Allergy Protection With 3M Filtrete

Both my husband and one of my boys have extreme allergies. I love Spring and all the flowers blooming but along with all these wonderful things comes the sniffling, sneezing and breathing issues.  One of my sons is always rubbing at his little nose, and nose drops have become a nightly routine just to keep him from sneezing so much.

Because of his allergy issues, it is imperative that I keep up with cleaning the house and taking measures to prevent allergens in our home.  We have the pillows and mattresses coveres, and air purifier running at all times in the room, we keep the dog out of the bedrooms, and I am vacuuming sometimes twice a day.

One important factor that many people forget is to change their furnace filters.  For us, it is one of those things that is out of sight and out of mind until you realize that you are way past due for a filter change.  But since we have allergies running rampent in this house, I put a reminder to change the filter on our calendar.

Studies indicate that indoor levels of many pollutants may be two to five times higher than outdoor levels, making it one of the top five urgent environmental risks to public health.  In fact, many seasonal activities such as cooking, spring cleaning and redecorating can spread indoor pollutants.

Dr. Neil Schachter, M.D., past president of the American Lung Association of the City of New York, suggests a “home health check-up” to help make your home a healthier place to live.  He recommends avoiding cleaning products that contain ammonia or chlorine, and limiting your pet’s access to certain areas of the home, including the bedroom. A high performance air filter, such as a Filtrete filter, may also help improve indoor air quality.

It is currently recommended that you change you air filter at least once per season.  This is about every three months. This may be the last thing on your mind especially when you are busy with life in general.  3M, makers of Filtrete filters recognizes that this is often neglected, so they offer the Clean Air Club.  You can receive a season e-newsletter featuring special offers, better home living tips, and filter change reminders.  Plus the first people to sign up each week will receive a free bamboo plant.  Plants act as a natural air purifier in your home!

If you or anyone in your house suffers from seasonal allergies or allergies in general, this is a great resource to help you get on your way to a cleaner, more allergy free home.  Thank you to Mom Central and Filtrete for helping to understand the importance of how to help better your home for allergen protection.

Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Breast Pump Review And Giveaway

After having the boys, I was so overwhelmed to say the least.  After 16 weeks of bedrest and 8 of those weeks in the hospital, and the fact that I was a first time mother and pregnant with twins, was a pretty big deal.  As a new mother you have so many questions about how to do things and what you should be doing, but I had always known that I wanted to breastfeed the boys.  I had not realized the importance of breastfeeding until they were born 6 weeks early and spent close to three weeks in the NICU.

For preemies, providing them with breast milk as soon as possible was something my nurses encouraged because they say that the milk you produce then is different and would provide my babies with a lot of things they needed.  I can remember the first few days at home, and crying because I wanted to give up pumping, but my two tiny little men in the NICU, made me keep on going.  I would pump all through the night and visit them sometimes 2-3 times a day and bring them all my pumped breast milk.

I never quite got the hang of breastfeeding them together, and one of my little guys has a tongue tie that prevented him from feeding properly so I would pump for him and for both of them when I needed a break. Pumps can be a lifesaver, and are great when you need the break or if you have two babies and one doesn’t do well at the breast, you can still give them pumped milk in a bottle.

I was excited to review Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Breast Pump because since I am a breastfeeding mother, I like to see what is out there on the market currently and for in the future when we decide to have another child. The pump itself is very easy to use, and easy to hold, and comfortable and this is important.  It is not overly noisy which was a pet peeve of mine with one of the pumps that I own.  At three in the morning the last thing I want to be hearing is a loud squeaking noise, and especially with sleeping babies nearby.  I had no trouble using this and all parts are easy to clean and better yet BPA free.

About Evenflo Breast Pump

• NEW! All components, including milk storage bottles are without BPA and contain less than 0.01% phthalates. Bottles can be purchased separately.
• NEW! Improved cycle time for more effective milk expression.
• NEW! Improved vacuum performance at all settings between min and max
• NEW! Regulated power adapter ensures consistency in performance.
• NEW! Dual motors for better production allowing individual settings
• NEW! Includes 2 additional overflow valves for additional convenience! Valve color has changed to lavender.
• NEW! More stable bottle stands to prevent possible spillage.
• 4pk sample of breast pads with redeemable coupon.

Another thing I like about this particular pump is, it isn’t overly heavy and is fairly compact, which makes it easy to take with you.  This is great for all the road trips that we take as a family as well.  The price is reasonable and definitely a worthwhile investment if you are breastfeeding or intend on breastfeeding your child. The Evenflo site offers some good resources that you can check out for breastfeeding and Mom Central  Mom Central has a  page dedicated to the Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Breast Pump.  This page  features a special section where moms can share breast pumping tips.  Every mom that shares a tip will be entered in a giveaway to win one of three Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Breast Pumps and boxes of nursing pads!

Also, here at DoubleBugs, we will be giving away an Evenflo Comfort Select Performance Breast Pump and 2 Boxes of Breast Pads to one lucky reader!

This Contest Is Now Closed!

Here’s What You Gotta Do

Mandatory Entry Requirement

Visit the Evenflo site and check out some of their valuable breastfeeding information and come back here and leave me a comment on something you learned from one of their resources.  In addition please tell me why you would like to win this pump.

For Additional Entries

• Blog about this contest and leave me the link
• Grab my button and post it in your sidebar
• Tweet about this contest using #evenflocomfort and a link to my contest
• Add me to Twitter

Contest Starts April 20, 2009 and Ends Monday May 11, 2009

Thank you to Mom Central and Evenflo for this wonderful opportunity!

10-10-10 By Suzy Welch: A Must Read

There are so many instances in my life where hind sight is always better than when you are in the actual moment and making a decision about your life or something of importance.  I think if my life had a rewind button, I could make my outcomes much more appealing in certain situations.

I know with being a busy mom to twins, that things can get hectic and I tend to let my impulses get the best of me.  It is so hard just to slow down, take a deep breath and evaluate things in that moment.  Sometimes when you have a kid screaming in your ear, it is almost impossible to think straight.

But what if you had had a tool to help you think through the choices and determine how the decision would impact your life immediately, in the short term, and over a long period of time?

The book 10-10-10 by best-selling author Suzy Welch, who herself is a mother of four and a columnist for BusinessWeek and O, The Oprah Magazine, provides moms with a decision-making practice that is as simple as it is profound. Suzy shows readers the ways in which using the 10-10-10 method can remove the emotion and uncertainty from decision-making and dramatically change how you make choices in your life.  If there is anything that I can relate to is how emotional I get, especially in situations where I am stressed, tired, and frustrated.  With every decision, all you need to do is consider your options and their consequences in ten minutes, ten months, and ten years, and then compare them to your own set of values. The goal of this practice is an authentic life through which consistency replaces chaos and guilt replaces joy.

Suzy Welch uses actual life experience to demonstrate the 10-10-10 principle, so you can get an actual feel for how to apply this in your own life. The idea is simple and and clear and engages you in a thought process that can positively impact your life.  The part I like that best, is that she is a wife and mother and has been there.  There is nothing worse than someone trying to explain how to live your life when they have no actual life experience to present the information.  I feel like this book has given me some tools to approach situations differently to end up with a more favorable outcome.  Thank you to Suzy Welch and Mom Central for such a wonderful opportunity. This is a book worth reading!

Disney’s Baby Einstein: World Music DVD Review

Both of my boys are music lovers.  They love to pound on their drum sets, grab their play guitars and love to dance and sing to the music on their favorite shows.  I loved music so much as a child and I want my boys to have the same appreciation for music that both me and my husband have.  There are all sorts of music styles all over the world and especially here in the United States since we are considered a melting pot.  Music is a great way to teach children about this diversity and to teach them a love of other cultures.

The Baby Einstein World Music DVD, which comes out March 31, 2009, encourages live interaction and introduces children to the world’s distinctive sights and sounds with fun-loving puppet host Jane the Monkey and her toy drum as she travels across the globe to play music with her puppet friends. It features real-world images of global musical instruments, regional toys and animals, and takes an extraordinary look at the universal language of music, encouraging viewers to join in the fun by blowing on a flute, strumming on a harp and singing along to songs from all seven continents. And for a more customized experience for each family’s stage and needs, the World Music DVD provides two settings- Grow with Me and Select-a-Segment. The “grow with me” setting offers a second viewing mode containing spoken words and additional content that grows with babies, while “select-a-segment” gives parents the choice of viewing shorter segments, such as five or ten minutes, as opposed to longer programming.  This is just right for my boys as they tend to watch for short periods of time and then come back to something.
We received a copy of the Baby Einstein World Music DVD big thanks to Mom Central for this opportunity and the boys simple loved watching it.  The music is very fun and has a very lively tempo which just drew my two to the television.  Both of them went to get their drums and guitar and played along.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the DVD just as much as I enjoyed seeing their little faces light up.  This is such a great DVD and you can introduce a whole new world of music to your children while incorporating cultural differences.  So cool!  Available from www.babyeinstein.com starting March 31, 2009!

The Current Card by Discover

Teenagers always want to be as independent of their parents as possible. I can remember the teenage years and sort of wanting my own space to do my own things and I was always asking for money to do things with my friends or go shopping. Financial responsibility is something my parents tried to teach me early on.

I think when kids are handed everything, they aren’t really aware of how that stuff gets there. I know kids are always wanting from their parents, but I think it is important to teach a sense of responsibility to your children and develop that awareness that money doesn’t grow on trees. I have always been a firm believer in earning an allowance and teaching kids good spending habits. With teenagers how do you do this with minimal interference and sort of giving them some amount of freedom?

Discover Card has introduced the Current Card. The Current Card is an innovative debit card for teens that helps them track and manage their spending while ensuring their money is safe. The card also helps parents foster financial responsibility in teens.

Features
Parents can set spending limits, restrict merchant categories and track their teen’s spending through online statements, e-mail and text message alerts. They also enjoy the convenience of free, flexible loading options. Teens also can load their paychecks onto the card through direct deposit.

Current is protected by Discover’s $0 fraud liability, which means cardmembers are never responsible for unauthorized charges – online, offline, anytime, anywhere. Current cards that are lost or stolen will be temporarily suspended or deactivated, and cardmembers will be eligible for an emergency replacement.

Teens can learn how to spend smarter by logging onto the Account Center at CurrentbyDiscover.com. There they can view helpful articles on topics such as basic financial concepts, protecting yourself from identify theft, starting a savings program, and making your money go further.

In addition, Current by Discover Card also is sponsoring a financial literacy program across high schools nationwide through its Money Smarts Program, designed to help educate high school juniors and seniors on basic money management skills. The Money Smarts Program covers the basic concepts of financial literacy and correlates with national academic standards set fourth by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

I think this is such a great idea to give teenagers a sense of money management without overly invading their privacy. I think it teaches them how to delegate their money, and allows parents to control where they are spending it at the same time. The Current Card is so much more than just a way to allow your teen to spend money, it is a useful tool in teaching them all aspects of being financially responsible in the future.

Johnson’s 50th Anniversary

Johnson’s has been around for 50 years! My mom used it on me when I was a baby, and now I use it all the time for my boys. Some of my favorites our their Head -to- Toe Wash and the Toddler Bedtime Wash. I love to sit and read to the boys and smell their hair after their baths. At any given time we have a bottle of Johnson’s shampoo, and wash on the tub.

Mom Central and Johnson’s offered me a terrific opportunity to try out two new products from Johnson’s. To help celebrate its 50th Anniversary and continue the tradition of fun in the tub, Johnson’s has introduced two new additions to their already wonderful line of bath products, HEAD-TO-TOE Foaming Wash and Johnson’s Baby Bubble Bath & Wash. I have always loved their bubble bath and head- to- toe wash and it is gentle on their skin. The new foaming wash is really nice to get a good lather, and the boys love taking the suds from the bubble bath and putting it on each others heads. They just giggle and laugh the entire time.

Johnson’s also offers a great resource for parents called the Johnson’s Baby Channel where moms like us can submit videos and share advice with other moms. This is a terrific way to get helpful hints and tips from moms like you and me and hopefully offer a different perspective.
Grounded in extensive scientific research, the NO MORE TEARS® formula found in JOHNSON’S® Baby Bubble Bath & Wash is ultra mild, resulting in a gentle cleansing product specially designed for baby’s unique skin, hair and eye needs. JOHNSON’S® Baby Bubble Bath & Wash is soap-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic, dermatologist and pediatrician tested, and is gentle enough for the newest babies.
JOHNSON’S® BABY BUBBLE BATH & WASH
• JOHNSON’S® is the #1 choice of hospitals
• NO MORE TEARS® formula is as gentle to the eyes as pure water
• Soap-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic and allergy tested Dermatologist and pediatrician tested

• Rinses easily

• Gentle enough to use everyday for bothgirls and boys
• Suggested Retail Price: $3.99 for 15oz

Cleansing with JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE® Foaming Wash is proven to be as mild as cleansing with water alone. Over time, baby soaps can cause dry skin or irritation. JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE® Foaming Wash is designed to help avoid these common skin problems before they start by gently gliding across the skin’s surface, effectively cleansing without causing irritation. Grounded in extensive scientific research, JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE Foaming Wash is soap-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic and dermatologist tested, and is specially designed for newborns. JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE® Foaming Wash is a mild and well-tolerated skin cleanser.
JOHNSON’S® HEAD-TO-TOE® FOAMING WASH
• JOHNSON’S® is the #1 choice of hospitals
• Designed to help avoid common skin problems caused by cleansing before they start
• NO MORE TEARS® formula is as gentle as water alone to the skin
• Designed to be gentle enough for newborns
• Soap-free, dye-free, hypoallergenic and allergy- and dermatologist-tested
• Rinses easily
• Suggested Retail Price: $4.89 for 9oz

I am going to miss when my little ones are no longer babies, but all I have to do is wash their hair with Johnson’s Head-To-Toe wash and be able to hang onto these memories for a little longer. Thank you Johnson’s For 50 years of wonderful products and here is to 50 more.

NetSmartz Teaching Your Teens to Stay Safe

In this day and age, everything is becoming so mainstreamed and it seems that our children are being introduced to the computer even sooner.   Being a mother to two very young children, it makes me a little nervous about introducing my kids to the internet.  Although, my boys are toddlers, I still hear about all the horror stories about how teenagers go missing after talking to and meeting with strangers they have talked to online.  I think computers and kids are basically inevitable with how fast technology changes, but  I also think it is very important that your children know what these dangers and are aware of the tactics a perpetrator  can use and how to be safe while being online.  It is such a scary scary thought, and I believe education is so important and as a parent you should use as many resources that are available to you and your children

NetSmartz, a leading online resource of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, used their expertise to develop NSTeens to educate, engage, and empower kids as Internet users, The website, NSTeens includes bios, comics, and videos of seven teen characters. Their comic How Much Is Too Much illustrates the consequences of improper Internet use and shows the impact teens can have when they use their network to empower people. Videos cover important topics such as social networking, cyberbullying, and offline consequences. Each cartoon video also portrays interviews with teens talking about their Internet use.

I think this is a terrific way to tell your teenagers about being safe on the internet.  It teaches then in a very non intimidating fun way so they might actually pay attention!  We know how powerful just hearing one sentence can be, because those are the things kids remember if they are in trouble or in a bad situation.   NSTeens is a wonderful resource and can help your teen to make smart decisions and avoid potentially harmful scenarios.

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Earn Your Stripes Program

I just recently learned about a really cool program to help rebuild some of the playing fields around the United States. So many of them are in disrepair, and even more are going by the waste side due to the lack of funds and our failing economy. These are the things that get neglected and sometimes are often an important part of communities. As a child, I can remember families gathering to cheer on their children, hanging out with my cousins, running to and from the concession stand, and just having fun. Sports are fun to watch, but also have a way of bringing people together. Often time the things that get cut or go missing are often times one of the most important and are what feed the human spirit.

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Earn Your Stripes program has initiated a call-to-action for a national field renovation program that kicks off this coming Super Bowl Sunday with a commercial entitled “Plant a Seed.“

This ad focuses on the role we all play in building stronger communities and making a difference in kids’ lives. Because the Earn Your Stripes  program is about inspiring kids to be their very best, “Plant a Seed” shows that before anyone can earn a single stripe, someone has to plant a seed and help give kids places to realize their promise and potential.

The field renovation kick off will make over approximately 50 fields across the United States to help provide better places for families to stay active. Through this program, fields will once again become central and spirited places of activity and community in cities and towns across the country.

Sports aren’t just something to watch, they help build determination in young people, build self esteem and confidence, and encourage the growth of friendships. These are thing that help to build a well rounded confident individual. Visit Kellogg’s Plant A Seed program and nominate one of your local fields, it is such a wonderful program.

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