Perrigo Nutritionals Unique Baby Sweepstakes (and a Giveaway!)

Having had 4 children, I know the importance of good nutrition and saving money!  With our first baby (who is now almost 11!), we researched EVERYTHING and wanted to choose only the best.  The challenge we faced was that I was working part-time teaching kindergarten, my husband had just graduated graduate school, and we were looking to buy our first home.  It was tough to make choices when the media made it seem that the best choices were the priciest!  

It needs to be said that I nursed all my children and knew I was giving then best start that way.  But as we all know, there are times and circumstances when nursing isn't and option and it's necessary to use formula...which is just so expensive!  Tater, my oldest, never could control the flow of breast milk, so after 6 months of exclusively pumping, we knew we needed to switch to formula...for my sanity!  Lol!  Bruiser, the next oldest, had a lactose intolerance and continued on formula well past a year, after weaning.  And then our newest little one (in that cute picture above!), Bubba, developed a weird intolerance to dairy and needed formula to avoid rashes.  See...no baby and feeding situation is perfect :).

So back to the pricey part of feeding babies!  We felt drawn to buy the name brand formulas, because we wanted the best and real thing for our babies.  You understand, right?  Well, shortly after switching Tater to formula, we had an appointment with our pediatrician.  We were every surprised (and pleased!) when he encouraged us to switch to the store brand formula!  He shared how formula companies are strictly regulated and a completely safe and nutritional alternative.  It was a life-saver (and bank account saver!).

Read below for more information and to check out the Sweepstakes...there are great prizes to be won!  In the meantime, I have a $30 Visa gift card to give away!  Leave a comment sharing how you save money raising your little one!  I will randomly choose a winner on Friday, October 16th.  Happy sharing and good luck!

Store Brand Formula’s Unique Baby Sweepstakes

When it comes to infant formula, many factors will help make the decision of what’s best for your baby, but the name on the container should not be one of them! 

What most moms don’t know is that the FDA strictly regulates infant formula to keep little ones safe, so store brand infant formulas, like Walmart’s Parent’s Choice and Target’s Up and Up, are nutritionally comparable to national brands like Enfamil® and Similac® and meet FDA standards, at a much lower cost to your family.

So essentially, the brand of formula you use is not unique, but of course your baby is unique.

To shine the spotlight on the most important part of the formula equation: your baby, Store Brand Formula is launching a “Unique Baby” Photo Sweepstakes in which the winner will receive $5,000 AND a year supply of Store Brand Formula.

Every baby is unique. Show us how YOUR baby is unique.  We’re looking for funny, silly, odd, crazy unique baby photos.

Is your baby making a really bizarre expression?

Perhaps your baby is making an angry face?

Or maybe your baby’s hair is sticking up in a funny way.

Whatever it is, we’d love to see it.

How to Enter

To enter the Store Brand Formula Unique Baby Sweepstakes, simply visit http://bit.ly/1Fd2i6y and follow the photo submission guidelines and the on-screen instructions to complete the online entry form. All entries must be submitted between September 28, 2015 – November 5, 2015.

Limit one (1) entry per person, per day for the duration of the Sweepstakes

  

One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000 and a one (1) year supply of the winner’s choice of Store Brand Baby Formula. Five (5) First Prize winners will receive $200 and a one (1) year supply of the winner’s c choice of Store Brand Baby Formula.

For official rules click here!  

Disclosure:  This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog does accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organizations.

 The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

 The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.


 This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Bubba Day!

I was able to coordinate childcare for the three school kids so Daddy could work and I could stay with family for another week as we remembered and missed Mimi.  And even though Papa put me to work cleaning and organizing, Bubba and I found time to enjoy cousins and check out a few sights!

The local museum has a Curious George exhibit and Papa and I took Bubba and Cousin D to explore...and then we checked out the dinosaurs and the mummy!

Then we enjoyed some cousin sleepovers...

Mommy/Aunt Annie was losing control when Cousin J slept over!

And Bubba wanted to be just like big Cousin D!

And we had to act like a puppy...good thing this floor had just been scrubbed!

 Mommy and Bubba returned home just in time for Bubba to start "school".

(It's a speech therapy group through his EI program but he loves to ride in Mommy's "bus" and go to "school"!) 

Summer Vacation in September

When I decided to stop teaching and stay home with Bubba (and the other 3 when they aren't in school!), my one wish was to go to the shore in September.  Any teacher will totally understand the appeal...a vacation in September is unheard of when you are just starting the school year!  So we started searching for the best vacation house in our favorite location...Ocean City, New Jersey :).  And the best part of vacationing off-season?  We were able to rent a house right on the beach and in our price range!

 

We spent a relaxing week soaking in the sun and family time.  Papa and Cousin D spent the first part of the week with us and then Pop-Pop and Memaw arrived for the second half of the week.  We enjoyed slow mornings, playing on the beach by 9am (or earlier!) and late evenings watching the waves.  We dug in the sand, rode our boogie boards, and saw dolphins almost every day!  The weather was fabulous!

 

 

We ended the week a night too soon with the news that my mom, the kids' Mimi, had left on the bus to Heaven.  We were thankful for my inlaws, who stayed the last night with our sleeping children and let Daddy and I head to my family to mourn together.  Mimi had been sick for many years and her passing was a merciful thing...but we still feel like she was taken from us far too soon.  We also think she made sure we had that last week together in her favorite place...the beach!

Let's try This Again...And Life Lately :)

I had dreams that my new retired life would open up time for writing...then I realized my new "boss" is a 2-year-old!!!!  Bubba is like all three of the other children rolled into one...and it's exhausting!

Add in getting 3 kids back into the swing of things with school, a week-long beach vacation, my mother passing away (expected but not so soon)...and writing was once again forgotten.  But if the past two weeks have taught me anything, it's that you need to make time for the things and people you love.  So this little old blog will be coming back!

Stay tuned for updates, picture dumps, and a giveaway!

Life Lately

We've been busy living the summer life!  

We are currently finishing up our third VBS and the kids are loving it.  We've gone to two different churches to do the Everest program and one other church where they "went" to the Outback. 

We start school in less than 3 weeks...yikes!  (But in other news...I can't wait to send them off and stay home for the first time ever!)

The other morning I asked Bubba to smile for me...obviously Toaster Strudels are serious business!!! 

And Bruiser tried to smile nicely...???

And the back to school shopping has started...and good deals have been found!  How cute are these for Sassy???

Weekend Wrap Up

We had no real plans for the weekend...and that made it lovely!!!

Friday night, the kids (well, Bruiser and Sassy) wrapped up another week of VBS...this time at our nanny's church.  Bruiser got to go on stage and share what they did on the third day...he did awesome!  

Bubba didn't find it all so entertaining...so we hung out outside for a bit (or a long while since his screeching was causing heads to turn!).

Saturday...

we cooked some freezer meals in anticipation of our vacation in September, did some laundry, relaxed...and then headed to our slice of Heaven on earth...

This beach visit was a milestone in our lives...all 4 kids went in the water!  Tater always avoided it because it irritated her eczema...but not today!  Bruiser overcame his irrational fears...and loved  it!  Sassy has always been our water bug.  And Bubba?  Couldn't be left out!  He was funny to watch...couldn't understand why the water came at him and then went away...he needed Daddy to carry him past that!

Sunday...

We ran some errands, made a family trip to Savers to explore, did some house projects and enjoyed an afternoon family game!  It was a perfect day!

Now we are back to work (well, Daddy is!), off to a new VBS, and tackling appointments and errands.  Hopefully this is the week the tree comes down and we can gain our backyard back!

Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up with Andrea, Narci and Erika today and sharing my favorite things from the week.

So many things to love right now!

One

I'm loving our relaxed summer days.  We've scheduled a few camps to keep the bigger ones busy and give Mommy and Bubba some one-on-one time.  I had hoped to use those times to get a few projects and errands done...but, hello!...two-year-old!!!  Oh, well!

Tater attended theater camp for most of July.  The director was a middle school girl who was holding the camp to complete her Silver Award for Girl Scouts.  Tater loved it...and just might have caught the acting bug!  I was so impressed with how well she expressed herself and how confident and at ease she was on stage (she DOES NOT get that from her mother!)

And while she was busy doing her thing, the middles enjoyed a week of VBS at our nanny's church.  It's always a fun thing for them and they do it so enthusiastically...just like everything they do in life!  This week's theme was based in the Outback.

We have one more VBS next week and then our summer starts to wind down!

Two

We've been busy prepping for back to school.  I've gone through the school supply lists and determined what we already have and what we need to purchase.  I sorted through all the clothing bins to see where we have holes in the fall and winter wardrobes...and donated 11 garbage bags of clothes (now, I did clean out all the baby boy clothes that I was sentimentally holding on to...so don't think I have hording issues!).

When Tater started kindergarten, I bought her an LLBean small backpack.  

She used it for K, 1, and 2.  Then we upgraded because she needed more storage space.  

We did the same with Bruiser.  Now Sassy is using Tater's original backpack!  I wash them at Christmas break and again at the end of the school year (just toss them in the washer and then air dry) and they have held out great!!!

This year we upgraded Bruiser to the bigger version as he is going into 3rd grade.  His original backpack's front pocket zipper had broken about mid-2nd grade.  He continued to use it and I waited until the end of the school year to test out the LLBean warranty.  Let me say...amazing!  Ordered a new backpack and returned the broken one for a quick exchange...easy as pie!  Now Bubba has backpack to grow into!

Three

We have spent the summer binge watching several shows.  Love snuggling on the couch (with the AC on full blast) after the kids are in bed and falling into a show!  So far we've watched...

And the during the day, while I'm completing boring house chores, I've been watching...

And the kids have been having marathons, watching...

Four

And my not-so-favorite moment of the week...

Early Tuesday morning (as in 6:30am!) a microburst blew through our state.  One of the paths tore directly through our backyard.  We lost half of a large maple (and our pool, trampoline, clothesline, and the neighbor's fence).  One neighbor was not so lucky and woke up to a tree crashing through his house.  We are now having the entire tree removed some time next week...we are lower priority because there is no damage to our actual house.  So, for the time being our backyard is off limits!  We are just happy no one (and our house!!!) was hurt.  It made for a crazy day!

Have a fabulous weekend!