Bump Ahead: Hotslings Review & Giveaway

Welcome to our Bump Ahead: An Outnumbered Baby Shower Event! We are celebrating the new lives growing inside of two of our own writers, Anne and Shay; as well as the four {yes, you read that correctly} boys growing inside of my sister in law! From May 1st through July 1st, we will be sharing some of our top baby gear picks and sharing great Baby Shower Gift ideas with you! Be sure to check back often for our latest finds and a chance at some awesome prizes! 

~This feature was made possible by Hotslings~

 

I have found one of the easiest ways to transport baby around is with a carrier. Sure a really nice stroller is great for when you will be pushing them around for hours but I find a nice carrier is essential when running small errands like going to the grocery store. I have used a soft structured carrier for years now and I love it but I have also heard such great things about slings as well so I was super excited to review Hotslings.

For me there is nothing sweeter than having baby snuggled up right next to me. It gives me a sense of close-ness that a stroller just doesn't provide. Not to mention I always get cute looks and comments when I carried either of my babies.

Lil Sis is 18 months old and almost 23 pounds. Since she is older I use the sling as a hip carrier. When walking around with her she can get heavy fast. I love that the Hotsling makes it so I can carry her on my hip while distributing the weight so my arms don't get tired.

There is a lot of talk about the safety of slings. Just make sure you are using it correctly, especially with really little ones. Hotslings has a great Safety and Precautions section on their website complete with illustrations to make sure you are using it correctly and that baby is positioned correctly.

There is definitely a learning curve when using your Hotsling for the first time. Check out the super useful videos on their along with instructions site to help you in putting your own baby in.

They come in 2 sizes, regular and large. The cool thing is that it has adjustable pouch sizing with each one so that you can get the perfect fit that works for you.

The fabric itself has a nice thickness to it so you know it is not cheaply made. Not too thick though and even wearing her in this Florida heat neither of us got overly hot. I also love that when I am not using it I can just roll it up and stick in it my diaper bag. Much easier to store than my buckled soft structure carrier that I already own. I personally think every new mom should have a Hotsling. It is just one of those things that once you have mastered putting baby in it will make any trip that much easier to carry baby.

Connect: You can connect with Hotslings on their website, facebook and on Pinterest.

Buy It! You can use purchase your own Hotsling on their website for $64.95.

The Giveaway: How would you like to win your own Hotsling! I have one to give away to one lucky contestant! To enter the giveaway please follow all of the directions below! If you don't follow the rules, you can't win! 

Safe Haven Blu-Ray Review

~This review brought to you by 20th Century Fox~



Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough star in this spellbinding romantic drama based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook). After a mysterious woman moves to a small town and falls in love with a handsome widower, a dark secret from her past threatens their happiness.

I'll admit it, I'm a pretty big Nicholas Sparks fan. When a new book comes out, I text my best friend to see if she's reading it right away too. When a new movie comes out based on the book, it's like instant date night! It could be because I live in North Carolina and so many of his stories are based in real, small local towns or because I'm just a big ball of mush. Either way, Safe Haven is not a disappointment!

The story starts out with an intense scene with our heroine covered in blood and on the run from the cops. Hough changes her look and hops on a bus in an attempt to escape the crime she has just committed. Even with what some could consider a justifiable crime, fleeing from an abusive husband, she leaves Boston and randomly chooses the small town of South Port in North Carolina to lie low in.

Alex (Duhamel) is a widower with two children, who runs a local corner store. It is here where the two meet for the first time and an infatuation starts to bloom. Although Katie (Hough) attempts to keep to herself, the couple keep finding themselves drawn towards each other and she finds herself not only falling for Duhamel's character, but also for his children. Deciding to stay, Katie rents a run down cabin in the woods, where she has a lone neighbor named Jo. Asides from Alex, Jo is the only person Katie lets her guard down with.

The story reminds me a lot of The Notebook, but with a great twist. An alcoholic, slightly neurotic cop is on Katie's trail, slowly but surely finding out where she has gone. The more trusting our heroine gets, the closer it is to having her secret revealed. Will Alex be able to love Katie once he knows her secret? Will the cop track down Katie and make her pay for her crime? And who exactly is Jo?

Safe Haven is PG-13 and runs for 116 minutes. The Blu-Ray contains bonus features:

• Igniting the Romance in Safe Haven
• Josh Duhamel's Lessons in Crabbing
• Set Tour
• Alternate Ending
• Deleted & Extended Scenes

Unlike other romantic movies, Safe Haven has a great depth of drama and edge of your seat suspense. It's the perfect date movie or even for a night in with the girls. If you've read the book, be prepared for a few difference between the stories. Personally, I love both and the movie takes nothing away from the book.


Connect
You can connect with Safe Haven on their Facebook Page

Buy It
You can purchase Safe Haven on Blu-Ray from Fox Connect for $25.99

MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE: THE QUEST FOR CRYSTAL MICKEY Review

~This review was made possible by Click Communications~

The Newest "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"

Adventure Arrives Just In Time For Summer Break!

“MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE:

THE QUEST FOR CRYSTAL MICKEY”

Arrives on DVD – May 21, 2013

Grab your hat, buckle your seatbelt, and get ready to embark on a thrilling adventure in “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: The Quest for

the Crystal Mickey!” There’s no time to lose after greedy Plunderin’ Pete snatches the legendary Crystal Mickey statue from the Clubhouse. Without this sparkly statue’s magic, the Clubhouse will

disappear forever!  Can the world’s most extraordinary hero "Kansas City Mickey," get the magical statue back in time? Only with help from young viewers at home…and the right Mouseketools can Mickey journey across the Sandy Desert, brave the Rushing River and make his way through the Hidden Jungle. But watch out for Pete’s trickiest traps!

  

I don’t know about you, but my girls love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  They were both glued to the television shouting out answers when it was time to select which Mouseketools were needed for each job.  Even my three-year-old was out witting my seven-year-old.  My daughter's favorite part is when Kansas Mickey gets back to the clubhouse with the Crystal Mickey.  The clubhouse has nearly disappeared, and all that is left is the pedestal that holds the Crystal Mickey.  Once Crystal Mickey is placed on the pedestal the clubhouse reappears and all is well in Mickey’s world.






Episodes Include:

1 – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Quest for the Crystal Mickey

Plunderin¢ Pete has stolen the Crystal Mickey statue from the clubhouse.  Without the Crystal Mickey the clubhouse will lose it’s magic and disappear forever.  Mickey and friends set off on an adventure across the Sandy Desert, the Rushing River, and through the Hidden Jungle to retrieve the Crystal Mickey statue.  You will be on the edge of your seat trying to decide if they will get it back in time.

2 – Donald of the Desert

This episode starts off with the Silly Switch telling Mickey and Donald to make sand castles.  So Mickey and the gang travel to the desert to get sand for their sandbox.  They bring back Pete the Genie to help them build sand castles. 

3 – Donald the Genie

Donald wished to be a genie, and grant his friends wishes.  Although the wishes were not exactly what his friends asked for they were still very thankful to Donald for granting their wishes.

4 – Goofy’s Coconutty Monkey

Coco the monkey wanted to have a coconut party so Goofy set off to find coconuts for Coco’s party.  They searched far and wide, but couldn’t find any coconuts.  However, they did find lots of tiny footprints that they followed to the missing coconuts.  Chip and Dale thought they were large nuts and were being packed away for the winter.

5 – Goofy’s Giant Adventure

Sir Goof’s A lot goes on an adventure with Mickey to find the Gurgling Bath Pool to cure the Giant’s belly ache.  The babbling bubbling water is supposed to settle an upset stomach.

Connect: Soon you can view the trailer on Disney.

Buy: You can buy your own MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE:  THE QUEST FOR CRYSTAL MICKEY DVD for  $14.29 Amazon.

I received a sample product for this review. All opinions are my own and/or my family's, take it or leave it. Click here to view my whole disclosure policy.

Season 2 of Oxygen's "I’m Having Their Baby" Series Starts June 12th PLUS $50 VISA Gift Card Giveaway

~This feature was written in partnership with I'm Having Their Baby~

Adoption is a topic that hits close to home for me. There are a number of different reasons that adoption has affected my family. Without publicly airing all of my dirty laundry, let me just say that I have siblings that were adopted by other families.

The babies went to caring, loving homes and we got updates on them all from time to time. I never personally met any of those babies because I didn't want to form a bond with them. I don't know that I could have been okay letting them go, had I done so. I'm just happy to know that they went to great homes and have the life that they deserve.

I also personally know some people who are unable to have a baby. This affects many people and you might even know someone who is unable to conceive. There are many people who long to have a child their entire life and adoption helps enable them to start the family that they have always dreamed of.

Having said all of that, I was really excited to be able to share with you about the Oxygen series I'm Having Their Baby. The series focuses on real life stories surrounding birth mothers giving their babies up for adoption.



I wasn't sure how I would feel going into this, but the series had my immediate interest. I felt the pain of the birth mothers having to make this ultimate, life altering decision. However, at the same time, I got to see firsthand the joy that this wonderful gift brings to the adoptive parents. It's such a heartfelt series.

The statistics of births in the US might surprise you just as much as they did me. There are 600,000 pregnancies in the US, 3 million {that's half!} are not planned and 14,000 place their babies up for adoption.

The video below, "I'm Having Their Baby: Raising Nayamah" is a follow up to Jamie's season 1 story. It really warmed my heart to see how things are going a year after the fact. Both families are doing well and they even see each other on occasion. I encourage you to check it out!


After watching "I'm Having Their Baby: Raising Vivienne", I was hooked on the series. I know how painful it is for the parents and the families to give up their babies, but at the same time, you see them going to such loving homes.

You can catch up and watch all episodes of "I’m Having Their Baby" and also get a sneak peak of season 2. The video below also shows Vivienne, her birth parents, and adoptive family a year later. They are still close as well, which is wonderful!


Now it’s your turn to watch the webisodes above and comment on your favorite or most moving part. One lucky commenter will be selected to win a $50 gift card! I’ll announce the winner on June 12th!

I am really glad that I had the chance to experience "I'm Having Their Baby". I think it sheds a lot more light on adoption and the choices available for young mothers who just aren't ready to give up their lives. It might even encourage couples who are unable to conceive to explore the possibility of adoption.

Here are some points to consider about the show:

• All of the birth mothers wanted to share their story openly and honestly. Oxygen’s goal was to be authentic in the representation of these very personal journeys and the mixed emotions that come along with that, allowing viewers to bear witness to the adoption process and heart-wrenching final decision each family must face

• The women featured on the show had already sought out an adoption agency and had made the choice to pursue adoption for their unborn child when they were approached to participate in the show.

• Adoption laws do vary from state to state. The production company, who had no part in influencing birth mothers, did a nationwide casting search to find these birth moms willing to share their stories. Once those individuals were selected, their stories were followed.

Connect:

You can connect with "I'm Having Their Baby" through their website, Facebook, @Oxygen on Twitter and/or through the #ImHavingTheirBaby Hashtag!

The Giveaway: How would you like to win a $50 VISA Gift Card? I have one to give away to one lucky contestant!

To enter the giveaway please follow all of the directions below! If you don't follow the rules, you can't win!