You are here: Home / Archives for Kathy

Mommy Likes Episencial Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath (& Giveaway)

March 5, 2010 By Kathy 69 Comments

Episencial Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath

I was introduced to SproutBaby recently which is a cute online shop that is dedicated to bringing you a selection of eco-friendly baby products, ranging from skin care to diapers.  All with the health and well being of your baby and the environment in mind.  SproutBaby is the “brain child” of a group of parents and professionals that wanted to create an online space where parents can shop for safer options.  As they grow, so does their body or product options!

A new line of skin care for babies and kids has emerged called Episencial, founded by Kim Walls. Her goal was to create a line of skin care that met the rising requirements of parents seeking safer products – affordability, environmentally friendly and safe for our babies. Utilizing juice extracts instead of fragrances, manufacturing under solar power with sustainable materials. I do want to note that this isn’t totally chemical free but it is free of parabens, phthalates and propylene glycol.

First things first, price point. For $8.99 (versus $12-$14 for something like California Baby) this is much less harsh on the wallet for something that gets sucked down the drain, literally.  There is definitely a market for safer skin care in an affordable price range.  The Bubble Bath comes in an 8oz recyclable bottle and it’s in a concentrated form so a little goes further than most natural bubble bath products.  I never get any real bubble action from some of the safer bubble baths, but that isn’t the case with Episencial Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath. We get great bubbles and it has a very light citrusy floral scent – nothing overpowering. My son loved all the bubbles and got a big kick out of the Tiny Caterpillar art on the bottle. He asked me if there was caterpillars inside the bubbles. :)

GET IT: You can order The Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath and other Episencial products on SproutBaby.com!

WIN IT!

SproutBaby.com is giving away a bottle of Episencial Sweet Dreams Bubble Bath to one lucky reader!

To Enter:
Visit SproutBaby.com and let me know by leaving a comment what other product they carry you would love to try out! (required)

For Extra Entries (You must leave a comment for each extra entry for them to count):

One winner will be selected at random using Random.org. Giveaway open to US residents. Entries will be accepted until March 19, 2010 at midnight. Good Luck :D

Winner: Commenter #16 Daisy Adkins!

Filed Under Bath & Skin Care, Kids & Baby Gear Tagged With bubble bath, Giveaways, Kid Stuff

Fresh Wave Giveaway Winners!

March 5, 2010 By Kathy Leave a Comment

#1 Melissa Sparks
#37 NTE
#21 Jennifer Barr
#17 Joline Class
#12 Jodi Gilreath

Congratulations winners! Emails have been sent! Please respond within 72 hours to claim your prize. Thank you for entering!

Filed Under Winners Tagged With Winners

Mommy Likes Mama Bears Kind Signs (Giveaway!)

March 2, 2010 By Kathy 22 Comments

Kind Signs Stroller Sign

I wrote about a great product on SafeMama.com recently called Kind Signs Stroller Signs. I was lamenting about how strangers LOVE to touch my baby and since then I was recently caught out and about without my Kind Sign and a woman came up and touched my baby’s face and hands when I wasn’t looking. (I thought my mother was going to have a coronary.) I will never again leave the house without my Kind Sign.

Kind Signs were developed for this very reason. You can hang them on your stroller, carrier, shopping cart, cribs, diaper bag or anywhere your little cutie is sitting to gently let people know you’d rather they not touch your baby. Keep your germs to yourself people!  Each sign is large enough for people to read easily and is a nice way of saying “hands off”. The signs are made of silicone which is BPA, PVC and Phthalate free so if baby happens to get his mitts on it’s not the end of the world.

WIN IT!

MamaBears.com is giving away FIVE Kind Signs Stroller Signs to five lucky readers!

To Enter:
Visit MamaBears.com and let me know by leaving a comment why you would like a Kind Sign and what color you would pick! (required)

For Extra Entries (You must leave a comment for each extra entry for them to count):

  • Subscribe to Mommy Likes via RSS reader
  • Subscribe to Mommy Likes via email –>
  • Put a Mommy Likes Button on your blog or website
  • Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
  • Fan MamaBears.com on Facebook
  • Follow @momlikes on Twitter
  • Follow @MamaBearscom on Twitter
  • ReTweet this giveaway:  RT @momlikes WIN A KIND SIGN STROLLER SIGN from @MamaBearscom #giveaway http://tinyurl.com/yzd7vqt

Five winners will be selected at random using Random.org. Giveaway open to US residents. Entries will be accepted until March 10, 2010 at midnight. Good Luck :D

Winner: #3 Bri

Filed Under Giveaways, Kids & Baby Gear Tagged With Kid Gear, Stroller Accessories

Mommy Likes Britax Roundabout 50

February 28, 2010 By Kathy Leave a Comment

Britax Roundabout 50

I had the pleasure of receiving a Britax Roundabout 50 to check out after a heart clutching story broke on the news.  An Elm Grove, Wisconsin mother was trapped in front of an oncoming train with her child seated in the back, in a Britax Roundabout.  The father, following behind in a separate car rushed to her aide and while they managed to free the mother, the boy was still in the car when struck by the oncoming train.  That boy, and his Roundabout 50 were unharmed.

I’ve always been an advocate of car seat safety and the importance of having your seats checked to ensure they are installed properly. But I have to wonder how much of it was the installation, and how much of it was the seat? The Britax Roundabout 50 features Britax’s Side Impact Protection which distributes crash forces, contains the head and body, and shields the child from possible vehicle intrusions during a crash.

It also feature’s their 5 point harness system which secures the child at the strongest parts of the body… much like race car drivers! this is one of their smaller contoured convertible car seats which can accommodate an infant as small as 5 lbs up to 50lbs.  Because of the smaller base this seat can fit in most vehicles wonderfully compared to others.  I’ve had this problem with some of the other seats we’ve tested in our Honda Pilot, where the base is so big that it creates less leg room for the child and for the driver.  The Roundabout 50 eliminates that problem.  My son was very comfortable in this seat.  And knowing that it helped save a boy from a train impact doesn’t hurt!

Britax has a great reputation and for good reason… they rate well in Consumer Reports and have been proactive with regard to recalls, while continuing to improve the safety of their seats with research.  But with any car seat, it’s crucial to have it properly installed or else all those great safety features are useless.  Look for your local Child Safety Seat Inspector on SeatCheck.org or at USA.SafeKids.org.

GET IT: You can purchase this or any Britax car seats at Babies R Us or Amazon.com

Filed Under Mommy Finds Tagged With car seats

Mommy Likes Boon Grass Drying Racks (& Boon Giveaway)

February 27, 2010 By Kathy 35 Comments

Boon Grass Drying Rack

My counter turns into a mess in a hot minute at my house.  I spend 45 minutes cleaning up the day after the kids are in bed.  Which means doing dishes, hanging artwork on the fridge and cleaning baby toys and bottle parts.  Of course you could wash all your little bottle parts and sippy cups and dry them on a towel but what’s fun about that? I picked up a Boon Grass Drying Rack recently and it’s a nice addition to my counter without being a wet towel eye sore.

Boon Squirt

Conventional drying racks are usually too widespread to hold all the little pieces of bottles and sippy cups, and fall through.  The Boon Grass Drying Rack is neatly spaced “grass” so even the smallest valve or bottle part rests neatly so it will dry fast.  And it looks stylish!  Boon’s Grass Drying Rack is also BPA, PVC and Phthalate Free!

Mommy Likes all the Boon products actually.  We use the bath toys every night… especially their Water Bugs and Odd Ducks.  We’re also a big  fan of the Boon Squirt baby food dispenser spoon.   It makes feedings quick and easy… and when we’re done, baby plays with it!  Stuff that makes our life easier while looking modern and stylish is a great buy in my book.  All their products are BPA, PVC and Phthalate free too so you know you’re getting a safe product to boot.

GET IT: You can pick up a Boon Grass Drying Rack, or other Boon items in several places, including The Soft Landing (Mommy Likes The Soft Landing!), Target and Amazon.com

WIN IT

We’re giving away a Boon Squirt spoon in Orange to a lucky reader.

To Enter:

Visit Boon, Inc.’s website and Leave a comment on this post and tell me what Boon product you would love to have!

For Extra Entries (leave a comment for each extra entry for them to count):

  • Subscribe to Mommy Likes via email –>
  • Subscribe to Mommy Likes via RSS reader
  • Put a Mommy Likes Button on your blog or website
  • Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link
  • Follow @momlikes on Twitter
  • Follow @BoonInc on Twitter
  • ReTweet this giveaway RT @momlikes WIN A BOON SQUIRT spoon feeder from @BoonInc #giveaway http://tinyurl.com/y8lzezt

One winner will be selected at random using Random.org.  Giveaway open to US & Canadian residents. Entries will be accepted until March 12, 2010 at midnight.  Good Luck :D

Congrats Commenter #25 Katie!

Filed Under Dishware, Giveaways, Kids & Baby Gear, Kitchen & Bath Tagged With Kid Gear, Kitchen Stuff

Mommy Likes Fresh Wave Odor Neutralizers (Giveaway!)

February 24, 2010 By Kathy 48 Comments

I try not to use commercial air fresheners in my home. They basically mask odors, so they come back. Not to mention they are loaded with hormone mimicking phthalates and other toxic chemicals I’d just rather not use around my kids and my pets. I air out the house, use plants and keep things tidy. But sometimes you just need a little extra help thanks to Fido who might need a bath or your husbands gym clothes smell like a day old Hoagie. I was introduced to Fresh Wave recently and they sent me a few items to try out. I was skeptical but I was very impressed!

For review I received their Travel Home Spray, a jar of Odor Neutralizing Crystals and a really pretty Soy Candle. I put the Home Spray in our communal bathroom, where it’s been getting some use *ahem*. But I found myself running to grab it from all over the house to neutralize musty smells coming from the garage or to spritz it near the diaper pail. It has a pleasant scent but the scent disappears along with the icky smell you were trying to get rid of to begin with.

I was really impressed with the Odor Crystals. I wasn’t sure how that would even work but I put the opened jar next to my dog’s bed and it kept his stinkiness in check. (I really need to bathe that dog… smelly furball) It lasted about a month and you can reuse the container.. just purchase a larger supply and refill as needed. This would also work great in the garage, near the laundry piles, or litter boxes. The crystals just dry up and disappear!

I used the candle in the kitchen… I love candles, but I always choose soy candles.  They burn cleaner and last longer.  Fresh Wave’s products are all natural and use oils like lime, pine needle, aniseed, clove and cedar wood to absorb odors.  No phthalates and No Chemicals! Their products are also biodegradable.

GET IT: You can order any Fresh Wave products right from their website Fresh-Wave.com

WIN IT!

Mommy Likes is giving away FIVE Fresh Wave 2 oz. Odor Neutralizing Travel Spray to five lucky winners!

To Enter:

Visit Fresh Wave’s website and tell me what product you think your home needs!

For Extra Entries (leave a comment for each extra entry):

  • Follow @momlikes on Twitter
  • Follow @fresh_wave on Twitter
  • Tweet this giveaway: RT Win a @fresh_wave Odor Neutralizing Travel Spray from @momlikes http://tinyurl.com/yflsx4g
  • Blog this giveaway and leave me the link to your entry

FIVE winners will be selected at random using Random.org.  Giveaway open to US residents. Entries will be accepted until March 3, 2010 at midnight.  Good Luck :)

Giveaway Closed: Winners to be announced.

Filed Under Giveaways, Home & Lifestyle Tagged With air freshener, Giveaways

Mommy Likes Bubble & Bee Organic Shower Gels

February 19, 2010 By Kathy 2 Comments

Bubble & Bee Organic Shower Gel

Mommy Likes pretty much all Bubble & Bee Organic products but today I want to chat about her Organic Shower Gels and why they are such a great buy. Let’s start with the fact that Stephanie from Bubble & Bee is incredibly knowledgeable about ingredients and just by looking at any of her products you’ll see that they are completely chemical free.  No chemicals. She also just obtained the USDA Certified Organic label on some of her products.

What really makes me love her stuff is that she takes great care in making sure the product you receive is worthy of your money.  What I mean is she doesn’t sell watered down products and provides them in concentrated forms when appropriate so you’re getting pure natural ingredients and not paying for a bunch of water.  (This is why she doesn’t sell body lotion.. it would just be an emulsified version of her lotion bars/sticks.  Why pay for water?)

So the shower gels, are amazing.  They’re concentrated so a little goes a long way AND, you can add your own water to them to make hand soap or shampoo.  Last time I ordered I picked up her Foamer Bottles (I love these… makes washing the kids so much easier) and made one for the sink (hand soap), one for the kids (shampoo/body wash) and one for me, of course.  All from one bottle of shower gel.  And I still have a ton left.  Now I just need to get more scents.  I gravitated to the Fresh Lavender but something about the Squeezed Lime is making me want to place another order.

GET IT: Visit Bubble & Bee Organic to order her Organic Shower Gels or any of her other fabulous products.  I also love her Geranium Lime Deodorant, the Rude Raspberry Lip Balm and the Coconut Lime Soap.  YUM.

Filed Under Bath & Body, Beauty Tagged With bath and body, organic skin care, shower gel

Mommy Likes The Sippy Straw Cleaner

February 18, 2010 By Kathy Leave a Comment

Sippy Straw Cleaner

You’ve been there… a sippy cup in your hand with a straw filled with who knows what and no way to get it out and get it clean other than to stand at the sink running it under hot water for an eternity.  Even then, you’re still not sure if you got it all and maybe, you even tossed it in the recycle bin.  I know I’ve been there.  The mom behind the Sippy Straw Cleaner reached out to me a while ago and sent me one to check out.

I’ll admit, at first I thought “When am I ever going to use this?” and put it near the sink in case the need arose. No more than an hour later I was washing a Thermos Foogo and I spotted some gunk in the spout.  Sure enough I was right at it with my Sippy Straw Cleaner and got it squeaky clean in no time.  Then it started to come in handy for other things, like bottle parts and the netting on our Nuby Nibbler.  Soon I was Sippy Straw Detailing every kid item I own.  It’s also the perfect companion for those of us who have reusable straws!

This is a great little “nice to have” item that is BPA Free and will save you from having to throw out gross moldy cups. It only costs a couple bucks to boot so you can’t lose.

GET IT: Pick up a 2 pack of Sippy Straw Cleaners on her website StrawCleaner.com

Filed Under Kids & Baby Gear, Tools Tagged With Dishware, Kid Gear, Tools

Mommy Likes Eye-Fi Memory Cards

February 18, 2010 By Kathy 1 Comment

Eye-Fi Memory Cards

I love taking pictures of my kids, just like anyone else.  I even have a fancy Nikon D80 to do it with.  What I don’t like is spending my evening uploading photos so my family can see and print them.  Then I found Eye-Fi.  Oh Eye-Fi how I love thee.  This great little memory card does all the work for you.  You put the little card in your camera and it will upload the pictures to your computer and to the web for you.  How genius is that???

They come available in 2GB 4GB and 8GB to accommodate photos, video and even RAW image storage.

What I like even more, is that Google is running a great promotion right now where if you purchase 20 GB of storage space on Picasa they will send you an Eye-Fi card FREE.  It will upload your pictures to your Picasa account and voila.  Done.  Now all you need to do is email and print or whatever it is you like to do with your photos.

GET IT: You can buy an Eye-Fi card from Eye.Fi or get a 200 GB Picasa account to get your free Eye-Fi card.  Pretty sweet!

Filed Under Gadgets & Electronics Tagged With Gadgets & Electronics, media tools

Mommy Likes ThinkBaby Feeding Gear

February 16, 2010 By Kathy Leave a Comment

ThinkBaby Feeding Set

I’ve been a fan of the ThinkBaby company for some time.  I use their ThinkSport stainless water bottle myself and have been using their ThinkBaby Feeding Set for over a year.  I try to eliminate unneeded waste in my day to day and packing my son’s preschool lunchbox is no exception.  ThinkBaby’s dishes are something I use on an almost daily basis.  I love that they are stainless steel and insulated with BPA Free polypropylene plastic.  ThinkBaby’s mission is to provide safe feeding gear free of BPA, PVC, Lead, Phthalates and a bevy of other icky stuff.  So with all the stress that comes with mothering, this is one area I don’t waste time worrying.

The ThinkBaby Feeding Set comes with a Soup Bowl, a Baby Bowl, a Bento Box, a handled Cup (which is my son’s favorite cup of all time), and a spoon and fork. All bowls and boxes come with a safe plastic lid for storage.  I’ve tossed a bowl full of grapes or fruit in my diaper bag on more than one occasion and never once had to clean sliced kiwis out of my bag.

ThinkBaby has just released a few of their feeding items as separates too, which is awesome because I have said more than once that I could use an extra bowl or bento box.  They come in their traditional ThinkBaby orange or in a new blue color.  The blue option says “think” on it for the big kids.  The blue is my personal favorite!

GET IT: You can purchase any ThinkBaby products right from their website ThinkBabyBottles.com!

Filed Under Dishware, Kids & Baby Gear Tagged With BPA Free, Dishware, ThinkBaby