Cheerful Homemaker

Goodreads: February 2012

2012-02-29T00:05:00.000-06:00

Check out the books I read in January. You can also follow along with my reading progress on Goodreads.

Here are the books I read in February:

10. Forever in Blue, the Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood -- Ann Brashares

11. Beauty Shop For Rent... Fully Equipped, Inquire Within -- Laura Bowers

12. Sisterhood Everlasting -- Ann Brashares

13. Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering -- Kelly Wels

14. The Princess Diaries -- Meg Cabot

15. Princess in the Spotlight -- Meg Cabot

16. Princess in Love -- Meg Cabot

17. Valentine Princess -- Meg Cabot

18. Princess in Waiting -- Meg Cabot

19. Princess in Pink -- Meg Cabot

20. 201 Organic Baby Purees -- Tamika Gardner

21. Princess in Training -- Meg Cabot

22. Party Princess -- Meg Cabot

23. Princess on the Brink -- Meg Cabot

24. Princess Mia -- Meg Cabot

25. Forever Princess -- Meg Cabot

Monthly Total: 16
2012 Total: 25

Color Code:

Red = 5 Stars

Orange = 4 Stars

Yellow = 3 Stars

Green = 2 Stars

Blue = 1 Star

Fur Babies

2012-02-28T21:36:00.000-06:00

If you've been reading for a while, you know that we have three chihuahuas -- Re-Pete, Penelope, and Wally. Before Gene arrived, they were spoiled. They were like four-legged children.

Once the baby was born, things changed. I was feeling overwhelmed. I was trying to take care of this tiny person and myself while recovering from surgery. I was struggling to try and cook dinner or even do laundry.

Add three, yappy, shedding dogs to the equation.

It seemed like every single day, without fail, the dogs would start barking the minute I put Gene down for a nap, thus waking him up. I became quite angry. I'd had enough. I went so far as to post ads on Craigslist and sent e-mails to friends a family, desperately trying to get rid of the beasts who stood between my son and naps.

Then suddenly this week things changed.

Gene realized we had dogs.

I'm sure he's noticed them before, but now he tries to interact with them. Whenever he's sitting on my lap he looks around for them. When they come up to us he smiles, waves his arms, and "talks" to them.

He likes the dogs.

So all plans to get rid of the dogs have gone out the window. Because seriously, how could we get rid of something that makes our little man happy?

Paaaaarty!

2012-02-27T22:03:00.000-06:00

Gene attended his very first birthday party over the weekend. His buddy, Max, turned 3 years old and had a pirate-themed bash. It was very exciting. The decor was great. Max's mama even made him a pirate ship birthday cake.

A pirate ship.

Seriously. It was awesome. Seeing the expression on Max's face when he saw it was priceless. It was like he was thinking, 'is that for ME?'

The last time I was at a birthday party for a little kid I was still a child. The energy of small children is exhausting. I was ready for a nap when I got home and all I did was hold Gene!

Speaking of my little love bug, how'd he do? He was a champ! He ended up napping for nearly an hour in the baby swing (all of J's friends have just had babies, so she got some of her gear out) in the noisy living room. I can't get him to nap at home, but he will sleep in a room full of screaming toddlers? What gives? I think we're going to move in with J! haha...

Review: Clipix

2012-02-27T15:03:00.001-06:00

Last June the hubs gave in to my request to use cloth diapers once Gene was born. Once he agreed I began doing research. I spent hours pouring over information on dozens of websites in an effort to understand what exactly it was we were getting ourselves in to. There were so many different types of cloth diapers and I quickly began to get overwhelmed (the hormones didn't help either).

All of my notes were scribbled haphazardly on post-it notes, envelopes, and scraps of paper. There was no rhyme or reason to the way I had them organized (or didn't, rather). I would often misplace or accidentally throw away my notes. If only I had had a better way of keeping all of my information together!

Clipix.com would have saved me from the huge headache that cloth diaper research had become. With one click of the 'Clip' button in my toolbar, the valuable information would have been saved to a clipboard for me to look at later rather than written down on the back of my water bill.

Had I known about clipix before, I might have settled on a brand of cloth diaper much sooner than I did!

Clipix has many other useful uses as well. You could use it to organize your Christmas list or to gather ideas for your toddler's upcoming birthday party. There is also a free iPhone app so that you can continue to Clip ideas even when you are out running errands or sitting in the waiting room at the dentist.

The best part about Clipix? You can keep your clipboards completely private! Your mom won't be able to see your cake ideas for her upcoming retirement party. Keeping information away from prying eyes is always a plus!

Head on over to clipix and start clipping today!

What are YOU going to clip?

Promoted post

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Mall Dates

2012-02-24T20:39:00.000-06:00

Gene and I have gone on a couple of dates lately with our friends Mary and Connor. We put the boys in their strollers, walk laps around the mall, and eventually have lunch.

Oh, and sometimes we shop, though hubs would prefer that I refrain from doing so...

"I love riding in the stroller!"

Anywho... Gene and I have really enjoyed our little mall dates. It's great to get out of the house and have a bit of adult interaction, especially with another woman. I love my husband, but there are just some conversations that are better had with another female.

Am I right?

Our mall is pretty lame. In fact, it is so lame that Old Navy closed a couple of years ago. In its place is a store full of unattractive, overpriced furniture. One day we walked by and a small chair by the doorway caught my eye.

It had 'Michael' written all over it.

So we stopped. I unbuckled Gene from the stroller, sat him in the chair and snapped a picture.

"Can you see me?"

We had a good laugh. I sent the picture to the hubs and made it clear that this was never coming to our house.

I think he was sad they didn't have a daddy-sized chair for him.

Family Historian

2012-02-23T23:26:00.000-06:00

As a mom, I feel like it is my responsibility to record our memories. I do this by taking photographs.

But what then? What do I do with the photos?

I have a couple of photo albums with printed 4X6 pictures. It starts with my pictures from high school and continues on in chronological order.

For Gene, however, I wanted to do something special. I wanted to create something that he could take with him when he leaves the nest and starts a family of his own ~~a hundred years from now~~. I didn't want to simply print out 4X6 pictures and toss them in an album. I wanted something special.

Unfortunately, I don't have the patience for scrapbooking. I tried once and didn't get very far before giving it up.

I finally settled on creating a digital scrapbook and having the pages printed out and put in an album. I am making 8X10 scrapbook pages using Photoshop Elements. I have only made a few pages so far, but I really like them.

Click to enlarge

One of the nice things about this project is that it has forced me to finally learn how to use PSE, which I begged the hubs to buy for me and then rarely used. I've always been somewhat intimidated by the software, but am finding that it isn't as bad as I thought.

I have four months of pages to create. Hopefully I can continue at my current pace (1-2 pages per day) and will be caught up soon!

How do you archive your family memories?

Wordless Wednesday (Almost)

2012-02-22T22:17:00.000-06:00

My favorite time of the day... snuggling with my sweet baby early in the morning ♥

I Think I'm Losing My Mind

2012-02-21T21:40:00.000-06:00

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably noticed that I struggle almost daily with getting Gene to take naps.

The boy is a Nap Ninja.

Seriously.

If Gene were an escaped fugitive and naps were the bloodhounds sent out to track him down, they'd never find him.

Occasionally I can get him to take a nap in his swing or briefly in his crib. He prefers to sleep in my arms (which defeats the whole purpose of taking advantage of nap time for things such as laundry and personal hobbies).

The biggest frustration (aside from naps not happening) is that my take-a-nap tricks don't work every single time. One day I can rock him to sleep in his swing while holding his hands. Another day he'll nurse to sleep and then sleep in his crib.

Since my tricks don't work consistently, I basically spend all day trying to figure out how to get him to nap.

My ways obviously aren't working. I end up with an incredibly fussy baby who only wants to be held by his Mama while he cries.

I think that the solution would be to create a bit more structure for our day. I currently let him dictate our schedule, which doesn't seem to be doing us any good.

I already make sure we sleep no later than 7, though some days Gene likes to wake up at 5:30.

This is a much-needed change, as I spend a lot of time seriously stressed out. Any prayers or Baby Whisperer secrets are appreciated!

Birthday Recap

2012-02-20T00:05:00.002-06:00

Two weeks ago I celebrated my 26th birthday. We had a pretty low-key day. Thanks to my dairy-free diet we didn't go out to eat like we have on previous birthdays. We went to Target in the morning and then I spent the afternoon making my birthday cake.

If you know me, then you know that I am the queen of ugly cakes. I love to bake but am impatient when it comes to decorating cakes.

This birthday cake was the Mona Lisa of birthday cakes.

It's my masterpiece.

It was yellow cake with a marshmallow fondant. It was so yummy.

Birthday at home with my boys + delicious cake = Best. Birthday. Ever.

4 Months

2012-02-19T20:58:00.000-06:00

My sweet little man is 1/3 of a year old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was being admitted to the hospital for my induction.

It has been an incredible adventure, though, that I wouldn't trade for anything.

What has my sweet baby Gene been up to this month?

-- He laughs and giggles all the time. Everything is funny in his eyes. He laughs at me, the dogs, and especially at his Daddy.

-- He is sleeping longer at night thanks to my Dairy-Free Diet.

-- He's rolling over from his back to his tummy! He does it all the time, which is amusing because he doesn't care for tummy time.

-- He may be teething. He's been drooling a lot more lately and chomping on his hands. I can't see anything on his gums yet, but I'm sure they're on their way.

-- He's still wearing mostly 0-3 clothes. He does wear some 3-6 pants, though. His cloth diapers give him a big baby booty.

-- He is finally showing an interest in his toys. If you hold a toy in front of him he will reach out and grab it. He then immediately tastes the toy.

Happy Birthday, Swagbucks!

2012-02-16T19:54:00.000-06:00

Swagbucks is celebrating its 4th birthday this month!

Swagbucks is an "online portal dedicated to helping you earn digital dollars" known as Swagbucks. You can earn bucks through a variety of activities, including web searches**, games, and shopping.

What do you do with all of your Swagbucks? Spend them in the Swag Store, of course! They have all sorts of prizes, from gift cards to jewelry to DVDs. Personally, my favorite prize is the $5 Amazon Gift Card.

Through February 27th, you can earn a huge sign-up bonus! You generally receive 30 Swagbucks when you sign up. However, use the code BIRTHDAYBASH12 when you sign up to receive an additional 110 bucks. That's right, you will receive 30 bucks plus 110 for a total of 140 bucks, just for signing up!

To celebrate its birthday, Swagbucks is also giving away four cash prizes totaling $1000 each. Click here to sign up to be entered (must have a Swagbucks account to enter).

**Don't forget that Friday is Mega Swag Friday! Search win totals are increased!

Book Exchange

2012-02-15T20:57:00.000-06:00

If you've seen my Goodreads profile (follow me!), you can tell that reading is something I enjoy. I believe that being able to read is one of the most important life skills that we as parents can pass on to our children. It isn't like algebra in that you have no idea when you'll ever need to know sine, cosine, and tangent. No, reading is something you use every single day.

I love reading to Gene. I love reading to him as I rock him to sleep. Currently we are reading the Little Boys Bible Storybook (there's a little girl version as well). We read a few stories at a time.

Books, like anything else, can get expensive. Sure, you can get them from the library, but raise your hand if you've met a toddler that wants to read the same book over and over again.

There is a solution, though...

!!! A Book Exchange !!!

You send one book and receive books in return. How easy is that?

This is great for parents, expecting parents, or people who just want to get a head start on a personal library for their future children.

If you are interested in more information, send me an e-mail or leave a comment with your e-mail address.

Who is your favorite author?

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T12:22:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

No chocolates or fancy dinner for us this year. We're going to stay at home, have chicken burritos, and love on our favorite little Valentine!

What are your plans for today?

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.