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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Recap..I've missed you! Plus New-finds!

Oh my I am a Bad Blogger!! I have an excuse though! Last week was my birthday...O Happy day, yea right we haven't even celebrated it since I had a cold and then Drew caught something over the weekend and Monday started throwing up everywhere...Man that is FUN! So I've been a little busy, smelly, and exhausted. BUT I have some good news..this post is going to be about fun, new gadgets for babes...Which is super exciting especially because that's all I spend my money on these days.

So let's get started..a few weeks ago my Aunt came in to town and had bought Drew a set of Primer books..what is a primer book you ask? Well they don't really have words, it's more for beginning concepts, to get them to understand what weather means, or noises, etc. These books were also made up of our favorite stories like Alice in Wonderland, Jabberwocky, etc. They are the cutest things ever AND they are on Zulily today for a GREAT price, so get your ass on there and buy em up!
Another crazy-awesome baby idea...The Otteroo...now you have to watch the video cuz me just telling you what it is will freak you out. It's an inflatable tube for your child's head so they can float in water..can be used as young as 8 weeks old! Now, would I buy this and use it? Probably not because...babies+water=scares the shit out of me! But it is a very cool concept for those braver than I. See the video HERE

Now that maybe the weather is getting nicer...it is right? You might want to think about getting back into your jogging routine w/ your little one. Well a company I just started hearing about is Baby Jogger, they have a new "system" that allows you to purchase add-ons if you end up having more children so you don't have to go out and buy a double-stroller per say. see HERE and the options are endless, two newborn carries, 1 newborn and 1 regular child seat, two child seats, rear-facing, forward-facing. 16 total configurations...kinda wish I would have seen this one before purchasing mine..ya know, just IN CASE! Very cool.

So another really cool thing that isn't very new...but people who have seen mine have said "where did you get it?" So I thought I should mention it on here. We live in a condo...so not a whole lot of extra room for the baby gadgets, I decided we would get a portable highchair instead of a stand alone and that way it was double duty, here on our kitchen table it's our highchair but we can also bring it places that might not have a highchair OR I can take it down when we have company over. Also I might add that it has a higher back than a normal restaurant highchair so if your kid is in between sitting up sturdy and slouching still a little this is great because it offers extra support at that certain age. I think ours was around $60.
Ok and last but not least...as you are thinking of all those great outdoor activities you are going to do with all the nicer weather we will be having...ErgoBaby came out with a new Performance line..great for going on walks, being outdoors a lot, etc. This thing is amazing, can do 7-45lbs! So no need to buy multiple carries, has 3 carrying positions, and has UV protection and a hood for the little babe head. Also keeps mom/dad/baby extra cool w/ it's lightweight durable design. Don't be scared about the price, this is basically 2 of those other baby-holders combined. See HERE I might be bribing someone very shortly to buy this for me :)

And that's it, weekly roundup of some good finds. Have you found anything worth sharing??

~Candace


Friday, March 21, 2014

The Sickness Strikes Again

Seriously I had no idea my body had the physical capability to be sick this Winter as much as it has. I mean this is Ridiculous, I am NEVER sick and if I am it's like for 2 days then done! I try to eat pretty healthy and keep up my immune system but jesus this winter has been one helluva ride.

And it's so annoying to have a cold and a runny nose with a baby now approaching toddler, like when do I have time to do anything for myself now I have to put "blowing nose" in there, more like wiping nose since I rarely make it to the tissue box in time these days. And not giving it to Drew, Forggetaaboutit. That shit was happening no matter how many bottles of sanitizer I go through, it just does, when you are with someone for 13hrs a day you are bound to catch whatever they have.

So now on top of me feeling like shit, looking like shit, hey maybe even eating shit, I have to deal w/ a child who's nose constantly runs, he's cranky and isn't sleeping well....GRRRREAT, not like I wasn't tired enough now we have to throw waking up a few times in the middle of the night in there! Seriously who up above hates me?

No amount of caffeine is helping me these days when I'm sick, Drew grabbed a piece of papertowel off the couch today and I was so tired I let him have it to see what he would do....he sat there and ripped it into a gazillion pieces, but you know what? It took him like 1/2hr and that 1/2hr I was able to sit on the couch (not the floor w/ him) and actually relax so it was worth it! Dad came home and was like WTH? Hey don't ask questions when my voice is horse, my eyes are watery, my nose dripping but your son is still alive, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Ok that was my short rant, I'm done with winter and being sick..no for real...so stay the eff away from me sickies!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Workout-Schmerkout!

Well I've been going to the gym pretty steady for a few weeks now..and I do say I have noticed a difference, both in how I feel and how my body looks. I finally got over a measley weight threshold that I've had for a few months so that's good, and some of my fat has turned into muscle. So although I'm not droppin hella LB's on the scale I AM noticing a difference in definition.

But like most of the population I would LOVE some immediate gratification, and maybe like 4 weeks to get my body back in the shape pre-baby! Who am I kidding, this would take a whole team of people to get me back that quickly...so that got me thinking...do these companies exist and what would the cost/timeframe be. Would they simply come to your house and kick your ass for an hour plus and then make all your healthy and nutritious meals for you? Would they do all the grocery shopping for those meals? Would they clear out your pantry of all the bad shit? So I decided to do some research and by research I mean google-ing :)

Well I really didn't come to any company specifically advertising a "Complete body after baby diet and exercise regimen" So I'm challenging someone out there to do it! LOL Because us mom's are far too busy with the little one to actually focus on putting this together ourselves, not all of us are like that Maria Kang girl..ha.

What I did find were some at-home personal trainers which I would def. do if I could. Going to and from the gym is probably the hardest part for most people and I dread running on a treadmill, much rather run outside! So for about $1/minute you can hire your own personal trainer that will come to your house and kick your ass for you. This posed another question in my mind, although I HATE driving to the gym they do provide daycare..so what would I do in this case? Well I am fortunate to have a jogging stroller, so I could bring him along for that ride, the rest of the session I would either need help or try to sit him in front of the TV or something? So I advise that new company to come with caregivers also, so if the person needs it the trainer could bring along a nanny for the little one(s). So you figure $60/session 3x's a week=180.00/week

For food, I really couldn't find an at-home nutritionist, or one that would go grocery shopping and prepare meals for you. What I did find was the food delivery service. A lot of them had where you could select what calorie range you are in. The prices are all over the board w/ this one, I found a really nice local one eatfitchicago.com for about $15/day you could pick from a menu and the menu tells nutrition facts on all the items and they will deliver it for you. BUT this one along w/ a few others I found seem to be just making the food and shipping it, so 3 day max in advance they advise which isn't practical at all. More popular names like Seattle Sutton or Nutrisystem come frozen or are easily frozen so you could order a whole shit-ton and be prepared for awhile. Prices range from $15-$60/day depending on if it's all 3 meals or just 2 and if you are doing 5day or 7day. I've had a friend do the Nutrisystem one and she seemed to like the meals.

Total Cost for a month of at-home personal training and food=$1280.00. Son of a nutcracker!

So Ladies, those are our options for now, if anyone wants to lend me a HUGE chunk of money we could get this business started, and then I'm sure quickly following would be the "Comfortable Husband diet" since our men also seem to gain "pregnancy weight".

Here's some motivation for ya ;)

Monday, March 17, 2014

Money Saving Tips for New Moms

With all my new-found freedom of being home (HA!) I have been some what of a Hoarder with our money..haha. Now I feel bad spending money since I'm not making it (even though I'm saving us a lot on Daycare) and now I make every dollar stretch a little more. Here's some ideas that have come to me in the process. And keep in mind your Sanity is Numero Uno priority so if any of this makes you overwhelmed or like you don't have any time for yourself then Nix it! Just some helpful hints and maybe you can walk away with one Ah-ha!

Use your damn mini's! I am a repeat offender of this, buying all these mini shampoos, conditioners, stealing the ones from the Hotel visits for our twice a year vacations..Make sense? NO! So instead of buying Shamp and Cond I've gone through our HUGE Tupperware of mini's and have begun using them, not only is nice to switch it up every now and then but it's great putting these to use, because by the time I get to go on vacation with a little one I won't need 8 mini bottles of shampoo! So use em up!

I'm sure myself along with every other new mom thought making their own babyfood is a moneysaver...well it is and it isn't. Once your baby is old enough to eat straight up pureed table foods then YES it is a money-saver, you can take your dinner that you are about to eat and puree it up so that is good. During the beginning however you have to make certain combinations and cook it up and store it..the storing is where it gets expensive. So if you had like single packets of veggies and fruits ready to cook and then you can use it right then you would be saving money. If you make a huge vat of it like most of us do to save on time..then you have to buy little pouches or jars to keep them in and freeze em up, the ice cube tray didn't work for some of my purees, they wouldn't come out nice and clean so I could throw them in Ziploc bags and be done with it. The cheapest recipes to make are w/ apples, squash, bananas and the more expensive would be recipes w/ avocados, mangos, berries, etc. Now that he can almost eat anything I just buy a huge container of applesauce..Organic, no sugar added, etc. Every morning I give him 2Tbsp of Oatmeal with applesauce and then 1/2 a package of a yogurt/fruit blend babyfood. That way instead of eating the whole package and then some I'm substituting some of it w/ the cheaper applesauce and the Oatmeal as a filler. He is still mostly formula so this doesn't hurt his nutrition at all. Also Cheerios are way Cheaper than Puffs, so I buy both to mix it up but mostly give him Cheerios.

Along the same idea w/ baby products, obviously buying in bulk is a money-saver, Diaper/Wipes..just remember if you are partial to a certain brand they may or may not have them all the time. I've also seen certain formula's at Costco that I didn't even know they carried, they were roughly like $8/cheaper when comparing cost per ounce which is a good savings. Also if you were going to make your own baby food you can get your produce way cheaper there also.

Once your child is around 9mo old if you aren't breastfeeding or can't or whatever the issue may be check with your doc and you can switch the little one to Toddler formula which is about $10 less a can than the regular stuff. I DEF look forward to that in a few weeks!

On a side note, check your home bills...like AT&T has a new share plan that existing customers can use, same plans before but you share your data/talk/text, which if you are already on a fam plan the only difference is sharing your data. I switched ours and will be saving $30/month! For the cable I usually downgrade in the summer when we will either be outside or doing activities so we won't be home so it saves a little during those months.

Baby Re-Sale shops are kinda scary when you first walk in with all the plastic nasty toys, children running around, and the weird smell that permeates. BUT if you have time to look past all that you can find some great deals from there. I got my glider for $75, it was super nasty but we made sure all the parts snapped off and I just needed to throw all of them in the washer and it was like new! Also the clothes...especially for the first few months since they grow so fast! We got brand new clothes with the tags still on for close to nothing! You just have to have the time and energy to focus on the prize! A lot of the stuff is gross and nasty so beware.

Some diaper brands offer points for purchasing their products. Then you start saving all of your points to get other things. Huggies plan was pretty good, I stopped saving them cuz it does get a little ridiculous and having only one child in diapers takes forever to add up all your points. But if you had multiple children in diapers or are just good at saving stuff then this is for you! I think I finally have enough points to get 1 package of diapers for free right now..haha!

Let me know some of your ways you save $$!

~Candace





Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Registry..What do I REALLY need?

Coming from a first-time Mom I had no fricken clue what all I needed for my pooping/peeing/sleeping bundle of joy. So I looked to the Internets! I wrote list after list so I could be "prepared" HA, what's that?! And I had hoped to not make any extra trips up to the baby store being 30+ weeks pregnant after my shower.

It's funny how every website/blog is different on the things you need, makes for a hellava hard time to make a list of any sort. Here's my breakdown..I call it the Cheater Mom's List

1. Onesies-LOTS of em, they are the all-good-and-mighty. Drew was born in the summer so that's all he wore it was great, put that sucker on and we are out the door. Then in the Winter you can layer those under sweaters, or under long-sleeved shirts w/ pants and call it a day. But you need LOTS since they have diarrhea for like the first 4 months.
2. Bibs...like a million of them, esp. if you little one spits up like Drew does and you will need them when teething begins otherwise you will go through MORE soaked onesies.
3. PJ's...that ZIPPER and have feet...1 piece, none of that 3 piece jazz..although Super cute; highly impractical especially for late night diapering.
4. Burp clothes or swaddle blankets..(I wouldn't buy the swaddlers...your baby might not like them and then you have a bunch you have no use for, buy the blankets that way you can use them for burp rags) again for the spitting up, you can NEVER have too many...like for real...go buy another package right now.
5. Infant carseat/stroller...best purchase I made was a stroller where the carseat just clicks in...it's super lightweight and easy to manage, cuz when they're young they don't do anything so that thing is perfect. Also it's small enough if you go to a restaurant you can just wheel him right in.
6. Diaper bag...buy the fricken biggest one you can find...although it seems crazy you will NEVER have enough room, mine isn't big enough so I have like 3 bags I carry...annoying!
7. Paci's..this is hard...although you need these right out of the gate you never know which one your baby will really enjoy...buy 1 package of like 2 different brands...find his/her fave and then go and buy a few packages of that size, and the next size up...does a few sound crazy? Here's the breakdown..one for the carseat...one for grandma/grandpa's..one for the living room, their bedroom, one for your purse in an emergency. Then when they get old enough to grab it and fling it places you will need like 2 extra packages, right now I have 3 lined up on Drew's crib..cuz he takes em out and flings em under his crib in the middle of the night..?
8. Changing table, or PackNplay with changing table..we actually had one with wheels and we wheeled it into the living room when he was very young (boring) and then wheeled it in our room to sleep for the first 7 weeks before his crib.
9. Crib..DUH Alot are converters which is nice cuz then you will have his bed when he gets older..make sure to buy the conversion kit..which I still haven't done.
10. Boppy...make feeding, laying and sitting fun and easy. We just now are done using it and he's 8mo old so I think that was a good purchase.
11. Glider...although I was skeptical we also put that in our room when he was first born for nighttime feedings and every night I rock him in there while giving him his bottle before bed.
12. Diapers/wipes...A TON, in the first few months that little one will need to be changed 8-10 times per day..you do the math..however you might want to ask around or buy some small packs to find out the ones you prefer. My fave are Huggies Pure & Natural, they feel like cloth, not like a plastic diaper.

Ok those are the big Must-haves. Those you can gladly put on your registry for OTHER people to buy for you. Now, here's some extra shizzle you might/might not want to put on there, but also are good to have.

Bottles, even if breastfeeding there will be times when you will want to run to the store and it's so much easier that way. Breast pump, but read my post before buying one HERE
Bottle cleaner, drying rack, dishwasher basket. Laundry soap, dryer sheets, scratch mittens, hangers, gas drops, Tylenol, nipple cream, padded bras or some sort of protection against flailing arms when your nipples are raw, flowy clothes for yourself, think Moo-Moo's and robes. Hair ties, prenatals, some sort of bathtub and accessories for baths. Formula-again just in case if you are breastfeeding. Toys, teethers, some sort of baby bjorn for walks, socks for the little one, shoes if it's going to winter, food...for you...have like a casserole party and have all your friends over to make freezer meals for you. Or you can live on Trailmix like I did. Hamper, Storage bins since they grow out of their clothes in a blink of an eye...or if you aren't keeping them large garbage bags so you can send em off to Goodwill or whatever. A few seasons of your favorite show just for the first few months...I don't nap so I would go about my zombie-like state and watch episodes while he slept.

That should get you going for now! In the beginning plan on 2-3 outfits per day...I know it's Crazzzaayy! Did I leave anything out? Happy Registry-ing :)

~Candace

Friday, March 7, 2014

15 Totally Normal Feelings for New Moms

I just want to give a shoutout to all my new moms and up-and-coming moms, it's tough I'm not gonna lie, but the rewards are what make it worth it, you just have to wait for them :) Here's my list of 15 items that will TOTALLY happen to you if they haven't already and are TOTALLY normal so give yourself a break eh?

1. You will leave the Hospital and have no idea what to do...that's what google is for
2. You will go to the Pediatricians office w/ no questions, and be totally unprepared for her questions
3. You will wonder how you will ever have time to cook again
4. You will envy your friends without kids
5. You will think "maybe we shouldn't have had kids"
6. You will attempt homemade babyfood
7. You will try to take everyone's advice and somewhere along the lines you decide to disregard it all
8. You will think you look good (hey I JUST had a baby!) and then you see a picture and think...NOPE! Wow how that X-amount of lbs really does make a difference!
9. You will hate your husband...well hate is such a strong world, let me rephrase that, everything he does will BUG the shit out of you..."No you didn't read my mind that I wanted tacos tonight, I hate you"
10. You will google all of the following: feedings for baby, feeding amounts for baby, sleep times for baby, breastfeeding, pumping, weaning, fever, rash, cold remedies, how to play with a baby...I'm serious on the last one, even my Mom did it!
11. You will feel all of the following, probably on the same day and probably very often: overwhelmed, useless, helpless, judged, under-appreciated, stupid, out of the loop, alone, confused, sad.
12. You will need a peptalk every now and then-Thanks Jamie!
13. You will pee yourself the first time you workout
14. You will cry, laugh, curse, and be hungry very often
15. You will realize tomorrow is a new day and anything that happened today is out the window....thank god!

I just have to say Thank god for girlfriends! It's very easy to feel alone w/ your baby alot of the time...never really knowing if people are going through the same things you are, if they or you are normal...what's normal? Good to know that others are having issues in their relationships as first time parents, everything is an adjustment...and it will take AWHILE to get shit straightened out. We all know I am not a patient person so it really helps me to have girls nights every once in awhile to get it out, to hear others on their issues.. make me feel like everything WILL someday work itself out and we WILL be one big happy family again instead of doing handoffs of Drew while the other is home so we can get something accomplished that day. I think winter has really gotten the best of me this year, I really can't wait to take Drew to the zoo, walks, parks...I know he is still young but just to get out and see other people and kids...he loves watching kids! Hopefully someone will read this entry and have a sigh of relief...it's hard, it's the hardest thing you will have to ever go through and it takes a super strong person to just flat-out say: "hold on to your titties it's going to be a wild ride" instead of it's all the rainbows and lollipops..."Being a parent is just great isn't it??!" Hmm it has its' moments.

As far as Andrew, as he gets a little older his personality is starting to shine through and NOW I am getting some rewards! When he lays his head down on me...even for a second...it's pure bliss...seeing as how the kid never stops moving. When he falls alseep in my arms when I give him his bedtime bottle...it's pure bliss...When I walk in the door and he crawls toward me to greet me..it's pure bliss. And when I ask for a kiss and he looks at me (mouth opened?) and holds still for just a second so I can give him a peck...it's pure bliss. These are the moments when all the doubts and insecurities are whisked away and I think "maybe we are doing ok?" and these are the moments I wake up for everyday.

So hang in there!!! I know it's tough and I know you feel helpless and like you don't know how to be a good parent...it's totally normal! Enjoy your time with your children is all I can say :)

~Candace

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Spring Ahead...yea right..

While the 1/2 of the world is getting super excited that Spring is around the corner the rest of the world (mostly moms) are dreading turning our clocks ahead an hour. Because in case you didn't know: Babies can't tell you turned the damn clocks forward or back or sideways...the are on their schedule and that is that. So being a first-time mom that brings me to my next question. How the HELL do you get your baby on the new schedule? Or do you just hate your life for like 2 weeks while they get used to it? Oh man I'm not looking forward to all this. Right now the little man goes down at about 8...I really try to keep him up later but he's a nightmare so I give in and put him to bed. He usually gets up around 6am..then I really try to have him snuggle me until at least 6:30 since his bottle isn't until 7:30....so on Sunday he will be getting up at like 7:30 (new time) and going to bed at 9 (new time)? And somewhere in the middle of all this we lose an hour HUH?!

How am I going to keep this straight?

I ALREADY need a glass of wine and it's only Wednesday night! So for shits and giggles I decided to google "how to get my baby ready for time change" and you would be SUPRISED to see how many things popped up! And the consensus was to start a week ahead of time keeping them up later by 15 minutes every night to get them on a different schedule..well since I'm already fucked cuz it's just about Thursday I will have that glass now please :) I have to say I feel alot better about myself when I read shit like this:

"We live in Russia but have traveled back and forth to the States twice now with my 10-month old DS. I've heard that it takes a day for every hour you change, and when we changed 11 hours it definitely took at least 11 days for him to get over jet lag. He would sleep more and more on the local time each day, but I had to just go with the flow until he totally adapted."

ARE YOU SERIOUS! I can't imagine traveling to and from freakin' Russia w/ a 10mo old! Just slit my wrists and call it a day! Oh that reminds me, little man turned 8mo today! And I already forgot to take his little picture w/ his little 8mo sticker on it...I'm already turning into a horrible mom. Hopefully someday he will forgive me..."Mom, you were a day late posting my 8mo old picture WTF, now I'm in counseling and I like to cut myself"...I would just die. I will get on the stick tomorrow I promise....after my coffee....and a shower...possibly a nap...you get the drift.
Funny Seasonal Ecard: Let's spend the weekend pulling out the winter clothes we put into storage last weekend.

Happy Thursday Ya'll!
~Candace


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Slow Down!

This little man is really taking advantage of his mama being home. The kid is almost 8mo old, crawling, now pulling himself up onto things..He's growing TOO fast for me to keep up! So I'm sorry I have been MIA for awhile..it's like now that I'm home I don't know how I did it when I wasn't home! But I do have a few excuses, I had a wine event this past weekend so the weekend entailed of getting everyones order in, clarifying some shizzle that was out and putting the cards through. Then I have another event this weekend with some wines I haven't tried yet, so I have to do my research on them bad boys along w/ following up with the Hostess and all that jazz...Making copies at Kinko's you know how I roll.

Drew has been sick going on week 2..it's so great when babies are sick and there's nothing you can do for them except give them extra snuggles! So needless to say my house looks like a disaster zone and I can't seem to get enough sleep these days. I mean I went to bed at 8:45pm last night, woke up 6am to the stirs of a child and could have slept for a bit longer...Isn't that craaaaazy? Shouldn't I be like in bed at 10pm and up at 5am or something? I will say there is so much I can get done when he goes to sleep it's amazing...I just think about if I were to stay up til 10..The whole house would be cleaned, the meals prepared for the next day, laundry done and put away...MAN that would be NICE! But what do I decide to do? Sleep...oh well.

I did do some cooking over the weekend so I have a new recipe for ya's...and it's delightful especially for the ending of this horrific winter that is plaguing us.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup w/ Bacon, Cheddar, and Chives
From Real simple magazine

Ingredients
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2" pieces
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups of whole milk
4oz of grated cheddar cheese
2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

Cook the bacon in a large pot or dutch oven..HA! over med-high heat til crispy...Transfer to a plate and leave 2tbsp of bacon greasy goodness in the pot. Add onions and garlic, cook until softened 8 min. Add potatoes, broth, milk, salt and pepper...go a little heavy on the salt cuz dem alot of taters! Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer, cook about 30-40min stirring occasionally until potatoes start to fall apart...I even smashed a few to get it extra creamy :). Put into a bowl, top w/ some bacon, cheddar and chives...mmmmm


Enjoy!
~Candace