Last year, 7 in 10 babies born in the United States were BabyCenter babies and more than 8 million moms in the United States turn to BabyCenter each month for information, advice and guidance.

As the world’s partner in parenting, BabyCenter offers moms trusted advice from hundreds of experts around the globe, medical advisory board-approved information, friendship with other moms, and support at every stage of your child’s development.

In an effort to be there for mom during her pregnancy and parenting journey, wherever and whenever she needs it most, BabyCenter continually strives to offer valuable parenting tools. Among the latest and greatest include:

BabyCenter My Pregnancy Today App

• This new, free application for the iPhone and iTouch, guides expectant moms through their pregnancy journey, offering award-winning, medically reviewed health content; advice from obstetricians, midwives, nutritionists, and other experts; daily activities and reminders; and conversation and connection with other moms-to-be in BabyCenter’s community.
• The BabyCenter Class is a convenient, at-home option for moms who can’t attend hospital childbirth classes due to hectic work schedules or being put on bed rest. And the price is right, too! For only $39.99, the all-new 2-hour instructional course lets you hear from doctors, ask your questions, and build confidence for your big day. Preparing for Labor and Birth includes: An explanation of the signs and stages of labor; What to expect during labor; Labor and birth stories from new moms; An overview of your pain-management options; A tour of a delivery room; Suggestions for creating your birth plan; A checklist to help you prepare for the big day and more.

BabyCenter “Preparing for Labor and Birth” Online Class

• The BabyCenter Class is a convenient, at-home option for moms who can’t attend hospital childbirth classes due to hectic work schedules or being put on bed rest. And the price is right, too! For only $39.99, the all-new 2-hour instructional course lets you hear from doctors, ask your questions, and build confidence for your big day. Preparing for Labor and Birth includes: An explanation of the signs and stages of labor; What to expect during labor; Labor and birth stories from new moms; An overview of your pain-management options; A tour of a delivery room; Suggestions for creating your birth plan; A checklist to help you prepare for the big day and more.

BabyCenter Parenting Books (BabyCenter^® Pregnancy and BabyCenter^®Baby)

• These two new practical and reassuring books provide pregnant women and new mothers with all of the information and support they need during this exciting new time in their lives, with a blend of expert advice and true “mom wisdom.” Both are great, highly visual, reference books to keep on the nightstand for that nagging question or concern that inevitably pops up in the middle of the night.

Mom Answers

• This new interactive tool gives BabyCenter moms an emotionally supportive environment where they can ask questions and get answers straight from other moms who’ve had similar life experiences. It’s like having access to 8 million best girlfriends 24/7.
  
  

Milestones

• The new Milestones tool provides BabyCenter moms the ability to quickly and easily record important pregnancy and childhood milestones and share them with friends and family via e-mail, Facebook, and the BabyCenter Community. It’s a fun way to create an online “baby book.”

My Thoughts

I was very excited to be able to share my thoughts on BabyCenter.com! I had used this site as a resource during my first pregnancy and with such great results, I am continuing to use it through my second pregnancy and of course well beyond as Baby Centers give  you the low down on your child up to age nine years old!

I was so excited to learn about the two brand new books offered by Baby Center! These books are wonderful resources for new, expecting, and well seasoned mothers! I’ve been reading them and learning so much from them. They’ve totally been a blessing to have!  If you at all are interested in the two books I mentioned, they can be purchased here.

I’d never been to a birthing class though I would have liked to attend one. The timing wasn’t right with our first child and being newly weds and new parents we couldn’t afford them at the time. I’m really excited about the Baby Center’s Online Childbirth Classes. I’ve been working my way through them in my spare time and in the convenience of my own home.  I’ve been learning so much and am feeling more confident in knowing so many things that could play out into the labor of my second child.  These classes are very affordable, well put together, and I would highly recommend them!

You can check out BabyCenter on Facebook and Twitter today! Visit BabyCenter on Facebook and on Twitter @babycenter to “Like” or “Follow” the brand and keep up with the latest news.

For many of those that know me, know that I prefer to purchase products that are Made in America and support companies that are located in the USA like Ramblers Way. This company is doing everything they can to limit their carbon footprint!

This company of which I speak is located in Kennebunk, Maine. I used to live in Maine and knew of lots of hometown business like Tom’s of Maine which creates natural care personal products and it brought me great joy to know that Ramblers Way was started by the same people!

One huge aspect that really makes me proud of this company is that they have brought manufacturing facilities into distressed small towns and are helping to revitalize the communities! I’m all for keeping jobs local and right here in the USA!

Rabblers Way is definitely worth checking out if you are looking for one of a kind wool apparel to wear all year round! I know when most people think of wool, they of itchy uncomfortable attire but with Rabblers Way, you can think again! Using modern technology to create a smooth, luxurious wool from which they create garments that are light, soft, and can be worn year-round. The Company sources, grows, and produces their fine woolen apparel using 100% domestic resources!

I highly recommend checking out their website and supporting a company that’s set out to give their customers and country the absolute best!

Costco is one of my favorite stores to shop for bulk items of all kinds especially with a growing family! That’s right my family is growing from three to four and we are all pretty excited about it.

A few of the snacks we like to purchase from Costco include animal crackers, popcorn, nuts, dried fruit mix, and as of recently thanks to My Blog Spark and General Mills, Fruit Roll-Ups and Nature Valley’s Chewy Trail mix!

Now available at Club Stores, Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars and Simply Fruit Roll-Ups deliver great value and are perfect to have on hand for last minute day trips and even an afternoon in the backyard.

Not only nutritious, but convenient too, the club sized snacks are individually wrapped and ideal for throwing in your purse or travel bag, just in case your little one’s tummy starts to rumble.

Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars are a delightful, 100% natural, combination of tastes and textures you’ll love. Now, you can get 25% more of the whole almonds, peanuts, raisins and cranberries in every bar! With no artificial flavors or colors and only 140 calories, Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Granola Bars also contain 8g of whole grain per serving.

Simply Fruit Roll-Ups are a better-for-you treat that kids love! Simply Fruit Roll-Ups are an excellent source of Vitamin C and are available in a convenient variety pack of Strawberry and Wildberry flavors. Every delicious roll is made with 90% real fruit and fruit juice and packs a full serving of fruit. Even more exciting? They’re gluten-free and contain only 50 calories per roll.

Overall Thoughts…

I will be looking to Costco again to purchase these great snacks. As a mom of a toddler and with a another baby on the way, I appreciate the convenience of how easy it is to throw these individually wrapped healthy snacks into my purse or diaper bag for a trip out! Great snacks at affordable prices that my whole family loves, I can state we have a winner!

Check out your local Club Store today for stock up packages of these delicious snacks and more!

Win it!

Thanks to My Blog Spark and General Mills, I have a “Costco Sunny Day Snacks” prize pack for one of my readers! It includes:

• Stock-up sized package of Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars (48 ct.)
• Stock-up sized package of Simply Fruit Roll-Ups (42 ct.), and a
• $25 gift card that you can use at Costco.

To Enter: Tell me what kind of healthy snack you’ll stock up on the next time you’re at Costco or what your family’s favorite healthy snack is.

Extras:

1. Add me to your blogroll or add my button.
2. Blog it, link back to this post. (2 extra)
3. Favorite my blog on Technorati
4. Subscribe by email/RSS. (2 extra)
5. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)
6. Email a friend about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

Tweet: (copy/paste)

RT: Win a Costco Sunny Day Snacks” prize pack ! @erinlowmaster– Ends 6/12/10.

Giveaway running till 06/12/10 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant. USA only please and no P.O Boxes.

Disclaimer: General Mills provided me with the free product, information, and gift cards through MyBlogSpark.

I’m very excited to inform everyone about the Cart Savings Event Kroger is having! I don’t know about everyone else, but I know I could always use the extra savings when it comes to purchasing numerous things, especially my groceries! So now until March 14th you can save big when shopping at all Kroger and Kroger Family stores which include; Fred Meyer, Ralphs, King Soopers, Dillons, Smiths, Frys, Bakers, Owens, Food4less, to name just a few.

I bet you are wondering what brand products that are participating in the event! The brands participating include Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Hamburger Helper, Yoplait, Progresso, Totino’s, Green Giant, Cascadian Farm, Tide, Charmin, Bounty, Pampers, Pantene, Crest, Iams, Febreze, Old Spice and many more!

Win!

Kroger and General Mills are teaming up through My Blog Spark to give one of my blog readers a $25.00 gift card to spend on groceries!

To Enter: Let me know what you are looking to stock up on when out grocery shopping!

Extras:

1. Add me to your blogroll or add my button.
2. Blog it, link back to this post. (2 extra)
3. Favorite my blog on Technorati
4. Subscribe by email/RSS. (2 extra)
5. Follow on Twitter @erinlowmaster & Tweet (daily entries available)
6. Email a friend about this giveaway. (Leave name of friend)

Tweet: (copy/paste)

RT: Win a $25.00 Gift Card to spend on groceries! 3/10 @erinlowmaster (add url).

This Giveaway is only open to U.S and Canada

Giveaway running till 03/10/10 . Winners will be notified shortly afterward by email. Please respond within 48 hours or you forfeit your prize to another participant.

**Disclosure: General Mills and My Blog Spark provided the above information and sent me a complimentary $25 Kroger gift card **

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Jones Soda is unique soda making company unlike any others out there. There is no other place where you can find flavors like corn of the cob, Tofurky, and many more that would never even rightly come to mind!

Did you know that at Jones Soda, you can personalize your very own bottle? This is a fantastic idea for those one of a kind gifts for those very special people in your life! Truly the selection is endless as you can not only pick what photo you’d like on the bottle but also the flavor and name!

I’d love to put a commission art photo that was drawn for Valentines last year that was requested secretly by husband from a good friend of ours.  This image holds a lot of special meaning to me and I would to display it not only proudly on my wall but as a fun soda on my husbands desk!

The flavor I would choose to go along with the personalized bottle I would choose would have to be the Strawberry lime or perhaps another one of the lime type flavors. Those who know me personally, know that limes hold a significant place in how my husband and I met.

I think Jones Sodas makes the best gifts and with Valentines quickly coming up, I encourage you to check out the myJones custom soda. I promise you’re sweetheart will be impressed with all the extra thought that went into creating such a special and memorable gift!

General Mills

Thanks to MyBlogSpark, I was sent four coupons of my very own to stock up my family cupboards with various General Mills cereals!

Benefits of eating cereal…

Right now if you click here, you will find a $1 off coupon for Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Lucky Charms. Note: Hit back 3x to print twice.

Disclaimer: All free cereal coupons were  provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark

Alice.com is a website  that makes shopping for things you normally use on a day to day basis much easier! You’ll find many known brands of products that you commonly will find in almost everyone’s household not to mention fantastic deals with no need to use coupons. How cost effective! I love how you can maintain your budget in this area of purchases all online at Alice.com!

I signed up for Alice.com, myself  just to see how everything works and am very happy about how easy it is to find the products I need! I like how I can also view reviews on the products I am interested in as well as seehow the products you are selecting rate on health, the environment and social responsibility.

There’s just  one catch though, Alice.com offers free shipping with a 6 item min. order, but with your first time using Alice.com you can purchase as few as you like!

Alice.com has a Refer a Friend program (located under the “My Account” section on Alice.com). This is an affiliate program where users can give their readers $10 off once $50 is spent on the site, and then they get 3% back of the purchases for a year.

I encourage you to check out Alice.com! I can’t help but think what a fantastic way  to start getting organized as the New Year approaches!

So, my wife wanted me, Justin, to guest post about the Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda . I think it was because she was too scared to try it herself {:0p

I’ve had some of the various oddball Jones sodas before, such as Corn on the Cob, which tastes like butter, and Turkey and Gravy, which was way too salty. The Tofurky and Gravy soda at first was an unpleasant concoction to quaff. After the initial taste it got put in the fridge. Later, just before I started writing this, I took it out to taste it again. I believe it is much better served cold.

On the second drink, I found that little sips are best. It really gives you the gravy flavor. You can let it rest on your tongue and enjoy the tingle of the soda. I’ve never had tofurky, so I can’t attest to the flavor accuracy, but it’s not bad. I do like it much better than the overly salty Turkey and Gravy soda I’ve tried before.

If  I to get this as a gift for someone, it’d have to be a gag gift for a friend who would actually enjoy the novelty and not just be grossed out at the idea. It’s also really good for a Christmas party drinking game. Even if you can work your way up to enjoying it, drinking a Jones novelty soda all in one go would be a significant challenge and worthy of a valuable Christmas prize.

As much as I love shopping outside my home, the holiday season is one of my least favorite times to head out. The hustle, bustle, and the stress worn on so many faces is quite discouraging to me. Everyone is trying to get the best deal from going to store to store but they could easily cut their time in half simply buy shopping online. I am a big online shopper, I’m always trying to hunt for the best deal. I find so many sites are helpful in their navigation as well as their fantastically presented guides to consumers, for example the Dirt Devil Holiday Gift Guide!

Dirt Devil has really outdone themselves with their guide. I found it simple to read through, with many main gift categories such “Gifts For Him”, “Gift For Her” and even featured “Family Favorites” . The deals are fantastic that I’ve even considered taking advantage of them myself!

Diurt Devil Products are the kind that keep giving even after the Holiday season is over! I surely wouldn’t complain in the least bit, if I received anything mentioned from their guide! Did I mention that there all also Free Shipping Shortcuts in this guide? The Dirt Devil guide provides 300 ways to save on online shopping!

I’m glad to have come across Dirt Devil Holiday Gift Guide and highly recommend everyone to check it out!

I find Cryo-Cells and National Institutes of Health partnership fantastic. Through their coming together there is hope in beginning to better understand C’elle stem cells and their potential benefit for the treatment of breast cancer as well as many other potential diseases and conditions.

All this talk of blood stem cells and more  may seem a bit over the head for some, but I think it’s best we become educated in ways and benefits that can those who suffer from breast cancer among other issues that Cry0-Cell can help potentiality cure.

What Cryo-Cell is doing, is they take initiative to see if menstrual blood stem cells can help people. Basically menstrual blood stem cells are a rich source of stem cells and the subject of extensive, aggressive stem cell research and development.

This deals may still be going on…During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cryo-Cell is offering a C’Elle Breast Cancer Donation to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. With each purchase of the “Protect Baby, Protect Mom” service, they will donate $50 and for each purchase of the “C’elle Menstrual Stem Cell” service they will donate $25.

I’m overly thrilled about the  Cyro-Cell Breast Cancer Donation to such a worthy cause! Cryo-Cell is a fantastic company worth checking out and if you’d like to educate yourself more on the matter, feel free to visit their website.