I received a suite of Kodak products to try: the Easyshare M532, Pulse digital frame, along with an Eye-Fi card. Since there are three products involved, this review may get a little lengthy. Bear with me :).

KODAK Easyshare M532

At first glance, the KODAK Easyshare M532 camera is a slim little camera with a pretty large display. It’s easy to handle and can be slipped into your pocket. Its share button allows for endless photo sharing on popular social networks.

When I first started using the camera, it took me some getting used to since I have been shooting with a DSLR for years now. After my first few shots, I actually expected the quality to be slightly better. I’ve owned an EasyShare 5 years ago and the photos it produced were stunning. After getting my first few shots out of the way, I was able to start getting better shots playing with the settings.

So here are my very first photos straight out of the camera.

Sepia

Normal

And some photos after doing some more customizing. These are also straight out of the camera.

The photos started getting much better after playing with the settings a bit, but I still believe that the quality isn’t as great as my old Easyshare. Getting the camera to focus on detail seems to be a challenge. The Easyshare that I had 5 years ago didn’t give me that problem. So I suppose Kodak paid more attention to social sharing capabilities in this model and not image quality.

The Easyshare M532 has quite a few modes shooting different situations and film effects to enhance colors. Some of those modes are portrait, close-up, night scene, children, and panorama. Some of the color enhancing modes include Sepia (as seen above), Kodachrome (seen below), and Tri-X (dramatic black and white).

The Easyshare M532 is touted for its online sharing capabilities. It has a “share” button which allows users to send their photos straight to popular social sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter; email, and Kodak Pulse frames. Using this function is not automatic though. The camera comes with software that you must install on your computer and sync with your wireless network. This will upload the photos straight to your computer and then the social networks and email addresses of your choice. If you are out and about and looking to share your photos instantly, that’s where Eye-Fi comes in.

Eye-Fi Wifi Card

The Eye-Fi card is an SD card that uploads photos/videos to your computer and then to sharing sites of your choice. BUT… with a hotspot subscription, you can upload photos from any location with a hotspot. This is ideal for chronicling events live as they happen. Eye-Fi also offers an iPhone/iPad and Android app that will allow you to upload the photos from your camera straight to iPhone or Android device and then send them out without having to subscribe to Eye-Fi’s hotspot access. Since I don’t use iAnything or Android, I opted for the hotspot subscription. You can control Eye-Fi’s automatic uploading just in case someone gets a hold of your camera and does naughty things with it *hehehe*.

KODAK PULSE Digital Frame

I am loving our Kodak Pulse frame. I actually want to buy one for my mother because it’s an easy way of sending photos to loved ones without them having any tech experience. You pretty much sync the frame to your wireless network (touchscreen makes it easy!) and sign up for a Kodak Pulse account which will allow you to upload photos from your computer to the frame. Kodak Pulse assigns a custom email address to send photos through email as well. The Kodak Pulse also has slots for SD card and USB drive for instant viewing.

From my Kodak Pulse account, I programmed the frame to turn on at 7PM and turn off at 10PM. When the frame comes on, it’s an indicator of needing to settle down for the day and when it shuts off we (Jayden at least) need to be in the bed. We currently have a collection of our favorite photos taken this spring and will be displaying photos according to season to go with our seasonal decor. The photos look amazing on the LED back lit display!

Buy Them

Kodak Easyshare M532: $89.00
4GB Eye-Fi Card: $39.88
Eye-Fi Hotspot Access: $29.99/year
Kodak Pulse 7-inch Frame: $114.00

I am a voluntary participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation to share my experience with these products with you. All opinions (if expressed) are my own.

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After exchanging gifts, we got ready and hurried over to my mother’s house to give her her gift, a BHG quilt set. She got me earrings. We spent time at my mother’s house and let Boogie run crawl wild. I wore my Happy Mom tee that PeaceLoveMom sent me. It was a good day, despite it’s late start. We have plans to take our mother’s out to eat this week as part of our Mother’s Day gifts.

To celebrate our engagement anniversary, Greg, Boogie and I had breakfast at Ihop and did some shopping for ourselves today. And for once we didn’t buy anything for Boogie – although it was hard!

Boogie and I had the honor of being featured in the Why Moms Matter eBook compiled by Momfaves.com and ExtraordinaryMommy.com. Be sure to download it, there are some incredible photos inside that represent motherhood. Any proceeds from the purchase of the hardcover version will be donated to The March of Dimes in honor of Maddie Alice Spohr.

Why Moms Matter eBook (MomFaves)

I must go now, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to order online as my gift from Greg, but I’m still on a high from last Mother’s Day.

National Mom’s Nite Out is being orchestrated by Maria Bailey, Host of Mom Talk Radio and author of “The Ultimate Mom Book” as well as top Mom Websites, Newbaby.com, BlueSuitMom.com, and MomSelect.com.

“Our goal in hosting National Mom’s Nite Out is to unite Moms all over the country prior to Mother’s Day,” says Maria Bailey, Author of “The Ultimate Mom Book” (HCI, 2009) and Host of Mom Talk Radio. “Most moms spend Mother’s Day taking care of the other mothers in their lives so we hope to give moms a well deserved night off right before Mother’s Day.”

The evening will consist of over 400 local events held across the country, as well mom-organized parties and virtual activities. Retailers such as Simon Malls, Children’s Orchard stores, and Giggle will be hosting special Mom’s Nite Out celebrations, complete with refreshments, entertainment and special offers. Family destinations Pump it Up and BounceU are even offering discounts to dad and caregivers in selected areas who want entertain the kids while Mom is enjoying her evening. Food and beverages at many of these events are being provided by corporate sponsors, such as Jose Cuervo.

Top mom bloggers and highly respected mom experts are also getting in on the fun by hosting their own events. Hundreds of mom-organized parties and gathering will be taking place that evening, including a Boston-area comedy show hosted by popular mom podcasters, Manic Mommies, a New York City “Daycation” themed party at Giggle and book signing party in Los Angeles with Mom authors and experts such as Kimberley Clayton Blaine, Romi Lassally, Megan Calhoun, Michelle Lamar, and Mallika Chopra.

If Moms can’t attend an event at a physical location, they can still take part in the festivities. To allow moms everywhere to participate, mothers will be invited to throw their own Mom’s Nite Out event by downloading party ideas and elements from the National Mom’s Nite Out website, momsniteout.com. On the evening of the event, thousands of moms will be socializing virtually through online chats, Skype and Twitter tweet-ups.

The Invitation

What: National Mom’s Nite Out is shaping up to be the largest cooperative effort of Mommy groups, Mom-focused organizations, bloggers and vloggers- all coming together for one great night in support of motherhood.
When: Thursday, May 7, 2009 (Thursday before Mother’s Day)
Where: Online, On Twitter, In Social Network Sites, In-home and in Sponsoring Retail Locations
Official Song: Mothers Day Today, available on iTunes and momsniteout.com
Performed by: Jill Gioia
Written & Produced by: Jim Papoulis Conceived by: Alignment Enterprises
In Partnership with: MAMAPALOOZA: Mom-Branded Entertainment
Official Drink: Mamatini, Momopolitan and Mamajitos
Official Food: Chocolate

For event locations and a complete list of partners, visit momsniteout.com.
Help spread the word about Mom’s Nite Out by displaying the button on your blog!

I had written a post this morning regarding my Baby Blues (which I’ll now be postponing until Tuesday). As I finished the post, Daddy surprised me with one of my Mother’s Day gifts! He called me over to look at Boogie who was sleeping. He said that Boogie was making his famous pucker face and to hurry up and look before he stops. So I go over and notice that he’s not even making the face. Daddy’s like you don’t see it? And I’m like no. Then I notice a navy blue jewelry box in between Boogie’s arms. It was dark and I may as well be blind, it’s definitely time for some new glasses. So I didn’t see the box right away. I open the box and reveal…

Daddy had something else up his sleeve. He had me read this post while he stood behind me. I got to the last sentence…

Oh and by the way Sheena, turn around.

Confused, I reread the sentence and thought to myself… Why am I turning around? This is like something from a movie when a guy proposes.

I turn around and there Daddy is kneeled down with an open ring box!!!!!!!! It was snot, hugs, and kisses from there and of course I said YES. Well actually, I said of course!

Yes, it’s about time for a fill in or something.

Clutch your pearls (Tanyetta’s famous for saying this, lol), Daddy and I are not married. *GASP* I don’t bother correcting those who call us husband and wife here. Please don’t think of us as heathens, lol. Basically we feel a couple shouldn’t rush into marriage especially when a baby comes into the picture. A wedding is something that we both want to enjoy and cherish, so we much rather wait until we are able to coordinate something decent rather than run off to the Justice of The Peace or end up having a house wedding with Popeye’s chicken We don’t plan on “doing it big”, but we surely can make it look that way by using our resources and sticking to a reasonable budget. We have plans for June 14th 2009. Save the date!

So as you can see I got some very lovely gifts on my very first Mother’s Day. I really wasn’t expecting so much, just having Boogie was enough for me!

Enough rambling about my gifts, it’s time to reveal the winners of the “Celebration of Mommyhood” Mother’s Day Giveaway!

Congrats to the following mommies!:

Sky, who is the winner of the PeaceLoveMom Drawstring Cotton Bag, the Baby Gizmo Buying Guide, the Dream With Me Tonight Volume 2 CD, and the 3-Way Life Pad!
Mommie, who is the winner of the Peppermint Pattie Pedi kit!
1StopMom, who is the winner of the momAgenda Desktop (lime), the Adult Classic Seaband (malibu stripe), and the Toddler Classic Seaband (pink doggy paw)!
Naomi, who is the winner of the Steeping Cup with Meditative Mind Tea, and the 3-Way Life Pad!
Leslie, who is the winner of the momAgenda Desktop (lime) and the Onni Red Crown Handbag!
Lisa C, who is the winner of the Steeping Cup with Meditative Mind Tea, and the 3-Way Life Pad!
Lesha, who is the winner of the Steeping Cup with Meditative Mind Tea, and the 3-Way Life Pad!
Michelle Rosborough, who is the winner of the Steeping Cup with Meditative Mind Tea, and the 3-Way Life Pad!

We’ll be in touch with the winners shortly! Feel free to shoot us an email with where we can send your gifts if you notice your name listed above!

We thank everyone who entered the giveaway! A special thanks goes out to our sponsors: momAgenda, Skimbaco, Seabands, The TeaSpot, Klean Bath & Body, Knock Knock, PeaceLoveMom, and Baby Gizmo Buying Guide!

From the first day that the mention of having a baby ever erupted between us, I knew that she would make a great mother. Her care and respect for others, friends and family, and her vast love for children shed no doubt in my mind that I would be blessed to have this woman be the mother of my children.

Our son Boogie has been in this world for 15 days now, and from the second he took his first breath of life, she has vowed to love and protect our little man. I can tell that he absolutely loves her beyond limit because of that.

Whenever Boogie cries, all it takes is Mommy’s touch. When she holds him in her arms, all is better. When she rubs his head, all is better. When she holds his hand, all is better. The bond between her and Boogie is amazing; it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

And that’s why she deserves this. For you Sheena, I want to wish you a very big, huge, gigantic, for the first time ever…

And, of course, I can NOT forget about my wonderful mother and grandmother, who both have went the extra mile, climbed mountains, and crossed rivers for me all throughout my life. I love them both with all my heart and that will never change. Happy Mother’s Day Mommy and Grammy!

And last, but most definitely not least, here’s to all the mother’s across the world enjoying motherhood. To all the mommies that have been following us here on Mommy Daddy Blog, I want to wish you all, a very Happy Mother’s Day!

Oh and by the way Sheena, turn around.

Click here to learn what happened when Sheena “Mommy” turned around!!!

In case you missed it, Boogie was born just this past weekend on April 26th, 2008 at 8:18PM. Click here to see the post celebrating the arrival of our beautiful baby boy!

Mommy has been a mommy for six days now, and here is what she has to say about her newfound “mommyhood”:

I’m loving mommyhood! I feel refreshed and confident. I’m experiencing changes in my body that I never knew could happen until now. The simple and maybe disgusting things like Boogie pooting and pooping out what resembles Grey Poupon excites me. Let’s me know that our bodies are getting along. I love ALL of his little sounds. I don’t mind his loud cries, I guess it’s a first time parent thing. He makes the cutest high pitched coo (Daddy mentioned it already!) when I bring him to the boobie bar. He gets so excited and starts snorting. I love it!

So, in light of Mommy’s recent official becoming of a mommy, we’re throwing a Mother’s Day giveaway to celebrate the joys of being a mommy with other mommies, new and seasoned, across the blogosphere! We’d like to call it, “Celebration of Mommyhood”!

The Prizes

We have a total of EIGHT gift packages to be won by EIGHT lucky winners! Take a peek at what there is to be won:

ONE winner will receive a PeaceLoveMom Drawstring Cotton Bag, a Baby Gizmo Buying Guide, a Dream With Me Tonight Volume 2 CD, and a 3-Way Life Pad!

ONE winner will receive a Peppermint Pattie Pedi kit!

ONE winner will receive a momAgenda Desktop (lime), an Adult Classic Seaband (malibu stripe), and a Toddler Classic Seaband (pink doggy paw)!

ONE winner will receive a momAgenda Desktop (lime) and an Onni Red Crown Handbag!

FOUR winners will receive a Steeping Cup with Meditative Mind Tea, and a 3-Way Life Pad!

And we’re also going to throw in a surprise “goodie” in every package! If you’d like a specific gift package, please specify which one you’d like in the comments. Otherwise, a gift package will be chosen at random if you win. We hope that we can make this Mother’s Day a little bit more special for eight mommies out there enjoying mommyhood!

Stay tuned, as more prizes may be added!

How To Enter

There are three ways you can enter this giveaway, and everyone is eligible! You don’t have to own a blog to enter! If you’d like to be included in this giveaway, here’s how:

1. Post a comment explaining what mommyhood means to you. If you’re a daddy, or even if you don’t have any children, explain what mommyhood means to you from your perspective. (Only one comment per person, please!)

2. Blog about this giveaway. We’d love to be able to reach as many mommies as we can so that we can possibly make this Mother’s Day special for them this year. With your help by blogging about this giveaway, we know that the possibilities are endless!

3. Place our giveaway button on your blog. Please let us know in the comments if you’ve placed a button on your blog so that we can count that as an entry in your name. Whether you decide to place a button on your sidebar or include it in a post, both are acceptable ways to be included. Anywhere on your blog is fine! Here is the giveaway button:

<a href="http://mommydaddyblog.com/2008/05/03/celebration-of-mommyhood-mothers-day-giveaway" title="Celebration of Mommyhood Mother's Day Giveaway!" target="_blank"><img src="http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y125/sheeniebabie/mdb/celebrationofmommyhoodmommydaddyblo.jpg" border="0" alt="Celebration of Mommyhood Mother's Day Giveaway!" title="Celebration of Mommyhood Mother's Day Giveaway!"></a>

You can enter by just one method, two, or even all three methods. It’s up to you! Each method of entry is worth one entry in this giveaway, for a maximum of three possible entries. This giveaway will end at 5:00PM CST on Mother’s Day, Sunday May 11th, 2008, of which comments will be closed at that time. Winners will be chosen and announced here on Mommy Daddy Blog later on that night.

Good luck, and Happy Mother’s Day to everyone who is enjoying the blessing that is mommyhood!

This giveaway wouldn’t have been possible without: momAgenda, Skimbaco, Seabands, Teaspot, Klean, Knock Knock, PeaceLoveMom, and Baby Gizmo Buying Guide!

To have your parcels delivered by Mother’s Day, order by May 2nd and use discount code mdb10 for 10% off your purchase! Be sure to browse around Parcels With Love as they offer a parcel for every occasion, always arranged with a touch of love!

HP Photosmart A826 Home Photo Center: One of the many responsibilities that fall on Mom is making sure that all of her family’s memories are captured and preserved year-round. This Mother’s Day, why not help her out by giving her the HP Photosmart A826 Home Photo Center. This break-through printer will create keepsakes on the spot with a huge 7.0-inch color touchscreen and 100-sheet internal paper tray that makes it easy to create personalized greeting cards and custom photos by the batch all without a PC (just insert your camera’s memory card). In addition to the added convenience of printing at home, you can add personalized text, frames and clipart to photos, album pages, and personalized greeting cards – even write and draw directly on photos using the included stylus. With more than 200 frames, clipart and graphics you can personalize your Mother’s Day memories and all the family’s treasured experiences right in the printer and print them out for everyone to enjoy all throughout the year.

HP Activity Center: Breakfast in bed for Mom usually consists of toast, juice and a flower in a vase but this year let the HP Activity Center help you put a new twists on this and other traditional Mother’s Day routines. This year, why not transform Mom’s bedroom into a French countryside suite with customizable menus, a decorative place mat, table cards, and more! It’s easy with the HP Activity Center’s free downloadable and printable templates. With easy to follow instructions you can beautify any ordinary juice glass with a personalized wrap or present the morning’s feast in style with a customized French country themed menu with your own items and descriptions.

With the HP Activity Center, you can make Mother’s Day truly special with 20 easy-to-make projects including themed photo cards, year-at-a-glace photo calendars, Mother’s Day photo frames and even beautiful paper flowers. With simple instructions on how to download and customize the templates as well as information on all the HP supplies you’ll need to create your project, the HP Activity Center offers free and creative gifts all with the click of a mouse.

Sterling Silver Jewelry: Put a smile on Mom’s face by combining two of her favorite things–family photos and jewelry! Snapfish offers customizable sterling silver jewelry which is perfect for making Mom feel appreciated on her special day. Snapfish users can easily and affordably turn family photos into wearable art by personalizing a sterling silver bracelet or necklace with photos that will warm her heart for less than $40 (a great project dad and child can do together). Additionally, the custom jewelry comes beautifully packaged in a presentation gift box.

Photo Books: What better way to make Mom feel special than to create a photo book full of favorite snapshots capturing your family’s memorable moments? Snapfish offers a full line of photo books in a range of sizes, covers and designs to celebrate Mom. Photo book prices range from $4.99 to $49.99. These professionally-bound books let you tell your stories by using your personal photos to illustrate all the special memories made with Mom. Snapfish’s latest additions to its line of photo books include Signature Photo Books – 12 x 12-inches starting at $49.99, and Storybooks with personalized dust jackets – 8 x 8-inches starting at $24.99.

For more information about other great HP products and supplies for this Mother’s Day, visit the HP Home & Home Office Store at www.hpshopping.com.