Milk Nursing Wear Review And Giveaway!CLOSED

I am nursing my second baby and pretty much hate that I have to have a wardrobe that's dictated by breast feeding. I plan on nursing for the full first year at least so that means a whole lot of tank tops! I find that nursing tops can sometimes be unflattering, too expensive, and often times not very cute.

I found this modern and chic nursing top through Milk nursing wear called Sleeveless Crossover Nursing top in cerulean blue, and really wanted to try it out! I love V necks and crisscross style tops that are flattering. I am a short woman with a large bust so I need something to elongate my neckline. This sometimes poses a problem because if the V neck is too plunging I'm showing a lot of cleavage. With this nursing top, the lining is just enough to cover that and easy enough to move aside for nursing exposure.

What I love most of course is that with a nursing top like this, you are able to keep most of your body covered. You open the V part and move the lining aside, it's really simple and you don't have to pull your shirt up and expose your belly. A big plus with this nursing wear store! One more thing I really love is it's wash ability, it washes nicely and comes out wrinkle free and has maintained it's color over a few washes.

Would you like to win? I'm sure you do! See below and good luck!

Buy It!

You can buy a variety of nursing apparel like nursing tops, dresses, and bras at milknursingwear.com.

Win It!

One US resident will win a $40 certificate to purchase something they want from Milk Nursing Wear! Aren't you excited?

Mandatory Entry

Please go to milknursingwear.com AND find an item you like and would like to win. Grab the link and tweet it.

EX: "Check out this beautiful nursing top http://www.milknursingwear.com/store/pc/Everyday-tie-front-top-2p2112.htm". Post your tweet along with an email address I can contact you at and you're entered!

You do not have to be a blogger to enter this contest, but you do have to have a twitter account.

Extra Entry

Follow Milk on their twitter and leave your twitter name here for an extra entry.

Good luck every one! Contest ends August 14, 2011.

Growums.com Review

Do your kids hate veggies? My daughter does pretty well but, there's definitely some that she hates and will try to avoid at all cost. I think she would do better to see and taste food from her own "garden" of veggies and herbs. I believe that by seeing how things grow and some of what goes into the process, she will be proud to eat her veggies!

Growums.com has the cutest little veggie packs ever. Can you tell I'm a mom? ha ha. I called Veggies cute. There are a number of different items a child can pick from to plant and tend to like a taco garden, salad garden, and herb garden. Isn't that cool? She thought it was really fun to be able to see little characters associated with vegetables. The Growums are characters created to associate children with different veggies. With names like Frank Cilantro, Eggbert Eggplant, and Regan O. the oregano plant. They each give a little description of what the veggie is and how it grows.

When you order your veggie pack, you get "cocoa pellets" that contain your soil, you get seed packs, and you get tags for each of your seed types. The instructions ask you to add water, and your seeds, and then register your garden online. If your child is big enough you can register them and yourself and help them interact online about their garden and it's growing stage.

I love that even though we live in Phoenix metro, we can still have a little garden for the kids to grow and tend. I grew up with gardens every Spring/Summer and loved the fresh from the garden taste of veggies. I actually always loved veggies and it's hard for me to choke down hot house food. With so many people and children not healthy in America right now, this is a perfect initiative to instill healthy choices in a child.

Winner Covillow Nursing Pillow!

My random.org winner for the covillow nursing pillow is...

I follow you on google friend as well as K Rafoth :)

Love the Happy Blossoms!
krafoth@gmail.com

Congratulations! An email is being sent and you have 48 hours to respond. Thank you to everyone that entered!

Melanie

Wordless Wednesday-My Babies

Making Tuesday Tasty-Pumpkin Ice Cream

It's hot hot hot outside so here's a sweet recipe for my fellow pumpkin lovers. It can also help you dream about when it starts cooling down in the Fall!

Ingredients

1 cup milk (I used 1 1/2 %)
2 cups half-and-half cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 pita pocket bread (6-inch pitas)
cooking spray (Pam)
cinnamon stick (optional garnish)

Directions

Mix all ice cream ingredients in a bowl with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, until sugar and honey are dissolved.

Turn on ice cream maker and pour ingredients into top. Let ice cream maker process for about 20-30 minutes and preferred consistency reached.

To make pita chips, heat oven to 350°F.

Mix together tbsp sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp ground cardamom.

Slice pita breads into 8 wedges each and place on cookie sheet.

Spray pita chips with cooking spray. Sprinkle sugar mixture generously over pita chips. Turn pita chips over. Spray other side with cooking spray and sprinkle with sugar mixture.

Bake in heated oven for 8-9 minutes.

To serve, scoop ice cream into dish and garnish with 2-3 pita chips and cinnamon stick if using.

*recipe courtesy of recipezaar*

Wordless Wednesday-My Nephew Is Here

My nephew was born last week! Welcome to the world Joshua, your Aunty is happy you're here.

Making Tuesday Tasty-Roasted Potato Wedges With Lime Cilantro Mayo

I love how creative people are about the grill. I currently have grill envy as I'm without a grill at my place and have actually gone over to my Sister's to grill my food ha ha. Here is a gourmet take on a side of fries and oh so yummy! I read somewhere recently that you can shave as much as 500 calories off your regular meals just by grilling and many people do it to lose weight. Basically the same idea as a popular indoor grill that's sold. ;) Lots of great Summer treats out there folks, have fun.

For potatoes:
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds baking potatoes (about 4 medium), each cut into 8 wedges

For cilantro-lime mayonnaise:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons grated lime 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
print a shopping list for this recipe

preparation

Roast potatoes:
Put a 4-sided sheet pan in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
Stir cumin, oregano, and 3/4 teaspoon salt into oil in a large bowl. Add potatoes and toss. Arrange potatoes, cut sides down, in 1 layer in hot pan and roast, turning once, until golden, about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make mayonnaise:
Stir together mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, lime zest and juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small serving bowl.
Serve potatoes with mayonnaise.

*recipe courtesy of epicurious.com*

Learning Link Technologies-Review

I have a nephew that was diagnosed with ADHD when he was a young child in elementary school. He has struggled in a traditional school setting since before that time. As his aunt, I have been disheartened by the struggle I see not only in him not being able to perform certain requirements but, also by my Sister's frustration as well. This is a child that is smart and funny but, doesn't grasp things the same always as you and I do. He gets so completely frustrated, that he quits.

Learning Link Technologies is our last hope to help him while he is still in school to get the "tutoring" he needs to be successful. This review is slightly incomplete because I haven't used this system with him for a long period of time but, wanted to go over what I can with you so that you can see there is some hope out there! He has used these a few times and is slowly getting into a habit of using the patterns described in the DVD's. I am excited to see how this helps him with the new school year starting right around the corner.

If your child has any of these learning problems, please know that there is a way to help them at home. Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, ADD, ADHD, and some additional difficulties are addressed. The program was created to help a wide customer base and originated with Lisa Harp of Harp Learning Institute. There is also a free Dyslexia test and Dyscalculia testing.

I was very intrigued with the knowledge and understanding of these learning difficulties and how the brain works. How a child's brain is wired, is in turn how they will use it. Some children are even mixed dominance which causes them a number of problems "seeing" what they need to see and putting things together. Brain Retraining is what Learning Link does to assist children in reading, math, and other academics.

I am very impressed in the number of resources that they use, the number of years Ms. Harp has in experience, and the number of testimonials on the website there are about children that had a number of different learning problems and how they were helped.

If your child is struggling, please check them out and see if they are a right fit for you. This may be the answer you've been looking for and an end to many days, if not years of frustration for your child!

*Thank you to learning link technologies for providing DVD's for review*

Cold Seat-Review

I live in AZ and we all suffer in the heat out here. I have a four year old and a baby that is four months old right now. He cries and cries when we get into the hot car and I feel so bad for him because the A/C in my car doesn't really do much for my kids in the back seat.

I have been trying to find something that would help with this, and came across Cold Seat. This is a seat designed by a mom for the very hot Summer days she has dealt with, with her own children. She developed this innovative design with the help of cold packs that are put into the freezer and used in coolers, etc.

I really loved the thought of this so I talked with her about it. I was sent a Cold Seat in the pink flowers design, and put it in the freezer right away. The next day, I took it out and used it in my sons seat while we were at church. The time lapse was just at three and a half hours. When I checked the cover, I noticed that all of the freezer packs were melted already and realized that the temperature was about 113 degrees F in the car. I wasn't really surprised because of just how hot it was and had been that day. After testing in this heat again, I would say the cool packs last about an hour to two hours. Definitely enough time to do some things like shopping, or going out to eat!

Likes

• I like the patterns on the covers, there are masculine and feminine designs
• I like the cool pack idea and that they are non toxic if ruptured
• I like that it is easy to roll up and store in freezer
• I love that it keeps the seat itself cool and prevents me from burning myself or my kids on the buckles!

Dislikes

• The only downside to this really is that it doesn't last as long as I would like in the dead of Summer.

Wordless Wednesday-VCS 2011

My daughter and her cousin singing at their Bible school program. I love that they can go and learn!

Covillow Nursing Cover-Review And Giveaway!

I am nursing my second child right now and I have been playing around with different nursing covers. A few I have reviewed previously here on my blog. As I've said before I'm a modest nursing mama. I have no qualms with someone else nursing without a cover, I'm just uncomfortable doing it and only recently started to nurse my son in public with a cover.

I have the traditional cover that has the boning in the front so I can see baby. The strap goes around my neck and drapes down to the side of me. Those are great for quick nursing but, they tend to still show a little more than I'm comfortable with since my side and tummy gets exposed. So I found this awesome cover online called Covillow. I spoke to Candice Boehm the creator of this nursing cover and, she had the same thoughts about it that I did. She was motivated to create something that would give her full coverage as baby grows and tries to take off the cover. I know all nursing moms can relate to that! I chose a beautiful cover called Turquoise Dream and I'm really loving the softness of the materials and bold color to the cover.

So, why is this different than most nursing covers? Well, for me the obvious was the fact that it could be pulled over like a smock and covered my top half so baby could not pull it off of me. The other was the small pillow attached to the inside for comfort.

Likes

• My experience with this nursing cover was very positive!
• I loved the full coverage, I really liked the modern patterns that were available
• I loved that the pillow could be used or removed and I saw a need for that as baby grows
• I also loved that there was some light boning in the neck to allow me to see my baby and help him latch which is really difficult to do with many covers.
• And, anyone that has read my blog knows that I'm all for the small mom run businesses that run our world!
• They are handmade and 100% cotton!

Dislikes

• The only dislike is unfortunately something that comes with the territory of my modesty and where I live(AZ), it can get pretty warm during a nursing session. It isn't the covers fault, it's just how it is.

Buy It!

You can purchase your own Covillow online in four great cover choices for only $59.95. Also, check them out on their Facebook.

Win It!

Considering breast feeding or already doing so? Want to win a beautiful nursing cover for your diaper bag? Covillow is allowing one winner to PICK their choice of nursing cover!

Rules

Go to Covillow and let me know which nursing cover you would pick. This is required and no other entry will be accepted if it's not completed. I need a way to contact you so you must leave your email in your entry so I can tell you you've won.

Extra Entries

Want to earn more entries? Follow me on Google Friend on the upper right corner. Follow me on twitter @kaiasmommy. Please leave a separate comment for all you do!

Contest ends July 26, 2011 at 11:59 pm AZ time. Good luck to everyone.

*I received a nursing cover to review and was not paid for my opinion*

Making Tuesday Tasty-Chipotle Pasta Salad

I created an interesting salad the other day and it was so tasty that I thought I would write down what I made/what would have been super yummy in it. I am giving round about measurements because I think people should make things to taste. Some people like more cheese, tomato, adding corn etc. Have fun creating your own salad with this base recipe!

8 oz of elbow macaroni cooked

1/2 to 1 C of Kraft Chipotle mayonnaise

1 small can of mild green chilies

1/2 to 1 can of black beans rinsed

1 chicken breast cooked or 1 C of shredded chicken any form(I used rotisserie chicken dark/light meat)

1/4 of a red onion

6 to 8 oz of shredded cheese(I used Mexican blend but, you can use whatever)

1 tomato chopped if you like tomato

Preparation:

Boil elbow macaroni to al dente and rinse. Put into a bowl and add each of your ingredients except for the mayo. Blend well. Add 1/2 C of the mayo and stir in. Taste and if it's too dry continue to add mayo until it is the consistency that you want.

*I was not paid to reference this brand, it's what I found was tasty and used in the salad!*

Wordless Wednesday-4th of July 2010

Making Tuesday Tasty-Perfect Grilled Steak

Steak! A lot of people love a great steak. Here are some tips for making your steak as perfect as you can. There are some great tips in this post that I gathered from jfolse.com. I loved them so I copied them to share with my readers. ENJOY!

RULES OF THE GRILL:

1. Choose the right steak.
The high, dry heat of grilling requires a tender cut of meat. It should be well-marbled (fat content within the grain of the meat). Thin (1 inch) is always better than thick (more than 3 inches).

2. Build the right fire.
Steaks need high heat to sear the meat and form a crust. To cook a thick steak such as a porterhouse or center cut rib-eye, you will also need a moderate heat zone to one side to finish the cooking without burning the outside. This is done by lighting your coals in the center of the pit. Once the coals are completely lit, rake a double thick layer over to one side of the grill and a single layer over to the other side. You should start cooking the steak when you can hold your hand over the hot zone for 2-3 seconds and over the moderate zone for 5-6 seconds. For gas grills, just turn one side down to medium.

3. Season to taste.
With steaks, you should keep the seasoning simple. Coarse salt, freshly ground black pepper from a mill and granulated garlic is best. However, some steaks such as flank or sirloin do well with flavorings such as herbs, soy sauce, Worcestershire, etc.

4. Know when and how to turn the steak.
Place the steaks on the grill at a 45° angle to the bars. Grill for 2 minutes, then rotate the steak 90° without turning over. This makes a nice crosshatch grill mark. You will know to flip the steak when you see tiny beads of blood beginning to form on the top, approximately 4-6 minutes for a 1" steak or 8-10 minutes for a 2" steak. The proper way to turn is with tongs or spatula. Never, ever, stab the meat with a fork, as this will cause all the juices to run onto the coals and create a flavorless, dry steak.

5. Never desert your post.
Remember, you're only grilling for a short time. Great steaks demand constant attention. Once they hit the grill, stay with them. Never forget the fact that, like polish on a mahogany table, a steak needs a pat of butter anointing it immediately upon leaving the grill. This rounds out the flavor, and it is a great time to re-season the meat with just a small pinch of salt & pepper. Try my herb butter for grilled steaks at the bottom of the page for a flavorful finish on the perfectly grilled steak.

6. Let it rest.
All steaks need to rest a few minutes before serving. The high heat tends to tighten the protein. Transferring the steak to a warm platter and letting it rest for 3 minutes will allow the juices to return to the center of the meat as it sits.

BEST STEAKS FOR GRILLING:
Rib-eye - Juicy and well-marbled.
Rib steak - A bone-in rib-eye, thicker than a normal rib-eye, but you all know how much more flavorful a steak on the bone can be.
Strip steak - Lean, meaty and firm texture.
Sirloin - Rich, red and meaty. Flavorful, but tends to be tough. Slice thinly when serving.
Porterhouse - Two steaks in one: a firm strip sirloin and a succulent tenderloin. Normally 2-3" thick.
T-bone - Similar to a Porterhouse, but the tenderloin is smaller.
Filet Mignon - Lean and tender; you can cut it with a fork.
Flank or Skirt Steak - From the underbelly of the steer. Highly flavorful, but tough and stringy. Cook medium rare; slice against the grain.