Holiday Gift Guide – Review and Giveaway: Lullaby Exercises

Gift Guide Category: Gifts for Babies/New Moms

Exercising has never been something I’ve prioritized in my life since having kids. Oh, I wanted to – I had great intentions after each of my daughters were born about losing all of the ‘baby’ weight (times three now), and getting back into shape. But between the hectic schedule of working full-time and raising a family, and the financial pressures of three additional mouths to feed, there was just never time to join a gym, take fitness classes or anything else.

I know, I know. Exercising and living a healthier life should be a top priority – for my sake and my childrens’. And I plan to make it one, especially now that I’m home (for now) with my kids – although chasing them around is a workout in itself, I’m finding. 

What I wish is that there had been some type of exercise program around when my kids were babies, that would’ve allowed me to take off the baby weight before it became so entrenched on my body. Something like Lullaby Exercises, from chicks-n-chickens.

What it is:

Lullaby Exercises is the brainchild of Darcy Novo Albrecht, a mom of two and former national instructor, choreographer, and judge for the National Cheerleaders Association. After her first son was born, she started dancing around the house to soothe him and get him to sleep, and the idea took off from there. The workout was perfected when her second son came along, and Lullaby Exercises was born.

The DVD contains simple exercises set to eight songs by singer and songwriter Lisa Phenix. Five of the songs are a ‘groove’ set which work various muscle groups and provide an easy and mild cardio workout as well, and three of the songs are the ‘sleep’ set, aimed at getting baby to sleep and providing bonding time for mother and baby to enjoy together.

Aimed at new moms, the workout is appropriate for a newly post-partum body, and all of the exercises can (and are on the DVD) performed with baby either in arms or in a sling or carrier.

Here’s my take on it:

Ok, so with my youngest daughter approaching three in a couple of months, I am certainly not a post-partum or new mom. But, that being said – I did and do get a lot out of this workout too. It’s gentle enough – and adaptable – that you can start out slowly, especially when you haven’t exercised in a long time. And most of the exercises can be done just as well without a baby in hand – my toddler at 30+ pounds is too heavy (and too independent) to want to be held. In fact, I’ve found that having older kids in the house is a lot of fun when I have the DVD on – they want to dance and exercise right along, and the steps are simple enough that, for the most part, they can.

The workout is led by Darcy herself, with her younger son, Nolan, in tow (or in sling really) – along with a half dozen or so other mom and baby pairs who follow along at various levels. It really shows the versatility of the workout – from the mom who gently sways along with her tiny baby in the back, to the ones who get right there into it with their older babies. And you know this is a product by moms, for moms, when you hear babies fussing throughout in the background. I love at one point when Darcy is rocking with Nolan and you can see that one of his slippers has fallen off, leaving a little bare foot – I can’t count the number of times my girls lost footwear during the day or night when they were babies. 

From the very first moment of the introduction where she’s so personable that you feel as if you’re right there in the room with her, to the very end as she sings along with portions of the songs, Darcy’s energy is infectious and she keeps the energy level high and motivating throughout, even during the slower, calmer ‘sleep’ section.

The bottom line:

Best suited as a workout to get new moms up and moving again, and bonding with their babies, this exercise DVD also works well for busy moms who just want to dance around the living room with their kids, especially to the wonderful bluesy sound of Lisa Phenix’s music. It would make a wonderful holiday gift for an expecting or new mom in your life!

Where can you find it?:

Lullaby Exercises is available in many boutiques in California, or online at Amazon. You can also order it directly from the chicks-n-chickens website at http://www.chicks-n-chickens.com. The list price for the set (includes the workout DVD as well as a music CD containing all eight of the songs) is $29.95.

Would you like to win one?:

I have the opportunity to give away a copy of Lullaby Exercises to a lucky reader! If you’d like to either use this gentle workout for yourself, or give it as a holiday gift to a special mom on your list, here are the rules:

1. Enter by checking out the chicks-n-chickens website, and leaving a comment here to let me know your favorite thing about this DVD and who you’d love to give it to if you win. Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Friday, December 5th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY.Fetch. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If you don’t wish to leave your e-mail address, please make sure that you leave a unique name and check back with PRIZEYWinners to see if you won. If the winner hasn’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like extra entries, you can:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar) or subscribe via e-mail – leave me a separate comment to let me know.
• Mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post, and leave a separate comment with the link to your post so I can find it.
• Put the button for my Holiday Gift Guide on your blog’s sidebar – the code for it is in the sidebar.
• Either Twitter about, ‘Stumble’, ‘Digg’ or ‘Kirtsy’ this post – leave me a separate comment with your username at whichever site you chose (one extra entry).

So that’s a total of 5 comments/entries if you do all of the extra entry options.

Good luck! 

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – the random number generator has chosen comment #9 as the winner:

Congratulations to rahime (no blog) whose extra subscription entry has won for her! I will be e-mailing you shortly to work out the details.