Thursday, December 29, 2011

I can't believe the year is almost over!  Where did it go? It seems like just yesterday I was giving birth to my daughter.  She's 7months already!  And my son, he is just becoming more and more grown up everyday (he's 3).  I feel like I spent the whole year saying "I'll get to that later" and now its later and I never "got" to any of it.  But, I am hoping to change that with the new year.  And maybe if I put it in writing for everyone to see, I'll be better at sticking to it.  So, please check back for my list of New Years Resolutions so you can all help hold me accountable when I slip.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

I was so excited that I actually woke my 3 year old up this morning to see what Santa brought him! Both kids were very excited for their presents. I made homemade buttermilk pancakes and bacon for breakfast. My husband finally helped me hang pictures in the hall and my sister just started the roast for dinner. My son has been playing all morning and my daughter just finally tuckered out in my arms. It's been a pretty good day so far!

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

I was in the bathroom putting my contacts in and my son comes running in holding his PopTart saying "I need to go pee mom."  I said ok and told him to go.  He says "I need you to hold this" and holds up his PopTart.  So I told him to just set it on the counter.  He put it down and walked toward the potty.  Then he looked back at the PopTart, then at me and says "I no want you to eat it."  I assured him I wouldn't and when he finally believed me, he went over to the potty and went pee. 

Not sure when I've ever taken his breakfast from him to make him think that hard about whether or not I was being honest when I said I wouldn't eat it. 

It's pretty bad when you have to decide between peeing in the potty or eating breakfast!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

The morons

I was driving with my kids in the backseat the other day and it seemed like nobody knew how to drive.  It started when some lady just decided that a stop sign was optional and cut me off.  I'm not much of a cusser, so I just shouted out "watch out you flippin moron" and thought nothing of it.  Later in the day, I was turning right at a light and there was another car coming towards me who wanted to turn left.  I had a green light, so I turned.  The guy coming at me never even slowed down.  He got right on my bumper and started waving his hands and yelling at me like I cut him off.  I knew I was right (I mean, a right hand turn at a light has the right of way over a left hand turn right?) so again I yelled something about a flippin moron.  A couple minutes later, my 3 year old says "Oh no mom."  I asked him what was wrong and he replied "All the morons are out."  I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes!!

But, I've realized that he doesn't really know what a moron is.  I believe that he thinks a moron is a truck.  So now when we're driving, he is always asking me if the morons are out or if the morons are trying to run over me.  Or my favorite "Mom, look at that big moron over there.  What's that big moron doing?"  So as funny as it is to me, I'm dreading the day he says it when we are outside of the car and around a large group of people.  I can just see it now!

Friday, December 9, 2011

TV voices - flashback

With a 3 year old in the house, we watch a lot of cartoons. One of my go to stations is Disney Junior. Has anyone ever watched Jungle Junction? If so, do you recognize the voice of Ellyvan? It's Billy West!

The first time I saw the show, I started having flashbacks of all of the other cartoons I used to watch where Billy did voices. The first to pop in my head was Fry on Futurama. But then I started thinking back and realized he was in a few other shows I watched when I was younger. Anyone remember Ren & Stimpy? Rugrats? Doug? That's right, he did voices in all of them. And a whole lot more.

I just always think it's funny to hear a voice in a kids show (i.e. Jungle Junction) when I had gotten so used to hearing it from something not so kid friendly (i.e. Futurama). Then when I think how far back he's been doing voices on shows I know, I start to feel a little old.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

RSVP rant

One thing that really drives me nuts is when people RSVP for something and then don't show up.

I understand that things happen and sometimes you have to change plans at the last minute. But, the courteous thing to do is to let the host know once you find that you're no longer able to attend. Or if you can't beforehand, please send a message or something afterwards letting them know why you couldn't make it.

I was recently chosen to host a party in which I was given goody bags to hand out. I was provided with a set number of goodies, therefore I could only invite a certain number of guests. I made this very clear to the people I invited. I even confirmed attendance the night before the party. And I still had no shows! One week later and I still haven't received a message about why they didn't come.

I went through a lot of work setting things up and making snacks for all of the guests. A lot of food went to waste because of the no shows. Not to mention the other people that I couldn't invite (who really wanted to come) because I wouldn't have had enough gifts.

This also happened to us a couple months ago with my sons birthday party. It's so heartbreaking when your child is expecting all of his friends and then they don't show up or let you know that they can't make it. How do you explain to a 3 year old that you don't know where they are or why they aren't coming after you spent the whole week hyping it up? And many of the no shows were just complaining about how bad it felt when it happened to them. Then you know my pain! You know it sucks to be the host in that position! WHY would you turn around and do it to someone else?

Maybe I'm just old fashioned to believe in common courtesy. Maybe I'm just hopeful that there are still people who care about others. Maybe.....I don't know why I even try sometimes.

But, I'm an optimist and I'll just keep trying. Sorry for the rant. Thanks for listening. I feel a little better now!

Pregnancy 2.0 Mommy Party

WOW!  That was my first word when I came home to the awesome items on my doorstep! 


I receieved an email from MommyParties and MomSelect informing me that I had been chosen to host a Pregnancy 2.0 party.  The next day, I returned home from the park to find a Britax carseat and stroller waiting by the door.  I grabbed the kids out of the car as fast as I could and ran to the door to check them out.  I pulled them out of the boxes and started playing with them and checking them out.  My immediate response was how amazing they seemed.  Compared to my old set that I had been using since my oldest was born 3 years ago, these were incredible.  So, I decided to swap them out to give them a good test run before my party. 

After using the stroller and carseat for a couple of weeks, I noticed some really great points and some things that I just didn't care for.  Not saying they are bad things, just different than what I was used to with my old set.  The Britax B-Safe carseat and Britax B-Agile Stroller were the first items to arrive.  They are an awesome red ane black, which I fell in love with.  The stroller is really lightweight and easy to manuever.  The carseat seems to be a bit on the heavy side, but it also looks really safe.  I love that it has the side impact safety feature.  My old carseat doesn't have that, so when I put my daughter in the new one I immediately felt more comfortable.  It also has a higher weight and height limit than my old one, which is a big plus.  I have really long kids, so I had to change my son early because he no longer fit in the infant carrier.  I think I will be able to get a few more months out of this one.  The stroller also folds really easily.





A few of the things I don't quite care for are the way the carseat attaches to the stroller, the stroller buckle, and the way you remove the carseat from the stroller.  First of all, the carseat sits into two attachments on the sides of the stoller.  With my old set, the seat just sits on the stroller and catches at the back.  This set you have to really line up the attachments and make sure they connect.  It's a little cumbersome with the baby in the seat, since it's already on the heavy side.  To remove the seat from the stroller, you have to press the buttons on the attachments on the sides of the stroller.  Which means one hand on each side.  Once you get them unconnected, it's difficult to either grab the handle or pick the whole thing up by the sides and then move it.  I'm used to my old set, where you grab the handle at the back just like when you remove it from the base in the car.  You can use one hand to unconnect and one to hold onto the handle.  The other moms at the party felt the same way about using the carseat and stroller together.  It wasn't too bad at first, but with the weight of a baby, it becomes a little cumbersome.  The other thing I don't really care for is the buckle on the carseat.  It is very difficult to get it undone.  Maybe it's just because it's new. 

Also included in the party package was a Britax infant carrier and seat insert.  This is really nice.  I'm not big on using the carriers, but this one seems pretty comfortable compared to some of the other brands I have at home.  I let the moms try out both the Britax and a couple older ones that I had laying around and we were all in agreement that the Britax was much more comfortable.  One mommy has an Ergo at home and really liked the Britax seat extender.  She said it was similar to her Ergo and provided a better "ride" for her 14 month old.

Our pregnant mommies weren't able to make it to the party today, so we didn't have anyone to try out the BabyPlus Prenatal System.  The rest of us non-preggo moms gave it a test drive, but it's not the same on a non-preggo belly!  I'll be getting together with some of the pregnant mommies soon and I'll update this post with their thoughts.

Everyone was really excited to come and try out all of the great products.  And they were even more excited when I handed them their amazing goody bags to take home.  Every left with some samples of Spry Gum, Kid's Xclear saline nasal spray, Kid's Spry tooth gel, and some great coupons and product brochures. 

I also received 2 Rashti & Rashti Snuggle Buddies prior to the party.  One was a pink ballerina and the other was a pink owl.  The only two girls at the party were my 6 month old and a 14 month old, so they got the toys!  And my daughter hasn't put hers down!!  I did receive 2 more Snuggle Buddies after the party.  They are both in boy colors.  So, they will be going to the 2 week old and the 3 month old boys that were at the party.

 We all had a great time trying out these awesome items.  Thank you so much to MommyParties and MomSelect for allowing me to host this great Pregnancy 2.0 party.  All of the moms were very excited to be able to try out the products.

Disclosure:  I was provided with products from Britax and MommyParties to review and use with my guests.  No monetary compensation was received.  Any and all opinions are my own.  To learn more about MommyParties, please visit their website at http://www.mommyparties.com/ or click the link in the above post.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Oral-B Mommy Party

I was recently given the opportunity to host an Oral-B Mommy Party.  MommyParties and MomSelect sent me a wonderful package full of goodies to share with our guests.  Included were Oral-B stages toothbrushes, toothpaste, Disney bodywash, the new Winnie the Pooh DVD, balloons, popcorn, coupons and more!  This hosting opportunity came at a wonderful time.  My son recently went in for his first dentist checkup, so coming home to a brand new toothbrush and toothpaste was really exciting for him.






When we received the box, I opened it up and told my 3 year old about the party we were going to have with his friends.  He was so excited that he asked me about it every day for a week.

On the day of the party, we got up and got the house straightened up.  We put a bunch of blankets out for the kids to lay on while watching the movie.  Then we put together the goody bags and made the snacks. 



The kids had a great time watching the movie and playing together.  The moms had fun talking and comparing our coupon strategies!


Each kid got to leave with a bag full of goodies to try out.  And my son was more than happy to pose for me while trying out his new items!



Disclosure:  I was provided with products from Oral-B and MommyParties to review and use with my guests.  No monetary compensation was received.  Any and all opinions are my own.  To learn more about MommyParties, please visit their website at http://www.mommyparties.com/ or click the link in the above post.