Wean Green's Earth Day Birthday!

ManPans Earth Day Sale

Earth Day Cookware Set On sale through the end of April!

Cookware Set includes:

10 Inch Fry Pan Skillet

Light weight, high performance chef's skillet

• Curved side walls for easy access to turning food
• Patent Pending Cool Grip Handle
• Metal Spatula is recommended!
• Hard Anodized, Made From .080 Aluminum
• Exceptional Durability
• PTFE Free, Water-Based Release Coating: Gem-X2
• Fast Cooking, Easy Clean Up
• Heat Safe to 700 Degrees Fahrenheit

3 Quart Sauce Pan with Glass Lid

Versatile size for small and medium volumes
8 inches wide by 4.4 inches deep

• Rounded bottom edge for efficient stirring
• Cool Grip Handle never gets hot
• Hard Anodized Aluminum
• Exceptional Durability
• PTFE Free, Water-Based Release Coating: Gem-X2
• Fast Cooking, Easy Clean Up
• Heat Safe to 700 Degrees Fahrenheit

Small Oven Roaster

A perforated insert with nibs or feet that fits inside our 9 inch by 13 inch Quarter-Sheet pan.
Keeps foods from sitting in unwanted grease and oils and promotes a crispy baked product.

• Stick-Resistant Coating for Easy Cleaning
• Hard Anodized Medium Guage Aluminum
• Metal Utensil Safe

You will get $52.97 off the individual piece price and $10 off the normal price after April 30 with this offer. The set retails for $192.96 but is on sale for only $139.99!!

If you look really, really hard on ManPans, you may find an additional $10 off!

Carowinds: Dinosaurs Alive

Carowinds is now filled with 32 lifelike dinosaurs in their new Dinosaurs Alive exhibit! The multi-million dollar exhibit is the largest animatronic dinosaur park in the southeast! There are 25 diverse species featured with tons of information available about each one. 

We had the chance to walk through the 5 acre exhibit over the weekend and I couldn't be more impressed! We all felt like we were walking through a dinosaur zoo. 

The life-size dinosaurs are animatronic, while some can be controlled by the guest and some move on their own. Each dinosaur has its own unique roar teaching you the different sounds each animal made.    Listening to the different roars while they moved really made you feel like you were among real live dinosaurs! 

The largest dinosaur on exhibit is 40 feet high and over 60 feet long. Each dinosaur is scientifically accurate based on current paleontological information. Not only are the dinosaurs accurate, but you also get to see their behavior depicted through their habitats! There are even scenes based on fossil evidence!

One of my favorite added features of the exhibit is the cute jokes published along the walkway. My daughter enjoyed reading them and thought they were hysterical.

 There are also fossil like imprints on the walkway, funny signs like don't feed the dinosaurs, a real dig site where kids can find fossils, and a dinosaur souvenir shop to get lots of dino gear.

Dinosaurs Alive is a fun education experience the whole family will love! You can learn interesting, current facts about each specie while seeing the fine details of each animal. This is unlike any other dinosaur exhibit you've ever seen! This is as close to the real thing we ever will get.

The exhibit is located between Planet Snoopy and the Caroline RFD area. To get to it, you need to go through the Dinosaur Alive gift shop. It is $5 admission with general park admission. I highly recommend checking it out! You won't be disappointed!

YoKids Smoothies on the Moo-ve Giveaway

Every winter we take a trip to the beach. There's something about being able to run around on the beach without worrying about other tourists. E loves rolling around in the sand making sand angels. The temps in NC are usually mild so when I saw it was going to be a 60 degree weekend, we decided to take a day/night trip to Wilmington.

Luckily hotels are rather cheap on the off season, so we were able to stay on the beach and get a fun kid room for E! She was thrilled to get to sleep in a bunk bed and the fact I allowed her to drink her YoKids Smoothie at the top.

Stonyfield now has YoKids Smoothies in Very Berry (Strawberry, Raspberry & Sweet Potato) and Strawbana (Strawberry, Banana & Carrot) that are super yumy. E has Yokids at least once or twice a day. She LOVES Stonyfield Yogurt. And I don't mind her eating it so much because it is organic, made with real fruits and vegetables, and has no artificial ingredients or dyes.

While we were in Wilmington we stopped by Fort Fisher to see the aquarium. E enjoyed her Strawberry Smoothie before going in which tied her over until lunch.

The aquarium added a new touch tank where you can pet a live shark! Little man was enthralled by the fish, but decided to take a nap halfway through.

After the aquarium, we decided to head to the beach and enjoy our afternoon and then headed home. E is a terrible traveler. She gets bored super easy, so we play road games. I've been running out of ideas and luckily Stonyfield sent us "52 Fun Things to do in the Car" cards for on the go fun! If you travel with children, I highly recommend picking up a pack! They have some super cute ideas.

Stonyfield's new YoKids Yogurt Smoothies are made with REAL organic milk, fruits and veggies (puree, not concentrate!) and each 3.1oz bottle accounts for 1/3 of kids' recommended daily serving of calcium.  

GIVEAWAY: Stonyfield would like to offer one lucky reader coupons for (4) FREE 6-packs of YoKids Smoothies coupons and a deck of "52 Fun Things to do in the Car" cards as well! Just fill out the form below and good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wombmart- Placenta Encapsulation

I can't believe it's been 11 weeks since little man entered our lives! Time has flown by, way too fast. I wanted to write his birth story and include all of the amazing people who helped us along the way. But I wanted to first talk about what has gotten me through the first months. My placenta.

OK, I have to admit, when I first heard of placenta encapsulation I was grossed out. I mean, eating your placenta? Yuck. But I kept hearing how much it helped with postpartum depression. I knew this was going to be something I would battle since I did with E. So to me, it was worth researching.

Placentophagy (the practice of eating one's placenta after birth) dates back to more than 2,000 years. The placenta is said to be very nutritious and the Chinese believe it helps achieve longevity. There are several debates about toxins remaining in the placenta. But when you compare modern medicine to placentophagy, I think there is less risk in taking placenta capsules.

Other things I learned about placentophagy are that it helps with milk production, helps the healing process, helps with post partum depression, and is full of vitamins and minerals.

A friend of mine recommended Jereka Hunt of Wombart to be my encapsulator. Jereka is a PBi Certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist and owner of Wombart- serving Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and surrounding counties. ​Jereka talked me through the extremely easy process and all I had to do was bag and refrigerate my placenta after birth.

When I got to the hospital, CMC Pineville, I informed them immediately I was keeping my placenta. I made sure to tell every nurse and Dr. so they were aware of my plans. I brought a cooler filled with ice and gallon size ziplock bag just in case it didn't fit in our room fridge. I had no issues what so ever with any of the staff and they were more than happy to bag it in a sterile bag for me. I was worried the staff might give me a hard time- but they all thought it was great and had wonderful things to say about it.

After having Keenan, my mom took the placenta home and kept it in the fridge until Jereka arrived the next morning. I hate I missed out on the cooking/encapsulating process, but it was also pretty cool that my placenta was encapsulated and ready for use before I even left the hospital.

Encapsulation happens in your home. Jereka brought all of her own equipment and even her own trash bags. My mom had a blast talking with her and learning all about encapsulation. Jereka came early in the morning and came back later that evening to finish the process! It was that fast and simple. Encapsulation can take 2 days depending on Wombmart's schedule.

I had a c-section with Keenan and apparently my iron levels were very low after surgery. They wanted to put me on 350 mg prescription iron (which had red dye 40 and a bunch of other yucky preservatives) but when I told my OB I was taking placenta capsules, she said I could just take them and they would be enough!

Not only are placenta capsules high in iron they are filled with healing ingredients like:
*Gonadotrophin - the precursor to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone​
*Prolactin - promotes lactation ​​​​
​*Oxytocin - for pain and bonding; produced during breastfeeding to facilitate bonding of mother and infant. In pharmaceutical form this is a very addictive drug because it promotes a feeling of connectedness with others and is often referred to as the "love" hormone
*Interferon - stimulates the immune system to protect against infection ​
*Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - boosts energy and helps recovery from stressful events
*Cortisone - combats stress and unlocks stores of energy
*Prostaglandins - anti-inflammatory
*Hemoglobin - replenishes iron deficiency and anemia
*Gammaglobulin - immune booster that helps protect against postpartum infections
*Urokinase Inhibiting Factor & Factor XIII - stops bleeding and enhances wound healing​

Since I needed more iron, I took 3 capsules 3X's a day for 5 days. I then went down to 2 capsules twice a day- until I got mastitis. Which I then discontinued use of the placenta capsules until I was done with my antibiotics. The placenta capsules really helped get my milk supply back up once the infection was over! My LLC even raved about how great they work for breastfeeding ad supply issues.

When I was off the capsules during my mastitis, I became very emotional and was extremely overwhelmed. Once back on the capsules, I felt like my old self with higher energy. I highly recommend!

I really enjoyed the whole process of encapsulation. I loved working with Jereka and learning about placenta encapsulation. If you are in the Charlotte area and are thinking about placenta encapsulation, check out Wombmart online or on Facebook!