Sale results

I ended up getting a couple really good deals. :) I didn't really know the Coon Rapids neighborhood that had a large number sales going on, so while getting somewhat lost in the housing development I stumbled on several more sales that I hadn't heard about. My other mishap was that we drove out of the way to a sale in Roseville (about 20 minute drove from Coon Rapids, 10 minutes out of the way from our house). I drove by the house and didn't see any signs or tables or anything. The sale's next week. Whoops! I guess I need to pay better attention to the dates.
Our deals of the day were a booster seat folds up for $3 (I almost bought a similar one of these for the fully price of $30. So glad I waited one more week!), a Little People Noah's Ark for $3 (Carter loved playing with Cole's), two pairs of jeans for Carter in 2T for .50 and a dollar, and a girls baby gap outfit for .25 (for that price someone I know can use it).
I also got 2 of the 7 papers I need to complete by next Wednesday! I can't wait to be done!

Gargage Sales!

Carter and I are hitting the garage sales this morning. I mapped out our route last night to maximize the chance of finding something really great. I'll update latter with the deals that I find.
I also am hoping to work on my business plan today, which from what I've been reading is very important to have. I can't wait until we are farther along with this project so that I can share what it is.

Our new favorites!

So I did a favorites list of baby stuff when Carter was a little baby. Now that he's 9.5 months we have a whole lot of new favorites to rave about.
The newest is those mesh feeder bags. We like either of the two brands we tried. Carter loves frozen cubes of baby food (how we store our home made food anyways) in them for teething. It's like a healthy popsicle with a handle. For easy cleaning of the mesh bags, use a toothbrush.
We have the Chicco high chair which we really like. We haven't use any other brands of high chairs, so I really can't compare whether this is better or worse. I like the green pattern. It's not an eye sore like some of the others are.
Our favorite spoons for feeding are the ones made by Sassy that have silicon tips.
Bibs: In the begining we love the cloth ones for baby food. Now that Carter is on more table food we love the big plastic covered ones with pockets at the bottom to catch any dropped food.
Baby crackers: We loved Mum-Mums (at Walmart or online) when Carter was first starting food and Gerber puffs now.
Sippy cups: We were lucky to get lots of hand-me-downs to try different types because they all work so differently. We've had the most sucess with the Nuby ones with the silicon nipples and handles. All others have tended to lead to water all over the place. The one that works for each kid seems to vary alot.
Shoes: Robeez hands down. I know they're expensive, but they just fit so much better than the knock offs. Look at used sales for deals on them.
Toys: The hits right now are the Fisher Price shape sorter and the fisher price little people barn. Basically the updated versions of what we played with as kids are still the best toys.

Another Saturday, Another Sale

This time I dropped Carter off at my parents so that I could shop with both hands. I was a little disappointed that I didn't find more, but I did manage to come home with a toddler sled, 2 sand/water toys, a pair of new sandals, robeez, a pair of gymboree jeans, 2 pairs of maternity pants and shirt (No, I'm not pregnant.)for next time around, all for around $20. There were several things that would have been great, if I had been in the market for them, such as high chairs and strollers. And I was tempted to buy an exersaucer for next time around, but I really didn't want to have to find a place to store it for the next year or two.
I finished my first quilt top yesterday. I'm hoping to get it quilted this weekend and maybe figure out how to bind it sometime this week.

Time flies when you're having fun!

Carter and I have been having a busy week. Tuesday we had ECFE. He is definately one of the most social babies there. He has no problem crawling up to any of the moms and snuggling into their laps and playing with any of the other kids. His only problem is that he is so stubborn. If he wants a toy, he will throw a fit for it. Hopefully we will grow out of this soon! (Because I will not put up with it!) Yesterday we had a playdate with Cole (and Stefanie). Playdates are so much fun now that Carter can actually play. Today we had MOPS. Now I'm hoping he'll take a nap, but he's talking in his crib.

Ideas

I am currently toying with the idea of starting my own business. My idea is fairly unique for the area. I feel like timing-wise it would be a good time to start something. The thing that is holding me back is the fear of failure/losing all the money/time put into this endever. And I have no idea what I would even need to start the legal process of starting a business. And how much it would cost to rent a location.

Meal time/ what happens if I turn around

Look Mom, I can use a spoon.

Not a happy mommy

Yesterday when I put Carter down for his nap, he was not happy. Lately we've been having him whine it out for 15-20 minutes before we get him out. After 20 minutes I went to check on him. He was chewing on his crib. There were not just bit marks on the railing, but large portions of varnish missing. I was so mad! (and not that I can even really be mad at him, just the situation) So I calmly pick him up to go get all the varnish chips cleaned off his face and clothing.
He then decides to throw a tandrum. Being this is new territory for us, I really haven't read up much on how to deal with tantrums. Using what I know from a few episodes of Super Nanny, I decide to put him in the pack and play to finish his tantrum so he doesn't hurt himself. After a few minutes, I calmly pick the still somewhat screaming baby. He starts to calm down as I rock him and then falls asleep to take the nap that he needed before the whole process started.
I guess I handled it pretty well. I know I'll be dealing with tantrums more frequently and I need to get my plan of action so that we can parent with some consistancy. Any parenting tips?

Yay for sale season!

We did well at the sales this morning. The first sale was a fun raiser at Falcon Heights Elementary School. We got Carter a bunch of great toys and clothes for really cheap. Then I decided to be brave and take Carter to a fabric/crafting sale at the Textile Center. I was smart enough to remember to bring our Baby Bjorn. We never would have made it through the crowds otherwise. I got a bunch of fun fabrics for less than a quarter of what I would have paid for them elsewhere. Hopefully if Carter naps, I'll get to play with my new fabric. :)

Too funny not to share

Anyone else think this might be good to bring out on his first date? Looks like I need to store things better in the diaper bag. (In case you can't tell, yes that is a tampon.)

Sick baby or not?

Yesterday was a strange day for us. Carter was fine when he first got up for the day. I put him down for a nap, and he slept 2.5 hours (which for some babies might be normal, but for Carter that's 2 hours longer than normal). When I went to get him from his crib, he was crying and rubbing his face on his blanket. He felt really, really, warm. He had a temperature of 100 in the armpit (which if I remember correctly is normally a degree lower than mouth temperature). Carter's never run a temp before so I decided to take him in. He had fluid in the ears, but not an earache yet, and they checked him for strep and foot and mouth disease (both which came back negative). So the basic consensus was that it was allergies plus teething.
Today he seems 100% better. No temp and he's eating. He's back to his wild self.
We went to Target this morning. For those with kids, there are some great deals on summer clothes already. I got Carter a pair a camouflage shorts for $2. They're adorable! If he didn't already have a ton of summer clothes, I would have bought a bunch more stuff.
Carter, my parents, and I will probably spend tomorrow hitting a couple of the local used kid stuff sales. We're on the look out for plastic slides, wooden blocks, legos/duplos, and clothes for next fall. Hopefully we'll find some great deals!

Baby proofing part 2

After my disappointing trip to BRU, I wasn't sure what we were going to do on the baby proofing front. But when we were at Lowe's today, I remembered that Baby Bargains had mention that home improvement stores are a great place to find good deals on baby proofing supplies. Not only were their prices better, almost every gate was stair safe. And to make this an even better trip, we found netting to put on the railings since they are too apart (code on this has changed since our townhouse was built) and it was 50% off. We're going to price gates out at home depot before we make our final decision, but it looks like we should be able to find one that will work for us. Yay!

Baby Gate

We are despretely in need of a baby gate. Carter is now a quick crawler and there's no way I can even blink without him getting into something. We went to BRU last night to see what's even available in the world of baby gates.
BRU's display was definatly not designed by parents. It was super messy and impossible to tell which gate was which, and what price. After looking there, we decided pretty much none of the stair ones will work with our staircase with the way things are lined up. So now we need to either find a new type of stair gate or buy two gates to keep him away from anywhere neear the stairs. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, let me know. (and putting the babe on a leash in not a brilliant idea)

Easter Weekend update

Well, Saturday went much better than planned. Tim actually had set the alarm clock (which I was amazed and surprised by), but we didn't get off until around 6:30am. U had packed Carter's food for the day and diaper bag, and had set out what Carter and I would both be wearing, so it was a fairly smooth morning. Tim woke Carter up at 6am to feed him. We had hoped that Carter would sleep on the ride down there, but he instead "talked" until we were about 10 minutes away.

Carter had a great day playing with his cousins Ben (almost three years old) and Lauren (7 months old). Lauren and Carter loved to trade (or more accurately steal) each others toys. Lauren was definately at is disadvanage with Carter's mobility. He also had his first wagon ride, which he seemed to enjoy. I think we might have to get him a wagon for his first birthday.

Easter Sunday was also a success. Carter was pretty good in church. He was doing pretty well until the sermen when he just wanted to talk. My dad took him out for a couple minutes. After church we had brunch at my grandparents' house. Carter loves ham, which he tried for the first time.

I'm exhausted! Hopefully this will be a quieter week.

Packing

While I love my husband dearly, there are some things with a baby that he doesn't seem to get. We are taking a day trip tomorrow down to Tim's parents to hang out for the day. So Tim tells me he wants to leave at 6am, so we get down there early. To leave at 6am, we would have to be awake by a minimum of 5am to get all the last minute things packed up, feed, change, and dress Carter and ourselves. There are several problems with this plan: A. Typically Carter doesn't get up before 5am, that involves waking a the babe. This gernerally leads to a screaming/crabby baby, which makes for a long drive. B. I don't remember the last time Tim set an alarm clock to wake up for a non-work related event and I highly doubt he's done that tonight. He usually relies on Carter waking us up, which is not an issue when the event is after 8 or 9 in the morning. C. Is there really any good reason to get there at 8am? His sisters probably won't be up for atleast another 2-3 hours.
But I've done my part to see that there is potential for this plan to suceed, so now it's up to Tim. I'll update tomorrow night with how it all went down.

I'm in love with this pattern!

Like all good projects, I'm going to have a hard time giving this one away since I love it so much. The picture fails to show how truely cute this bag is. I'm already working on my own adaptations of this bag since I love it so much!

Having a bad day/ week

No particular reason why. I'm just kind of cranky and sad. I just really need something positive to happen to us soon. I'm trying really hard to be thankful for what we've got, and not for what we've losted/given up. So here's my vent so I can get it all out and go back to being my positive self.
Tim's job: While I'm thankful he's been able to work with this new position and keep health insurance, all these crazy hours and driving me insane! It's impossible to keep Carter even somewhat quiet during the days so Tim can get sleep after an overnight shift. They can't ever seem to make up their mind on scheduling. This week alone they've changed it 3-4 times at the last minute.
My dad's job loss: This is just a crappy situation all around. He thought he's job was pretty safe and didn't see it coming, so they really hadn't been making sure they had a lot of extra savings. It's way harder to find a job over 50. Even if the economy turns around instantly, his company probably wouldn't call him back because it would just mean they'll have to pay him more in pension when he gets to retirement age. (Age discrimination at it's best) I'm worried for my parents. They've been responsible with their money all their life and it doesn't look like they'll be able to be able to be retired and have fun anytime soon now. Plus I think this all scares me because before they were sort of our safety net. We hadn't had to use them for help, but we knew if it was getting to the point that we needed to, we could.
My self: I'm frustrated because I get little to no "me time". Pretty much anytime I get when I'm not taking care of Carter, I'm racing around trying to get laundry, dishes, homework, ect. done. I'm thankful he now takes two 30 minute naps, so atleast I get time to go to the bathroom on my own. I love Carter so much, but sometimes I need a break to do something fun. Tim also has a hard time realizing how much I need this time. He sometimes makes me feel guilty about needing this time. I know it's because he's stressed about being the only one with a job and he's sad that he doesn't really have any good friends close by.

Alright, Carter is screaming, so I guess that's all the venting I get for now.

New pictures

Since I don't really have a whole lot of other updates, I figured I'd post some new Carter pictures.





Since I don't really have a whole lot of other updates, I figured I'd post some new Carter pictures.

Lime Chicken Tacos

I'm on a roll today!

This recipe is based on one found on allrecipes.com. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lime-Chicken-Soft-Tacos/Detail.aspx

Ingredients:
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast meat
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Taco Shells of your choice
Tomato diced (if you like them)
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
salsa
bag of frozen corn

Directions:
Grill chicken. Once cooked, cut into small pieces. Put chicken in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and add the vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onion, garlic and oregano. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve lime chicken mixture in tortillas/taco shells topped with tomato, lettuce, corn, cheese and salsa.

I'm really addicted to adding corn to tacos lately. I figure it's a great way to get more veggies into our diet and it tastes so good!

9 month appointment

The nine month appointment well. Carter was happy and playful at the appointment until they gave him his shot. They gave him a very macho camoflage band-aid and he stopped crying soon after. I have a tall skinny babe. He is higher than the 95% in height (31 inches), around 90% for head measurement, and around 50-60% for weight (21 pounds).

Tired Mommy

After spending a great (but late) evening with some of my girl friends Saturday night, I am remembering why it's been so long since I've done this. I am exhauseted! I'm definately not regreting the much needed time spent catching up and having a girls night in.
Carter was up when I got home at 1:30. Not exactly what I was hoping for. Tim said that about an hour after I left, Carter realized that I was gone and started to crawl around and look for me. When he couldn't find me, he started crying. He was in bed with Tim when I came home. After getting a little bit of snuggle time, he let me put him back in bed. Carter also decided that I was in for an early morning. Lets just say Sunday was a rough day for us.
Today (so far) has been a great day. We went to a Minneapolis mom's play group for the first time. It was nice to meet some new people and I'm excited that one of the moms lives just a couple blocks away from us. :) Carter got really tired and fell asleep in my arms while we were there.
We have his 9 month doctor's appointment today since he is 9 months old today. I can't believe he's that old already!

Things I'm lusting after. . .

aka What I would buy if I had no budget to worry about.


A stroller odometer: I love the one I have on my bike, so I'd imagine this would be just as cool.

A super nice sewing machine: While the one I currently have is alright, I'd love one of the really cool ones that have all kinds of features.

New spring/summer clothes: I have a feeling this will be something that I always lust after. There's just something about all of the bright colors after a long winter. I may get to do a little new shopping this spring because it seems that all of my jeans seem to be dying at the same time.

Digital SLR camera: Very cool, but a luxury item at this point in time. My dad has one I can play with to get my fix.

And as long as I'm dreaming. . . .

A bigger house with more storage. :) If Tim's job stays steady and I can find something part time, this may be a reality in the next year or so.

Focus

So originally I planned on trying to have this blog strictly focus on parenting and then another tow blogs for my crafts and cooking stuff. Maybe someday my thoughts will be that nice and organized, but for now this blog is going to be a jumbled mess of everything (kind of like my mind!).
Getting our house organized has been a big focus for me lately. I'm still struggling with figuring out where to put everything post baby. Carter's room had been a big source of storage space for us before he was born. His closet had been the storage space for my massive amounts of craft supplies. As he's been accumulating more and more toys, I've been trying to get rid of/ relocate all of my craft supplies to other areas of our house. So far most of it has ended up in our lower level with no real plans of where it will go.

Sick baby

Carter either has crazy allergies like his mommy or a bad cold. Either way he is miserable (which makes the rest of us prett miserable too!) I never give him juice, but he's not hungry (a rarity for him) and I worry about him getting dehydrated. So I gave him a few ounces of very diluted apple juice. It's definately made him happier. (Which sure beats the whiny, slimy mess he was this morning.)
In other Carter news, we checked out the local library's story time. It was 20 minutes of structured storytime and songs and than play time. Carter seemed to enjoy it even though I woke up from his nap to make it on time. I love free activities! We'll definately be checking more of these out this summer.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

I'm really trying to make an effort to cook almost every night and to try new recipes.
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 7 Hours Ready In: 7 Hours 15 Minutes
Servings: 8


"A hearty combination of beans, corn, tomatoes, and taco seasonings, slow cooked with shredded chicken. Deliciously finished, if you like, with Cheddar cheese, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips. Made mostly of canned ingredients, this tasty soup let's the slow cooker do the work so you don't have to!"
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:
1. Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.
2. Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Review: We were definately lacking on supplies when I decided to try to make something in the crockpot for dinner, so I didn't follow the recipe exactly. We didn't have chili beans, so I usedpinto beans instead. I used frozen corn instead of canned and I added fresh diced carrots because I like them. I also used 2 large chicken breasts instead of three. And because I didn't get started on this until almost noon, I had it turned on to high heat. Overall this was a hit. We will definately make this again.