I came home from a pretty traumatic dental experience recently and they wanted to know what happened. I told them that mommy didn’t brush and floss the way she was supposed to and, as a result, mommy had to have the icky parts of the tooth that died drilled off. They gasped and kind of screamed a little and then ran around holding their mouths.

Come on, you didn’t think I was going to sugar coat the dentist, did you? In retrospect, I wish I’d gotten some fake blood and had it trickling out of my mouth while moaning, “Why?? Why didn’t I brush and floss more??” Hopefully generating looks of absolute terror on the kids’ faces and ensuring a lifetime of proper dental hygiene.

But getting my kids to brush without the fake blood is just one of the million things I have to do as a mom everyday to try and get them to adulthood without excessive therapy or dental -  bills. You know what I mean, all those little things that you forget you did by the end of the day: cooking, cleaning, working, comforting, hugging, fixing boo-boos. The little things that make you wonder where the day went because you sometimes feel like you didn’t do anything.

No one ever said being a mom was easy – well, I’m sure someone did but I don’t know them and hope I never meet them because I’d hate to have an assault charge on my record – and Aquafresh is trying to make not only brushing but your whole mommylicious day easier with iso-active whitening toothpaste. It whitens better than a non whitening toothpaste too, and that’s awesome, because I remember when I used to have super white teeth – before I started smiling with my mouth closed in pictures.

But enough about me! There’s stuff in it for YOU today!!

Aquafresh is starting a really cool campaign called “Mom Goes Beyond” and wants to hear YOUR story of going beyond. To participate in this contest you just have to leave a comment about an inspiring or memorable moment you’ve loved, hated, endured, laughed, cried, or suffered through and you could have a chance to win various and sundry awesomeness including a $50 Walmart gift card.

By June 9th I’ll randomly nominate someone to become the grand prize winner and if chosen by the Aquafresh creative team they’ll receive one year’s worth of free Aquafresh (via coupons) and a $500 Walmart shopping extravaganza (via gift card) and be featured on the Aquafresh Facebook page so everyone can be wicked jealous of your amazing momaliciousness. By July 7th the Aquafresh peeps will have decided who gets the big grand prize extravaganza!

Let’s face it – being a mom is challenging. Each day you are going above the call of duty by being not only a mother, but also a wife, a teacher, a referee, a handy man, a comforter and more. But most importantly, you are always a mother and going through the journey is sometimes arduous but inspiring. Aquafresh is committed to lending moms a hand by supplying them with products, such as the amazing iso-active Whitening toothpaste, that achieves 33% better whitening compared to a non-whitening toothpaste. Now it’s your turn to share what makes you work beyond as Aquafresh wants to hear about these moments and celebrate you as mom through their Mom Goes Beyond campaign.

So what you makes you a mom that goes beyond?

M80 contacted me on behalf of Aquafresh to write this post and review the products and hold a giveaway. I am getting swag for running this contest. I’m giving away (randomly) 4 coupons for the new Aquafresh iso-active Whitening toothpaste and, like, FIVE boxes of Aquafresh white trays.  Your mouth will thank and love me. Oh, and I’m giving away a $50 Walmart gift card too!!

When I had the chance to review the Potty Tots potty training system it took me  a few minutes to figure out how I was going to film Abby. You see, I’m pretty open about putting pictures and videos of my kids online, but going to the bathroom? That’s outside of my comfort zone.

Way outside.

I wondered if it was just me. Then today I saw the new Kimberly-Clark Pull-Ups website The Potty Project. My first thought is that I was not thrilled watching videos of these kids on the potty.

Well, that’s not entirely true. My first thought was when I tried to find the site. Because The Potty Project already exists and is geared toward giving septic systems and toilets to people and families in other countries. Plus, both sites have the same paper-bag brown background. Then I tried www.pullupsthepottyproject – no such luck. The actual website is http://www.pull-upspottyproject.com/ … uh…yeah. Sure, I can remember that…

When it comes to communities of people talking about potty training, there are a lot out there. From iVillage to BabyCenter it feels like everyone talks about potty training.

I read all the information and understood all the signs. But that wasn’t helping Abby just get up and go. She was already three years old and everyone in my family and most of my friends were giving me grief she wasn’t already done potty training. Between my mother reminding me I was potty trained at one (I call shenanigans, but whatever) to a friend of mine having a daughter younger than mine who was already potty trained, the pressure was everywhere to get it done.

The product that worked best for our family (that we got for free, but that did not affect this review – I had warned the lady that if it didn’t work I was going to blast it – I was kind of sensitive about the potty training issue) was the easy-peasy $20 Potty Tots system. Why buy Pull-Ups – they just prolong training, don’t they? I have no scientific evidence on that but every mom I’ve ever talked to tells me that pull-ups make it easier but months longer.

What I had was a little girl that “got” the concept of going potty but really didn’t want to put the effort in.

What It Came With

• Potty Tots DVD
• A Potty Tots Instructional Storybook
• 11×17 Football-themed laminated “Potty Bowl” sheet (it’s like posterboard)
• Stickers (removable, reusable…like clings) of cheerleaders, football players, and footballs.
• 11×17 Step-by-Step illustrated potty chart.

I had tried using stickers before, candy, rewards, yelling (that one wasn’t a plan it just sort of happened that one time when she pooped AFTER she got off the potty) and begging.

But a week and a half after using Potty Tots…Abby was done. I mean DONE. She went through naps and night time without a diaper. (Your results may vary, most bedwetting is due to a child’s bladder development and slow development does not mean anything bad in most cases!!)

So…Any Negatives?

The main drawback to the Potty Tots system is that it comes with two 11×17 posters. They are great. I mean well designed, cute, easy to clean, and I love that the football players and cheerleaders have boys and girls for each represented.

But I have a small bathroom. We ended up putting the potty chair in my office because the “stuff” wouldn’t fit on the wall of my bathroom. We used thumbtacks and put them on the bulletin board in my office, hanging over the potty chair.

If you have a small bathroom, make sure you have room to hang the posters somewhere near the potty chair.

You can see in the video the sticker system that did not work for Abby next to the Potty Tots chart.