Posted on by

Slipcovers for Your Pets

Last weekend I came across some pictures of my roommates’ English Bulldog Stella when she was a puppy. When she was that age, we lived in a house that had a pool, and we used to put her in a play yard when we were swimming because we were worried about her falling in the water. Thus, my post for this week discusses yet another great reason to have Coverplay slipcovers — pets.

Using Coverplay’s slipcovers for your pets has some outstanding benefits. The first of course, being able to put your pets in a clean, bacteria-free play yard when they are young. There are so many times when you want to be able to sit down, relax and not wonder if your new pair of shoes are your puppy’s afternoon snack. The second benefit is being able to pull the slip cover out and wash it when you are still potty-training your pet. This is priceless, I remember how hard it was to clean that play pen during the hot summer days after Stella had been sitting in it for a while. Having a removable slipcover would have been so much easier. The third is pack ‘n play. Now you can take your pets along with you on vacations and not have to leave them at home. Slipcovers are great for vacations and easily cover dirty hotel play yards.

So while slipcovers are designed for your babies, they work for your pets as well. And if you have a pet and are thinking about having a child in the near future, start using slipcovers now and get used to feeling comfortable knowing your loved ones aren’t exposed to bacteria and germs when they are in their play yards.

Posted on by

Massive Children’s Product Recalls

I read an article on CBS News that the Consumer Product Safety Commission is voluntarily recalling two products that are considered a risk to children. The article describes the recalled products below.

Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the CPSC, spoke on “The Early Show” about what is being recalled and why. Four million inflatable baby floats are being recalled because they are easy to tear. Tenenbaum said, “…Parents need to be aware, if you have a plastic float, that the child’s weight really cannot be handled by just this little simple plastic part (holding the child above the water).”

She added if the child weighs more than the float can handle, the child “is going to go through.” “I think parents just need to never leave a child unsupervised,” she said, “and be very, very careful with any kind of float with children.”

child's cribs recalled

Another recall involves 400,000 baby cribs for fear children may be caught in the large space when the side is dropped. Tenenbaum said the Simplicity brand crib has killed 10 children. “In all,” she said, “we have recalled two million of these in the past few years because the company would change the hardware, but it never worked,” she said.
Tenenbaum added that one 8-month-old child in Houston, Texas, recently suffocated because the child became wedged between the crib’s parts.

The company is no longer doing daily business, Tenenbaum said, but added that in order to protect our babies, parents should be aware of their baby’s crib brand and not use any crib made by Simplicity Inc.

Posted on by

Be Safe Outside This Summer

summer outside safety

After spending a great fourth of July weekend almost entirely at the beach, I started to think about how much more I am outside these days. During the summer months everybody always wants to enjoy the sun and beautiful weather, and thus, we are exposed to much more bacteria and potential for our little ones to get sick. In order to protect our babies from germs, we need to make sure that we have coverplay slipcovers and that we wash them regularly. So July is here, and August is on the horizon, and this means more weekend barbeques, beach trips and easy days by the pool. Enjoy the rest of the summer knowing that your little ones have clean slipcovers and that they are protected against all of the germs in the air.

Posted on by

Huggies Goes After Social Media Moms

Blogger Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable, a leading tech blog focused on Web 2.0 and social networking news, talked about Huggies and their move toward Social Media moms this morning. This campaign creates a great way for all Pack ‘n Play families to stay on top of the latest information, tips, advice and even a possibility of winning free diapers! Brand-sponsored social media campaigns are everywhere, and this campaign is very clever, as it is specifically targeted to a very specific market. From SeaWorld, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts to Cadbury, A&E and even Universal, it’s officially the hot trend to replace or supplement traditional marketing campaigns with social media.

Huggies, the maker of diapers, training pants and other products for babies and young kids, has decided to jump on the social media bandwagon, too, but by going straight to their target audience — moms — by way of the popular mommy social site, Circle of Moms. The mom-centric site is leveraging its partnerships with MindShare and AppsSavvy to fully integrate a Huggie’s branded experience within their site and Facebook app.

The Huggies and Circle of Moms deal will give birth to a Huggies Zone. The customized content will include an expert advice column, a mom-to-mom forum with relevant tips, age-specific diaper information, parenting polls and ways for parents to share their baby photos.

For their participation, moms are given Huggies rewards codes and the opportunity to win a one year’s supply of diapers. Of course, since the campaign will exist on the Circle of Moms site and within their Facebook app, both the startup and the brand are hoping that moms share their participation with other moms and create a massive word of mouth marketing and viral social media effect.

It remains to be seen how these moms will respond to the branded content, but we have to applaud Huggies for a creative social media marketing campaign that’s built around engaging with potential customers, as opposed to just marketing to them. If you’re a mom, use the comments section to let us know what you think of the campaign and whether or not you’d share the Huggies’ branded content with your friends.

Posted on by

Jon and Kate Plus 8 Plus Divorce Lawyers

I heard it on the news as I was driving into work, and it was the first blog that I read this morning by Stacy Schneider from The Huffington Post, so that was a sign that I had to talk about it today. Unfortunately, the rumor that they are getting divorced is not shocking to me, having eight children is just not ideal. A lot of people think they exploited their kids and their unique family for fame and fortune. Whether you agree with that or not, raising eight children by two parents seems impossible to most. There are not many couples in reality television history that have had better marriages after having their own show, it just doesn’t happen. Even though the Gosselin family has made a lot of money, for TLC and themselves, the consequences of this one season might end up costing those children more headaches and frustration than it was worth.

Rumors have it that Jon and Kate Plus 8 stars Jon and Kate Gosselin have hired divorce lawyers. If so, theirs will be America’s first reality divorce to go down while the show a show is airing. No doubt the saga will continue generating the TLC channel’s biggest ratings ever. But as the producers’ profits continue to roll in as this train wreck of a marriage breaks down, what’s at stake for Jon and Kate? Already accused by family members of “exploiting their kids” for fame and fortune, the money is really going to the hit fan if they head to divorce court.

Previous reality TV couples like Nick and Jessica, Britney and Kevin Federline, and Hulk Hogan and Linda all had marriages that hit the skids after their shows left the airwaves. But Jon and Kate are famous for raising eight little ones while showcasing their deteriorating marriage on camera. The feuding couple has been raking in real dough from sponsors, gifts, perks and fees and expects to earn much more as their popularity continues to soar. So the question arises, if the couple splits, how do they split their future earnings in real time?

A family member claims the Gosselins are worth $10 million. Even if the true figure is a quarter of that, figuring out how to slice this family pie without the couple tearing each other to pieces will not be easy. The couple’s TV contract reportedly pays out $75,000 an episode. As current cash cows for TLC, Jon and Kate should certainly expect their paychecks to inflate as additional seasons advance. Plus there’s bound to be income from additional book deals, TV contracts and paid endorsements down the road. It’s going to take a team of contract and divorce lawyers to divide the marital assets as the family jackpot and fame grows by the minute. This is the type of settlement deal that could take months if not years to hammer out.

Then comes alimony. Could Kate owe Jon a monthly maintenance check? After all, Jon played housewife while Kate was the bigger breadwinner. Her $20,000 speaking engagements, plus income from her book and autograph sales, make her the wealthier spouse. If a judge wants to make sure that income and assets are divided evenly, there may be a court-ordered role reversal. Jon could end up a kept man as he cashes Kate’s alimony checks.

Another cost of a reality divorce is astronomical legal fees. Litigation would put a serious dent in the couple’s paychecks. The more complicated the marital assets, the wealthier the spouses, and the more ferocious their fight, the bigger the legal bills. These feuding TV stars are a lawyer’s dream clients — virtually guaranteed to wage an expensive divorce battle as the attorneys and forensic accountants sort through the marital assets and hatch a workable plan where both sides would be willing to sign off.

The Gosselins would actually stay richer if they stayed together. But with their hatred bared before the cameras and their legal maneuverings behind-the-scenes, it seems like it’s too late to save Jon and Kate.