Product Review: Baby Einstein's Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym

One of the first toys that we purchased for our AppleBlossom was the Baby Einstein's Baby Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym. At first she would cry anytime she was put down aka out of Mama's arms, yet after a while she started looking around. It was at about ten weeks old that she was interested in playing or batting around. Her favorite part is the octopus with it's rattle, scrunchy-like tentacles, and now (15 wks) the orange handle.

Let the ocean adventure begin! This soft activity gym features a musical aquarium toy with Baby Einstein ocean characters, classical melodies, and dancing lights. A whale shaped prop-up pillow accompanies baby on this underwater adventure during tummy time, which comes to life with the crisp and colorful real-life scenery of the sea on the play mat. Tummy time is enhanced by the animal peek-a-boo flaps with real-life imagery, and the ability to reposition and attach toys to loops on the mat or loops on the whale pillow. The soft octopus toy is sure to be baby's favorite to take on-the-go. Additional toys include a large fish shaped baby-safe mirror, one set of ocean discovery cards featuring real-life images of 4 underwater animals, a Baby Neptune™ rattle, a water-filled teether, and 8 links to re-position toys.
© The Baby Einstein Company. All Rights Reserved.

Baby Einstein is a trademark of The Baby Einstein Company, LLC. EINSTEIN is a trademark of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

AppleBlossom enjoys the different musical tunes that play when I set it on rattle mode. She will rattle the canopy and the music will play, it is so much fun to watch her enjoy the cause and effect. Recently she has discovered the fish shaped mirror. Each time she sees it she seems shocked, but then grins with glee of her face changing expressions where she can see. Another feature that she loves for the tummy time while on the whale is being able to grasp the peek-a-boo flaps. I believe she likes the texture in her hands, more than the actual game of peek-a-boo at this time, but that may change.



What I like about this, was at first it was some where for me to watch her and give my arms a rest, but still have her near. Now, she uses so much energy and fills the room with squeals while I eat breakfast a few feet away and she plays. In the future we will be able to point out colors and animals and a few textures for stimulation. I love how this will grow a bit with her and each week seems to give her something new.


When we purchased this gym we felt that we would like another hanging toy, and thus also purchased an Orca Melody Maker. After time though, I needed something to hang on the pack 'n play up stairs and she needed something else to bat at, so I replaced the hanging orca with the Infantino Peek-a-boo Rattle frog that was a gift.

She loves to bat at and hear the rattles so it works well. I think when she gets into pulling that the Melody Maker will be more appropriate, but for now I'm the only one doing the pulling. With that said she does love the three sounds from the melody maker, two tunes and bubbles.

And then months later, she still enjoys it!

Product Review: Taggies Soft Blocks from ebeanstalk

Something we have discovered is that picking a toy is not easy. There are so many variables to choose from and there is a website called ebeanstalk dedicated to selecting good, safe baby toys and toddler toys. But they need help from Mamas like me to help pick the toys. Thanks to ebeanstalk, the toy they provided for review is called Taggies Soft Blocks, it is one of their many unique toys.

Taggies Soft Blocks are great learning toys because each feature tons of tactile elements, colorful images, silly sounds and, of course, TAGGIES galore! Easy-grab, un-stuffed blocks can be squashed into a diaper bag. Clever hook & loop links attach all blocks together for play in the stroller, highchair or car seat. DIMENSIONS: 8.75" X 4.25" X 8.5" PACKAGED

When I opened the box to find these Taggies soft blocks I was ecstatic. AppleBlossom likes them too. There are so many colors and textures! I love the different animals and the shooting star! Two blocks have a bell inside and the other two blocks have the crinkly material, both are great noises that really catches her attention and curiosity. Already she is grasping the tags and rubbing them between her fingers. These blocks are the first Taggies-type product she's been around and already I can tell they are a big hit. When she is more into holding the blocks I can easily see toting a couple around in the diaper bag, and they are no problem at all in size for that either.

Introduce your child to the different textures and sounds of the Taggies Soft Blocks. Encourage them to pass them from one hand to the other, to shake them and throw them.

Once you find out which block is your favorite, be sure to stuff that one into the diaper bag or clip onto the stroller or car seat. Or, you can link them all together and take all of them

As your child gets older, you can teach them the different animals and see how quickly they learn. Ask them to pick up the lion, the sheep, etc.

These could not have come to us at a better time and I am loving the idea of seeing her grow with them. From naming the animals and colors, to feeling the varying array of textures and materials, hearing the bells versus the crinkles I'm so excited about the activity and learning with these blocks. After seeing this in hand I highly recommend them and would gladly get them for gifts. I'll give you more updates as she grows in her usage with them in the future too!

Age: Newborns+ (Target Age: 3 months)

Target Age

Children grow and learn at different speeds. This item can be enjoyed by younger and older children depending on their interests and abilities.

The Target Age is the time most children START enjoying this toy, game or book as determined by our Child-Experts.
Please be aware of small-part warnings when choosing toys for younger children.

Brand: International Playthings

We got these right about when AppleBlossom turned three months, and she was curious about them, but it was not until she was almost four months that she really just started to love them. They were around and she would play with it if you shook it or held it to her, but now she'll grab them on her own and squeal about them too. *grin*

Giveaway: Snow Angel by Jamie Carie

This Giveaway is closed. 

Thanks to Julie Gwinn of B&H Publishing Group I have a good list of books to giveaway! Keep checking back in the days to come for more titles. Today, up for grabs is one copy of Snow Angel by Jamie Carie.

When Noah Wesley heard the faint sound outside the door of his remote Alaskan mountain cabin during a violent nighttime blizzard, it was no less than the voice of God that urged him to take a closer look, soon to discover his snow angel.
Unconscious and more than half frozen to death, her name, as Noah would later learn after boldly saving her life, was Elizabeth, a beautiful young woman, fragile yet fierce, and intent on discovering gold like so many others in that region during the late 1800s.
But why Elizabeth was so drawn to the gold, and why she would chase it even through a pounding storm that no man would dare face, was a secret to be shared with no one else, not even at the inviation of Noah's deep blue trusting eyes.
First time novelist Jamie Carie pens a can't-put-down debut in Snow Angel, a masterfully romantic story wherein cold and lonely hearts risk everything to be forever warmed.

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This giveaway is open to international winners and is open until January 14th. The winners will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. 

Giveaway: Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie

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Thanks to Julie Gwinn of B&H Publishing Group I have a good list of books to giveaway! Keep checking back in the days to come for more titles. Today, up for grabs are two copies of Wind Dancer by Jamie Carie.

Raised in a British-held frontier town during the American Revolution, Isabelle Renoir is not like other women around her. A free spirit, she dances in the moonlight as a praise offering to God and is more at home fearlessly taking her long rifle and knife into the woods for adventure and inspiration.

But Isabelle’s latest journey may be more than even her strength can handle when a huge storm throws the raven-haired beauty off course and into the path of rugged American spy Samuel Holt. After matching wits and denying their passion for each other, they are attacked by Indians, held prisoner, and forced to watch the horrific killing of Isabelle’s brother. Now together but in captivity, they must fight spiritual forces that no knife or rifle could ever conquer in order to be free.

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Giveaway: Love's First Light by Jamie Carie

Thanks to Julie Gwinn of B&H Publishing Group I have a good list of books to giveaway! Keep checking back in the days to come for more titles. Today, up for grabs are two copies of Love's First Light by Jamie Carie.

New from Jamie Carie, today’s most awarded new Christian romance writer. Christophé, the Count of St. Laurent, has lost his entire family to the blood-soaked French Revolution and must flee to an ancient castle along the southern border of France to survive. But the medieval city of Carcassonne proves more than a hiding place. Here Christophé meets the beautiful widow Scarlett, a complex and lionhearted woman suddenly taken by the undercover aristocrat’s passion for astronomy and its influence upon his faith. Although their acquaintance begins brightly enough, when the Count learns that Scarlett is related to the man who murdered his family, he turns from love and chooses revenge. Heaven only knows what it might take for Christophé to love again, to love his enemy, and to love unconditionally.

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This giveaway is open to international winners and is open until January 13th. The winners will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. 

Giveaway: The Duchess and the Dragon by Jamie Carie

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Thanks to Julie Gwinn of B&H Publishing Group I have a good list of books to giveaway! Keep checking back in the days to come for more titles. Today, up for grabs are two copies of The Duchess and the Dragon by Jamie Carie. 

Rising romance novelist Jamie Carie’s second book, The Duchess and the Dragon, tells the epic story of two unlikely soulmates who live worlds apart but soon meet and turn each other’s world upside down.

Drake Weston, Duke of Northumberland, is accustomed to a life of royalty until a tragic mistake followed by murderous rage results in his darkening character and sudden flee from England. With a hoarde of money on which to survive, Drake hops a ship of indentured servants to America but is duly robbed and taken ill by the merciless sea voyage.

In Pennsylvania, Serena Winter is a humble, devoted Quaker on a mission of mercy, ready to tend the sick people aboard a ship that has just arrived from England. Taken by Drake’s air of dark mystery after he begins to serve as an apprentice to her silversmith father, Serena falls in love and is excommunicated by her fellow believers when she accepts a non-Quaker’s marriage proposal.

Not knowing Drake’s history, Serena is later shocked to discover her new status as a duchess. What follows are hard truths and softening hearts, romance triangles, webs of deceit, and ultimately, the power of grace, love, and passion.

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This giveaway is open to international winners and is open until January 12th. The winners will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. 

Giveaway: Angel's Den by Jamie Carie

This giveaway is closed. 



Thanks to Julie Gwinn of B&H Publishing Group I have a good list of books to giveaway! Keep checking back in the days to come for more titles. Today, up for grabs are two copies of Angel's Den: a Novel by Jamie Carie that will be published in February 2010.

In 1808, when Emma meets and marries Eric Montclaire (the famed “most handsome man west of the Appalachians”), this young daughter of prominent St. Louis citizens believes a fairy tale has just begun. Instead, her husband’s angelic looks quickly prove only to mask a monstrous soul all too capable of possessive emotions and physical abuse. Praying for mercy, she is devastated when Eric insists on her joining his yearlong group expedition to the Pacific Ocean, following the trail Lewis and Clark blazed just a few years earlier. By the time cartographer Luke Bowen realizes Emma’s plight, it’s too late to easily untangle what has become an epic web of lies, theft, murder, courtroom drama, and a deep longing for love. Only God can show them the way out.

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This giveaway is open to international winners and is open until January 11th. The winners will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. 

The Husband Tree *Montana Marriages, #2

The Husband Tree by Mary Connealy

Hit the trail into the Old West, where a tough lady rancher and a seemingly aimless wrangler attempt to avoid the matrimonial noose. When Belle Tanner hires Silas Harden to help her get her cattle to market, the last thing she’s looking for is romance. So why does she turn into jelly whenever he’s near? Silas wants nothing to do with women, but he can’t seem to resist the pull of love when it comes to Belle. Can they make it through this cattle drive without getting hitched? Or will they steer straight into a commitment neither one counted on?

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It is quite a fact that I have yet to come across a book by Mary Connealy that I did not like. I loved the Lassoed in Texas series and I am enamored with the Montana Marriages series. It is baffling to me how each and every story can grip you further. The catty whit is so amusing and the characters are lovely. The issues dealing with real world problems are incredibly woven in a western historical standpoint and cause a reader to truly think. The growing love between protagonists is breathe taking and palpable.

Belle Tanner is not your average western woman, but a woman not to be challenged. She has had her fill of husbands, as is shown by the occupied dirt surrounding three sides of the Husband Tree. The last thing that she wants is another husband nor a romance that leads that general direction. Silas is man with two near misses when it comes to marriage and not looking for another chance. When time has run out and a cattle drive has to be made by Belle and her four daughters, the drifter Silas is her only hope. What God brings together, let no man put apart.

As a mother of a new baby reading and watching Belle's days with her girls especially her infant is amazing. I cannot imagine nursing while riding on horseback, much less changing a diaper in mid gallop without missing a beat. I am thrilled and enchanted to the bone by the tale devised by Mary's imagination and I cannot wait for the third installment in the series The Wildflower Bride. In this book you get a taste for what might be in for Wade Sawyer and Abby Lind. *sigh* Anticipation.

*Thanks to Angie Brillhart of Barbour Books for providing a copy for review.*

View all my reviews

Review of Cowboy Christmas (a stand alone)
Review of Montana Rose *Montana Marriages, #1
Review of Petticoat Ranch *Lassoed in Texas, #1
Review of Calico Canyon *Lassoed in Texas, #2
Review of Gingham Mountain *Lassoed in Texas, #3