The Mom Crowd

Hey everyone!  I wanted to remind you that our raffle for the Balsis Family adoption is ending soon, so hurry and buy your raffle tickets!  The Balsis family is IN RUSSIA right now, so we are postponing the deadline to purchase tickets.  The raffle will now close at midnight on Saturday, September 27th.  We will announce all of the lucky duck winners bright and early Monday morning.  All winners will be contacted by the email account linked to their Paypal account (or information sent in with their snail-mail payment).  Click anywhere in this post to be redirected to the raffle.  Good luck!! 

Our raffle is ending next Wednesday, September 24th at midnight.  We’ve added more prizes to our give-away stash, including 2 UPPAbaby G-Light strollers, a Mia Moda Cielo stroller, a Claire Bella Moses basket, and more!  Be sure to buy your raffle ticket for $5.00 to hopefully win one of these fabulous prizes, or buy more and increase your chances of winning!

The Balsis family received their travel date to meet their daughter.   They will be leaving for Russia on Monday to meet their daughter.  This will be the first of two trips and on the second trip, she will be coming home for good!  Please don’t miss this opportunity to help them bring their daughter home!

To buy your raffle ticket or to learn more about the raffle for the Balsis family, click here!

The Mom Crowd is honored to be hosting a very exciting raffle!  One of our sponsors, Bethany from The Polkadot Platypus, is in the process of adopting a little girl from Russia who has Down syndrome.  Bethany and her husband will be traveling to meet their daughter within the next couple of weeks and will hopefully bring her home soon after that.  As most know, adoptions are very expensive.  We are hoping that this raffle will help raise funds to help with their substantial adoption costs.

As a way to thank you for your support of this great cause, we have over $2,000 worth of prizes to give away {see the slideshow below}.  Each raffle ticket purchased will enter you into a drawing for all of the wonderful prizes pictured below.   Raffle tickets are $5.00 each and the more raffle tickets you purchase, the more chances you will have to win these great prizes! We will be closing this raffle on Saturday, September 27th at midnight EST and will be announcing the winners on Monday, September 29th, 2008.

You can follow the Balsis’ adoption journey by visiting their blog: www.dreamingonanangel.blogspot.com

Don’t miss out on your chance to win one of these great prizes!

*There are two ways to purchase raffle tickets …

1. Electronically – Click on the “buy now” button below. {Note: When using Paypal, make sure the correct dollar amount for the number of raffle tickets you wish to purchase is displayed. You will need to click “Update Total” for the proper amount to be shown. Remember, each raffle ticket is $5.00.}  Winners will be contacted by their email addresses shown in Paypal.

2.  Snail mail – Checks, money order or cash may be mailed to the address below. Please include a note with your email address so that we can contact you if you win.

Payment must be received before the raffle ends on September 24th to be entered into the drawing for the raffle. Please make your check or money order out to “Balsis Family Adoption Fund”.

Balsis Family Adoption Fund
Raffle Tickets
PO Box 61
Washington, Virginia 22747

We would like to thank the following folks for co-hosting this raffle:

• Southern Mamas
• babyLuxe {daily}
• FickleZeal Photography
• Mums The Wurd

Also, thank you so much to the following companies for their generous donations:

• Serena and Lily
• DearJohnnies
• JP Lizzy
• Baby K’tan
• Ellie Bellie Kids
• Paperluxe Studio
• SaraBear
• Itzy Ritzy Bitzy
• Bella Tunno
• Born to Love
• Cuddlebee
• Baby Rock Apparel
• Wet Happened?
• Mairzey Dotes
• Georgie Tees
• Made by Angie
• Ribbies Clippies
• Slicksugar
• Little Showoffs
• Clairebella
• JessiJeanJewelry
• UPPAbaby
• Mia Moda

I have had really good experiences and one bad experience in the booster seat department, and decided to share these experiences with you!  To be fair, I have only “tested” three different seats, so there may be other great options available.  I invite you to share what you love/hate about your booster seat in the comment section!

Fisher Price Healthy Care Deluxe Booster Seat

• What do I love about this seat?  Almost everything!  The price is great – around $25.00, it’s available in stores so you don’t have to wait for it to be shipped, it is very durable, it’s somewhat easy to clean, the pieces all fit in the bottom rack of my dishwasher, it’s portable, the kids like it, and it’s very well made!
• What do I NOT love about this seat?  Food crumbs get under the seat and so I do have to VERY regularly (after every meal!) clean underneath and around the chair, and that’s about all I can say negatively about this booster!
• Bottom line? I definitely recommend this to parents looking for a booster seat for their child!  It’s affordable, does the job, and is best of all STURDY and well made!

BabySmart Cooshie Booster Seat

• What do I love about this seat? My child can climb into it by herself, it is INCREDIBLY easy to clean my chair without having to unbuckle straps, the booster itself cleans very easily, it’s a super cute color, it’s SIMPLE and does not have unnecessary gadgets, and it’s easily removed when I need the chair for a bigger person.
• What do I NOT love about this seat? The price.  After tax, I spent $40.00 on this seat and that’s just too pricey for my everyday shopping.  We used some birthday cash Darah received and I don’t know if I would have splurged otherwise. That being said, if I would have known how much I was going to love it, I may have splurged.
• Bottom line? It’s a little pricey for what it is, but if you have $40 just laying around, it is definitely worth it! If not, maybe ask Grandma for one for your child’s next birthday or Christmas!  I will say, that as much as I like the Fisher Price booster, this one is DEFINITELY much nicer!  This seat is not recommended for any child under the age of 2 1/2.

Safetly 1st Fold N Go Deluxe Care Booster

•  What do I love about this seat? Umm…it’s a booster seat, and it’s cheap (selling for $20.00).
• What do I NOT love about this seat?  Where do I start?  Like I said above, it’s CHEAP!  The back of our booster broke off within a few weeks, my daughter’s little teeny peanut size body was too big in it for her to be comfortable, the tray is ridiculously difficult to maneuver, and it lasted about a month before I said “forget it!”
• Bottom line? Don’t waste your money, time, or energy on this product!

I’d love to hear your experiences with booster seats!  Please leave a comment!

As I get ready for my daughter’s first day back to preschool tomorrow, I’ve been reflecting on our summer. Living in South Texas means we have not spent the entire summer outdoors soaking up the sun. It means we’ve been inside… A LOT! It’s way too hot here to spend much time outdoors.  Neither one of my children are big on sprinklers or the baby pool, so I’ve had to think outside the box a little to fit in their much needed physical activity.

Here’s some ideas for those of you who are looking for indoor alternatives to the backyard jungle gym when it’s too hot, too cold, or too rainy to go outside and play:

Create an indoor obstacle course

• Put masking tape on the floor to create a balance beam, set up cones for your child to kick a ball around, have them circle the table once, and climb through a tunnel. Throw the couch cushions on the floor and tell your child that the floor is a lava pit, so they have to jump from couch cushion to couch cushion to stay out of the hot lava!

Let your child ride their bike inside!

• Well, maybe not your 7 year old’s two wheeler bike, but bring the tricycles, cozy coupes, and other ride on toys (with gentle tires) out. We do not have carpet downstairs and I haven’t seen one scratch on our floors from the ride-on toys.

Indoor Trampoline

• Like this one! We haven’t added this to our family of toys. I lost the “rock, paper, scissors” match with my husband over this. I think my kids would totally love it and it would be awesome for Darah’s gross motor delay. I’m a tad bitter about it and don’t want to talk about it any more. Maybe I can secretly tell Grandma to buy them one for Christmas…

Push Toy Racing

• You know the grocery cart, baby stroller, radio flyer push wagon, and other random push toys you have all around. Create a start and finish line and let the races begin!

Indoor play gym

• Nobody said those backyard play gyms had to go in the backyard. I know plenty of moms who have them inside their playrooms, and they probably get more use out of them than if they were in the backyard!

Little Tikes Slide

• We don’t have enough room for the big playgym, but we do have enough room for a toddler sized slide. My kids LOVE this slide and it stores easily in closets when you want to put it up.

Classic Indoor Games

• You can be conventional in your attempt at facilitating physical activity for your child while staying inside. Games like ring-around-the-rosey, indoor soccer and tag are easy and great exercise for both you and your child! These conventional activities will also be great bonding time for you and your child.

Field Trips to Indoor Play Gyms

• The new thing in our city is indoor play gyms. Right now, they are really hot spots for play dates. Basically, they are giant areas filled with toys, moon bounces, rock walls, etc… for children. I have one near me that is only for children under the age of 5 and the toys are all geared toward smaller children. Check your area for one. They can be pricey, but I have always felt satisfied with my purchase during afternoon nap time. My kids nap extra hard on days we visit these play gyms! Another alternative is heading to your neighborhood Chick-Fil-A!

How have you incorporated physical activity in your child’s day while staying indoors?