Chick and Babe

I took these pictures of Babe on her 2 month birthday (yesterday...time flies, doesn't it?!). The picture of a grubby-faced Chick is so that she wouldn't feel left out.

Sweetie-pie snookums dear

I'm turning into one of those. You know, one of the women that honey and dear everyone. One of the assistants at my midwife's clinic was like that (she was a mother of daughters). I really loved it--midwives are a little more personal than other healthcare folk.

HH and I never really got into the pet name thing...we just added "y" to the end of our names and called it good. Then along comes Chick and then Babe. They're sweetie, sweetheart, honey, lovebug, little love. ..

So three times in the past week I honeyed HH without realizing it. The first time I said it he turned to me and said,
"Did you just call me honey?!"
"Yeah. Weird, huh? It just came out."

Anyhow, now that it's happened 3 times, I think we're over the initial shock of it, and have just surrendered to the fact that I'm a honeyer.

What I wish

...is that my long lost friend, Becky G. F., would start blogging. It feels like we're all having a party without her : (

Koby!

Welcome to the World, Koby! Congrats, Megan & James...I'm glad the birth went so well! He looks so precious!

Love, Aunt Paige

Confessions of a Thrift Store Shopaholic

The other night I actually dreamt that I was thrift store shopping. Because of the lead laws, they were liquidating their children's section, so the various colored labels were % off...like red tags were 20% off, blue were 50%, etc. Anyhow, I bought a ton of grow into stuff in the dream.

I went to the thrift stores 3 times last week--once with my Mom, once on a walk, and once just to use a coupon! Here's the loot. (Total spent: $50). BTW, I don't normally go that often.

$22 spent, a pair of beaded baby slippers not shown. the best buy is the coat. It's new & warm & has a detachable hood & scarf ($4.75)

$8 spent, one children's book not shown. Best buy is the Robeez booties-- $2, brand new with the tissue paper still inside of them.

$20 spent. A couple of the items weren't really what I was buying, but they were in bags with what I wanted. I guess the best buy is the foam puzzle. Chick loves puzzles & since buying this puzzle we've discovered that she can count to 10 on her own. We didn't know that. I don't think she can identify all of the numbers yet, though.

Here is a bracelet that I made for Babe, to go with her blessing dress. I was told that it's too fancy for a baby...what do you think? The dress isn't fancy--it has a vintage feel (you can see part of it in the picture...it's not done yet though). Do you think they'll be too mismatched?

Chick gets a boost

Chick has used the Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat since she first started eating. It has served us well, and held up beautifully. However, it's just not quite tall enough, so her shins started hitting the actual chair under the booster seat. Time for something new.

Here's what we found...
Kaboost. Have you heard of it? The reviews for it seemed good, and I'm ready to add my own good review. Chick can still climb up on the chair without a problem, but it puts the seat at a higher level so that she can sit at the table without a booster seat. Yay! (we got the brown one) Last night at dinner it was nice to have all of us at the table like "normal" people, and it's easy to put on and off. Plus we can take it with us if we travel. and lastly it came in a really cool box.

I give it: *****

(I'm not being paid for this...we really love both products and though we'd share the good news. If you, like us, don't want the bulkiness of a high chair, then these are great options!)

My Amazing Brain and other Miscellanea

First: My amazing brain. I suppose it's no more amazing than anyone else's...but it's all I've got. Three times lately I've awoken in the early morning with brilliant ideas or answers to things that I hadn't figured out. I think it's cool that my mind is working while I sleep.


Miscellaneous 1: Have you seen "Game Show in my Head"? I think it's the most hilarious show on tv right now. At one point I was almost laughing so hard that I cried, which reminded me of the 1980's when my Mom would cry from the Cosby Show.



Miscellaneous 2: Chick repeats everything we say (and do). It's an eye opener in a lot of ways, but mostly it's just funny. I was downstairs and HH yelled down to me that my water was breaking (He says that rather than boiling...I don't know why). Chick was down there with me, and as we walked up the stairs she just kept singing, "Water breaking...your water breaking". She calls HH by his first name, and says "I know, I know" sympathetically to Babe when Babe is crying. This picture is her playing with Play-Doh, which has nothing to do with repeating things.

Miscellaneous 3: It's not the best idea to talk on the phone while cooking and to totally ignore the toddler of the house. I could hear Babe's swing going, but couldn't see Chick, and she knows when Mama is too wrapped up in other things to notice her. Here's what I found when I finally came out of the kitchen....

Miscellaneous 4: Babe is a smiler. She smiles way more than Chick at this age. She smiles at the shower curtain a lot. She smiles at people. She smiles at lamps. This picture isn't a full-on smile, but it was a smile in the making.

Miscellaneous 5: HH is an awesome husband & father. I've received some comments about me "editing" the story and that I was really mad at him on Christmas. Not so. I had a pity party, and was bewildered about why he didn't tell me that the car was disassembled before it was time to go...but I wasn't MAD. And it all worked out anyhow because he put the old part in & made do for a couple more days. That is not to say that I don't get mad at him, but he rarely RARELY gets mad at me, and I now know that I deserve it more than he does (see miscellaneous #2). And right now he's soothing a crying baby so that I can update my blog. He's a winner, I tell you. I know how to pick them. Maybe not...maybe I just knew how to pick him.

Miscellaneous 6: Quaker Simple Harvest granola bars taste like granola bars used to taste when I was growing up. I didn't realize how much store-bought granola bars had changed until I bought these and felt like I'd just gone back in time. They're good. I think they're worth the little extra that they cost.

Miscellaneous 7: I'm reading "A Girl Named Zippy" and am almost half done. It's an easy & quick read, and is entertaining and interestingly written. I recommend it, especially to Tanaya, who I am reminded of as I read it...for some reason (which I do not know).

Miscellaneous 8: I went to a baby shower last night and one of the gifts was a BEAUTIFUL blessing dress. I couldn't help but think that a store-bought dress would be so much easier. I only think that because I'm procrastinating getting started on Babe's, so it's Looming.

Miscellaneous 9: I love my in-laws. I think that I have the easiest-to-get-along-with mother-in-law in the world (And she never says bad things about people, which is something that she passed on to her son, and I love that about him). However, I don't care for the fact that when my husband bought their house from them it came with several years accumulation of STUFF. Some of it has been great (like the wheat grinder!)...but there are several dead computers that we've been wondering what to do with. So HOORAY for the new government program that allows free recycling of computers! Yesterday I took 2 cpu's and 2 monitors to the goodwill for donation to the program, and tomorrow I'll take the rest of the cpu's. Still in a quandry about the printers and microwaves.....

Miscellaneous 10: seemed like there was something else, but now I can't think of anything. Don't worry...it'll come to me when I wake up tomorrow.

What we're up to...

As I type, the February issue of Siena Style is uploading to the printer, and I am soooo close to being done with layout for the month. I really do enjoy it, but I also enjoy the first few days of freedom after I'm done & can do whatever I want with my time (as long as what I want to do with my time is change diapers, put away clothes that were put away & have since been strewn around the house, etc.....). Anyhow, I digress. Here is the cover for the month.

So what have we been up to besides that? Chick has been developing her nurturing skills. She's actually really good for an almost 2 year old...I've been able to ask her to help more and know that she's not going to do anything too heinous to Babe. Anyhow, here is Chick's handywork with bear. I should mention that it's BEAR that she nurtures--not her new baby doll so much, and not even HER bears, but MINE. Stinker.

Babe is such a good little one! She sleeps a ton, eats well, and is smily & cute the rest of the time. Here she is during tummy time.

I did actually get out of the house a couple of times this week! As previously mentioned, we went to my sister's for my Mom's party. Then we stayed the night there (Handsome Handyman & some of the others played games ALL NIGHT!). We spent most of the day there, so that was a really fun weekend. Chick had a bad rash all over her body & a fever on Saturday, but by Monday morning she was back to normal.

Then on Monday I went to JoAnn's and Value Village. At JoAnn's I got fabric and such for Babe's blessing dress. After I'd bought it I called my Mom because I had buyers remorse. She just laughed because it was so unlike me--not only did I spend a lot for a baby dress that will be worn once, but I didn't even LOOK at how much the fabric cost! Anyhow, it's going to have mint green trim....

At VV I got several grow into items, since I don't know how the new lead laws will affect second hand stores. Anyhow, 16 items for $25: a chair, 5 pairs of shoes for the kids, 3 pairs of jammies (one not pictured), a shirt, 2 pairs of shorts, a sweater, a pair of wool pants, the most darling dress in the world, and one of their calendars (for free).

Here are pics of just the dress. I think I'll try to make a copycat for Chick, but in a different color.

Lets see...what else..... Laundry, and yesterday was grocery shopping. Albertsons had "double the manufacturer's coupon" coupons this past week, so I gathered 4 of those (good for 3 coupons) and used my 12 best coupons to have them match. It didn't turn out to be the GREATEST savings, because I haven't gotten any new coupons since Babe was born & haven't really been doing shopping since then either, so a lot of my coupons had to be thrown out because they were expired. But I did get some good loot. The cool part is that I was able to get brands that I've been wanting to test out--and it's all healthy : )

I also watched "Run, Fatboy, Run." Thanks Lorna & Sindea for the recommendation. I will say that I'm not recommending it hands down myself, due to language and some other stuff, however I really liked it! I liked it enough that although it was a free Monday rental, I'm going to rerent it to watch when HH can watch it with me (I watched it during naptime while I folded cloths).

Yeah, I liked it enough to spend a dollar to see it again...sometimes I realize how cheap I am and it's ridiculous.

Anyhow, that's our life this week. I'll post pics of the blessing dress when it's done.

70! That's so "Mother Hubbard"!

Today is my Mom's 70th birthday! This weekend we had a party. It was lots of fun. Mom knew that we were having one, but my brother (E) & his wife came up from New Mexico as a surprise, as well as all of her siblings (2 from WA, 2 from NV).

I tried my hand at making a fruit bouquet for her...pretty fun, and I think it will be easier if I ever do it again (I looked tips up online and then disregarded them too much).

My brother (M, who is very clever) made this crossword puzzle for my Mom. She loves doing crosswords (Hence the post title) and watching Jeopardy. Below is also a picture of my sister (L) hosting a Jeopardy game that we played at the party (it was all about my Mom). (Another sister -J- coordinated and hosted the party, and the cake in the top picture was made by another sister -M. I have very talented siblings.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

(And Rob. Sorry, Rob, you kind of get the shaft in this posting).

Resolutions

I love setting New Year Resolutions! I came up with these a few days ago and started early...

Pray Every Morning

Have Family Home Evening every week

Lose Weight (to 115)

Complete "Project List" (2 projects each month)

Compliment HH every day

Pay off all Credit Card Debt (and keep it at zero)