another car seat cover

A friend from small group asked if I could make her new little man a car seat cover.  I wish these things had been popular a year ago, but maybe for baby #3 someday.  Her requests that we eventually settled on were an "e" for Easton, boyish colors, and something that coordinated with her car seat. Here was the finished product that we dropped off yesterday.  (I use this tutorial as a basis for all my covers).  The kids and I had a fun date to KFC while William did some yard work.  Then we dropped it off and Owen got to play with his buddy Asher for a bit. Hope you love it Erica!

I hope the chevron trend is around for awhile - love it!

love the coordinating car fabric hiding underneath

the straps have the car fabric hiding underneath too

 

Ellie’s modeling debut

Before Ellie was born, I bought her some super cute monthly stickers from Little Baby Bumblebee on Etsy.  When I gave feedback to the seller, I included one of the pictures I take every month of Ellie for her monthly post.  Like below.The shop owner emailed me and asked if she could use Ellie’s pictures for the listing in her shop.  So now Ellison is modeling that style of onesie stickers in Dee’s shop.  So cute!  Check out her Etsy store if you need monthly stickers.   She has tons of amazing designs for boys and girls.  She also has stickers to document your weeks/months of pregnancy and your baby’s “firsts.”  They’re all adorable!

Tosha’s Baby Sprinkle

We had so much fun tonight blessing our friend Tosha and her sweet little girl that’s due in a month.  For baby’s #2, 3, etc we always call them sprinkles.  Smaller versions of full blown showers to just help the momma restock on diapers and such.  So I tried not to go too overboard with the crafting.  But pink is quite fun to decorate with. :)  I’ll try to give you links if possible to some of the ideas I used. 

Decor
My goal was cute, pink, and cheap!  I started with making a little flag bunting for the fireplace.  I just grabbed a few different pink papers at 50% at Hobby Lobby and cut triangles out.  I sewed (yes, you can sew paper) them onto bias tape, but you could easily glue them onto a ribbon of some sort.Then I made a small diaper cake.  I’ll have a great link to a diaper cake after the shower I have on Friday.  For this one, I took a large bottle of Johnson’s baby lotion and basically wrapped a few diapers around it and tied it tight with string.  Then I covered the string with ribbon and made a little pom pom flower for the top.These little guys were the favors for the ladies.  I got a ton of different pink nail polishes and just added a simple thank you tag to them.Next up was getting a few pink plastic table cloths.  I did sew up the sides of a few of them to make them look a little more fancy.   But the only picture I have of this has 2 ladies in it who would not like the faces they’re making in the picture. :)  I also raided the Walmart paint section.  I grabbed a couple of each pink paint chips and cut them up to use for “confetti” on the tables.  Free and they come in every color under the sun!  The flowers were from my yard! I borrowed the hanging lanterns from a friend so those were free too! Food
Melissa did most of the food for which I’m super thankful.  My 3 contributions were cake pops, kettle corn, and the punch.  The cake pops turned out awesome.  I followed Bakerella’s instructions.  I got a foam wreath at the dollar store and spray painted it pink to hold the cake pops and made a tissue paper flower to go in the middle.   I didn’t get a picture of the punch, but it was fabulous.  Get the recipe here. I made my cousin’s awesome kettle corn recipe and just added a little food coloring to make it pink.  Delish and adorable! Game
We just played one short little game that I got here.  Basically, there are 12 ultrasound pictures that they had to guess which part the picture was of.  A nice change of pace from eating and guessing baby food flavors.  We had a 3 way tie for the winners! Then it was onto gifts.  Doesn’t she just look so graceful in the picture.  Only Tosha can pull that off at t-minus 4 weeks until baby.I crocheted this adorable little number for her girly.  She requested a “rose” colored hat.  Not sure this is exactly the color she had in mind, but I loved it!  The pattern can be found here for the hat and here for attached flower. Then at the close of the shower, we just gathered around and prayed for Tosha, the baby, the delivery, her hubby, and her other 2 little people and their transition to a family of 5! All in all, a great evening with the ladies.  We cannot wait to meet the little miss and hear what name you guys have settled on. :)

Happy 4 Months!

My sweet little girl is 4 months old. 1/3 of her first year is done. How in world did that happen?  This month is one of my favorites!  She’s still little, but is not just watching the world anymore, she wants to participate! 

my that's a nice head

The Stats
Her 4 month appointment went well and she took her 2 shots like a champ.  We go every month to spread out the shots she gets so Owen knows the drill now.  He even held her hand while she got her first shot.  Adorable.  She is 15 lbs, 7 oz (85th percentile) and 25.25” (84th percentile).  So in other words – big girl!  But her head is exactly in the 5oth percentile.  Know what that means?  She is the perfect head model for all these cute fall hats I’m making. :) 
Sleeping and Eating
She’s pretty much a textbook baby right now which I love.  So different than Owen was.  We were doing the eat, play, sleep (per Babywise) but we’ve fallen into a routine of play, eat, sleep which just seems to work for us right now.  So that’s what we’re doing.  She still gets put in her crib awake and I love that (for the most part) she' can put herself to sleep.  She’s going to bed anywhere from 8-9 and this time is slowly creeping up.  Can’t wait until it’s 6:30/7!  She gets up around 10 or 11 to eat again, and then usually again at 4 and is up for the day between 6:30 and 7:30.  So not bad to say the least!  She loves her crib, but still ends up in bed with us in the wee hours of the morning. :)She nurses about 6-8 times throughout a 24 hour period, which again is textbook.  She’s usually a one side nurser, so we just switch back and forth for each feeding.  She’s definitely nursing less since she started taking a paci!  Yay for my boob not being used her only soothing tool.  The nurse prac we saw at her 4 month well baby didn’t even mention food yet and I’m not in any hurry to start like I was with Owen.  I’m just enjoying breastfeeding and not thinking about which fruit/veggie she needs to be eating.  Maybe in month 5 or 6 we’ll start thinking about this. 

are you sure I can't eat something new?

Other fun things and milestones

• She rolled over!  Now if you remember, she rolled over from belly to back at 5 weeks old.  But this was several times from back to belly.  I only saw one of these on the video monitor but the other day at nap time, I went in and she was on her belly.  Big girl!  She enjoys tummy time so she didn’t seem to mind being on her belly.
• She loves to hold toys now and is starting to put everything in her mouth!
• We put away the swing and got out her jumperoo.  She loves it.  She has already figured out how to turn a little in it. Owen loves to help her “jump.”
• She has found her toes and loves to grab them and try to get them to her mouth.  
• She has started shrieking.  Wow for finding her LOUD voice.
• She is constantly aware of where her brother is.  She follows him with her eyes everywhere and I think is totally smitten with him. 
• Ellie is becoming a bigger fan of dad.  She wasn’t so sure about him for the first couple months but now will give him lots of smiles and giggles.
• She loves bath time by herself in her baby tub.  She’s still not so sure about sharing bath time with her older brother.  Maybe it’s because he likes to pour water on her.

Ok I know I’ll think of tons more I want to say after I publish this.  But overall, I couldn’t love this girl any more!   And no, I’m not tired of making all her hair cuties.  It just gets more and more fun!  Happy 4 Months Ellison.  We love you!

 

 

 

I {heart} Pampers & and free stuff

So I’ve been an avid Pampers fan since Owen first arrived.  Yes, we buy the off brands occasionally (especially now that he’s older), but in general this is one area where I’m a bit of a brand snob.  For some reason we weren’t making it through the night without a pee-through.  So on a whim I used Huggies overnights.  We never had another problem.  Last week, we ran out and they were totally out of his size, so I decided to buy the Pampers overnights.  I also wanted the Pampers points.  Well, the first 3 times we used them he leaked.

Now I’m not much of a complainer.  But one thing I’ve learned through couponing is that companies are eager to keep you as a customer.  So I emailed Pampers a nice email and stated that we are loyal Pampers users but were disappointed in their overnight diapers.  I was polite as I could be.  And less than 24 hours later, I received the email below which says I’ll be getting $20 of coupons in the mail.  Totally worth the 2 minutes I spent emailing them!  

We will definitely continue to be Pampers fans as long as I am a disposable-diapering momma.  (which in case you’re wondering will be forever :).

double stroller

Have I introduced you to my double stroller yet?  I meant to do this a month ago when I got her.  I’m working on a name for her.  Because yes, I name some of my prized possessions.  I’ve been wanting a double since I got pregnant.  And no this was not my first choice.  But the more I use it, the more I LOVE it!

My friend, Sara’s babysitter was getting rid of it at a garage sale and she texted to see if I wanted it.  For 1/3 of retail cost. . .yes please.  Then on her trip up here in June, she brought it to us.  I’m still learning how to “drive” a tandem without bumping into things, but I really really like it.  The seats can face each other or both to the front and as you can see, it also came with a car seat attachment.  Love it.  And thanking God that this one actually fit into our budget.   Here’s my cuties modeling it for you:  

One Week Boutique

For those of you not in the area, let me explain the greatness that is One Week Boutique. Twice a year, mommies clean out their kid's closets for the biggest "garage" sale I've ever seen! That's the really short version. It's way more complicated and they have quite the system in place. Last winter I went with my mom to the early birds new mommy sale. I was really disappointed with the long lines and nothing I needed. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?

This time around, I was a consignor, meaning I brought items to sell. I had to drop off my stuff early so I had time to walk around the sale before it opened. I made a list of things that I wanted, in order of the things that might go the fastest. I also got into the sale earlier because I was a consignor. Although I did wait in line for about an hour, here is what I scored:
Just for fun, I thought I'd try to see what I would have spent if I bought all these things new! Maybe if just to help me justify what I spent!

1. Exersaucer - average $80, but I did see one at Walmart for around $50, so I'll say $65 (Mom, aren't I a little small for this thing? :)
2. Bumbo seat with tray - $50
3. Janie and Jack sweater - $44
4. Fisher Price Little People Cement Truck - $12 (missing the people, but oh well)
   
5. Fisher Price Little People Dump Truck - $12
6. Fisher Price Little People tractor - $18
7. Fisher Price Peek a Block Train - $70 (I know, seriously?!)
8. Halo Sleep Sack - $30
9. Tiny Love Gymini with lights and music - $55
10. Baby Einstein Baby Da Vinci From Head to Toe DVD - $17
11. Black Pea Coat- $30?
12. OshKosh Fall Jacket - $15?
13. 3 pairs of shoes (Old Navy, Gymboree, and Carter's) - $20?
14. Halloween costume - $15? here's a sneak peak
15. Lots of other clothes (one button down, orange puffy vest, Nike Windbreaker set, gray firetruck outfit, 2 sleepers, fleece vest and pants, Adidas hoodie, romper) - $100? Can you tell I was loving the orange?
16. new pack of 3 Gerber slip on shirts - $6
    
17. 11 Carter's onesies (4 long sleeve and 7 short sleeve)- $20?

That's a grand total of $579! And what did I get it for? $170! Woohoo. Go me for saving us $409. And that's without the money that I'll be making on selling some things. I'm even more excited about next spring when Aubrey and I volunteer and we get in FIRST for the sale. What a great budget friendly way of stocking that kid's wardrobe! And to close, here's my little man checking out his new play mat for the first time. Not the most exciting video in the world, just a warning.