#MLBMobyWrap ~ Giveaway

As promised, today Friday the 13th and its my Blog's birthday! Four years ago I got on to the internet and started to type away.

My life with wearing wraps started with my eldest daughter, as one usually does right? However the first couple of attempts were problematic. They didn't fit well or my eldest became too heavy, as baby's do.

Skipping the baby carrier, whether it be wrap or pack of some type, was something I thought I could do. So on my first visit with my eldest to AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, was with me, my daughter and the stroller, as you can see she wanted out and I had to hold her the rest of the tour, probably cut short because of me and her.

The second time I visited, my husband came and I thought I would be smart. Bring the Baby Bjorn, I thought. As you can see my husband nor the Bjorn helped with my eldest's feelings of being miserable. I wished there was another option.

Two years and some months later my youngest was born and a few months after that Moby Wraps came out with their MLB line. I was over the moon excited to see the first few teams they had was the SF Giants! They had both the "Orange" (really Sienna) and Black, so I bought both! 

much better with the Moby!

So decided to give you my readers a chance to win one yourself! Here are the current teams, hopefully your home team or favorite team is represented. I know one team I would love to see (maybe have) is the Minnesota Twins (click here for my reason)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book for the Toddler Parents

So a few months ago a twitter friend @abbienourmel (read her blog its interesting!) recommended a book called "I Brake for Meltdowns: How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2- to 5-year-old"

I thought mehh I don't need a book to tell me that I am a bad parent and yet another thing to run my all ready complicated life even more to the ground. So I waited. As my life got more of a meltdown and my husband told me to "fix myself", I decided to check the book out.

And boy did this book change my life and book recommendations! I have been reading this book for a week now and I have been able to control my own melt downs when it comes to the tiny terror. I haven't put some of the valuable information in to practice because I have to wait till they appear, however the information about sleep time and how to discipline them with out being over bearing has been super effective. I have learned about potty training in a whole new light and feel like I can tackle the task with a much stronger grasp instead of yelling at her, I can make sure she's comfortable with her life and that milestone as I think she wasn't too happy with the fact that I have been hard nosed about getting her out of diapers... excuse me Pull-Ups, for the last 8 months. I don't look at it as shameful or a reflection of my parenting, but something she needs to be ready for and I think that will win the war and not have to fight the battle.

As the best advice I can give a new parent is to buy this book before the kid(s) reach the age of two because it will save your sanity trying to figure out how to make sure you don't become "that parent" at the playground. You know, the one that when a kid does one thing out of line, its like World War 3 and even the birds clear a path for the explosion.

Do I believe in myself?

At the end of Peter Pan, Peter asks everyone to clap if they believe in Tinkerbell as she lay clinging to life at the end of the movie. I remember as a young girl, clapping my hands to make sure the 40 year old movie heard me and I remember being joyful when she woke up and everyone was overwhelmed with happiness.

I still believe in Tinkerbell and clap at the end of the movie, what I did lose is the belief in myself. Having a horrid childhood can do that to a person. And I have been taking it out and not believing in the people around me. Especially my husband. I don't know if he has the energy to clap anymore.

When I was younger my mother (Captain Hook in Peter Pan); threw cannon ball after cannon ball of negativity, self doubt and every bad curse word she could think of to knock me down and my step-dad was there to help dust me off but as I got older the cannon balls made holes in me. Far too tiny to see in a picture by an outsider. I could see it though. I thought that by growing up and getting away from her I was able to start believing in myself. I thought wrong.

I think when I had Bella, I thought it was part of my mother's curse. Yet another thing my mother got right about who I am as a person. And as I learned the sex of my second child I felt like again I had failed. However my husband didn't give up the belief I could change my attitude towards them as they didn't chose to become girls just to taunt me. I realize this now as I look back on the past 3 years and two kids later.

I need to start clapping for myself. Believing I can succeed in life, to teach my girls they can succeed in life with the grace and dignity that I should have been raised with but was unfortunate not to get. I need to show my husband that this will work for the family and not a fly by night one time deal.

I am still going to do the #MLBMobyWrap Giveaway because this week is the All Star Break and I am still all about giveaways!

So world watch out I am clapping my way to victory. I am still in the top of the seventh with one out and a runner on second.

Take me home to the ball game #MLBMobyWrap

In October of 1987 I was 8 years old, a girl and never had a baseball bone in my body. My step dad spent his Saturday in the living-room glued to the afternoon TV. I wandered in, sat down and what I did not realize a program that would change my life. 


The program was the 1987 World Series. The Minnesota Twins vs the St. Louis Cardinals. I watched my step dad arguing with the TV and I wondered why. Then questions started.


Why are there four balls to three strikes? Why is it called a home run? Why after three outs do they changed sides? How many people are there on a team? Who, What, Where, Why, When and How. My step dad tried to keep up with the questions. With each change in the game there were new questions. The games I watched with him started a bond that he thought would never come to be with me. 


The Twins won the World Series and became my #1 team for that year. I didn't know about American Leagues or National Leagues, I didn't know much about the sport of Baseball, rankings, play-offs, even about the A's or the San Francisco Giants; however I knew that I bonded my step dad, I loved this new sport and life would never be the same after that fall of 1987. 

My daughters are baptized

Religion is not a major part of my life, however it did form my ideas about life and how I see religious figures. For me religion is something that can be talked about for ever and some one has a disagreement with any point. I don't throw my values in any one's face and usually I keep it pretty under the radar with religious mobojumbo because its not my place to say one religion is higher than the other.

I was baptized when I was seven or eight as a Lutheran. My husband was never baptized. We were married at Grace Cathedral in 2008 because I was baptized. That meant to me that if my children were to get married in the future, they too would have to be baptized. Even in today's world no matter if you are one religion or another, being baptized is still regarded in some form as currency and sociably accepted. Entrance in a school, marriage, some organizations and even in death, being baptized is a requirement.

So for me baptizing my kids was something important to them instead of having a bath tub baptism and preform it ourselves (we are universal life church persons) we chose to have the baptism at the place we were married. Grace Cathedral. 

They only do baptisms 4 times a year. We were lucky that the baptism was in June. Bella turns three in a less than two weeks and Grace will be 6 months old next Saturday. The next one would have been in November. Not the best time for the family (Thanksgiving and all.).

Here are some pictures that I took before the ceremony. I got more of Bella than of Grace, however I am planing on when Grace is older have her do almost the same pictures as these. I don't think I can recreate them however I can try and get them close.

 The above pictures I am going to save for Bella's wedding day it seems the perfect picture to give her when she's just married. Maybe have the one with her and her dad and a picture of them walking down the isle when she's about to get married. The only thing I wish is that darn back pack wasn't there.

 The lone picture of Grace as she looks at the alter. Also another picture of Bella however she looks like she's 5 or 6 in this picture. Well enough of my religious pictures and cuteness.

Tomorrow is the first installment of #MLBMobyWrap! Stay tuned!

Vlog 2

Being up at 2 am does have its benefits here is why:

Technorati Tags: vlog, MLB, rambles, black and white.

For my Blog Birthday - An MLB Moby Wrap! - UPDATED

San Francisco Giants Black (Mobywrap.com)

I have been thinking about what to give readers for my blog birthday and now I know what to give one lucky reader. An MLB Moby Wrap of their chosen team!

This fits perfectly with my Blog Anniversary because the Major League Baseball All Star Break happens to be the same week!

***Details - Moby Wrap WILL BE sponsoring this giveaway!! Though Major League Baseball will not be sponsoring this giveaway!***

I am doing this because I love two things - BASEBALL and WRAPS!

I will be posting a few stories about my past visits baby wearing at AT&T Park with my oldest Bella and how my experience has changed with my youngest Grace.

Each post will have something to do with Baseball and Wraps whether it be the Moby Wrap or other ones I have used in the past. I will be placing a key word in each post and it will be used in the giveaway as well.

During the week of the All Star Break, July 9-13, I will post my final "Wrap" up posts for my love of Baseball and baby wearing. On my Blog "birthday" Friday, July 13, 2012; I will be posting a Rafflecoptter giveaway for that weekend for one of the awesome MLB wrap of your choice!

Thank you to the fine people at Moby Wrap for giving one away for this Blog-a-bration! And I have worn both of the SF Giants Wraps and just love them!

FAQs -

1.  What if I don't live in the USA? Its fine! Just make sure you are in an area where Moby can ship to!
2. What if I don't like baseball? WHAT?? This is also fine, if you love the Moby Wrap show your city pride, every one will think you love baseball!
3. What if I win, however I have a friend that I won it for? Fine by me, when you get the winning email just let me know a name and address to ship the wrap to!
4. What if I won and they don't have my favorite team? That is an issue! Right now Moby Wrap has 8 teams on the website. I hope that by the time the All Star Break Week comes around they will have more to chose from. If not, you can always go with the MLB team that is closest to your city. 
5. Are you, Amanda going to get another MLB Wrap or another item for blogging about this giveaway and Moby Wrap? I am not nor will not receive any prize other than the joy of sending one lucky person their own MLB Moby Wrap. Its my present to you!