A Box of Goodies!

So...I have this awesome friend, Jessica, who sent me a box of fun stuff for Star after she was born.  The day the package arrived was like Christmas.  Lots of cute baby girl clothes, a sweet musical baby toy, and some goodies from her boutique!

When she told me she was sending me a package for Star, I was pretty excited.  I'm a repeat customer of hers and have never been disappointed with my orders. 

Jessica sent me an adorable handmade owl print blanket with Star's birth details embroidered on the corner.  I can't show it to you because I'm not comfortable sharing all the details with the internet world, but I can assure you it's an awesome blanket and Star loves being snuggled up in it.

Jessica also sent me four burp cloths from her boutique.  I love the patterns she picked out for them, and they're so big and absorbent, which is a must.  So many store-bought burp cloths are thin or too small to really be effective, but these are perfect!

You can find Jessica's boutique on Facebook and Etsy.
 


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31 Days-Trust Your Gut

This 31 Days post is going to be a little different.  Don't worry.  We will be back to our regular posts tomorrow.

With my first baby, the ultrasound predicted a girl.

I didn't believe it.  I had heard of ultrasounds predicting girls and then turning out to be boys too many times and since I was secretly hoping for a girl, I didn't want to get my hopes up, only to get a surprise in the delivery room.

The ultrasound was right and it was a girl.

With my second baby, the ultrasound predicted a boy.

I believed it.  I'd always heard that if an ultrasound said it was a boy, it would be right.  Besides, I'd seen the proof myself on the ultrasound screen.

The ultrasound was right and it was a boy.

With my third baby, the ultrasound predicted a boy.

Something didn't feel right, but I'd seen the ultrasound and it sure looked like a boy.  I was completely shocked after the ultrasound because I had been so sure the baby was a girl.  There were 4 reasons why I thought that:
1. Princess had told me it was a girl.  She's never been wrong.
2. My sister had told me I was having a girl.  She's never been wrong.
3. The pregnancy was just like my pregnancy with Princess and nothing like the one with Little Man.
4. I just had a feeling.

Every time, I started having doubts (maybe it was a girl...maybe the ultrasound was wrong...), I would pull out the ultrasound pictures and reassure myself that it was a boy. 

This is looking directly up at the baby's bottom.  Do you see why I thought it was a boy?!?

Yet, during the rest of my pregnancy, I had a feeling, a voice in the back of my mind, that there was going to be a big surprise at the end of the whole thing.  I tried to drown it out by stocking up on all blue baby things, but somehow, it just never felt right.  My mom told me after Star was born, that she never felt that a boy was right either.

Even still, I had talked myself into believing the ultrasound so well that when I had a baby girl, it was a complete shock.

I'm glad things turned out the way they did though.  I would've loved to have another sweet little boy, but I wasn't looking forward to the family dynamics of one big sister with two little brothers to pick on her.  I grew up with two younger brothers, but at least I had an older sister to team up with.  Although, Hubby is now lamenting the fact that there's no hope for Little Man since he's sandwiched between two girls (he likes to copy his big sister in everything she does, which includes wearing girly dress-up clothes and jewelry, and playing with dolls).  I think Little Man will turn out just fine and will be a great daddy someday :)

And to wrap this post up, how about a picture of Grandma (my mama!) holding the 2012 grandbaby edition?

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31 Days-Keeping a Day Planner

I can't live without my day planner.  I've kept one for over 8 years now and it's always in my purse.  If events don't get written down in it, they are forgotten.  Period.

I use my day planner as a sort of daily journal as well.  It's nice to be able to look back and find out exactly when we did something or when something happened.  It's also used as a menu planner, note taker, etc.

Here's my day planner.  It's not too big that it doesn't fit in my purse, but not so small that it can't hold a lot of information.  I like to find a day planner that is spiral bound so I can easily slip a pen inside the spirals and find it when I need it.

The first thing I do when I get a new day planner every year is tape a piece of cardstock (or an old library checkout card, apparently) securely inside the front cover.  This works for a pocket for shopping lists, recipes, and any miscellaneous small papers I need to hang on to. 

My day planner has a page for each month so I can see at a glance what's coming up on my schedule.  As you can see, this page for next month is still pretty empty, but by the end of the month, it'll be covered in writing and x's as I cross off each day.

I also like my day planner to have a section for each day.  This is where I write down my menu every week and (when I'm feeling ambitious) jot down a little journal entry of what we did that day.

Here are a few cute day planners I found on Amazon:







How about you?  Do you keep a day planner?  Why or why not?

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31 Days-Stop Losing Baby Socks

Someone gave me a mesh lingerie wash bag for a baby shower when I was expecting Princess.  I thought it was kind of a strange gift until she explained that it could be used for washing baby socks and other little baby things such as bibs, mittens, etc.

I thanked her, put the bag away and forgot about it until I started regularly losing baby socks in the wash.  I finally figured out that front loading machine actually do eat socks (and all this time, I thought it was a myth!  Take that, MythBusters!) because they get stuck in the rubber gasket around the door.  I fished a ton of soggy (ew!) socks out of the gasket and dug out the lingerie bag.

I tied a piece of ribbon on each end of the bag, which was easy since I could thread it through the mesh, hung it on the end of the changing table, and simply threw the socks in there as I took them off.  When it was time to do laundry, I tucked the ribbon inside the bag, zipped it shut, and threw it in with the rest of the wash.

Presto!  No more lost socks!

You can use a regular lingerie mesh wash bag like this:

Mesh Lingerie Delicates Wash Bag - Household Essentials #121

 Or...I just found this awesome baby laundry bag by Munchkin that has two compartments for sorting laundry.  This would also be great if you have more than one little one because each child's socks could go into a separate compartment.  

Munchkin Baby Laundry Bag

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31 Days-10 Tips For Shopping With Small Children

We do small shopping trips to our local grocery store for milk and things that we need in between big shopping trips, but once a month, we head up to the "big city" 45 minutes away from our small town to stock up on groceries.  Between groceries, Princess's gluten-free/nut-free/dairy-free/egg-free foods, clothing, and my boutique supplies, we usually end up making 4-6 stops and spending all day shopping.  Not fun, especially when you have small children!  Here are a few tips I've found that make shopping with kids easier.

1. Park next to the cart corral.  I feel uncomfortable leaving my kids in the van while I walk halfway across the parking lot to put the cart away, but bringing them with is a hassle as well.  I always park next to the cart corral and then I can buckle them in, put the cart away, and never be too far from the van.


Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryce/237233725/

2. Bring snacks.  I used to pick up snacks while we were out shopping, but that can be more expensive than bringing your own.  I like to use reusable snack bags like the ones shown below for cereal, crackers, or other non-messy snacks.  I also bring bottles with spill-proof lids or sippy cups along for drinks rather than buying them something while we're out.

Reusable snack bags from Etsy

3. Have them help you shop.  I often ask them to look for certain things while we're shopping which makes them feel like they're helping me or we play "I Spy."  I've also seen shopping lists for kids to keep them occupied at the store such as the ones seen below.  You could also easily make your own by putting clip art of food on a word document and printing it. 

Source: activity-mom.com via Jane on Pinterest

Source: she-wears-flowers.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

4. Talk to them.  Describe things you see to them or ask them to do the same.  Ask them questions to get them involved.

5. Never give in!  This means when they whine or ask for things (as they will do!) don't reward that behavior.  EVER.  If you do it one time, they will continue to beg, whine, and throw fits every time you're shopping because they know you will probably give in again.  My mom had a rule that if we asked for something, we definitely wouldn't get it, but if we didn't ask, there was a chance we'd get a treat when we were done shopping!  This is something I do with my kids too now.

6. Make regular trips down the toy aisle starting from the time they're babies.  Seriously.  If you start when they're too young to ask for things, you can train them to NOT ask for things.  When we're walking down the toy aisle, I will stop and point out different toys.  When we're done looking at it, I tell the child to say "bye-bye" to the toy because it has to stay with its "friends" at the store.  They generally will happily comply and learn that just because we see fun toys at the store, that does not mean that we will buy them.  Sometimes Princess will ask for something, and I tell her that if she wants it, she can put it on her Christmas wish list or save her money for it herself.  By the time, she gets home, she's usually forgotten about it completely.

7.  Go over the rules outside the store.  Don't wait until they're acting up to remind them.  I go over the rules before we even get out of the van to go into the store.  This way, they are fresh in the kids' minds, and they're aware of the behavior I expect from them.   

8. Plan a break.  The reason I like to leave first thing in the morning for a big shopping trip is so that lunch time falls somewhere in the middle of the day.  This breaks it up for the kids and allows them to get some energy out.  We either hit up a restaurant with a play place or I take them to the mall which also has a play area.

9. Hit the bathroom before you are stuck in the middle of the store with a cart full of food, and a child doing the potty polka.  The bathrooms are usually inside the door somewhere so take advantage of that and head that direction before you even get a cart.  If your child is afraid of those automatic flush toilets (like mine are) keep a pad of small sticky notes in your purse and put one over the sensor until you're ready to leave the bathroom stall. 

10. Have them hold the cart.  My mom did this when she would do her all-day shopping trips with 5 small children, and now I do it with my kids.  Having to chase kids around the store is a sure-fire way to make the trip a nightmare.  This is also a safety issue!  Put the youngest child in the cart seat as long as they still fit and have the others hold onto the side of the cart.  Make sure they know that there will be consequences if they let go and follow through!  It doesn't take them long to learn.

What are your tips for shopping with kids?

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31 Days-Organizing Towels and Washcloths

Hubby taught me this trick for folding towels and washcloths after we got married because it's the way his mom had always done it.

Instead of folding bath towels and washcloths separately, which means storing them separately and taking up more space in your linen closet, fold them together.

So simple, but it makes things easier, especially for guests.  Just fold the washcloth in half and fold it inside the bath towel.  Then you just have to grab one thing from the linen closet instead of two.  

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31 Days-Memory Boxes

I'm not a scrapbooker.  I've tried doing scrapbooks a few times, but I just can't get into it.

Yet, I still want to save memories and keepsakes.  It didn't take me long to come up with Memory Boxes.  I have one and each of the kids has one.  The kids both have small boxes, but as they get older, they'll be replaced with a large box like mine. 

I use plastic see-through totes with lids for ours.  When there's a momento I want to save, I simply toss it in the appropriate box.  When a box gets full, I sit down and go through it.  Some things bring back good memories and they go right back in the box.  Other things, I've forgotten about so I end up tossing them.  I can't wait until a box starts getting full because it's so fun to go through it. 

The kids' boxes.  As you can see, Little Man's box is suffering from 2nd child syndrome.

Princess's box which includes birthday cards, her coming home outfit, and a few other momentos.

Little Man's box which includes his coming home outfit and some crocheted items from Grandma.

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31 Days-Shoe Organization

Back when Princess was an only child, it was easy to have a little box near the front door to throw her shoes in.  After Little Man came along, the box started overflowing onto the floor, but I didn't have room for two boxes near the door so we just kept piling them in.  Then, I got pregnant with Baby #3 and realized that I had to find a new solution to the shoe problem. 

I found these stackable bins at Walmart and picked up three.  They're not very deep, but shoes stay in them well and I like that the fronts are open enough to easily reach in and find a matching pair of shoes.  Each child has their own bin and it's an easy enough system that even 2 year old Little Man has no problems putting his shoes away by himself.  The bins sit right next to the front door so the shoes can come off as soon as we come in the house and get put away correctly.  

I took this picture before Star was born as evidenced by the baby boy shoes in the top bin.

These bins would also work great for organizing toys, craft supplies, etc.  So many uses!

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Introducing the New Kid!

I was going to officially introduce Baby Girl on the blog yesterday, but things were a bit incredibly crazy around here.  First we went to storyhour at the library, then to my sister's house for lunch since we didn't have time to go home before Princess needed to be at preschool.  After I dropped Princess off at preschool, I took Little Man and the baby to an appointment that took almost 2 hours and made me late picking Princess up from preschool.  From preschool, we went straight to Princess's violin lesson (which we were also late for).  While she was at her lesson, I went to the grocery store to buy formula only to discover that the store I was at didn't carry Similac (seriously, people?!?).  Picked Princess up from her violin lesson and went to a different grocery store to finish the grocery shopping and finally went home after being gone for over seven hours!  We walked in the door, and I was feeling considerably overwhelmed (hey, I gave birth just 11 days ago and, as any mother will tell you, sleep deprivation is brutal!).  Little Man immediately started throwing a tantrum over, well, nothing and that was the last straw.  Thankfully, Hubby was still home getting ready to head off to work so I took a few minutes to have a good cry in my room with the door closed before coming out to pass out snacks and turn on my favorite purple dinosaur, Barney.  It's all about survival at this point, folks!

So anyways...

A day late, but here she is!

Introducing Star!

 When we first told Princess she was getting a new baby brother or sister, she told us we had to name the baby "Star."  It didn't make it on the list of name possibilities (especially after the ultrasound said it was a boy!), but I thought it would be perfect to use here on the blog.   


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31 Days-Organizing Sewing Patterns

It took me a while (over a year) to figure out the best way to store and organize my sewing patterns.  For the longest time, I just put all the different patterns and sizes in a pile, but then I'd lose a part of a pattern or it'd take me all day to dig through the pile to find the right ones for the orders I needed to start working on.

I finally came up with an effective, neat, organized way to store my printed patterns.  I start by taping the sides of a basic file folder together to form an envelope.

Letter sized file folders

Then I write the pattern and the size on the tab on the top of the "envelope" and fold the pattern pieces to fit inside.  I have the new file folder from 31 Gifts on my wish list to store the folders in, but for now, I'm using an empty baby wipes cardboard box since the folders fit so perfectly.   

Because it helps me find what I'm looking for faster (and because I'm a little OCD about organization), I file the patterns alphabetically, and then each pattern is filed by size.  It takes me just a few seconds to pull out the pattern I need.  

In the back of the box, behind all the patterns, I keep a green folder I saved from college.  In it are all the basic instructions and sizing guides for each pattern type, with each pattern stapled together. 

I also keep a folder on my computer with all the pattern pdfs and copy them to a USB stick drive as well.  I'd hate to lose them if my computer goes down!  

How do you store your sewing patterns?

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