some reviews...

I've been on a bit of a break from posting reviews and giveaways, but have some past due reviews for CSN to share with you. The wonderful team at CSN stores gave me the great opportunity to choose some items for review recently.

 I chose the Hoover Wet/Dry Hand Vacuum back in August. This little thing has been a lifesaver. I must say that my primary reason for choosing this product was to clean up after Malakai's meals. His highchair has a way of collecting crumbs and I didn't want to remove the cover to shake it out after every meal. The wet/dry feature was important for obvious reasons. I also wanted cordless and something with a wall mount. This was the only choice in a small handheld vacuum with all of those options.

It holds a charge for a long time. I don't always put it on the charging base and it has yet to die on me. It's also super easy to empty + clean out. My only complaint is that it's SUPER loud and makes a bit of a high pitched sound. I'm assuming all hand vacs are about the same in this, I just make sure Malakai isn't near it when it's running.

Earlier this month we received the North States Supergate III for review. We were in need of a gate that would work for our hallway to keep Malakai out of the other side of the house so we could get things done without constantly having to find out where he ran off to. With the layout of our house, this also enables us to have our bedroom + bathroom doors open more often which keeps the whole house at an even temperature. We also move the gate into the kitchen when I'm working with the oven or Ben is loading/unloading the dishwasher to keep Kai away from hot, sharp + breakable objects. We only do this when the other one is home to watch him since we only have the one gate and he could wander out of sight to the other side of the house.

This gate has worked really well for us so far. We've only been using it for about 3 weeks. I only have 2 minor complaints. One was that when we received it there was styrofoam literally inside the gate between the two pieces that slide and it was nearly impossible to remove them to use the gate. Second, it's really difficult to get the lock into place. I'm guessing this is probably pretty standard with tension gates in order to get them to stay, but it's really difficult!

Being short, this gate is a bit too tall for me. I've already fallen once (go ahead and giggle) because I caught my toe. Not the first time something like this has happened to me...all 5'2" of me tried hurdles in High School...bad idea.  Anyway, I just have to be really careful when going over it.

We're thinking of getting another one to create a bit of a smaller space that keeps Malakai on one side of the house AND out of the kitchen at certain times. Just an FYI we don't use the gate all the time or keep Malakai only on the one side of the house. We feel it's important for him to be exposed to all the parts of our home for the purpose of exploration and to learn boundaries.

As always, feel free to ask me for additional information or tips in the comment section or via email (link to the left).