Check Out "The How To Mommy"

If you're looking for some awesome tips on being a mom and doing it all, check out The How To Mommy!

She's doing a giveaway now for a Fisher Price gift set!  Check her out... http://www.thehowtomommy.com/?p=1867

Yes, I realize it's been a while.

But I suppose that's what happens when you have a 7-month old who doesn't want to sit still to save her life, work 40+hours a week, and are trying to clean (unsuccessfully, I might add) for above 7-month old's baptism this weekend.  And honestly, I have no clue where the time went to!  My house still looks like a bomb hit, Ella is still crawling all over the place - well, Army-crawling - and work is still....work.

I need to go couponing hardcore.  I went to CVS last night and got my freebies from the magic coupon machine.  I got my free pantyliners, my free candybar, and my free bandaids (which were out of stock, but I got a raincheck for the free box).  But I need to go back tomorrow and scan my OTHER CVS card to get more freebies, use my free bodywash coupon, and get some stuff for Ella's baptism.  Plus I need to do some major grocery shopping.  My cupboards are b.a.r.e.  That just goes with the whole I-don't-have-time territory.

Oh well.  I'm enjoying watching Ella get into things she shouldn't and then watching the look on her face when I take them away or move her to a different area.  I really think that if she could talk, she'd be like "bitch, do you know how long it took me to crawl over there?!"  She loves the dog dishes, for whatever reason.  Fortunately my dogs are pigs and don't leave any food behind, but they do leave plenty of water....

Where Does Life Go?

I feel like there are not enough hours in the day.  I get up at 0530, put the dogs out, warm up Ella's bottle, get the dogs inside & feed them, change Ella & dress her for the day, feed her, put her back down to sleep, shower & get ready for work, make my lunch & get Ella's bottles ready, drop her off at day care, go to work for 8 hours, pick Ella up, get home and get the dogs out, feed Ella, feed the dogs, play with Ella (& maybe squeeze some dinner in, if Ella lets me), bathtime for Ella, feed Ella and put her down for bed.  When she is safely in dreamland, I clean up the kitchen, make her bottles, maybe do some laundry if I feel motivated but most times I don't.  I'll plop my ass on the couch until 10pm, put the dogs out one last time, and then drag my butt into bed.  It's exhausting.  I love being a mom, but I'm tired. 

And Adam helps, when he's not working.  But he works the 6pm to 6am shift as a cop, so he's rarely home at night.  He's an amazing dad, though.  And he's a great husband.  He watched Ella for a few hours on Saturday morning so I was able to go to the mall and try and find an outfit for Ella's baptism next weekend.  I found one, and I'm kind of excited about it, but I wanted a dress and ended up with white pants and a sheer yellow floral top w/ lace cami underneath.  Oh well, it's cute nonetheless.

But back to my point.  There aren't enough hours in a day.  I feel like I never have a chance to get my house cleaned.  When the weekend rolls around, I spend it sleeping in til 9am (after I get up at 5:30 to put out the dogs and feed them and Ella and get her back to sleep) and then lazing around the living room until noon.  I need to get a better handle on things.  Any tips?  What are you guys doing to "keep your head above water," so to speak?

Shark Week

Andy Samberg - host of "Shark Week" on Discovery (pic on Discovery.com)

Who else watches this?  Come on, 'fess up.  It's your guilty pleasure, isn't it?  Well, it's one of mine.  This is pretty awesome.  I've been watching nothing but Discovery Channel (except for a 30 minute stint of news each night to know what's going on in the world) since Sunday night.  I've always loved sharks.  I'm fascinated by them.  When I was little, I had posters of them all over my room, we always visited the aquarium, were at the beach, etc.  I wanted to be a Marine Biologist.  I'm not sure what changed my mind, save for the fact that I suck at all things science.  If I could have become a Marine Biologist without the science, I'd probably be sharing really awesome pictures from underwater with you right now :)

I'm currently watching "Into the Shark Bite," which is where these two guys rig up different cameras to suit 5 different types of sharks to try and get them to bite the camera so they can analyze the view from the business end of the shark.  It's pretty freaking neat.  The one they just got showed the gills and "tastebuds" of the shark from the inside.  That's the closest I ever want to be to a shark's mouth! ;-)

So share with me - who else is watching Shark Week 2011?  I know I'm not the only one enjoying this!

Winner, Winner... Chicken Dinner!

I need to give a big thanks to a fellow January mamma, Amy from Tales From the Mothership... she was doing a Thirty One (www.mythirtyone.com) giveaway on her awesome blog and I was the lucky winner! :)  I scored a thermal tote with personalization!  I opted for the Black Parisian Pop pattern with raspberry monogramming!  I can't wait to see how awesome it looks when it arrives on my doorstep! 

Picture of the thermal tote in Black Parisian Pop

So a big thanks to Amy for offering the giveaway, and I'll post pics of the bag when it arrives! :)

Check Out A Friend's Blog For A Giveaway

A friend is giving away a Baby Einstein Count and Compose Piano as a giveaway for reaching 100 followers.  You should check it out and enter to win! :)

http://lifeasweknowit22.blogspot.com/2011/07/official-100-follower-giveaway.html

Because I'm a Blog-Idiot...

I accidentally deleted everyone's comments, so please, please, PLEASE don't take it personally!!!!!  Under my dashboard thing I saw a notification of everyone's comments.  I figured it was just a preview of the comments and if I deleted them, the comments would stay in the blog, but be deleted from the inbox.  I was wrong.  So please forgive me.  I'm really a technical blog-idiot.

I really do love you all :)

Some Fun Blogs To Check Out

If you're looking for some neat blogs to check out, look at these from some of my fellow January Mamma friends :)  The blogs cover everything from pregnancy & babies, to everyday life, to saving money and being a great mom, to fashion & lifestyles... a little bit of everything.  Check them out! :)

Tales From The Mothership - currently she is doing a giveaway for Thirty One Gifts (http://www.mythirtyone.com/70380/)

 http://www.growingupgeeky.com/
 http://firefly-chasing.blogspot.com
 http://lifeasweknowit22.blogspot.com/
 http://amormeaevitae.blogspot.com/
http://withlovechrancy.blogspot.com/
  http://www.armywife-style.com/
 http://librarianandbaby.blogspot.com/
 http://supermummyyam.blogspot.com/
 http://www.thehowtomommy.com/
http://betweenthechaos.blogspot.com/
 http://www.ashleymorganphoto.blogspot.com/
 http://usdoingthings.blogspot.com/
 http://baby.alcoff.com/
 http://www.chadandcristy.blogspot.com/
 http://drinkslikefish.com/
www.tengreatyears.blogspot.com
www.ftlauderdalefit.blogspot.com
 www.thefamilygus.blogspot.com
 http://bisforberry.blogspot.com/
 http://www.layersofmeaning.com
 http://www.hellobabyjack.blogspot.com
 http://www.ourlifeblog.net/
 http://adventuresofafoodaholic.blogspot.com/
 http://prestonjohnbabyblog.weebly.com/
 http://meghan-claussen.blogspot.com/
http://www.mouthyredhead.blogspot.com
 http://www.pregnancyroadtripandbeyond.com
 http://mymessmerizedlife.blogspot.com
 http://www.andrewlovesdanielle.blogspot.com/
 http://regankimberly.blogspot.com/
http://theplanetslastdance.blogspot.com/
 http://stefanielynnphotos.wordpress.com/
http://mymonkeyprefersprunes.blogspot.com/
 http://crazycasak.blogspot.com/
http://wollmans.blogspot.com/
 http://shrinkingmommy.blogspot.com/
 http://nobryan.blogspot.com
 http://glutendairyandsoyfree.blogspot.com/
http://www.bsherrardphoto.com/ (business/photography blog)

Baltimore Getaway

Adam and I went away for the weekend to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  It was the first time we've been away without Ella (for Adam, his first time since he's been home; for me, first time ever).  I was dreading leaving her for the first time, but I was impressed with how few times I actually called/texted home to check in on her!  Adam and I had so much fun.  We stayed at the Admiral Fell Inn in Fell's Point.  It's an old, supposedly haunted hotel.  The room was decent - it faced Thames Street (where a good chunk of the bars are) - and was noisy with the bar-crawl crowd - and lacked fully functioning air conditioning.  In the 100-degree humid heat we had this past weekend, that made it a little rough to sleep. 

Admiral Fell Inn, Fell's Point (Baltimore, MD)

We purchased a water taxi ticket ($10 per person) which was pretty neat.  You get a stamp on your hand and it allows you to ride the taxi all day long.  In the summer they're open til 11pm, so you have the potential to get your money's worth.  We rode from Fell's Point to Inner Harbor (the Aquarium/ Pier 5) and back twice so it was a lot better than driving and paying $14 (!!!!!) for parking.  We just parked the car in the parking garage when we got to the hotel and left it there until we left the next day and only paid $20 (which beat the hotel's valet parking at $29 for the night!).

Fun Fish

So we did the aquarium, which was okay.  I was kind of disappointed.  Not the best aquarium I've been to.  It was so crowded you couldn't see all of the exhibits.  And some lady kept trying to push me out of the way until I stopped short, turned around, and told her off.   After the aquarium, we decided to do the tour of the USS Constellation.  That was pretty awesome.  If you're a history geek like me, you'd love it! 

Looking out the cannon-hole on the
USS Constellation



We ate at Fogo de Chao, which is a Brazilian Steakhouse.  It was pretty damn awesome.  If you like meat, you'd like this place.  It was pricey at $50 per person, plus alcohol & dessert, but it was a special occasion so to us, worth the money.

On Sunday we decided to check out Fort McHenry.  Again, if you're a history geek, you'd love it.  It definitely made me be proud to be an American watching the film on the history behind the Battle at Fort McHenry and the Star-Spangled Banner.  Then to see the cannons and the barracks and the actual fort itself was pretty awesome.  If you get the chance, check it out. 

Fort McHenry (Baltimore, MD)

Loved this picture - fun snake

Vocalpoint

Got my free sample of Glad Force Flex + Febreze in the mail today from Vocalpoint.  It smells great.  I decided to test it on the stinkiest trash can in the house -- Ella's diaper pail.  I'll be interested to see if it ends up smelling like Febreze plus Stinky Diaper, or if the Febreze covers up the scent pretty well.  I already love Force Flex bags, so if this covered the stench of Ella's nasty diapers, it'd be a pretty big bonus.

Vocalpoint, for those of you who don't know, is an awesome website that you can sign up for to receive free samples that you then review on their website, your blog, FB, etc.  You get a sample and usually a bunch of coupons for you and to give to friends/family.  I've already gotten a ton of stuff - I've tried Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats w/ Fruit in the Middle (Oh. My. God... this is my breakfast EVERY morning!), a free International House breve creme creamer (yum!), and I'm waiting on my Motts For Tots and Fresh Express salad samples.

If you haven't already, I highly suggest signing up and checking it out:  www.vocalpoint.com

A week of firsts...

This week has been an interesting one, to say the least.  There were a few firsts for Ella.

- First taste of meat - turkey w/ gravy (yuck!).  She loved it.  And while I love turkey and gravy on Thanksgiving (or in adult form, for that matter), turkey and gravy baby food is dis-gus-ting.  Her initial reaction was priceless - that confused "what the hell is this?" look.  Kind of makes you wonder what was going through her mind!

- First time she scooted backwards across the floor.  She was so proud of herself.  My first thought? "Shit.  I need to babyproof.... now!" 

- First time with a sippy cup.  When she finally figured out what it was and how she was to use it, she got a look of disgust on her face when she realized it was filled with water.  Immediately following that look of disgust was a loud, piercing scream followed by crying.  I could just see her saying "What the hell is this mom?! It's not my formula!"

- First taste of salt & vinegar chips.  This one was by accident.  I was eating them.  She grabbed one.  I decided to see what she would do.  She called my bluff and stuck it in her mouth.  She loved it.  No silly face, no puckering... just a huge, toothless smile.  I love my daughter to death, but man, what kind of baby likes salt & vinegar chips.  A weird one.  I blame her father :)

Seeing all these firsts this week was very exciting.  I'm soaking them all up, anxiously awaiting the next one.  Ella was 16lbs, 10 oz, and 26.5" long at her 6 month appointment this week.  My little girl is getting so big! :)

Life As A Parent = Scary

It's been over a week since I've posted.  I apologize for that.  Ella got sick Monday night into Tuesday (July 5th) and it went downhill from there.  Recap events for those of you who aren't FB friends:

Tuesday, July 5th: Ella wakes up screaming at 0330 in the morning, burning up with a 102.2 fever.  We gave her Tylenol and she fell back asleep.  At 0500, her fever was stil 102.2, so I call the pedi's on-call line.  We get her an appointment for 1100 that morning.  Adam takes her since I had a meeting I couldn't get out of, and the doctor notices her fontanel (soft spot) is bulging.  Tells us to keep an eye on it. 

Wednesday, July 6th: Ella's fever is now up to 102.6, and Tylenol isn't touching it.  I start Motrin - she's close enough to 6 months by this point and is weighing in at 16lbs, 12oz. - and give her a lukewarm bath.   About an hour later, her fever drops to 99.2 - mommy sighs in relief.  At 1030, the pediatrician's office calls and asks me to bring her in for a re-check of her fontanel.  I bring her in at 1:45 and the doctor is concerned enough he sends her for an ultrasound of her noggin to see if the cause of the swelling can be found.  We have it done and the doctor at the ultrasound place comes running in babbling about fluid on the brain and tells us to hightail it back to the pedi's office.  Panic mode sets in, but I hold it together.  Pedi tells me he's admitting her to Harrisburg Hospital and to get there stat.  Oooookayyyyy.... I called Adam, who rushes over to meet me there.  They immediately start bloodwork and keep up the motrin.  We're spending the night to have her watched.  They keep waking her up every 2 hours to take her vitals, so mommy was exhausted. 

Thursday, July 7th: Sometime around 0930, her doctors come in talking about viral meningitis and the need to have a spinal tap done.  My head is swimming by this point.  We agreed to have the tap done and they came and got her around 1045 to start the procedure.  Of course, we weren't allowed in the OR and we can hear her screaming from the hallway.  This is where I lost it.  Of course she pulled through fine.  Then we played the waiting game for the initial results.  A few hours later, we were discharged with a diagnosis of "Viral Upper Respiratory Infection."  No viral meningitis.  Phew.  Mommy (& Daddy & all of mommy's facebook friends & real life family) are relieved!  Spent the weekend with extra snuggles and TLC.

Fast Forward.....

Ella is back to 100%, though her sleep schedule was thrown off.  My little peanut is feeling better, no fever, no bulging fontanel.

This parenting stuff is not for the faint of heart... there are some pretty scary moments.  That being said, I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love this little girl! :)

Ah, almost forgot --- Sunday marked Ella's 6 month birthday!  Happy 6 months, little one!  How fast the time goes!

Happy Birthday, America!

Just popping on to say a quick "Happy Birthday" to America!  Hope you all enjoy your 4th of July and get to eat lots of great food! :)

Stay safe & enjoy those fireworks!

PS: Pictures of Ella decked out in her patriotic garb to come!

Saving Money... Such a Beautiful Thing!

As I've said in a previous post, I love saving money.  Who doesn't, right?  Today Adam watched Ella for a couple hours so that I could do some running around to try and take advantage of the sales/deals today before they sell out for the week!  I hit up CVS, Rite Aid, & Giant (my grocery store).  Here is what I managed to come up with this week:

CVS

Venus Spa Breeze: $9. 99 - $2. 00 mfr coupon +$4ECB = $3. 99

Venus Spa Breeze 4 pack Refill - FREE (coupon from mfr)

Hershey's Air Delight Chocolate Bar: FREE with coupon from kiosk in-store after swiping card

Total OOP: $8. 41 (should have been $30. 09)

Savings = $21. 68 and $4 ECB for next week






RITE AID

Tide - 32 load - $6. 00 - $1. 00 mfr coupon
(3) Tide 18-ct stain release packs - $6. 00 - $3. 00mfr coupon each
(1)  Tide 18-ct stain release packs - $6. 00- $1. 50 mfr coupon
***spent $30 in Tide products for $10 +UP Rewards ($1. 70 each)

Cover Girl Eyeliner & eye shadow - BOGO 50% off - $2. 50 coupon off 2

Prilosec OTC $24. 99 - $1. 00 mfr coupon, +$5 +UP Rewards = $18. 99

Colgate 360 toothbrush $2. 99-$0. 75 mfr coupon +$2 UP Rewards =

$0. 14

Old Spice - 2/$8. 00, combined with two Buy One deodorant, Get One Body Spray Free + $2 +UP Rewards = $1. 50 each

Total OOP: $64. 44 (should have been $88. 19)

Savings: $23. 75, and $19 +UP Rewards for next week

Giant

And my final awesome purchase today:

Got the following FREE from the coupons I received for writing companies:
(2) Glad Force Flex Kitchen Bags, 65 ct each
(2) Ziploc containers
Clorox Clean-Up Spray
Freschetta Cheese Pizza
Dove Intense Therapy Conditioner
Biore face moisturizer w/ SPF 15

Other awesome buys:
-2 Guldens spicy brown mustards for $0.50 each (my store has them for $1. 00 this week)
- Pampers Prints sz 4 diapers for $10. 97 (had a $5 Pampers catalina and a $4. 50 off cruisers coupon)
- DiGiorno pizza & wyngz - $3. 99 (on sale this week for $5.99 plus $2. 00 coupon)
- Turkey Hill 1/2 gal ice cream - on sale 2/$5. 00, plus I had (2) $1. 00 off coupons

I then purchased 4 pre-made salad bowls @ 2/$7 (x2), and 2 baking potatoes for tomorrow's dinner. 

Total OOP: $36. 22 (Should have been $104. 46)

Savings: $68. 24

I'm pretty darn proud of myself.  I totaled up what I saved for the month of June ($192. 16) and so far this month ($213. 18) and I've saved $405. 34!!!!!!

That will go a long way towards paying for our Ireland trip!  I'm writing myself a check for $405.34 and depositing it into savings on Tuesday!

What good deals have you found?  How much have you saved so far?

Hello 3-day weekend!

I live for the weekends.  Especially since I returned to work from my maternity leave.  Since I had gone on bedrest at 24 weeks, I used up my 12 weeks of FMLA by December 29th last year and fortunately I have some amazing co-workers who donated some of their vacation time to me so that I was still able to get a paycheck while I was off (which also meant I was able to keep my health insurance).  But, I had to anticipate all of my vacation and sick time for 2011, which leaves me with 3 personal days to take for the entire year.  Fortunately, I earn comp time as well, so I've been able to squeek a few days off here and there when Ella has been sick, etc.

So now that we're coming up on the July 4th holiday, I am thrilled that I have a 3-day weekend.  And the boss let us off at 2pm today, which rocked.  But, today was pretty sad because our secretary at work, Barb, retired today.  Barb has been like my mom-away-from-mom.  From Day One at work, she really took me in and welcomed me with open arms.  She is so amazing that when I had an outpatient surgery done back in March and my mom couldn't take off work to be here (Adam was still deployed), Barb took a day off work to drive me to surgery, sit in the waiting room, and then take care of me while I recovered at home until my mom could make it out.  I am going to miss her terribly.

Plans for the weekend: 4th of July party at some friends' house tomorrow, relaxing on Sunday, and spending Monday relaxing with Adam, Ella & the dogs. 

What are you all up to?

Tasty Thursday: Crockpot Mac & Cheese

This is my all-time favorite go-to recipe.  It got me through my pregnancy.  Feel free to change the cheeses to suit your taste - these are just my favorites!

Crockpot Mac & Cheese

In a crockpot (which I line with a Ziploc crockpot liner for super-easy cleanup), add: 
3 1/2 cups milk (I use whole for a creamier sauce)
3 TBS butter
1/4 TSP garlic salt
1 small brick Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 brick Cracker Barrel Vermont Sharp White Cheddar, cubed
1 cup Sargento Italian cheese shredded blend
1 box elbows (or whatever your favorite shape is), cooked al dente (they'll cook more in the crock pot)

Mix all together and let cook on high for 2 1/2 hours, or until creamy.  Stir occasionally to allow the cheese sauce to coat all the pasta.  Makes great leftovers, too.

What's your favorite recipe?  Share it here: The How To Mommy: Tasty Thursday

Blueberries & Babies

Ah, blueberries.  I was so excited to introduce these to Ella.  I picked out fresh blueberries, I cooked them, pureed them, portioned them out, froze them.  I waited until she had tried her veggies first (green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash - all wins in Ella's book).  She tried bananas, pears, prunes, and peaches.  She hated the peaches - too tart.  I sat her down in her highchair, changed out of my white shirt, and started feeding her blueberries.  Instant FAIL.  She puckered her face, started blowing raspberries, and flat out refused to take the blueberries.  So, seeing as how I have 7 more portions of blueberries to go up in the freezer, she will now be eating blueberry oatmeal at daycare ;-)



Ella's Failed Attempt At Blueberries


Oh well.  Maybe she'll enjoy the mangoes more.

I have more coupons to sort through tonight and add to my binder.  I've got a pretty good collection going and I have them sorted out pretty similar to what The Krazy Coupon Lady has in her binder print-outs.  I have a pretty big grocery shopping trip planned for this week, so we'll see how far my coupons get me! :)  Best part?  My grocery store is offering an extra $0.30 off each gallon of gas when you spend $50 in groceries.  I'll pick up a few extra circulars in the vestibule at the store and break my transaction out into a few different $50 purchases to maximize my "cents off" on gas (our grocery store has its own gas station in the parking lot - normally it's $0.10 off each gallon for every $100 you spend, so I'm particularly excited about this deal!)

Oh yeah! And, I scored a free full-size sample of Pantene last night.  According to Money Saving Mom, they're releasing more today!  Make sure you get yours!

So, tell me - what kinds of foods are your babies eating now?  Likes, dislikes?  What awesome coupon deals do your local grocery stores add? 

A little bit of background...

Well, I've finally started it.  My first-ever blog.  This is going to be a good opportunity for me to share updates about Ella for my friends and family that aren't on Facebook, as well as post about some of the fun things that are going on in our life.  Or some of the not-so-fun things.  It'll be a little bit of everything.


So I'll do a little bit of introduction.  I'm Kirsten.  I'm 26.  I've got a great hubby and an amazing daughter.  We've got 3 furbabies (dogs).  Adam (hubby) is a cop.  I'm an emergency management planning specialist.  Ella (our daughter) is a baby.  The furbabies?  Oliver, Coconut, & Sarge.  We're a happy little family of 6.


I think this will also be a good forum for posting about my couponing for my friends who are interested.  It's kind of neat.  And I've already saved $250-ish this month by using coupons, so who doesn't love saving money?


Feel free to look around, comment back, and make suggestions.  I'll be here, enjoying whatever life throws my way!