Friday, August 13, 2010

Moms supporting Moms! What could be better?

A good friend of mine recently came up with a truly ingenious idea- she created an online store of handcrafted goodies made by moms!!  Every item offered from  Made by Moms is made with love for that special baby in your life.  Made by Moms specializes in diaper cakes and baby baskets that are 100% original and made to order.  From baby blankets to hair bows- Made by Moms has it all.  Be sure to check out their website for a beautiful and unique gift that any new mom (and baby) would love!

Another thing that's cool about Made by Moms?   You will be supporting a 100% mom-owned business!  Meet the Made by Moms crafty moms here.  They are always looking for new partners so if you make a cool baby item you should get in touch with them!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

-CLOSED- Must have alert! Aden + Anais

Have you heard of Aden + Anais?  They are an ever-popular company to new moms across the world specializing in cotton muslin swaddling blankets.   Chief executive officer Raegan Moya-Jones (originally from Australia) designed the ever-popular muslin swaddling blankets after moving to the USA when she found that large breathable swaddling blankets were very difficult to find.  A+A swaddling blankets are large enough to use not only for swaddling, but also for a nursing cover, tummy time blanket, burp cloth and stroller blanket.  Since designing swaddling blankets Aden + Anais has also come out with sleeping bags, bibs, washcloths, towels, dream blankets (4 layer cotton muslin), and issie security blankets (satin edges).

I own a set of swaddling blankets (use them in the hospital after Brayden was born), 2 dream blankets, a cozy sleeping bag, and 2 issie security blankets (the new satin edge ones!).  The thing I like the most about the swaddling blankets is that you can use them for so many different things and they make swaddling easy because of how large they are (47" x 47").  The dream blankets are ridiculously soft and don't make my warm baby sweat.  I have a sleeping bag in the closet that I haven't been able to use yet because we are still swaddling at night, but it is essentially a dream blanket in sleeping bag form!

The issie security blankets are an adorably small version of a swaddle blanket with satin trimmed edges that give variation on texture for your baby to cuddle with at night and at naptime.  The moment I opened the package of issies my 2 year old claimed one of these little blankies and slept with it all night long!

Aden + Anais cotton muslin comes in a variety of adorable prints and retail from $18.00- $45.00 USD and are sold in stores across canada and the USA.

Okay- GIVEAWAY time!!  I have a set of Issie security blankets for one lucky reader!!  Here's how you enter (1 entry for each of the following):

1) Become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment telling me what your favorite A+A product is!

2) Become a fan of my facebook page here and leave a comment on my blog with your facebook ID.

3) Become a fan of Aden + Anais on facebook and leave a comment on my blog with your facebook ID.

Contest closes 08/18/2010!  Good luck and thanks for reading!!!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

We LOVE Mommy Necklaces!

I first found out about Mommy Necklaces when I was about 7 months pregnant (with my second babe) while playing around on the internet.  I thought they were the coolest thing!  I went back to work with my first son when he was only 2 months old (he came to work with me a lot of the time) and I had necklace after necklace torn off as my son loved to twiddle and play with all my beautiful necklaces.  So you could imagine how thrilled I was to see a necklace with a breakaway clasp! Really, a fabulous idea for any mom.

These necklaces were designed for nursing mama's who were tired of having their chests get scratched up by wandering hands.  As the product evolved it was purchased by a wide variety of mommies in various different situations.  Some mom's like myself were just sick and tired of having their expensive necklaces broken by curious babies and toddlers, or even bottle feeding mommas who have to bat hands away from the bottle.

Mommy Necklaces come in a variety of colors and styles. My personal fav is "Splash" which I have in tear drop, but would love to get in a single strand!  The blues in this necklaces look awesome with a simple t-shirt and jeans. Mom's who use these necklace for twiddling fingers would probably find the longer styles more suitable, and the shorter styles are better for baby to play with while being held (or worn) - and won't break!

These necklaces retail at $25-$35 USD with shipping to canada $5 flat rate (and a 3 year warranty).  BUT if you are willing to follow the deal a day sites- they show up fairly often and you can scoop up one of these gorgeous necklaces for about $15 (on average)!  Mommy Necklaces also has a facebook fan page which you can find here!  Become a fan to get the most recent news and exclusive mommy necklace deals!

Here is a picture of my little man enjoying my collection of Mommy Necklaces (these aren't toys and are not meant to be chewed on, it was just a nice way to show off my pretty necklaces!).

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Why I named my blog "Go Shop Momma!"

Just a little blurb about why I named my blog - Go shop Momma!  When we first moved to Flin Flon I didn't know many people and didn't have much to do in the evenings or on weekends.  So my son (18 months at the time) and I would often go to Walmart to walk around and basically just waste some time.  He was just beginning to talk and it had become a habit to hit walmart on the weekend- one morning he woke up, came running into our bedroom and said loudly "Go shop momma?!"   It was the cutest thing ever and was the first sentence my son ever said so it just kinda "stuck". :-)

So there you have it, the story of how "Go Shop Momma" began!

Win a snugease bib!

Wanna try one of these ultra-cool bibs?  Become a fan of my facebook page here - LIKE my page and leave a comment saying that you're a fan!  Are you a follower of my blog?  If not- you SHOULD BE! :)  That will get you another chance to win!  Leave me a comment on my facebook page telling me that you follow!  When I hit 150 LIKES on my facebook page or 100 followers here on the blog I will be giving away a snazzy snugease bib to one lucky person!!!  Suggesting my FB page to your friends will make this giveaway happen very soon!  Thank you so much!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Haute Mommy giveaway!

If you haven`t already entered to win an adorable framed scrabble personalized picture head on over to Haute Mommy for details on how to enter!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

My Night time cloth diaper solution

For those of you that know me, you know how much I LOVE cloth diapers.  Honestly, I can`t say enough good things about cloth diapers!  And trust me, you will see MANY more blogs related to cloth, but I wanted to start off with a subject that I found the most daunting- the overnight cloth diaper solution.

It took a lot of experimentation to find what I consider to be better than a disposable (if you think disposables are the best for overnight, you are just plain wrong.  read on...) By recommendation of Catherine from Bouncing Babies cloth diapers (excellent customer service BTW) I bought a Goodmama fitted diaper (with organic bamboo velour, seriously comfy for your baby`s bum!) with a
Dancing-bears fleece diaper cover (they run big, a small will last you from newborn to potty training).  I was really scared to use the fleece cover, I just couldn`t wrap my head around how something that isn`t waterproof (in the traditional sense of the word) would contain all of that overnight pee!  But, I gave it a go because the Goodmama diaper came highly recommended and so did the fleece cover.  To my astonishment, after a blissful 12 hour sleep, my sweet little boy woke up with NO LEAKS!  I gave it two weeks before I started raving to anyone and everyone I know!

Its been three months since I started using this overnight cloth solution and my baby still hasnt woken up with a leak.  I should note that I have put him in a disposable the odd night when I did not get my cloth washed in time, and he woke up with a leak everytime.... Hmmmm.

Anyway, the goodmama diaper is pricey ($31) but well worth it in my opinion since it is one size and just ridiculously absorbant. Bouncing babies cloth diaper currently has the Goodmama fitteds in stock as well as the new Goodmama one, of which I will be doing a review in the next couple of weeks! The dancingbears fleece cover retails at $20 but I have not been able to find any canadian retailers so I ordered from http://www.happybabycompany.com/ (which I highly recommend as well if you want to buy one of these fantastic fleece covers).

If anyone else has found a great overnight solution please feel free to share in the comments!  Or if you have any questions please go ahead and ask!! :)  Thanks for reading!