The Good Ol' Days

Something scary has happened to me in the last few years...I have turned into one of those people that talks about how great my childhood was, and asks why things aren't as great anymore.  Then I realized what has happened to me, I am OLD!!  Just ask my teenage sisters, who I have to call whenever I need help with my phone, tumblr. etc...

I know every generation deals with this, but in my case I really do think the toys that we all grew up with are much better than the modern day toys.  Don't get me wrong, there are some great items out there!  Ones that I will even feature on here...however they do too much for our kids.  When I was little I would play grocery store, school, go on adventure hikes...my brothers and I would use household items to play.  Yes, we had store bought toys, but we loved using our imaginations and using other items that we found.  For example when we played grocery store, we would use real items out of the pantry and scan them across a building block.  We would make the "beep" noise as they passed the block. Now my son has a cash register that really scans barcodes and makes the noise.  Yes that is very cool...I even play with it when he is asleep:)  But there was something so cool about using your imagination, and having all of your friends and siblings actually "see" the same thing as you did.  These memories are what make up my childhood.

Anyway I know I am rambling on (like an old person;) ), but I wanted to build up why I was so excited the other night.  I was reading an article about how actress Kellie Martin (Life Goes On) had reopened a favorite kids store of hers. Everything she was saying sounded like my "craziness".  I immediately had to check out the website, and realized it was a store I had heard about in passing for a while.  I am so glad that I read that article and actually checked the store out, because here in front of me were pages of the type of toys I want for my son.  Well made toys, the type you can pass on for generations...the type you can use your imagination with.  Like the old fashioned doctors kits with toy syringes...

Now the only issue that I have, is how I am going to afford the playroom that I need to add on to my house to put all of these great "new" toys in!!!

Head over and check out Romp today...and "walk down Memory Lane" with me:)  Did you have any of these toys when you were little??

Safety Patrol

There are approximately 25,300 injuries each year, due to televisions falling on children under the age of 18.  This statistic scared me, because my son has been drawn to the television since birth.  Many times he will walk over and stand in front of it and dance.  He also reaches out to try to touch his favorite characters. I am always right there, but you just don't know.  That one second you turn your head, or your hand isn't fast enough...

This is why I started hunting for a mount for our television. We are currently renting, so I did not want to actually mount the television on the wall.  I wanted something that would allow us to leave it on our stand, but securely fasten it to the wall.  After reading a ton of reviews, I settled on the Safety 1st Flat Screen TV Lock.

So far we have been very happy with our purchase.  The television feels very secure, yet the arm allows us to still turn it to face us in different parts of the room.  If you shake the stand, the television does not move. This is why I would recommend these to everyone, not just parents.  Especially those that live in earthquake prone areas...like us!!  These cost about $30, and are worth every cent.  My husband said that it was fairly easy to install too.  Don't let your child become a statistic, head out and get one today!!

No Wonder Zach Was A Lego Maniac!!??!!

When we were at the aquarium the other day, my husband and I spotted the cutest backpack...a Lego brick.  Of course I have to come home and locate everything cute that I see when I am out, so I went on an online hunt and found it!! What I never expected to find was a ton of other great Lego inspired items:)

Here are some of my favorites...

The Item That Started this Hunt...The Back Pack :)

Real Working Lego Brick Digital Camera

Lego Alarm Clock

Lego Head Lamp

Lego Brick Ice Cube Tray

Lego Storage Bricks-( I think these would be cute in all rooms of your house)

Real Working Lego Walkie Talkies

Real Lego Brick Watch

Don't be surprised if the next time you come to our house, you are served a cocktail with Lego ice cubes...and then we capture the night on a Lego camera:)  Hope you enjoy these items too!!

Love, Love, Love

These are all just things I stumbled upon, and thought "cute!!"

Retro Tube Socks

Pac Man Light Switch Cover

Travel Car Playmat

Hardwood Floors Throughout...

When we rented the house that we are in right now, one of the things that we loved was the beautiful hardwood floors throughout.  However almost 2 years later, we have a crazy walker living with us.  Suddenly the beautiful floors look more like death traps.  When my son started crawling, I immediately went out and bought some rubber play mats.  They work really well, but are really bright!! It feels like we live in a baby gym most days. 

So imagine how excited I was to see that One Step Ahead has the mats in a hardwood floor pattern.  They have two color choices Natural and Espresso.  The Espresso is a great match for our floors.  I can't wait to get some!!

**We at Little Orso are aware of the concern with some rubber mats containing Formamides.  Formamides are said to cause cancer, and can be absorbed through breathing them in or through contact with skin.  We have contacted One Step Ahead regarding this issue (back when we bought our first play mat set), and they swore that their product does not contain Formamides or any other harmful substance.  I did find some articles on the internet that said that these chemicals were never in any of the popular large USA brands.  However we felt the subject was worth a mention, so that you can do your own research and make your own decision regarding purchasing these mats. We would never intentionally suggest anything dangerous on this site.

**Ultimate Blog Swap**

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at The Journey about Things in My Purse, and I’m excited to welcome Sarah (who was the perfect match for us, since she just had a son in August of 2011) from Spoon Fed Baby to Little Orso:

Hello there!  My name is Sarah and I blog over at Spoon Fed Baby.  I am super excited to be doing a guest post today here at Little Orso.  This blog speaks to my heart because I too have a little boy who is my everything.  Crazy that you can love someone so tiny, so much! 

I have come to learn that as a Mom, your life resides in the moment that you are in, and also in the next few moments to come.  I am so focused on what baby boy is doing and what he is about to do.  There isn’t much looking ahead OR back.  Because of that we have made it a focus to capture as many moments as possible through photography.  Just to give you an idea: we started using our new SLR camera around the time our son was born.  He is 9 months old and we are on photo 4,521.  Yikes!   

So that the moments that happen so fast can be saved forever, I want to share with you some ideas for capturing your child’s first year in photographs. 

The Big Day

As I load new photos on to our computer I will often look back on the pictures of the day our son was born.  I thought I wanted the perfect picture of my son immediately after he was born being held up in the air.  Well, that didn’t happen,  but I have memorized what that looked like and will always remember it! 

Here are some suggestions of photos to try and get that day:

·         Baby and mommy meeting

·         Family photo on the hospital bed

·         Baby all swaddled up!

·         Footprints

·         Daddy and baby

And most important, stop to take it all in!  It is a day you will never soon forget.  Enjoy it.  AND (in all honesty) you grow fonder of that day as time passes!  

Weekly Photos

From week 1 I started taking a handful to pictures of my son on his weekly birthdays.  He was born on a Thursday, so every Thursday I will set him up and take a few pictures.  This is a great way to see how quickly he grows.  I will pick my favorite photo and put it in a separate folder on the computer so that I can quickly click through and see the changes week by week.  Just the other day I clicked through and focused on just the changes in his hair.  He doesn’t have much but I can see it growing before my eyes through the pictures.  How neat!

Monthly Photos

In addition to the weekly photos we take monthly photos on our son’s month birthdays.  The 4th of every month we set him up in the same spot with the same props, in the same clothes (new sizes obviously).  We chose to use props so that you can compare the size of him to the objects around him.  It is also fun to see him interact with the props as he gets older and more mobile.  We just snap away and come out with a few (or 100’s) of cute pictures.  Again, we copy the best one and put in a folder so we can flip through quickly and see our boy get bigger before our eyes!

The days go by so quickly with children.  Because of the photographs we have taken of our son, I can slip away and re-live the day he was born, when he first tried solid food, our family vacation, and many other special memories.  In a way it slows down the time just a bit. 

Visit Life Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!

Have You Been to the Gap Lately??

We have a few "go to stores" for our son, and Baby Gap seems to be one of them.  We usually only stock up on their pajamas (I know we have mentioned on here a few times before how great the Baby Gap pajamas are) when they are on sale, but lately we can not stop ourselves from checking out their other items.  Look how cute the spring items are.  Here are some of our favorites... (Of course we could help ourselves from including two pairs of pajamas!)

Convertible Striped Popover Shirt

Junk Food Graphic T

Leaf Patchwork Cargos

Shark Swim Trunks

Twill Blazer

Junk Food Sunglasses

Junk Food Superhero Flip Flops

Truck Sleep Set

Knight and Dragon Sleep Set

Now that you have seen some of our favorites, head over to Gap and find some of your own!! Little Orso has found you a great promo code to get you started on your new spring wardrobe.  Take 25% off of your order, with code  GAPLOVE. Enjoy!!!

***Mommy Deals***

Victoria's Secret- Free Shipping, with code SHIPVS12

Le Top- 30% off spring styles, no code needed!

Disney- 40% off all swim items, no code needed!

BeautyBar.com- 20% off your order, with code BBSPF (hurry this one ends tonight!!)

Wet Seal- 30% off with code FRIENDS.

Target- Save 10% when you spend $50+ on kids swim items.  No code needed!

Food Network- $25 off of your order of $75+, with code C93929.

Steve Madden- 25% off your order, with code FFSPRING.

OldNavy- 25% off with code ONBEACH.

Gap- 15% off your order, with code GAPGIFT.

Express- $10 off your $30 purchase, with code 1380.

LaneBryant- $25 off your $75 order, with code SAVEINMAYLB.

Destination Maternity- Free Shipping on your purchase of $100+, with code DMMAY.

Shutterfly- Free shipping on your order $30+, with code SHIP30.

Snapfish- 30% off collage blankets (great father's day gift), with code BLANKET30.  Also Free Shipping on your order of $30+, with code FSMAY30.

Party City- 20% off your order of $40+, with code PCTYVK.

Little Orso Bookshelf

Today I am featuring a favorite in our house, it is called "What's Wrong With My Hair?" by Satoshi Kitamura.

This book makes my son laugh so much.  It is the story of a lion named Lionel, who can't get his hair to cooperate.  He goes to the barber and friends for help...you should see what they do to him!!  However the thing that makes my son laugh so hard (and makes us laugh and take pictures), is that you can stick your face in every single one of his hairstyles. (there is an oval cutout in each picture for your face).  It is a very cute book, with great illustrations.  I definitely recommend it for all ages!!


...and here is a great accessory to hold up your Orso inspired library.  It is the Balloon Animal Bookend from Land of Nod.  I am seeing a Land of Nod theme here lately...their stuff is just so cute!!!  These are also cute just on a shelf:)

A Heart To Hold ♥

In honor of our Infant Loss Resource Guide (please feel free to share our list, but please link back to Little Orso or credit us with the list..) finally being up and running, I decided to feature a wonderful infant loss resource!!

They are called a A Heart To Hold, and that is exactly what they give you.  They started this foundation in July 2011, after losing their son to stillbirth.  The day after Abi and her husband lost their son, they received a heart weighted to the exact weight he was at birth from another infant loss mother.

What people that have not lost a child do not realize, is that a mother's arms ache to hold their baby.  Our bodies do not know that we did not give birth to a live baby, so they do not understand why we are not holding our child.  It is not just an emotional thing, your body really does ache.  To have a pillow or stuffed animal to hold really helps...but to have something weighted the same as your child helps even more!!  They picked a heart as a symbol of hope and healing.

Their heart helped them so much, that they wanted to pass it forward to other families that have suffered this loss.

A Heart to Hold also offers workshops to comfort other grieving families, and they have a Hearts From Afar Program. (where you can make hearts from your home or set up your own workshop. 

For information on how to request a heart, please go to http://ahearttohold.com/contact-us. For information on how to make a heart, please see our calendar or go to http://ahearttohold.com/make-a-heart. If you would like to make a donation to their 501(c)3 organization, more information is available here; http://ahearttohold.com/donate-here.

They have received a ton of orders in the last few weeks, and are having a hard time keeping up with the price of postage. To help with these costs they are currently holding a fundraiser. They hope to raise $500 in the next two weeks. When they meet their goal, they will randomly select a winner to receive either a $25 Amazon giftcard or a heart.  This goal will help them send out 45 hearts.  Click here to make a donation, and enter yourself in the drawing.

"You are my real Prince Charmin"

Gwen Stefani recently released her third season of Harajuku Mini for Target.  There seems to be more pieces for girls (grrrr you would think Gwen would know how limited it is for boys out there).

 Anyway the line is really cute, and pretty affordable.  Here are a few of my favorites....

What do you all think of this line??  Click here to see the entire line. Do you have any Harajuko Mini items??

I found a promo code at retailmenot.com, to help you stock up on these items.  Here is the link, you get $5 off your purchase of $50 and free shipping:) http://www.retailmenot.com/view/target.com#c2675730

Pillows, Pillows, Pillows!!!

I love cute throw pillows for my couch and chairs...so it is no surprise that I also love to find cute pillows for my son's room. (don't worry I do not let him sleep with them).

Here are some great kids pillows, they will bring life to any bedroom. (and I think they would be cute on a couch or master bedroom too).  Everyone needs a little fun in their life:)

These pillows are all from the store Landofnod.com.  I had others, but the Land of Nod had so many cute one, that I could not cut them down.  I will share the others at another time.

Head in the Clouds

Totally Nautical

Totally Nautic

Digger Throw

Hedgehog Bright Eyed Bushy Tailed

Toolbox Throw

Throw a Wrench

Boarding Pass

Anchors Away

Grey Hold Me Tight

Stegasaurous

Suchomimus