What's In My Diaper Bag

Almost every parent of really young children can be seen carrying around that big bag of never-ending-ness.  I will proudly admit that I am one of those parents.  I will also admit that I carry around quite a bit less stuff than I did when Piggy was first born.  Then, I carried everything, and I mean everything.  I had at least five diapers, wipes, three changes of clothes, a mug, thermos of hot water, empty bottle, two bags of milk, diaper cream, toys, at least three pacifiers, receiving blanket, changing pad, cloth diaper, trash bags, and five toys.  That’s a lot of stuff and that bag was heavy. Now, I carry a lot less stuff and that bag is a lot lighter, imagine that!

So what do I carry in my diaper bag now?  Well here’s the list:

·         At least five diapers

·         Wipes

·         At least three toys (they must make noise to entertain her)

·         Goldfish

·         Yogurt bites

·         Shoes (if she’s not wearing them)

·         A change of clothes

·         Diaper cream (if she has a rash going on)

Bam.  That’s it.  Well, actually, if she’s sick, I have medicine for her.  But that’s all.  Rarely is there ever more than that in there.  So I went from carrying eighteen things (not including multiples) to carrying just eight, also not including multiples.  I was actually able to go from a big, bulky, messenger diaper bag, to a thirty-one bag (it’s very much like the “Keep-It Tote”).  It takes so much less space and is lighter!

What all do you have in your diaper bag?

"The Ladies' Room" By Carolyn Brown

                I wanted to pick a book for March that I hadn’t read yet.  Since I haven’t read it yet, I wasn’t too sure as to what book to choose.  To figure this out, I took to the kindle book store!  After weeding through some recommendations, I finally decided on a book:  “The Ladies’ Room” by Carolyn Brown.  Here’s what the description in the store says:

                “Secrets told in the church ladies’ room are supposed to stay in the ladies’ room.  But that doesn’t mean that what Trudy overhears there during her great-aunt Gertrude’s funeral won’t change the rest of her life.

                “Trudy has a daughter in the middle of a major rebellion, a two-timing husband who has been cheating for their entire married life, and a mother with Alzheimer’s residing in the local nursing home.  She doesn’t really need a crumbling old house about to fall into nothing but a pile of memories and broken knickknacks.

                “Billy Lee Tucker, resident oddball in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, lived next door to Gert, and in her will she leaves him the funds to help Trudy remodel the old house.  That’s fine with Billy Lee, because he’s been in love with Trudy since before they started school.  And just spending time with her is something he’d never ever allowed himself to dream about.

                “A beautiful home rises up from the old house on Broadway, and right along with it rises up a relationship.  But is Trudy too scarred from what she heard in the ladies’ room to see a lovely future with Billy Lee?”

                Personally, I like a little romance in my books.  Plus, this description also makes me a little curious as to how things go for Trudy.  Poor gal.

                Are there any books you’d like to be for the Book of the Month?

Water Play

If there is one thing Piggy loves more than food, it would have to be water.  She loves to drink it, splash in it, and play in it.  No matter where the water came from.  Seriously.  I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve had to drag her away from the toilet and freshly watered plants.  I slowed her down by putting a lock on the toilet seat, but it wasn’t long before she had that thing figured out.  So with all of Piggy’s enthusiasm for water, I decided to come up with a way for her to play in it while I fix dinner, do dishes, work on my school work, something.  It keeps her out of my hair until she gets bored with it.  So far, we have yet to reach that limit and she’s gone an hour straight.

All you need for this Funday Sunday is a sheet pan, some water proof toys, and, of course, water!  Oh, and some towels.  If you’re worried about getting water on your floors, put a towel down first.  Put the sheet pan on top of the towel, pour enough water to have about a quarter of an inch of water, place in toys.  DONE!  I took off Piggy’s clothes but left on a clean diaper so I didn’t have to worry about her getting soaked and roaming around the house like that.  Ok, so maybe not everything I put in the water was a toy.  But what can I say?  She loves spoons.

What’s your child’s favorite out-of-the-box thing to play with?

Workout Wall

I had been racking my brain to try and think of something to do for this month’s DIY Sunday.  I thought of DIY Valentine’s Day cards, but what would be the point if it wouldn’t be posted until the day after Valentine’s Day?  There wouldn’t be one!  So I stashed that idea until next year, in case I can’t think of anything.  The bad thing is that was the only idea I could think of.  It wasn’t until at 9:00 the night of the day of the posting that it finally hit me.  I have been trying to get myself to work out so I can be in shape, not by bikini season, but by spring break, when I go back and visit San Diego.  By then, the weather will be warm enough to just lay on the beach, even though it still might be too cold to get into the water, but, ooo, the sun!  Plus, I want to feel confident about my post-baby body.  Face it, your body is just not the same after a baby like it was before a baby.  It’s like everything got a little—well—deflated, for lack of a better word.  My boobs aren’t as perky, still perky, but nowhere like they were.  My legs are kind of giggly.  My stomach gives the appearance that I’m bloated (not to mention the stretch marks).  My butt—oh—my poor butt.  It was there before pregnancy, nothing big but it was there.  It looked really nice when I was pregnant, even though there were a few stretch marks.  After, oh boy.  It just looks like a deflated balloon with stretch marks everywhere.  Not pretty.  Now imagine that in a bikini!  Yikes!

My original goal was to start working out at the beginning of February so I could have a month and a half too get closer to pre-prego body.  Unfortunately, laziness struck.  I kept coming up with excuse after excuse to not even do sit ups.  Pathetic.  So, I finally gave myself a good kick in the pants and told myself “Never give up!  Never surrender!” and started doing workouts daily.  The thing is, I don’t think doing a work out two days in a row counts as a daily work out.  I was back to making excuses.  I finally got annoyed by myself to the point that I made a workout wall.  It has the exercises I’m supposed to do that day, the workout for the week (which focuses all on my deflated balloon of a butt), and a daily exercise (also focusing on my balloons, but it’s a different exercise for each day of the week, but I do it though out the four weeks I have left.)  To keep myself going, I even have a reward for going three weeks straight: a new bikini!  What better way to show off my re-vamped body in a new bikini?

To make a workout wall, there’s not much to it.  It’s very quick and easy.  All you need is some 2x2 sticky notes (or whatever size you need), sticky note strips, a wall (or a large picture frame), exercises you want to complete, and a pen.

All you have to do is lay out your sticky notes like a calendar, place the strips over each column and write “Sunday”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”, etc., have a column labeled “Weekly” with a sticky note by each week, a spot labeled “Daily” with a sticky note or two (depending on how many exercises you want to do daily), then write in the exercises for each day.  That’s it.  I used the “30 Day Beach Body Challenge” I found on Pinterest.  Here’s the link for it.  Now, since I thought of this late on the night DIY Sunday was supposed to be posted, I haven’t gotten a chance to try it out.  So be looking for my update on how this worked for me in the near future.  Pictures will come soon.

Have you ever had problems kick starting your workout?  What did you do that helped you to get going?

Ending Co-Sleeping

Ever since Piggy was born, she would fall asleep with me.  At first, it was all cute and I didn’t want to set her down and just wanted to cuddle with her.  I realized real quick that I messed up by letting her sleep with me every night.  At first, it was an accident, letting her sleep with me.  She was born at eight at night and I was beat dead tired and she was hungry so I let her eat…and I fell asleep while she was eating.  That’s how it all started.  When she came home from the hospital, I tried to get her to sleep in her crib on her own, but, oh, the crying!  I couldn’t stand to leave my little Piggy crying her heart out in her vast crib all on her own.  It was ripping my heart apart.  Even when I was in the room I couldn’t take the crying.  My mind told me she was unhappy and I needed to fix it, so I did.  Fast forward a few months, I was starting to feel the lack of sleep kicking in.  Take two on getting her to sleep on her own and wouldn’t you know it didn’t work?  I tried over seven times during her first year of life to get her to sleep on her own.  I tried everything from letting her cry it out to running around the house with her sheet attached to me like a cape to get my smell on it and putting her toys in the crib with her to let her play to uncomfortably laying in the crib with her until she falls asleep then completing mission impossible to escape her clutches.

I finally put my foot down when not only was I not sleeping well, but also was starting to suffer from a badly hurting back because of the goofy positions I had to be in for her to get to sleep.  She had to start sleeping in her own bed.  I was finally able to get her to do it after a mere two weeks.  Yes, TWO weeks!  Keep reading to find out how!

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to be able to sleep in my own bed without assistance from Piggy.  I started the process a few days before New Year’s.  When she started to show signs of being tired, I would bring her into the bedroom, sit her on the bed, pull the covers to where they were over her legs, then simply walk out of the room and close the door.  I’ll be the first to tell you, she was not my biggest fan when I would do this.  She would start to scream and cry and fuss, but I had to tune it out.  I had to give her some tough love.  That first night, she fell asleep after about an hour of crying.  Let me take this time to emphasize that I did not go in that room.  Period.  It was pretty rough for me.  When she finally stopped crying, I still didn’t go in there.  I waited about thirty minutes of no crying to finally go in there.  When I did, she was out like a light curled up on a pillow.  It was just so cute that I had to take a picture of it.

I kept up with putting her on the bed and letting her cry herself to sleep for an entire week.  During that week, when it came time for me to go to bed, I would simply just go in the room and go to bed with her.  Yes, she still wound up making my arm fall asleep every night, but at least she reached a point where she was no longer needing me to go to sleep and was getting the idea that she had to go to sleep on her own.  Did she still cry?  Of course!  But she would get to the point of realizing that I wasn’t going to give in to her crying so she’d just go to sleep.

Once that first week was up, I set up her crib and put it in its own room.  That night, I put her to sleep in the crib.  She fussed, cried, and screamed, but I was treating it just like the week before.  I did not go in that room!  I had added a pillow from the bed, her blanket I wrapped her up in every night, and her sound machine.  Everything that I could put in there and make it feel like her old room for her.  I seriously believe that helped quite a bit.  Once she finally fell asleep (about forty five minutes later, she was curled up on the pillow wrapped in her blanket.

From that night on, she has been sleeping in her own bed.  To celebrate three weeks of being in her own bed, I got her a bedding set—ok, so it was mainly for her birthday, but it still was to celebrate her sleeping on her own.  Oh the wonderful sleep I’ve been having ever since.  I sleep straight through the night instead of waking up three times each night.  I wake up without an aching back and feeling more tired than when I went to bed.

So here’s a quick list recap of what worked with Piggy to get her to stop co-sleeping (let them be known as the ten basic commandments of no more co-sleeping):

1.       Plan on at least two weeks, if not more.  First week, train baby to sleep on their own.  Second week, place in own bed.

2.       DO NOT GO IN THAT ROOM!  No matter how much crying there is.

3.       DO NOT CAVE IN AND LET THEM SLEEP WITH YOU AFTER STARTING.  This is just counterproductive.

4.       Make sure BOTH of you are ready for this.  I’m sure it was hard on both me and Piggy doing this.

5.       Have a celebration present for x amount of time sleeping on their own.

6.       Make the room as recognizable as possible.  Add some curtains like the ones in the room your child’s used to, a pillow, toys, you get the point.

7.       Keep the bedtime to the same time every night.  Its okay to break bed time every once in a while, but don’t make a habit out of it.

8.       Let the kid have their own room.  Sharing with siblings is okay as long as they have around the same bed time (not one with a 7:00 bed time and another with a 8:30 bedtime.  When one goes to bed, the other will wake up.  No bueno.)

9.       Putting them in their bed for nap time helps a LOT with the transition of buddy sleeping to lonely sleeping

10.   Claim your bed back!

Did you have problems getting your child to sleep on their own?  What did you try and what worked for you?

What Was in My Hospital Bag

     Being a first time mom, I didn't know what to bring to the hospital with me.  Ok, I admit, my ignorance got the best of me and I didn't know I was supposed to bring anything to the hospital...until three weeks before my due date (YIKES!)  When I found out about this "Hospital Bag" thing, I freaked out, thinking I wasn't prepared and I wouldn't be prepared in time, and got on the computer and looked up lists of what to pack in a hospital bag.

     I found all sorts of lists!  Ones that would require me to have three bags (this coming from a girl who can pack a month's worth of clothes in one suitcase with only a pair of shoes and a blanket in a back pack), ones where I didn't need a thing (only to find out later that it was because the person who wrote it was having a home birth, thanks comments for pointing that out), and even one where I would bring pointless things (a desk fan, picture frames, laundry basket, shopping bags, drinking glasses, floor lamp, and a fold up chair).  I just wound up using the one that made the most sense to me and was more relative to me.

     This is the list I found:

• Camera, charger, and extra memory card
• Comfortable PJ's
• iPod/Earphones
• Chapstick
• Robe
• Hard Candies
• Skid Free Socks
• Flip Flops (for the shower)
• Nipple Butter
• Cash/Change (for vending machines)
• Mints
• Phone/Charger
• Disposable Nursing Pads
• Hair Ties
• Toothbrush/Toothpaste
• Make-up
• Body Wash and Loofa
• Baby Book/Journal
• Towel
• Nursing Bras
• Dry Shampoo
• Going Home Clothes
• Granny Panties
• Snacks
• Prenatals
• Chocolate (for the nurses)
• Deodorant
• Change of Clothes
• Bag (in the car)
• Car Seat
• Blanket/Pillow (for Daddy)
• ID, Insurance Card, Hospital Paperwork, Birth Plan
• Bathing Suit Bottoms (for Daddy to help with showering)
• Diapers
• Receiving Blanket
• A Few Onesies
• Baby Wash
• Coming Home Outfit (for baby)
• Wipes

     I saw this list (I can't remember where I saw it or where I got it from, so if any of you just so happen to know where this came from, please let me know!) and thought "Cool beans.  I'll pack it all!"  However, even with (by then) two weeks left until my due date, I wasn't able to get everything on the list in time.  This is what I wound up NOT packing:

• Camera, Charger, and Extra Memory Card (I had my phone, Hubby's phone, Mother-In-Law's phone, my mom's phone, and my dad's phone for pictures)
• iPod (Once again, I had my phone)
• Robe (I accidentally left it at home)
• Flip flops (I have a pair somewhere...key word: "somewhere")
• Body Wash (I just used the baby wash)
• Nursing Bras (It wasn't until Piggy Baby was almost three weeks old until I found a nursing bra in my size.  Curse you enlarged breasts!)
• Granny Panties (I just used the underwear the hospital provided)
• Snacks (Forgot to buy some)
• Chocolate (I forgot to buy some, too)
• Change of Clothes (I was just going to wear the hospital gown)
• Bag (Forgot to bring it)
• Pillow (Daddy didn't want to bring one and I brought a blanket for him against his will)
• Hospital Paperwork, Birth Plan (Didn't have either one of those, I didn't have to fill out paperwork until a day and a half after Piggy was born)
• Bathing Suit Bottoms (Hubby wasn't "afraid to get [his] clothes a little wet!")
• Receiving Blanket (Didn't have any...at the time)
• Wipes (I didn't want to lug around a huge tub of wipes)

     When I got to the hospital, I was all set and ready to go.  I was confident that I had everything that I needed and everything I brought I would use!  However, even though I had done all that panicking about not being prepared, I discovered that even if I didn't have a hospital bag, it wouldn't have been that devastating to me.  Why?  I hardly even opened the suitcase.  Learning from experience, I discovered what I could have lived without (or did live without just fine) and what I actually needed.  So, here is my list of what I should have packed aka, my list:

• Skid Free Socks (Rescue those tootsies from getting cold and rescue me from slipping and falling flat on my face when going to the bathroom)
• Nipple Butter (I'm pretty sure my nipples would have fallen off without this stuff)
• Phone/Charger (It was my camera and my door to Facebook so the rest of the family could keep up with what's going on)
• Hair Ties/Hair Clips (I brought both because I just love to use my hair clip, but the clip hurt when I was trying to sleep)
• Toothbrush/Toothpaste (Got to keep those pearly whites white!)
• Baby Book/Journal (Get those footy prints!)
• Towel (I used mine for more than just drying off!  I rolled that sucker up and used it for back support when nursing!)
• Car Seat (Duh)
• Pillow (Man!  Forget the pillow for Daddy!  I had Hubby go back home and bring my body pillow and I used that thing as a nursing pillow, to hold to my incision when I laughed, coughed, or sneezed, and to keep Piggy up next to me when she was sleeping and my arm was tired!)
• ID (It's a military hospital.  You can't really get that far without an ID.)
• Baby Wash (I didn't use it on Piggy, but I did use it on me and it made my skin really soft.)
• Going Home Outfit (Piggy Baby going home wasn't really that big of a shin dig, but I did use her going home outfit for when this woman came to our room to take her pictures.)
• Baby Blanket (The regular, fuzzy kind for pictures and incase it's cold outside)

     There.  That's everything that I would bring, if I could go back in time and stop myself from packing all of that stuff.  Now, there might be some things I didn't list and it's making you think "WHY THE HELL NOT?!"  So, let me explain:

• Flip flops- When I (finally) got to take that shower, I was in an "I don't care!  I'm taking a damn shower!" kind of mood.  I couldn't have cared less how nasty the floor was.  I didn't care, I was getting a shower.
• Dry Shampoo (or any shampoo)- There's not a lot of sweating going on when you're laying in a hospital bed continuously and the only activities you're doing are nursing and going to the bathroom.  When I got that shower, I just got my hair wet and ran my fingers through it to get the few knots out that were in it.  If you must though, go on ahead and bring some dry shampoo.
• Prenatals- This might just be for some, but my doctor changed my prenatals.  Ask your doctor before hand if he is going to change them.  If not, then bring yours.  This just so happened to be how it was for me.  So, don't get to the hospital and say "This random woman posted on her blog to not bring prenatals, so I didn't."  Yeah...don't do that please.
• Deodorant- This is the same reason as the dry shampoo.  So, just go back and read that.
• Onesies- We weren't allowed to put any clothes on her because nurses were constantly taking Piggy Baby to get weighed, tested, and having to take her vitals to the point that more time would have been spent dressing and undressing her than logically necessary.  If the hospital allows you to dress your baby, then by all means, bring some clothes.
• Diapers, Receiving Blankets, Wipes- The hospital provided these for us.  Feel free to take advantage of it.  We used half of the diapers, then were like "Oh no!  We need more diapers!", get more diapers, and then stash the ones they just gave us.  We kept this up the entire time we were there and wound up with almost as many newborn diapers as she wound up needing.  We actually had to get another pack, had about ten leftover, and wound up using those as emergency diapers for when we ran out (lost track of stock).  We did the same thing with the wipes and wound up with about ten to-go packs of wipe (which we are now out of).  With the receiving blankets, we had to be a little bit creative.  If we told the nurse the blanket was dirty, she'd bring back a clean one and take away the dirty one.  We made sure to always have "two".  "She's cold, can you bring us another blanket?", we'd get the new one and then stash it.  When they would wheel her away for testing or weighing, "They only wrapped her back in one blanket, can we get another?"  Then when it was shift change, we would once again go back to the "She's cold" bit.  Even though we did this about fifteen times, we only came home with seven blankets.  Mainly because she actually did get some dirty and once or twice she came back from getting weighed without a blanket.  Oh, and while you're at it, make sure to stock up on those mesh underwear things!  You don't have to be sneaky about these, they'll just hand them out if you ask for them to take home.

     Those are the main ones that I can think of that someone would react with "Why not."  If you have any "Why not"s, then just go on ahead and post them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer.  What all did you pack in your hospital bag?  What did you wish you packed?  What did you wish you hadn't?

Pasta Stuff

     I love to try new food.  Of course I have my limits.  Brains, liver, tongue, and slimy cooked asparagus is where I draw my line, though.  Oh, and kimchi.  I can’t even get past the smell.  Luckily, I’m the cook of the house.  What I say is for dinner is what will be for dinner.  Absolutely no surprises on what will be for dinner.  I still do some experimenting though.  One experiment that I can across made me kind of skittish to try, mainly because I’ve never thought that pink would be a good tasting sauce color.

     Where ever I got this recipe, I can’t remember.  But it was just so easy of a recipe that I was able to memorize it like *snap* that.  I can’t seem to remember the name either, so whenever it is for dinner, I just tell Hubby “it’s that pasta stuff”.  He knew what I was talking about, I knew what I was talking about, and so the name “Pasta Stuff” stuck.

Ingredients:

     1 box Penne pasta

     1 jar Spaghetti sauce

     1 jar Alfredo sauce

     2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded

     Parmesan cheese, shredded

     That’s all.  Just an easy five ingredient recipe.  Get this though, the steps are just as easy!

     Instructions:

1.       Cook penne al dente (you want a little crunch to it.  Not too much or the pasta will be under cooked and not too little or it will be over cooked and gooey)

2.       While penne is cooking, mix the entire jar of spaghetti sauce, Alfredo sauce, and bag of mozzarella into a bowl.  Mix well.  (I find it to be easier to mix the sauces until there’s no streaking of colors then throw in the mozzarella.)

3.       Strain the penne then add to the sauce and cheese.  Mix well.

4.       Pour into a 13x9 pan.

5.       Pop into a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

6.       Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top then pop back into the oven until the Parmesan is melted.

     BAM!!! Done! How easy was that? And you can easily mix things up a bit by adding chicken, beef, or pork (cooked of course) when you mix everything together. This is enough for 2-4 people, depending on the people. When it is just me and Hubby, it’s enough for two with no leftovers. With me and my dad, it was enough for four without leftovers.

     Do you prefer recipes with lots of ingredients or few ingredients? Leave your opinion in the comments below!

V-Tech Phone

     Piggy’s birthday was last month.  For it, she got a few toys.  She got the Go! Go! SmartWheels Police Station, Go! Go! SmartWheels Fire Rescue Station, bedding set, motor skills balls, and, last but not least, a V-Tech phone.  This post is just about that.  The phone I mean.

     The main reason why Hubby and I decided on getting Piggy this for her birthday is that she is ALWAYS playing with our phones.  She’s dialed several people off my phone, text people off Hubby’s, and – dare I admit –called 911.  That last one is very embarrassing no matter who you are.  We just HAD to do something about this.  It also helped that when we were in the store buying her birthday stuff (perks of a one year old), she grabbed it and wouldn't let go.  That made the decision of getting it a lot easier.

     This nifty little doo-dad acts very much like a real phone without actually being a real phone.  You can slide between two screens with a “swipe.”  One of the screens is the music screen with your typical play/pause, rewind, and fast forward.  There are also spots to add instrument sounds like maracas, xylophone, drums, and a triangle.  The other screen is the “app” screen.  There’s an “app” for a camera, messages, calendar, weather, a…dog (for some reason), music, alarm, ball (also for some reason), lullabies, ABCs, shapes, and home.  The home “app” can be set to recite your home phone number.  This is to help the child in learning it.  How awesome!  By pushing the green button, the numbers mode is activated and your child can dial in numbers.  By a simple press of the red button, the mode goes back to the app mode.

     So let’s sum this thing up:

          Price: $13 (including tax)

          Size: 6.5” X 3”

          Assembly Required:  No

          Ease of Use:  Simple

          Interactive:  Yes, several components

          Star Rating:  4.5

     If it weren't for it being so bulky, I would give if five stars.  Other than that, it’s great!  Piggy loves to play with it and I get a break from my phone being hijacked.

     I remember being three years old and living at my grandmother’s house.  She felt it to be very important that my brother and I know our “information.”  Every morning, before going out the door (for school, grocery shopping, museum, etc.) we would have to recite our information.  I still remember the rhythmic feeling to it.  123 Some Road, Somewhere, Georgia 12345 123-555-1234.  Of course, that’s not the actual information, but you get the gist.  At the time, I didn't fully understand why she had us   do that, now, it makes complete sense to me.  Heaven forbid if one of us got lost somewhere, kidnapped, or just needed to call 911 for whatever reason.  That is some good stuff to know.  With this phone, I at least don’t have to worry about teaching Piggy the phone number.  She’ll probably hear it so many times that she’ll recite it in her sleep.  I’ll just have to teach her the address.