Sleep Habits

Filed Under One Month, Sleep | 1 Comment

Last night I put Bailey down at 12:30 (well Jonathon got home late so she had to stay up to see him) and she slept until 7:30 this morning before waking up to be fed! Normally she goes anywhere from about 3.5/4 hours to about 6 hours, so this was great. She has only gone 7 hours one other time. She is usually a good sleeper, though. From the beginning we have been putting her in bed while she is still awake, so she has learned to go to sleep on her own. I love rocking her, but I don’t want a child that is dependent on being rocked to sleep or nursed to sleep.

Also she has been practicing sleeping in her crib during naptime once in a while. I was afraid she wouldn’t like it if she had never been in it and then we switched her from the bassinet all of a sudden.

Forgive Us Our Debts

Filed Under Home Sweet Home, Money, PPP | 3 Comments

We don’t have too many of them, but man does it drive me crazy to think about the stuff we owe on. Mostly it’s just normal stuff like home mortgage loan, Jonathon’s student loan, and one car payment. We have one credit card that we use, and we pay it off each month. Now we have some medical bills and stuff from Bailey’s birth that weren’t covered by my insurance. For one thing, the epidural. $600, none of which was covered. Funny, that’s the one thing I don’t mind paying for at all. It was worth every penny. I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the stuff we are paying on, because the medical bills are from a few different places. Yeah, I’m a nerd with stuff like that.

Sometimes I think we would have a lot more money right now if we hadn’t bought a house already. I was reading about how younger people are rushing into buying houses but I don’t really think buying a house was a mistake for us. We’ve been here for two years and we already have *some* equity in our house. We didn’t pay a whole lot in closing costs. And we like it here.

The thing that I am really glad we didn’t do was get an adjustable rate mortgage. I know quite a few people who did that and now they are rushing to refinance. I also know a few people who made the mistake of buying too much on credit at some point. When we first got married we financed some furniture, a mattress, windows, a computer, and a bunch of other junk. We paid them all off before we got any finance charges but it was a pain. I am glad to be out of that trap. Anyway I guess I am rambling but I have been scurrying around today trying to straighten out some bills and stuff.

This post was sponsored by Pay Per Post.

Memorial Day Weekend

Filed Under Holidays | 4 Comments

Ready for church- her first time sitting through service because last time we just went to Sunday School. She did so well- mostly slept and ate of course but I was glad to know she could make it through without causing a scene or having to get up and leave or something.

Look how big she is in her bassinet now!

She was smiling at her daddy but I couldn’t manage to get a picture of any of the really big smiles.

At Grammy and Grampa’s house for Memorial Day


Funny face

Her hairbow fell down and of course we all thought it was hilarious instead of just moving it out of her face…

Why is everyone laughing and taking pictures? Just get this stupid thing off my eyes!

Our first happy (or at least content) bath experience

She made it through my whole bath without any tears! Maybe because she was so tired she just didn’t care…

Diapers

Filed Under Diapers/Potty, Input Needed | 6 Comments

Well, it’s official… Bailey’s little bottom is moving up to Size 1 today. She has two newborn diapers left to wear and then we are done with those. This is technically the first thing she has outgrown. My favorite newborn diapers were Pampers Swaddlers but they seemed to run the smallest. Then she wore Target ones for a while and then moved into the Huggies which seemed the biggest. (We have quite the variety thanks to our diaper shower and my mom).

I opened a pack of Pampers Size 1 and they look huge. Without opening ALL my diapers and going through them, does anyone know what seems to run the smallest in this size? And prevent leg-hole blowouts the best? We haven’t had many but that is the only spot that leaks on her- not the back or front of anything, just those legs. I noticed it more with Huggies I think they didn’t seal as tightly. Also, have you found a cheap generic diaper that works well? The Target ones seem decent but I’m willing to try others.

Last night I got a little delusional and looked at a cloth diaper website. Then I remembered I didn’t want to wash poo every day. Plus, those things are expensive!

Scrooge McDuck

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When I was in about third grade, my friend Cara and I used to run home from the bus stop every day so that we could make it into the house in time to watch Duck Tales. The coolest part was Uncle Scrooge swimming around in his gold coins. I wouldn’t mind having a pile like that sitting around.

I just read that the world demand for silver exceeds annual production, and has every year since 1990. Since WWII the US Govt has been releasing its silver stash back into the world economy and now they are buying silver again to replenish.

They are saying that there may never be a better time for buying silver bullion (which is basically silver bars) than right now. Same thing with gold, and gold coins. Something I wouldn’t mind having as an investment. It sounds a little more exciting than stocks and bonds and all that stuff.

I have found a company, Monex Deposit Company (MDC), where you can purchase silver, gold or other precious metals and coins. They can be delivered immediately or stored in a bank. For over 30 years, the Monex companies have been America’s gold, silver and precious metals investment leader.

Congrats to Julie!

Filed Under Friends | 1 Comment

My friend Julie just gave birth to her baby girl, Emilie. She called me the other day to let me know so I am guessing she was born on Thursday. They got home from the hospital this morning. She should be posting some pics soon… Stop by her blog and congratulate her!

Pay Per Post

Filed Under PPP | 1 Comment

So I have a new obsession. I have become addicted to Pay Per Post. I found out about it through Kittymama and I have figured that I can make a little extra money doing this. Since I love blogging anyway, and I update my blog all the time, it’s not so hard just to do some blog reviews of different things and make some cash while I’m at it. It’s actually pretty fun.

So far I have only done two paid posts, both of which have now been approved so I guess my grand total so far is $12.00, but I hope to get more into this and get a little faster at it. Plus, it seems like the more experience I get, the better opportunities I will be able to take. The money will be great for supplementing Jonathon’s income, now that I’m not going back to work

If you want to try it out for yourself, there is a sign up form in my sidebar right now.

Fuzz Head Baby

Filed Under Diapers/Potty, One Month | 2 Comments

I finally have a minute just to chat. I slept really well last night, but of course I am getting the “late afternoon” tired thing right now. Probably doesn’t help that Bailey is sleeping against my chest in her sling… my eyes are kind of droopy but I am going to dinner in like a half an hour with my mom and grandma, so no time for a nap. We are eating barbecue- note to self- do not eat the spicy sauce.

Last night Bailey was a little fussy after dinner. I think she was just tired, I was tired of holding her (gasp) and wanted her to sleep in her swing. She disagreed. She also wanted a binky, which is rare, but then it kept falling out of her mouth and she’d get mad. jonathon worked a little bit late, so when he got home at 9:15 I was like, “Congratulations, she’s yours the rest of the evening!” I feel guilty doing that after he’s been at work all day, but honestly sometimes I just need a break from having a baby attached to me in a sling or on a boob or in my lap. And I tend to either nap or get stuff done while she’s sleeping during the day, so then I haven’t had much “me” time by the end of the day. But we put her down about midnight when we were ready to go to bed and she slept until almost 6 a.m., then I fed her and got her back down around 7:15 and we slept again until 10:45.

I think she would have slept a little longer this morning except we had our breastfeeding support group/mommy’s social group. It’s at a maternity support store in the area and there are some really nice ladies that go to the group. This was my second time going and there were about 20 women there this time. Lots of little babies, some even younger than Bailey. The oldest one is about 9 months, I think. Anyway they also have a book club that meets on Tuesday mornings once a month, so I think I might try going to that next month. I am trying to build as much of a stay-at-home/social life as I can for myself.

Let’s see, what has Bailey been doing lately… still not socially smiling but she will smile randomly when she’s happy. She has now smiled several times at the ceiling fan and the windows. Apparently those just really make her happy. What can I say. She has learned to cough in the last week and she will cough once in a while, I think just for fun. She looks right at me when she does it. She never sounds like she’s choking or spitting up or anything when it happens. Today for the first time she is in her sling with her feet out. She was trying to push up in it and couldn’t settle down, so she’s in it like a big girl right now with it just under her bottom and around her back. I think she is starting to get more hair. Her head feels fuzzier and I love to kiss it and rub my face against it. She has almost outgrown newborn size diapers. She is wearing Hugg1es right now and they seem to run the biggest. Next package we will probably do size ones. Any ideas on which brand runs the smallest in that size? P@mpers seemed to be the smallest newborn ones.

Well, that’s my life lately. Breastfeeding and fuzzy head and diapers and waiting for my baby to smile at me. And I am loving it.

Busy bees

Filed Under One Month | 2 Comments

We have been so busy the last few days. Jonathon’s parents were in town on their way to Florida, so we saw them for two days. They will be there for the summer as Bob serves as a temporary pastor in a Haitian church there– so this is the last time they will see Bailey for the next few months. I think they really enjoyed their time with her, though.

I had a bridal shower at our house on Sunday for my friend Renee, who is getting married in July. I think it went really well but unfortunately I was so busy taking video of it that I didn’t get any regular camera pictures Jonathon has been very busy at work because the end of the school year is coming up. He will be working late a few nights this week, I think. And one of my mom’s coworkers, Tammy, lost her son this weekend in a car accident so we went to his wake last night… he was only 16 and his parents just looked awful. I can’t even imagine…

Anyway, I know it’s been a while since I posted some pictures, so here are the most recent ones. Mommy tortured Bailey again with a few photo sessions, but we got the cute angel picture and the next one where she’s in the blue and white outfit.

Our angel baby

This is her official “One Month Old” picture that I took.

She likes tv just like her daddy. We have learned to face her seat away from the tv or she just zones out and watches it. She even gets that same glazed-over look like he does!

Bailey and Daddy

No More Spicy Food

Filed Under Breastfeeding, Food, One Month | 3 Comments

Dumb Mommy made the mistake of having enchiladas for dinner last night… while I was eating them I even commented to Jonathon about how spicy they were but I didn’t think about breastfeeding at all. So when I fed Bailey around 11 she just fussed and fussed. Once I tried to put her in bed she screamed and screamed. We kept thinking she would go to sleep eventually and kept settling her down and trying again. Finally Jonathon got her up around 2 to see if she was still hungry and she threw up from one end of the kitchen to the other. Then she was fine.

Duh… today I figured out what caused that and do I ever feel guilty!

Rolling Over?

Filed Under Milestones, One Month | Leave a Comment

By the way, before I forget I wanted to write down that Bailey officially rolled over at 1 month and 1 day old. She was having tummy time and rolled to her side, then kicked her legs and ended up on her back within a few seconds. We’ll see if she can do that again any time soon!

She also seems to be smiling AT me a little bit more lately- it still might be just random, but at least she looks at me when it happens

Five weeks old today- the time is flying by! She gets more fun each day.

Registry Stuff

Filed Under Baby Gear, PPP, Shopping | Leave a Comment

So people have been asking us if we are still buying tons of baby stuff. We are really lucky, or blessed, or whatever you want to say, because we were given almost everything we needed at our showers and from my parents. We have only bought one pack of diapers so far because we got so many at the diaper shower- and we even have about 300 or so Size 1 diapers when she moves up to those, and also a bunch of Size 2′s.

The only thing from either or our registries that we still want is our exersaucer (which I figure I can always buy a used one) or this nightlight:

The nightlight is only available online anyway, so I will have to order it from Target. Hopefully I can use some Target coupons. I found a coupon site where I can get free shipping anyway so I’m sure I’ll end up clothes shopping for Bailey there too. This site also has coupons for Kohl’s and a bunch of other places so this is an exciting new discovery for me

Speaking of clothes- one of the moms from our playgroup gave me a bunch of really cute girl clothes and I can’t wait for Bailey to be able to wear them! If you are reading this, thanks Linda!

Bath Pictures

Filed Under One Month | Leave a Comment

Just thought these were cute and wanted to post them while I had a minute. Bath time seems to be going better lately- she still cries but it’s not quite as traumatic! Although I did get peed on yesterday after her bath…

trying something

Filed Under Random | Leave a Comment

experimenting

Vacation Time

Filed Under PPP, Travel | Leave a Comment

I am really wishing we could go on a vacation sometime soon. Not that I want to leave Bailey, but our goal was to take a vacation at least once a year. Last year, we did well and made it to Canada, Mexico, Memphis, and probably somewhere else that I’m forgetting. This year, so far we have gone nowhere. Our friends Jen and Aaron are going to Punta Cana next month and I’m slightly jealous.

Part of the problem is that I am now officially a stay at home mom, so I’m thinking we don’t have a lot of extra money for vacations right now… at least until we figure out what our money situation is going to be like. The only time we have really been on one income before was last summer for a few months while I was off work.

I have still been browsing web sites and trying to find good vacation deals to see if it’s possible. I have been looking at Cheap Hotels and they guarantee the lowest rates. You can book hotels, airfare, and cars from there. It is really tempting to splurge and just book a “mini vacation” but I think I would be in trouble if I did that today, considering that it is my first official day knowing that I’m not going back to work!

I think our first real opportunity to take a vacation will be this fall. My mom offered to watch Bailey for a long weekend or even a week while we take a trip. I wanted our next vacation to be to the Dominican, but I’m not sure that’s in the budget right now. We might be looking at something more like Vegas or Florida Of course I always appreciate input on cheap vacation ideas. Not a big fan of road trips or driving, but I will do it if it’s not too far and can save us a lot of money.