Cheerful Homemaker

Shame on Them!

2012-02-09T09:46:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning on a radio show, two deejays spent several minutes bashing breastfeeding mothers. The story started out talking about nurse-ins at Facebook offices and Target but quickly turned into a tirade of how breastfeeding mothers are crazy exhibitionists.

I had to close it after several minutes because I was so offended. I may not have photos of myself feeding my child on my Facebook page, but I am still a nursing mother. I am incredibly proud that I have been able to provide my son with the best possible start to his life. How dare they try and make me feel ashamed for that choice.

What is even worse is that one of the deejays is a woman. She had worse things to say than the man. It made me sad.

Listen to the clip and let me know what you think!

Click here to listen. Scroll down to the 8 o'clock hour and fast-forward to the 8 minute mark.

Happy Birthday!

2012-02-07T20:31:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday to my wonderful Grandpa!

He officially an Octogenarian.

Today he celebrated his 80th birthday, though in recent years he has insisted he's still 39. :)

I love you, Grandpa!

25... 26

2012-02-05T00:05:00.002-06:00

I have to say, 25 was a pretty amazing year for me. I had the joy of carrying a child in my body and then birthing the most beautiful baby boy I have ever seen.

25 was awesome.

2007.. I wish I were that skinny!

I'm really hoping that 26 is an even better year, if that's at all possible.

Happy birthday, to me!

Goodreads: January 2012

2012-02-04T00:05:00.000-06:00

2012 is off to a great start as far as reading is concerned. In the month of January I read 9 books. That's one book every 3.4 days. What's my secret? Breastfeeding!

Seriously.

I spend a large portion of my day feeding and snuggling with Gene. It's the perfect time to read.

Here's the list of books I read in January according to Goodreads:

1. I Want it Now! A Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -- Julie Dawn Cole

2. I Used to Know That -- Caroline Taggart

3. The Baby Sleep Book -- Dr. William Sears

4. The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister -- Nonna Bannister

5. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants -- Ann Brashares

6. Cheapskates Guide to Grocery Savings -- Daniel Mathews

7. The Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd

8. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood -- Ann Brashares

9. Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood -- Ann Brashares

Color code:

Red = 5 stars
Orange = 4 stars
Yellow = 3 stars
Green = 2 stars
Blue = 1 star

Frugal Friday: Library Cards

2012-02-03T00:05:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the first edition of Frugal Friday. Here I will discuss things that we do in our home in order to save money. With the current economic situation, a lot of families have had to trim up their budget but still want to be able to continue their leisure activities.

One thing I really enjoy is reading. I love getting lost in a good book.

Unfortunately, buying books can get very expensive very quickly. Especially when you consider how quickly I can devour a book. It's a waste of money.

If you're really set on buying books (there are certain authors whose books I always purchase), you can generally find a used book store in your area. The books are always in good condition and you can purchase them for a fraction of the cost of buying them new.

Another alternative, and the one I prefer, is to get a library card. In most places you can get a library card for free. This allows you to take materials home to enjoy. Larger libraries allow you to not only borrow books, but also DVDs, video games, and audio books. For those of you who own a Kindle or a Nook, many libraries have e-books available as well.

Gene and I travel to the library once every week or so. Since I never know if he'll be in a good mood, I look up the call numbers of the books I want to check out so I don't spend too much time browsing. Once he is a little older I will get him a library card as well. We also plan to check out story time.

The public library can be an excellent resource. I know that ours offers classes to teach people how to use computers, GED prep-classes, and many others. It's a video store/computer lab/book store all for free.

Who can beat free?

Mod Circles Quilt Top

2012-02-02T00:05:00.003-06:00

I finally finished the top of my Mod Circles quilt.

It's been slow-going thanks to a certain infant whose life motto seems to be 'Sleep is for the weak!' (naps are getting better, but they still aren't great) He is, however, finally interested in the things hanging above his activity mat. Until now he'd just stare at the mirror or watch the lights flash. Now, though, he kicks and smacks at the toys.

So while he plays on his activity mat, I do as much sewing as I can.

Why yes, that is a chip clip.

Ta-da!

I know, the lighting is horrible, but you get the idea.

The fabric for the back matches the green/brown/blue fabric of the petals. Each one was glued down and then I went around them with a zig zag stitch. I wanted to use a blanket stitch like in the tutorial, but my sewing machine doesn't have it.

The top is ready to be basted and quilted.

About that... I finally purchased a darning foot a few weeks ago in preparation for this quilt. I really want to stipple it. However, I've never stippled. I'm nervous. I definitely want to practice first.

Wish me luck!

Expansion

2012-02-01T00:05:00.003-06:00

The Cheerful Homemaker is expanding!

Not only have I updated my look a bit, but I've added a couple of buttons in the right sidebar.

I'm on Twitter! (follow me!)

Okay, so I've been on Twitter for almost three years now, but I recently changed my username to better match my blog.

I'm on Facebook! (like me!)

I've been on Facebook since the beginning of time. I signed up back when only cool college kids could get it. Facebook launched in early 2004. It opened up to Mizzou students in October 2004 and I signed up in early November.

Wow, I'm old.

Anyway.

I've expanded my blog to Facebook. I've got lots of great ideas, but for the time being I am posting links to new blog posts as I write them.

OH! I also wanted to mention that I am considering a giveaway soon. I currently have 79 followers. Once I hit 100 followers, I'll do a giveaway. I'm not sure what it'll be yet, you'll just have to wait and see!

UPDATE: Someone pointed out that the Facebook button wasn't working. I had entered the incorrect URL. Oops! It's fixed now.

1 Year Ago

2012-01-31T00:05:00.002-06:00

One year ago today we discovered that our lives would be forever changed.

♥

One year ago today was the happiest and scariest day of my life (so far).

♥

One year ago today we learned that we would be going from a family of two to a family of three.

♥

One year ago today we found out that we were expecting our sweet baby.

♥

One year ago today I found out I was going to be a mom.

♥

No Dairy Diet Update

2012-01-30T21:50:00.000-06:00

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I have cut 100% of dairy from my diet. I have been dairy-free since January 16th. I could tell you that it's been an easy transition. I could tell you that I don't miss cheese at all.

But I won't.

Because that would be lying.

Okay, enough with the theatrics. Giving up dairy hasn't been too horrible.

Yes, I miss cheese.

It is totally worth it, though. I gave it all up for Gene and I don't regret it one bit. It took a few days, but he is a brand new baby. Within three days, he was sleeping better. Instead of waking up every 2-3 hours, he was sleeping for 4-6. Also, he was spending the majority of the night in his crib or pack-n-play as opposed to snuggled up with me. Before he was really restless when he fell asleep, but now once he closes his eyes he's out.

We're still waiting for the poo issues to resolve themselves (namely color and consistency), but already the frequency has gone down. He has a lot less gas and pain that was associated with it.

Like I said, cutting dairy was totally worth it.

Figuring out what to eat has been a bit of a challenge, though. I've had to find new bread, new snacks, and new breakfast.

Right now I eat oatmeal (steel cut oats!) with cinnamon and sugar every single morning. I also had strawberries this week, so I had those on the side. It's a delicious breakfast, I have no complaints.

For lunch I end up eating a sandwich, fruit, and a few chips with salsa. I have yet to find a loaf of bread that doesn't contain dairy, but I haven't exactly looked very hard. I am happy with my Arnold sandwich thins.

Dinner has been somewhat tricky. I've been trying to come up with meal ideas that the hubs will also eat. This way it doesn't really feel like I've given anything up. I did make him a calzone last week while I had a baked potato. He enjoyed having lots of leftovers.

Once in a while I feel kind of blue about some of the foods I'm missing, but then I look at my sweet little boy's face and am reminded why I'm doing it.

I would give up anything for him.

Gene Laughing :)

2012-01-28T20:46:00.000-06:00

Giveaways

2012-01-28T10:33:00.007-06:00

Check out these current cloth diaper giveaways~

-- Our Growing Garden is giving away a diaper from 123 Cloth Me

-- ~~The Cloth Diaper Geek is giving away a Thirsties Duo All-in-One~~ !!!OVER!!!

-- ~~Thirsties is giving away a Thirsties Duo All-in-One, 6-pk Thirsties Fab cloth wipes, and Deluxe diaper duffle~~ !!!OVER!!!

-- ~~The Cloth Diaper Geek is giving away a BumGenius Freetime OS AIO from Squishy Tushy~~ !!!OVER!!!

-- RSVP for the Sweet Pea Diapers & Friends Twitter party on February 7th. They have a whole list of prizes they will draw for during the party.

-- ~~Under the Apple Tree is giving away a Baby Legs grab bag~~ !!!OVER!!!

-- Life with Levi has a giveaway for a FuzziBunz OS cloth diaper

-- ~~Sisters 'n Cloth is giving away a Glow Bug Cloth Diaper~~

-- ~~Daily Mothering is giving away a $429 value Fitness for Moms Prize Pack~~

Good luck!

Homemade Babylegs

2012-01-26T21:29:00.003-06:00

Until a few months ago, I had no idea what BabyLegs were. I'd never seen them, never heard of them.

When I started researching different types of cloth diapers, I kept running across BabyLegs. They're essentially leg warmers for babies. They protect little knees from rug burn once your wee one starts to crawl. They also make diaper changes a breeze because you don't have to take them off each time as you do with pants.

Unfortunately, BabyLegs aren't cheap. The average price I've seen for a single pair is $12.

For $12 I'll deal with the inconvenience of taking Gene's pants off at each diaper change.

One day a friend of mine directed my attention to a tutorial on how to make your own BabyLegs using a pair of knee-high socks. So today while at Target I picked a pair up.

Using the tutorial as my guide, I chopped up the socks and reassembled them. Here's what I came up with:

Probably not the best looking BabyLegs you've ever seen, but I like them. I don't have any action shots of them on my little man yet (he's asleep, thankyouJesus!), but I will definitely try them on him tomorrow!

So there you have it, homemade BabyLegs.

Retail cost: $12

My cost: $2.50 + 10 minutes of my time

Savings: $9.50!!!

UPDATE: They're gigantic, but Gene will grow into them... eventually.

What is He Wearing?

2012-01-24T23:23:00.000-06:00

If Gene and I aren't going to leave the house, we do not get dressed. We snuggle up in our sweatpants and footed jammies. It cuts down on dirty laundry and we stay cozy.

My husband doesn't seem to understand this.

Sunday morning he took Gene upstairs to change his diaper. He brought him back downstairs fully dressed -- onesie, pants, socks, hat.

Perhaps I should be more specific.

Christmas socks.

Mizzou stocking cap.

It kind of looked like he had been dressed in the dark. I'm not sure he really liked his outfit, but I'll let you decide...

Reindeer socks!

Laundry Organization

2012-01-23T21:51:00.000-06:00

I love to organize things. I love to have a place for everything and everything in its place.

When I started college, I had one laundry basket under my bed for dirty clothes. Once I moved off-campus I had one of those cheap laundry organizers.

Cheap! Cheap!

Of course, I always put laundry off until the last possible moment, so the plastic pieces holding it together didn't last very long and broke under the weight of my dirty clothes.

When we moved to Illinois back in 2008, I decided to change the way we organize our laundry. I settled on three round laundry baskets -- whites, lights, and darks. They were in the corner of our room and we could easily toss our dirty laundry in them.

Once we bought our house in 2009, the laundry organization changed again. I had a dedicated laundry area in the basement for my baskets. The original three basket system became five -- whites, lights, colors, darks, and towels/bedding. I also acquired a laundry basket specifically for carrying laundry to and from the laundry room. Gene also has his own laundry basket.

Lost count yet? That's seven laundry baskets. Seven.

We also have a large hamper in our bathroom that the hubs can't seem to find and an old one in the basement with nothing in it.

The laundry basket situation is betting a bit out of hand.

It's time to simplify. In an attempt to stay organized, I got carried away.

I found this on Ana White's blog the other day. I love it. It's simple and it takes advantage of vertical space rather than horizontal.

I have a birthday coming up very soon, so I'm hoping a certain someone takes it upon his handy self to build me one. (hint hint)

Sweet Baby Cheeks

2012-01-22T21:23:00.001-06:00

Back in October I wondered who Gene was going to look like. Now that he's here, some of that question has been answered.

He has gorgeous blue eyes like Mama and Daddy.

He was born with lots of dark hair like Mama, though who knows what it will be like later. At least he wasn't bald! :)

Now for the million dollar bonus question...

What about dimples?

The hubs has dimples. Ever since finding out we were expecting, everyone has been wondering if the baby would have them as well. My own grandmother mentioned it more times than I can remember.

Well, the verdict is in...

He has one dimple!

I know I'm incredibly biased, but that dimple on that little face is pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen.

A Sneak Peek...

2012-01-20T14:46:00.003-06:00

It hasn't been much, but I have been sitting down to my sewing machine a little more this week. It makes me very happy. The quilt I'm working on is a gift, so I can't show you the entire thing, but you can enjoy a sneak peek!

I can't wait until it's finished!

11 Random Things

2012-01-20T00:05:00.003-06:00

Mallorie of The Happy Home tagged me in a survey. I'm breaking the rules, though. I'll answer her questions and post random things about myself, but I'm not going to tag anyone else. If you'd like to participate, feel free to do so.

11 Random Things About Me

1. The hubs and I go way back. I mean waaaaaay back. All the way back to the 80s. Not only did we grow up in the same town and attend the same schools, but we were next-door neighbors for a couple of years! I have a picture of us together. It's Hallmark Movie cute.

2. I had a huge crush on the hubs when I was in junior high. He used to mow a yard across the street from the swimming pool and did so without his shirt on. I thought he was so hot. My best friend also liked him. I didn't want to ruin our friendship by fighting over a guy, so I let her like him. It worked out for me in the end, though. I started dating him my senior year of high school.

3. I can sing. I sang the national anthem at my high school graduation. Alone. In front of 2,000 people. A capella.

4. I had mono in the 10th grade. Best. Diet. Ever. I was out of school for a week and all I did was sleep and watch movies. I dropped 15 lbs in a week and none of my clothes fit when I went back to school.

5. Breastfeeding is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Consequently, it's one of the things in my life that I am most proud of for not giving up.

6. The hubs was the first to suggest we should have a baby. I resisted. One evening and half a bottle of wine convinced me he was right.

7. Mizzou wasn't my top choice for college. I had actually planned to go to the University of Missouri - Kansas City. When I didn't get into the program I had applied for, I decided to go to Mizzou. Hubs just happened to be transferring there.

8. I played the bassoon in high school band.

9. If I'm not leaving the house I stay in my sweatpants.

10. We've lived here for nearly four years and I don't feel as though I've made many friends. Most of the people I talk to on a regular basis are people I've met within the last 3 months.

11. I don't like spending money on things for myself. I would rather save the money or use it on something we need.

Mallorie's Questions

1. If you could live anywhere where would that be? We'd like to eventually move back to Missouri. We wouldn't mind living in the Kansas City area.

2. What is your favorite board game? Life, Scrabble, and Yahtzee... though the last one isn't a board game.

3. What is your favorite season? Fall. Hello? College football! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to watch too many games because we live in Big 10 country and Mizzou is in the Big 12. They're going to the SEC soon, so we still won't get to watch.

4. If you had to choose would you rather have a perfectly cleaned house each day OR never have to cook again? A perfectly clean house. If the house is magically clean, then the dishes I dirty up when cooking would be clean, too.

5. If you found out that you had unlimited funds and money was no longer a problem what is the first thing you would buy? A big house in the country.

6. Do you get a bigger rush from a big splurge or finding a great deal? The great deal! I always end up with buyer's remorse. What if I had waited a few more days and it went on sale? I'm a big fan of saving money.

7. How do you sleep at night? Side, back, tummy? What sleep? I have an infant! Haha... currently I sleep on my side. I was a tummy sleeper before I got pregnant. I spent 2011 sleeping on my sides and now it's kind of a habit.

8. What is your guilty pleasure TV show? 16 & Pregnant or Teen Mom. I know, I'm such a grown-up.

9. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? I have no idea. I still don't know for sure. I love being a mom, though. It's the best job I've ever had.

10. What is your favorite blog post that you've written so far? I like the posts where I talk about our home improvement projects, such as our floors, bathroom, and nursery. I'm so proud of us for doing it ourselves!

11. Which would you rather have painted, nails or toes? My toes. Fingernails seem to chip so fast. Polish lasts much longer on my toes.

3 Months

2012-01-19T20:25:00.000-06:00

My Gene is 3 months old today!

I can't believe how quickly the last few months have gone. It seems like just yesterday they were wheeling me into the operating room for my c-section.

This has been a big month for Gene. We celebrated his first Christmas and his first New Year's. He met tons of new family when we went to Missouri for Christmas and friends when we went back for New Year's.

Gene also received his first vaccines at his last appointment with his pediatrician. He'll get his four month checkup with a new doctor (yes, we fired his doctor!).

Gene also rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks old! He's holding his head up really well and is starting to grab onto his toys. He's also looking at things and people now instead of the walls or ceiling. He loves to look in the mirror and giggles when he sees me giving him kisses.

He is still wearing all 0-3 month clothes, though we are going to have to go up a pant size soon. Not because he's too big, but because his cloth diapers make his booty just a bit too fluffy!

Some days I still can't believe that we have a baby. We are so blessed to have Gene in our lives. He's such a happy baby and brings us so much joy! ♥ ♥ ♥

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T23:03:00.000-06:00

I'm So Lucky

2012-01-17T20:56:00.001-06:00

Even though he's decided he's too cool for naps and only sleeps for 2-3 hour stretches at night...

...I'm still the luckiest Mama in the world! Look at that sweet face! He's perfect. :)

Weird Food

2012-01-16T21:23:00.000-06:00

My Cheerful Family and I made a little trip to a local farm and home store this weekend. I'm not actually sure what the hubs needed, but I'm always eager to tag along.

While the hubs went to look at who knows what, G and I wandered through the food section. Farm stores always have the most bizarre assortment of food merchandise. This time I ran across something a bit more bizarre than usual...

Bacon flavored sunflower seeds!!!

I don't quite understand the sudden fascination with bacon. I know it's awesome, but does everything need to be flavored with it? I've also seen bacon flavored popcorn, which doesn't sound appetizing at all.

The hubs informed me that he's tried these sunflower seeds and that they aren't that bad.

A few feet down the shelf was a box of marshmallow flavored popcorn, though I didn't get a picture...

Good-bye Dairy

2012-01-14T19:42:00.000-06:00

Thanks to some interesting diapers and a couple of other symptoms, we think baby G may have a dairy sensitivity. As a result, we've decided to try cutting dairy out of my diet to see if it helps.

I'm not a huge fan of milk, but I love cheese. Going cold turkey on cheese may be tough, but it'll be worth it if it helps.

I'm hoping that his sleep troubles are related to his possible dairy sensitivity and that a change in my diet will fix it. In addition to not napping well, G is also really restless at night.

Cross your fingers that this works. I may become quite cranky without cheese!

Noisy "Neighbors"

2012-01-12T22:50:00.000-06:00

With the exception of last summer, the house next to us has been empty for a year. The owners recently did some work on the house, but no one has lived there for quite some time.

We're fine with that. An empty house is better than a house full of noisy people.

This is a photograph. It's definitely NOT a drawing.

The empty house has a screened-in front porch complete with a screen door. The problem is that this screen door doesn't latch, so every single time the wind blows just right, the door opens and slams shut.

Fun, right?

This is Illinois and the wind blows three seasons out of the year. I've heard that door slam more times today than I can count. Part of me wants to call the owner and request that she do something about it (it's a rental house). The other part of me wants to walk over there and duct tape the door shut.

What would you do?

Help a Mama Out!

2012-01-11T23:25:00.000-06:00

Help me!

I need some ideas. I have given birth to the most beautiful baby boy. He is the sweetest baby. Seriously. The boy laughs when he has his diaper changed.

However, he hates to nap.

I have never been able to get Gene to consistently take naps. I watch for his tired signs. I nurse him and rock him to sleep. When I lay him down, though, he wakes up after 5 minutes. He's not wet. He's not hungry. He's not gassy.

I am getting stressed about this no nap situation.

This afternoon I managed to get him to nap for 30 minutes in his swing. Since he didn't nap enough today, he was really fussy this evening.

And by fussy I mean screaming.

It wasn't fun.

I need some suggestions. How do I get my baby to take naps? So far the only thing that works is laying down with him, which I do for his afternoon nap. I don't want to lay down with him for every single nap, though.

What worked for you? It's winter and I can't drive around with him all day just so he'll nap.

Sincerely,

A Frazzled Mama

Wedding DIY

2012-01-11T00:01:00.002-06:00

I started this blog four years ago in order to write about my wedding planning adventures. We didn't have a big budget and knew that there were projects we could tackle ourselves in order to save money.

With wedding season fast approaching, I decided to revisit a few of them.

Looking back, I realize that I am probably the only person who cared what these little bottles looked like. I spent hours working on these. The labels are printed on address labels. When I began applying them to each bottle, I discovered they wouldn't stick to the plastic. Enter: Super Glue.

The bows were a huge pain so I did a few at a time. Super Glue was also my friend here. I applied a drop of glue to each knot to hold them in place.

With Easter only a couple of months before our wedding, I decided to pick up a basket once they went on clearance. I'm so glad I did. I bought my basket for $1. It was pink and just took a few coats of white spray paint and some ribbon to make it work with our colors.

I'm not entirely sure where my mother found the ring bearer pillow. I added the ribbon to spruce it up a bit. Both of these items were being carried around by 2 year old children, so we definitely didn't want to splurge.

This was the end of our custom aisle runner. I saw people online charging a bunch of money to make these and figured out how to do it myself. I created the image using Power Point and enlarged the size of the document. It printed out on several pages, which I then trimmed and taped together. A bit of tracing, a bit of painting, and my aisle runner was done! I spent $20 on an aisle runner I was going to get regardless and $5-10 on paint supplies.

I used the same image from our aisle runner and bubbles on our unity candle. One large pillar candle, two tapers, and some ribbon. Easy peasy!

Here is where we saved a bunch of money. I made all of the stationery for our wedding invitations. Invitation companies will send you free samples of their products, so I ordered ~~a couple dozen~~ several different ones and designed one of our own. I bought the invitation kit at Michael's Crafts using a 40% off coupon. It included 100 invitations (size 5.5 X 8.5) and 100 envelopes. With the coupon the kit was less than $10. I also created RSVP postcards (cheaper stamps!) and a map to our reception venue.

When calling around for bouquet prices, the prices I had quoted were all $100+. We made mine for $30. My mom's friend wrapped each stem in floral wire to create the shape. She then wrapped the stems in floral tape and covered them with white satin ribbon. My bouquet contained three dozen red roses that we bought at Wal-Mart the day before the wedding.

*Ignore the terrible photo quality. This was four years and a crappy camera ago!