Wordless Wednesday: Luck of the Irish

Happy 1st St. Patrick's Day (Month!)

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

BuildASign Review!

BuildASign is an entirely new kind of sign company, started in 2005 by four founders who have made it their mission to provide a quick and easy way to create high quality, custom signage. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, BuildASign products range from vinyl banners, magnets, bumper stickers, license plates, stakes, frames and accessories, to signs for yards, real estate, vinyl letters and decals. 
...................................................................................................................... Our easy-to-use yet comprehensive online interface gives customers complete control of the design and ordering process from start to finish, including sign wording, colors, design elements, typefaces, and graphics. Customers can use our exclusive design templates and graphic elements to build a sign from scratch or they can upload their own existing graphics, photographs, and designs. Unlike most sign companies, BuildASign.com™ doesn’t charge a set up fee for artwork. Best of all, customers can choose from a wide range of sizes and top quality sign materials. All our signs are offered at affordable prices, whether the order is for a single sign – or dozens or hundreds of signs. BuildASign.com™
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An array of different sign types can be made from several high quality materials including alumicore, aluminum, art board, corrugated plastic, nylon flag, plywood, reflective aluminum, sandwich board and vinyl. I was offered the awesome opportunity to to review a product of my choice from Build A Sign, just in time for Trayton's first birthday! I chose a 3' x 6' vinyl banner and let me tell you, it was SO easy to create! I simply chose my style, color and size, added my photos and used a few of the graphics they provided; they even added the grommets for hanging. The banner was produced and shipped quickly and arrived in perfect condition. The colors are vibrant, the vinyl is a great weight and their personnel are very knowledgeable and courteous! Although I did not pay for my product, I find the prices to be very reasonable, even for larger, heavier materials (Ryan and I had been looking at signs for his cattle business and BuildASigns' prices were just as competitive if not better that those in our area.) While I was designing Trayton's banner I was a bit skeptical about how the pictures would turn out, however, I am VERY impressed with the quality. As you can see from the image below, the banner is crisp and clear; I am very excited to put this up at the party!   

I appreciate the fact that you can save created designs under your account for future use; something that will definitely prove useful when I create and order products to advertise my floral business at bridal shows. The next time you are in need of signage for an event or business, consider BuildASign linked under Mama Recommends!

The product for this post was sent to me free of charge by the company for the purpose of this review and advertisement. Receipt of this product did not influence a positive review. The opinion expressed here is 100% my own and I always give my readers full disclosure  

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Baby Dickey's Baby Shower Event!

Are you looking for the perfect gift for a new or expecting mama, or maybe for yourself? Emily at Baby Dickey is hosting a wonderful baby shower gift guide event at Baby Dickey's Giveaways and there is still time to enter! Catch all of her reviews and take a peek at gifts from sponsors like Tommee Tippee, Safety 1st, Lenox, Munchkin, Kolcraft, EcoMom, HALO Sleepsack, Guidecraft, Aden + Anais and many more. This event is popping with must have products for mamas and little ones alike! One lucky reader takes ALL from this event which totals over $1,100 in prizes! Don't miss out, the event ends Saturday, March 12th, 2011! While you're there make sure to check out her family blog at Baby Dickey!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Huge Cloth Diaper Event!

The wonderful ladies over at Mama B and Double Duty Mommy are hosting a HUGE cloth diaper event this month, Bye Bye 'Sposies, Hello Cloth! This event will include lots of reviews, giveaways, education and interviews, all surrounding cloth diapering! Extra entries into the event can be obtained by grabbing their button so don't miss out on this great opportunity!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: 11 Months!

It's had to believe that exactly one month from today our little guy is going to be a year old!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Valentine

I didn't get to post these last week due to an unexpected trip to the hospital for abdominal pain, on Valentines Day nonetheless. So here is my little Valentine, outdoors in his first Valentines Day outfit enjoying the gorgeous weather!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!

Sleeping Arrangements

Cosleeping and bedsharing have been the standard among societies around the world for hundreds of years, yet it raises controversy in western cultures. Cosleeping is the practice of having an infant or child sleep within close proximity of the parents or caregivers such as the same room and is often used interchangeably with the term bedsharing which is the practice of infants and young children sleeping in the same bed with their parent(s)/caregiver(s).

Research conducted by Morelli, Rogoff, Oppenheim and Goldsmith found that of 100 societies surveyed around the world, the U.S. was the only one in which babies slept in a separate room from their parents or caregivers. They conducted another study, incorporating 136 societies, which revealed that in 2/3 of the societies babies slept in the same bed as their mothers. In studying cultural variations of cosleeping, Morelli found that Mayan families practice bedsharing first with the mother during infancy and then with other family members during early childhood. Their beliefs encourage family interdependence. Study western cultures including the American culture found that cosleeping may occur for the first few weeks or months of life but around 3-6 months of age infants are moved to their own room because parents/caregivers belief this is an appropriate time to learn to be independent and self reliant. Sleeping arrangements are highly influenced by culture, family economic status, feeding method, ethnicity, goals and infant-parent biology. 

Controversy surrounding bedsharing and cosleeping raises questions in regards to benefit vs. safety. I am an advocate of Attachment Parenting and cosleeping/bedsharing and strongly believe that the benefits far outweigh the risks.  Dr. James McKenna of the University of Notre Dame's Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory conducts research regarding the safety of different sleep environments as well as the the physiological and/or psychological consequences of the different choices of sleeping arrangements parents make. In his paper, Why babies should never sleep alone: A review of the co-sleeping controversy in relation to SIDS, bedsharing and breast feeding, he states "mother–infant co-sleeping represents the most biologically appropriate sleeping arrangement for humans and is both ancient and ubiquitous simply because breast feeding is not possible, nor as easily managed, without it." It appears to me that we as humans, are the only mammals which push our offspring away from the nest (bed) so to speak. Infant safety is the most important aspect to consider and current research has torn apart previous notions of cosleeping being unsafe. Older studies were poorly constructed and failed to not only take into account the reasons for infant deaths that occurred during bedsharing but to accurately report their findings. Dr. McKenna goes on to state, "major epidemiological studies have shown that when a committed caregiver, usually the mother, sleeps in the same room but not in the same bed with their infant the chance of the infant dying from sudden infant death

syndrome (SIDS) is reduced by 50%.21–23 This protective factor does not generalise to co-sleeping in proximity to siblings.22 That a specific adult caregiver appears necessary for protection lends support to the hypothesis that it is in the nature of the mutual sensory vigilance i.e. the social and biological connection between an infant and its caregiver that is critical if co-sleeping is to be protective (or dangerous as argued elsewhere.15). In other words, caregiver intention and motivation matters!" Safety education is important and readily available to those considering bedsharing. According to Dr. McKenna, bedsharing is biologically appropriate! Human infants are without a doubt the most immature, reliant and slowest developing of any primate. Human infants are completely dependent on a caregiver, primarily the mother so it makes complete sense from an evolutionary standpoint that bedsharing and cosleeping would be the most favorable condition for infant physiological-psychological development.

Here are some of the advantages of cosleeping/bedsharing:
Baby knows you are present to respond to emotional and physical needs

Babies breast feed more frequently with fewer disruptions to mother's sleep and consequently both babies and mothers receive more sleep

Babies cry less

Frequent breast feedings mean enhanced breast feeding and lowered risk of disease

Close caregiver-infant proximity means higher potential to intercede if baby is having breathing difficulty, choking or if other health status changes occur

Working mothers/fathers/caregivers have the opportunity to spend more time nurturing and interacting with their infants, promoting bonding

Some argue that there are disadvantages to consider as well. The relationship with your partner may be altered, there may be difficulty transitioning the child to their own bed at a later age and worries arise regarding the child sleeping away from the parent and in different settings. There is also the concern for an increased risk if SIDS related deaths, however as previously shown by research, the rate of SIDS related deaths decreases significantly when parents and caregivers take the time to learn to cosleep/bedshare safely and responsibly. It seems as is often the case that these disadvantages are case by case scenarios that we as adults are capable of altering.

I highly recommend reading Dr. McKenna's paper and exploring the research laboratory's website for additional information and reading material!

Wishing you a pot o' gold, and all the joy your heart can hold. Thanks for reading!