YoBaby Winner!

Congratulations to Jessica, who said, "I follow via google, entry 2."  She'll be winning the great YoBaby gift pack from Stonyfield Farms!  See, it pays to be a follower!  Thanks to all who entered, wish I had more to give!  And a big thanks to Stonyfield Farms for sponsoring this great giveaway!

As for the rest of you, I've got more good stuff coming (i.e. giveaways!), and some fun stories to tell too.  It was a tough week here for me, so I took a little bloggy-break, but I'll be back soon.

YoBaby Organic Meals Review and Giveaway!

I realize I've written about yogurt before. I like yogurt. My kids LOVE yogurt. We started feeding the creamy goodness to the babies about a month ago, and they think it's just great. So imagine my excitement when I was contacted by Kristina at Stonyfield Farm to review their latest YoBaby product!

YoBaby 3-in-1 Organic Meals are a delicious way to get some wholesome nutrients into babies and toddlers. Made with 100% organic ingredients, these little cups combine yogurt, fruits, and vegetables in a unique blend. Each one of these little 4 oz. cups contains more than 20% of the daily needs for protein and calcium, plus other essential nutrients like Zinc and Vitamin A.

Katelyn and Olivia got their first taste of YoBaby 3-in-1 Organic Meals today, and they were more than thrilled. Their legs and arms were flailing about, they cried when I alternated bites to the other baby, they practically leapt out of their high chairs begging me for more when it was over. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit here. But seriously, they really did love it. We tried the apple & sweet potato flavor, and I also picked up a pack of the peach & squash flavor so that's on tomorrow's menu. Our store didn't have any of the third flavor, pear & green beans, but we'll get some next time hopefully.

Now, onto the good part. The win some free stuff for yourself part. Want to try out the new YoBaby 3-in-1 Organic Meals with your little one? You're in luck. Stonyfield Farm is offering one of my readers a great gift pack including: 3 coupons for free YoBaby meals, a YoBaby travel bowl w/ lid, a YoBaby Organic Cotton bib, and a cute Eric Carle growth Chart.

Entering is easy: Leave a comment on this post.

Additional entries can be earned by doing some or all of the following: (leave an additional comment for each entry.)

• Become a follower of Thou Shall Not Whine (3 extra entries!)
• Grab my button and display it on your blog (3 extra entries!)
• Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back to it.
• Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post.
• Subscribe to Thou Shall Not Whine in a newsreader.

This giveaway will run until Friday, February 26th, 11:59pm EST. Winner will be selected via Random.org and contacted via email.

I'm Guest Posting!

I'm so excited to announce that I've been selected as a guest blogger for The Stork Report over at Making Lemonade today. Head on over to see my post about diaper cakes, and don't forget to leave me some comment love! Carrie is running some fabulous giveaways right now so be sure to enter those while you're there.

Homemade Forts

Oh, how I remember the days of homemade forts.  I can vividly remember taking apart the entire living room in my childhood home, positioning furniture just right, removing all couch cushions, and pulling out every blanket and sheet from the linen closet.  All to make the biggest, coolest, sturdiest fort.  It would drive my mother mad to find her house like this, and I can remember her exact tone of voice when she'd say, "you'd better be prepared to put it all back the way you found it."  And we would.

Somehow Joey has discovered how much fun hiding under a blanket can be.  He is constantly asking us to make him a fort, and he gets so excited when we do.  His fort is much simpler than my old fort structures.  Thankfully his fort does not involve furniture moving, mounds of couch cushions and pillows, or even a trip to the linen closet.  He's only 2, so he's pretty happy with a simple blanket hanging from the side of the couch.  For now. 

I left a throw blanket on the couch last night, and the minute Joey spotted it this morning he had forts are the brain.  Well, I've found that our baby gate system is actually quite versatile in that when I bend it just right it creates the perfect little spot for my 3-foot tall friend.  As I draped the blanket over the top of the gate I looked over at Joey.  He was dragging his little-kid couch across the livingroom to put in his fort.  He then walked over to the table, collected his snack cup, and got into this lounging position. 

This simple structure kept my son occupied for 30 minutes today, as he brought various toys into his hideaway.

So if you haven't yet tried it I highly recommend homemade fort-making to any Stay-At-Home-Mom out there looking for a few minutes to herself.  And if you've got another simple idea to keep a little one busy let's hear it!

Valentine's Day Love

I've had some fun lately playing with my new camera.  Here are some pictures that I've been keeping to myself.  And what better day to share these photos than Valentine's Day!

Gimmee Jimmy's Gourmet Cookies Review

I was sent a fabulous box of Gimmee Jimmy's Cookies to review.  Review gourmet cookies?  Who wouldn't want to do that?  Good for the blog, bad for my (ever-increasing) rear end, but OH SO YUMMY.  I opened the box while the kids were napping so I wouldn't have to share, and this is what I saw:

I tried to resist.  I thought, "I'll have one after dinner when the kids are in bed, and call it my nighttime treat."  I immediately decided to remove myself from the temptation and went to go fold the laundry.  But that damn box of cookies was calling my name.  I turned the TV up louder and tried to drown it out.  It didn't work.  I just had to try one.  "It's for the blog anyway," I thought to myself, "those calories don't even count."  With that rationalization, I couldn't stop myself.  I carefully inspected each type of cookie before deciding on which one I would sample first.  I am a HUGE chocoholic, so I selected the Double Chocolate Walnut Cookie.  It was heavenly.  Soft, but not dense.  Moist, but not heavy.  And big.  Big cookies are always better than small cookies.  Obviously.  Each delicious bite was better than the first.


After dinner, we each had a sampling.  We tried the Cranberry Pecan Cookie, which was so rich and packed full of flavor.  The Peanut Butter Cookie went over well with my little Peanut Butter Junkie. (Joey)  And my favorite cookie of the group was the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie.  Now, I am not a huge Oatmeal Raisin Cookie fan, but there was just something about this one.  It was scrumptious.  The oats tasted so fresh, the raisins so moist and chewy, and the flavor combinations in this one rocked my palette.

Gimmee Jimmy's Gourmet Cookies is a great gift for any occasion!  Birthdays, Anniversaries, holidays, get-well, thinking of you, or just no reason at all.  Now that we live so far away from so many of the people we love I'll be sure to send them some Gimmee Jimmy's to let them know I'm thinking of them!

Want to send me someone some cookies right now?  Great!  As a reader of Thou Shall Not Whine, you are entitled to use these two exclusive coupon codes:

• $5 Off Any Order of $30 or More w/ Code notwhine5 (Valid Now thru 02/04/11)
• $10 Off Any Order of $60 or More w/ Code notwhine10 (Valid Now thru 02/04/11)

Did you check out that expiration date?  2011!  Just think of all the holidays, birthdays, anydays, from now until then that would be totally appropriate for sending me someone cookies. Now click a link, and get to it!

The Toy Tornado

My husband is generally not one to comment on the state of the house when he comes home from work.  He always notices if I went above and beyond and did something major, (like vacuum) but he typically doesn't pay much attention to the random scattering of toys underfoot as he tries to walk through the door.  Until yesterday.  He actually walked in the living room and said, "Whoa, what happened in here?"  For him to notice the disastrous state of our living space means that it was just that.  A disastrous state.

It rained here in Raleigh all day yesterday.  And I decided early in the morning that it was just too cold, wet, and miserable outside to make an attempt to take my children anywhere.  Plus, I had mountains of laundry to do, dinner to prepare, and 100 Valentine's Day cookies to work on for Saturday.  So I had more than enough things to occupy myself inside the apartment for the day. 

My children on the other hand, couldn't seem to find any one thing to occupy themselves.  They went from one toy to the next, scattering and tossing everything in their path.  I saw toys from the bottom of the toy bucket that I haven't seen since October.  At one point in the afternoon, as I cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen, (again!) I watched Joey actually pick up a plastic container full of baby toys, flip it's entire contents onto the floor, and move on to destroy another area of my living room.  Think I'm exaggerating?  The proof is in the pudding:

The bucket:

And it's contents:

WeBlog! Mini-Conference!

I love blogging.  In any given day I find myself thinking, "I should blog about this," several times.  Granted, I don't always remember or get the opportunity to (thanks to the pesky little children who live here!), but I'm thinking about blogging constantly.  When I get on the computer at night and go through the blogs that I read or post to my own blog, I feel free.  I feel connected and important.  I spend so much time at home changing diapers, making bottles, nursing, preparing toddler-friendly meals, and playing with my kids.  It is so nice to have a place like the blogosphere to feel accomplished and connected at the end of the day.

Tonight I came across a great little event that I would just love to go to:  http://www.weblogconference.com/

Co-Founded by: 3 Boys and a Dog http://www.3boysandadog.com/, and The Post-It Place http://www.thepost-itplace.com/, The 2010 WeBlog! Mini-Conference will meet as a focus group to discuss the future of Blogging Conferences and what will occur at the 2011 WeBlog! Conference.  How great would it be if I got to go?

On May 16th-18th, the WeBlog! Conference Focus Group will be meeting in Gatlinburg, TN to discuss what will go on at the 2011 WeBlog Conference. I am trying to take my blogging to new levels lately, and have been dreaming of attending a "blogging conference."  I'd love to learn more about blog design, working with sponsors and advertisers, as well as how to make my stories stand out and entertain.  I really think I could bring great things to this conference.  I like to think that I have a good way of communicating with people.  When I'm involved in a group discussion, I'm not afraid to speak up, speak out, or share my ideas.  I know what I (and other mom-bloggers) want out of a Blog Conference and I think I would do a great job representing.
 
This post is part of my entry to be selected to be included in this awesome event.  Also, if chosen, I'll be staying FREE at the beautiful Glenstone Lodge: http://www.glenstonelodge.com/ thanks to Discovery: http://discoverystore.com/.  And most of the meals will be included too, thanks to the awesome sponsors for this event!  It sounds so good, I kinda wish it was my idea.  But it wasn't, so I'll just feel super lucky if I get to go!

Happy Baby

This is Katelyn having her bed-time bottle.  She was mostly asleep when I walked into the room, but as soon as she heard me fiddling with my (new!) camera, she perked right up and was ready for a photo shoot.  And look at her smile.  Gosh, I love that girl.

Notice how she won't even hold the bottle... it's as if she's saying, "I'll just lay here, you do all the work."

Winner Annoucement

Sorry I forgot to post this earlier.  Ok, I didn't forget to post it.  I forgot all about it.  You can't get mad at me though, because I'm working really hard on bringing other great things to my blog. (just wait until you find out what our next giveaway will be...)

Without further ado, the winner of a free box of General Mills Cereal is: Post #5, Linda, who said, "We love Cocoa Puffs!!"  Congratulations Linda, I'll get your coupon out to you straight away!  Hope you enjoy!

A big thanks to MyBlogSpark and General Mills for providing me with the General Mills Cereal coupons to sample and give away!

Who Needs Toys?

I swear, my kids always have more fun with random, everyday objects than they do with singing, flashing, brightly-colored plastic toys.  For example, Katelyn and Olivia are having a great time playing in this big, empty cardboard box today:

Making Cookies

A couple of nights ago after dinner Joey announced that he needed a cookie.  I answered him with a simple, "we don't have any cookies, honey," and left it at that.  During the conversation I probably said something along the lines of, "Mommy will make some cookies soon."  That was my first mistake.  Joey's memory is like an elephant when it works to his benefit.  He has been asking me to make cookies ever since that night at the dinner table, and I told him over and over again that we would do that after his nap today.

I had every intention to make his wish come true while he was sleeping.  We all know that a two year old doesn't have the patience to wait for the dough to be made, formed into balls, baked and cooled all before you can take a bite.  So my plan was to prepare the dough, have the cookie sheets ready to pop into the oven as I walked down the hall to get him from his nap.  By the time we finished the waking up-potty-hand washing routine, the cookies would be just about done and Joey would only have to wait a few minutes for them to cool.

Well, Olivia and Katelyn failed to cooperate with THE PLAN.  They did not go down for their afternoon nap on time, leaving me absolutely zero minutes to prepare anything for my cookie-craving child.  When Joey woke up (moments after I put the babies down) and saw that there were no cookies he was devastated.  He sobbed like a baby.  I mean SOBBED.  He pulled out all the stops.  Real tears, snotty nose, loud hiccupping type cries.  Out of absolute desperation and guilt, and knowing that I had no other way to cheer this kid up, I frantically pulled out the flour, sugar, peanut butter, and other ingredients and made the fastest cookie dough known to mankind.  Rachael Ray can make an entire meal in 30 minutes?  Well, I can make cookie dough from scratch with a crying 2 year old in 12.  Pretty impressive, I know.  The only thing that stopped him from crying was getting to lick the beaters:

I put the cookies in the oven, set the timer, and diverted Joey's attention to Diego On Demand.  Joey was peacefully watching TV while I grabbed the cookies from the oven and transferred them to a cooling rack.  A few minutes later I brought one out to him, then I quickly hurried back to the kitchen to start dinner.  While I'm buttering the bread for grilled cheese sandwiches (real creative, I know...) Joey walks in the kitchen and here is a recap of our conversation:

Me: How is your cookie Joey?
Joey: My no like this.
Me: You don't like it???
Joey: No.  No like.
Me: Joey, Mommy made you those cookies because you were such a pain in the ass so sad about it.
Joey: No thank you Mom.  Here ya go Mom. (handing cookie back to me.)

Feeling totally defeated and manipulated, I accepted the cookie and gobbled it up.  And being the emotional eater that I am, followed by about 10 more.

By the way, don't trust the judgment of a 2 year old.  He has no idea what he's talking about.  These cookies are nothing short of amazing...

Daddy Made a Fosty!

The State of North Carolina has no idea how to deal with snow. None whatsoever. It snowed approximately 3 or 4 inches on Friday night and the entire state practically shut down. In fact, the schools are still closed tomorrow. (Tuesday!) I ventured out to the mall yesterday and it was like a ghost town. No other cars on the road, barely anyone else in the stores, it was weird. Here us folks from Connecticut are wondering what the BIG deal is...

Regardless, Joey thinks the snow is just great. He's gone out to play in it every day, and today he and Ron made a snowman. Joey came running in the apartment to tell me about it saying, "Daddy make toeman mom! Wook Mom, Wook! Daddy make Fosty." So if you "wook" below, you'll see Ron and Joey's "toeman."