General Mills Reduces Sugar in Cereal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

If I had a dime for everytime I have heard that line, I would be a millionaire.  Heck, we all would be.  There's truth behind it, though.  Studies have shown that eating a healthy breakfast will enhance your performance throughout the day.  Not only will you be able to concentrate better at school or work, you will have more strength and energy for more physical aspects of your life.  Plus, you have seen the comercials - healthy breakfasts can lower your cholesterol!

In December it was announced that General Mills would be reducing sugar in their cereals ever more than they already had been.  They committed to reducing the sugar in their cereals to less than 10g per serving!  *goes to look in pantry*  Now, I can tell you that we have other brands of cereal (that are not General Mills) and not one of those cereals have less than 10g of sugar per serving.

I was provided 4 coupons for General Mills cereal from My Blog Spark to try out the new and improved cereal.  All I can say is "wow!"  These are cereals that I grew up with, prior to their commitments to our children of today.  Which means when I was eating these cereals, there were less vitamins and more sugar.  And while it could be that I am older, I don't find any difference in the taste I remember, to the taste of now!

Constantly looking at nutrition information, I want what is best for my kids.  I want them to grow up happy and healthy, and I was them to succeed in life.  My confidence for their breakfast needs is with General Mills.

For more information about the relationship between kids and cereal, visit General Mills' Health & Wellness page.

Business to Blogger - Gaining Exposure to Your Blog

As I am sure you are all aware, I am quite new to this whole blogging deal.  Well, maybe more so the more formal aspects of blogging as opposed to just blogging to keep track of memories I want preserved.

Wanting to make something more of my blog, I have become more technically in tune with what it takes to make a site more popular.  Traffic, right?  Being interesting and funny and leaving an impression with readers that makes them want to come back is probably most important.  But how do you get that?  Well, I have linked my website to my Facebook, Twitter, and even my YouTube accounts.  I have also made some new friends around the blogging community.

When my friend, Kristin, whose advise I trust when it comes to blogging among other things, wrote her blog post about Business2Blogger, I was curious.  Doing what any normal, curious, human being would do, I headed over to the site to investigate. 

The benefits for a small blogger, like me, is great.  They can provide you with opportunities for reviews at absolutely no cost!!! Yes, you heard me, for FREE!!!  Not to mention this website works with not only the blogging community but also businesses.  It's like a website that plays match-maker.

Sound like something you'd like to participate in? Then head on over and sign up here.  It's quick and easy and free to sign up.

And hey, did I mention that this is FREE?!

So click here for more information or to sign up.

Lamaze - Toys For Babies

Ariana has had one toy, Mr. Spider as we call it, for a couple months now.  Something about this toy keeps her attention, and she LOVES it! 

My little cutie-bug was absolutely distraught over goodness knows what last night, so I handed her the spider.  Immediately, whatever her deepest worry was, was forgotten.  She put that spider right into her mouth.  It was in that moment that I looked at Justin and asked him, "What would we do without that spider?  What if we ever lost it?"  These thoughts had passed through my head before, but it was then and there that I realized just what this spider was to her.

He had no answer, just a panicked look in his eye.  I immediately hopped on the computer and found Genius Babies, who sells a wide variety of baby toys, including the most popular Lamaze toys.  While we didn't find any of Buzz the Bug (which is what I found it's called), they have a ton of other great toys for Ariana's age.  At her stage, it's hard to find toys that will keep her attention as well as toys that are safe. 

Everything is in her mouth at this point, so I am constantly worrying about parts coming off in her mouth and her choking.  What mother isn't, right?  After some more digging, I did find our spider friend for sale at Toys R' Us.  $12.99 is definitely well-worth it.  Buzz's wings make crunchy noises, while each of the objects hanging from his feet do different things.  Ariana's favorite is when i squish the object that squeaks.  She will giggle and giggle - which, in turn, amuses mommy as well.  The rings on the end of one of Buzz's feet go into her mouth, and all around, he is very easy for her to hold onto.

I am currently awaiting approval from the man of the house to expand Ariana's Lamaze toys, in hopes she will find something that will give her even half the joy that Buzz the Bug does.

Parent's Choice Formula - A Life (and money) Saver!

As a mommy with a newborn and a toddler, I really want what is best for my children.  From the clothes to the toys to the food.  We all know in this economy, the best isn't really always within reach of our budgets.  Mine, especially.  I work full-time, as does Justin, but we are barely scraping by.

I always wanted to breastfeed my children.  It was a dream, a goal, something to look forward to.  With Konnor, I endured 6 weeks of pain and agony trying to breastfeed.  My nipples were simply too big and his mouth too small.  Sure, we tried nipple shields, but that didn't work.  I could never afford a decent pump, so pumping was out of the question as well.  At the time, I was 19 and working at Taco Bell, still living with my mom. 

After those 6 weeks, I gave up.  Feeling defeated and depressed, I went in search of formula.  $25 a can is going to kill me, I remember thinking bitterly on my drive to the store.  At Wal-Mart, I probably read labels for an hour.  When I first saw the Wal-Mart brand formula, Parent's Choice, I didn't even consider it.  But as I read the label, and compared it to that of Similac, I realized there wasn't much difference.

That day, I bought Konnor Parent's Choice Milk-Based Infant Formula w/ Iron.  He loved it!  It was so easy for him to digest, and we never had any problems.  I loved it so much, that when my best friend had her baby, and was unable to breastfeed, I gave her a can to try, and she became hooked as well. 

When I had Ariana, I was determined to give breastfeeding a second shot.  I was prepped and stoked when she was born.  Unfortunately, it didn't even take a week for me to come to the conclusion that we weren't getting anywhere.  Having the same problems as before, I gave up the hope of breastfeeding.  I wasn't as bogged down by it as I was with Konnor, because I knew we had alternatives.  I knew it would be okay that I wasn't meant to breastfeed.

So, again, I made the trip to Wal-Mart.  Ariana started out with the same formula Konnor did.  We noticed she was very fussy and gassy, so we tried Parent's Choice Milk-Based Gentle Formula.  It was suppose to help with the fussiness and the gas.  We gradually moved her over to that formula, but noticed even though it helped, it hadn't solved the problem.  Ariana just has a very sensitive tummy.

A lot of people were telling us we needed to go to soy formula.  Especially my grandma.  I wasn't really ready to try soy, though, and Wal-Mart still had another option.  So we gradually switched her over to Parent's Choice Lactose-Free Sensitive Infant Formula.  We figured if she had problems digesting the lactose (which many babies do) this could be our solution without going to soy.

It worked!  This is what I love about Parent's Choice.  We had options.  One type of formula wasn't working, so we tried another.  And, if we needed it, they offer Organic Formula and even Soy Formula. Not to mention it's about 40% cheaper than the name-brand formulas, but with almost the same nutrition.  We go through about a can of formula a week.  At $15 a can, that adds up FAST!  I couldn't imagine paying the $25 a can - I would go broke!

Want to sample Parent's Choice Formula? Wal-Mart is giving away free samples of Parent's Choice Gentle Formula.  Just follow the link, fill out the form, and they will send you a free sample!  Pretty awesome stuff, and just one more reason why I LOVE Wal-Mart!

Cascade ActionPacs

Wow!!! Has anyone used these before? They are the concentrated detergent cube things that go in the dishwasher. It has both liquid and powder concentrated into this cube that is about an inch long and wide and half an inch in height.

My dishwasher SUCKS! We are forever having to scrub off every little piece of food and/or dirt before putting it into the dishwasher, making me wonder why i even bother with the dishwasher anyways.

We have tried both liquid detergent (which was okay) and powder detergent (which was a disaster). Apartments just have really crappy quality dishwashers, i guess.

Anyways, i decided to buy these Cascade ActionPacs. $5 for 20 of them, so i figured i wouldn't be out a TON of money. I used one today. Just opened my dishwasher, and OMG!!!!!!!!!!! These things are freaking amazing!!!

I put a dish in there that i didn't scrub. It wasn't that dirty, but i knew residue would have been left over with the liquid or powder detergent. Nothing with these. It is CLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy The Ride Rewards

As a mommy of a 3 1/2 year old who was in diapers not long ago, and a mommy of an infant who is obviously in diapers, I know they get expensive. And I don't mean a little expensive, I mean a LOT!! We can go through a box of diapers (around $20) in a matter of two weeks, maybe three. That's a box of 84 diapers. So about $80 a month, sometimes $100. With that, and formula, an infant costs a LOT of money.

When it comes to diapers, we have tried multiple brands. Nothing works as well as Huggies. Especially overnight, when Ariana doesn't wake up all the time, it's nice to know we aren't going to wake up to a soggy bed and baby. Haha!

Today I was getting ready to throw away the plastic from a package of diapers, and noticed a code. It was Huggies Enjoy The Ride Rewards. Curious, I logged onto their website ( https://enjoytheriderewards.com/ ), and created a log-in ID. Immediately, I was awarded 10 points. With the code I found, I was awarded 9 more points. Okay, this is cool, I thought. So I decided to investigate and found that you can use these points on a variety of things. Diapers, gift cards, art supplies for the kids, and more!

How cool is that?? If you have kids, and use Huggies diapers, I highly suggest you check this out!