Cord Blood Banking with LifeBank & A Baby Video Monitor GIVEAWAY!

I blogged about cord blood banking with LifeBank USA after Blair was born and am back today with another follow up post to let you guys know about an amazing giveaway that cord blood banking company is now running -- for the Uniden Lullaboo Video Baby Monitor. 
I absolutely loved working with LifeBank to donate Blair's cord blood last year. We got our request and paperwork processed super fast, and the process at the hospital to donate the kit was so unbelievably easy. All I had to do was bring the cord blood kit box in with me to the delivery room, and the nurses completely took over with all the instructions from LifeBank. Basically all they did was take 4 vials of blood from me, check off a few administrative notes, package up the tissue, placenta, & cord blood after delivery, and then all I had to do was call LifeBank within 2 hours of her birth to have a representative come pick up the box. I was a little stressed out about the whole process beforehand but everything turned out to be very simple and uncomplicated and very easy on me.
If you don't know anything about it, there are soo many reasons to preserve your baby's cord blood, or otherwise donate it. Through cord blood banking, you can collect and preserve potentially lifesaving stem cells, and doing so could one day save the life of your child or a blood relative. The ability of stem cells to save lives via cord blood banking has proved successful for replacing abnormal or diseased cells, and treating life-threatening blood disorders such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. In fact, 1,988 stem cell transplants have been used to treat some 80 diseases.
You can bank even more stem cells by collecting them from 2 usable sources of stem cell-rich blood: the umbilical cord and the placenta. This service is called Placental and Cord Blood Banking and it is available only through LifeBank USA. Whether you choose Placental and Cord Blood Banking or Cord Blood Banking alone, there are still many other reasons to choose LifeBank -- LifeBank is the only company that offers cord blood, placenta blood, and tissue banking, and they are also the first to release placenta-derived stem cells for a successful transplant. They have been absolutely wonderful to work with and they will collect cells from anywhere in the US. Another reason to bank with LifeBank -- They include tissue banking (tissue from the placenta) for free. Placental tissue contains mesenchymal (MSCs) and MSC-like cells. While stem cells found in cord blood and placenta blood have been used to successfully treat patients, there are currently no approved uses for stem cells derived from the umbilical cord or placenta tissue. Possible therapeutic applications are in early research stages and LifeBankUSA's parent company is actively involved in their development. LifeBankUSA will store the placenta tissue for you as part of their banking package using their cryogenic tanks for long-term preservation. In the event your baby's tissue cells are ever needed for future therapies, the tissue may then be processed and cultured using available technology at the time. Banking with LifeBankUSA will definitely give you peace of mind, knowing that this stem cell-rich blood can be used to treat certain diseases in the future.
Along with peace of mind, LifebankUSA is also now giving away one of THREE Uniden Lullaboo Video Baby Monitors in a random drawing. (A $105 value!!) You can enter the contest HERE. Good luck!!

Bits of Life Lately

Sleeping princess

My prince

Troubled Blair, Taken by Landon 

Loving their new swing set

Sleepy Bears

Sweepy Wandon

Cheering on his favorite Disney stars at Tween Stars Live

His girl Piper Curda

Terrified of Calum Worthy

Just her.

Scrambled Egg Muffins

With the start if the New Year, I decided to make a conscious effort to eat breakfast every morning. I needed some super quick and preferably healthy ideas, as morning time - getting the kids up, fed, and out the door - is always a time crunch.

Most mornings I've been doing plain oatmeal with fresh blueberries, Blair does a banana and/or yogurt, and Landon cereal with almond milk. Lately Landon has been asking me for muffins for breakfast. Thinking about all those grams of sugar and heavy carbs, I decided to try out these scrambled egg muffins instead - basically scrambled eggs baked with whatever other veggies in cupcake pans. A great source of protein and veggies to keep him powered through school physically and mentally until he gets home for lunch. They are basically mini quiches without the pie crust, perfect for quick or on-the-go breakfasts. 

Recipe below yields about 12-14 'muffins'. Prep time 5 minutes. Cook time 20/25 minutes.

What You'll Need:

- 1 dozen eggs

-  your choice of chopped veggies - I made this batch with a few handfuls of (chopped) spinach, 1 onion, and about 6-8 chopped broccoli florets, but you can really throw in whatever veggies you want - peppers, mushrooms, or if you are a meat eater, you can some crumbled sausage or diced ham. 

- about a tablespoon of minced garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)

- Optional dash of salt and fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Line muffin pans with paper liners or spray with a non-cook cooking or olive oil spray.

3. Whisk the eggs, and then add in your chopped veggies, garlic, salt and cheese and combine.

4. Spoon or pour out batter into the cups, about half way full.

5. Bake for 25 minutes until edges are lightly browned.

6. Let cool and enjoy! Keep remainders refrigerated and microwave on high for 30 seconds the next morning :)

Disney & Nickelodeon Tween Stars Live!

Hi mamas! Just wanted to share this really cool live concert experience with you all! If you are a local (Chicago) mum of tween kids, this would be a great experience to get tickets for!!

A ton of extremely talented & amazing TV stars from Disney Channel & Nickelodeon will be taking the stage at the Patio Theater this coming Saturday, January 24 for a family fun packed variety show consisting of musical performances, improv comedy, Q&A tween trivia as well as chances to act out live skits with the stars! (With special autograph & photo session passes are also available:) This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience and a fun event to get outside and go to during these cold winter days and your kids will definitely enjoy! 

You can get your tickets today at the Patio Theater website: http://www.thepatiotheater.com/buy-tickets-for-tween-stars-live/

& The duo I'm most looking forward to seeing! (Seriously how cute are they):

Bits of Life Lately

Doing his homework-making what he wants to be when he grows up- a police officer! "To catch all the bad guys that drive too fast and put them in jail"

Hi B!

They see us rollin, we hatin' [the cold]

Banana time

She finds Chris' random piles of clothes and lays in them when he's not around.. Loves him more than anything.

Pretend birthdays.

At the new house! No- we're not there yet, moving in a few weeks. Blair just wanted to make sure the new swing set was up to par. She's sold.