Five years ago when we moved into our place, I thought I wanted a French country theme in our dining area.  So I went to a furniture store and bought pieces that went along with my interpretation of what a French country style (royal with a hint of shabby chic) would be like.  Although it was very luxurious and everything I had imagined, the dining set was massive and it was not practical for our budding family.

Flash forward to today and things are very different.  I have two children and everything has to be simple, clean, and child friendly.  What was my inspiration this time around?  My daughter’s Svan High Chair.  It’s very modern-sleek and almost something that you would see in an Eames inspired room (very mid-century modern).

Once I knew what sort of style scheme I was going for, I looked to find examples of the dining room I was envisioning.  The whole process took about 2 weeks from start to finish.  During that period, I had to match wood tones, test out chairs for comfortability, and made sure I wasn’t sacrificing taste in order to stay on a budget.  So how did it turn out?  Fabulous for my family!

(Disclosure: This post is in conjuction with a review I will be doing for CSN Stores.  CSN will be providing me with a $40 promotional code to use towards a larger purchase for my future review.)

As usual, I was picking my daughter up from preschool and she did her usual skippity hop towards me.  However, this time she waved at her friend, looked at me, and then pointed her fingers at her.  I looked at her friend, smiled, and proceeded to grab her bags to head home.  My daughter stopped me in mid-transit and said, “Mommy I want her dress and her sandals.”

I stopped, looked, and smiled again.  She was wearing a very cute red dress with green sandals.  My daughter proceeded to tap me and say, “Mommy can I have it. Please. Please. I will share all my toys!”  Hmm…I have been trying everything  and anything to teach my daughter that sharing with her baby sister is a wonderful thing, so we may have a deal.

I asked her friend where she got her dress, Mexico (go figure), and her sandals were bought at some store.  So I thought the odds of finding the sandals would be better than going to Mexico and trying to find a red dress that was purchased by some street vendor.

After a long day of begging, I decided to go online and go to every popular merchant’s site.  I looked everywhere from Amazon.com to Target.  Where did I hit jackpot? GapKids.  Thank Goodness (well not really).  I tried to put my daughter’s size into the cart and they were all out.  So then I called every GapKids store within a ten mile radius and found one that had exactly one sandal in my daughter’s size.

What did I do?  I literally drove cross town to get those suckers in Los Angeles rush hour traffic (which means driving at about 2 mph).  Once I got there, the sales associate said that they were out. No way!  I did not go that far to come out with nothing.  I asked her nicely if she could check in the back.  I thought she would say no because she looked like she was having one of the days (possibly PMS).  However, her manager was around the corner, so she had no choice.  About 5 minutes later, she walked towards me with the green sandals that my daughter was dying to have.

I quickly purchased them and drove back to pick my daughter up from preschool.  When I arrived, it was everything that I had imagined and even more.  My daughter screamed, kissed her sandals, kissed me, told me I was the best mom in the entire world, and told her baby sister not to touch it.

It reminded me of when I was a couple years older than her and Keds were such an “in” thing.  Every girl from my school had to have them and the real ones (you know the blue tags on the back), not the generic copies that were sold at Kmart or Venture (do you remember that store?).  After exhaustingly begging for them, I got one.  It was probably one of the best moments of my life (well, that’s how I felt at 9 years old).

When my daughter begged me, it brought me back to my childhood, and I could totally relate.  That same feeling prompted me to find the sandals and ultimately buy them.  I did have moments of, “Am I spoiling her?”  In the end, I wished that I would’ve saved the sandals, as a positive reinforcement, when she started sharing with her sister.  Everything happens for a reason and it’s definitely a lesson learned!

A couple weeks ago, after we had come back from our two week vacation, my kids were struck with everything under the sun.  My baby woke up crying with a really high fever (103.5 to be exact) and my older one woke at the same time with a really really high fever (105.5-106).  As a parent, you want to make things better for them and also find out the root of the problem.  After trying to lower the fever for a good 24 hours and being unsuccessful, we took both of our children into Urgent Care.

Sometimes I don’t like to take my children to the ER or Urgent Care because I leave there feeling like they didn’t really solve anything.  Of course, the nurse was really shocked to see how high the temperature was with both of my kids, and asked me a whole bunch of questions, but they could not answer any of my questions.  My older daughter kept complaining about her throat, so immediately I thought it could possibly be Strep, and notified the nurse about that.  After the on call doctor examined her, he diagnosed her with an ear infection and could not explain what was wrong with the baby.   He prescribed antibiotics for both of them.

Two full days into the antibiotics, both my children’s fever did not change.  Usually by day two, it should have kicked in and the fever should have dropped.  I called Urgent Care to ask them what I could do and they told me to take them to the ER.  Being highly frustrated, I tweeted about ear infection and natural alternatives, and got a really great tweet from Ear Doc.  After checking out their website, I had to try it out for myself.

Ear Doc is a non-invasive device that treats the problem and not the symptom.  The device is used for a variety of ear related issues such as swimmers ear, trapped fluids and gas in the middle ear, eustachian tube dysfunction, and any earache related problem.  At first, I was a little skeptical because the testimonials were very high praise and there was a lot of fluffy reviews.  As I read more and more into it, especially hearing stories of parents foregoing ear tube surgery because they had used the Ear Doc, I wanted to try it out and tell my friends about it.

By the time I received the Ear Doc, both my children had gotten better from whatever they had, but I tried it out on myself because I had been dealing with some on and off ear pain.  After using it a couple times, I could definitely feel a little of the pain getting better, and oddly I could hear better as well.  For any parent dealing with an ear related issue, whether it’s from swimming on a daily basis or to contemplating ear tube surgery, I would definitely try this safe alternative before making any huge decision.

I am glad to have this device right next to my homeopathic remedies.  When my kids have anything ear related (ear infections), in the future, I will definitely be using it on their ears.  For now, they think it’s a fun toy that buzzes.  The Ear Doc is super easy to use, painless, and compact in size (you can carry it around in your purse).  I always love finding out about alternative options and this one is definitely an option to have in our medicine cabinet.

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge to test 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.)

What do you get someone for a birthday, graduation, birth of a baby, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or any other special day?  Whenever a special occasion comes up, I usually order flowers or some sort of gift basket online.  The last two times I ordered a flower and gift basket, it was through ProFlowers.com.  The reason I ordered through them was that they had great deals (too good to pass up) advertised both online and on the radio. 

From my experience, all my gift recipients were very happy with their gifts, but I never got the low-down, or shall I say a detailed experience about their gifts.  So when I had the opportunity to receive my very own ProFlowers gift, I was pretty excited.  The idea of receiving something was very special because I’m always the one who gives, gives, and gives (don’t get me wrong, I love giving).

I chose to receive the Hibiscus Bonsai which is a great outdoor plant to have.  According to my mom, it’s not a difficult plant to take care of as long as you water it on a daily basis (to some people that could be a difficult task).  I have my 4 year old who aspires to be the best gardener a 4-year old can be.  So although, I have a hard time watering my plants, my daughter is great at doing that for me.

I received the plant in a big and long box.  At first, I was surprised at the size of the box because I was expecting a plant that was much smaller in size (the description said “dwarf” and approximately 12-14″ tall).  However, once I opened the box, I was impressed.  The plant was packed a specific way so that it would be perfect when delivered.  Everything was intact and not even a little piece of soil got out.  I loved that the box was labeled “Live Plant” to indicate to the delivery service to be very careful (FedEx & UPS has the tendency to throw things around).

Once I took it out of the box and removed the packaging, the plant looked very fresh.  There were no hibiscus flowers blooming yet, but the bulbs were present and I could see flowers coming in very soon.  The glazed ceramic bonsai container was perfect in size and color. 

After experiencing first class packaging, prompt delivery service, and top of the line product, it’s good to know what my friends, parents, and relatives are experiencing when they get their gift baskets and or flowers.  My daughters and I are excited to see how “Bella” (the name for our new bonsai) is going to blossom in the coming months. The hibiscus bonsai makes another great addition to our mini garden on our balcony!

(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)

My daughter is a princess and I don’t say that just because she likes to dress up in ballgowns, crystal heels, and matching accessories for all of her outfits.  She is a princess (well not royalty, although we do have royal blood in the family).  From the time she was born, she had princess mannerisms and she continues to do so.

What does every princess need to complete her princess life?  Princess furniture.  When I was watching the movie Marie Antoinette, all I could see was the fabulous beds, armoires, side chairs, and tables.  They looked like they were made out of the finest gold and silver a franc could buy.  So what was my princess missing in her princess room?  You guessed it, princess furniture.

When I was presented with an opportunity to review some fabulous furniture, I had to check to see if they had princess furniture, and of course they did!  Finally, the icing on the cake for my daughter and her imaginery luxury lifestyle coming to fruition.  If you knew my daughter, you would know that this would be more important for her than meeting the Queen, and I mean the real one.

So after sifting through Guidecraft’s online catalogue, I decided to review the Swan Lake Table & Chair Set.  The design which included tiaras, ballet slippers, and a princess theme, immediately got my attention.  The table and chairs are hand-carved and hand-painted, which definitely gives it the custom luxury appeal to it.

All the pieces that came in the box for assembly.

The second time around went really smooth (although, I did get the evil eye from my same UPS man).  It was like spreading butter on a warm piece of bread.  I laid out everything and followed the instruction page, step by step, and had chairs and a table within 30 minutes.  I must stress that you have to follow the instructions.  There is no, “This goes with that, and that goes there.”  Nope. Nada.  When a company makes an instruction page, there is a reason, so you have to follow the instructions for it to go smoothly.  My husband is a “wing-it” kind of guy, so I assembled everything when he was at work.  It saved me from any late night wars with him!

The finished piece all settled into my daughter's play area.

The finished product?  Exquisite.  It was made to fit my little princess.  All I can say is that the chairs and tables have been getting a lot of attention from my daughter, and her old cinderella table and chair set has taken a back seat.  She told me to give it to her little sister and trust me, she doesn’t even want to give her old teething ring to her sister, so this was huge!

My suddenly shy daughter looking away as I take her picture.

I love that the table makes my daughter feel special.  The fine detailing, the pink and sage green color, and the design makes me want to go back to my own princess days.  The quality and craftmanship are superior and it makes sense that Guidecraft has been around for 46 years.  Not only are the table and chairs very adorable, they are functional, durable, and easy to maintain (can I say, a parent’s dream).  Even after a couple mishaps, Guidecraft’s table and chairs exceeded my expectations on my many levels.

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge to test 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.)

****UPDATED: GIVEAWAY HAS CONCLUDED.  PLEASE NO MORE ENTRIES****

FOR THE GIVEAWAY

If you would like to have a chance at winning your very own Swan Lake Table & Chair Set you must (mandatory) visit Guidecraft and leave a comment here telling me something else you would like to have.

For Extra entries (please make every entry separate even if you comment on multiple posts):

• Follow @Guidecraft on Twitter
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• Tweet about the giveaway and link back (unlimited entries)

Giveaway ended July 20th, 2010 at 7:00 pm 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. Open to US residents only.

So what do you do when you haven’t seen Aunt Flow in almost 2 years?  Cry?  Laugh?  Jump for joy?  Or roll your eyes?  For me, I rolled my eyes over and over again.  Being pregnant for exactly 10 months and nursing my baby (around the clock) for almost a year, had me in the clear for almost 2 years. 

Recently, my nursing schedule changed drastically.  While I still nursed my baby 3 or 4 times a day, I stopped doing the round the clock nursing because I started a full-time job.  The first week I started training for my job, I thought I was going to die from engorgement.  What was I thinking?

If I was a sane mother who wanted an easier physical transition, I should have planned this transition to be a gradual process.  However, I love to make things super tough on myself, so there was no planning involved.  I just thought I would wing it.  Well, when it comes to kids, especially babies, you just don’t wing it.

The same week I was dealing with engorgement, I thought I was going die from nipple pain.  Whenever my baby latched on, I felt like I was back to day one nursing the baby, just simply painful.  After months of easy nursing, why was I hitting this road block?  I went online and googled just about every terminology and came up with some textbook answers.  I could either have a yeast infection, my milk duct could be clogged, I could be pregnant, or I could be starting my menstruation. 

I went down the list to start checking off things one by one.  I checked my baby to see if there was any thrush in her mouth or privates, and no sign of any (check).  My milk duct was not clogged and if it were, it would be one nipple, not both (check).  Pregnancy?  No way.  I took a pregnancy test from the dollar store and it came out…negative (check).  So finally, I came to terms that I was probably going to get my period very soon.  First, I was dealing with the boob pain and then I started to get pelvic pain.  I was also dealing with some nausea, light-headedness, and feeling some PMS that I haven’t felt in a long time.  On top it, I wasn’t doing my round the clock nursing, so bingo, it was going to be menstruation.

So I wake up today, and guess what?  Aunt Flow made her arrival.  I jumped up in bed and as I proceeded to check, I heard a little voice from right behind me say, “Mommy are you going to die?”  I laughed for a minute and then reality set right back in.  Oh no!  I am back on the PMS market.  I am not emotionally ready!

When you have kids, there’s always a mess that is waiting to be cleaned.  Whether it’s crumbs all over the floor, random cut paper, or dirt droppings from crafty activities, there’s always something waiting to be cleaned.  While there are many methods to cleaning these random things, I am always looking for the easiest, most convenient, and time saving option.  In the past I have used a broom and dustpan, my own hands and some paper, and a Black & Decker handheld vacuum.  They all worked to some degree, but ultimately did not meet my satisfaction because I would always miss something and have to go back and re-clean.  While my Black & Decker was handy, it was not as powerful as I would have liked and I always had to go back and run the vacuum on the same spot over and over again.

Having kids means a lot of mess and no time to dilly dally.  In order to smoothly manuever my way through my daily activities and not waste time, means I need to be time efficient in everything I do.  I don’t have the time to clean my place in entirety on a daily basis and I don’t want to drag out our huge vacuum everytime my child spills something.  Hence, I need something that cleans well and saves me time, which brings me to the Dyson DC31.

I can honestly say I have never seen anything that looks like the DC31.  It looks like a beast of its own and reminds me of something you would see in Transformers.  Very masculine in its appearance but certainly has a sexy techy quality to it too.  The second I pressed the ON button, it went “ZVROOOM.”  My mom was scared by the sound, but I found it to be freeing.  It made me feel like I had complete control over a powerful machine.  In order to try it out, I tested it on my most fussiest micro-fiber couch.  I have a love-hate relationship with my couch because it’s probably the toughest thing to clean, aside from my kitchen floors.  For some reason, if anything falls onto the couch, I can NEVER get rid of it (even the littlest crumbs).  You just learn to get used to sitting on the couch and having the sensation of crumbs or whatever tickling your butt or thighs.

I took the DC31 and put it on the toughest area of my couch and it suctioned everything away.  It was probably one of the most exciting moments I had in a long time, next to my baby crawling and breaking teeth.  Seriously, it picked up everything and anything that I thought was a permanent attachment to my sage green couch.  My daughter and I took turns cleaning our couch and after it was all said and done, it was a glorious moment.  I felt like a soldier that went to war and came back with an accomplishment.  We had a couch that was salvaged and it looked like the day we had it delivered to our home, minus the cushions wearing down from age.

Getting down to the specifics, the DC31: Dual power mode (10 min of high constant suction or 6 min w/70% higher suction), Dyson digital motor (smaller and lighter w/o carbon brushes or carbon dust), Lightweight/Ergonomic (only 2.9 lbs), Hygienic/quick to empty, and ENERGY STAR qualified battery charging system.  I love that the DC31 does not lose suction power as I clean, which means no more going over the same area.  On top of that, it comes with a 2 year warranty.  We all know that even the best of best things can sometimes encounter minor to major issues, so having the security of a two year warranty is always a plus.

Spot cleaning has never been more easier with the DC31.  I also took it on a test run on my SUV where my back seats (near my children) is a disaster zone.  It picked up every particle off the carpet (now only if Dyson could come out with a dual steam cleaning handheld system).  The only negative to some people may be the strong and loud sound.  While it bothered my mom, I actually felt empowered and ready to clean (to each his own).  DC31 was easy to handle, powerful, and time saving.  Everything a mother could ask for!

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge to test 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.)

So it has come to this day when my little baby crawled over to my laptop and pushed it off the couch, to see what would happen to it.  I should have seen it coming and placed it accordingly.  My baby is in this phase where she likes to drop food from her high chair, to see pureed food splatter, carrots and peas bounce around, and crackers become crumbs.  Just recently she has taken that curiosity into other parts of our home.  She will drop toys from the bed, dig through my bag and flip it around, and she will push anything off an edge.

Thinking back, I should have put the laptop on my desk, high and far away from those tiny little hands.  Curiosity is definitely a developmental process and I should have known better.  Of course,  I’m quite upset that my really expensive laptop broke, but I am super happy that I bought an accidental warranty coverage with it from Best Buy, so it’s basically in the Geek Squad shop.

If there is one advice that I can give parents, get a warranty plan with anything expensive because things break easily with kids around.  Before having children, I hardly purchased warranty plans because I thought it was another way stores made a good buck off of me, but now I definitely save money for having it.

My whole life is on my laptop, so it was a pain to backup all the files onto a disk, but it was definitely a learning experience.  I will never leave out anything expensive or anything I am attached to because it can be gone, broken, or pooped on.  I should have known better, especially after I had 3 of my Blackberrys dropped in the toilet and sink.

So I am waiting on my laptop to come back from the service department and hopefully I will never make the same mistake twice (technically it’s been my 5th error in judgement, but you get the point).  If you are a parent and own something that can easily break, definitely get a warranty plan.  It will save you a ton of money in the end!

I thought I didn’t have time for myself before, but now it’s pretty much over!  With the whole economic crisis and my husband’s line of work suffering significantly, I took it upon myself to look for a job.  Although, over the years I have worked on and off, it was nothing like having a full-time job.  With the line of work I did, I got paid a lot (most people’s 3 or 4 months pay) for only one day’s worth of work (and no I was not a drug dealer, stripper, or anything illegal for that matter).  When I had my daughter, I was lucky to book a national commercial and I made some good dinero on it.

Before having children, my husband and I hardly budgeted.  We were both working and made good money, saving was not at the forefront of our minds.  Gosh, if I had planned for kids at that time, I would have probably saved every penny, dime, and quarter that I came across.  Kids are very expensive.  I have two, so I’m sure you could do the math on that.

I was very fortunate to find a really sweet job with a really sweet dotcom company near my residence.  On top of that, I get to work from home.  I’ll probably get into more detail in the near future, once I become more familiar with everything.  Anyhow, it’s definitely a blessing for my family.

This week has probably been the busiest week of my life.  Here was my schedule everyday:

• 6 am: Wakeup (Get ready).
• 7 am: Wakeup my older daughter. My younger one wakes up at 5 am and crawls around. Get my daughter ready for preschool.
• 8 am: Make breakfast for both my children and feed them.
• 8:30 am: Take my daughter to preschool.  My baby stays at home with my mother.
• 9 am: Drop my daughter off at preschool.
• 9:30 am: Arrive at work for training.
• 10 am-5:15pm: Training
• 5:45 pm: Pick up my daughter from preschool.
• 6:30 pm: Arrive home.
• 6: 45 pm: Wash up and nurse the baby.
• 7 pm: Get dinner ready for everyone.
• 7:15 pm: Eat dinner.
• 7:45 pm: Get both my children ready for bed.
• 8 pm: Baby is in bed.
• 8:15 pm: Read a book to my preschooler.
• 8:45 pm: My preschooler is in bed.
• 9 pm: Read over training manual for an hour.
• 10 pm: Wash up and get ready for bed.
• 10:15 pm: Chat with hubby about the day.
• 10:45 pm: Head to bed.

Everything starts all over again!  So as you can visually see, this week has been packed.  I have had no time to do anything other than the listed things on my schedule.  My hats go off to all mothers, but my hats definitely go off to mothers who work (how do single mothers do it?  Man, do I have the utmost respect for you).  This week has definitely been fun, interesting, and very tiring, but working definitely has it’s beneficial aspect to it.  All I can say is, I feel EMPOWERED!

With the whole iPod, iPhone, iTouch, iPad craze, it’s only appropriate that there is iStyle to spice up any iJunkie’s wardrobe the iWay.  I am not poking fun at the iLifestyle, only jealous that I probably should have started an iBusiness to make iCapital.  Okay okay, I’ll stop with my iLingo.  We all know how popular the whole line of iProducts from Apple are.  With that comes a whole other side of small businesses arising to meet the demands of the brand’s popularity. Meet iStyle Originals, a clothing and apparel company for the iGeneration.

iStyle Originals has everything from Adultwear, Nanowear (babies to children), Doggiewear, and Accessories line.  What is their style sense?  You guessed it, iWear.  They took the popularity of iProducts and made it wearable with the use of clever words to represent the iGeneration.  I think their Nanowear and Doggiewear are the cutest must have items, as it doesn’t get cuter than babies and dogs with an iText such as “iCute or iPaw’d” on them.

I was sent an iCuddle Baby Snapshirt and it was iCute at first sight.  Remember, these are not Haute Couture.  They are cute shirts and products to meet the demands of the evergrowing iGeneration.  Very simplistic basic shirts with an iText on them. I put the snapshirt on my baby and it was very cute, but still a little too big on her.  I would suggest go one size smaller for a better fit.  My daughter usually wears 12-18 months, but 6-12 months would have probably been a better fit for her.  The snapshirt came in a cute box made to fit the whole iLifestyle theme.

If you are looking to match your wardrobe with your iPersonality, definitely check out iStyle Originals.  The iCuddle snapshirt makes me want to cuddle my baby even more than I already do, how is that possible? For more info, go here.

(Disclosure: Product was provided free of charge to test 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.)