#reviewmemommy

I don’t know much about wraps and slings but I know what we all know, being a mom is hard! Cooking, cleaning, shopping and doing pretty much anything besides breathing all while keeping your little one near is no easy task. Here’s where babywearing comes in, a solution to this madness  all while being fashionable and having your arms mostly free. 

Since this is a review post, I’ll spare you the details and give you the short version of this long story. I was introduced to it by my “babywearing aficionado” cousin Eva. She let me in on the what, why, how and WHO’s of babywearing. She recommended that I check out ValdarLoves, a small business ran and operated by Katherine Stewart. 

Katherine’s story is truly a remarkable one, of a woman who has stayed strong through the health difficulties of her son Valdar (see link below for more information). Outside of selling “Wraps, Slings and Things”, Katherine provides wraps free and at cost carriers for low income, nicu and special needs caregivers. (I know, a saint right?) Her good nature doesn’t end there. If you’ve attempted to purchase a wrap you’d know how quickly the dollars add up. Whilst reasonably priced, Katherine’s products are made with the upmost quality and care.  Coupled with her exceptional customer service and personable approach to business, this provides a refreshing change from dealing with other small or medium size businesses leading to extraordinary customer satisfaction.

Now that you know all about ValdarLoves, here’s some pictures of my first ring sling!!: 

Isn’t it beautiful! I am in love. I can’t tell you how many compliments I’ve received about this wrap within the last week alone. This picture is the first time I ever had Addison in a sling and I used YouTube videos for info on how to use it. I now know, that I need to make some adjustments like giving baby a deeper seat. The quality of this sling is A+. Out of all methods of baby wearing Addison seems to love this the most because it give her the freedom to move around.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Valdarloves    ( Follow this page for exclusives) 

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/valdarloves

Read more about Valdars Journey: www.facebook.com/mommyandbabystewart

* Please keep in mind that due to Katherine’s recent increase in customer base, shipping may take longer than expected. However, Please note, all orders and correspondence are handled personally by Katherine and although her work is amazing she isn’t super woman ;)

Just received my new ring sling ( I was told I need to make adjustments on the shoulder and seat (0: ) Full review and details coming later on!

So like all moms, I want to do everything I can to give Addison the best start possible. In my day to day life I tend to be a bit of an introvert. But thinking of the complications that it brought me in life, school, the “corporate world” I wanted to make sure Addison had lots of exposure to people and other babies. Seeing as I don’t know any babies Addison age, I knew it would be time to look elsewhere.

About a month ago I preregistered Addison for some baby social classes at Discovery Programs in New York and as luck would have it about three weeks ago Addison started to cry until she couldn’t breath, every time anyone besides her dad or I picked her up. I began to wonder if I was doing enough. Though I know Addison only turned 4 months it still made me feel bad. So fast forward to today, Addison had her first baby social, classes are free and every two weeks (winning), but how would she react? Turns out that she LOVED it!

For those who have never been to a baby social let me explain what its like. Essentially its like a kids day time television show (well at least mine was) You walk into this big play gym where everything is padded and there’s someone there playing a guitar and singing songs. Most of which have instructions like ::clap clap clap:: most of the mothers have a sheet on the floor where they play with their cutie pies. It was great, and I would say if your considering going to one but haven’t decided you might just want to give it go :)

Here’s some pics of Addisons first day :)

After 12 hours of flying with an infant, Rich and I were finally on our way home. I was absolutely knackered and I just wanted to go to sleep, but to my surprise we had this guy waiting for us on our door step.

Excited and pumped I set it up and spent the next few weeks consuming all the coffee I could possibly drink. Proving once again I am easily distracted by the new and shiny :D , but seriously I had never personally owned a coffee machine and spent most of my coffee drinking days on a Starbucks line at 7am then regretting that I paid 6 dollars for a cup of joe. While unboxing the Keurig I pulled out a card that said “if you register your Keurig you’ll receive 2 free packs of coffee” so, being true to my impulsive nature I put everything down and purchased 6 boxes K (Though the Keurig came with 3 boxes of coffee of course at the time I felt it was absolutely necessary to wait for my coffee to be delivered before I would even try out the machine. )

Fast forward two days, my coffee finally gets delivered and I complete setting up the machine. Now I’ll give Keurig one thing, it was so easy to setup. So much so that I double checked the manual to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Anywho, I try out all my wonderful dark roast experimenting with all the cool new options of the machine (4-10 oz , strength and carafe feature) and I become coffee obsessed. I will say it took some time to try to find the right setting, the coffee did seem a bit weak to me but then again I drink my coffee pretty much black. I also had tons of fun testing out the carafe feature (I’m weird I know) But I really just wanted to see if there was any cup to cup difference in taste with the single kcup vs a cup of carafe brewed.

On to how it looks, so for those who haven’t seen the Keurig 2.0’s they are some sexy coffee machines (if you can even call a coffee machine sexy). Seriously these guys are pimped out, they have lighted water reservoirs, changeable faceplates, and a posh color touch display with boat load of customizable settings.

Overall it’s a pretty good machine but I did have a few gripes about it, first is the water takes a bit long to preheat. Second is the darned “licensed” K-cup issue, honestly I can’t say 100% why Keurig implemented that but it was a bit crappy on their part. After spending $200 dollars on a coffee machine you should be able to brew whatever you want. Its actually like a punch in the gut to customers but then again I’m rating the coffee machine not so much the companies practices so that’s a different post.

But if you want to see more of my review check out the link below to my youtube video :)

Love,

Review Me, Mommy!

I received this product free from influenster to review but these views are true and my own

As someone who has a passion for baking and cooking, I’m always on the lookout for cool, new kitchen gadgets. So you can imagine how excited I was to find this set on amazon. Fairly priced, I wish I would’ve bought these sooner rather than spending tons of time and money on incomplete, subpar sets. You’re certainly getting a lot for your money and I will definitely be getting rid of my old ones.

I absolutely love the Bright, bold colors and If you’re anything like me your constantly trying to hide your unsightly kitchen tools in drawers and cupboards, but these guys are so stylish and trendy I wish I had more counter space so I could leave them out to give my kitchen a splash of color. Living in New York where kitchen space is limited, the nesting bowls and measuring cups are great space savers. The interlocking feature is the key to this design so you don’t have an overstuffed cupboard with bowls spilling out every time you open it. The convenient measuring marks along with the Non-slip technology make these nesting bowls a great tool when baking cakes, the non-slip bases prevent the bowls from flying all over the place when trying to use some elbow grease to mix your batter.

 

At first glance the carousel looks like your everyday kitchen utensil holder but these kitchen tools have Lovely weighted handles which are meant to be a part of the elevate technology to prevent them from touching counter tops but for me, my favorite part is that they make these utensils comfortable to use. This excellent feature along with the Nylon heads definitely separate these guys from everyday sets that feel cheap and flimsy. Each utensil is a different color which makes them look unique but gives them a clean look. I first used these tools for an in home rainy day grill, they’re heat resistant, really easy to clean and didn’t scratch my nonstick cookware. This set is made with the excellent quality and as cliché as this sounds they definitely could “stand the heat” so they get to stay.

 

I love the design and shape of the rocker garlic crusher, it has a stylish sleek look with a gorgeous stainless steel finish. It’s different from most garlic crushers, there’s no super human strength needed to squeeze the garlic through a press or band aids needed for trying to use a grater. It’s easy to use and even easier to clean.

 

As whole this set is a great gift for cookers, bakers, couples or for a housewarming. I’ll definitely be adding more Joseph Joseph sets to my Christmas wish list!