Little One Books Review & Giveaway

Little One Books is a online retailer of children's books, music, and videos. They are not your typical retailer of children's products - you won't find every book that has ever been written for a child on this site. Instead, each book, DVD, or audio CD is carefully reviewed before being chosen. As you shop the site, you'll find a detailed synopsis of why the product was selected along with what child reviewers thought of that product. It makes it so easy to choose something that your child will love. They also make age recommendations for each product on their site. As a parent, I appreciated this feature, but I also think this is a wonderful site to recommend to grandparents or other relatives who may have trouble shopping for children's books and media. Little One Books has made it easy to choose a gift that the child in your life is sure to enjoy!


We were sent the Baby Genius Favorite Sing-A-Longs video. This video contains both original songs as well as classics like Old McDonald's Farm and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Jaxon doesn't watch much television yet, but lately he has begun liking things like the theme song to Elmo or Dora the Explorer. I thought that a video that contained nothing but music and cartoon animals would be perfect for him. The video was recommended for ages 2+, but I thought Jaxon could grow into it, if necessary. 

The video starts with songs about the characters that illustrate the video. Jaxon was not interested in that part at all. However, he enjoyed several of the other songs on the video, like "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and "Old McDonald Had a Farm". I think that as he gets a little bit older, he'll be more interested. For now, we just skip ahead to his favorite songs. I really liked that the DVD also came with an audio CD containing each of the songs. It makes it easy to enjoy Jaxon's favorite songs in the car. 


Currently, when you place an order of $35 or more from Little One Books, you will receive a free tote bag and free shipping!  


Little One Books has generously offered to give one of my readers a Baby Genius Favorite Children's Songs DVD! Enter using the easy Rafflecopter form below.


Connect with Little One Books on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to stay updated on current promotions and great gift ideas! 

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I was provided a DVD for review. All opinions are my own. 

I did it.

I finally did it. 


I left my baby boy with someone other than my husband.


And guess what? We BOTH came out of the experience unscathed. Well, there was a lot of separation anxiety that we had to overcome, but that was all on my end- Jaxon seemed to be perfectly okay.


A few months back, I posted about how I was leaving Jaxon with my mother-in-law so we could go out for our anniversary. Well, in the end, I just couldn't leave him. I chickened out. I didn't blog about it because, well, I felt like a wimp. 


But tonight, we had a couple of things going on where we both felt like Jaxon would be better off staying with Jason's mom at her house than going with us. We had to drop the big kids off at her house anyway, so we decided to try it and see what Jaxon would do when we tried to leave. He surprised me by giving us both "goodbye" kisses and then going to play, barely looking up as we walked out the door. 


I checked on him via text throughout the evening, thinking I'd need to go pick him up. We weren't too far away, so I knew I could go get him and be back to where I needed to be within 20 minutes if anything went wrong. He had missed his nap today, so I expected him to be extra fussy and wanting to nurse a lot. But he did just fine without me, even falling asleep without his customary bedtime nursing. 


He did wake up before we got there and was very glad to see us when we arrived to pick up the kids. He didn't seem to have any lasting resentment towards me, lol, though he did nurse for about 20 minutes!


It wasn't nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be. Jaxon seemed to have enjoyed himself. I was a little bit lonesome without my baby sidekick. It was definitely weird not having him with me. That's the longest period of time I've ever been away from him.


My baby is getting so big! So tell me, am I weird to feel this way about leaving him when he's 17 1/2 months old? How old was your baby when you left them for the first time?

Project Naptime: Week 1

Jaxon has never taken regular naps. For most of his life, it has been nearly impossible to lay him down in a bed after he'd fall asleep nursing. He prefers to nap in my arms. We've made do with this, and he often took several shorter naps throughout the day. Some days he might be a little fussy from lack of sleep, but it was manageable.


Once he turned a year old, though, a lack of naptime started to become more of a problem. Fussiness turned into tantrums. We felt like we were hitting the "terrible twos" way early. But on the days when he did take a good nap in the early afternoon, we noticed that he was easier to get to sleep that night. 


So last week, I decided that it was time to get serious about his nap schedule (I know, I know, finally, right?). The first thing I did was tell him he could not nurse during the day unless he was going to sleep. Amazingly, he caught onto this really quickly. On day 1, by 12 noon, he was begging to nurse and nodding his head "yes" when I asked if he was going to sleep. He nursed for 15 minutes, then fell asleep and slept for 2 hours. Success!


On day 2, we had similar results, though he didn't start his nap until around 1. Day 3, I was feeling a little lazy. I gave in and let him nurse during the mid-morning. He didn't take a nap until later that afternoon (3ish, I think). On Day 4, I went back to making him wait to nurse. I also pulled him off before he fell asleep and instead of letting him nurse himself to sleep, I patted his back until he fell asleep.


On Day 5, he nursed but pulled off before he was asleep and then fell asleep on his own! I had to stay with him, but I thought it was awesome that he was able to fall asleep on his own.


On Day 6, he nursed to sleep. Some days, it seems he is okay with being pulled off before falling asleep and some days it seems he is completely against it. 


Day 7 was church. We also combined some family visiting with our Sunday and turned it into a very long day. Surprisingly, Jaxon still managed to take 2 shorter naps. He also didn't nurse all day until we got home around 5:30. That's the longest he's ever gone without nursing.


It has been really great having him nap each day. It really helps his mood and makes our afternoons easier. A regular naptime has also brought the unexpected benefit of a regular bedtime. As the week went on, Jaxon started asking to nurse to sleep at 8. He's typically been a night owl, preferring to stay up at least an hour after the other kids go to bed at 8. Sometimes it's 11:00 and he's still awake. For him, 8:00 is early. We're also noticing that he's waking fewer times during the night. 


I really hope we continue to get good results with his naptime and I also hope that his nighttime sleep habits continue to improve. I still can't say he's slept through the night, but at least I am starting to feel like it's an attainable goal at some point in the future!


How old was your little one when they first slept through the night? Do you have any sleep tips for me?

Charlie Banana One Size Diaper Review

Charlie Banana OS cloth diaper in Robot Boy

Charlie Banana is a 2 in 1 cloth diapering system that can be used with disposable or reusable inserts. Charlie Banana diapers come in sizes (X-Small, Small, Medium, and Large) or one sized diapers. They have a front pocket opening that I love! The diapers come with 2 washable inserts. One is a small/newborn insert and the other is a medium/large insert. Both inserts can be used together for maximum absorbency. 

Charlie Banana inserts

The inserts are conveniently labeled 

The inserts are slim, which eliminates bulk between the legs. This is definitely a trim fitting diaper!

Front pocket flap

This diaper can also be used with disposable inserts that are held in place by placing them under the front pocket flap. I haven't used the hybrid option of this diaper yet, so I can't speak to its effectiveness. 

Aqua Charlie Banana

The inside is made of a super soft fleece. When asked to pick a diaper to wear, Jaxon almost always reaches for this one, so I know he loves it!

Inside of Charlie Banana OS diaper

I have to admit - I was initially scared of diapers that had leg adjustment systems. They seemed complicated to me and it seemed like they would be more difficult to get a good fit than with a rise adjustment system you can see. When we received this diaper, Jaxon was 4 months old. The elastic was set to a medium setting and I did not have to adjust the elastic until Jaxon was almost 1. I haven't adjusted it again since. While it is definitely more involved than rise snaps, if you are worried about constantly adjusting the leg elastic, don't be. You will only have to do it a few times to get the fit right the first time and then maybe once every few months as your baby grows.  

The old style Charlie Bananas adjusts using a elastic and button system, as seen in the picture above.  

The new style of Charlie Bananas use a slider system (like a bra strap) to adjust. They are also marked with sizes. I definitely prefer the new system (shown in the picture below).

The Charlie Banana diapers do run small for a one-size diaper. This makes it a great choice for smaller babies and for use straight from birth. It is also a good choice for babies with skinny legs. Look how tiny it gets on the smallest settings. 

Smallest setting of Charlie Banana,
as compared to the smallest setting of a BumGenius 4.0

Look how tiny the leg holes get! 

Largest setting of the Charlie Banana,
as compared to the largest setting of a BumGenius 4.0

The best thing about diapers with leg elastic adjustments is how pleasing they are to look at. Instead of rows and rows of snaps, you just have a clean diaper front. It gives the great look of a sized diaper, with the value of a one size diaper. 

In addition to purchasing from cloth diaper retailers, you can also buy them at Target! I find it very exciting to see some form of cloth diapers in a mainstream store like Target, where more consumers can be exposed to them. A one-size Charlie Banana retails for $20.99 and a 6 pack retails for $109.99.   

Connect with Charlie Banana on Twitter & Facebook!

I won a Charlie Banana diaper but was under no obligation to review it. All opinions are my own!