Sick babies are no fun but at least you no longer have to worry about taking their tempature!

We've gone through dozens of thermometers over here of every type you can think of and though I've found some that are very easy to use the problem always seems to be the easier it is to use the less accurate the readings are! The Safety 1st ProGrade Complete Family Thermometer is not only super easy to use but it provides you with several options in taking everyone in the household's temperature. See our video review for a full demonstration as we just recently had a round of strep throat in the house and both boys as well as myself came down with it and ran high temperatures. I had absolutely no problems getting not only a really accurate reading on Dylan with the under arm attachment but I also later did a rectal reading to the same result. When I called into my doctor I could go back through the memory as the thermometer stores the most recent readings and could tell the nurse where I took the temperature, what the reading was, and even what time each temperature was taken. I ended up getting sick the very next day and used the mouth attachment and I love the fact that I could just as easily see the screen and what I was doing even when I was taking my own reading! Watch the video above for the full review and you can check out the Safety 1st ProGrade Complete Family Thermometer on Safety 1st website!

As well Safety 1st sent us a Hospital's Choice Healthcare Basics kit to give away. Available at Target these kits come in the cutest traveling kit you've ever seen in a really pretty pattern that is gender neutral. The kit comes with everything you need to care for a new baby or even an older preschooler. A medicine dropper, medicine spoon, nasal aspirator, nail clippers, and a digital thermometer! It would be a perfect baby shower gift or a great basic set to travel with!

To Enter :

• Leave a comment on this post. Just check out the Safety 1st website and check out the selection of ProGrade Health products. Let us know which is your favorite!
• 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 - Please post each extra entry in a separate post  :
  • Blog about this contest and leave me the link on your comment, or add my button to your sidebar and let me know its there. (please note if you have our old button on your sidebar you'll need to update the link/image) 
  • Subscribe to my mailing list/RSS feed and earn another entry!
  • Let people know about the giveaway on Twitter with a link to the giveaway! 
  • Join our Facebook Page!
  • BONUS - I'm allowing a fifth entry for a limited time for those of you who have previously blogged/linked to us in exchange for an entry. Update all the links you have on your site going to our old url (sevendogs) to superheroboy.com and get a extra entry. All you have to do is replace superheroboy in the link where sevendogsandababy appears. 
  • This contest will end June 30th at midnight!

 Disclosure: I was given a Safety 1st ProGrade Health Family Thermometer  free of charge, we were not compensated for this post in any other way. My opinions and comments on items we review are always my own and are never influenced by sponsors.

Have you checked your dates lately?

We always have a tube of Neosporin in the house. I keep one in my kitchen drawer and one in the bathroom in our nifty band aid box. If I was not already accident prone enough now that I have a insane toddler under foot its not uncommon for us to be hunting wound care daily. What I never though to do was check the expiration date on our Neosporin tubes! Have you checked your tubes lately? The good folks at Neosporin say that 40% of households have out of date topical antibotic in their house, good grief your not kidding. I thought to myself there is no way my tubes are out of date, or are they? Needless to say when I did my tube check I was horrified to see the expiration dates on our neosporin! The tube in the kitchen had an expiration date of 2002 and the tube in the bathroom was only slightly better at 2004!! I can't even remeber what I was doing in 2004, obviously not thinking about my topical antibotics.

That's ok, no one's arms have turned green and fallen off yet but we did dispose of the evidence before anyone noticed and got some new Neosporin products! What is really exciting is Neosporin comes in a new portable spray on version! The newest edition to the Neosporin family is their new Neo to Go which comes in a spray container that fits easily in the smallest of purses. As often as Connor falls down I can't even tell you how awesome it is as if we skin our knee at the park even if we don't have any band aids in site we can just spray the "boo boo" and not only does the new Neo To Go protect the wound but it also has a pain reliever to help calm the baby tears. I'm pretty excited if you can't tell.

Have you checked your medicine cabniet today? On behalf of Neosporin and Mom Central we'd love to hear if you found something out of date!

We have officially entered the cold/flu season!

I realized tonight when I went into Connor's room and it was freezing that It's finally time that I need to turn on the heater and with the heat also means its officially that time of year that means colds, sneezing, snot, and ugg (hopefully not this year) flus. I'm not sure why I didn't realize that sooner as the last two weeks we have been a snot haven around here but I always dread turning on the heat as I know its for real.

I made a promise to myself that this year we would have a better thermometer. Last flu season we used an old style thermometer and personally I hated it as nothing is worst than trying to hold an angry fussy baby down while you attempt to put a thermometer under their arm. So when we got the chance to test out a Safety 1st ACCU-R.A.T.E thermometer I was incredibly excited.

We actually got our first chance to test it about a month ago. Connor's teething has reared its ugly head again and he always runs a fever when we hit rock bottom on the teething chart. The first thing I noticed was its much smaller than I expected. Many of the forehead thermometers I have seen are fairly large but the safety 1st thermometer fits pretty comfortably in the palm of my hand. This makes it pretty easy to disguise it when your attempting to approach a seriously cranky little person who the last thing they want is for you to put something against their forehead.

Using the thermometer is pretty simple. All you do is press a button just like you would with a regular thermometer and wait for the beep. Once that happens you hold it against the forehead and wait for a second beep. Really the only complicated thing is making sure its got good enough contact to get a proper reading and keeping the person your taking the temperature of still enough to get a reading. Over the last month I've taken readings on Connor and myself throughout both being sick and being well to try to see if the readings with accurate and though its not nearly as accurate as a rectal thermometer I did notice that the reading was within one degree of the real reading which is more than good enough for me!

I should note that the Safety 1st ACCU-R.A.T.E thermometer can be used on the forehead or under the arm though I've found that the forehead is really the easiest place to take a reading. Its really easy to use so much so that dad won't hesitate to use it as well as the grandparents. I would recommend it most for monitoring a temperature or just doing a quick check. If your taking a temperature to report to your doctor I would still recommend taking a traditional temperature but nine times out of ten I end up taking Connor's temperature at least 20 times to each single time I actually report a temperature to his doctor and I'd much rather take 19 forehead readings and save those more invasive readings for when it really needs to happen.

You can get your own Safety 1st ACCU-R.A.T.E thermometer directly off Safety 1st's website!

Diaper Rash troubles!

I've mentioned a thousand times the trouble I have had with Connor and his butt. It seems if that kid gets hot, sweats, has a funny fart, or just doesn't agree with his diaper, we get an awful rash. So bad in fact that its not uncommon for his butt to bleed at diaper changes. It always makes me feel as if I'm doing something wrong and at times I feel terribly guilty about it even though I know I am not doing anything wrong and the kid just is especially sensitive which sadly he did get from me. If it wasn't for the fact that I too can get a rash if I get too hot or sweaty I would swear something is wrong with him.

Though with that said some of his rash problems are due to an occurring yeast infection that he seems to get on occasion. The problem with that is his doctor keeps prescribing us a steroid cream and quite frankly I hate to use steroids unless absolutely possible. Up till recently I never knew there was an alternative so I've been giving into the steroid creams when his rash gets exceptionally bad. Not anymore. Next time we go to the doctor we are getting a prescription for Vusion!

Vusion is a non steroid, anti fungal, prescription only diaper rash cream that is safe for infants as young as four weeks old and again it contains NO steroids. Awesome! We actually have an appointment in just a few weeks and I am going to ask our pediatrician then about it and see if we can get our regular steroid cream switched out for Vusion. I'm pretty excited as It will be a happy day when I can ditch that steroid cream for good.

Thanks MomCentral for letting us know about Vusion. You can read more about Vusion for yourself at their website! There is also a rebate for your first tube of Vusion too!

Singing while you brush your teeth?

Did anyone ever hear that rumor when they were a kid that some people could pick up radio stations with the fillings in their teeth? No? Ok possibly thats just me... but seriously when I saw these toothbrushes from Hasbro I thought of that rumor and had to check them out for myself.

Turbo Tooth Tunes from Hasbro has to be the coolest thing ever invented since sliced bread, you know as a kid brushing my teeth was not at all the coolest thing ever and sometimes it was quite simply the last thing I wanted to do.. but If I had had a toothbrush like this I would have been brushing them every time I had a chance.

Basically it works by sending vibrations through the tooth brush to your teeth which then goes directly into the inner ear and then to your brain! Seriously, I am not joking, you can't hear the song unless you are actually brushing your teeth (see Hasbro's blurb about how it works here). Which is great news if you live in a small house like we do and the bedrooms are right off the bathroom.. so no fear of waking up a little brother or sister with brushing your teeth either! The song in each toothbrush lasts for two minutes so your child knows exactly how long to brush their teeth and and they get a bit of entertainment as well.

I seriously.. and I'm not kidding.. want one of these for myself. The Turbo Tooth Tunes line actually comes in 30 diffrent songs.. with everything from High School Musical to my personal favorite (I must have one) Devo parody "brush it".

At least when I'm brushing my teeth and I say "did you hear that?" I know for once now that I am not crazy.. lol it really is in my head!

Turbo Tooth Tunes is available directly from Hasbro!

Hasbro is giving away one Turbo Tooth Tunes to one of our readers!


To enter :

• Leave a comment on this post. Check out Turbo Tooth Tunes and tell us which toothbrush is your favorite other than the Devo one that I want!
  
• 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 13th at midnight!

Health Review : Summer Gentle Vibrations Massager & Toothbrush

Connor just received his first very own (battery powered even!) toothbrush!

Mind you, he has no teeth! Regardless this toothbrush is just what he needed. Connor is 9 months old now and there has not even been a slight sighting of any teeth but we have been teething for almost three months. (Connor's teeth... I know your in there.. come out with your whites showing!)

The Gentle Vibrations toothbrush is not just any infant toothbrush. It comes with an infant sized toothbrush head as well as a raised nubby head that is GREAT for that teething baby! Connor loves his though there isn't really anything to brush I brush his gums every night with the soft tipped head, look for his missing teeth with the mirror that is on the other side of the toothbrush, and hope to see something! After we are done I switch the heads to the massaging head and Connor finishes the job himself. I think thats great practice for one day when he actually will brush his own teeth.

Though not rechargeable the battery is super easy to access and we have yet to go through our first battery even with our long massage session each night. Seeing as the toothbrush with both heads only costs $10 its quite a deal as even one of those little rubber baby toothbrushes normally run in the $4.99 range. My favorite part of the brush is actually that little mirror as sometimes thats the only way I can see into my little monkey's mouth!

The Summer Gentle Vibrations Massaging Toothbrush is available on Amazon as well as most major retailers. For those of you that prefer a non battery powered toothbrush Summer also has a 3 piece oral care kit which also includes a massager that is Mommy/Baby powered!

Health Review : Summer Ear Thermometer Set

I am a huge fan of ear thermometers for adults but normally they are just not reliable for infants as the probes are mis-sized for their tiny ears.

Though I do not advocate a ear thermometer as a total replacement for the "traditional" methods of taking temperature it is a great way to monitor your child's temperature without super invasive measures (ie a thermometer in the rear which Im sure everyone can agree on is not pleasant for either party involved)

I came across this set right after Christmas when Connor had spent several nights running a fever. I HATED having to wake him up to take his tempature and a rectal reading on a cranky baby on christmas really spoils the fun as you can imagine so I swore I would look for a better method.

There are a few features on this ear thermometer that I really love!

• Its not one size fits all, there are two separate probe tips one for infants and toddlers and one for adults. So you can use this for the entire family but the readings will be more accurate as it will actually fit the ear canal accordingly.
• Fever alert glow - ok this is thermometer for "dummies" but I really love the fact that the screen changes color when it detects a fever. I don't know how many times in the middle of the night I have caught myself wondering "ok.. whats a fever start at again".. yes yes i know I'm a nursing student but seriously when your a 3am zombie even the smartest of people can turn into bumbling idiots. Try waking me up at 3am and asking me something even remotely simple, good luck.
• No probe covers needed... remove the tip.. wash.. voila!

The Summer "Grow With Me" Ear Thermometer Set is available for $19.99 on Amazon!