And the Winner is....

Congratulations to Dana, the lucky 11th comment* and the winner of the $100 gift card to SkinCare Rx. Thanks to everyone who entered and a big thanks to all my loyal Momopoly readers. :-)

*Comment 55 was excluded since it came in after the giveaway deadline. So sorry!

SkinCareRx Giveaway

SkinCare Rx, one of the sponsors of Momopoly, has been generous enough to host a $100 gift card giveaway. SkinCare Rx offers a diverse line of products, including the SkinCeuticals Skin Care line. SkinCeuticals provides complete skincare solutions for all skin types.

 There are several ways to glean entries for this fantastic giveaway (no, I haven't been paid to say that). Here they are:

• One entry for leaving a comment after this post
• One entry for becoming a fan of SkinCareRx on Facebook 
• One entry for following SkinCareRx on Twitter 
• One entry for following me (Momopoly) on Twitter (or tell me if you already do)
• One entry for subscribing to Momopoly's feed or signing up for a free email update (or tell me if you already do)
• And...15 entries (that's right - 15) for writing a blog post with a link directed to "SkinCeuticals Skin Care." Your post also must link to Momopoly Spring Giveaway! post and include a minimum of 100 words to qualify. If you choose to write a blog post promoting the giveaway, please be sure to include the link to it in a comment below.

*Please leave all your entries in separate comments so it’s easier for me to count.

The contest will end at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, April 22, 2010, so be sure to leave your comments on or before then. Winners will be announced here and at my main blog on Friday, April 23rd. Good luck!

Announcing the Giveaway Winners!

Using the super nifty True Random Number Service, I have four lucky winners for my Giveaway Galore. I've included the winners and the prize each won below. I'll just need you to email me at kmwicker[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact info so I can get the prizes to you. I was touched by all your warm comments and encouraging words - thank you, and thanks to all my blog readers.

Thrifty & Chic Mom: The Heart of Motherhood: Finding Holiness in the Catholic Home

Nicole Palm: A Planet Mom T-shirt

Catholic Mommy Brain: A scone pan from Cookware.com

Cathy Adamkiewicz: A Premium Membership to MyPunchBowl.com

Congratulations!

Giveaway Galore!

This is my first big giveaway in honor me blogging for nearly three years. My official blogiversary doesn't arrive until February, but I thought it might be nice to do a giveaway before Christmas as a gift to my wonderful readers.

To participate in the giveaway, leave a comment on or before Friday, November 27th. Please be sure to indicate what prize(s) you'd like to enter to win. If you want a chance of winning any of them, just write, "All." There will be one winner per prize. Winners will be announced the first week in December. Good luck, and thank you for encouraging me as a wife, mother, writer, dreamer, goof ball, and a Christian!

Many thanks to my giveaway sponsors!


Prize 1
One Planet Mom T-shirt of your choice. Choose from these witty styles. (I personally like the "Pray-At-Home Mom" and "Seeking Tall, Dark, Rich Cup of Coffee" tees.)

Prize 2
A copy of The Heart of Motherhood by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. This is one of many books I read while on bed rest, and it was just what my midwife ordered: A book that calmed my soul and encouraged me as a mom. What's more, Donna-Marie endured strict bed rest with her fifth child for almost her entire pregnancy after her uterus hemorrhaged, so I felt a personal connection to her and thought I could surely make it through a month of bed rest with her as my inspiration.

If you've ever questioned your value as a mom (and really, what mom hasn't when at the end of the day she finds streaks of diaper ointment in her hair, finger paint on her walls, and crushed Cheerios in her carpet?), then pick up any one of Donna-Marie's books for a little pick-me-up. In her conversational style, the mother of five extols motherhood as a God-given vocation and as a means of growing in holiness.

Prize 3
A scone pan from Cookware.com, one of the CSN Store brands. Then you can easily whip up some tasty scones for a holiday tea, cookie swap, or potluck! While you're clicking, check out the chic and colorful Alessi line of cookware and home accessories.

Prize 4
A Premium membership upgrade to MyPunchBowl.com, your party planning e-headquarters, for ONE YEAR ( a $49.95 value).

A MyPunchbowl Premium Membership gives you:

- Premium designs
- More fonts, papers, and ribbons
- Advertising free invitations and eCards
- Priority tech support
- Exclusive partner offers

And to all my readers, a 10 percent discount for Tag-A-Bag, a nifty and useful key chain tag that allows you to record all of your children's vital information and then clip it to a diaper bag, backpack, or luggage tote. The Tag-A-Bag kit includes a fold-out card with a spot to attach a recent photograph of your child and record important info like parents' contact information, your pediatrician's phone number, your child's blood type, date of birth, eye and hair color, the poison control number, medication information, and allergies.

The Tag-A-Bag kit also includes a disposable ink strip for recording your child's fingerprint as well as a simple medical release statement you can sign, which authorizes someone else to provide medical treatment in the event that you're not available. Mompreneur Stephanie Green invented Tag-A-Bag a few years ago after sending her then 2-year-old (she has recently added a set of twins to her family!) to stay with her parents. Stephanie's no fear monger; she just wanted to have an easy, convenient way of keeping her daughter's "vitals" in one place.

Tag-A-Bag kits are regularly $6, but visit Tag-A-Bag now and enter "tagmybag" in the coupon field to receive the 10 discount.

Thanks again for supporting Momopoly!

Avent Bottle Review

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Avent.

Let me start out by saying that I'm a big fan of Avent Isis Manual Breast Pump and subsequently have always used Avent bottles. So I was thrilled when Avent came out with its BPA-free bottles.

That said, I don't use bottles all that much. I often joke that my kids go straight from my breasts to sippy cups (and they really almost do).

In fact, I practice what's known as ecological breastfeeding (EBF). Which, in a nutshell, means I nurse for both nourishment and comfort without restriction. In other words: I nurse. A. Lot.

But occasionally I do cheat - like when my husband and I have an at-home date night and talk over vino or a mixed drink (my husband makes a mean mojito), and I feel I need to "pump and dump." (Then my husband gets to actually feed his offspring with a bottle.)

Just this past Saturday we decided to go on a real date night where we actually left our little ones, including M.E., my nursing baby, in the competent care of Gaba and Papa (my parents). So I got all dolled up and armed my parents with an Avent bottle and several ounces of pumped breastmilk. We kissed our older girls good-bye and left a very happy grandma who cherishes the rare moments she gets to feed her grandbabies.

Since I'm on my third baby, I wasn't too worried about abandoning my nursing babe (although I typically don't like to leave my babies much at all for at least three months). And we'd already given M.E. a bottle a few times, and she'd been quite pleased with it, actually, because it didn't spray milk down her throat with the force of a fire hose. I've been very blessed to not have any nursing problems other than just making way too much milk. I've been known to refer to my breasts as Super Soakers. But I digress. Again.

The point is I wasn't at all worried about how my baby would fare in my absence or if she would take a bottle. Plus, I nursed her right before we left, so I assumed she might not even need to eat while we were stuffing our faces with Greek cuisine and talking about politics, art, and other cerebral topics our kids.

That was my first mistake. It turns out M.E., who is just shy of three months, was not at all pleased with an MIA mom. Oh, Gaba didn't have it too awful, and she would have called if the baby had been inconsolable. Gaba just had to hold M.E. the entire time (bliss for a grandma) and walk and walk and walk and walk... (I sometimes have to march endlessly with her, too, especially when her reflux flares up). Fortunately, M.E. did take the bottle, but she only slowly slurped up two ounces or so. She kept gagging, Gaba reported.

"I don't think she was really hungry. I think she was just tired," Gaba told me upon our homecoming. Tired, she was. I nursed M.E. for just a few minutes before she went limp against me.

It seems this is my first baby who knows (or cares) when Mommy is away. My oldest didn't start the whole separation anxiety thing until much older, and she always was happy with her Gaba. My second is our laid back kiddo, and she's happy in almost anyone's arms. Just goes to show you that children of the same flesh and blood who even look a lot alike can be as similar as salt and sugar when it comes to personality.

My husband did try the bottle again, and this time she was happy. Perhaps because she knew Mom was in close quarters. And honestly, I think given my crazy milk supply, my baby can actually control the milk flow from this Avent bottle better than from when it comes rushing out of my breast like Niagara Falls. Likewise, the 11-ounce bottle fits onto my pump, so when my husband and I have "pump and dump" nights, I can offer fresh milk before I imbibe.

Also, the bottle is made of honey-colored PES material that provides "extra durability," according to its package. Avent offers five different nipple flow rates. I received the nipple with three holes and, again, considering my breasts spray more streams of milk than I can count, I think M.E. was probably relieved to be able to enjoy a more leisurely meal.

As a breastfeeding mom who only occasionally uses bottles, I'm satisfied with the Avent bottle. I'm definitely not particularly fastidious about my bottles since I don't use them much and like I said, Avent has always been my go-to brand since I've been so happy with their pump.

But enough about me. What about you? I'd love to hear from other moms out there. What's your fave bottle brand? How often do you give your bambino a bottle? Do you "pump and dump" if you feel a wee bit tipsy? (Oh, and have you heard of Milk Screen, an at-home test you can buy to detect how much alcohol is in your breast milk? I hate to waste what I call "liquid gold," so I've considered investing in this.)

Please visit Avent's Official Site for more information on their bottles and other products.

Oh and be sure to enter to win a $500 Visa gift card from Avent at the BlogHer review roundup page!

GM/BlogHer Ride and Drive Recap

I’m not a huge car person, although I admit my “Mother Ship” (AKA minivan) is a dream come true. Still, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed an evening out sans the kiddos even if it involved test driving cars.

On Tuesday night I attended the General Motors/BlogHer Ride and Drive. I had the opportunity to meet up with other Atlanta area bloggers and talk blogging, cooking, writing fiction versus nonfiction, homeschooling, and share breastfeeding and pregnancy stories. (I found the whole “momraderie” thing to be going on when I was nibbling on delish chocolate cake nodding sympathetically as a fellow mom/blogger talked about her latch-on problems with baby number two and her painful, cracked nipples. Only moms can safely bring up the word "nipples" during cocktail hour.)

But before I could gab with the girls, I hit the road in two Saturn models*.

First, I slipped into a gray 2009 Saturn AURA XR Sedan with a friendly GM worker as my co-pilot. She told me she had a 2-year-old daughter, so we spent most of the test drive talking about pregnancy nausea, strong-willed toddlers, and pining for sleep.

The sedan provided a smooth ride, which I would honestly expect from any new car, but there was nothing extremely memorable about it. To a lady who’d much rather shop for shoes than cars, show me one sedan and I’ve seen them all.

However, the VUE hybrid was another a story. This car, which apparently was a test model that hasn’t hit the market yet, felt different – in a good way. When I turned the key in the ignition, I thought the engine was dead for a split second because the car was absolutely silent.

“Believe it or not, that’s it. You’re ready to go,” my fellow passenger, another friendly GM worker, from Michigan explained.

The radio was off during my test drive and the dearth of noise from tinkering gears and the rumbling vibrations of a running engine that you usually hear while driving impressed me. As I navigated the streets surrounding a hip part of the ATL called Atlantic Station, my passenger explained how the hybrid works. It uses a unique hybrid powertrain system and alternates between different energy forms (gas and electric) depending on whether you’re accelerating, going up or down a hill, reaching a certain speed, etc. This smart technology helps to ensure the car is running at optimal efficiency, which results in excellent gas mileage so you’ll end up spending a lot less time at the pump. Very cool. No matter how green you consider yourself, who wouldn’t like to save on gas?

In addition, the car utilizes the latest safety features from Europe since this is where it was engineered. For example, the headrest moves forward in the event of an impact to reduce whiplash, and the brakes break off to prevent foot and leg injuries that people often endure in serious crashes (the airbags prevent upper body injuries, but apparently doctors were seeing a lot of leg injuries after car accidents). Technology never ceases to amaze me.

I also liked the fact that I was sitting up higher like I do in my minivan. I drove a sedan for a long time, but I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back to one. It makes me feel safer to have raised vantage point.

As for aesthetics, I liked the look of the hybrid both inside and out.

Geez, am I starting to sound like a car junkie or what?

The sedan and hybrid were the only two models I test drove before networking with fellow bloggers and noshing on hors d'oeuvres (the crunchy spring rolls hit the spot).

I'd been suffering from preggo lethargy and wasn't feeling like making the effort to go out that night, but I’m so glad gave my eyelashes a quick swipe of mascara and headed out to the GM/BlogHer Ride and Drive. It was definitely worth the effort.

Read more about the cars and the event at the BlogHer Round-Up page.

*Can’t let this post go by without some official mumbo jumbo: Yes, I was enumerated for writing up a review of this BlogHer event. But I really did have fun and liked the hybrid. Cross my fingers.

Momopoly Reopened as a Review Site

That's right, folks. This is now the sister site of my main blog, and it's a place where I'll share my honest reviews of products (other than media - those reviews will remain over at my other site).

I'm looking forward to sharing my insight and another project is just what I needed, being that I'm pregnant with my third child and already have two little ones under my care. I was born a Type-Aer. I can't help myself.

Seriously, my reviews may not be frequent, but I am looking forward to this new venture. As always, I welcome your feedback. Feel free to drop me a comment or to email me at kmwicker[at]gmail[dot].com.