Choose You, Get Healthy! {& Giveaway!}

As busy moms we don't take enough time for ourselves. I know when Elijah get's the smallest sniffle I am calling and making an appointment for him at the doctor. But when it comes to myself, even with a history of cervical cancer, I seem to put doctor's visits and my health on the back burner. A new initiative by the American Cancer Society, Choose You, was created with Moms like me in mind.

Did you know 95 percent of women feel the need to improve their health, yet about three out of five women put others’ health before their own*. So we acknowledge that we WANT to be healthy, yet still fall short. I know I need to be healthy in order to take care of Elijah, but still don't actually DO it.

"According to the American Cancer Society, about half of all cancer deaths could be prevented if people maintained a healthy weight through diet and regular exercise; avoided tobacco products; and got recommended cancer screening tests."

We all know eating a healthy diet is a very important, but around 90% of us still don't do it! I myself eat tons of fruit and veggies and hardly ever eat junk, but I am guilty of skipping meals. I will eat a few small snacks randomly and then eat a huge dinner. Obviously that doesn't fit under the healthy diet category. I take the time and make Elijah full meals and snacks, so why is it so hard to actually sit down and eat myself?

The recommended daily exercise is 30 minutes a day, five days a week. That is a very little time commitment for something that will positively impact your life long health, but 80% of of us don't do it. 30 minutes could be something as simple as riding your bike or running with your children. Your children will be happy to have you out playing with them and you will be promoting good habits for them. So it benefits the entire family! I have been working to do more and more exercise with Elijah. His giggles and smiles are more than worth it, knowing I am helping myself be healthier is just the bonus.

1 in 3 women will get cancer in her lifetime. 50% of all cancer deaths could have been prevented if we just take the time and look after our OWN health.
If that isn't reason enough to choose you, than I don't know what is.

I have decided starting today I am going to Choose ME! I made the commitment!
To start with, my goal is to Loose Weight. I want to loose 35 pounds by Choose You day next year, May 12th, 2011. Dave will be my referee and will monitor and support me in my commitment. (He even hopes I may inspire him a little with my progress so he can loose a little too) I will keep you updated on my progress!

Are you ready to choose you? What is your goal?

Check out the Choose You website to learn more about the Choose you movement, the pledge, and to get resources to help you along!

http://www.chooseyou.com

You can also visit their blog, follow them on twitter, or like them on facebook!

To help inspire you to Choose You by putting yourself first and get healthy, the American Cancer Society, Sprite and Walgreens have put together some wonderful Choose You, Get Healthy gift sets! The gift sets include some awesome Choose You brand goodies such as a ladies t-shirt, a stainless water bottle, a cute lapel pin, pens, and more! It also contains Neutrogena Age Shield and Repair Anti-Aging Sunblock with SPF 55, a Karin's Garden pin, valuable Sprite coupons and even a $10 Walgreen's giftcard! (An over $75 value!)
To remind me to choose myself and for sharing this message with you, I received one of the gift sets. I can't tell you how much it inspires me! And thanks to the wonderful people at the American Cancer Society, I have another set to giveaway to one of YOU!

To enter, leave a comment below answering one of the following questions:
(Mandatory Entry. Remember to leave your email or twitter name so I can contact you!)

• How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle?
• What tips can you offer to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle?
• Which healthy habit do you most want to adopt right now? (i.e. Eat right, get fit, stop smoking, protect your skin, get regular health checks)

For extra entries leave a separate comment below for each additional thing you do:

• Join the movement. Leave me your goal below.
  
• Follow Choose You on Twitter and leave your twitter name @acschooseyou
• Follow me and leave your twitter name @erinjeany
• Tweet about this giveaway and leave tweet url. Feel free to write your own tweet, including @acschooseyou, @erinjeany & link to this post. If you arn't feeling especially imaginative you can copy and tweet this: 'Choose You & Win a Get Healthy prize pack ($75 value) from @acschooseyou and @erinjeany http://bit.ly/be1uuj Ends 6/13 #win #contest' (unlimited entries, leave 1 hour between tweets)
  
• 'Like' Choose You on Facebook and leave your facebook link
• Blog about this giveaway or add it to a contest site/linky. (3 extra entries each)
  
• Post this banner on your blog or in a post. (3 extra entries)
  

<a href="http://www.pyleoflove.com/2010/05/choose-you-get-healthy-giveaway.html"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wdua3RsXtD8/S_4xWzQCgMI/AAAAAAAABOw/qf8JTldDTy8/s400/win.jpg" alt="Win at PyleOfLove.com" border="0" /></a>

Good Luck! And remember, Choose YOU, Get Healthy!

This contest is open to US residents ages 18+. It will close on June 13th, 2010. Winner will be notified by preferred method of contact and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be drawn.

*In March 2010, the American Cancer Society conducted a national online survey of approximately 2,000 U.S. females ages 25-64 to examine women’s health behaviors and needs.

FTC Compliant Disclosure: Information and a Gift Set for me an a reader were provided free by the American Cancer Society. No other compensation was received for this post. All opinions are 100% mine.

Wordless Wednesday - Uncle Neil & Elijah

Uncle Neil & Elijah. They hung out on the couch and watched some tv, played, and even got some reading in. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Link up your ww & see more at 5 Minutes for Mom & the WW Headquaters!

MyShape - Clothes that fit

Tired of trying on clothing at store after store and nothing fitting? I know I was! Finally there is a site where u can create clothes that perfectly fit your unique body!

MyShape helps you to create an entire wardrobe to fit your shape and style. Whether you just need one piece to finish a look or entire closet, this is the place to shop. Using your favorite designers, fabrics, your exact measurements and more, they work hard to design your look based on what fits and looks good.

Check out their site and build your custom shop today!

myShape

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of MyShape through MyLikes. All opinions are 100% mine.

Eden Home: Where Organic Style Comes Naturally

There are so many options for shopping online these days, it is hard to decide which ones to purchase from. I love trying new stores but have been let down in one way or another by so many I tend to stick with a few favorites. Recently, I was given the opportunity to try a new store I can now add to my favorites list thanks to Fuel My Blog. I was very happy to be chosen and went to check out the site right away.

“Offering a complete selection of organic, all natural and eco-friendly products for your home and life that won't have you compromising your sense of style.

Most people do not realize how cotton is grown, processed and finished. As many as 2000 different chemicals are used in the textile industry! Those chemicals are often left on the fabric and then transferred to you or your baby when absorbed through the skin.

Unfortunately, many of the so-called "organic" and "natural" products sold today are either not truly pure or not beautiful. So we started Eden Home to offer healthy choices ranging from organic clothes for baby to natural bath towels, from organic cookware to all natural shampoos.

The Garden of Eden was created to be lovely and beautiful, perfect and pure. At Eden Home our mission is to offer the purity of organic without losing the beauty, whether you're looking for organic bedding, clothes for baby, natural bath towels or organic cookware and more.”

Eden Home has a great selection of products are not only organic which makes them good for you and your family, they are also affordable, making them good for your wallet. I started searching their Kids and Baby Departments looking around and was pleased to see so many new fantastic items that I would love for Elijah. I also was excited to see so many things I had already seen other places, or things Elijah already owns, were not just in stock here as well, but also cheaper! Their store is broken down into very easy to follow categories and subcategories which made shopping easy and enjoyable. I have been back to their site a few times now since my order and was excited to see they added even more new items just in time to start putting together Elijah’s Birthday wish list!

After a few hours of browsing I finally settled on some great items for Elijah and headed to check out. I was surprised at the ease of their checkout system and in under 5 minutes was checked out and had my receipt with estimated shipping information. I had selected normal ground shipping but was delighted when my order came earlier than expected.

The order came in a nice big box sealed with an Eden Home sticker. I get many packages that leave you curious what’s inside until you open it. I am glad their boxes come labeled.

I opened the box and was greeting with some fantastic packaging. Having been used to opening boxes full of Styrofoam, bubble wrap, and other annoying or difficult to open packing materials, it was refreshing to open the box from Eden Home and see that not only is their packaging easy to unpack, it is useful, and their inner packaging was made from environmentally responsible, biodegradable protective packaging material made from post-industrial recycled material. In fact the only time you will ever see bubble wrap from them is if you order La Chamba cookware items to insure there is no breakage.

I absolutely love the Eden Home tote gift wrap they packed the product into. It is so big and sturdy! For only a few dollars more you can choose to have them gift wrap your item the same way! SO unique & the bag is a useful addition to the gift itself!

The first things I had picked were theses Eco Trucks, by Sprig Toys. I couldn’t be happier with a set of trucks for Elijah. The packaging was wonderful. Nothing but a bit of recycled cardboard that just barely grip the wheels. It’s not going to fall off on it’s own, but when it comes time to open it for the first time you won’t spend all day trying to get into the toy, just lightly pull and it’s off! The Eco Trucks are a good size at almost a foot long each and made in Europe from sturdy, BPA free, recycled plastic. They both have flip-open cabs so it’s easy your child to put different little people to drive them inside. They have really easy grab handles that let the Dump truck dump, the bed lock, or even the tailgate swing out. The Excavator makes it really easy to dig and then dump. Elijah and I play by using the excavator’s bucket to scoop up blocks, then dumping them into the dump truck who drives over to the block bin and dumps them back in. These toys are great for imagination building and construction. Elijah loves them! I love them too! Recommended for ages 3 and up, Elijah has no problem really getting into them at 18 months, he wouldn’t even look up for the photo he was so excited! There are no small parts either which would make it perfectly safe for your active younger toddler or older child.

The item I had chosen for Elijah is the Recycled Toys Dish Set by Green Toys. This 28 piece, BPA free, non-toxic plastic dish set is actually made in the U.S.A. from 100% recycled plastic milk containers! To make it even better for kitchen play with your children the dishes even meet the FDA food contact standards level! So go ahead and let your child serve her own tea and cookies on her own set! Recommended for kids ages 2 and up, Elijah loves his dishes and is always trying to serve up something on them. Whether it be cookies, crackers, or even blocks, he loves them! This was also another toy with fantastic packaging. It came in a nice box made of recycled cardboard. All you do is open the tab and flip and it’s open! I can’t remember the last time it was so easy to open a toy before I shopped at Eden Home!

All in all, my experience with Eden Home was wonderful! I highly recommend them and will certainly buy from them again.

Connect with Eden Home!
www.EdenHome.com
On Twitter: @EdenHomeOrganic
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Eden-Home-Organic/208494585389

Want a chance to win a dream organic baby shower with up over $2,000 worth of prizes? Create a baby registry at Eden Home between April 1st to June 30th, 2010 to enter to win! Full instructions on the site! Good Luck!

Disclosure: This post was done as part of a campaign through Fuel My Blog for Eden Home. I received a $50 coupon code to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Upcoming review with CSN Stores!

If if you are regular reader you have probably heard me talk about CSN Stores before. CSN is one of my absolute favorite online stores. You can't beat their prices or their selection! With over 200 online specialty stores you are sure to find what you are looking for!

Whether it be a bathroom vanity for that dream master bath makeover you have been planning, or a pair of Fergie shoes for a night on the town, you will definitely not run short on selection.

I have probably spent hours browsing their stores and know I haven't even covered 1/3rd of what they carry. Look for a post coming soon featuring and reviewing one of my favorite items CSN Stores carries!

Take a look around their stores, what is your favorite item?

Wordless Wednesday - 5.19.10

Elijah taking a ride on the mower with Aunt Beth. He can't get enough of riding around the yard! Good for him because we have close to 2 acres to drive around in and yell Weeee!!!! Bad for us because we don't turn on the actual mower part if he's on for safety reasons, so we spend a lot of gas driving around and then still have a whole yard to mow after an hour of 'sight seeing' the yard with Elijah.

Happy Wednesday!

Apply for a Bra Makeover from Playtex!

I honestly only own 2 bras that fit. I had about 10 of them before I got pregnant with Elijah, but after all the changes your breast go through during pregnancy and child birth it's a wonder you even know what size you wear. Seven out of ten women are wearing the wrong size bra right now. The first time I was taught to correctly measure my bust I know I was surprised to find I was wearing totally the wrong size. Wearing the wrong size bra can cause back and shoulder pain, bruising, digging and general discomfort.

Luckily Playtex understands that busy moms don't have to time to get properly measured and update their bras so they created www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com. Playtex Bra Maker is a site where women can go apply for a bra makeover and nominate your friends as well. If chosen the winner will be flown to New York to receive a total bra makeover from style expert Alison Deyette!

10 winners will have the opportunity to star in their very own webisode, which will air every two weeks! They will receive a fitting with Deyette and get to walk away with perfect fitting Playtex products! How cool is that? I know I could certainly use that and bet you could too!

Hurry and apply today! The last day is this Friday, May 21st, 2010!
http://www.playtexbramakeover.com

Disclosure: By posting this information, I am entered into a contest to win a free bra from Playtex. I did not receive any compensation for this post and thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Music Monday - Pingu! Everyone do the Doo Dah

Elijah could dance to this all day if we let him! :)

Pingu! Everyone do the Doo Dah

Music Monday - Raven Symone: Double Dutch Bus

Everybody knows Elijah loves to dance, so when I was playing Radio Disney online for him and he heard this song, of course he started busting a groove! I always loved the classic Double Dutch Bus by Frankie Smith and think Raven really did a good job with her cover.

Mailbox Monday Freebies

Welcome to Mailbox Monday! Join me every Monday when I share what I received in the mail this past week for FREE and share links to get the items FREE yourself! To keep up to date with all my free stuff posts make sure you subscribe or check back often and look for these posts and Notable Newness Freebie posts.

So this was a pretty small week. Don't know what I was doing a few weeks ago, but apparently it wasn't signing up for freebies. lol I didn't photograph it all this week, just a very reflective picture of some of the magazines. lol


Magazines: Islands, Get Married, Parenting Early Years, Baby Talk, & OK. (Not pictured: Florida, & another issue of OK)

Those magazines are not all currently available for free if they are not linked, but most of them came from the free offers section of ValueMags.com. Check out their current free titles here. They give away a lot of digital subscriptions too. I didn't like digital subscriptions at first but now I am LOVING them! I can still read them, save them, and even print pages I want, anytime! And they don't even take up any space! I am totally sold on them now!

Since I didn't get any exciting freebies, I'm not going to make a freebie list this week. To see all Walmart's current freebies check out this page. Sam's Club also has a sample page here. You may need a club member number to sign up for some. (You didn't hear this from me, but some people say any 9 digit number works.)

What did you get in the mail this week?

Check out A Frugal Friend for the Mailbox Monday linky to add your post and check out others!

See some of my previous mailbox monday posts here.

Nominate a classroom- Field Trips For All

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

One of my favorite things in school was always the field trips. I couldn't imagine my son, Elijah, never going on a field trip, but sadly schools are eliminating field trips more and more. The American Association of School Administrators released a report in 2009 estimated that more than 30,000 schools will eliminate field trips just in this school year alone!

Field trips are one of a kind, hands-on experiences that will benefit our children for a life time! They can help kids experience things they would never get to in the classroom and allow them to enjoy learning in a fun and exciting way! Lunchables Lunch Combinations thinks all kids deserve to go on field trips they will remember and cherish forever; they have pledged to help children have that chance with the launch of their new program, Field Trips For All!

All children deserve a field trip! I just can't imagine not having them. The video below is of an Alien Field Trip that a group of 5th graders from Los Angeles took to Columbia Memorial Space Center. This is just one example of the types of awesome field trips that children can experience. I know I would have loved to take a field trip like that. What about you and your children?

Want a chance for a child you know to experience a field trip like that one? Nominate a deserving classroom by going to http://www.lunchables.com/potential/. Anyone ages 6 years and up can submit nominations! From all nominations received, 50 classrooms will be selected to win a extra special field trip.

Since Elijah isn't old enough yet for field trips I don't know about around here, but did your children take any field trips this year? If so, how many field trips total will your children go on this year and where did they go? Have the amount or quality of the field trips gotten less or have they already been cut totally? If they have already been cut, why not have them nominate their classroom!

Visit them on the web at: Field Trips For All Contest open until June 1st so hurry and enter your nominations and share with your friends!

Mother's Day letter to Elijah 2010

Dear Elijah John, my precious boy.

It is my second Mother's Day since you have entered this world! There is so much I thought about telling you. It's hard to put into words. I never really understood what it truly meant when they said being a parent is having your heart walking around outside your body. I do now.

I never thought I would have a little boy of my own, especially not as perfect as you. From the moment I found out you were growing inside me the love I felt grew and grew. You were my little miracle baby! I have never in my life felt an emotion as strong and indescribable as the ones I felt when you entered this world. Your first tiny cry, the way you blinked your eyes, the way it looked when your father first walked over to me with you in his arms, how you snuggled into his chest all safe and warm. Your became our world, the start of our family. You turned out lives around and suddenly everything had a purpose. I will never forget a second of it. It was honestly the best day of my life.

As a infant you continued to amaze me. You were so smart and strong, doing everything ahead of schedule. Too fast actually. It seems like I only held you for a week before you were ready to be independent! You were so happy to sleep in your crib by yourself, I missed the naps together that we shared for the first 2 months. You would lay with your forehead and nose pressed up against my face. I would lay there and breath in your scent, stare at your sleeping face, and kiss your tiny chin. I would just think over and over how lucky I was to have a little angel so tiny and perfect. I would try to think how it was possible to love someone so much more already than you ever loved and know that love was only growing bigger by the second. I have pages and pages of memories from those months written down and could go on and on.

Everyone you met was immediately wrapped around your finger. You have always been so cute and knew it right away! Your charisma was +99 and people couldn't wait to hold, kiss, and play with you. Your beautiful big blue eyes and blonde hair, a smile that could melt any heart, how could they not?

Now that you're a toddler it seems everything flies by so fast. You were 25 pounds and 34" tall at the doctor last month. I am almost afraid to know what you will be when we go back. You grow and grow and grow out of your clothes before you even wear them all! I'm buying you new shoes every week! When you were born they took a foot print and stuck it on a card. The nurse said you were the first baby she ever saw that filled up the whole card! You never could wear newborn shoes! You started at size 2 from birth! Now you are already wearing 7/7.5!

You love to dance. You love ducks and moose. You love Mama, Dada, Da-Duck, Ma-Muck, Gamma, Nee, Beth. You love all your family and friends and are so wonderful at showing it. You give kisses and hugs and full tooth grins. You love to play with Dada and would be happy if we just let you swim in the bath tub all day every day. You talk nonstop and say silly made up things like 'Shukah' and then you turn around and say full clear sentences such as "Baby has milk" or like today when you said "Beth has *woof* *woof*." Barking as loud as you can while you tell us about your doggie cousin, Jake.

You know all your animals (well basic farm, domestic, and some jungle) and can point out their pictures and make their sounds. You can name and point to pretty much any simple object in the house we ask. You can jump, run, sing, high five, climb, and even know how to turn on and off every electronic we own.

EJTP, I could talk about you and how proud of you and how much I love you all day. I DO talk about you all day. But I think I will close this with one more thing. In a favorite book of mine a mother gives her daughter a very special locket with a very special saying engraved on it, "Plus que ma propre vie." In French it means 'More than my own life.'

Never in my life has a saying been more beautiful or more true.

I love you Elijah John, my son, plus que ma propre vie.

This letter was also featured on the Baltimore Sun Newspaper's Charm City Mom's blog.

Thursday 13 - Elijah's Favorite Things

I haven't participated in Thursday 13 in some time on my other blog, but I thought I would try it out here for a while, Elijah style! Hope you enjoy!

13 of Elijah's favorite things!
(just a random 13 of them. in no particular order)

1. Snack time! - Goldfish crackers, ritz bits, and crackers in general. bananas, strawberries, pears, and fruit! Cookies!
2. Music & Dancing! - He loves to dance! Put on music or music videos and he is in heaven!
3. Drawing and coloring!
4. Ducks! - Any ducks. Pictures, stuffed animals, on clothing, toys. Anything ducks.
5. Moose! - He has a stuffed pillow pet moose he can't live without!
6. Eeyore! - He calls him E E!
7. SpongeBob! - He calls him Bob Bob.
8. Family! - He is always talking about us, Mama, Dada. He talks about Dave's side of the family calling them Da-Duck (Granddad), Ma-Muck (Grandmom), Cat-tee (Aunt Cathi), Unca Mick (Uncle Mike), Azshen (Aunt Jen) and as of last weekend Jah-Dee (Uncle JD).
9. Talking! - He loves to talk and is always going on about something. He has some funny words he has made up too. One of my favorites is Shuk-ah: We think it's a type of dancing or otherwise happy activity.
10. Bath time! - He calls the Mubble Baps (Bubble baths). He will "swim" for hour let him.
11. Reading! - He loves to read or be read too. His favorite books right now are object picture books. He is really good at them. He can name all his animals and make their sounds. He can name so many basic objects. He can also start to point to the numbers 1 -5, colors, and some letters of the alphabet. We are working on it! :)
12. Clocks! - He loves them. No idea why! lol
13. Dancing/Singing toys! - He loves the stuffed animals and toys that do the dancing and sing. He has many of them too! He has like 5 of the Hallmark holiday ones, 3 that sing 'If you're happy and you know it' and many more! One of his favorite things is to line them up and than hit all the start buttons at once, then dance to them all.

Happy Thursday! Thanks for reading!

For more Thursday 13 posts and linky check out the Thursday 13 page!

Recession, Recovery & Store Brands

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

A recent survey conducted by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) on Recession, Recovery & Store Brands says that eight out of ten U.S. supermarket shoppers see no improvement in the economy, and forty percent say things have actually gotten worse in recent months.

A few years ago we cut back to a smaller supermarket budget ourselves due to the economy and honestly we have yet to see a change. The cost of groceries seems to be climbing higher still. Luckily we have gotten pretty smart when it comes to food shopping.

We had been testing out store brand versions of products even before our budget reduction in hopes that we could get more for our money. It turns out we weren't the only ones. 62% of consumers plan to buy more Store Brand products as they deal with the tough economy. It has saved us so much money!

We weren't just worried about saving money though, we didn't really want to sacrifice taste and quality. There were some brands that were harder to switch from than others. 43% of shoppers are trying Store Brands for the first time in categories where they used to buy only national brands. We are part of that 43% for sure! We have compared ingredients, compared taste, texture, color, and were surprised to find that not only did most taste great. Many tasted absolutely the same! We even noticed some are packaged and processed in the same exact place as the national brands. 49% of shoppers say that their new Store Brand selections compare “very favorably” to their national brands! That's up from 35% in June 2009!

A good portion of our normal items such as canned goods are now all store brands. We also had switched Elijah's formula back when he was still an infant to Parent's Choice when we realized how exact the ingredients were to a national brand. We saved at least $500 last year by switching formulas! Before switching I even spoke to his pediatrician about it. She said many patients she sees have been switching to it or even started their babies out on it, and she agreed it is just as good! Currently 57% of shoppers identify themselves as frequent buyers of store brands! That's an all-time high!

Considering 97% of shoppers who switched to a Store Brand are happy with their new choice, how could you not give it a try?

Elijah's favorite photos

My sister Jen shared some photos of Elijah from Easter that she had taken.
Elijah thought these two were the best! :)

Music Monday - Llama Llama Duck

This has been a favorite song of mine for years... lol
recently I was able to introduce Elijah to it as well.

He was impressed.