Posts Tagged ‘BlogHer’

June 28th, 2010

Nominated!

I never thought I would find myself nominated for much of anything, especially if it comes off of my blog. But yesterday Gina (The Feminist Breeder) posted a link to the BlogLuxe voting site. I decided to get on it and go vote for her because she is super awesome and totally deserves some kick ass blog awards.

I got down to nomination #7 “Blog You’ve Learned the Most From”  and there was Momotics, nominated. I was floored! So I posted it on facebook, twitter, everywhere so I can attempt to get a shot at actually winning something. While I am highly sure I won’t win anything from this, I thought it was only fair thank my readers for the nomination and try and con you guys into voting for me. LOL!

You can vote daily between now and July 12th, so go to it and help a sista out!

Vote for Momotics

I love you guys!

June 27th, 2010

How Safe is Your Nursery?

There are so many debates over baby products today, but one of the biggest debates I continue to see is the use of baby bumpers in cribs. Typically they recommend a bumper that is not pillow like, but I had yet to find a bumper that was not pillow like until I came across Go Mama Go Designs and their awesome new bumper alternative. They call it The Wonder Bumper.

Before I get into details about The Wonder Bumper, my review, what I think about the product, and the relationship I have built with the Go Mama Go Design company, I want to discuss some of the statistics I came across regarding nursery dangers and injuries related to baby products, because I found them to be completely alarming.

In 2008, 63,700 children under the age of 5 years old were treated in emergency rooms across the United States for injuries resulting from some time of baby product incident.

Between 2004 and 2006 there were an estimated 247 deaths averaging about 82 deaths a year. What was the cause of 88% of these deaths?  Crib mattresses, baby baths, playpen/play yards, bassinet/cradles, infant carriers, and infant carseats.

In 2008, 11,500 injuries were caused by a crib, crib bedding, crib mattress, etc.

Now when researching things for my kids, I always came across conflicting information about crib bumpers. Put them in, take them out, they cause SIDS, suffocation, etc. Needless to say by the time my oldest son was born we scrapped the bumper because I am still worried to death about SIDS and he is almost 3!

Which is why when I saw this Wonder Bumper product, I thought to myself… Ok, well why aren’t they more popular?  Why haven’t I heard of them until now?  Why isn’t this the #1 product moms are signing up for on their baby registry if they are planning on using a crib!

It is a GENIUS idea!  Look!  It is clearly not your traditional bumper!  They are basically covers for each individual bar for your crib, which in turn allows the air to flow between the crib bars, unlike traditional crib bumpers. Which helps to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Another plus is as children get older, they can’t stand on these like traditional crib bumpers. I can tell you, as our children got older, and we put the bumper back into the crib when they were old enough to roll over and move around, we have caught a child or two trying to use it as a stepping stool to step right out of the crib.

So why am I reviewing and loving this product and company?  Well Go Mama Go Designs is one of my sponsors for BlogHer this year! I am super excited to be working with them on various projects in the upcoming months also.  Sometime in August-September we are also going to be giving away a whole bedding set including the awesome Wonder Bumper to one of my super lucky readers!

Check out Go Mama Go Designs on Twitter
Check out Go Mama Go Designs on Facebook
Check out the Go Mama Go Designs Blog

Please take a couple minutes and check them out!  I think they are an awesome company for those who do choose to use a crib!

June 24th, 2010

Want to Meet at BlogHer?

Heading to BlogHer 2010 in New York City?  So am I!  LOL!

Want to meet up?

Take a couple minutes to fill out this little form so we can connect in NYC!

Meet me in NYC!

June 14th, 2010

10 Things I want to do Before BlogHer 2010

I am starting to get prepared for my trip to BlogHer which is now less than 2 months away. I feel like, compared to other bloggers I am totally last minute on getting things together. Although I am sure there are others out there way behind me. Actually I know that for a fact because in the past 24 hours, I have learned that two of my favorites are going to be attending.   Kristine and Emily, two ladies who I love to read, and do a ton of good in the Blogging community are going to be joining all the news faces I am excited to meet!

So what do I need to get done??? EEK!

1. Go clothes shopping for something to wear to all these parties!  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights all have important adventures I certainly need to shine up like a new penny for. Plus it gives me the excuse to get dressed up when I rarely have the chance since motherhood.
2. Collect all my favorite Bloggers telephone numbers so I can get in touch with them once I get to NYC. I heard since there are so many people at BlogHer it is sometimes near impossible to find some of the ladies you are looking for without cell phones. What the heck did we do before them?
3. Order my business cards. I currently have them in my cart of Vista, but I am going to hold out another 3-4 weeks until I know for sure if I do or do not have a second sponsor. I would HATE to waste money getting more printed to add another sponsor on the back.
4. Steal my Moms rolling suitcases to pack. I by no means have luggage. We never go anywhere and if we do, we have smaller overnight type bags we use. Not only that but I am going to need to have my stuff on wheels because of the train aspect of my travel.
5. Find a place in NYC that is not only reasonably priced but local to the hotel I am going to be staying in for dinner on Thursday night.
6. Get invited to one of these special parties being hosted by private companies. I would give ANYTHING to be invited to the Nikon party!
7. Find a babysitter for the children for Friday the 6th.
8. Manicure, pedicure, massage, and haircut.
9. Think about other materials I can make with my blog information on them to give out while networking. Since I know I can’t be giving out swag at BlogHer, I need to think of cool things to use my blog logo on. Bumper Stickers? Post Cards? Pens?  What do you think?
10. Thank my husband again for all the help he has been giving me with planning my BlogHer trip.

What are the to do stuff you plan on getting done before heading out to BlogHer?

June 4th, 2010

Announcing my BlogHer Sponsor!

I know everyone has been anticipating it as much as I have, and also has been waiting for my big announcement. I has been killing me to keep it to myself because I have wanted to scream it from the roof tops because, yes, my sponsor is that awesome.

So yesterday I was making my new business cards for BlogHer, I realized not only did I need to make business cards for my blog, which I do not have, but I need to reserve the space on the back of the card for this amazing company that has put their support being me because of my popularity in the childbirth, and new parents community.  So, the front of my business card is going to look like this :

How do you like it?  I am kind of partial to it because of course I designed it. I want to thank Theresa at the Healthy Baby Network again for making my awesome Momotics logo too!   I think it fits perfectly into the design I picked out on VistaPrint.

So are you ready to see the back of the card and see who I am holding hands with for BlogHer this year?
You sure you are ready?
Yes, I have to drag this out as much as I possibly can, because that is what I do!

Lamaze is an amazing company that manufactures all kinds of great products for mothers, and children. Educational books, toys, and mother friendly products including a body care line that is aimed at pregnant women and new mothers.

I have been working with Lamaze recently in their new online community Giving Birth with Confidence, which is an amazing resource for new mothers, as well as veteran pregnant women. They have groups, forums, and all kinds of great informative posts written by amazing women in the childbirth community.  I am honored to be blogging next to women like Judith Lothian!

But I knew finding a sponsor this year was not going to be easy, I am still one of the “new kids” on the block, and why the heck would anyone want to sponsor me?  I sent out a couple e-mails to companies that I love, and truly believe in their cause and when I heard back about Lamaze, I was over the moon. They are just such an amazing company, as well as organization all around. I am even more happy to be working on becoming a LCCE because the women there are just so amazing.

Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for a great giveaway of an awesome Lamaze product, and in the time following the BlogHer conference!

I am so excited to be able to go this year as New York is amazingly close for me making this a reality! So who is going?  Who am I going to be meeting up with?

SEE YOU IN NEW YORK CITY!

June 2nd, 2010

Drawing My BlogHer Line in the Sand

Sure, there are some people who aren’t going to agree with me, or agree with what I have to say, but before I even get started, I am going to make it clear that harassing comments, or even rude or tasteless comments will end up where they belong… the trash. This is not a free for all over my opinion.

I had no idea there was this brewing revolution against the 2010 BlogHer conference  until last night when I read “Nestle Doesn’t Care if you Back Out of BlogHer” by one of my fav’s Gina the Feminist Breeder. Then it hit me. This is probably the ONLY year I am going to be able to attend BlogHer anytime soon. With two little boys under 3, a budding career, and a million things going on in my own life, who knows when I will be able to go again. New York City is less than an hour for me on the train, it is cheap to commute for the conference, I will get to meet some of my favorite bloggers, and I have an AWESOME sponsor!   Why would I back out now?

Well its no secret over the last 2 months I have been searching for a ticket like a nut because I wasn’t able to purchase one when they were sold out. Sponsor or not, no ticket means no conference.

Last night kind of burned my biscuits when people started discussing the fact that they are not going, nor passing their ticket along. Instead their ticket will be going in the garbage. While it is understandable because they have something that they believe in, it pissed me off because there are so many women out here sitting and waiting on the “waiting list” for BlogHer tickets, or would give anything for the opportunity to go, and the Nestle boycott doesn’t impact us.

It is no secret I haven’t been the biggest supporter of the Nestle boycott. I support what the boy cotter’s are doing, but unfortunately without Nestle, and their Good Start formula, my youngest child may not have been able to find any formula he could tolerate after he had issues with breast milk.

But now there are women from all kinds of causes who may not get the opportunity at all because more tickets are going in the trash even though people won’t be attending.  Like I said before, on one side of the fence I see the issue, on the other side it looks selfish to all the women desperately wanting to go to the conference when these other bloggers are squandering their tickets.

My line in the sand?
I am standing with Gina, and I will still be going to BlogHer. and I will boycott Nestle openly while there, and I will be a radical.
But 20 people boycotting a conference isn’t going to stick it to one of the largest companies in the world, it is only going to stick it to 20 more women sitting on the waiting list who won’t get an opportunity to go to BlogHer, whether for their first time, or their fifth time.

April 29th, 2010

BlogHer Conference 2010

For a while it had looked like I would not be able to go to BlogHer in NYC this year. The biggest perk for me was it is in New York City and that could eliminate a hotel cost, because I could travel from Connecticut on the train directly into the city with no problems. Score for me!

Downside? I didn’t get a sponsor or ticket in time before all the tickets sold out!  There are tons of people out there that are selling tickets right now because they can’t go for whatever reason, or bought more tickets than they really needed.

Now that I have secured a sponsor, a super awesome sponsor at that (will reveal in time) now I have to go through the project of finding a ticket all over again!  So, if any of you are reading this post, and have an extra ticket, please let me know, or even if you know a friend of a friend of a friend who has a ticket, send them my way!

In my search for a ticket I found that Sears Portrait Studio was running a contest to win a ticket to BlogHer.  Part of the contest is to write a blog post about why you want to go to blogher, and you love professional portraits. So, I wanted to include that into this BlogHer post.

Why do I want to go to BlogHer? In the past year my blog has gone from some ramblings of my own, to a high traffic Mom blog focusing on the childbirth community and pregnancy as a whole for the most part. I went from a click here and there, to an average of 300 people a day clicking on a slow day. I feel like BlogHer would be an amazing opportunity for me to not only meet awesome bloggers like The Feminist Breeder, but to also learn about expanding my already passionate project. Luckily for me others agree.

Why do I love professional portraits? There is nothing worth more than pictures of your children as they grow. These moments can never be replaced, but through pictures we can have memories that bring us back to those moments with our children.

So who else is going to BlogHer?