Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for the ‘helpful posts/products’ Category

Baby bathtubs. Who knew they could be so different?

We are on our 2nd bathtub for the twins. No, they didn’t wear the first one out. I just found it increasingly difficult to bathe the girls as they got bigger and more active in the tub.

The First Years Sure Comfort Newborn-to-Toddler Tub

I really liked this tub when the girls were newborns up until about 4 months old.

The sling was perfect for introducing the girls to water baths instead of sponge baths. The sling attaches easily to the tub and is simple to remove for cleaning – throw in the washing machine for a thorough cleaning. The sling fits around the baby nicely to keep her/him from tipping to one side or the other. With adjustable straps, the sling lowers for the baby to sit low enough in the tub to get used to the bump.

Once our girls were too big for the sling, they loved to kick and splash in the water. The slope of the infant side of the tub is ideal for little ones to lay back and be able to move their legs. (I’m beginning to think that LG is part frog or a future Olympic swimmer!)

However, after about 4 months, the girls really got active and I found myself constantly holding one hand on their stomachs to prevent them from sliding down in the water. If you ever tried to bathe a baby, sometimes you just need two hands – one to hold a little hand while you wash under a arm – but with The First Years tub, this was a challenge.

To me, the bump is misplaced or not high enough and fails to keep their backside in place. The other side of the tub, not sloped, is probably great but it was too straight for my girls to sit in at 4 months old.

Another plus for this tub is that it fits perfectly across a double kitchen sink. Our counter space wasn’t ideal for putting the tub on the counter so I was very pleased with how securely this tub fit in the sink.

Fisher Price 3-Stage Aquarium Bath Tub

The best thing I can say about this tub is that I love it! The shape and contour of the tub seems very fitting for infants.

Since the girls were older when we started using this tub, we did not use the sling. I’m not even sure how it attaches. And I’ve only ever used the tub in the bathtub, but it does have the insets on the bottom for use in a sink.

The water temperature thermometer on the bottom of the tub is a great feature! It’s simple to understand with smiley faces – water too cold or too hot has frowns, just right gets a smile. The thermometer is definitely useful for first-time parents or for those who don’t frequently bathe infants. No reasons to wonder if the water is too cold or too hot.

As the girls learn different things, such as pulling themselves up from a reclined position, I’m discovering that this tub still works for them. I don’t have to worry about keeping a hand on them at all times. Eyes – yes, hand – no.

Other features of this tub are a turtle and starfish toys and a hanging hook to keep the tub out of the way when not in use.

I really don’t have much else to say about the Fisher Price 3-Stage Aquarium Tub other than if you have a choice, definitely go with the Fisher Price tub over The First Years tub. There is a price difference, but you get what you pay for.

It’s not very often that I share a product I use. I feel kinda weird about it – like it’s a personal detail not meant for the world to know. And there’s so many reviews out there from mommy bloggers that I imagine my two cents really aren’t valuable. But as you can tell from my ever-so creative title, I’m going to tell you about my favorite shampoo.

I’ve been using this shampoo for a little less than a year, and I will be very upfront and tell you that I will use this shampoo for the rest of my life or until it goes off the market. (Please, dear little shampoo, for my sake don’t ever go out of production.)

Since most of you don’t know me in real life and those of you who do probably never paid much attention to my hair, here’s my hair type …

• Thin
• Fine strands
• Lots of hair
• Oily

Okay – thin but lots of hair? Yep. Hairstylist are amazed at my head. Seriously, I’ve lost track of how many stylists have commented on my having thin hair but a lot of it. I think it has something to do with having baby fine strands of hair. If I pulled all of my hair back into a ponytail, the ponytail is about as thick as my pinky finger, maybe smaller. Honest.

Once my hair gets past a certain length, I have to have a perm. Otherwise my hair lays flat and limp. And I have to wash my hair every single day because it is oily. Now for the first time in my almost 34 years, I actually have straight (other than natural wave) shoulder-length hair (that I still wash every day but it’s straight!). I’m totally excited about it too!!!

Are you curious to know what shampoo I use?

First, let me tell you the list of shampoos that I’ve used in the past … Herbal Essences (loved it til they reformulated), Suave (okay except it made my head itch if I used it more than a couple of times), Head and Shoulders (great for flaking, not so good for volume or anything else) and who knows what else, but those were my most recent shampoo trends.

Are you ready?

My favorite shampoo in the entire world is Pantene’s Nature Fusion Moisture Balance shampoo. This is a somewhat new shampoo and I know I’m not the only one who likes it because in a recent edition of Better Homes & Gardens magazine, it was listed as one of the top products of 2010.

Why do I like it?

• My hair has volume – lots of volume.
• My hair doesn’t go limp after an hour or after high humidity (and trust me, we’ve had a lot of high humidity this summer).
• I can make it to about 32 hours before needing to wash my hair.
• No tangles or knots unless I’m riding with the car windows down.
• A small amount goes a long ways.
• I can style my hair a variety of ways and the style stays.
• My hair holds a curl or stays straight all day.

So if you are like me and have baby fine hair, try Pantene’s Nature Fusion Moisture Balance Shampoo. There’s another shampoo in the Nature Fusion line but I haven’t tried it. Why change a good thing? There’s also a matching moisture balance conditioner that I use about once a week. I’m not a big conditioner person, so I really can’t judge it as good, bad, or so-so.

By the way, I was not paid for this post, did not receive free shampoo, or anything else. This is just something I felt like sharing with my readers in hopes of helping someone else find a shampoo she might love.

Back in April, I introduced you to my iPod Touch.

I’m still in love with my Touch. However, one of the things I mentioned in my original post was that I couldn’t combine my digital calendars without doing double entries (one on my PC computer and one on my Touch).

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across the fact that the Touch iCal program will sync with Google Calendar. Hmmm… I didn’t use Google Calendar, but if there was a way to sync Google with my laptop’s Mozilla Lightning, I’d be in business!

I’m sure you’ve already guessed already … there is a way!!!! Yay! My life is in perfect harmony now. Well, not really, but it sure feels like it.

First, I have to mention that there is no need to download additional applications to the Touch in order to use this feature. A lot of posts out there contain misinformation and tell you that you need to sign up for special services (Plaxo, Nuevasync, SaiSuke). Don’t listen to them! As long as you have a current version of the Touch firmware (version 2.2), the features are built in and all you have to do is activate them.

Here’s the process I followed to sync my PC laptop calendar (Mozilla Lightning) to my iPod Touch calendar (iCal). The intermediary is Google Calendar.

• To sync Lightning and Google, I downloaded the Provider for Google Calendar add-on for Lightning. This add-on allows two-way communication of a primary calendar. If you enter information on Google, it shows up on Lightning and vice versa.
• I created a primary calendar in Lightning. This is necessary because the add-on doesn’t export from my individual calendars (book reviews, work, home), only one central calendar. However, this is easily overcome by creating the individual calendars in Google because Google will download to individual calendars – just not upload. Wierd, I know.
• To add an event, I put it on the primary calendar in Lightning or the individual calendar in Google. And the event shows up in both Lightning and Google.
• Once Google and Lightning are synced, follow the Google steps on this page to link the Touch’s iCal to Google. Note: If you already have information in iCal, make sure you have a backup version somewhere because the sync process will erase all current data in the calendar. You can also use these same steps to sync your Google contacts with the Touch.
• The final step is to tell the Touch that you have individual calendars. Those steps are here.

Does all this work? Yep! As long as you carefully follow the Google steps.

Monday morning, I was in the doctor’s office with the Farmer. I made his follow-up appointment and added it to my Touch. By the time we got home, the appointment was waiting for me on both Google Calendar and the laptop’s Lightning calendar. Sweet!

So, please, next time you hear someone say syncing isn’t possible without a 3rd party program (Plaxo, Nuevasync, SaiSuke) or, especially for PC users, without Microsoft Outlook, send them this way because it does work!

Today I’m blogging over at Garden Vines about the differences in potting soil brands.

If you enjoy gardening, whether veggie, flowers, or both, come join Jendi and me at Garden Vines. We offer glimpses of our gardens and share what we’ve learned through research and trial and error.

P.S. – Don’t forget that today is the last chance to sign up to win a copy of Mary Byers’ book “Making Work at Home Work.” Just leave a comment HERE.

Ron Edmondson wrote a post yesterday titled “How do you calendar your life?” He observed a friend organizing his schedule with a regular paper calendar, and Ron was somewhat surprised. Paper?!? This is the digital age.

Ron then asked, “What do you use to keep track of your life?  How do you stay organized?”

Up until 2 months ago, I was a paper calendar person for the most part. I wrote daily items on my 8-1/2×11 spiral bound paper calendar, and I recorded certain items in my Mozilla Lightning calendar on my laptop. I also had a mini calendar I carried in my purse just in case. That system worked fairly well.

Notice I said, “Up until 2 months ago…” That’s when I got my iPod Touch. Bye-bye multiple paper calendars; helloooo slim, sleek digital calendar.

All of my appointments, scheduled book reviews, deadlines, birthdays, and anything else I can think of are recorded on my iPod Touch. It travels in my purse, rests on the kitchen island or the nightstand, and is never far from my reach. I no longer aimlessly flip through pages of a calendar.

The only downfall is I can’t sync the iPod Touch with Mozilla Lightning (if anyone knows a way to do this, please tell me! Update: I figured out how to sync Lightning with Google Calendar and iCal on Touch. No 3rd party download necessary either.), so I’m still entering information in two places. But it beats writing it out by hand!!!

Besides the iPod’s calendar feature, I use the Notes program to brainstorm ideas, take notes on podcasts, write rough drafts of book reviews and blog posts (when I’m not at home), and record goals. The best feature is I can then e-mail the note to my laptop.

I also like the To Do application where I can create an item, record details, and set priority for the item. My lists cover everything from grocery shopping to household chores to writing research.

Lest you think my life revolves around my iPod, I do have a regular old paper calendar hanging on the refrigerator. Not much is written on the month of April, just the date where the Farmer started some seeds. Never mind that we have 4 doctor appointments this month, a 6-day vacation, house guests coming this weekend, and an important mediation next week. Why mess up a calendar with such a pretty picture?