February 10th, 2012

Happy Baby Food Review

Happy Baby Foods is a great brand that has been a part of our house since my first child was introduced to solid foods, and in about a year, I’ll be introducing baby number two to the same foods. Needless to say, we are huge fans. Not to say that we don’t have other products in our house, but, see for yourself….

Our Fridge

Happy Tot Squeeze Fruit

 

Happy Baby Food Pouches

Our Freezer

Happy Baby Frozen Food

Our Cabinet

Happy Baby Munchies and Melts

Then we have a stock pile in the basement where we store our supplies.

Why do we love it? Because it is what I would make for my baby or toddler if I had the time to do it. It is an organic brand of foods without artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors. The containers don’t contain phthalates, PBB’s, PBDE’s or bisphenol-A (BPA) either. Just real food with great mixtures like orange and pumpkin or peas and pears.

My first foray into the brand was the Happy Squeezer. I used to squeeze the tot pouches into a spoon and it feed to my baby. It made it easy to take in the diaper bag and was one less container to clean! When my son was teething, I even put the packet in the freezer (1-2hrs) to get it to a slushy consistency to help soothe his gums, although now it is just a fun summer snack. Now I just give him the packet directly and he squeezes it himself, directly into his mouth. I have been known to eat them myself when I am on the run and need real food, real fast….and this is just one product in a huge line of what they have.

Honestly, I can’t say enough about how comfortable I am giving any Happy product to my child when I just don’t have the time to make it, and he has loved the food since he was a baby. I don’t want this blog post to turn into an advertisement though, so here is a link to the FAQ section of Happy Baby so you can learn more about it directly.

If you haven’t tried it (or if you have and love it as we do), leave a comment and enter to win 2 free HappyMelts, 2 free HappyBaby Puffs, and 2 free Happy Munchies. Yum! Congrats to Mary R. for winning!

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Disclosure: I received additional HappyBaby products, but the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Image Credit: © CharleneChronicles

 

CategoryContests and Giveaways, Parenting Ideas and Advice | Comment12 Comments »

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January 31st, 2012

HATCHEDit Online Family Management

If you have kids, a spouse, babysitter, dog walker, PTA meetings, Moms groups, sports schedule, dance classes, and grandparents (just to name a few), it can be hard to juggle. And remember where to be. And to whom to remind to do XYZ. Sounds like you might need HATCHEDit

If you are a Mac user and your partner a PC user, we all know that can spell sync-ing disaster that usually requires a separate calendar. Emails clog our inboxes as we try to plan Mom events. Trying to follow an email stream as to when to pick up whom where and when can be parental overload.

Two Moms wanted a better way and created an online management system to help us juggle it all. Send invites, have a shared contact list, coordinate calendars for up to 8 people, plan events with other users – all in one platform. It is called HATCHEDit.

HATCHEDit Logo

For example, if the grandparents are watching the kids for the weekend, they can have access to your calendar so they know where to be and when. Give the babysitter access to key contacts, like the pediatrician, without having to leave notes everywhere. Don’t want them to see the details of your Mom group? You can determine what extent you give access to your full account.

The hubby can add his activities and events with his own color code, and each child can have their own, all on one master calendar. Have a running stream for planning who is bringing drinks, apps or dessert at the next Mom night out. Easily upload your existing contacts and create reoccurring events. While the product is still in beta-land, the platform is already robust and will keep getting better. For example, Andriod and iPhone apps by the end of February, and a To-Do list function.

So if you need a better way to be organized in 2012, you should definitely check it out. Watch the video overview and know that you can be organized in less than 24 hours. For free.

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Image Credit: HATCHEDit.com

Disclosure: I learned about this company at a sponsored event. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

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December 20th, 2011

Smilebox Giveaway for Lasting Smiles

For the last day of the 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways, I wanted to close the “giveaway galore” with something that is lasting. Something that can give well beyond the holiday season. That helps you capture holiday memories and all the memories you’ll have in 2012.

The perfect answer was a year-long premium subscription to Smilebox.

Smilebox was founded in 2005 by a group of optimists with a lofty mission: joy is one of the world’s most important renewable resources, and they wanted to help people share it by connecting friends and family in sharing life’s special moments. They found a new and inspired way for us to share treasured photos and videos with family and friends. I have been using it off and on since that time, to find fun ways to share home memories with my father who has been in Afghanistan.

As Smilebox states on their website, “You need to stop reading and go make an awesome Smilebox for your favorite people in the world…Share the love and the smiles.” ….Whether down the street or across the world.

Everything from the ability to take a picture with your free Smilebox iPhone app and then add fun captions to ordinary pictures or, my favorite part – the ability to create online scrapbooks, slideshows and personalized e-cards set to music that you can store, email, post to your blog, post to Facebook or Twitter, print or save to a DVD, Smilebox is such fun.

It is all free, but if you want an ad-free experience, you can sign up for a $30 a year membership, which also gets you more features and designs. You can also add Smilebox to your tool bar (Mac or PC) making it easy at anytime to create a scrapbook, make a slideshow, or send an email card to the grandparents. There are tons of designs, themes, music and picture possibilities, and if you install Smilebox, it even recognizes when you upload new photos to your computer and asks if you want to make a Smilebox creation from the new pix.

Like I mentioned before, you can then share your creation directly from Smilebox: Email it, Burn it to DVD, Save it, Facebook it, or Tweet it. For bloggers, you can upload to WordPress or Blogger directly, which is an unique way to share a product review or blogging event.

Needless to say I am a HUGE fan. For example, in October, I used it to create a birthday party invitation to my son’s 2nd Birthday Party. I also sent a Smilebox Thank You e-card to everyone who attended and used pictures from the party to give it a personalized feel. I also used Smilebox in November. I picked a “Give Thanks” theme that we sent out the day before Thanksgiving. I said how thankful we were for our family; personalized family pictures played in a slideshow with music and the last picture was an ultrasound photograph, which we used to announce that we were expecting baby number two! This month, I send out a Holiday Card with lots of pictures. It saved us lots of money in postage and having to order paper cards, saved us time in addressing and mailing them, saved the environment since it was less paper and gave us the opportunity to use 10 pictures rather than just one!

Honestly, I could go on and on, but you really do need to stop reading. Go to Smilebox.com, download the software and get going. It is simple, fun and everyone will love it. But if you want a premium membership I’m giving one away. While the monetary value is not as large as some of the other 12 Days of Holiday Giveaways I had this year, it is by far the most valuable one in terms of memories and smiles.

Happy Holidays everyone! I look forward to sharing more Chronicles with you in 2012. Thank you for being such wonderful friends and fans.

Note: Not enough people entered for the Giveaway so no winner was selected.

Click to play this Smilebox greeting
Create your own greeting - Powered by Smilebox
This digital ecard personalized with Smilebox

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Disclosure: I received no compensation for this particular post, though I did write a previous Smilebox post! All opinions and text, however, are my own.

Image Credit: My own.

 

 

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November 3rd, 2011

HTC Rhyme Review

If you are in the market for a new smartphone, definitely put the HTC Rhyme on your “must-see” list. With a docking station, charm indicator, frequently used app organizer, and a cool cranberry color, you will be one hip and organized Mom.

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October 5th, 2011

Citrus Lane

Citrus-y Birthdays

Do you know that more American babies are born on October 5 than any other day of the year?

Makes perfect sense after you do the math. October 5th is almost exactly 9 months after New Year’s Eve. (You know how crazy some people can get with the party hats and champagne.)

So to celebrate these birthdays (and upcoming ones too – Valentine’s Day babies show up in November), check out Citrus Lane. Citrus Lane is all about introducing parents to the baby products recommended most by real moms and dads. Similar to a wine-of-the-month club where you can choose a monthly or annual subscription, and you (or someone you give the gift to) will receive monthly boxes full of goodies!

CitrusLane

Each month, Citrus Lane fills boxes with 4 or 5 baby products along with helpful parenting tips and tricks. Each box is tailored specifically to your child’s age and stage, from newborn up to 18 months. It’s like getting a birthday gift all the time.

So definitely check them out for a new baby gift or as a treat for our Mom-awesome-selves. And here is a fabulous code: CITRUSBIRTHDAY! Use it to get 20% off ! (Good through October 15th.)

Fabulous.

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Image courtesy of Clever Girls Collective via Citrus Lane.

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July 19th, 2011

Stacey Peasley Children’s Music

I had the great opportunity to ‘twitterview’ Stacey Peasley; a super-talented Metrowest/Boston-based Children’s Music Performer who recently launched a CD on iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby.

The fact that I got to chat with a professional singer who started her career in the New York-based girl group “The Chiclettes” and has appeared on stages such as the Continental Airlines arena in New Jersey, Foxwoods Resort and Casino, Westbury Music Fair, the Oakdale Theater, and the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, totally made my day. She also spent some time as a backup singer for Lou Christie and appeared on the widely aired national PBS tribute “Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop” as well as New York City’s “Doo Wop Shop with Don K. Reed.” (Can you believe that I got to Tweet with her. How cool is that?!)

But a few years ago when she was listening to children’s artists at various shows, Stacey began to adapt her craft so she could combine her love of children and music into a lively act that engages kids and creates memorable and fun sing-along songs. (To see Stacey in action, check out her YouTube channel and you can also get a sampling of her CD on her website too.)

So I wanted to learn a little more about the artist behind the music, so we chatted on Twitter. Here is our convo (read from the bottom up to follow the timeline):

 

If you live in Massachusetts, Stacey also gives a lot of free performances in the area, so check out her schedule. Feel free to follow her on Twitter or on Facebook. All in all, regardless of where you live, this is a great artist with fantastic music that should be definitely be a part of your kid’s CD library.

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Stacey sent me a copy of her CD as she knew our family is a big fan. The CD did not influence the post, but did enable me to capture some fun home videos of my son dancing to her music.

Image Used with Permission.

 

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July 5th, 2011

Sunscreen Safety

Here Comes the Sun.

For many of us, the summer means long sunny days outside – at BBQs, pools and beaches. Yet, those sunny days can be deadly.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 2 million cases of basal and squamous cell skin cancer are diagnosed each year, while more than 68,000 people develop melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer. These are all linked unprotected or excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, as well as sunburns as a child. While we can’t do anything about the sunburn we got as toddlers and teenagers, we can protect our kids, and ourselves, going forward.
read more »

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June 28th, 2011

Go GaGa Stuff Sack

Life is messy. The Stuff Sack by Go GaGa gives you the perfect place to stash the mess while you’re out and about. It is odor proof, leak proof, stain proof and waterproof. Plus, they’re machine washable.

To use the bag, place the dirty items inside, roll the top of the bag 3 times and clip the buckle shut. This creates a handle to hang it off a diaper bag strap, stroller handlebar, waistband or simply carry in your hand.

Click the video to see it in action, and learn more directly from the creator herself!

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March 21st, 2011

Clarisonic Skin Care System

This first post kicks off Fashion and Beauty Week here at CharleneChronicles. Five days of posts showcasing the upcoming spring fashion trends, hot new beauty products, tips on taking the time to pamper yourself, and more.

The first Fashion and Beauty Week post is about the Clarisonic Skin Care Brush. It is a face-scrubbing-electric-brush that helps you get a deep, exfoliating and gentle facial cleanse. According to Clarisonic.com, it is as twice as effective as traditional facial cleaning methods because it has 300 movements per second using sonic technology. It is also waterproof, rechargeable and portable. Cool features is that it is programmed to give you one minute of facial cleansing timed to each part of your face. Thus, you can do it in your sleep as my video shows below. You can even get an extra scrubbing attachment for the body.

It is a high-priced item (retail ~$195), but it does cut down on the need for facials, which may in the end, pay for itself. If you can swing the price tag, the one minute/twice-a-day product, that has resulted in my skin looking better than it has in years, is worth every penny.

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