Dream Big, Little Pig is the sweetest little story that will bring out the twinkle in anyone, regardless of age.  A story about Poppy the pig, who tries almost everything in her path, only to discover that ice skating is her dream.  Even though it seems that all odds are against her, she continues to stand up after every fall, to make her dreams come true.

The story of Poppy the pig, is one that most of us can relate to, whatever our dreams may be.  And to our children who are discovering themselves, a message of encouragement to go after anything their heart desires. 

When I found out that Kristi Yamaguchi wrote the book, it made me smile because it brought back memories of watching her ice skate in the Olympics.  She was one of my favorite skaters and being Asian, she was someone that I looked up to and identified with.

To read her story about being born with club feet and having to wear plaster casts on her legs, during the first year of her life, made her story even more inspirational to me.  She persevered through adversity and ultimately made her dreams come true.

My children love the story because it shows the cute, Poppy the pig, trying everything until she finds her dream.  Just the other day, I discovered my 4 year old in the closet, looking at the illustrations.  She drags the book everywhere.  So if you have children, this book is a must read!

(Disclosure: The book was provided for review purposes from the PR company and does not affect my views or feedback of the products.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

When I think of the military, I think of sweating soldiers on a desert wearing the least eye-appealing clothing known to man.  It’s probably a tactical choice so they won’t be spotted wherever they are (I mean seriously they blend in with the lizards, the garbage, and even, excuse me, turd). 

Let me retract, the first thing I think of is blood, M-16s making rounds, and tanks rolling across the desert hills.  Not sure the validity of my own imagery, but that’s what I’ve been fed by all the war films I’ve seen over the years.  And let me say, nothing in my imagery says fashionable, stylish, or unique (well, maybe unique–ha ha ha).

Military inspired designs have become quite popular over the years.  And even more popular because of TV shows like Army Wives, The Unit, and NCIS.  

I recall a couple fashion seasons ago, military inspired designs were all over the runway.  Designers took what was once considered war-wear into couture-esque fashion fit for the cover of Vogue.

Last year, my brother (a former officer in the US Army) sent me a package with two military-inspired bags in it and surprisingly, they were very stylish.  

The diaper bag and purse were made to fit the needs of the fashionable folks like myself.  So all you ladies that love the military print and love bags, you should definitely check these out from US Patriot Tactical.

The Army Small Purse is definitely chic and sporty.  The front of the bag has two velcro areas for you to have your own customizable nametape such as your name or anything your heart desires (completely removable depending on your mood).  The purse closes in an envelope style with a button-band closure.  It’s a purse I can see Halle Barry or Jessica Alba carrying on Melrose Ave.

The Airforce Diaper Bag is simple yet functional.  It’s large enough to carry everything your baby needs and most importantly, everything you need.  Comes in an eye-appealing Airforce print and has two large pockets for phones, keys, and other miscellaneous items.  The bag can also be customizable with name-tape options.

While I love the stylish bags, what I love even more is that the portion of the proceeds from the bags are donated to the Wounded Warrior Foundation and the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The bags are definitely a marriage between fashion meets military and military meets charity (pretty much what the US military stands for in the purest sense).

So are you keeping up with the NFL Playoffs?  Or is it more your husband thing?  For me, I love keeping up with the playoffs when it comes to any sports.  Being raised in Chicago, it’s almost impossible not to love sports and be a supporter of our sports teams.  Now a transplant in Los Angeles, I still have loyalty to my home teams.

We are currently in the midst of a playoff season, and my little Chicago Bears (or shall I say very big) are off to a solid start.  I don’t just envision a division title, I envision victory, and yes that means Superbowl victory.  I remember watching them win the last title on January 26, 1986 – and it was huge for Chicago.

Well, how do you support your team?  The obvious is wearing your team’s apparel, showing off your loyalty, and bringing in some trash talk from the supporters of your opposition teams.  I secretly love the “trash talk” part of it.  How can you not?

Since my “Bears” are doing so great and the last time they won their Superbowl title was in the eighties, I thought vintage inspired team apparel was the way to go.  Plus, I love how vintage wear looks, in today’s modern times.

The go-to store 80stees.com.  Just like the site’s name, they sell tees from the eighties, plus more.  Not only will you find all sorts of cute 80′s inspired tees with a cute Barbie’s tag line or a joke from a Seinfeld’s episode, they even offer a section dedicated to some of your favorite football teams and are completely licensed by the NFL.

The past couple weeks I have been strutting around in my Chicago Bears t-shirt and sweatshirt, along the streets of Los Angeles, and I can’t tell you how comfortable and cute they are.  Throw out those over-sized tees that look boxy… and boxy.  These t-shirts and sweatshirts are body hugging and make you feel cute when you’re wearing  it, instead of  feeling completely lost in it.

With Superbowl right around the corner, if you haven’t gotten your wardrobe ready to go, you better start looking for it now.  I can’t wait for the big party and if you’re wearing what I am wearing, you will be stylin and looking cute too.  So what are you waiting for? 

Now off to watch our game against the Greenbay Packers.  This is a BIG one!

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

After going through a traumatizing car accident recently (with my kids in tow), it got me thinking more than ever about ways that I could transport my kids to and from our daily activities

Before the accident, I was looking at mini-vans, but the gas consumption did not match up with the green lifestyle I’ve been trying to maintain.

I may, however, have found transportation salvation in the form of the Zigo carrier bike.

Over a year ago, I tested the Taga bike originally from the Netherlands and I wrote about how much you could save, simply by riding it to work, transporting your children, and to run errands and grocery shop.

The only competition to the Taga in the U.S. was the Zigo.  Looking at it from the design standpoint, I thought the Taga was a lot more attractive than its competitor Zigo.

Finally a year later, I got to test out the Zigo at the All Child Baby Expo in Las Vegas and I must say it looked so much better in person. Similar to how some actors look okay on screen (as in nothing really standout or special) but when you meet them in person, they are knockouts.

I was able to ride it around the expo floor and I must say the Zigo maneuvers much better than its competitor Taga (Don’t get me wrong, I still think the Taga is such an innovative stroller-bike with so much to offer).

Read the rest of the post at Savings.com.

I remember the day I lost my first tooth.  It was my upper front tooth which dangled for a couple weeks before its big pull debut.  Once it fell off, I remember cleaning it and putting it under my pillow, getting ready for the tooth fairy to come by and leave me a dollar bill.

At the time, I totally believed that my tooth fairy would come with wings and a magical wand. 

As I laid in bed with excitement and anticipation (one eye shut and one eye almost shut), I caught an image of my tooth fairy.  A woman with dark hair, no wings, and plain clothes.   It turned out to be my own mother. 

I was a little dissappointed at first, but I pretended that I hadn’t seen her and went with the whole story that my “tooth fairy” came by and left me a special dollar bill.

Now that I have children of my own, I want them to experience the fantasy of having their own tooth fairy, when the time comes.  I think it’s such a special experience to have, similar to daydreaming about Santa Clause coming down the chimney at night, and every child deserves to dream and imagine anything.

When I was approached to review The Real Tooth Fairies, it brought me back to my own childhood.  I was excited to give my children and myself, the opportunity to share in the tooth fairy experience.

The idea came to life when a mother of two had her own daughters write letters to the “tooth fairy” and in doing so, taught her daughters about the lessons in life,  the act of kindness, and also living out their dreams.  My mother wasn’t that creative, but she had the same ideas in mind.

When we received the Keep Forever Books – Magical World of The Real Tooth Fairies and Twinkle Becomes a Real Tooth Fairy – and the Kindness Kit, my daughters went crazy over it.  Although they’re not at the tooth-losing age, both my 4 year old and my 1 year old, were excited for me to read the books to them.

The books are appropriate for older children (tooth-losing age) as they are longer and have more text, but my daughters still loved hearing the stories and looking at the beautiful illustrations.

By the end of reading the first book, my 4 year old was ready for me to yank all of her teeth out.  I had to explain to her that once her teeth were ready to come out (in about 2 years or so), they will start to become loose, and hopefully fall on their own. 

In the book, the fairies leave a special bracelet – which comes with the books and kit, and my daughter (the princess that she is) wanted to wear the bracelet immediately (now she has something to look forward to).  So if your kids are younger and you’re thinking about having your children enter the world of  The Real Tooth Fairies , be prepared to explain to your kids about the progression of losing their first tooth.

The Real Tooth Fairies also has an interactive website in conjunction with the storybook series.  Your child can pretty much create their own virtual tooth fairyland.  They can write to their own tooth fairy and get a response back (which are called Magic Letters).  Futhermore, they can be a part of many character building activities and also be rewarded for their kindness.  As a parent, you can be involved in everything your child does with the Parent Share Mail (a wonderful way to bond with your child).

I think this would make the best gift for any tooth-losing age girl and as a parent, you’ll fulfill all of your child’s tooth fairy wishes.  I think The Real Tooth Fairies is such a special way to teach your children to dream and be kind.  This is a must have for any girl in your life that is ready to lose her first tooth.

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

Most of us know or have been told by our dentists to brush our teeth for approximately 2 minutes each time.  But do you know how long 2 minutes really is when your are brushing your teeth?

Unless you have one of those self-timing electronic toothbrushes or a timer, you really don’t know how long you are brushing your teeth.  And if you don’t brush your teeth for that amount of time, you are leaving bacteria, plaque, and all sorts of residue (invisible to the eye) on your teeth.

As adults, we can get impatient, but children who don’t want to brush their teeth, that amount of time can become grueling and torturous.  Meet your child’s new best friend, Twooth Timer.

We received the entire Twooth Time Kit and it was very informational and fun.  It came with the Twooth Timer which is a tooth shaped timer, a tooth brush, and The Ready-Set-Brush!™ Brushin’, Flossin’ Fun Book (educational and fun).

The first night we used it, my daughter had a blast.  She turned the tooth all the way around and watched the tooth move around slowly, as she brushed her tooth.  Let me tell you, I think that was the first night I actually brushed my own teeth for 2 minutes.  It was mind boggling how long the 2 minutes were (I think my gums were bleeding because it was not used to length of brushing).

Although long and tedious, the tooth brushing process was a lot more enjoyable watching the tooth go around and when it started buzzing, we felt like we accomplished so much.

After the whole tooth brushing process, I could actually feel my teeth, as in nothing was left on it.  Even my daughter said mommy, “My teeth are squeaky” (which I believe she meant squeaky-clean).

We have been using it every night and I can definitely say it’s been more enjoyable for my daughter and I.  Not only does my daughter have fun, at the end of it, we definitely have minty-fresh squeaky-clean teeth.

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

Are you particular about the water you drink?  If you’re not, you should!  Since water makes up 60-70% of your body weight, you would want to make sure that the water you drink, is as pure as possible.

When I was pregnant with my first child, before I went and bought diapers and baby gear, we had a water filtration system installed in our home.  Both my husband and I felt that drinking clean water was a priority, right next to taking prenatal vitamins.

We were lucky to always have filtered water on hand, in our stainless steel bottles, but on long road trips, carrying loads of bottles was almost impossible and getting bottled water from the store got costly.

For people on the go, for those who don’t have a home filtration system, and those that go on long hiking, climbing, and road trips, Watergeeks has the perfect solution for you, Filtered Stainless Bottles.

The bottle is unlined and made of food-grade stainless steel.  It’s non-leaching and BPA free.  You have the option of choosing between 2 types of filters.  The Tap Filter – filters chlorine, bad taste, odor, lead and other potential tap water contaminants.  The Advanced Filter – filters tap water contaminants plus bacteria and other potential ground water contaminants.

My husband uses it for his long workouts.  He loves the convenience of going to the water fountain to fill up the bottle and feels good that all the stuff that he doesn’t want in his water is being excluded from going into his body.

At $24.99, it’s definitely worth the money (you save money in the long run) and a possible stocking stuffer for Christmas.

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

I have to admit that I am not a runner.  Not because I don’t like to run (well partially I don’t like to run), but I had knee surgery when I was younger from a gymnastics injury.  Whenever I would run, it was more like a painful physical therapy session, rather than a good stress-free workout.

After the surgery, I’ve been accustomed to walking really fast and only running when I have to chase my daughter from avoiding a freak accident (here and there) crossing a street.

The only thing that’s in the way of me running, besides my knees, is finding the right shoes.  The whole process of going to a Lady Footlocker or Sports Chalet is nothing but draining and even a visit to my foot doctor (spending over $500 on some foot inserts that look like I could have purchased them at a local Ralph’s for $8.99) has not helped me.

So I got excited when I found out that Reebok, the makers of the Easytone (which I love wearing for everyday activities), also made a running version of the sneaker.  Appropriately named Runtone,  I was hoping that this would be my answer to my running prayers.

Just like the Easytone (read my previous post), it’s sleek and stylish.  No bulk and all business.  The balance ball inspired technology with moving air gives you the feeling of running on sand.  And if you’ve ever run on sand, you know how your legs and butt feel afterwards (can I say burning in a good way).

I love how the sneakers are light and they envelop the every curvature of my feet.  Since I have not run for a good amount of time, I took it very slow and started with walking.  Even though I was walking, I felt all of my lower body muscles work.

Once I started to lightly jog with my jogging stroller, the one thing I felt (or shall I say, I didn’t feel) besides my muscles working was that my knee joints weren’t uncomfortable.  The shoes almost gave a bounce to my strides.  At first, I thought it might be psychological because I wanted the shoes to work for me.  But after using it for a week and zero knee discomfort, I have to say that it works for me.

Anyone else have positive or negative experiences? Please share.

(Disclosure: The sneakers were provided by MC Saatchi and Reebok for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the products.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

The name says it all.  It’s a Green Container. 

Greentainer is the plastic alternative to storing your food and your children’s snacks.  The brainchild of two mothers with a mission to give a healthier and environmentally friendlier option to their customers, it does nothing short of that.

Made with a high quality food grade stainless steel, it’s easier to clean and sleeker in design.

As a mother, I love that it’s just simply functional.  I can use it to store fruits for my children and or use it as a bento container for my lunch (rice on the bottom and side dishes on top).  When it’s time to clean it, it’s simple and time saving (with plastic, that’s hardly the case, especially if you are trying to remove the tomato sauce stain from your child’s spaghetti).

Greentainer is the perfect combination of functionality and design sensibility. But what’s more important, it’s green and healthier!

Want a chance at winning your own Greentainer of your choice?  Please read below for your chance.  Also, Greentainer has offered my readers free shipping with code “MOMMASINTHEHOUSE10“.

(Disclosure: The products were provided by Greentainer for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the products.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)

GREENTAINER GIVEAWAY

If you would like to have a chance at winning a Greentainer of your choice, you must (mandatory) visit Greentainer and leave a comment here telling me what product you would like and why.

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

Giveaway ends November 7th, 2010 at 11:59 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

Scared that your baby will be nipple confused?  No more worrying.  Introducing the Adiri Nurser, the bottle that was made for mommies and babies in mind and the way nature intended (well, in a man-made way). 

My biggest problem when I tried to introduce just any bottle to my baby was that she wanted nothing to do with it.  She only wanted the real thing and of course, if there was a choice, who wouldn’t.  The truth is that sometimes I needed a break from nursing or I had to leave the home for a couple of hours to attend some meetings and needed her to be able to take a bottle.

I went through a dozen bottles, until she took a liking to one bottle which pretty much looked and felt like a boob.  Even though she did like that particular bottle, she would spit it out after a minute or two. 

While both my kids are no longer at the bottle-fed age (my youngest being 14 months old), I still tried the Adiri Nurser out to see if she would take it since I still nursed her.  And… she did!  I think she was fascinated by how it looked and felt. 

As a mom, I love it because it has so much more too offer than being simply just a bottle.  Recently, I wrote a post on Savings.com about using the bottle to store snacks and the Adiri Nurser does just that.  Once your baby graduates from the bottle, you can use the cap and bottom to hold finger snacks. 

The bottle is made up 100% polycarbonate-free material (natural-like) and it resembles and feels like a real nipple-breast which helps to reduce nipple confusion. The leak-resistant petal vent protects the baby from being too gassy and or colicky (any parent who deals with this knows that it leads to sleepless nights and cries that will drive you insane).

I hate when I have to stick a syringe down my baby’s throat (not exactly, but that is how I feel), just to make sure that my baby takes her needed medicine to get better.  I simply hate it when it comes to medicine time because I know my baby hates it which means I hate it too!

This next product is definitely a must have for a variety of reasons and if you are a momma or a poppa, I do not have to explain why.  Reliadose, is a bottle with a removable syringe for your medicine.  You decide how much medicine will be dispensed at a given time (mixed in with their milk or juice).  On top of that, you can see how much medicine was given and how much is left.  To me, this innovation is one that will make every parent’s life easier and every baby’s sick day, a much more pleasant one.

Both the Adiri Nurser and Reliadose, retail for only $14.99.  They are  two must haves that don’t break the bank and will make your life so much more manageable.

(Disclosure: The products were provided by P3R Publicity and WaterGeeks for review purposes and does not affect my views or feedback of the products.  This review is based solely on my personal opinion and experience and results may vary person to person.)