different months (from birth to age one) or developmental stages (perceptual, cognitive, and social development) and use that tool to help us nurture our own baby’s full developmental potential.  Why did I not come up with this first?

The second you log on, right before your eyes, the categories are divided by your child’s senses.  The videos are divided by age (in this case months), so you can see what your baby is currently like, or take a peak into his or her near future. With these videos, I learned so many things and got answers for things that I never even questioned, as I thought that it was a form of rebellion.  I never knew that a baby throwing toys on the floor was a form of developing ideas. To see the science behind the child’s actions was very refreshing and educational.

Even though these videos were science-based, they were not educational in the boring sense.  They kept me engaged and was informational in a fun way. I loved seeing the baby’s viewpoint of the mom and dad, and even the little detail of the baby blinking the eyes, made it so much more real.

The monthly membership cost is $9.95 and if you sign up for longer periods, you get some great discounts.  You can also get a free trial membership to test it out.  Jusk Ask Baby is also a great baby shower gift and just to let you know, it recently won the PTPA stamp of approval!

(Disclosure: I received no monetary compensation for this review and used their free trial membership.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

I love Spring because my oldest daughter was born on the first day of Spring.  It reminds me about my first experience as a mother, giving birth, and going through some life changing events.  When I was a first time mother (I still feel that with my second child), it was hard to keep up with all the products that were out there.  I wanted the best for my child and did as much research before I purchased any products.  You want to be aware and conscious about your choices.

Being part of the PTPA Panel of Moms, let’s me share my honest opinions and comments about child-family related products out there, and I love doing it.  So Spring is finally here and so is the PTPA Spring Campaign Winners.  I actually had the opportunity to test some of the products and couldn’t tell you how great they were.

Some of the winners include:

Just Ask Baby : Great innovative site that shows “you the parent” parenting from your baby’s perspective.  Just like the movie “Look Who’s Talking,” you see things from your baby’s perspective and also see how they develop and think.  I find it fascinating and even funny!

The SodaStream System: We are proud owners of this unit and can’t say how much we love it.  My daughter loves making soda at home and it also teaches her about being green and eco-friendly. 

Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max: While we use our Grobaby Cloth diapers (also a PTPA winner!) religiously, I found that the Pampers with Dry Max is a great new item.  It takes disposable diapers to another level.  Like it’s name, it keeps your baby dry and in turn, you have a happy content baby. 

For a full list of winners please go here.  Also, if any of you are interested in becoming  an evaluator, please sign up at PTPA.  You will get to evaluate a whole range of products and give your honest feedback.  What makes PTPA special is that parents like you and I give our seal of approval (Parent Tested Parent Approved)!