Elephant!

I made my daughter a cute little elephant bow to match a smocked dress I bought her. I think it looks so cute together and I can't wait to see her in it! :)
I plan on making some different colors and listing it in my shop soon!!!

sleep

I am lost w/ this sleep thing.
We feed the baby and put her in bed around 9. She had been sleeping, waking up around 12 to eat, then going back to bed for about 4 hours or so. This week something changed. We'd put her in bed at 9, then she'd wake up about an hour later wanting to eat again. She kept us up till 2-3 am. When you are exhausted and ready for bed, staying up w/ a baby for no apparent reason is hard! Thankfully she wasn't cranky, just awake.. Last night we kept her awake and instead of putting her in bed at 9, we put her in bed at 10:30 or so.. We thought she'd be so tired, she'd stay asleep. That didn't work. After an hour of being asleep, she woke up again. Thankfully she went right back to sleep, so I was in bed by 1.

So I'm just lost b/c I don't know what changed and I don't get why she's waking herself up after being asleep for 1 hour. Anyone have any thoughts?!

On the plus side, last night, she slept about 6 1/2 straight hours. Our new record. So nice to sleep through the night :)

My new addiction

I LOVE coffee! I have recently bought 2 new creamers, Cinnabon and Almond Joy. They are both awesome!! My favorite is the almond joy. I love chocolate/coconut together. Whenever I open the creamer and prepare my coffee, it makes my whole kitchen smell amazing. I got a little nervous b/c I'm running low and haven't been able to find it in my grocery store. Last night I went to wal mart and they not only had almond joy, but they had others in the BIG container. So I bought the big container of almond joy. If I didn't have self control I'd be drinking 3+ cups a day. lol

Fall is here...

My favorite time of year is fall. I love everything about it, the cooler weather, the clothes, the smell, the colors, the decorations... Now that we have kids, I love coming up with halloween costume ideas :)
I think my most favorite part of fall is the FOOD. lol I love making/eating soups and stews and such. Last night I went out and found candy corn and once I opened the bag, I couldn't stop eating it. lol

Wordless Wednesday

:)

Play Time

Lately my daughter has really enjoyed playing in her playroom. She takes out her babies and favorite stuffed toys and makes them dinner. It's so cute! She also likes to put her babies in their stroller and go on a walk.
Since being pregnant and recovering, tv has become our best friend. It's sad, but true. So this week I've started leaving the TV off and setting up more playtime. I call it "boot camp". I've created a more structured day for her, divided in 30 minute increments. Every half hour we switch activities. I'm still working out some kinks but I'm very excited. I have myself, my daughter and the baby in boot camp. :) I am trying to get baby on a schedule and I want to make sure I spend enough time with both kids and have time to clean the house. I will post my schedule once the kinks are worked out. :)
And for other moms of toddlers out there, what are some arts and crafts that you do with your kids? I'd love some ideas b/c I am not exactly sure what to do with my daughter in that department.

stroller help

We were given a graco double stroller by a friend. I was so excited, and then we realized that it did not fit in the trunk of our '95 Honda Accord. I was able to get it in there, after much twisting and turning. lol SO my hubby and I took the girls out, it took me about 5 mintues to get the stroller out of the car. Our Peg Perego car seat does not fit on it and the stroller was impossible to steer. After 10 minutes with it, we decided we would put the baby in the sling and our toddler would walk. lol I ended up giving the stroller back to my friend b/c it just wasn't worth the hassle to take it in and out of the trunk. On top of which, nothing else fit in there.
Now we have a dilemma. We need a double stroller, a compact one. But I don't know which one. We can't spend too much. I found this jeep that I like, I'm pretty sure it'd fit in our trunk. And the best part, it can hold our peg perego car seat. Now, I really want a new car seat, a lighter one. BUT if we can fit our old car seat in this, then it saves us money. lol
So my question is, do any of you have one of these and can offer some feedback? OR is there another double stroller out there that is compact and could fit in the trunk of our little car? We'd like to keep the cost at around $200 or so.
Thanks!

The stroller we're considering.

My moby

This week I made an awesome purchase. You see, my daughter is VERY clingy. I am working on breaking her off the habit of being held, but it's a slow process. I put her in her swing, bouncy and playmat. But it lasts for about 3-5 minutes. She screams bloody murder and I only like to leave her there for a little bit b/c I don't want her getting sick over it. SO I am constantly holding her, which makes it hard to get anything done. Several friends raved about the Moby Wrap. So I bought it. I LOVE LOVE it!!!

I carry baby sister around the house in it and can do most of my chores. And the best part is, she loves it. She was unconsolable yesterday, as soon as I put her in the moby, she became happy. :)

If you are having a baby or have a baby, this is great! I had a sling, but it was killing my back. This distributes the weight evenly and doesn't hurt my back or shoulders. It barely feels like I'm holding my baby. And I will be able to carry her in it until 35-40 pounds.

Playroom

Since having the baby 7 weeks ago (I can't believe she's 7 weeks old) I had not cleaned up the playroom. I couldn't vacuum, so it just kept getting messier. A few days ago I was over it and cleaned. I vacuumed, picked up all the toys and organized them. It looked amazing!!! It doesn't look that way anymore. lol Toys everywhere, her books on the floor.. I can't wait till she can keep things better organized. She's good at picking up her toys, but not her books. lol
BTW anyone that comes here says that this room is an explosion of pink. I love it! And you can't even see the other side of the room. lol

Coffee goodness

Towards the end of my pregnancy coffee started making me sick. I hated giving it up, but it just wasn't worth it. Then after my daughter was born I drank it sporadically. Well now I've been drinking it daily, I NEED the caffeine. Plus I have found 2 new addictive creamers. I have been on the hunt for these for a long time and my grocery store finally had it. I even paid full price for them, I never buy creamer w/out coupons. lol

This one is SO good and smells delicious. It is like drinking a cinnamon roll. lol

This is my new weakness. You see, I LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate/coconut combined. My favorite candybar is the mounds. So when I saw this, I HAD to try it. When you open it, all you smell is chocolate/coconutty goodness. I am addicted. Just writing about it is making me want some mounds coffee. lol

I am thinking of writing International delight and asking them to make these a permanent edition. lol I need to buy more and keep it in my fridge.

Wordless Wednesday

My daughter's favorite :) I lost. lol

Random thoughts...

Being a mom has gotten very comical for me lately. I've been so exhausted and scatter brained, there have been some dumb things I've done around the house. lol
Some examples:

Did you know that if you put your clothes in the dryer, they won't get dry until you turn the machine on!? Yep, I learned that this week. lol

Did you know that your clothes wont' get washed well w/out laundry detergent? Yep, My clothes went through a whole wash cycle and then I remembered that I never put detergent in there. lol

When putting your children in their car seats, it's best to buckle them up BEFORE driving off. lol


I'm sure there have been more but my scatter brain can't think of it. lol
Right now I'm still trying to get baby sister on a schedule. I'm hoping that she'll be used to the schedule we're setting up by next week. Then I'll be able to start "boot camp" with my oldest. lol We're making some changes around here! :)

Aren't they so cute in their matching pink dresses? :)

Crib

For the past few weeks or so we've really been struggling with getting baby sister to sleep. There were nights that she'd keep me up till 4-5 am.. When she wakes up to eat in the middle of the night and stays up for 2 hours. It's really hard and I've been beyond exhausted. Last Thursday night (among many nights) she'd fall asleep in my arms and whenever I'd put her in her pack and play she'd wake up. It happened 3 times and I was desperate for sleep. I noticed that her p-n-p had an indentation from where she laid. I was told by several friends that a pack and play is not that comfortable. SO my hubby and I came up with a new game plan starting on Friday. We were both tired of the sleepless nights.

Starting on Friday we made a few changes and things are getting better.
First, we took her pack and play out and put the crib in our room. So she's now sleeping in her crib.
Second, we are doing our best to keep her up through out the day.
Third, we put her in bed at 9:30.
Fourth, b/t 12-1 am I wake her up for a feeding and within 30 minutes she's back in bed. She wakes up again around 5-6 to eat, but then is up for 2 hours. I need to fix that one. lol
Fifth, we put a white noise maker in her crib
sixth, instead of feeding her every 3 hours, which wasnt working anyways, I'm doing it every 2 hours.

SO hopefully these changes will continue helping and soon she'll be able to sleep through the night. Right now I get about 5 straight hours of sleep, which is much better than before.

Etsy finds...

Are you getting ready for the holidays!?
As you know, I have several halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas bows listed in my shop, with more to come! I have an etsy buddy who makes BEAUTIFUL children's clothes. I am seriously in love with her shop! You have to go check out Your Design for these cute clothes. Her holiday clothes match my holiday bows :)

My turkey bow, $5. Check out the cute outfit below and how well it matches.

And how cute is this outfit!? It's gorgeous and perfect for Thanksgiving!!!

This spider outfit is PERFECT for the halloween season. ADORABLE!!!

It's never too early to be thinking about Christmas! I am in love with this outfit!!


Check out YourDesign, you will fall in love! She's got great stuff for boys and girls. Tell her BOWquet sent you. And don't forget to stop by BOWquet for a matching bow ;)

Rebel fun

I LOVE LOVE taking pictures, especially of my girls. I am now learning photoshop so I can edit my pictures.
Here's some from our last photo shoot. BTW it's very hard to get a good picture of the 2 girls together.

sweet sisters

I decided to have some fun with the girls shoes. :)

shoes and bracelets

Big sister

I feel like I blog a lot about baby sister. lol So here's a post about Big sister.
She has loves helping me out, sometimes she's a little too helpful. lol But she loves her sister, and it's so sweet. She's so girly, I love it. She loves getting her hair done, pedicures, princesses, dolls... Lately she's really been into baby dolls, she likes taking them on walks in their strollers and feeding them. So cute!
We are planning a trip to Disney for her birthday at the end of the year. We'll have to find the princesses for her to meet, she'll love it!

I have no words! lol BUT baby sister hates the bouncy, so at least it's getting some use. lol

That's her spot to watch TV. I have no idea how she's comfortable.

She loves playing with her sister :)

Nighttime woes

Well, baby sister is 6 weeks old, I thought by now she'd start getting the whole night/day thing straightened out. I had my other daughter sleeping through the night by 9 weeks.
Right now the problem I have with baby sister is that we put her in bed b/t 12-1 am, after a feeding, then I go to bed. Well, she'll wake up after 4 hours to eat, but won't go back to sleep. She'll stay up for 2-3 hours for no reason at all. Or she'll want to cluster feed during those awake hours, but then get mad while she's eating. It's so weird. This week, we've had 3 nights where she woke up for her 12 am feeding and stayed up for 4-5 hours straight. Cranky, whiny, eating, but not eating, fighting sleep. It was horrible! Someone mentioned that it could be that I'm drinking too much caffeine. I drink a lot of tea and coke through out the afternoon. Last night I actually had coffee at 6 pm, not even thinking about the caffeine. SO today I am avoiding caffeine. I am having a cup of coffee right now, but that will be it.

Other than that, I have no idea what her deal is. I know yesterday she slept too much during the day, I tried everything to wake her, and it was impossible. Today I will try harder. lol

6 weeks ago

6 weeks ago my life changed, I became a mom, again. lol Baby sister has been a joy to our family. I can't believe it's been 6 weeks already...
AT 6 weeks, she weighs 11 lbs and is 22 1/4 inches long. I call her my little chunk :)

I bought this for her right after I found out I was having a girl and then made a matching bow.

I LOVE her in purple

I love her so much!

Etsy finds...

I just wanted to take a minute and share my husband's latest print. I can't wait to have this hanging in our girls room :) I love everything about this painting!


Isn't it gorgeous?! This print comes in 2 sizes, 8x10 and 14x11. They are both on sale for 20% until the 17th. Don't miss out, tell him BOWquet sent you! ;)

There are tons of beautiful prints in his shop, for boys and girls. Go check out The Adventure Shop!

Wordless Wednesday

Girl time :)

Target

This past week I went on my first shopping trip w/ both girls. It was a quick one, I just HAD to get out of the house. Target needs bigger carts b/c after putting both girls on there, I couldn't fit much else. lol

Sewing fun

When I first found out I was pregnant, I bought a onesie, it had to be something that worked both ways b/c I didn't know what I was having. Last week I got the sewing bug so I took out my sewing machine and tried something new. I'd been seeing tutorials for onesie dresses, so that is what I made. I had fun and have plans for more! :)
I had a lot of fun making this and it was so easy! I can't wait to make more.

Materials-I wanted the onesie to be more girly :)


The finished product! Dress and matching rosette bow


My model refused to cooperate for a good picture.
The onesie says "Could I be any cuter"


My work station :) As of right now, I have no dining room table b/c it's covered w/ fabrics and stuff. lol

mini van

My dream car has always been a Ford Mustang. When we first got married, I had a Scion TC, sports car. My hubby hates mustangs. lol Now that we have kids, my dream car has changed, I WANT a mini van :) After my first daughter was born, I started wanting one. Now that we have a 2nd daughter, I want one even more. Now that we are going out more often w/ 2 kids, I am realizing more and more the need for a van. I drive a honda accord. My first problem w/ that is that there is NO backseat now that it's been overtaken by 2 carseats. Then, we cannot fit a double stroller in the trunk. Also, there is no room in the car for anything else, so if we ever go shopping or go on a trip, packing will be minimum. Putting or taking out 2 kids from the car is a hassle when I am alone. It takes me forever! lol

All of those "problems" are annoying and makes me want a van even more. BUT we refuse to have car payments if we can avoid it. So, for now we have to make do w/ what we have. And I am thankful that we have 2 cars w/ no payments. 10 months ago we only had 1 car. lol

FALL is here...

.. Well, I don't really know when fall starts officially, but in my shop, it's here!
I've had my shop on vacation since having the baby, but we are having a reopening this week! In order to celebrate, I am offering free shipping this week (domestic only), use the code: fallfun
Check out these fun bows!

Cute ghost, $3.50

Turkey, perfect for Thanksgiving! Only $5

Cute spider! only $4


Check out BOWquet for more bows :)

zoo trip

On Labor day we went to the zoo. We wanted to get big sis out of the house and figured baby sis would be ok in this awful heat for a couple hours. So off we went. I had baby sis in a sling for about 20 minutes then gave up. We were both sweating! Our problem now is that we have a single stroller, but big sis loves to sit in it. Which I'm fine w/ b/c then she's trapped. We were blessed w/ a double stroller from a friend, but we found out on Monday that it doesn't fit in the trunk of our Honday. :/ So now we are trying to figure out what to do as far as a double stroller goes. I found one that can fit in our trunk but baby sis needs to be older to sit in it. So I'm not sure what our plan is.

Some pictures from the zoo. Keep in mind I took 100 pictures that day. lol

Feeding the giraffes

Baby sister slept the whole time

Looking at the apes

One of my favorite parts of the zoo. That's where the giraffes are


I have not been very good at updating the blog. I'm always tired or busy. lol It is all worth it!

I will survive

I keep hearing the song "I will survive" in my head... Being a mom of 2 is HARD! I know it's just a season and it'll pass. I know TONS of moms do it with 2 and more kids.. But right now I feel like I"m drowning a bit. Between my toddler, 1 month old, house work, very little sleep... I feel like I am not doing any of those things really well.. There is no schedule or order in my house. which I HATE! I like consistency, I NEED a schedule. And getting the baby on a set routine has been really hard for me to do this time around. We wake up whenever we wake up, then she just eats on demand. I WANT and NEED more of a schedule than that. I was going to attempt to do that this week, but it hasn't happened yet. I need to discipline myself to wake up at a specific/set time each day and set the girls schedules instead of letting them run the house. lol I feel stressed, depressed and all of the above. It's hard to get motivated when I'm so tired all the time.

Right now my toddler is watching Pingu (is there anything more annoying out there) and baby sister is sleeping happily in her swing. There is a HUGE pile of laundry that needs to be folded. I know that I need to get that done and want to get that done. But that would require moving from the couch and right now I have no desire to do so. lol Alas, let me get over it and feel like I've accomplished something.

1 month

On Sept 3rd, baby sister turned 1 month old. She has been such a blessing to our family.
She was born weighing 7.15 lbs and measuring 20". She was my tiny baby. Last week she saw the doctor and weighed 10 pounds. Yesterday I was looking at her and thought she just grew overnight. She looked huge all of a sudden, it's like she grew overnight. I decided to measure her, out of curiosity. Yesterday I measured her and got 23".. It surprised me that she grew 3" in 1 month, so today I measured her 4 more times. ha! It's VERY difficult to measure a wiggly baby. Today I got 21 1/2" and close to 22" each time. So I really have no idea! I think she's just under 22". She's nowhere near 23" so I have no idea where that came from yesterday. lol
At 1 month:
she wears size 1 diaper
has begun to wear 0-3, 3 month clothes.
Eats every 2-3 hours, at nights she can usually go 3-4 hours (some nights she'll do 2 hours)

She has the most beautiful dark blue/grey eyes. Her sister had the same color eyes, until she turned 1, now they are hazelish.. So as much as I LOVE blue eyes, baby sister's eyes will probably change too...

I LOVE taking pictures, especially of my girls.. Here's some pictures of baby sister's 1 month photoshoot: