Mail Delivery: Silly Shirt Shop Review

Big sister E likes clothes and has her opinions on what she wears. Fortunately for me, I can still steer her in a certain direction when she's getting dressed and have so far not let her leave the house in anything too wild and crazy. I can't say the same when Daddy dresses her, of course, and sometimes if the two of them are heading to the grocery store and he lets her pick out whatever she wants to wear, the end result is something along the lines of a clashing, color-blind mess. But I figure that if I'm not going to be seen in public with them and my husband doesn't care, then why not? I usually just shrug and tell them to have a good time. And to not let her eat too many snacks while they shop.

I was recently introduced to a new t-shirt company, Silly Shirt Shop, and, as soon as I saw the shirt, I knew Big Sister E would enjoy it.


The unique thing about these shirts? Right on Silly Shirt Shop's website, you are able to design the character on the front to look just like your child, as well as personalize the saying underneath. How much fun is that? Usually when there are people on clothing, you usually have to settle for maybe matching some of their characteristics, but not with these shirts.


Want to make a shirt that is like looking in the mirror for the child in your life? Silly Shirt Shop allows you to do just that. Let me tell you, I thought I was just going to browse through the website, maybe create a character or two... Hours later I was still playing around, having designed a virtual group of friends that ranged from sporty to friendly to punk. Too much time on my hands? You just wait until YOU try it.

So how exactly does the design process at Silly Shirt Shop work?

Step 1: Choose your profile. Right now the available options are girl or boy. In the future, you will also be able to create baby girl, baby boy, toddler girl, toddler boy, dog or cat. Along with these individual characters, you will have the opportunity to design a shirt with multiple kids on it, something that I think is a really fun idea for best friends or siblings. What a fun gift idea to make a I'm The Little Bro/Sis onesie and a I'm The Big Bro/Sis shirt for when a new baby is arriving that actually look like them!

Step 2: Choose your skin color. There are four different shades of skin to pick from, ranging from light to dark.

Step 3: Choose your hairstyle and color. The choices already start to get big with this one. Picking from the four different colors of hair is fairly easy - red, blond, brown and black - but the hairstyles! For both boys and girls, there are 12 different hairstyles! Whatever you are looking for, whether short, long, curly, straight, pigtails, bangs... they're all there. Once you're finished being a hairdresser, you get to choose from blue, green, brown or black for the eye color.

Step 4: Choose your outfit. 14 for girls! There are casual clothes like jeans and skirts and tops to cute dress-up selections like a princess, a super girl or a cheerleader. Boys have 19 outfit choices! As well as a bunch of cute shirts and pants, they can be anything from an astronaut to a cowboy to a soccer player.

This was definitely one of my favorite steps. This allows you to decide to create your character to look like your child in everyday life or dress them up straight from their imagination. Does your son love hockey? Now he can have a shirt showing himself in a hockey outfit to show off all the time!

Step 5: Choose your accessories. Oh boy. This, after having finally decided on what clothes to wear. For girls, there are 4 styles of glasses, 5 hair clips, 3 handbags, 7 pairs of earrings... and that doesn't include the category of Outfit Add Ons so that she can be holding a doll that looks like herself or a rock star guitar. There are 8 headwear options including hats, headbands and tiaras. Options of items she can hold in her hands include magic wands, a teddy bear or an ice cream cone. Boys don't have quite as many choices, but there is still a nice variety of fun things to pick from to finish creating your little man.

Step 6: Add a caption under your character. You have up to 18 letters and spaces and the creativity is up to you. Your child's name? Nickname? Birthday Boy? Grandma's Princess? You get to decide!

Step 7: Select the size and style of shirt. Again with the options! There are 6 different shirt styles that range in size from a toddler 2T up to a youth XL. If you have a girl in your life who likes her clothes more feminine, there are girls' ruffle edge shirts available to make things extra fancy for her. The shirts cost between $22 and $28.

Step 8: Order, sit back and wait for your shirt to arrive. Then watch your child enjoy!

In the end, I had a lot of fun (maybe too much) on Silly Shirt Shop. For being a new website, I was impressed with all of the details that they have to offer. I wouldn't have thought of choosing to match the color of the character's eyebrows to their hair or leave them dark or being able to pick whether a hair clip goes on the left or the right, but they allow you to do so and I appreciated that. My main criticism of the site was that when you are finished creating your character and, if you are like me and VERY indecisive, you click the back button on your browser to change something, you are brought all the way back to the beginning. Of course, this just gave me a reason to start playing again...

Me.
I think I look pretty good.
And yes, that IS an ice cream cone in my hand and I am STILL in my pajamas, THANKS.

Thanks, Silly Shirt Shop, for providing Big Sister E a fun shirt to wear, she thought it was pretty cool that she was on it. And, for folding the padded envelope neatly into the mailbox for us to discover, bring inside and tear open, thanks, Mail Carrier.

(Other than the sample shirt that I was sent, I was not provided with anything or enticed to do this review in any way. This review is solely my opinion of this website and their products.)

My Big Girl.

Part of my heart went to preschool for the first time this morning.


We have our ups and downs, this little part of my heart and I, but she absolutely means the world to me and now she's not here. I just keep reminding myself that the whole reason for her starting preschool now is to gain independence.

Almost every class, activity or outing Big Sister E has ever done has been with me, so this is our first experience where she gets dropped off somewhere (other than, say, Grandma's house) and has to fend for herself. I know she's going to have a great time and learn all sorts of new things, but I can't help thinking how strange it is that I can't see exactly what it is that she is doing while she's there.

I put on an overly happy, very excited face all morning as we got ready to leave and it seemed to keep her from realizing how nervous I was for her. Inside, it's hard letting go of some of my protective nature and possessiveness. That's my girl. My firstborn. My easygoing baby, my cautious toddler, my imaginative preschooler. That's my gentle, loving daughter.

My heart. I miss you already, E.

Mail Delivery: Sprout Foods Review

Little Sister B likes to eat. Let's just say that she is a tad above average in weight than other baby girls her age (it's not entirely her fault, she was barely shy of 10 pounds at birth), but whatever. That just means more cheek and thigh to munch on, NOM NOM.

How embarrassing, Mom! What's wrong with a little extra chunk?

However, even though she may eat a lot, it doesn't mean that Little Sister B isn't still a little picky. I would love to say that I make her food myself, but it doesn't happen too often. Back when Big Sister E was starting to eat I had a little more time and would spend it blending up peas or carrots and making perfect little ice cube trays filled with tasty frozen foods... that she wouldn't eat.

I don't know what made my peas taste different from That Certain Company's, but she could tell the difference. Combine the time and work and a baby not really digging my cooking with the fact that homemade baby food really isn't all that convenient to use on-the-go (refrigerate it? Heat it?) with a great sale/coupon deal at Target, and I just stocked up with That Certain Company and was set until she moved past pureed foods. I knew there had to be a better way, but seemed to not be able to find it at the time.

Fortunately for Little Sister B, I have now been introduced to Sprout Foods baby food.

Made completely from organic ingredients (and without a bunch of preservatives, sugar, starches or fillers) this stuff tastes GOOD. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the food That Certain Company makes, but it just sort of tastes like... baby food. Pretty bland, not too flavorful, something you're not too excited to lick off your baby's arm when it spills off the spoon... you know what I'm talking about, right? I'm sure I'm not the only one to do that. Sprout Foods baby food, on the other hand, combines things like sweet baby carrots, apples and mangoes and their sweet potatoes don't taste like orange mush, they are baked and actually pretty delicious.

Sprout Foods baby food has both fruits and vegetables in two categories, Stage 1 one for babies six months and older and Stage 2 for babies seven months and older, which have a little more variety and multiple ingredients mixed in them. Watch the Food Network? Tyler Florence, chef and father, helped create this line, so you know it's going to taste more like FOOD and less BLECH than most. Plus, even though I am fortunate that neither of my children have shown any signs of food allergies, I have friends that have to scrutinize every label and ingredient. Sprout Foods baby food would be great for them, as most do not contain milk, nuts, egg, soy, wheat, gluten, fish or shellfish.

Perfect for a complete breakfast, Sister B's first sample was Oatmeal with Roasted Cinnamon Applesauce. Just opening the pouch made me pleased, because this food not only had a scent, it smelled... tasty. Figuring it couldn't really taste that great - it is pureed baby food, after all - I tried a tiny amount and was amazed. Yum! Suddenly my own bowl of soggy cereal wasn't looking so appetizing.

Stop hogging it and let me have some already!

You're right, this is GOOD!

As well as the flavor, something noticeably different about Sprout Foods baby food is that it comes in pouches instead of jars or plastic containers. On the one hand, I applaud Sprout Foods for their attempt to reduce waste and energy consumption in the manufacturing and transportation of their products while still providing the customer with a high-quality product that is really convenient. Tossing these in the diaper bag is SO much easier than toting around bulky containers or jars that could break. Plus, Sprout is working to find a manufacturer that can produce a pouch that can be recycled, which is really great.

On the other hand, getting the food out from the depths of the pouch is a little difficult and, no matter what I tried, the spoon ended up sticky and so did my fingers. This was a small price to pay, however, to not have to deal with peeling back a traditional plastic container and having the food spray onto my shirt.

One more convenience that Sprout offers is their SproutBaby Club, a customizable delivery program where you receive a monthly shipment of Sprout Foods organic baby food in quantities that make sense for your family. This is not only convenient (hello? Someone else making sure I don't open the cupboard and find that we're down to the last container of baby food and then delivering it right to my door free of shipping charges? Yes, please) but you save money by ordering larger quantities. Depending on whether you order 60, 90 or 120 pouches, you save between 10 to 20 percent off of the standard prices, which is nice because they are a little higher than normal baby food.

Not looking for organic baby food right now? SproutBaby offers much more than just that. Whether you are in the market for bottles, diaper rash cream, lotion, colic relief, a pregnancy pampering kit (a great gift idea), books, DVDs... the list is endless. Personally, I'd love to pack my daughter's picnic lunch in their To-Go Ware 3-Tier Stainless Steel Tiffin Set.

If I pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in here...

...will it come out looking like this when we get to the park?

Another SproutBaby product high on my list of things to try is Lafe's Organic Baby Insect Repellent because it's definitely a downer when we try to enjoy time outdoors but are surrounded by bugs. There are so many chemicals in normal bug spray that I cringe thinking about spraying it on my toddler, let alone my baby, and this repellent is mild enough even for infants’ skin.

My husband and I are done having children, as we're beyond happy with our two girls. But if I were considering having another, I think I would find the time to watch The Business of Being Born and read Your Best Birth because I've heard a lot about Ricki Lake's questioning whether giving birth should be treated as a natural part of life or a medical procedure. Actually, even though I'm not going to have more kids, I still think I might like to see this DVD and read the book.

Like all moms, the health and well-being of my children is important to me. When I can find a high-quality product that is not only good for them but tastes like real food, it makes me happy. When that product is from an online resource that is committed to children, the planet and the future, that's even better. Thanks, Sprout Foods, for allowing me and Little Sister B to test and review your organic foods, they are delicious. And, for leaving us a box of something this tasty waiting on my doorstep, thanks, Mail Carrier.

Stop typing Mom, can't you see my bowl is empty?

(Other than the six pouches of Sprout Foods baby food that I was sent, I was not provided with anything or enticed to do this review in any way. This review is solely my opinion of this healthy and yummy product.)

Winner!

My second giveaway, for a wonderful Solavie Desert Hair Care duo-pack, has come to an end, meaning...
Congratulations, Justine! Your email is on the way, I hope it helps make your day a good one! Thanks again to everyone for entering, hopefully I'll have another giveaway up and running soon because it's been a lot of fun so far.