This is a sponsored post.

I will be the first to admit that our family could probably make some healthier choices when it comes to our food selection. We’re not a family that eats only organic, fresh food and we also don’t exclude food in our house based on certain ingredients. We do cook quite a bit and enjoy home-made meals, but we do take shortcuts many times. In no way am I saying that we eat junk all the time. I’m just saying that we are not super-picky about what we buy. We definitely enjoy eating, enjoy good food, and generally go by the “in moderation” rule.

That said, we do try our best to limit the amount of sodium and fat in any pre-packaged foods we buy – especially because there is a history of high blood pressure and heart disease on my side of the family. If there’s a low-sodium version of the same food, I buy it instead of the regular. I also try to look for the lower-fat versions, as long as the calories aren’t increased, which often happens with low-fat or fat-free foods.

I was glad to find out from a recent study funded by ConAgra Foods, that brands who have the term “healthy” in their name are held to a higher nutrition standard by the FDA. The Healthy Choice brand of ConAgra Foods is the only major brand in its category that can call all of their products healthy by the FDA definition. That means that all their meals must be:

• low in fat
• low in saturated fat
• controlled in sodium and cholesterol
• and must supply at least 10% of the daily value for three beneficial nutrients (calcium, protein, fiber, iron, vitamin A or vitamin C)

As someone that a) works from home and b) has a newborn, I’ve had too many days in the past few months where I’ve skipped lunch simply because I was too busy with the kids, work, or just plain lost track of time. Frozen meals often work for me because I can easily heat them up and at least I don’t miss any meals. It also helps that they are pre-portioned, since serving size is something I have trouble gauging.

As part of this campaign, I was asked to try a couple of Healthy Choice meals. I sampled the Beef Teriyaki Café Steamers meal and the Marinara Manicotti Formaggio from the Complete Meals line. I appreciate that both include quick nutritional information on the front of the box and list how many calories the meal has. Aside from personal preference and preferred flavors, it definitely helped me in choosing one meal over the others when I could easily see key nutritional information. A plus was that both meals had vegetables and whole-grains.

Though I know that our family still has some work to do before we can say that we lead a healthy lifestyle, I can also celebrate the small healthy choices we already make. Things like adding vegetables to our home-cooked meals, reducing the amount of sodium in foods (home-cooked or pre-packaged), and enjoying fresh fruit.

What healthy choices do you and your family make?

Disclosure: I was compensated for participating in this Healthy Choice campaign through TheMotherhood.com.

Disclosure: I received Little Pim products for review purposes. No other compensation received.

By now you know that my husband and I have committed to raising bilingual children. Coming from different cultures ourselves, our daughter has the benefit of growing up multicultural and learning two languages – English and Spanish. Though my first language was Spanish, having moved to Florida at a young age and living here the majority of my life, has resulted in me speaking mostly Spanglish rather than true Spanish. I often have to force myself to think of the words in order to hold a Spanish-only conversation. That is why I love to compensate speaking Spanish around the house with Spanish books, shows, games, and music, so that my baby girl can be exposed to Spanish as much as possible.

I’ve had the pleasure of receiving some additional Little Pim products to add to the Little Pim Spanish DVD I had previously received and reviewed. This time, I was able to review the Little Pim Spanish Word and Phrase Cards, Little Pim Spanish Bop CD, and the new Little Pim Word Bag app for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards

With 60 cards to choose from, my daughter has fun picking out a few cards at random and making up a story about Little Pim. I love this for two reasons: 1) She’s not just staring at the card and words and repeating them one after the other. It’s much more interactive, which helps (in my opinion) her learn the word or phrase better. 2) Making up stories is a great way to encourage imaginative play!

We take out these cards a few at a time and either make up stories or just review how to say the word/phrase in Spanish. But, we’re usually making up stories – it’s much more fun!

Little Pim Spanish Bop CD

This CD has 15 songs from artists like Dan Zanes and Milkshake. There are three songs that are repeated in English at the end and all the lyrics for each song are included in the pamphlet in both Spanish and English. My daughter especially liked “Tía Monica” and its merengue rhythm, but other fun songs include “Clap Clap Clap” and “Las Comidas.” Of course, a personal favorite of mine is “El Coquí” since Coquís are native to Puerto Rico (no bias whatsoever here).

Little Pim Word Bag iPhone/iPod Touch App

Little Pim’s Word Bag allows your child to play in either Spanish or French. We enjoyed playing with this app on our iPod Touch and I love how it matches the style and feel of the DVD. Using the app, my daughter was able to easily find what words were in Little Pim’s word bag. It’s easy for her to use her finger to “take” the words out of his bag, hear and see the word, and laugh along with Little Pim.

Image from AppShopper

However, I think that it would have been much more cool to be able to “match” the words to the picture and make it a bit more interactive and game-like. It would have been fun to play a game and perhaps help Little Pim find his way through a story scenario by finding the words he needs. Or something like that anyway. Clearly, I’m not a game designer; I just think an interactive element to the app might make it even more fun than it already is.

Where to Purchase

You can purchase the Word and Phrase Cards and the Spanish Bop CD directly from the Little Pim site for $14.95 each or you can also find them on Amazon for the same price (in case you have Amazon gift cards you want to use).

• Purchase Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards on Amazon for $14.95
• Purchase Little Pim Spanish Bop CD on Amazon for $14.95

You can buy the Little Pim Word Bag iPhone App for $1.99 in the iTunes App Store.

Giveaway

One of you will win a set of the Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards and the Spanish Bop CD.

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards and Spanish Bop CD, simply leave a comment below and tell us which product you think your kids will enjoy from the Little Pim site.

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Follow @Little_Pim on twitter and tweet the following: “@little_pim Hola Little Pim! Following from @modernmami for the #modernmami contest!“
3. Become a fan of ModernMami.com on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.
4. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
5. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing with your readers your favorite Little Pim product you found on the Little Pim site. Make sure to link back to this contest page in your post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Thursday, March 11 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

The first time I saw the movie Snow White in its entirety, I fell asleep. It was nothing against the movie itself, but more so that I was a teenager and the movie was a bit slow for my liking at the time. Since then, I had never sat down to give the movie another chance. It was just one of those things that never happened.

Of course, now I have a three year old girl and we’re all about the princesses. But, mainly we’ve been a Cinderella house.

So, when we heard that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was being re-released by Disney, we knew we had to get it. And since Disney movies are only available for a short time before going into the vault, we didn’t want to miss our chance of introducing baby girl to the movie that started it all. It was, after all, the first full-length animated movie to be made.

Just a few days later, I got an email from One2One Network about an opportunity to review Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition. Talk about perfect timing!

Why is it the Diamond Edition? Well, it has both a Blu-ray disc and a regular DVD in one package.

What’s so Great about Blu-Ray?

I finally get it. Ever since my husband put together his “entertainment wall,” I’ve been trying to figure out what the big deal is. He talks about 1080p, HDMI, and it’s all like a foreign language to me. I’ve thus far been unimpressed. Much to his disappointment.

But now…I get it. I guess my biggest issue was a point of reference. Now, I look back at my tattered and torn VHS version and then over at my sparkly new Blu-ray and the difference is like night and day. The color is clean and vivid. Though my daughter will never know the “joy” of scratchy, grainy video tapes, I can definitely appreciate how far things have come. Man, kids have got it good.

The DisneyView framing, though a nice thought, isn’t what I’d consider “must-use” as it seemed unnatural in some instances. Even baby girl commented on its “different” appearance every now and then. It’s basically just a frame around the picture. So, instead of having two black frames to the sides, you get scene-appropriate frames that coordinate with the picture.

All about the Sound

I think the audio probably excited my husband more than my daughter and I. Apparently, many of the Blu-rays he has purchased don’t have 7.1 surround sound. What did that mean to me? Err…nothing. So, I was privy to a 10 minute discussion of the surround setup in our family room and the difference between having 5 speakers and a sub woofer (5.1) versus 7 speakers and a sub woofer (7.1). It was more than I REALLY wanted to know, but, it did help me gain some perspective on “what the big deal is.” I actually began to appreciate the small nuances provided by his elaborate setup. Kinda funny that it took a kid’s movie to do it, which I’m sure he finds infuriating. He tried to explain the same thing before with Transformers. Hehehe.

Extras

I have to say, we were a little disappointed by the special features as a whole. Though the decade by decade Disney history was very interesting, to me and the husband anyway, I would have expected a little more with the capacity of the Blu-ray disc. There was not much in the way of music, video or otherwise; a single karaoke sing-along track and a music video from one of their up-and-comers.

The games, classic and new, suffered from the monotony that MOST DVD games suffer from. Some required a level of comprehension or patience that my 3 year old was not willing to put in. We did get a kick out of seeing which princess daddy was (ahem, Ariel) and the phone call from a princess was a fun little extra, that lit up baby girl’s face. With a web enabled player, you can take a peek at some of the latest films preparing to be released into theaters or Blu-ray/DVD in the coming months. And the quirky phrases and insights from the magic mirror was worth a few laughs to the monkey.

You can view the Snow White Blu-ray Edition Trailer and learn more about Blu-ray discs with the Disney Timeless Memories Blu-ray High Definition DVDs and Movies video.

Disclosure: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition pack received from One2One Network for review purposes.

I’ve never been much into labeling. I’m not one that goes around the house labeling the baskets, containers, toys, etc.

I should do that. But, I normally don’t.

However, when baby girl started preschool just 2 months ago, the husband kindly brought it to my attention that we’d need to label her clothes. And socks. And blanket. And shoes? Just how much did I need to label anyway? We weren’t sure and didn’t want to risk it, especially being new to this school thing.

So we went around with our Sharpie putting her name and initials on all her clothes, blanket, stuffed animal, and such. Not the most effective method, I know, but it worked in a rush.

And then I was contacted by the folks at limelitePR about the Lovable Labels products. They provided me with the Back to School Label Pack so I could test it out. It included:

• 15 sticker labels
• 60 slimline labels
• 48 Press N’ Stick clothing dots
• 16 shoe labels
• 2 Mini-Metal tags
• 5 Book/Binder stickers

I honestly haven’t had a chance to test all of them out, like the tags and book/binder stickers. Perhaps if she had a backpack, I’d use the tags for that. And since she’s not in real school, she doesn’t have any books to take either. But, I have used the other stickers and clothing dots.

I like the different colors they come in, the customization options, and the fact that no ironing is required. They’re also dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer safe. My daughter loves the pink stickers of course, because that’s her favorite color.

Because I wish to protect her name, I’m not posting photos of the actual product I received, but I got the same package as in the picture below in the mixed berry color.

If you want to try these labels out, I’ve got a discount code just for you. You’ll get 10% off the $44.95 price of the Back to School Label Pack. This code is only valid for 2 weeks from today and the Back to School Pack is only available until September 30th.

Simply visit the Lovable Labels site and choose your country (there is no price difference per country). Click on the Back to School Mega Pack (also linked from the home page) and during the purchasing process enter the code modernmami to receive a 10% discount.

As a member of MyBlogSpark by General Mills, I received a couple of boxes of their new Chex Mix Bars to try out. But, I also have some to give you! Be sure to read all the way to enter the contest.

So what are these Chex Mix Bars? As described in the information I got from MyBlogSpark, they are a “…delicious snack [that] combines crunchy Chex pieces, pretzels and peanuts with chewy and indulgent ingredients like caramel and chocolate.” Mmmm…. caramel, chocolate, and pretzels? I do like chocolate-covered pretzels. They also said some stuff about each bar having less than 150 calories and 8 grams of whole grains, but I was stuck on chocolate.

What did my family think? Well, the bars aren’t that bad. But, I can’t say the are super great either. We got the Turtle flavored bars to taste. The chocolate and caramel definitely help make them taste better, but they still come out a bit, hmmm what’s the word, grainy. For me and my husband anyway. He ate a few – as I did – and we kept hoping, but in the end each bar continued to taste the same. Our daughter tried a few bites the first time we broke open a box, but she wasn’t interested in trying it a second time around another day.

However, the bars did make for a convenient grab-and-go breakfast for me as I ran out the door for work. Not great, I know, but better than nothing which is what I have most days for breakfast.

Now, is this a healthy snack? I can’t pretend it is. Even though, yes, it’s got whole grain and is cholesterol free and all that good stuff. But, it’s also full of chocolate, caramel, and has plenty of sugar in one bar. Probably better than a candy bar, though.

Overall, I guess the bars are a decent alternative to other snacks and candies. Though I thought they were a little grainy, they’re far from horrible. But, don’t take my word for it. Try them for yourself.

And here’s your chance to win some and do just that!

The Prize

I’ve got six boxes to give away. Which means that three of you will each win two boxes of Chex Mix Bars.

How to Enter

1. If you’d like to enter this contest, simply leave a comment below and let me know how you like to indulge every now and again. What is your guilty little pleasure?
2. For an extra entry, you can tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.

All entries must be in by Wednesday, August 26th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your comment.)

Good luck!

Update 8/29/09: Contest is closed and winners have been notified.

As part of a recent collaboration I had with Little Pim, they sent me the first DVD of the Little Pim Spanish series for review. You may have seen me carrying a Little Pim bag at BlogHer and may have even received a demo from me.

Little Pim is a foreign language DVD series that uses a full immersion method to teach children a second language. Little Pim DVDs are meant for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers and use animation mixed with real kids to introduce words and phrases for everyday activities. They currently have the following languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Hebrew and English.

The DVD we were sent was Eating and Drinking, which is also available digitally, along with all the Little Pim DVDs.

Things I Liked:

• The pronunciation of Spanish terms was very good. No Dora-like pronunciation.
• Each episode lasts 5 minutes, which means that young babies can watch one and you can then turn it off. You can then pick up later on a different episode and it still makes sense. Older kids, like my daughter, can watch the entire 35 minutes and it still flows well from one to the other.
• The Little Pim character (the panda) is adorable and makes the experience fun. Instead of just looking at a bunch of kids doing different actions and hearing a narrator describe the actions with different terms and phrases, you get a cute panda who entertains you along the way. It adds a fun element to the DVD.

Things That Can be Improved:

• Images displayed should always match the phrase.
  • Example: When “ella tiene sed” (she’s thirsty) was being said, there was a little girl drinking from a cup. Now, someone who doesn’t already know what the phrase means and can make the connection might think they were saying something like “she’s drinking”. However, we didn’t have the English subtitles on, which might solve that issue.
• There should be a pronunciation guide for parents. The parent guide that came with the DVD suggests you repeat the phrase after it’s said, but if you don’t know how to pronounce it, you might be doing more harm than good in repeating it.
• Towards the end of this particular DVD, they showed dogs and cats and taught the terms for the animals. Our initial reaction was, “What do pets have to do with eating and drinking?” It was at the end of the segment that they showed the pets eating food. So, I guess that was the connection, but it seemed a little odd.

Daughter’s Reactions/Thoughts:

• “Awww he’s a cute panda!”
• “Mommy, Little Pim is so silly.”
• “Look what Little Pim did! Ha ha ha ha ha”

In addition to the remarks about Little Pim, the character, she also asked many, many questions about the different things the kids were doing and the different phrases. She also started repeating the terms and phrases and did a really good job of pronouncing them properly.

Overall, Little Pim is a cute and fun way to introduce your child to a second language. The panda is entertaining, the interactive nature of the episodes engage children, and the repetitiveness of the phrases is good for learning. I can tell my daughter enjoyed the DVD and she’s asked to see it a couple of times since we initially had her watch it.

Thanks again Little Pim for being a sponsor of my BlogHer trip!

Thank you everyone who entered the I Brake for Meltdowns book contest!

There were 2 entries and the winner is:

Entry #2 was Jennifer of Mami 2 Mommy!

Congratulations Jennifer!

A really really long time ago, the folks at Da Capo Press sent me a complimentary copy of the book “I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-year-old” to review.

I’ve just now gotten around to actually writing my review of the book. Better late than never I always say.

After reading my review, you can enter to win the book for yourself! I figure I might as well pass along the copy since I held onto it for so long.

Review

The book begins with an overview of various types of tantrums and meltdowns and details several scenarios. It then goes over many well-known toddler behaviors, with chapters on the following:

• social behavior
• sleep-related concerns
• eating dilemmas
• potty training
• fighting
• anger issues
• manipulation
• travel
• health and hygiene
• refusals
• other stubborn and annoying behaviors

Each chapter pretty much provides different circumstances and how you can deal with them, with alternatives included. I was stuck on the potty training chapter for a bit (for obvious reasons). One of the tips given is to let your child run naked outdoors. Which makes total sense since it makes for easier cleanup, but really? What if she sits down on the grass…naked? Maybe it’s just my paranoid self, but I’m not about to have ants crawl up my daughter’s butt.

Overall the book seems like a handy resource. Especially for those just beginning to deal with some of those really frustrating situations that come with toddlers and when your kid hits the terrible twos.

You can find out more at http://www.ibrakeformeltdowns.com

Win a copy of I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-Year Old

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment with the chapter you think would interest you most.
2. For a second entry, tweet a message on twitter with a link back to this post.
   Sample text to use: Win this book from @modernmami & learn how to deal with tantrums! Enter contest at http://tinyurl.com/modernmami-book
   You’ll need to leave a second comment with the link to your tweet, not your profile, so I can verify. You have to leave a separate comment so that it will count.
3. For a third entry, write a post and link back to this contest post on your blog. Again, be sure to leave a separate comment with your post link so that it will count.

Rules

You have until 11:59 pm EST on Saturday, May 9 to leave your comments. The winner will be posted on Monday, May 11 and will be chosen using Random.org.

Be sure to check back to see if you’ve won! Remember to include an email address so that I can contact you if you win.

Note: Contest open to U.S. addresses only.

Now that you have some resources for helping your child read, do you want to know about a good book to read to your toddler or preschooler?

This is the cutest book and your kid is going to love it. Well, only if he/she is as awesome as my baby girl. hehehe

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems

We first learned about Knuffle Bunny while watching Between the Lions one day with baby girl. The story was read on the show along with the pictures from the book. And the pictures? Stunning. A mix of city photography and illustrations. You’ll have to “look inside” the book to see what I mean.

By the way, the title is pronounced Keh-nuffle; the K is NOT silent.

My favorite lines from the book are “She went boneless. She did everything she could to show how unhappy she was.” If you remember what tantrums are like (or are currently dealing with them), you’ll know exactly what those lines mean. Of course, the reason behind those lines will help you appreciate, or at the very least, understand the tantrums a little more. It gives a new perspective on things…from your kid’s point of view.

My daughter’s favorite part of the book? Pretty much all of it. She loves to look at the pictures and loves to repeat what Trixie (that’s the main character) says. She laughs at the same parts each time we read the book. In advance mind you, since she already knows what will happen next.

Apparently, there’s a sequel now to Knuffle Bunny, which I keep meaning to pick up. Looks like Trixie is now a preschooler herself.

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity

And, there’s also a DVD from Scholastic with the Knuffle Bunny story on it.

Knuffle Bunny… and More Great Childhood Adventure Stories

I just added the DVD to our Netflix queue so hopefully baby girl likes it.

If you’ve never read Knuffle Bunny, then you have to buy the book. I promise…you – I mean your son/daughter – will love it.

And no, I did not get asked to review this book or write about it. I really just like the book a lot.

Like the title?

Yea, I’m sucking up a little to you all.

That’s because I need your help.

When you have a question and need to do a bit of research, why not turn to your community, right?

So, let’s jump right into it. I hope you’ll be willing to help a mami out.

Here are my questions.

1. What are some standard Virtual Assistant (VA) rates? Even if just the base starting price for standard services.
2. Do you charge to review products? If so, what’s your standard asking price?
3. Do you charge to host a contest? Again, what’s your standard asking price?
4. If you don’t charge for #2 and/or #3 above, then why not? Do you find you get lots of exposure? Is that enough?
5. If you do charge for #2 and/or #3 above, has it worked? That is, have you actually been paid by PR companies or even the product’s company?

I realize some of these questions may be sensitive in nature to some. But, the thing is that no one talks about it (that I’ve seen) and it’s hard to know what you’re getting into if you don’t have “real” experiences to relate to.

I’m hoping that by being frank and putting these out there, I’ll get some great answers, ideas, links, etc in the comments…from the perfect source. You!

If you would prefer not to answer these in the comments, feel free to email me with your answer.

melanie (at) modernmami (dot) com

Looking forward to getting your responses.

Oh, and thanks!