Archive for July, 2009
July 29th, 2009 | Eco-friendly, Gifts, Giveaways, products | 11 Comments |
If you want a perfect gift for a mommy-to-be or for a new arrival, look no further than this adorable and organic onesie Take Me Home Gift Set from Serena and Lily. We are giving away the green onesie set which includes a perfectly folded gown, hat and swaddling blanket in a gorgeous white with green trim. Again, Serena and Lily sets it all in their signature beautiful box. This particular box is called their Newborn Keepsake Box. You can use to put cards and other mementos in it. And the lid holds a place to put a picture and information about the baby’s birth date, time, weight and height. Too adorable! And I really did try taking a picture of the box and the complete package, but the pictures I take always look like they’ve been taken in the back of a van with a stolen camera  . So I will leave it to your imagination and browsing of the Serena & Lily website to get an idea how lovely it really is. An awesome reader of the blog found the picture of the box! haha! Thanks so much! And if you win this gorgeous gift, which retails at $68, please take a picture of it and send it back my way so I can show people!
To win: enter a comment on who you plan to give the Take Me Home Gift Set to (even if it’s you!) and tell us about your favorite summer memory so far. The giveaway ends August 5th.
UPDATE: Candace won – again via husband picking a number! Please don’t be disappointed. Try again – we have one more Serena and Lily sling and one more gift set to give away at the end of the month.
July 28th, 2009 | Events, Feeding, Maternity Wear | No Comments |
Photo courtesy of Hot Mama Gowns
In our second class in a series of three classes, Bliss Nine is pleased to be partnering with Babies-in-Bloom boutique owner and certified child birth educator and lactation consultant Rochelle Mclean to talk about the basics of breastfeeding and answering questions you may have in preparing for it. Rochelle was my birthing class instructor and she was so informative and helpful! Come meet us both! And if you’re in the North County area, check out Rochelle’s super cute boutique in Vista/Oceanside.
This class will be held at the eco-chic maternity clothing store Dress for the Nines at 1220 Cleveland Avenue, San Diego, at noon, this coming Saturday, August 1, 2009.
July 22nd, 2009 | Eco-friendly, Gifts, Giveaways, Maternity Wear, products | 18 Comments |
Bliss Nine is so excited to do a giveaway of the Hot Mama Gown! On April 7th, I blogged about the Hot Mama Gown, the awesomely organic alternative to the generic hospital gown. Since then, I’ve become an ardent supporter and fan of Deidrea, the creator of this gorgeous gown. We first met on Twitter and then face to face at the Baby Celebration in Los Angeles, where I saw Deidrea’s attention to detail from her gorgeous box to her matching stamps with her logo on them!
I truly wish (and I’ve heard so many mamas who have since discovered HMG say the same thing) that I had the Hot Mama Gown during my labor and delivery. While learning and starting breastfeeding, I had to take off half the top of the generic gown to give the baby access. I also had a serious episiotomy – so while walking to the bathroom (shuffling in pain), my gown would inevitably be untied in the back, leaving my whole backside exposed – not pretty. The Hot Mama Gowns are created with the same attention to detail and love Deidrea gives to everything else. These gowns are made with organic cotton in varying beautiful prints. I love how the snaps down the back keep the backside covered! And the nursing panels are ingenious. These are perfect gifts for baby showers and just to make a mama feel good when she may not feel like she looks good after giving birth. A mommy can wear them after birthing to provide easy access for nursing and healing. Believe me, pregnant ladies, you will wish you had one or two or three during those first couple of weeks!
Bliss Nine is giving away the colorful Shalon gown, size small (fits size 6-8 pre-pregnancy size), which is one of the newest prints from the Hot Mama Gown collection. Don’t worry too much about the size, as it is roomy with ribbon tied panels to accommodate the larger bellies. Its beautiful bright colors will brighten any hospital room and provide a matrix of colors for the baby to look at while cuddling and nursing the newborn. Retailing at $149, it also comes in the gorgeous box we all keep talking about – yes, it is that gorgeous. So feel free to gift it and the lucky mama will feel splurged on! Visit Hot Mama Gowns for more prints and great model pics of the gowns.
To win you can either one or both of the following:
1) If you don’t already, follow @blissnine and @hotmamagowns on twitter, and tweet this giveaway with hashtag #HotMamaGownBlissNine – I know it’s long (each tweet with hashtag is an entry)
and/or
2) Visit the Hot Mama Gown site and comment on your favorite Hot Mama Gown print or your favorite feature of the gown (comments count as 2 entries)
The most entries will win. Deadline to enter is July 29, 2009, 9:00 a.m. PST.
UPDATE: Erica Hennings won with her persistent tweeting of the giveaway. Enjoy!
July 15th, 2009 | Eco-friendly, Giveaways, Nursery, products | 12 Comments |
I have been using the Dapple Baby Safe Dish Liquid since it first rolled into Babies R’ Us earlier this year. I love the easy to squirt container, the way it gently washes the bottles and that it is safe for my baby. True, you can probably go more natural such as something water and vinegar based to wash out the bottles, but I feel a bit better using a soap because of the possibility of bacteria from the milk. The dish liquid rinses fast and their website boasts that their products are phthalate-free, paraben-free, SLES- & dye-free and not tested on animals. The toy cleaner wipes are awesome! They smell lightly of lavender, which comes from the essential lavender oil they use to scent the wipes. Lavender oil is also a natural anti-bacterial agent. They are very moisturized, so one wipe can easily clean more than two toys (depending on toy size) and then use a dry cloth to wipe the toys off or let them air dry.
I love that these products were created by two moms with entrepreneural spirits and a team of experts to create safer cleaning products for baby. Dapple gave us some samples of their products to give away at the New Mom Expo. We are pleased to be able to do a giveaway of the following full-sized Dapple Products 1) Baby Safe Dish Liquid 2) Toy Cleaner Wipes and 3) Toy and Surface Cleaner. The group of these three products retails at Babies R’ Us for $19.99.
All Dapple products are environmentally-safe, biodegradable, and free of parabens, SLES, and phthalates, as well as synthetic dyes or fragrances. Check out Dapple Baby for all their products and product information. Bliss Nine plans to use them in an upcoming seminar on toy cleaners too!
To Win: Comment on the blog about your favorite toy ever. Or if you’ve tried Dapple products before, comment about it for a chance to win this set of Dapple Baby products.
Winner will be selected at random on July 22nd and notified via e-mail.
UPDATE: The winner (again chosen at random by husband picking a number  ) is The Happy Runner, #5. Congratulations! Can’t wait to giveaway more stuff in the coming weeks – we have some great goodies!
July 12th, 2009 | Eco-friendly, Events | No Comments |
On Saturday, July 18, 2009 at noon, Bliss Nine will present a class on Creating an Eco-Friendly Baby Nursery at the chic eco-friendly maternity store, Dress for the Nines. Learn about tips to make your nursery comfy and chemical-free for baby. Snacks and a good time chatting up with fellow pregnant ladies and me provided! See you all there!
July 8th, 2009 | products, recalls | No Comments |
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission voluntarily recalled over one million Kolcraft playards, which also have product names as Carter’s, Sesame Street, Jeep, Contours, Care Bears and Eric Carle Playards. The playard’s side rail can unlatch, creating a falling hazard. 21 injuries have been reported. Check out the CPSC website for more information, including model numbers and numerous photographs of the playards recalled.
July 8th, 2009 | Charities, Gifts, Giveaways, Safety | 2 Comments |
The story of Adam’s Blankie is a beautiful and and uplifting one. The company began with the love of stay-at-home mother, Kari. She wanted some bedding and clothing with a modern design ethic for her son Adam. With her mother, she came up with some great products and named the business after her son – Adam’s Blankie was born! In 2008, Kari’s family nearly lost Adam to a drowning incident. Believing in the love of God and healing qualities of the blanket she created for Adam, he survived and is now a healthy two year old boy!
We are happy to say that Adam’s Blankie contributes 5% of its profits to a Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children in Arizona, ages 1 – 4 years old. The organization has been very active nationally to provide public awareness about tragedies and preventative measures. Kari wants to share that there are 3 parts to drowning prevention called the ABC’s – Adult Supervision, Barriers, and Classes. With the heat racking up, swimming in pools is a popular pastime for many families. It doesn’t take a pool for a child to drown – children can also drown in toilets, bathtubs, & buckets of water! A tip we learned from our local YMCA is that floaties can prevent lifeguards from seeing below the water, which is important because they need to see anyone who may be below another person. Also, floaties don’t support babies/children necks or backs. As advised by the Y, go with a life jacket.
Okay and now for the rockinest and cutest bib your boy or girl would ever want to wear! The motto the business follows is “Creative, Comfy and Cute”. Retailing at $14.50, it is an adorable bib with a classic rocker vibe. We love the colors, the guitar print and the soft terry cloth. The pearl snap closure is also baby tamper proof and won’t fall apart like the Velcro stickers do. Like other items on the Adam’s Blankie site, the bib has been pre-shrunk in baby detergent. Check out their Etsy site for details on these handmade products. Adam’s Blankie also welcome’s custom orders – so if you see a print you like, feel free to mix and match. Get it for your little one or as a gift for another lucky super star!
To win the bib STEP 1: please comment on our blog as to what your favorite item from the Adam’s Blankie site. STEP 2: Visit the Adam’s Blankie blog and comment. Adam’s Blankie and Bliss Nine will put our heads together regarding our favorite comments and declare a winner on July 15, 2009.
UPDATE: Winner is Megan R. – CONGRATS!
July 3rd, 2009 | Nursery, Safety, recalls | 2 Comments |
About 400,000 Simplicity Drop Side Cribs are being recalled by retailers, reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Please stop using their products immediately. The CPSC is aware of an 8 month old child suffocating and dying from injuries sustained by this crib’s drop side feature. Apparently, the plastic hardware can involuntarily detach and cause the drop side to detach. When this occurs, a gap is created and the child can fall into the gap and suffocate. Please see the photos, obtained from the CPSC website (below).
Given the enormous amounts of recalled Simplicity products – including bassinets, cribs and playards, we would not recommend a Simplicity product. In 2007, there were at least a million Simplicity cribs recalled. At least 13 children have died from using their cribs and bassinets. Further, the company that purchased Simplicity, SFCA, is no longer answering phone calls or emails – a sure red warning to all consumers. CPSC is urging consumers to look through their homes for Simplicity recalled products. Check out this PAGE of recalled products and check the products in your home.
Please be aware that the Simplicity (or SFCA) products are often branded by larger companies, like Fisher Price and Graco. If you remember our earlier blog entry about the Fisher Price Rainforest Playard – that was a Simplicity product. So check the CPSC website for model numbers and name of your product.
Consumers are urged to continue to contact CPSC at 800-638-2772 or info@cpsc.gov to report any incident or injury with a Simplicity brand product.
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