Christmas shopping is over right?!?! Right?!?! Not necessarily. I know people who shop after the holidays for a number of reasons.

1. Forgot to get a certain gift

2. Feel bad when someone else gets them a lot of gifts

3. Sales, sales, sales

4. Gift Card extravaganza!!

5. It’s never too early to start shopping for NEXT Christmas, {or birthday, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, National Hug a Friend on Friday Day…you get the jest.}

And since you’re spending $$ anyway, shouldn’t that earn you a little bonus? I think so, and so does MasterCard and their, “Here’s to Mom” Holiday Savings Promotion. In case you missed the instructions in my first post they’re really quite easy:

•  Enroll your MasterCard at their secure site here: http://bit.ly/MasterCardHolidayRewards
•  Spend $200 online {I could help you with this part if you want} from Now through December 31st, 2011.
• Check your email. MasterCard will email you with instructions on what you have earned.

*Limited time, limited quantity. Promotion Open to US Residents Only.

Of course I enrolled my MasterCard, since I do most of my Christmas shopping online for long-distance family members. I was excited to see this:

Hooray!!! What will you spend your gift card on?? Yourself? A gift? Bills?

This post is sponsored by MasterCard, however the words above are my own. I have been a MasterCard owner for several years and these are my personal opinions and thoughts on their services and programs. Your opinions may vary.

Rebecca, with this entry:

congrats Rebecca I’ll be emailing you to get your address for your Carmex goodies!

I admittedly haven’t watched talk shows since I was pregnant with Little Miss A, in 2006, but in case you missed it today is her first day of preschool. So, as I work I hear more and more about weight loss, {which is something I’m working on right now in lieu of the weight I gained from my pregnancy with Baby C}, and my ears are turned on when I hear, “lose weight” of course.

I have about 25 pounds to get down to a healthier weight which may not seem like a whole lot to some people, but being 4′ 10″ makes every pound count.

On the show, the HCG diet was mentioned. I will point out that I am not an expert on the HCG diet, but one of my blogging friends Brittany from A Healthy Slice of Life wrote a great, informative post on HCG – The Facts.

Basically on the diet you super load on calories, {over 3,000 calories a day} the first 3 days prior to the injections. Yes that’s right you have to give yourself a daily shot of the HCG hormone. Once you start the injections you begin your food plan. The food plan with this diet is to eat 500 calories a day, high protein, low carbs, low fat and no alcohol. {Did I mention it’s 500 calories}? Now there are other crazy things associated with this diet {like many other fad diets}, like taking a break to “re-sensitize your body” and the cost. However the part that struck me most was injecting yourself with hormones and basically starving yourself {the average person should consume about three times that amount *this number varies on age, weight, height, activity level and more factors, but is a general idea}.

My problem, being a parent, is how am I to be an example to my girls when they see me doing the HCG diet, or any fad diet for that matter? Yes, I know this can apply to so many areas in life, but that’s exactly why I, personally, am trying my hardest to be an example in all realms of life, because the choices I make will impact their lives. No I am not perfect, no one is, and most of us want the best for our children. I want my children to grow up watching me exercise, be a healthy eater {which I am currently working on}, and have the occasional treat too.

Watching this episode on the HCG diet really made me think about the message I want to send to the girls, and perhaps you as a parent do too. Although it’s not easy for most of us to find time or energy to work out, and sometimes even hard to eat healthy being busy or on-the go; I feel that in the long run if I can impact my girls and encourage them to be healthy from the get-go that they’ll have more of a fighting chance against the genes, and diseases that run on both sides of our families that are made worse by weight gain.

Isn’t seeing mommy and daddy the most impactful way for them to learn anything?

What do you think about dieting and being a parent? Are there ways you are teaching your children to “follow your lead” or are there things that you do that you hope your children don’t inherit?

Normally for this great discount card you would pay $20 for your lifetime membership, but right now Juice in the City is running an amazing deal and you can get yours for just $8, that to me, is amazing! I had to tell all of you about it, I just couldn’t keep this one to myself.

In case you’re wondering the ELAN card gives you discounts at baby planning businesses, online art services, bakeries, frozen yogurt shops, earth-friendly companies, spas and much much more. To check out the full listing head over to ELAN Card’s website: http://www.elancardcharlotte.com Plus they’re always adding to the list, so definitely a valuable purchase and depending on where you purchase items you could make the $8 you spend on your card on your very first purchase. How cool is that?

There are only 100 available and only 1 per person so get yours while they last and feel free to post in the comments when you get yours. http://www.juiceinthecity.com

As a Juice in the City Ambassador I received compensation for this post. However, the opinions expressed in this post are my own opinions, yours may vary, {but if I didn’t think it was great, I wouldn’t write about it.}

Surprisingly we can become those moms, or at least slowly evolve into a semblance of those moms, starting with Belabumbum. I’ve always heard that wearing great undergarments can make or break you, and I agree and believe that Belabumbum makes it possible for us to wear quality garments that are both stylish and comfortable.

Hallelujah!! Belabumbum has come up with a great line of beautiful pieces. Thanks to Belabumbum I was able to test out their Amelie Nursing Chemise and Cardigan and really like it. Not only is the fabric forgiving but it’s also comfortable too. For $99 you would expect the sleep set to be high quality and that is just what you get with this sleepwear. In general, Belabumbum’s prices are a little higher, but you pay for what you get and it is well worth it.

I love how flattering the Amelie Nursing Chemise is and wish I could have one for every night. In my opinion it’s the perfect blend between sexy, yet comfortable enough to sleep in and nurse in. Here’s a photo of a gorgeous model in the Amelie Nursing set:

The only thing I would change about this set would be the cardigan it buttons above the neckline so not great for coverage which is exactly what I would want a cover up to do. Personally I’d love a long wrap robe with a higher v-neckline. Belabumbum does however offer other styles that have the longer robe if that’s something you look for too.

I would recommend the Amelie Nusring Chemise and Cardigan if you’re looking for something pretty, that covers the “mommy bits” that you want to hide while allowing you to look beautiful and nurse with ease this is it. Overall, Belabumbum does a great job covering your maternity, nursing, post-baby, and baby sleepwear needs, and beyond. Check out their website for your mommy needs: http://www.belabumbum.com/

I received samples of Belabumbum Lingere in order to complete my honest review for this post. The opinions expressed in this post are my own opinions, yours may vary.

So how am I going to accomplish all this on top of being active in moms groups, doing my housework and of course most importantly taking care of my two beautiful girls, Little Miss A and Baby C?? Well, I’ve found some help of course!  I think it’s actually becoming a trend these days because I keep seeing posts like mine on mommy blogs that I love. Anyway, in the coming weeks I will be featuring some great guest bloggers, all of them parents, with some great products, and tips, and fun stuff to share with you, plus I’ll have my reviews and giveaways as well. And maybe just maybe I’ll have quite the, hmmm I can’t think of anything witty with a B to describe the awesome team I just may have on my hands…anyway it’ll be great.

Please help me welcome the guest bloggers as they appear, they’re volunteering their help and expertise and I’m so thankful that each one reached out to me, now I can get a few more hugs and cheek squishes in with my kiddos!!! And I hope you as readers enjoy some different points of view as well.

What’s something new you’d like to see on MommyB Knows Best? More of something, less of something, a new column, certain topics? Spill it!

Amazingly each entrant for the Panda Licorice giveaway named Raspberry as their favorite flavor, secretly it’s mine too!! The winner of the beautiful gift basket and large stuffed panda is: Christa N!! Congrats Christa, I’ve emailed you, please email me your address within 48 hours so I can get you your prize.

Now onto the Guidecraft giveaway, which brought a lot of new entries to my site, welcome all you new MommyB Knows Best readers and thank you all for entering. The winner of the Guidecraft giveaway had a large number of entries, and that person is: Amy H! Amy, you’re going to love this prize, please make sure you email me back within 48 hours to assure you get your Noah’s Ark toy box.

There were several of you who’s entries were deleted because you did not fill out the mandatory entry, so please be sure to do so in the upcoming giveaways. Check out my giveaways for Phoebe Nursingwear and Safety Innovations, all of my current giveaways are located in my right sidebar under About Me, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for more to come this week and following weeks.

Oddly enough I just picked the winner about 8 minutes ago, although I posted on Facebook the other day that I was going to pick right then, well the odd part is still to come…

I use random.org to pick the winners for my giveaways so each giveaway is fair, well as I picked the winner I realized this person was the same and only person who commented on my Facebook status about the winner…..so weird!!!

Anyway, congrats to Christa N., who is the winner of her very own pair of Leg Huggers! Please email me back once you receive my email.

Remember to keep checking MommyB for great new reviews, tips, and giveaways, and who knows maybe if you comment on a Facebook post or blog post lady luck will somehow work for you!

Now, one of my readers has won a Japanese Weekend nightgown of their very own. That winner is…….Jenn M. Congrats Jenn, I know you’ll be excited to have this as you’re expecting Baby girl soon. Please remember to check your email and write me back so we can get your prize to you right away.

Thanks to all you lovely ladies who entered and remember I currently have my Leg Huggers giveaway and Royal Drama reviews up so please check those out as well.

And the winners are…..Kate G., Aimee D., Monica N., and Kelly W.!! Congrats expecting mommies hope this makes the delivery go much smoother. I know a couple of you are ready to have your babies now So get adding numbers, it’s really easy.

Don’t forget about my Japanese Weekend and Leg Huggers giveaways and my Lee DeWyze CD reviews I have up on MommyB Knows Best right now