Mom Central: Hot Parenting Products

Sweetriot

I have been hooked on this product for a while, and from what I hear, Sarah Jessica Parker, Drew Barrymore, and Lauren Conrad all love it too.  I must be more cool than my 15-year-old daughter thinks! The amazing discovery, Sweetriot. These little treats are good for you, eco-friendly, all natural, dairy free, and gluten free.  In “mom speak,” a chocolate treat that you don’t have to feel guilty snacking on. Sweetriot is also chock full of antioxidants which can reduce the effect of dangerous oxidants and help repair damage already sustained by cells. These treats are perfect for on–the-go moms with their small packages that fit perfectly in a diaper bag or an evening clutch.  The outside of the tin is covered with trendy artwork and supports the emerging artists community by featuring works that embrace Sweetriot's culture on its tins. Every few months they ask their consumers to help pick the featured artist for it upcoming tins.

It’s more then just a name though; the people behind the company really are activists themselves. Sweetriot encourages its consumers to reuse, recycle, or return their tins and has carbon offset options in their online store. Sweetriot is loyal to the true source of the cacao bean - Latin America, and Founder Sarah Endline has established direct trade channels for her beans. Check it all out Sweetriot at www.sweetriot.com

Promax

My schedule is full, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Picking up the kids, grocery-shopping, conference calls, flying out for client meetings, throwing a staff Christmas party, running family errands, phew! I sometimes forget to breath.  Being a mother means living a hectic lifestyle (you know what I mean), but it’s still important to remember to take care of yourself, which means eating right and staying healthy, especially when it comes to snacking. Although the little snack sized chip bags that you put in your kids lunch look tempting, they offer little fuel to keep us going. 

Promax bars, which have always been a little skeptical about as a meal replacement, that’s all I get? In addition, my past experience with chalky nutrition bars hasn’t made want to go back for more. However, these little bars actually taste good! The 70 calorie snack bars mean the I can have one as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up without feeling guilty, but actually good about myself. Protein in a snack, its about time!

My favorite flavor thus far is Cookies’n Cream, but Promax comes in ton of other flavors, especially for the chocolate lover. My 15-year-old daughter Kyle even likes them for a snack during track and soccer practices, not a bad habit to start.  To check out where Promax bars can be purchased check out their website at www.promaxnutrition.net.

Oregon Chai

Sometimes when the weather gets cold, and all I want is a warm cup of hot chocolate, but I don’t think it is something I should be drinking all the time. Luckily there are other options out there to satisfy my sweet tooth urgings, while still being organic and a little better for me than a packets of Swiss Miss. Oregon Chai latte is great tasting, as easy to make as adding hot water, and organic.

Oregon Chai is an great blend of tea, spices, and sweetness that is a perfect alternative during this holiday season while sitting by the fire (or heater).  It comes in a variety of great flavors such as original, vanilla chai, spiced chai, matcha green tea, java chai, and the slightly sweet chai.  The chai cider and the chai nog are perfect for friends or family at holiday parties.  It also comes in caffeine free and is available in a concentrate or dry mix.  It’s also perfect for an on-the-go treat.

There is so much you can do with Oregon Chai too.  It’s great served hot but with a little imagination it’s so much more.  Mix Oregon Chai with some ice cream and milk, blend, and you get a milkshake.  Try Oregon Chi in your Long Island Iced Tea to make a Long Island Iced Chai.  If your having trouble concocting your own recipes, Oregon Chai has a whole section on their website full of recipes for hot chai, cold chai, chai in your alcoholic beverages, and chai in food and desserts. 

To learn more about Oregon Chai, prices, available flavors and sizes, or where to purchase, visit their website at www.Oregonchai.com. 

The Discovery Store: Holiday Shopping Guide

Although Christmas is drawing close, you may still be on the lookout for those last few items. The Discovery Store is a great place to look. Their toys are fun and interactive and will surely give your kids a learning toy that they can’t stop playing with. Here are a few of my favorite:

Discovery Digital Photo Keychain

One thing I wish that I always had with me is my family.  Unfortunately with all my traveling, I find myself missing them more and more. However, one thing I always carry with me is my key, which is why I love the Digital Photo Keychain.  I have a ton of pictures on me all the time to look at or show off, you have no idea how many times my kids come up in conversation when I’m sitting on a delayed flight. 

The mini 1.5” LCD frame displays hi-resolution color and stores up to 54 photographs.  The keychain has a digital alarm clock and calendar and it is lightweight and durable.  At $29.95 this makes a great gift for anyone, even yourself.

Lamaze ® Octotunes

This is the perfect toy for newborns, but still appeals to older children.  The Octotunes is adorable, colorful, and cuddly. Each of the eight legs produces a different musical note when squeezed, which teaches baby the concept of cause and effect.  The colorful legs also stimulate baby and the handle makes carrying easy.  Many happy mothers rave about the fresh vanilla sent that doesn’t fade with time.  It is also the winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award and National Parenting Publication's Gold Medal.  This plush toy costs $24.95 and is sure to be your child’s new favorite toy.

iDog and iCat Musical Companion

These tiny companions rock out to your favorite tunes with you!  As you feed them your favorite music the animals dance along by moving their ears and head.  They even respond to the kind of music, as you can watch their mood change with the type and amount of music it hears.  The iDog and iCat work with most MP3 players and stereos and has flashing lights that also sync up with the music.  What’s best of all is the iDog and iCat are pocket sized and portable, so they can tag along with you just like man’s real best friends.  You can take these adorable animals home with you for just $14.99 each!

Discovery Amazing Money Jar Bank

I remember when I was little I had a piggy bank, and I would shake the money out of the top to count it while keeping piggy in one piece.  Its seems times have changed, and its electric.  As you drop coins into the Amazing Money Jar Bank recognizes the value and displays your total on the LCD screen.  Seeing the total rise encourages children to save their money and seeing their money add up will help them understand monetary values.  And the sturdy plastic jar provides a safe, non-breakable alternative to the traditional piggy bank.  The Discovery Amazing Money Jar Bank is also the winner of an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award and is good for kids ages 5 and up.  The Discovery Amazing Money Jar Bank is very reasonably priced at $14.95.

Discovery Radio Control Arthropods

When I think of the Discovery channel, I think of all the shows spotlighting exotic bugs residing in far off lands (thankfully!).   Now, the Discovery Store has brought all these creepy crawlers in homes everywhere with their Discovery radio Control Arthropods. These bugs are exact replicas of nature's most amazing insects and are sculpted from real specimens, including a Rhinoceros Beetle, Hissing Cockroach and Hercules Beetle. 

The Arthropods features three snap-on bug exoskeletons and you control one of three species by simply switching the exoskeleton onto the body.  A branch-shaped remote control moves bugs forward and reverse with the push of two buttons. Bugs snap onto remote control for easy recharging and fun display and are fully charged in about two minutes.  These Radio Controlled Arthropods can infest your house for $24.95.

Tiny Love ® ActiviTot Sun Garden

The Tiny Love ® ActiviTot Sun Garden is an amazing toy for newborns that will keep them occupied for hours. It provides baby with an endless variety of playing configurations and 17 different activities.  The Modular pillow placement supports baby on her tummy, back, side or seated upright for ultimate comfort.  It is constructed out of safe, bendable arches with customizable arch position. 

There is a Baby-activated nature music mirror, hanging teethers, twist and lock toys, looks for attaching additional toys and honking horns.  This activity garden is perfect for both indoor and outdoor use and includes bonus growth chart and laundry bag for washing or carrying

This deluxe gym not only entertains your baby, but it also enhances gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and object permanence. The Tiny Love ActiviTot Sun Garden is also the winner of the 2007 Oppenheim Gold and Platinum Seals and the Oppenheim SNAP Award.  For $79.99 you can entertain and teach your child at the same time!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Lights, Cameras, Action!

I am always looking for ways to get the whole family involved in activities together, and with the holidays coming up, I can already hear my kids saying “I’m bored!” two days into break. My new solution, Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action for Xbox 360. It’s so easy to use. Even for a video game beginner like myself I was able to set the console up to begin challenging my family with their movie knowledge. You simply plug the receiver into the back of the Xbox console, aim your controller and play. Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action includes more than 1,800 questions and twenty-one different types of games, so it’s fun for everyone in the family to play. The games include  "Credit Roll," a game in which you guess the film based on a list of characters and actors, "Child’s Play," where you guess the name of the film based on a child’s drawing of a film scene, and "Quotables," where you are challenged to finish a famous line from a featured film.

The game comes with four wireless Big Button Pads, so each player has his or her own buzzer. Buzz in with the colored A, B, X, Y buttons to win points based on how quickly you can answer each question. The longer it takes you to answer, the fewer points you are awarded. Some of the questions might be a little more difficult for younger children (they may not know who Humphrey Bogart is) but this is also a great reason to play in teams, involving all generations who have gathered for the holidays. The only problem I noticed was that the points don’t add up from level to level, so if you play for a longer period of time, you’ll have to add your score after each round to determine who wins overall.

I would definitely recommend this as a great holiday gift for any family with an Xbox – or as a gift to yourself, guaranteeing lots of laughs whether you’re playing with friends at a holiday party or your kids after dinner. Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action is available anywhere Xbox games are sold for $59.99, which is a little more then most Xbox games are sold for, but the 4 wireless controllers and the hours of entertainment make it more than worth it. May the force be with you!

Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action

Karito Kids

Right when you think playing with dolls is as old fashioned as collecting coins in today’s video game generation, the Karito Kids collection is popping up everywhere on kids’ holiday and birthday wish lists. Karito Kids is like a United Nations version of the classic American Girl dolls. There are five girls in the club who represent cultures from all over the world. There’s Gia the Italian fashionista, Pita the horse lover from Mexico, Lulu the soccer lover from Kenya, Zoe the bohemian New Yorker, and the brazen Ling from China. Each Karito Kid comes with her own World Citizen Passport and a story that documents each girl’s exciting adventure, giving the reader a glimpse into the culture that she comes from, along with basic conversational words in her native tongue listed in the back of the book. The stories are easy to relate to, and teach kids that people are more alike than different despite ethnic backgrounds and upbringings. Karito Kids also gives your child a chance to participate in the giving by donating a percentage of the purchase price to a cause of their choice organized by the children’s charity, Plan. Karito Kids donates 3% of their profits to Plan, a leading international development organization that now helps over 10 million children around the world.

To see the whole collection or to order, go to www.karitokids.com.

Schlage Lock

Between me, my husband, two teenagers, the home cleaning service, occasional babysitters, and the company that spent all summer renovating my home office, I count a dozen opportunities for a copy of our front door key to get lost or put in the wrong hands. The area locksmith and I are practically on a first-name basis!

Replacing a missing key is a pain, but isn’t nearly as painful as digging through my purse in the rain with a bag of groceries in one arm and a soccer game looming for the kids, and realizing my house keys are not in there. Leaving a spare key outside for anyone to find—and trusting that the last person who used it remembered to put it back again—is no longer a safe or reliable option.

Why not take a page from the professional buildings and go keyless? Schlage Lock has come out with a residential electronic keypad lock for your front (or back, or side) door that has some great features for families. This all-in-one unit replaces your regular doorknob or deadbolt and makes it unnecessary for you or your family to carry a key (though you have the option to use one also). The battery operated, illuminated lock comes already programmed with two unique four-digit user codes for you and your family, and it can store up to 17 additional user codes. What a relief for Moms who are trying to keep track of who has keys to their busy households. You can create a specific code for each person who needs access to your house, and then delete that code when he or she has finished the job.

The set looks great on my front door, but my back door would have needed additional holes drilled to fit the new lock, adding quite a bit of labor costs to the keypad’s roughly $130 price tag. If it means taking the emergency locksmith off my cell phone’s speed dial, it’s still well worth the price. Visit www.schlage.com for information and retailers.

Silly Billyz Bibs

Roomy vs. teensy bibs, cotton vs. plastic bibs…you can never have too many bibs, and Silly Billyz has a great assortment of styles and sizes. All have absorbent, anti-pill fleece on the front and a water-resistant nylon back to prevent leaks. They’re machine washable and dryer safe. We reviewed the new Messy Eater Bib, which looks like a smock, with long sleeves gathered at the wrists and full coverage down past the knees. There’s a Velcro neck closure and string ties that fasten in back. It’s perfect for every baby—after all, have you ever heard of a “Neat Eater” baby? I truly love this bib and was actually on a months-long search for something exactly like this. Standard bibs do very little to protect Baby’s clothing, as mushy baby food and liquids almost always plop onto, ooze underneath, or seep through. With this Messy Eater Bib that covers about 95% of the body, there’s less chance of that happening…a lot less! Although the fleece front is washable, sometimes I reverse the bib because the nylon backing worn in front is easy to wipe clean. This bib is also great for messy older-kid activities like finger painting or cooking with Mom. Visit the Silly Billyz store at http://livelovedream.com/sillybillyz/catalog.php to see all of their products.

I know that I spend more time in the car then anywhere else. Taking the kids to school, soccer tournaments, daily sports practices, work, meetings, it is an endless litany of travel and I feel as though I am always making a quick grab for my keys. Since I spend so much time in the car, Autolite is a product that seems to fit my life. 

As much as we don’t like to think about it, breaking down in your car does occur, it’s inevitable.  Its better to think ahead then to be unprepared, especially while driving at night, or by your self.  Autolite has produced a series of products that are inexpensive to purchase, easy to use, and wont leave you in the dark.  Autolite Flareglo is a safety light that serves as an alternative to incendiary flares.  I like the Flareglo Safety lights because it eliminates many of the chemicals that are used in standard road flares and lasts up to 12 hours versus the 15-minute conventional flare and can be seen up to 500 feet away.  In addition, they are reusable, compact, durable, and only requires two AAA batteries.

Autolite also sent me the Spotglo Seatbelt lite, which has been in constant use since we took it out of the package.  We like to take road trips as a family, and many times we end up driving in the dark. My kids get antsy, but now they can read or start on their weekend homework right in the car. The Spotglo Seatbelt Lite is amazing because they have ample lighting, and we don’t have to keep the overhead light on to do it.  The sooner they finish their homework, the more time I get to spend with them.

These products are inexpensive at $9.99 each and are the perfect gift for anyone that has a car.  Check Autolite’s other products or purchase at www.autolitelights.com.

Dreamerz

Being a mom can be hard, you have to juggle all your responsibilities while keeping track of your family and household. I know that by the end of the day my head is spinning, my mind is racing, and I can’t get to sleep.  Whether it is the next days parent/teacher conference or the client meeting at 12, the next days activities whirl around my head. Over half of American’s, including myself, don’t get enough sleep. With all the sleeping medications make me weary, I don’t want to be drowsy. But Dreamerz, a chocolaty dietary supplement drink that helps me sleep, I think I can handle that.

Dreamerz contains a clinically proven ingredient, melatonin, which is a naturally occurring “sleep” regulation hormone and Lactium, which we drink naturally in milk. I still remember my mom giving my brother and I hot milk to put us to sleep when we were younger.  At 100 calories, and less than 3 grams of fat, Dreamerz wont hinder your diet either.  Each serving is a good source of calcium and protein and is organically sweetened with crystallized cane juice and erythritol, which is a zero calorie sweetener that naturally occurs in pears and melons.  Just drink a cup an hour before bed, hot or cold, and you can stop counting sheep.

Dreamerz come in three flavors I loved, Chocolate S’nores (milk chocolate), Vanilla Van Winkle (French vanilla) and Crème de la REM (dark chocolate mint).  Dreamerz are less expensive then prescription or over the counter pills, at $2,59 for a single serving or $7.49 for a four-serving pack.  Check them out at www.dreamerzfoods.com.