So, for the past five years or so, I’ve been really sick of movies.  Before we watch any movie, we always check for reviews– not so much for plot but for “nastiness factor.”  In other words, we don’t wanna see boobies or other sexual content.

The first site I check is Dove.

I like their site the best, but I’ve found that the search engine is really sensitive.  Meaning that, when I search for “The Proposal,” nothing comes up.  But if I type in “Proposal,” it will have the review.

Some other sites you might wanna check are: Kids in Mind and Plugged In Online.  They are free, and they’ll give you a heads up of the sexual and drug content, language, and violence.

They’re very very specific, almost in an annoying way.  Like, I don’t need to know if it shows a guy with his shirt off, but they let you know.

So, I’m not saying I agree with their approval ratings.  I’m just saying that I like to figure out what type of nudity and bad language is being shown.

Some friends of ours use another movie review service (I’ve forgotten the name now), but it requires a  subscription fee.  Is there a review site you like?

*Be sure to enter the YoBaby Giveaway here.

Abigail eats at least one pack of Stonyfield YoBaby Baby Yogurt every morning; this says a lot since she is such a bad eater.  She’s been eating this daily for the past 7 months and will continue to eat it until she is two years old.  I think we’ve given her all the flavors, but favorite flavor is Raspberry Pear.  We love their yogurt!

Stonyfield Farms’ YoBaby, organic yogurt is different from other yogurts in that, it has . . .

• 6 live active cultures (probiotics) that aid in digestion, help boost the immune system, and inhibit pathogenic bacterial growth.  It’s really good for Abby since she is prone to UTIs due to her Kidney Reflux.
• L. reuteri, which inhibits Salmonella and E. Coli (it’s the only brand that has this.)
• More calcium per serving than any other kids’ yogurts
• 45% of the RDI for iron
• the same amount of DHA found in breast milk
• been made with whole milk which is best for babies and toddlers
• 100% natural

Our friends at Stonyfield Farms have offered to give away some prizes to one of my readers!

The prizes they are offering offering are:

1. a travel YoBaby bowl with lid and utensils
2. an organic YoBaby bib
3. Five YoBaby coupons for a FREE 6 pack of yogurt

Stonyfield will ship the products directly to you.

There are 5 ways to enter this giveaway. (Leave a separate comment below for each entry.  But you don’t have to do them all.  You’re welcome to for a better chance to win.)

1. Visit Stonyfield’s YoBaby page, and come back here to post a comment, letting me know you want to win.
2. Blog about this giveaway, by posting a link to this page on your blog.  Leave the link in a separate comment.
3. Add The Towells link to your blogroll, and tell me you did so in a separate comment.
4. Subscribe to The Towells, by RSS (instructions for this here) or Email feed (Enter your email where it says, “Get Emails for New Posts” at the top right of the homepage, above the blogroll), and leave me a comment letting me know you did so, or tell me if you’re already a subscriber.
5. Tweet about this giveaway, and leave me the url.

Giveaway closes at 11:59 pm CST on Monday, July 6.  I will randomly choose a winner, and I will email the winner and post the results on the blog on Tuesday, July 7.  Good luck!

In honor of the king of pop who was probably the greatest dancer ever, here’s a Walrus dancing to MJ’s song, “Smooth Criminal.”

I so want to go to Sea World or somewhere to see marine animals doing stuff like this.  Anyone ever been to Sea World?  What state?  Or is there some other place like Sea World that you’d recommend?

Jonathan and I are gearing up for a Garage Sale.  We started thinking of how we could get more money than we would at a Garage Sale for selling certain items.

I’m not sure if this got me more money than it would’ve from a Garage Sale, but I took some of Abigail’s clothes to Once Upon a Child.  I do this every few months.  The last time, I got $16+ dollars.

Then, I thought about books.  So, I started calling used book stores to see if they would buy the books.  A lot of them would only take them for store credit (trade) in return.  So, I thought about selling books on Amazon or something like that, but decided it’d be too much work for not a lot of money.  Then, I thought of Hastings.

So, we took a bunch of books and DVDs to Hastings in a big tub.  They bought 32 books and offered us $110 in store credit OR $75 in cash.  We took the cash!  Just one trip, no shipping costs, no conditions, just cash back!

I took some brand new DVDs in shrink wrap, and they only offered $2 for them.  So, I didn’t sell them to Hastings because I hope I can get more at the Garage Sale.

The next day, as we were sorting through other boxes for the garage sale, we found more books.  So, we took them to Hastings.  Not sure how many they took this time, but they gave us $47.

So, if you wanna sell to Hastings, call before you go, to make sure someone is there to look through and price your books.  Also, take your Drivers License, and be prepared to get your thumb printed (they said Police come by each week and check the records to make sure you didn’t steal the dvds/books/cds).

Our Hastings would not take the small sized paper back novels.  But other than that, they took back most everything.  I think the most I got for a book was $6 (Hardback Twilight books).  I think the least was $1.  So, it’s more than you would get from a Garage Sale; we’re happy with the $120 cash.

Baby & Kids

• Olan Mills Photo Package for baby under 3 months of age.  Check coupon for details.
• Beech Nut Parents Pack full of good coupons for their baby food, when you call: 1-800-523-6633
• Free 2 Year Subscription to Parents Magazine
• Free Kid’s Meal, Drink, & Dessert at Shoney’s.  Print coupon.  Expires 7/15
• Huggies Enjoy the Ride Points: BBKFF JNGDJ GFPGB (1 pt), BBNQM WWKTG MBPGB (1 pt), BDKRH BZDCL DSPGB (1 pt) BFMXQ HPBXB BGPGB (1 pt), BFMRK PDQZK KPPGB (1 pt), BBLPG NZFFN QLPGB (1 pt), HHNMR GJMCX HRPGB (2 pts, exp. 7/18)
• Pampers Gifts to Grow Point: STARTEARNINGNOW
• Buy any Bebe au Lait, Hooter Hiders or Simple nursing cover, get one free when you enter code: MYSTERY09. Expires 6/30

Food & Drink

• Coupon for a Free Mars Chocolate Bar ONLY ON FRIDAYS
• One Free Sub from Quizno’s with Purchase of another Sub and Drink.  print coupon.
• Joint Juice Drink Mix when you take their survey
• Free Chocolate Fondue for 2 at the Melting Pot when you join Club Fondue
• Steaz Teas Berry Flavor Energy Shot

Health & Beauty

• Free Sample of Nature’s Fish Oil
• Hyland’s Calms Forté Sleep Aid
• Ultra Protection Carefree and Stayfree Liners
• Kiss My Face Anti Stress Shower/Bath Gel

Other

• Sticky Notes from Sandy Paper
• Buy any PhotoWorks Photo Book, and get the Second Photo Book Free when you enter code: 2FOR1BOOK.  Expires 7/2

Some tips about requesting samples or buying anything online.  I’ve never had any problems; these are just me being extra careful.

1. I always put Mrs in the “first name” column– not my first name.
2. I type in a fake number if they ask for a phone number.
3. I have set up an email account that I only use for requesting samples.  Be sure to do this, so you don’t fill up your personal email account with newsletters.
   
4. I don’t give my correct birth date; I type the same year I was born, but I mix up the month and day.
   

Be patient for your samples, some of them take up to 8-12 weeks to come.  Check out the past weeks’ samples, as many of them are still good.

**Yesterday, I was contacted by a company to do a product review and giveaway.  So, stay tuned sometime next week for that!**

**And Happy Anniversary to my cousin Katie & Chris!**

Jonathan and I took Abigail to get her VCUG test today (I talked about this here).  It was absolutely heart wrenching.

They put her in a plastic cradle and tied her arms down with cloth and her stomach with an ace bandage.

Immediately, she started crying.  So, we gave her a little rubber ducky that she likes and started reading books to her.  We’d get her to calm down every so often (and by that, I mean sobbing) when I’d ask her “What does a fish say?” or “Can you say, “PapaBon,” etc, but she cried for at least 20 minutes straight.  When they put the catheter in, I had to step away, so she wouldn’t see the tears starting to form in my eyes.  It was rough.

The technician said that he couldn’t put a grade (1-5) on it, but she was refluxing.  Then, I got a call from my Pedi’s office a few hours later, and the Pedi (our normal Pedi is out for the summer) said that the full report isn’t ready yet (we’ll hear from a Urologist), but that Abby has between a Grade 2 or Grade 3 Kidney Reflux, probably a mild 3.  He said his daughter had a Grade 4, and she had surgery for it.  Scary.

He called in an Antibiotic, and we’re supposed to give it to her every day for about 9 months.  And then, she’ll have another VCUG.  Not what I want to hear.

**UPDATE: Jonathan and I were talking about this test when he got home from work.  He said the part that killed him was when Abigail was signing, “All done” over and over again.**

**Another Edit: Abigail was also sobbing “out,” “down,” “up,” and “please” every few minutes during the procedure.  Poor girl.  I hated that I couldn’t get her out.  For those of you who have wondered what kidney reflux is, here’s a short version (as best as I can understand it): Normally urine flows from the kidneys through tubes called ureters to the bladder, then into the diaper.  Vesicoureteral Reflux (kidney reflux) happens when the bladder contracts and some of the urine goes back up into the ureters and in Abigail’s case (grade 2-5 reflux) goes back into the kidneys.  This puts pressure on the kidneys, scars the kidneys, and provides an opening for bacteria to go up farther into the body (hence her urinary tract infections).

Does anyone have kids with Kidney Reflux?  I’m trying to find out all the information I can on it.

Jonathan’s sister gave birth to her second child yesterday.  Her name is Harper Louise, and she’s so so cute!

I was going to write a post about movie reviews, but that will wait until next week, I guess.  I just got off the phone with my lovely cousin and friend Katie.  We were talking about her sweet, new, GORGEOUS baby girl.  She reminded me about some feeding charts that I had made to keep track of Abigail’s eating/poops/wet diapers/sleeping times, etc.

In the hospital, they give you about 4 or 5 pages of charts.  But, I had a c-section, so I was in the hospital for awhile and never got a chance to make a copy of an unused chart.  Thus, I had to make my own.

So, remember to keep a clean chart from the hospital to make several copies.  Or, you can use my charts that I made.  This first one is the one I used for her first few weeks.

Once she was okay with weight gain, started eating less than 8 times a day, and didn’t need wet/dirty diapers counted, I started using this chart.

The charts will get bigger if you click on them.  If you need the charts in Microsoft Word so you can customize them more, let me know, and I’ll email you copies.

The Redbox code to rent a free movie for this Monday and Tuesday is RBXTHXU6.  Remember, you have to use this code before Midnight Tuesday night for it to be free. I’ve been told that these codes might work as well; not sure about an expiration date: BREAKROOM and DVDONME.  And these codes only work at certain locations: MC6AF39 - works at McDonald’s locations (exp 6/30) and DVDATWAG - works at Walgreen’s locations.

If you’re not familiar with Redbox, keep reading:

To find your nearest location, go here.  Once you’re there,

• Choose “Rent with a Promo Code.”  This is on the very first screen in the bottom left hand corner.  Then, enter the above code.
• Choose a movie.
• Complete the transaction.  You’ll have to enter a debit/credit card to check out, but you won’t be charged unless you don’t return the movie by 9:00pm the next evening (you can return the movie to any Redbox location).  If you want to rent more than one free movie, you need to use different debit/credit cards.  As long as you return the movie the next day, you will not be charged.

I’ve never seen any dog do this before: