Win a Beautiful, Naturally Soothing Teething Necklace For Your Little Chomper (CLOSED)

Q. How excited am I?
A. Ummm, super excited!
Q. Why?
A. Because the awesome folks over at Tiny Birds Organic Baby have generously offered this beautiful Baltic Amber Teething Necklace to one lucky TidbitsParenting winner!

Why Baltic Amber? ... A little info about the analgesic properties (some excerpts from the Tiny Birds website):

- Amber is a fossilized resin, not a stone. It is therefore warm to the touch and light to wear
- When amber is worn on the skin, the skin's warmth releases miniscule amounts of healing oils from the amber which are then absorbed via the skin
- Amber's anti-inflammatory and therapeutic properties are also recognized by allopathic medicine. In Austria, Switzerland and Germany, it is common to find amber teething necklaces sold in local pharmacies
- As with any product with small parts, this necklace should be used under direct supervision of an adult 

Wearing baltic amber close to the skin is a traditional European remedy for baby teething. Made from fossilized tree resin, leave the teething necklace in the sunshine to warm up and increase the natural analgesic power. Each teething bead is individually knotted and the necklace fastens with a screw clasp.

Only natural 100% authentic Baltic Amber is used to make Tiny Birds teething necklaces.

How to Buy It: If you just can't wait to get a soothing necklace for your little teething machine (aka baby) or to read a full product description and customer reviews, visit the Tiny Birds website.

How to Win It: 1 winner will receive the necklace pictured in the top pic and to the right, valued at $20!

Mandatory First Entry - visit Tiny Birds Organic Baby and then leave a comment here telling any other item you would love to take home from their huge selection: organic and all natural cloth diapering, mothering, nursing, BPA-free feeding, baby carriers, bath & bed, toys, organic clothing & shoes, and other products.

Additional Entry Opportunities:

- "Like" Tiny Birds Organic Baby on Facebook (3 bonus entries) (they do lots of promos and giveaways too so you'll be very glad you did)

- Blog about this giveaway. In your comment below make sure to put a link to your post (3 bonus entries)

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

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

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

- "Like" TidbitsParenting on Facebook (if you already like us that counts too)

- Grab the TidbitsParenting badge (on the right) and in your comment leave 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 Tiny Birds 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 & Canada. 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 in no way compensated for hosting this giveaway.

Congratulation to the winner of this giveaway with comment #17 Chrissyb! I'll be contacting you via email & twitter. Thanks to everyone for entering!

-Lindsey

Giveaway! Baby NasaKleen & Mama Nasaline - Breathe, Eat & Sleep Better! (Closed)

SQuiP manufactures a line of gentle, homeopathic and medically tested products that promote good health including nasal rinsing systems for adults, children, and infants. All parts of Baby NasaKleen are DEHP/phthalate, BPA and latex-free.

SQuiP provided us with a Nasaline nasal rinsing system and Baby NasaKleen nasal aspirator to review as well as one of each to give away! One of my close, wonderful mommy friends (Jennifer) agreed to do the reviews:

Jennifer's Review #1 - Nasaline Rinsing System (the adult one):

I had never used a nasal irrigator before. However, I took a quick glance at the large, colorful, and easy to understand instruction sheet, filled the Nasaline up, hummed ahhhh (which closes the back of your throat), and plunged away. Easy peasy, and it doesn't hurt a bit. The purpose of a nasal irrigator is to treat symptoms associated with allergies, sinus infections, colds, or the flu. It is a wonderful option especially if you don't like the side effects of decongestants or allergy medications, or if you are a pregnant or nursing mom and need to avoid those medications. The Nasaline also comes with 10 pre-measured packets of pure powdered salt to mix the optimal saline solution. This is important because a saline solution that is either too strong or too diluted can aggravate nasal congestion by causing the nasal membranes to swell. It probably takes a wee bit of practice to use the Nasaline perfectly. I experienced a little salty drip at the back of my throat, and some dripping from my nose afterwards. This is probably because I didn't take the time to make sure I blew my nose and tilted my head to get all the solution out. Overall though, I highly recommend the Nasaline.

Jennifer's Review #2 - Nasaline Baby NasaKleen

When we took Milo home from the hospital, we were prepared with one of the standard items every new parent purchases (or is given) -- the bulb syringe aspirator. What a terrible invention. It doesn't work worth a hill of beans and only leads to frustration and tears for all. Of course, there is no need for nasal aspiration except for when your baby is congested and feeling yucky -- which serves to exacerbate the frustration/tears scenario. Fortunately, when he was only a few months old, I found out about "snotsucker" devices. Baby Nasaline is a "snotsnucker" type of device. Snotsuckers consist of a nozzle, a plastic chamber with a hygiene filter, a tube and mouthpiece. You gently put the nozzle against your baby's nostril and, you guessed it, suck out the boogers. It is helpful if you don't really think about what you are doing and just trust the instrument. Which is fine, because then you can look at your baby and make sure he is doing okay while you entirely control the suction process, instead of pinning him down while trying to work that dumb bulb syringe. (Note: you may still need to pin them down, but eventually most babies realize that they feel much better after the snot has been sucked out -- unlike the useless hateful bulb syringe.)

I like the Baby NasaKleen because it has a soft silicone nozzle which would feel comfortable to a baby's nose (some snotsuckers have a hard plastic nozzle). The Baby NasaKleen also comes with a generous supply of replacement filters, well written and illustrated instructions, and a storage case. (Although, in my experience, because there is only one baby using the aspirator, a filter can be reused after being washed in very hot water and left to air dry.) Honestly, it will be quite a few years before your child will learn to blow his or her nose effectively, and until then, he or she deserves a snotsucker instead of a bulb syringe (did I mention that I think bulb syringes are a piece of crap?).

Can't Wait to Aspirate? You can buy SQuiP products online here.

Wanna Try to Win The Set? Read On...

Entry is easy! There is no mandatory entry but there are multiple opportunities to enter! Please remember to leave a comment for each entry to increase your chances.

* Comment your thoughts about nasal irrigation. Have you done it before? Does the idea make you nervous? Whatever it is, I'd love to know. And if you have questions, put them in your comment and I'll reply as best I can.

* Follow @squipUS on Twitter and comment, make sure to include your Twitter name.
 
* Tweet the following and then provide a link to your tweet. You can do this up to 3 times a day!
 
 Down with sinus congestion! I want to WIN Nasaline & Baby NasaKleen systems from @squipUS and @OttosMomBlogs http://ow.ly/2b80H #GiVeAwaY !  
 
* Visit the SQuiP website and tell me what other products you'd like to try or anything else interesting you find there.

Make sure we can reach you by including your email or Twitter name.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm Pacific Time on August 15. We will use Random.org to choose a winner.

Many thanks to SQuiP for contacting us to do this review/giveaway! We were not otherwise compensated. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own and the lovely Jennifer's.

-Lindsey and Jennifer

Congrats to the winner of this giveaway Kim@ChubbyCheeksThinks with comment #48. I'll be contacting you via email and Twitter!

Me and Matilda - an Etsy Shop

10% Discount through August 31, 2010 (see below)

Because I am awesome I decided it was important that Rob and Otto had matching bowties for Christmas this past December. (Side note: because he is less awesome, Rob won't let me show a picture of him in a bowtie on this blog.)

I went online and all of the commercial sites that offer these sets were just not doing it for me - boring, boring, boring. So I turned to Etsy and found the wonderful shop Me and Matilda. They quick-created a matching bowtie set for my guys, were so accomodating, and had a huge huge selection of the cutest neckties and bowties I had ever seen (99% of which are not holiday-inspired).

As you can guess from the picture above of my soooper-sleepy guy, the matching bowties were the hit of the holiday season!

You will lose yourself in the wide variety of cool neckties and bowties! Styles range from hipster, to cutesy, to classy-classic and they are very reasonably priced (in the $20-$30 range based on materials).

More about Me and Matilda and our exclusive discount:

- Neckties

- Bowties

- Custom orders (so you can get a matching father/son set)

- Ring bearer sets including matching pillow

- Flower girl sashes

- Wedding party sets

- Tie and hanky sets

Sizes range from baby/toddler (with neckstrap) to standard adult.

Exclusive! Just mention "TidbitsParenting 10% Discount" with your purchase. Your paypal account will be refunded 10% of the total price.

-Lindsey

Mildred and Dildred - A Locally Owned Tucson Toy Store

My mom and I stumbled upon this great toy store at the La Encantada shopping center in Tucson, AZ. It was filled to the brim with charm both inside and out. Although they had a lot of the usual suspects when it came to their toy selection, they had lots of cute books, wooden toys, puzzles, and trucks made out of recycled plastics. They have free arts and crafts and storytime hour every Tuesday http://mildredanddildred.com/events/. It seemed to be a very "hands-on" environment where they don't discourage your child from trying out a toy or two. There was a play kitchen and train table to keep your kids busy while you shop. Although I don't typically get up to that side of town when shopping, I might make an exception here and there to hit this cute store and maybe pop in for Storytime with Mildred! Maybe I'll see you there!

Charm factor: YYYYYY (6 out of 6 hearts)
Standouts: Curious George tea set
Purchase: Complete set of Frog and Toad books - $14.99
Minuses: Pricey; kind of a hike from central Tucson
Staff: Helpful and friendly
Overall rating: YYYYY (that's actually 4.5 out of 6 hearts)

- Megan