Turning food pouch and drink box messes upside down with The Flipping Holder.

GIVEAWAY

CrunchyDadmom Flipping Holder Giveaway

Back in March I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at an event in the Chicago area called Mommycon. I was roaming around the vendor hall and spotted a product that looked like it could be the answer to a serious problem I had been dealing with.

You see, like many other parents whose small children have discovered applesauce pouches and juice boxes, mine have also discovered that given just the right amount of pressure they make great food fountains. So when being tasked with the choice of either giving my one year old an applesauce and knowing he is going to leave a trail of it from the kitchen to the living room with absolutely no regard for the guy who has to clean it up or saying the two letter word that leads to my ears bleeding and my teeth gnashing from the sound of tantrumized banshee screams (NO), I usually avoid the later and begrudgingly deal with the mess.

But NO MORE. You see Leah and her team over at LCeeeDesigns have created this amazing life saver of a product called The Flipping Holder and its flipping awesome.

The Flipping Holder is essentially a hard plastic protective shell for food pouches with a couple of super hero level tricks up its sleeve.

The top has probably the coolest and most useful feature by having the perfect sized notch for literally every single pouch brand I could find (As seen in the photos) to fit in. Most of them have a matching notch in the spout that when slid into place secures that pouch from being able to move ANYWHERE.

A few of the smaller ones did not initially look as if the would work due to their lack of notched spout, however the threads that hold the cap on have the absolute perfect spacing to fit right into The Flipping Holders notch and secure it in.

On either side of the shell is two handles that my son loves because he has complete control over the pouch and being that he doesn't ever ever ever, even in his sleep, stop moving, he can easily run around wildly and hold his food securely with just one hand.

The Flipping Holders final act is one that takes it from one hit wonder to daily necessity and is the reason for its name. Take and flip it over and it goes from pouch holder to juice box holder. Cool thing is that it works with, once again, every single juice box and pouch I could buy. The standard cardboard box fit like a glove. The dreaded juice pouch with the impossible straw hole is no match. I was even surprised to find out that not only could I still in 2017 buy a individual Kool-Aid juice but that it also fit exceptionally well in The Flipping Holder.

I would like to tell you guys that I know as parents we all have our daily challenges and ever increasing expectations to do it all and we really don't seem to ever give ourselves enough credit for what we do. We don't take the time to keep our own parental sanity in check often enough and it is product like The Flipping Holder that make me thankful that a handful of parents are still out there working on helping us find simple solutions to get through the day with one less headache.

The Ultimate Guide to Parenting Events

In this day and age there is no shortage of parenting event options. Here is our list for the ultimate parenting events in the US. If you have more you'd like to see added to the list, let me know!

MommyCon

The Mother of All Parenting Events can sum up this North American series of events. Contrary to the name, this event is for all parents. With a minimum of eight events per year, this event has become the largest parenting event in the country. Features of the event include a boutique-like exhibitor hall, no less than a dozen educational sessions and a focus on community & bonding. The event focuses on modern and natural parenting methods and each attendee walks away with a gift bag filled with products from a variety of modern and natural parenting brands. The event is geared towards expectant, new and toddler-staged parents with certain markets hosting early-childhood sessions that extend beyond the pre-school years.

More information can be found here. You can use code CRUNCHYDADMOM17 for $5 off.

Gearapalooza

If you are an expecting parent who is looking for an informative evening that is filled with incredible giveaways from the biggest names in the baby industry, this event is for you! The event is specifically designed for those seeking to explore registry options. Guests walk away with a gift bag filled to the brim with amazing samples and full size products. Jamie Grayson, The Baby Guy NYC, hosts this event with Bump Club and Beyond in 15+ locations each year.

More information can be found here.


The Biggest Baby Shower Ever

Are you a Big City Mom looking to connect with expecting parents in your area? This event is for you! The event features over 100 baby companies and offers testing, feeling and discovering products under one roof. The event features pampering services, snacks and even mocktails. Guests can expect to walk away from the event with a ginormous gift bag full of samples like baby formula, disposable diapers, bottles and wipes. The Biggest Baby Shower Ever is headquartered out of NYC, but travels to Boston, DC, San Francisco, SoCal and Miami each year.

More information can be found here.


Club MomMe - Fall Fest

If you are a Cool Mom from SoCal, chances are you have been to Family Fest from Club MomMe. This outdoor event takes place in the fall at a scenic location each year. It's one part baby, one part toddler and two parts socializing with other parents in the LA area. The event features an array of exhibitors, pampering services for mom and fun for toddlers. This is a great event to meet other families while noshing on local finds.

More information can be found here.


Celebrity Red CARpet Safety Event

This fun filled event is the see and be seen of Hollywood. Celebrities flock to this event for a special VIP hour and consumers get the chance to learn all about car seat safety at this one-day event that happens in SoCal each fall. The event is informative and the gift bags are always widely talked about for including amazing products.

More information can be found here.


The Baby Show Series

They started off in NYC and are now expanding into markets across the US. They tout themselves as the biggest baby show in the country. The event features an expansive exhibitor hall, and they are known for their stroller test track. They now have events in NYC, SoCal and Chicago.

More information can be found here.


Other Events to Consider

Babypalooza - Expo style event that travels around Alabama and Mississippi.
Prego Expo - hosts an expo style event in Florida and are expanding to other parts of the country.
NJ Baby Expo - Hoboken based expo style event.
Baby Bump Expo - Seattle and Tacoma expo style event.
Babyfest Northwest- Seattle and Portland expo style event.
Baby Kid Expo - St Louis expo style event.
Chicago Baby Expo - Chicago suburb based expo style event.
Blossom Baby Expo - Long island expo style event.
Atlanta Baby Expo - Atlanta expo style event.


The original post can be found here.

Silverette: A real solution for cracked, sore nipples.

Silverette and Pendant Redemption Giveaway

In every mommy group I'm in and every circle of predominantly breastfeeding female caregivers I associate myself with I've heard about the products and methods for curing the ever painful, cracked sore, nipple.

Essentially if it's a cream or paste or even the oil stripped from an animal’s fur it's been tried. The problem with these options is that they aim to relieve the symptoms rather than heal and cure the underlying issue.

So what typically is the issue? In a large majority of cases nipple pain begins long before the skin and areola actually become traumatized and is a result of poor latching of baby while feeding. It will always be my first piece of advice that with any abnormalities in a woman's breastfeeding journey that help is sought out and nipple pain is no exception. A good latch is a great long term solution but doesn't always resolve the issue of short term pain. This becomes increasingly evident if the nipple has already been traumatized and has become dry, cracked and is possibly bleeding. In the event this is happening it is likely that bacteria has been introduced to the traumatized area which has the potential to make things a lot less fun.

Silverette has taken a time tested method of treatment for healing and preventative health maintenance and brought it to U.S. for use in the breastfeeding space. They have created small nipple cups made from 925 sterling silver that decrease the healing time of traumatized nipples and prevent them from becoming sore, cracked and bleeding in the future.

The process for using them is so incredibly easy. Simply leave a few drops of milk in each cup after you're finished with a feeding session and place one on each nipple. The milk will create a bit of a cupping glass effect on the breast and will help hold the Silverette in place. The cups do have to be removed before feeding since they are not shields. No other products are needed in conjunction with them. Just wear them between each feeding throughout the day under a bra. They are one size at 2.2" in diameter.

I really want to make sure I take a moment to explain why I'm so on board with this product and why it works.

I am a longtime proponent of the healing properties of silver and all of its wonderful uses. Probably the most convincing space that silver is used in is the medical industry. It is commonly used in wound dressings, creams, and as an antibiotic coating on medical devices. Silver is known to be antibacterial and great at preventing the growth of bacteria.

I could talk about it all day long but I think that visual proof is best. So I did a little experiment.

I had some milk that was thawed and my son decided not to drink. So rather than let it go completely to waste I decided this would be the perfect chance to show you just how effective silver is. Below you will see a small glass jar and a the Silverette both partially filled with breast milk.

This picture was taken 2 days after the milk was poured and had been left at room temp. You can just see that the milk in the glass is just beginning to separate. What is a bit tougher to see but become much more evident later is that the milk in the Silverette  is still very much the way it was when it was poured. 

In this video (day 4) you can see pretty clearly now that the milk in the glass is pretty coagulated on the top and the separation process is in full effect while the milk in the Silverette is still very liquidy and has formed just a very thin layer on the top.
Here's whats happening (The boring scienecy stuff); the bacteria is causing the lactose to ferment at room temperature and turn it into lactic acid. The lactic acid changes the ph level of the milk causing the separated cream to spoil and become thick and smelly. The milk in the Silverette is doing the same thing but at a much much slower rate because the silver inhibits the bacteria from growing, slowing the transition of the sugars from lactose to glucose, which in turn creates less acid and boom there you go slower spoilage.

In this video (day 6) you can see that the separation in the glass has a top layer that is very very thick to the point that it barely moves even when tipped on its side. (believe me I really didn't wan't it to spill out as this one smelled terrible, which is also the reason I didn't let the cream curd which it would eventually do). However the milk in the Silverette, while a bit evaporated, is still very liquidy and had almost no smell to it.

The whole purpose in this test was to show the evidence to support the claims that when used to help repair or maintain breastfeeding mothers nipples that Silverette has the ability to keep the damage causing bacteria at bay, just like the bacteria that caused the milk to spoil, and allow healing to happen and help prevent traumatized nipples from becoming infected.

Now one of the coolest things that Silverette does in my opinion is that they give you the option to give your cups a much much longer life than just the breastfeeding experience. After you no longer need your cups, you can return them and they will be transformed into a beautiful sterling silver pendant for you to keep forever. You can even have your pendant engraved and they will pay for the shipping.

If you want to read more about Silverette or purchase your own set you can check out their website. silveretteusa.com  For a limited time, you can use code CRUNCHY to get 15% off your order. 

It's not a bottle, it's a squeeze.

So then what is a squeeze? Only one of the biggest mess and money savers ever. 

I was introduced to the Original Squeeze Company by Mat York during his very first Weekly Chat. From jump I knew that this was a product that could seriously help in my home. 

The Original Squeeze is the first reusable, toxin free, 100% silicone pouch that I've ever seen and I love it. I want to touch base on 5 points that really make this product so awesome. 

First, the Original Squeeze comes in 3 different sizes, which makes it a perfect product for use by just about any age. The original is available in 2, 4 and 6 ounce sizes and the Sport version is available in up to 8 ounces. To give some comparison on capacity a typical disposable apple sauce pouch is just over 3 ounces while a full sized juice box is just over 6 ounces. The Apple red one in the picture above is the 4 ounce version while the Reef blue is 6 ounces.

Next we get to talk colors. While available color may vary depending on the particular product you order, you can pretty much come up with any color combination your kids can think up. This become especially important when you have kiddos like mine who are super particular about which color anything is or is not theirs. Both the bodies and the ring colors can be customized to fit the likes and personality of the user. I've listed below all of the colors to choose from. BTW I love the names for these colors. They're so much better than Red, Blue, Green, blah, blah, bland.

Pro Tip: Building your own combination of squeeze will net you the biggest selection of available colors. 

Next is the secret sauce, if you may, of this product. The spout. This is where I was really interested in testing out the Original Squeeze and is applicable uses. The spout comes in two forms, the original squeeze with spill proof spout and the Eeeze, free flowing, spout.

The spill proof spout is a  cross cut closed spout that requires the user to clamp down a bit to open it up for product to flow out. It is really awesome for keeping messes , especially liquids, to a minimum. It does take a bit for a small child to get used to using it but as soon as they get the first bit of product out it become almost second nature. My five year old took about 10 seconds to figure out how to work it and my 2 year old wasn't far behind that. 

The Eeeze free flowing spout, while completely open at the top is actually still quite effective at preventing spills and messes. In fact if anything other than a pure liquid is in the Squeeze it pretty much contains it all without any spills. It also has a few other applications that we will talk about in just a moment. Both of these spouts can be purchased separately as extras or replacements. (But they're quite durable, so probably not replacement).

Finally we get to talk about some of the fun tests that we did and other possible applications for the Oringinal Squeeze. So initally the entire reason I wanted these was to replace the apple sauce pouches that fill my fridge and empty my bank account. You see, we are a family that is lucky enough to have a giant apple tree in the yard that produces enough to apples to make apple sauce for the entire winter spring and summer each year. Also I have a wife who is skilled enough to turn all of those apples into something even better than the tree can produce itself. So it really hurts my heart every time I see one of the kids slamming a disposable pouch of apple sauce and then tossing the pouch in the trash. 

That being said the first thing that entered the squeeze bodies was a freshly opened jar of homemade apple sauce. Now if you've ever made apple sauce you know that it is unlikely that it is going to be nearly as smooth and runny as store bought, so I questioned if it would clog the spout and not be able to flow through. The first spout we tried was the spill proof one and I was a bit discouraged at the difficulty for my 5 year old to get product out but after we swithed the spouts and put the free flowingind Eeeze spout on she was off to the races and happy as a clam. I swear she looked at me and said, "Daddy, I love it"! Talk about product endorsment. Lol. I thought that filling the pouches would be difficult and was very suprised when I was able to quickly and easily spoon fill the 4 ounce pouch with a standard teaspoon (not a measuring teaspoon, a table style teaspoon) in about 20 seconds. A heaping spoon slid right into the neck opening and becuase its made of silicon I could just grip the outside and pull the spoon free from the squeeze body completely cleaned off. 

Pro Tip: Remove the plastic ring before filling the bodies to give you maximum flexability of the opening. 

The next test we did was one that was suggested during Mat's Live Weekly Chat on his Facebook Page. I love making pancakes using my ultimate pancake recipe. I make them as often as possible, sometimes every day of the week. One thing though is that my kids always want to, using the term lightly, "help" make them. This has never once worked out. Messy product, hot griddle and clumsy motor skills do not add up to a good time in my book. So when it was suggested to use the Original Squeeze for kids pancake making, I had to try. 

I filled a 4 ounce squeeze with pancake mix and topped it with the Eeeze spout. I then Let me 2 year old help my make pancakes. She had so much fun. She was able to stand above the griddle and squeeze her little heart out and help daddy make pancakes without the huge mess and a much smaller chance of getting a "kitchen boo boo". 

We have also used them for water bottles which pretty much work exactly as you'd expect. The free flow spout makes a nice fountain when squeezed and the spill proof spout keeps the water inside until its in the mouth of the kiddo using it. On a side note, being silicon, they fit in just about any cup holder quite well. 

Check out The Original Squeeze Company's facebook page or Recipe Page on their website for more use ideas. 

Lastly we need to talk about cleaning. I have only hand washed these as it is so easy I see no other reason to do anything but. The caps and spouts clean nice and easy with a little spray from the sink and if there are any stuck on pieces, a bottle brush works very very well. The bodies being so flexible allow for any size hands to reach any part of the inside for a quick clean and rinse. I have giant hands and something this small I would normally not be able to reach the corners of the inside. A nice little bend of the fingers and BAM clean. 

Overall I think The Original Squeeze is Awesome. It is sure to save us tones of money just with the apple sauce alone and with the many other applicable uses I'm sure we will be ordering more in the near future. 

If you are interested in ordering some of these little miracle tools for your littles or yourself be sure to use SQUEEZEITFORWARD as a promo code to save yourself  10%  on your order. Or for the next week use THATDADMAT to save 20%,

Finally, someone did it! Teething Necklaces for Dads.(Giveaway)

My littlest little just recently turned 7 months old and wants to put everything in his mouth. Which for me has meant he either chews on the straps of the carrier, chews on my metal necklace or my least favorite, chews on quite a flamboyant rainbow-centric teether. And while I'm certainly not above rocking the rainbow, it doesn't particularly "set off" my outfit the way I'd like. 

So when these daddy inspired teething necklaces from Little Sunshine Boutique arrived in the mail I was absolutely thrilled. Finally I have some teethers that I can wear around and not get completely crazy looks from people when I have long since put my kiddo down but have totally forgotten to take it off.

 I want to touch base on a few of my favorite things about these outside of the fact that they look so great. 

The length on these necklaces is perfect. One of the biggest issues with the current ones we have is it sure seems like they were meant for momma. When she wears them they fall right to his mouth, when I wear them they just bonk off of his forehead the entire time. As you can see in the picture above these sit nice and low at the perfect height for him to play with them and also bring the to his face to chew on.  

The silicone beads used are really really light which I found to be nice in comparison to some other teething products that I've used especially other silicone necklaces. 

The breakaway clasp is  perfect in that it breaks away with relative ease but not so easy that my little guy unclasps it while playing with it. It's a nice tight snap and holds well. 

The string used dries nice and quick. A problem I've had with other forms of teethers in the past is that after drool effect that leaves my neck slimy and a ring around my shirt collar. For both drool and cleaning purposes it a pretty quick dry with a basic wipe off. 

Which brings me to my last point that the beads clean very easily. We have a heavy shedding dog in the house and like I would expect, the beads pick up dog hair every time it hits the ground. A quick rinse under the sinks faucet immediately removes any debris and gets us back to a happy little man with his new favorite toy.  

Now lets take a closer look at the items I've received. (Feel free and click on any product to go direct to that product on their site)

First is a super simple but very usable necklace. It has a silicone ring which is my sons favorite part about all of these. In fact I would actually not suggest getting one without it or some sort of a pendant attached. It's a great focal point got the kid to look for and grab onto if they have limited motor skills still. The ring is a nice rich baby/sky blue and a green rounded cube to lock it in place. I find that this one goes well with any brown, blue, purple, green and white shirts.

Next is a black and grey beaded necklace with larger black beads and a medium sized grey bead to both sides of a black silicone ring. It's very light weight to the point you will forget you're wearing it. This one works very well with black, grey, red and white shirts.

The next one is a red and black beaded necklace with large black beads and small red beads. I really like the look of this one however it does not have any sort of pendant so it is not as desirable for my little guy however the next product kind of solves that issue. This one goes will with red, black, grey, and white shirts. 

The last product is not actually a necklace but a carrier accessory. It is much smaller around than a necklace and fits very nicely around the strap of both of my SSC's (Ergo and Babyhawk). It has an assortment of colors to be able to match with many different carrier patterns without havinging the "rainbow effect". The black beads really help keep theme with the daddy necklaces while the colors allow for it to be transitioned back and forth between dad and mom. One of the coolest part about this one is that it has a detachable ring that I like to switch off to the above necklace to add a focal point and grab spot for my little. 

And last but not least just to show the genuineness of our love and use of these products here is a bunch of photos from around my home and outside of them in use by my little guy wife and myself over the past few days. I sincerely suggest checking out Little Sunshine Boutique to see the whole selection. And for any mommas reading this, Fathers Day is just around the corner. This would be a great gift idea and if you do it right you can save on shipping by buying something for yourself at the same time. Also if you go to the site and sign up for their mailing list you can save an additional 10%.

Want a chance to win one for yourself or for the daddy in your life? Enter below.

Fathers Day Daddy Teething Necklace Giveaway

Thank you to Little Sunshine Boutique for letting me discover just how great it is to finally have some sweet daddy inspired designed teethers. You rock!!!

MOMMYCON?

This last weekend I attended the Mecca of hippie mommas gathering together in one place. Something called MOMMYCON, just outside Chicago. If you're not privy to what this con is, it's basically  babies, boobies, bellies, products for babies, boobies and bellies, a place to take pictures to let everyone know about babies, boobies and bellies and then of course you'll need a place to discuss babies, boobies and bellies. So what better place than the room affectionately referred to as Vagina Village.  Seems pretty guy friendly right? I went on an impromptu invite from my wife. She was planning to attend with my sister and my niece who is about the same age as my youngest child at 5 months.

I agreed to take them and bring them back but it wasn't until I was in the hotel room with them that I was convinced to attend the CON. This wasn't some easy decision for me to make. I've been to conventions before, ones that are much larger than this, but I knew if I attended a primarily female convention revolving solely around "Mothering" that I was going to be That Dad that got dragged along by his wife. To keep it blunt, I was afraid of looking like a whipped dude. In truth and as a placeholder for another conversation, as men, we shouldn't be stigmatized for wanting to be an integral part of the nurturing side of the upbringing of our children. But still I felt that my presence was going to be an unwelcome energy. Picture it with me, you've been walking around an expo floor for 20 minutes when you pause for a moment to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. After waiting for 2 minutes you realize you've stopped right in front of a huge rack of Diva Cups and "mommy pads" and 2 women are waiting for you to move so they can get a closer look. Don't know what a Diva Cup is? A quick Google search will do a much better job of explaining than I could elaborate on. Did you go look it up? Awkward moment right? Or how about having to hear the patronizing sounds of a vendor saying something like "Don't you just love having to come to MOMMYCON?" while you're looking through a spread of products that you are most likely going to own some of at some point throughout raising a child?

But regardless of how awful that all sounded I knew that the Ergo Baby carrier I'd been using for the last four and a half years was wearing out and beginning to make me believe I was carrying around a small elephant rather than a 4 month old infant and if there was ever going to be a time to look at getting a new one this was it. I said to the girls, "Ok, I guess I'm gonna go be a mommy for the day." at which point they affectionately crowned  me with the title of Dadmom. So I hustled some last minute deal to pick up a ticket for half price and pumped myself up mentally and went at it full force. 100%. If I was going to be there then I was going to be the best damn Dadmom in the place.

So we walk into the venue and from everything I can see it is exactly what I was expecting. Pink decor everywhere, pregnant women, moms with babies attached to every surface of their bodies and the handful of men slowly trotting around behind their women. You know like they do when their women play the ever elusive game of "follow me through the mall maze of cloth racks and don't question me as to my reasoning for passing the same rack 3 times,  there's something there I might want!".

To my surprise though, the feeling was short lived. These women were different, accepting. They supported the idea of the nurturing father and support through partnership. There is something very special about this group of women. Like a secret society of women who get it. Who seem to be out to better one another. It was super refreshing. Perhaps this is the group of women who will change the mommy trend from trying to do it alone into the normalization or rebirth of the "it takes a village" idea.

These women have created products, started businesses, and taken the time to teach one another. Experts from different fields coming together to encourage and educate about topics like; baby wearing, breastfeeding, birthing, cloth diapering, holistic health and eco friendly parenting products. They truly care and I can't say enough good things about this group and their supporters. I hope to see this event grow bigger and bigger and that they make it even more inclusive to fathers (maybe through more father speaking sessions "hint hint")

After spending 9 hours dipping in and out of the expo floor and into and out of different speaker events, I left feeling good. Better than good. I was genuinely happy and I found my new carrier. But more important than that was the fact that my wife was genuinely happy not only because she was there but because We were there together Mommy and Dadmom and you can bet we'll be back next year.