Well, maybe not every single little detail, but the important ones like who I met, why I was in San Jose, and of course what the flavor of my martini was.

Let’s start from the beginning-ish….

I first met with the amazing PR company for Invisalign at Bloggy Boot Camp Atlanta. Although I had heard of them well before. I signed up to attend their Invisalign Teen Mom breakfast for more information on their program and was excited at everything I was hearing, I immediately thought, ” I need to be a part of this program.” And to be candid I do not feel that way about every opportunity that is presented to me.

After touching base a couple more times throughout the conference and through emails after the conference I was given the opportunity to write this sponsored post: Invisalign – The Real Tooth Fairy. Which, mind you, was a really fun post to create and I loved the little Tooth Fairy I produced as well. From that post I was hoping it would not only showcase my fun writing skills and passion for what I do, but also let Invisalign and their PR reps know that I was interested in their Mom Advisory Board program.

Well, I guess it worked. A few months later I was contacted by email to visit Invisalign headquarters in San Jose to learn more about the process, discuss more details, and best of all, meet my co-horts in the program.

Here are a few pictures of my visit to Invisalign :

Joining me on this new round of bloggers are (in order from the photo above): Ciaran from Momfluential, {me}, Carmen from Mom To The Screaming Masses and Trisha from 24/7 Moms. I had a great time getting to know these ladies, the founder and one of her great PR staffers, and some welcoming folks at the Invisalign Headquarters. I look forward to working with everyone I met this weekend and hope you’re just as excited as I am!

Since I’m on the Invisalign Mom Advisory Board I’ve been educated on Invisalign and know quite a bit about everything from how the aligners are made to who make good candidates and more. In order to help parents and teens even more, I’m going through the process myself so I’ll have first-hand experience to speak on. How cool is that?!?!

Occasionally you’ll see some posts, tweets, videos, and maybe even giveaways from me for Invisalign, I hope that you feel free to ask me questions in my comments or if you’re shy like me {yeah right!}, you can email me any questions you may have as well. If I don’t know I have access to the amazing people at Invisalign who do.

Thank you for always supporting me with my projects. I’m very excited to see how I can help you find out more information to make the best, most educated choices for family. I’ll be posting information from my consultation in the next post so subscribe to my feed if you want to be alerted when it posts on my site.

Also check out Invisalign on Facebook and Twitter:

I am a member of the Invisalign Mom Advisory Board, I receive complimentary Invisalign treatment, but am posting my own, personal opinions. 

Now you may be familiar with 2 chix from your own experience or from one of my first ever posts here: http://www.mommybknowsbest.com/2-chix/. They are known as a fun line of maternity shirts made mostly for moms, but some for dads too. Well, recently I found out that they not only carry bump-themed gear, but they also carry kids clothing, and it’s just as cute as their other lines.

Of course I had to try them out, especially after I saw that they had this bee shirt:

I am, afterall, MommyB and have a whole bee family on my site. I thought it was appropriate, and the girls loved it, especially Miss A because she goofs around sometimes calling me, “MommyB”.

We also got to try out their “Suh-weet” t-shirt which was a white fabric, and the girls honestly looked adorable in both. The first thing I noticed after I received the shirts was the amazing shirt quality. The fabric was thick and soft too. So many of the kids clothing stores today offer cheap prices but the fabrics are so thin you have to layer so they’re not see-through, or they just don’t hold up. Having two girls, namely Baby C who’ll inevitably end up with hand-me-downs, I have to make sure that their clothes can survive the daily wear-and-tear.

When I saw the fun designs were, “velvety accents”, I must admit I was really skeptical that these t-shirt adornments would soon be ripped off by my washer and dryer. Much to my surprise, {and delight}, the shirts have held up wash after wash. No pilling, the bee and ice cream cone have stayed put, and the shirts have kept their size too.

The shirts are a little pricey for what I would normally buy the girls at $32.00 a shirt, but with the way it holds up and the fun velvet accents as opposed to normal print, I could definitely see this being a decent purchase, especially if it’s going to be handed down to one or more child in the future. Weird to call a shirt, “an investment”, but that is exactly what came to mind.

My one disappointment in 2 Chix Chicklets line: they only make them in size 2T-5 and 2T-6 in organics. I don’t dress the girls identical a lot, but once and a while is cute, {in my opinion}. What’s your opinion? Cute or not???

Check out 2 chix Chicklet line here: http://www.2chix.com/products/toddler__kids_tees/index.asp and don’t forget they also have maternity clothes for moms and fun shirts for dads, not to mention cute onesies for the wee babes too. Check them out on Facebook too: http://www.facebook.com/2chixMaternity

What is your favorite 2 Chix Chicklet shirt design?

Seems like we’ve been throwing a lot of parties lately, how much fun!! We have a few fun activities coming up for our family this week, but I wanted to go back and recap a great Oral-B Stages party we were able to host at the B house.

Oral-B Stages are great for the little ones, and I have always felt that oral health is super important especially with my kiddos. OralB has brushes available for children who are 4 months young and kid themed brushes up to age 7 years old.

Our party was a Disney movie theme, we got to watch, Winnie the Pooh, the movie, eat popcorn, and play fun Oral-B games. What better pair than popcorn and tooth care since all those kernels get stuck in your teeth?!?

Check out some fun pictures from our party:

Tigger even made an appearance

What parties are you hosting the rest of this year?

Do you and your family use Oral-B? What do you think of the brand?

We personally choose Oral-B products because I love the brand as a whole, and they have great character themes. We’ve used these products well before this event and will continue to use them. I received all products and goodies for our guests from Oral-B and MomSelect, this in no way effects my opinion of Oral-B. 

I must admit being a “girl mom”, I enjoy every second of picking out girly clothes. And I’m glad the girls just go with it, {for now at least}. I know it’s not too far off when the girls will be telling me more what they want to wear and less what I think looks adorable, but while I can dress them, I will.

I recently learned about the online clothing shop Hartstrings, and immediately fell in love with their outfits. If you don’t already know I’m a prude when it comes to my girls especially and I make no apologies, I think little girls should be able to dress their age. Hartstrings clothing is age appropriate, stylish, and high quality.

The price point on the clothes as you can see is much higher than a Children’s Place or Carter’s, however so is the quality and style. If I had to compare Hartstrings to a children’s store I would say the pricing and style come close to Gymboree. Hartstrings, however, has hands down, the best quality children’s clothing I have seen in a while.

You know those flimsy, long sleeved t-shirts that you see and buy at every clothing store? The ones you need to have several layers just to stay warm indoors in? How about the ones that you question whether your child should wear and undershirt because it’s so thin you can see through it? Think of those shirts, and then think of the complete opposite and that is the amazing quality of long sleeved t-shirts you can purchase from Hartstrings.

We not only love the quality AND the cut {not to slim or too long}, but the details of the stitching are great too. The designs they put on their shirts can be very simple or more ornate, I love the range. Also, I can tell from the details, of their clothing{I’m a details gal} that Hartstrings is really proud of the work they put out, and I admire companies like that.No outfit would be complete with just a top right? Hartstrings has it all, for boys and girls of all ages. We chose this fun, black, stretch velvet skirt to go with the top. I knew Miss A had to have it because she LOVES to twirl and I could just tell this would be a GREAT twirling dress.

We love the fabric, it’s soooooo soft! The fit was great and lined up with most brand sizes. Our one problem with the skirt is that because this is a “rich” fabric and has lots of layers, and again Hartstrings is using quality materials, the skirt is actually pretty heavy. I know, it’s weird to hear that, but it’s weird for me to say that too. I haven’t really seen or experienced clothes themselves being heavy until now. It’s not a huge issue, especially with my 95% height and weight daughter, however if you have a little peanut like some of our friends this may be something you want to consider and choose a bottom with one or two layers of fabric instead.

Overall, the look of the outfit was really cute and Miss A loved wearing it to church. Here is a picture of Miss A modeling her Hartstrings wear and Baby C {who is not wearing Hartstrings}:

I recommended Hartstrings to my friends who were looking for great holiday outfits for family photos, dress up or casual clothes, and will be buying more Hartstrings myself because, again I am just in love with the quality of their clothes. You definitely get what you pay for in this case and in my humble, penny pinching opinion it’s totally worth it.

Head on over to Hartstrings’ website to check out their fun clothing lines for boys and girls from baby to size 16 kids: http://www.hartstrings.com, make sure you sign up with your email for 10% off your next purchase. PS – I also noticed that they are regularly adding new pieces to their “sale” section including in-season pieces, which not a lot of places do, so now is a great time to take advantage of the holiday clothes that are on sale.

If you’re interested check out Hartstrings on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hartstrings and Twitter: http://twitter.com/hartstringskids and feel free to tell them that MommyB from MommyB Knows Best sent you

I received samples of the product mentioned above in order to perform this honest review by MomSelect. All words and opinions are my own true thoughts about the products, however yours may vary.

I recently found out that Carmex has a skin care line. I am always looking for new products to try out on the girls’ skin to help with their dryness, so this came at the perfect time.

I started off trying their Healing Lotion, which is a daily moisturizer that contains aloe & vitamin E. I love the smell because it smells like Carmex Lip Balm, but not overwhelming. I was a little nervous about application because the cream felt a little oily as I put it on the girls and for a few seconds after, but oddly enough it actually feels silky smooth after it soaks into the skin.

For my girls mild eczema the Healing Lotion was just not enough to keep them scratch-free for too long, so we tried out Carmex’s Healing Cream. The Healing Cream has nine ingredients that are made specifically to soothe really dry, rough skin. This cream also has the cool non-greasy {after a minute} feel and awesome Carmex light scent. We used this on the girls right after bath and apply whenever they are feeling itchy. I feel like it definitely helps control a little bit of the discomfort, but may not be enough for their skin types. We’ve actually gone through our samples maybe double as fast as someone who may just have average dry skin, so we may be good candidates for the Healing Ointment. Yes, that’s right there’s another skin care product by Carmex. We haven’t been able to try it yet, but it sounds a lot like Aquaphor and other skin soothing ointments.

All in all we like these Carmex products and I will keep using what we have left and would probably buy the lotion/cream for myself, but will continue my search for a thicker, more long-lasting product for my girls.

For more information on Carmex and their products head over to their website here: http://www.mycarmex.com/our-products/default.aspx

Carmex is giving one lucky MommyB Knows Best reader a chance to win their very own Skin Care Kit.

Head over to Carmex’s website here: http://www.mycarmex.com and tell me which of the Skin Care Products you would want most. If you don’t use the prize pack for yourself consider giving it as a gift for the holiday season.

1. Follow MommyBKnowsBest on Twitter

2. Tweet- using @mommybknowsbest @carmex and linking back to this giveaway. (up to 5 tweets a day)

Not an entry, but we’d love it if you’d go check out Carmex here: on Facebook

Giveaway ends December 6th @12:00 am. The winner will be chosen at random, verified, emailed, and announced in a Winner’s post. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the email from MommyB to claim the prize, if the prize is not claimed within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen at random. You must be a US resident and 18 years or older to enter.
I am a member of the Carmex Blogger Squad and was provided with the above products to sample and write my honest opinions. I received no monetary compensation for this post and all words and thoughts are my own. Yours may vary.

Baby C {now almost 20 months},{when should I stop calling her Baby C, if I call her Baby C forever will she stay little, no? Okay }, is doing great using her forks, in fact some days I think she is going to break the plate when she gouges into her food, and she’s actually doing pretty well using her spoons too, however the kid spoons that I have found are often too flat so it was great to try out the Beaba 360 Spoon with her.

Here is a video of Baby C using the Beaba 360 Spoon. Please ignore the bed head, she just woke up and is eating breakfast, and Miss A is narrating *LOL*

Bright colors - they really stand out from the other utensils, making them easy to grab when Baby C is hungry.

Easy to hold – more so for children who are just learning to use utensils, Baby C does better with smaller utensils but she has amazing fine motor skills, look how she holds her crayons with no training if you don’t believe me {I swear she was born that way.}

 Good Depth – the actual scoop part of the spoon is great for picking up small things like Cheerios, and peas and helps give little ones confidence by preventing frustration that comes from dropping food with traditional utensils.

Kickstand - the spoon comes with the back end that is used more for a lock, however I was able to use it as a sort of “kickstand”, if you will to hold the spoon up to keep from tipping over small cups and bowls like yogurt.

Lastly, I love that the product is BPA and phthalate free, a must in today’s purchases. Yes there are spoons that will be cheaper and I have those in my utensil drawer too, however I would recommend at least purchasing one of the Beaba 360 Spoons as a “training spoon” for your toddler. They are $10.00 on the Scandinavian Child website and come in three different colors depending on who you are buying them for. Head over here: http://www.scichild.com/Shop/Feeding/360-Spoon to check them out.

I received a Beaba 360 Spoon from SCI Child in order to write this review, however the opinions and words expressed in the post above are my own. Yours may vary.

At first glance Little Duck Organics is a fun-loving company. How can I tell? Mostly by their website and packaging. Their description of the wholesome products they represent is anything but boring. Would it be bad if I bought a product just to read what quirky things they were going to say next?? Probably. So it’s good that I like more than just the witty wording. I love that their snacks are made from good things. See:

{Organic Freeze Dried Mangoes, Organic Freeze Dried Strawberries.}

Little Duck Tiny Fruits come in three flavors: Strawberry/Mango, Blueberry/Apple, and Apple/Banana. Baby C loved all three flavors, but devoured the Strawberry & Mango flavor because Strawberry is her favorite fruit of course. I personally like the Tiny Fruits because they aren’t as perishable as fresh fruit, I don’t have to keep them cold, and they’re already in tiny, bite-sized pieces.

As an added bonus, Little Duck Organics also gives 1% of their revenue back to the 1% for Humanityorganization, which I think is great whenever a company gives something to charity.

Check out Little Duck Organics Tiny Fruit snacks here: http://littleduckorganics.com/ and find out where to get your little ones something yummy {and healthy} for their tummies.

I was provided with samples of Little Duck Organics Tiny Fruit snacks for the sole purpose of testing them out. The above opinions are my own, however yours may vary.

Cloth diapers enthusiasts will tell you that you need a detergent specifically formulated for cloth diapers that doesn’t contain optical brighteners, phosphates and other chemicals that can increase the likelihood that your diapers may experience odor or stain issues.

I’ve tried several cloth diaper detergents and believe some work better for us than others because of the hard water we have in the South where I live.

I recently tried Ruby Moon Cloth Diaper Detergent for the first time, and overall, it seems to work well.

With the help of my co-tester, my 3 month old daughter, we washed several loads of soiled cloth diapers using Ruby Moon in the summer lemonade scent.

The scent is very strong when you smell it straight out of the bag. Almost too citrusy – reminds me of kitchen cleaner. However, the scent it leaves in your clothing is almost non-existent (a good thing).

The detergent did a fairly good job of removing the urine and waste. I didn’t notice any lingering odors, although staining remained (more than with some cloth detergents I’ve tried) on the cloth inserts that my daughter had a bowel movement in. However, this is very common, especially with exclusively breastfed babies like my daughter.

The simple fix for that is to place the clean, wet diapers or inserts in the sun. The sun is miraculous – it will remove most, if not all, stains. Even if you don’t cloth diaper, try “sunning” any clothing you have with stains.

Ruby Moon Cloth Detergent is all natural and does not contain phosphates, enzymes, optical brighteners, fabric softener or soap, which is good for the diapers/inserts and my baby’s skin.

I also tried Ruby Moon’s Wipe Bits, which I am now in love with. You take the small cube, drop it in hot water and let it melt. Small “chunks” remained and never completely dissolved, but when you swirl it around, you’re left with a silky, luxurious-feeling liquid that you can use as a wipe solution or to simply clean up any mess on you or your child’s skin. Trust me – you’ll want to use them yourself. I don’t like heavy scents or fragrances because they trigger my allergies, but Ruby Moon’s Wipe Bits have a light, refreshing scent of milk, oatmeal and honey.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the Ruby Moon products and I would purchase them for our cloth diapering needs, particularly the heavenly Wipe Bits.

You can find Ruby Moon online at www.diaperparties.com/andream or on Facebook: Diaper Parties by Andrea or email Andrea at: andream@diaperparties.com

Although products were provided by Diaper Parties by Andrea for this review, the opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.

After a 10+ years communications career, Jamie K. recently took on her most challenging  job yet – as a full-time CFO (chief family officer). Currently, she lives in Alabama with her husband, an officer in the Air Force, and her toddler son and newborn daughter. 

Life lessons from a six-month-old:

Don’t wish infanthood [childhood] away.

*E’s mom has mentioned it several times. I vaguely remember it myself. All the late-night feedings, unpredictability, and most of all, the sheer amount of packing that is required to transport an infant anywhere is overwhelming. When you’re exhausted you think, “Goodness, I can’t wait until s/he can ____.”

I have literally watched E go from doing things he couldn’t do the day before to doing them like a champ. Like sit up unassisted. He is now starting to crawl. It is amazing to watch. I barely remember my own children reaching these milestones.

Now that my own children are becoming increasingly more self-sufficient, I don’t want to miss anything. I won’t say that I haven’t wished time would speed up when one of the tweens is having an attitude, but I am doing my best to enjoy the last few years of childhood we have left.

Keep a journal.

Take pictures and videos. Write in a spiral notebook. Develop a website. Whatever you can get your hands on, write down/document the things the baby has done that day. I had good intentions with each of my children, with most of the documentation starting with my oldest. I thought I would remember everything.

I didn’t.

I started writing a blog when my boys were preschool-aged. While I now have those precious memories, a lot of things that happened prior to that are gone. I have probably taken more pictures of E in the last two months than of own children in the last year.

None of my children want to be written about online anymore, so it’s all private now, but I still do it, and grab a snapshot when I can. Clearly, relying on my memory is not an option.

Enjoy each day. Even the crappy ones.

Like most Type-A personalities, I give myself a to-do list every day. It is typically more than I can ever accomplish, but I wake up optimistic. However, E has taught me that while some things can’t be ignored – we need clean clothes, hot food, and clean dishes — other things can wait. The dusting, the ironing, or painting the laundry room can wait. Why not take an hour to giggle over the dogs? Or play with a ball?

Or make silly faces with each other?

I always thought it was important to get the work done and then play. And while my OCD tendencies keep me itching at times, I am getting better at ignoring it for the greater good. For example, this past Saturday, I had planned a full day of writing and editing. But my twelve-year-old read in the local paper that there was a Civil War battle reenactment nearby. As much as I needed to get some work done, I took them to the reenactment.

The work was waiting on me when we returned home. No one was hurt or inconvenienced. (That I am currently aware.)

“Nap when the baby naps.”

Everyone has heard this adage. Just do it. A power nap never hurt anyone. Whether there are babies in the house or not.

There are many more little life lessons that E has shown me every day that I have him. He will forever hold a special place in my heart, not only because he is absolutely adorable, but because he showed me how precious life is.

*Name withheld for personal reasons.

Heather spends her days (and many late nights) trying to meet the demands of life as a wife, mother, and writer. She blogs about nothing in particular at Cool and Hip, I am Not and is occasionally spotted on Twitter @coolandhip.

These are some of the points we always hear about breastfeeding, but there are some things people don’t tell you. At least, they never told me, and now I’m sharing them with you.

1. It can be boring. Sure, breastfeeding helps you feel a sense of bonding with baby, but if your baby cluster feeds and you’re nursing frequently for long periods of time, it gets boring. Really boring. So grab your laptop, a book or magazine, watch TV, balance your checkbook, whatever it takes to avoid total boredom.

2. Baby may be attached to your breast for a LONG time. There are days you may get nothing done except nursing. All day. Frequently. My daughter, born in July, often nurses on and off for an hour or more and then only waits 30-60 minutes (or less) before demanding more.

3. Sometimes, you just don’t want to. This can be true when you’re extremely tired or your toddler is screaming about something he wants, and your baby decides you must feed her.

4. For such a natural thing, it sure isn’t easy. There can be issues with latching, positions, breast infections and blocked ducts, chapped and cracked nipples…and the list goes on. Funny how no one mentions these things when they talk about how great breastfeeding is.

5. Bottle is baby’s enemy. My baby doesn’t want a bottle, even though it has breast milk in it. I’ve tried the “tricks” others have mentioned to me – having any one but me give it to her, positioning it from the arm pit, switching bottles/nipples, giving it to her cold, etc. Nada. She just doesn’t want it.

6. It is a contact sport. That’s right – while nursing, baby will pump his or her little fists into your breast, pounding on it like it’s a drum and kick her feet, repeatedly, into your torso. Oh, and repeatedly (and quickly) pull her mouth off roughly, stretching your nipple, and reattach.

7. It will hurt. In addition to the fun of #4 and #6, your back, shoulders and even your wrist (from cupping your breast for a good latch) will ache.

8. It can be intimidating to nurse in public. For the most part, I’ve been going to the car to nurse when I’m out with my daughter. However, I have whipped out my cover and nursed in a restaurant, during a playgroup and in a grocery store. And even though I’m covered up, some people still stare and act as if I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m grateful breastfeeding is working out for me and my daughter so far, but I must admit there are days when I think it would be easier and more convenient to give her formula (which can have its own challenges).

What have you experienced with breastfeeding that you wish someone had told you? What tips do you have for breastfeeding mamas?

After a 10+ years communications career, Jamie K. recently took on her toughest job yet – as a full-time CFO (chief family officer). Currently, she lives in Alabama with her husband, an officer in the Air Force, and her toddler son and newborn daughter, who are her toughest bosses yet.