Maclaren - Junior Quest Activity Set Review & Giveaway

We all know it's a hard transition when we bring a new baby home from the hospital. No matter how amazing of a child you have, I'm sure at some point you will see a little jealousy come through their precious little hearts.
Maclaren has made it a little easier for older siblings to welcome home their new baby sister or brother. Your daughter (or son) can now take care of their baby dolls just like you're taking care of the new baby in the house.
This realistic 5 piece set is pretty new to the Maclaren family but I personally hope it's here to stay.

It all began in 1965 when Owen Maclaren designed and patented his prototype Baby Buggy -- the B-01. The iconic blue and white stripes and aluminium frame imparts a vintage style that is popular and modern today.

Nothing was held back when making the Maclaren Junior Quest Activity Set either. The fabric is strong, the colors are bold and even the pieces are made out of actual metal aluminium. So believe me, this is not some cheap play set you buy at your local store. This set can hold up to the toughest play sessions.

We were sent the "By Land, By Air, By Sea" set so it's a gorgeous bright red with cars, hot air balloons, airplanes, birds, boats, ect! SO CUTE!


I was told I must include Makenna's baby names. Her orders :)

 The set includes:

• Day Time Rocker
• Quest Umbrella Buggy
• Night time Travel Cot
• Carrying case for travel cot (not pictured)
• Diaper Bag (we had it hanging on the back of the stroller I have pictured)

Again, I love this line and Makenna loves playing with it all the time. When Kendall is in her bouncer Makenna puts her baby in the rocker so they can match.
Like I mentioned before I think this is the perfect gift for any new sibling so then they can pretend to be a new mommy/daddy also. Playing with toys that resemble the new baby things that are probably taking over the house could definitely make them feel a little more at ease and included in all the new changes.

The Junior Quest Activity Set sells for $75. It can be purchased at select retailers, one of them being diapers.com

You can win a Maclaren Junior Quest Activity Set!!

(Mandatory entry MUST be completed FIRST for any other entry to count!!!)

1 entry - Follow me on Google Friend Connect AND tell me this would be for and why they will love it!

1 entry - "Like" Maclaren Baby. (Leave a post on the Maclaren FB wall and tell them you're from doubledutymommy.com)

1 entry - Follow Maclaren on Twitter

2 entries - "Like" Double Duty Mommy (facebook.com/doubledutymommy) on Facebook. (Leave 2 separate comments)

2 entries - Follow me (mommaJWoww19) on Twitter. (Leave 2 separate comments)

1 entry - Tweet about this giveaway. You can tweet the following message or use the Retweet button at the top of the post. (Leave ur tweet hyperlink, please!!!):

#Win a Junior Quest Activity Set from @maclarenNA & @mommaJWoww19 http://bit.ly/enXxKj (1/31) #giveaway #toys #baby

(can RT tweet 3 times a day w/ at least a hour in between then comment again!)

2 entries - Subscribe to this blog via Email. (You must verify your subscription for these entry to count. I do check and I will delete your comment if my feed says "unverified") (Leave 2 separate comments)

1 entry - Enter any of my other giveaways! (1 entry per giveaway. Enter a separate comment for each giveaway you have entered)

3 entries - Put my *NEW* blog button on your site. Leave me a link so I can find it. (Leave 3 separate comments) You have to have the newest button on your blog for these entries to count :)

**I was sent the product(s) free of charge by the company or PR representative. It has been used solely for the purpose of this honest review. The views are strictly 100% my own. Receiving the product did not influence me to produce a positive review**
Giveaway is open to USA & Canada only. It will end and close on January 31st @ 9pm EST. Any entries made after such time will not be counted and will be removed from the list. Winner will be contacted via email & will have 24 hours to respond. If winner does not respond their prize is then forfeited and a new winner will be selected.

Post Partum Still Has Me By The Balls

It's funny, just when you think you have this thing beaten, just when you're ready to throw your arms up in victory, when you have the best day to date and you know think you're all better... someone or something called life throws a damn wrench in it all!

I sit at home doing the same monotonous things on a daily basis: Walk Makenna to the bus stop, make the beds, take the dog out, feed Kendall, put on Beauty & The Beast. While Kendall is now occupied with her favorite movie I do the dishes, vacuum, sweep, steam mop what seems like the entire house, clean the bathrooms (yes, on a daily basis!), pick up toys, do laundry, etc.

I don't even feel like I'm living a life anymore. I feel like I'm just going through life according to a planned schedule. Nothing ever really changes from day to day for me. I can't even tell you the last time I actually did my hair and makeup. Maybe... a month ago and I wasn't even going anywhere.. I just wanted to feel pretty for a day. I was looking at *old* (and by that I mean... 3-4 years ago maybe) pictures of myself and I cannot believe that I did my hair and makeup everyday. I sometimes wonder what my husband thinks of me. When he met me I wore makeup, I did my hair... not every day but sometimes. Now? Nothing.
I often wondering if he is actually attracted to me anymore. If he thinks, "Where did my hot wife go?!". I for 1 know I think those things, so he must.

Sureee on his days off, John will help take some of that load off but even then it doesn't really feel like it at the end of the day. On my husband's days off, he likes to hang out, play Xbox. Like I said, he does pick up some of my slack but if he changes 2 diapers it then becomes, "I changed the last one, it's your turn honey" to which I respond with, "Oh really? Well how about the 15 diapers I changed yesterday! Are you going to make up for those!?" I end up winning but I just wish stupid things like that wouldn't happen.
From those little things though, I begin to hate everything. I begin to think that my husband doesn't even care about me or my feelings at all.

I mean sure, my husband works his ASS off all the time for us and I am blessed with being able to stay home for a year now but I really wish he'd help out more. His days off from work should be my days off from... life. I don't want to change Kendall, I don't want to have to hold her all day, give her a bath at night or anything. I just want to bask in her cute baby self... when she's not crying! When Makenna gets home from school I just want to be able to play with her instead of telling her I can't because Sister needs me.

Some days I seriously think I have beaten PPD. I get so high on the happiness of that day that I literally do not take my medicine at night. Why? Well, in a word, I guess I'm just crazy. I begin to think, "this day was perfect. I didn't yell, I had fun, I was laughing, playing. I'm not depressed!" The next day... ha, I'm a complete bitch again. I feel like my world is crashing down around me. Nothing goes right what so ever.
At the end of the day what do I honestly have to be sad about though? Honestly? I live in a nice house, I have a wonderful family, a great husband and 2 wonderful kids whom I love dearly.

I mean seriously, how could you not smile when you have this to look at....

and lets not forget this...

But that's when I know I haven't beaten this monster. When I can be sad when I have 2 amazing, gorgeous girls, there has to be something wrong with me.

So my days of the 'do this, do that' mommy will continue but I suppose I need to stick to Zoloft and hope for the best.

Being a housewife...

... is something I love to do and be. It really is. But honestly it's SO damn hard. Why is it so hard for men to wrap their heads around the fact that yes, even though you go to work every day, moms NEVER have a day off?
I have to say though, my husband does an extremely good job on helping me around the house and with our daughters.
We've pretty much found our roles in the house and are in a really good groove.

He gives Kendall a bath every night - dries her, lotions her baby skin and dresses her. Then I take over and feed her, swaddle her (he hasn't gotten the swaddle down to a quick science like I have, lol) then he puts her to sleep and she's out till 3am. He gets up with her then - changes, & feeds then wakes me only to swaddle her up once more.At 6am I get up with her because at 7 I get Makenna ready for school, pack her lunch while I let John sleep in a bit more. Then John (if he doesnt work in the AM that day) takes her to school so Kendall and I can go back to sleep for 2 hours.

Our house is surprisingly still in perfect condition most days. I do dishes during the day and if there is anything at night he does them. I do laundry at least once a day and most of the time he'll fold & put it away.

Even on his days off he's amazing. One of his days we'll lounge around the house or go run errands but the other day is MOMMY DAY. He takes the girls out for pretty much the whole day while I get to be at home (or go to where I want by myself!). A normal person would probably sleep though, wouldn't you think? What do I do? I clean. I deep clean the bathrooms, kitchen, dust, do extra laundry.. you name it. I've figured out I clean because I get to do it uninterupted. I dont have Makenna stopping me every 2 seconds or a baby crying that I have to tend to. I can just clean at my own pace and make sure it's done to my standard. But even once I'm done cleaning I hop online and tweet. Lol, I know I'm a tad bit crazy.

I've been a stay-at-home mom since December of last year (2009). We had already decided once I was pregnant that I wouldn't work anymore. We have the means and I definitely do not need to work so thankfully I was able to quit my job and be at home with Makenna and have a very relaxing pregnancy.

Most women wish for my job. To not work and just be at home with their kids. Believe me, I do love it and I never take for granted that I don't have to work. My husband is amazing for having 2 jobs (well only 1 really counts since the other doesn't bring us an income to really count on. He just has it for the perks!) and he never complains about having to work and then coming home to take Kendall off my hands. I'm finding that even with Makenna in school for 6 1/2 hours every day I WANT to work again. I've always been that type though. I work extremely hard and I always want a job. Being at home makes me so restless (probably why I clean so much) and I get cabin fever very easily.

John doesn't want me to work since I don't have to, plus in his family "the women shouldn't have to work, that's the man's job" (his family rules... not mine, lol). But he and his family had another thing coming when I stepped into the picture. I love working, which is why I've been applying for jobs. The problem I keep encountering when I go in for interviews is my schedule. Even though I wanna work I only want maybe 10 hours/week. Of course everyone wants me to work more or make me a manager (since that's my background), which would mean lots of hours and long hours.

So now I'm stuck. I want to work but I don't want to work a lot.

I guess I'll just stick to my mommy job and call it a day.

Wordless Wednesday

Our crazy busy summer.... & LIFE.

So I've been slacking on lots of stuff recently. I have so many reviews & giveaways that should have been done already (sorry to all the co's out there) but we've been so busy.

Summer has just started but we've been doing lots. Nothing major but we're just hardly home, and when I am here I'm too tired to write a blog or type up a review.

Our days have been filled with trips to the mall, trips to Disney, Sea World, & Aquatica (a waterpark made by Sea World), movies, lunches, and just really spending 24/7 together as a family.
We are really trying to give as much to Makenna as we can right now because in such a short amount of time her baby sister will be here and we do not want her to forget how much we love her.

Speaking of Kendall, scariness happened last Sunday. On Friday the 18th - mid afternoon John noticed that only my right leg/foot was huge and swollen. After resting for a couple days we decided to call my doctor on Sunday. She told us to go to the hospital to get an ultra sound and some tests done. My BP came back being 111/55 so no preeclampsia, & the ultra sounds came back perfectly clear so no clots. It was just "normal" pregnancy swelling. I was told to just try to stay off my feet 70% of the day and keep my legs elevated. I'm just thankful the swelling didn't happen till 34 weeks cause I know some women have it happen sooner and have to live with it for a long time.
Also, I was checked and we found out I was 40% effaced, -2 station and almost 1 cm dilated. I'm pretty freaked out because with Makenna - @ 40 weeks I was 0 everything then @ 41 weeks I was 4-5cm dilated and within hours my daughter was here. We were told that because I've already had a baby that's typical to already be thinning out so soon but I'm not ok with that answer and I've been on pins & needles for the past week.

Tomorrow I am 35 weeks & we have an appointment (original appt. was LAST Tuesday but John & I had to reschedule then on Friday my doctor had an emergency with another patient so we had to reschedule AGAIN) & even though I didn't want to be checked until I was in labor, I dont care anymore. I'm going to ask to be checked just so I can have some peace of mind and be at ease a little more. Hopefully I'm still the same and I wont have to think every waking moment that I'm progressing more and more.

REMINDER:: I have lots of giveaways and reviews up right now! You know you wanna win some awesome stuff, and if you dont need it then win it for a friend!! My "Showering Mommy & Baby Event" isn't over yet... & won't be till September so keep coming back, keep entering and keep winning!!

And remember, if DDM gets 300 "Likes" on Facebook by the end of the week I'll give everyone TEN extra entries into your choice giveaway.

Also, please vote daily on TBB and TMB! :)

 

 

Thanks so much guys ♥

Disney Bound

So we finally got our passes to the parks at Disney World the other day!! Now the only park we dont have access to is Universal Studios but honestly it's not for little kids (in our eyes) so we aren't planning on getting them anytime soon... especially with Kendall almost here.
Yesterday we went to The Magic Kingdom (our first time since the end of last year) AND Animal Kingdom (my 2nd time ever). The plan was to JUST go to the Magic Kingdom but that changed I guess. I have NO idea what we were thinking.
Our day started at 9am when the park opened. Once we got home we learned it was the hottest day of the year so far! :) Oh and it definitely felt like it. Even walking from the car to the trolly thing to take us to the shuttle we were already sweating! We definitely looked like tourist since I was wearing a Minnie Mouse hat, & we all had our Trading Pin landyards.

We sat right up front to watch the "Dreams Come True" (at least I think that's what it's called) Cinderella's castle stage show thingy, so that was awesome not having to look at the back of someone's head.

Anyways, Makenna was so excited to start her Disney Pin Trading. If you don't know Disney makes expensive as hell little pins that you put on a landyard ($7-$30 for a pin alone! Landyards are about $15. Starter packs are $25-$35... like I said, expensive as hell for pins!). You can buy them anywhere in the park. Once you have some you can stop any cast member you see having the pins, if you see a pin you like then you give them one of yours and trade. They can't say no or anything like that so they have to trade their pins.
It's just a fun thing you can do through-out the day, trying to get a collect you want or whatever (all Princesses, all Fairies, all Mickey's... whatever). So Makenna LOVED doing that. We got her a starter pack of the Princesses (the landyard plus 4 pins), plus 4 other "crappy" ones we thought she'd trade right away. It was so weird because the Princesses were the 1st one's she traded and she ended up liking the ones we picked specifically just for her to trade, lol. John & I even bought starter packs for us plus extra "crappy" pins just to wear just in case Kenna didn't wanna trade any of hers then we had ours for backups.

Makenna also came with her Tinkerbell photo/signature book so she just HAD to get all the signatures she could possibly get.

After riding a few rides and eating lunch, plus some shopping it was then 3:00pm so me and daddy decided to go see all the Animals at Animal Kingdom!

We took a Disney bus over and that started the 2nd part of the day for us. Both daddy and I were already dying by that point and I wanted to go home so bad.... funny what we do for our kids, huh?

There we watched the parade, rode the Safari ride (that has real animals), played in Dinoland, and met some more characters! Kenna met Lilo & Stitch, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Pluto, and Goofy! Since it was getting close to the end of the day we also let Kenna get her face painted. Plus, we had to do some more shopping and got my parents a couple gifts.

All in all, it was a great day but omg I was so glad it was over by the time we left at 7pm!
My legs are STILL killing me! This house is a mess and I don't have the energy to do anything with it. The laundry is folded but it's just sitting there... waiting to be put away.
I definitely told John right away that even though we have passes and can go anytime... I am seriously NOT going back before Kendall is born. Doing the parks while pregnant was definitely not really a fun experience. Maybe the $70 for an electric wheel chair would have actually been worth it, so yeah I should have just spent the money... but we didn't. :/
So next Disney trip... October-ish! :)

Get Her Outta Me!... Please?

Yeah, I'm officially over it. Everyone talks about the joys and love of pregnancy but I just cannot do it. Sure, from the moment we saw those 2 pink lines it was love and excitement... don't get me wrong, BUT I am hating life right about now.
Who says pregnancy has to be about butterflies and rainbows anyway? 'Cause I'd really love to punch that bitch in the face!! She's a stupid whore, and I hate her!
Yes, my pregnancy has been "uneventful", so much so that even though I was already supposed to start seeing my Doctor every two weeks she thought it was unnecessary since everything has been going so smoothly. Am I blessed, yes, and I know this but that doesn't take away from how crappy I constantly feel.

 So here's my bitch fest :)

• I am sick of the 24/7 acid reflux. I swear my throat is on fire and everyone sees the flames and is just not telling me! Taking Zantac twice a day only helps sometimes but not always. Thank god, EMAB is sending me their "Heartburn Tea" so hopefully that will begin to help!
• The fact that I feel like I'm a freaking beached whale when I step foot in the pool or on the actual beach is just not sitting well with me either.
• Breathing? What the hell is that because ummmmmm I don't think I can EVER catch my breath. I try to talk to... anyone... and I have to stop about 20times in a 2 minute long sentence because I feel like I'm going to pass the eff out!
• Sleep is officially a thing of the past now. I do not think I've gotten a full night's sleep going on about 3 weeks now. It is so uncomfortable to sit, stand, lay on my side, lay on my back.. I have no idea what to do! Even sitting to be on the computer kills me after a few minutes, so I try to get in bed and be on the computer but nope...that gets uncomfortable in 2 minutes.
• My patience is longggg gone out of the window. My daughter is pretty much always on my nerves. I try not to take my misery out on her but damn it is so freakin' hard. John and I have been devoting A LOT more time to her so she doesn't feel like we hate her now or something. I hardly doubt she feels anything differently but of course I especially feel bad about snapping at her.
• Being hot 24/7! It's close to 100 degrees PLUS 60% humidity here in Florida and seriously it's unbearable!! After a while of having the a/c blasting in the car John will instinctively turn is down a few notches since the car has "cooled down" but everyone is failing to realize that the whole time it was blasting to me it felt like it was on low, lol. So everyone has to freeze just to make me A LITTLE bit comfortable.

So yeah.. those are just a few of my issues with pregnancy. I'm only 32 weeks and if I hear one more person say, "aw only 8 more weeks to go" I'm gonna kill them! ONLY?!?? ONLY, people...??? I want these 8 weeks to go by faster then anyone in the world realizes. Yes, it was 6 years ago that I dealt with a summer pregnancy but I do not remember it being this insanely miserable :( In fact I was so much fine with it that I even let my pregnancy go to 41 weeks. This time, I am almost to the point of telling the doctor and John that I want to be induced as soon as I can, because I do not think I can hold out till August 4th!

At least I know from our appointment yesterday that she is head down and getting ready for her lovely decent. I know she hasn't fully dropped or anything yet because I can still walk :) With Makenna it literally felt like someone was taking each of my legs and ripping them apart in the opposite direction. So far, I'm not feeling THAT much pain when I walk... but we're getting there, believe me.

Semi Wordless Wednesday

Sea World 5/26/10

Took a little trip to Sea World today... just because. Today was the only day this week that apparently it's not supposed to rain.

We have season tickets so we (use to) go all the time, but it's been year since our last visit. The cold and our busy schedules have kept us. It was definitely a nice break from Sea World since it was really starting to lose it's "yay" factor to me. Seriously, last year we would go pretty much every single day since we lived right in back of it practically. Before work we'd go for a couple hours, or after work we'd go for a couple hours and then on our days off... we were always at Sea World.

So here are our pics from today! :)

Makenna & Shamu

Baby Shamu kissing my belly, lol

Makenna in my wheel chair before the Shamu show.

& yes, we got me a wheel chair, lol. I was sooo not about to walk around the whole park all day! :)

One of the two BABY Shamu whales. "awwwwww" is right.

Shamu

Makenna waving her flag for Shamu!

Playing in the kiddy water area.

♥ ♥

I freakin' love them!