Category: Reviews, promotions and giveaways

I‘m not a rabid royal watcher, but I do admit to a bit of infatuation with Will and Kate. How can you not love them? I haven’t gone out of my way to follow the progress of her pregnancy, but you’d have to be living in a media blackout to miss the fact that her due date has now come and gone.

I was overdue with all three of my boys. Tristan, my first, came of his own accord three days past his due date, but we had to take proactive action to dislodge both Simon and Lucas. It took almost 24 hours of pitocin to get me into any sort of reliable labour with Simon, and although my water broke and labour started of its own accord six days after my due date with Lucas, we still had to go through an induction when nothing had really happened two days later.

I got me some lazy babies. Or a really comfortable uterus. Or three boys averse to change. Maybe a little bit of each!

Anyway, all that to say, I remember how crazy-making being overdue was, and my heart goes out to Duchess Kate when I think of going through all that with half the world watching you. Oy.

Fisher-Price will be celebrating the arrival of the newest member of the royal (Royal?) family this week with a baby shower in Toronto. (I’m very sorry, I was supposed to write this post last week and offer you the opportunity to win VIP tickets by signing up for Fisher-Price’s newsletter, but it was such an insanely busy week that I totally dropped the ball. Sorry!) So, erm, both Kate and this post are overdue!

When I was overdue, I was willing to try ANYTHING to get those babies out. Blogging my interminable pregnancy with Lucas became a full-time job. I started obsessing about Lucas being born a full 10 days before my due date. I went through fits and starts of false labour. I tried every induction idea I could find on the Interwebs. I had a medical induction scheduled and then cancelled when I was nearly a week overdue. And then when my water broke there was still so much nothing going on that I managed to get five (!) blog posts out of it.

All that to say, even though I’m sure they are more than well taken care of while they wait this out, my heart still goes out to Kate and Will as they anticipate the arrival of their wee bundle of joy. What advice would you have to offer if Kate were your bestie? (Cuz yanno she’s just surfing the ‘net looking for things to do while she’s waiting – she might just stumble across this post, right?)

Disclosure: I receive special perks as a part of my affiliation with the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada. The opinions in this blog are always my own.

Five is a funny age, especially when you have big brothers. You have one foot stretching two steps up the growing-up ladder, trying to keep up with your older brothers by playing video games and board games way more sophisticated than they did when they were five years old. And on the other hand, you are still easily engaged by “baby” toys — as long as you don’t actually notice they are supposed to be baby toys.

That’s what I found out with the latest shipment of fun toys from our friends at Fisher-Price. As soon as I saw we might be able to get the Imaginext Gotham City set, that went straight to the top of my list. I may have raved about my love of the Imaginext toys a time or two before. And it’s no secret we are superhero junkies around here. So I knew this toy would be an instant favourite with all the boys — and I was right!

The official description from the peeps at Fisher-Price says: “Imagine a world of action and excitement where you decide what happens next! This time, it’s a trip to Gotham City with The Joker and Bruce Wayne. There’s a working elevator that reveals a Bat Emblem when the figure reaches the top of the tower, a bank with a blast-through wall (just turn a figure on the disk!) that gives you an entry into Wayne Tower, a jail cell (for The Joker, of course!) and lots more! Includes play set with foldout stairs, launcher with projectile, The Joker and Bruce Wayne figures with accessories to turn him into Batmanâ„¢. Whatever world you travel to, it’s a whole new adventure every time you play!”

Mom says: “It’s great for fine motor control, big enough for several kids to share, and encourages imaginative and creative play.”

The kids say: “It’s awesome!”

Put this one at the top of your list for superhero fans from ages 3 to 8, according to the Fisher-Price website — but our 11 year old thought it was pretty cool, too!

The next toy in the box was a little bit of a gamble on my part. Lucas is a crafty kid and spends a goodly percentage of his waking hours drawing and doing puzzles. At age five, he’s also young enough to really love his stuffed toys. He’s not very rigid in his assessment of boy toys or girl toys, but I figured when he saw the Doodle Bears he would either love them at first sight or dismiss them as too girly.

Guess which impulse won out?

Much to my delight, Lucas LOVED the Doodle Bears. LOVED them!! In fact, I had to open both boxes the very day we received them, so he could set to work colouring his bears. Have you seen the Doodle Bears before? They’re popular enough to have their own microsite on the Fisher-Price website, but they’ve been off my radar before now. Each bear comes with washable markers and stamps or stencils, and you simply toss them in the laundry machine when your little Picasso is done to clean the slate (erm, bear) so the artiste can get back to work on a new design.

How much do I love this self-satisfied look?

And they really do come completely clean in the wash. I threw mine in with a load of towels with a bit of a cringe, wondering if the marker would come completely off (the box does suggest washing the Doodle Bear sooner rather than later) or transfer to anything else in the load of laundry, but I was pleased on both counts.

The last two toys in the box were definitely baby toys. I was originally going to partner up with a friend who has toddlers in her daycare for this part of the bloggy toy review, but like so many of my schemes, this one kind of fell apart at the seams. But when Lucas saw the Laugh & Learn Smart Screen Laptop (for ages, ahem, 6 to 36 months) he was instantly captivated.

It has buttons! You can push! And they’re colourful! I swear, if I could make green beans electronic with beeps, we’d have a lot less arguments at dinner time every night. 🙂 I have to admit, for such an inexpensive little toy, the Laugh & Learn Smart Screen Laptop packs a lot of fun activities into one little toy. It has nine big colourful buttons, and teaches letters, numbers, counting, shapes, colours, objects and opposites, and it has a dozen lively little songs that are not too grating on the nerves. What more could you ask for from a toy less than $25? This will be my go-to toy for the preschool birthday parties this season, and I’m not usually one to give a battery operated toy.

Last but not least in the box was the Laugh & Learn Apptivity Storybook Reader. Would you like to review this? I’d love to share it with one of you! It looks like a great way to let your drooly little one play with your iPod or iPhone safely. From the Fisher-Price site: “Open up a world of storytime for baby! This sturdy case looks just like baby’s favorite book and will protect your iPhone® or iPod touch® from dribbles, drool, teething and sticky little fingers. Download FREE story apps so baby can enjoy interactive storytime experiences. Just open and close the case cover to turn pages, or touch the screen on the device for fun responses!” Sounds like fun, eh?

If you’d like to take this for a test drive and you have a sufficiently drooly, sticky kidlet aged 6 to 36 months, leave a comment below. It will be yours to keep in exchange for a couple of paragraphs about how you and your little one had fun with it, and maybe a photo or two. I’ll leave the comments open until end of day July 3 and then choose one reviewer at random.

So now I know – the age guidelines on the box are mere suggestions that I promise I won’t take too seriously from here on. 🙂

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Remember the Fisher-Price Million Moments of Joy site? I mentioned it a few times earlier this year.

I love coming up with posts for this project because it sends me poking through my archives, both online and in my stacks of photo albums and shoeboxes, looking for favourite old snapshots of the boys when they were wee. This has got to be one of my all-time favourites – Beloved playing with baby Simon, who is maybe three or four months old.

I can’t look at this picture without smiling. It reminds me of those sweet moments that are about the laughs, the joy, the sheer enjoyment of each other’s company. I love the look on Simon’s face (“Daddy’s crazy!”) and I love that it captures how terrific Beloved has always been with the kids and his special ability to make them laugh.

Raising babies is hard work. The sleep deprivation, the neediness, the sleep deprivation, the stuff you have to haul around, the sleep deprivation — did I mention the sleep deprivation? But it’s these moments I love, the moment when they are so clearly enjoying each other’s company and a quick cuddle. There are many, many things I adore about my family, but our collective ability to embrace silliness is one of my favourites.

Fisher-Price invites you to share your moments of joy on their Million Moments of Joy microsite.

And don’t forget that even though life can be chaotic, overwhelming and exhausting, there’s always time for a little bit of silly. 🙂

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

What’s at the heart of a neighbourhood or community where families live with young children? It’s not the mall, or the grocery store or even the coffee shop. Often, it’s the local park or community centre.

Community spaces benefit kids of all ages. Parks are exciting places for toddlers, maybe one of the first places away from home where they can learn to clamber up on to the brightly coloured play structures, and zooming down the big slide for the first time is a milestone in itself. Older kids play grounders and tag with classmates and kids from other schools. Young teens, free at last from parents watching from a nearby park bench, occupy their after-dinner and after-homework hours at the skate park. The park on our street in Barrhaven is where I met most of our neighbours – it was the only place any of us were standing still in the same place long enough to share more than a cheery wave on the way past.

Some of my best childhood memories revolve around the parks and playgrounds in the neighbourhoods where I grew up. Back in those prehistoric days, our parents didn’t take us to the park – we’d ride our bikes there after dinner and play until the streetlights came on. On a lazy Saturday, we’d venture further afield, checking out the playground in the next neighbourhood over. It seemed like miles away, but looking back it was just a few blocks. I’ve still got that love of exploration, come to think of it!

The folks at Kraft and TSN seem to understand the importance of community spaces at the heart of a neighbourhood, because for the fifth year in a row they’ve teamed up for the Kraft Celebration Tour. They’re inviting Canadians to nominate their favourite community space to win $25,000 toward a community project that improves an existing space or helps create a brand new one. Playgrounds, skate parks, community centres, sports fields – they’re all eligible for this terrific project that supports both community gathering spaces and active living.

To nominate a community, Canadians are asked to submit a short essay and up to five photos explaining why their community deserves to be a part of the Kraft Celebration Tour and how the $25,000 community award will go towards the creation or improvement of a local community space. The essay should also touch upon how the award would help promote community spirit, a passion for sports, and an active lifestyle. You can read more about it on the “How it works” page on the tour website. You’ll have to move quickly if you want to nominate a community though – nominations are only being accepted through June 7. That’s next week!

I was curious to see if any local projects have been nominated so far. It looks like only one Ottawa project has been submitted, but it sounds like a wonderful cause to support. Three local elementary schools (Pleasant Park, Hawthorne and Marie Curie) have teamed up for a joint submission, seeking funds for playground equipment for their schools and neighbourhood. You can read more about it on their nomination page.

On June 30, TSN and RDS will announce the 20 finalists selected by a panel of judges. Then it’s up to Canada to decide the 10 winning Kraft Celebration Tour stops via 10 weekdays of head-to-head online voting beginning July 8. You can follow the tour and support your favourite nominees on the tour’s Facebook page, and you can read more about the tour on the Kraft Celebration Tour web page.

I love it when the opportunity for a sponsored post and a cause dear to my heart align! Will you make a nomination? If you do, please let me know so I can support your community!

Disclosure: I am participating in the Kraft Celebration Tour Blogger Campaign. I received compensation as a thank you for participating and for sharing my honest opinion. The opinions on this blog are my own.

I love the serendipity of how this worked out. Just about the time we found a cache of old video clips of the boys as babies and toddlers, my friends at Fisher-Price announced the launch of a new contest where you can share your favourite photos and videos of your babies’ best laughs.

One of these days, I am going to make a mint on those funniest videos show with this old clip of Tristan and one-year-old Lucas and the world’s funniest blue balloon. Go ahead, press play – I dare you not to laugh!

Baby belly laughs are THE BEST!

So here’s where Fisher-Price comes in. They’re launching a fun new Laugh & Learn site that offers webisodes, fun games and activities, where you and your wee ones can meet the Laugh & Learn characters. To celebrate the new site, Fisher-Price is also launching a Best Little Laugh contest, where you can upload your favourite baby laugh photos and videos and win fun prizes.

Head on over to the Best Little Laugh site to enter the contest, or just to admire the photos and videos! If you’re inclined to enter, you’ll be eligible to win one of eight weekly Fisher-Price prize packs that will include a Laugh & Learn Crawl Around Car, a Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy and a $100 gas card for mom & dad. 🙂 It may take up to 24 hours for your content to appear, so please do be patient as they moderate the queue.

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are always my own.

I’ve downloaded a fun little app for my iPhone called TimeHop. It sends me a little ping each day showing me things I’ve posted to the Web on this day in history, up to seven years ago. I’m loving it! I’m such a sucker for nostalgia – I think one of my favourite things about the blog is being reminded of the old stories, of how far we’ve come and how much the boys have changed in such a short time.

Earlier this week, TimeHop kicked out this photo of Lucas in a Fisher-Price Rainforest swing that I took five years ago. Oh how I loved this swing! It was loaned to me from a friend, and I swear it saved my sanity. For Tristan we had an ancient battery-powered swing that moved too fast and made him sick each time he fell asleep in it. I don’t think we had a swing for Simon, who wouldn’t let me put him down for three seconds in a row anyway. But if I could go back in time and recommend to a new parent ONE bit of baby gear that totally saved my sanity, it would be this swing.

(Two month old Lucas. Sigh. Where does the time go?)

I don’t think they make this model any more, but the My Little Snugabunny Cradle N Swing looks like the 2013 update to this Fisher-Price Favourite. Remember I mentioned Fisher-Price Favourites last month? They’ve identified a dozen products that have stood the test of time and countless families like ours. The trims and colours and patterns have changed slightly through the years, but Fisher-Price considers these the best of the best. Here’s the full list of Fisher-Price Favourites:

1. Ocean Wonders Aquarium
2. My Little Snugabunny Cradle N Swing
3. Infant to Toddler Rocker
4. SpaceSaver High Chair
5. Discover’n Grow Jumperoo
6. Brilliant Basics Rock a Stack
7. Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy
8. Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set
9. Laugh & Learn Click ‘n Learn Remote
10. Brilliant Basics Stroll-Along Walker
11. Little People Wheelies Stand ‘ n Play Rampway
12. Little People Animal Sounds Farm

I would put all five of those first five items in my “must have for baby’s first year” list. We had an Ocean Wonders Aquarium in the boys’ cribs and I wish we had had the remote control feature that’s on the modern version. We also had a Fisher-Price bouncy chair that lasted through all three boys and a high chair that endured pretty close to six solid years of use. (I do like the space-saver version of the high chair, though – I stubbed a lot of toes on the legs of our old Fisher-Price Healthy Care high chair, but holy cow was it ever durable!) The only one we didn’t have on this list was a Jumperoo – did you ever use one of those?

Here’s all three boys in the same Fisher-Price high chair:

Did you get my “durability” theme here? Each one of my own personal Fisher-Price favourites lasted multiple kids, lots of hard use and lots of love. That’s another reason why I have always loved the Fisher-Price brand and why I’m happy to work with them. Good stuff made well. That’s how you become a family favourite!

Don’t forget, until the end of April you can save 20% online when you buy a Fisher-Price Favourite from ToysRUs.ca: just use coupon code FISHERPRICE20

If you were stocking up for a new arrival, which of these would be on your “must have” list?

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Do you remember the first toy you bought for your child? Aside from the bright teether toys and cuddly stuffies designed for newborns, the first actual toy I bought for Tristan was the Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Rock-a-stack. That toy lasted through three drooling, teething, throwing, banging boys and still looked practically good as new (once I wiped it down!) the day I dropped it in the toy donation box at St Vincent de Paul. Did you know the Rock-a-stack was introduced in 1960? I’m sure I had one as a child, did you? When I think of classic toys, it’s exactly the kind of thing that comes to mind!

Popular toys come and go (from hula hoops to Cabbage Patch Kids to Tickle Me Elmo, there’s a craze every few years) but the classics never go out of style. That’s why Fisher-Price is highlighting the best of the best with the new “Fisher-Price Favourites” microsite. They’re featuring the toys and gear that families turn to year after year and generation after generation. What Makes a Fisher-Price Favourite?

• Year after year, these toys have been favourites of moms, not just in Canada but around the world.
• They have been tried, tested and loved by generations of kids.
• They encourage child development and support children in achieving important milestones.

Of course the Brilliant Basics Rock-a-stack is on the list. Can you guess what other toys made the cut? Here they are:

1. Brilliant Basics Rock a Stack
2. Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy
3. Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set
4. Laugh & Learn Click ‘n Learn Remote
5. Brilliant Basics Stroll-Along Walker
6. Little People Wheelies Stand ‘ n Play Rampway
7. Little People Animal Sounds Farm

So here’s another thing I like about Fisher-Price – they know that while we love their classic toys, it’s also important to keep incorporating new favourites into their line-ups. They didn’t have Bubble Guppies when I was a kid, but it is Lucas’s absolute favourite television show, and I knew he would LOVE a Bubble Guppies Rock & Roll Stage playset. This is a fun little playset with easy-to-assemble parts. It comes with a rolling Molly figure and a few accessories. You can roll Molly down the ramp and watch her spin into place on the stage. Very cute, especially if you have a Bubble Guppies fan in the house! (It’s become a bit of an inside joke crossed with an ear worm around our house. Nobody can ask “What time is it?” without someone in the family replying “It’s time for lunch!” If you have a Bubble Guppies fan in the house, you’ll get it.)

Also new this month, we had the chance to check out the DC Superfriends Wheelies Race n Chase Batcave. I thought Lucas would go crazy when he saw the Bubble Guppies set, but it was this one that had him begging me to open the box and put it together for him. This is another fun gravity-friendly playset along the lines of the much larger Wheelies Loops n Swoops set we reviewed last year. (Sometimes, smaller is good! This one is much easier to pull out and tuck away!)

Lucas loves the ramp action, and you can set it up so Batman and the Joker chase each other or race down the ramps, and there are “boulders” you can set in motion as well. Helpful for developing fine motor skills, and for figuring out “what happens when I…”, these sets are perfect for older toddlers right through to kids in the 5-6 year range. I think these Wheelies playsets are terrific, and clearly so does Lucas. Did I mention the elevator that brings the Wheelies (with the help of a little hand, of course) back up to the top of the playset so they can set off down the ramps again? This one arrived the same day as the new puppy (captured snoozing in the background in the photo below) and I’m pretty sure Lucas was more pleased with the playset than with the puppy! How’s that for an endorsement?

And now here’s a special treat for you. From March 29 through April 30, exclusively at ToysRUs.ca use the code FISHERPRICE20 and save 20% on your Fisher-Price favourites!

Do you have a favourite Fisher-Price toy, from your own childhood or one you love on your kids’ behalf?

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Eleven years ago today I was a brand new mother to a week old baby. I felt like my universe had been turned inside out! Despite the books, the websites, the magazines and the endless hours of research I’d done, nothing prepared me for the shock of those first few weeks at home with my new baby boy. And then two years later when it happened again, I was just as shocked. You’d think the third time would be a little less overwhelming – but of course it was not.

When I was thinking about what photo I could use to express that crazy feeling of having completely lost control of the situation, I thought of this old photo of Lucas stacking a precarious tower of blocks with his chubby baby fingers. Until you find your footing with a new baby, you definitely spend a lot of time feeling “overbalanced” – and then, bit by bit, the world returns to a new sort of normal. Eventually!

Would you like to play along? Fisher-Price is inviting you to enter their contest and share YOUR moment of joy!

Fisher-Price is celebrating the full range of emotions that we, as parents, feel from time to time, from overjoyed and over the moon to overtired and overdue. Now you can share your Million Moments of Joy by uploading a picture, video or text to enter the contest and see what other moms are feeling. By uploading a photo, you could be eligible to win one of eight weekly prize packs!

The value of each prize pack is approximately $200 and each prize pack consists of:

My Little Snugabunnyâ„¢ Bouncer ($89.99 CAD)
Laugh & Learnâ„¢ Dance & Play Puppy ($59.99 CAD)
Ocean Wondersâ„¢ Aquarium ($54.99 CAD)

Visit the Fisher-Price Million Moments of Joy site for more details and to upload your moments of joy.

Disclosure: I am part of the Fisher-Price Play Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.