vine.com review

First, let me apologize for not keeping up with the 'blogging everyday' thing.  I do the best that I can but sometimes I get home and am dead on my feet or am too busy making memories with my family and can't bear to be dragged away.  I think that is worth the missed day, and I will make it up, I am sure. 

I mentioned in a previous post that we use Bac-Out as a part of our cloth diaper wash routine.  Bac-Out is an awesome product.  It's made by Biokleen, which is a company that makes a lot of natural cleaners.  It's technically called Bac-Out Stain and Odor Eliminator.  You can use it as a cleanser for laundry, cloth diapers, carpets, drains, etc.  It has a strong lemon/lime scent which is nice in the wash but doesn't remain on your clothes after the wash.  It's natural, non-toxic and biodegradable. 

Unfortunately, since not everyone has caught on to the awesome-ness of this cleaner, you can only purchase it from a select few brick and mortar stores.  There are a lot of places online that you can order it from but usually the shipping cost + the cost of buying it online is higher than to just drive to the store(s) that you can buy it from. 

The closest place that we can buy it from is a Kroger grocery store more than 10 miles away and we were having to drive out there twice a month to buy the only size that they had available which was 32oz.  We decided that since we were going to be using this as a part of our diaper routine that we would just order a larger quantity online and hopefully get a discount for ordering more than a gallon. 

I searched on amazon.com and found a deal ordering from a website called vine.com .  They charged $31.87 for a gallon of Bac-Out including taxes and shipping, which was a deal since we were paying more than $14 for the product at Kroger not including tax or the cost of gas to get there.  Plus they offered 2 day shipping. 

When I picked up the box from the front porch I noticed that the outside of the box was wet and I was scared to open it.  When Corry opened it, more than a cup of the product had leaked all over the box and the packaging inside because when UPS shipped the package they damaged the box.  It was packaged with those inflatable bags inside of an appropriate sized box.  Needless to say I was disappointed. 

I went back to amazon the following day and filled out a complaint with the company just to let them know that the item was damaged.  I just wanted them to know for the future that maybe they needed to package to assume that there would be damage by UPS or that they would speak with UPS about it.  I expected an apology and maybe a 'we hope that you have a better experience next time'.  What I got was totally unexpected.  Within an hour of sending the complaint, I got a returned email from the company stating that they were sorry that I had such a bad experience and that they would send a replacement item out immediately and that I could expect it in two business days.  I was shocked and amazed that a company would go out of their way to make my experience right.  I was even more shocked this morning to see that the box already made it to my door.  They sent it overnight to my house.  I am blown away with this company's customer service.  Not only did they apologize and make it right, but they made it better than my original experience.  I would completely recommend this company to anyone who shops on Amazon. 

Vine.com is a website that offers 'everything green' including soaps, cleaners, food, and household items.  They have anything that you can want, it seems, on their site.  They offer free delivery with a purchase over $49, which is awesome since they offer 2 day or faster shipping.  This is definitely a company that I will order from again.  They have definitely made a good impression on me and my family. 

What company's have you had an excellent customer service experience with? 

-Sara

Favorite Baby Products

When I first got pregnant with Isabella I was overwhelmed by all of the baby items on the market. There were swings, and bouncers, jungle gyms and floor mats. How did you know which one to buy? Which opinion do you listen to – the woman who says her kids never used anything and it wasn’t worth the money or the woman who said her kid cried day and night unless they were in a swing? There are more options and research out there than you know what to do with.

I was personally overwhelmed because I didn’t want to waste money and I knew that, at that time, baby products as a whole didn’t have a high resale value. I didn’t want to buy an item for $100 and only get $10 with it when I sold it even if my child did not use it. I knew that we needed some items like a crib, a stroller and a car seat but the rest was up in the air.

Luckily Corry and I are not picky parents at all when it comes to some of the baby gear. I didn’t care if all of our items matched or were even gender specific. I knew that we were going to have another child after Isabella and so I didn’t want to have to repurchase a whole new set of items if the second baby ended up being male. We are also very lucky that we live in a rather large metropolis that participates very heavily in the consignment sale scene. We bought a lot of different items, including clothing at consignment sales.

Below is a list of my favorite baby products, where we bought them and some general ideas about each one of them. I am definitely not saying that this is an end all be all list of the items that you need for a baby – this is just a list of items that worked well for us and our opinions on each one. I will touch on baby toys, nursery furniture, and baby fashion in separate blogs.

Moby wrap
Ahh the Moby wrap. There is nothing else like the feeling that you first get when you open up the fabric pouch for the Moby and like 9 million feet of fabric rolls out onto the floor. For me, it was sheer panic. How am I ever going to figure this thing out? What if I can’t figure out how to tie this wrap correctly? Luckily with the help of thousands of videos on YouTube I was able to get it tied on correctly.

Our kids loved the Moby wrap. Well, Isabella loved it. Silas tolerated it for a few months but didn’t care for it nearly as much as Isabella. She would sleep in it our entire shopping trips in the store. I started wearing her in the wrap after the ‘stranger putting her finger in Isabella’s mouth thing’ see post HERE. She got more attention when I wore her than she ever got in her car seat but I had total control over how much access people had. I quickly realized that people were a lot less likely to touch your baby if you were wearing them than if they were just hanging out in a car seat. Silas was a much larger baby and so I wasn’t able to carry him in it for as long and he has always been headstrong so carrying him in a wrap has always been a battle of wills. He prefers the Ergo. Well, now he prefers to walk, but he used to prefer the Ergo.

Swing
Our sister bought us our swing for Isabella. We put her in it for the first time when she was about a month or so old and she seemed kind of ‘eh’ about it. She didn’t particularly hate it or love it. She would sleep in it sometimes but it definitely wasn’t guaranteed to make her go to sleep like some babies. She learned to love it a lot more once Silas got here. She was WAY too big for it at that point and I think that she just wanted in it because there was a new baby in it. She did the same thing with the bouncer and the Moses basket.

We used the same swing for Silas and Addison but they much preferred the swings that moved side to side instead of just front to back. They would sleep for hours in the swings everyday and for awhile that was the only way that we could get Silas to sleep at night was to put him in the swing.

I would definitely recommend a good swing that you can plug into the wall because constantly having to load batteries into a swing gets annoying. I wish that we could just go back to the old school crank style swings, but the newer ones are nice that have music. Isabella liked the music to calm her down but Silas hated it. To each his own, I suppose.

Mobile
Mobiles are expensive for what they are. I mean, realistically it’s a music box with a plastic arm with a few small stuffed toys attached to it. We bought one from either a consignment sale or craigslist; I can’t recall. Isabella never cared for the moving parts, but she has LOVED the music box part and still uses it everyday to put herself to sleep. Silas and Addison absolutely loved the moving parts especially during diaper changes when it was difficult to keep them entertained. It didn’t really matter which model it was; this was definitely a good buy, as long as you can get one used.

Car Seat
We have used several car seats since Isabella was born. When we were pregnant with her we decided to use the Chicco stroller and car seat travel system. It had a nice material that wiped off easily and wasn’t particularly heavy without an infant inside. The stroller folded down easily and had lots of space for accessories, purses, diaper bags, etc. It was heavily used by us and has been heavily used by sister for Addison since she was born and still is in very good condition. The convertible car seat that we got after we stopped using the infant carrier was good for the time. It wasn’t my favorite because it had such high sides and was difficult to get Isabella in and out of it without banging either her head or her legs on either the seat or the top of the car. We were in a minor car accident when Isabella was a few months old, so we got a new seat. We decided to go with the Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL. We absolutely adore this seat. I will touch on our car seat requirements in another video, but I will say that a higher rear facing weight was definitely one of our top requirements. The Sunshine Kids car seat can rear face up to 45lbs. It has a seat cover that easily comes off and cleans nicely. It also allows for three car seats to fit in a standard car backseat. We loved it so much that we bought another one for Silas. Now the brand is Diono but it’s the same basic seat. It is expensive but there are deals to be found out there and when it comes down to it, this is one thing that is totally worth spending the money on. What is more important that your child’s safety?

Stroller
Corry made it clear from the beginning that he wasn’t a fan of double strollers. Either they were too wide to be able to fit through most doors or aisles, or they were so long it was like driving a limo. I first heard about the Britax B-Ready on YouTube and thought that it looked neat. I figured that I could never get Corry to go for it for two reasons: 1) because it is a bit expensive ($499.00 for just the stroller without any accessories and without the second seat, and 2) because of the odd look to the stroller itself.

I took him by BuyBuyBaby one day when we were pregnant with Silas and he fell in love with it. He didn’t care for the cost but we found out that Britax runs a semi-annual sale that allows you to buy a stroller and get a second item for free. We knew that we would need a new infant seat so we decided to go for it.

We absolutely love this stroller. We get comments and compliments on our stroller every time we go out in public. It folds down the same size as our singleton stroller. It is heavy with both seats, but that is expected with a double stroller. A lot of people think that the lower seat is disadvantaged because they wouldn’t be able to see, but we find it to be totally the opposite. Isabella loves being in the bottom seat because she can easily get in and out of it with little help and she can still interact with her environment.

Muslin Blankets
When I first saw these blankets, I thought that it was just a gimmick. They are marketed as having the ability to better regulate baby’s temperature because there is breathability with the fabric. My husband flipped out because of the cost of the blankets. They are about $30-$40 for four blankets which seems crazy but they are awesome. It is easy to swaddle your babies with these blankets and they are super soft which is helpful with young babies. Silas still sleeps with one of these blankets as a ‘blankie’ every day. He would carry it around like Linus everywhere if we would allow him.


This is our basic list of our favorite baby items. We love all of these items and still use some of them even today. What are your favorite baby items?

-Sara

Recipe Fail: Tuna Noodle Casserole

While Corry and I are on this restricted eating plan we eat a lot of meals with tuna; mostly tuna salad but sometimes other recipes.  It is relatively low in calories, easy to make and good protein.  At some point we acquired like 30 cans of tuna - I blame the frequent trips to Costco. 

We were down to two cans of tuna remaining from the 30 so I figured that since Corry was on call I would make something for dinner with those cans.  I searched the Cooking Light archives online for something to make that hopefully fit within our calorie count and came across a recipe for Tuna Noodle Casserole.  The picture looked awesome and the ingredients didn't sound weird so I decided to give it a try. 

Now, I will confess right now that I am the master of picking awful recipes off the internet.  If there is one bad recipe online then I will find it and decide to make it.  Just say tootsie roll brownies in my house and everyone will agree with this statement.  (I was on a sodium restricted diet for one of the radiation treatments that I had to do as a follow up to having my thyroid removed.  We found this recipe for a brownie with no salt that turned into like a tootsie roll consistency.  Bad.) 

Because of these awful recipe experiences, I have learned to not only read through the recipe for 'weird' ingredients - things that seem out of place that might turn out bad.  Too much salt, baking powder instead of soda, etc.  I have also learned to read through the comments on the recipe.  I have learned many gems through just reading through the first few comments.  Often times people will post their comment after they have made the recipe once and it was awful, so they remade it with changes and document those changes.  This is where you pick up that you might need to add spice to a bland recipe, that you might want to cook your ground beef before just putting it into the oven, etc. 

Back to this Tuna Noodle Casserole... the comments said that the original recipe was bland so that you might want to add some extra salt and spice(s) while you were cooking it.  Noted.  Since it came from Cooking Light I knew that it would say do not add salt while you were cooking the pasta so I figured that could be a bit of the problem.  It was not.  Corry added his Cajun spice blend to his bowl and said that it was good, but I think that he was just being nice, even though I told him that he could eat something else and I wouldn't be upset.  I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt and it still didn't taste okay to me.  I will post the recipe exactly as written.  Try it if you dare. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 ozs pasta
1/2 medium onion
1/4 cup carrots, diced or shredded
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp flour
2 3/4 cups fat free milk
4 ozs low fat cream cheese
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 pepper
1 cup green peas
1/2 cup Parmesan, divided
10 ounces Tuna

Cook pasta according to directions on box and drain.  Saute olive oil, carrots and onion over medium heat for approximately 6 minutes or until carrots are softened.  Add flour and cook for one minute, stirring constantly.  Add milk, stirring constantly for approximately 6 minutes.  Mixture will become thickened.  After thickened, add cream cheese, Dijon, salt and pepper.  Continue stirring until well mixed, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add pasta, peas, tuna, and 1/4 cup Parmesan.  Mix well and add to greased pan.  Top with remaining Parmesan and heat under broiler approximately 5 minutes. 

Each serving is 1 1/3 cups and is approximately 475 calories.  Let me say that it was a decent meal.  It wasn't great by any means and it required too many modifications to make again to try out different combinations of flavors.  There was WAY too much dijon mustard, so if you do anything, cut that down significantly.  I am hoping to find a good recipe for a tuna casserole at some point that doesn't contain like 1,000 calories or more per serving. 

Please share if you have a good recipe. 

- Sara

Dieting sucks

Being on a diet sucks.  A lot.  And the worst part is, I am not even on a diet yet. 

Back when I was pregnant with Silas, Corry went to the doctor for the first time since he was a newborn, I think.  The doctor warned him about his blood pressure (which he knew was previously high) and his weight.  He made a resolution to eat better and much fewer calories and lost 70ish lbs in just a few months.  During that time, I also starting eating better and cutting out all the junk food, sodas, etc.  I lost about 30 lbs in the same amount of time.  And then I was 9 months pregnant and feeling like Godzilla and I was ridiculously un-excited about eating better, so we started eating horribly again. 

A few months ago, we decided that we wanted to get back on the eating plan from before and just never have.  My job annually hosts a "biggest loser" competition to inspire folks to get in shape, eat better and exercise.  I have never participated in said competition.  I don't want to sign up this year but I did tell my husband that I want to get back on the eating plan during the time that my job is hosting this event.  This should give us enough time to be on the plan so that once the competition is over, we should be able to easily maintain and further increase the weight loss that will have occurred up until that point. 

One of the most difficult parts of being on a restricted eating plan is not calling it a diet.  You will notice that even if you say the word diet, you feel immediately angry.  I try to say restricted eating plan, or something like that.  I try to not tell many people when I start something like this because I don't want to constantly talk about it when they ask how it is going, etc.  I think it's that I am also always afraid of failing and having to be accountable to someone.  I guess this is completely the opposite of that by spreading this news on my blog? 

Once the first week is over generally I feel better.  The first week is spent either starving or detoxing from all of the junk that I have been consuming recently.  We are strictly just lowering calories.  This was the advice of the doctor.  I am still trying to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and not just eat like one item totally 1,100 calories for the day.  I also am trying to eat more olives, pickles, and 'sour' type items because I have developed quite the sweet tooth over the past few weeks and am going to try to kick that habit.  Eating olives and pickles has helped me with that in the past. 

Tomorrows menu:

Breakfast
1 hard boiled egg
1 Torta bread (we found these at Costco)
2 cups coffee w/ 1/4 cup skim milk and 1 tbsp coffee creamer
Calories: 398

Snack
1 plum
1 100 calorie yogurt
Calories: 150

Lunch
4 ozs turkey breast
1 oz Colby jack cheese
1 oz pita chips
2 pickles
1 hard boiled egg
Calories: 420

Snack
1 hard boiled egg
6 olives
Calories: 130

Dinner - undecided

Total without dinner: 1098

My goal at this point is to get right at or under 1500 for the day.  This is a bit less than when I was on this plan before and I was able to lose some weight.  I have a tendency to snack at work because I feel like I am hungry.  I am trying to combat this in two ways.  I am bringing 2-3L of unsweetened tea to drink during the day to remind me to drink liquids since I could just be thirsty.  And two, by eating protein (Greek yogurt, eggs, etc.) any time that I eat. 

I am also going to follow my job's plan and weigh once a week.  I am, of course, not going to reveal the number but I do plan on reporting back how much weight I have lost.  Wish me luck!

-Sara

If a mom was President...

Let's all take a break from our current reality with our jobs and stress and think about the major differences in our world if a Mom were President of the United States. 

       There would be a balanced budget and no more debt.  Can't you just hear the 'mom voice' - "Do you think money grows on trees?"  We would all have hand me down clothes and would save money for things that we wanted instead of just charging it.  Moms are a master at being able to stretch a dollar, and I don't know many economic majors that could balance a budget like a Mom can.  Once you are a mom, or a parent in general, you suddenly have to think about 900 moving pieces all simultaneously and to get all of those perfectly in line and manage to do it under a certain amount of money a year taking a certifiable genius. 

       There wouldn't be terrorists because right before anyone was setting off bombs or meeting to discuss any kind of terroristic activity, she would show up and say something like "I've got eyes in the back of my head and I have been watching you this whole time."  How do moms have this ability?  I have noticed that since my child has been I have been using a similar line more and more.  My kids can be in the toy room and I can just sense that they are doing something that I would prefer that they not be doing.

 



    There wouldn't be any wars because we all know how moms are about fighting.  We would have one big world-sized 'get along shirt' that we all would have to wear in order to stop killing one another, fighting in wars, etc.  The US would be in one gigantic never-ending timeout because there isn't a switch big enough to teach us all a lesson at the same time.  

 

 

In all fairness, I don't speak negatively about the President or any other elected official because I don't vote.  It's a personal choice for me that I probably will touch on in a later blog.  This is strictly meant to be as a joke and just something humorous to think about. 

 

What other things do you think would be different if a mom was the President? 

 

-Sara

Why can't people do their jobs?

I just want people to do their jobs. 

I don't care what your job title is.  I have respect for people who work all kinds of jobs from CEO's to people who flip burgers.  What I don't have respect for is people who don't do their jobs.  You obviously were qualified enough to *get* the job; so do it! 

Tonight Corry was on-call with his job.  This is a less than joyous occasion because it never fails that he is out for hours at a time after his normal working hours.  I appreciate the work that he does and that he supports our family and works hard, but it still stinks to be at home by yourself.  I got lazy and decided to pick up some fast food for dinner... don't judge. 

We drive into the closest town and pull up the speaker at a Taco Bueno.  I tell the guy that I want two kid's meals.  Both with applesauce and an unsweet tea.  He responds with "hold on hold on hold on" and proceeds to ask me to repeat the order.  I'm agitated but prepared for things like this at the speaker.  I repeat it and he questions my drink twice on each kid's meal.  Can you see the blank stare that I am starting to take on at this point? 

I repeat the order again and then tell him what I want for my order.  I have a confession.  I gave up sodas for one of my resolutions this year and was doing amazing at it for two months.  Over the last two weeks or so I have been awful and have been full time back to drinking sodas.  Corry and I are back on our eating plan starting on Monday with the rest of my job's Biggest Loser program so the 'no drinking sodas' thing will be back on in full force starting on Monday.  I digress... he tells me they are out of three different sodas and that I will have to pick something else and then repeats back my order with a "something like that" in the middle of the substitution that I explicitly spelled out.  I should have known this was going to spell disaster. 

I should back up and say that if we would have been with Corry we would have gone inside to eat and this would have never happened.  However, I still have yet to figure out the logistics of eating out with two small mobile children.  Because I knew that we were not going to be getting out I didn't make sure that any of us were dressed appropriately.  Silas was in a shirt and a diaper,  and Isabella and I didn't have any shoes on.  I didn't look in the bags when he handed them to me because I (wrongly) assumed that it would be fine. 

I get home and start dispensing food.  Both kid's meals were missing applesauce.  There were no straws for any of our three drinks.  There was no plastic ware or napkins.  And my entire order was wrong.  All of the items that we ordered were wrong.  Why does this happen?  This is a fast food establishment.  There are not that many items on the menu to where it would be confusing about what was ordered or what was in the bag. 


On top of all of that, I look at the toy that was included in the kid's meals.  It is a Mr. Potato Head that has removable pieces.  The bag clearly says that it is for ages 2 and up (left).  There are pieces in this bag for this toy that are smaller than a silver dollar.  Picture to the right is two of the pieces from each set compared to an iPhone.  What was the person doing who decided the age limits on that toy?  Do they not know that any and all children put EVERYTHING in their mouths?  Inappropriate. 



It's been a long week already and I just needed to vent.  Luckily since we are getting back on the plan on Monday I won't have to deal with this fast food stuff much longer. 

Isabella the hoarder

When should you start to get worried that your child has a hoarding problem? 

Once Isabella started sleeping in her bed, she slept with her pink glow-worm in her bed.  Yes, even when she was a baby - we also used bumpers too ... don't judge.  Once Silas was born and her crib was moved into her own room she slept with her music toy (just the music part of a baby crib mobile - see right) and her glow-worm, a pillow and a blanket.  A review of this mobile is coming because this has been one of Isabella's favorite items ever.  She still listens to this music every single night before going to bed.  She seemed fine with that and has usually been awesome about going in her crib and putting herself to sleep.  I feel compelled to say that we do not practice cry-it-out; we have been blessed with kids who fall asleep easily. 

 A few months ago she started asking to take a toy with her when she went to bed.  At first it was cute.  It was a baby here and a stuffed animal there.  However, we quickly realized that it was impossible to remove that item in the morning.  It was like asking her to pull off one of her own toe nails to get the stuffed animal back out.  And don't even think about saying no that she couldn't take something to bed.  Complete toddler meltdown. 

We let it go on for some time until it became a game for her.  Once you would tell her that it was time for bed, she would gather up every toy that she saw from the place that she was standing until she got to her bed.  Sometimes she would tell you that it was too heavy and ask you to carry it for her.  This got ridiculous quick.  Mom would clean out the bed in the morning and by the afternoon Isabella had amassed an entirely new set of items in or around the bed to be taken into bed during nap time. 

Eventually we had to put our foot down and tell her that she couldn't take things to bed with her anymore.  Corry and I talked about it before hand that we would leave the items in her bed that were already in there, but we would limit the new items that she would be allowed to take in there.  This was a lot easier said than done because a screaming, crying toddler is fairly persuasive around bedtime.  Lately we have been able to just tell her that we are going to lay down with Rosie (super cheap Target baby named after the younger sister on Cailou) and she will be fine. 

She still has quite a few items in bed including several blankets.  More specifically she has all of these items (except the two frames): 



3 pillows, three blankets and herself in bed with her at all times.  From what I heard, this is normal, right?  On one hand, I feel like we are raising a hoarder by allowing her to do this.  However, on the other hand, if it isn't hurting her, it isn't stopping her from sleeping and it's comforting her at night, why should I take these items away from her?  I am inclined to leave them alone and let her have them in her bed. 

If we are truly raising a future hoarder, at least right now she is collecting cute items and she looks so precious doing it!

-Sara

My husband is amazing

My husband and I have been married for almost four years.  He is the only man that I have actually wanted to spend more than a few weeks with.  It's comforting to know that he loves me as much as he does.  I know that he loves me because no one else would tolerate my random quirks and annoyances. 

My husband is not a sappy poem writer.  He doesn't sing me love songs or surprise me with slow dances in the kitchen.  However, he knows that all of those things are unnecessary to make me happy.  He knows me well enough to know that there are much more important things that he could do to keep me happy. 

1. He lets me sleep when I am sleeping.  I have always been a sleeper.  I don't think that there are many times throughout the day when I am not tired.  It got a lot worse after my thyroid removal about 10 years ago.  Because I am always tired, I can fall asleep pretty much anytime, anywhere.  There are times when I inadvertently fall asleep on his side of the bed.  He loves me enough to let me stay asleep and he will just get into bed on my side of the bed.  He will also let me stay asleep on the couch if I fall asleep there until it's time to go to bed.  This is love. 
2. He cooks dinner(s) during the week.  With my ridiculous commute + long work days, I am ridiculously unexcited about coming home to cook dinner.  He is great about making dinner for the family and it actually turns out awesome.  I am blessed to have a husband who knows how to cook and grill.  This is love. 
3. He supports me.  When I decided that I wanted to have raised bed gardens this year, he was totally behind me and helped my mom construct them.  When I decided that I had enough of the silver hair that was creeping into my abnormally dark hair color, he went with me to have 12+ inches of hair cut off and dyed.  He doesn't question when I say that I want to do something and he goes out of his way to make sure that it happens. 

Hopefully he knows how much I love him and that I want to grow old with him.  Well, I want him to grow old with me - I don't want to get any older than I am right now. 

-Sara

Toys multiply while we sleep

Before Isabella was born we had already purchased enough clothes to outfit Octomom's brood.  We had all the baby gear in place months before she arrived.  Her closet and bedding was all washed and prepared at least two months before she was born.  We had even gone to two consignment sales before her birth but we had very few toys. 

I will have to admit that I was a bit lost about how and when to acquire toys.  I saw them in the store but I wasn't sure about what you needed when and if you just bought some and went with it.  I had always heard the old adage that kids are going to love the boxes more than the toys (which is completely true!) so I knew that I didn't want to waste a lot of money on toys.  I knew that in the first few weeks she was just going to be a sloth and so I wasn't super worried about having toys on hand and I figured that we would just buy some as we went along. 

Fast forward two and a half years and we have more toys than we know what to do with.  Blocks, fake food, Little People (which is the oddest name brand for toys, I think), Lego's, toy cars, books, etc. all run amok in our toy room.  One of the big selling points of this house that we live in is the extra room off the front door that specifically holds toys.  In our last house we didn't have a dedicated space just for toys and it just felt like we were being over run by toys in all rooms of our house.  Since we were downsizing with this house, I knew that we would want an area that was just for toys.  

Here's another small item that they don't tell you before having a baby: if you leave toys out over night, they will multiply while you are sleeping.  Just ask anyone who has stepped on a Lego or a block in the dark.  You thought there were only a few and you could miss them but no.  Corry has this favorite picture that he laughs about - something about stepping on a Lego and winning a krumping contest.  This phenomenon doesn't exist anywhere else in nature.  I swear if I don't completely pick up the toys at night, when I wake up in the morning it feels like the kids played with the toys all night. 

My kids are at that age where they are capable of picking up their toys, but it gets done faster and much more efficient if I just do it.  I mentioned that I need to work on patience, right?  My sanity at the end of the day is saved if I just wait until they go to bed and then clean up the living room and our bedroom.  Well, at least clean the toys up and make it look like Hurricane Toddler(s) didn't just come storming through the house.  I don't know when they drag out some of these toys or when they get certain toys in certain places.  Just this evening when I was going to start the bath water I noticed a My Little Pony in the bathtub and a bath time letter underneath our bed.  Sometimes I can't help but wonder when they get all of this out.  I know that the house is semi-picked up when my mom leaves when we get home, but in the few hours before they go to bed the entire house is turned upside down some nights.   

As a bonus though I have discovered a new source of fun.  Picking up the toys at night has become like a game to me.  It's kind of like carrying all the groceries in from the car in one trip.  You know that it's ridiculous and that you look like you belong in an insane asylum while you are trying it, but you just HAVE to try and see if you can get it all in one trip.  I try to see how much stuff that I can carry to the toy room at the same time without dropping anything.  I guess this is the 'fun' that I have as a parent.  Don't judge...

Favorite items from Trader Joes

Up until about a year ago I had never even heard of Trader Joes.  A woman who posts vlogs on YouTube mentioned it in one of her videos and I was intrigued.  She mentioned something about all fruit frozen bars and I just had to look them up - one because they sounded delicious and two because I had never heard of this store before. 

I searched on their website and figured that I would expand the search to like 500 miles or something like that to catch all of Texas and... the dreaded three words - 'no stores found'.  What?!  In 500 miles?  Only up north, I found out after some digging.  I had to settle for some crappy regular Popsicles. 

Fast forward a year or so and my husband comes home one day to tell me they are building a Trader Joes in Ft Worth.  Hallelujah!!  Finally I get to experience the mystique that is Trader Joes.  Unfortunately it had to be with about 21,000 other people on opening weekend.  Apparently they all got the memo for how wonderful it was as well.  We didn't end up going on opening weekend but we did go a few weekends later. 

Right away Isabella notices the giant banana set up.  Even to this day if we go into Trader Joes she has to eat a banana while we are shopping.  I am convinced that they do that banana arrangement just to keep the kids quiet so their parents can shop longer.  It's a banana conspiracy, I tell you!  I don't complain though because I am glad that she is eating a banana and not chocolate covered espresso beans like I saw some other kid eating the other day while his mom was shopping. 

I digress... just after the banana debacle is their fresh produce.  It looks awesome and fresh and well stocked.  We bought some organic apples that day for some applesauce that I wanted to make for Isabella.  Depending on the store arrangement you get different items next - for some it's the meat/cheese/eggs/milk/cool items and for others it's the shelves of dry goods, etc. 

We didn't know what to buy from this store because it was so new to us, but we knew that several items were popular.  We bought a few that day and have come to love a few more over time.  I will list out our favorites here and you can check them out the next time you go...

Our #1 favorite item is their packaged mini chocolate chip cookies.  They are tiny and crispy and delicious.  They are good for kids because they are small and relatively bite sized for tiny mouths.  We get at least one container of these every time we go and everyone who has eaten them at our house loves them.   They are less than $4 for this entire container. 


Organic lollipops.  This is a relatively new favorite.  I saw these one time while I was there browsing.  Isabella loves 'suckers' and I hate giving them to her normally because they are packed with less than ideal ingredients for kids.  These are small and organic made from cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup which makes me feel better about giving her one in the event of a meltdown.  I keep a stash in the car and in our stroller in case of a total breakdown situation.   They are about $3-4. 


The next item I was not originally on board for.  Corry found them and decided that he wanted to try them and I couldn't say no since we didn't know anything about this place or the food they carried.  Mahi-Mahi burgers.  I will be the first to admit that I am the furthest thing from an adventurous eater, however these were really good.  They grilled very nicely.  However, we can rarely find them.  According to the TJs in Ft Worth they still carry them but supposedly they are popular and sell out quickly.  We haven't seen them in at least the last ten times that we have been there. 


Brown rice pasta is our next favorite item.  This pasta is awesome.  I like whole wheat pasta so I didn't think that I would have a problem with this pasta, but I wasn't sure that Corry would like it.  There are different cooking times than 'normal' pasta but overall it is good.  They have penne, spaghetti and elbows I think.  For awhile we only had this pasta in our cabinet.  We have been a bit lax recently and have just been buying pasta from Aldi but this is still one of my favorite pastas.  With a meal, I can't tell any difference in this pasta vs. the 'normal' pasta.  I can tell when you reheat it the next day because it does have a tendency to break down but the taste remains the same. 


Our final favorite is their specialty pancake/waffle mix.  They make a pumpkin spice pancake mix and it is absolutely amazing.  We bought about 4-5 boxes this year after our original time buying it because it was that good.  It had real pumpkin taste and didn't have any imitation flavor to it.  It made awesome pancakes and made the entire house smell amazing. 
We have had many other items from Trader Joes including their frozen fruit, their pizza dough, wine, beer, pita bread, veggie chips, cocoa powder, coconut oil, chicken sausage, pasta sauce, etc.  Anything and everything that we have ever purchased from there is excellent.  I haven't had one item that I was disappointed in.  The prices are excellent too - much cheaper than what I would have expected. 

Oh - one last bonus point ... their restrooms are always clean.  That is huge considering that most 'grocery' store restrooms are awful. 

What are your favorite items from Trader Joes?  I would love to get more inspiration the next time I shop!

Bed times

This is a second part to yesterday's post re: naps... and it's *drum roll please* ....

bedtimes. 

Who would have known that what time you put your own children to bed would be such a touchy subject?  In the last few days, I have seen some very judge-y mcjudge-erson mothers chastise another mother who had her babies up with her at like 11pm.  "Babies need to be asleep at the very latest 8pm or they will (insert something bad here)" or some other nonsense, because of course as a bystander they automatically know more than the child's own mother. 

Side note: this "I know more about how you should raise your children than you do" idea is too big to be covered in this one blog.  I will touch on that one more later...

Corry and I talked about this bedtime issue in depth before we had kids.  I always had a bedtime when I was growing up and he was totally the opposite.  I just always assumed that kids needed bedtimes and that they should be strict from one household to the next.  As usual though, everything that I thought about having kids has been challenged with my two.  We both have to work full time jobs to support our family and knew that we would continue to work those full time jobs after we had children.  After much discussion, it was decided that we would keep our kids up as long as we were awake so they would (hopefully) sleep while we were sleeping and this works for our family. 

I have lots of friends that I see post things like "my kids woke up at 5am" and those are often times the same parents who will put their kids to bed at like 7:30pm.  I don't understand how that makes sense to someone, but who am I to judge?  Maybe you like to be tortured by as few hours of sleep as possible?  Maybe you like to play a wild game of Russian Roulette to figure out how many hours of sleep you can miss before you turn into a stark raving lunatic? 

As is often the case, the best (in my opinion) solution is often the easiest.  In my opinion, it makes sense to hold your kids awake as close as possible to the time that you are going to bed, so they will hopefully sleep when you are sleeping.  Why torture yourself?  Don't fight against your instincts just because society tells you that your children should go to bed at a certain time.

I understand that this will not work for everyone.  We are VERY blessed to have my amazing mother come to our house to watch our kids and Addison during the day, so we don't have to worry about waking our kids up at the crack of dawn to get them to daycare or anything like that.  I also understand that some people might like the peace at the end of the day to spend with their significant other.  Corry and I are both sleepers and would rather spend time catching up on sleep or talking in bed then watching a movie or something like that at the end of the day.  To each his own...  

With that being said, I put my babies to bed when they are tired, and/or when I am ready to go to bed.  I find that I don't have to fight them as much to get them in bed, and I get to sleep in a bit later in the morning too.   But that's what works for us...   As long as you find something that works for your family and you are happy and healthy, that's what should matter to other people. 

-Sara

Nap times

Why can't kids understand how awesome naps really are?

Silas gets it. He loves nap times.  He generally takes at least three naps a day, and most days he should take at least four naps a day.  I say that he takes so many naps to make up for the first six months of his life because he never slept when he was a newborn.  He needs a nap more than any other child that I have ever come in contact with, and in fact, he needs to take a nap or else your life is a living Hell with him after about 3pm.  He will even go so far as to get you to pick him up and do the "I want" hand gesture towards his room.

 

On the other hand, Isabella hates naps. She will fight you tooth and nail to not take a nap. This picture shows how she used to nap - which was getting so tired that she would fall asleep just whenever and where ever.  She used to love this Moses basket that we would lay Silas in during the day.  She is convinced that something exciting is going to happen while she is sleeping and she is going to miss it.  I used to talk to her before she would take a nap and let her know that we were both going to be there when she woke up and that we wouldn't do anything cool while she was in there sleeping.  Lately she has decided that instead of going to sleep she will just lay in her room and talk to herself or talk to the thousand toys that she has in her bed at any time. I wish that she was sleeping but at the same time I feel like she is at least resting.

My kids were never awesome nappers even as newborns and infants.  Silas slept a max of 6-7 total hours during a 24 hour period and Isabella napped 30ish minutes at a time until she was about 6 months old.  Both of them slept at the most a total of a few hours during the day.  This is infuriating and exhausting to most adults because, as an adult, you understand how cool it is to take naps.   

On a related note - why is there no such thing as a corporate nap time?  I think that adults would be much nicer individuals if we had like a full on preschool style nap time during the middle of the day.  Like with the yoga mat looking mats and everything.  I know that I would definitely be more pleasant if I could take a break during the day to refresh my brain and rest. 

Who do we have to talk to about making that happen? 


-Sara

Bathtime = necessary?

I despise giving my children a bath. Not necessarily the thought behind it because yes, I want my children clean and yes, I want them to have a healthy relationship with bathing and water in general, but the actual act of bathing my children is my absolute most hated chore. I will go on record and say that I would rather change 25 poopy diapers right in a row than bathe my kids. I think that if we could rectify a few things bath time would go a lot smoother:

1. My son has a "thing" about bubbles. He is 1. My daughter loved bubbles at that age. Most kids love them. He hates them. Or is scared of them. We haven't narrowed it down. Maybe it's because he knows that inevitably his sister is going to pour bubbles over his head and face the entire bath time and he just doesn't want bubbles in his mouth. He screams if he sees them and she screams if she takes a bath without them. You already can't win and you are not even in the tub yet.

2. Both kids love to splash. I know what you are thinking. "I have seen cute videos of kids on YouTube splashing in the bathtub and it is so cute!!" Wrong. Tiny baby splashing is cute. Toddler splashing is a flooded bathroom if you aren't careful. Any splashing at our house usually ends up with either me or my husband soaked from outside of the tub + at least one child acting like they are drowning because the other got water in their face.

3. Both kids become deaf as soon as they hit the water. This doesn't bode well for swim lessons or being around the water in the future. We don't let our kids stand up in the bathtub. I don't allow it because our tubs are slippery on the bottom and I don't want them falling and busting their lips open. My husband, I would assume, has the same reasoning. We haven't ever talked about it but I overhear him saying "Do not stand up in the tub" like 9 million times while they are bathing so I know that he has the same rule. Even though they hear the rules every time that they take a bath, it is still like a new time every time they get a bath. Do not splash and do not stand up get repeated at least 90 times a piece during a 30 minute bath. My husband and I are not well known for our patience so you can imagine how this goes.

If it wasn't socially unacceptable I think that I would just spray them down with a garden hose outside.

Wardrobe suggestions for today's woman

So, special thanks to Sarah for inspiring this blog.  Well, not inspiring it, because none of these tips are directed towards her, more so she posted this little gem to my wall and it completely made me want to write this.  I will admit that I had to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard first, but then all I wanted to do was write a blog about this. 

Lately, I have noticed that women might need a few suggestions when deciding what to wear in the mornings.  This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list.  I know that I will forget something and I will make at least one more part. 

1. Just as the picture implies... shorter is not always better.  There is another funny picture out there that says if you have to ponder whether it is a shirt or a dress, it is always a shirt.  Short shorts or super short skirts look good on about 4% of the world's population, and as sad as it is to admit this the majority of that 4% is not American, not a mother, and not over the age of 25.  I am not saying that you have to wear shorts down to your knees or even Bermuda shorts, just have some self respect.  No one wants to see you dig shorts out of any inappropriate place(s) and if you have to worry that your underwear is showing from the legs of your shorts, you need longer shorts.  Also, no one needs to see the bottom of your butt cheeks in your shorts.  If you can't bend over without auditioning for a porn, you need to change. 
2. Being on the 'People of Walmart' list is not a positive accomplishment.  My husband and I have noticed recently that people are going out in public without looking to ensure that all of their body parts are covered appropriately by clothing or that they are even wearing decent clothes.  Or it appears they are purposely trying to get on that list.  If you have seen the pictures, you (hopefully) know that you should use it as an 'Items Not to Wear' list instead of a guidebook for acceptable outfits.  Yes, it's funny and a great stress relief to look at what some people deem as acceptable shopping attire, but you getting caught on that list is not going to go on your resume.  And someday your children are going to be super red faced when they figure out that woman who forgot pants or the man in the thong is really their parent.   
3. It's called a bra.  All ladies over the age of 13 or so should wear one when going out in public.  Every.  Time.  This is inexcusable, especially if you are older or have had children.  Let's face it - boobs sag when they get older.  We don't even want to see it on our own bodies, let alone the bodies of strangers.  Side note: a bra goes under your clothes.  If you can see more than the straps of your bra accidentally, you should wear a different shirt, or a different bra, or both.  I understand that some people think that bra straps are cute, but for the majority of people it isn't.  It's sad and gross and creepy. 
4. This one is a touchy one but I say it with love.  Just because you can make it fit doesn't mean that you should wear it.  There are some items of clothing that should only be sold up to like a size 8.  The people who make those items of clothing for people bigger than that don't care how ridiculous we all look wearing that, they just want to sell it.  I am not saying that if you are over a size 8 that you need to wear a mu mu; I'm just saying that women my size have no business wearing a micro mini skirt.  Or ridiculously tight spandex yoga pants.  Be honest with yourself about how you look in clothes.  I am freely admitting that I have laid down on the bed at some point in my life to make my pants zip and button.  I am also freely admitting at this point that I looked awful in said pants and look much better now that I wear clothes that are an appropriate fit for my body shape.  To take an item of clothing that is ideally meant for a smaller size and make it larger often times makes the proportions off and you end up with shorter than appropriate sleeves or torso length, etc.  This topic also applies to people who want desperately to fit into a size of clothing that they are not.  I say it again: just because you can make it fit doesn't mean that you should wear it.  If you have to undo your pants on the way home and it's not Thanksgiving, you need to wear a bigger size. 

Those are my current top 4 issues.  Apparently they are not as common sense as I would like to think.  What ridiculous have you seen recently? 
 

Homemade Strawberry Jam

So, my husband is a lover of jam, particularly strawberry jam.  Randomly we will find a really good deal on pints of strawberries and decide to make some jam.  And by we,  I mean my husband will find the berries and I will make the jam. This time it was Aldi that had the pints of berries on for $0.99 each.  We bought four this time but only ended up using three.  Isabella decided that she was 'so hungee' for strawberries and ate a chunk out of the fourth.   

We found a recipe last season on the web that was eh..  It was decent but it had A LOT of lemon in it and I don't care for an overwhelming lemon flavor in jam.  My intention last year was to re-evaluate the recipe and make it better this year.  My husband loved it though, so I knew that we wanted it to be similar but with significantly less lemon.  I set off first thing this year to find a recipe that we both would enjoy.   

Let me use this opportunity to share this little Pinterest gem.  We saw this on Pinterest last season so I won't cheat and count this as one of my projects for this year.  This is one of the coolest little kitchen tricks that I have learned recently.   

Core a strawberry with a straw.  Sounds easy enough.  Let me tell you - the person who invented this - super genius!  If you have ever cored more than five strawberries you know that you either end up wasting a lot of the top of the berry by cutting it off or you end up leaving some of the unpleasant tough part of the core in because you can't get it all.  The only tool that you need is a straw.  We use one of those hard plastic straws that come in reuse able drinking cups.  I have never used a disposable straw so I don't know if that works the same way or not.  Here is a pic of ours:

 

 

 



Simply hold the berry in one hand and the straw in the other with your thumb over one end of the straw. You then press the other end of the straw into the bottom of the berry like this:






You continue to press until the straw comes out of the stem end of the berry. It will press the stem and leaves up and should be able to be pulled out of the straw in one easy piece. Your berry will now have a hole all the way through and the tough core will be removed!

This stopped me from having to do a lot of excess cutting and saved all of the berry that normally gets removed if you just chop off the entire top of the strawberry.

Now let's get to the jam.   


Strawberry Jam




3 pints strawberries
3 cups white sugar
1 whole lemon - juice and zest








Chop your strawberries.  I leave about half of mine in larger pieces like below because we like a chunkier jam.  If you don't, you can either chop all pieces fairly small or you could run your cooked mixture through a blender, food processor or use an immersion blender.
 

Zest and then juice the entire lemon.  Add both to a large saucepan with the 3 cups of sugar.  Heat over medium until the mixture is melted together. 

 

 

Add the berries to the saucepan and mix thoroughly.  

   

 

At this point, the cooking time will vary according to several variables like how ripe your berries are, how hot your stove gets, etc.  Ideally you will need your mixture to boil (a gentle boil and not like the insane boiling such as pasta water) for at least 15 minutes or until it passes the chilled plate test.  Just as a note:  ours had to boil like a little more than 30 minutes to pass the test.  

 

The chilled plate test.  It sounds like some sort of a secret code, but it really is as simple as it sounds.  You put a small non-plastic plate in the freezer or a really cold refrigerator.  Once chilled and you think that your boiling berry mixture is done, you put a few droplets on the plate and tilt it to where it's almost vertical.  Once your mixture is done, it won't run down the plate and will remain firm in the same location that you put it.  (No pictures of this part because I got distracted.) 

 

Once you pass the chilled plate test, remove the pan from the heat and cool.  We cool ours for a small period of time and then pour it into a warmed mason jar to cool the rest of the way.  We don't currently can ours so if you are interested in that, this is where you would start that process. 

We ended up with a large mason jar full of the most amazing jam ever.  This is a perfect balance of the acid of the lemon, the sweetness of the sugar, and the natural sweetness of the berries.    

You're on the list!

I had to wait to write this blog until I wasn't the least bit upset about anything because I didn't want it to turn into a blog of just straight blind hatred.  I have been working on it for a few nights now and I hope that it doesn't make me sound like a total rage-a-holic.  If it does, I will be expecting the men in white coats and padded cells to show up at work tomorrow for me.   

At work a few months ago we began talking about there being that one person (or a few people if you were me) that you would get rid of if you had the chance.  This isn't one of those things where you would call them up in the middle of the night and threaten them mob style with a decapitated horse's head in their bed or anything crazy.  Frankly, this is mostly just for your own personal satisfaction - kind of like when married people have a "cheat list" with celebrities.  You know that it wouldn't ever happen, but it's amusing to think about.   

This could be as simple as the person who constantly lets his dogs poop in your yard.  Or that person in front of you on the freeway who is going 49 in a 65 in the fast lane.  Or your husband's ex wife.  Or it could be as simple as the project leader who calls on you to explain an issue that you raised during a meeting.  Can't he see that you are busy buying stuff on eBay on your iPhone?   

To further this idea, it was decided that there should be a warning to someone who was either on the list or in jeopardy of being on the list.  I guess, in case that person cared about attempting to stay on your good side.  'You're on the list!' became the afore mentioned warning.  It sounds grim and borderline inappropriate, but trust me, with some people it's totally necessary. 

I will admit that the majority of the time when I use that phrase is at work to avoid having an adult sized temper tantrum.  I used to smoke cigarettes and that was my release.  Anytime that someone or something upset me I would go downstairs, smoke, gossip about the new couple at work, and feel better.  Then I quit.  What was I supposed to do with all this pent up rage that isn't expelled anymore with the nicotine and 10,000 other harmful chemicals... Now I use humor; sometimes dark, but always funny.  Enter the warning.  The warning, at that point, is more reassurance for me instead of a serious warning for the other person.

Close your eyes, count to 10 and whisper 'You're on the list'...

We need our own cow(s)

It amazes me how much children like milk.  Wait, not like milk, love milk.  Especially my kids.  They really just need one of those water bottles that you put on the side of hamster cages just full of milk, so in essence like a never-ending supply.  I can't feel bad though because above all else it's healthy for you and has vitamins and minerals.   

When you deliver a baby they really should tell you that in a few short years it will be more financially beneficial to you if you just buy a cow for all of the milk and cheese that your children are going to consume.  For just adding two small children to our family, it seems like we buy at least twice the amount of milk and cheese that we did before we had kids.   

On a normal week where the kids will be at home the majority of the time, we will need 3 gallons of milk.  Now granted during the week days we are supplying three children two and under with milk, but that still is a lot of milk.  And Isabella could eat cheese morning, noon and night so we always have a drawer full of cheese in our fridge.  I swear that we are single-handedly keeping the dairy industry alive right now with all of the milk that we drink. 

Corry and I have never really been into milk as adults.  Every so often one of us will get a craving for milk but rarely.  We would be good to drink a half gallon before it would go bad.  We really only bought milk if we had a recipe that required milk.  I knew once we had children that we would consume more milk as a family but I never anticipated that we would drink this much.  We really only ate milk with cereal and things like this.  I used to LOVE milk growing up and I don't care what anyone says - there was nothing that beat a cold glass of chocolate milk.  But as an adult, I just found milk to have this odd taste and left this weird film feeling in my mouth - blech. 

We have been having conversations recently about looking into local or raw milk since there are currently attempts to add aspartame to milk products without notifying the consumers.  We are vehemently opposed to this because we are trying to keep out kids away from aspartame as much as possible.  Unfortunately, with milk that is local or raw milk comes a rather large price tag and we would be looking at spending almost $100 a month if not more just on milk.  I would love to be able to do it and we would do it if we had to but it would be a stretch. 

If you have cows for sale, let me know!

Eyebrow torture

Naturally I have super thick eyebrows.  They require a lot of maintenance to not look like 'wolverine' according to my husband.  I am willing to admit that I need some help with them because I am completely inept when it comes to shaping my brows.  I have watched multiple videos and read lots of beauty blogs and still just can't get it together.  So off to decide which option is for me...

Any of the options for eyebrow maintenance were probably used as torture in the 15th century.  First you could pull one piece of hair out at a time, or you can slather some burning hot wax on your hair and rip it off, or you could cover the unwanted hair with the smelliest cream known to man that burns your hair off, or you could let someone at a salon shoot lasers at your hair follicles for ungodly amounts of money in hopes that your hair never grows back.  They all sound like great options, right ladies? 

For years, I tweezed my brows just where I needed to.  When I started getting my nails done in high school, I started getting them waxed.  This wasn't awesome, but it was quick and seemed like it lasted longer than tweezing. 

This week I decided that I wanted to start getting my brows done again since I am in this new year of trying to woo my husband again and start feeling more like me again.  I had NO idea where to get my brows done, but decided that I wanted to try getting my eyebrows threaded.  I figured that it couldn't be that bad considering that I was used to getting them waxed.  I figured wrong. 

I decided to go to this kiosk in the closest mall that is *always* busy, because I figured busy was a good sign.  I left my name and came back 15 minutes later since they said there was a line.  The woman who took my information was very friendly.  I sat/laid in this chair that was super reclined and tried to relax.  I had no idea what was coming because I figured being surprised was better than knowing about any impending pain. 

I felt the thread on my left eye and two seconds later RIP!!  OMG, I think that I might die!  It was kind of the pain of waxing but it takes about 12 rips to get from one side of your eye to the other on the top and then another 12 to get back on the under side.  When they get to the outside they make you hold your eye closed with one hand and the other on your forehead pulling the skin taut.  This involvement doesn't help the pain, but more makes you a party to your own injury. 

It took about five minutes total but seemed like a lot longer.  They looked good immediately and she did an excellent job shaping them.  They put some powder and some witch hazel on afterwards and trimmed them down.  I appreciated this detail work because I don't get that from every salon that I go to.  And even better... the charge for this torture?  $10.00 before tip. 

The best part about eyebrow threading is that I wasn't red and swollen afterwards like I always am after getting them waxed.  The worst part is that she pinched the you know what out of the underside of my eyebrow and I now have a line of small sores.  Unfortunately, I have had worse injuries from waxing.  I'm not sure if I have the courage to do this again.  You can see from the obvious tan line on the under side of my eye that it had been awhile since I plucked my brows - perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if they were better maintained. 

Let me know - have you had your brows threaded? 

-Sara

My kids are turning me into a mental patient

Today has been a hard day and I just need to vent. 

After having my first child, I came to the conclusion that I am not the ideal parent for a newborn.  The lack of sleep, the inability to communicate, the feeling like you are going to break something on them when you hold them because they are so tiny, all turn me into this anxious, emotional wreck that is less than ideal.  I had this general idea when I was still pregnant that I was going to have instant amazing relationships with my newborns and that they would sleep forever and I would have plenty of time to enjoy my time off with my children. 

Contrary to that my children didn't sleep as newborns.  Isabella didn't really nap a lot and probably only slept 10 hours per day total and most of those were, luckily, at night when she was sleeping in our bed.  Until he fell out of my parent's camper (separate story), Silas slept a total of about 7-8 hours per day.  He didn't really nap for very long and he was awake 4-5 times every night. 

And a little gem that wasn't fully disclosed before I had kids: newborns cry a lot.  Those women who say their newborn doesn't cry a lot are either extremely lucky or lying.  My vote is for the later.  This is a topic for a later post but I want to say it now and get it out of the way - when you become a parent, you develop this organic need to brag about your children all the time.  Your average baby suddenly becomes a baby genius because she looked at an elephant when you said gray.  So don't be surprised when you run into that.  Back on topic...

As much as I am not the ideal newborn mother, I absolutely LOVE the age once your children start showing their personalities.  Once they develop out of that "I am a crying sloth" stage and can move, communicate with you, move their limbs with purpose, etc - that's where the real fun begins.  My love and my excitement to see my children learn new things and explore the world grows every day.  My recent days within the past few months have been amazing and ridiculously enjoyable now that both are walking and interacting with each other.   

However, the last two days my children are trying to turn me into a mental patient.  Isabella is 29 months old and Silas is 14 months old.  Both are walking.  Silas says about 8 words and Isabella says about 2,000 including sentences and phrases.  She spends 99.9% of the time that she is awake talking.  I love this though because she learns so much every day.  You can tell from day to day that she is learning. 

Since Isabella is in that '2 year old' age range, she is headstrong, stubborn, and very smart.  Headstrong and stubborn are key words that any person who has ever had a two year old should recognize as 'terrible twos'.  She doesn't listen, she pushes Silas down, and she is having more tantrum than I thought possible.  This has been going on for awhile but has really just come to a head over the last few days and it makes me feel like I'm going insane. 

Silas has long been a difficult child.  He screams at the top of his lungs and cries at the drop of a hat.  He has thrown tantrums since he was about a month old if he doesn't get everything that he wants.  He is the polar opposite of Isabella as far as behavior - he pinches, he shoves, he snatches things that he wants.  He is also super headstrong - where are they getting this from?  I'm voting Corry.   

I hate to complain like this because she will have a few off days and then she will be fantastic for like a week and you wonder where this angel child came from.  And even on days like today when she is absolutely being crazy she is still amazing and fun and incredibly intelligent.   I learn so much from my children each and every day.  I love being able to see the world from a child's eyes.  They are so amused by simple things that adults take for granted.  I love them more than life itself and I wouldn't trade who they are for the world. 

Now it's time for bed to hopefully prep for a better day.  I'm getting my hair done tomorrow for the first time since I was pregnant with Isabella, I think, so that's something to look forward to even if they still act like crazies. 

-Sara  

What's for dinner?

Sigh. 

Anyone who has been a couple for more than five minutes knows, has said and regrets hearing this question.  I will never understand why it's so difficult for two people to agree on one thing to have for dinner.  I mean, everyone knows what foods they like and what foods they don't like.  Are we afraid that people are going to judge us if we say that we want steak versus Italian food?  Have we developed some sort of amnesia and are now incapable of describing the food that we are hungry for?  Perhaps it's because we want something weird like donuts for dinner or something like that. 

My husband and I literally have this discussion every single night unless there is a meal plan in place in our house.  If we plan out seven meals for the week and allow ourselves to pick from those meals then it doesn't seem near as stressful.  We know what we are having already.  Most of the time the prep work is done on the longer to cook meals.  The most that you normally have to worry about is what vegetable we are going to cook with which dinner. 

It's literally so easy to meal plan... why don't we do it more often?  There are like a million and one people online willing to tell you how to meal plan but you could just use common sense and plan out five-seven meals that you will eat at home.  Plus we save money on grocery shopping when we meal plan because we know what we are buying ahead of time and don't tend to impulse buy.  I don't know about you, but if Corry and I haven't planned groceries and meals for the week before shopping then we end up buying food items for more than 7 meals for some reason, plus we buy more breakfast, lunch and snack items than we need. 

With that being said, this upcoming week, I am back on the meal planning bandwagon.  With my new shift at work, I am home from work every night before dinner gets started so that gives me the option to cook something every night.  I was relying on Corry to cook those three nights that I wasn't home before dinner needed to get started.  Let me say that Corry is a good cook, but trying to cook dinner often doesn't turn out as expected with two rowdy children under two and a half who are often times acting like crazy lunatics and are trying to crawl into the oven. 

Let me say that Corry and I normally make out a list of seven items that we would like to eat and then just choose the meal for the day from that list instead of going in order.  This week we really only need to plan four meals because we are going camping Friday night. 

1. Spaghetti, garlic bread and toasted ravioli
2. Taco Pasta Bake - I have a recipe post here for this on this blog from January.
3. Chicken Cordon Bleu, veggie and pasta side dish
4. Pulled pork sandwiches and tator tots

Meal plan complete.  Next step - tackling the grocery store on the weekends.  I will advise if I survive. 

-Sara