Mixbook Photo Book Winner!!

And the winner of the Mixbook photo book is...


...


...


Comment #10: Adam Nelson! 


Congratulations Adam! Thanks for entering everyone! If you would like to make your own photo book or birth announcements, wedding invites, save the dates, etc. you can use the code UPMOMC20 to receive a discount of 20% off at Mixbook.com! 

Mixbook Review and Giveaway!

When I was contacted by Mixbook to review their photobooks, I was really excited. I took a quick look at the website and was really impressed with it. With Mixbook, you can create your own photobooks, cards, announcements and photo calendars on the web. You create or customize the design for free using their design software and then you have the option to purchase your final product. Hubby had previously created a photobook a few years back using the Mac software, and we enjoy having it around to show people, so we were really excited for the opportunity to create a new book. I would have loved to have done a book for the baby, but he was not yet arrived. Instead, Hubby and I decided to design a book about us, using photos from our travels and various adventures.

A page from our book

When creating a photobook, it is essentially online scrapbooking. Mixbook has a whole array of templates you can choose. Then you just upload your photos and start arranging. Or, you can also use the auto mix feature and the program will arrange everything for you. I loved this option, since the templates look great. They have gorgeous backgrounds and stickers and even appropriate quotes already arranged for you. Since I am not a scrapbooker, I would have chosen this option. However, Hubby had a vision of what he wanted, and he also had a ton of fun playing with the software, so he created our whole book from scratch. Basically, he chose the photo layout for each page and then customized it all. My job was to go through after he was finished and add some quotes, stickers and other design elements to make it look purty. We were really happy with how it turned out, and it is the perfect coffee table book. The shipping was very quick, and I have to say that the  customer service has been phenomenal!

More of our book

Things I really loved about Mixbook:

• The software is super easy to use, and it looks sharp! 
• You have the freedom to create something from scratch or to just add your own photos to an already designed template
• The colours on the photos turned out exactly as they were on our computer (one of the drawbacks we had with using the Mac program on our other book). 
• The Mixbook software will tell you if your photo's resolution is too low to turn out in print, if you have margins which won't look nice once printed, etc. It's basically a goof-up protection plan. It's fabulous, and you don't find it out at the end when you've already arranged it beautifully; it tells you as soon as the photo is uploaded. 
• The quality of the book is awesome. I was very impressed.

They also have a ton of wedding invites, save the dates, birth announcements, etc. Their birth announcements look awesome. They have a ton of great designs, and most are double sided, which I think makes them look much more high-quality than the ones with just the plain white photo paper backs. We will be ordering a bunch once we get some nice photos of the Peanut. 

Head on over to the website and check out their current promotions. 

They are also offering my readers a special discount of 20% off any Mixbook product!! Just enter the code UPMOMC20 at checkout! Woo hoo! 

The Giveaway!! 
**The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering! **
One lucky reader will receive one free 20 page 11x8.5 landscape hardcover photo book with free shipping! It's a great way to show off travel photos, or create a fun wedding album or a personalized baby book. 


To enter: 

Leave a comment below telling me what you would create with your Mixbook. 


For bonus entries (leave a separate comment for each entry): 

• Like Mixbook on Facebook
• Share this giveaway on Facebook/Twitter/your blog
• Follow Mixbook on Twitter

The giveaway will be open until Monday, August 29th at 5pm MST. I will choose one winner randomly from the comments posted here (using random.org). Contest is open to both Canada and the US. Woo hoo!

Please note that I received a free photobook so that I could write a review on the product. All opinions are my own, and are my honest feelings about the product. Just want to be honest! 

Top 25 Pregnancy Blogs: An Update

If you've been reading along for a while, you may remember I was nominated for the Top 25 Pregnancy Journals on Circle of Moms. Well, after all your support and votes, I am pleased to announce that I placed third! Thank you! 


The list is now up, with a little interview as well. Head on over and check it out, and you can check out some other awesome mommy blogs as well! Thanks again for all your support, dear readers!! You guys are the best. 


 Top 25 Pregnancy Journals

I am really, really dumb...

Ok, so in case I haven't mentioned it before, I gained a heck of a lot of weight when I was pregnant with the Peanut. It's hard to put an exact number on it, since I was a bit over my "normal" weight when I got pregnant (and hence ignoring the numbers on the scale in an effort to make me feel better), but if pressed I would have to say around 55 lbs or so. Which is a lot. I know that most people said it was all belly, and I am pleased that it appeared that way, but since it's my body I can definitely tell that it wasn't, in fact, all belly. I think it was just that the weight evenly distributed itself all over. How kind of it. 


In any case, all this weight came on, which meant that my wedding rings stopped fitting pretty early in my pregnancy. Again, I can't recall exactly, but it was probably before 20 weeks. At that point I stopped wearing my rings on my finger and started wearing them around my neck. So I was super pumped for after the birth, when I would get to wear my rings again.


It was immediately apparent that there was no way in hell that these rings were going back on after I gave birth. I was so swollen from all the fluids they pumped into me that I was probably bigger than before Peanut's dramatic arrival. I still looked about 6 months pregnant (which is more like a normal person's 8 months...) and my Hobbit feet were even bigger, and I only lost about 5 lbs. Which is probably the most depressing thing in the world, considering the baby weighed over 10lbs, plus all that icky, extra stuff that comes out too, like the placenta, and all that fluid. So how is it possible to weigh MORE? Sigh. 


Anyway, I started the process of checking every day if my fat little fingers had reduced in size enough to fit my rings on. Last week, after stepping on the scale, I found out that I had lost about 30 lbs. WOO HOO!! So I figured that this had to be it. This was the time. My rings would fit for sure. I even voiced this to Hubby while getting ready to try them on. 


Me: This is the magical day when my rings will finally fit! By some miracle, they will just slide on and it will be the best day ever! 


Hubby: (looking up from his book) Uh, yeah, sure. 


And guess what?! It WAS that magical day! My rings did slide right on (with a little bit  lot of effort). I rejoiced for about 30 seconds before I realized that perhaps this move was a little premature, and that my finger was turning red, and eventually started to turn blue. So then I started to panic and try and get them off. They were firmly stuck on there without a hope of ever coming off. How is it possible that they can go on, but not off?!? 


Panic was setting in, and I tried putting my hand in ice water to reduce the swelling and lubing up my finger with olive oil. Yeah, it did absolutely nothing but make my finger even bluer. Hubby got a great idea that we could Google "how to get a ring off a finger". In the meantime I was freaking out in the bathroom, thinking that we were going to have to make a trip to the hospital so they could cut off my rings, and I would feel so incredibly embarrassed and dumb the whole time. This was the scenario playing in my mind:


Nurse: Is this the result of some injury? Was it a horribly traumatic event? 


Me: Nope. I just figured I could fit my rings back on my fat fingers. 


Nurse: So, after you put the wedding ring on, and it was tight, you still thought it would be a good idea to put the engagement ring on as well? 


Me: (avoiding eye contact) uhhhh...


Nurse: That was really, really dumb. 


Hubby found a video which suggested wrapping my finger and knuckle very tightly with dental floss to help reduce the size of the finger so the ring might slide off. I tried it. It didn't seem very likely to work, but at this point I was freaking out big time. (By the way, Peanut was watching this whole scene in his bouncy chair very happily...he likes drama). Hubby came in and decided he would try to pull the ring off, since he is much stronger and can fix things. He pulled while I stuffed a towel in my mouth and screamed. The video just showed the lady gently pulling off the ring. It did not show the incredible amount of pain it causes to try and force the ring off. Hubby couldn't get it, and he was ready to admit defeat and was starting to get things ready for us to go to the hospital. The scene of embarrassment was still playing over and over in my head, and I did NOT want to subject myself to that, so I tried desperately one last time to get it off before my finger withered and died from lack of blood. MWAHAHAHAHA! Success!! The engagement ring came off, and very slowly circulation started trickling back into my poor finger. 


At this point it was obvious that there was no way I was going to be able to get off the wedding ring. My finger was about 4 times it's normal size, and it was really, really sore. Also, the wedding ring is really thin, and doesn't have a diamond prong thingy for leverage like the engagement ring. So, after confirming that it was not so tight as to cause my finger to atrophy and fall off, I just left it on. And there is sits today. 


The moral of the story: I still won! I am now wearing my wedding ring. YAY! 


Also, perhaps you should not try to shove too small rings onto too fat fingers too early. Oops...

And now a cute baby picture, for your enjoyment:

Awww...I can't believe he's almost 3 weeks old! He is still a very serious little man. 

Happy Anniversary, Baby

Today is my first anniversary with my amazing husband. It's hard to believe that a year ago we were getting married. In some ways it feels like forever ago, and in others it feels like just yesterday.

Our wedding was one of the best days of my life. I had an absolute blast. It was everything we hoped it would be, and more. A great party with all the nearest and dearest to us. Great music, delicious food, it was perfect.

Looking back on the 5 years since we first met, I have to say that I have never been so lucky as to meet such an amazing man. He has definitely changed my life. He has taught me about adventure and love and passion. He is my best friend in every sense of the word, and I feel so lucky and blessed to spend every single day with such a great man and companion. And now that he has given me such an amazing gift in our little son, and we are testing the waters (ok, more like thrown into the deep end) of parenthood, I feel like we have even more to learn and experience together. 


I love you so much, Adam. Thanks for a fabulous year. xoxo


(end mushiness)

All photos are courtesy of Images By Frost