Babystar and I went to MommyCon DC yesterday and had so much fun!

(I was NOT a member of the media team or blog team or whatever it was called and I did purchase my own ticket.)

We actually volunteered Thursday and Friday behind the scenes, and that was also a blast. (Yes, WE. Babystar came along too and even had some playmates her own age.) Everyone involved with Team MommyCon was really nice and great and seemed all about the cause. By the time Saturday actually arrived, I was already exhausted. But luckily very excited, and the excitement trumped the exhaustion.

We arrived early because my son (home from college for the summer) and his girlfriend were working the event. If you attended MommyCon DC and checked your stroller, you met my firstborn. Thanks for being nice to him. (I know you were nice because he told me he was surprised how nice EVERYONE was. I wasn’t surprised but thank you anyway.)

The best thing about having him working there was dropping off Babystar for five minutes at a time so I could PEE ALL BY MYSELF. Stroller check was located conveniently right next to the restrooms.

Babystar helped by stacking things. Also, LOOK AT THAT MOUNTAIN OF GIFT BAGS!

We attended last year and I definitely noticed a lot of improvement. The layout inside the convention center was smarter this year. Last year the vendor space was a bit cramped and the diaper changing area was ridiculously big and far away from the action. That was not the case this year, and the addition of a Quiet Room and Toddler Play Space was great. (Note to the convention center: that door to the Quiet Room needs some WD-40. Whoops.)

The best improvement IMO was the offering of speaker sessions. There were six different sessions happening at any time, which made it difficult to choose where to spend our time. (This is a good problem to have!) I really enjoyed Steps Toward Sustainability with Yvonne Brown, Dear Baby XO: Why Mom Fails are Good for You with Sarah Showfety, and Ring Slings 101. By far my favorite session was Why Toddlers Fear New Foods with Dawn Winkelman of EZPZ. I have raised two picky eaters already and learned a lot of ways to prevent this pickiness with Babystar, hopefully early enough to prevent any food issues. (I know Cloth Diapering 101 with Jenn Labit was great because I attended last year, so I felt ok about skipping it this year EVEN THOUGH I know she gives out cool gifts.) I wanted to attend the Babywearing Yoga and Babies at the Barre sessions, but. But. But I was so so SO tired from working while babywearing the previous two days AND Babystar was conveniently asleep in her carrier during both of those session times. So I shopped instead.

Want to see what I bought?

• All the Smart Bottoms stars plus the teal Blueberry diaper in the front row from Lil Tulips: $139.31
• The three striped diapers (SO PRETTY in person!) and the squiggly rainbow diaper from Blueberry Diapers: $96.80
• Swim diaper from GroVia: $12 (MommyCon special price!)
• Stuffed ninja that Babystar pointed out and then bit so I had to buy it (smart baby) from Wrap Scrap Creations: $20
• Two Ubbi Tweat Snack Containers (you can see that one was used for Cheerios right away): $15 (MommyCon special pricing!)
• Navy blue mesh ring sling from Cute Awakening: $35
• Ziggy Stardust t-shirt for Babystar from Jammy Jams: $18

Merch total was $336.11 plus $84 for tickets (general admission plus the Feed the Baby VIP session on Friday) so my grand total was $420.11. Which is almost exactly $100 less than last year. I wanted to buy much more but restrained myself. I wanted more more MORE cloth diapers and a Tekhni ‘hip sack’ (which is really just a pretty fanny pack for fancy mamas) and a woven ring sling and and and. You get it.

I chatted with several of the vendors; again, everyone I talked to was so nice. Everyone. Of course they were, right? They are vendors. But everyone was SUPER above and beyond nice, and excited to chat about their products or just about babies or life in general.

Life Tip #1: Get some Oh My Yog! Organic Yogurt from Stonyfield in your life as soon as possible. Stonyfield gave some out during the VIP sessions on Friday and I cannot even tell you how delicious it is. You will thank me. Unless you really hate yogurt. Then you might not like it. But you might — it’s that good.

Life Tip #2: Find out where to buy Brewla ice pops near you and get the coffee flavored one and eat it immediately. They had samples on Saturday and they were SO GOOD. The Strawberry Hibiscus was also delicious. But that coffee flavored one tho.

Life Tip #3: (If you have a baby or a toddler.) Attend a MommyCon near you. I think it is finally worth traveling for, and I wouldn’t have said that last year. Xza and her team have been on a steep learning curve and the entire convention is really really good now.

Everyone always wants to know WHAT IS IN THE SWAG BAG?

Everyone gets a gift bag. And if you attend a VIP session (held the day before), you get another special individualized gift bag. I attended Feed the Baby with Jessica Martin-Weber from The Leaky B@@b and it was great because she is just adorable and funny and great. And all of this was in my VIP gift bag.

You guys, look! There is a coral EZPZ mini mat! Just like the one I gave away last week. And just like the one I already own and reviewed and wondered if it would work better if I never put it in the dishwasher. I’m going to do a blind ‘sticky test’ soon and I’ll let you know how it goes. I will also tell you all about the BiteSizers and Re-Play dishware and GOOtensils once Babystar uses them a bit.

(That can is tuna. I don’t know. Special you-can-eat-it-when-you-are-pregnant tuna but still. What?)

And everyone got a General Admission gift bag with some variation on these goodies.

Well technically, the Kind bar, Babyganics samples on the left, and GoGo applesauce were handed out by vendors in the exhibit hall. The rest was in the swag bag. Highlights included two types of reusable food pouches (Sage Spoonfuls and Little Green Pouch), an adorable doll sized cloth diaper from Nicki’s Diapers, and a Maya & Max by MOBY baby hat. Plus lots of other cool stuff, as you can see. I actually got another bag with a variation of these things at the end as a thank you for volunteering, so I’m going to give THIS one away. I’ll even pay your shipping costs, so US only please and sorry. Immediately after taking the above picture last night, I tied up the bag and set it aside for you.

I’m leaving this giveaway open until the middle of next week, because I will not be able to ship this out until August 5th.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH OR ENDORSED BY MOMMYCON.

I’m just gifting you my super cool swag bag. 🙂

WE HAVE A WINNER! Gabriela, I just sent you an email. CONGRATULATIONS! And thank you to everyone who entered!!

Enter to win a MommyCon Swag Bag here!

 

RAISING BABYSTAR: $11,149.67