Possible Halloween Costume Review COMING SOON

Hey all,

I've been in contact with a certain Halloween costume website and have asked to review a certain costume. I've also asked to host a giveaway. Not sure if they'll allow it, but hopefully they will. I know you guys all trust my opinions and if it is a great costume you know I'll write a great review.

"What costume?"

Well, I'm saving that for a surprise. I'm sure you'll all love it though.

I'm really stoked about this possibility, so... stay tuned...

David

2-Year-Old Twin Issues. Need Advice!

Hey everyone,

How in the world do you get twin brothers who are 2 years old to stop fighting constantly? We spank their hands, we take away toys, we've tried time outs and stern voices... but these two seem invulnerable to everything we throw at them. What works best for you guys?

We really do need advice. They love each other so much but at the same time, you can blink and the'll be fighting, stealing each others toys, etc...

We're very open to old-school and new-age tactics. As long as they work and they don't damage their self esteem we're game! :)

Healthy Newborn Tips - Guest Post

Delivering a Healthy Newborn

Every mother wants her baby to be as healthy and happy as can be, and preparing far in advance of delivery day can help ensure that. However, worrying excessively trying to avoid every little risk is likely to do the both of you more harm than good. Promoting your baby’s good health shouldn't have to be a job laced with fear and tireless effort. Consider some of the many ways that you can have prepare yourself ahead of time to have a healthy newborn.

Balanced Nutrition

The importance of eating a varied diet lies in vitamins and minerals. All of the nutrients the human body needs are interdependent on one another. It is essential to toss up your meals and snacks to obtain the full scope of vitamins, minerals and amino acids in order for your baby to develop properly. Many of these nutrients are important components for cell division, hormone balance and neurological development. Well-balanced and frequent meals or snacks rich in fruits, vegetables and proteins will help in development.

Fitness

Research has indicated that exercise is very beneficial to an expecting mother. Exercise during pregnancy used to be thought of as dangerous to a mother and a cause for a miscarriage; today, exercise not only will help keep extra weight gain at bay, but will also ease the challenge of delivery by allowing a mother to have greater muscle control. Staying active during pregnancy doesn't mean engaging in strenuous activity. Even walking for 20 minutes a day can give dramatic benefits.

Preparing the Home

While it's not possible to completely avoid allergens, you do have a fair amount of control over their levels in your home. Indoor air can be a lot dirtier than the air outside and the constant onslaught can suppress your immune system and open you and baby up to more serious infections. Changing furnace filters and doing a thorough dusting job with electrostatic cloths will also reduce them noticeably. Childproofing is also a process that cannot be done too soon. Childproof the house, like covering the sockets and removing dangerous furniture, can be done before your baby arrives so you will already have been practicing good safety habits.

Quiet Time

Everyone needs time to sit down and relax as part of a healthy lifestyle. Setting up a quiet time where you can do whatever you'd like independent of work or responsibilities helps to prevent stress and fatigue while keeping the mind and body in good shape. The lack of your stress will be felt by your baby and will positively affect their neurology.

Future Health

Research the options available to your baby post delivery to get your baby’s life off to a good start. Circumcision and cord blood banking are two examples of optional choices. Cord blood banking involves collecting the blood of your baby's umbilical cord. Cord blood is full of stem cells, which can help treat nearly 80 diseases today and show considerable promise as a possible treatment for additional diseases. Some of the illnesses these cells are used to treat include cancer, blood disorders, metabolic diseases and immune problems.

"This article was written by Katie Moore. Katie is an active writer within the blogging community who discusses maternity, motherhood, prenatal health, childbirth and other topics within this niche.  If you have any questions or would like to connect with Katie please contact by visiting her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter @moorekm26."

I've decided to write a book!

Ok folks... please give me your ideas and opinions.

I am about to embark on something I never thought I'd do. I am about to start writing my first book. Actually, I've already got some of the foreword written. At this point I'm just brainstorming and trying to gather some thoughts. The book is, as of yet, nameless. The theme is going to be based on raising twins during the first year of life from a daddy's perspective. 

When Miranda was pregnant with our boys, who are now pushing two, I looked and looked for a book about twins written in a casual way and from a father's perspective and I never found one. Not even to this day have I stumbled across one. After several months of trying to talk myself out of the work of writing a book I have come to the conclusion that A) this book is needed, B) it would be a great source of extra income for my family and C) it would be a challenge for me that I'd feel really good about conquering.

So, with that being said, please comment here or e-mail me directly (preferred method) at alphadog@windjammercable.net and give me some pointers and ideas about what you'd like to see included. I would love to read stories about your experiences and/or tips and tricks from other fathers (or mothers) about what worked for you. I'm also going to include a section about infant products and readers' experiences with them. So feel free to e-mail me anytime and include any info you'd like to be considered. I will personally go over every e-mail with a fine-toothed comb. I'd love to be able to quote my readers in this book.

Please keep in mind that this book will be about the FIRST year of life of newborn and infant twins. Any information about age one and above cannot be included in this book. If this outing goes well I will continue on and write another book about years 1 to 2.

Thanks in advance for your support. Please forward this post to others you think would be interested in being quoted in a nationally published book. Also, since I've never done this before, I'd love to get some information about any authors out there about the process of writing to getting published. How do I go about this?? :)

Thanks again wish me luck!

David

 

And the winner is...

Congratulations to comment #12!

Gretta 

Wins the Petit Jean Meats

Prize Pack!!

Thank all of you who entered. I wish there was a prize to give to everyone. I really do.

Maybe I can do another one really soon. I'd love to review and giveaway a 

Breakfast Pack of theirs...

Stay tuned!!

Petit Jean Meats Giveaway

One word...

Wow!!

I'm from an area of the country where this company doesn't really sell its products...yet. But I can't wait until it reaches my hometown. These folks know how to prepare meats. 

As a guy and an avid carnivore I can vouch 110% for Petit Jean Meats. You all know that when I write a good review for a company it is an honest, trustworthy review. I know meat and this, folks, is meat at its BEST! You can literally taste the difference between PJM meats and other local and national brands.

These guys are one of the sponsors of the Dallas Cowboys and I'm so jealous! To be more precise, they are the "Official Bacon and Ham of the Dallas Cowboys" and they are only available in select HEB, Wal-Mart, Brookshires and United stores in North Texas but you can always order the gift boxes online at www.kountryspecialties.com. I wish MY team was sponsored by them - that way I could eat PJM products at their games. As it stands now, I've gotta sneak in my own hot dogs and brats. :) I've gotten spoiled. I will not eat a hot dog unless it has this company's logo on it. Other brands I grew up with just do not do it for me anymore.

GIVEAWAY

The extremely generous folks at Petit Jean Meats have allowed me to host a giveaway.

Just in time for the Super Bowl you will receive:

1 - EZ Carve Sliced Peppered Ham (16 oz.)1 - EZ Carve Sliced Smoked Ham (16 oz.)                         

2 - Jumbo Hot Dog Grillers (2--14 oz. pkgs.)

1 - Cracker Bologna (12 oz.)                                  

1 - Pork & Beef Summer Sausage (8 oz.)

How's that for the start of a great Super Bowl party!?




To Enter:
I'm making it "super" easy to win this giveaway. All you have to do is...


Be an 18+ y/o resident of the United States
and
Comment on this post


But that's not all...


I'm allowing you to comment at least once per day for the entire 8 day duration!


The giveaway will run until January 27th at 11:59.59 PM CST.
I will choose a random winning entry via Random.org on 1/28/12 and will post and e-mail the winner that day as well. So, winner, be sure to check your e-mail on 1/28 or risk losing your prize!


Important...


You MUST include a valid (and very often checked) e-mail address in every single post so I will know how to contact you because the winner will only have 48 hours to respond. I've got to e-mail the winner's name and mailing address to PJM my the morning of the 30th.




Good Luck to everyone! You will be absolutely thrilled with this prize!

RSV and Double Ear Infections... Again!

The title says it all. What's it going to take to keep these boys well? We knew daycare would cause them to be sick a little more than normal and we also knew that it would help them build their immune system quicker. But good grief... RSV and ear infections ALL the TIME!?!?

Carter went to the doctor yesterday and then had to stay home with mommy today while Cooper went to daycare and then came home with a bad cough... meaning he is probably about to have the same thing Carter has. After another week of this, it'll be3 weeks and we'll do it all over again... that is, if we go by past experience.

Ugh!

No More Pics

I will not post any more pictures of Carter and Cooper on this blog. Recently, someone from Canada and his girlfriend from Miami stole a picture of Cooper when he was in the hospital and claimed he was theirs. What's worse, they were trying to raise money for their sick child.

I will still post pics, but only on our Facebook profile.

I'm still going to blog about parenthood and perform product reviews. I know how all you guys love my reviews.

I've gotten several requests for reviews recently and I'm trying to contact the companies to see if they'd agree to a review. Please bear with me while I hear back from them. I'll let you know when the next review will be posted as soon as I hear from them.

Thanks - 'til next time... Keep making your children smile. :)

The boys are getting so big... so fast!

On one hand it doesn't seem like it has been over a year since the boys were born... but at the same time (at times) it seems like time has stood still. I do not miss the Q2 hour feedings for the first 2-3 months. But I do miss them being small enough to hold like babies.

Carter and Cooper are now a little over 13 months old and are doing wonderful! They have been walking for almost 2 months, they can say "duh" for "dog." They can understand what you say and comply with requests (sometimes). Used to when I would get up in the mornings and come around the corner they would run to me saying "da-da" but now they run to me saying "duh." They know our dog sleeps in the back of the house and that when I come to the front, so does he. They want to see him now more than they want to see me. That's ok. I think its great that they are trying to get me to act proud of them by showing me they know what a dog is.

Oh to be a child again...

Folks, I know it can be hard being a parent, especially of twins or more, but if you'll just sit back for a second and try your best to put yourself into a toddler's shoes and think about the fact that they do not know hardly anything about the world and that they are pure hearted...you'll quickly be humbled by the gifts you've been given and chances are you will understand them better. Get down on their level. Play. Laugh. Love like there's no tomorrow. You never know... there just may not be one.

Reflect...

Jeni's Ice Cream Review

The generous folks over at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams sent me a package of ten flavors of their hand-crafted ice creams for my family to review.

There are few things in life that do not disappoint. These all-natural ice creams are some of those things. Folks, I tried my hardest to find something wrong with these little pints of goodness but I never did. The more I ate, the more I just gave up trying to find fault. Please read the reviews of each flavor I received below.

Salty Caramel

"Initial notes of burnt sugar give way to mouth-watering saltiness. A perfect salty sweet balance"

This flavor was one of my favorites. Very smooth and as the description says... perfectly balanced.

Dark Chocolate

"Mouth-filling, palate-gripping, intense chocolate flavor with a fudge-like texture. Pleasingly dry finish."

Very rich chocolate flavor. Satisfies a chocolate craving in just a few bites. Very good flavor.

Ugandan Vanilla Bean

"Vanilla ice cream like none other. Fairly-traded, 100-percent natural African beans bought directly from Ndali Estate, steeped for 48 hours in Snowville cream. Rich, full, fantastic vanilla flavor with notes of jasmine, honey, tobacco and leather."

You can really taste the authentic vanilla bean on this flavor. Amazing cream, vanilla and the slightest hint of jasmine really work well together. You've NEVER had vanilla ice cream like this. Be prepared to be blow away.

Queen City Cayenne

"Rich chocolate reveals back-of-the-throat spice. Finish is tingly and complex."

Ever wondered what chocolate ice cream and cayenne pepper would taste like together? No?

Well let me tell you... it's actually pretty good. For those of us that like spicy foods this dessert is a welcome addition. It starts out smooth and chocolatey, melts quickly and finishes with a pretty spicy kick in your throat. 

Meyer Lemon Yogurt

"Fresh Meyer Lemons, sweeter than true lemons, pleasantly tart, blended with organic yogurt. Aromatic. Creamy. Delicious. Jeni’s time-honored favorite. Serve with Blackstrap praline!"

Time-honored favorite is a very good description. This was my 2nd favorite flavor. Very aromatic! The Meyer lemons are extremely flavorful. If you let it melt in your mouth you can actually taste the yogurt. Most frozen yogurts have so much stuff in them that it masks the yogurt flavor... not this one. Very, very good!

Cherry Lambic Sorbet

"Tart and real cherry flavor, sweet lambic on the mid palate with almost bubbly texture. Finish is clean and exhilarating."

Very tart. The cherry flavor is really prominent. A classic brought into the 21st century!

Blackstrap Praline

Blackstrap molasses and pralines. What more needs to be said? Unbelievable flavor! And there was an extra shot of molasses in the bottom of the pint. Mmmm!!

Honey Butter Cake

"Ridiculously delicious, divinely buttery Ohio-honeyed ice cream, layered with chunks of honey butterscotch-soaked vanilla sponge cake made fresh in our kitchen. The delicate and light yet sturdy cake perfectly balances a sweet and hearty ice cream."

Description says it all. Ohhh sooo good!!!

Brambleberry Crisp

"Blackberries and black raspberries comprise a striking, rich-colored "Brambleberry" jam that's mixed with black currants and oven-toasted oat streusel and layered throughout honey vanilla bean ice cream."

Did you read that? Two different berries (real berries, not artificial flavored), oven-toasted oat streusel mixed with their vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely worth typing again! A must try!!

Every flavor was delicious. I am so glad they agreed to a review. And I am sooo glad to post it for them.

My only hope is that I can do another review for them soon. But first I've got to lose this 5 pounds I added from this review. :)

Go check out Jeni's Ice Creams and grab yourself a few flavors. All orders come double-boxed with dry ice and are extremely frozen upon delivery. There is no chance of your package arriving melted.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review. 

Vote for Cooper & Carter! It only takes a split second! We're so close!!

UPDATE 4/14/11

We've gained another 20 spots!! PLEASE take a second and go vote for the boys.

We're ranked 128th out of over 2300. We're doing awesome but we need votes!!!

Carter and Cooper have been chosen by Parent's Magazine for a possible cover photo shoot in New York City!! It is a contest so I NEEED you to go vote for them. It only takes a second and I'd really very much appreciate it if you shared the link to their voting page on Facebook. It'll give you that opportunity after you have voted.

Please vote ONCE A DAY for the next week and share on Facebook and Twitter as often as possible. This would be a huge blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them (and us).

Here is the picture that Parent's Magazine chose for the voting:

Please help them win!! They are just beautiful boys and this would be such an honor! Don't forget, PLEASE vote once a day and share this link every way you can think of for the next week!! We'd be SOOO grateful!!

Thanks a lot,

David :)

Vote for Cooper and Carter for a Parent's Magazine Cover Shoot

UPDATE 4/13/11

The boys jumped 30 places overnight. How exciting! Please vote and vote once a day through Sunday 4/17! Also, PLEASE share with everyone on Facebook. We need all the help we can get!

Carter and Cooper have been chosen by Parent's Magazine for a possible cover photo shoot in New York City!! It is a contest so I NEEED you to go vote for them. It only takes a second and I'd really very much appreciate it if you shared the link to their voting page on Facebook. It'll give you that opportunity after you have voted.

Please vote ONCE A DAY for the next week and share on Facebook and Twitter as often as possible. This would be a huge blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them (and us).

Here is the picture that Parent's Magazine chose for the voting:

Please help them win!! They are just beautiful boys and this would be such an honor! Don't forget, PLEASE vote once a day and share this link every way you can think of for the next week!! We'd be SOOO grateful!!

Thanks a lot,

David :)

Vote for Carter & Cooper for a Parent's Magazine Cover Photo Shoot!!

Carter and Cooper have been chosen by Parent's Magazine for a possible cover photo shoot in New York City!! It is a contest so I NEEED you to go vote for them. It only takes a second and I'd really very much appreciate it if you shared the link to their voting page on Facebook. It'll give you that opportunity after you have voted.

Please vote ONCE A DAY for the next week and share on Facebook and Twitter as often as possible. This would be a huge blessing and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them (and us).

Here is the picture that Parent's Magazine chose for the voting:

Please help them win!! They are just beautiful boys and this would be such an honor! Don't forget, PLEASE vote once a day and share this link every way you can think of for the next week!! We'd be SOOO grateful!!

Thanks a lot,

David :)

Cooper and Carter's 6 Months Pics are Here!

No unnecessary babble in this post... I'm going to let the pictures do the talking... :)

Tshirtprinting.net Review

The folks over at www.tshirtprinting.net graciously sent me a sample T-shirt to review for them. They sent a cheeky monkey t-shirt. See below...

I've got to say that I didn't really expect the quality to be as good as it was. But it is really a great shirt. The monkey design isn't something I'm used to. But it's kinda cool. I've gotten a lot of questions about it and I've pointed them all to the website. If all their screen printing work is as good as the one on this shirt then they'll be in business for a long time.

Thanks for allowing this review. I had a lot of fun with it and will continue to wear it and direct people your way.

Sleep Training: Night #3

Night #3 went pretty well.

We only got up to comfort them about 6 times. And again, they went right back to sleep. The only thing I didn't like about this night was the fact that Miranda had to really comfort Carter for him to initially go to sleep. He screamed bloody murder for the longest. But once he went down, he went down for six hours. Neither one of them woke up until around 1:30am. 

The only reason they are waking up and crying now is because they are rolling over from back to front and they get very upset because they can't roll back over. For some reason they HATE laying on their bellies. And here I was thinking that babies liked to be on their bellies. Either I was really wrong or they'll like it later. Hopefully they'll like it later because daddy can't go years constantly waking up in the middle of the night to roll a child over onto their back.

Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated!!

Feel free to comment.

On to night #4...

Sleep Training: Night #2

Night #2 went a lot better than the first night. We only had to go into their room to comfort them about 10 times. But, unlike night #1, every time we went in and comforted them they stayed asleep for a while. They are learning pretty quickly. I was actually very proud of them.

On to night #3...

Sleep Training: Night #1

We have started sleep training the boys. They are 6 months old now and the doctor says that there's no reason for them to need a bottle in the middle of the night now. So with that in mind, I moved their cribs from our bedside to their own room (right next door to ours), put up a blackout curtain to keep out the light, placed a white noise maker in the room, installed a night light and a smoke/carbon monoxide detector and called it a day...until that night.

Oh GOD!

Night one was terrible. Although I know it could have been much, much worse. We were still up at least 20 times, if not 30 or more. We lost count at 10. We started out putting them to bed as usual - with their pacifiers. We laid them down, patted them on the chest for a few seconds, said goodnight and walked out. The first three hours were great. Not a peep. Then the poop hit the fan.

I can't remember who woke up first seeing as how that whole night was a blur. But he started crying. We gave him 2-3 minutes and went in, replaced the paci in his mouth, patted him and walked out. Five minutes later... same thing. We gradually increased the time they cried before we went in. 

Extremely long, drawn out story short... I got about three hours of very broken sleep that night. Mommy got about 6.

But, at 7am the next morning we woke them up and they were just as happy as they could be. Little turds.

On to night #2...

Happy 6 Month Birthday, Cooper & Carter!

You know how sometimes in life you think time is passing by SOO slowly and then when a milestone arrives you look back and think "where did the time go?" That's exactly how I'm feeling right now.

Cooper and Carter are officially 6 months old (as of yesterday)(I was too tired to post this then).

They have been sick almost four months out of the six and it has really been a rough road - not to mention an expensive one with all the doctor visits and meds. But, alas, we've made it to six months. As of this writing they are seemingly getting over their bout with constant bronchiolitis. The poor guys have had a rough time of it. They've endured occasional fevers, massive amounts of mucus in their little lungs which makes it very hard to take breaths in and out (not to mention it sounds horrible to say the least), sore throats from coughing, hoarseness from coughing, body aches which made them almost completely limp while moaning in pain, and severe (read: SEVERE) coughing. They have suffered in the sleep department because of all of this as well - as have Miranda and I. For those of you who know what bronchiolitis is, you know how scary it can be for both baby and parents alike - especially first-time parents like us. Cooper even had to be hospitalized once because of it. See pic below...

But a friend recommended a good allergy/asthma doctor in Birmingham and he immediately placed both boys on 5 different meds each. And now, a little over a week later, both boys are almost back to normal. Carter still has a little cough only because he started his meds about 3 days later then Cooper. Please pause to say a quick prayer asking God to let them stay healthy from here on out. :)

Accomplishments Reached at 6 Months:

The boys can roll over from their front to their back.

They can aaalllmost roll from back to front. 

They smile when we walk into the room. 

They are putting everything (read: EVERYTHING) in their little mouths. 

They are eating cereal and stage 1 baby foods. 

They are loving their walkers and exersaucers. 

They can almost sit up without support.

They are just starting to make funny faces.

They still do not sleep through the night. But they do go all night without eating if they take a full 8 ounces before bed. The only reason they wake up is either because they lost their pacifier or because they've rolled from back to front and their little arm is caught underneath them. Sometimes they don't want to go right back down to sleep so we either get up with them for a few minutes until their heads start bobbling or we put them in the bed with us. (I know, both are bad. We're working on it.)

You can tell they are twins. Not just because of the obvious... but because of the things they do. Check out this pic taken this week at daycare...

They're already getting a little mischievous. They tell secrets to each other. God only knows what they're saying...

And here's one last random pic of them laughing and having fun. The amazing ladies at daycare snap pics for us pretty often and send them via pix messages to our phones so we can see something cute or new...

It has been the greatest 6 months of my life so far and I look forward to every minute in the future with these two little turkeys. They are our reasons for being. Just to see them smile brightens even the darkest days. When they were really sick they would still smile through the pain and it brought tears to my eyes. If they can smile being as sick as they were, we all can. 

We love you, boys!

Daddy and Mommy

Does Vicks VapoRub on a Baby's Feet Really Help with Coughing?

Ok all you moms, aunts, sisters, grandmas, etc, etc... I've got a question for you. It is a serious question that I'd really like you to comment (seriously) on. 
Does Vicks VapoRub on the bottom of a child's feet really keep them from coughing?
I've read in MANY different places and I've had several people tell me that this really works. We've got two little cough machines right now and it is getting really bad. The doctor says all we can do is apply Vicks to their chests and vaporize some into the air and keep them hydrated. I'm a Respiratory Therapist and I'm truly at a loss on what to do. I know I can't suction them and they are really too small for me to do chest percussion therapy on them to loosen up the mucus.  So, does Vicks on the feet followed by putting sock on them really work?  PLEASE weigh in. I'd really like to know what you think and what you've experienced!
I'll read every comment and chime in when I need to.
Thanks!D