Review and Giveaway! texthook

I believe that one of the hardest things about being a mom to the 5 and under crowd is finding time to exercise. There are no lunch breaks to go to the gym, and the thought of getting up before my children do to go for a jog is just preposterous. However, I've found that walking is a pretty sustainable form of exercise, and I personally make it a point to get outside, rain or shine, and go for a walk 5 or 6 days a week. On two of those days, I have at least one, if not two children in tow which means I'm also pushing a stroller. I got a cool new phone for Christmas, and one of the first apps I downloaded was CardioTrainer. I LOVE the app because it keeps me walking at a much faster pace than when I was just walking with my regular old phone. Plus, it saves all my previous workouts so I can challenge myself to try to beat my previous times. One of the challenges of walking and pushing a stroller is that when I try to either find my phone buried somewhere in the folds of the stroller canopy, or I let go of the stroller to try to dig my phone out of my jacket pocket or my diaper bag, I inevitably end up slowing down. OK, maybe not a huge deal, but when you're challenging yourself, you don't want to lose a step! A few weeks ago, I was contacted to review a new product called the texthook. After using the texthook for a few weeks now, I wish that I could have had one since day one of my stroller pushing years! Click on Read more below for my review of the texthook and for details about how to win one for yourself.

Review is based on a 4-star scale.

Here is the texthook ready to head out on my Bumbleride Indie Twin.

Functionality **** - The texthook couldn't be easier to use. I struggled with the Velcro for a couple of minutes the first time, but if I had been more on the ball, I would have noticed that the people at texthook sent me a very detailed description of exactly how to wrap the Velcro around the handlebar of my stroller. Regardless, after I had done it once, it was a piece of cake. My phone fits perfectly into the phone holder, which is also easy to use. You simply pull up on the slider, fit your phone in, push the slider into place and you're good to go. I walk about 4 to 4 1/2 miles each time I'm out, and once I tightened the Velcro, I didn't have to readjust for the rest of the walk, and my phone stayed securely in place the entire time. The texthook is also easy to move from stroller to stroller if you find yourself using different strollers on different days. Yesterday, I had the texthook on my Bugaboo, but today I need to move it to the Indie Twin. It took about two seconds to switch. I also like that on the Bumblieride Indie Twin, I could attach the texthook on the side of the handlebar, out of my way, and then twist it around 90 degrees so that my phone was facing me. Most importantly, I LOVE that I can set my little fitness app to start recording my "workout" and then all I have to do for the rest of the walk is occasionally glance down to see how I'm doing. I really enjoy not having to dig around for my phone. Even if you're not recording your workout, the texthook is great for simply a place to store your phone when you're out and about the neighborhood. You'll always know right where it is, and never miss a call because it was buried in the bottom of your diaper bag, or hidden away in your back pocket.
And again on my Bugaboo Cameleon. It's easy to switch from stroller to stroller.

Style - The texthook comes in white or black.

Price *** - The texthook currently sells for $25.95. You can buy it directly through the texthook site. Or, you can also order a texthook from Amazon.com with free super saver shipping.

Overall Rating ***1/2 - I really do think the texthook has proven itself worthy of the three and a half stars I just gave it. Before you go poo-pooing the idea of needing to email or text someone while you're out for a walk, I'd like to remind you that I have yet to do that since the addition of the texthook into my life. I look at the texthook as a way to safely store your phone when you're just out for a stroll, but even more importantly, I feel like it's such a great product for all of the moms out there who are getting in their exercise with a stroller in front of them. Whether it's walking or jogging, it's nice to be able to just glance down at the phone to get the time, etc. Another use I've heard of for the texthook is as a holder for your phone on a treadmill or exercise bike at the gym, too. You could track your workout, keep track of time, watch videos on your smartphone, or whatever you can manage to do while working out, too! I'm certainly not suggesting that my life is so busy that I can't take a break from emails when I'm out for a walk, BUT I will say that I love how texthook has changed my "workout"!

Are you HOOKED on the idea of the texthook? We have a discount code that will save you 15% when you go to www.texthook.com. Enter the code KIDBUY15 at checkout.

Life just got even better! We also have a texthook to giveaway to one lucky stroller-pushin' momma! To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post about why you think you'll love the texthook. Your comment will enter you to win a texthook for your stroller. All entries must be received by 11:59 CST on Tuesday, February 16, 2009. Winner must be 18+ and a resident of the United States. If you're not familiar with the rest of our giveaway rules, you can read them here. Good Luck!

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A Few of My Favorite Things: Wooden Marker Holder

So here we are, a little more than a month out from Christmas and the question, as always, is which gifts are the children still using/playing with and which have already worked their way to the bottom of the toy basket? Well, one thing that has not made its way far out of sight, and, in fact, has earned itself a place of honor in our kitchen is this wooden marker holder that my brother made for the kiddos:

The idea is to put the markers in upside down and then glue the caps in, making it easy even for the little guy to get all of the markers put away each time that he plays with them- which is a lot these days! As you can see, we have markers in big holes and then colored pencils in the small ones for now, but we could certainly change if Lilly decided she wanted to use the skinny markers. Now if you do not know my brother, or another remarkably handy person who could craft one of these for you, I am happy to tell you that you can find them on Etsy (like the one on the right) and in many early childhood classroom catalogs (the one on the left is from Discount School Supply). Sure, I was more excited about this gift than the kids were on Christmas day, but I still say: Yay for Christmas gifts that are cool and useful, too!

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A Few of My Favorite Things and a Giveaway! CARES Child Aviation Restraint System

When Nadia was about 10 months old we made the rookie mistake of trying to fly from Chicago to Seattle with her on our laps. I mean, why pay for a ticket if you don't have to, right? After that nightmarish flight, we vowed to never again travel with a mobile child on a plane without paying for that extra seat. Flash forward to last week when we traveled from Seattle to Kansas City to visit our family. Nadia at 4, is perfectly capable of sitting still in the regular old airplane seat belt, but Isaac is a different story. There is no way to make the belt tight enough to keep him from squirming right out of it. This leaves us two options. One, we could drag a car seat through the airport and onto the plane. Or, we could use the CARES child aviation restraint system. Again, we opted for leaving the car seat behind. Why lug such an awkward and heavy thing around when we could just throw the lightweight CARES into our carry-on?

I originally reviewed the CARES in the fall of '08 when Nadia was 2. We used it on multiple flights and found it to exceed our expectations. We hadn't really had the opportunity to use it with Isaac until our most recent trip, and once again, CARES saved the day! On the three and a half hour trip to Kansas City, Isaac probably slept for 2+ hours in the seat next to his dad. He never once argued about wearing the CARES. And, it's worth mentioning that the toddler in the seat behind us was also strapped into a CARES. There were no tears and no stressed out parents in our section of the plane!

My sleepy little traveler.
On the way back, I was on my own. I had packed very lightly for the trip and my only carry-on was my regular diaper bag. I simply attached the CARES to the stroller strap of my Babymel diaper bag, and it was right there when the kids and I got on the plane. After boarding, I quickly and painlessly got the CARES attached to Isaac's seat and got both kids settled with a box of dried fruit to wait for the take-off which never ended up happening. Our plane had broken down which meant I had to repack everything and move both kids to a new plane. I wasn't happy, but again, thank goodness for the CARES. It's so easy to use that I just pulled it off the seat, stuffed it into its little bag and we were ready to start all over again on a new plane! Imagine how I frustrated and stressed I would have been if I'd had to drag two kids and a car seat off one plane and onto another! Once we were finally in the air, Isaac took another nap in the CARES. This time it wasn't as long, but that was a function of the lack of sleep from the night before. Or maybe it was the smell of the warm Midwest Airlines chocolate chip cookies?

After several flights and two kids worth of use, I would like to reiterate that if you fly with your young children more than once a year, then an investment in the CARES is something you should really consider. It's so much more portable than traveling with a car seat. It is comfortable, as evidenced by my sometimes sleeping, but always smiling Isaac, and most importantly, it's a safe way for your child to travel on an airplane.

Vegging out with Alice in Wonderland.

You can buy the CARES at Amazon.com for $62 right now. Or, use this store locator to find a CARES retailer near you!

Just in time for all those of you who are thinking about your summer travel plans, we have a CARES child aviation restraint system to giveaway to one lucky reader! To enter our giveaway, leave us a comment about either your upcoming family vacation plans, or tell us a story about a nightmare trip you've had with your little one, or one of your best family travel tips, and you'll be entered to win a CARES for your next trip! All entries must be received by 11:59 PST on Monday, February 8, 2010. Winner must be 18+ and a resident of the U.S. You can read the rest of our giveaway rules here. Good luck and Happy Travels!

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A Few of My Favorite Things: The Baby Name Wizard

Well, here we are again. Expecting a child in about 5 months (gasp!) and faced with the daunting task of picking a name for the little sucker. I take this task very, very seriously, as I think parents ought to- though I am not often reassured that this is the case when I read through the births page of the newspaper! Luckily, there is no shortage of advice or books on the matter! By far, my favorite book is "The Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Wattenburg.

Before I tell you about the book, I have to tell you that my husband accuses me of having all kinds of crazy rules about baby naming. For instance, it is unacceptable to name our next child Lucy (a perfectly lovely name) because a) we already have a Lilly and they are basically the same and b) everyone else in the house has a name that starts with M, so if we give out another L name it will seem like we are trying too hard to match. Obviously, this means that all M names are out as well as anything with an "x" and anything with double "ll"s. In addition, having a Lilly and a Max means that naming the next kid Dylan (another perfectly fine name) is out because it is not in the same genre. Okay, so maybe I have a few kooky rules, but I am just trying to look out for the little person and, of course, make sure that no one reads our Christmas cards and says, "huh"?

Back to the book-- For each name listed, they give you the current popularity rating, a graph depicting the name's popularity over time, nicknames, variants and my two favorite features: 1. the "style" meaning what lists or categories it falls into (choices includes things like "Nickname Proof", "Solid Citizens" and "Guys and Dolls") and 2. Sisters and Brothers, which is "names that match in style and feeling" and could be, well, sisters or brothers of the name in question. I really love this feature and have been known to spend hours combing through these lists of sisters and brothers looking for new suggestions and trying to come up with the perfect fit. The back of the book is filled with all kinds of lists, including all of the categories that I mentioned above. The Baby Name Wizard folks also put up a website which has a lot of great features and has quickly become my favorite baby-name website as well. Here you can track a names popularity over time, map a name, which is to locate is popularity by region of the country, or use Namepedia- a baby name encyclopedia full of information about names.

Of course, the merits of the book itself aside one of the reasons that I love "The Baby Name Wizard" is because it was given to me by a good friend when I was pregnant with my first child (almost 5 years ago!) and came filled with little sticky note suggestions and funny comments. Since then, the book has been passed around to friends several times- Each couple uses their own system for marking names and, while many of the pages are now falling out, the front cover boasts the names of 8 babies that the book has helped to name! If only I could come up with something brilliant for that 9th one.....

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Review and Giveaway! Wee Squeak Shoes

I've always been a little hesitant to buy squeaky toddler shoes in the past. My children make plenty of noise on their own, thank you very much. However, I've always adored many of the styles in the Wee Squeak shoe collection. When I found out that the squeakers are removable, there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to review their Hottest Pink Mary Janes! Click on read more below for my review and for details on how you can win a pair of super cute Wee Squeak shoes!

Review is on based on a 4-star scale:

Design and Ease of Use **** - Velcro, Velcro, Velcro. I'm all about velcro on my children's shoes. No matter how early I get up in the morning, we somehow always end up running behind. I need for Nadia to have shoes that she can easily get independently, and her Hottest Pink Mary Jane Wee Squeaks fit the bill. If you're a fan of squeaky shoes, then you will be pleased because it is true, Wee Squeaks do squeak, BUT if you would rather not have to listen to your children squeak, squeak around the house, you'll also be happy to know that the little squeaker easily slides right out! (I'd recommend taking it out before your child wears them because once they start squeaking, they don't want to stop!)


Materials/Durability *** - Granted, Nadia has only worn her shoes a few times, but overall, they seem to be durable enough. Alexandra did review the newer Beibi shoes by Wee Squeak last fall, and had some trouble with them, but as the Wee Squeaks are a more established line, I hope that we will continue to find them to be of a quality consistent with their price.

Style **1/2 - You'll find TONS of cute styles of Wee Squeaks for girls. My complaint is not that there are too few styles for boys, but almost all the boys' styles have laces that needed to be tied. Until my children can learn to tie their own shoes, I just really don't have the time or energy to keep their laces tied. I'd like to see Wee Squeak remove those laces and replace them with some easier to use Velcro styles.



Price *** - Wee Squeaks come in at just over the $30 mark. I find this to be a very competitive and realistic price for those adorable Mary Janes!

Overall Rating *** - The Hottest Pink Mary Janes that Nadia is wearing are beyond cute. I mean, come on, what's not to love about a 4-year old wearing Hot Pink Patent Leather Mary Janes? So far, so good on the durability. Would love to see some more lace-free styles. Available at a reasonable price point with a removable squeaker which is important to those of us who don't need any more noise! You can buy Wee Squeaks online here or use their store locator to find a store near you!

Ready to win a pair of Wee Squeaks? We have one pair in the winner's choice of size and style to giveaway. To enter, visit the Wee Squeak website and choose your favorite style. Come back here and leave a comment on this post about your favorite and you'll be entered to win! All entries must be received by midnight on Monday, February 1, 2009. Winner must be 18+ and a resident of the United States. You can read the rest of our giveaway rules here.

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Review: Scholastic Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics

It's fair to say that we're very fond of Scholastic's Storybook DVD's, and now they have the grandaddy of them all. A box set of 16 DVDs with 100 total stories! This is a fantastic collection that will surely provide hours of entertainment to my gals for years to come.

The 16 feature stories are below:
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Harold and the Purple Crayon
- Curious George Rides a Bike
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- Chicka Chicka 123
- How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
- Chrysanthemum
- Harry the Dirty Dog
- Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type
- The Ezra Jack Keats Collection
- Pete's a Pizza
- Make Way for Ducklings
- Diary of a Spider
- Rapunzel
- Strega Nona
- I Stink
Click on "Read More" for more reasons why we love these.

Crystal listed some things that she loves about the Scholastic DVDs here, and I am in total agreement with all of them. In addition, here are some more things that I love about these DVD's
- The thin cases. This is a weird thing to love but they are so much more practical than the thicker DVD cases in terms of storage. All 16 DVDs fit into a box that is ~4 1/2" x 8". Plus, there are no annoying flyers inside that waste paper and entice your kiddos into wanting more crap. Their slim size also makes them great for travel.
- Crystal covered this, but it bears repeating. These are based on classic children's literature, not crazy marketed characters. They stay true to the illustrations in the books and aren't overly animated.
- They get some great narrators like Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Forest Whitaker, and Cyndi Lauper, just to name a few.
- They run the words across the bottom of the screen for beginning readers.
- It includes Spanish versions of 15 of the stories and a French version of Where the Wild Things Are.

This collection is not a cheap purchase at $99.95, but it's currently on Amazon for $70! Even if you paid full price it breaks down to $1 a story so the value is definitely there. Especially if you look at the cost it would be to purchase each DVD separately (~$240)! If you don't own any Scholastic DVDs this would be a great set to get for a birthday or holiday.

As we've mentioned before, if TV is in the mix of your day, this is a great way to go.

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Review and Giveaway! Musicolor by Delta Creative

Today we have a giveaway for a way cool toy, unlike anything you've seen before: Musicolor by Delta Creative. Musicolor is a one of a kind toy that combines a form of color-by-number with music in the form of this unique little old-timey record player device that translates color into musical notes! Confused? Check out the picture below and it will make more sense!

Your child can choose to either color one of the pre-printed sheets with the corresponding color, or create one of their own designs on a blank form. Then, they simply place the disk onto the turn table, and the little record player arm reads the colors and translates the color into a musical note. It's super cool technology and unlike any other toy we have in our house. Click on Read more for the rest of my review.

Review based on a 4-star scale:

Fun Factor *** - The recommended age is 4+. Nadia just turned 4 last month, and while she does show some interest in playing with the Musicolor, her attention span when it came to coloring in the disks was pretty short. They are a form of color-by-number, and she got the concept, but struggled a little with the smaller pictures. I would say use your own judgment when it comes to deciding if the Musicolor is the right toy for your child, depending on where they are in their artistic development. That being said, both of my kids loved playing with the turntable and with the sample disk that is provided. I mean, record players are a lot more fun to watch than a CD spinning inside a machine! Nadia is just going to have to grow into the Musicolor in order to really get maximum enjoyment!

Materials/Durability *** - The player seems sturdy enough. The disks are simply made out of a card stock which isn't a big deal with older kids, but of concern in a house with little brothers who like to rip, tear and wad up paper for the trash.

Price **1/2 - You can buy the Musicolor on Amazon for $40. Personally, I think this is a little on the pricey side, but I might feel differently if Nadia were a little older and asked to play with it more often. You are in part paying for a new technology at this point. Perhaps prices will come down in the future. For $15 more you can pick up an extra set of markers and an extra set of create-a-song discs, too. You'll definitely want the extra set of markers!

Overall Rating *** - An interesting twist on the color-by-numbers we did as a kid. I could see a Musicolor being a great hit in an elementary music classroom as a way for children to learn their notes and how to put them together to make a song. My four-year old isn't quite ready to get full enjoyment out of the Musicolor, but I think it's a toy that is going to grow with my children well into their elementary school years.

Would you like a Musicolor for your kids? The folks at Delta Creative have offered one to one lucky Kid Buy Products reader. To enter the giveaway, visit the Musicolor page on Delta Creative's site, and choose the song that you think your child is going to love coloring and listening to the best. Come back here to this post and tell us which it is, and you'll be entered to win a Musicolor for your family! All entries must be received by midnight on Tuesday, January 26, 2010. Winner must be 18+ and a resident of the United States. You can check out the rest of our giveaway rules here. Good Luck!

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