I mentioned in an earlier post that we were working on another project. We’ve finally finished it!
I was recently on a mission to find picture frame ornaments but not just any picture frame ornaments. I wanted simple, small wooden frames that we could decorate. I went to several stores and couldn’t find what I was looking for. I told Eric about it and he came up with this ingenious idea – make them ourselves out of popsicle sticks.
Well, duh.
I just so happen to have had some small sticks leftover from a project we did a couple of years ago. So, I had our four year old color some of the popsicle sticks. We then glued them together, making a small square (about 2″ x 2″). She decorated the colored sticks with some holiday stickers and I tied a string (actually, some holiday ribbon) around the frames to hang on the tree. This is what our homemade frames look like:
Very cute. Very four-year-old-looking. I love them to pieces.
See the two furry things in the frames? Those are our two fabulous kitties, Indie and Ollie. We recently lost both of them (just over a month apart). So, this was a very important project for me. It’s going to be a different Christmas without them around. I’m thrilled that we completed our project and our furbabies now have a place on our Christmas tree.
We encourage you to make some homemade ornaments this year. When you pull them out of the Christmas bin next year, you’ll have a lovely memory to look back on.
I took the four year old to Michaels the other day. We were on a mission to gather items for our homemade wreath. I thought it would be fun and a little less expensive to assemble our own this year.
I added it up and figured out that we spent around $10.00 for the entire project. It was tempting to pick out a bunch of Decorative Essentials but we stuck with just a few and in my opinion, our wreath turned out quite nice. Plus, the cool thing about it is that we can take off what we put on and change up our wreath for the different seasons. Score!
While we were there, I also spotted another craft project for the preschooler to pass the time. She’s so anxious for Christmas to get here, I think I’m going to have to come up with something for her to do each day for the next 25 days.
Check out this cute little Ready-to-Finish wood decoration set. She jumped right on this when we got home. It turned out pretty adorable:
It was inexpensive, as well, and could be given as a gift.
I could spend hours wandering around the craft store and conjuring up fun activities to do with my sweet girl. I don’t know what has happened to me. I’ve never been <–this–> into crafts before. I think I’m turning over a new leaf.
We’re working on another craft project right now but it’s not finished yet. I’ll post about it as soon as it’s finished.
I recently found out about the Boogie Baby Shower. Of course, I’m all over this one since I’m expecting a brand new baby girl this July. Hey, who wouldn’t want a baby shower (valued at $5,000) thrown for them?
Expectant moms can head over to BoogieWipes.com and (scroll down) to enter themselves in the Boogie Baby Shower contest.
The winner receives the following:
* 25 “mom invented” swag bags (including 19 mom-invented products)
* Cake, shower décor and flowers delivered to your home
* Boogie Wipes Diaper Cake and years supply of Boogie Wipes (4 per month)
* $1000 in gift certificates from: Babies R Us, Walmart, drugstore.com, diapers.com and Target
The moms who came up with this fantastic idea for expectant moms are also the inventors of Boogie Wipes. We have used them before and recommend them. They are saline wipes and are perfect to use on tiny stuffed up, boogery noses. I’m sure we’ll be getting much more use out of them after baby number two gets here.
Not a half bad way to start out my morning. The first email I opened and read this morning was this one from the National Association to Protect Children:
You may recall back in October, I spent a few days in Chicago hanging out with HUGGIES and meeting moms, grandmas, aunts, etc. All of that was for a very special reason. To learn some things about the every day average woman and how she views motherhood and “me time” and the challenges that go along with being responsible for another person’s life.
I met and spoke with some wonderful women. Some of these women took precious time out of their busy day to capture on video what makes them so special. Thirty of these women from around the country were fortunate enough to be chosen to have their video appear in a national Generation HUGGIES ad campaign.
We would like to extend a huge congratulations to the thirty Generation HUGGIES winners! Here are the winners and some of the things they spoke about in their videos, which you can watch over at the Generation HUGGIES site (click on Winners Gallery to watch the thirty videos)
Alicia L – “Being a role model. Having somebody looking up to me and copying everything I do. It makes me strive to be a better person”
Angelique B – “Lots of love, hard work, dedication. You have to raise a child, not just be a mom”
Britt W – “Motherhood has brought so much meaning to my life”
Carrie M – “Once a week, my husband and I have our date night. We spend as much time with her as we can, while still trying to make sure we are ourselves”
Elizabeth C – “The funnest part is hearing her laugh and seeing her smile”
Amanda L – “Sacrificing my career to stay home. That’s the way I think it’s meant to be”
Audrey C – “Constantly trying to keep up with what they’re doing. It’s tough when you have kids 4 and under!”
Carleen G – “I think my mom is an absolutely awesome mother”
Christina B – “I have had to develop my instincts. The most challenging and exciting part is that there are so many new things”
Esther D – “I rely mostly on my gut feeling, from my mom and what i think is right”
Heidi B – “My children are my life. I am in love with my children!”
Jennifer E – “Making sure you can handle what you have”
Kristin E – “I think there are more worries but a lot more opportunities”
LeQuyen M – “You’re expected to do a lot more than just be a mom”
Lynn M – “Complete joy to watch the kids grow, learn and change”
Jackie B – “The most rewarding part is hearing her laugh. It’s so cool for me to just watch her do regular things”
Kristen F – “Being incredibly selfless and putting yourself last. You’re responsible for this person’s life”
LaTriece L – “My me time is her time. Because it’s more fun to play with her”
Lisa L – “I try to make enough time for myself and spend as much time with my family. I’m still striving for that 100% balance”
Maite C – “I get to wake up to the most beautiful thing. It’s an amazing experience”
Melody B – “I work full-time out of the house and that’s a challenge in itself. You have to balance that”
Miriam G – “Most rewarding thing: the learning process. Teaching and loving her”
Patricia G – “It’s been a roller coaster. It’s just wonderful. I can’t even explain how happy I am”
Stacie B – “I’m not that different than my own mother and I’m proud of that”
Valerie C – “I have to step aside and allow a certain amount of time for myself so when my baby wakes up, I have all the time in the world for her”
Michelle P – “Me time comes at midnight when all the children are down. I need to learn how to take care of myself so I can take care of my family who I love so dearly”
Nellie G – “I dedicate my days to taking care of my kids and keeping them happy”
Rita W – “I never thought about me time when I was raising my children, I have to have my me time now (with the grandkids)”
Susan G – “You do what you think is right and trust that as a mom, you know what’s best for your kids”
Yasman S – “Our time is so much more precious because I don’t see her 24/7″
One of the winner’s came from Chicago! Here is Rita’s winning video:
Being a part of this Generation HUGGIES project was so much fun for me. Maybe even a little “too much” fun, since now I’m 15 weeks pregnant! We just got the first one out of diapers, guess we’ll be giving HUGGIES some business again soon!
After watching and listening to these women share their stories about motherhood, I have come to the realization that we all know how to be mothers. We have this natural instinct about us that kicks in once we’ve laid eyes on those precious little lives that we’ve created. I, for one, am looking very forward to experiencing that feeling again with a newborn. It is a very hard thing to do, to put these feelings into words. Words really can’t do justice to these amazing feelings and emotions of motherhood. You just have to experience it to know.
*Also, a gigantic congrats goes out to Kristine B., who is HUGGIES $30,000 sweepstakes winner! She just happened to be browsing the web one day and decided to enter the sweepstakes. Kristine’s two daughters wore HUGGIES and now, their daughters do too!
If you want to read more from the other “celebrity bloggers” who were on location in different cities with the Generation HUGGIES mobile, check out their fine blogs here:
The past month and a half have been somewhat of a whirlwind for our family.
Right around Thanksgiving, I had a “feeling” that I might be pregnant. If I was, it would not have been a complete surprise but at the same time, somewhat unexpected. That’s how it goes when you’ve hoped and lost hope about getting pregnant so many times.
So the story goes, I took a pregnancy test and immediately received a very clear, positive result. (I used a generic pregnancy test from CVS pharmacy, by the way.) A mixed flow of emotions came over me; doubt, relief and excitement being the most prominent, of course. From that point on, trying to live each day as if nothing had changed in our lives was nearly impossible. I know first-hand how delicate and uncertain a pregnancy can be, so, I tried to take things a day at a time and focus on the present.
It didn’t take long after learning about the new life we had created for my body to start reacting to the changes. Right about the six week mark, I started feeling nauseous and sore (you mamas know what I mean by “sore”). Keeping our news to ourselves was extremely difficult. You know that feeling like you’re going to burst if you don’t share your news with somebody? That’s how I felt for the majority of the month of December, along with the incredible amount of exhaustion and nausea I was experiencing. Not a great combination. Yet, I tried for the sake of my three year old daughter, to maintain my excitement for the holidays and for the big changes to happen to our family.
At the nine week mark, I had my first doctor’s appointment to “confirm” the pregnancy. Here is my video of the first ultrasound (posted at NewBaby.com):
It felt great to see and hear that little heartbeat. It made things more “real”.
Fast forward to today, just about thirteen weeks along and still feeling a bit tired and nauseous. I would be lying if I said that I have been feeling great. I’m really just taking things a day at a time. The below freezing temperatures and sunless days have been tough to get through but I’m looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel.
So, all that being said, I’ve got my maternity radar on for anything that will make me comfortable during these (hopefully) nine months. I say hopefully because I only made it eight months with Hailey. If you’re in the same boat as me and are looking for some maternity and new baby recommendations, stick around. As soon as I get my act together, I’m dedicating a day each week to maternity and baby stuff.
Until then, I have many review posts to catch up on and of course, we’ll keep the giveaways flowing like water.
Thanksgiving has always been a holiday that I have looked forward to.
As a child, I recall waking up to the delectable smells of a turkey in the oven, stuffing in the crock pot and my mom’s homemade apple and pumpkin pies. I still think that Thanksgiving Day at my house, where I grew up in PA was the best. I miss waking up to those scrumptious smells and coming down the stairs to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on t.v. The sound of my brothers cheering on their favorite football teams and my nieces and nephews running around the house. When the evening rolled around, some would be napping and some would be heading out to the kitchen for leftovers.
I have lived away from home for almost 12 years now and have experienced many other Thanksgiving celebrations. Eric and I have hosted Thanksgiving at our house (I could never do as good a job as my mom preparing this feast). We also dined out one particular Thanksgiving. Not in “A Christmas Story” style – there were no “Fa ra ra ra ra’s” or anything like that.
No matter where I spend my Thanksgiving holiday, I will always remember why it’s such a special day. It’s a day that families come together, near and far. Doesn’t matter if I can make a mean turkey gravy like my mom can or not. What matters is that I’m spending it with people that I care about and I am thankful for that.
Our goal, as parents, is to make sure that our kids are cared for and taught to be thankful for the little things. We want them to grow up with a sense of family and with the importance of spending time together.
I can only hope that one day our kids will wake up on Thanksgiving morning, just like I did, to the same delicious smells coming from the kitchen. I’m getting hungry right now just thinking about it.
Regrettably, I did not wear my one and only child when she was a baby. I was intrigued by the babywearers in my mom’s group and online but just wasn’t sure if it was for me. In retrospect, that was a silly thought. Babywearing is for anybody . Most of all, babywearing is for your baby. To feel a mother’s closeness is safe and reassuring and that is something any baby needs. And for a mother, feeling her baby so close is sweet and heavenly, not to mention extremely convenient.
Don’t get me wrong, I dabbled in babywearing. I even own a sling, pouch, and wrap. I’m saving them to use with the next member of our family.
The first time that I tried to wear Hailey was somewhat disastrous. My first carrier was the Evenflo Snugli. When I say disastrous, I mean when I tried to lift her and place her into the carrier, I bumped her head on the chandelier above the dining room table. I cried and cried and felt like a horrible mother. I swore I would never use that thing again.
I know, it looks ridiculous. My mom and I laughed so much because Hailey was obviously too small to wear in this carrier. Honestly, the Snugli was so much of a pain with all of the straps, I would not use a carrier like this one again.
I also own a Rockin’ Baby Sling: The Ziggy Stardust Loves Nicole pouch (below). I’m actually just modeling it here. Truthfully, I just never wore her:
One carrier I wish that I would have owned and used is the Baby Hawk carrier. Here is my friend, Kerry, wearing her youngest at the park. Super convenient when you’re chasing after your toddler:
Wearing your babe isn’t just for women. A lot of men wear their kiddos too. I think it’s quite nice to see a man bond with his child like that. Here is Conor, the husband/dad of What to do, Poopsy Woo? wearing his youngest in a Wise Woman ring sling:
Now that I’ve been formerly introduced to babywearing and have a network of friends and acquaintances who do so, the next member of our little family will be worn. Because it’s a kind of bonding that I want to experience myself.
Stephanie the babywearer has a link-up over at her blog where if you post about babywearing during International Babywearing week and link up on her post, you will be entered to win either a Pop Nest Sling or a Sparrow Hatchling Sling from Nonny & Boo.
Even if you aren’t a babywearer, like me, I hope you take a moment to familiarize yourself with the benefits of babywearing. Celebrate Babywearing!
Last week was a memorable one for all of us. If you voted, you did your job by making your voice heard. I have never been more excited and involved in an election race as I was in this one. One of the biggest reasons I became so involved is because I have a three year old and many of the issues at hand will directly affect her future. Becoming a parent has been an eye-opener in many ways for me.
On November 4th, Eric, Hailey and I bundled up and hit our polling place at 7:00 am sharp. We stood in line outside of fire station number 12 and eagerly awaited our turn to speak up.
We waited outside that brisk morning and our little girl was just as energized as the rest of us. I think she could sense the excitement in the air. The line moved at slow, steady pace and when we finally made it inside; we cast our votes and walked away feeling good about doing our part.
Here are some photos from our election day:
Since we’re on the topic of voting, I would love to encourage you all to take a look at the Generation Huggies site where the voting process is still going on until November 30th.
Recently, I spent three days in Chicago at various locations, speaking with local moms, grandmas and dads about what motherhood (and parenthood) means to them. You can check out my three days of coverage at The Motherhood. These local Chicagoans were out and about, probably shopping and enjoying the nice weather when they took a moment out of their busy days to record a video and reflect on their lives as parents. They answered questions like, “How has becoming a parent changed you?” and “How are you different than your own parent?” Many moms are submitting their videos online at Generation Huggies and answering these same questions.
Why is Huggies doing this? Because they are celebrating their 30th anniversary and they want to include all of us in the celebration. They want to hear our stories, laugh with us and cry with us. They know how important it is for us to express the wonderment of being a parent.
So, that being said, visit the Generation Huggies site and click on “Video Gallery” (You can view my video under the “Celeb Mom Spotlight” section). Take a few minutes out of your day to relax, watch and listen to what other moms like us are saying about their experience. If you are touched by what you see and hear, take a second to click the “Love It” button above the video and vote for your favorites. And, if you feel so inclined, submit your own video by November 20th no later than 5:00pm EST. Then, make sure your family and friends vote for you! Voting ends on November 30th at 5:00pm EST.
The top 100 videos with the most votes will qualify. Out of those 100 videos, 30 will be chosen to appear in a Huggies national ad campaign AND be awarded $300. The official contest rules are HERE. While you are there, you can also enter to win $30,000! I’d say it’s a win-win situation, wouldn’t you?
Leave us a comment if you submit a video – we’ll vote for you!
We’re chalking up this election to be one of the most blogged about, most talked about most important elections in history. I’ve never cared more about the outcome of an election as I do this one. I base that feeling mostly on the fact that my little girl’s future depends on it. I’m putting a lot of hope and trust into our next president and that is something I have never done before.
There isn’t much time to make your choice, so if you’re still on the fence, check out these sites that offer at-a-glimpse comparisons of the presidential candidates:
We think tomorrow, November 4th, is going to be such an important day and everyone that can, should get out and vote. Emily and Cooper at The Motherhood have created a “Circle” (that is already getting worldwide attention) called “Moms CALL IN the vote”. Basically, they are providing a place online for mom’s to call in and record their voting experience.
As you (may or may not) know, we are giving away a fancy-schmancy Zivio Boom bluetooth headset. If you are interested in entering to win this new headset by Joby, by all means, go enter! BUT hold on a sec, if you would like an extra FIVE entries, go VOTE tomorrow and CALL IT IN over at The Motherhood. Leave a comment on THIS post with a link to your voice message and we’ll take care of you and your five entries.
Here is the scoop on joining The Motherhood (free online community for moms) and how to call in your voting experience on November 4th:
Join The Motherhood (if you haven’t already) and be sure to put your cell phone number in when prompted during sign-up.
Pick up your cell phone and call (412) 282-1182 (tip: add that number to your phone’s contacts ahead of time.)
In your message, give a live, on the ground report. Talk about voting, how you feel, what the experience is like and any other election day coverage! It is the ultimate in real-time, citizen mom journalism.
Most importantly, let your voice be heard. Make sure you vote tomorrow. Every single vote makes a difference.
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