LilyBugs Giveaway

About a month ago I wrote a post about LilyBugs. I also sent an email to Heather, the owner of the Mom4Life website where I first found LilyBugs to tell her how much we love our LilyBug and about the blog post I had written. Heather, the owner of mom4life, emailed me back and was so nice. She asked if she could forward the post link to Crystal, the mom who created LilyBugs, to let her know about how great the LilyBugs have worked for us with helping Whitney hold her own straw up. Crystal (the creator and owner of the LilyBugs company) sent me the nicest email after reading our post and offered to send Whitney a new LilyBug + send an extra LilyBug to "giveaway" through our blog :) YEAH!!! I am so excited to do our very first "GIVEAWAY"!!!

Here are a few details that came in the packaging with our new LilyBug:

"LilyBugs are a wonderful addition to the ordinary, hard plastic bottle or sippy cup. Babies and toddlers instinctively grasp and rub the soft, cuddly handles while feeding. The animated faces, vibrant colors and multiple textures provide visual and sensory stimulation for growing hands and minds." ***just a sidenote: Anne, who is 3 1/2 and considers herself a very "big girl", also loves LilyBugs... now that we have two LilyBugs she is always asking us to put one of the LilyBugs on her cup, too! So... they are for babies, toddlers and "big girls & boys" :)

Features:
-Fits both bottles & sippy cups (*straw cups too!*just wanted to add that, since according to all of the research from the experts when it comes to Speech Language Pathology, straw cups are much better than sippy cups when it comes to forming the muscles and movements of the mouth for speech) - Machine Washable - Great for Glass Bottles - Absorbs Condensation & Leaks - Creats a Smooth Transition from Bottle to Sippy Cup - Provides Visual & Sensory Stimulation - For Both Boys & Girls - Helps to Introduce Bottles or Sippy Cups while Nursing - Separates Drinks Among Multiple Children - Decorative for Fashionable Moms, Dads & Kids - Keeps Little Hands Warm During the Cold Seasons

Lilybugs, Inc.
P.O. Box 669
Southampton, MA 01073-0668
1-800-593-9232
http://www.lilybugs.com/home.shtml

And because the LilyBugs are so cute - here are a couple of pictures of Whitney with her new LilyBug (Thank you Crystal!!!!!!)

AND.... here is a picture of the LilyBug we are giving away (the "ears" squeak!):


***If you are interested in winning this LilyBug, please leave a comment on THIS post and we will put all of the people who leave a comment into a bowl or a hat and draw for a winner! The contest will end at the end of the day on Monday, April 5, 2010. On Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Anne or Whitney will draw the winner and we will announce it on our blog :) Also --- I know we have some "international" readers... I will ship the LilyBug anywhere the winner happens to live, so please feel free to leave a comment if you are interested, even if you do not live in the United States! Good Luck!

Wordless Wednesday

+ a small "giveaway" coming this weekend (hopefully... if I get it posted :)

The Little Stinker Can Hear!

Whitney's surgery to place "t tubes" in her ears was successful on our second attempt of the day! Although Whitney had other plans this morning (by eating a tiny piece of paper from the package her hospital socks came in while I was talking to the anesthesiologist) we were able to come back this afternoon (after her paper had "digested") and the surgery went well. I was very happy that all went well... Whitney did NOT share my feelings! She was FURIOUS when they brought her back to me. She was just so mad and she screamed and cried loud enough for the entire wing of St. Vincent Hospital to hear her!!! :) I did not get any pictures of this display (because I was trying to hold her and she was just distraught) but I did get a few pictures of her just before her surgery (and we were sure to keep all forms of paper away from her!!!)

loooking so sweet and innocent

showing a little leg

playing with a toy (not a plastic package w/ a paper label)

too sweet! (but still a little stinker!)

Whitney the Paper-eating Troublemaker!

This is the face of a paper-eating troublemaker! We arrived at the hospital bright and early for Whitney's surgery to put in her second set of tubes. Her first set was placed in July of this past summer and at the beginning of December we realized she had fluid in both ears. We tried ear drops and also a hydrogen peroxide/water mix that the ENT's office suggested to clear her ears... neither worked and at the beginning of February, at her 6-month checkup from her tubes surgery the otolaryngologist said that both tubes were no longer in place. We have been looking forward to March 9th for a month, just waiting for new tubes so that Whitney could have the fluid out of her ears and hopefully be able to hear properly. Well... Whitney had her own plan for how today would go --- as we were sitting in the room waiting for her to go to surgery, the anesthesiologist came in to talk with me. She and I were talking and Whitney was sitting next to me on the hospital bed playing with the package that her hospital socks came in. This package was plastic with a paper label that you peel apart and take the socks out. I was paying attention to the anesthesiologist and realized that Whitney had put the package in her mouth. I turned to Whitney to get the package out of her mouth and noticed that the paper label was wet and a piece was missing. I looked in her mouth and there were two pieces of paper - I swiped her mouth to get the paper out and was able to get the bigger of the two pieces. I went back in to get the smaller one that I had seen toward the back of her mouth and she had SWALLOWED it! The anesthesiologist then said, "I hate to tell you this, but we are not going to be able to do surgery now." WHAT???!!!! She explained that while she is out for the surgery that her gag reflexes would not be working and that there was a danger that Whitney could aspirate the piece of paper into her lungs and that would be very dangerous. I certainly did not want to take any risks, but I also did not want to go home without the tubes placed in Whitney's ears. I asked if we could try gagging her, since she had just swallowed it, to get the piece of paper. She looked at me in shock that I would even consider gagging my own daughter on purpose (not something I would ever normally want to even think of doing... but I would rather do that and still get the tubes, I guess I am just a heartless mom??? :) Anyway - she said she would speak with the surgeon and see what we should do. Luckily, they are not making us reschedule - but we have to wait at least 6 hours since Whitney ate the paper but we are to arrive back at the hospital by 1:30 p.m. even though they will not be able to operate until 2:30 or 3p.m. So.... please keep Whitney in your thoughts and prayers --- especially that she can get through this day without food or drink and that she will not be so desperate to eat when we go back that she decides she needs to eat more paper!!!!!! Whitney is seriously a little troublemaker!!!! She has made what was supposed to be her easiest surgery yet, complicated! :) As I was walking out this morning the word had already spread with the nurses and other doctors on the floor - they smiled at us and one nurse said, "make sure you get this in her baby book"... our nurse said she has been on this floor for 20 years and never had anything like this happen or heard of anything like this happening... guess we just don't like to make things simple or easy. Oh, Whitney - I love you, even if you are a paper-eater!

Spread the Word to End the Word

I missed the official "Spread the Word to End the Word" day on 3/3/2010 but still wanted to post this video in support of ending the use of the "r-word" in everyday speech. For more information go to http://www.r-word.org.

A goodnight poem by Sandra Boynton

When we are finished reading stories every night before the girls go to bed, we always read the same goodnight poem at the end - the poem is "The Going to Bed Book" by Sandra Boynton

Tonight, Anne was saying it along with us and so we asked her if she knew the poem. She said almost the entire poem without us hinting to a few of the words. We loved it so much that I asked her if she would say it again if I got out my camera - if you haven't heard it before, it is a very cute book/poem... here is Anne's re-telling of "The Going to Bed Book":