Review: Superyard XT

I have to admit, before I had a kid I didn't get the point of play yards. Why would you need a fence when you could just get a playpen or babyproof? Oh, but now I know. Play yards are awesome. We got a Superyard XT on Craigslist when Nico started crawling, and it was much simpler than replacing our open-front entertainment center or buying a giant custom baby gate for our somewhat open-floorplan house. It also allowed us to keep the baby and the dog separate without denying either one access to the main living areas. The best feature of the Superyard, as far as I'm concerned, is the flexibility. It can be set up as a freestanding hexagon, which provides an okay amount of space for a young baby (and a bigger area than a classic playpen for an older child). The company sells expansion kits with two additional panels that increase the enclosed area, and a friend from our baby group got one and said she was shocked at just how much space it added to the "yard." As Nico discovered at 9 months of age, however, there's a small disadvantage to using the freestanding setup on hardwood floors...the whole pen can easily be pushed around the room:



Once Nico discovered how to push the yard around, it didn't make much sense to use it freestanding. Our living room is a long rectangle shape, with the TV and loveseat on one long side and the couch on the other long side. We set up our Superyard in a sort of crooked L-shape, with the long bit blocking off the entertainment center and the short bit cutting across to divide the living room in half, leaving the couch on Nico's side of the fence and the loveseat on Indy's side (since the loveseat is Indy's seat). This worked really well for several months, but toward the end of last year, I started to wish Nico had a little more room to roam while still being safely separated from Indy's food and resting areas. The problem was only compounded once we procured Nico's play kitchen, and we were constantly moving the kitchen into the play yard area while Nico was hanging out and then moving it out of the way once Nico went to bed. I tried to get a second Superyard on Craigslist in the interest of expanding the fenced-in space, but was never able to hook up with the seller.

Then, in January I had another opportunity to work with CSN Stores, and it turned out that they carry the same Superyard that we already had. Armed with a $100 voucher, I ordered one just before Nico's birthday. I was shocked at how fast the item shipped to me. I believe I ordered it on a Thursday and received it the following Tuesday even with a bank holiday in between. With the second Superyard, we were now equipped to create a somewhat epic play yard setup. Now we're using four panels from our first yard to cordon off the entertainment center and seven panels connected end-to-end to create a second fence that can be strung out from the playroom doorway across the open area where the living room blends into the dining room. We use the carrying strap that came with the Superyard to attach the long segment to the short segment, neatly giving Nico run of the entire living room while keeping the loveseat on the outside of the fence for Indy's lounging needs.


It does kind of look like a plastic version of the Great Wall of China marching down the middle of the house, but it does the trick marvelously. Nico has plenty of space to play, he can hang out with us in the living room and get to his playroom, and we can give him access to his play kitchen without shoehorning it into the already-cramped space right around the couch. I'm sure if my pre-kid self saw a picture of our crazy play yard set up, she'd think it was absurd. But my raising-kid self thinks it's pretty awesome. Sure, our living room won't ever be featured on any fancy-pants style blog, but the Superyard helps keep everyone in the family happy and safe, and that's worth more than style to me.

DISCLOSURE: I received a $100 voucher in exchange for a teaser post on my main blog containing a linked keyword selected by CSN Stores. The choice of product as well as the words and opinions in this review are my own.

Review: KidKraft Vintage Kitchen

When I was a kid, I loved my toy kitchen set. It was three pieces -- a stove, dishwasher / sink, and fridge -- made of some kind of lightweight metal. My cousins and I played with that set until we'd mostly outgrown it and it literally fell apart. I've known since Nico was born that I wanted to get him a play kitchen of his own once he was old enough, and I knew that I preferred a wooden set over a plastic one. I wanted something nice and durable, but didn't have hundreds of dollars to spend. I asked for recommendations from friends who have purchased kitchens for their kids, and several suggested the KidKraft Vintage Kitchen.

I had a $100 voucher to use on any of the CSN Stores sites and luckily they carry the KidKraft line. I did some research on my own and found that the KidKraft products get very good reviews online and of all the one-piece kitchens I looked at, the Vintage Kitchen was the most spacious. I actually preferred the two-piece Retro Kitchen, but since it was only available in pink, I went with the red Vintage Kitchen after all. It was intended to be Nico's main gift for his first birthday in January, but we decided to give it to him a little early so that a friend's visiting toddler could play with it just after Christmas.

There weren't many negative reviews of the product online and the ones I did see mostly focused on the difficulty of assembly. The kitchen does have a lot of pieces and a lot of bits that needed to be attached to other bits by little teeny tiny screws.


It took MB about two hours on Christmas Eve to put the whole thing together, but there wasn't anything particularly difficult about it. Once it was together, I was really happy with the quality and size of the kitchen, and I actually liked it more in person than I did in the pictures online.


One of the girls I know who bought the kitchen for her son recommended getting baskets to keep food and dishes in since the cabinets are pretty big and don't have a lot of little shelves. We had a few of those small plastic crates made to hold CDs lying around, and it turns out they're the perfect size to fit in all the compartments.


Our friend's son went right to the kitchen when he arrived and started placing plastic pots and pans on the stove and stirring with little spoons. Nico is still a bit young to pretend to cook, but he loves opening and closing all the doors and taking the food and dishes out of the baskets. I know he's going to get years of play out of the kitchen, and I'm so glad we chose it.



DISCLOSURE: I received a $100 voucher in exchange for a teaser post on my main blog containing a linked keyword selected by CSN Stores. The choice of product as well as the words and opinions in this review are my own.

It's the happiest season of all

I've always been a fan of sending real mail. In college, a friend and I exchanged care packages every few months, and I send books and small gifts to friends even now. Since getting married and becoming an official adult, I've sent Christmas cards out by mail to friends and extended family alike. I send birthday cards and postcards and occasionally just-because cards. With my husband's entire family living in another state, sending out baby pictures has become an important addition to the mailing-out routine. Having a baby in the internet age is nice, in that we can upload his pictures to photo-sharing sites and then give the links to family. Even so, nothing beats actual printed photographs, and I've known since Nico was born that we'd probably be sending out a photo card for Christmas this year.

I've been using Shutterfly to store and share photos for years, and MB set up a family site weeks after Nico's birth and uploaded every single photo we took during his first month. I've had photos printed from my Shutterfly account numerous times and gave my mom a photo book of pictures from our Alaska trip, so I'm a fan of their products. We recently had this photo card made with three pictures from Nico's six-month photo shoot to send to family, and it was a huge hit. Needless to say, when I read about the opportunity to earn 50 free holiday cards by writing a blog post, I jumped at the chance. The hardest part was narrowing it down to just a few Christmas cards that I like.

Since we haven't had Nico's Christmas photos taken yet, I can't say for sure if we'll just choose one photo or if we'll do a collage card. Single-photo cards are great because they're clean and simple. But I like the multi-photo cards, too, especially since Nico has changed so much over the course of his first year. I also really like the story cards which allow for the addition of a few highlights from the year. After going through all the choices a couple of times, I've finally narrowed it down to these:








No matter which card we ultimately choose, I suspect our family and friends will love it.



Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season!



DISCLOSURE: I will receive 50 free cards in exchange for writing a post containing three linked keywords selected by Shutterfly. The words and opinions in this post are my own.

cloth diaper baby

Before Nico was born, I read in Consumer Reports that parents will spend $1500 on diapers on the average kid before he or she is potty trained. I'd been going back and forth on the idea of using cloth diapers for the environmental benefits, and that statistic pushed me off the fence. After doing some research and talking to some friends who cloth diaper, I chose one-size diapers from bumGenius as the best combination of simplicity and price. We have the recently-discontinued 3.0s, which go on as easily as disposables and were purported to fit kids from 7 - 35 lbs. (The same diaper has been upgraded and is now available as the bumGenius 4.0.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm going to tell you all of it. The wash routine is a little more involved than clothes, but I don't find it too awful. I have had a little trouble with a funky smell in mine, but I suspect I've been using the wrong detergent combined with late-Summer water quality issues here in the city. My new routine is to do a soap-free cold wash, a hot wash with Rockin' Green detergent, and then a rinse. So far it seems to be going well. UPDATE: I now soak the diapers in the washer overnight in hot water with a scoop of either Rockin' Green or Charlie's Soap and then run a regular wash cycle the next day. It works great and no extra rinses are needed. I keep Nico's dirty diapers in a cat litter bucket with a lid. With the new version of cloth diapers, you don't have to soak them before washing, so there's no spillable pail full of gross water to deal with. If your baby is exclusively breastfed, you can put poo diapers straight into the washer without rinsing them. It sounds disgusting, but I never had trouble with finding remains in the washer afterward or anything horrifying like that. I won't lie; pulling the cold peed-on inserts out of the diapers by hand to put them in the washer is pretty gross, but to me the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Once the kid starts solid foods, you can't just chuck the poo diapers into the wash. Some people install a diaper sprayer on the toilet to rinse them, but we're trying flushable / disposable liners from Bummis to catch the poo and so far they're working great.

Some people complain about having to stuff the inserts back into the diapers, but I don't find it to be a big deal. When Nico was little I stuffed diapers while I pumped and now I can do it while he plays with his toys or while watching TV after he goes to bed. The covers have to be air-dried. Drying them in the sun is recommended, but we don't usually keep an outdoor clothesline. I put them on clip hangers that I saved from little pairs of baby pants and hang them up on my rolling laundry rack in the basement and they usually dry overnight. Always use the laundry tabs if you choose hook-and-loop (velcro) closures, because the tabs will stick to the inside lining if you don't. The closures are holding up pretty well on our diapers, but I think if I buy more I'll go for the new snap closure option.

I'm pretty pro-environment, but I also work full time and have a pretty tight budget. I'm only able to go so far in pursuit of my green aspirations. I really feel like the time and money invested in cloth diapering are going to be worth it in the long run. Just think how many books I can buy for Nico with $1500, and I'll be saving even more if I use the diapers for a second kid. Plus, let's be honest, these things are super cute!





DISCLOSURE:  I purchased all of the products mentioned and received no compensation for writing this post. The words and opinions in this review are my own.

Review: Melissa & Doug mini bead maze

I had $70 to spend on any of CSN Stores' sites as long as I used it all on one order, so after picking a few kitchen things that we needed (pizza pan, rolling pin, steak knife set), I had a bit of money left. I decided to spend it on a Melissa & Doug mini bead maze for Nico. He's just recently developed the dexterity for toys with smaller parts, and I thought he'd like it. The bead maze arrived just in time for his half-birthday, which was a nice coincidence. The packaging said it was for ages 1 and up, but with supervision I don't see any reason why a younger baby can't safely enjoy it. The maze is up to the standards of quality and durability that can be expected from Melissa & Doug toys, with bright colors and fun shapes to attract a baby's interest. The beads slide easily on the coated wires and are just the right size for little fingers.



One of the reviewers on the product page mentioned that he took the maze out to restaurants for his kid, since the suction cups on the bottom allow it to stick to the table. I thought that was a pretty brilliant idea, so we took the maze along yesterday when we went out for a late lunch. We sat Nico in the restaurant high chair and stuck the maze on the table in front of him. He played with it happily, and the suction cups were strong enough that even when he yanked on it, they held tight. The maze is compact enough that I can toss it in his diaper bag, but big enough to keep him entertained. I think Nico gives it five stars!





DISCLOSURE: I received this product for free in exchange for a teaser post on my main blog containing a linked keyword selected by CSN Stores. The words and opinions in this review are my own.

Review: Calphalon classic pizza pan

I was offered the chance to do another review with CSN Stores. I was given $70 to spend in any of their online shops. I spent most of it on items for the kitchen, since we're still working with a blend of nice things we've bought as adults and cheap stuff we bought or were given back in college. One of our saddest college-days holdovers is our pizza pan. It was probably fine when it was new, but that was ten years ago and we're not talking about a high-quality piece of bakeware. We always cover it with foil because first of all, it's kind of perma-grubby and secondly, everything sticks to it.




I picked the Calphalon classic 16" pizza pan, which promised to crisp the crusts.



So far, so good. It did crisp the crust really nicely, too. The only downside, which I didn't discover until later -- when we cut the pizza, the sauce leaked through the holes down onto the stovetop. Knowing that now, we'll be more careful next time.

Usually MB washes the dishes, but in the interest of full disclosure, I washed the pizza pan last night. Even after sitting for more than 24 hours unrinsed, all the pizza crud wiped right off with almost no effort at all, even where the sauce had smeared on the bottom. I'm a fan!


DISCLOSURE: I received this product for free in exchange for a teaser post on my main blog containing a linked keyword selected by CSN Stores. The words and opinions in this review are my own.

My first review, with a great giveaway!

Back in December when I was super pregnant with Nico, I received a cool PR pitch. I was offered the chance to pick and review a baby product from CSN Stores' Baby & Kids site. By that point we had already amassed a metric ton of baby gear, so I decided to choose a toy he could grow into. It was a hard choice, because the site had lots of nice toys -- educational toys, toys to ride on, blocks, just about everything you'd want for a little kid. I finally chose this neat wooden truck. One of my favorite toys as a kid was my classic Tonka dump truck, so I really loved the idea of getting Nico his first dump truck. It was just an added bonus that the colors matched his nursery.

First point in the truck's favor:  it looks great. When the truck arrived, I set it in the open-front box on the end table in our living room, waiting until I had a chance to get it out for inspection. While it was there, my cousin stopped by with her two boys, and the three-year-old was instantly drawn to the truck, like the proverbial moth to a flame. We got it out of the box for him, and he spent some time hauling the dog's ball around the living room floor. Since he played with it, the truck has returned to the end table, where it has attracted the attention of just about everyone who has seen it. And who can blame people...it's a handsome truck!


Second point:  It's really well-made, something I was hoping for when I selected it. Lots of toys claim to be "heavy duty," but one never knows when choosing something online. Wood construction, metal axles, and real rubber wheels make for a sturdy toy that I expect will withstand the abuses of a little boy's play quite well. My brother-in-law even examined it and proclaimed that he thought it would've survived him as a child -- high praise for any toy, believe me.

Finally, the third point:  the truck is manufactured by Wonderworld from environmentally friendly materials. According to the box, the toy is constructed from old plantation-grown rubber trees that no longer produce latex. The production waste is then used to make particle board, fuel, incense sticks, and to cultivate mushrooms. The truck is finished with water-based paint and boxed in recycled packaging. So my kid gets a great toy while the world gets treated gently. What's not to love?



And there's more! As a part of this review, I get to give away a $40 shopping spree to any of the CSN Stores (and they sell just about everything). I've heard lots of awful (and sometimes hilarious) stories of terrible PR outreach from companies to bloggers lately, but my contact at CSN has been fabulous throughout the process. He even agreed to extend this prize offer to Canadians when I told him that about half of my blog friends live north of the border.

To be entered to win the $40 CSN shopping spree (shipping included), leave a comment on this post and tell me which online CSN store you'd like to visit with the prize money. Residents of the US and Canada only, please. The winner will have to provide his or her contact info directly to CSN. The contest is open until May 31 at midnight CST, at which point I will use random.org to select a winner.




DISCLOSURE:  I received this product for free in exchange for a teaser post on my main blog containing a linked keyword selected by CSN Stores. The words and opinions in this review are my own.


WINNER!



Congrats, bibliophile81! I'll send you an email with info on how to claim your prize :)