Friday Favorite: OxiClean

This week's Friday Favorite is brought to you by my adorable daughter, Molly.

See this face?

Pretty darn cute huh? Well, believe me when I say, the "gifts" this cute face offers up 2-3 times a day, are not so cute. And when those "gifts" are spread to her adorable little outfits, it's not fun for anyone involved.

At first, I just tried washing the clothes. But poop does stain, and after one wash, her onesies and pants were inevitably destroyed. Obviously, throwing out every soiled outfit is ridiculous, so on a whim one day I decided to pick up this stick of OxiClean pre-treating gel.

If Billy Mays were still alive, I'd be shouting right along with him. This stuff is A-MAZ-ING. If you've ever had an infant for more than a day, you know what I'm talking about when I say the word blowout. We're talking poo everywhere. Up the back. Down the legs. In the hair. I've had entire backs of onesies covered in poo, and after treating it with this stuff and washing it, the shirt looks like new. I've even (and I'm ashamed to admit this), let clothes sit for 4-5 days without pre-treating them, added the OxiClean gel, and again, they end up like new. You just need to be sure to wash your treated clothes in HOT water, or else the stain will set, and you'll have yourself a new dust rag.

If you're a mom, heck if you're not a mom (I tend to have a hole in my lower lip), this stuff is a necessary staple in your laundry room. With a quick registration you can even get a coupon here!

And that my friends, is the power of OxiClean. (Sorry, had to do it).

Friday(ish) Favorite: The Roomba

So I know I'm a day late on my Friday Favorite, but we had a snow day yesterday (no joke, sadly), and I took advantage of the much needed time to relax and see my family.

This week's favorite is something I've wanted for a long time, but just never pulled the plug on. The Roomba has literally changed my life. I'm a new mom. I have a house with hardwood floors, pets that shed, and a baby that will soon be crawling on those floors. This Christmas I asked for a Roomba, never expecting to get one, because they are a bit pricey. Christmas morning came and went with the family, and no Roomba appeared. To be honest, I didn't even notice because I honestly wasn't expecting one.

Then we Skyped with my brother and his girlfriend who live across the country. He got us a Roomba, I got him a shirt. I have some serious shopping to do next Christmas. But that's beside the point.

Here is our Roomba. I won't lie, it's almost like he's become part of the family. He is a robot after all, so it's kind of like he's a person...right?

 

There are many reasons why I love the Roomba, but here's the hard cold truth - I don't clean my floors anymore. Let me repeat: I DON'T CLEAN MY FLOORS ANYMORE. I can sit and feed the baby, and the Roomba cleans my floors. I go to work, and the Roomba cleans my floors. I'm running around doing 90 million other things, and the Roomba is cleaning my floors. If you've ever had hardwood and pets, you know what a big deal this is. I've gone from sweeping anywhere from 2-5 times a day, to never.

Here are the other great things about the Roomba. You can program it to go off at a certain time every day. Ours goes off at 2:00pm every weekday and stays on it's dock on the weekends. When I get home from work, my floors are spotless. It does an incredibly thorough job, going all over the house over and over again until it hasn't missed a spot. It learns your house, so the more times you run it, the less it bumps into tables, chairs, couches and the like (and it's equipped with a nice bumper, so hitting those things does not hurt it). It comes with accessories that you can put into doorways so that it does not enter certain rooms or go down stairs. And finally, it sends itself home when it's done where it charges itself for it's next trip around the block. The only thing it does not do is clean itself, and it does need a daily emptying of its tray and a weekly cleaning of the brushes, depending on how much hair and dirt your house has. Minor, compared to the time it saves you in the long run.

If I had known how much time and sanity this product would save me, I'd have dropped the money on it years ago. They run around $350-$550, but are honestly worth every penny. This is now considered one of my "must-have" items for myself, and I recommend it now to just about everyone I talk with. If you're looking for a splurge, get yourself a Roomba..you'll thank me later!

Friday Favorite: The Angelcare Monitor

I've decided that on Fridays (well, let's be honest, my life is busy..on the Fridays that I remember to...) I'm going to highlight a favorite product. Kind of like Oprah's Favorite Things, only I'm not Oprah, and I highly doubt these products will put a flashy label on their product saying "Recommended by Kristina!" But still, I like to share what I like, so here you go.

I thought I'd start with what is hands down the most important and best purchase we made in preparation for Molly's arrival. There are a lot of baby monitors out there. We registered for a video monitor, but when we didn't get it, we considered the Angelcare Deluxe. There are three words to tell you why, as a new parent, you need this monitor: peace of mind.

The thing that makes this monitor different is the movement sensor pad - the large square thing in the photo above. This pad goes under the baby's mattress and detects any motion the baby gives while in the crib. If the pad does not feel motion for 20 seconds, an alarm goes off. It will wake you out of a dead sleep. Trust me, I know.

We've had a few scares. Luckily they were false alarms. I know parents who have not had false alarms, and this monitor literally saved their baby's life. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Molly moved into her crib at 3 weeks old. Don't judge us - she was one heck of a grunter and we needed to get what little rest we could. But we felt comfortable making the transition because of this monitor.

Another great feature of this monitor is the temperature display. I have loved being able to wake up at night, and look at the monitor and know that her room is at a comfortable temperature.

We found this monitor at Babies R Us for $149.99. Find yourself one of their awesome 20% off coupons, and you have yourself a great deal. Even without a discount though, it's a heck of a small price to pay to know your baby is safe.