Christmas is Done

Ahhhh! Christmas is done for me now. I greatly enjoy giving gifts to my loved ones and sharing the excitement with my son, but I am always relieved once it is over.

As we have become acustomed to, he got way too many clothes and toys. We are thankful many of the clothes are in larger sizes which we are certain, will fit him eventually. As for the toys, as I said in my last blog, we handled that. We took back all the toys from Nana's house and combined them with the abundance of toys that had his room so croweded you couldn't walk through it. Then we made 4 piles. Trash, donations, New batch for Nana's, and keep at home. It went extremely well. We feel wonderful to be able to donate so many toys as well as keep a lot of fun toys at both home and Nana's house. (His Nana is my Mother-in-Law btw, my mom still has lots of youngin's around so she never needed me to bring toys over.)

I got all our things put away and organzied and the house is clean. I am still awaiting two things.... New Year's, so I can put away Christmas decorations, and my Husband to go through his closet. But the house looks good and I am happy, refreshed, and anxious to start 2010.

Christmas 2009 Tips

• - If your kids are being good, let them skip a nap and/or stay up late. It's a once a year deal and when they crash you will find you get better/longer rest as well.


• - Don't expect children to wear fancy uncomfortable clothes for too long. Put them on as late as possible, take pics right away, and bring a change of clothes or pajamas.


• - Gather all the gifts for one household (if you visit more than one) in one bag for easy transfer from you home to theirs. It helps prevent lost and forgotten gifts.


• - Don't be afraid to ask for gift receipts. At the very least, find out where the item is from, many stores will still give store credit without a receipt.


• - Aim to have at least one special tradition you share with your kids that brings them the joy of Christmas without the commercial side being involved.

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So much to do, So much time

This blog might be for "Parenting Adventures, in Their Natural State", but as anyone knows, that blends in with "Spouse Adventures". There are two things I'd like you to know before we continue.... My husband literally has 3 times as many clothes as my son and I put together---And our house was a major shambles after our three days of Christmas.

I used to have this game for the PS2 called, Harvest Moon. Actually, I started playing it way back in the day on N64. I also had it for the DS when I had one. Tough times came and I didn't think twice before selling my favorite luxuries to help feed and clothe my son, nor would I ever think twice about that. The point is, the game is my FAVORITE!!! My lovely Husband got it for me for Christmas. YAY!

I sat on my butt for a painful yet fun, 6 hours, this morning playing the game. (Of course I did get up many times to take care of my son, and I was lucky he played with all his new toys for so long too) Somehow, even though I did play that long I still managed to get the entire house organized and put away from Christmas gifts, I cleaned the kitchen (and did dishes twice), I washed and folded 6 loads of laundry, took out the trash, organized my sons many toys into "keeps", "Nana's house", and "donations", I made waffles for breakfast (for the first time), played a two hour game of Monopoly City with Hubbo, and a few more odd jobs. It's only 8:22 pm as I am writing this. Looking back, I have no clue where all that time came from HAHA!

However, last night I asked my Husband to do one thing and one thing only today. "Go through your clothes and get rid what you no longer need." I do this every year, hoping one day his clothes will actually fit into his dresser and closet instead of hanging out due to overcrowding. It didn't get done. He slept, since he works graveyard, that's fine. Then he played video games, hung out with a friend, played Monopoly City with me, and who knows what else. Once his friend went home I asked him if he was going to sleep and he gave me a clear look of, 'no way, I'm not tired'. Yet when I asked if he was going to go through his clothes he threw a fit a went to sleep.

I tell you one thing, I should be prepared by the time our son is a teenager since I seem to be married to one most of the time. Then I also find myself wondering, "Why is it that I am not as demanding as practically every other woman I know?" "Why am I so easy going? And does it harm us or make us happier?"

These things I am still learning to deal with in our relationship, and in the meantime I am getting everything done and still managing 6+ hours of fatty video game time. :)



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Tracking Santa

So much fun for the whole family. Watch Santa pack up his sleigh and take off. Then you can track him all over the world. But when he gets close to your house... make sure you go to bed so he can come make the special delivery. NORAD SANTA



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Shopping and Wrapping, on the 23rd

Due to finances, this year we had to shop very late. It turned out alright though. We managed to get it all knocked out in about 5 hours. We seemed to be extremely lucky with lines and parking spots all day. It was wonderful!

Came home and wrapped them all up, while my pooped out son and husband slept. My son picked out his own "Diego" wrapping paper and he's now got all kinds of gifts under the tree.

Currently I am making some yummy chocolate chip and chocolate chip walnut cookies to share with my neighbors and friends. I got the recipe from eHOW and it is a really good one!!!
Of course, I am doing a thorough taste test :)


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On Strike Against Sleep

This afternoon was extremely trying on both my son and myself. We were not at home, which always poses a problem when it comes to his nap time. Most of the time if we go to one of his Grandmother's houses there is a playpen to put him in so he falls asleep. Not the case today. No playpen, just me, my son, and a bed.

I went to lie down with him in bed hoping he would dose off. No go. Then he started to get up and leave so I held him. Made him mad. Then he started to hit me in the face so I held him still and kept his arms from getting to me. Pissed him off. At the end of the experience we had been through an hour of him screaming bloody murder, and I was growing more angry each moment. So, the time came to leave and I planned on the car putting him to sleep while we drove to the next house to visit for the day.

He fell asleep in the car. Yay! Now, how do we simulate a driving car inside the house for my two year old next time?

p.s. the worst part is that even if I took him for a drive to get him asleep... he always always wakes up when we stop the car and will not go back down, unless it is the middle of the night. Ugh!


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Handmade Ornaments

After a few Tweets about the ornaments I finally have the recipes ready to share. I completed the ornaments tonight, it took a lot longer than I had expected, but I am very happy with them and want to share the knowledge I now have so that others can make some heart felt, handmade gifts in the years to come. Key thing to keep in mind, these can take a few days to dry and decorate. A lot more if you are making multiple batches. Prepare to make them ATLEAST a week in advance to when you will need them. I finished two separate flour batches and one cinnamon batch (including drying, decor, and glue) in just about a week. With a toddler that's not too bad, but honestly it is time consuming to make quality ones. Plain Jane shapes without paint would be adorable as well. But you should still add the glue.

First, the flour dough ornaments. (tree and heart in picture)

You will need:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

food coloring

rolling pin

cookie cutters (in holiday shapes if you wish)

cookie sheets

a straw

acrylic paint

white glue

string or yarn

Baking

1. mix together flour and salt.

2. add food coloring to water and stir until mixed.

3. gradually add water mix to the flour mix until you have a nice dough. Add more flour or water for the proper texture. Knead it smooth.

4. roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes.

5. With the straw, giving enough space around, make a hole for the string to fit through.

6. Carefully lift off shapes with a spatula and transfer to cookie sheets.

7. repeat steps 4-6 until you don't have enough dough left for one shape.

8. bake at 250 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until dry, being careful not to burn. Remember to flip them half way.

9. lay them out to cool and continue drying. Depending on their level of dryness it may take a few days to completely harden. Cracking is normal with this type of dough ornament.

Decoration

1. use acrylic paint to decorate your ornaments any way you wish. Add googly eyes, glitter, or confetti if you want also.

2. when paint is dry coat the entire ornament in white glue and allow to dry again. (remember to sharpie in the year on the back before you add the glue)

3. when completely dry, tie some string through the hole and your ornaments will be complete and ready to hang.

((makes about 12-15 ornaments))

Now the cinnamon dough ornaments (brown man in the picture). In my opinion, these turned out much better overall. I will probably only make this type next time.

You will Need:

1 cup applesauce

1 cup ground cinnamon

straw

wax paper

cookie cutters (in holiday shapes if you wish)

string or yarn

white glue

acrylic paint

rolling pin

Directions:

1. combine cinnamon and applesauce in bowl until dough forms. Add more cinnamon or applesauce if needed until you have a good thick dough. Knead smooth.

2. place ball of dough between two sheets of wax paper. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

3. remove top sheet of wax paper and begin cutting out shapes.

4. carefully peel away the excess and roll into another ball to repeat on a new sheet of wax paper. (Reuse the top sheet to conserve)

5. repeat steps 3 and 4 until you run out of dough.

6. use the straw to make holes for the string in each shape, remembering to leave enough space to prevent breakage.

7. Place full sheets of wax paper in a safe place to dry. (remember to tell your husband they are not cookies)

8. When they are mostly dry on top (which can be a couple days), carefully peel them away from the wax paper and flip over to continue drying on the bottom side for a few more days. Repeat this flipping process until completely dry.

Decorating:

1. use acrylic paint to decorate your ornaments however you wish.

2. when the paint is dry, remember to write the year on the back, and then seal the whole ornament with white glue.

3. Once the glue is dry, tie some string through the hole and your ornaments will be ready to hang. The strong cinnamon smell should still be noticeable through the glue.

((make 12-15 ornaments))


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Always Save Money Online

This is my short and sweet blog entry on saving money when you shop online.

Always, always open a separate tab/window and go to Google or Yahoo! (or your fave search engine) and type in the stores name followed by the words "coupon code".

I have done this will all my purchases in the last 6 months and I have saved so much money already. I have found and used coupons for 10-50% off, free shipping, and much more! Seriously, this blog sounds like a huge ad, but I am tell you all as a fellow bargain hunter, this is a great deal.

How I do it: After typing in the store name followed by "coupon code", I click on the first website and check out the coupons they have to offer. I will use the best code I find and test it in checkout to see if it works (many won't, this takes lots of patience). Then I proceed to go down the list of my Yahoo! Search and do the same with each coupon site. Sometimes, I find a decent code quick and then after I click on 6 or 7 links I find an amazing deal of 30% off plus free shipping or something else amazing like that.

For example: Today I wanted to purchase an Anti-Virus software. It was on sale for $29.95. I found a code right away that took it down to $27.82 and I kept clicking on more sites for better codes. I took it down again with another code to $23.43. Finally, I found the mother code about 8 links into my search. I bought the software at $15.95. Almost half off. I am a firm believer of these things.


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New Job

I got an offer to be the West La Stay-at-Home Moms Examiner over at Examiner.com. I'm totally thrilled about the opportunity to expand my writing experience. The best part is how at home I feel with the subject and how confident I am that I will make this an amazing opportunity.

Not much has gone up yet, waiting on some finalizations. Even then things might be a little slow until after Christmas. After all, it is a very busy time of year.

Please check back to the site and tell your friends about it if you enjoy what you read.


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Enhancing Disneyland

For our trip yesterday I had done quite a bit of research on tips, hints, and tricks for enjoying the expereience at Disneyland. What prompted my search is the rumor I heard about Disneyland being required to give you one toy per child if you cannot afford to buy them. I still have not found any confirmation to this rumor, nor have I tried it yet myself. I have no clue if it were true if you'd need some kind of proof. But if it is true, don't expect Disney to confirm it or advertise it. What a huge loss it would be if lots of people found out :X

I did find some cool websites though.
Snopes.com lists rumors, and facts about the park and all things related. Most of them have to do with actual events rather than tricks for the park, but it's still interesting.
Yesterland.com provides awesome information on "old" Disneyland, with amazing old picture as well.
Disneyland Vacation Tips is a great website for all kinds of tricks to use to maximize the fun. I enjoyed this website and wrote down quite a few.

The compliation of tips I wrote down and took with us were as follows...

1) If you buy coffee, save your cup, you can get free refills all day long.
2) Broken or lost balloons (with proof, even if found) can be replaced free with any balloon vendor.
3) Ask to go in the very front of the Train, Monorail, and Mark Twain's Boat for a special experience.
4) Visit the Hanuted Mansion elevator for a different view that most don't see.
5) Try to take the golden apple after the Snow White ride and wait for a surpirse.
6) Watch above the Snow White ride to catch a glimpse of the evil Queen.
7) After leaving the Heffalump and Woozle Honey Room in the Winnie-the-Pooh ride, turn around and look up to see the past still there. Three moose heads from the old Country Bear Jamboree which used to stand in that same place.
8) Ride Peter Pan first thing in the morning. It usally fills up fast and stays packed all day long.
9) Most people travel to Tomorrowland or Adventurland first. Head to Fantasyland or Toontown to beat some crowds.
10) The line on the right for Pirates of the Carribean is shorter.
11) Get drinks at Rancho Del Zocalo and go back for free refills all day.

We tried all those and they worked for us. Good luck to anyone who goes.


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Christmas at Disneyland

All I wanted this Christmas/Yule, was to spend a day at Disneyland with my Husband and Son. Neither of them had seen it dressed up for the holidays, and I wanted to share this excitement with them. I got my wish this year. Today we spent a very fun (and towards the end painful) 13 hours at the Happiest Place on Earth!



I couldn't get the pictures to come out to well today, so I only came back with a few. But the memories should last forever. I ended up inviting my younger sister and her boyfriend as well, and that made it more fun and merry. Her boyfriend had never been to Disneyland at all, so that was a lot of fun for him.




We did park hop to expereince the joy in both parks. At night we saw the fireworks display at Disneyland. That in itself is a memory to last us forever. The way our sons face looks as he watches in awe at the show and says, "Wooooooooow!" Is so priceless.




We enjoy Disneyland for ourselves, but we also want to take advantage of the fact that our son will be free until he is 3 years old. Even the first time we took him at 18 months he fully enjoyed his time there and we love to be able to bring him so much joy at such a young age. Thank you Disneyland. If the prices were lower we too could get just as much excitement out of the trip :) Still, I highly suggest if you have the opportunity, that you visit Christmas at Disneyland atleast once in your life.

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Tree Differences

We picked up a Holiday tree today. (To celebrate both Christmas and Yule in our house) This is going to be our third holiday season in this cozy little apartment of ours and so, our third tree.



Year one we received the tree as a gift. Our son was just three months old, and we had a happy and tiny little tree, which was actually the top of some other too large tree. I'd say it was about a foot and a half or so. Cute for our first ever tree together.











Year two we were settled in to our home and set out on a mission to get a tree. Driving only a small Honda Accord we thought it was perfect that we lived in equal (and close) walking distance of two tree lots. We chose one and went to visit it. We came home with a 3 foot tree that cost us $29.95 plus tax. Ouch! It's all we could afford at the time so we took it not knowing better.









Year three (this year) we took my Mother-in-law's offer (and advice) to go get one at Home Depot. WOW! What a shocker to walk in and see a huge 6 footer for only $24 plus tax. We were thrilled at how large we could go for the same price we shelled out last year. Also, size wise, we could go much bigger this year. We have tried many arrangements in our 10 by 12 living room and our current one is the perfect one all around. It gives us the most space, light, and room for a tree. Even with two couches. We shall be pros at organizing small places by the time we move out of here.










My husbands family is a Douglas fir type of family. I personally prefer the Noble fir. I think they look more Christmassy. But so far all three have been the former. Next year maybe we will try the Noble fir.



At any rate, don't shop at tree lots, especially if you don't have a lot of cash to waste. Happy Holidays!


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Cold as Ice

Today was a cold and wet day. At one of my (many) sister's school, they had a snow day event. A nice winter festival of arts and crafts, some carnival games, and a tented area in which they brought in snow. YAY! It was raining all day so this made for a very fun, wet, and cold adventure.

Although I had been planning to go to this event for at least two weeks, I still forgot to pack some gloves for him, so his hands got super cold super fast. Big surprise there. Thankfully, I did remember the warm change of clothes for when he got wet.

One thing I realized today... him and I both need to get some rain friendly shoes. Chucks don't cut it for either of us. Oh, and ALWAYS bring gloves to the snow!! Even if it didn't fall from the sky.


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The Mundane Adventures for This Week

Last Monday, after spending time at a friends house, we came home and found out my son had a high fever. Nothing really developed of it and he woke up just fine the next day. I think he was just the fancy little carrier boy and passed the virus on to me. Friday night I started to get stuffy headed. Saturday, full blown cold. Sunday still kinda sick but mainly just recovery.

Since I haven't been out much this week due to the sicknesses, I had planned to go out for a nice long walk today with my son and enjoy the outdoor air. But mother nature had another plan for us. It's been raining all day long.

We were still going to get out of the house just a little bit, since we needed to go grocery shopping. Somehow, something got left on in the van I guess. When we all piled in, we found the van would not start thanks to a dead battery. Mostly dead anyway (who else thinks of The Princess Bride??). None of the AAA numbers worked, YAY for roadside assitance (sarcasm), but I put in a request online. Thank goodness we were stuck while at home.

Now I am waiting for the battery aid, starving like a pregnant woman, hoping the rain doesn't pick back up when it comes time to go. Perhaps I should have checked my horroscope today, it probably says, "This is a good day to stay home". But would I have listened?? Chances are slim.


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A Pregnant Night

My Husband had to be to work by midnight last night, and I usually stay up until that time. Since he left before midnight I decided to watch a little TV to make me tired and fall asleep. We had eaten dinner at about 5pm so I was feeling the starvation coming on. I thought maybe I could just ignore it away with sleep. I was wrong.

I kept flipping channels even though I was planning to fall asleep, and that's when I found "Whose line is it Anyway?". Well, it happens to be my favorite show which I haven't seen on the air for quite a while, so I started watching. I rolled over an hour later to finally go to sleep (as an informercial about back fat came on). The starvation was getting worse and I tried to fall asleep anyway. That's just when craving teamed up with starvation and ambushed me.

So there I sat, eating a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch cereal, watching TV, at 1 am!


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Cloth Diaper Converter

Well, it’s that time again. Time to talk about cloth diapers! But I have great news…. I have converted a friend. Yes, through my faithful dedication and raves of cloth diapering, I have finally inspired someone to give the good ol’ earth savers a try, and she LOVED them, naturally!

As most people are, she was pretty apprehensive about giving the cloth a try. After all, disposables have made life so easy. Unfortunately, not many people take into account how hard they make life in the long run in terms of how they harm the earth. My friend also being one of the people who didn’t pay too much attention to where they ended up after she disposed of them. She also had the idea in her head that cloth diapers would cost just as much as disposables, and so why not just live with the convenience of disposables? My previous blogs, and constant talking about my own experience with cloth has helped to open up her eyes. She has been able to see how we get by with our cloth even on a very tight budget. I explain numbers as well when it comes to saving by using cloth instead of disposable.

Now, there is one thing I have gone through which many people may not. At least, I hope I can help people with my own experience and keep them from spending too much on diapers. I have tried many many brands of diapers, and with that, many many styles as well. Technically speaking, I have spent about as much as I would have with disposables when it comes to diapering my son. But the catch there is 1) I have not added hundreds of plastic diapers to the landfills and 2) I take pride and joy in helping other choose the right diaper for them knowing what works and what doesn’t.

I may have my own faves, no doubt about that, but when someone tells me what they prefer when it comes to diapers I can direct them towards a great one, even if it isn’t one I choose to use. With the arrival of my next child in May, I know exactly which diapers to buy and I won’t waste money “trying” others. Also, I already have leftover stash from my son in various sizes. So, I will certainly save money with the next baby. I do plan for this to be my last, in which case I will spend my days helping people save money, and the earth, with cloth diapers for years to come. Maybe someone will even use our hand me downs and save further.

So, going back to my new cloth buddy, it turns out that just like me she enjoys the old school style of pre-folds. That seems to be one of the top choices of many moms, I hardly hear a bad thing about them. They are so versatile and so cheap in comparison to all the others. Pair them with a multiple size cover, and you have just about the cheapest and easiest way to cloth diaper your baby.

Now, she and I can both share the sad feelings of seeing people buy large boxes of diapers, and knowing where they end up. We can both feel proud together that we are saving our families money for the more important things in life, such as playtime, and that we are also helping to reduce the amount of waste blanketing our beautiful earth. And with enough energy to stay devoted to this lifestyle, hopefully I can influence more moms to convert their ways. Maybe they will convert some too, and so on and so on.

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Naming the Toys

While celebrating one of my sister's' birthday last night, we had some fun at the mall. After eating dinner, we walked around a bit and found a great claw machine. Not to brag, but I happen to be good at these and have won a few animals for my son in his lifetime alone. This was one of the good ones where the win is actually achievable. At 50 cents a pop it did take $2 but he walked away with a small Pokemon plushie. He actually won it, since he pressed the button.

He was very excited and immediately called it "Kenna". I looked at the tag and said, "Let's see what this Pokemon is..." as I am only familiar with the original cast. Back in the days of Pikachu, I played a little Gameboy Pokemon. Anyway, despite it being named "Shinx", my son continued to call it "Kenna", which I find ultra adorable because to my knowledge, he has never heard a name even remotely close to that. He held onto it all night and had a blast. He was pooped when we got home and went right to bed.

This morning when he awoke he found Kenna sitting on the couch waiting for him. He ran right up and shouted, "KENNA!" And I thought it was so adorable that my son officially named his first toy doll that I took a picture so I could blog about it. Kenna went with us to our Sunday breakfast, and to Target for a quick shopping trip.

Welcome to the family Kenna! I'm still trying to get my son to tell me whether Kenna is a girl or boy, as the name is unisex.

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Happy Turkey Day!

This was the 5th Thanksgiving that My husband and I have celebrated together. Each year his family has changed up where they eat the dinner, but nonetheless, they always do dinner. The first 4 years it was breakfast/dinner at his moms side, then dinner at his dads side followed by dinner at my moms side.

This is extremely hectic and I would like to settle into a good schedule of alternating families so we can go to one house for the whole day and relax there, instead of running around like turkeys with our heads cut off, eating all day long. However, this year, being pregnant, I was thrilled to get to eat two dinners. For the first time in 14 weeks I wasn't starving. Also, its hard on our son to not spend lots of time with one side and he fusses whenever we leave either families house. So really, it would be easier on all of us to dedicate the day to one side only. Especially since next year we will have a younger baby with us again.

Our son didn't eat much at all that day, (while I ate enough to feed a small village) but he had a lot of fun. At my Mother in laws house, he enjoyed socializing with the 16 people there besides us. At my mothers house he played hard with his cousins and became the olive monster. Besides us, there were 11 other people at my moms house.

I also found it a huge crack up when my mom showed us her new gravy boat that she was super proud of. She liked the way it looked, and of course I was the one to point out the fact that it poured out of the turkey's mouth. Yay for turkey puke all over the mashed potatoes and turkey. As I went through the pictures I realized I had caught the boat in action. Now I am thrilled because I have that photo.

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Happy Halloween

We didn't complete our costumes until the very last minute. They still turned out wonderful. I spent a total of $32 for all three of us. We were the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and the White Rabbit. Isn't that sweet?

I happen to be a huge fan of the homemade costume. The number one reason, well it is tied with another, so the two best reasons for homemade costumes is that you don't spend a fortune on a flimsy cheap costume you wear once, and you most likely will not find anyone else wearing the same costume as you. Similar costumes maybe, but not identical like the packaged ones.

Starting with my husband, the Mad Hatter: At a thrift store I bought him a great dark brown corduroy jacket with the elbow patches and all kinds of awesome secret pockets. It was $10. We already had the cartoon hat from a previous Disneyland visit. Then he wore his own vest, pants, button down long sleeve white shirt and shoes. He had some white hair spray for his (black) hair since he couldn't find a wig to work. He may not have looked like the cartoon version, or even the book version I suppose, but I think he looked awesome! And MAD!



Then for me: I picked up some cheapo cat ears and a bow tie from the party store. I found a great striped shirt at Old Navy on clearance for about $3.24. I also found some socks at Big Lots that matched the shirt so I cut off the tips, pulled them higher, and made them leg warmers. I wore my own leggings and shoes. Oh, and face paint to make me look like a cat, the Cheshire Cat.



Now our son, the White Rabbit: At the thrift store we found a green vest for about 50 cents. Put that over a $10 white and green sweatshirt from Target and added some pants and shoes he already owned. I bought a bunny ears headband and cut off the ears, which I then safety pinned to the hoodie. (I don't sew.)I gave him the bow tie from my kit, and made him a tail out of old white nylons and cotton balls. That too was safety pinned on. The part of his costume which I was most proud of was his trick-or-treat bag I made with paper plates, crayons, construction paper, and staples. All on a small Whole Foods reusable bag.

We all had a blast together trick-or-treating. And we all have been sharing his treats as well. Going up to each house our son would say, "Treat". We were at my moms so we had all my siblings there and my niece and nephew which made it that much more fun for our son. It was a wonderful day and I am excited to repeat this fun for many years to come.

Later when asked about Halloween he would announce that he had a tail and got candy. I see what was most fun to him :)


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Pumpkin Carving

Here is a bit of a delayed post on this past Halloween's pumpkin carving with our son. We never did find those carving tools and we ended up buying more. I was able to find the one cool scoop we had so I put them all in a safe place for next year.

His uncle brought him a really cool kit that turns your pumpkin into a light bright basically. You trace the dots onto your pumpkin, pound in the clear nails and place the kits color changing light inside and voila! It came out really awesome and he enjoyed it right up until the day we found the massive mold infestation inside of it. They last about 3-4 days after we cut them.

We smeared petroleum jelly all over the cut areas of our pumpkins, but we figured they were just too old already so that would be why they didn't last very long. We got them from a pumpkin patch that has no shade at all. And we are in sunny so cal. However, the best part of that was how soft they were when we cut them. Our son was able to carve his own pumpkin. We later sat him down to do another at my Mom's house but their pumpkins were just too fresh and too hard so he gave up once he started to struggle with the cutting.

He also helped Daddy carve a goofy bat into his pumpkin, and then we all ate some yummy pumpkin seeds.










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Footy Pajamas

I just think footy pajamas on walking toddlers is the cutest thing ever!!!



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Pregnancy...

Things I am sick of so far in this pregnancy...

1) Sneezing.... constantly
2) Being wiped out all day for the past three months.
3) People asking me if I am going to find out the sex of the baby.
4) People asking me what names we've picked out
5) How LONG it all seems to be going.
6) Always being starving!!!

Only 6 months left for baby number two.....


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Fat Lips Are the Easiest to Heal

Yet again, my son has fallen into the coffee table. I've always thought those bumper pads were kind of ridiculous to cover your tables in, but I am beginning to think they do serve a great purpose. This is at least the 6th time my son has gotten hurt on the table. Honestly, our space is too small anyway to have the coffee table in it. We should just get a couple of side tables and get rid of the coffee table.

It was the pull the chair out from underneath you sort of deal. As I was moving the table back to the center of the room, I think he went to lean on it, not realizing I had moved it. So he face planted into the side and hit is lip. I watched it happen so I grabbed him up quick and started to console him. There was a small amount of blood on his upper lip under his nose, though I am not sure out it all worked out since he did in fact hit his lip. It became slightly blue.

The best part of a fat lip is the healing/soothing that comes right after. I gave him his Pooh Bear ice pack as I usually do. Whenever he gets hurts and I hand it to him, instead of placing it on his injury he just sucks on it. Today that worked out well. Another great alternative though would have also been he Otter Pops we have in the freezer. They soothe their lip with ice while eating a treat. I suppose any variation on frozen treat would work in this matter. Ice cream, Popsicle, fruitsicle etc.

He is feeling great now.


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No Sleep!

I'm not sure why, but for some reason when my son refuses to fall asleep I get more annoyed than with anything else he does.

On one hand I feel that maybe it is due to the fact he has always been such a wonderful sleeper. He has pretty much always slept through the night, on his own, and as he got older he began walking himself to bed. So it makes me wonder if maybe the disruption of that perfect sleeping baby schedule is what sets me off.

On the other hand it could just be the fact that I do not feel the ability to completely let lose and relax and focus on myself until he is asleep. When he refuses to sleep I keep him in his bed, and he fusses off and on, but mostly entertains himself or calls for me. However, I still have my "Mommy Sensors" on and I cannot get to into something when I know he will be crying or calling for me any moment. Even if I do not run to him with every sound he makes, like I said, the "Mommy Sensors" are still screaming in my head telling me to listen to my offspring.

I remain patient with him, and those days I get highly annoyed he never knows it. I have to remind myself when these days occur, that they are pretty rare and overall he is such a wonderful and easy child to deal with. I can only hope this next one will be just as easy. At least they have a great role model of an older brother to look up to.


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Taste Test

I was sitting on the couch relaxing, while watching "1000 Ways To Die". My son was wandering around with his new pumpkin flashlight, watching all the colors change. He came over and started to play with me like he had been doing all night. The thing is, he kept shining the light in my eyes and I had had enough of that. When I turned around to see him shoving the light into his eye socket I told him that was it for flashlight time.

I took the two pieces apart to reveal the 9volt battery inside making it light up. I thought about what I would always do as a child and placed it on my tongue to reminisce. My son watched me and wanted to try this, so I dabbed it on his tongue really quick. I told him to stick out his tongue and then I did it. He liked it too much though haha! I took it away and put everything out of reach.

Minutes later my son walks up to me (without a diaper on, which I was aware of) and he sticks out his finger while demonstrating to me that he wanted me to stick out my tongue and taste his finger. I don't know if I should thank the pregnancy for the super keen sense of smell, or if it was something anyone would have smelled. However, when the stench of pure butthole wafted up through my nose I quickly backed away, said, "THAT'S BEEN IN YOUR BUTT!", led him to a bath, and promptly decided never to play the "taste" game with him again.


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Waiting for the Doctor

Of all the places we have had to wait around with our son, I'll have to vote on the doctor's office being one of the best because they have "toys" in the room. We usually blow up a glove for him and that lasts for up to half an hour of playtime. Yesterday, we were able to get a little more time out of it by stuffing that balloon into his clothes. He loved it.

The best part of the whole trip was that he didn't have to get any shots. Yay for that! I only wish it didn't cost $11 to park there.






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The Calabasas Pumpkin Festival

On October the 18th we visited the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival for the second year in a row. I have to admit this year was more fun with our son being 2, but overall, even though it is free I think it is just too far away for us living in Los Angeles. There is another one that sounds to be the same which is just over the hill in Sherman Oaks. Next year we will try that one and see if it compares.

Still, we had fun. It's free to get in, and free to park. But they make up for it with everything else inside ha ha! They have inflatables like rock climbing, jumpers, obstacle courses etc. They have a train ride, large slide, box car racing, paint your own pumpkin, paint a tile (courtesy of Home Depot), and face painting. Each of those rides or activities is $3 each. Well, the rides had lines that were just too long for that price. The crafts we thought were good for our son though. He painted a 50 cent tile, then went over and painted a small $1 pumpkin. My estimations of course, each activity was $3 a piece. When you get into the habit of making so many of your own crafts and fun, as well as bargain shopping, it just becomes hard to spend so much on something like that. Knowing very well we could have gone home and done the exact same things for about $2 total. But, I know how exciting it is for a child to participate in activities when you attend an event, so we indulged him.

My son and I shared a fresh lemonade while my husband got a smoothie. We played at the park a little, touched some reptiles, and let our son play the free toddler carnival games set up at the booths for businesses. He got a nice collection of tattoos, stickers, candy, and small toys. From the booths I collected a free t-shirt from a great new mom website momslikeme.com, as well as a free re-usable bag from them. I got another reusable bag from another company, and entered quite a few contests.

The festival also hosts live entertainment and towards the end of the day they had a Journey tribute band. I was game, so we sat there for a while listening. They were pretty good. Our son enjoyed them a lot. He danced and wandered through the people in front of the stage. We got him on video.

As far as it was to go, we had a good time, and seeing him smile makes it all worth it. Really we made out well too we spent only $18 total while there. Not too bad.

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Where are the Pumpkin Tools?

Well, last year in order to be more organized with our storage boxes, or decoration boxes rather, I picked up one of the discount large orange bins from Target to store our Halloween supplies in. This year as we take the box out, I find there are no pumpkin tools in it. Hmmm..... where could I have put those???

So, about a week ago we happened to be in the garage and I looked in the orange bin to double check what was in it. It felt like Halloween was still so far away, so I didn't take anything out of it. At least, I don't think I did. After spending too much time in my life forgetting to do things, I got myself into the habit of doing right when I think. Often, I feel I have forgotten something, only to find I am actually a step ahead of myself and already prepared. I feel like when I looked in the orange bin that I might have done that exact thing. Maybe I took out the tools knowing we'd be getting pumpkins in the next week. Maybe I placed them somewhere convenient in the house for easy access. But if I did, for the life of me, I cannot remember where.

We took the box out today, inside the witch's hat is one scoop. But we have a whole mess of good quality tools. We just got pumpkins and we want to carve them. But we need the tools. We still have a little time, I don't even know what I will carve mine into. I want to use a drill on mine this year. I know where the drill is. Our son will probably just paint his, like he did at the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival last week. We have to go back into the garage and look in our other boxes to find out where my brain decided was good place for the tools, a place that seemed better than the Halloween box. Stay tuned.


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POOP! ... on the walls

Well, it happened while I was updating this blog actually. I was sitting here, with my superhuman pregnancy sense of smell, when I started to sniff the scent of poop. I turned around and asked my son if he had done it, to which he replied, "No." This is common, so I set out to finish the blog, and then change him.

I'm not sure when it happened. Maybe I waited too long. Quite often, he is naked when at home and then he uses the potty. We had been out that day however, so he was still in a diaper. I grabbed the wipe and walked over to the living room to grab him and clean him up. That was when I realized the strength of the smell had really improved. Throughout all this, my husband was asleep on the couch. Don't ask me why (I'm blaming the pregnancy for this strange thought) but the first thing through my head was a question of whether the smell was coming from my husbands pants instead of my son's. It cracks me up to even think about that going through my head, HA! Why would it? I think maybe just because the smell was so strong.

Anyway, I had been headed in the direction of my son. Walking through our dark living room (which I will explain in a minute) I found him running up to me with brown hands. UGH! He was thrilled to have found something to "paint" with and proceeded to show me the "artwork" on the wall next to him. "Oh no! Baby, that's poop!" was all I could think of to say. It shocked the hell out of him, he seemed to not have any clue what it was he was painting with. He responded to me with, "IT'S POOP!?!?" accompanied by a look or horror on his face.

Well, as one can imagine, the reason for this mishap, was a slightly loose stool. After assessing the situation I stuck him right in the shower. Of course, I was in such a hurry to get him cleaned I kinda forgot to let the water warm up and the cold shower traumatized him. He began screaming and crying, even after the water became a pleasant temperature. I got him all washed up quickly and took him out, dressed him, calmed him down, and put him to bed. That went well since it was bedtime, he went right to sleep after his little adventure/ordeal. But he still hates showers for now. Oops!

Naturally, I then went to clean up. The hardest part of the cleanup was looking for poop on the floor, in the dark. The reason I had to do all this in the dark, would be because our lamp decided to die. How did it die you ask? It fell over when the stand decided to detach from the base. Once it lost its support, it had nowhere to go but down. That of course, shattered the plastic shade. All of this happened while my son and husband were watching TV together on the couch the prior day. It just happened out of nowhere. This lamp was from Target. Don't get me wrong, I love my Target! But, the lamp in the bedroom is 8 years old, from Ikea, has been through three moves, and is still going strong. Target lamp was 2 years old and it has been in this living room the whole time.

In conclusion, I cleaned up all the poop, I traumatized my son, I love Mr. Clean magic erasers, and all of this happened while my husband slept on the couch. Just another typical day of being a mom right?

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The Wubbzy Party

Late update, but our son turned 2 last month so we gave him a Wubbzy party. Wubbzy is of course, his all-time favorite character/show. The hype in the weeks preceding the party got him very excited, and day of the party we had one very adorable little boy with a large smile on his face. We all had fun.
He really enjoyed all the Wubbzy decorations we had to offer him. I had a great time making the supplies also. I enjoy crafts very much and I spent a lot of time on my sons party. I made a kickety kick ball pinata, hand drew Wubbzy faces on the table cloths, *reused* last years birthday party supplies that were left over, bought a few Wubbzy licensed materials, wrapped up fun books as party prizes, drew Wubbzy faces on the party favor bags which included a hand/computer made Wubbzy and Friends coloring book (courtesy of Nickjr.com printouts), and perhaps a few more things I currently cannot remember.

The kids played a generic pin the tail on the donkey game which we had left over from his last birthday party. They all made "birdy bird feeders", and then there was the pinata which was about 7 layers of paper mache and made it through all the "big kids" who were there which went up to age 28. :) Actually, it did break up, but ultimately it was the string that broke not the pinata.

Oh yeah, the cake. I made a Wubbzy cake for my son. My friend also surprised me, and him, with a similar wubbzy cake. It was cool to have two cakes for the 40 people who were there. Each cake looked a little different as well. I also made the marshmallow lasagna from the nickjr.com website. I messed it up but it was still a hit, so yay!

Perhaps the highlight of the event was the t-shirt we put on our son. I bought a $1 t-shirt from Big Lots and printed out some words on iron on transfer paper. What did those words say? "My Mommy's Pregnant!" We had just found out and figured since both families would be together, why not tell them all at once and in a fun way? Watching the reactions was fun. Some people took quite a while to look at his shirt. Most were happy. Our son didn't know what message he was relaying, but it was a fun time, and great to look back on. More details about this pregnancy to come later in the blog. I wanted the shirt to say "Mom's Knocked Up" But my husband felt it was too much for his family. He was right. With all the fun ways to announce a pregnancy on a shirt, the reason we chose the one we did was when thinking about each and every one of our family members, we needed to sen the message in a direct way that could not be mistaken, with out being too harsh (like I comment I wanted lol). It worked.

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Birdy Bird Feeders

Really easy activity to do for a Wubbzy party, or renamed, great for any party. Chances are all of these supplies can be found at your local dollar store.

You will need:
Enough peanut butter for about 1/4 per kid
1 empty toilet paper roll for each kid
1 small sheet of wax paper per kid
1 length of about 15 inches twine or yarn per kid
1 safe plastic knife or spoon per kid
1 bag of bird seed
a few small plates (try the plates from your party)
a sharpie

Prep:
1. Cut out the lengths of twine/yarn.
2. Pull out the wax paper about as long as the toilet paper roll and tear
3. Collect toilet paper rolls
4. Fold up wax paper and stuff it, and string, into the toilet paper roll.

This makes your Birdy Bird Feeder "kit" for each kid.


Directions:
1. Grab a few plates and fill them with a layer of bird seed.
2. Open the containers of peanut butter and stick plastic knives in them.
3. Call the kids over and announce that it's time to make their birdy bird feeders.
4. Explain or demonstrate to the children that they are to create bird feeders by separating their "kits", spreading peanut butter on the outside of the toilet paper rolls rather thick, roll the peanut butter covered rolls in the birdseed, thread their string through the toilet paper rolls and tie a knot to hang them when they get home. Wrap each roll in the supplied wax paper, and tuck in the edges.
5. Write each child's name on the wax paper so they don't forget which is theirs.


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Cold on the Buns

We started getting our son to use his little black potty about 4 months ago now. He does great while running around naked. He will always use the potty for number one and number two. He has been this way pretty much the whole time. (It took about one week to get him to use the potty).

We have tried teaching him to use the training pants, to pull them down, to take off his diapers, to inform us of his bodies needs. All of it isn't really working though so he needs to have a naked bottom half in order to use the potty. I haven't learned yet if it is because he isn't cognitively ready to learn this skill, or if he is just lazy. He just turned 2, so I am not worried he isn;t fully trained yet.

Either way, when we are home, going naked isn't a problem so he does. I try to keep a shirt on him all the time. This morning he realized that during fall mornings, hard surfaces around the house are a bit colder than they have been in the prior months of his nakey time. Luckily, he took after me with his innovative thinking.

When chairs are cold, and you want to eat cereal, sit on your blankie.

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Man Wonder #2

Some men just do not pay attention to directions, even when told multiple times during the trip where to turn.

When they are expecting the woman to tell them where to turn.... do not expect them to turn on the street you've mentioned 46 times already.


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Self Portraits

When toddlers get a hold of your camera, you might find some really fun pictures. This I learned from my niece. I believe she was 4 when she got a hold of my sisters camera, and she took some of the funniest pictures of herself, her brother, her toys, and other things around the house. From this I learned, Let Them Play with the Camera. And I am thankful.

My son was bored at his grandma's house and went rummaging through the diaper bag. There he found my camera, took it out of the case, turned it on, and proceeded to take pictures of himself, the house, his feet, and his grandma. Unfortunately, most came out blurry... but some were very nice.

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