Saturday, February 28, 2015

The Book and The Baby

Upon further reading I have found that I very much dislike the book I mentioned yesterday. The author thinks that not going to her children's games will make them more independent and self-reliant. She has no time to bake cakes for her kid's fundraisers. And she dislikes chauffeuring her children. I agree with the last part, although I don't drop my kids off yet. But to me it seems that her children are just another time-waster in her busy,busy life. And, to me, that is a goddamn shame. If your kids feel you have no time for them, they will find someone who does. Let's pray it's Grandma and not the pedophile down the street.

I took The Baby to the Winter Indoor Farmer's Market and discovered a product called 'teamales'. The crafter? Artesian? Took loose tea and wrapped it up in a tamale wrapper. She also made tea drops, which had the honey and suger melted into a lozenge-like thing. Lookin' good!

Friday, February 27, 2015

The Truth About Mothering

I'm reading a book called The Kids Will Be Fine Guilt-Free Motherhood for Thoroughly Modern Women.
While I appreciate the truths of motherhood, and telling people how it is, this author paints such a dispairing mindset of motherhood. I agree with some thoughts she's presenting, but not many. I do appreciate her writing style, however.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Book Babies

I took the boys to a baby program at the library, called Book Babies. We sang songs, read books, bounced around. The Boy did really well. The Baby wanted to eat, then spit up on another kid.
We hung out for another forty minutes, and I had a hard time getting The Boy out of there. While the kids were playing, a boy chatted with my boy. The stranger was very polite and tried to conversate with my kid, but decided he couldn't understand him.
A girl, maybe four, took all of the fake fruit and The Boy freaked out. The conflict was resolved but I felt like I needed to step in and snatch stuff from her. I don't want to be a helicopter, but I was upset that he was being messed with.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Church Service

Unless the weather is terrible, we go to church. Just me and the kids, not The Hubs. The Baby stays with me and my mom in the sanctuary, and The Boy goes downstairs to the nursery. Today at the service, there was a toddler in front of us and the usual 3-year-old wandering around. The service was long this morning, and those kids were distracting. Obviously I'm a mom too, and I want my kids to be exposed to our faith, to our words, to our rituals. But I also want to be respectful to other congregants. And I need to make sure my expectations of my children are reasonable. And I don't think expecting my two year old to sit through an entire service is reasonable.
Whenever I see kids in the service, I just want to know why. Are the parents/guardians afraid of the childcare providers? Do they want their kids it soak in our faith?
But besides asking why, I also get mad. Sometimes kids are not as cute as you think they are. I know, I know, that's not very UU of me.

Friday, February 20, 2015

Sick Dates

Tonight is Date Nite! I'm pretty excited. I'm frugal and possibly cheap, so I got my sister to babysit and The Hubs and I are using a coupon from the Entertainment Book. I suggested bowling or ice skating or a movie, but those suggestions were all turned down. Then I found all the Mexican food coupons, because The Hubs wants a burrito. Or nachos. Or whatever. He is paying, I find coupons, everyone wins.

The boys are sick! Or really, under the weather. I let The Boy watch way to many episodes do Curious George, and the three of us hung out in bathroom with books while I steamed us.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Winnetka Covenant

We had a play date at Winnetka Covenant Preschool and it was great! They have a shoe-free room with small tables and chairs, puzzles, board books, pretend kitchen sets and a few other awesome and various toys. The Boy was able to rush around chatting with other kids and playing with pretty much everything. The other moms were friendly. I think we'll be back!

I called the Newberry Library today, because I wanted to check on their noise and luggage limits. They seem very accommodating! We will be planning a trip there via the El (for The Boy) to see the exhibit 'Love On Paper'.

I don't really like the name of my blog anymore...mostly just the Mommy Time part. Dang.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

CVS 6 Month

We went to the store and The Baby had to ride in his stroller because the cart was too unstable. The Boy walked. And he also go his own basket! He looked adorable walking up and down the aisles. He even carried a can of cat food.
First Transaction:
Dean's milk- paid $3.06, got $1 extra buck
Second Transaction:
9 cans of Sheba cat food-60 cents ea
Small package of m&ms -99 cents, got 75 cent ECB
2 packages of Gevalia coffee-$4.99 ea
2packages of Dove sensitive bar soap- $8.99, b1g1 half off
I had 3 ECBs
2  $1-off Gevalia coupons
2 $1-off Dove coupons
I received a $1 and 75 cent ECB
I saved 48%

Today is The Baby's 6-Month Birthday!! I took a lot of photos.
He had 2 teeth coming in!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Breastfeeding

I think I'm done breast feeding, which kind of makes me sad. I wasn't making enough anyway, and this birth control I'm on reduces the amount of breastmilk one makes. Now that it is over, I wish it wasn't. I feel like I could have done more to make more milk or I should have been more attentive to his needs.
But I have to remember that this is just another phase that is passing. And  just because we aren't feeding doesn't mean we can't cuddle.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

The Baby's Dedication

Today was The Baby's Dedication to my church. The kids and I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, and the dedication is like a baptism. The fam and I stood at the front of the church (with two other families). The ministers said a few words about our name choice, and our hopes for The Baby's future. I had emailed the minister with the words I wanted spoken (which I thought were eloquent). I was nervous standing in front of my congregation, but I remembered it wasn't all about me. The service and ceremony was wonderful and I was do glad we did it.

My teeth hurt! I am so nervous about my appointment.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Playtime and Coupons

I realize my getting things done around the house is very if-you-give-mouse-a-cookie- ish. If I want to give someone a bath or take a shower, I should first clean the tub and vacuum the bath mat. If I take the vacuum out of the basement closet, I might as well vacuum the basement rug and the main floor rugs. If I'm upstairs with the vacuum, I should do the bedroom rugs too. Putting away the kid's laundry reminds me I should clean and organize their closets. If I'm moving closet stuff around, there is stuff in my closet that needs shuffling too. Things start to spiral and before I know it, I'm in the middle of several chores. But it doesn't seem that my 'work on it until I'm done' idea goes any smoother.

We went to Barnes&Noble story time today. The Boy sat for a few minutes and we had to move to the Thomas The Tank Engine table. Also, he had several meltdowns while I was trying to leave the store. We almost lost a boot. I had to carry him out while pushing a stroller. And he tried to run out into traffic but luckily my reflexes are faster than I thought. We saw a couple and their kid who we had lost contact with after The Boy's first birthday party. We were friendly, but it was a little awkward.

We also went to Cold Stone Creamery because I had a BOGO birthday coupon. We gave The Boy quite a suger rush. At Walgreens, I got:
1 tropical V8 Splash
1 berry V8 Splash
1 bottle of soothing Johnson&Johnson baby powder
1 bottle of calming Johnson&Johnson baby powder
The juice was on sale 2/$4, regularly $2.99 each
Baby powder was on sale for $3.49, usually $5.49 each
I had a $1/2 coupon for the juice and a $1.50/2 for the baby powder.
I saved 50%.

We had an unexpected but fun play date at the house. Two other moms, a husband, a 2 month old, and a 16 month old. Lots of toys came out, yelling occurred, but it was fun. The Boy is good at sharing and The Baby is getting very mobile and has a great smile.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

More Poop

All we did today was go pick up my father-in-law and bring him back to our house. We have to take him to a doctor's appointment tomorrow.

The Boy made me a pretend meal. And I think he reminded me to say
"Thank you".

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me! Instead of getting a babysitter, we took the kids out with us. We went to Siam Pasta (I had a coupon). I decided that I want to spend my birthday with my fam. And the kids did ok! We brought crayons and a coloring book, and a bottle. The food was delicious and the service was good and it wasn't crowded. Highly recommended.

My husband did a good job today.

I baked myself a vanilla white cake. The Happy Birthday cake from allrecipes.com