We moved both kids to big/bigger kid beds last night. Dee still woke up twice, but no worse than normal! She *loves* that she can get in and out of her bed by herself. J still slept like a rockstar, as he always does. He loves his big bed! We got his bedding and bed from Ikea (bed frame, duvet cover, sheets). Dee has her old mattress and moved into the toddler bed that my father-in-law made for J when he turned two.
J's bed is sort of temporary. I will (this summer) be making him this bed (from Ana White's website) so that he and Dee will have more room in their shared room. He will be keeping his mattress since it's brand new and we just dropped a small fortune on it. It's important to us that our kids' exposure to outgassed, manmade chemicals be minimized when possible (lots of reasons why, but a good summary is given in Breasts, a Natural and Unnatural History), so we went with an organic cotton mattress for Dee (from Munchkin, got it at Target) and the Sultan Heggedal natural material mattress from Ikea for J. I figure he's going to be using it til he moves out, so it was worth the investment. He said it's a little too "hard" but it should soften a bit with use, and if it's still too firm we can always get a topper. Although the way he's been jumping on it, it might get softer really fast...
I am a big fan of Mike Bennett and his work, and he has a number of short story collections available. One of them, Salvation and Other Stories, is currently available for *free* via the Amazon kindle store. So hop on over there and get it, read it, and rate it!
This collection includes "Night Crossing" which is the introduction to Mike's epic vampire saga Underwood and Flinch which is available as a free podcast through iTunes. I really, really love the book and can't wait to buy it when it does come out in paper.
As spring approaches, and the urge to refresh the home encroaches (ha! I'm a poet!), I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to save money on small (and not-so-small) things, as well as some helpful things when getting rid of your stuff.
(This may or may not have been inspired by the fact that we've been cleaning and organizing our own house lately. Hard work but I am looking forward to the final result!)
Clothing, shoes (kids and adults), and household items:
I really like Zulily. They offer goods at discounted prices. Zulily offers shipping deals (i.e. pay shipping on your first order in a given 24-hour period, but all orders between then and midnight ship free). They also have awesome toy and book deals once in a while. If you haven't signed up yet, please use my referral links!
Totsy is now Modnique Kids. I have no experience ordering from them yet, and they don't seem to have a referral program, but if you use it please comment below to let me know how it works!
Ink for your printers:
Use code sigler13 at 4inkjets.com for 10% off your order and free shipping on orders over $50. We've used them before and they are AWESOME. We got our ink like 3 days after ordering for way cheaper than buying it at the store. More details here: http://scottsigler.com/4inkjets-coupon-codes.
Use code "KATG" for Stamps.com (click the microphone in the upper right at stamps.com) to get a $110 special offer, including a $50 value postal scale (5lb digital), $5 in free postage (with an additional $50 added if you stay past your trial period), and some postal labels. If you hate the post office and want to purge your house of things (i.e. selling your stuff on Ebay, or if you have a home business), this could seriously be a lifesaver. The mailperson will just pick up the stuff from your house! Note: this is a 4 week free trial. You will be charged $15.99 a month after your 4 week trial. You get to keep everything from your special offer even if you cancel, though.
Don't forget consignment stores and thrift shops! They are great ways to be green about your spending (or purging). Goodwill and Arc both take donations and turn the profits from sales around to do good in their communities, and they are great places to pick up furniture and clothes on the cheap. The Arc will come and pick up donations from your house, including furniture, if you call and let them know you have stuff. I am a HUGE fan of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which also takes donations and specializes in home-improvement materials, appliances, and large furniture.
My beautiful light, from the ReStore!
My favorite consignment store for kid's stuff is Once Upon a Child. These kids grow like weeds, and it's so wonderful to take a bag of stuff once every few months (they buy gently-used clothes, shoes, books and toys), turn it into cash, and buy the kids some new, much-needed clothing! Even if they only buy 1/3 or 1/2 of the things I bring in, I still break even or better nearly all of the time. Plus they have stamp cards (at my local one, anyway) where for every $10 you spend or sell, you get a stamp, and then when you fill your stamp card (20 stamps) you get 20% off a future purchase. OUAC is a franchise, so individual stores may vary, but I've generally been very happy with them!
Consignment for adults is harder. I've shopped and sold to both Plato's Closet and the Clothes Mentor before, but I'm not actually fashionable enough to sell much to either. I do like shopping there, it's a great place to get almost-new stuff for 1/4 to 1/3 of the price of new! Plato's Closet caters to the teen crowd, so venture forth only if you're feeling prepared to fight off the teeny-boppers. Depending on the individual store (also franchised) they do offer 50% more cash when you redeem your goods in exchange for a gift card for the store.
Finally, we come to TradeSmart. I can't even tell you how much I love this store. It's got movies, books, games, etc, both used and new. You can sell books, games, music and movies (they even take VHS) to them in exchange for cash or a gift card (which allows you to get 50% more money for your trade). Plus, it's a brick-and-mortar book store, which is a wonderful thing. Also, every time I shop there, I'm all "Shop Smart. Shop TradeSmart."
Yeah. I know. I'm a dork.
Anyway. Happy cleaning!
I was not paid by and am not affiliated with any of the above for these comments. They are just awesome and I wanted to share!
It's me. I know that when you read this (again) J will be 5 and probably in kindergarten preschool, and Hush Puppy will be approaching 2. I just wanted to remind you that just in case your clock has started ticking again, you SO do not want to be pregnant again. C has probably already had a vasectomy, but don't get any ideas anyway.
I'm writing this at 19 weeks pregnant with Hush Puppy. I can't walk very long before my low back, hips, and groin start threatening to jump ship. I swear it sometimes feels like my pelvis is going to fall off. My boobs are already 34Gs (you'll have to let me know if they ended up getting bigger after the baby comes). My belly is constantly uncomfortably stretching, and it is hard to get comfortable when I lay down. I can't really bend over terribly far any more. I haven't gained much weight yet (about 2 pounds, I think), but this pregnancy is really hard on my body. I don't ever want to do this again, you hear? Also, the Braxton Hicks contractions have been hanging around and coming on strong a couple times a day. Fun, right? Oh, and sex? Forget it. It's not remotely enjoyable, which sucks because while I had no sex drive with J at least once I got going it was great. It's just really unpleasant and uncomfortable and leaves me aching afterward, and not in a good way. I haven't had an orgasm since...hmm. It's been a while.
Anyway, I hope the kids are great and the dogs are great and that C is great and doing very well in his career.
J turned 5 this month (*sob*). We had a big old pirate party, and it was amazing. The kids all had a great time and, most importantly, J was absolutely thrilled with the decorations and things. So here we go!
Pirate hats - Acquired with eye patches, swords, and mustaches (as desired) by arriving guests.
The treasure chest: Goodie bags (a.k.a. treasure) was put in the chest, which was made of a divided cardboard box and duct tape. The tissue paper was taped over the bags, red "X" marks the spot! This worked great until J got impatient during the plunder and ripped off the whole sheet...oh well. The kids had to do a treasure hunt and find the treasure chest (with the help of First Mate Daddy).
Treasure bags - sewn from black fabric and stamped using poster paint
Booty!
The "Pirate Pirate" - This ship (complete with two cannons) served as plaything, pirate gear storage (swords, etc), and gift receptacle. The white thing is one of the clues from the treasure hunt!
The Jolly Roger (which may or may not still be hanging up, on J's request)
"To Prevent Scurvy"
Pirate Booty, Cuties oranges, Grog (root beer), cannonballs (chocolate cake balls), and there were Goldfish crackers that I hadn't put in that blue bowl yet when I took the picture.
Dee is only waking up once per night (yay!!) but I still suck at putting her back in her bed. So we're making progress, but we're not there yet. My mom informed me that my brother used to be like this, and he is *still* a terrible sleeper at 24. So that's not particularly encouraging.
And here's a picture of Dee (with a cold) with pigtails *squeee!!* (Not squeeing for the cold, just the pigtails. That cold was hellish.)
I'm having a little trouble getting into the swing of things this morning, so let me just brain vomit on you for a while. Anyone who needs a towel is welcome to grab one. ;-)
My baby is 5 now. 5. FIVE. I get that he isn't a baby anymore, but 5 is no longer a toddler, no longer even a preschooler. He's 5 and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall (and soccer, too, if he still wants to). He's smart and sweet and so polite (it kills me a little when he says "Yes, ma'am" to me). Don't get me wrong, he's certainly got his mean moments and the occasional attitude, but over all, J is just about the sweetest little boy I've ever met. He sings songs to his sister (mostly "Rock a bye baby" which I think is probably a sweet way to threaten to put your baby in a tree if they don't stop crying). He makes crafts and things all the time. The other day he just made a dinosaur sculpture out of cardboard, told me it was a new duckbill that lives underground (so didn't go extinct), and named it "Dinoduckduck Di" for it's species name. He writes songs about superheroes and P-funk. I love him so much I can't breathe when I think about it.
As J and Dee both get older, the urgedesireneed ache for another baby (specifically a boy) is getting stronger. I know I hate being pregnant. I am sick the first half of the pregnancy, then everything hurts and I can't sleep and my sciatica gets so bad I can hardly walk. The heartburn is horrible. There's the utter exhaustion. But then...there's the magic of seeing that little pink line. Of knowing (in between pukes) that there's a person you are building, cell by cell, inside you. Speculations of whether that person is a he or a she. The little wiggles. Having the baby all to yourself. And the delivery...if I could have another delivery like Dee's, I would do it in a heartbeat. C is not on board with this.
I'm a little torn. I have *always* wanted 4 kids. I have 3 younger siblings, and 4 older ones (WAY older, like 15-20 years older, so we're not very close). When we were first talking about family, we had decided that we'd have 2 biological kids (presumably boys, given how C's family goes) and adopt 2 kids (girls). Once we entered the real adult world and realized that adoption is super expensive ($17-$30k, from the estimates I've seen) we have sort of pared down to adopt only one, just for financial reasons. I just can't deal with the heartbreak of the foster-to-adopt system, and I really want a baby so I can breastfeed it. But this yearning inside for 1 more biological kid is really tough. I would love to have a biological kid in a few years, and then adopt one so they have age-mates (within a couple years) like J and Dee, who are 3 years apart.
I want to thank my friend Brea Peters for this fantastic tutorial! She made this awesome Minnie Coupe for her sweet daughter, who happens to be the same age as Dee. Brea can be found on Etsy (where she makes some seriously awesome tees and bows) with her shop SASSIEnSWEETboutique. Check it out!
DIY: Cozy Coupe into a Minnie Coupe
1. Disassemble the car (take off the roof, pull out the steering wheel.
2. Sand everything down. You need to do this so the paint sticks better.
3. Tape off the wheels (I used plastic sacks and taped them). 4. Spray the body pink and the top black ( I used Krylon Spray paint).
5. When the pink is dry paint the polka dots ( I used a bowl for the "stencil" and white latex paint). 6. Put it all back together.
7. This step my DH did. He cut two circles with flat bottoms out of wood, painted them black and attached them with screws from underneath the roof (they are super secure and won't come off).
8. Attach a bow :). I made my bow from pieces of hot pink and white polka dot fabric that comes in pre-cut pieces ( at Hobby Lobby in the same aisle as the bandanas and pre-cut felt pieces) I literally just made it into a bow and hot glued it to the wood :).
9. I personalized it a bit by adding DD's name to the license plate area and then painted Minnie Coupe on the front. 10. Stand back and say "damn I'm good!!" :)
Thanks for the inquiries about the ear size, I'm waiting to hear back from Brea about it!
J (now that he's 5) has requested chores to do so he can earn an allowance. After searching a bit, I found this great chart that breaks down chores by age! (from The Happy Housewife). Since I want to start simply, I think I will make a chart for both kids, probably with magnets and a dead cookie sheet (which I can cover with fabric). Dee is enthusiastic about cleaning up, but she doesn't really put things "way" where they go always. We've found some funny things in our tupperware cabinet as a result of her help, anyway!
(Click the photo for the source site)
I think to start, we'll have J do the following:
1. Vacuum entryway.
2. Mop the entryway.
3. Feed the dogs and let them out of their kennels after they're done eating.
4. 5 minute clean up of the living room (toys, clothes, books)
5. Make his bed.
6. Help put his clothes away.
Dee's chores:
1. Put stuffed animals away.
2. Put books away.
3. Wipe down baseboards. (Maybe. We'll see how she does with this one.)
4. Help put her clothes away.
J will be earning money, but I don't think Dee needs to do that yet. Maybe when she turns 5? Or understands? I think C and I had agreed on $1 a week for J, as long as he does everything on his list. A magnetic chart will definitely make it easier.
We had that one lovely night. Then we had the canines. (cue horror movie music)
The four worst teeth.
One. After. Another. For 2 months.
Finally, they are all through. Yay!
I've been sort of trying to do this approach, where basically you just gently stop letting baby nurse if she doesn't sleep between nursings at night, and don't nurse baby to sleep between, say, 11 and 6. This is for the first 3 nights. We've sort of been stalled here for the last few weeks. *yawn*
Oy.
Dee has spent many more nights in her own bed, but I still have a hideous time putting her back in her own bed if she wakes up at like 3 or 4. I'd rather go back in my bed and sleep, even if it means bringing her with me.
(Also, I'm going to start calling my baby girl Dee, because it's closer to what her name is, and she does sometimes get called this (when she was born, I had thought we'd call her a nickname that started with L, but that didn't really stick). I may start calling J "Jay" here, but I don't know. So for now, I will be going back and changing references to "L" to say "Dee." Maybe. I'll work on it. So please don't be confused!)
