Disney World's Best Kept Secret for Moms

Epcot International Food and Wine Festival
photo courtesy of Susan S.

Epcot Entrance
photo courtesy of Susan S.

Shady Baby Parasol

Mexico's Shrimp Taco

Epcot's 2011 International Food and Wine Festival at Walt Disney World is underway and I was invited to go for a day of eating and drinking around the world.  The park was packed that day with long lines to the food vendors, rides, and exhibits. It was also very difficult to maneuver a stroller around the park especially with a Shady Baby parasol attached to it.  Anyway, the International Food and Wine festival offers patrons a variety of food, wine, and beer from around the world in small portion sizes.  Even though I didn't partake in the drinking events because I'm currently nursing my 8 month old son, I was able to sample several delicious bites like Argentina's grilled beef skewers with chimichurri sauce and boniato puree, Mexico's shrimp taco, America's Linda Bean's Perfect Maine Lobster Roll, Morocco's harissa chicken roll, and Belgium's Belgian waffle with berry compote and whipped cream.  All were so yummy!







Baby Care Center eating oatmeal

Cat nap time

I have to say the part that impressed me the most at Epcot was the Baby Care Center.  WOW!  That place is awesome to say the least.  Roomy and cushioned changing tables with large disposable liners, sinks and bottle warmers, highchairs and a toddler eating area, play room with books and toys, a small convenience store with baby food, bottles and nipples, bibs, and other baby care needs for sale, and best of all a private room reserved only for nursing moms!  Again, WOW!  To my amazement, I opened the door to this room to find a nice, dimly lit room with four rocking chairs and two tables.  What a life saver.  My son threw a fit mid day because he was tired and hungry and nothing helped soothe him.  It was only after I took him into this room where he finally settled down, nursed and took a cat nap.  I can't say it enough...what a wonderful accommodation to offer mothers.  And apparently they have these facilities at the other Disney parks as well.  Props to Disney World for recognizing this need and for executing it so well.

1st Visit to Disney

Look for the Baby Care Center in Epcot in the Odyssey Center off to the left of the World Showcase before the Mexico entrance.  Its kind of hidden but its identified on the map and there is a sign pointing you to the location as you walk towards it.  Also look for the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot starting every year in late September and running through mid November.  I've always enjoyed the International Food and Wine Festival and, even though this year was more crowded than in years past, I can say I had a good time. It was really nice to take my son out on a beautiful fall day in Orlando for his first visit to Disney, catch up with old friends and get the exercise I need by walking "around the world".

M-I-C...K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E

My favorite souvenir:
Food and Wine Festival Cookbook.

Review - Whimsyboo Baby "Bum"boo Bath Towel

The mission to find a great infant bath towel that actually dried my baby began several months ago when I basically had it with the sub par, thin, rough cotton towels sold at big box and baby stores.  Enters CandidMommy (Jeni from YouTube and Blogger).  She did a review on a bamboo bath towel that she uses for her kid, Deacon.  It peaked my curiosity so I visited the website.  My first impression was "Holy Moly!  These are a bit more expensive than the ones at the stores."  Taken a back, I hesitated and instead purchased a $16 plush, over sized infant towel from Target.  After wrestling with the packaging, whittling away what seemed like 100 of those annoying plastic ties, and washing it, I noticed that it didn't feel "right".  Yeah, well lesson learned on how to read labels because the towel was 100% polyester.  Polyester of all things!!!  I used it twice and it was awful.  It just pushed the water around and was worse than the thin cotton ones I started off with.  Needless to say its next to a pile of wood waiting for its turn in the fire pit. 

After that failed attempt at cheapening out on my Munchkin (never again!), I finally decided to invest on a Whimsyboo Baby towel.  Yes, this is an investment that will last a long time (maybe even multiple children).  I decided to go for the mother load and get the "Bum"boo towel. Let me tell you that I wish I had known about this 7 months ago.  I would have loved to use this towel from day 1.  It is AWESOME!!!!  To use bamboo velour as bath towel material is complete genius.  As soon as the towel hits skin it immediately wicks away moisture.  Oh, and its sooooo soft and keeps baby nice and warm.  What more can you ask for?  Well how about a parent neck strap that way Mommy or Daddy isn't doing a crazy neck strain trying to hold the towel up while fishing baby out of the tub.  But wait, there's more...the heart shaped inlay, shown in the image below, is layered with bamboo velour to help protect the parent's clothes from getting wet.  To top it all off, this company has great customer service too.  When I placed my order, I qualified at the time for free wash cloths.  I guess I had picked out a girlie color for the towel and boyish colors for the wash cloths.  Well, the owner contacted me through email to make sure my order was correct and even went as far as to accommodate a special request after the order was placed.  I wanted a neutral color scheme that way I can reuse the towel for a future baby but I didn't like the options available.  So, Whimsyboo Baby made a special color combo towel just for me.  How cool is that!  Oh, and their color descriptions are so cute and delicious - you'll have to visit their website to see what I mean.  I love supporting small businesses and I can say that this one is worth buying from.

The bottom line:  This product is worth every penny.  I don't regret purchasing it and only wish I had bought it sooner.  Dries my little Munchkin's skin uber fast and the material is not rough on his delicate skin.  The product is very well made right here in the USA and, from the short time we've been using it, seems like it will last a long time.  The products by Whimsyboo Baby will make my gifting list this holiday season and for future baby shower gifts as well.  http://whimsyboobaby.com
 

Whimsyboo Baby "Bum"boo Towel in Key Lime Pie
with Vanilla Custard and Chocolate Mousse Accents
(special request color combo)

Hoodie with heart detail

   

"Bum"boo Layer

My little Munchkin modeling his Whimsyboo Baby towel

These opinions are my own and I bought this product without solicitation from the company mentioned within this review.

A Beautiful Blend

So a couple of months ago I came across tickets for a creative and unique activity for sale on Groupon.  The deal of the day was half-off a homemade soap making class at Earth, Blend and Flower (aka Sakile).  My husband has been into that type of stuff for a while now and I thought what a great way to spend some one-on-one time together.  He's made his own laundry detergent and has been wanting to make homemade soap so this was right up his alley.  Well, we finally used our Groupon today and let me tell you that we had a really good time.  Karen, the lady running the class, was well informed, very nice and was very good at sharing her knowledge about natural body products.  We were able to choose from a wide variety of all natural scented oils, colors, and textures such as mint, coffee, oatmeal, nuts, lavender, indigo, citrus, etc.  The funny thing is, that with all the possible combinations we could choose from, my husband and I made almost the exact same soap: a base of cocoa and coffee.  Early on in our relationship we knew we were meant for each other because we would finish each others sentences and thought and liked the same things.  We didn't need a soap making class to prove that was still the case but I guess it goes to show that after so many years together we still are one in the same.  :)

So, overall I would recommend this to anyone that is looking to try their hand at artisan soap making (or as Sakile puts it "batch from scratch basic soap blending") and for someone that is wanting to learn something fun and new.  It takes 4 weeks for the soap to fully cure so I'll be sure to follow up and post pictures of the results.  I will say it's a bit on the pricey side if you don't have a coupon but, on the flip side, not only is the class fun and informative, you get to walk away with an all natural, paraben free, yummy block (which cuts up into a maximum of 6 bars according to Karen) of soap!  Unique date night indeed.

Now what

After days of contemplating what to write for my second blog post, I came to the realization that I should blog about what I plan for future blogs...an agenda of sorts.  I think topics that I find myself searching high and low on Google should make the list since these are probably the same topics that will appeal to other moms too.  If I can help out a fellow mommy then I can consider that a job well done. So, the following are some of the topics I'll concentrate on for my next blogs.  Of course it's not an all inclusive list but its a jump start to more creative things to come I hope.

• Homemade baby food
• Mommy and baby product reviews
• Breastfeeding and pumping
• Baby and nursing gear must haves
• Baby milestones and advice

If anyone is out there, please leave a comment and let me know if there are other thing you'd like to read about.

P.S. See, I can write a blog without technical mumbo jumbo.  :)

Hello, World!

#include

int main(void)
{
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}

Sorry, I couldn't resist but to start this blog off in a nerdy way. Truth be known I hate programming and avoid it like the plague. "Hello, World!" was one of the only C++ programs in college I was able to figure out without the urge to walk away from my computer in pure frustration. I digress.

So, to those that have either wandered here accidentally or had a spark of curiosity, welcome. Thanks for stopping by and I hope that this blog lives up to its title. I'm sure my journey will be filled with laughter, tears, and everything in between. I just hope that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it all out.