New Books, Low cost

We purchased William some new books over the weekend since shows so much interest in them over toys. I really don't know what it is but he really does not ever play with toys unless they belong to the dog. We found these fantastic board books that retailed around $10-$12 per book for a only a few dollars each. They are very brightly colored and larger than normal books for the birth-3 years of age. He just loves them.

This kid is so smart that he has a favorite book called Kitty Up! If you ask him where Kitty Up is he will find it underneath other books and say "up!" It's just the cutest thing. I love to read to William especially when I catch him glancing over at my face to watch my expressions. I get all into it to keep him interested. He will look at me at the exact same sentence every time I read a particular book.

The great part about his new books is that he won't be able to destroy them very easily like books with actual paper pages. Let's just say we have had a few casualties along the way! Don't let that innocent face fool ya!

Suave® "Shower Yourself Beautiful" giveaway

My friends at MomSelect and Suave® Skin have generously sent me some amazing products as part of their Suave® Skin program. I have been a Suave® user for many years now. When you have a large family you have to cut corners and save where you can and these products are very budget friendly. I really love the bodywashes and feel the quality is top notch. I have used boutique products and honestly feel like I am throwing my money away. Since I have teenage daughters that are into beauty products, Suave® Skin products are a perfect fit for us. There are also many yummy fragrances to choose from like Wild Cherry Blossom, Ocean Breeze and Apricot Exfoliating.

Dwayne and I are really big fans of the Cocoa Butter with Shea Body Lotion. I used it especially during my pregnancy with William to keep my baby bump extra smooth and moisturized. I really love the way it makes my "Summer glow" look even more glowing too!

Now for the fun part, 1 lucky reader has a chance to win the 4 products pictured above! This prize includes one 18 oz Advanced Therapy lotion and 3-12 oz bodywashes (one of each scent) in Wild Cherry Blossom, Ocean Breeze and Apricot Exfoliating. Just leave a comment telling us if you are a Suave® user and what your favorite product is or visit the Suave® Skin site and tell us what you would like to try. Be sure to leave a valid email address if you do not have a Blogger account or ID. The deadline to enter is June 25th at 11:59 pm EST. Giveaway open to US residents only.

Would you like an extra entry?

1. You can tweet this giveway and leave a link to your tweet (one tweet per day)

2. You can place our button on your site (leave a link to your site)

**Be sure to leave an individual comment per entry method.

We're not done yet...

Suave® Skin has a really cool campaign for the Summer called "Shower Yourself Beautiful" that offers great tips from Holly Robinson Pete, actress and celebrity Mom. Each week running from June 15- July 20, you can create a different registry for a chance to instantly win your chosen prizes and also be automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate at-home shower for you and your friends! Be sure to visit ShowerYourselfBeautiful.com for your chance to win.

Vent Day Wednesday

Welcome to this week's edition of Vent Day Wednesday with a little twist. Be sure to hit us up in the comments with your vents!

William and his firetruck

We got William his first ride-on toy. I have actually been shopping around for one for a while now and it seems that these particular toys are hard to come by for boys (decently priced that is). I can find every princess, Dora, Barbie and all things girlie but finally found this one! Will really doesn't quite understand what he is supposed to do with it. He likes to push it all over the house!

He was being silly and leaning backwards and loving it! He is such a boy :)

Gee, hope Dwayne doesn't get mad that I am showing the brand and cutting into his endorsement money!!

Question

When does your baby officially become a toddler? I get some emails that refer to William's age as toddler and others as baby. Is it once they start to walk? I always thought it was 2 years of age. What do you think?

Feed your baby fat

I took little William for his 15 month check-up. He is developing perfectly on target and is doing all the things that are expected at this age. There was only one concern, his weight. It turns out that my once chubby baby dubbed "the Michelin baby" or "baby Sumo" is now in the 30th percentile for weight (22.9 lbs). I really do not know how percentiles work but I know it is on the low end. Maybe it is because he is in the 80th percentile for height. It's really funny that every person that sees William seems to think he is really big for his age but according to his doctor he is a bit on the thin side.

She even provided me with some literature on ways to pump up the calories by incorporating concentrated fats. These fats include butter, margarine, cheese, vegetable oil, mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese. I wish my doctor told me that I could have those things! Thankfully his pediatrician is very thorough and she assured me there is nothing to worry about and that he is just burning off calories from being so active. I probably should be glad that he is not on a restricted diet. So now William can eat anything he wants and then some! Lucky little fella!