On Monday, Land O’Frost’s community site for moms launched. It’s called Land O’Moms and I am proud to say I am one of three brand ambassadors for Land O’ Frost.

I am thrilled to be able to lend my voice as a mom of daughters who are inching closer to their tween years. Additionally, my family eats Land O’Frost lunch meats anyway, so the partnership is a definite win-win.

Right now on landomoms.com you can download a coupon for $2 of Land O’Frost Premium. Get the coupons while you can. They’re going quickly!

eebee’s Mix & Mash by Every Baby Company, Inc.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I really miss those years when my daughters were just learning about foods, their textures, smells, and, of course, their tastes. I miss the days when my daughters squished through their food and tossed food everywhere when I let them explore on their own. Those days are long gone for me, but for you who have babies now, there is a new baby recipe book that you should definitely check out with your babies. And, that’s important.

Eeebees Mix and Match: Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby and You is a board book for your child that teaches them about foods and colors, and while they’re exploring through the pages you learn new recipes for baby food that are nutritious and easy for babies and toddlers to eat.

Additionally, there is an informative CD, co-produced by Parents TV, that explains the philosophy behind Eebees and serves as a how-to video for the recipes shown inside the book.

What makes Eeebees Mix and Match: Adventures in the Kitchen for Baby and You a great read for parents and kids: The food is unique for kids and opens them up to out-of-the-ordinary finger foods that far exceeds crackers and cereal like tofu and avocados. Plus, your child gets to see gorgeous photos of other children having a colorful good time with finger foods, bowls, and kitchen utensils.

View all my reviews >>

Click for more about Kids and Teens after the jump.

KIDS

Trump Kids: In response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, the Trump International Hotel & Tower® New York has implemented a program for kids to get moving while guests at the hotel. If you’re staying at the Trump Tower, there’s now a great way to help your kids burn off calories that are sure to be eaten on a family vacation. Find out more: Trump Kids

The four new options are:

Pool Sports Blast – Everyone in the pool! Swimmers six years and older and at least 4 ½ feet tall can enjoy a variety of pool games with high-energy instructors for one hour devoted to fun.
No charge.

Wii Sports Package – Virtual reality can yield real results when a personal trainer shows how to get the most of out of gaming on the Nintendo® Wii™ in the comfort of the suite. Ages six and older. A 55-minute session is $90.

Introduction to Boxing – Ding ding ding! Round one! An exercise physiologist will help children learn the essentials of safe technique, basic punches and footwork drills. For ages 13 and older. A 55-minute session is $90.

Introduction to Fitness Training – Learn from an exercise physiologist who will help children understand the basics of fitness and how to use fitness equipment. For ages 13 and older. A 55-minute session is $90.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Spring is just around the corner and for young ones who are just beginning to learn their colors, Raindrops: A Shower of Colors is an excellent board book to teach them about animals and the various hues of the rainbow.

More and more I judge toddler books primarily by their illustrations.When my daughters were quite young their little eyes feverishly gazed across the pages of vibrantly-colored books. And while their young ears heard the stories the illustrations really told the story. That said, the illustrations in Raindrops paints the entire story beautifully and the wording is ideal for young children whose brains are constantly learning new things.

What I love most about Raindrops is each page has a see-through raindrop of its respective color.

Why I love this book: Raindrops: A Shower of Colors is a perfect book for young children to read alone when they’re sitting on the floor using their tiny fingers to explore their piles and piles of board books. The illustrations in Raindrops are vibrant enough to capture and keep your child’s attention and the story is simple enough to teach them new insects, animals and colors without overwhelming them or taking away from their favorite things: pictures!

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I really, really, REALLY love my iPhone, but I can’t help but think the new Microsoft 7 Phone looks extremely appealing. I haven’t seen one in person. The only thing I know about it is what I have read and watched online, but I’m thoroughly intrigued.

Check it out at  www.windowsphone7series.com

As a blogger I have worked closely with Kmart and I have always had a great experience with them. I had the privilege of being dressed by some of their designers last year at Blogher, which was really fun and an amazing experience. I love how Kmart is working hard to improve their products and reach their customers.

Now, Kmart has teamed up with Steve Harvey for their new Share the Word (kmart.com/sharetheword) campaign which is designed to provide valuable resources to their customers during Black History Month. This year, their focus is beauty and wellness.

Steve Harvey launched the Share the Word campaign last Monday in Atlanta.  And in Chicago (Kmart, 4101 W. 95th Street, Oak Lawn) on Feb.  27 celebrity hair stylist to the stars Johnny Wright will bring the expertise he’s gained through work with his A-list clientele.  Wright will offer his favorite healthy hair tips, provide hair assessments and make suggestions to Kmart customers.

Steve Harvey talks relationships and love to customers at Kmart, 230 Cleveland Ave SW., Atlanta on Monday, February 8. The event, coinciding with Black History Month, is part of the company's 'Share the Word' Beauty and Wellness program designed to celebrate the inner and outer beauty of African-American women. (John Amis / AP Images for Sears Holdings Corp )

Steve Harvey hugs an excited fan while speaking to customers at a Kmart store, 230 Cleveland Ave SW., Atlanta on Monday, February 8. The event, coinciding with Black History Month, is part of the company's 'Share the Word' Beauty and Wellness program designed to celebrate the inner and outer beauty of African-American women. (John Amis / AP Images for Sears Holdings Corp )

If you are on Twitter and want to follow the conversation, check out #sharetheword.

On the Net: www.kmart.com/sharetheword

I love Heidi Klum. I usually don’t care about celebs, but I like Heidi’s spirit. She seems to really value motherhood, her husband, as well as her life as a businesswomen. Love that!

Heidi is coming out with two new maternity collections that have people excited. They officially launch both in Motherhood Maternity and A Pea In the Pod stores nationwide as well as online on February 12, 2010.

Her two collections include the 15-piece Lavish and 14-piece Loved. They promise to deliver supermodel style at the Motherhood price point.

Above is the flyer I received this weekend announcing the collections. I’m really looking forward to seeing them when they hit the racks.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos to tide you over.

Heidi wearing Lavish’s black knit maxi dress. $128.
Available at www.apeainthepod.com beginning Feb 12.

Heidi wearing Loved’s oversized georgette top w/ signature hand-drawn print (39.98) and second skin dark wash jean with top stitching detail (34.98). Both are available at www.motherhood.com, beginning Feb 12.

SALE NEWS: Today only (1/11/10) Motherhood.com is having a 15% off sale on one item. Use coupon code MHsave15.

I have been wanting to read “The Help” for about three months. A couple of weeks ago when I was in the airport on my way to Chicago I almost plunked down $24.95 for a hardcover copy, but couldn’t bear to do it because I knew I could get it somewhere, anyway cheaper. Then it dawned on me that I can read it as an ebook and save a lot of money and that’s what I’m currently doing. I’m reading “The Help” on my iPod Touch and it only cost me $8.55 from Barnes & Noble.

I took a few photos today to show you the Barnes & Noble eReader app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Please forgive my images. I am a horrible photographer.

The Barnes & Noble eReader coming on.

Here is my list of books in my eReader. Barnes & Noble starts you off with a few free classic books. You can also download excerpts of books to determine if you want to buy them or not.

The Barnes & Noble eReader app allows you to choose several settings for your reading convenience. You can choose the font size, font, line spacing, margins, justifications and you can also change your theme. For example, I like to the daylight theme which is white background and black text. Some people like it reversed. You can also turn pages with a simple swipe across the screen or by tapping.

One of the things I love the most about this app is as you’re reading you can bring up options such as highlighting text, adding notes, using the dictionary, and even searching Google and Wikipedia. And you can also bookmark where you are in your book.

This is the first time I am really using the Barnes & Noble eReader app. I’ve heard people talk about it, but I wanted to give it a try myself. So far, I really like it. Surprisingly I don’t have trouble reading books on my iPod Touch, even though I thought I would. But despite the convenience of the mobile app, it looks like it won’t be long before I must have this:

To download the mobile app or download it to your PC or Mac visit www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks

For every The Princess and the Frog Magnetic Paper Doll Set you buy at Dolls Like Me, you will receive a free Princess Tiana lip gloss necklace. What little girl wouldn’t want that?

Plus, if you haven’t heard, Carol’s Daughter has their co-branded Magical Beauty Set with:

The beauty set is currently sold out, so be sure to watch that space for availability.

And just because Princess Tiana is all the rage right now, don’t forget about J. Blossom!  J. Blossom, the brainchild of Jamila White, is a beautifully scented brand of beauty products for girls of color. J. Blossom is currently in stock at DollsLikeMe.com.

On Christmas Eve I was complaining on Twitter because it wasn’t even Christmas  yet and Target was already putting out Valentine’s Day items. But if you stop to think about it, Valentine’s Day will be here before we know it!

Destination Maternity understand how fast time flies, from nine months for pregnant moms to seasonally for the rest of us.

This Valentine’s Day, Motherhood Maternity has you covered with 3/4 Sleeve Faux Wrap Maternity Dress in deep red ($29.98). Also check out the Sleeveless Babydoll Maternity Blouse ($68.00) the and Long Sleeve Button Front Maternity Shirt ($29.98)

Parents.com just released the top baby names in 2009. Aidan was the top boys’ name and Isabella was the top girl’s name. Click here to find the top baby names of 2009 for both boys and girls. And if you’re interested to see what singer Jennifer Hudson named her little boy, click here to find out.

I love Parents.com parenting trends for 2010. The first one I am completely in agreement with. Parents want to lose the pastel baby furniture and buy furniture that will grow with their child instead of having limited use.

STOKKE* has a wide range of very sophisticated nursery furniture in basic colors that also convert to furniture that your child can use as she gets older.

Ain’t Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Even though Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry is a children’s book I had a real problem putting it down. That is certainly not to say the content will fly over the head of children. Rather, the content is so stellar it will keeps kids and adults alike riveted to the pages as the author recounts his quest to find the real John Henry. Read more after the jump.

TECH

On Christmas Eve I decided to take my TwitterPeek with me when I went shopping to see how it worked. I received the TwitterPeek to review and I wanted to take it out into the field, so to speak.

The TwitterPeek is a device that allows you to mobile tweet only. You can’t check your email and you cannot surf the Net. The only function of the TwitterPeek is to use Twitter.

Although I had some initial problems with it because apparently you can’t use the same email as the one that’s synched to your Peek ( if you have one), the TwitterPeek proved to be a great device, especially for those who can’t tweet from their phone.

The TwitterPeek allows you to see tweets come in, respond to tweets, write your own tweets and see your @ mentions. Additionally you can see images that people upload into their Twitter stream and read links.

The TwitterPeek is exceptional for people like me who refuse to pay for an iPhone or any other smart phone. I have an iPod Touch and Wi-Fi is not always available. The TwitterPeek does not need Wi-Fi in order to connect to Twitter and just like the Peek (its email-only counterpart), its range is very good. I never experience a spot where I cannot connect unless I’m in an underground subway or at baggage claim in an airport where it is way underground.

One of the things I don’t like about the TwitterPeek is it takes forever for tweets to load. I called customer service and they told me tweets update every 4-5 minutes, which is an eternity for people like me who are used to stellar Twitter apps like Tweetie 2 and TweetDeck.  And I also noticed that I didn’t receive all of my @ replies which is the most important feature to me. If someone @s me, I want to @ them back immediately.

In all, because the price and the service plan is very reasonable ($99.95 for the device and six months of service; $199.95 for the device and lifetime service) I recommend getting  the TwitterPeek especially if you’re the type who enjoys tweeting on the go and you don’t have or want a smart phone to do it with.

On the Net: www.twitterpeek.com

(book review continued) Even though Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry is a children’s book I had a real problem putting it down. That is certainly not to say the content will fly over the head of children. Rather, the content is so stellar it will keeps kids and adults alike riveted to the pages as the author recounts his quest to find the real John Henry.

We’ve all heard of John Henry, most probably in a chapter sidebar in a US History textbook during our elementary years. Although John Henry is a mere footnote in history to most of us, John Henry was a person who deserved real recognition, not the hyperbolized remembrances of a made-up hero to Scott Nelson. If John Henry was indeed a true person as opposed to a fictional Americana character, Nelson was going to find out.

In Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, Nelson uses historic accounts to pinpoint who John Henry really was and he takes his readers along on the serendipitous journey.

One of Publishers Weekly 2008 Best Books of the Year, Ain’t Nothing But A Man is a must-read for children who love history and their parents who want to teach them the joy in discovering people in our nation’s past.

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