So when they asked if I wanted to review another one of their products for the Christmas season, I jumped at the opportunity. I scanned the items listed and ultimately chose the Mini Workbench and Toolbox. The main reason I chose this item is that my son seems to be a bit obsessed with working with tools and screws, etc. He loves to see how things work and try himself. Just today he was helping me assemble some Ikea chairs, and was really doing a great job with it I might add.

At any rate we received the Mini Workbench and Toolbox the same day that my husband had a “honey do” task that required his own set of tools. So, I got the Mini Workbench and Toolbox out for Isaac to work alongside his daddy. It was perfect!

When I opened the box I was a little concerned because the one thing I had failed to look at when I chose the item was the recommended age. The box says 3+. My son is 14 months old. Oops. We tried anyway. He loved it. There are a few small parts like bolts and such but my son isn’t into putting things in his mouth so it hasn’t been a problem. I can also tell that he will get more use out of the toy when he is older and has more fine motor coordination, but honestly, he does just fine with it now too. I’m not worried. And the good news is that it is likely to be a toy that he plays with some time to come.

If you are looking for a good gift idea for a little boy (or little girl) in your life I would definitely recommend this little number. Especially, if they seem mechanically inclined like my little guy. You can get this product directly from The Land of Nod. And if you use any of the following sites for shopping for this toy you can save even more money.

• Mr. Rebates – 7% cash rebate
• Shop at Home – 7% cash rebate
• Cashbag – 5% cash rebate
• Ebates – 4% cash rebate
• U Promise – 3% rebate

Disclosure: The Land of Nod provided me with a Mini Workbench and Toolbox to review. The opinions and review are my honest evaluation after using the product myself.

I’ve been trying to dedicate Tuesday’s to the “baby” end of this site. In light of that, I thought I would talk about the “baby” end of things for me at Blogher. And that means telling you all about my amazing night with some great pregnant bloggers put on by MomBloggersClub and Stokke at the Land of Nod. Can you say FUN?

First of all, putting 15 pregnant women (or soon to be pregnant) women on a bus together is just plain great! You know we had some stories, experiences and aches to share. (I will spare you the details of those conversations). Then they took us to the Land of Nod. Now, I am going to be honest here, I had never heard of the Land of Nod prior to the invite. However, many of you readers quickly let me know that I was in for a treat. And I was.

Once there, the great people at Stokke did a tremendous job showing us the Xplory stroller, Tripp Trapp high chair and Sleepi crib. And, yes, I was familiar with Stokke. My husband begged me for an Explory when we had our first child and my frugal wallet had to quickly say “no”. It is an amazing stroller but unfortunately beyond our budget.

I digress. Our tour ended with an announcement that we were each getting a Tripp Trapp shipped to us for use with our new little one! Seriously? I was overcome with excitement. And it will be coming before the new baby arrives so I think that I am going to let Isaac try it out. It should be well timed with his transition to a booster seat at the table.

I know, where is your Tripp Trapp? Sorry. This one is just for me. But if you are in the market for a new high chair I would highly recommend it. After all, like most Stokke products, it grows with your child and can be used for years. No throwing it in the garage or the attic until the next young one, you can just keep using it.

The night ended with a great meal at Sangria’s (don’t worry they didn’t serve pregnant women alcohol) which was also amazing. And you know a table full of pregnant women can put away some food!

It was great to get some free stuff, to see a new product and a new store and to meet the fabulous PR people behind these products. But the best part was getting to sit and talk with other bloggers who were going through the same things that I am right now. I am so glad that I got to meet each and every one of them.

Here are the other great pregnant women I shared the evening with:

• Erin – $5 Dinners
• Clarissa – The Poshpreneur
• Victoria – The Kids and Me
• Stacie – The Divine Miss Mommy
• Lisa – Workout Mommy
• Natalie – Once Upon a Cline
• Jill – The Diaper Diaries
• Katin – The Simple Me
• Jacqueline – AK Blessings Abound
• Amy – Assert A Girl
• Trisha – Sweet N Sassy Girls
• Mercedes – Common Sense with Money
• Adrienne – Mom Central
• Emily – Designher Momma

I have many other great stories and experiences to share with you, but I will leave you with this for now. And be sure to take a few moments and see what these other great women are up to.

The Big Deal Moms "80's van" carpool to Blissdom

It isn’t that I have  thing against conferences or anything. I went to my first woman’s blogging conference last February, Blissdom, and loved it. I met some great people whom I can now refer to as friends. However, before even getting to Blissdom, these girls were talking about BlogHer in July. The main thing I remember them talking about was the expense and finding sponsors. Having JUST started this blog a week before I just tuned it out and wrote it off. Too much work.

Fast forward 5 months later to me sitting at my computer, Skyping away to the Big Deal Moms (secretly lamenting the fact that they are going to be having so much fun at BlogHer, meeting people and getting swag while I sit at home) chat away about all their parties, etc, etc, etc. When Mrs. Amy in Ohio says “Tricia, you need to come and just do the fun stuff, you don’t need a pass. Or hey, wait, there is a LobbyCon pass you could do!”

So after a nice conversation with my husband, realizing there was a carpool spot, that some incredibly great bloggers (Bargain Briana, $5 Dinners, and Writer Mommy) were willing to share their room, and that an opportunity at a BlogHer full pass was purchased, (not sure how that happened considering it has been sold out for over 3 months) I was set to go.

Can I just tell you that I haven’t gotten much sleep the last week? I am SO EXCITED! On top of all of that great stuff, I am pregnant and got an invite from Mom Bloggers Club to a Stokke party at the Land of Nod! Seriously?! I don’t care what else is happening that weekend, hanging with my girls and going to that party are good enough for me.

At any rate, from what I hear I am going to be coming home with some amazing swag. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. And don’t worry, I plan to share with you too! So stay tuned to see what you might be seeing spread around the blog.

In the meantime, are any of you, my readers, going to BlogHer? If so, please leave a comment below. I would love to try to meet up with you! I won’t plan anything formal since it is so crazy but I will keep a list with me to see how many I can meet face to face.

So thanks for reading my blog and giving me a reason to go to such a great conference. I can’t wait to tell you more.