Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

If you are a parent I am sure you have heard of Melissa & Doug by now.  If not, you certainly need to check them out!  They have high quality, safe toys and my kids love all the ones we have.

With the holidays fast approaching Melissa & Doug has complied a "Terrific Twenty List".  Everyday starting on November 6th on the Melissa & Doug Facebook page they will be giving away a different item from their Terrific Twenty List so head over their to enter daily!

Not only can you win on the Melissa & Doug Facebook page but you can also win here!  One winner will win their choice of one of the toys from the Terrific Twenty List!

I See Me! Awesome August Sales and Newly Multi Award Winner!

I See Me! is excited to announce that the My Royal Birthday Adventure personalized children’s book has been selected as a Gold Award recipient in the 2012 Mom’s Choice Awards!

AND has been awarded 2012 BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD from Creative Child Magazine!

The Mom’s Choice Awards is an international awards program that recognizes organizations and individuals that create quality, family-friendly media, products, and services. The Gold award is the highest level of acknowledgment from Mom’s Choice Awards.

Creative Child Magazine's Awards Program is unique in that all products submitted are reviewed by moms, music educators and early education professionals. Only one product per category can win Book of the Year.

Right now I See Me! is having an awesome August sale and so the time to get one is right now –don't miss out on this great sale.

Save 15% on select My Very Own Pirate Tale items. Get the My Very Own Pirate Tale storybook, Storybook & Bandana Giftset, and/or the My Very Own Pirate Tale Placemat with coupon code "matey"!

They are also offering our Holidays in August sale. Get 15% off either our Christmas or Hannukah items using our shopearly coupon code - valid through August 31st:

Save 15% off with our Christmas in August sale! Get "My Very Merry Christmas" and "A Christmas Bear for Me" using coupon code "shopearly" today!

Finally, they are offering a special offer to help celebrate their 2012 Mom's Choice and Book of the Year awards they have won for several titles in their lineup! They have earned the GOLD Mom's Choice Awards for given to these titles:

My Royal Birthday Adventure
My Very Happy Birthday

Additionally they won Creative Child Magazine 2012 Book of the Year Awards for:

My Very Merry Christmas personalized board book
My Royal Birthday Adventure personalized book for boys or girls

And the Creative Child Magazine 2012 Preferred Choice Award for:

My Very Happy Birthday personalized board book for boys or girls
The Super, Incredible Big Brother/Big Sister personalized book

To celebrate their success, they are offering $5 off for all orders over $19.95 to
celebrate their multiple award winning books:

Save $5 off any order of $19.95 or more through September 5th with coupon code "Award5" today!

My Very Own Name Coloring Book is still on sale for just $9.99! This is a fantastic interarctive gift to compliment the My Very Own Name storybook, or as a stand alone additional gift. Take advantage of this brand new title offer with this special link available now:

Get My Very Own Name Coloring Book, on sale for just $9.99 at I See Me today

To compliment their My Very Own Name Coloring Book, they are offering a special 10% off coupon good for all orders over $40. Customers save 10% off their entire purchase with coupon code "myveryown" at checkout:

Customers save 10% on all oders over $40 with coupon code "myveryown" at checkout today!

Now is a great time to get that birthday gift for that special boy or girl in your life, or start your holiday shopping early!!

Guest Post: Not a Zombie Sunday

Hi.  I’m Jen and I am not a blogger.  I am an attachment and gentle parenting advocate.  Gentle, not permissive.  I believe in speaking to my children with respect, parenting without using fear as a tool, talking *to* my children and not *at* them, and admitting when I am wrong and apologizing. I believe in modeling the behavior I ask of my children. And I do this with a humble heart and an open mind secure in the knowledge that I do not have all of the answers and I am definitely going to screw up.  I am not a blogger because I enjoy the rewards from conversation. I am always learning, always growing and my life is enriched by the people I talk to.  Especially the parents at the place I call home on Facebook, Attached Parents at Work. 
 
In January of 2012 I returned to work outside of the home after having our second son.  If you have ever had to put your children in the care of someone else while you worked, you know what that day was like for me.  My husband and I have always followed attachment parenting, or at least our version of it, so putting the most precious people in my life in someone else’s care was especially difficult for me.  I have to work to help support my family, which often made me feel a little bit like an outsider in the AP community.  I was lonely and desperate to meet other people in my shoes so Attached Parents at Work was born.
 
If it takes a village to raise a child, Attached Parents at Work is my village.  Every single person there offers a unique perspective and an opportunity for me to see the world through their eyes.  It’s my happy place where questions are asked, ideas are shared and conversation happens.  One of our latest ideas is one I am extremely passionate about and feel extends beyond the attachment parenting community and into the home of every family in the 21st century.

Jen and her beautiful family.

 
One morning my 4 year old tried to ask me a question, but I made him wait until I finished typing on my phone to answer him. That got me thinking... How would that make me feel if my mom (or dad) put her phone before me? What did I look like constantly staring into it? He is my #1 priority, but do my habits convey that?  No.  Not as long as that phone is in my hand. I imagine I look like a zombie to him. So the Not a Zombie Sunday challenge was born.  Between the devices we use at home and devices we use to stay connected to our jobs, our children have to compete with technology for our attention.  TVs, radios, mp3 players, gaming systems, DVRs, smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, streaming media, social networking… They do not know a world without these things.  Now think back to when you were growing up.  The most I had to worry about was tearing my mom away from Days of Our Lives between 1:00-2:00pm on weekdays.  I cannot imagine having to compete with her literally having access to the entire world at her fingertips.  Children learn by example.  Do as I say, not as I do doesn’t fly with them.  They are going to become what they see.  What does your child see?  I asked myself that question and the answer broke my heart.
 
I don’t like to complain about something and then not do anything about it.  So what do we do?  We’re creatures of habit and these exciting windows to the world are arguably more addicting than nicotine for some. Baby steps… The Not a Zombie Sunday event challenges us to turn all of our devices off one Sunday a month.  If you can’t do it on that Sunday, pick a different day.  The point is to shut off anything that connects you to the outside world and only communicate with people right in front of you, namely your child(ren).  Take a hike together, cook something new and make a gigantic mess in the kitchen, go to the zoo, have a water balloon fight, build a fort (my personal favorite), anything!  But do it together and take note of how often you feel compelled to reach for the phone to check your texts or look for the iPad to check Facebook.  What habits do you need to work on?  How can you look less like a zombie and more like a role model for your little people?

 
It begins with the first Sunday of each month and hopefully becomes the new norm.  There’s no reason to be constantly checking in.  You will survive without knowing what Geoff told Facebook he is making for dinner tonight, I promise.  We started this in July 2012 and I will admit it was a challenge for me at first.  This Sunday, August 5th, is the next Not a Zombie Sunday event and I am sincerely looking forward to it.  I hope you’ll join our village in this challenge.
 
Thank you so much to Melissa for helping me get the word out!



A note from Melissa:  


This is our first guest post!  Jen has become a friend of mine through this blog.  We have a lot of the same values and I really am right there with her on this topic.  I am terribly guilty of using the internet, texting, and playing games when I should be playing with my children instead.  I am joining in on Not a Zombie Sunday for the first time and I am looking forward to it.  I urge you all to give it a try and share the event with your friends (heck if nobody is online you won't miss much anyway, right?!?)  You can find the event on Facebook.