#BoyOHBoy #Bloghop Event is scheduled!

 

I have started getting my sponsors lined up and I have quite a few items already in my possession for the reviews (and giveaways!) to come! I have a couple other bloggers already getting geared up to add a thing or two while we're at it as well. :) 

This event will start whenever baby boy decides to make his grand entrance and Fuss loses her singleton status. I am still working on securing more sponsors, so if you know someone you'd like to see featured, please comment with their name/page below. WAHM's welcome!! 

So far we have diapers, Daddy Scrubs, a Push Pack, and even matching T's for Fuss and baby brother. :) 

Check back frequently for updates!  I hope to have a full list of sponsors up by November 1st!

If you are a blogger interested in participating, please email me crunchierbytheday@yahoo.com

Planning Stages!

Well, it's official! I'm in the planning stages for an event in December when Baby Boy arrives! I am hoping to do a blog hop-style event, so if you'd like to join just email me at crunchierbytheday@yahoo.com. I have 5 confirmed sponsors so far and am sending out a TON of emails already.

Is there a special shop/vendor you'd like to see hosted? Please let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to get in touch with them!

Are you a vendor that would like to expand your audience? Just email me!

#newhomenewroots Brylane Home 4-tier Drying Rack #Giveaway!

It's Day 7 of We're Parents!? New Home, New Roots Event. I can't believe it's been a week now!  I hope you are enjoying everything! To see all the giveaways for the event and enter to win the open ones just click the image below! 

Click on the image below to be redirected to a list of open giveaways.

Today's Fantastic Sponsor is Brylane Home.  

Photo Credits: Brylane Home

I have a smaller drying rack that I love and I use it both inside and outside. I would LOVE to have one this size to use for my diapers!

 

Brylane Home was started in 1998 to make consumers' lives easier by keeping them up to date with the latest styles, colors, and designs.  They don't think you should have to wait for a sale, so everyday they offer the best prices!  The company actually consists of two divisions:  Brylane Home & Brylane Home Kitchen.  Brylane Home is known as "America's White Sale Catalog".  With everything from Fashion bedding to Housewares to Bath items, they also offer Floor covering, vacuums, sewing, and ironing products to complete your home shopping experience. The Brylane Home Kitchen division was added in 2000 to bring customers hard-to-find kitchen and home essentials.  In 2005, the company merged the two divisions together to form BrylaneHome.com.  Customers can now easily access everything from home fashions, decor, kitchen essentials, and the perfect gifts, all at one site and at unbeatable prices. 

Brylane Home literally is your one-stop shop for any of your home needs.  Need a new appliance?  They have the best available necessities, like blenders, toasters, and irons, as well as novelty appliances like ice makers and halogen ovens. They have a huge assortment of towels, bedding, and curtains that are sure to meet your needs for any redecorating you may be doing.  Storage organization, food prep, and personal care items are just some more of the fabulous items they offer.  Need furniture?  Not to worry, Brylane Home has all your needs covered for that too.  Indoor or outdoor seating, lighting, accessories, and more they have everything.  If you are looking for the best prices on quality products, look no further!

To see a full review of just a sampling of what Brylane Home has to offer, JUST CLICK HERE! 

To Purchase: Visit Brylane Home's website to view their full product line and see how their products can help with all your storage and organization needs.

To Win: We're Parents and Brylane Home are giving One lucky reader the chance to win the 4-Tier Drying Rack and a 6 pack of Stainless Steel solar lights (a $110 ARV). Enter the Rafflecopter below, all entries are optional with exception of your address which is necessary for product shipment if you are the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Giveaway will end at 12:00am EST on 7/31/13. The winner will be chosen at random through Rafflecopter which uses Random.org. The winner will be announced both on Rafflecopter as well as We're Parents Facebook. The winner will have their prize sent to them by Wellness Mats. We're Parents and other participating bloggers are not responsible for prize shipment. Must be 18 years and older. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google are in no way affiliated with this giveaway. No Purchase Necessary. US Only.*Name of your blog has not received compensation (monetary nor product) to promote this giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Intelligender Gender Prediction Test #Review #NBFluffNStuff

This review has been long time coming! I had planned to do this review back in November after I hit about 11 weeks. Unfortunately, we lost that pregnancy just after the 11 week mark. The good news is that I am now able to do the review! That's right...I'm pregnant!! And I am beyond thrilled that Intelligender was willing to work with me!

A little background: I first found out about Intelligender as a member on the What to Expect When You're Expecting forums. Hubby and I actually waited until after our 20-week ultrasound, hoping we would find out what we were having at that point. Of course, we have a VERY stubborn little girl. Fuss refused to "show" her parts. She even went as far as covering herself with her hand at one point! We laughed, but admittedly we were disappointed. Enter Intelligender. We found our first Intelligender test at our local Rite-Aid. So, we bought it...we figured we didn't have anything to lose at that point.When I took the test, it came out with a GIRL result! :D We weren't sure whether to believe it or not, but it was fun.

Test bottle, syringe, and instructions.

Fast forward 3 years: The kit literally just comes with a bottle of powder with a color chart on the bottom and a syringe.  Actually, the only thing that changed in the past 3 years for this was the fact that the first one had a hole on the top and this one had a hole with a rubber valve. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" right ?

The instructions are SUPER simple! Use first morning urine (um, obviously I didn't photograph that part!), pee in a cup like a Dixie cup or something else disposable, draw up the correct amount in the syringe, and inject in the test bottle. Swish. Wait.

Left, you can see the powder that makes the magic of the test along with the color strip for comparing your sample with.

So, how exactly does it work?

From Intelligender's website: IntelliGender's Gender Prediction Test™ is a simple urine analysis similar to the pregnancy test you took a few weeks ago.  It uses first morning urine and a proprietary mix of chemicals which reacts with a combination of hormones to indicate the gender of your baby.  It can be performed as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy (six weeks from the first day of the missed period). It is an easy test to perform and provides quick results in-home so the news can be shared right away. 

 Not a clue! But I do know that the test was accurate for Fuss. I can hope it is accurate this time around and we will be able to find out in a few more weeks what Baby #2 is. I really like that I could test so early (10 weeks, 3 days) and get a pretty good guess as to what we're carrying this time - Intelligender's site shows 2 studies that estimate an 85% to almost-90% accuracy rate!

The best part? Valerie has agreed to provide 1 lucky reader an Intelligender test of their own to try! All you need to do is enter on the Rafflecopter form below! Be sure to follow Intelligender on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr, or the Intelligender Blog and thank them for sponsoring!

(And if you want to know my results...scroll to the bottom of the post!)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Sponsors for the Blog Event in April and May!

I have been working hard getting some sponsors lined up. I keep contacting new sponsors daily and I have a few lined up right now. I am teaming up with Life With My Littles for a HUGE blog event throughout April and May! She has over 20 sponsors lined up. You can see a list of her sponsors on this post.

So far, I have confirmed the following sponsors:

KT's Cloth Diapers
Bamboobies
BabyBeduga
Daddy Scrubs
Happy Baby Company
Melissa Kittle's Knits for Littles
Mother Natural

The event will be scheduled as a blog hop and we will have the linky up and running shortly for blogger sign-ups.

Flufftastic Summer Celebration is LIVE!

Flufftastic Summer Celebration is hosted by Mama on a Green Mission or Eco Baby Mama Drama. The Grand Prize is sponsored by Lotus Bumz, Rinse Hopper, 7 A.M. Enfant, BabyLegs, Wooly Rounds and Mama on a Green Mission and is valued at over $400.  This grand prize package is a great start for anyone or a great addition to the cloth diapering addict’s stash!

 

As promised, we have a great group of bloggers here to help you get your fluffy fix this summer. Whether you are looking for diapers, creams, or wool, there is a little bit of everything within these prize packages! I was lucky enough to be able to team up with Melissa from Melissa Kittle's Knits for Littles to offer you a $30 store credit good toward anything in her Etsy Shop!

Fuss actually has this awesome little snake made by Melissa! It is about 3 feet long and SOOOOO soft! Fuss literally chases us around the house with it going "Sssssssssss!" The best part? The snake is 100% washable! It will felt, but that will only make it more durable in the long run. The eyes are hand-sewn pieces of felt. I do not have any woolies made by Melissa yet, but if the quality is anything like the snake toy, then there is nothing to worry about there either. She is easy to work with and will do custom orders and colors as well.

On to the giveaway portion of our show...Melissa has kindly agreed to do a $30 store credit to her Etsy shop for this event. Please be sure to show her some love on her Facebook page. (Scroll to the bottom.)

Also, don't forget to head over to Mama on a Green Mission for your chance to win over $400 worth of Fluffy Goodness from Lotus Bumz!

Below, is the list of participating bloggers, so be sure to hit all these great blogs for more chances to WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Flufftastic Summer Celebration, Aug 10-24!!

Here we go! I haven't done a giveaway in a while and this is a great one! Mama on a Green Mission and Eco Baby Mama Drama are hosting this fabulous blog hop! I am really excited about this event! There are almost 30 blogs participating in this event...just think of all that fluff!!

So, I haven't decided my prize yet, but I promise it will be great!

If you could pick anything to have as your own prize, what would you pick? Leave me a comment and let me know...you just might get your wish!

#MMM Time for Renewal

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM

Many of you who have been reading the blog for a while know that we have had quite a few funerals lately. Fuss, Daddy, and I actually went to another one Saturday. I received word from my dad at around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday that my step-mom's grandmother just passed away. This brings the current count up to 5 (plus one from a guy hubby works with) for us in 1 month. Hubby's grandmother also just fractured her femur. We aren't sure how bad that is yet, though. I have spent sooooo much money on flowers in the last month it's ridiculous! I think I'm going to start donating to a charity instead of spending money on flowers. At least I do buy dish gardens that can be saved and live for as long as they are cared for. :-/

My original idea for this week's post was to talk about my movie date with Hubby to see The Hunger Games. Instead, I find myself thinking about life and death. The cycles of renewal that come with each season in nature and in our lives. With each death, there is more room for new life and a new beginning. That can be spiritually or physically but it comes when we least expect it.

We took Fuss to the funeral homes with us. We feel that it's important for her to understand the process. Is she still a little young? Yes. But the earlier I get her used to the idea of going, the easier it will be to explain things when she finally asks. Okay. Enough for now. I hope to have a lot more fun posts up soon. With summer coming, we should be having a lot of great times ahead.

#MMM Transcriptions and Birthdays

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM

Here we are again. Manic Monday. Today seems slightly less manic than my last few weeks. I am nearing the end of my medical transcription course. I'm now at about 92% total completion, so the end is VERY near! I am hoping to finish up before Fuss turns 2. If I can do that, I will have finished it in about 18 months. The course is supposed to take 9-12. Of course, the people who decided that didn't have a toddler/high-need child in their home. And Fuss has certainly ALWAYS claimed a lot of attention! Two extensions later, and I'm almost done! I'm 67% though the final module of the course. As long as I get in 2 hours of transcriptions a day, I will at least finish before the end of this last extension.

The other thing is that we're planning Fuss's 2nd birthday party. She picked out Dora as her theme and I'm taking it from there. I have already decided to do a cupcake party. 1. Because cupcakes are small and easier for little kids to manage, but 2. Because it's cheaper than buying a cake! I can make my own cupcakes. I have a pan already and have bought a few boxes of cake mix. I have been spacing the purchases of party supplies out over the last few weeks so it's not crazy expensive. The star sprinkles will be the, um, star attraction. However, Fuss picked up a container of "Princess" sprinkles at the store and her Grandmommy bought them for her. They will make a nice addition, though, as they are pearls and pink, etc. Fuss is so excited! We can't say the word "party" around here without her starting to talk about her "party cakes" and her "Dora party." Sadly, we're still about a month away! Oh well, I can't help but let her be excited. So, that's where we stand right now. Invitations will be sent out soon for our family and close friends. Unfortunately, we won't get to have a large party because we're having it at my in-law's house, but I know Fuss will have a blast anyway.

Manic Mommy Monday!

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM

As usual, I plan on writing a post and scheduling it ahead of time so I'm not sitting up at 1 a.m. after doing school work and house work typing even more. Of course, that didn't happen. Here I sit, typing away. Why? Because I'm enjoying the quiet. Fuss was up at 7:30 Sunday morning and was running around full-bore all day! She only managed an hour nap after much coaxing (and Mommy lying down in bed with her). She terrorized the grocery store as well and I made it home a very tired and cranky mommy. Of course, this isn't her fault. She's 2. She is just enjoying being 2 and exploring her world, but sometimes it drives me batty!

Her new thing is to tell me "Potty" in order to simply walk to the bathroom, sit on the toilet, say "done!", and leave...only to do it again 2 minutes later. I took her twice at the grocery store today back-to-back because she'd already had one accident (first EVER in public and, boy, was she embarrassed!), and I didn't want her to have another. Both times she danced in the stall. I realize this is part of the process. The bathroom is new to her and she loves it. I realize this. But I am still driven crazy by it! I also know that I can't tell her no. EVER. Well, not right now anyway. She's too early in potty training to tell her no and not have her regress. I don't want that when she's done so well! So, I dutifully drag the portable potty seat wherever we go and follow her joyful, bouncing steps to the toilet wherever we may be.

Now, I just have to figure out how to get her to actually poop in the potty reliably and we'll be good to go! She's had about 1 accident a day since last Sunday, and yesterday (Sunday) had her first ever public accident. Even then, she clamped her legs shut, put her hand down, and began to cry! We are well on our way...assuming Mommy doesn't go crazy from all the other stuff life is throwing at her (i.e. computer that won't go past a "starting" screen, cars making weird noises, a house that I can never seem to get clean, the list goes on). Let's just hope the weather decides to quit flipping back and forth so I might be able to stabilize my mood again!

Manic Mommy Monday!

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM


Today is definitely going to be a manic one for me. As you already know, we started Potty Training yesterday. It went EXTREMELY well! We had 2 accidents ALL DAY! Fuss also asked me several times while at home and 2 times while at the funeral home for my friend's grandmother to go potty - all on her own! :-D I am so very proud of her. Granted, this took several times of me sitting on the floor of our bathroom waiting her out as she wanted to play with the toilet paper or kick her feet, but I took her to the bathroom every half hour. By the end of the day, she would hop off the toilet clapping and yelling, "Yay, M!" (M is her first initial but she would say her name.) She got to tell Daddy on the phone that she went potty all day. She even refused to be put in a diaper for bed! Thankfully, I have some waterproof covers that I threw on over her undies for safety's sake. I don't expect it to hold in all the pee if she goes, but at least she won't gush everywhere. All this happened while having to do grocery shopping as well as a trip to the funeral home, so she's done quite well.

Today, we're probably going to "Grandma's" (friend's) funeral, then a viewing for a very old friend of both my family and hubby's family, and finally *hopefully* dinner with my Mom and Sister. I will also be needing to attend the funeral of the family friend - who, literally, watched both myself and my husband grow up - on Tuesday. This is going to be one chaotic week! Manic Monday certainly gets it started out right. Now, let's hope I can manage to keep Fuss on track with her PL'ing through all this tomorrow PLUS continue getting her adjusted to the DST.

Levels of Mess

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. I know I do that quite a bit anyway, as I'm not really doing many giveaways, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do! The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM


One of my best friends and I were talking on the phone a few weeks back (yes, some of us still use telephones occasionally), and started on the conversation of housekeeping. "Blondie" (as I will refer to her) has an extremely OCD-clean mother. To the point that if she's babysitting and Blondie has ANY dishes in her sink, Grandma will complain that Blondie "Never washes dishes." No lie. Blondie tells me one day that her mother was complaining that her house was "filthy." I had been there earlier that day and, to me, it was "a little messy" but to be expected when you have a 4- and nearly-2-year-old running around everywhere. So, this led to our discussion of levels of mess.

Blondie, although she'd never actually tell me this, thinks my house is generally a mess. I almost always have piles of papers or craft projects lying around. Sometimes I just have general "stuff" around that I can't find a place to store immediately and it gets pushed into a corner or hidden in a closet. She laughs at me when I "clean" for her family to come hang out with us because I will have seating and a clean kitchen and bathroom, but I will still maintain my piles of books on top of the bookshelves with last week's mail on top of those! LOL. She says that my level of mess acceptance is much higher than hers! And her level is much higher than her mother's!

How do we get this way? Are we just innately born with a "mess level" that is acceptable to each of us? Or are we trained by our parents/caregivers to accept their level of mess and adopt it as our own?

I will be the first to admit that I am a terrible housekeeper! Part of that is due to lack of space in my 2-bedroom home for our growing family and our ever-increasing amount of stuff. Another part is that I was never asked to clean (or cook, or do laundry) while growing up. I grew up with my great-grandmother and always knew that if I waited long enough, she'd end up doing it. If I wait long enough now, hubby MAY do it just because he can't stand it anymore, but most likely I'll have to do it anyway and end up stressing myself out endlessly because I waited too damn long in the first place! As I get older, I'm trying to be better. I try to do my dishes as I get enough for a load in the dishwasher. I try to put my clothes (and hubby's) in the hampers - sorted by warm/cold/delicate - as they get dirty and do loads during hubby's off days so he can help watch Fuss. The folding usually doesn't get accomplished for all the clothes because I run out of storage space and get angry. I'm working with Fuss right now to get her to put away her toys each night before bed. She can play with anything and everything as long as it goes back in the box at the end of the day. Some days this works, some days it doesn't. Vacuuming doesn't happen as frequently as I'd like. I'm working on that too.

Old habits certainly die hard. Feeling crappy for ANY reason definitely doesn't help. I'm still behind on my cleaning and laundry from being sick 2 weeks ago! It seems that the second you stop, it builds so fast that it's nearly impossible to catch up! Here's to hoping we can all stay illness free for a few months and get everything spick-and-span for the spring/summer! I want to have the type of house that Blondie lives in. :) I wish I had that level of mess in my home!

Alexa Rating is Dropping!

I know to most people this isn't a big thing. Most people don't even know what an Alexa rating is. I didn't until I started this blog! It took a lot of research on my part and getting in to a few blogging groups and awesome blog hops, but I am on my way! What this means is that I'm becoming a more PR-friendly blog and will (hopefully) be able to bring more traffic in and get more giveaways going!

Here is a rundown of where I started:

1/3/2012 - 11,457,771 This is where I started. Basically, I wasn't even on the radar for search engines.
1/8/2012 - 11,468,807 Just 5 days later with the help of the "Lower your Alexa" Blog hop, I was working my way down.
1/15/2012- 11,482,703 A week later. I creeped back up the numbers, which is not good. The lower the rating, the better!
1/22/2012- 6,712,731 WHAT!? I was shocked to see that I had gone down by almost half!
1/28/2012- 5,008,677 <----That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Now, granted, I know I'll never be up in the 100 Alexa range but I'm glad to see my rating dropping and I hope it continues to go down and I gain a few more followers and friends along the way.

Do you have any tips you'd like to share on how to lower your Alexa rating? Ways to get more traffic? I'm game! Hit me up!

Take Over Tuesday Link Up Google +

For those of you who are preparing for the switch to Google+ make sure you hit up this great linky by Closer to Lucy! It will help boost your G+ followers. I signed up and I hope to see you all there too! :)

#BlockPartyHopWednesday

I'm hoping to lower my Alexa rating, so I'm participating in this awesome blog hop hosted by Frugal Plus Stop by and tell her hi!