mustela high sun protection lotion spf 50

www.mustelausa.com

it's hot. so hot, in fact, that it's actually cooler outside than it is in my house. time to pack up my son and head to the park!

my 11-month-old son has been blessed with my husband's good looks and my casper-the-ghost white skin. as a consequence, he will now be subjected to me slathering him in sunscreen every time we leave the house.

but not any sun lotion will do! mustela, the brand known for their excellent baby and mommy skin products, has a wonderful sun protection lotion that comes in a casper-friendly spf 50.

formulated specifically for babies over 6 months, mustela's high sun protection lotion comes in both a hand-lotion sized package and a convenient lip gloss sized tube, which can be easily slipped into your pocket as you head out the door. their water- and sweat-resistant formula glides on easily without leaving a sticky feeling behind.

mustela's sun protection lotion contains both titanium and zinc oxide for maximum protection against those harmful summer rays but is still fragrance-free and delicate enough to use on baby's sweet face. just make sure you smooth the lotion in, or it's whiteness will really leave your child looking like a friendly ghost.

you can even use it on your own sensitive skin! just make sure you leave a little for baby.

consumer product safety commission e-mail list

https://www.cpsc.gov/

every night on the news it seems that there's a new and terrifying product recall that i've been blissfully unaware of. things like "caution! your baby's food is made of asbestos!" or "in the news today: bag o' broken glass deemed unsafe for toddlers."

yikes. how do people find out about all these things? i feel like i'm always a week too late and find out that the Baby Jackhammer at Home Kit™ (not for sale in stores) will put my son's eye out only after i've let him play with it already.

my cousin turned me on to the consumer product safety commission's e-mail list for baby products. you can get up to date information in one easy daily e-mail. simply click on the link above, enter your e-mail address and scroll down to select "only those recalls involving infant/child products (list name: child)" so that you don't get unwanted information. you'll receive updates on recalled products the minute it's available.

the cpsc has a strict privacy policy and promises not to give out your e-mail address, so there's no reason not to sign up. after all, if you can get the daily digest about what stupid thing speidi's doing today, you can help keep your little dictator safe.

kidco adhesive mount magnetic lock - no longer recommended!

www.amazon.com: Kidco Starter Lock Set

* updated!*

we've now had these locks for almost a month, and have to admit defeat. first i managed to misplace the "key" (and am still hearing crap about it, thank you very much), then a few of them broke. i can no longer endorse them as-is. the locks may work better once they are screwed in, but we're currently down to 3 out of 5 still functioning. just fyi!

my mom came over the other day to visit, and as she watched my now 10 1/2 month old son crawl after my dog at the speed of light, she turned to me and remarked, "he's going to be a bandit."

thanks, mom.

the worst part? i think she's right. i turned away this morning for what i swear was one millisecond and he was across the room and throwing miscellaneous tchotchkes off the third shelf of my bookcase. time to lock the drawers!

what to use..... something ugly? something i'll have to screw in to my nice cabinets? something that will pinch little fingers trying to reach inside? a ha.... found it! kidco, one of the leading makers of child safety products, has created these ingenious cabinet locks that install without using a single tool. with kidco's adhesive mount magnetic locks, there are no unsightly tell-tale locks on the outside of your kitchen doors - also known as the parental equivalent of the visible panty line.

using a sturdy adhesive, one half of the lock sticks securely to the door frame and the other to the inside of the cabinet - invisible to the naked eye. a strong magnet "key" is held up to the cabinet door to unlock. sounds too good to be true? nope - it actually works and is surprisingly strong. not only can my son pull himself up on the cabinet door (not that i'm advocating this) without it budging, but it also seemed pretty supportive of me giving it a few strong tugs - and although i hate to admit it, i weigh a good deal more than my son.

the only downside to kidco's adhesive mount magnetic locks? making sure you don't misplace the magnet key. we stick ours to the refrigerator after every use to make sure we still have full access to the tupperware cabinet. you know, to get out our baby's "toys."

mommy's helper Safe-Plate™

www.amazon.com

it's so exciting when your little one starts to crawl! one day they're just sitting quietly, the next they're zooming across the floor. and trying to pull up on things. and discovering outlets.

before you run out and spend $1,500 for a baby proofer to come to your house (oh yeah, they'll charge you that much), get a few basics down pat. put cords out of sight, move that sharp-edged coffee table and get new outlet covers.

mommy's helper makes the safe-plate, an electric outlet plate that screws into place easily with just one screw. spring loaded sliding doors mean it's easy for you to plug something in, but snap shut when not in use. the safe-plate outlets stay closed tight when you don't need them and keep prying fingers safe.

make this one thing you can cross off of your baby proofing list - pick up a batch of safe-plates and get to installing!

monday mommysaver: lil' playzone with lights and sound

www.rightstart.com

remember before you had kids? it's tough, i know. but if you think very hard, you can remember what it was like to have a living room with freshly cut flowers instead of linking rings, squeaky things and pacifiers littering the floor. these were the times when my husband and i would go to visit our friends with kids and smugly look at each other thinking, "oh, our house will never look like this."

think again, sucker!

i am now the proud owner of a lil' playzone with lights and sound, sitting squarely in my living room and i. couldn't. be. happier.
no, seriously. this thing is AWESOME.

even though my mom thinks it looks like the ok corral, and my childless friends will think it's a plastic monstrosity, the lil' playzone is fantastic. the lil' playzone measures 46"x46" - big enough for your little dictator, you, and a weiner dog, should you have one. and at 23" tall, it's the perfect height for your child who's just learning to pull up and stand on his own.

the lil' playzone has one panel with built-in toys (no assembly required), including a play phone, a mirror, a little slidey door and buttons to push that light up and play music. the playard is so easy to assemble that it took less than five minutes to put the whole thing together. you now have somewhere to put your mobile child while you run into the kitchen and get their lunch ready. we couldn't even get cole out of it! every time we out him on the living room floor, he'd turn around and crawl right back into the playzone.

in fact, the playzone is such a big hit in my house that i'm breaking my own rule and including a picture of my little dictators having a blast with it. ta da!