So sometimes the hubby & I watch SharkTank on ABC . Annnnd sometimes it ends up like the initial auditions on American Idol, ridiculous people embarrassing the crap out of themselves with bogus "inventions". And then sometimes...it's awesome.

One night we were watching an awesome product being introduced on the show. The sharks LOVED it, and so did I. It was a photo book that is filled with all of your cellphone pics and it's shipped to you monthly. I mean, best idea ever! It's embarrassing how many pictures I take on my phone, and even more embarrassing how effing lazy I am about we've getting them printed. Thank goodness for my "icloud" (okay, I honestly don't know what that means still...) because at least I know all of them are saved in case I ever decide to print them off.

Anyways, I'm watching SharkTank and seeing this dream-come-true product, and I'm thinking to myself, "Well, that's going to be expensive!" So imagine my surprise when they announce the price of this photo book....$2.99!!!!!! I mean are you kidding?!

I assumed they'd raise the price after reaching national acclaim, but lo and behold, it's still $2.99 a month.

So here's how it works...you download the GrooveBook app on your phone (it's free). Then, the app automatically syncs all of your phone pictures. You go into the app whenever you have a free minute, and select up to 100 pictures for your GrooveBook. You have an entire month to pick your pics...it's like this was made for busy moms. Then, they assemble your book and ship it to you! You can skip months if you want to, and you can order multiples of prints if you don't have 100 different ones.

You pay $2.99 per book...that's it. You can also order multiple books per month for just an additional $2.99/book.

Today, I received my first GrooveBook!!!

I was so psyched!!

I had 100 pictures picked out, because I had pictures on my phone from the last 9 months that still had never been printed (told you I am lazy).

Each picture is printed on a separate page. The paper is more thin than "normal" photo paper but still good quality. Some of my pictures printed a little blurry (because they were poor quality on my phone) but 95% were totally frame-worthy.

Okay, and the best part? All of the pictures have perforated edges so you can (gently) tear them out to frame, share, hang on the fridge, etc.

And here's the even better part (for you)! You can get yourself a FREE GrooveBook!

Here's what you need to do:

-Download the GrooveBook app on your phone.

-Sign-up for the program (you can cancel after your free one if you hate it...but you won't!)

-Enter the promo code: DRECKMAN16

-Upload your pictures and get ready for your first GrooveBook!!

Enjoy :)

XOXO

Laurel

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all of you awesome dads out there! As one of my favorite bloggers, Karen Alpert of Baby Sideburns wrote, "Make sure your kids get lots of alone time with Dad today, that's what Father's Day is all about." :)

Now, to the business at hand!

Roughy Toys had an awesome trick up their sleeves with this giveaway!

Grace contacted me after the giveaway began and said that they would give away MULTIPLE Alexs depending on the number of entries (higher participation = more Alexs). The good news is you guys delivered!!

There are THREE Alex winners!!

I'm so psyched!

Not only is this company super generous in their concept, by giving away an Alex to a child in need for every one purchased but they are also generous in their giveaways.

A BIG shoutout to our winners:

Robbin G--Rockville, MD

Lisa V--Myrtle Beach, SC

JoAnn G--Bridgeport, CT

All of these winners will receive a free Alex along with a free copy of Alex's book about his adventures all around the world! Also, three Alex's will be sent to children in need! Everyone wins!!!

Okay, not everybody wins, because I know that there are a lot of people who entered and did not win a free Alex.

But, behold I bring you tidings of great joy, because Roughy Toys is offering a special deal for all of you awesome readers!

Head on over to Roughy toys and order an Alex for the little one in your life (or, hell, order one for yourself) and using the special promo code below you will receive

a FREE copy of Alex's book with your purchase! Remember, for every Alex you buy, one is sent to a child in need.

www.roughytoys.com

Promo Code: ADVENTURESOFBABYMD

Happy Father's Day!!

XOXO

Laurel

This post will be short & sweet, but I'm really excited because I won something pretty cool!
My standards for "winning" aren't all that high...3rd place is just fine by me, but I was really excited when I received this email:
Dear Laurel,  My name is Jenny Franklin. I work with PartyPail.com; my job is to
search blogs such as yours for individuals who put a great deal of effort into
making their kids birthdays extra special.  I am writing you because of your
post on MD's 1st birthday party. I absolutely love the creativity that you put
into the party. On behalf of PartyPail.com I would like to award you the "Best
Decorations" badge. I absolutely loved the "cowboy" theme and all the work you
put into the decoration!   Anyway, we are only giving a select few awards for
the efforts placed into giving an exceptional party. 
I would love to hear back from you! Sincerely, Jenny

AHHHHH I was beyond flattered.
Creativity is not a strong suit of mine, so when I saw the awesome response to MD's 1st birthday part on Pinterest I immediately felt pretty darn proud of myself. I also thought, shit, do I have to put that much effort in to ALL of his bday parties?! Of course not...

So anyways, without further ado...here is my official internet award from partypail.com for "Best Decorations". BOOOYEAHH!

XOXO,
Laurel

Let me just start off this post by saying that I get a lot of messages from companies who request that I review or promote their products on this blog.

"A lot" to me means a lot more than I expect...I still sometimes think of this little space as something that only me and my directly family read, while my weekly viewership stats continue to prove me wrong (and amaze me!)

Needless to say, there are a lot of really random contacts I receive from people to which I really don't pay much attention. No, my readers do not want to try out your paternity test kit...or maybe they do, I have no idea, but I sure as hell don't!

So when I received a message from Rich & Grace Twilley of Roughy Toys  it was not only refreshing but inspiring.

Rich & Grace started Roughy Toys after Rich traveled to Brazil and witnessed children in extreme poverty, like the kind of stuff I can't even imagine. These kids had absolutely no toys. None.

I understand some people are like, "Kids don't need toys! They'd rather play with a cardboard box than the toy that came in it!" And yeah...MD has had his fair share of moments where I'm thinking why in the eff did I buy that $50 toy when all he wants is the box, but the reality is that if all he had was a stupid cardboard box to play with, it wouldn't be engaging for him. Toys help kids to learn about the world around them. They provide comfort, interaction, and fun.

I'm getting off track...sort of...see Rich went and to Brazil and saw all of these kids with literally ZERO toys and came home to a house full of them (it probably looked a lot like my house...except cleaner, because I'm convinced everyone's house is cleaner than mine). Then, a brilliant idea was born.

Roughy Toys was started and they created their first toy...Alex.

Alex is an adorable stuffed monkey with teal hands & feet so he appeals to both boys and girls. He's made with extra tough materials and stitching because kids in developing nations don't have the luxury of a washer & drier and clean ground to play on...so Alex can pretty much survive anything.

See, what Roughy Toys does is they allow you, the parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle/friend, buy an awesome Alex toy for a special child in your life to enjoy, and then they send a toy to a child in need.

When I first read about their company my first thought was "OMG! It's like TOMS but with TOYS!" See, I don't own any Toms shoes (yet), but I've always loved the idea that I could buy something I already wanted, and then for no additional cost or obligation my part, a person in need would receive the same thing I just got!

So...when you buy an Alex stuffed animal from Roughy Toys, you get an adorable Alex shipped to you along with a book of his adventures around the world (because Alex literally flies all around the world), AND Roughy Toys sends an Alex to a child in need...BECAUSE YOU BOUGHT ONE!

As you can see, I'm super passionate about this concept, so I completely forgot to tell you about my experience with Roughy Toys. I got to the part where Rich & Grace contacted me to see if MD would like an Alex doll. Oh, and even though they were sending MD his for free, they were still going to send one to a child in need! Umm...yeah I don't think I'm going to say no that one.

Today, we received our Alex!!!

I apologize for the blurry picture, but the thing with MD is that when he's really excited, it's impossible to get him to sit still. I think it's safe to assume that he was pretty darn excited about Alex arriving today :)

Alex, in all of his glory!!! The only thing that would make this better is if I could see the child in need receiving their donated Alex...oh wait...there ARE pictures of that :)

Okay, so those aren't the specific children who will receive Alex because of MD's Alex order, but it's good enough for me! Those smiles....ahhhhhhhhhhh....love it!

MD wanted Alex to feel comfortable in his new home, so he read Alex the story about...well...Alex! I think it helped break the ice ;)

And before I knew it, MD and Alex were like peas and carrots :)

I knew their love was serious when I took this picture, while they snuggled, and watched Frozen together. An act of true love...I need to stop watching that effing movie.

So here's the part where I tell you what you really want to read about.

How you can get an Alex of your very own...for free.

And if you don't win the giveaway, how you can get an Alex of your very own for a very reasonable price (especially considering you are technically purchasing TWO Alex dolls, and one may be shipped across an ocean).

You can win an Alex of your own, and one will be donated to a child in need BECAUSE YOU GOT ONE FOR FREE!! This is the most no-brainer giveaway I've ever heard of. Even if you're not sure if your child needs another toy...you're not just getting Alex for them you're getting Alex for a child in need. Do you want to say no to a child in need?! Didn't think so :)

You can enter the giveaway using the PromoSimple entry below. You can enter one time per day until the giveaway ends BUT you can earn additional entries by "liking" Roughy Toys and Baby MD on Facebook (and Pinterest).

AND...if you're not the lucky winner, you can hop on over to Roughy Toys' website and order an Alex directly from them! I have to tell you, that Alex shipped faster than anything I've ever ordered online, ever. Awesome customer service over there.

http://roughytoys.com/

Good luck to you all!

XOXO
Laurel

MD is really blessed.
He inherited the best features from his family members.
He has his daddy's smile...which is what drew me to Steven in the first place.
He has his Nana & Uncle Mark's beautiful blue eyes...
And, best of all, he inherited his mother's hair.
White/Blonde.
Has the appearance of baby bird feathers until you reach the age of..ohhh...20 years old?
And the best part...once it actually starts to resemble "real" hair, it gets more snarly than a rat's nest if you look at it wrong.
It's awesome.
In all honesty, most of my hair problems will not affect little MD, because he's a boy.
He's lucky in that way...he will never grow his hair out and have to deal with raking a comb through it and losing half of it in the process.

I've literally tried EVERY SINGLE OPTION when it comes to trying to tame my snarly hair and it's come to no good conclusion.
I go through about two bottles of hair conditioner for every bottle of shampoo, just to try to soften it up enough in the shower to allow me to brush it, which never works anyways.
My current routine consists of shampoo, rinse...condition, condition, condition, let the conditioner set while I do the rest of my shower, comb out hair (with conditioner in) with a wide-toothed comb in the shower, then rinse, then carefully pat dry with a towel, then comb through again (which is naturally where I sit for 20 minutes trying to comb through the rats nest that has still somehow formed during my delicate process.
I'm not even kidding.

SO when I heard about a "new product" that was supposed to be awesome for taming tangly rat nest hair, I naturally thought one thing...it must cost a fortune.
AND...my second though was...it probably doesn't work.

See, what I had heard about was this thing called a "wet brush". I think they've existed for a while, but I kept hearing about it in conversations with friends & family so I thought, hey, I'll at least look it up!

Well...I went to my favorite store with a giant red circle and did what I usually do, but the one thing I went there for, and then browse around throw a bunch of other shit in my cart on a whim.
I came across this "magic brush" and it was only $9.
Even if it doesn't work...at least I only would have spent $9.
So I bought it....cuz it's Target, and you buy shit even if you only half want it.

In order to REALLY test this magical wet brush I decided to skip my normal shower routine in which I pamper my hair, tell it how wonderful it is, and play it sweet songs while I feed it grapes...and just do what normal people do.
Shampoo...rinse....conditioner...rinse...pat dry....holy fuck.
Honestly, I hadn't done a "normal" shower routine with my hair in YEARS so seeing the full effect rats nest at the end was absolutely terrifying.
If this brush didn't work out I was seriously going to need to re-shower and apologize to my hair for 20 minutes while conditioning it to make things right.
BUT for the sake of experimentation I had to at least give the brush a try.
I shit you not...this thing really is effing magic.
I did not have one single "ouch" moment.
I did not have a single strand of hair tangled in the brush that was lost during "The Battle of the Nest".

I was planning on this blog posting being a huge blaze of fire bitch-fest where I complained so much about how shitty this brush is that The Wet Brush would have to send me some kind of compensation so my readers wouldn't start a picket outside of their offices, but that's not the case.

If you have even remotely snarly hair, you need to go to Target RIGHT NOW and buy it (you can also get it on Amazon for the same price).
Also, I wanted to note, even though the name is "The Wet Brush" you can still use it when your hair is dry, and it works awesome then as well...it's just that it's best for people with shitty hair (like me) who need special assistance when our hair is wet.

Hope you enjoy!

XOXO
Laurel

I realize that I haven't written a blog post in a long ass time.
It's not for lack of material, as this post will show...it's because of lack of TIME!!
If anybody can figure out how to add more hours to the day, I'd really appreciate it.

So here are just some "cliff notes" of stories & happenings with not-so-baby-anymore MD...

It's SUMMER! *cue Olaf's summer song*
We've been spending a lot more time outside (obviously). MD needs sunscreen like nobody's business. Poor kid didn't get his daddy's middle eastern complexion so he's stuck wearing SPF 5,000 like his Mama!
My favorite part of the day (insert sarcasm) is when it's time to go inside to make dinner/take a bath/etc and MD lets out a scream so loud I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm stabbing him with a hot poker...every...single....time. I can countdown to the meltdown like the dropping of an atomic bomb.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MD has started saying sentences now.
His first two show his personality to a "t".
1) I GO OUTSIDE!
Weird..cuz you hate going outside. Also, I'm so glad your first sentence is not only a phrase but also a demand. Not, "Please, can I go outside?" or even "Can I go outside?" but I GO OUTSIDE! . Must be typed in all capitals to get the full effect of how it sounds.
2) I GO INSIDE!
This only happened once. As I stated, going inside is the equivalent to torture for MD, however he wanted to "go inside" someone else's house. Awesome.

His other two are about the biggest punches to the stomach you can get...
1) Daddy go bye bye.
*ouch*
2) Laurel go bye bye.
*ouch...and DON'T CALL ME LAUREL! I'M YOUR MOM!*

On the plus side...he HAS started referring to me as "Mommy" now. I still get "Laurel" sometimes...like a few weeks ago when we went to Home Depot to pick out paint...Steven was a little ways ahead in the store so MD couldn't see me anymore. He proceeded to scream "LAUREL!" at the top of his lungs until I came into view. It was so fun!

We've also been spending a lot of time on the boat...or "booooot" as MD calls it.
Would you check out that hair?! Love it.

MD has become a little bit...okay, a lot, more independent now.
Like "I don't want to hold your hand...I don't want your help...I'll do it my damn self" type of independent. That is until he falls down or can't do it himself, in which case he cries like I never tried to help him in the first place.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My cousin Maura and I took MD out for frozen yogurt last night (yes, we are integrating more dairy into his diet as he can tolerate it). Luckily, we were the only people in the store, as he spent the entire time jumping on their plastic couches and running around like a chicken with his head cut off. We let him run around mostly, except when he magically discovered a snow shovel and decided to bring it to us like he had won a trophey!
We then walked over to Papa Murphys to pick up a pizza. MD was casually strolling around the store looking at things when I summoned him over to me. "MD! You can come over here and watch the guy make our pizza!" To which MD replied "PEEEAHHHHH????" and then ran BEHIND the counter to literally stand next to the 16 year old Papa Murphy's employee who was making our pizza. So I left him there and went to the bar. Kidding...but seriously...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than "boot" and "peeeeahh" MD has been trying REALLY hard to learn new words. Most of them aren't quite right (as is standard for toddlers) but he really does try his best. My favorite word that he has learned is "cook". MD has a cooking set that he uses to "cook" food for fun, and he likes to point out when he sees other people "cooking".
Wanna know how MD says cook?
COCK!
It's terrifying!
Even as we are standing Papa Murphy's watching our "peeaahhh" being, made MD is standing next to the 16 year old employee who is COOKING our PIZZA and saying "COCK! PEEAH! COCK!".
W.T.F.
At home, it's funny...in public, it's, well, it's still funny.

So there you have it!
A brief and scrambled summary of what we have been up to.
I'm really excited about an upcoming post.
I'm teaming up to review/promote a company who provides stuffed animal toys to children in need! I'm really hoping you guys can help me stand behind this awesome company, because all kids deserve to have toys no matter what circumstances they are born into.
Until then...

XOXO
Laurel