A place for my favorite person to rest his head

Connor has been begging for a “pillow” for months. He has had several small soft pillows which he did enjoy but they had to be washed as he is a drooler and nothing really held up. Nor did any of them make him truly happy as, well, they didn’t look like “Mom’s pillow”. I debated giving him an adult sized pillow but after watching him sleep on one it looked rather rough on his neck as most of our pillows are fairly fluffy and it cranked his little noggin off the bed pretty far and I was worried he’d hurt his neck in the long run.

Travel pillows are in the right size range but the problem is you can never find decent pillow covers, if any, for a travel pillow. So what is a mom to do for a toddler who is dying to get his first pillow? Dillyhearts came to the rescue with quite possibly the cutest pillow and pillow cover I have ever seen, and Connor is in heaven. Actually his first response to the pillow was to scream mine, grab it, and attempt to put it in his bed all by himself. Heh.

Connor’s Dillyheart toddler pillow was made just for him. Solid blue super soft minky for the body of the pillowcase with a chocolate minky trim and his name is embroidered down the trim so if there is any doubt who’s pillow it is, it’s labeled for all to see and finished off with an embroidered heart. I like to think the little heart is a reminder that his mommy’s heart is with him no matter where he is. Connor loves his new pillow as it looks like a big boy pillow and I love the fact that its super easy to wash as I can just remove the pillowcase and throw it in the wash. Now I just need to order some extra pillowcases as my little munchkin seems to get his pillow dirty quite often. We’ve washed the pillowcase at least a dozen times by now and I can tell you with all honesty that the pillowcase looks as great today as it did when it first arrived!

Dillyhearts makes more than personalized toddler pillows, you can check out their entire line of customizable gear. A great place to start is the personalized gallery to get just a small idea of what you can do! You can pick up your own Dillyhearts toddler pillow on the Dillyhearts website.

Dillyhearts has been awesome enough to giveaway a toddler pillow with pillowcase to one lucky winner!

To enter : (MAKE SURE YOU READ THE BIRTHDAY POST!! You must be entered into the birthday bash to win this contest!)

• Leave a comment on this post. Check out Dillyhearts and their awesome product selection. Then come here and tell us which product you love and why!! Make sure you read below to earn extra entries including a scavenger hunt entry.
  
• Make sure there is a way for me to contact you - if your email address is not on your profile or you are not a blogger you may leave it in your comment or email it to me directly (angelaandconnor at gmail dot com) We have had to disqualify a lot of potential winners as of late as many people do not have emails available in their profiles or leave anonymous posts without any way to contact you.
• Please US entries only.
• To get extra credit :
  • For an extra entry :
  • Bloggers - Blog about this contest and leave me the link on your comment, or add me to your sidebar and let me know its there.
  • Non Bloggers (or bloggers) subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed and earn another entry!
  • Answer the I Spy trivia question "Check out Dillyhearts website and take a look at the products! I spy something that has a "meow" (Connor's word for cat) that would be great for working in the kitchen! Do not leave this entry in your comment all trivia question answers go to contestsatsevendogs@gmail.com. Use the subject "Dillyhearts" Posting "I spy" answers in comments will disqualify you!
    
  • Let people know about the giveaway on Twitter with a link to the giveaway!
    
  • THREE extra credit per person. Please post your extra credit in a separate post.
  • This contest will end May 15th at midnight!

I'm totally inspired.

With Connor turning two I am already feeling the baby fever. Slap me now but seriously every baby I see seems more delicious than the next and I'm desperately clinging to the little bits of baby left in my growing little man. Not that Connor will ever not be my "baby" he is just becoming more and more independent and every chance we get to snuggle seems more and more precious as I know that soon he will be too big for me to scoop up and cradle in my arms as seeing as I'm only 4'10 I have this feeling he will be looking at me eye to eye before I can have time to breath.

The amazingly beautiful crib couture over at Inspired Crib Bedding is not helping my baby fever one bit. It takes me back to looking for a crib pattern for Connor's baby bed and the trouble I had finding just the right design at the right price. I'm sorry ladies but I am not a teddy bear or character baby bedding sort of girl. Seeing as many families use the same crib bedding over multiple children it just seems as if that "bear pattern" will get a little old over time. So when I saw the very modern but neutral looking patterns over at Inspired Crib Bedding I was pretty excited.

We got a chance to try out one of their stroller blankets and we are totally in love. We got our hands on the Geo Aqua blanket and seeing as I've yet to pry it out of Connor's hands I'm saying its a huge hit. The top of the blanket is a super soft cotton in that pretty aqua mod print and the bottom is a super silky minky. The blanket itself is pretty generously sized and its easily big enough for Connor at age two but not so big that it would be overwhelming to use with a newborn. The generous use of minky is really overwhelmingly stands out in this collection, not to mention those eye catching prints.

Speaking of minky fabric, can you imagine what it would be like to have a whole bed sheet made of minky? That dream can be a reality for all the babies on your list as the crib sheets in this collection are made totally of minky and the bed bumpers are lined with minky as well! Even the swaddlers have a minky lining. Talk about spoiling them early! My only question is where are the minky sheets in size king? heh.

If I'm lucky enough to have another baby at some point you better bet one of those crib sets will be the first thing on my registry!

Check out the entire Inpsired Crib Bedding collection on their website and if your looking for a great gift for a baby on your list or even a toddler I highly recommend their stroller blankets.

Olive Kids is out of this world!

I've been dragging my feet on preparing for Connor to eventually move to a big boy bed. I'm just not ready to let go of his babyness yet and we are still not quite ready, thank goodness.

Last night as I stood in his room attempting to rock him to sleep I realized he no longer fits in my arms, when I hold him cradle style which we both love his legs dangle off my side and its not going to be long before it will be nearly impossible to hold him like that anymore. Just the thought breaks my heart but watching him grow is such a pleasure. So we rocked and rocked, and no sleep came, both of us totally exhausted but though I suspected it last night as Connor is never hard to get to go to sleep, this morning we found out officially that he has his second ear infection, ever!

I had a lot of time to think about his room and our future plans for when his crib finally converts down to using just the bed rail, and this little boy can't just have any ole thing on his bed! He needs something super cool! Inspired by a robots in space painting I found while shopping a few months ago, and a rocket dog painting we won over at Island Life, we decided that when the time comes Connor's first real big boy bedset will be space themed. I can not think of a better place to buy his first set at than Olive Kids.

Olive Kids has always offered the most beautiful drool worthy bedding and decorating ideas for children at actually very affordable prices. I got Connor a whole Space bedding set which includes the comforter, sheets, and pillow cases for $69.99 you just can't beat the price and looks that I've found. With tons of decoration options as well you can do as little or as much as you like. Matching floor pillows (which can be personalized), rugs, drapes, wall art, and even decorative pillows are available for each of their bedding collections.

If your looking for more personalized items also check out their huge selection of personalized gifts. Connor has the coolest Olive Kid's dinosaur place mat which he eats his meals off of every day.

Head on over to Olive Kids and check out their entire line of bedding sets, I'm really fond of the pirate set as well you really have to check out the treasure chest pillow, its quite possibly my favorite piece from their entire collection.

No more lost pacifiers!!

Connor has been past the age of using a "bumper" for quite some time now.. and honestly I loved the way they looked but I was always concerned about the safty of using one as well as the fact that mine at least kept sagging and I always had to readjust it!

With that said, the moment I took Connor's bumper off his bed I immediately found out that not only would he kick every pacifier I could put on the bed OFF the bed he would wake up routinely during the night looking for his pacifiers or with his legs stuck through the rails of his crib.


My first solution to that was to attempt to put the bumper back on.. but shortly afterwards Connor was attempting to use the bumper to either climb out of the crib or trying to rip the bumper off the crib itself and ended up breaking two or three of the ties on my very very expensive crib set. So up till now he has been bumper less and I've been digging pacifiers out from behind his crib on a daily basis.

That is until we found the Cozy Wedge!! We got a Cozy Wedge in Ecru (organic cotton) to review and man has it made all the difference in the world. I am no longer having to put a dozen pacifiers in the crib at night in hopes that one will make it till morning and actually he had made it through the entire night with just ONE pacifier nor have we had random wake ups thanks to a misplaced leg or him accidentally ramming his head into the rails either.

The Cozy Wedge is safe for babies of all ages! For younger babies it's great for parents who are worried about SIDS. Most pediatricians will actually recommend you forgo a bumper all together as it may lead to a increased risk of SIDS. The Cozy Wedge is safer as the bumper itself is a hard foam inside of a cloth cover so there is nothing squishy for a baby to push it's head against. For older babies it allows you to use a bumper much longer as the Cozy Wedge has a very low profile which does not aid a baby in crawling out of the crib.

The slip cover over the foam aspect of the Cozy Wedge is removable and washable it only takes seconds to slip the foam in and out of the cover so it wont add to your workload I promise.

Honestly my only complaint with the Cozy Wedge is the fact that you cannot buy extra covers. I like my Ecru cover as it matches everything but we would LOVE to have the Groovy Cover as well.. it would have been nice to be able to buy a Groovy and have an Ecru as backup for laundry day!

Go check out the Cozy Wedge website and all of their great color options. You may purchase the Cozy Wedge directly off the website as well!

So cuddly you will want one for yourself!

There is no need to be carrying around plain old boring baby blankets anymore. The baby blankets, security blankets, and burp cloths from AllyZabba are so pretty you will want one for yourself!

The new AllyZabba² is a modern twist on the traditional satin backed baby blanket. One side is a square pattern raised plush and the other side is a soft satin designer fabric. It will leave you at a loss to decide which side is prettier.

Connor has an AllyZabba in the travel size and he has been snuggling with his at bedtime every night. I don't blame him its so beautiful and soft I would love to have one in a king size for my own bed! The MegaZabba does come close at a whopping 58x58, I certainly would not mind snuggling up with one of those very night!

AllyZabba has provided us with an AllyZabba² to give away to one lucky reader!

To enter :

• Leave a comment on this post. Check out AllyZabba and tell us which item is your favorite other than the AllyZabba²!
• Make sure there is a way for me to contact you - if your email address is not on your profile or you are not a blogger you may leave it in your comment or email it to me directly (angelaandconnor at gmail dot com) We have had to disqualify a lot of potential winners as of late as many people do not have emails available in their profiles or leave anonymous posts without any way to contact you.
• Please US entries only.
• To get extra credit :
• For an extra entry :
• Bloggers - Blog about this contest and leave me the link on your comment, or add me to your sidebar and let me know its there.
• Non Bloggers (or bloggers) subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed and earn another entry!
• One extra credit per person. Please post your extra credit in a separate post.
• This contest will end June 5th at midnight!

I wish .. I wish.. apon a star!!

Its so rare that I am so taken with a designer that I just can't stop thinking about their products, and how I need to have one of everything.

Baby Star has a drool worthy selection of baby bedding, blankets, clothing, towels, and more. The item that really first attracted me to their store was the tag blue baby bedding. Oh.. to be able to turn back time, I would have certainly bought the tag blue set as my nursery bedding. Now that Connor is past using a bumper and getting closer to being out of his crib it seems like a mute point now, but when baby #2 comes around you better bet I am putting that on my wish list.

Other than just the obvious gorgeousness of Baby Star's prints, the quality of the fabric is just as fabulous. All of the products I have been able to see first hand so far have done nothing but fuel my obsession with their products. Vibrant fabrics, high thread counts, and everything being incredibly soft to the touch its hard not to fall in love with Baby Star's modern style. If you are a recovering polka dot junkie like myself, you will find the tag, balloon, and connect the dot fabrics hard to resist.

I received the tag blue diamond blanket to review and Connor has been using it on a daily basis. I loved it so much I ended up buying the (now discontinued so if you want one order it do so ASAP) tag blue diamond throw blanket for him to use once he graduates into a toddler bed. The tag blue binding is strikingly gorgous but really the best part of the blanket is the silky softness of the main diamond patterned fabric. Its incredibly silky and and light enough for those summer nights. I have to admit the tag blue throw blanket will most likely go to bed with me until he outgrows his baby blanket. If your looking for a super soft heavier blanket sutiable for winter or colder cliamtes, I can personally tell you as I sleep with one myself, the poodle blanket is so decidently soft that you will want to steal it for yourself (I did .. lol).

If the droolalicious bedding isn't enough to get you going Baby Star also offers their signature fabrics on a brand new selection of baby clothing. The little dipper clothing line leaves me speechless, and I really would be thrilled to own the entire collection. I just couldn't resist and ended up making an order for Connor.

I could go on all day about Baby Star but I will leave the rest of their products for later. In the meantime head on over to Baby Star and check out the entire product line including their brand new hooded bath towels.

Baby Star products are sold directly through their webpage as well as through a variety of other retailers across the US. You can search for the closest retalier near you.

Blog Bash : Natural Mat

When I was shopping for crib mattresses I saw a lot of diffrent types, from the awful super cheap ones that are a big piece of foam covered in plastic to full on spring mattresses much like whats on your adult bed. In general they went from awful to ok, but none of them were something I really would want to sleep on myself. Connor's mattress is somewhere in the lesser of two evils, its the most supportive one I could find in my price range but its still nothing to write home about. At the time I honestly thought I had found the best I could in the range of crib and toddler mattresses, that was until I found out about the Natural Mat.

The Natural Mat was created originally for boats. It was created in Devon, England by Mark Tremlett and Peter Tindall, two sailors who were frustrated by the quality of mattresses made for boats. Once Mark had his first child shortly after he learned much like I did that a decent baby mattress is non existent and Natural Mat expanded into the baby market, lucky for us! The best part is there are no plastics, chemicals, or PVC found in any natural mat, only organic raw materials some of which you might never have thought of when it comes to mattresses!

The Natural Mat line in the US includes :

• The Mohair Mat - The most luxurious in the Natural Mat line, made from made from five layers of organic goodness including mohair fleece, coconut husks, and horsehair along with their signature pure cotton cover this mattress is fit for royalty. You may be thinking to yourself, horse hair?!, but horsehair is actually one of the most historically desirable ingredients in a mattress. Up till the invention of the coil spring it was actually the most commonly used mattress ingredient and is incredibly long lasting. Many horsehair mattresses are passed down through several generations with only the covers and outside tickings changed they are so durable. Even the Queen of England is said to sleep on one, so truely it is a mattress fit for a king! I myself would kill to own one, I can't even imagine how amazing it must be to have one as a baby!
• The Latex Mat - For babies with eczema this would be a dream mattress, between the natural latex core and the lambswool dust mites, also known and attributed to flaring up eczema, have no chance with this mattress! Super supportive and hypoallergenic its especially nice for babies with respiratory conditions or allergies. Connor suffers from what appears to be eczema around his ankles and arms, I can't help to wonder if this would help.
• The Coco Mat - I am putting this one on our ultimate wish list. We received a small cutout of this mattress and from the moment I took it out of the package I was so impressed. Incredibly soft and 100x more supportive than Connor's current mattress (which by the way was towards the top of the line in the mattress selections at the major retailer that we purchased it from), this mattress leaves me wishing I had one of my own. I can only imagine how wonderful the other two mattresses must be if this one left such an impression me. With a coco core sandwiched by two lambswool layers it offers great dust mite protection as well as impressive support. Now I just have to convince Connor's dad that we really need one. Heh.

All in all the Natural Mat is not a cheap mattress solution, but if you take in account that your child spends almost half of their time (and even more as a newborn) sleeping and most children stay in their crib mattresses well into the toddler years, can you imagine how many yucky chemicals you are exposing your child to daily, as well as to the extended amounts of time! With families just starting out who plan on having multiple children, the materials used in the Natural Mat historically are much more durable than materials used in more commonly available crib mattresses, so I'd be tempted to say that you'd actually save money in the long run as one mat should last you through several children. Though I have not tested this theory, I'd certainly be willing to bet on it!

For those of you that are interested in organic crib bedding Natural Mat also offers a great line of organic sheets and mattress protectors that will leave even the most Crunchy Mama satisfied!

The Natural Mat is available at BareBabies! Visit barebabies.com and use the code actnm10off to get 10% off your Natural Mat purchase!!

Bedding Review : Olive Kids

Olive Kids has some of the most fantastic toddler bedding sets any little boy or girl could dream of when moving up to that big boy or big girl bed set. What little boy does not dream of being a pirate at some point? (I'm a girl and even I had pirate aspirations for most of my childhood.. and ok.. my adult life)

Though we may not all be lucky enough to live the pirate life ... ARR.. we certainly can pretend! Connor and I spent Saturday night looking for treasure (and recouping from the flu!) on our Olive Kids rug. Melos is convinced its on the first island to the on the left most top of the rug... don't ask me why but he was spinning and barking on it the moment I laid it down.

Along with being absolutely adorable the Pirate rug is soo soft and really well made. We are saving all our pirate booty to buy the rest of the set once Connor graduates out of his crib. I am especially in love with the treasure chest pillow! If your not much of a pirate fan there are quite a few adorable sets to choose from and I'm sure everyone can find one that would work well for their child.

Along with bedding, Olive Kids sells the matching personalized clocks, throw blankets, wallpaper cutouts, and the cutest floor pillows!! (We defently want a pirate throw pillow!)

Want Some? Visit Olive Kids and see their entire collection!