Tommee Tippee Giveaway (closed)

My children drink juice like it's their job. And I cannot even begin to tell you how much juice gets spilled on my couch, the living room rug, the floor, on pillows, etc. So.. when Tommee Tippee contacted me to try out some of their products, I jumped at the chance for Lily and Noah to test their "Truly Spill Proof" cups.

And now that they've used the Explora Truly Spill Proof Drink Cups and Straw Cups for a few weeks (and I've washed them for a few weeks), I only have one complaint- those Straw Cups are kind of a p.a.i.n in the rear. To clean. To assemble. Etc. There are so many pieces! However.. so far.. they really are spill proof. So.. it's totally worth it.. and I looove them. (Also, after awhile, all the pieces don't seem like such a big deal.) Noah drops his cups all over the place and I'm so happy to say the couch, rugs, floors, and pillows have remained much drier since using the Tommee Tippee cups. Honestly.

We've also been trying the Explora Feeding Spoons and Section Plates- none of which are a pain to wash. Or assemble. Even Lily, who is almost 5, really likes them. She likes the colors of the spoons, she likes the sections of the plates, and she likes to dictate who gets what color. The spoons are, well, spoons. I have no complaints. The colors are nice, the handles are good for little hands to grip (but not awkward for adults feeding those with little hands), and overall they are just a nicely made utensil.

The plates are great too. We previously only had a couple of section plates, but not as well.. laid out (I guess that's the best way to put it). They are a good size, easy for adults to hold onto the flat areas, and the sections seem perfect or toddler and preschool sized food portions. My one complaint is that they don't stack that well with each other. Which may have been on purpose so that they don't get stuck together, but it is a little awkward for storage purposes since they don't sit flat. You'd probably only be able to stack so many before they'd start to topple, but we have four.. and it's fine.

All this new Tommee Tippee Explora stuff has made us big, big fans of the brand. And I think you will be too. Find out more by visiting their website at: http://www.tommeetippee.us

You can enter to win a package similar to the one I received by entering now through Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. Make one comment below (only one per household please). Open to U.S. addresses only. One winner will be randomly selected and notified by email- they will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected. Please make sure your email address is in your comment or blogger profile.

(Giveaway prize provided by Tommee Tippee.)

winner: #9 Katherine

Here's what's new

So, there actually isn't a whole lot of excitement in our lives right now. How's that for a sentence that makes you want to read on?

I think it was 64 degrees when I took Lily to school this morning.. and even now at 2 o'clock.. it's only four degrees warmer. I have been fighting so hard not to get pumpkin spice coffee, but it is everywhere I go (okay, I'm mostly at Target and Starbucks, but whatever) and I don't know how much longer I can hold out. Most years I wait until October 1.. because then I feel like it's really fall. And blah blah blah.

But it's already getting colder here and I have been following the weather very closely the last few weeks because I am afraid that at any moment we are going to get hit with the world's biggest hurricane. (And I think this every time I get the fridge and freezer stocked up again.. like okay, well NOW we can lose power for two days I guess.)

(And this is how nerdy I am..) apparently today or tomorrow is traditionally the very peak of hurricane season in this part of the world. However, if you've noticed.. this year, we have successfully avoided everything. Or, actually, there hasn't even been anything to avoid. Knock on wood. I've basically just jinxed everything. Sorry about that.

Which transitions nicely into talking about Lily taking swimming lessons. (No, no it doesn't- but she is anyway.) She took them the first time the summer before Noah was born and I just haven't been able to get my act together so she could take more lessons. Mostly it was like.. what am I supposed to do with an infant while I'm in the pool with my 4-year old?

Ya, me in the pool too. Which is the level she was at originally and apparently it was the same for the next level as well. Buuuut.. I cannot stop feeling terrible that she wasn't allowed to be in kindergarten this year (missed the cutoff by a few weeks and no exceptions apparently)- so swimming lessons it is!

I've signed her up for the level she needs to be in, but the one that I don't have to be in the water with her for. Which, uh, could be fine.. or it could be a terrible, terrible disaster. I am preparing myself for it being a terrible, terrible disaster.

And by that I just mean that she'll probably take off into water over her head the split second her teacher takes an eye off her. She won't be able to do anything but flail and choke on water while I start screaming for the teacher to save her. Which of course they will because it's a small class in a small pool, but then Lily will be hysterical. And I'll be hysterical. And Noah will in turn be hysterical. It will be awful. And mortifying. And the end of swim lessons. Until at least next time.

Thus putting a whole bunch of excitement back in ourselves. Done.

what we did

1. Disney Infinity is in our house now and it didn't take long for Lily to break Mrs. Incredible. Purposely I believe.. as she mentioned something about twisting her head (apparently she's not as stretchy as we thought!). Thank goodness for superglue.

2. I finally was able to harvest of lettuce from my window garden. It was so exciting. Lettuce! That I grew myself. The 7 or so leaves was all that I could get at the time, but there is almost that much ready to bring in again- now that we're about to enter the second week of September..

3. There is apparently a book called Monsters Eat Whiny Children. I'm not sure what it could be about since the title is clearly a lie (not that I know from experience  because some of my children partake in the whining on occasion).

4. Road trip. Only a two hour round trip, but hey.. at least it was something.

5. Green in the middle of the city.

6. I harvested the last of my cucumbers this week. These three little guys weren't fully grown yet, obviously, but as all the leaves on all the plants had shriveled up about a week ago I figured this was as much as they were going to grow. So funny.. like little green cucumber gourds.

That day of the week

There is one day during the week that I am occasionally not 100% responsible for my children 24 hours a day. And it is the day that 75% of my doctors and medical people don't work.

My main doctor works like one day a week I think.. and it's not that day. But, I haven't seen her in over a year anyway.. they always pass me off to a physician's assistant now. I almost got into a fight with the receptionist because I needed to reschedule my yearly physical and I just wanted to be able to see my own doctor at least ONCE a year. (Which is apparently too much to ask.) Because otherwise, how is she even my doctor? But instead of a few weeks or a month away.. it was scheduled for 6 months later, because that was all that was available. And it's not even on a day I can go, so I'm going to have to reschedule it again anyway. Are all doctors like this now?

My back surgeon isn't the office that day (but he does operate).. and in fact the entire office is closed. The last time I went when Lily was at school, but I still had to bring Noah with me. I thought he'd be alright in the waiting room and running around like crazy in the exam room- but it was the opposite. Thankfully it was a quick visit.

(And now that I think of it, the doctor I saw for my back before that.. was also not in the office that day. As well as a specialist I went to once for an unknown allergic reaction. I only went once because I couldn't work out a day that I was actually able to be there without those kids of mine. The allergy cleared up, so it probably wasn't needed anyway.)

My dentist does work that day, thankfully. Which allows me to have my teeth cleaned (and drilled) sans children and also lets me have my full attention on Lily when she has her appointments there.

Lily and Noah's pediatrician is usually working all week, but obviously that's irrelevant. Although.. you know what days she often doesn't work? The days Lily is in school- so I still have to bring her to Noah's appointments.. where she is always thrilled to pieces to make it another episode of The Lily Show- if you know what I mean.

Who else? The place I got a rescheduled appointment for a test/procedure today is no longer open that specific day of the week. Just another thing that will have to be moved again.. but to when I have no idea. And test/procedure type things are not typically something one can bring their children to.

Oh! And you know what else doesn't happen on that day? Jury duty at the court house I've been assigned to. Because I already tried to reschedule it.. and I couldn't. And taking care of your young children doesn't count as an excuse to miss out on performing "your civic duty" because I already tried. So Jason is going to have to take an entire day off off work because I have jury duty. And who gets paid? Neither of us. I am pretty sure that doesn't make sense.

But I digress.