♥ kate quinn organics semi-annual $10 sale ♥

Kate Quinn Organics is one of my all-time favorite brands for kiddo clothing and for good reason. Their tops, bottoms, jammies, and dresses are adorable, organic, soft, and hold up wonderfully in the wash. We love them, yes we do! And they are currently having their semi-annual $10 sale.

I don't know about you but I will be stocking up for Loretta who is growing like a freaking weed lately (girlfriend has broad shoulders and is almost in a 3T top, but she has narrow hips like her brother and still wears 18-24MO bottoms, so funny). I've found that Kate Quinn items are true to size, their bottoms are nicely long and their tops just roomy enough. I always buy 1 size too big regardless so we get a little extra life out of each piece. Anyways, have fun at the sale!

*this post sponsored by Kate Quinn Organics, the opinions are my own.

Stepped Out!

This is my first Steppin' Out Saturday ♥ I love this idea so much because it gives you (me, whatever) a reason to go a little above-and-beyond getting ready for the day on Saturday. Considering when I went to put on my eye makeup yesterday I realized it was still packed in an overnight bag from the previous weekend, I'd say it was about time! Ok, here goes...

We went to lunch at The Blue Willow. Love that place. My sister-in-law and her beautiful brood were visiting so we were all in happy spirits because we just love them! I found out it's especially awkward to ask your husband to take pictures of you for your blog when "outsiders" are around though. A lil weird. Anyways...

I'm wearing... shirt (thrifted), tank (GapBody), skirt (Ann Taylor, swapped), shoes (Blowfish)

Ot's wearing... shirt (Kenneth Cole, thrifted), vintage Levis (thrifted), shoes (Dexter, thrifted) and outer space socks (because wearing socks with the mandles is an Otto "must"!)

And... headband (made yesterday from scrap fabric), bracelet (repurposed vintage cat collar)

And that is how we "Stepped Out" on Saturday! I'm so glad I did this! It totally kicked my butt outta the funk I was wallowing in Friday night. I found my eye makeup and am wearing it again today (how fancy, right?).

And I'm rocking the same hairstyle today too and love it. Works just as great on day 2 (aka dirty hair day).

Very much looking forward to the rest of this weekend. Crafting, making dinner, and tonight a little wine all await! Hope you guys are having great weekends too. What's everyone up to? Anyone spring cleaning? I soooo need to get on that.

xo,
Lindsey

Lil' Traders - Tucson Kids & Maternity New/Used Boutique - Coupon!

Earlier this month I did a post called Thrift Score with a shout out to the local Tucson new & used kids boutique Lil' Traders. Well, one thing led to another and before you know it we're hosting an exclusive coupon to Lil' Traders as well as a giveaway contest for a $25 gift certificate!

How I Found & Fell For Lil' Traders:
When I was pregnant with Otto (he's now almost 20 months, omg where did the time go?) anyways, when I was pregnant I started showing at around 3 months along. No kidding, my gut (and butt and boobs) just "boop" flew out there. Well, anyways, I needed maternity clothes STAT and I did NOT want to spend hundreds of dollars on clothes I would wear for only a few months. I had seen Lil' Traders when shopping at Bookmans and thought I'd give them a try. I went in looking for clothes for me and I left with I think 2 pairs of maternity pants, a few tops, and about ten gender-neutral baby outfits that I was like cuddling and drooling over! Baby Gap, Oilily, Children's Place - like really really nice baby clothes that I don't think I paid more than $5 for any single outfit! I fell in love, and was instantly hooked!

I continued to stock up on darling kids clothes at Lil' Traders throughout my pregnancy as well as ever-growing maternity clothes (yes, I ended up an XL, whatever, ice cream is GOOOOOD.). Then something incredible happened - I gave birth to my son! And he started to grow and I started to shrink! And suddenly all the moo-moos in my closet were too moo-moo'y and Otto (who weighed 9lb 12oz at birth) never set foot in a newborn garment and was quickly in need of size 6mo. So I started trading! And I never stopped. End of story.

Lil' Traders is Buy/Sell/Trade (same idea as Buffalo Exchange for adults) and carries childrens clothing from size preemie to 14 as well as maternity and nursing apparel for mamas. They also carry all kinds of gear, from cribs, strollers, and high chairs to baby wearing, car seats, decor, really you name it. And toys, dress up clothes, sports apparel like dance shoes & cleats, books, dvds, and games. 

!! The Giveaway Portion of this post is now CLOSED

Congratulations to Anna, with comment #12 you are the winner of a $25 gift certificate to Lil' Traders! I will contact you via email. Thank you to everyone for entering this giveaway and feel free to use the coupon (below)!

The Coupon! See, Everyone's a Winner!

We are very excited that Lil' Traders has offered our readers an exclusive coupon for $2.50 off any purchase or $5 off a purchase of $20 or more! All you need to do is print the below coupon and take it with you on your next visit!

Click coupon image below to open larger coupon for you to print! 

Please note: Limit one coupon per customer.

Lil' Traders is located at 6216 East Speedway, Tucson, AZ 85712 in the Bookmans plaza (link to google map).

I was in no way compensated for this review/giveaway/coupon.

-Lindsey

Myself Belts - Review & Giveaway of Wayyy Cute Belts For Kiddos! (CLOSED)

Have you ever experienced love at first sight? Because if YOU have, then WE officially have something in common. 

I fell, hard, head over heels the moment I first spotted an ad for Myself Belts. I die for cute boys clothes and accessories for Otto, but it's challenging to find anything that's even remotely above-average (as far as super-cuteness) in the mainstream stores. So when I hopped on the Myself Belts website I was drooling all over my keyboard for the style after style of cute boys and girls belts!

Myself Belts(tm), the belt kids can fasten themselves: as an added bonus, these belts are specially designed to be easy for lil hands to control. One end of the belt snaps to the first belt loop, the other end then velcroes the belt in place. Easy peasy!

The Review:
We love our belt! Otto gets nothing but compliments on his Construction Belt. But even more important than the fact that every adult who sees it goes gaga and asks me where I got it... Otto adores his Myself Belt! He sees it and screams "BELLLLT!" and walks around holding his shirt up to his chin so everyone can ooh and ahh over his coolness. Then he makes robotic digging motions to indicate that it's a "digger" belt. All of which is beyond cute to behold!

I'm also excited about the easy-to-use functionality of the belt which will come in handy soon, as we start the long, dark journey that is toilet learning! Otto will be able to easily undo/redo his belt like a big boy!

How to Buy It:
If you just can't wait to get your hands on one of these cute belts, here's where you can get your own Myself Belt. They come in all styles and sizes, from toddler through adult! Visit Myself Belts online HERE.

How to Win Your Choice of Myself Belt:
1 winner will receive their choice of Myself Belt! Excluding all personalized and leather styles.

Mandatory First Entry - vist Myself Belts, look around, and then leave a comment on this post, telling which Myself Belt you would choose if you won the giveaway. It's that easy!

Additional Entry Opportunities:

- Follow @myselfbelts on Twitter

- Tweet about this giveaway including a link to this page. In your comment below, put a link to your tweet (up to 3 bonus entries per day - 1 per tweet - 30 mins apart or more please)

- "Like" Myself Belts on Facebook (3 bonus entries)

- Blog about this giveaway. In your comment just put a link to your blog post (3 bonus entries)

- Follow TidbitsParenting via Google Friend Connect (if you already follow that counts too)

- Follow @OttosMomBlogs on Twitter (that's me!) (if you already follow that counts too)

- "Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook (3 bonus entries)

- Grab the TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leve a link to your badged up blog homepage (3 bonus entries) (if you've already got the badge that counts too)

Please Note:
Just remember to leave a comment for EACH entry. For example, if you follow Myself Belts on Facebook since that's worth 3 bonus entries make sure you leave 3 COMMENTS for that.

Make sure that I can reach you if you win - via email or Twitter. We will contact the winner on October 1 and they will have 48 hours to claim the prize or we will choose a different winner.

Giveaway ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time on September 30. Open to US residents only. We 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! Also - I was given a complimentary belt of choice to review and was in no other way compensated for hosting this giveaway.

Congratulations to Heather R with comment #17 you are the winner of this giveaway! I'll contact you via email and Twitter to confirm your belt style/size of choice. Thanks to everyone for entering!

-Lindsey

Confession: I Throw Away My Husband's Dirty Socks

Theresa from Rock On Mommies launched Pet Peeve Monday today and I'm in love with her idea! Getting out the negative rants early in the week so you can focus on the lovely stuff; it's a great concept. So I racked my brain thinking of all the things that annoy me in this world. There are thousands, not the least of which are teenagers (yup, just teenagers in general, that's how I know I'm getting old at 32), or people who don't smile or say hi back to Otto when we're at the store or park (effing jerks), but my biggest pet peeve, the one that takes the cake, is finding dirty socks strewn loosey-goosey around my home! The perp: my darling dearest husband of 13 years, who, for reasons I can't really explain right now, I'm going to refer to as "Pepper".

I could go on and on about the years of begging, pleading, writing sternly worded notes on paper, writing sternly worded notes in sharpie on the socks themselves, holding socks for ransom, freaking out, and even crying that I have sadly waded through trying to convince Pepper that it is rude, dirty, inconsiderate, and just disgusting (and actually makes him a bad person) to leave his dirty socks sprinkled around the house. Nothing got through. Until the day I started throwing his socks away...

At first I didn't tell him. It just felt so good. I'd see the socks lying there and instead of picking them up and throwing them in the hamper, as I'd always done in the past (basically just giving him fresh ammo for the next time), instead, I'd pick those stupid socks up and throw them away! My heart would race; it was thrilling! And not another word was said. 

This went on for weeks. Until one day he finally noticed that he really didn't have any socks left. There were no man socks in the house.

He confronted me. I fessed. He was shocked. I was electrified! We both laughed. He couldn't believe it. I felt awesome!

That was about four years ago. I think the last time I threw one of Pepper's socks away was last week. That's right, he didn't stop. Buuuuut, he's definitely toned it down. And I still get a thrill throwing his socks away. I love it! I know it's totally wasteful and stupid, but it's our balance and it makes me happy. I used to be sour and unhappy every time I saw one of those things in my home. Now I get a huge smile on my face! It means I get to be devilish! So I guess I turned my justifiable peeve into a creepy fetish but who cares, haha.

Peeve vented. Thanks Theresa! And shout out to @EricaZHR another Pet Peeve Monday supporter!

So what are your pet peeves? And how do you deal with them?

-Lindsey

20% Off Every Gorgeous Thing

The day I was introduced to flora and henri for the first time

I think I spent an hour on their website drooling over every little Nantucket-yes-but-probably-not-Tucson-appropriate item in the gorgeous gorgeous online boutique. I did place an order, which I'm kind of ashamed of, as it fell well outside of my usual Lil' Traders and thrift store and sometimes Baby Gap when there's a sale "normal" baby clothes shopping... But when Otto's clothes came did I regret a single purchase? Not at all!

Beautiful baby clothes, finely crafted, fit for a prince or princess. If you're in the mood to indulge or dream of indulging in some to-die-for togs for your lil one, flora and henri is my absolutely favorite online childrens' boutique.

And I got a postcard in the mail yesterday announcing a sale from June 4-11.

20% off everything!

No promo code required.

They are also offering a FREE "Scream for Ice Cream Summer 2010" canvas back pack with any purchase over $25.

Sizing Tip - I found that everything I have purchased from F&H has run on the small side. So order the next size larger than what you want. If your munchkin is currently wearing 6months, I'd say order 18months and you'll get something that's more like 12months size.

-Lindsey