Sound Beginnings Review and Giveaway

 

I am sure that you have heard that it is beneficial to play music to Baby when he or she is in the womb. Good music can stimulate the baby's brain as it forms. I found a neat and innovative product that allows you to safely play music and more to your baby. It's called Sound Beginnings.

Babies begin hearing around 20 weeks and begin to remember sounds around the beginning of the third trimester. It is suggested that you begin using Sound Beginnings around week 24. According to studies, babies can retain these memories for up to 12 weeks after birth. Sound Delivery has even been used to turn breech babies.

Sound Beginnings connects to any MP3 player and has a splitter that allows you to plug in some headphones and listen on in with Baby while keeping the sounds to the safest volume for your precious peanut. My MP3 player did not fit the splitter quite right as mine has a little plastic knob directly next to where you plug it in, but the splitter should work on most devices. Because Sound Beginnings connects to your MP3 player, you are able to download your own audio files to choose which music you would like your little one to listen to. They also have a program called Sound Delivery that allows you and loved ones to record messages securely over the phone and you will be given an MP3 file of that recording to add to your player! Each Sound Beginnings comes with five free minutes of Sound Delivery recording.

The Sound Beginnings pre-natal sound delivery device runs in size B (pre-pregnancy pants size 2, 4, 6,) size C (pre-pregnancy pants size 8, 10, 12) and size D (pre-pregnancy pants size 14, 16, 18) plus they are working on more sizes. The fabric is a combination of 86% nylon and 14% lycra and is very comfortable, light and stretchy. This is great if you go for walks. The product is machine washable and there are no batteries required, just your MP3 player! Sound Beginnings also comes in three colors: white, black, and nude. Currently Sound Delivery offers English recording, however, they are working on a Spanish line as well.

We have been using the Sound Beginnings device's Sound Delivery system to record and play my deployed husband's voice to our baby. Since my husband will be way from now until well after our little boy is born, this is a great way to familiarize our baby with his daddy's voice so that my husband will not be a totally stranger to his son when he returns home. I love so much that he is able to call in from wherever he is and record the message and that I am able to listen in on it to hear his voice as well. This is one of the most special opportunities we could have right now as a military family. Besides this, we are also far from family so they are able to call in and record messages as well! Sound Delivery even has a registry where you can request minutes and your family and friends can buy you talk time! This is one of my most highly-recommended products whether you are a military family, live far from a close relative or just want your baby to begin enjoying sounds early.

Sound Beginnings seeks to reach out to military families through donating to non-profit organizations like Operation Shower and hopes to get one to every military family. I love this idea and I love this company! As a military spouse expecting while my husband is deployed and family is distant, this is one of the greatest innovations ever. Check them out!

PRICING:
Sound Beginnings is $50 on their website. You can always watch for deals online as well! They offer a 1 year limited warranty and a 100% satisfaction money-back guarantee for 30 days after your order date. You are able to purchase Sound Delivery minutes starting at $2.50 for 5 minutes.

PLACES TO BUY:
You can purchase Sound Beginnings on their website or at any of these retailers.

Enter below to win a Sound Beginnings device for yourself!

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Disclaimer: I received a free product for my review! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity.   

Premama Essentials Review

 

I have done a review before for my favorite prenatal vitamin brand, Premama, and they just recently came out with a brand new product, Premama Essentials for pregnant or lactating moms! Premama really hit the nail on the head when they came up with a vitamin that you can drink and not taste as opposed to a horse pill that tastes like the smell of my hamster's food. With my first, I did not get much nausea, but when I did it was after taking my giant, smelly prenatals. I have not had any nausea since taking Premama!

Premama Essentials has an advanced "Quatrefolic" folate form which is an new form of folate (folic acid) that absorbs more easily. Folic acid/folate is important to Baby's brain development during pregnancy. This prenatal formula also contains Ferrochel iron which helps with the ever-so-irritating prenatal constipation, Vitamin B6 to prevent nausea, and Vitamin B12 to provide energy and better metabolism. Premama does not have gluten, eggs, fish, nuts, shellfish, sulfites, tree nuts or wheat and is 100% vegetarion and GMO free with no artificial coloring or additives! Below are the Supplement Facts showing how much of which vitamins and minerals are in Premama Essentials:

Personally, I love the new Premama Essentials even more than I did the original Premama prenatal vitamin mix. Why? Because it is easier to use! The packets are a taste-free once-a-day packet (though I did like the option on the original vitamins to split it into two servings, though often I would forget to take the second half.) They have a "tear here" on them so you can open the packets on the go without a pair of scissors, something that would have worked great on our vacation! The new powder is even finer than the original mix too and blends very quickly and very well into the drink you put it in. I still enjoy putting the supplement into my orange or grapefruit juice, but I have also thrown together smoothies with it and they tasted great and I couldn't even tell there were vitamins in it! I do suggest, however, that you do drink your drink fairly quickly after adding the prenatal supplement as letting your drink sit too long can cause the power to settle to the bottom and even stirring it after this long you will still have a changed texture. I did this one time where I forgot about my drink and went back to it and I learned my lesson! Used properly, you will not have this issue at all and will not even be able to tell that you have added so many essential vitamins and minerals to your drink or soft food.

Premama also has Premama Plus which is an orange-flavored variety with Omega 3s, CoQ10 and Choline. While I did not test this one, if you enjoy orange-flavored drinks I am sure this one is great as well. I could picture putting it in my regular orange juice, a pineapple-mango smoothie, with a vanilla milkshake and more! Need different vitamins and minerals in your diet? Check out my Premama [original] Prenatal Vitamins review and compare the Supplement Facts. While you may be tempted to use both varieties to get all of the nutrients you can, do not mix these supplements as an excess of certain vitamins or minerals can be toxic. Prenatal vitamins are meant to be used individually, not with other prenatal multivitamins.

Premama Essentials and Premama Plus are coming soon as well as a revamped Premama website. You can pre-order on Amazon.com here.



Disclaimer: I received a free product for my review! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity.

LEGOLAND Review

 

Have you heard of LEGOLAND in Florida? It is fairly new so I hadn't heard of it until recently. LEGOLAND Florida has an amusement and waterpark for the whole family to enjoy! We recently visited on a family vacation and although I could not do much as I am pregnant, my husband and son had a blast. Even from the moment you enter, everything is fun even to look at. You will see large sculptures made with LEGOs, one actually shooting water which my son found exciting, as well as some fun shops.

The park is laid out in different categories such as LEGO Technic, DUPLO Village, LEGO Kingdoms, Pirates' Cove and more! This makes the park extra fun for the younger kids who have a specific theme that they love. My son loved anything with cars. LEGOLAND has rollercoasters, boat rides, a water show, 4D movies...the list goes on! We found that most of the park was geared for children 12 and younger and that was the age of most of the guests, but they have things that LEGO lovers of all ages can enjoy. If your child is under 3, they will also give you a special list with which rides your youngster will be allowed on so you can plan where to take the little ones beforehand! I loved this as we have gone to other amusement parks and found out after there were only a couple rides he could go on for his age and height. LEGOLAND has several different rides and fun activities for the younger ones as well so they won't feel left out.

My husband and I really enjoyed Minland USA which was an expansive section of cities, movies and major monuments such as New York City, Daytona Beach NASCAR, D.C., and Star Wars all made out of LEGOs! Many of  the little sections had buttons you could press that would make the LEGOs interactive whether it was a truck driving along the road, the marching band playing in formation or a fire engine spraying water at you. You will want to spend hours in this section alone just enjoying all the details and the time put into these pieces of LEGO art.

My 2-year-old had the best time on the DUPLO Farm playground where they had sections for the little ones to enjoy slides and LEGO building. My son could have stayed in there the whole day just going up and down and pretending to drive the tractors and building towers.




 
My husband and son also got a kick out of the "punny" pirate water show that played at Pirates' Cove. This was an interactive show that had skiing LEGO men, there were pyrotechnics, and the kids in the front rows were sprayed with water (which was wonderful on a very hot, sunny day!)

LEGOLAND has some places to get food and places to shop which was also a lot of fun. We found a place to get discounted Legos and were able to get a LEGO Duplo Disney Cars set for our son's birthday at a very affordable price! A stop to get a slush and over to get some apple fries (delicious!) and a fresh green apple really helped our famished family. We even found a small garden center to walk through and see all the plants! There was so much to do at LEGOLAND that we couldn't possibly fit it all in one day. We would love to go back some time and explore everything we didn't get to see before. If you decide to go, I highly recommend getting the package for a couple days at least!

Lego lovers big and small, LEGOLAND Florida is a great place to spend your vacation! Whether you like discounted LEGOs, water rides, water shows or roller coasters, there is something for everyone.

Check out a park map HERE and see all of the fun adventures that await you! Once you've decided to plan your trip, you can buy your tickets HERE. Are you Active Duty military? If so, throughout 2013 you can get a FREE day admission! Be sure to bring your military I.D. Dependents also get a special military discount and all children under 3 get free admission.




Disclaimer: I received a free product for my review! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity.