Category: Karie Herring

Karie Herring, Jeep aficionado, organic advocate and chef, details life as a reformed corporate woman, wife and motherhood to her twins and tween.

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Yoplait Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt Giveaway & Review

The folks over at Yoplait have been INGENIOUS with creating foods especially for those who are on a diet but still want flavor and those who are pressed for time. As a mom of three kids, two are 18 month old twins, time is but a luxury. Meals have to be made and made fast. Leaving me scrambling in the kitchen for something that resembles a meal and a meal that is healthy and filling. Moms are the ultimate short order cooks. So when I am left feeling hungry and not quite satisfied after my rushed meal, or I have a craving for some snacks, or my ultimate comfort food……ICE CREAM…..I have been reaching for the Yoplait Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt.
Can you see that!!?? (Please click to see my great circling job!!)
50 calories! 3 grams of protein, ZERO fat, not to mention LOW CARB, look at the 5 grams of fiber. That is the secret to this tasty snack is the fiber.
Fiber is great for your diet. Hello ladies, having trouble with your “deuce?” Yeah, can you say FIBER!
Plus 20 percent of the Recommended Daily Value of fiber. It is also a good source of calcium and vitamins A and D, making this an all-around great choice for dieters and those watching their weight.
Here is the true “skinny” for all of you dieters and moms out there who are curious as to how good this yogurt can really taste, especially at 50 calories. Take it from Hungry Girl okay?
The folks over at My Blog Spark sent me this great Yoplait Snack pack and the opportunity to go get some Yoplait Fiber One yogurt for myself to try out. Truly I love this stuff!! I thought, “Man this is gonna taste like diet food….total ass.” NO WAY!! Still the same great super creamy taste that Yoplait has to offer without the guilt! I can have the perfect lunch of a grilled chicken salad with a side of yogurt and I am completely satisfied. I get my sweet fix without the guilt. I have to admit that the Key Lime pie IS. MY. FAVE! Not too bitter, not too sweet and hey the strawberry is fabulous with chunks of real strawberry inside. YUMMO!
What is even better than telling you about this great snack?
I get to give THREE lucky readers a gift bag that includes a Fiber One yogurt VIP coupon (good for a free 4-pack of Fiber One yogurt), cooler pack, and other storage items for you to carry your snacks and yogurt- it’s great for work and other on-the-go activities!

Here is how you can enter to win:
  • Leave me a comment telling me what your diet secrets are, your guilty snacking pleasures (mine is ice cream), and or what are you doing to manage your weight?
Want additional entries for these goodies?
  • Follow my blog (the button is at the bottom) and tell me you do
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Tweet this Giveaway (up to twice a day!) Leave a comment for each tweet status
  • Subscribe to my feed (on the left)
  • Fan the Fish on Facebook (on the left)
  • Fave me on Technorati
  • Stumble my Blog (not this post)

PLEASE be sure you leave your EMAIL address along with corresponding links for Tweets, etc.
Giveaway will end on September 18, 2009 @ 10am Arizona Time.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!
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Dirty Little Secrets

Families are KNOWN for dirty little secrets. All families. No family is without secrets of some sorts. My family by far was and is THE. WORST. Before anyone thinks I am going to post anything awful….put your pistols away and read with a VERY open mind.
I am an Adult Child of an Alcoholic.
What the hell does that mean to you? My dad is an alcoholic. Was an alcoholic. Probably always will be an alcoholic. For the families that hold secrets they called their dads or moms or whomever the family member is and was, “a drinker.” The “drinker” was the socially acceptable term for the alcoholic, because everyone is/was in denial. Which is A-OK, I was in denial, I was clueless, I also suffered from the secrets, the disease and the illnesses that accompany alcoholism.
My dad is/was like any other dad. He was good hearted, loving, smiling, a provider. But his nasty illness to binge on alcohol, drugs, women, everything is/was addicting to him. My mom, she was/is like any other mother. Heart of gold, will do anything for her kids, loving, happy, a provider. But my mom did a very good job of hiding what my dad was doing. His late nights. His hangovers where he was ill and puking from mixing booze with drugs. His illness because he is probably intolerant altogether to alcohol causing him migraines and physical illness. His cheating on my mother. His lack of concern for his children.
These behaviors went on for MANY years. So many years so that I began to be the caretaker in my family. My dad checked out after the birth of my brother, was unseen with my sister, and my mother began working full time to help pay the bills that my father racked up from unnecessary purchases. Oh and did I mention his bipolar disorder too? Friendly combination, addiction and mental illness. The behaviors went on. I became Mom. At the ripe age of EIGHT. I was dressing my siblings for school, feeding them, and caring for myself because my father was still passed out drunk from nights before, or flat out failed to come home. My mother worked nights as a nurse, her ability to be there full time for us kids was obviously limited as my parents were a two parent income household, they both had to work. Finally after two years of the continued misery of my fathers black hole spiral my mother threw in the towel and they got divorced.
Lots of parents get divorced. But I never knew why. I thought, they just don’t get along anymore. Not until I was old enough did the Big Pink Elephant finally receive recognition for being in my life. My dad is an alcoholic. His illness and failure to accept his illness killed my family. A lot of my family was lost because of his illness. My siblings, we rarely speak. Because of so many hurts within a dysfunctional alcoholic or addiction ridden family. We have pains from the family unit and so we turned in on each other, we would fend for ourselves. Not full time, but when we would visit my dad we would. I remember a time when his first wife, whom he began seeing while still married to my mother, came to visit. My father locked myself and my younger siblings out of his apartment with just a few dollars so that we could walk a mile or so to the local Circle K to buy candy and a Thirstbuster. Because he needed a fix.
I am 100 times more likely to become an alcoholic. I choose not to be. I watched my father tear me to pieces like a lion to a lamb. I was called every curse word you could think of…..I can recall and cite verbatum those words, those comments. They sting. They pain. That the one man in my life who should have been my TRUE knight in shining armor was the root of all evil. His secret. His illness. The illness that would tear me to pieces name by name, inch by inch, until my self-worth lay in a puddle of tears. The illness that led me to believe I was the fattest and ugliest person on Earth. The illness that led me to believe I would never be smart enough. His illness, his drinking said those horrible things. The illness he once attested to having. He came to grips with his addiction, his illness. He was sober….for a year. I lived with him during that time. I got to know a bit of my dad. I had someone I could talk to without being called names, without the condescending tone, the belittling, the pain, the sting. But it all changed. I moved out because I was 19, I had a boyfriend (the now hubs), and his divorce became final.
My Dad died to me that year when he began drinking again. He still calls me to this day and I resent him. I am indifferent to his “love” and affection because he sacrificed his sobriety for a woman, for lack of control over a situation. A woman that will never love him again. Will never marry him. Will never speak to him casually. That woman was not my mother. He even told me once that he only truly loved this woman, as if he had forsaken the other woman he was once married to, my mother. My family still does not talk about my dad, his addiction, the pain he causes our family because he chooses to drink, the destruction he causes emotionally and at once physically because of the alcohol. Because his drink means more than the love and respect of his children. His drink is more important that to live his life sober, for him, to enjoy that natural high of life. He is so fully operational as a round the clock drunk that he is delusional, half demented, and quite literally the saddest person ever. I never talk about the truth of my dad because dirty little secrets suck. They are painful. They are damaging.  But I talk about them because alcohol touches all families, somehow, someway, with someone they love. Secrets hurt families, and so we talk about them to put an end to the cycle of hurt.
What I do know is that no matter how damaging and painful those secrets may be, I want my kids to know.
I want my kids to know that I am an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. I had the worst teachers for dealing with pain, emotion, anger, rage, hurt, disappointment, fear, sadness, jealousy. These feelings were never dealt with in my family because we could never show people that anything was wrong with our family. That we had a secret to keep. So we kept up the perfect front, the perfect life, perfect feelings. I want my kids to know that being sad, mad, jealous, angry, feeling rage for a short moment is great! Embrace it.  I want my kids to know that I drink once in a blue moon. Having an alcoholic beverage is okay. Having one everyday is not okay. Feeling you need one everyday, every few hours, ALL day, is not okay. The same can be said with drugs. I have had my bout with addiction, its not pretty. I will also share with my kids this bout. I want them to know that they will make choices on their own. I will always love them, just as I do my father. But I will not follow that path. I will share with them that I do not blame my parents, I blame the illness, the lack of knowledge about how to work through the illness, I blame the lack of will.
On the outside you would never have known my family was sick. That we had secrets to keep. That the secrets were killing our family and little bits of our souls. In the end…I turned out to be a stronger, knowledgeable, more compassionate and empathetic person with the drive stronger than anything a human can describe, and a will and spirit that will never be broken.
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Evolution of Woman driver

This will be my little pictorial for you…..my evolution of a woman driver. 
I hope you find this as enjoyable as I did when I tripped down memory lane….
I also totally understand now why women are recipients of grief surrounding their driving abilities. I also hope that MEN see why we evolve into such terrible drivers. We go from one extreme to the next with our vehicles. So evolving with our vehicles is a bit of a challenge.
Let us take a gander at the exhibits:
My first REAL car that DH and I bought. (I was 20 in this pic)

Little flashy? Sure. Fast? You bet! 1996 Chevy Camaro RS

Then I started working in the car business circa 1997 ish…..and guess what we got in on trade in 1999

Yup, a 1997 BMW 318ti. Cheap payment too…LOVED that car!!
But then we got engaged. We were planning a wedding….and our future…maybe some kids.
So we did the dumbest thing ever

We traded in the perfectly good BMW for an Oldsmobile.
Can you say STUPID!! Yea….
Supposedly we needed a sedan right away since we thought we might be having kids like
right away….like right after the wedding, like I would get pregnant immediately.
STUPID.
So we got tired of that hunk of metal and I was BURIED like a casket in that car. Luckily I worked in the car business so used cars were a dime a dozen and the easiest way to get out of some negative equity
and the only thing to absorb negative equity…..is another cash cow American vehicle
 

And so I bought a Mustang. I really love Mustang’s….just not that year….I was thinking a 1969 fastback. You know the one right….Steve McQueen….Bullet! Yea, thats more my style. But then I got the hankering after driving this car…..to get back into an import as I loved the fast imports.
And heck…it’s only 2002 by now so I need a new car.

VOILA!!

The Lexus IS300. My pimp daddy ride of all time. This car was fast. It was sleek. Stylish. It had all carbon fiber on the inside and a racing shifter. Leather seats. It screamed HOT mama for me. But as you can see from the pic I am clearly NOT a mama there…hot….but not a mama….and what was even more pathetic….
I thought I was FAT!
Yeah.
I was a whopping 128 ish maybe! Yeah and I thought I was fat….where? On my toes? Okay. Back to the cars and the evolution of a woman driver. Well that was 2002 ish or so and then WHAM! 
PREGO
So I had the sedan (see above) but the car seat was so not copascetic for the back seat of the Lexus…At.All.
Why not get another Lexus!!??
Oh, my SUV, yuppy, mama, pretentious bitch car. I loved that car. The soft italian tan leather.
The six disc in dash CD player.
All the creature comforts any yuppy snob would want.
Except the payment sucked ass!
And when you start staying at home with your kid…..not making any cash……the car has gotta go.
So we sold that poor girl too. I actually went without a car for about 6 months saving some cash.
Until I couldn’t take it anymore. Again, we did the most responsible thing possible.
Bought this
 
Real Smart!
Hey, at the time it was perfect. Diesel was only like $1.99 a gallon while unleaded was $2.50 or something totally crazy like that. It hauled the three of us comfortably, with all the dogs and our gear when we would travel. Big G loved it. I loved it. People got the HELL OUT of MY WAY! (loved that!)
Until.
We got pregnant…..AGAIN.

With TWINS.
 
DH was driving an Acura TL.
I brought him over to the snobby ass, drive an import luxury car dark side.
I had the big truck.
Have you seen a LARGE pregnant woman maneuver her bulbous ass in and out of a lifted four wheel drive?
Not pretty. Not easy either. 
His car wasn’t cutting it either.
So we did what all responsible drivers and car owners do……
Trade ’em in
And here is where the evolution went from one extreme to the other. Based on all previous vehicles speed was highly optional considering the performance factor of these vehicles. Or at least the fabulous aesthetics and damn nice creature features. I could rocket all over the place in each of those vehicles. I have the shoddy driving record with SEVERAL recorded and unrecorded tickets.
I actually got 4 red light camera tickets….but my plates were out of state so they went to my old address….
and damned that I didn’t live there anymore to get them in the mail with my face on it.
As I said we were responsible. Now with children numbered two and three on the way. We began shopping. We needed that vehicle to haul all three kids, especially two in infant carriers and car seats.
Lucky for Daimler Chrysler, they overhauled the look and features of their flagship vehicle in their fleet.
 
I am a damn sucker.
I swore. I promised. 
I cursed ever driving a gall dang
MINIVAN!
But I sucked it up.
I am that mom. I am that woman driver. 
I am damn proud to drive a minivan to haul all three of my kids, my fat ass dog, stroller, luggage, groceries, the husband, the trash, plywood, bikes, I can haul anything in that thing. I even have a bumper sticker….
“walk on the wild side….have twins”
They wonder why we drive like shit.
We go from driving a vehicle like Al Unser’s to driving Miss Freaking Daisy in a minivan.
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*CLOSED* 200 Custom Postcards from UPrinting: Live Giveaway!!

Let’s get the show on the road with all the goodies and deets!!
I am stoked about the 200 postcards from UPrinting because they are so versatile!
Use them for anything not just postcards.
The cards come in different sizes of your liking: 4×6, 4.25×6, 5×7″. Not to mention the quality of the cards with 14pt gloss or matte, 13 pt uncoated and Full Color on both sides (4/4).
Order them and use them for custom greeting cards or  custom postcards to share with the ones you love.
Here are the deets:
Just leave me your comment…in the form of a coherent sentence, with your email addy of course
Leave me your Tweet info in a comment
Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pie!!
The more comments you leave and the more comments you leave with your tweets the more chances you have to win! I would hate for this giveaway to go to waste!!

Enjoy, be nice, play fair! The giveaway will end tonight @ 10pm Arizona (PDT)Winner will be chosen from Random.org and posted by Midnight in this post.

WINNER

Pretty sad I can only give ONE away when I have this many entrants.
(insert sarcasm and sick humor)

Congrats Shelly!!
Your coupon codes will be emailed to you directly from UPrinting!
Thanks so much ladies for entering.
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500 Business Cards Giveaway from DigitalRoom

Are you running into a snag when out and about and you don’t have a business card with you or something to give a friend, client, or networking associate that has your contact information. Are you left searching for a pen and paper or fumbling through your cell phone to add the contact or they are doing the same? Get your own personalized business card.

The cards do not need to even be business related!

I just got my FABULOUS business cards done for my blog! Yup you got it! I love my blog and myself so much that I created my own business card to pass out that has my blog URL, my contact information and all of my networking like Twitter, Facebook, Whrrl!! No more searching for that info when you meet me.These business cards are fantastic for all the choices too, just take a gander what DigitalRoom.com offers:

  • Choose size: 2×3.5”, 2×3”, 2×2″
  • Choose paper:  14pt cardstock (matte or gloss coating) & 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
I know I had fun with the customizable business card sizes and of course the die cut business cards where you can round off your edges for a more unique look and feel. What is even the best part about this offer is the quantity, the quality, and YOU get to build your own business cards. Upload your own design or build one with their design service.
I know I had fun building my card and this is the way they turned out:
So now I have my professional business cards for my employer and my personal business cards just for me for networking and getting what I do for my personal business out there. What will you build your business cards or use them for?
That’s right! You get a chance to win 500 Business Cards!
Here are the deets and most importantly 
 ALWAYS LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDY!!!
  •  Tell me what you would print on your business cards
Additional entries, up those odds of winning folks!!
  • Follow my blog
  • Blog about this giveaway
  • Subscribe to my feed (I do check)
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Tweet this giveaway (once a day entry!!)
  • Fan The Fish on Facebook! (See the sidebar option)
  • Digg my blog
  • Stumble my blog (not the post…le blog)
  • Technorati fave the Fish
Now the giveaway ends on September 10, 2009 @ 10am Arizona time. Best of luck and lots of fun!!

 *Five Fish always blog ethically and with transparency.

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Chonies

Last night Big G had a moment of clarity with Dad. I was very happy to later only hear the story and laugh till I about peed myself. I have to say that I am SOOO glad his Dad handles those situations because I…would give the poor boy a complex. I would laugh until I fell over leaving him perplexed and wondering when I would give him an answer.

Shortly after taking a shower Big G was getting dressed and for some reason outfitted himself in a different set of chonies (underwear for you gringos..HA!!). Not sure why he chose the pair he did, but I did find the selection odd when I walked in the door from my PTO Board/Margarita meeting. (Yes that is how we ladies in the PTO roll….a few margaritas, maybe a Dos Equis, some chips and salsa and we get to business.) So I walk in to see the hubs on the couch and the kids roaming through the house and Big G already dressed for bed….which consists of his white t-shirt and his chonies. As I said…interesting choice for underwear this evening.

After the hubs puts the boy down and we are left wrangling gnomes well into the late demonic witching hours, aka 9pm, I asked about the underwear situation. Here is how the whole thing goes down:

Me: So what’s up with Grant’s chonies tonight?
Hubs: What do you mean?
Me: Not his typical underwear….those are usually the “Last Ditch” Mama needs to get the laundry done pair. I have them at the bottom of his underwear pile.
Hubs: Oh yeah, he just picked them out. And then he figured out they were different.
Me: Um yeah! (My best DUH impression rolling eyes and all)
Hubs: Yeah but it was funny because he got all “Dad, why are these shorter than the rest?” and he began pulling them down and fidgeting with his package.

The package…the penis….as if their “tool and jewels” were the beloved and sacred genitalia of all the world. Okay moving on……please enjoy the eye candy. Yum

Me: Giggling uncontrollably now.
Hubs: Grant was telling me “Dad and they are…..well they don’t feel right.”
Me: Laughing still
Hubs: I told him “Well buddy those are Tighty Whities” and he was like “Huh!? What are tighty whities?”
Me: Cackling!!
Hubs: “Buddy, well they are tight….and white…so they are called Tighty Whities.” Grant then tells me “What are the other ones called that aren’t tight and white?”
“Bud, those are boxers, you can move in those.”
“Yeah Dada these ones don’t really squish my penis.”
Me: I am falling over ready to pee myself.

So glad the hubs deals with moments like those. I couldn’t keep a straight face let alone handle the penis comment I would be cackling like an evil witch the moment he said “squish my penis” about his underwear, I know I am such a mature mom.
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Blogging and Toddling

Toddling twins and a mom who enjoys blogging….do not mix. Basically this mixture is like taking a mom who is on Prozac and loading her up on shots of tequila…no bueno!

I have attempted….okay really I have done more than attempt….I have started a half dozen posts only to have them so graciously (screaming, yelling, wailing, and crying) interrupted by the twins. This requires my moment of Zen to be disturbed by removing my ass from said chair in front of laptop to inspect said disturbance. This gets old!

Needless to say I think I am making a good exercise of it. I am thinking of moving the chair altogether to avoid the whole truly sitting down to just doing air chairs. I will have a sweet looking ass and thighs in no time if I do this!

As I remove said arse from said chair I find scenes like these strewn through the house:

I see toilet paper from a BRAND NEW roll completely dismembered through my vanity area of my bathroom and the latrine area.

I then see where the twins are becoming a gaggle of trouble…..unloading my Tupperware from my cabinets. Which normally I have no issue with…..except lately they disappear outside, in the sink, under cribs.

Finally, Little Bitty decides she will be the lookout for her brother….who was most likely the one who unrolled the toilet paper. Not only is she the lookout but the distraction….can you see in this picture why she would be a distraction?

Ah yes, the favored Victoria’s Secret brazier that she managed to get out of my bedroom and strung from her neck like a set of beautiful ivory pearls.

This kind of chaos ensues all.day.long. I pray for nap time. I begged for it yesterday when they refused to nap. They woke so early from their nap just to rummage and create more damage. By the end of the day I was spent. I still had to work out and said…EFF it. I went to bed. I had laundry that needed to be done…PFFFTT…it will grow larger tomorrow…went to bed. If you want to know how a mom of multiples does it everyday….she just says EFF IT and goes. to. bed!

So I went to bed. And now….that the twins are napping and….in.bed. I get to blog! HOORAY! I have to say on these days I miss the Big G just for the older entertainment he is for the squids.
Enjoy what a normal day looks like in my house of Blogging and Toddling.

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Am I living in a Hitchcock Movie

I wonder this so many times while cruising through the blogosphere. I guess I am blessed, lucky, per chance maybe that I have a great network of readers. Bloggers that truly have great content. I made a conscious decision the other day to “weed out” some true bullshit. Stuff that I was following for the sake of following but did not enjoy the content.I am finding more like that everyday.

I kept my very special reads….who lately I have failed to comment….but at least I see them on Facebook so at least I can keep in touch that way, but I had other reads that were quite frankly airing on the side of feeling chagrin. You know that feeling….the one where it is like….SHEESH, are we going to beat that horse again. Or are we past that yet? I mean I truly feel like I am in an Alfred Hitchcock twist of the Twilight Zone because my bloggers that I did enjoy are now part of the disease infested bloggers that I did not enjoy. The blase ones who think they are superior and really they are no different, they just have a larger bank account and bigger PR backing. The ones who just want to wreak of misery and bullshit about “OMG, Girl, did you see what she wrote on her blog?” and the “Unt uh, no she didn’t…I am so with her…I am so sick of that.”

When did blogs turn into high school?

A bunch of women. Grown. Child rearing. Child bearing. Grandmotherly. Women. Who act like a bunch of juvenile brats? I guess like I said I was stuck in Smallville reading about how other mom’s were struggling to maintain a level of sane like I was everyday. Frustrated about what to cook because frankly the day sucked and Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Dominos, heck Taco Bell seemed more tantalizing than cooking. I was in Smallville enjoying the simple things of being a mom, the complex, the ordinary, the extraordinary, the fun, the sorrow, the laughs!! So when the hell did blogs turn into a “Well I am hanging with the cool chick and we are going to do this and take a stand” and when did women, who all share the same passions turn into enemies. Not even frenemies…well some, but not all. Was I in the twilight zone?

I guess this was my reason for not blogging either, other than my desire to read. To reconnect with my family and get through this hump of school and get back into a grind, a groove, the routine of life with my school aged son and now toddler twins!

I’m really curious if anyone knows what the deal is with blogs, with the bloggers? What happened to leaving well enough alone?

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I got a new drug

I hear that the road to recovery begins with admission. So I am here as an addict to tell you of my illness. My admission towards a full or at least some sort of haphazardly recovery. I know my addiction hurts, time passes and I fail to see it. I cannot get enough. My family is slowly suffering because I have avoided cleaning the house, making full, healthy and complete meals, laundry has been mounting almost like an attack.

This is the explanation for my not blogging. I have so wanted to blog. To share in my stories of what the Squids have been accomplishing, or attempted accomplishments in their opinion, the first day of school was today, how my kids are growing so fast before my eyes. I feel like I blinked and now Big G went from birth to young kindergarten to all day kindergarten this year. The gnomes are getting so big, 18 months this month and I wonder where the time has passed. Just yesterday they were having a WWF wrestling match in my abdomen for kicking space.

I feel like my addiction just in the last week has really gotten in the way. I thought I had it under control. I had not had any problems in the last 15 years until now. Now of all times. Now when my life is in peak with the soap company, PTO, my twin mom group since I am the National Rep for our local chapter and the donations coordinator…..NOW?! Why now!!??

So I am working on the first step towards recovery. I am admitting I have a problem. It rules my every waking moment that when I sleep I sometimes have correlating dreams to my addiction, to my need, my fuel, my burn. My ache for more.

But before you all get all bent on me….let me just tell you what my addiction is so we are all on the level and you can see my story, hear my story. Help me find the right support group because I know this sort of problem is on the rise.

READING

I cannot.
STOP.
READING!!

Gotcha didn’t I?

Yes I am the new found Twilight addict. I finished the entire series in less than a week. I finished Breaking Dawn in one day flat! So I am an addict to reading now that I am on a roll I cannot stop. I need more. I need more books to entertain my mind. Also helps with Big G at school so then I can read. So if you know of a great Readers Anonymous self help group I am all ears!!

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The Head Snuggler Review

One of the most important pieces of gear we can ever invest monies towards is a car seat and the safety of our children in cars. However, along with car seats and infants, toddlers, and young children is the falling asleep factor. All three of my kids are great passengers, they can fall asleep in a matter of minutes in the car. But here is the problem:
Ah yes, the slouching head. They do it from the time they are born and as mothers we do everything we can from the time they are in infant carriers until they are old enough to not be in a car seat where they can prop their heads on their own.So over at TwitterMom’s we had the opportunity to review this great product from Melrose Kids called the Head Snuggler. Here is what Melrose Kids is all about:

Melrose Kids is a company focused on making things more comfortable for kids and just a bit easier for parents. Take a look at our products and check back often as we are always working on new ideas to add comfort to children’s lives and peace of mind to parents. We, at Melrose Kids, believe that parents are full of wonderful ideas but just don’t know how to get them off the ground. Well, you too can be an entrepreneur! If you have a great idea, get in touch with us. We’ll work hard to get your idea developed and on the market (with your direction, of course) and the best part is, we’ll pay you a royalty for every one sold! We’re a family company for families!

What did the Fish Family think about this?
To be honest, upon my first thought was “How awesome…..now how does it work?” Then when I let the information digest I began to think….”well how tight is it, will it really pull hard on my kids’ heads, can it cause choking in the event it falls too low…..etc etc.”

I have been meaning to do this review for some time, but lately….the kids just haven’t slept in the car!! And NO WAY was I going to do a review without really testing out the goods….I mean talk about false advertising. Sheesh.

Anyway, the Seth-en-stein finally fell asleep in the car. He is the worst for falling asleep and the slouch, Little Bitty is smaller and more agile, so she snuggles into her car seat without the slouch.

Here is a video that I snagged of Seth-en-stein sleeping in the car with the Head Snuggler. Now please bear with the video since I was driving and “attempting” to record the boy sleeping and how well the Head Snuggler really works!! I even turned a corner and you will see how I was jostled around while driving and recording and he.stayed.put!

Like I said, I was very skeptical about the product and the overall effectiveness. In fact, I almost gave up on trying to do the review because my kids were not falling asleep in the car. But low and behold….a day presented itself and VOILA! Kids are sleeping and Head Snuggler review here I come!! Seth-en-stein had no idea it was on his head, he would rub a tad, but not like he was trying to pull it off, just that maybe it was itchy in one spot and needed adjusting. The installation is super easy peasy too. You slide it over whatever you are going to use it on…a chair, a stroller, car seat and there are pre-cut holes for fishing the seat belt straps through depending on how the Head Snuggler installs with your car and car seat. I do have to say that if you plan on using it when they immediately fall asleep….I would say have a second person in the car. I was lucky to be at the bank drive thru when he passed out so I just pulled it over his head and he was put in place and no worries about slumping over and cricking his neck.

You can buy the Head Snuggler online and in select stores in Canada right now. Total bummer about only in Canada…but super that we can order online for US residents! The price is $20.99 plus a great low price for shipping. They also come in four fashionable and neutral styles for your kids: green with polka dots, green with purple bears (which is what I have), brown with brown bears and brown with blue bears.
I have to say that this is a great investment for any parent who hates the neck slumping and I think it worked just as they said it would.