Get You Some!Radical Giveaway

Win: Large 200x200 Ad Space w/Feature Post + 2 Custom Organic Handmade Lip Balms

Win: 200x275 Ad Space | 1 Month

Win: Hand-Knit Bow Necklace

Win: Medium Ad Space | 1 Month

Win: Medium Ad Space | 1 Month

Win: 300x100 Ad Space | 2 Months

Win: Medium Ad Space | 3 Months

Win: Feature Ad Space | 1 Month

Win: Feature Ad Space | 1 Month

A Big Thank-You to All These Ladies for Offering Up Such Radness!

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{Featured Lovely+Giveaway}Meet Michelle of Heartfelt Balance, Handmade Life

I was born and raised in Florida.  

I lived in Tallahassee, 

where I attended Florida State 

to earn my degree in 

fashion.  

I met my hubby on a cruise. 

Six years later, I moved to Ohio.  

I've been in Ohio for 12 years now and

my hubby and I will be celebrating our 

10 year anniversary 

this year.

I have a wonderful husband 

who is a carpenter.  

And 
I have two kids--

an 8 year old boy and 

a 5 year old girl.  

Logan, my 8 year old 

is into anything LEGO 

and has recently found out that he 

loves swimming.  

Jaycee is my funky little diva.  

She is one of the most active people I've ever met.  

It is sometimes a challenge keeping her busy!

Heartfelt Balance, Handmade Life is 

a Mish-Mash of mommy stuff.  

I float back and forth between different topics.  

Sometimes I focus on cooking and recipes.  

Sometimes I focus on crafts.  

Sometimes I might write heartfelt mommy thoughts 

or show you a little bit of the local fun. 

I've recently started doing a "Daily Fashion Post", 

where I create an outfit of the day.  

Since I earned my degree in fashion, 

I miss the clothes!  

It's a way for me to feel like I'm still involved.

I've recently started selling mark. cosmetics.  

It's another way I can stay in touch with the beauty/fashion world.  

It's been a lot of fun so far.  

I can't wait to see where it takes me!

***
Courtney here:
I "met" Michelle via the MayDay Follow Fest!
I really like her daily outfit posts 
and was happy to hear that she started a mark. business.  
They have such trendy and affordable cosmetics!  
Michelle recently mentioned that she is growing out her gray…
and I have to say…I'm super impressed by her choice!  
I hope that when my hair starts turning that I will look as stunning as she does!  
Doesn't she look amazing!?


You can connect more with Michelle here: Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest.


Don't leave yet!  
Michelle is generously giving away some mark. goodies 
to one lovely Baxtron{Life} reader!


Enter via the Rafflecopter below!

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{MayDay}Winners!

First, let me just say a very big
THANK YOU
to all of you who came to link-up with us for the very first
MayDay Follower-Fest!!

I'm still clicking through the links and
making so many awesome new friends!  

A special thank you to my co-hosts:
Joanna, Lish and Elizabeth as well!!

Without any further delay,
here are the winners of the MayDay Giveaways:

Debs won the $20 Starbucks Giftcard

Michelle won the Extra Large Feature Ad

       

Maribel, Bronwyn, Dyea, Pamela & Laurel won Medium Ads

And finally:

Chelsea won the Large Ad for 3 Months!

The winners have been notified via email and
have 48 hours to claim their prizes
before new winners will be selected!!

Thank you again to all who participated,
I really hope you had a lovely time!

{BabyBelly}+Giveaway

These pictures were taken in April 2010,  just a couple weeks before Zion's big debut.They were a gift from a precious friend,and taken by Indigo Foto.This is the very first time I'm sharing them.
I didn't love being pregnant,but I loved knowing I was going to be a mother.It was a hard road to travel being that I had just got into the best shape I'd been in for years!
Now when I look at these pictures,almost two full years later,I wish I could go back there.I'm nostalgic.
There is nothing quite like the wonderof carrying a child in your womb.

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{5.2.12}Surprise!

Wow! Over 170 of you are already linked up, and more by the hour!  Are you having fun?I've met so many great ladies already, and can't wait to meet you as well!  This May Day Follow-Fest is going so well, I thought I'd add something special today!  A SURPRISE!!!
FIVE OF YOU LUCKY LADIES are going to get FREE Advertising on Baxtron{Life} for the rest of MAY!
Winners will be chosen via Random.org at the end of the link-up!  No need to do anything, except link-up your blog by clicking the MAY DAY Banner above (if you haven't already)!

We took the new jogging stroller for a stroll.
Bananas are "in" again.
Zion picked out new shoes.
Enjoyed the local playground.
Attended "LittleMommy" Day and had a blast!
We even ran into a few bloggy friends.
One of my BFF's launched a new jewelry business…more on that soon!
Did a little closet organizing.
 
Zion's take on the modern broomstick horse.
"Yeeeee-haww!"

How was your week?

{Feautured Lovely+GIVEAWAY!}MeetAmy of Up Mommy Creek

I am a 30 year old mom.

I was a goody-two-shoes growing up. 

I loved school (yes...I was one of THOSE kids), 

I went straight from highschool to university and started a pretty decent job right after graduation. 

However, 

2 years in I felt like I was missing something in my life, 

and decided to leave it all behind

and travel to Thailand. 

A couple of years, 

a few countries and many miles later, 

I finally found myself, 

and also found the love of my life. 

We decided to head on back to the Great White North (I am a Canadian) and settle down. 

Now, 

I pretty much spend my days chasing after my little man, 

trying to keep Kitty from destroying the house, 

and when I get a spare second I try to squeeze in some yoga or 

cuddle up on the couch with a good book.

Our little family consists of me, my husband, 

my 9 month old son Finnley 

and our dumb (but very pretty!) cat Kitty. 

My husband and I met while travelling in Thailand, and

we knew pretty quick we were soul-mates 

(as cliche as that is!). 

It took us a couple of years to figure out we couldn't fight fate, and so we married, got a cat and eventually were lucky enough to be able to add to our family with a bouncing baby boy! 

My family is silly, funny, loving 

and I think we're perfect 

(but I may be a bit biased...)

Once I found out I was pregnant, 

and after the excitement wore off, 

I started to realize that I really had no idea what I was doing. 

So, I started 

Up Mommy Creek 

as a way to express my sheer and utter bafflement with the whole experience of pregnancy. 

Since we've progressed now into the land of parenting,

it's really no different. 

I am still clueless and just fly by the seat of my pants usually. 

Parenting is hard work and it's been quite an adventure to figure it all out. 

So on my blog you will usually find a story about something strange 

or ridiculous that recently happened, 

or a recipe that I love, 

or some of my attempts at photographing my son. 

It's pretty much an eclectic mix of all things me (and some things Finnley…)!

Courtney here:

Amy won my featured ad space giveaway last month!  

I've enjoyed getting to know her family and son through her blog.

You can also find her on Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest!

Make sure you give her a visit and say hey!  

But wait…

before you go, 

Amy has generously offered up 

a $15 Starbucks Giftcard 

to one of you lovelies!

Enter via Rafflecopter below (click here if you don't see the widget):

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Zion's First Haircut & $100 Visa Giveaway {Find Great Deals on SquareSpot}

Thank you to SquareSpot for sponsoring this post! 
Visit SquareSpot to find great deals and discounts on high quality family-centric products and services.

It was finally time to take Zion in for her first hair cut.  We've put it off as much as possible because her hair has been relatively easy to handle and beautiful, crazy beautiful even.  But Easter morning confirmed the need:

Luckily, I had just signed up to try SquareSpot, an online market providing great savings and benefits for busy urban moms on a wide range of high quality goods and services in New York City.  They just so happened to have a fantastic deal for a cute little children's boutique in Brooklyn called Mini Max.

I am always looking for reasons to go to new places and experience new things in the city, and haven't been to Brooklyn in who knows how long, so I new this deal was perfect for me.  For $15 I was able to purchase a $20 gift certificate which would cover almost the entire cost of Zion's haircut.  Plus, I knew they also carried a small collection of fun eco-friendly toys and couldn't wait to have Zion pick something out on our special date.

This morning, we ventured out in the windy but warm weather…on our special date to Brooklyn for her haircut.  We enjoyed the long relaxing train ride with relatively few transfers.  Getting to Brooklyn never felt easier!  We arrived at our destination where Zion was warmly welcomed and given her choice of kid show and salon chair.  She chose a Diego video and then a yellow cab to sit in for her cut.  (Such a NYC girl already!)  I, of course, hovered and took pictures like the paparazzi, just like any first time mom would do!

There have been so many big milestones this week, all blatantly screaming at me that my little baby girl is a full on little girl now…no baby at all.  It really hasn't all hit me yet, but I am sure it is just a matter of time, in fact I can feel the "they grow up so fast" tears just waiting to be released like a torrential Spring rain.  

After Zion's haircut we took some time to pick out a couple of new toys.  First she gravitated to the tea party sets, then to the musical instruments, but in the end we took home some cute animal bath toys and a new farm puzzle.  Prices were incredibly reasonable and we both had a great time.  My expectations were far exceeded for both Mini Max, for being crazy awesome, and SquareSpot for connecting me to such a great establishment through a great offer!

Shortly after I purchased the Mini Max offer on SquareSpot, I had to go back and check out the additional deals and discounts on high quality, family-centric products and services that were being offered to make sure I didn't miss out!  They rotate new deals in and out on a weekly basis.  

source

As you know I've been working hard at losing weight and getting in shape in my weekly Meltdown series, so I simply had to purchase the Moms of Steel offer for three Fitness "Bootcamp" Stroller workouts in Central Park for the price of one!  I haven't booked my dates yet, because I am still finishing up my current program, but after such a great experience with the first offer I tried, I am sure this is going to be top notch!

One of the things I loved learning about SquareSpot was that they test each product or service so everything on the site is hand picked!  They also offer a SquareCard program that gives you discounts off hundreds of New York City services and programs!  From what I have seen so far they are constantly adding more partners to their list.  The website is super easy to use and thankfully I don't have a ton of offer emails flooding my inbox.  If you are a New York City mama I totally recommend you check them out and sign-up for an account!

Thanks to SquareSpot, one of my lovely readers is going to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!!  Will it be you?

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I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own. #CGSquareSpot #spon