The Desperate Diaper Dilemma

Don't you hate it when you've somehow made it through the grocery shopping while juggling the children and the cart but, the moment you put the key in the door you say to yourself, "Sugar Honey Ice Tea! I forgot the diapers, formula, wipes etc." Well, I'm done with that. I've just signed up with Diapers.com they will deliver it all to my door in a relatively short amount of time (two days) and with free shipping (most times because I spend more than $49 worth of wipes and diapers).

Diapers.com sells a lot more than diapers so take a look and if you put in my referral code "2ciaos" you can get $10 off your first order of diapers (and if you spend more than $49 you get free shipping!).

FREE Museum Entrance

This Saturday (Sept. 26, 2009) is The Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day which means free entrance into hundreds of museums around the US. All you have to do is to fill out an easy form and present it as your admission to the participating museum in your area -how easy is that?!

Avoiding Gross Cribs

Have you seen the documentaries on the the germs and bugs in hotel rooms? I love traveling but I hate hotels especially now with children. I can't begin to tell you how my skin crawls at the idea of germs and the unseen things that lurking in hotel rooms. I also avoid using a roll away crib (who knows when the last time they checked the mattress or where they keep it - a moldy broom closet??).

So, to avoid the whole germ and safety standards questions I have started to pack a PeaPod Travel Bed. I can zip the Little One in and not worry about her being eaten by mosquitoes, bed bugs, etc. It has a self inflating mattress, UV and wind protection (great for the beach). The best is that it is easier to carry around than the playpen (pack and play).

P.S. Doesn't that photo make you miss the days when people traveled in their Sunday best and showed their best manners?

Kid friendly baseball in San Diego?

When in San Diego it is hard to pass up the chance go to an all-American baseball game with the Padres. I was told that PETCO Park was kid-friendly with its sandbox the "Beach." What a great idea! How else can you keep a three year old entertained? So not knowing the lay of the land we got some premium seats and figured that when the Little Man got tired we would breakout the sandbox surprise. We didn't last long before we were making our way out to it. When we go there we were shut out. It turns out that you are only allowed to be there before or after the game not during. The only people allowed there during the game are those who buy bleacher seats -so here we were holding our premium tickets and the usher was telling us to go buy bleacher seats for this game if we wanted to enter. Errr! You've now been warned to just buy the bleacher seats next to the beach.

Autumn Pumpkin Waffles

Giving Chocolate Away?!

We love chocolate and this year the Little Man and I will be Reverse Trick-or-Treating for a good cause. When we show up on your doorstep we will hand YOU a piece of Fair Trade chocolate (you deserve better than that mass produced stuff any way -right?).

What is the catch? We'll also hand you a little note explaining that we are doing this in order to:

END poverty among cocoa farmers

END forced/abusive child labor in the cocoa industry

PROMOTE Fair Trade

PROTECT the environment

Not familiar with what Fair Trade is?

Fair Trade certification prohibits the use of abusive child labor, and encourages the adoption of safer, chemical-free farming methods. Also, the guaranteed Fair Trade price paid for cocoa raises farmers’ incomes and supports a more environmentally sustainable small-scale farming model.

The best news is that you can join us for FREE (well, you do have to pay for shipping). You have until October 13th to order your free chocolate and cards and I hear that supplies are limited so sign up fast! While I was signing up I also bought an extra few bits of chocolate for the ghouls that go bumping on my door.

If you live in the US: you MUST DO this

My friend Gloria has just alerted me to this and I believe that stopping child exploitation and sexual abuse is a very important issue. There is a bill called the Protect Our Children Act that will help fund the technology that already exists that will aid in finding and arresting these criminals who are profiting and abusing children.

This is the testimony of Grier Weeks, Executive Director, National Association to Protect Children before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 16, 2008:

The maps you are seeing today of domestic child pornography trafficking are not simply visuals depicting illegal Internet activity. Nor do they simply tell us where the criminals are. These are rescue maps. Law enforcement is now providing you with information that can lead authorities, very predictably, to tens of thousands of locations within the United States where children are in immediate danger and waiting for help.

That is because while all of these suspects are contributing to a massive black market that commissions the rape of children, a certain percentage are also directly sexually assaulting children themselves. Law enforcement has consistently estimated that somewhere between 30-40% of arrests for child pornography possession turn up evidence of local child victims.

We all need to come together and let your Senator know that you support this bill. Write or call your Senator NOW. To find out where to write or call follow the link below:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

And if you don't know what to write Oprah has a great form letter you can personalize here:
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators

Hurry -they are voting on it this month!