Sleepy Wrap Review & Giveaway {Closed}

Shortly after we adopted Xiomara, a friend gave me a Sleepy Wrap. I was thrilled! I had heard of them before, but never actually tried one. I admit, I was a bit nervous about all of that material, but I quickly learned that I had nothing to fear.

I followed the easy instructions on their site, and I was wearing Xiomara snuggled next to me in no time at all! I would say that of all my baby carriers that I have, this one is by far the best for a newborn/little baby! I felt like Xiomara was the most secure in this wrap compared to any others. Most of the time, I would put the wrap on, put Xiomara in, and she would fall instantly to sleep. It was perfect! Especially being that I was a busy mom with three girls, three and under. Being able to wear one of the little girls really helped me go about my day as normally as possible.

I also attribute the Sleepy Wrap with helping Xiomara and I bond. I would often do kangaroo care with her in the wrap to promote attachment. I only wish I could have had this wrap with me in Georgia when we first got Xiomara.

To see more great pictures that I have posted of Xiomara in the Sleepy Wrap, click here!

Buy It!

The Sleep Wrap is one of my #1 recommend items for a new mom! The best thing about it, is that they are extremely affordable and they still work great! They are for newborns all the way up to 45 pounds!

Win It!

Sleepy Wrap has generously offered one of my readers to win a Sleepy Wrap of his/her choice!

Mandatory Entry:

Please go become a fan/like of Jewels & Treasures on facebook. Then like Sleepy Wrap on Facebook. Leave me a comment telling me you are a fan of both along with your first name and last initial. Please do me the favor of making sure you leave your e-mail address in the comment if it is not visible on your profile. (1 entry)

Extra Entries:

1. Follow me via Google Friend Connect (must be a public follower). (1 entry)

2. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you are along with your Twitter ID. (1 entry)

3. Follow Sleepy Wrap on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you are along with your Twitter ID. (1 entry)

4. Tweet the following Tweet then come back and leave me the link to your tweet (1 tweet/entry per day):

#win an @SleepyWrap carrier from @jewelsntreasure http://tinyurl.com/3njvafy
 #giveaway #babywearing

5. Subscribe via e-mail to my blog. (2 entries)

6. Grab my blog button and post it on your blog and leave me a link letting me know where it is at. (3 entries)

7. Follow me via Networked Blogs. (1 entry)

8. Let me know which color you would choose if you won! (1 entry)

That's It!

Winner will be chosen at random from random.org. Winner has 48 hours from being contacted to respond, or else a new winner will be chosen.

Contest ends Friday, May 27, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CST

And the winner is...

Congrats to Chris who said she would choose a navy or gray one! Hope either you, or someone you know gets great use out of it! :)

*The featured product(s) in this post were bought for me by a friend. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone.

More on Babywearing

I know I've been talking a lot about babywearing lately here on my blog, but the more and more I wear the girls, the more I love it! Way back when Mer was just a baby, I blogged a bit about the different carriers I have and use. I wore Xiomara pretty much exclusively in a Sleepy Wrap when she was a new baby. This past month, I got the opportunity to try a woven wrap for the first time. It's on loan and is going to it's new family soon (Hi Sarah), but man was it fun to try the different ways to wrap.

                                    Wearing Xiomara in a Front Wrap Cross Carry.

 I also never thought I would say it, but a wrap isn't as scary as it seems. Thanks to a group of women out there who know what they are doing and to YouTube, I was able to figure it out all on my own. All that extra fabric has it's place and the comfort and security that a wrap provided was amazing! Now I sort of have my eye on this beautiful wrap here. It's gorgeous!

                           Wearing Zoelle in a Back Wrap Cross Carry with a chest belt.


I still love my Ergo or Beco for a quick up/down, but the wrap did provide me this sense of oneness with the girls that the other carriers didn't provide. Speaking of the Ergo, some have asked since my giveaway ended where to purchase it at. I would suggest Heavenly Hold. I've been following them for some time and they are super helpful, have free shipping over $80, and have a large variety of different carriers.

P.S. Meridian pretty much refused to be worn in the woven wrap so no pictures of her in the wrap.

Have you ever tried a woven wrap? What is your favorite thing to wear your baby/child in?

Wordless Wednesday: Snuggled Close

Pumpkin Patch Day

Last Saturday, Chris spontaneously thought we should all go to the Pumpkin Patch for the afternoon. So again missing naps, we loaded up the girls and took them to a new to us pumpkin patch about an hour away.

While Xiomara snuggled in close to me,

 Zoelle roamed freely in the hay maze,

and Meridian got slightly scared by the donkey trying to figure out if little girls were edible.

What started out as a day in which I wasn't sure I would enjoy, ended up being one that I loved!

It occurred to me as I snapped the picture below, the incredible memories that we have made as a family this Summer and Fall.

I hope that we can continue on with these memories, spontaneous or not, and that the girls will always look fondly back on this time in their lives.

Do you ever take spontaneous trips? If you do, where do you go?

Wordless Wednesday: Unabashed Joy!

This week...

*Has been amazing
*The girls got colds
*Chris and I cleaned the house
*I did lots of laundry
*We went hiking three times to State Parks
*Zoelle climbed a big hill all by herself each time without complaining
*I got to snuggle my Xiomara in the Sleepy Wrap
*Chris got to snuggle his Xiomara in the Sleepy Wrap
*I got to snuggle wrestle my sick Meridian in the Beco
*Chris got to snuggle wrestle his sick Meridian in the Beco
*I finished week 4 of From Couch to 5K
*Realized that I can run 5 minutes straight (twice) and 3 minutes straight (twice)
*I'm sore
*Has been in the 70's+ outside each day. Some days even 80+
*We have been outside everyday all day
*Basically threw out the window our schedule of naps/bedtime in order to spend each day outside
*We've played lots in the leaves
*I've taken lots of pictures of my three little girls
*I got to hear Xiomara laugh out loud for the first time-my heart melted
*I love my family
*I feel incredibly blessed

A Trip to the State Park

We've truly had a gorgeous Autumn here this year. I'm thankful as to me it seems like an extension of Summer. Maybe not quite as warm, but still at least we don't have snow on the ground.

This past weekend, Chris, the girls, and I decided to go to a local State Park and do some hiking. Amazingly enough all three girls (and maybe even myself) napped on the way to the State Park. So Chris just drove for a bit until I woke up. Then, we had to wake all three up once we got there. Zoelle was not having it. She wanted to stay in the car.

Poor girl. Then as we started walking, she freaked out, and refused to go further. See the little pink dot in the picture?

That would be her. Is it mean that I took pictures of this process? Don't answer that.

Chris went and rescued her only to find out she was scared of a black tree in the woods. Poor girl.

Finally we were on our way. May I just say how much I love my man for baby wearing with a more girly looking carrier. He carried Meridian in our Beco. I carried Xiomara in my Sleepy Wrap. Oh and sometimes, I had to carry Zoelle. Poor girl (take your pick as to which one of us was the girl that was poor).

In the end, despite some tears, I am so glad we enjoyed the beautiful day and a local State Park. It was well worth the time and effort!

Do you ever go hiking? If you do, do you babywear any of your kids, or do they hike? Do you ever take advantage of your State Parks?

Hotel, Hospital, and Zoo!

I'm back! We are home from surgery! While I was in the hospital, blogger was blocked so I could not get on to update you all. The surgery was successful, she did well, the other girls did ok, and I survived too!

The girls had a blast at the hotel with dad! They swam lots and went shopping at a sporting good store with dad. Despite Meridian having a tough time sleeping during the night, Zoelle slept for 12 hours straight! Dad was a bit groggy, but I told him he was fine because I was up just that much that night with all the nurses checking in on Xiomara.

We got released yesterday and decided to go to a local zoo before we headed home. As you can tell Xiomara was so excited to see the Zebras, she promptly fell asleep!

Overall, we are glad it's over with and that Xiomara seems to be doing just great. We are home and back to life now. Today while the girls are napping, I'm blogging and doing laundry. Chris is outside cleaning our yard up, because despite not wanting winter to come, the air is getting much cooler and it's coming soon.

A big shout out to those of you who sent me facebook messages, or emailed me words of encouragement or prayers! I so appreciate you as it helped me stay calm!

Now, I'm off to do my laundry! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Labor Day Weekend

I had an amazing weekend at home this Labor Day Weekend. In the past, I've been doing this

But this year, we sold our camper in an effort to get serious about our debt (thanks Dave Ramsey) and we stayed home. To be honest with you, I had a bad attitude about it. I LOVE camping! I so desperately wanted to camp this summer and kept praying God would miraculously drop a camper into our laps. Or umm..back yard. It obviously never happened, and looking back on it, I'm ok with it.

So this weekend, we had one of those relaxing weekends where we didn't really "do" anything, yet we still accomplished lots. On Friday, I took the girls out to my parents house while Chris went out to eat with my dad and younger brothers. My sister and her little girl (whom I still need to blog about) showed up and we all had a blast just talking, snuggling our babies, and freezing some food. Saturday, Chris let me sleep in while he took care of the girls. Then we just hung out together and cleaned out our garage a bit before winter. Sunday we had church and then an impromptu gathering with my family which was more fun! Sunday and Monday gave Chris a chance to work a little bit more on our kitchen renovation which is almost done and looking so beautiful!

Then on Monday, this little girl

turned two months old. We have yet to officially get a smile on camera, but the picture above shows the start of one. At two months old, she still loves to sleep lots. She also likes to be held and snuggled, so we do a lot of that. 

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend. It wasn't what I would have planned and I still would have loved to go camping, but then I would have probably missed out on the great bonding and relationships that were further cemented this weekend. So when I look at it that way, it was good to stay home. Maybe next year we can get back to camping.

What did you do this weekend? Do you ever go camping?