http://crochet-mania.blogspot.com/2009/05/lightweight-crochet-beanie-skull-cap.html
I have been experimenting over the last few days on how to crochet (I used to crochet YEARS ago but have since forgotten) and have come across a few videos on You Tube that have great tutorials and also have blogs. I've included one that I think some may find interesting in case they are looking for some easy instructions on how to start. Enjoy!!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
New Beginnings
So this past weekend was a big one for the family. My sister FINALLY took me up on my offer to go and spend the day on Saturday, so my father, Bella & AJ, my sister and my nephew all piled into the truck for some shopping and some lunch.
It was a bittersweet shopping trip. Following AJ's doctor's appt on Friday (in which the poor thing ended up getting shots), the doctor gave the okay for us to start cereal and introducing baby food and for us to get him an exersaucer!! Woo-Hoo!! So this particular shopping trip lead us to Babies R' Us (do I EVER go anywhere else??) in search of these items. My initial steps into this "holy mecca" of all things baby always brings me to a point of hesitation, irritation and sometimes even hyperventilating. When I go shopping, 9 times out of 10, I know what I need and know where it is in the store. This eliminates, at least for me, any needless wandering around. UNLESS it's something that I"m not really looking for, trying to get ideas on certain things or just trying to kill time. HOWEVER, I am always painfully aware of others around me and don't like to get in anyone's way. So why oh why do people feel the incesent need to get in mine!!! (I know, I know...beacause it's always ALL ABOUT ME!)
Anywho, I grabbed a cart and headed straight for the section where the exersaucers are and after perusing the small selection, I felt defeated and resigned myself to the fact that I would not be buying one that day. But, as luck would have it, I glanced to my left as I was leaving the aisle and there it was. The adorable (read: affordable) Evenflo Exersaucer that I had seen online and the even better part, it was on sale for $10.00 less!!! With a quick swoop, I grabbed the second to last box and placed it in the safety of my shopping cart. After picking up my other odds and ends, I headed for the checkout. Total damage: $143.00. Ouch. And that was after using almost $20.00 in coupons! Gotta love those formula checks and diaper coupons.
After loading up the car, a short trip to AC Moore and picking up the rest of the family, we headed for lunch at the Olive Garden. Always a tasty meal, OG didn't disappoint. After a bit a more shopping, we headed home. My sister and I were extremely excited to get the exersaucer set up and we set to work. After 10 minutes, we were done. We gently put AJ into the exersaucer to see what would happen. He was cautious about it at first, but immediately loved it. It was adorable!! He was so excited and couldn't get enough of it. It was there, right there that I realized that he was getting big and it was happening so fast.
Up Next: AJ's first foray into Baby Food!
It was a bittersweet shopping trip. Following AJ's doctor's appt on Friday (in which the poor thing ended up getting shots), the doctor gave the okay for us to start cereal and introducing baby food and for us to get him an exersaucer!! Woo-Hoo!! So this particular shopping trip lead us to Babies R' Us (do I EVER go anywhere else??) in search of these items. My initial steps into this "holy mecca" of all things baby always brings me to a point of hesitation, irritation and sometimes even hyperventilating. When I go shopping, 9 times out of 10, I know what I need and know where it is in the store. This eliminates, at least for me, any needless wandering around. UNLESS it's something that I"m not really looking for, trying to get ideas on certain things or just trying to kill time. HOWEVER, I am always painfully aware of others around me and don't like to get in anyone's way. So why oh why do people feel the incesent need to get in mine!!! (I know, I know...beacause it's always ALL ABOUT ME!)
Anywho, I grabbed a cart and headed straight for the section where the exersaucers are and after perusing the small selection, I felt defeated and resigned myself to the fact that I would not be buying one that day. But, as luck would have it, I glanced to my left as I was leaving the aisle and there it was. The adorable (read: affordable) Evenflo Exersaucer that I had seen online and the even better part, it was on sale for $10.00 less!!! With a quick swoop, I grabbed the second to last box and placed it in the safety of my shopping cart. After picking up my other odds and ends, I headed for the checkout. Total damage: $143.00. Ouch. And that was after using almost $20.00 in coupons! Gotta love those formula checks and diaper coupons.
After loading up the car, a short trip to AC Moore and picking up the rest of the family, we headed for lunch at the Olive Garden. Always a tasty meal, OG didn't disappoint. After a bit a more shopping, we headed home. My sister and I were extremely excited to get the exersaucer set up and we set to work. After 10 minutes, we were done. We gently put AJ into the exersaucer to see what would happen. He was cautious about it at first, but immediately loved it. It was adorable!! He was so excited and couldn't get enough of it. It was there, right there that I realized that he was getting big and it was happening so fast.
Up Next: AJ's first foray into Baby Food!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Success! I made my first Tutu!!!
And here it is! The fruits of my crafting labor! I absolutely love it and although it isn't "finished" yet, I am hoping to complete the embellishment work by this weekend. I'm going to add some basic instructions and supplies and anyone who wants a tutu can make one! This particular one is light pink/dark pink and fits my 6yr old daughter perfectly.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Let the weekend begin
And here it is, Friday night and my beloved spouse is with his mistress. Now before anyone begins freaking out, his mistress happens to be the shiny PS3 that resides in our living room. So I'm sitting up here, thinking about things to do for tomorrow. Last weekend I took Isabella and my nephew, Aiden, to the movies. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and I tried to stay out all day because Indian Summer days are few and far between, especially this late in the season. Tomorrow, the forecast calls for rain, so I figure that some well chosen craft and sewing projects are in order. I love project days. It gives me the chance to see how creative Isabella really is and it is a blast to spend time with her, doing things we both enjoy!
I hope to post some pics of the sewing I plan on doing. I've got an idea for an easy, DIY dress for girls and even a baby blanket. We'll see what the day brings and how successful we are!
I hope to post some pics of the sewing I plan on doing. I've got an idea for an easy, DIY dress for girls and even a baby blanket. We'll see what the day brings and how successful we are!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Change in Formula = SUCCESS!!
I keep thinking back to when Bella was a baby. Seems like a lifetime ago. So much has changed over these last six years. When Rick and I had Bella, we didn't have a lot of money. I wasn't making much and although I was paid for my Maternity Leave, it still didn't make up for the fact that having a baby was EXPENSIVE!!! I was lucky to have scored formula from the hospital that got us through the first two weeks and I was also breastfeeding. For me personally, I had a feeling that I was going to have difficulties even before she was born. We stuck through breast feeding/pumping and formula supplementing until she was six weeks old. Then she was having colic issues and we had to switch her to formula. It was a mess and boy was it EXPENSIVE!! At the time, the only real "generic" formula was Good Start (which I can't even really call generic since it is a brand name all on its own). We ended up on Enfamil Lacto-Free before moving on to Enfamil's Prosobee formula. Six years later, she is an amazing six year old who is bright, lively, charming and extremely intelligent. Not that I want to start a formula/breastfeeding debate, but I like to think that the choice in formula helped to shape her.
Fast forward to now. Things have changed drastically. I'm now working and making almost double what I was when Bella was born and although we didn't save anything from when Bella was born, we were lucky enough to be able to afford things that we needed. AJ has been primarily formula fed since he was 4 weeks old when he REFUSED to have anything more to do with breastfeeding. Not one to force my child, I gave in and started formula feeding. At almost 4 months old, AJ is thriving, giggling and is attempting to sit up (but not without help). I was able to also put him on Enfamil Premium Lipil. He hasn't had any issues, did not show any signs of colic or anything so everything is rosy. However I was noticing how expensive Formula still is. In fact, it had gone up in price since we last bought any. I had been researching powdered formulas (AJ switches between liquid and powder) and after lots of reading and speaking to other moms, I decided to get a can of the Target Brand, UP & UP formula and see if AJ took to it.
Well, it was a success. He has no issues with it and hasn't had in issue over the last three days. While we are still relatively new at this brand, I'm hoping that it will stick. The cost alone is worth it. We can get two cans of Up & Up for the price of one can of powder Enfamil. However we will still continue to get the RTF cans of Enfamil since they really do work for us when time is an issue.
Fast forward to now. Things have changed drastically. I'm now working and making almost double what I was when Bella was born and although we didn't save anything from when Bella was born, we were lucky enough to be able to afford things that we needed. AJ has been primarily formula fed since he was 4 weeks old when he REFUSED to have anything more to do with breastfeeding. Not one to force my child, I gave in and started formula feeding. At almost 4 months old, AJ is thriving, giggling and is attempting to sit up (but not without help). I was able to also put him on Enfamil Premium Lipil. He hasn't had any issues, did not show any signs of colic or anything so everything is rosy. However I was noticing how expensive Formula still is. In fact, it had gone up in price since we last bought any. I had been researching powdered formulas (AJ switches between liquid and powder) and after lots of reading and speaking to other moms, I decided to get a can of the Target Brand, UP & UP formula and see if AJ took to it.
Well, it was a success. He has no issues with it and hasn't had in issue over the last three days. While we are still relatively new at this brand, I'm hoping that it will stick. The cost alone is worth it. We can get two cans of Up & Up for the price of one can of powder Enfamil. However we will still continue to get the RTF cans of Enfamil since they really do work for us when time is an issue.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Success!!! We almost have a baby that STTN!! (sleeps through the night...in case anyone needs to know!)
I miss my kids. I figured I needed to start with that. I noticed the other day that when I got home from work, I was exhausted and it was difficult to keep my eyes open as my daughter tried to tell me about her day. What kind of mother am I that even a simple 5 minute conversation with my 6 year old was difficult?? The working kind of mother I guess. That's the easy way out. I realized then and there that I NEEDED more sleep. I vowed that I'd need to get AJ on some sort of structured schedule for sleeping. He was at a point where he was waking up at least once or twice a night. And unfortunately, Rick sleeps right through it, so there was no help from him.
Friday night was a good start. We have settled on an every other day bath time for AJ, right before his "dinner" bottle. Friday night's routine went like this: He had a bath around 7:45pm, complete with a mini baby massage. I used warm water and mixed in a couple of capfuls of Johnson & Johnson's Bedtime Bath along with his regular baby soap and cleaned him up. He seemed so relaxed, so I knew he was enjoying it. I took him out, wrapped him up in his baby towel and took him to get dressed. I dried him off, tickled his tummy a bit and then put on a fresh diaper, his PJ's and then brushed his hair. I cuddled with him in bed as Rick prepared and brought up a bottle. I feed AJ and within minutes, he had consumed 3 of the 5 ozs and was fast asleep. He was asleep by about 8:15pm and slept until about 1:15am Saturday. It was amazing! He slept straight through 5 hours. He got up around 1:15am and had a diaper change, a few ozs and was back to sleep in about 15 minutes (1:30am). He slept through again until 5:30am. It was AMAZING! While 5:30 is really early for me (since I didn't go to bed until 10:30am) Rick took care of him while I went back to sleep. The extra 2 hours did me well because I was up and rearing to go at 7:30am. It made for a great day!
We had such a success that we followed a modified routine (minus the bath) on Saturday, which worked out well. We did another bath routine yesterday (Sunday night) with even greater success. This time, he took a shower with Daddy while I prepped everything and the poor thing was starting to nod off in the shower! He was out by 8:30am and slept until well past 2:30am. He was up for little bit, had about 2 ozs and was out until 5:45am this morning. Not bad! He's down to only 1/2 a bottle during the night. I'm hoping that as he heads into this next growth spurt that he will eat a little more before bed and then we can eliminate that 2am feeding. Here's to hoping for continued success!
Friday night was a good start. We have settled on an every other day bath time for AJ, right before his "dinner" bottle. Friday night's routine went like this: He had a bath around 7:45pm, complete with a mini baby massage. I used warm water and mixed in a couple of capfuls of Johnson & Johnson's Bedtime Bath along with his regular baby soap and cleaned him up. He seemed so relaxed, so I knew he was enjoying it. I took him out, wrapped him up in his baby towel and took him to get dressed. I dried him off, tickled his tummy a bit and then put on a fresh diaper, his PJ's and then brushed his hair. I cuddled with him in bed as Rick prepared and brought up a bottle. I feed AJ and within minutes, he had consumed 3 of the 5 ozs and was fast asleep. He was asleep by about 8:15pm and slept until about 1:15am Saturday. It was amazing! He slept straight through 5 hours. He got up around 1:15am and had a diaper change, a few ozs and was back to sleep in about 15 minutes (1:30am). He slept through again until 5:30am. It was AMAZING! While 5:30 is really early for me (since I didn't go to bed until 10:30am) Rick took care of him while I went back to sleep. The extra 2 hours did me well because I was up and rearing to go at 7:30am. It made for a great day!
We had such a success that we followed a modified routine (minus the bath) on Saturday, which worked out well. We did another bath routine yesterday (Sunday night) with even greater success. This time, he took a shower with Daddy while I prepped everything and the poor thing was starting to nod off in the shower! He was out by 8:30am and slept until well past 2:30am. He was up for little bit, had about 2 ozs and was out until 5:45am this morning. Not bad! He's down to only 1/2 a bottle during the night. I'm hoping that as he heads into this next growth spurt that he will eat a little more before bed and then we can eliminate that 2am feeding. Here's to hoping for continued success!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Disney World - 76 days and counting
I was FINALLY able to make all of our Dining Reservations and we were able to get ALL of the restaurants we wanted. Come January, we'll be dining at Garden Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern, 1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey's, Yak & Yeti, Tutto Italia Ristorante and 50's Prime Time. I'm a little sad that my father doesn't want to go back to Le Cellier, but he feels that the restaurant is overhyped and the service/food is only okay, not great like others have raved about.
With 76 days to go, we have our deposit put down plus another payment for this week and we are starting to look at airfare. I'm hoping to score a deal on the airfare, so I'm going to price them out separately. The problem is, I have to CONTINUOUSLY check the airlines to see when the prices drop. I think it's safe to say that I won't be going for less than $79.00 each way. Which is still pretty good. Anything less than $200 r/t is a great deal.
Also to figure out is how to prepare for our formula needs while we are down there. With 7 days to think about, our options are limited. I can check a second bag and have fly down with our formula, diaper, food and snack needs; I can order them from a local supermarket and have them delivered or I can purchase everything here in MA and ship everything down to our resort the Friday before we leave. Granted the last option is more or less lunacy since the probability is good that the package could get delayed and trying to ship it overnight could very well cost us $100.00.
Decisions, decisions!
With 76 days to go, we have our deposit put down plus another payment for this week and we are starting to look at airfare. I'm hoping to score a deal on the airfare, so I'm going to price them out separately. The problem is, I have to CONTINUOUSLY check the airlines to see when the prices drop. I think it's safe to say that I won't be going for less than $79.00 each way. Which is still pretty good. Anything less than $200 r/t is a great deal.
Also to figure out is how to prepare for our formula needs while we are down there. With 7 days to think about, our options are limited. I can check a second bag and have fly down with our formula, diaper, food and snack needs; I can order them from a local supermarket and have them delivered or I can purchase everything here in MA and ship everything down to our resort the Friday before we leave. Granted the last option is more or less lunacy since the probability is good that the package could get delayed and trying to ship it overnight could very well cost us $100.00.
Decisions, decisions!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween and it's Aftermath
Well, October is FINALLY over and with it, goes the costumes, candy and decorations for what proved to be a great Halloween season. We had the Children's Party at work on October 29th and that was a huge success. Lots of candy and decorations and even a clown for entertainment.
I had that Friday off and Halloween was on Saturday. The kids and I (with my dad in tow) went to Babies R Us for some supplies. I've gotten accustomed to knowing exactly how much formula (powdered and/or liquid) to buy without breaking the bank. The one thing I can suggest to all parents is to look for coupons and trade what you don't use!!! Just because I don't use Huggies diapers or Good Start Formula, doesn't mean that someone else can't use the coupons/checks and save money! I'm all about trading. Like on Saturday, I used a few coupons that I had traded for with a fellow mom and was able to save about $10.00 in formula, wipes and diapers. It may not seem like much, but in this economy, every penny counts.
Sunday was another odd day, with Daylight Savings ending and everything. AJ was kind and let us have the extra hour of sleep before we all got up and enjoyed a late breakfast. Now that October is over, we can look forward to my birthday, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Before you know it, it will be time for us to board a plane to Disney! Which reminds me...I better get to booking our flights!
I had that Friday off and Halloween was on Saturday. The kids and I (with my dad in tow) went to Babies R Us for some supplies. I've gotten accustomed to knowing exactly how much formula (powdered and/or liquid) to buy without breaking the bank. The one thing I can suggest to all parents is to look for coupons and trade what you don't use!!! Just because I don't use Huggies diapers or Good Start Formula, doesn't mean that someone else can't use the coupons/checks and save money! I'm all about trading. Like on Saturday, I used a few coupons that I had traded for with a fellow mom and was able to save about $10.00 in formula, wipes and diapers. It may not seem like much, but in this economy, every penny counts.
Sunday was another odd day, with Daylight Savings ending and everything. AJ was kind and let us have the extra hour of sleep before we all got up and enjoyed a late breakfast. Now that October is over, we can look forward to my birthday, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Before you know it, it will be time for us to board a plane to Disney! Which reminds me...I better get to booking our flights!
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