Holiday Gift Guide: I See Me Books

Welcome to I See Me! where we provide the highest quality, most personalized children's books available. We opened for business in May of 2000, after a year of active product development. My husband Allan and I received a personalized book as a gift for our first son in 1998. While we loved the fact that it was personalized, we thought that the illustrations could have been much better and the story more customized to the child. Thus I See Me! was born.

With the holiday season approaching, everyone wants to find the perfect gift for a child. Something that they can use over and over and is practical. I have just the gift for you! I See Me! Books offers a variety of items for you to choose from that can be personalized to cater to your child. I wanted to highlight the Christmas books that I See Me! offers because they're perfect for the upcoming holiday. 

I See Me! offers two Christmas books and one Hanukkah book to be personalized for you. Each book offers spots for your child's name, family member's names, as well as a dedication to personalize. 

Hop Along Friday 10/26

Welcome to the Hop Along Friday! We want our hop to include everyone so it is a social hop! There are tons of ways to follow blogs such as Google+, Networked Blogs, Facebook, twitter and various other options. We want everyone to link up!

Here is what we would love for you to do. Please link up your blog and at the end of it, leave how you would like to be followed.

Example: Chubby Cheeks Thinks *Google+"

Parenting: My last 5 years

I know this cover is old news, but I thought it would be fitting for this post! 

Bare with me as I share my thoughts and kind of "think out loud" with you all! 

I hope you all can relate to something I say, or possibly advice for me in my journey of parent hood!

WW: Madison turned 5

October 18 our oldest daughter turned 5! 

Her party was October 20 and we loved every minute!

A full list of gender prediction tests and theories

It's estimated the 50-70% of expectant parents are now finding out the sex of their baby before the Big Day. So if you can't possibly wait nine long months to discover the sex of your baby, try one of these methods (some of them more reliable than others!) to predict the sex of your baby. While some appear completely random, others have proven to be highly accurate.



Intelligender- IntelliGender's Gender Prediction Test™ is a simple urine analysis similar to the pregnancy test you took a few weeks ago.  It uses first morning urine and a proprietary mix of chemicals which reacts with a combination of hormones to indicate the gender of your baby.  It can be performed as early as 10 weeks of pregnancy (six weeks from the first day of the missed period). It is an easy test to perform and provides quick results in-home so the news can be shared right away. Find out more info at Intelligender.com
 
Baking soda test- You put a little little bit of baking soda in the bottom of a disposable cup (enough to barely cover the bottom) and then add a little bit of your urine to it. If it fizzles like soda pop, it might be a boy. If there is no fizzle, it might be a girl. This technique was used by several women as a way to test the accuracy of their gender ultrasounds and out of 31 baking soda gender tests, 22 were right and 9 were wrong.

The Cabbage Test — Cut one red cabbage into chunks, boil for 10 minutes, then set aside. Head for the bathroom, and pee into a cup. In a separate cup, mix 1 part urine with 1 part cabbage water. If the water turns pink or red, this indicates boy. If the water is purple, it’s a girl.

Ornaments with Love Review & Giveaway 11/5

Ornaments with Love is a company run by a family that has been in the retail gifts business for over 50 years. For the past 10 years, we have taken our experience and applied it to selling personalized Christmas ornaments in Connecticut and Washington, DC area malls, 5 years on the internet. You may have seen us in Tyson's Corner, Montgomery, Lakeforest or Trumbull Malls operating under the name Ornaments and More II.

This is our first Christmas with three children so I wanted something to show us as a family, as well as something that could be used year after year and still be "in style" each time it's displayed. 

After looking at an assortment of family Christmas ornaments, I chose this snowman family because they're cute, timeless, and its what you think about when Christmas comes to mind (besides Santa)

Lakeon's Pregnancy Journal, Week 14

Doctor Appointments:
Oct.16-- The day before my appointment I woke up to spotting, and extreme soreness and cramping. I spent the whole day trying to stay off my feet. On the day of my checkup, (13w3d along) 3 nurses tried and couldn't find the heartbeat on the doppler. We were send to the ultrasound tech to find the heartbeat. Turns out, baby is buried deep in the tummy near my spine which explains why my tummy looked big at 12 weeks and back small at 14 weeks. Heartbeat was 161 and I got 3 US pictures of baby bee.

Nov.15-- NEXT APPOINTMENT. 

Waist size pre-pregnancy- 32 inches
End of first trimester- 34 inches

Food cravings: 
Anything and everything sweet. Ice cream.. cake.. candy. Especially sour candies.

Symptoms:
Baby wiggles every time I sneeze and anytime there's a loud noise such as a basketball game or while we're in a movie theater.

Weight gain:
I'm now at 8 pounds more than pre-pregnancy weight. Although, I did get weighed after eating a huge plate of food.

All Gender prediction tests from first trimester: 
Oldest child's hairline-[Girl]
Intelligender (at 10w1d)-[Boy]
Chinese Calendar-[Girl]
High heartbeat (at 9w5d)-[Girl]
Baking soda (at 10w)-[Boy]
Baking soda (at 11w)-[Girl]
No Morning sickness-[Boy]
Craving sweet(girl) or savory(boy)-[Girl] 
Skull Theory-[Boy] 
Baking soda (at 13w)-[Boy]

Sleep:Sometimes sleeping is tough since baby loves to lay on my sciatic nerve and if you've ever been pregnant and had that happen, you know how painful it is!

Chloe's thoughts: 
Chloe likes to kiss and hug the baby, She still loves telling everyone about "mama's baby in her tummy", and lately she's been telling me that my tummy is getting really big.

Comparing pregnancies: 

Holiday Gift Guide: Tiny Love

 Tiny Love® is a multiple award-winning global toy and baby product manufacturer which was founded in 1991 by Shoshi and Isaac Oren, entrepreneurs who had built the largest chain of baby supplies and toy stores in Israel. They began branching out into the field of developmental toys by focusing on creating toys and accessories to promote and maximize baby’s development from birth through 12 months. Today, our products are distributed in more than 50 countries worldwide.

If you're a long time follower of my blog, you'll know I've worked with Tiny Love multiple times. 

We first worked together when Macyn was just 3 months old, reviewing the Tiny Princess™ Gymini® Bouncer. Next came the amazing 3 in 1 Rocker Napper review, and then the adorable Gymini® Tiny Princess™ Move & Play Play Mat review. I was then approached in August with the interest of showcasing their Nature Pals Gymini Play Mat on my blog, which I happily did. I loved reviewing this mat because it gave a change of pace for Macyn, and I have a friend that will be able to use it in a few months for her son!

Hop Along Friday 9/19

Welcome to the Hop Along Friday! We want our hop to include everyone so it is a social hop! There are tons of ways to follow blogs such as Google+, Networked Blogs, Facebook, twitter and various other options. We want everyone to link up!

Here is what we would love for you to do. Please link up your blog and at the end of it, leave how you would like to be followed.

WW: My Birthday

I turned 24 (10-11-12)

The Vintage Pearl Review & Giveaway 10/25

The Vintage Pearl began in 2007 after a stay at home mother of 4 wanted a creative outlet. After self taught ways to make jewelry, they opened up on Ebay, Etsy, and eventually their website. In 2010 they were able to open up a retail store in Tulsa, OK and have been thriving ever since!

Looking on The Vintage Pearl website one day, I found the beautiful necklace posted above. I immediately fell in love with it and knew it would be perfect for me and my family! 

Madison is our oldest and does the "I love you" symbol to us all the time. It's special when she says "Hey mom! I love you" and I see that sweet little hand held up high. 

I had The Vintage Pearl in my drafts folder for a while, waiting for the right time to pitch and I'm so happy they said yes! I'm not much of a jewelry person unless there's a special meaning behind it, like my wedding ring, and now this gorgeous necklace!

WW: Macyn is 8 months old!

Pink Lining: Poppins Diaper Bag Review

Pink lining London was established in 2001 by husband and wife team; Charlotte and Rufus Pearl. Pink Lining is the international family lifestyle label, famous for its signature “Yummy Mummy” changing bag that aims to put the smile and design into practicality by making the usually mundane paraphernalia of parenting cove-table.

The Poppins diaper bag is perfect for the fashion conscious mommy. It is not only stylish but practical and functional too! The shape of the bag is slightly deeper than most of our other diaper bags so you have more room for your baby things. The front zip pocket is brilliant for keeping mommy things safe and separate from all the baby bits and bobs and has handy features such as a key chain, phone pocket and pen holder. The bag has a shoulder strap that can be adjusted so that it can be made long enough to fit over any stroller handlebars.

Holiday Gift Guide: Pure Romance (by Stacy)

Founded in 1993 by Patty Brisben, Pure Romance is an in-home party company which offers an exclusive line of heighteners, lubricants and bedroom accessories for relationship enhancement.

Stacy is the mother of two children, she lives in Nebraska, and sells Pure Romance Products. As a long time follower of her Facebook page, I can tell she loves what she does, works hard at her job, and does everything she can to make her customers happy!  

I've chosen Pure Romance (by Stacy) to put in the Holiday Gift Guide because they offer a variety of great products for women and couples and Stacy is a great example of how their independent sellers should act!

I worked with Stacy for the first time back in February when another seller didn't fulfill a winner's prize and our relationship grew from there. I had a lot of respect from her because we barely knew each-other and yet she was willing to send my winner items because of some one else's mistake. 

We then worked together at the end of April for a Mother's Day hop and Stacy again, was great! 

Pure Romance offers such a variety of items, there's bound to be something for everyone! 

Lakeon's Pregnancy Journal, Week 12

Doctor Appointments:
Oct.16-- NEXT APPOINTMENT.

Food cravings: 
For the past 2 weeks I've really been craving dr. pepper, steak, mashed potatoes and salt n vinegar chips. Of course I limit my dr.peppers to one a week.

Symptoms:
I've only felt queasy a couple times and I also started feeling little flutters at week 11!

Weight gain: 
If my scale is right, I've actually lost the one pound I gained in week 10.


Gender prediction tests: 
Baking soda (at 11w)-[Girl]

Sleep:
I sleep alright, although I get up once a night to pee and laying on my back gives me sharp pains in my lower back.

Chloe's thoughts: 
Chloe still says the baby is a girl, Sometimes I feel like she gets jealous when we have to buy baby stuff but I remind her that she use to have all the same stuff too.

Comparing pregnancies: 

Mama's Baby Cupcakes: Holiday Gift Guide!

Now that MBC is officially one year old (Oct 1) I thought we'd jump on the band wagon and have a Holiday Gift Guide! 

I'll be posting items, mainly for children, that I think would be great for Christmas. There will be some items for adults as well, but with having three little girls the focus will be kids. 

I hope you all enjoy companies I highlight because they're items we love, use, and would recommend on a personal level as well as the blog!

If you're interested in having MBC review and possibly run a spotlight on your company, please email mamasbabycupcakes@yahoo.com

Hop Along Friday 10/5

Welcome to the Hop Along Friday! We want our hop to include everyone so it is a social hop! There are tons of ways to follow blogs such as Google+, Networked Blogs, Facebook, twitter and various other options. We want everyone to link up!

Here is what we would love for you to do. Please link up your blog and at the end of it, leave how you would like to be followed.

Example: Chubby Cheeks Thinks *Google+"

Right on The Walls Review & Giveaway 10/17

Right On The Walls® is a design & print company offering high-quality personalized unique wall decals, decor & gifts for all occasions. Our mission is to help customers express individuality with custom and personalized products. Our goal is moderate growth, annual profitability, and creative expression.

Vinyl decals are a great way to update your home! They're easy to apply, last a long time, and no need to worry about them moving around on the wall like you do a frame. 

WW: We're ready for Halloween!

Buycostumes.com Review

Founded in 1999, BuyCostumes.com has grown to become the #1 online Halloween costume and accessory retailer this side of Transylvania. Actually, we're the #1 online costume retailer anywhere, since we sell costumes for kids and adults (dogs, too), for year-round fun, not just Halloween. We also sell party supplies and coordinated decorations for every type of party imaginable. If you can imagine it, we probably have partyware for it. So, if you thought we were just about costumes, think again. We just might surprise you.

I was very excited when I got the chance to review with buycostumes.com! 

We were still on the search for a costume for Macyn so it was great timing!

I chose the Baby Blossom costume above because Macyn is always so smiley and happy so when I saw this stock photo I fell in love!

Macyn will be just shy of 9 months old when Halloween arrives so I went with the 6-12 month size thinking we wouldn't have any issues with it fitting. 

GiNi's Clay Creations: Review & Giveaway 10/15

GiNi's Clay Creations is a one woman show who happily makes everything by hand! 

All pendants are roughly the size of a nickel and are put on a stretch cord. For only $1 more you can purchase a ball chain instead. Normal turn around time is about a week, with orders being shipped every Monday. 

For this review I purchased three necklaces and got one for free.

Madison is almost 5yrs old so I thought the butterfly charm would be perfect for her. 

She's a girly girl so the combination of pink and butterflies was perfect. 

I bought the three zebra cupcakes to represent my three children.