Make it Monday: Pasta with Sausage & Peppers

Sorry, I don't have a clever name for this recipe and I apologize for the blurry picture. I will say that this is by far my husband's favorite dish that I make.

If possible, use as many organic ingredients as you can. I know it can be tough financially, so if you want to pick just one ingredient to be organic, do organic peppers. Bell peppers are #3 on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list for produce that retain/contain the highest amounts of pesticides.


Main Dish Ingredients:
1 lb of your favorite pasta
1 lb sweet Italian sausage links, casing removed and cut into bite sized pieces
3 to 4 red bell peppers sliced into thin 1-2 inch strips
1 medium yellow onion sliced
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can olives, drained and halved
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook sausage over medium heat until browned/cooked through. Set aside.
2. Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in large pan over medium-low heat. When heated, toss in onions and cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add in peppers, tomatoes and olives. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste (optional) and simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to low, partly cover pan and let lightly simmer for 35 minutes. Stirring Occasionally.
5. Add sausage to mixture about half way through cook time.
6. Meanwhile, bring pot of water to boil and cook pasta as per package instructions. I like to put in a splash of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking. Plus a dash of salt.
7. Drain pasta and return to pot. Pour sausage and peppers mixture over pasta and mix well.
8. Serve with grated cheese and garlic bread.


Garlic Bread Ingredients:
Loaf of Italian Bread (or your favorite bread), cut in half lengthwise
Stick of butter, softened
Frontier Organic Garlic Bread Seasoning (or similar)

Instructions:
1. Slather a good amount of butter over the cut side of both halves a bread. I mean A LOT.
2. Sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning.
3. Place in toaster or oven, preheated to 325, until crispy and golden.

For more "Make It Monday" fun, please visit
All Things Mama and Prissy Green!

Win 500 Business Cards from DigitalRoom.com

I think it is important for pretty much anyone to have a good business card. From the professional in the business world who needs them for networking or a mom who gives them out to other moms to set up play dates. Of course let us not forget bloggers - stand out Die Cut Business Cards are a MUST if you are attending blogging conferences. And wouldn't it be great to have a stash on hand when meeting new people and telling them about your blog? While I personally have not been to any conferences, yet (BlogHer 10 anyone?) I really need some to hand out in general. I'm actually bummed I haven't gotten on this yet because I am going to a Green Parenting seminar at our library next week and that would be the perfect opportunity to plug my blog and hand out cards. Or I could even drop some off at the local natural food store. So I plan on ordering a set from DigitalRoom.com within the next week or so.

I have mentioned before that DigitalRoom.com offers some eco-friendly options. This is important to me and one of the reasons i willuse them over other companies.

~ low-VOC soy and vegetable based inks
~ non-toxic water -based AQ coating options
~ some recycled card stocks
~ they recycle all paper scraps and properly dispose of inks

***Giveaway Closed***

Win!
2 Green Mama's Pad readers will receive a coupon code for 500 Business Cards from DigitalRoom.com. Specifications:
~ 500 Business Cards
~ Choose from 3 Business Card Sizes: 2x3.5”, 2x3”, 2x2";
~ Choose paper: 14pt cardstock (matte or gloss coating) or 13 pt cardstock uncoated
~ Choose Color: (4/4) Color both sides; (4/1) Color 1 side, B/W backside; (4/0) Color 1 side, black backside
~ Shipping Must be Paid by Winner. Offer Valid for UNITED STATES SHIPPING ONLY.

Mandatory Entry
Leave me a comment telling me what you would use these for if you won. You must also leave me a valid email address as the coupon code will be emailed to you.

Extra Entries
- Follow me on Blogger or subscribe to my RSS feed
- Subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post. Please leave link in comment.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow GreenMamasPad and UPrinting on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment.
- Fave me on Technorati and comment with your ID.
- Stumble this post and comment with your ID.
- Become a fan of Green Mama's Pad on Facebook.
- Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post and let me know which one.

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Wednesday, September 9th at 11:59pm EST. Two winners will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Breastfeeding Awareness Month: My Breastfeeding Stories

August is Breastfeeding Awareness month and I have been meaning to write up my story literally all month. But what can I say, I can be a procrastinator at times. So here it is nearly the end of August and I am finally getting to it.

I would like to start by saying that while I am very much pro-breastfeeding, I firmly believe it is a personal choice and no one should be judged for the choice that they make. If you want to breastfeed than yay for you! If you would rather use formula, yay for you too! You have to do what works best for you and your family and only you know what that is.

OK, lets get to it. Here are my stories, I will try to not ramble too much. (No promises though). Disclaimer: there will be mention of breasts and nipples so stop reading now if you can't handle it.

First Born
When I was pregnant with my first 5 years ago, I started off with absolutely no desire to breastfeed. None at all. I didn't think it was for me and didn't even plan on trying. I'm not sure what happened in those 9 months to change my mind, maybe it was reading about so many success stories of other moms. But by the time the end of my pregnancy had come along, I was determined to give it a try and set myself a small goal of 3 months.

He was born just after midnight (12:01am) and took to nursing right away. I ended up being at the hospital for 4 days because of the time of the birth (and I wasn't turning down an extra day of help). On day 3 my milk had come in but we started having some latching issues due to flat nipples. Fortunately, the lactation consultant at the hospital was AWESOME. I loved her - she was a doll, extremely helpful and not at all pushy. I think a lot of lactation consultant get a bad rep because of the few crazy ones out there. So she worked with me on multiple holds and when we still couldn't get a good latch, she hooked me up with some nipple shields. With the help of them, we were getting back on track. I was able to stop using them a week later.

When we left the hospital she told me to invest in a good electric pump. Since I had a ton of milk, she wanted me to pump in between feedings to start building up my freezer stash. So after my hubby dropped us off at home, he ran out and got me the Medela Pump In Style Advanced. Excellent pump. I will say though, this is the one piece of bad advice I was given. I actually had an oversupply of milk to begin with so the pumping in between nursing caused me to get severely engorged. I seriously looked deformed and was in agonizing pain. It took a few days for the "buoys" to go back down to a somewhat normal size and from that point we did really good. I went back to work full time at 8 weeks and was able to pump enough while there to send to daycare.

I reached my goal of 3 months with no more issues and I was so proud of us. It was going great. Until we hit a major roadblock. W started getting eczema all over his body and we really weren't sure why. Then things got scary when I started seeing blood in his stool. Our pediatrician told me that this was all the signs of a cow's milk protein intolerance. So I could cut out all dairy from my diet or put him on special formula (expensive). I chose to keep nursing. At first it was hard, you don't realize how much stuff has milk in it until your start reading labels. After about a month of no dairy, we were still seeing blood. Back to the pediatrician we went and I was told that he most likely also had a soy intolerance. Soy is even more food than milk, but I still chose to cut it out.

FYI - a milk or soy intolerance is not the same as an allergy. Basically the proteins aren't broken down and they irritate the inside of the intestines causing them to bleed. They eventually outgrow it.

At this point we were also referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist. This man was a jerk and told me there really wasn't much benefit to breastfeeding beyond 3 months anyway. I wanted to smack him - what doctor says this? I left their conflicted and feeling worse about what I was doing. In the following weeks my supply started to drop, probably due to a combination of dietary changes, stress and pumping. I had to supplement with Nutramigen formula (the most disgusting smelling stuff ever). I was doubting myself and was in tears at night wondering if I should just stop. Then I went to see a different gastroenterologist. Its amazing what just a few simple words can do. She assured me that he was doing great, had a chunky little dude, and that I was doing the right thing and was a great mom. She sent me on my way with a bunch of samples and confidence in myself that I had chosen the right path for us. I felt a million times better.

I continued to to breastfeed him till he was 12 months old. By the time we had gotten to that 1 year mark, I was probably doing about 50/50 of breast milk to formula. He nursed great but my pumping sessions were producing less and less. Then one week before his first birthday he came down with rota-virus and with no appetite he pretty much self weaned. I was bummed but was so happy we made it 1 year, even with all the obstacles.

The Twins
When W was 18 months old I became pregnant with our next child. Or so we thought. We were lucky to find out pretty early on at about 6 weeks that I was carrying fraternal twins. We were totally shocked. I knew that I wanted to attempt to breastfeed them and I had lots of time to educate myself and prepare. People thought I was nuts. Why would I want to nurse 2 babies? How was that even possible? For me, not only did I love breastfeeding my first son, but I hate making bottles and breastfeeding is FREE! My sister-in-law went and bought me the best twins nursing pillow from Double Blessings that was just awesome. No way I could have done it without this.

So when my twins were born I had my nifty pillow at the hospital ready to go. I requested the same lactation consultant and she was once again awesome. Even impressed by me nursing the twins. It went really well right from the start. I again had to use nipple shields for a week, but I had anticipated that and bought a few ahead of time. Knowing that the milk/soy issue is hereditary, I decided to cut milk out from the get go. L never showed any signs of an intolerance, but at about 2 weeks J did with blood in his stool. It was obvious that his intolerance was more severe than W's was. My wonderful gastroenterologist even told me that Nutramigen wouldn't do it this time, we would need an even more special formula, not even sold in stores. Yeah, I don't think so. So I moved ahead and cut out the soy too. It took several weeks for the blood to stop, but it did. At about 2 months old we realized that he also had reflux and so he was put on Zantac. What a difference that made!

From that point on it was smooth sailing. I continued with my milk and soy free diet (which makes you nice and thin by the way) and was able to exclusively breastfeed my twins. Due to my own laziness I rarely pumped which would come back to bite me in the rear because other than their first few weeks, they never took a bottle. Never. They refused. I had planned on stopping when they were 18 months old because that was when we wanted to start trying for #4 (yeah, we're nuts). Well that didn't happen. We did start trying again, but I kept nursing. Have I mentioned that I can be a procrastinator? ;) After 3 unsuccessful months of trying, I wondered if the breastfeeding was having an affect on my cycle and ovulation. They were only nursing 2 to 3 times a day at that point but maybe it was related. So at 21 months we stopped, just like that. They were fine, and we really didn't have any issues or crying. The next month I was pregnant.

I must apologize as that was crazy long, but I wanted to include everything. With baby 4 on the way, I am already setting my goals and thinking of things to do differently. I will cut both dairy and soy out from the beginning and hopefully avoid any issues. I will make a point to pump at least once a day and get new baby familiar with a bottle so I can leave every now and then. While I have absolutely NO PLANS of having any more children, I still plan to wean somewhere between 18 and 24 months but we shall see how it all plays out

Wordless Wednesday

My beautiful ripe grape tomatoes. pretty tasty for my first time growing anything!

How to Wean Your Toddler From a Pacifier

Let me start off by saying that I am NOT an expert. I just thought I would share what has worked for us on 2 children. My oldest son, W, is now 4.5. When he was 2, he was using a pacifier for sleeping - both nap and nighttime. I wanted to get rid of it before the twins were born, just a few months later. A few moms had told me that cutting the very tip off and then cutting a little more off every day would do the trick. I had no idea if it would really work, I just knew it wasn't going to be fun.

So on day 1, I cut the tip off, a very small amount, and brought W to bed for nap time. He went to put the pacifier in his mouth, then pulled it out said "mommy its broken" and threw it on the floor. He napped just fine with no complaints. I thought to myself "well that was way too easy." The calm before the storm as they say. That night, was HARD. I still had the pacifier with him, but he wouldn't use it since it was "broken." He went to sleep without it, but had a difficult time staying asleep without it. He woke up a lot and it was had to calm him down. Once we got through that first night though, we were set. I have to say I can't remember if the next night was hard or not, but I'm thinking no since I have no memory of it. Either that or I blocked it from my memory.

Now lets fast forward to right now. L and J are 27 months old and J uses the pacifier for sleeping. I've been procrastinating doing this because I knew it would be harder this time around. The twins both have speech delays and are in speech therapy. J really has no words. So with the communication barrier there, I expected this to be just awful. Night one was last night. I did the same thing and cut the very tip off the pacifier. I put it in the crib with him and he took one look at it and started whining. He handed it to me and started saying "Bu Bu Bu" - his way of saying its broken. J didn't want it anywhere near his crib so i put it on the nightstand next to it. He then pointed towards the door as if to say "go get me another one." I told him there were no more and that he needed to lay down. he shook his head no.

This is where the super hard part comes in. If you are against CIO (crying it out), then stop reading right now. I kissed J and walked out of the room. The whine eventually turned into a cry and then to a scream. I kept myself busy. First I read a book to W and put him to bed. Then I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. All the while listening to the screams over the monitor. I'll admit I went in there once, just to make sure he was OK and not hurting himself. After about 35 minutes of total crying, it just stopped. Not another peep. after it was quiet for a little while, I went back in and sure enough he was sleeping. He woke up once at about midnight. I made a mistake here by attempting to rock him back to sleep, I just wanted to comfort him. But when i went to lay him back down he was upset again and crying. I left the room and he cried for about 10 minutes and went back to sleep. never woke up again until morning.

As hard as it was, it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. As I type this I am in the midst of night two with no pacifier. Considering how last night went, I figured tonight would be the rough one. Much to my surprise, he went right to sleep without it. No crying, no complaints. Just sleep. I anticipate he will probably wake up at some point and cry, but at least we got over the hump of the initial falling asleep.

Ironically, he literally just started crying right now at 11:30pm. I shall end now to check on him. So that is my experience with pacifier weaning. take what you can from it and hopefully it can help you someday.

Going Green: Start Shopping at Costco!

You may be wondering why I think shopping at Costco is a good Going Green Tip. For starters, shopping at any warehouse club is good because you can buy in bulk. In most cases this means less waste. Instead of buying a small bottle of laundry detergent at the grocery store, here you can buy a jumbo bottle and then you don't need to buy it as often. Buying less bottles = less plastic use = less petroleum use...all good things!! I also love Costco because they have so many eco-friendly options now and keep adding more. So let me get to the story that led me to this post.

These days, its not too often that I actually make it to Costco myself. Dragging 3 boys through the store is not my idea of a fun day. So I usually send my hubby there with a list of things to pick up. Well the other day, I finally got to go. After we dropped W off at preschool, we headed to Costco with L and J. The heat is killing me so I figured we could spend a little time in the air conditioned store while getting things we need.

I mentioned how they have lots of eco-friendly options now and every time I get there they have even more! I've been buying a lot of their organic stuff to begin with like the Kirkland Organic Peanut Butter (so yummy) or Kirkland Organic Animal Crackers. However, this trip I was in the market for some new items. The first new thing I grabbed was the Environmentally Friendly Dish Soap. Not for the dishwasher but for hand washing dishes. I know this has been available for a little while, but I was still finishing up my Earth Friendly dish soap. What is so great about this is the bottle is HUGE; I honestly think it will last me a year. Just to compare, in this picture the small bottle of soap I have been using is 25 ounces for about $2. The big Kirkland bottle is 135 ounces - that is more than 5 times the size and cost me about $8. .So it saves money too!

The next item I had no plans on purchasing because I didn't even know they had it. W used to love milk as a toddler, but in the past year or so not so much. I've been buying organic milk and organic chocolate syrup to mix in for a morning cup of milk, but he still doesn't drink all that much. For L I have to mix in some Stonyfield drinkable yogurt to get him to drink some milk and J just doesn't drink milk at all. Period. So while we were wondering around the juice aisle, I saw these Kirkland Organic Chocolate Milk juice box type things. This made me really excited because the boys love juice boxes, no matter what kind of juice is in them. So I'm thinking this may be a good way to get them to drink their milk. While I am not thrilled about the extra garbage, I figure its just an experiment. At least I can send milk to school with W now and just maybe J will take more than one sip. Which in the past was followed by a dirty look and tossing of the sippy cup. After our first test run, W loves them. The twins - not so much. I am not giving up though.

What other cool "green" stuff does Kirkland have? Off the top of my head I have seen organic soups, organic breads, organic milk, environmentally friendly laundry detergent and so on. Oh and I've seen Giovanni hair care and body care products there as well. While I was checking out their website a few moments ago, I discovered that they sell packs of Bumkins cloth diapers! I had no idea - so very cool.

What organic/natural/eco-friendly products do you love from Costco? I want to explore some more!

Side note: I only discussed Costco Wholesale Club because its the only one near here and so the only one we go to. Others like BJs and Sam's Club may have great eco-friendly options as well. If you know of any, please share them!

I'm On The Hunt for Cloth Diapers

I have never ever used a cloth diaper in my life. To be honest, they really intimidate me. But I am determined to give them a try with baby #4. I have no idea what kinds to try nor do I have any clue how the heck I will afford any. So what does someone on a small budget do? Enter lots of Cloth Diaper Giveaways! Here are a few that I found that I thought I would share. I'll add more as I find them.

Erin over at The Mom Buzz has 2 diaper giveaways going on right now. One is for Itty Bitty Baby Bunz (8/20) and the other is for an Urban Fluff AIO (8/21).

The Eco Chic has a giveaway for a GADBaby diaper (8/21).
Organic Girl is giving away a choice of diaper from Cuddle Bunz! (8/27)

Wordless Wednesday: Think Cool Thoughts

We're in the midst of a heat wave here in New England and to be honest, I can't take it. Hot, humid and pregnant just do not go well together. So I dug out a winter photo of our front yard to try and keep my mind off the heat and thinking about cool weather.

Win 250 Custom Greeting Cards from DigitalRoom.com

The summer is winding down and kids will be back in school soon, if not already. It is not even September yet but I am already thinking ahead to holiday greeting cards and dreading it. Once November rolls around it seems that almost everyone heads to the mall portrait studios with their kids in holiday attire to try and get a few good shots. Last year was absolute torture for us. TORTURE. I won't name names, but we were taken an hour late so by the time we got in, my boys were already beyond done. I vowed to NEVER do it again.

This year, I plan on taking some cute holiday pictures myself (or maybe have my sister-in-law take some) and then just ordering some custom greeting cards online. DigitalRoom.com is an online printing store (part of the Uprinting Network) that not only offers printing services at affordable prices, but they also have some eco-friendly components:

~ low-VOC soy and vegetable based inks
~ non-toxic water -based AQ coating options
~ some recycled card stocks
~ they recycle all paper scraps and properly dispose of inks

Not only will I be saving my sanity, I'll be using a product that is better for the environment. Oh, but I am not stopping there. Baby boy #4 is due in mid-December and so what will I need then? Birth announcements. Now I did the birth announcements for my twins myself and they were pretty darn good. So I think the Custom Postcards from DigitalRoom.com will be perfect for this project.

***Giveaway Closed***

Win!
2 Green Mama's Pad readers will win 250 Custom Greeting Cards from DigitalRoom.com. Specifications:
~ 250 7 x 5" Greeting Cards (Half-Fold)
~ 10 pt Cover with matte or gloss Coating
~ Full Color Outside and Blank Inside (4/0)
~ Envelopes not included
~ Shipping Must be Paid by Winner. Offer Valid for UNITED STATES SHIPPING ONLY.

Mandatory Entry
Leave me a comment telling me what you would use your greeting cards for.

Extra Entries
- Follow me on Blogger or subscribe to my RSS feed
- Subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post. Please leave link in comment.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow GreenMamasPad and UPrinting on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment.
- Fave me on Technorati and comment with your ID.
- Stumble this post and comment with your ID.
- Become a fan of Green Mama's Pad on Facebook.
- Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post and let me know which one.

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Tuesday, September 1st at 11:59pm EST. Two winners will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Telling a Preschooler About a New Baby

For some reason I have been procrastinating explaining to W that he will have yet another baby brother in a few month.The last time I was pregnant it seemed much easier. He was 18 months when I became pregnant with the twins. At some point I just told him and that was it, he didn't seem to really care or perhaps understand. Since he is 4.5 now, I knew it was going to be more involved and he would ask questions. So I finally sucked it up and had the conversation with him over the weekend.

Me: William, do you see mommy's big belly?
W: Yeah (proceeds to push on it)
Me: Do you know why it is getting bigger?
W: Because of the sun?
Me: {giggle} No, because there is a baby growing inside of mommy's belly!
W: Wow, is it going to hatch?

I actually don't remember exactly what I said to that. Something along the lines of "No, it doesn't come out that way." But I wasn't going into how the baby gets out.

Me: Do you want a girl baby or boy baby?
W: GIRL!!!!!
M: Well, its going to be another boy like you, L and J.
W: Ohhhhh greeeeaaaaat!

It was classic, probably one of our best conversations ever. Surely one I will remember always.

How did you tell your child about a new baby?

GreenSmart Neogreene Review & Giveaway

In April I featured a giveaway from GreenSmart for a laptop jacket. What is so great about them is that all of their bags are made from recycled plastic PET bottles. I just love that they turn trash into cool products! Well now they have come out with an eco-friendly version of neoprene called Neogreene!

Hold on a minute. What is the problem with traditional neoprene you ask?

"Few people are aware that neoprene (polychloroprene) is a synthetic rubber, which uses 1930s technology to form a material that is almost impervious to other chemicals. Neoprene requires multiple manufacturing steps, including ulcanization, which makes neoprene wonderful for industrial applications like gaskets where strength and durability are critical. For consumer product application, gluing fabrics to the neoprene requires aggressive solvent adhesives which can form a bond with the neoprene. These adhesives can contain a wide variety of potentially harmful chemicals depending on the supplier; from toluene to formaldehyde, which can be easily noticed by the distinctive “chemical smell” of neoprene, the VOCs."

Neogreene looks and feels like traditional neoprene (stretchy and cushioned) but with none of the toxins. It also uses 25% less petroleum and 25% less energy to manufacture. There is so much more to being a green product than simply materials used - so I love that production of Neogreene is more efficient. At the moment, GreenSmart has laptop sleeves and bottle totes available in Neogreene and should be branching out to include even more products in 2010. They were generous enough to not only send me both a laptop sleeve and bottle tote to test out, but even a stainless steel water bottle.

First I was sent a 160z Innate stainless steel water bottle along with the short Neogreene bottle tote. I have to say that this water bottle is my favorite of any others I have tried, and I have a few. My favorite thing about it is the little pop-up top. I've used others with pop-ups that it was a struggle to get the water out of. Not the case here, the water flows effortlessly. My biggest gripe with stainless steel bottles is that since they aren't insulated, the water warms rather quickly and then you are also left with condensation all over the outside. I brought my bottle and tote with me to pick up W at preschool on a hot day. After about 1.5 hours the ice was all melted but the water was still nice and cold. I would say it kept it at a nice cool drinking temperature for a good 2 hours or so. Without the tote, I'd be lucky to get 30 minutes (in my past experiences). And while the bottle did still sweat and had condensation, the tote served as a barrier so there wasn't a puddle of water in my car. Oh and it will also help keep warm beverages warm - it is just too hot for that here right now though. I also love the carabineer clip because you can hook it on just about anything - like a stroller!




I was also sent a Neogreene laptop sleeve, that fits 13.3in. to 15.4in, to test out. I was so excited about this as I previously had nothing to protect my best friend laptop. This sleeve is super soft and squishy (I love the squishiness) and is waterproof. Such a plus in a house with 3 kids. The walls are 4mm thick for protection and the cool green mesh interior also serves as an insulator to help cool down your laptop. It is available in a variety of sizes so it is important that you measure your laptop!


Overall i am so very happy with my Neogreene products. I actually want to get myself the larger Innate bottle with the larger bottle tote because I chug water like crazy and W has been eyeballing my small one. Little stinker. I look forward to seeing what other Neogreene products are offered in the future.

Shop
You can order all Neogreen products from the GreenSmartDirect.com online store. They may also be purchased at various online retailers. Currently, GreenHome is having a sale of 20% Neogreene laptop sleeves - this week only.

***Giveaway Closed***

Win
GreenSmart will send one lucky winner the small Innate water bottle along with the short Neogreene bottle sleeve!

Mandatory Entry
Visit GreenSmart and tell me something that you learned about the company and what other products of theirs you like. You must complete this entry before you can submit additional ones.

Extra Entries
- Follow me on Blogger or subscribe to my RSS feed
- Subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Blog about this giveaway with a link to Green Mama's Pad and GreenSmart. Please leave link in comment.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow GreenMamasPad and GreenSmart on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment. You may use this text if you like: Win a Neogreene bottle tote and Innate water bottle! http://bit.ly/13M2bA @greenmamaspad @begreensmart
- Fave me on Technorati and comment with your ID.
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- Become a fan of both Green Mama's Pad and GreenSmart on Facebook.
- Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post and let me know which one.

This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Thursday, August 27th at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

This review is based solely on my opinion and experience with these products. You may have a different experience than myself.

My Celebrity Twin?

Continuing on with the MomDot Blogger Bingo contest, the task for ball #9 (L20) is "Everyone has a “twin” out there, we want to know who your twin is. Do people say you look like a celebrity? Fictional character? Your father? Do a post and side by side compare you and your twin."

I personally don't know that I really look like any one person. Sure I look like a combo of my parents. However, there once was a time where I was given a HUGE compliment and told I look like a celebrity. I am a member of an online community of moms called The Mamasphere and have been a member there for over 4 years. Back in 2005 when I shared a picture of myself from my brother's wedding, a few ladies told me that I looked like Mariska Hargitay. You know, from Law & Order SVU. I think she is absolutely beautiful and in no way do I think I look like her, but hey I will gladly take that compliment any day!

So here is the picture of myself that sparked the comments along with a picture of Ms. Hargitay. What do you think?

Side note: I was so darn thin here, what the heck happened? Can't wait to breastfeed again! ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Little Baby Boy

Here is the ultrasound of baby boy #4 (still nameless) from last Friday.

What is Your Dream Vacation?

Over on MomDot this week, Trisha is running a fun Blogger Bingo contest. Basically she puts up a ball with a topic to post about and if you do, you earn that ball. LOL, did I even make sense? Anyway, ball #5 (B14) is up and the topic is "What is your dream vacation?" So here it goes.

My dream vacation would have to be to Hawaii. I know, I know...typical right? I was so fortunate enough to go to Italy for 10 days after I graduated high school (thanks grandma & grandpa!). Definitely the most amazing trip I have ever been on - everything was beautiful. And there is no such thing as bad food in Italy. Really. Sure, someday I would love to go back there with hubby, but for my dream vacation I would like it to be someplace neither of us has ever been.

Is there any place more beautiful than Hawaii? Just look at this picture - its breathtaking. My hubby always says that when the day comes that we can afford to go, he wants to "do it right" and stay at The Hyatt. Now I would probably be just as happy in a shack on the beach, but hell yeah I'll take The Hyatt too! I'd love to lay on the beach and take in all the beauty and hubby, being the active one, I'm sure would like to hike and see volcanoes, etc. So there will be something for us both. Oh and this would have to be a kid free trip. Of course I love my boys, but a vacation with 4 kids is a whole lot of work . I mean I can barely survive the Jersey Shore with my little monsters darlings. And I would want to relax for a change.

Not to mention if we visit Maui I can meet Sarah from The Ohana Mama! We've been online friends for about 4 years and it would be great to finally see her and her beautiful kiddos. Though I'm hoping she will come to BlogHer in NY next year (hint hint).

So that's my dream vacation. What's yours?

Why 4 Boys is Better

In the spirit of cheering myself up and working past the "no girl blues", I've decided to make myself a list of why its going to be great to have 4 boys and not a girl. Feel free to add yours in a comment!

1. We don't have to buy a single thing. We have enough boy clothes and toys for a small army of kids.
2. The only one PMSing in this house will be me, I will never have to deal with bitchy teenage girl PMS hormones.
3. I will never have to go shopping for a prom dress. I'm sure my mother will confirm that I tortured her with that.
4. I won't ever have to lift heavy boxes, bring out the garbage or mow the lawn.
5. Four boys means a higher chance of having a professional athlete in the family. Who can then buy his wonderful mama a huge house with a pool and a maid.
6. No expensive weddings to pay for.
7. I'm told that boys take good care of their mamas. We shall see.

There are some great submissions down below in the comments, so make sure you check all those out too!

The results are in! Baby #4 is...

My apologies for not coming back and posting right away with the ultrasound results. I wanted to make sure we told family and friends first in person or on the phone before it went up on the web. So when we got to the ultrasound on Friday, I asked the technician to let me know before she went down in that region so I could look away. I wanted it to be a complete surprise for me and I knew I would be able to spot a boy quickly if that's what it was. First she checked the heart beat and we looked at the baby's face. The technician then said she was going to go look at the legs and to look away just in case. So I closed my eyes...

Technician: OK, I know what it is. Are you ready?
Me: Yes
Technician: It's a little boy.

I'm sure I looked something like this. Although my hands went up over my face so there is no way to tell for sure. But yes, I was completely shocked. I had myself convinced that this was going to be a girl. The important thing is that baby boy looks great and is healthy. But knowing that this is our last child and I will not have a girl makes it a little hard. I'll be honest, I cried. A lot. As it sinks in a little more, I'm getting better.

So that's the deal. I will have 4 crazy boys running around the house. Say a prayer for me. :)

Dick's Sporting Goods $100 Gift Card Giveaway!

***Giveaway Closed***
I rarely have time to enter contests myself these days but when I saw that Dick's Sporting Goods was giving away $100 gift cards on Twitter, I entered right away! I have 3 boys, after all! Much to my surprise I won! So I will be getting some winter stuff, like a sled and probably some hockey equipment for W.

Well this story just keeps getting better. Dick's then asked me if I would also like to giveaway a gift card for my readers here on Green Mama's Pad. Sweet! Even us greenies need sports gear, right? So one lucky reader will win a $100 gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods. Good luck!

Mandatory Entry
Follow @dickssportcmo on Twitter AND leave a comment here telling me "What would you buy at Dick's with $100 and why?"
You must complete this entry before you can submit additional ones. This counts as one entry.

Extra Entries
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- Follow GreenMamasPad on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Copy and paste this: Win a $100 Gift Card to Dick's Sporting Goods @greenmamaspad ! http://tinyurl.com/mhuv3m Leave link to tweet in comment.
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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Friday, August 21st at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

Tomorrow is the big day!

Tomorrow at 2:00pm I have my "BIG" ultrasound! I am 21 weeks so they will do all the measurements and such and try to determine the sex. I am so flippin excited and a little nervous as well. Of course all we hope for is a healthy baby, but as I have 3 boys already I would just love love LOVE a little girl this time around. Of course if it is a little girl, I will have nothing for her. No clothes or anything. We'll just have to wait and see, you'll be hearing from me tomorrow night!

What do YOU think I am having? Leave a comment and let me know!

Reisenthel Mini Maxi Shopper Review and Giveaway

One of the easiest steps you can take to be more green is to ditch those plastic and paper bags at the store and start bringing your own! I have about 10 reusable shopping bags, most of which are just the $1.00 store ones (Stop & Shop). They aren't pretty, but they work. I have to admit, I've always wanted a stylish one though.

The Reisenthel Mini Maxi Shopper L is not only cute and fashionable but its is convenient too. I received one to test out in Eden Green (shown left). It comes with a 5.5 in. x 3.5 in. pouch that the bag easily folds into. And no fancy folding technique is required. The bag itself can hold up to 26 pounds, has long straps and comes in more than 20 colors/patterns.

So I headed out to the grocery store for a test run of my Mini Maxi. For starters, I was excited just to have a cute bag! Now with 4 males to feed and 1 pregnant mama, our grocery cart gets pretty full. Hubby packed the bags for me and easily fit 4 boxes of cereal in this bag, with room to spare. (The cereal was on sale by the way!)

I'm sorry, this isn't the greatest picture, but I think you get the idea. I definitely could have fit more in the bag if *I* was doing the packing. And once the bag was unpacked, I quickly folded it up, put it back in the pouch and tossed it into my purse. It takes up so little space, I love it!

Shop
The suggested retail price of the Mini Maxi Shopper L is $9.00 and it can be found at online retailers such as Sur La Table and Garnet Hill.

***Giveaway Closed***

Win
Reisenthel has generously sent me one Mini Maxi Shopper L in Eden Green (pictured above) to giveaway to one lucky reader.

Mandatory Entry
Visit Reisenthel.com and tell me which of their other products you like. (They have some very cool stuff!) You must complete this entry before you can submit additional ones.

Extra Entries
- Follow me on Blogger or subscribe to my RSS feed
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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Thursday, August 20th at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

This review is based solely on my opinion and experience with this product. You may have a different experience than myself.

Wordless Wednesday: First Hockey Game

I am flashing back to 2005 this week. I was going to post a picture of myself and hubby from vacation, but I look too huge. So anyway, this was William's first ever NHL game almost 4 years ago (Go Devils!)

Stonyfield YoBaby Meals Giveaway

We are a HUGE Stonyfield Yogurt household - it is the only yogurt that my boys have ever had. My 2 year old twins love their YoBaby Yogurt (I usually get the ones with cereal mixed in. My 4 year old has moved onto YoKids, which he loves. You can always find one in his lunchbox.

In July, Stonyfield launched there new YoBaby Yogurt: YoBaby Meals. So what are YoBaby Meals? They are a 3-in-1 combination of yogurt + fruit + veggie purée for babies and toddlers. Each cup provides more than a 1/3rd of your toddler’s daily protein & calcium needs, plus other essential nutrients like Zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin D. YoBaby Meals comes in 3 varieties: Pear & Green Bean, Peach & Squash and Apple & Sweet Potato. At the moment they can be found in only Natural Food stores.

Stonyfield was generous enough to send me some coupons for YoBaby Meals so I could try them out. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages to living in The Middle of Nowhere, New England is that there is only one small natural food store near me. Just my luck, they did not have them. So my search is still on to find YoBaby Meals. When I do, I will definitely report back to you all to let you know how my twins like them.

**Giveaway Closed ***

Giveaway
Stonyfield Farm is awarding one lucky reader with a YoBaby Gift Pack which includes a reusable YoBaby Bag, an Eric Carl Growth Chart, a YoBaby travel bowl with lid and utensils, an organic YoBaby bib, and a bundle of 5 Free YoBaby coupons. How cool is that!

Mandatory Entry
Visit Stonyfield Farm and tell me something that you learned about the company and what other products of theirs you like. You must complete this entry before you can submit additional ones.

Extra Entries
- Follow me on Blogger or subscribe to my RSS feed
- Subscribe via e-mail. Your email must validate or it will not count.
- Blog about this giveaway with a link to Green Mama's Pad and Stonyfield Farm. Please leave link in comment.
- Add my Green Mama's Pad button to your sidebar or add Green Mama's Pad to your blogroll. Leave your blog link.
- Follow GreenMamasPad and Stonyfield Farm on Twitter and and tweet this giveaway. You can tweet once daily. Leave link to tweet in comment.
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This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ only and will end on Monday, August 17th at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. You must leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!