baby - Views From the Ville

One of the things that I dislike about living where we are right now is that there isn’t enough space to have a dog. I love dogs. I literally grew up with a dog; my parents picked up their puppy just a few weeks before I came home, and we were pretty much inseparable. Even though I’m told that I did confuse the poor thing when I first learned to talk, because my Mom would always tell the dog to “get away” and I thought his name was “Get”. So I’d chase him around trying to hug him all while telling him to get away from me.

I’m very much looking forward to us finally finding a new place (yes, we’re still looking) where we have a yard big enough for a pup. I really want Baby C to have a furry friend to grow up with. Not only for the play and unconditional love experience, but I also think it teaches responsibility.

AnnieWear

If you’re like me and you’re a dog (or cat!) lover, then you are going to love the line of animal-themed baby and kids clothes and gifts at AnnieWear. Not only are their designs adorable but a portion of all the sales are donated to animal rescue programs around the country. The company is actually named after the founder’s own rescued dog, Annie, who came from the Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue.

The shirt I received came packaged very securely and wrapped in pretty hunter green tissue paper. As I opened it, you couldn’t help but say “awww” when you saw the design on the shirt.

Opening my AnnieWear pacakge

And of course, once we put it on Baby C, I had to say “awww” again!

Baby C in her “good girl!” onesie

The AnnieWear signature “Good Girl!” onesie is a size 3-6 months, and as you can see, it’s just a smidgen big on Baby C who is 14 weeks, but that’s normal of most clothes for her right now. It comes in black, white, lime, lavender and turquoise and goes up to size 12-18 months. You can get it in both long and short sleeve versions. The quality is also very nice; the shirt is 100% ringspun combed cotton and the design is silk screened with non-toxic durable ink.

We really like the shirt; it feels so soft and Baby C looked mighty comfortable in it. And at $22.50 it makes a reasonably priced gift for any pet lover and their child. I have a friend that is recently pregnant. She is a big dog-lover and I can definitely see getting her an AnnieWear item as a gift once she knows and shares the gender.

Even though the prices are reasonable, it’s always better when you can get something on sale! So AnnieWear has generously provided a 15% discount for all of you! Just use promo code BLOG2011 at the checkout.

Please share below if you find something you love!

If you’ve read my “About Me” section – and based on much of the content you read here – you probably know that I’m big on shopping and even bigger on finding a great deal. So I’ve always looked for deals on anything, including toys, even before Baby C was born. It was always nice to have a few gifts on hand for baby showers, last minute gifts, Toys for Tots or Good Samaritan shoe boxes, things like that. Don’t get me wrong; I’m big on organization and clutter-reduction, so I didn’t have stacks of things packed into closets, but I did have a few things here and there.

That shopping helped keep me at least a little bit current on “hot” toys and brands. I had kind of slacked off on it, though, in the past few years. So when we found out that we were pregnant with Baby C I felt like I had some catching up to do. Fortunately there are a number of blogs out there that were reviewing them. One name that kept coming up which I was unfamiliar with was Melissa & Doug. I read a number of reviews and everyone seemed to have positive things to say about them.

Occasionally after that I would try and share sales on those items when I would run across them. At that point Baby C hadn’t arrived yet and we were trying to not go overboard on the pre-shopping since we’re still looking for a larger place, so I was passing on most of the sales myself. But when Amazon.com had some of their items in their Gold Box a few weeks ago, I was tempted. And when I saw the adorable Melissa & Doug Plush Bosley Bear, I decided to pick it up.

Melissa & Doug Bosley Bear

It seriously is one of the softest plush animals I’ve ever seen. I can’t imagine any kid not wanting to snuggle it; I want to snuggle it.

Shortly after it was delivered I needed to change Baby C so I set Mr. Bear down next to her and to my surprise, she actually rolled over on her side (I change her on the floor, she was very safe) to try and get to him – and then rested her hand on him. Now, this child is not deprived in the “stuffie collection” area. She received a small collection from various wonderful people during my two baby showers, but up until that moment, she hadn’t shown much interest in any of them other than maybe one of her little grins when we would snuggle them up against her cheek. So now every time I change her I set it down next to us and she turns and stares him down something fierce while swinging her hand out to try and knock him towards her.

I honestly think that part of the reason she was so instantly interested in him was because he is laying on his belly with his head on his paws. This lets her look him right in the eyes as she lays there so they can “connect”. It also makes him a little flatter so it’s easier for her to rest her hand on him and will make him easier to hug as she gets a little older. And it’s very well made so I envision that it will stand up to hundreds of future hugs.

Now that I’ve had such a positive experience with the company’s products I am looking forward to making future ones with them, like possibly these Linking Crabs that can hook to the stroller or this Picnic Basket Fill & Spill toy which I think would be really fun.

If you are looking for a lovey for your little one – or maybe even a baby shower gift – then I very much recommend the Bosley Bear.

This post is not connected in any way to the retailer. I received no compensation or product; I simply wanted to share something I think is great with all of you.