April First, Celebrating Firsts

I decided to celebrate the first day of April, I would like to share some of Anna's firsts and celebrate them with you.

Post edited to remove photos and videos.

Win a Be Jeweled Tutu!

Once again, I'm not feeling wordy as I'm in a daze of exhaustion, but if you go over to Little Piddles, they're giving away an adorable little tutu! Who doesn't want one for their little girl? :)

Breastfeeding Fact O' The Week

Toddlers between the ages of 12 and 24 months benefit from breastfeeding.

There has been little research on nursing beyond the age of two, but from the research before the age of two, there is a lot of great benefits. So moms who nurse toddlers, sing its praises! I know I sure will.

If you haven't discovered Kelly Mom (kellymom.com) yet, then you ought to. As a breastfeeding mom, this site is chock full of answers and questions to your every day nursing needs.

According to Kelly Mom and its researched experts, here are the nutrients found in breastmilk after that first year of a little one's life:

In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:

• 29% of energy requirements
• 43% of protein requirements
• 36% of calcium requirements
• 75% of vitamin A requirements
• 76% of folate requirements
• 94% of vitamin B₁₂ requirements
• 60% of vitamin C requirements

448 mL of breastmilk is just 15 liquid ounces! Just that little bit of milk contains that many vitamins and nutrients! If you ask me, that just goes to prove how awesome a woman's body is. Her breastmilk grows her child's body, mind, and immune system for the first year and beyond!

I found this interesting: A study done in Bangladesh found that breastmilk beyond the first year is a significant source of Vitamin A for the nursing toddler. Vitamin A deficiency is often found in undeveloped countries where left untreated and at its worse can cause irreversible blindness!

Well, my nursing toddler just so happens to be poking at the screen, causing me irreversible laptop blindness, so I should go. ;)

To read more, click here and visit Kellymom.com!

Win an Awesome Stroller

Just go to this link. I'm not feeling very "Wordy" today.
CLICK HERE

Cloth Diaper Giveaway

Check out From Dates to Diapers for info and also check out Mandi's Menagerie for more info! :)

Rocking Zebra

Overwhelmed with Joy hosts Favorite Ingredients Friday every week. I admit that I'm not much of a cook, but I LOVE to do crafts! So, today I'm sharing one of my favorite crafts that I did about a year ago when Anna was maybe five or six months old.I made a Rocking Zebra for my daughter. It all started with a trip to a second hand store. There were two children in the corner of the store playing with an old rocking horse. It was a plain brown horse with a matted mane, but the kids didn't care! They LOVED that toy. Their mom came by after a few minutes and practically pried the kids away from the beloved (and well loved) rocking horse. There was a smaller rocking horse a few feet away. It had no mane and was painted crazy colors. The kids ignored that horse. After a few minutes of me circling the rocking horses, I talked my hubby into letting me buy a horse for a project. The smaller horse was 10 dollars and the bigger horse that the kids loved was priced at 12 dollars. I am so frugal, frugally frugal... or FRUGALICIOUS, that I talked myself into getting the ten dollar horse although I loved the bigger horse for its possibilities. Thankfully, Paul talked me into getting the bigger horse.

I took home my prize! I was so excited to finally have a project (the first project since Anna's birth) underway! I carefully sanded down the horse, wary of the glass eyes that they would not be scratched by the sand paper. Once I was finished sanding, I removed the matted tufts of hair little by little. And with help of my big strong man, Paul. Then, I started with a white coat of paint. I painted the whole horse white, once again careful not to paint the glass eyes--although I discovered the paint easily scratched off with my finger nail if I messed up.
Then I painted another coat... three coats in all to make sure the paint was nice and thick. After that, I painted the bottom rocking parts with a nice deep brick red. I only used non-toxic acrylic paint on the whole horse, so many coats were necessary. I just used what I had... nothing special. Plus I didn't want my precious baby to inhale the fumes of a toxic paint. Then with the help of Paul, I painted the black zebra stripes all over the horse. Then I coated the horse (after the paint had dried) with a clear sealer. Finally, I used a mop head for the horse's mane and tail. {I had to buy a mop for "mop puppets" in a college class I took that semester. There were holes drilled through the mop and it was a cheap mop... so once again I was using what I had.} I hot-glued and nailed in the mane and tail and at last (after I think three days of hard work... nah, it was relaxing and fun!) I finished my beautiful rocking zebra. An inexpensive toy that all of my children can enjoy. I've found similar rocking zebras for around 100 dollars or more. I made mine for twelve dollars. Of course including the items that I bought months before with the zebra NOT in mind, probably around 25 dollars total.



Go ahead and go to Overwhelmed with Joy for more Favorite Ingredients!

Sippy Cup Replacement Parts!

I love checking Baby Cheapskate! It's the best site for finding deals! In the past I've followed deals and bought six packs of Luvs Diapers for just over 2 dollars per 53 pack! Today I checked the site and found a great article on sippy cup replacement parts! Have you ever lost a valve or even a lid or straw to your child's sippy cup? I have! I have a perfectly good Playtex Straw Sippy Cup sitting in my cupboard as we speak. It hasn't been used in months! It's missing its internal straw! After reading today's post, I ordered a 3-pack of straws for just under 5 dollars INCLUDING shipping. Yay for deals! Follow the link for Baby Cheapskate for links to the website and parts that they found! =)

What's Going on in Anna's World...

Anna is learning so much! It's amazing how much she knows sometimes. Last night we were reading the Grandma and Baby book (first time we've even looked at it in months and the first time I've just asked questions about the pictures) which shows pictures of Grandmas doing stuff with their grandchildren. On one page I turned and the Grandma was tying the baby's shoe. I said, "Anna, where's your shoe?" And she lifted her foot and pointed to her bare toes! LOL! I think she thinks her feet are shoes. Close enough. :)
Then on the next page, I turned and the granddaughter was brushing her grandma's hair. I said, "Anna, where's your hair?" She touched her head!
On another page I asked her to "brush her teeth" and mimic what the two on the page were doing. She smiled big and brushed her teeth with her finger!
Then yesterday I started to show her the sign for "milk" whenever I gave her her sippy (now she'll think that her sippy is "milk" but oh well) and today in the car she dropped her sippy cup and I turned around to see what the sound was and she was squeezing her little fingers into fists! It was just so adorable and amazing that she picked up on that so fast!
Her newest words are "cat", "dog", and "baby". We went to Fred Meyer the other day and she pointed to the cardboard cutout of a woman holding a cat and she pointed and said, "Tat!" I was surprised that even cutouts of pictures of animals she recognizes. She has also pointed to cartoons and actual cats and called them "Tats"!
Then we were at the bank yesterday and she pointed at a dog in a car and said, "Dah!"
And today we were at a cemetery sitting in the van while my MIL pointed out where her greatgrandparents were buried and I hear Anna saying "Baby!" I turn around and see what she's pointing out. Surely she was mistaken! We were all alone in the cemetery! Was she seeing ghosts or angels? I was freaked out for a second (lol) but then Teresa and I both realized that she was pointing at little statues of cherubs in the distance sitting on little stone benches about fifty yards off. I couldn't believe that she saw those little "babies" and recognized them as representing infants!
I know I'm crazy by being so amazed at how much she knows. I guess sometimes I expect her to hardly understand half of what I say, but as it turns out she knows so much more!

God, My Rock

“My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.”- Psalm 62:7

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Timeline in Pictures

*Post Edited to Remove Pictures of My Pumpkin*

Win a Pair of Hot Jeans

For a moment I felt tempted to add an extra "T" to the end of the word "Hot" but then I remembered that I'm not fourteen.
Now on to the business of the day, 5 Minutes for Mom is offering a 200 dollar shopping spree to True Jeans.com! I'm really excited about this. I must admit that all of my jeans are either too small or too big! Grr! Maybe True Jeans is a True Fit... we'll see... WHEN I WIN! But truly, you have a chance to win, too!

Click here to enter to win that 200 dollar shopping spree!!!

Thanks 5 Minutes for Mom!

Cloth Diaper Review

Nah, I'm not the type to do the review myself, as my daughter uses disposables, but I did come across an awesome cloth diaper review by ZRecommends. I really want to cloth diaper my next child and this review really sparked my interest. It's important to me to get the best value the first time! In the review, the ZRecommends reader, Lisa Lukis actually used and reviewed each of the most common cloth diaper brands. She rated them on a scale of 1-30 and gave the diaper so many points for each area. The first of the diapers she reviewed were the Blueberry cloth diapers, which received a score of 25 out of 30; The bumGenius diapers, which received a score of 29 out of 30 and were the winners of her review. Chinese prefolds, which received a score of 20.5 out of 30 and did not win, however they were the most cost-effective type of cloth diaper. The Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers received a score of 27.5 out of 30 points. Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers now comes in the one-size-fits-all adjustable version which really counts when it comes to my wallet. The hybrid-type disposable/cloth GDiapers were also reviewed and received a score of 25 out of 30. They are earth-friendly, yes, but the price can be quite a drawback, according to Lukis. The Happy Heinys Hugger Fitted diapers received a score of 24.5 out of 30. The Happy Heinys One Size Fitted diapers received a score of 26.5 out of 30. They're spendy to start out with at almost 19 dollars per diaper, but they might end up being a great price because they will stick with your baby from newborn to toddlerhood. Kissaluvs contour diapers were a great value at only 7 dollars per diaper, but were clumsy to use and only scored 23 out of 30. The Kissaluvs Fitted diapers received a score of 24.5 out of 30. The Swaddlebees diapers are perfect for a newborn, even making room for the umbilical cord stump, but only scored 24 out of 30 points. I've never heard of Thirsties diapers, but they scored 24.5 out of 30.
To read more, click here for the full story. Anybody who is interested in cloth diapering their children should read this article. It is insightful and might end up saving you a lot of money in the long run!

Target Easter Clearance!

It's time now for the post-holiday Easter Clearance at Target! I love it when it's after a holiday (any holiday, really) and they have their clearances. Every Easter (holiday) product is on sale after Easter (or any other holiday.) I'm always looking for clothing for Anna and this is a great time to find tee shirts for a dollar or less! If you don't know how the clearance schedule at Target works, it works like this: 50% off Monday, Tuesday, Wed, 75% off on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 90% off on Sunday. All holiday clearance schedules work like this: 3, 3, 2. Remember that: 3, 3, 2. The first markdown is on the third day after a holiday, the second markdown is 3 days later, and the final markdown is 2 days after that. The great thing about post-Easter sales on clothing is that the clothing that is marked down is more "Springy" in nature than overly "Eastery." I found this cute shirt at Target.com called "Easter Princess." It's just a cute tee that says "princess" with a flower on it. That doesn't scream "I got this at markdown from Target post-Easter and am now wearing it totally out of season." Does it? Nah!
Here's another that has a bunny on it. Sure bunnies might scream Easter, but it could also scream, "Cute tee shirt with a bunny who has no connection to Easter!"

Another great tip is to NOT wait until the 90% off day because then you'll probably get scraps. I'd go early on the morning on the first 75% off day.That's when you can get the best deal and the best selection. If you go shopping on a 75% off day, you can get a shirt for $1.00 and if you go on a 90% off day, you can get a tee shirt for just 40 cents!

Happy Easter!

Easter celebrates the death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Happy Easter!

Matthew 28

The Resurrection

1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

*Post Edited to Remove Photos of My Pumpkin*

World Down Syndrome Day

Yesterday was World Down Syndrome Day. Please take the time to read Gabi's World Blog written by Shannon whose daughter has DS.