Week in Review - 6.28.13

A good part of this week was spent gone, out of town.  John and I were off to a fun weekend with friends in Clear Lake and Elsie spent the weekend with Dale and Bev.  They brought her up to Clear Lake Sunday morning to meet us because we were taking off to MN.  My little brother was in town, finally and we were going up for a visit.  He was moving from Idaho to England.  We haven't seen him since Christmas so it was great to spend some time with him.  I have a whole post coming on this time together so I will save that for another day.  Here are some highlights from the week...

1.  Elsie adores Ole and Lena, my brothers dogs.  They actually chase the balls she throws haha.  Poor Cinder just doesn't have the energy anymore.  She shrills with delight as they chase around the yard.  It is so fun to watch her interact with them.  It is also adorable how she says their names so plainly.

2.  Elsie and her cousins with their Uncle Tony.

3.  I made a round of yummy mojitos.  They are definitely my new favorite drink! 

3.  Elsie just loves getting stuff in her hair and all over her face.  This particular morning we were eating breakfast before heading over to see Mel's new house and decided it was time to make a mess.  I guess she wanted a bath because that is what we had to do to get all the jelly out of her hair-which of course made us late :)

4.  We were all going out to eat for dinner with a big group of family and Allie wanted to ride with Elsie and me.  So...it wasn't too long after we got going and I looked back and she was looking pretty tired.  I asked her if she was tired, she shook her head no, and then maybe a minute later she was out.  (Don't worry I took this photo at a stop light :).  Elsie kept yelling "Allie" in her cute little voice trying to wake her up.  I even had a hard time getting her into the restaurant without carrying her.  

5.  Cousin Time!  These two play so well together.  Elsie idolizes Allie!  In the bath we have a heck of time getting Elsie's hair wet with the cup.  She doesn't really like it too much.  Well after watching Allie do it Elsie has no problem doing it.  In fact, she thinks its fun and does it in the pool with freezing cold water too.  

6.  Oh the Laundry Chute!  As kids we loved putting our clothes down the laundry chute.  It looks like the kiddos still enjoy it.  When I see this picture I see my sister and I when we were little doing the same thing.  

7.  I have to say that by the time we were ready to leave on Wednesday I was ready to get Elsie home, back to her routine and her normal bed. (That was the only reason I wanted to leave)  Putting her down was the most difficult it has ever been in regards to fit throwing.  Monday night was the worst and it took us over an hour to get her to sleep, with the help of family and Tuesday Grandpa was the one that eventually got her to calm down enough and fall asleep.  Poor girl just didn't want to miss out on the fun! 

Staycation Day Two: Blank Park Zoo

Day two of our staycation was supposed to be better in the weather department so we decided to head out to the Blank Park Zoo.  The zoo opens at 9:00 which is awesome because we are early risers so we were there a little after 9:00.  It was surprisingly busier than I thought (but not nearly as busy as it could have been) because although it wasn't raining, it wasn't a beautiful day.  Elsie had a great time (even though I think she was still feeling not 100%).  She loved pointing at the animals and she would repeat a lot of the names as we would say them.  

The first stop was the Australian exhibit.  For this one you enter in through the gates and are among the animals.  Elsie loved spotting the Wallabies all around us.   

After that we were walking around and spotted an elephant.  Right now Elsie is obsessed with elephants and gets so excited when we come across one in the books we have been reading.  Well this elephant was just a statue so we thought we would go take our picture by it.  Boy, were we surprised when we got close and it sprayed water at us.  Haha

Moving on to the cats.  Everything was a Lion (she has now become obsessed with lions after our visit to the zoo).  She also roars like them.  

I actually think one of Elsie's favorite things at the zoo was this jeep.  She threw a mini fit when it was time to move one.  

After the cats we checked out the Seals and Sea Lions. 

Not too sure about this rhino statue

Of course we had to try to take her on the carousel.  The last time we went on one was when we went to Omaha.  It didn't go over too well.  This time she LOVED it and didn't want to get off when the time was over.  Yay! 

We made a short stop at the Koi Pond to feed the fish. 

Stopped to watch the sea lion show

Went for a ride on the train

And ended with the aquariums.  

It was a great time and like I said, I think she really did enjoy it.  

After the zoo, Elsie fell asleep the minute she was strapped into her carseat.  So we grabbed a quick lunch at the drive thru and drove around exploring again.  We ended up at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt.  As we drove in we notice a Rendezvous was going on.  It was open to the public but since Elsie was sleeping we chose not to get out ;).  There were tons of tents and tipis set up and people dressed from attire in that era.  It reminded me of a coworker from camp who I believe would go to this particular one to get some program supplies.  The park was an interesting find.  Neither of us knew it was back there.  There is a campground you can stay at and you can rent kayaks and canoes.  The campground was pretty flooded and despite it being Memorial Day weekend was almost vacated.  It would be a nice afternoon to head back out there and take one of the wetland trails once things dry up a little bit and not everything is so flooded.  It was neat to discover a new outdoor place so close to home.  

We finally made our way back home and stopped in at John's parents where his sister and the girls were at.  Elsie had fun playing around for a little bit before we headed home to play more outside and get dinner going.  It was about this time things turned south for me.  I started to get achy and the chills.  Unfortunately, by the time I went to bed that night I was in full sick mode with a fever, sore throat, and achy all over.  Not a great way to end such a wonderful day.  Well onto day three of Staycation 2013.  

Mother's Day

For the past two years we have stayed in Iowa for Mother's Day.  Last year my parents came down to Iowa the weekend before and we went to Pella Tulip Time.  This year I really wanted to be up there to celebrate with my mom and grandmas this year.  We had a really great weekend up there despite the fact that Elsie was not sleeping well.  We got to see quite a few friends and family while visitng.  

We debated back and forth whether we wanted to stay home or go out for brunch and in the end brunch at home won.  My dad made delicious homemade caramel rolls, egg casserole, biscuits and gravy, and yummy fruit complete with Mimosas.  It was so nice!  Both my grandmas made it to brunch as well as my sister and her sweet family.  It was so much fun to get all the little girls together!  Of course it just wasn't enough time to spend together.  One of these days we will have to do a whole weekend together.  

My sister bought the girls these adorable little cowboy hats. 

Allie wasn't too thrilled with the pictures at first but eventually we got a smile out of her. 

Grandma Bonnie with her girls

Elsie was so ready for nap and she kept running into 

the back bedroom and would climb up on the bed.  

Elsie kept "Blowing Raspberries" while we were trying 

to take pictures, making everyone laugh. 

I am so glad we made it up to celebrate this special day with these special mamas :)

Me and My Mama 

We got home a little after 7:00 PM so we decided to stop by John's parents and say hello to his mom.  She was outside doing yard work so Elsie had fun looking at all the flowers.  

Me and My little girl :)  She makes it so much fun to be a mama! 

30 Years 30 Goals-January Update

In regards to my 30 goals, January went okay...My goals are definitely on my mind and I am continuing to think about how I am going to go about accomplishing them which is what the purpose of this is...to keep my goals in the front of my mine and not get forgotten about.

Check out my original post to see the goals.  

Here is my progress for the month:

Goals 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29
I hardly even thought about these goals or they are unapplicable (ie for summertime or something like that).  

Goal 1:  Run 5-5k's

I started consciously training for my first 5k this month.  For someone who hasn't run much since Elsie was born this was big for me.  I made time to get on the treadmill and jog.  I used an app on my phone which helped a lot.  My first 5k is Saturday and I will let you know how it goes.  I don't know if I will be able to run the whole thing since the most I ran straight was 2 miles.  My friends Heidi and Kedra told me if I can run 2 miles on the treadmill 3 miles outside will be nothing...I am not so sure about that.

Goal 2:  Complete the Outlander Series

Well I started Voyager a few nights ago.  A few years ago I read part of this book but don't really remember it.  There are bits and pieces that I recognize as I read it now though. 

Goal 3:  Get on a consistent routine of 3x a week exercise

Check for the month of January...hopefully I will maintain this or increase this in the next month. 

Goal 4:  TAke Elsie to a Children's Museum

Haven't actually done it yet but made plans to do it the last weekend in February :)  I can't wait!

Goal 7:  Lose at Least 15 pounds
I am SLOWLY getting there ha.  Down 5 pounds

Goal 10:  Plan and carry out a date night with John once a month
This was a major dissapointment-John and I did some fun things together this month just not alone...we were going to have a date night on the 30th but of course we had a snowy week which meant John was up early like 2-3:00 AM which means he was exhausted come evening.  I am pretty sure that night he was in bed by 7:30.  So no date night for January.

Goal 16:  Read 4 Non Fiction Books
Still reading Healthy Tipping Point

Goal 17:  Have an Elsie Outing Once a Month
So I may be a little overprotective but after being out of work for a week in early January I decided we were going to avoid a lot of public places where kids go.  This month I am going to make it up to her :).

Goal 19:  Finally get rid of stuff in boxes that I want to donate
I took a load over to the consignment store to see if they would sell my stuff.  They are and in fact a few things have already sold!  Yay!  I am getting rid of stuff and getting money for it.

Goal 20:  Attend Church at Least Once a month or 12 times in the year
No church this month

Goal 22:  Host a game night for friends at our house
Another sad thing for me.  I had a game night planned for the second weekend in January.  I had all the food and beverages purchased and then WHAM!  Our household got hit with the stomach bug so I ended up cancelling with hopes of rescheduling over the next couple months.

Goal 28:  Make 5:30 AM my wake up time and 10:00 my bedtime
This is going actually really well.  Most nights I am in bed by 9:30 and then I do a bit of reading.  IF I am not in bed I am typically taking a nice warm bath instead.  AS far as wake up time there was a week I was up at 5:30 exercising but this has not happened lately. Instead I have been up at 5:30 because that is what time Elsie tells me it is time to get up.

Goal 30:  Twice a month call up a friend just because
Another big fail on this one.  I will definitely make up for it this month!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...Baby Gear Edition

Well we made it through the first year of parenthood and went though a lot of different baby gear.  This gear made it a lot easier to deal with the day to day.  One of the things I wanted to avoid as I was adding things to our baby registry before Elsie was born was the things they sell that that you don't really need or are a waste of money and space.  I am sure I was suckered into some of those things but here are the things that I loved and others that were a waste of money for us.

My Faves

Fisher Price Snugabunny swing.  We used this from a week or so old to about 5 months old.  Elsie loved it!  It was soft, plush, played songs, made nature sounds and she loved the mirror on the bottom side of the mobile.  I loved that it kept her entertained and that it plugged into the wall so I didn't have to worry about batteries.







The first years drying rack.  I looked at a lot of drying racks and I am glad I picked this one out.  There was always enough room for all the bottles and pump parts.  We used Dr. Brown's bottles and this rack and holes in the top rack where I could put the skinny part of the air things into to dry.  IT was also enough to hold all my pump parts (3 sets).  IT took up very little room on the counter and I loved having the little drip tray that can be emptied (I know other drying racks don't have this and water just pools in the bottom).  And it spins so putting everything away is a cinch :)

The Halo Sleepsack:  
This is seriously one of our favorite things ever!  We used them a lot until Elsie was about 5 months old and it got warm out and she just slept in her footed pajamas.  Right around 8-9 months Elsie was sleeping terrible at night.  We decided we would try the larger sized sleepsacks for her and bought one at the store one day.  She instantly started sleeping better.  I figure she just wasn't cozy enough.  So I went out and bought 3 more in different warmth levels.  Now at 4 months later she still wears one every night.  In fact, I just bought two more in the next size up in fleece and cotton (1 of each) since the ones we have in the bigger sizes are the super warm velboa ones.  Now she hasn't slept perfect every night since we stasrted using them again but I do think she sleeps pretty good.

Ergo Baby Performance Carrier
This is one item I wish I would have gotten sooner.  When Elsie was born I tried to use a Moby Wrap.  We didn't love it so I stopped using a carrier.  Well oh about 4-5 months old I went out and bought this carrier and LOVED it.  It was really comfortable, breathable, and Elsie enjoyed it.  I used this when I went shopping mostly but also used it on our trip to Idaho when we were walking around sightseeing.  I think had I had this earlier on I would have used it more around the house and when we were out and about instead of carrying around the big heavy carseat.  Also, I think I will use this a lot more for baby #2 because it will be nice to have the extra hands for helping Elsie

NoseFrida:  The Snotsucker

This was a later in the first year purchase-oh somewhere around 9 months old we started using this on Elsie thanks to the recommendation of our pediatrician.  I was getting so frustrated with those bulb syringes that you can buy at Target and I felt like they did nothing to suck the snot out of Elsie's nose.  Which then left her congested and crabby at night time.  Our doctor told us this worked really good but they can be hard to find since they aren't just sold anywhere.  Well I found them at the cloth diaper store and I bought one and haven't looked back since.  Elsie doesn't mind it too much.  For some reason, John does a better job because she protests the least when he does it, in fact she giggled the other night when he did it.  Thanks to its design you can't accidently jam it too far up the nostril and it seals the opening so you get some good suction.  It is a bit amazing how much snot you can suck out of Elsie's nose when she isn't feeling well.

Cloth Diapers:  

RagaBabes

This deserves its own post which it will get eventually but I have absolutely no regrets of doing cloth diapers. We love them for so many different reasons.  I hope it goes as smoothly for the second baby as it did the first.  My favorite diapers are RagaBabe Diapers, and the Flip Diaper System-one is economical, the other is not :).  WE have had very little problems with them over the last year.  I am not sure if we have saved very much money because I love adding a new diaper to the stash about once a month and like I said above...the RagaBabes are not super economical but they are the best diaper in my opinion for so many reasons and they are made right here in Iowa (she sells them worldwide).  We are supporting a very small mom ran business which I like.  The Flip diapers are pretty inexpensive and if I was using these exclusively I would save a ton of money on diapers.

Tommee Tippee Explora System
This is relatively new for us (purchased in the past few weeks) and we only have the plates, mat, and bowls and a couple of sippy cups (but I don't love those yet).  I had a few other plates (Munchkin Brand) that said the suctioned down and couldn't be moved.  Well they can be and it was so frustrating because we couldn't use a bowl otherwise Elsie would throw it all over the place.  I found this system and so far we love it!  The plates and bowls suction to the mat and the mat is super sticky to her tray or other surface.  It works like it was designed to.



CJ's BUTTer Tube, Sticks, and Tubs
We LOVE CJ's in our house.  It is a all natural lotion that works wonders on diaper rash, dry skin, and chapped dry cheeks.  We first got it for diaper rash because with cloth diapers you can't use traditional diaper rash ointment and now we use it for just about everything!  We use the small stick and use it like chapstick on her chapped cheeks. I stocked up big time during a Thanksgiving sale and now I think I have enough to last the rest of the year :)


Munchkin Bottle and Nipple Brush

So this is pretty straight forward since there aren't a ton of bottle brushes out there but I like this style with the sponge tip and then bristles compared to the all bristle bottle brush.  I felt like the sponge covered more surface area and got into all the little parts of our Dr. Brown's bottles.








Summer Infant Slim and Secure Video Monitor
I don't know how this compares to other video monitors all I know is that I dont' know what I would do without it.  I love being able to watch Elsie to see when she has fallen asleep vs.  just laying there or to see if she is standing in her crib which means she will most likely not fall back to sleep on her own.  I love that I can "look in" on her at anytime without disturbing her.

White Onesies
For us it didn't matter what brand we used we LOVE white onesies.  We use them under everything!  There is always one under her pajamas at night and then one under her clothes during the day.  Especially when she doesn't have a onesie on with her outfit.  I feel like then her bare skin wouldn't get exposed under a t-shirt.  I am already sad thinking that in just two more sizes onesies won't be offered anymore :(.

Bibs with Sleeves
When Elsie started feeding herself we quickly learned that bibs without sleeves weren't going to cut it.  Her arms and shirt sleeves get so dirty when she doesn't have a bib on with sleeves.  We got three bibs with sleeves from a friend after Elsie was born and then I ordered two from this site Jeni Lynn Designs which are wipe clean ones made out of the same material and the outers of our cloth diapers: PUL. They snap in the back and work wonders.  Bibs with sleeves are the best!  However, if you have a drooler or a teether (like Elsie was) I would reccomend Carters teething bibs.  They are cotton on the outside which makes it soft but has a waterproof layer on the inside so the drool doesn't go through to their clothes.

Fisher Price Stacking Cups
Elsie absolutely loves these.  They not only stack and nest into eachother but they also snap together to make a ball and they all go into one ball so they store nicely.  Elsie loves it when we hide things inside the ball and she loves to stack them together.  As far as toys go this is one I wouldn't want to do without.



Things We Could Have Done Without: 
1.  A changing pad:  We mainly changed Elsie on our bed since she slept in our room until a little over 6 months.  Once we moved into her room she was WAY too wiggly to use the table so we just change her on the floor.

2.  Swaddle Wraps:  Elsie was never big on swaddling so we never used these.

3.  Wipes Warmer:  I used this right away when I switch to cloth wipes but I didn't like having it plugged in all the time and I thought it might make the cloth wipes moldy-warm + moisture = mildew/mold growth.

4. Our jogging stroller.  So far we have gotten very little use out of ours.  Maybe this summer we will use it more.  We took a lot of walks but just used our Chico stroller that worked with the infant carrier.  I tried "jogging" with it a couple times last summer but it just wasn't the same as jogging without so I decided if I am going to go for a run I will do it without Elsie.

5.   High Chair/Shopping Cart Cover. I bought this when we were road tripping out to Idaho because we had just started putting Elsie is restaurant high chairs vs her infant carrier and was disgusted with the idea of the other kids who sat in it and ate and if it was cleaned well enough.  Lets just say I got over that very quickly and learned it is more of a hassle to carry it around with you and remember to take it in.  I did like using it in the shopping carts because I think it made it more comfortable and softer ride for her.  But in the end we could have saved the money and skipped this purchase.