Two Years Ago Today... The Eve Of The Best Two Years of My Life

On the eve of the best day of my life I woke up just a little bit in labor. I was so excited, holy shit this was happening --> a New Years Eve baby! And my beloved (adored, idolized) sister-in-law also has a New Years Eve birthday. Too magical; it was meant to be (well that 's what I thought at 7am).

I cleaned the house in a fugue state, dying with anticipation... and around 11am we started timing the contractions...

It's funny how much I don't remember. Most of this time is all a blur. But I do remember one thing quite clearly: back labor. That was the 3-4 hours during which my 9lb 12oz baby's spine was grinding the bejoohas (whatever) out of my spine and making me want to tear my spine out of my body and bash it repeatedly into the wall. I had read somewhere that if you focus all your energy on a tiny object you can ride out painful contractions more peacefully. Since our Christmas tree was still up, I decided to focus on a single ornament each time. Back labor looked like this -->

I wasn't cool. But eventually, after a lonnnnng time, Otto must have decided he didn't want to be born unto a she-demon, so he turned, and the back labor turned into just plain labor. It was a long labor. And without getting too into it I'll just say that I'm small-statured and Otto weighed 9 lbs 12 oz, had a huge head, and was born with both hands out Superman style so I had to birth his fat shoulders at the same time. I didn't take pain meds and labor hurt. A lot. He crowned around 11:00 pm on 12/31; we were assured we'd have a baby before midnight. Nope.

But at 12:23 am on January 1, 2009 the light of my life was born. I'd love to share with you some highlights from the best 2 years of my life...

Welcome to the world.

I'm pretty sure Bieber sings "when you smile, I smile" to this picture.

The dreaded tummy time. He rocked it.

First hotel room.

OMG I want to go back in time and nom his cheeks!

Bahahaha!

This time last year.

Lookin like Shiloh Pitt. Due for that first haircut.

First trip to the beach. San Diego this past summer.

 Now who's this big boy?
Picure by wondertimephoto.com

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. I'm bawling. I've been looking up pictures for two hours writing this. Haha. So bittersweet. Love love love my little baby and the sweet little boy he's becoming. I just wish I could hug him and hold onto him forever.

xo and Happy New Year!
-Lindsey

CLOSED - CSN Stores $35 Gift Card Giveaway!

So excited to host for you my 2nd CSN Stores giveaway! As I'm sure you know by now, CSN Stores is a one-stop-shop for everything from toys, to cookware, to baby gear, to tv tables. Dude, I neeeeeed a new entertainment center. Ours is 2,000 years old and falling apart. It used to be cute, but no longer. So, check it -->


This is the Kathy Ireland Home
by Vaughan Georgetown Media Chest and.... I want it!

But enough about my tragic living room - This is a CSN Stores Giveaway! 

That's right, the lovely people over at CSN Stores have offered TidbitsParenting readers an opportunity to win a $35 Gift Certificate! I recently ordered this set of construction trucks from CSN Stores for Otto, they fit on our wooden train tracks and were a huge Christmas hit!

Anyways, the CSN Stores world will be your oyster if you win.

CLOSED - How to Enter The Giveaway...

Congrats to TammiGirl with comment #616 you are the winner of this giveaway! I'll contact you via email with prize info.

Many Entry Opportunities (none of these is mandatory); pick and choose the modes of entry that you like, and remember to leave a comment for each.

- Tell me what you think you might get from CSN Stores if you won the gift certificate

- Follow CSN Stores on Twitter (2 entries)

- Follow TidbitsParenting via Google Friend Connect (see right sidebar) (if you already follow that counts too) (2 entries)

- Follow @OttosMomBlogs on Twitter (if you already follow that counts too)

- Tweet the following and in your comment, put a link to your tweet (up to 3 bonus entries per day / 1 per tweet / 30 min apart or more please):

Win a $35 @CSNStores Gift Certificate - ends 1/17 http://tinyurl.com/24a6dcw @OttosMomBlogs #Giveaway !

- "Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook (if you already "like" that counts too) (2 bonus entries)

- Grab the TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leave a link to your badged up blog homepage (4 bonus entries) (if you've already got the badge that counts too)

*Vote for my blog on Picket Fence (click here: Picket Fence Blogs ) you can do this daily for a bonus entry each day & I'd love it if you did!

Please note the fine print...

Remember to leave a comment for EACH entry. For example, if you follow CSN Stores on Twitter, since that's worth 2 bonus entries make sure you leave 2 comments for that. Please put your email address in each comment so that I can reach you if you win. I will contact the winner at some point on January 18 and they will have 48 hours to claim the prize or a different winner will be chosen. Giveaway will be closed for new entries at 11:59pm Pacific Time on January 17. Open to US & Canada. I will use Random.org to choose a winner and will verify that the winning entrant has played by the rules so it only makes sense to be honest! Note: I was in no way compensated for this post other than CSN Stores generously providing a gift certificate to the winner. The opinions are my own.

My Dirty Little Secret (The World's Dirtiest Room) (A Project) (I Have Piles)

Please don't report me to "Hoarders" (or I will kill you) but...

Lord help me, this room is my project for this week while I'm off work and Ot's in pre-school. I have 3 days left. I have piles! (lol?) and... I've made barely a dent.

Dear Identity Thieves, Please Note - 2 huge boxes full of "steal my identity please" mail that I've been collecting for over a year. The intention: to shred this crap so no one pilfering through our recycles can open a CapitalOne card in our name. The reality: a do-it-yourself identity theft kit for anyone who breaks into our house and stumbles upon these boxes. Must shred asap.

We're supposed to be putting our house up for sale in a couple of weeks. I HAVE to take care of this something fierce. Not just tidy and dust, but clear shit OUTTA HERE. The thought makes me want to spend all day on Twitter and... (wait, that's what I did Monday, ugh, day 1 wasted).

OMGOMGOMG, I can do this. I can do this! Anyone wanna come over here and help? I'll pay you in Christmas cookies & whiskey shots.

-Lindsey

Christmas 2010

I hope each of you who celebrated had a Christmas holiday as precious and joyful as ours --> 

Otto went from barely-walking-little-baby this time last year to a present-crazed, cookie-obsessed, very boogery-nosed little BOY this year. Watching my son get cracked out on Christmas over the course of the past five days has been a delight to my heart. His little almost-2-year-old brain (yeek, his bday looms in less than a week!) is now soaked and pickled in domino sugar and his eyes are dilated as visions of "new toys" "more toys" and "presents now" dance in his head. He totally had a spoiled rotten holiday.

So spoiled, in fact, that on our way home this afternoon I told my husband we need to institute a tradition of volunteering and giving back as soon as Otto is old enough to appreciate it. He has so much; I never did as a kid. I want him to learn compassion and generosity from his earliest memories. That's all - I don't want to get all heavy here or anything.

A Christmas Story, The Fireman With Two Right Arms...

As a little nuclear family, we're having a tough time financially this year. There's a light at the end of the tunnel in January, but for now we're like maxed maxed maxed on our credit cards and counting nickels. Still, we were able to cobble together a pretty magical "Nuclear Christmas" (just the 3 of us) Wednesday night before heading out of town for 2 major family Christmases this weekend. At home, Otto got to help himself to chocolate chip cookies & pizza, open a stocking full of goodies from the Target dollar bins (bless those bins) and a few presents including a pretty sweet fireman playset with an awesome fireman with two right arms! They're both flexed and ready for action, like so:

 I'm just proud of this determined, brave soul for making it on the squad. I bet a lot of people told him, "You'll never be a fireman! Righty Righty!" But he showed them. And now he even has a motorcycle. ::Raises glass to double-right-armed fireman::

Otto loves his misfit fireman and told us his favorite part of the night was "Cookie Presents!" then he did a little moonwalk booty shake dance around the living room for 2 minutes that were some of the best 2 minutes of my life.

We then traveled to our parents' homes for 2 more wonderful Christmases where Otto was juiced, and dined, and cookied, and gifted galore. I love how much our families love my son. I love how much he loves our families. And we have a little 6month-old nephew, Kingston, who is fast becoming Otto's great buddy. I loved being able to spend the day with that little dude.

Thanks for letting me share and Happy New Years! Did anyone get a cooler gift than our 2-right-armed fireman?

xo, Lindsey

Nearly Wordless... Our First Family Photos!

I can't even be funny or snarky (or whatever I usually am) in this post because I'm just purely, blissfully, happy-as-a-lark about finally having photos of my little nuclear fam. We recently had these shots taken with local Tucson family photographer Michelle Rasmussen (Wondertime Photography). Honestly, I look better in these than I did in my wedding pictures and that was 13 years, 15 pounds, and a 2 year old ago. I'm so excited to share with you...

To see a bunch more, please visit Michelle's blog post of our shoot here. Michelle is also amazingly responsible for my new black & white headshots here and on Twitter... That... I... Love!

XOXO and Happy Holidays guys!
-Lindsey

CLOSED 3 Winners Giveaway! Kiboomu iTunes Kids Songs Album (Winner's Choice)

The road to this awesome giveaway (3 winners!) has been ridiculously long and winding. Soooo nobody's fault but my own. When Kiboomu offered me a free iTunes download of their childrens album "The Top 30 Preschool Songs" so Otto and I could dance party, it took me weeks to get my husband to download it on his computer (I don't have iTunes on mine). Weeks! He was busy and I felt like a real goon needing help with something a 2nd grader could probably figure out (i.e., how to download something on iTunes). I still don't know how, haha, but he finally downloaded the album for us and, well, it was worth the wait! Read on and please enter to win this fun, awesome giveaway of your choice of Kiboomu downloadable iTunes album for your little dance partyer!

The Review
 I thought Otto (my almost 2yo) would be the best person to give this review. He gives "The Top 30 Preschool Songs" a hand clap, a booty shake, a stomp of the feet, and a grooving little spin in a circle, all while laughing and smiling. Total dance party success! We especially love:

- Good Morning, How Are You? (a Kiboomu original)
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (Otto would say the most hilarious song of all time)
- ABC song (we're getting there)
- If You're Happy and You Know It (Ot's happy and he knows it)

If You Know What You're Doing on iTunes (Unlike Me)

Kiboomu offers over 1000 downloadable kids songs as well as compilation albums. You can preview them here.

If You Have an iPhone (Unlike Me)
Kiboomu offers award winning downloadable kids apps. Also, they've been featured on the Huffington Post so I pretty much want to make out with them, just sayin.

CLOSED - How to Enter The Giveaway...

Congrats to entrants #6, 21, and 26! Christy, Kirsten & Elizabeth you are the winners of this giveaway and will be contacted shortly with redemption codes for your Kiboomu prizes! Yay!

Many Entry Opportunities (none are mandatory); pick and choose the modes of entry that you like and remember to leave a comment for each:

* Tell me what song, album, or kids app your little one might enjoy from Kiboomu
* "Like" Kiboomu on Facebook (also good because they post crafts & recipes)
* Follow Kiboomu on Twitter
* Grab the Kiboomu badge (from the bottom of their homepage) and in your comment leave a link to your badged up homepage (4 bonus entries)
* Tell me what's your little one's favorite song (from Old McD to Lady Gaga) to dance party to!
* Follow TidbitsParenting via Google Friend Connect (see sidebar) 
* Follow @OttosMomBlogs on Twitter
* Tweet the following. In your comment put a link to your tweet (up to 3 bonus entries per day / 1 per tweet / 30 min apart or more please):

3 Winners will win their choice of iTunes kids album from @Kiboomu! http://tinyurl.com/34j9q64 @OttosMomBlogs #Giveaway !

*"Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook
*Grab TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leave a link to your badged up homepage (4 bonus entries)
*Vote for my blog on Picket Fence (click here: Picket Fence Blogs ) you can do this daily for a bonus entry each day & I'd love it if you did!

Please Note:

Remember to leave a comment for EACH entry.

Please put your email in each comment so that I can reach you if you win. Once I contact the winners they each will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we will choose a different winner.

Giveaway will be closed for new entries at 11:59pm Pacific Time on January 10. Open to US and Canada. I will use Random.org to choose 3 winners and will verify that the winning entrants played by the rules so it only makes sense to be honest! Note: I was in no way compensated for this post but did receive a complimentary album to download. The opinions are my own.

-Lindsey

Overwhelmed! Calgon? You out there?

Ring a jingle bell if you're also feeling a little overwhelmed about right now. I keep meaning to post blog updates but where's the time? Meanwhile, I'm getting nothing done on my to-do list and Christmas and Otto's 2nd birthday are both coming up within weeks. I'm just spinning out of control!

Calgon? Did you stop answering women's prayers in the 80s? Cause I could use you, dude.

Well I hope you're having a better time keeping your head on straight than this MILFATOP (haha Sarah).

xo,
Lindsey

How To Save Yourself From an Uncomfortable "Bump & Grind" at the Holiday Party

Hey Guys! I was away for a few days visiting NYC for a little worky-worky and party-party. While I was there I invented a new dance move that might just save you from an uncomfortable "gettin freaky with it" moment on the dance floor with one of your co-workers. I call it the "No Hard Feelings But No Way José!" feel free to use it if you find your booty in high demand at the holiday party (or any dance party).

My gift to you. Happy Holidays!
-Lindsey

Otto I'm Coming Home!

Hey guys. I've been taking a mini-hiatus from the blog the past few days to live it UP in New York City (work stuff, but the people I work with are the funnest people ever). It's been fast and furious and cold. I think I may have frostbite but whatever, that heals right? Anyways, I head home this afternoon and well, I'm just plain excited to get back to my boys! Looking forward to getting back on the blogwagon too. xo Hope y'all are having great weeks!

Guest Post! Chicken Taco Soup Slow Cooker Recipe by Lindsay (aka The Happy Housewife Blog)

I'll make my intro short so we can get down to soup, pronto.

Lindsay (with an "a") from the Happy Housewife Blog agreed to guest post for me while I'm out of town for a few days. Thank you, Lindsay, you and this recipe rock!!! Extra cool because me being a Lindsey (with an "e") we are technically supposed to be sworn enemies. Moment of silence for Soup & Blogging which allowed us to see past our (ahem) major differences. You can chat this rad mama up on Twitter too (I do). This recipes sounds insane crazy good and I can't wait to christen my slow cooker with it when I get home. Without further ado...

Chicken Taco Soup

Chicken Taco Soup is that one recipe that my family begs for. Every time I make it my dad is banging at the door making sure he gets a big bowl full (and extra for the next day). Plus with a little one I love anything that I can cook in a crock pot that will also make my house smell like I should work for the food network. So after much discussion on Twitter here is the recipe. I hope you make it, enjoy it, and worship me for it!

1.) So these are the things you will need to make this recipe -

2 cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
2 can of chili beans
1 or 2 cans of Whole Kernal Corn (depending on how much you like corn)
1 can of Black Beans
1 package of taco seasoning
1 can of tomato sauce
3-4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast
And a crock pot!

2.) Add your chicken breast to the bottom of your crock pot

3.) Then add all the ingredients to the top of your chicken making sure the chicken is totally covered. I don't drain any of the cans. And I also add a lot of corn because the hubby LOVES it but you may not want to add so much.

4.) This is what it should look like after all the ingredients are added and stirred together.

5.) Now cook this on high for about 7-8 hours. About two hours before you want to serve it take the chicken out and shred it.

6.) And then stick the chicken back in, stir it, and cook it for another two hours so the taste really gets into the chicken.

7.) After another two hours it will be totally done. You can serve it with taco shells, shredded cheese, and sour cream. Or just by itself. And what I love is that it makes enough for lunch and dinner the next day. My hubby loves it so much he can eat it for two days and not get tired of it.

I would love to know if you made this recipe! And maybe any crock pot recipes that you have of your own!  

Easy Breezy Craft Project - Paper Mache Lanterns With "P" for Personality!

You know who else gets a "P" for Personality? My lantern spokesmodel...

And here's a spokesmodel with a lot less "P" but a steadier hand:

Aren't they freaking cute? Easy too. And cheap to create. 

Otto and I found ourselves invited to a St. Martin's Day celebration last month and needed to come up with a couple of lanterns for the moonlit procession. The instructions I found online were not really what I was looking for. The best ones I found were written in German but with handy illustrations. I cobbled together a few sets of instructions and magically our lanterns turned out super-cute! So I thought I'd share this easy craft project.

All you need is:
- Balloons (word on the street is cheap dollar store balloons don't work as well. We used a $2.50 bag from Target with excellent results)
- Lots and lots of colorful & patterned gift tissue paper cut into approximately 1" strips
- White glue (like Elmer's or whatever)
- Bowl of water
- String/yarn
- Some kind of mess catcher like a pile of old newspaper

All you do is:

Step 1 - Blow up balloon and suspend it from the ceiling over your "mess catcher" using the string. I used our ceiling fan. Here, see...

Step 2 - You'll be dipping the paper strips into a watery glue mixture. Add about 1 TBSP for each cup of water.
Step 3 - One by one dip the strips into the glue/water mixture and then paste them onto the balloon. Leave space at the top so you can put your hand in later (to insert an LED light or to reshape the lantern if needed).
Step 4 - This is the "keep going" step and it takes a little time. You'll want at least 6 layers of tissue paper covering the entire balloon from the neck down. Go quite a bit heavier at the neck and on the bottom since these areas will support the lantern's structure later. Feel free to smooth the exterior with your fingers or leave it lumpy. I'm lazy so went with lump city and they're still insanely cute:

Step 5 - Allow to dry 24 hours
Step 6 - Pop balloon, then peel away the balloon if any sticks to the inside of the lantern and reshape if needed by putting your hand inside and gently pushing out.

Side note - these guys retain their shape super well. If you pop the balloon & the sides of the lantern collapse in, they'll go right back out with a gentle push. A (unsupervised) monster kid stepped on and basically SMASHED one of ours at the event we attended and after stopping myself from throwing a bowl of soup at him I was able to reshape it in 2 seconds.

Step 7 - Use a nail to poke holes on either side of the neck, then tie string or yarn to create a handle
Step 8 - Feel free to embellish by gluing glitter, adding stickers, etc. Then drop in an LED light or similar (not a lit candle obviously as it's a paper lantern)
Step 9 - Go about your moolit procession

Hope you find this fun! We totally did. Let me know if you have any paper mache pointers to share as I'd like to do this craft again when Otto gets a little bigger and can participate more actively. Thanks for reading!

-Lindsey

I'm The Newest cupcakeMAG Cupcake, Cupcake! Plus a Headshot!

No, not body shots, a headshot! I'm so excited to share a sneak peak of my family's photoshoot with local photographer Michelle Rasmussen (aka Wondertime Photography). Michelle is one of my new favorite people and not just because she took a very over-tired, kinda shlubby mama who needs to dye her hair immediately (that would be me) and made her look vibrant and fun (don't you dare tell me if you disagree)...

For more sneak peeks from our shoot visit Michelle's blog.

Michelle is my kinda girl - cool and down to earth and a mom. If you are looking for an awesome Tucson family photographer, she's rad. That's a fact, Jack. And coming soon will be a post with lots and lots of pics from the photoshoot. Michelle has been kind enough to allow me to use a few on the blog (thank you, thank you, muchos thank yous!), so I will finally have real headshots & pics that I didn't take with my phone. Movin on UP! :)

::Drumroll:: so What's This cupcakeMAG Business, Cupcake?

Well.... I first heard of cupcakeMAG when I became active on Twitter this summer. Casi, cupcakeMAG's Editor, was tweeting it UP with Tori Spelling and I was like starstruck-by-association. Then I found out that two more of my favorite Tweeps, Jenny from Monkey-Toes Shoes and Tracy of SweetHarper fame (who I had bonded with over daydreams of swimming in dessert sprinkles) were cupcakeMAG contributing writers and I was like, "dude, this is a cool cool thing."

About a week ago I found out that cupcakeMAG was losing an intern and I contacted Casi begging to see if the intern position could be filled by a long-distance, very part time, only at nights, dorky Tucson mom who needs to dye her hair immediately. She said, "not really, but..." and the next thing I knew we were emailing back and forth and I was given the opportunity to contribute to the publication as a weekly-ish writer! ::Dies::

cupcakeMAG for Littles has this INSANE GIVEAWAY
for a Prince Lionhearts scooter going on right now, b the b.

So all in all I'm excited, which is why I'm awake at 2:15 in the morning. And without further ado, I'm going to finish my wine and go to bed. Please check out my cupcakeMAG bio! The picture should look familiar to you. :)

-Lindsey

Giveaway (CLOSED)... Review Too! PhotoWeavers Blankets Are Picture Perfect Snuggliness

If you are searching for a totally one-of-a-kind, definitely unexpected, oh-so-personal, and well, maybe even a little kooky (but in a really good, fun way) gift this holiday season... PhotoWeavers' custom throws, totes, and pillows may be the answer to your, "heck yeah I am!" I was very excited to be given the opportunity to create & review a custom throw blanket (!!! and then give one away to a lucky reader !!!) look what I did --->

The process was so user-friendly and all online. In fact, the hardest part was deciding which pics to upload! I got to choose the layout, text, embellishments, and border. Less than 1 week later I was holding a very soft 71"x53" (ARV $119) Otto blanket in my hands, and the quality of the images was even more crisp than I'd expected! How do they do that? 

Buy It For 25% Off Through Dec.14

 Just in time for the Christmas holiday, PhotoWeavers is offering 25% off any woven product if ordered by 12/14/2010. Use the code "TELLAFRIEND" at checkout.

Giveaway (CLOSED)...

Congrats to "Ellie" with comment #97 you are the winner of this giveaway! I'll contact you with the redemption code for your blanket!

Many Entry Opportunities (none are mandatory); pick and choose the modes of entry that you like and remember to leave a comment for each:

* Tell me what product you might like from PhotoWeavers
* "Like" PhotoWeavers on Facebook (also a good idea because they post coupons)
* Follow TidbitsParenting via Google Friend Connect (see sidebar) 
* Follow @OttosMomBlogs on Twitter
* Tweet the following. In your comment put a link to your tweet (up to 3 bonus entries per day / 1 per tweet / 30 min apart or more please):

Win a Custom Photo Blanket from PhotoWeavers. You design it! http://tinyurl.com/36el4xr @OttosMomBlogs #Giveaway !

*"Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook
*Grab TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leave a link to your badged up homepage (4 bonus entries)
*Vote for my blog on Picket Fence (click here: Picket Fence Blogs ) you can do this daily for a bonus entry each day & I'd love it if you did!

Please Note:

Remember to leave a comment for EACH entry.

Please put your email in each comment so that I can reach you if you win. Once I contact the winner they will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we will choose a different winner.

Giveaway does not include cost of shipping.

Giveaway will be closed for new entries at 11:59pm Pacific Time on December 27. Open to US only. I will use Random.org to choose a winner and will verify that the winning entrant has played by the rules so it only makes sense to be honest! Note: I was in no way compensated for this post but did receive a complimentary product. The opinions are my own.

-Lindsey

Wordless... This Santa Guy's Alright. Oh Wait, Get Me The Hell Outta Here.



Awww. First Instinct: snuggle in. This lap's made for sittin!

Welcome to our holiday card. I LOVE this pic! Note the Monkey-Toes Shoes, adorbs!



Ot & his identical cousin, King. Cutest matchy-matchy action EVER!
Otto: Ok, it's been real...

World's Cutest Nephew! Most Natural Santa-Sitter! Most Nommable Cheeks!

-Lindsey

I Blew A Turkey Loaf

Haha, could not resist that title! Head out of the gutter, perves, this isn't Skinemax! Or whatever weird sex channel would show something like... you know what, forget it, I'm gonna stop. But for reals, tonight I blew the sh*t out of what should have been a beautiful turkey meatloaf. My first meatloaf, ever, actually.

May ye olde turkey loaffe RIP. She were a gnarly, nasty mess. She be buried in ye olde dumpsterre astern of me house.

What happened?

Well, you see, I have a problem. I can NOT leave a recipe alone to save my life. What did I do to this one? I decided I'd hide pumpkin puree, ground flax, an egg, and a cup of broccoli sprouts in the mix. Oh, and I didn't even look at misread the instructions that said to put a cup of tomato sauce on TOP of the loaf before cooking, so I stirred it INTO the mixture. What I ended up with was a hot mess that looked like the brains of some half sprout/half man lovechild (look for that sex tape on the same channel that carries the me-blowing-a-turkey-loaf footage). Well, just see for yourself...

Did you throw up a little bit?

Oh, and the original recipe called for a 45-50 minute cook time. I held onto hope for this bad boy til we hit the 2 hour mark and it was still gelatinous. That's when I pronounced it DOA. Said the last rites. Got myself a coffee cup full of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Luckily (an hour earlier when it was supposed to be done cooking) I'd also made mashed potatoes, gravy, and a freaking amazing lil green bean casserole as sides. So we did Boston Market side item meal-style dinner. Which my vegetarian husband was all set to have anyway. 

If you're curious, I was trying to make Jessica Seinfeld's Italian Meatloaf that already cleverly conceals celery and carrot puree. I've tried quite a few recipes from this book and they always turn out fabu, so I'm positive my unique psychosis of adding weird extras to recipes is the singular reason this was a huge recipe FAIL.

So you wanna come over for dinner? haha

-Lindsey 

Lundberg Family Farms (GIVEAWAY CLOSED). And a Review!

Lundberg Family Farms^® specialize in organic, gluten-free, and whole grain rice products and offer more than 150 healthful options. Check it...

At home, Otto eats organic 95% of the time (by design). Making sure I feed my son a well-balanced, chemical-minimized diet, is hugely important to me. (I truly believe garbage in, garbage out.) So when I got the opportunity to review a wholesome Lundberg product and host a giveaway... Ummm, yeah, of course I was all over it!

The Review...

We were given the opportunity to try any 1 Lundberg product. But when I was shopping at the Sunflower Market, I was overwhelmed by choices! Happy to say our local grocery carries a LOT of Lundberg. So I picked up 2 products and gladly considered my "1 free" coupon a "50% off 2" coupon instead. I chose Penne Organic Brown Rice Pasta as well as Spinach and Mushroom Risotto Florentine. They were both DELISH! My favorite was the brown rice pasta. I've tried various brands of brown rice pasta and have found the texture often leaves a bit to be desired. Not so this time. I actually followed the cooking instructions on the package (this is a giant step for man and a giant leap for mankind) and the pasta turned out perfectly al dente with a nice, earthy flavor similar to whole wheat pasta. I topped it with a homemade organic garlic & spinach white sauce, organic steamed peas, and freshly chopped up organic tomatoes. The whole family loooooved it. (Read: no leftovers)

How to Enter The Giveaway...

Congrats to "Sweet Bunna Bunny" with comment #54 the winner of this giveaway!

Many Entry Opportunities (none are mandatory); pick and choose the modes of entry that you like and remember to leave a comment for each):

- Tell me what product you might like from Lundberg Family Farms

- "Like" Lundberg on Facebook (also a good idea because they post coupons & recipe ideas)
- Follow TidbitsParenting via Google Friend Connect (see sidebar) 
- Follow @OttosMomBlogs on Twitter
- Tweet the following and in your comment, put a link to your tweet (up to 3 bonus entries per day / 1 per tweet / 30 min apart or more please):

Win 2 Organic Gluten-free meals/products from Lundberg Family Farms. Your choice! http://tinyurl.com/2d6tjzs @OttosMomBlogs #Giveaway !

- "Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook
- Grab TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leave a link to your badged up homepage (3 bonus entries)
- Vote for my blog on Picket Fence (click here: Picket Fence Blogs ) you can do this daily & I'd love it if you did!

Please Note:

Remember to leave a comment for EACH entry.
Please put your email or Twitter name in each comment so that I can reach you if you win. Once I contact the winner they will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we will choose a different winner.
Giveaway will be closed for new entries at 11:59pm Pacific Time on December 20. Open to US only. I will use Random.org to choose a winner and will verify that the winning entrant has played by the rules so it only makes sense to be honest! Note: I was in no way compensated for this post but did receive a coupon for 1 free product. The opinions are my own.
-Lindsey