I swear it gets harder and harder to find quality programs and cds for our kids that won’t drive us (parents) up the wall. That Baby CD and That Baby DVD is the answer. It is extremely hard to keep both kids entertained while watching something. However, That Baby DVD did its job. Will just stared at the tv in wonderment, and Madison danced while the songs played (Will did a little dancing of his own too). The first thing that Bill and I noticed was that we recognized a lot of the songs on here. These are covers of songs by Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, The Beatles, The Pretenders, just to name a few. The second thing we noticed was that songs were sung for the kids and toned down. However, they weren’t completely kidified, so that you feel like pulling your hair out and covering your ears. I can’t tell you how many of those kinds of CDs (I know we all have them) that we listened to once and never again. That Baby CD is what Will listens to at night. We use to have a classical CD playing in his room all night. It is the same CD we used for Madison, so we happily replaced it with That Baby CD. He sleeps with it just fine, and I sometimes catch myself singing with it when I change his diaper (shhhh, don’t tell anyone). Both the DVD and CD have gotten a lot of play in my house. This ranks high on my list of things all mothers should have.

Now, if this is something that you want to get your family, I have a coupon code that you can use to save 20% on your entire order when you order from the The Baby DVD website. It is “MotherTalk”. Also, any orders from now till May 18th that use the coupon code will be entered in a drawing to win a new iPod nano. Now, who couldn’t use one of those? Something for you, something for the kids . . .you can’t go wrong.

I’ll be honest. I did not want to watch the Bee Movie. I cannot stand Jerry Seinfeld, and since his voice is the lead character here, I was a bit leary. However, this turned out to be a really cute movie. It isn’t about how honey works better than some of the best anti wrinkle cream. Instead, it is about the life of a bee. Barry (Jerry Seinfeld) becomes disillusioned about having to pick a job for the rest of his short life. He goes out of the hive with the pollen collectors to see what is out there and finds out that us humans have been stealing bee honey. To fix this injustice, he sues the human race. I don’t want to give away too much information, but it is a seriously cute movie. There were a lot of jokes that I thought were funny that went right over Madison’s head. However, she too enjoyed the movie. The moral of this movie is that one bee (or human) can make a difference, and that is a great lesson.

Apogee is company who specializes in Search Engine Marketing. Their job is to make sure that their client sites are on Google, Yahoo!, MSN Live and other search engines. They are the experts in their field and they have a great blog to check out. By reading the Apogee Search Blog , you can learn a lot stuff for free. The posts are written so well that it does not matter if you are a beginner or an expert. You will walk away with more knowledge and understanding. They have some really great posts about SNSX conference too. If you are wanting to learn more about search engine marketing, you definitely need to check out their blog.

Every so often you come across a service that really fits into your life. Diigo is that for me. I never understood what the excitement was over sites like delicious. I never saw any practical use for it. However, I see many uses for Diigo. A big one for me is how you are able to use it as a research and knowledge tool and how it will allow me to be more time efficient. For one of my freelancing jobs, we talk a lot over email since we are all over the country. I hate when I find a cool article and then I have to send it to each person (I am still trying to figure out how to make email lists on Gmail).

This service would allow me to bookmark the article and each person on my team can then decide if it pertains to them (instead of me trying to figure that out). You can set up different groups too. My personal group wouldn’t have to wade through my work bookmarks. Another feature that I love is that you can highlight articles and leave notes for yourself. Currently, I have a ton of bookmarks that I did, and I can’t remember what was important in those articles and why I bookmarked them. When doing research, I would love to be able to note that I have already looked at different web pages.

On the more personal side, there are several features that are just fun to play with. First, you have People Like Me. That feature will show you what other people who have bookmarked the same site as you also bookmarked. It will also suggest people that are close to you in your bookmarking behavior. You are able to import your bookmarks from other sites, so you don’t have waste your time doing that again.

Today, Diigo is releasing version 3.0 of their service. They have added over 100 new features so there is a feature for everyone here. It is a tad overwhelming at first when you are trying to figure it all out. However, it is worth your time. This video will show you the new dashboard and some of the new features you should expect:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0RvAkTuL02A

When you try it out, let me know what you think.

I love products that made just for the busy mom. SpaSensials* Hand and Foot Treatment is definitely one of those products. In one package, you get a treatment for both your feet and your hands. I have been trying these out for a couple of days, and if you have dry skin, I would definitely recommend these. Personally, I have really dry cracked feet. You put on a sock (or a glove if you are working on your hands) that is infused with aloe, jojoba and vitamins A, B5 and E. Now, the first time I used these, I did not notice much of change. However, there was some. The parts of my feet that were not as dry as my heels no longer were dry. I also noticed a small change with my heels (which are the most dry part).  The other added benefit is that your feet smell really nice when you take the socks off too!

The part I love the most about these is that all I have to do is slip them on my feet and away you go. It takes about 3 seconds to put them on. It is great for the busy mom who doesn’t want spend time to pamper herself. You can have great looking hands and feet without even trying!  You just leave the socks or gloves on for a minimum of 15 minutes.  The only thing I would change with these is that I wouldn’t package the gloves and socks together.  To try them out, this packaging makes sense.  However, now that I know which product I really want to use, I don’t need the other.

This is product that I would definitely recommend to try if you have dry feet and/or hands.

The Discovery Channel has another great show that I have to tell you about. It is called Dirty Jobs. This show is great since the whole family can watch it. The premise is pretty easy — people write in with the “dirty job” they have. Mike Rowe, the host, goes to their job site and does their dirty job for a day. It is amazing, because there are so many jobs out there that you never knew that existed. He has done everything from being a skull cleaner to a sausage linker to a hot tar roofer in the middle of summer. He’s taken gum off the sidewalks, cleaned the gas tanks in planes, and cleaned the sewers in New York (at least, I think it was in New York). There was even a show with birds that puked on him. Sometimes, you truly wonder if he should get some Raleigh personal injury lawyers on staff, because I don’t think he always knows what he is in for. They have never shown him get hurt (yet). However, we have seen some definite OSHA violations.  If you need to appreciate your job or want some great TV viewing, then tune in to Dirty Jobs.

Ever have a diaper that you know just works for your kids? I do. They are called Pampers Swaddlers. We started using these when Madison was little. Madison was my beanpole child (still is). It was hard to find diapers that I could get tight around her waist yet not be cutting off her circulation. It seemed to an uphill battle. If the the top of the diaper was not tight, she had a constant leaking problem. That was until we discovered the Pamper Swaddlers. These diapers have flexible sides so you are able to pull the diaper as tight as needed yet still give your children the flexibility to be able to move such as children do (might I add that I have monkey children who roll to get across rooms, climb up everything, etc).

Now Madison is 3, and we don’t need diapers for her anymore. However, Will was born in June, and I knew what diapers we were going to go back to using. I let Bill talk me into buying other brands and even the store brand! Guess what?!?! They leaked. Now, Will isn’t the beanpole that Madison was. Yet, we still have leaking issues. However, once we got the Pampers Swaddlers again this hasn’t been an issue at all. I like that the diapers grow in size with your children. You are able to purchase them in the regular sizes such as 1, 2, 3 and so on. However, they even make the in between sizes where your child isn’t quite ready for the next size even though according to their weight they are. You are able to also purchase the sizes 1-2 and 2-3. I know this, because I have done it myself.

I took pictures of this handsome gentleman last night in his Pamper Swaddlers:

I am not sure if you can tell, but the top of Swaddlers have Elmo on them. The diapers have all of the Sesame Street characters on them. They definitely are children friendly.

In my opinion, buying these diapers is a no brainer. They have worked wonderfully with both of my kids to stop leaks. They do their job even when your kids are peeing machines and little monkeys (why do both my kid fit that description a little too well?). I know there are a ton of products out there, but the Pamper Swaddlers are definitely worth every cent.