Aloha, I'm Donna, known everywhere on the Internet as "Champuru." I'm a Christian, blissfully wedded to my perfect match (the yang to my yin) of 15 years and a stay-at-home mom to my miracle baby, born in October 2008. Living life in Hawaii, less than 5 miles from my hometown, seeking balance in her pursuit of family, faith, recreation, and rest. Read more on the About page.
The good folks at Midori-dori are extending a 15% discount on purchases made on their website for champuru.net readers. Just use the discount code 09CHAMPURU15 at check-out to receive 15% off your purchase.
Midori-dori is an eco-friendly, reusable gift wrap that is beautiful and convenient. The product was invented by my friend Stacy Uyehara, who was fed up with seeing the piles of wrapping paper being discarded on Christmas morning.
I used the Midori-dori wraps for the centerpieces containing bottles of Island Princess macadamia caramel popcorn for my daughter’s first birthday party. The wrap was convenient to use and didn’t require additional decorating to make it a focal point on the tables. Consider using Midori-dori wraps for centerpieces or favors for your next party. It comes in three sizes: box wrap, wine wrap, and DVD wrap.
See below for a video that I shot and edited for Midori-dori. Stacy demonstrates how you can wrap a gift in under a minute using a Midori-dori wrap. So, go green this Christmas and save some green by using the champuru.net discount code for 15% off: 09CHAMPURU15.
Midori-dori, a new product being launched at the Made in Hawaii Festival this weekend (August 21-23, 2009)
Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall & Arena
I was so excited to learn that my business colleague and friend, Stacy has launched a fantastic new product called Midori-dori. If you’ve ever had a pang of guilt at seeing the huge garbage bags filled with gift wrapping paper after opening presents on Christmas morning, you will love Midori-dori. It’s reusable gift wrapping, made of beautiful printed fabrics in Asian and Hawaiian prints, complete with its own bow. After your recipient has opened the gift, they can reuse it — gifting it forward, if you will, to the next person. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Re-wrap!
I hope to be able to attend the product show this weekend to purchase a few of my own so I can do a proper review of the product, but I love the concept. Eco-friendly gift wrapping that is convenient, functional, and beautiful!
Check out the Made in Hawaii Festivalthis weekend to see Midori-dori and hundreds of other wonderful products made in Hawaii! Support your local businesses. Buy Hawaii!
Whenever Baby Champuru eats anything solid, I am in constant fear of her choking. So, when I saw the Baby Safe Feeder, I knew I had to buy it and try it. I put a banana in the mesh pocket and attached the handle. Giving it to baby, she didn’t know what to make of it at first, but quickly understood that there was something edible inside and starting gnawing on it. The handle makes it easy for baby to hold and feed herself. After she finished the first serving I wanted to refill the feeder with another piece of banana, but she was so captivated by it, that clenched the handle with both hands and hollered in protest. I managed to pry it out of her hands and give her another serving — and she was absolutely thrilled.
The Baby Safe Feeder also makes a great teether, as you can put an ice cube in the mesh pocket for baby to suck on to alleviate teething pain. The real benefit is being able to put a piece of fresh fruit in the pocket without having to mash it — and it also gives baby the opportunity for self-feeding safely. The mesh bags are reusable and can be washed with warm soapy water and a clean toothbrush.
Did I mention? This product is made in the USA!
Here’s a short video of Baby Champuru eating her first banana in the Baby Safe Feeder.
When our baby was born, the hospital provided a form to track baby’s activities: feeding and diaper changes. In the beginning days of life, it’s vitally important to track input and output to ensure that baby is being properly nourished, especially if she is being breastfed. It also provided columns for tracking how many minutes per breast your baby nursed on; if baby was fed by bottle, what kind of formula given and how much; diaper changes specified wet or stool. It was so helpful to me that I continued keeping the log, but found having to keep a clipboard always at hand somewhat cumbersome.
While I was browing for games on the App Store on my iPod Touch, I thought of doing a search on applications for babies. Surely someone thought of creating some nifty app to make a mommy’s life easier, right? Well, yes. Enter the Baby Log application for iPhone/iPod Touch by Platinum Coded.
The Baby Log app easily tracks feedings (in minutes, ounces, or milliliters), diaper changes (specify poop or no poop), sleeping, baths, and “other” which you can specify yourself. This is especially helpful for breastfeeding moms (like me) who have a hard time remembering which side they nursed last and it’s great for keeping time while you are nursing. I try to nurse baby around twenty minutes on each side every two hours, so at a glance I can see how much time has elapsed while I am nursing as well as when it’s time for the next feeding. Tracking baby’s sleeping patterns have also been particularly helpful, so that I can guess when her next nap might be based on past trends. I am still concerned about baby’s poop frequency, so tracking that has become easier with the Baby Log as well.
The Baby Log also allows data to be exported to Excel (in comma-delimited format) so you number-crunching types can run your own reports and make your own graphs if you so desire. The application also computes weekly statistics and displays them on the timer screen (not shown).
If you have twins, no problem! Baby Log is twins capable, just shake your iPod/iPhone to switch profiles.
At $4.99, it’s a great deal considering there are gadgets for this exact purpose for upwards of $25.
We have an Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper that was received as a baby shower gift and it is the single most useful thing we own for baby.
Having baby right next to me without having her in our bed is imporant to me. I am a heavy sleeper (yes, still) and if she were in the other room where her crib is, she’d likely be crying for an hour and work herself into a red-faced tantrum before I am roused from my slumber. With her no more than a few feet from my eardrums, the smallest stirring or whimpering will awaken me from a dead sleep. It’s also convenient to have her literally at “arm’s reach” for those 3 am feedings.
The co-sleeper attaches securely to our bed, but can also be converted to a free-standing bassinet or a playard. It’s portable (breaks down to 10″ x 10″ x 32″ and weighs 32 lbs.) and comes with a travel bag. Our family is going to Turtle Bay Resort for the weekend to celebrate our niece’s birthday, and while we were considering attending, the co-sleeper was definitely on the packing list. However, after speaking with our pediatrician, he recommended against going out in public while baby is still less than two months old, especially during flu season (October through mid-May), so that’s a no-go.
Her crib is used mainly for daytime naps, but we will transition her to the crib once she outgrows the co-sleeper. I can tell that the transition will likely be harder on me than on the baby.
