My Teethease - A Product Review

Today the blog is switching back over to a bit more of my Mommy/Baby content. The other month I got an email from Lindsey over at Teethease. You may remember my review on her products from back in the spring. Well, Lindsey has just launched a few new fabulous pieces in her collection, and wanted to know if I wanted to try one out and write a review. Since Halle had just got her fifth tooth, and had such a hard time with it, I knew it would be great to try one out with tooth number 6 on it's way soon.

After checking out all of her fabulous new designs, I picked the Rockease Trio to give a whirl. When it arrived I loved it instantly. Even without Halle trying it out, it's such a stylish piece and I got a ton of great comments on it right away, so on the Mama front I gave it an A+ for style!

What about the most important critic though? What did Halle think? Well, the first time that I showed it to her, and let her know it was okay to chew on, she chewed on it briefly, but seemed to give up rather quickly. I thought maybe the rocks were too big for her little mouth, but the other weekend my theory was disproved.

Poor baby girl has been battling with tooth #6 for what feels like months. She'll have a period of chewing a lot, and then it will pass and this repeats frequently. A couple of weekends ago, while helping friends move, I noticed she wanted to chew on everything she could get her hands on. Thankfully, I had packed my necklace into my diaper bag, so I grabbed it and put it on and away she went, happily chewing on this cute little necklace...

I love how easy it is to bring everywhere, and she's not able to toss it on the ground when I have it around my neck. Of course, she loves it as well - it definitely seems to help soothe her sore little gums when those teeth are making their way in. 

I loved Teethease after our initial experience with them in the spring and I love their products even more now. They are perfect for busy Mom's, and their poor teething babes, and I love them as a baby shower gift. What Mama wouldn't love a pretty necklace that serves a purpose as well? 

Teething Made Easy (& a Giveaway!)

Today's I'm venturing back into something more related to the Mommy stuff that has been creeping into my blogging. While we were away in BC looking for a new place to call home, I got an email from the people at Teethease, asking if I would be interested in trying out and writing a review for one of their pieces of jewelry. After reading more about them, I couldn't possibly turn this opportunity down, after all, Halle's very first tooth is JUST coming in!


So what is Teethease, you ask? Well, it's a Canadian line of jewelry made specifically for Mom's on the go, that is safe for babies to chew on. What really sold me was the fact that the pieces are really easy to wash - they are dishwasher safe, but can also easily be cleaned using soap and water. Even better, all of the pieces are BPA and PVC free and contain no phthalates, heavy metals or latex! All of the smooth surfaces are made from hypoallergenic, medical grade, FDA-approved silicone. Teethease also qualifies for EN-71, the highest international safety standard. This made the whole thing that much better - something I could really feel okay about letting her chew on.


They have a number of necklaces available, as well as bangles, and everything is totally affordable, ranging in price from $9.95 - $34.95. What I received in the mail is the Teethease Pendant Necklace 2.0 in Turquoise - absolutely lovely. The colour is beautiful, and it's really light-weight. I was surprised at how soft the little doughnut was, and it's really easy to wear, which means no digging through the diaper bag to find a teether for Halle.

As for what Halle thought, I was feeling uncertain as to how she would respond has she has really been avoiding chewing on things. So, with my fingers crossed, I held the pendant out to her and let her know it was okay to put in her mouth, and...

SUCCESS! She went NUTS for it, and every time we give it to her she chews, chews and chews some more. Unlike many of the other teethers that we have, this one is so soft - perfect for those tender little gums. I also like that once it's on my neck, she can grab it and chew as she likes, and when she's done and decides that she wants to toss it... it never hits the ground. It stays securely around my neck. Yes, I must say I am a fan.


Over Easter weekend we had a party for my Father's 65th birthday, and both of my cousins who are pregnant thought it was great. Guess what they'll be getting for their new babes? If you have a babe of your own, or your looking for a great baby shower gift, I highly recommend the Teethease line of jewelry. Safe, stylish and great for those little one's to soothe their gums on - what could be better?


Interested in scoring one for yourself or someone else? Well - here's your chance to get your own Teethease 2.0 Pendant necklace! There's 3 simple ways to enter to win:


1. Be a follower of this blog and leave a comment letting me know that you are
2. Visit the Teethease website and come back and leave me a comment letting me know what your favourite piece is, and what colour!
3. Tweet about it! Tweet "I just entered to win a @MyTeethease Pendant from @FirstTimeFancy!" and then come back and leave me a comment letting me know that you tweeted about it. 


The contest will close on Sunday at midnight, and the winner will be announced on Monday morning! Good Luck! (Contest open to Canadian residents only.)

Sarah's Shades!

Last night we got the first coat of paint on the basement living room walls! YIPPEE! That said, I won't be revealing it to you quite yet. Rather, I needed to share with you my review of the paint we picked.

When we started the process of picking a paint colour, I already knew what direction I wanted to go with the basement. B told me he would swing by Lowe's and pick up paint samples he liked (in the hue I was thinking) and would let me pick the final colour. I asked specifically if he was going to Lowe's to grab some chips of Sarah Richardson's new hues that she has released in collaboration with Para Paints.

After looking at a number of paint chips at home, we finally settled on the colour Pearl.

According to Sarah's advice on her website, Pearl goes great with soft blues and greens. Something we had been thinking of... but I'm also leaning towards throwing in some bolder blues. You'll see when it's all come together.

After settling on Pearl (via paint chip), B headed back to Lowe's to get us a sample can. Downside? The Para paints aren't offered in sample cans, so we colour matched a Valspar and brought home a sample of "Muslin Wrap". It was a little bit more yellow than Sarah's colour, but we were okay with it, so we knew Pearl was our perfect match. Even better was that Sarah's paint only cost us $29 (CDN) for a can, while Valspar paint will run you over $30 (CDN). Thanks for making your fantastic colours so affordable Sarah!

Last night was the big night. I cracked open Sarah's "Pearl" paint and was so happy to not be slapped in the face with your typical, harsh paint smell. There is still a scent to the paint, but because it is low VOC it is far less obnoxious. It really makes the whole painting experience that much better.

The best part though? The coverage of the paint is FANTASTIC! With only one thin coat of Behr's drywall primer on our new walls, we got awesome coverage with our first coat of paint! Thanks Sarah and Para! It was an absolute dream to paint with, and is the perfect light colour to brighten up our space, but still bring in a bit of colour on the walls. The rest of our colour I plan to obtain through colourful toss pillows, an area rug and some accessories. I also have one furniture piece in mind that I hope to paint.

We're still working away feverishly to finish up the basement so we can share it with you and our family and friends... but also so that we can take some time to relax and enjoy the rest of the summer before we move onto our next reno.

Now time for me to get back to it. Still so much to do...

Scotts EcoSense Weed B Gon - Product Review

If you are from Toronto, or the area, you are familiar with the bylaw against using particular pesticides. Or, on a broader scale, you are also probably aware of the provincial ban which supersedes all municipal bylaws in Ontario. Of course, with bylaws aside, it is not always easy to get a beautiful lawn and be kind to the environment all at the same time. In our case, I was feeling especially hopeless, as the state of our backyard was beyond embarrassing.

Here's the disaster in early May. So. Much. Yellow. 

This is a small patch of  our disaster yard... 

Come May, I was thrilled to hear about the newest product from Scotts EcoSense, Weed B Gon. The product is advertised to "kill weeds, not lawns". The active ingredient is Iron, which apparently, when applied to the weeds in an excessive amount will cause "oxidative damage... at the cellular level". Good to know. Well, I'd finally had enough of looking at our backyard, and last Monday B went out and picked up a 2L spray bottle of Weed B Gon.

Being the thoughtful man that he is, he left the weed spraying to me as he knew I had a personal vendetta against the weeds that are choking out the grass in our yard. I was quite happy to get my "spray-on" and headed out back to see what needed to be done. According to the bottle it's as simple as spraying the weed to wet it with the brown liquid (colour comes from the high volume of iron in the solution) and then just let it do it's job. Results should appear in approximately 72 hours.

Seeing as our yard looked like a refugee camp for dandelions (and other odd weeds), I decided I would go around and spray some test weeds before I went nuts cramping my hand by spraying every individual weed out there. I got a whole lot of them, and in just a little over 48 hours I was happy to discover this is the back...

Look at how black that stupid dandelion is and how GREEN the rest of the grass is! No dead spots on the grass! It's fantastic that we've been able to find a product that is more environmentally friendly, and that will kill the horrible weeds crowding the yard, but keep our grass green and growing. If you're looking for some spot treatment for the weeds in your yard, I'd definitely recommend giving Scotts EcoSense Weed B Gon a try. I know that we'll continue to use it for all of our weed killing needs around here!


I'm thrilled... I guess now it's time to get out there and tackle the rest of them. Look out weeds....