macy’s launch of glee apparel | LA launch event at macy’s beverly center is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

I have been feeling under the weather the past few days, so it was nice to wake up to good news. This morning I woke up to a text message from a girlfriend of mine;

Hers: “I just saw Happy Hour Mom quoted on The Today Show.”

My response. “What? Really, what were they talking about?”

Hers: Yep, it was a segment call, I Love MY Kids-I Hate My Life!” and they pulled a quote from HHM. They specifically said Happy Hour Mom!”

My response: “So freaking incredible!”

Given the two hour time difference between Minnesota and California, where I am located, I knew that I may be waking Shannon up with some stellar news. What a great start to the day!! Loving all of our Happy Hour Moms our there!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

HAPPY HOUR MOM ON THE TODAY SHOW is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

I had to share on update on this product because I have encouraged so many moms to try it out and I feel a moral obligation to do so. More importantly, I don’t want any lil’ ones getting injured or going through what my little Ashlee went through. Last night my girls were laughing and playing in the tub and all was well until it was time to get out. As I started to pick up my one year old, her towel fell, so I put her back down in her seat for a second. Apparently, as I put her down, the seat simultaneously swiveled. This is when it all started going downhill. Now, as you can see in the picture above, the holes for the legs are very large. What you don’t see are the holes in the back, that are about half the size, with very uncomfortable plastic edges. To get an idea of how big the holes are in the back, hold your index, middle, and ring fingers together (like you are doing the Girl Scout pledge) and that is the width of the hole. So my little princess slid in somehow and we COULD NOT GET HER OUT! I was home with my two girls and for over 30 minutes we tried getting her little leg out. It was getting really red, a little bruised and swelling a tad from the irritation. Panic started to set in just a tad. There happened to be an ambulance down the street on another call and I finally gave in and reached out for help. I really needed a second adult to help maneuver the leg. It seemed as thought the more I pulled the more tense and aggravated she became (and for good reason!) Essentially, it took two paramedics, a comforting mom, and a dad holding a Barney video up (keeping little Ashlee preoccupied), to get my daughter out. Check out the aftermath below. I will say, that I loved this product, but I think they need to remove the holes from the back. I know this was a freak accident, but I don’t want it to happen to anyone else. They could avoid this problem altogether by simply removing such similar holes from the back. The deceptive part is that you can’t even tell that the holes are a different size until you stick your hand underneath and feel. This really needs to be addressed!!

Does it really get any better than this? As we speak I am sitting here on the toilet (yes the lid is down, I am not actually going—gross, did you really think that?) and typing up this post as my 9-month-old daughter is playing in the tub. This is like mommy heaven right now, seriously. My daughter LOVES bath time, but I am going to admit that I tend to hurry it along as often as possible.  After a long day of making meals, cleaning up after meals, and chasing two munchkins around, I would much rather sit down on a couch or in a bed than hang over the edge of a tub worried about slipping, sliding and head bonks (for me and baby!). And while there are probably many product options out there that are similar, I am now the #1 fan of the Safety 1st Tubside Bath Seat . It looks as though it would latch on to most standard tubs, the padded elbow rests are great when leaning into the tub, and the swivel is perfect for the little one’s to have full access to every side of the tub. By no means is this product a babysitter for tubby time, but it sure is a great helper! Check out my cheesy video to see it in action…Tubside Bath Seat

Clearly I’m not the only happy camper

Do you have a bath time product you love/hate? Let us know!

*Ages + stages: approximately 5-10 months old or until child can pull themselves up out of the seat

tub-side assistance | SAFTEY HAZARD UPDATE, i had to cut my daughter free! is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Theme: {B} is for BOY Baby Shower

Colors/Patterns: Red, Orange, Green, Navy, Polka Dots and Stripes- A vintage feel

Invite: Party Box Design Custom Invite

Center Pieces: Bright White Hydrangeas & Oranges Slices

Baby Shower Party Favors: Large Lollipops w/ large round polka dot and stripe stickers on them with {B} is for Boy. Cookies with Royal Icing & the letter “B”.

Signature Cocktail: Sangria with Orange Slices & Cream Jones Soda

Center Pieces: Depending on how many tables you do, will reflect the amount of floral arrangements needed. Medium height glass cylinder vases. Oranges and big puffy white hydrangeas. You could even do white Roses! Red and Orange Polka Dot ribbon wrapping each vase. Slice oranges, press up against glass and secure in place with oranges cut in half. Fill with water, and begin adding flowers! You will need at least 1.5 dozen for each glass cylinder if you do roses. You may also want to have  a large “B” attached to a stick popping out of each vase! Pulling in the “B for Boy”!

Party Favors: Big bright, old fashion lollipops. Orange and/or Red. Place a large satin ribbon around each lollipop. You May place stickers on each lollipop to add more personalization, or a gorgeous polka dot party favor thank you tag with a “B” on it.

Favor Idea 2: Cookies with red and orange Royal Icing framed out in a “B” shape! Beautifully bagged and placed in a pretty basket.

Signature Cocktail: Sangria with loads of fresh fruit. Use orange slices in the sangria to match your floral.

Additional Drink: Purchase a metal tin bucket, and fill with the Jones Cream Soda and ice! Such a hit. If you order this soda in advance from the website, you can place the baby’s sonogram picture on the soda label!

Menu Suggestions: A salad bar would be perfect! Lots of fresh vegetables in red, orange and green. You could also offer sliced grilled chicken and steak.

For finger foods I would suggest miniature quiches, shrimp, and crab balls.

Dessert: Cupcakes for sure, red and orange icing colors with white fondant circles, to pull in the polka dot theme even further. You could also do a cake, and use fondant icing, and place polkas all over it! Red and Orange m & m’s.

Fruit Kabobs are always a hit as well! Plus Watermelon balls would look cute, strawberries, and cantaloupe!

Now go plan the cutest baby shower ever!

P.S. Speaking of baby showers, Party Box Design currently has a super cute give away going on! THE PERFECT baby shower gift! Head on over and be sure to enter!

{B} is for boy baby shower! is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Leave it up to the media to continuously invade every one’s space. Is this what we really want to read in our pop culture highlights? RadarOnline Tuesday and Fox Sports report that the couple, Lamar Odom (of the Lakers) and wife of one year, Khloe Kardashian, are 2 months pregnant, yet, wanted to keep it a secret until revealing the news on her show, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.” Number one, if they are, that’s great. But, number two, why is this news worthy? You wouldn’t believe the hits we’ve received on our site alone for the search terms “khloe kardashian pregnant.” What is the obsession with celebrities, reality TV junkies, and sports superstars that causes people to want to know this vital information before it is meant to be announced? Is it the rush of feeling like you’ve exposed some one’s most prized secret? The paparazzi feed into the must-know frenzy because the public demands it. Many couples wait to tell about a new pregnancy for health and privacy reasons. If you all remember the first announcement that there was a possible pregnancy, only to show Khloe saddened at the start of her cycle on an episode of “Keeping up with the Kardashians” just last season. Who are we to invade their space just because they are famous.

Not to mention the fact that when Lamar was asked about the pregnancy by ESPN, he claimed that he was unable to confirm either way, as this was the first he was hearing of a baby on the way. Seriously? ESPN told Lamar he was having a baby, not Khloe? I guess we will have to wait for confirmation one way or another before we believe the rumors. And isn’t it a little ironic that Khloe, the spokesperson for Kotex won’t even be using the products for the next 9+ months? Well unless you can’t the super-sized mommy pads after delivery.

image courtesy of [here]

lamar odom and khloe kardashian pregnant? is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

Another day, another set of hot topics, new gossip, new laughs, new debates, new reasons I love to watch the View for my morning Happy Hour. As you all know, Happy Hour Mom was created to encourage women to take that “happy hour” to themselves each day. Whether you work 8-5 in an office, stay at home with your kiddos, work from home, or do a little bit of everything, you need to MAKE time for YOU. Happy Hour is time that you spend doing the things you love. Whether it’s reading a book in silence, exercising, getting your nails done, meeting your girlfriends for coffee/drinks, or watching your favorite movie/TV show. My Happy Hour varies each day, depending on my schedule, and often turns into a “happy 30 minutes.” I wake up in the morning, have my cup of coffee (if I don’t, watch out!), get the girls fed, get the 5 year old off to school, and get my first round of emails and calls done–Just in time for coffee number two and my Happy Hour with The View. I call it my morning break. Evenings are insanely hectic and I rarely catch the evening news, so The View has become my way of catching up on the latest Hot Topics, stories in the news, gossip, TV series recaps, and guest appearances. Not to mention I love the segments on the latest fashion, hottest accessories, tasty recipes, and the newest products–it’s like a blogger’s secret sauce. You can’t stay ahead of the game, if you don’t know the latest beauty secrets and hottest tips!

Today the ladies on The View covered the latest on the Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, scandal had her caught on tape offering access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew, what?! Girlfriend, you are in deep poo poo for that one! Watch the video {here}. The View panel agreed that she obviously needed the money, but Elisabeth Hasselbeck pointed out that there are a lot of people who “need” the money, and that doesn’t excuse something like this. What was interesting, was that Whoopi mentioned the Duchess had been served many alcoholic drinks leading up to this proposal, so it seems as thought it might have been a bit of a set up. Poor thing, she sure has some explaining to do!! What do you think? Is there any way she can get out of this one now? Check out what some of the other viewers thought on the view message boards, one of the comments is quite funny in response to, “Did the ladies on the View give Sarah Ferguson a pass for her bad behavior?”

They also touched briefly on the Jesse James scandal. I really don’t know what to say about him, except that I am highly disappointed. I was actually starting to like the guy and it just makes me feel dirty to think that I fell into the trap. I have always loved Sandra Bullock, and after they got married I started paying more attention to Jesse James, only to start liking him a bit more after watching him on Celebrity Apprentice. I appreciated the fact that he seemed so “real”–yea a real a** wipe. I know that’s a bit harsh, but seriously. After watching Sandra Bullock accept her award and give such a heartfelt speech, thanking her dirtbag husband, and then finding out what he had done, I just lost ALL respect for the man. Not to mention the borderline racist behavior. That could be a topic I dwell on for pages, but I don’t even wanted to go there. You can get the dirt on Jesse’s collection of Nazi memorabilia and racist gestures by watching The View full episode {here} (5/25). As you can imagine, Joy Behr had quite a bit to say about that! You can see what other viewers have to say about Jesse James {here}. barf.

On a serious note, they touched on the HUGE Oil Spill debacle. When Elisabeth mentioned Kevin Costner’s possible solution to the problem,  Sherri Shepherd pointed out that we should wait to see if it works. And yes, she is absolutely right, let’s not get too excited before we see the results, but at this point let’s take what we can get! Now, who know what this “Ocean Therapy” can really do, but I for one am keeping my fingers crossed. Apparently, following the Oil Spill in 1989, Kevin Costner was inspired to help fund the research and creation of an  Ocean Therapy machine that spins the water, separates the oil, and spits out the water that is clean. You can learn more about the Ocean Therapy machine {here}, or check out the video below.  Man, The View ladies were really fired up about this today, and with much reason. This is a discussion that needs to be had until something is done.

P.S. I LOVED the earrings today! Joy and Elizabeth were sporting the super sexy blingalicious earrings, and Sherri had some super hot gold chandelier, something-or-others on. I couldn’t stop looking at their earrings! And Whoopi’s were gorgeous–oh wait, Whoopi didn’t have any on. And I have to start this off by saying that we are fans of Whoopi in our house (yes in more ways than one. he he.) but my husband saw the opening segment and had to ask, “Is Whoopi wearing a Snuggie?” Sorry Whoopi, we love you!

P.P.S. Check out The View ladies on Twitter and Facebook!

Barbara on Twitter

Joy on Twitter

Elisabeth on Twitter

Sherri on Twitter

Whoopi on Twitter–Yeah right, apparently Whoopi HATES Twitter!! And no she does not have a Twitter account, that was a poser : )

The View Facebook

the oil spill, is whoopi on twitter?, hot topics, and jesse james (boo)| the ultimate happy hour with the view is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

The goal of HappyHourMom.com is to help provide ideas, inspiration and conversation to all things mom and baby related. What better way to do this, than to enlist in “mommy experts” to help provide the proper resources for our readers. I can not personally tell you the best “green” products for your home based on my personal experiences–but Nickie of Hip Moms Go Green can. And I may not have the perfect cupcake baby shower party under my belt, but Jess of Party Box Design does! Here is a sneak peek into the lives of our newest HHM Contributors, make sure you visit their contributor pages.

. . . . .

About HipMomsGoGreen…

moms going green, moms throwing parties | meet the new hhm contributors is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

As parents we can relate to the fact that managing the health of our children is no small task. It is hard enough to stay on top of the immunization schedule, and keep appointments straight (especially as your family begins to grow), then you have to make sure you are keeping accurate medical records. One of the largest obstacles I have faced is the fact that my family travels to different cities/countries every 6-9 months–can you imagine keeping medical records organized and in one place? Not easy. After having my second child things got more complicated as I was then faced with keeping up necessary appointments, organizing the proper records in the proper folders and so forth. It seemed almost too good to be true when I learned about Koozala and its services. Can you imagine the convenience of having “your family’s complete health and medical history online in one safe, secure location?” Now, instead of having to organize stacks of paperwork, you can go digital and have everything available at the click of a button 24/7. And don’t forget about little Spot, just because he has four legs and a wet nose, it doesn’t mean his health and records are any less important. The greatest part is the fact that you can access your records via the Internet and this includes the handy dandy phone application that allows Koozala to go mobile.

“iKoozala gives you the security and power to access your personal health care documents when and where you need it most…whether it’s an emergency or a routine doctor visit.”

Available at the App Store

One less thing to worry about…Sign up for Koozala today.

koozala | organizing your family medical records is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

The weather was so gorgeous this past weekend! This morning my mom and I took the whole crew on a long walk. My little Yorkie, Jaxson (Yes, my 6’9″ hubby has gotten over the small dog complex) was the first to lie flat on the ground to make it be known he was D-O-N-E. My mama’s little Morkie, Frankie was close behind. Baby D was happy to share his stroller with his two favorite puppies! Send us your favorite mobile pic of the day with a caption. We’d love to see all of your babies that keep your lives full of entertainment! Send them straight to happyhourmom@hotmail.com

hhm mobile upload of the day is a post from: Happy Hour Mom

We absolutely adore all of our loyal HHMommies out there who have supported us on our journey of finding our own creative paths. Can you believe it has been a year already? In the past 365 days we have been blogging between three countries, three states and a multitude of cities to bring you our interpretation on a one-stop shop of resourceful tools to share with our new friends. Happy Hour Mom has allowed Shannon and I the ability to have an outlet for our ideas and inspirations between keeping our families happy and healthy. Our journey began in Dubai, while we were growing our families and aiding our husband’s careers. With your help and loyalty we hope to continue this adventure with the strength and knowledge we gain daily from learning and brainstorming each day. We hope to help all moms find  their “happy hour” each day. Although we know that 60 minutes may not always be feasible it is a notion to always remember yourself. Whether you enjoy shopping, fitness, cooking or finding new ways to stay sane and organized, we hope to continually provide a place for new ideas, inspiration and conversation! Thanks you from the bottom of our hearts!

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virtual baby journal for the über busy or non-crafty mom

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sparkly mod cookie pops by the decorated cookie

Are you a foodie HAPPY HOUR MOM?

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super quick party tip | amazing cupcake recipe

hhm live: diy burger cupcakes

Are you a beauty-loving HAPPY HOUR MOM?

anti-aging secrets

martha-marie | waxing for the summer

martha-marie | a facial from your kitchen

Are you a fashionista HAPPY HOUR MOM?

hhm hearts zara

r u a multi-tasking mom? go simple to stylish in a sec

Are you a Preggo HAPPY HOUR MOM?

hot trends in maternity swimwear

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materni-tea party

celebrating our first year as happy hour moms is a post from: Happy Hour Mom