It's All About Equality

Between the kids that is...

I've been noticing lately how quickly kids learn what is fair and what is not fair. I have also been noticing in what context each child identifies what is fair and what is not fair. On one hand, I have my almost 2 year old daughter, Maggie. She always seems to think that whatever her big brother has or has done, she should also have or be able to do. She is tough little girl and fights for what she wants. In her eyes, she is not receiving equal treatment as her big brother. And being a 2 year old, we know how she usually reacts when she doesn't see things as going how she wants them to! On the other hand, I have my 3 1/2 year old son, Thomas. He can be very protective of his little sister and shows genuine concern and care for her. Little does she know, that she already has her big brother looking out for her to make sure she has some equality in our house. I wanted to share some funny stories of Thomas trying to make things more equal for his little sister.

Thomas has a very big Elmo doll that he has named Daddy Elmo. He has slept with that doll every night since he was around 18 months old (so almost 2 years now)! And when I say he sleeps with him, the poor Elmo doll is in a headlock while Thomas is snuggled in so close to him. I must say, it is very cute to see each night when I check on him. Well, the other night, out of no where, he says to Maggie "Do you want to sleep with Daddy Elmo tonight?" Immediately, Maggie responds "yep". And with that, Thomas hands over Daddy Elmo to his little sister to sleep with. The whole interaction between the two of them almost brought me to tears. Thomas looked so grown up that night giving up his cuddle doll!

The next morning, I take Thomas aside and say to him that I thought it was so sweet & thoughtful that he let his little sister sleep with Daddy Elmo. With a straight face, he looks at me and says "I felt bad that Maggie doesn't have a Daddy Elmo. Where can she get one?" In all honesty, I have no idea where I could possible get another one of these dolls - Thomas received this one as a gift when he was still in my belly! So, trying to come up with an answer as quickly as a I can, I respond "Maybe we should have Maggie ask Santa for one this year for Christmas". (This way, in case they are really serious and Maggie does indeed want a Daddy Elmo, I still have five more months to find one!). But I had to have known I couldn't get off that easy. Thomas' response: "But Mommy, Santa doesn't have stuffed animals. He only brings toys." Hmm.....good point. I'm not sure if Santa has ever brought our kids stuffed animals before (I may need to talk to him about that!).

Today, Thomas was playing with his toy giraffe and asked me "Mommy, where did I get this giraffe?" I reminded him that his grandma had bought it for him. I thought that was the end of the conversation so I started to walk away. Then I hear, "Mommy, next time we go to Lion Country Safari (as a side note - Lion Country Safari is a drive through safari in our area with lots of animals), Daddy can buy Maggie her own giraffe". Of course - if Thomas has a toy giraffe, then Maggie must need one as well! And it's not just with toy giraffes; it's with sippy cups, lollipops, # of blankets in their beds, # of toys to bring in the car, and the list can go on and on!

Now don't get me wrong, Thomas & Maggie have their fair share of battles and fights. Some days it gets so frustrating for me to watch them fight over every toy. Then other days I find it hysterical to watch them chase each other around the house because one took the others' toy away! I can tell with Maggie's personality that she will always let me know if she doesn't think something is fair. I just hope that Thomas, in his own way, continues to fight for his little sister as well.

Piggy Paint Giveaway!

Pink Nothings is having a giveaway right now for a $20 gift code to Piggy Paint that lasts until August 6th! I have heard so many great things about Piggy Paint - and who wouldn't like to be able to use some non-toxic nail polish on their daughters? I haven't painted my little girl's nails yet, but cannot wait!!! Even if I do not win this giveaway (although I would really like to), I plan on buying my little girl her first bottle of Piggy Paint for her 2 year birthday at the beginning of September!

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So Proud!

Since having my third baby at the beginning of the year, I feel like a little bit of a slacker sometimes. It's not what you're thinking though - I am super busy all day long chasing after my 3 kids and keeping up with our house. But when it comes time to individual attention to each child, that is where I feel like I wish I had more time in the day. With my first, I feel like I used to spend so much time with him teaching him things - going over his colors, numbers, letters, etc. We had flashcards that he loved to do and I feel like we read stories throughout the day.

This all occurred when we was around 2. At that time, I had just started staying at home full-time and his sister was a baby. During all the times she napped during the day, him & I had plenty of time to spend just the 2 of us.

Well, now that baby is almost 2 (I'm still trying to wrap my arms around that - I cannot believe she is turning 2 in about 6 weeks!!!) and my new baby is 6 months. I still read to our kids everyday - but some days it's reserved for just before bedtime. I still have that box of flashcards, but I can't remember the last time I took them out to use them with my almost 2 year old. During our normal playtimes I always try to mention the different colors of her dolls, or the number of matchbox cars we have out, or sing the alphabet song. So in that respect, I am still going over colors, numbers and letters with her. But it isn't the same as what I was able to do with my son. It's very relaxed and often times we get distracted very soon afterwards with something else. The days seem to go by so much faster now - all of a sudden it's time to cook dinner and Daddy's on his way home from work. What happened to the day?

But something great happened today that made me so proud!!!!!! While rocking her baby sister to sleep, my almost 2 year old daughter came up to me, leaned against my leg, smiled and then counted to 6 all by herself! I was absolutely stunned - I had never sat down with her to really go over numbers & counting (and was starting to feel guilty about it). For all I knew, I didn't think she could even count to 2! That is one of the great things about being a parent - the way your kids can absolutely amaze you. Just when you think you need to be doing more, they can come over to you and in their own way, let you know that what you are doing is just fine for now.

Ecostore USA Review & Giveaway

I was very excited when ecostore USA contacted me to do a review of 2 of their products (I was able to choose which ones) and then have a giveaway to one of my lucky readers! ecostore USA has a wide variety of plant & mineral based products that range from household cleaners to baby and personal care products as well pet cleaners/products. All of their products are made with "no nasty chemicals"(tm) in order to make them much safer than most other cleaners and bath & body products on the market today. Here are some of the chemicals that they make sure to avoid including in all of their products: toxic petrochemicals, synthetic enzymes, synthetic perfumes or dyes, sodium lauryl sulphate, phosphates, chlorine, ammonia or ammonia derivatives, parabens, and propylene glycol.

After browsing through their website for a long time (I wanted to try so many of their products!!) I decided to try their Citrus Spray Cleaner and their Plant Based Super Concentrate Laundry Liquid.

The Citrus Spray Cleaner comes in a 17 fl. oz. spray bottle and costs $9. I had the pleasure of receiving these products the day after we moved into our new home - when I had SO much cleaning to get done! I feel like I used this cleaner everywhere in my house - I cleaned the bathroom & kitchen counters and sinks, I wiped down all of our appliances, cleaned our kitchen table, spot messes on the floors when the kids spilled stuff and so forth. Each time I used it, I LOVED it! I can tell it was really cleaning because my rags were turning brown after cleaning the appliances in the house (not sure when they were last cleaned..). It has a very nice citrus scent to it which was not too strong. For the most part I tend to use just vinegar & water around the house to clean, so this was a nice change. My husband and son both made comments about the nice smell. I also liked that this product did not leave any type of film or residue after using it.

The Laundry Liquid comes in a 33.8 fl. oz. bottle and costs $11. I have a top loader washing machine and the directions say to use between 3 and 5 tbs. per load. The directions also say that this can be used for front load machines as well. I used this laundry liquid so far on a load of darks, whites, towels and sheets - and each time I felt that the laundry liquid did a great job at cleaning our clothes. Since the bottle stated that this was super concentrated, I used only 3 tbs. I figured if they didn't come out as clean as I like, I would just keep increasing the amount I would use, but I felt like 3 tbs. worked great. My biggest test is always to see if my husband's deoderant scent comes off his white undershirts (this doesn't always happen with other detergents I've tried) and it did!!! The laundry liquid also has a very nice eucalyptus scent.

How would you like to be able to try some of their really cool plant & mineral based products? ecostore USA has been kind enough to offer a $25 gift card to one of my readers to be able to use on their website. In order to enter, please go over to ecostore USA, browse their products, and leave me a comment stating which one you would like to try and why.

Would you also like extra entries to better your odds at winning? If you do, here they are (but please, you must complete the initial entry above first before any of these extra entries will count):

1) Sign up to receive the ecostore USA newsletter via their blog (please comment letting me know what email address you signed up with)

2) Become a follower of my blog (please comment when you do or if you already do)

3) Subscribe to my blog (please comment when you do or if you already do)

4) Blog about this giveaway and make sure to link back to me and ecostore USA (make sure to comment with a link to your blog post)

5) Follow ecostore USA on Twitter (comment with your twitter name)

6) Become a fan of ecostore USA on facebook (comment with your facebook profile name)

7) Follow 3 Little Ones on Twitter and tweet this giveaway (comment with the link to your tweet)

8) Comment on any of my other posts and come back here to let me know (this will give you 1 extra entry for each additional post you comment on)

9) For 3 extra entries, make a purchase from ecostore USA and come back here and comment 3 times that you did


I will keep this giveaway open until August 7, 2009 at 8pm. Please make sure to leave your email so I can get a hold of you. I will give the winner 48 hours to contact me, then I will pick another winner. Good luck!!!!!

Making Your Own Bread Crumbs

Over the past year or so our family has been trying new things to save money and also be more “green”. One thing we really wanted to work was to reduce the amount of garbage that our 5 person household accumulated on a weekly basis! One thing I noticed was that no one in our house would eat the ends of the loaf of bread. So each week, at least 2 slices of bread were being thrown away. And then on weeks where we bought hamburger or hot dog buns, or a loaf of french bread to go with dinner, we noticed we never finished it all before it went moldy or stale.

Around the same time we were also all out of bread crumbs and I had already started mixing together the ingredients for meatballs. I had a 19 month old and a newborn baby at home and had no desire to pack them both up and run to the grocery store for bread crumbs. This was the day I decided to start making my own bread crumbs. These are all the benefits I’ve noticed so far:

• we now no longer have wasted bread in our house
• we have one less thing to buy at the grocery store
• our bread crumbs are healthier as they are now 100% whole wheat (I also make sure to buy bread that does not have any high fructose corn syrup in it, so now our bread crumbs are also HFCS free!)
• there is less garbage because we are not throwing away stale bread or empty bread crumb containers anymore

So here is how I make my own bread crumbs:

1. I place the bread on a plate on the counter and let dry out – usually takes about a day. If it is leftover french bread , I slice up and lay out to dry.


2. Once dried out, place on cookie sheet and bake in oven at 325 for 12 minutes (I flip the bread halfway after about 6 minutes)



3. Add toasted bread to food processor and mix until desired texture



4. I store mine in the freezer in a sealed freezer bag. I don’t usually season with anything until I actually go to use in a recipe.

Pray for Stellan

I am sure most of you probably already know, but there is a mom and her baby that need our thoughts and prayers right now. Baby Stellan is not doing well - you can read his story here. You can also follow MckMamma on Twitter for updates.

My First Award!

I was so excited to see that while I was internet-less the past week, Beth over at The Confused Homemaker, gave me my very first blog award! I'm not quite sure why she chose to give my blog an award (I've only been at this a little over a month and there are so many other blogs out there that are much more "award-worthy") but I will definitely accept it. If you are reading this, make sure to go check out her awesome blog and leave her some comment love!

So here is the award:

The rules of the “One Lovely Blog Award” are: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Okay, so now for the 15 blogs that I am going to pass this award on to:

Confessions of a First Time Mom

Mama of 3 Munchkins

Confessions of a Housewife

Our Life Upstate

Super Mommy to the Rescue

Jolly Mom

Monkey's on the Bed

3 Boys, and loving it

My Mama Made It

Heck of a Bunch

Momma Molly

It's Gravy, Baby

Momspective

Snellings Stories

Blog of Our Life


Make sure to stop by all these blogs and give them some comments : )

Thanks again for the award!

My Crazy Move!

So we are finally in our new home and I am back online today : ) The move itself went pretty smooth - I can't really complain. This time our movers showed up (yes, we once had movers scheduled to move us from Boston to Florida that never came). I must say, it makes such a difference when they actually show up!!!

Although the move itself wasn't too bad, the few days leading up to it were a bit crazy! Our move day was on a Monday. So on Saturday when my husband and I should have been packing boxes getting ready for our move to happen on Monday, we thought we were in pretty good shape so decided to relax and watch a movie with a bottle of red wine. We figured we still had all day Sunday to finish our packing. Of course, if you are reading this, you know that once you think things are in pretty good shape, something of course has to happen to turn that completely upside down.

When we went to bed on Saturday night, I was feeling a little warm, but just blamed the red wine. Of course, the red wine was probably to blame for why I didn't check the air conditioner before going to bed. Our baby woke up around 4 to eat and when I woke up I felt like I had woken in a sauna. I could not believe how hot I was. At this point, I was still so disoriented so I turned up my ceiling fan and brought my baby in bed to feed her. I kept trying to wake my husband and in between snores, he mumbled for me to take my blakets off, put cooler pj's on, or crank the a/c. Hmm - already did that but I was still so hot!!!

So once the baby was done eating, I was wide awake and so uncomfortable. Wouldn't you know, when I go to check the air conditioner, there is no cool air coming out of the vents. And shortly after that my son decides to come to our room and complain that he can't sleep because it is too hot.

By 9:30 the 2 air conditioning companies my husband had called early that morning still hadn't called back so I packed up the kids and a bunch of their stuff and drove to the new house about 40 minutes away. I figured I would have much happier kids in air conditioning, especially with temperatures in the 90's that day. The repairman finally arrived around lunch time, but only to tell my husband that the a/c unit was frozen and there was nothing that could be done until it defrosted - the next day (aka: moving day). We later found out that in order to fix it, the part alone would cost us almost $900. So in the end, we decided to replace the whole unit. Not exactly what we were looking to spend money on the week we moved!


So my husband and I decided to do a little campout at the new house on Sunday night. The girls slept in their pack 'n plays and my son in his air mattress. Wouldn't you guess that my husband and I recently got rid of our air mattress because we hadn't used it in years? Yep!

We also divided up responsibilities - I would take to the kids to the new house and keep them busy and try to get some cleaning done while my husband stayed in the heat and packed. And I'm sure you all remember the picture of the box he packed a few weeks ago with my kitchen stuff in it? I just had visions of of a bunch of boxes being delivered the next day and not knowing what room they belonged in or even if all the contents went to the same room - haha!


But he did come back later that night with new air mattresses for him and I (yes, he bought us each our own so I wouldn't slide into him all night!) and a bunch of groceries for a late dinner for us and breakfast for everyone the next day : )

So - I am back after a week with no internet!!! Besides what led up to the move, the actual move itself went very smoothly. And all but 2 boxes that came were labeled : ) The kids were so excited when the movers showed up with all of their things. It was amazing to watch them try to wrap their arms around what was really going on. Each time something new was brought into the house, my son would exclaim "aawww!! Yes!!! Daddy, they brought my bed!" (you can replace the word bed with EVERYTHING else he saw come into the house that day). And then my daughter standing behind him, would copy everything he just said with just as much excitment!

GroBaby Diaper Giveaway

Snellings Stories is giving away a Blackberry Grobaby diaper. I have not used one of these diapers myself, but I have heard only good reviews of them. I would love to win this to be able to try it out myself! Her giveaway ends on July 22nd, so make sure to stop by before then to enter. If you decide to enter, make sure to comment here and let me know you did - thanks!

Can I Break the Addiction?

If you have been ready my blog lately, you know that I am moving in a few days. Today I took a day off from packing (well for now, it's still early!) to take care of the numerous phone calls that I needed to take care of - turning on the electricity & water, putting the garbage in my name, and scheduling for the cable, phone & internet hook-up. My first phone call started at around 9am this morning; it is now 3pm and I just finished my last call! Don't worry, it didn't take 6 hours to get that done - I also fed my kids breakfast, snack and lunch, changed numerous diapers, played a game of trains, broke up a few battles between my 2 older kids, and helped calm down a fussy baby. After all of that, it is peaceful in my house while all three of my kids nap : )

My last call was with the cable company. Overall, it actually went well - I signed us up for a package deal to include our cable, internet and phone service. In doing this, I am actually saving our family a little over $35 a month compared to what we currently pay (yay - that is the good news!!). But, here is the problem: the cable company cannot get out to our new house until Tuesday, July 28th!!!!! We are moving into the house on Monday July, 20th. So we have a week without cable, phone & internet. I can definitely survive a week without cable. I rarely watch tv and have often suggested to my husband we should cancel our cable for awhile and see how it is. He LOVES to watch his sports though, so for him, I think canceling cable would be quite devastating! I could also live without our home phone for a week too - as long as I get a good signal with my cell phone in the house. But the internet??? For a week??? When I just had to think of that, that was when I realized I may have an addiction!

But having an addiction sounds bad, doesn't it? Am I really addicted or do I just enjoy the added luxury that technology can provide? According to dictionary.com, "addiction (noun) is
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma". Am I going to suffer from severe trauma next week without internet? I sure hope not! Here are some things I use my computer/internet for with some possible solutions (so as to avoid my suffering from any sever trauma next week):

• Directions - I am moving to a new area, so I can either go buy a map and try to remember how to read it, or I can just stay home for a week and unpack : )
• Email - if I really need to get in touch with someone, I can just pick up my cell phone and call them (or just wait a week if it's not that important)
• Reading the news - if anything important happens that I should know about, hopefully my family will fill me in (or I could go buy a newspaper if I really wanted to read about it)
• Sharing photos - I guess my family will just have to wait a week for updated pics of the kids - they should still be able to recognize all 3 of them when I get my internet back!
• Printing coupons - hmm, maybe I will just avoid shopping for a week and focus on unpacking!
• Paying bills - this is actually a great reason we pay online - we can just schedule all our upcoming payments over the next week and a half on our bank's website so we won't miss any bills
• Reading all the other great blogs out there - I guess I will just have to pick up that novel sitting next to my bed and start reading that instead
• Writing on my blog - well, I can still write, but will just have to wait to post online until my internet is back. So, after this weekend, my blog will be taking a vacation for a week! But I am sure I will have a lot to share starting the 28th!

And who knows, maybe I will actually enjoy the next week without the added distractions of technology in our house!

Is It Possible to Have a Green Move?

This question has been going on in my head the past few days while I have been working hard to pack up our house for our move on Monday. I felt like I was doing a halfway decent job with it until yesterday - when I looked around and saw a ton of boxes everywhere! So here is a list of stuff I've tried to do to make our move as green as possible. I think I needed to write these down today to remind myself that even though it looks like I'm creating a ton of waste in our house right now, I have taken some measures to try to be as green as I could.

Planning The Move
Once we knew we were going to move, my first project was to go through all of our stuff (and by the way, how have we accumulated this much stuff????). So - once I figured out that we didn't need something, what to do with it? I didn't want to put much in the trash. I already work so hard to keep our weekly trash to a minimum and didn't want our move to revert us back to our old ways! A yard sale would have been great, but unfortunately we can't have one where we live. So here are some ways to get rid of extra stuff you may have without putting it into the landfills:

Craigslist: for my big and bulky items that were still in good condition, I listed them on craigslist. I tried to list things pretty cheap so as to sell them fast. My main goal was slim down on the amount of stuff in our house. I would rather take a little less money and just get the stuff out of the house, rather than wait a few weeks to make a few extra dollars. That's just me though.

Ebay: for items that are easy to ship, I went right to ebay. I sold various old CD's, DVD's, baby clothes and other items here. I was hesitant at first to do ebay because I absolutely despise going to the post office with my 3 kids. I could probably write a whole other post on my frustrations with the post office! So I ended up ordering some flat rate priority boxes from the post office website. They were delivered right to my door for free. Once one of my auctions was up, I packed up the box, addressed it, paid for my postage online, scheduled a pickup, and let my carrier pick up the box from my front door the next day. Woohoo!! I found a way to mail all my ebay stuff without subjecting myself to the post office! If I hadn't been able to have the post office pick up my packages, I probably would have just donated all that stuff.

Freecycle: I joined my local freecycle group and gave away a bunch of items to local residents who could use them. Overall, this was a great way to give away some stuff, but I will warn you, even though people are receiving something (in very good condition) for free, they can still be inconsiderate and not show up.

Goodwill: When our garage wasn't emptying out fast enough for my husband, he loaded up my minivan and donated a bunch of stuff to goodwill.

Recycling old electronics: Our local recycling center takes old electronics so you don't have to throw them away. I had been collecting some old electronics that I knew I needed to bring to recycling, but waited until they had a few promotions so I ended up getting a free cloth grocery bag, a stainless steel water bottle and a $5 gift card to Best Buy!

So if we came across something old that we didn't need anymore, it only landed in the trash if I couldn't get rid of it through one of the ways above.


Time to Pack

As some of you may know already from my previous posts, I really try to spend as little money as possible, especially on wasteful stuff (i.e.: boxes!). I was going to try very hard to not buy any boxes, but only reuse old ones.

• A few months before our move, I started to save any boxes and bubble wrap we got in the mail or from purchases at the store.


• I was able to meet up with a few people on my local freecycle group who gave me all their used boxes after they just moved. One woman was also so nice as to not flatten the boxes so I wouldn't have to use extra tape to retape them back together.


• I went to my local Walmart and Target to try to get a few extra boxes. I must say though, I got a whole lot more boxes from freecycle!


• Before using bubble wrap and packing paper (I absolutely refuse to use packing peanuts - I hate how they make such a mess!!!) I used stuff in my linen closet to wrap and pack some fragile items in our house.


• Last time we moved, I had saved up our newspapers for awhile to use to pack our stuff. We don't receive the newspaper anymore (part of going green and saving money - we just read our news online!). So I did go to our storage center and buy packing paper, but I don't feel that bad about it because the kids are already using it to color on. While I pack, they have their crayons and markers out and color on the paper. If not coloring, then they just love to crinkle it up and throw in the boxes. I'm sure the coloring will also keep them busy while we unpack next week. Whatever doesn't get used for their artwork next week I will save for some fun fingerpainting in a few weeks!


• Now that it is coming down to the wire though, we had to break down and buy some boxes - ugh!


• But here is a cool company I found online, if only we lived in California!!!! rentagreenbox.com - this company has recycled boxes that you can rent for your move! The boxes are made from recycled materials, are reusable and are delivered right to your door a week before you move and picked up a week after your move. Such a great idea!

Cleaning Our New Home

We were able to pick up the keys this evening to the new house we are moving into. Even though the owners did a great job at leaving the house in great condition (and appears very clean), I have a "Type A" personality, and of course, need to clean it myself before moving my kids into it! The movers aren't moving our stuff until Monday, so that gives me a few days to clean. To keep with my green move, I will be cleaning the new house with green cleaners as well as homemade cleaners. I am sure I will be going through lots of vinegar, baking soda, and Dr. Bronner's liquid magic soap this weekend!

Unpacking

I already signed up with the local freecycle group where we are moving to. My plan to give away all our moving boxes to someone in the area that needs them. And then as I unpack those boxes, hopefully I will come across more stuff that we don't really need (because looking in my house right now, I still think we have too much stuff!). If so, I will try to get rid of them through either craigslist, ebay, freecycle, donating or recycling.

So even though it looks like I'm creating a ton of trash right now, I do feel good with the fact that I have put much more effort in this move at trying to be green than I have ever done before (and I have moved a lot before!). If anyone has any other ideas on how to be green while moving, please share!!!!

Wordless Wednesday - The Quiet

What happens when all is quiet when Mommy leaves the room to rock her baby sister to sleep?

Lot of stickers up her arm plus one stinky diaper!!!!!!

Following the Rules

My mom, dad, brother and his fiance were down visiting us this weekend for my youngest daughter's baptism. Today, they wanted to take advantage of our warm, sunny Florida weather and head to the beach. They offered to take my 3 year old son with them, which he was ecstatic about! When they came back a few hours later, everyone was laughing about a conversation that occurred in the car on the way to the beach between my son and my mother (who was driving the car). This was told to me by the rest of my family in the car....


Grandma: Everyone ready to go?


My son: Yep.


A few minutes pass...


My son (with a very concerned look on his face): Grandma, do you have a driver's license?


Grandma (with a smile on her face): Yes, I have a driver's license. I need one in order to drive a car.


My son (again, very serious): Grandma, it's the police man's rules. You need to follow their rules.


Well, thank goodness for my son checking to make sure Grandma had a driver's license before driving him to the beach!!!!!

Not Me Monday

So my 22 month old daughter did NOT give us a hard time going to bed the other night. She did NOT keep crying and whinning no matter what we did for her. My husband did NOT go to bed late that night because of her. Then my 5 month old daughter did NOT wake up at 3am to eat after almost a month straight of sleeping through the night. Nope, that wouldn't happen this night. About five minutes later, my 22 month old daughter did NOT start crying for mommy & daddy. My husband did NOT come back to our room (with a pale white face) after checking on her to tell me that she did NOT just throw up all over her crib. I then did NOT give my daughter a bath at 3am while my husband did NOT put on a load of laundry before putting her back to bed. Nope, none of that just happened - it was NOT just a dream, although I wish it was.

I did NOT go into my daughter's room at 7:30 to check on her and find throw-up all over her pillow again. No, she did NOT throw up again! And while I was cleaning up her messy crib, my younger daughter did NOT just start crying for me as well. At the same time, my 3 year old son is NOT asking me for breakfast. When I went to go pick up the baby, she did NOT just have a massive blow-out in her diaper that left poop all over her, her pj's, and her crib! Nope, there couldn't possibly be that much bodily fluid in our cribs that morning.

I did NOT just forget that my son is hungry and proceed to give both girls separate baths. I then did NOT go into my daughter's room and find additional throw-up on the wall behind the crib. Nope, we did NOT miss that at 3 am last night! I did NOT just go ahead and try to put on a second load of laundry at 8am to find chunks of throw-up still in my washing machine from last night. And my son did NOT just come back to find me and remind me again that he is hungry. Could anyone blame me for forgetting the food right now? Oh, what a day today will be!

For more Not Me Monday's, visit My Charming Kids.

Aloha Friday!

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life!!!!


So we have a very busy weekend coming up! My daughter's baptism is this Sunday so we have lots of family coming down to visit us. My in-laws arrived last night. My parents land this afternoon and then my brother and his fiance arrive this evening. And then tomorrow my brother-in-law comes down. Needless to say, my older two kids are ecstatic for all the family to be visiting!!!!! It is times like these when I do wish we lived a lot closer to our family. We currently live in South Florida. Both mine and my husband's family all live throughout the New England area. Although we love Florida, since having kids, it does make it harder to live so far away.

So my question for today is - do you live close to your extended family or do you live far away?

Have a great weekend!

My Swiffer with No More Garbage

I have a swiffer sweeper that I use almost daily. Besides the two bedrooms in my house, my entire house has laminate wood floors. For the past three years, my kids have loved to play on these floors, so I'm always trying to keep them clean. I never realized how dirty they would get until my oldest started to crawl. Once that happened, I would go through boxes and boxes of the disposable pads to keep the floor clean.

Last year when we started to try to be more green in our house, so many articles mentioned to cut down on your paper towel & napkin use and use rags or cloth napkins instead. While trying to work on that, I noticed how almost every week I was putting swiffer pads on our grocery list. I tried to stop using the swiffer and just use a regular broom and dust pan, but I just felt like my floors didn't get as clean. When the sunlight would shine through certain windows, you could still see dust on the floor that the broom was missing. So I decided to try out different fabrics and see if I could make my own cloth swiffer pads. I found that one of my old fleece blankets did a great job at picking up dust!

Last summer I didn't yet have my sewing machine, so was all set to make these at my parent's house when I was visiting them. They live up in Connecticut so we don't get up there that often. And wouldn't you know, when I went to make them, my mom's sewing machine was broken. So I left some fabric with her and after she got her machine fixed, she was nice enough to make them for me : ) So I am happy to say that I have not bought any disposable swiffer pads since September 2008! This saves my family money as well as reduces our amount of garbage : )

My mom made them with a dark grey fleece on one side and some flannel material on the other side. I chose the dark grey color so if they get dirty, I wouldn't see any stains. She tried two different ways to make them - I have pictures of both here. The one on the left is made with a large piece of flannel and a small piece of fleece that covers just the bottom of the swiffer sweeper. The one on the right has both the flannel and fleece material, but the same size sewn together. Both of them work just as well and fit my swiffer sweeper. I think the one on the right though was much easier for her to make since both pieces of fabric were cut to the same size. If I ever decide to make more of these, I will post a tutorial on how to do it on my blog.

But just to show you that these really do work, here is a picture of a cloth pad after I just sweeped my floors (I really can't believe I am posting this for everyone to see - I can't believe how dirty my floors just were!!). Now, after cleaning my floors, I just throw this in my hamper and wash with my next load of laundry.

Wordless Wednesday - Packing

My husband's method of packing....

Box is full and all taped up. No lables except for below...

Hmmm - well at least we know it belongs in the kitchen! Could it be fragile? The contents will be a surprise for me when we are in our new house : )

myMonkeymoo Giveaway!

I really wish I had heard of these about 3 years ago when my first was born!! If I had this, then maybe my stroller wouldn't look the way it looks while it's on baby #3! Two of a kind, Working on a Full House is giving away a myMonkeymoo stroller pad and blanket set. This product looks awesome - it is a pad that protects your stroller seat from the messes that kids make (and we all know how messy a baby or toddler can make a stroller!!). They also make blankets that match the stroller pad so your child can ride around in style.

Head on over to Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House and make sure to enter her giveaway!

Making My Own Fitted Diaper

So I posted earlier on why I decided to use cloth diapers. Once I started to use them, I wanted to try out all different kinds, but really didn't want to be spending lots of money. I am a stay-at-home mom and try very hard to keep my spending to a minimum. One type of diaper I wanted to try was a fitted diaper. A fitted diaper, for those of you who don't know, is basically a cloth diaper that fits your baby similar to a disposable diaper. The fitted diaper needs a cover though as the diaper itself is not waterproof. So what better way to be able to try out a fitted than to make it myself?

So here is my first succesful attempt at making my own fitted diaper. It took me three tries - and given the fact that I just started sewing at the beginning of the year, I am extremely happy with the results!! The first two diapers I tried were newborn size for when my baby was just born. I messed up the elastic on one so it never really fit well. My 2nd attempt I totally screwed up so I ended up just tossing it in the trash! But I guess the 3rd times the charm : )

I bought the outer fabric (purple flannel with monkey's) on clearance at JoAnn's for less than $2 a yard. They had less than 2 yards left so I just bought it all. So far I've only made this diaper with it and have a ton of fabric left. I used white superflannel fabric from Walmart for the inner layer and the soaker. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I know it was cheap - around $3 a yard. The elastic and the hook & loop I bought online from Celtic Cloths.

Once I had all the materials I needed to make the diaper, my next step was to find a pattern to use. I used the Mama Bird fitted diaper pattern that I found online. She has patterns for AIO (all-in-one) diapers and pocket diapers as well. Many reviews I had found online said that her patterns tend to run a little small. The first diaper I made was a newborn size for my new baby. I definitely agree that it ran small because I think my baby outgrew it by the time she was 2 weeks old (and she wasn't even close to 11 lbs. like the pattern said). That was my first diaper ever and it now belongs to of my daughter's dolls! For my older daughter (21 months and 24 lbs) I used the size big pattern and it fits her great. I'm not sure though if it would really fit her until she was 30 lbs. because it seems to fit perfect right now. Besides the patter running small, I think this is a great pattern for a beginner to use. It was so easy to follow! Robin did a great job at explaining each step, added lots of pictures, and also includes some general information about making diapers and choosing fabrics that I thought was very helpful.

So we've been using this diaper for a few weeks now and we've been very happy with it. My daughter loves the monkeys on it and I love that we haven't had any leaks : ) I haven't used it at night, but I have used it during naps and it worked very well! Now if I could just find some extra time in my day to make her some more!

Kissaluvs Marvels Diaper Giveaway!

So as you know, The Cloth Diaper Whisperer has a weekly giveaway that they announce each Friday. This week it's a "Super Giveaway" and they are giving away 4 Kissaluvs Marvels One Size Fitted Diapers and a Kissaluvs Cloth-n-Go bag. I have already entered because I would love to try a Kissaluvs diaper.

Both of these items are new Kissaluvs products. Here is a little bit of information about them that I have found:

Kissaluvs Marvels diapers come in 3 very cute prints - Two Hoots, Blue Zoo and Moca Swirl. Here are some great things that I've found out about them:

• They are a one size fitted diaper (their website states that they fit most babies from 10-40 lbs.)
• They are made with snaps (no aplix to make a mess of the diaper during washings and also harder for your toddlers to undo!!).
• They also have a snap-on microfleece soaker to make the diaper extra absorbent.
• The legs and back use a latex-free elastic (great for anyone with an allergy to latex!)
• The diapers are made with a bamboo velour inner fabric which would be so soft against your baby's skin
• These diapers are all hand sewn in the U.S. by other moms!

The Kissaluvs Cloth-N-Go bag is a PUL-lined wet bag to use for your cloth diapers. Here are some cool features of their bag:

• It is large enough to hold 1 cloth diaper and a pack of wipes for when you are out & about
• It can also hold a diaper sprayer in the 2 outer pockets
• There is a handle that snaps on to the side so you can hang the bag from your stroller handle

I have not tried one of these diapers or the wet bag yet, but would really like to because they sound like they would be great for my 2 little girls! So now you need to head on over to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer and enter to win (and make sure to leave me a comment that you do - thanks!)

Improvising in Recipes

When we bought the house we live in now I found a small newspaper article taped to the inside of one of my cabinet doors titled "Improvising beats a dash to the store store" by Nancy Byal at Better Homes & Gardens . I am not sure what newspaper this was clipped out of or when (I can tell it is old because it was already yellowed when we moved to this house 4 years ago). While packing up some of my kitchen yesterday I realized that I want this to come with me, but not sure if it will make it without getting ripped. So while typing everything up on my computer last night, I thought it would be great to share with everyone else! I am always looking for ways to avoid going to the grocery store. I have a habit of going in for 1 thing and coming out with a bag full. This list has definitely saved me a few trips to the store that would have resulted in me buying more than what I went in for.

Here is the list of substitutes it includes:

• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (for thickening) equals 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder equals 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sugar equals 1 cup packed brown sugar, or 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1 cup molasses equals 1 cup of honey
• 1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate equals 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon shortening or cooking oil, or one 1-ounce envelope pre-melted unsweetened chocolate product
• 6 squares (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate equals one 6-ounce package semisweet chocolate pieces, or 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder plus 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 cup whole milk equals 1/2 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water, or 1 cup water plus 1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 cup buttermilk equals 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup (let stand for 5 minutes before using), or 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup light cream equals 1 tablespoon melted butter plus enough whole milk to make 1 cup
• 1 cup dairy sour cream equals 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup liquor (rum, bourbon, whiskey) equals 1/4 cup unsweetened fruit juice or broth
• 1/2 cup wine equals 1/2 cup cup apple or white grape juice for white wine, or 1/2 cup unsweetened grape juice for red wine
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs equals 3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
• 1 small onion, chopped, equals 1 teaspoon onion powder or 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard equals 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard plus 2 teaspoons vinegar

I think I have probably used almost all of these at one point or another. If you have any other substitutes you know of, please share!

Out to Lunch

So we finally did it - we took all 3 kids out to eat at a restaurant! This was the first time taking them all out at once since the baby has been born, and I must say, it went much better than expected : ) Of course, when I tell you where we went, you will probably think it was cheating because I don't think I've ever seen any kids misbehave at this restaurant - haha!

So where did we eat? Rainforest Cafe - and let me tell you, the kids LOVED it!!!!!

We were seated a table right next to a large fish tank. My 2 older kids are obsessed with fish, so that alone would have probably occupied them through lunch. But we were also very close to the elephant, so that was also a great distraction. It was the baby's naptime, so I was a little nervous about her being able to sleep through all the thunderstorms and animals talking, but she did great as well! By the time our food arrived, she was asleep in my arms.

It's so funny to think back now about how times have changed with each additional child. When we just had my oldest, we probably went out to eat at least once a week. From the time he was only a few weeks old, we took him everywhere - restaurants, baseball games, football games, vacations, the beach. He was so transportable! By the time he was 6 months old he had already flown up north to visit our relatives twice, visited Orlando and Ft. Meyers (yes, that's basically 4 vacations in the first 6 months of his life!).

Then when my older daughter arrived, things started to slow down. We still went out to eat, but just not as much. We still flew up north to visit family, but just not as often. By the time she was 6 months old, we flew up north once for Christmas and went on vacation in the Floriday Keys.

So now our baby is a little over 5 months old. And what are we so excited about? Going out to eat as a family at a restaurant! Yes, times have definitely changed!

Happy July 4th Cheesecake

I really enjoy to bake (especially desserts). I have such a big sweet tooth, so I prefer to make something that I can also enjoy afterwards : ) So with the 4th of July today and BBQ to go to, what better dessert than a cheesecake decorated with an american flag?

I used the recipe for a plain cheesecake at whatscookingamerica.net. I have tried many different cheesecake recipes, but I was so excited with this one because it was the FIRST cheesecake I've ever made that didn't crack!!! Some people will probably think I'm crazy about getting so excited for no cracks. I remember the first few cheesecakes I made it never bothered me and wondered why there were so many articles on how to make a cheesecake without cracking it, but now I understand. After so many attempts, I was starting to think it was impossible.

So here were a few things I did this time that may have contributed to the no cracking...

1) I wrapped the spring-form pan with 2 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil and baked the cheesecake inside a roasting pan filled with very hot water.

2) I made sure to take the eggs, cream cheese and heavy cream out of the fridge awhile beforehand to get them to room temperature. I've tried this before but I'm not sure I let them sit out long enough.

3) I made to sure not take the cheesecake out of the oven until the pan was cool enough for me to take out without an oven mit. I've also tried this one before too, but maybe when this is done in conjunction with the previous two things, it works?

Well, I will make sure to do those 3 things again with my next cheesecake and we'll see if I can make another without it cracking!

So here is a picture of the finished cake...

To decorate, I sliced up about 6-8 strawberries, placed in a bowl, added about 1-2 tsp. of sugar, mixed around, covered, and let sit in the refridgerator overnight. The next morning, I placed the strawberries on the cheesecake to form a rectangle, added some blueberries in the top left corner, and used white chocolate chips to add stripes to the flag.

Now, if you are reading this, can you please take the time to comment and let me know what your favorite kind of cheesecake is? Although this one was delicious, I think my absoluate favorite is the chocolate cheesecake that my husband used to make for me before we were married.

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday over at An Island Life! This is my first week doing one myself, but I have always enjoyed going through many others' Aloha Fridays! Aloha Friday is a day to take it easy and look forward to the weekend. Since this weekend is a fun holiday weekend, I thought this would be a perfect time to join in : )

So for Aloha Friday, I'm going to ask a simple question for you to answer: what is your favorite part of your 4th of July celebrations?

Mine has always been watching fireworks.

Post your comment below and then head over to An Island Life for more Aloha Fridays!

Some Cool Giveaways!

So here are a few giveaways that I have found that you might be interested in entering : )

Jolly Mom is giving away 3 Bumpkins Waterproof bags. These bags would be great for the summer! Head on over to her blog and take a look at her review of them and then enter for her giveaway!

Our Life Upstate has a bunch of giveaways going on: (1) she is giving away a Sweet Pea cloth diaper. Go take a look at her review and enter to win! (2) She is also giving away a $25 gift certificate to Monkey Snuggles and (3) she is giving away a pair of See Kai Run shoes! (4) There is another giveaway for a Smartipants diaper and (5) a giveaway for an esbaby AIO diaper. Yes - that is right - 5 giveaways from Our Life Upstate!

Earth's Best Baby Food Sale

For those of you that use Earth's Best jarred baby food, there is a sale this weekend at Babies R Us and Toys R Us! The sale is for $5 off any 4 variety packs of Earth's Best Baby Food. The sale is in-store only and goes from Friday, July 3rd through Sunday, July 5th. Here is a link to the sale.

Preparing to Move

So in a few weeks we will be moving out of our townhouse and moving into a house we are renting for the next year. Currently we have a 2 bedroom townhouse and it has been getting rather cramped over the past few years. So we decided to rent out our place and rent something a little bigger with a yard for the kids.

Now I have moved many times - at one point I had moved 5 times within 4 years - so I'm not sure why this move has me a little stressed out. But when I look back on all my past moves they have always been done without kids. I used to just sit quietly for hours and pack my stuff in such an organized manner. Well, my husband and I started to pack today and boy have times changed!!!!! First off - we accumulated A LOT of stuff since having kids! Secondly - I am starting to wonder if I can start and finish one box without being interrupted (I'm guessing it's "no"). Thirdly - can we get everything packed before the big move day?

Yesterday we met with our movers and got everything finalized. Our moving date is Monday, July 20th. Since today is only July 2nd, it would seem like we have plenty of time. But, here's two big things going on before our move...
1) Our baby's baptism is Sunday, July 12th (and since we live over 1,500 miles from all our relatives), we will have visitors from July 9th through July 14th. So that is 6 days where I would like to enjoy spending time with family and not worrying about packing.
2) On Friday, July 17th my husband goes in for surgery (nothing major)- but he will be out of pocket and not able to do anything until moving day!

So that doesn't give me a whole lot of time! I know it will all work out, I just have to remain patient and understand that I cannot pack like I used to. If some boxes have random stuffed animals in them because that's what my son wants, that's okay. And if a picture frame breaks because my 2 oldest kids have popped all the bubbles in the bubble wrap, then that's okay too. These are just things, and as long as my kids are having fun with this exciting new chapter in our lives, then I will too.

Wordless Wednesday

Too sleepy for snack...