Herb Savor Pod

Written by andrea on April 6th, 2010

Another very neat invention!  This one will save herbs in the fridge from going bad for up to 3 weeks.  I’m always buying (and wasting) especially parsley.  This herb savor pod is a very cool idea.  The company, Prepara, looks to have lots of other neat gadgets too.

 

Hinge-It Towel Rack

Written by andrea on April 6th, 2010

My bathroom is small and the wall space to hang towel racks is extremely limited.  I ran across this handy little idea the other day and think it might give us a place to hang John’s towel and guest towels.

 

Bedside Organizer

Written by andrea on April 6th, 2010

This goes in the items to think about making/buying category.  Instead of keeping random pieces of paper floating around the house, I’ve been trying to use this blog as my organizer for ideas.  This is a neat little item, bedside organizer, and it even holds a box of tissues!

 

Tomorrow John is 8 Months Old

Written by andrea on April 5th, 2010

Our beautiful babe is getting so big.  He’s scooting around on the floor, just about crawling.  He can pull himself up to standing against just about anything.  He’s got one tooth poking through and another working it’s way up.  He’s eating like a champ.  Loves yogurt, especially vanilla yogurt.  And is the most wonderful little baby boy.

 

2010 Spring Cleaning Update #2

Written by andrea on April 5th, 2010

Yeah, well…ya see…we’ve been busy and I kinda haven’t actually finished anymore spring cleaning projects.  EEK!  I gave myself a deadline of the end of April to have the entire house in tip-top shape.  Guess I better get busy.

 

2010 Spring Cleaning Update #1

Written by andrea on March 23rd, 2010

The living room is 90% of the way finished being completely overhauled.  On Sunday, Dave and I took the whole room apart.  We took out of few pieces of furniture to give John more space to work on crawling.  We got rid of a bunch of stuff we didn’t need.  There are just a very few little things to take care of and I can say one room is completely done being spring cleaned.  YEAH!

Next I’m moving on to the downstairs and upstairs hallways and the stairway.  There is a TON of woodwork in these areas that needs to be wiped down.  A task I’m not entirely looking forward too.

 

Books To Think About Getting

Written by andrea on March 19th, 2010

The Real Mother Goose

1000 Times No by: Mr. Warburton

Duck!  Rabbit!  by: Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Shake It Up, Baby! by: Karen Katz

Good Egg by:  Barney Saltzberg

 

Making the Spring Cleaning List

Written by andrea on March 18th, 2010

Like every year, I’ve begun making my spring cleaning list.  But this year I have every intention of following through and finishing the list (I do that every year too…)!  My plan to actually follow through is to give myself a longer period in which to accomplish spring cleaning as well as give myself a deadline.  I want to have the house in tip-top shape by the end of April!

I’m starting in the living room.  There is an ulterior motive starting in this room…John’s about to crawl and it is the only carpeted room in the house.  There are a few extra pieces of furniture in there that we’ll be moving to the attic and then rearranging the room so John has as much free space to crawl and move about as he needs.  I don’t want to continuously be saying “no” to keep him out of things so I also want to move as much stuff out of his reach as possible.

Oh, on a happy note, I did finish one big spring cleaning project.  I completely emptied and organized my clothes closet!  I got rid of 2 trash bags full of clothing.  It felt so good to get that done.

 

Starting to Feel Like Being a Homemaker Again

Written by andrea on March 10th, 2010

Well, seven months after giving birth to our fantastically wonderful babe, I’m finally feeling up to being a better homemaker again.  Boy, did I ever slack off for the past seven months.  Poor Dave has been digging clothes out of baskets most of the time as I haven’t taken the time to fold or hang clean clothes up.  Meals are lackluster.  No baking to speak of.  The dust has bred more dust.  But I can honestly say that I have totally and completely enjoyed John’s first seven months.   He’s getting bigger now though and we’re getting to a point where John will shortly be crawling and I really don’t want the poor kid crawling through dust bunnies because I haven’t swept.

So because spring is in the air, I’m feeling like spring cleaning and getting my household back into shape.  And Dave will probably rejoice in not having to dig wrinkled dress shirts out of baskets of clean clothes again.  And I’m sure he’ll like a homemade freshly baked cookie again too.

Time is the difficulty though.  This week I’m working on getting John is nap longer by himself so that will help.  And I’ve got a young lady coming over on Thursdays after school to babysit John in the living room while I tend too a deep cleaning project.  So my spring cleaning goals will probably take me until the end of April, but I’m focused on getting this home back into order!

 

My Experience Feeding John Solids

Written by andrea on March 10th, 2010

I waited to feed John any solids until he was 6 months.  As recommended by several books and my pediatrician, I started with bananas then sweet potatoes.  I was told to offer each new food for three days before adding a new food item in case John showed signs of an allergy to anything.  Thankfully, allergies have not proven to be a problem.  It did however take a full month of offering him food at multiple opportunities everyday before he finally ate what I would consider a meal.  He ate literally no more than a teaspoon of food a day for a couple of weeks.  Then moved to about a tablespoon of food per day.  It was the day he turned 7 months (March 6) that he actually ate probably 2 ounces at each meal.  I found that surprising.

John is just now eating grains though.  Everyone said their baby took to infant rice cereal immediately.  Not John.  He refused anything I tried to disguise rice cereal in.  And it didn’t matter what consistency of cereal I tried either…he just did not go for that texture.  Finally within the past 2 days, I can get him to eat a very small amount of rice cereal (maybe a teaspoon) heavily hidden in pear sauce.  I just found that very interesting.

So every babe is different and takes to eating differently.  As long as they are either breastfeeding or taking several formula bottles everyday, it seems they still thrive even without much solid food.