Sorry guys, no Mixtape Mondays today on occasion of my little dude being sick and working ALL weekend. I just don’t have the heart to put one together right now.

In the mean time, check out the True Blood Season 1 Soundtrack, hopefully in honor of the TB ep I’m going to watch tonight, assuming Zachary falls asleep. *sigh* Now on to today’s blog post….

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So, as I mentioned, my little guy is sick. Zachary has his first case of the flu! Have you ever dealt with the flu in a not quite 2 year old? Well, let me tell you something, you don’t want to. It pretty much sucks. There is absolutely nothing worse than seeing your little baby feeling so awful!

Getting him to fall asleep was so hard. I had to lay down with him in his bed because he didn’t want to be by himself – of course, there isn’t much room in a toddler bed, so I sat next to the bed at times and rested my head next to him. When that didn’t work, we laid on a blanket on the floor. When that didn’t work, I sat in his chair and held him as he cuddled with me.

I pretty much did whatever Zachary wanted to do throughout the evening to make sure that he was as comfortable as possible, and I think I succeeded because when morning came, I could tell that he felt better, while I felt pretty terrible – LOL.

In my seriously sleep-deprived haze last night, as I went in and out of sleep sitting next to my poor sick baby, I started to have a flashback to my own childhood, thinking about all the times that I got sick as a little girl, and remembering my mother doing exactly what I was doing for my baby – sitting next to me, giving me Tylenol, making sure I was drinking fluids, and rubbing my back.

Though Adrian and were both horribly exhausted, the thought brought a smile to my face, because we were willing to do anything at that point to make Zachary feel better because we love him so much, and I’m sure our parents probably had many a night like that when we were children. It’s nice, in a way (though at that moment it was awful), to live through experiences like that, just to see how our parents have felt for us at any given time in our lives.

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Do you love toys? I do. One of the reasons I love being a mom is because I get to experience childhood again playing with my son. As I child, I remember how much I LOVED my toys. There were certain toys that I still remember today and a happy feeling comes over me. I’ve always hoped that my son would have that feeling about some of his toys, too.

Enter B. Toys, an amazing modern toy company.

Just B. Just You. B. You.

That’s B. Toys’ motto. Encouraging each child to celebrate their uniqueness and be themselves, all the while exploring their world and to fully enjoying every moment as children. That’s just one reason why I love B. Toys. They’re one of my favorite toy companies that I’ve come across thus far as a mom, and as long as they keep coming out with Toys, we’ll keep buying them.

Each toy that we’ve purchased from them has been uniquely amazing so far, everything is beautifully designed, and their branding is fun, beautiful and captivating! Their packaging reminds you to recycle, and some of the boxes serve a dual purpose and can be taken off and turned around for an instant gift box. Brilliant, right? Some B. Toys may look familiar to you, and that’s because they used to make toys under the Parents’ brand. In fact, Zachary has a couple of their toys with the old branding, and I was impressed then at the great quality of the product. But their new look is awesome, and truly designed with children in mind!

Not only is B. Toys good to the Earth, but they strive to do more. They donate 10 cents from the purchase of each toy to Free the Children, a charity designed to free children from poverty.

Zachary and I have a few favorite B. Toys – we started with the Hellophone. It’s recordable, so every time Zachary presses one of the buttons, he hears me say, “Mommy loves you!” It makes him smile, which makes me smile. Soon after came the Toulouse Lap-trec, a “neverending sketchpad” with magnetic animal stamps. Little Z loves to draw so this toy was a hit! Another B. Toy we love is their FunKeys, which makes 4 different car sounds and has a little flashlight that Zachary likes to turn on. He also likes using it to pretend to unlock our front door. Clever, isn’t he? :)

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I am very excited to have been given the opportunity to review B. Toys Spinaroos and Stackadoos. These are the B. Toys version of Bristle Blocks, yes, the kind you may have played with when you were a kid. But… they are different. They are special.

Look at how colorful this bin of blocks is? (yes, the Spinadoos come in a big orange storage bin – way cool!) There are all kinds of different pieces in there which you can build anything you can think up. Their toys lend SO much to the imagination. It’s pretty amazing!

In my orange bin, I have both the Stackadoos and Spinaroos stuffed in there, and it’s practically overflowing!  There are so many different pieces that come with each set.

The Stackadoos are the more basic set which lets your child use his or her imagination to build whatever structures you can dream up, in any color of the rainbow. The set comes with a reusable bag, but I put all of ours in the bin with our Spinaroos.

The Spinaroos takes that one step further with spinning structures to stack on to, crazy shapes and faces, and even more bristle blocks! You can get either one, or both of them, but having both is twice the fun! And I really love all the different spinning shapes included in the Spinaroos!

The sets come with a pretty little guide book with designs and ideas for building your own creations. I tried some of those with Zachary but he definitely preferred to pick and choose his favorite pieces and make something up on his own. I loved seeing that side of him since other block sets we have are very standard, while the B. Toys bristle blocks are so unique and colorful and have very different shapes compared to “regular blocks” – it was truly fun playing with him and helping him figure out how to put his own design together.

I definitely helped Zachary put this together, but the blocks are easy enough to use that his little fingers had no problem grasping them and connecting them to other blocks. Can you see the look of concentration on his face? He was REALLY into playing with this toy, and after I stopped taking photos, we had a great time building more structures up, tearing them down, and then doing it all over again. I really like the Bristle Blocks that B. Toys has designed because they are engaging, exciting, aesthetically pleasing, and they are a toy that can be used over and over again in many different ways, which is really important when you have a toddler. Bristle Blocks were some of my very favorite toys growing up, and I hope that Zachary treasures his Stackadoos and Spinaroos as much as I loved my toys as a child – and as much as I love these amazing and unique toys from B. Toys!

I have a feeling we’ll soon be buying B.’s brand new set, the Bristle Block Thing-a-ma-JIG’s, which include duck feet, flowers, funny faces, and even more to add to your bristle block sculptures!

I’d love it if you checked out their website (which is amazing – very interactive – and beautiful!), and followed B. Toys on Facebook as well as Twitter. They are always posting about something inspiring – so don’t wait to check them out!

disclosure: I received a box of goodies from B. Toys to review, but all opinions expressed are my own!

Adrian and I took the White Pass & Yukon Route railway tour on our cruise when we ported in Skagway, Alaska. It was a fun, 3 hour train tour that took us up to the Canadian border. The weather was cold, the air was fresh, and the scenery was beautiful.

View large version.

July 20th, 2010
Canon 5D . 35mm f/1.4L
ISO 200 . f/8.0 . 1/30 sec

Zachary loves school. LOVES IT. As soon as we walk in, he gets a HUGE smile on his face and runs to greet his classmates and start playing. He has some friends already who he met at camp this summer, and he is very comfortable and happy at his school. He’s in such a good mood every morning, which makes me a happy mom.

Yesterday was his first day of preschool for the new school year, and he was so excited he could not sleep the night before! He woke up early and was very happy to eat breakfast and get ready to go. We were a little late the first day because I insisted on getting some photos, of course, but he wasn’t very interested, and just really wanted to get in the car. It was very cute to see him so happy and excited!

First day report from his teacher was that “he had a fantastic day!” I couldn’t ask for anything more. :)

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This week’s post features some fun cover songs done by a variety of different musical artists.

Note that some songs are unavailable on Amazon, but you can listen to them all on Grooveshark. Check out the widget I made below, and enjoy the mix!

1. Alanis Morissette – Crazy (Seal cover)
2. Boys Like Girls – Let Go (Frou Frou cover)
3. Newton Faulkner – Teardrop (Massive Attack cover)
4. Petra Haden and Bill Frisell – Yellow (Coldplay cover)
5. She & Him – You Really Got a Hold on Me (The Miracles cover)
6. Mates of State – Second Hand News (Fleetwood Mac cover)
7. 30 Seconds to Mars – Bad Romance (Lady Gaga cover)
8. Paramore – My Hero (Foo Fighters cover)
9. Travis – Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears cover)
10. OneRepublic – Mercy (Duffy cover)

Haven’t done one of these for a while and my browser has been stuck open with tons of tabs just waiting to be shared….

First off, check out this awesome website, Mila’s Daydreams. This mom makes artistic photos with  her sleeping baby, and then blogs them! Seems like something right up my alley, but my child wouldn’t ever stay still enough for me to do something like that. The images are totally awesome, though! Here are two of my favorites:

"My Precious Pearl"

"Bunny Wabbit"

It is seriously worth it to go view ALL of Adele’s photos of her daughter. They are all amazing, creative, and beautiful. Click!

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I’ve decided I want to start couponing. Well, scratch that, I DO coupon already. I just suck at it. My “couponing” consists of finding a coupon I like and then throwing it into the junk drawer, where it stays for three years until I decide to finally clean out the junk drawer. So, I want to start couponing WELL. I want to do it with purpose. I want to research the BOGO’s at Publix like a pro and get myself organized… and yes, that even includes remembering to buy the Sunday paper.

I’ve been looking for a decent coupon tutorial but haven’t found anything until I very randomly stumbled upon this blog, I think it was via Google Friend Connect. In this blog post, Mandy pretty much gives step by step instructions on how to set up your coupon organizer and get ready to save lots of money. I’m super happy and can’t wait to go out and buy my own coupon organizer supplies!

I’ll let you know how my couponing endeavors go. While I haven’t bought the coupon organizer yet, I did manage to save $35 at Target with a bunch of coupons the other day. Definitely an accomplishment! Getting this started is my goal for the month.

Anyone have any good tips of their own to share?

I took this self-portrait using a Canon G11 camera in the SEA-TAC Airport on July 15, 2010.

I love the warning sign that says “Prevent the spread of germs, wash your hands” but then the notices above each sink that state that they’re out of order. Awesome! Click here to view the large version.

This is kind of a long weekend recap – Thursday to Monday – but hey, it’s summertime, and we’re off from school. :) Finally got around to writing this late Tuesday night…. better late than never! :)

Thursday

We went to visit my grandma, which Zachary always loves. LOVES. I can’t put into words how much he adores visiting my grandma, his “GG” – and wish I had a video to show you of the way his face lit up as he took off running towards her the moment he saw her when her front door opened. He ran full force towards her, giving her a huge hug!! That’s not a gift he gives to many, so it’s quite obvious to me how much he loves being around his GG.

Friday

I liked Friday because I got a rare bit of me-time, and Zachary had a blast at the gym with Adrian. He’s been going to the Kid’s Club with Adrian at the gym and absolutely loves it! At first, he didn’t like it, but after two days, was running around laughing and having a great time with all the other kids. He’s such an adaptable little guy. I dropped my two boys off for some exercise and headed over to the library to pick up some books for myself – including Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve heard so much about it and know from others that it’s a book that makes you very introspective about your own life, so I wonder how I’ll feel after reading it. I have  one or two books to finish up before I start it, but I’m sincerely looking forward to reading it, and then seeing the new movie with Julia Roberts.

My BFF Amy also came over on Friday night. She picked up some yummy Chicken Kitchen for dinner (my new favorite “fast food” place). We spent time playing with Zachary and he had fun showing her all of his favorite books and reading them together.

Saturday

Ah, Saturday was awesome. A perfect summer day – we attended my friend Carol’s daughter Olivia’s 3rd birthday party at our city’s aquatic center. It’s an AMAZING aquatic center – they have a splashground (playground with water, sprinklers, the works!) and a heated baby pool, plus a lap pool for the grown-ups. Zachary and I spent a couple hours there for the party and had an absolute blast! We loved it so much we are actually going to go back again this week with Adrian. Zachary didn’t want to leave because he was having so much fun!

After the party, Zachary got to spend some quality time with his grandma & grandpa (who bought him some cool new Sperry Topsiders boat shoes at Stride Rite) while Adrian and I drove up to Palm Beach to visit our good friends, Jason and Lu, and their newborn baby, Lana! Their little one was SO adorable…. I got to hold her and rock her for quite a while and it was so nice to hold a cuddly little newborn baby that wasn’t trying to run away or grab my cell phone. LOL. Though I’m sure she’ll learn all in good time! Holding Lana made me excited to have another baby someday, but for now I’m happy to enjoy the rest of my little guy’s babyhood while I can. I took some photos of Lana while I was visiting with their family and here is one of my favorites:

Sunday

It was a pretty lazy day. I had a craving for bagels so in the morning I ran over to the bagel place and picked up some of my favorite bagels and cream cheese – jalapeño flavor! Turns out Zachary takes after his mom and likes that flavor too. It was fun sharing a bagel with him for breakfast. We relaxed for a bit and then towards the end of the day, I took Zachary up to the mall and walked around for a bit. I got a Starbucks and he drank his milk while I had my Chai.

That night, we gave Zachary a gift — my old iPhone! No, he can’t make calls or anything. It’s on Airplane mode. But we’ve installed some baby games and flash cards, and I’m using it as an educational toy to teach him words, animal sounds, and shapes. He absolutely LOVES his new toy and has been loving playing with the apps I downloaded for him. I’m looking for more free iPhone apps for babies/kids so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. I’ll be writing a blog post soon about my favorites – for iPhone as well as iPad.

Monday

Although it was a workday, Monday was a slow summer day and Zachary and I spent lots of time together since preschool doesn’t start for one more week. We played a lot, colored a lot (even colored on the floor for the first time – oops! After I scolded him, Zachary tried to wipe it off with his hand – cute, but a baby wipe did the trick). We also read books together, had snacks, and Zachary and I had some great “conversations.”

I’m so very excited that his vocabulary is expanding. The other day, he tried to say his own name for the first time! Hearing him  try to pronounce “Zachary” was too cute! While looking through one of his Bright Baby 100 First Words books, he said “picture” for the first time.  He is now saying “that?” and pointing when he wants me to explain to him what something is in a book. I think that shows a lot of thought going on in his little head. He’s not even 2 years old yet and already knows so much and can do so many things. He’s also getting pretty good at coloring and loves sitting at his picnic table and coloring with his mama. :)

Every day is a whole new adventure with our little Zachary. :)

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This is a crazy week for me since summer camp is over now… that means I’m not at the computer very much, and I’m spending a lot of time with Zachary before he starts Preschool next Monday. So, the mixes I’ve been listening to are a little different from usual and I don’t have a mix for you this week. Instead… I wanted to write a post about how to discover new mixes and new music when you want a good variety of songs and don’t want to listen to the same old stuff all the time, or even if you just don’t have the time or energy to create something new (like me this week)!

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Occasionally I listen to music using the iTunes Genius Playlists. You can use this feature on your computer, iPhone, iPod, etc. I’ve been using it on my iPhone since that’s been easiest this past week, as I just plug my iPhone into my iHome device. I like it because I pick a song that I’m in the mood for, and it creates a playlist from your music library based on the “feel” of that song. Most of the time it’s pretty good, but sometimes it throws something in that really doesn’t belong… like a random Britney Spears track that is in my music library, but really shouldn’t be in the playlist.

Overall it’s a pretty good way of listening to music that you will overall be in the mood for. I find that it works best for me when my library is already narrowed down to my favorite tunes, such as on my phone rather than my full library of thousands of songs, but then again, it gets more boring that way. I should probably change up some of the music on my phone so I can utilize the Genius feature better.

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The second method I use is a service called Pandora. To use Pandora, you have to sign up for a free account with them. You can listen from your iPod touch, computer, iPhone, Droid, and maybe other types of smart phones as well… Their selections for you are really spot on and I like being able to bookmark certain artists or songs that I like so that I can check into them later. You can also give thumbs up or thumbs down to songs that you like or don’t like, or just skip over songs that you’re not in the mood for (though they do seem to limit the number of songs that you can skip in a certain period of time).

With Pandora, you create different “stations” based on what you’re interested in. They have a million different genres to select from – Protest music, College indie, Cuban, Rockabilly, Showtunes, even Bollywood. No matter what your music tastes are or whatever you want to hear… it’s on Pandora. You can also create your own station based on the artist that you’d like to hear. They will play that artist’s songs as well as songs by similar musicians. I have a few that I created based on some of my favorite artists, and I also created a Laurie Berkner station (make sure you enter my giveaway for her new CD) so I could listen to music with Zachary in an easy way. I love Pandora because it’s an amazing way to discover new music that you never would have heard otherwise, and it’s easy to bookmark songs that you like if you want to remember them.

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The third and final way I listen to new music online is with Grooveshark. I’ve only just started using this web application, and it’s incredibly powerful. I know I have not yet tapped its potential and look forward to discovering everything that it has to offer. I first learned about Grooveshark because of referrals from friends, plus I found out that they’re from Gainesville, which is where I went to college (at the University of Florida).

They have a huge stock of music that is online and searchable so you can listen to all kinds of music on demand, even if it’s not in your own personal music library. I like this for when I’m in the mood to hear a song that I don’t necessarily want to purchase. They have an iPhone app, however it’s only free for 30 days, and then appears to be about $3 per month. With the iPhone app, you can access all the playlists that you create online or search for “any song in the word” and add it to a new playlist. You have all kinds of controls and even an option to purchase the song from iTunes if desired.

On both the desktop and iPhone app, they have a radio feature, similar to Pandora, where they’ll play a similar song to the one you have selected if you have “radio” turned on. Their iPhone app seems to be just as fast as Pandora. I’m not so sure about some of the song selections on the radio feature, but I’m sure that will get better with time, too. Grooveshark also allows you to bookmark songs that you like by adding them to your favorites when you hear them played on the “radio” and you can give a happy or sad face to songs that you think are good or bad.

One more cool thing about Grooveshark that the others don’t have is that you can connect with friends who are also using Grooveshark and view playlists they’ve created and artists they’ve bookmarked. This is way cool, especially if you have friends who either like the same type of music as you, or if you want to discover something new from a friend who is interested in a different genre. Overall, Grooveshark rocks, and I can’t wait to learn how to use it better!

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So, those are my 3 favorite ways to listen to music using my computer and iPhone. Overall, my favorite option for listening on the computer is Grooveshark. Their desktop web-app is amazing! On the iPhone I definitely prefer Pandora over iTunes Genius for listening to new music, but if I want to listen to a good variety in my music library and not stick with the same mix or same album, I enjoy changing things up with a good Genius playlist, though that seems to work best with a better variety of my favorite tunes.

Hope you enjoyed my review of these 3 applications… Happy listening!

Gosh, I haven’t done one of these Green Easy posts in a while. It was supposed to be monthly and then I got sidetracked. Going to try to get back on it!

Anyway, this month’s post is about cloth diapers vs disposable. Cloth diapers require more of a commitment and are a way for you to really cut down on the amount of waste that you are producing compared to disposables, but if you’re going to use disposable diapers, there are some brands to look at that are better for the environment than others. Either way this is one of the earliest decisions you’ll make as a new Mom or Dad, and one you’ll probably stick with for a while. It affects your finances, your baby’s health, and your eco-friendly factor as a parent.

I admit that we do use disposable diapers with Zachary. We started out using Seventh Generation Diapers, thanks to a gift certificate I received from Amazon when I had my baby registry with them (one of the best baby perks I ever got!), and I did feel a LOT better knowing that my disposable diapers weren’t going to be contributing quite as badly to the ecosystem as other brands.

However, as any parent knows, diapers are expensive. After my gift certificate ran out, I continued to buy Seventh Generation, but they are pricey (but wonderful). Eventually, I started purchasing Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers and later moved on to just the regular old Huggies Little Movers. Environmentally, I wish I could still continue to buy the organics, but both of them are just not cost-effective enough, plus my son is already close to 2 years old and getting interested in potty training. It won’t be much longer before we’re done with diapers completely…. at least for him. I make myself feel better by recycling the packaging that my current diapers come in!

I never in my life imagined using cloth diapers either before I got pregnant or during my pregnancy. Sure the little diaper covers are adorable, but.. no… it was disposable all the way! I always thought cloth diapers were totally disgusting, and my husband was grossed out by the thought of washing diapers and dealing that closely with baby poop. But, after nearly two full years of being parents, our child’s body fluids don’t faze us as much anymore, and even though my husband protests, I think he isn’t bothered as much by it a as much as he says!

It’s crazy to think how much I’ve spent on diapers, not to mention thinking about them sitting in a landfill! I buy a giant box of regular diapers every two weeks or so (sometimes sooner), plus we go through 1 pack of night-time diapers each month. Now that Zachary is in pre-school, I also have to provide a box of diapers to the school, so that’s even more diapers that I’m spending money on.

When I have my next child I will seriously consider cloth diapering or at least a combination of cloth with an environmentally friendly diaper like Seventh Gen, Natural Babycare, Huggies Naturals, or Earth’s Best. Since I’ll only have 1 child in diapers at that point I feel that it’s worth it to try it out and see if it’s the right decision for our family – hopefully we’ll find an easy system to use, too. I know that there are systems like gDiapers (with flushable inserts!!) and Bum Genius that make cloth diapering much easier and no-nonsense these days, which is especially good for parents who are not 100% sold on the idea. I think I owe it to myself, my child, and my planet to try it out though, and wouldn’t it be great to take all the money that we save from not using disposables to put in our children’s college funds?

AMAZON TIP!!!!!!! Amazon is currently offering a HUGE discount through their Subscribe n’ Save program!  If you’re using disposables, purchase your diapers with Amazon’s subscribe n’ save program. You’ll receive a total of 30% off your order (normally 15%)! Also, your diapers will be shipped via free 2-day shipping! CLICK HERE to access this awesome sale!