Winner Update: According to Random.org, commenter #34 is the winner of the Tea Collection clothing! I’ll be contacting you, Sara (www.lifewithleg.blogspot.com) to tell you about how to claim your prize.

Have you heard of Tea? It’s a clothing line based out of San Fransisco that is inspired by world travels. Each season their designers pick a region of the world and design a line of kids clothing based on their experiences with that culture.

“Travel opens anyone’s heart and mind to people and places that we don’t know. The clothing we create at Tea transforms the foreign world into a smaller, friendlier and more familiar place. We believe that we bring a little bit of that world home to you.”

– Emily Meyer, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

When I was asked to review some of their clothing, I was so excited and had a hard time choosing what to pick from their girls clothes. There is a lot of variety on the site: plenty of comfy clothes, perfect for play, and also lots of extra-special dresses for fancier occasions. I was impressed with how reasonably priced the items were, especially on their sale pages. In the end I selected three of the Flamenco Dot Banded Dresses that I plan to have the girls wear when we have our family portraits taken in the orchard this year during apple harvest.

(I hope they’re a tad more cooperative when we try to get them to pose this fall.)

I took the girls shopping this morning and fielded many oohs and ahhs when passersby caught a glimpse of all three kids dressed so cutely. Usually I am trying to ignore the glares of fellow shoppers as my kids (who look like hobos and are usually wearing cowboy boots and dirty bathing suits at the supermarket) throw tantrums, so this was new for me.

The other dresses I chose included the Artista Wrap dress for Avelyn and she looked like a doll in it. The material is really lightweight and she loved it. I also got her the Moderisme Ruffle Dress, but the photo shoot was beginning to crumble so I don’t have a decent photo of her wearing it.

My experience shopping with Tea was swell. They were helpful, personable and I really think their product is worth sharing. So, that’s where you come in….who wants a $75 gift certificate to Tea? Just leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win. (Please note that at this time they are unable to ship internationally so the winner will have to be able to provide a US shipping address.) The contest will close on August 10, 2011.

Good luck!

A while ago I tweeted:

“I don’t make my own baby food, I use Pampers, AND I formula feed. Next thing you know I’ll be skinning live cats just to watch them bleed.”

There seems to be an ideal path we’re supposed to take as mothers and if yours happens to include the aforementioned trespasses, you’re often viewed as a lesser mother. I’d love to be the kind of woman who sews her own curtains, gaily wrings out turd-soaked cloth diapers and daydreams about making her own organic, homemade pureed baby food, but I am busy with so many other things that it simply has not been a priority for me. That doesn’t mean I don’t think that wholesome foods aren’t worth striving for and I believe it’s important to present our children with a varied and healthy diet. If there are ways to make it possible that don’t involve my hunching over a food processor for hours, I’m all for them!

I was sent a sample package of Baby Gourmet’s line of pureed foods and they were put to excellent use in our house. They come in handy, easy-to-open pouches that can be resealed and stored in the fridge. We just began introducing solids to Brinley and she loved the Baby Gourmet selections. I really liked the unique combinations of fruits and vegetables. We even used them in smoothies for the older girls (I just squeezed in a pouch of the Baby Gourmet and mixed it with some vanilla yogurt and frozen berries) and it was a big hit.

Their foods are 100% organic, made without any weird fillers or added sugars or salt, and their packaging is BPA free. Believe it or not, disposable diapering heathen of a mother that I am, those things are important to me!

If you would like to win your own sample pack of Baby Gourmet, all you have to do is “like” their page on Facebook, then hop back here and leave a comment telling me how you get your kids to eat well.

Contest closes March 25, 2011 and is open to residents of Canada.

Update: According to Random.org the winner is #10 whose comment belongs to Carolyn! Thanks for playing, everyone!