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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Some Rambling Ongoings...
What did I do today? Not much. Rolled over, nursed Alex. Gave Claire my phone to play with to buy me an extra 15 minutes of dozing. Got up, put away 3 loads of laundry, fed the kids and myself breakfast. Alex loves Kix and Cheerios and can pick them up really well by himself!
Got all 3 of us dressed. This usually takes about 30 minutes! That's actually pretty good...about 10 minutes each. Then we headed downtown for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus which was indeed the Greatest Show on Earth! Amazing! I haven't been to a circus in well over a decade, and it was just as much fun for me as for Claire, and even Alex who loved looking around!!!
Afterwards, we stopped at a Chicken and Waffle Restaurant. Yup, you didn't misread that. Chicken served on waffles. AMAZING soul food! And Claire loved the pancakes and eggs, too!
We came home and Claire and I stomped around in the snow for a bit while Alex finished his 3rd nap for the day...he had taken one in the early morning before we left, and another one at the circus. He is a big sleeper! Claire did not sleep this much at this age!
Hmm...then we went inside to warm up and do some more laundry. Then Alex went down again after about 2 hours and Claire and I headed back out in the snow. I shoveled and salted the driveway. It was so nice out for being Dec.!!! Claire was able to have a blast help shoveling the snow and throwing it around.
For dinner we had cold cereal since we had had a big lunch. Worked out well. ;) And easy clean-up!
I love how helpful Claire is now. I was remaking her bed and told her to go downstairs to get the blanket out of the dryer. She totally did. Score! She can also take in the outdoor trash cans when they are empty. I'm trying to remind myself to be patient and teach her how to do things because it will pay off in the long run. Like now she knows how to open the fridge and help her self to some snacks in there for her, like cheese or grapes. She also knows how to get an apple out of the bowl and wash it for herself. It can only get easier.
Anyways, we finally got the new camera in! Yay...now we just need a memory card for it...
Got all 3 of us dressed. This usually takes about 30 minutes! That's actually pretty good...about 10 minutes each. Then we headed downtown for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus which was indeed the Greatest Show on Earth! Amazing! I haven't been to a circus in well over a decade, and it was just as much fun for me as for Claire, and even Alex who loved looking around!!!
Afterwards, we stopped at a Chicken and Waffle Restaurant. Yup, you didn't misread that. Chicken served on waffles. AMAZING soul food! And Claire loved the pancakes and eggs, too!
We came home and Claire and I stomped around in the snow for a bit while Alex finished his 3rd nap for the day...he had taken one in the early morning before we left, and another one at the circus. He is a big sleeper! Claire did not sleep this much at this age!
Hmm...then we went inside to warm up and do some more laundry. Then Alex went down again after about 2 hours and Claire and I headed back out in the snow. I shoveled and salted the driveway. It was so nice out for being Dec.!!! Claire was able to have a blast help shoveling the snow and throwing it around.
For dinner we had cold cereal since we had had a big lunch. Worked out well. ;) And easy clean-up!
I love how helpful Claire is now. I was remaking her bed and told her to go downstairs to get the blanket out of the dryer. She totally did. Score! She can also take in the outdoor trash cans when they are empty. I'm trying to remind myself to be patient and teach her how to do things because it will pay off in the long run. Like now she knows how to open the fridge and help her self to some snacks in there for her, like cheese or grapes. She also knows how to get an apple out of the bowl and wash it for herself. It can only get easier.
Anyways, we finally got the new camera in! Yay...now we just need a memory card for it...
Gummy Grins
The days of Alex's gummy grins are numbered! Why? BECAUSE he is now getting his first tooth on the bottom middle! Although I can't tell quite which side it is yet, but in a few more days we'll be seeing it really well!
Aren't they cute in their little matching diaper covers?!?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
My Exciting Part Time Job!
I won't keep you waiting any longer! I am now selling Discovery Toys! They have some super duper cool stuff. Check them out here: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/maria-starr Happy Browsing! Feel free to place an order, contact me for a show or catalog show if you want lots of free product, or just look around to see some popular items this year!
FREE ON FRIDAY!!!!
Online Only!
Skip the long crazy lines on Black Friday and shop from your computer! Know for sure you are getting what you want! No waiting at 3am in a line to maybe get what you want! Get high quality educational toys with a lifetime guarantee with just a few clicks of your mouse:)
Spend $55 and get to choose 1 of the following toys for FREE!
Super Yummy Teether #2937 Reg. $10
Place and Trace #1888 Reg. $15
Progressive Puzzles #2937 Reg.$15
Whiz Kidz #4966 Reg. $12.50
Online Orders Only!
Go to http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/maria-starr
to take advantage of FREE toys!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Should I do Christmas cards?
Every year about this time, I start thinking about Christmas cards. I LOVE Christmas cards, don't you? I love getting them practically every day in December. It makes trudging out to the mail box in the cold winter totally worth it, wondering if there will be any Christmas cards in there! I guess I started my love of Christmas cards when I was little by helping my mom who sent out Christmas cards and letters every year.
It's quite a job...first you have to write the cards to people and sign them. Then comes the "Christmas letter" with a brief update of what everyone has been doing all year, good and bad. And then comes the not so fun part of addressing the cards with the to and from labels and putting the stamps on...and then the least fun part of all...sealing all the dang cards!
And every year, for the past several years, during the month of November, I always tell Josh, I don't think I feel like doing Christmas cards this year. It's too much work. BUT every year, once that first incoming card hits our box, I have to rush to prepare our cards to send out. It's a pretty cool American tradition, actually. It's a nice way to keep in touch with people from the past, as well as present people, of course. BUT it is a lot of work!!!
However, in the end it's all worth it because in order to get Christmas cards, YOU HAVE TO SEND THEM. ;) I figure if I stopped sending cards out, I wouldn't get any in my mailbox. I started doing picture cards with Shutterfly a few years back when Claire was a baby, and was super pleased at how easy they were to do. I always have fun looking around at different sites to see what kind of layouts and designs they have every year, but Shutterfly always wins my vote. Check out these super cute Holiday cards that the have this year: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
Last Feb. I made a book with Shutterfly with "Flat Chloe" and loved the end result. It was super easy to upload and work on their site. They had all the premade scrapbooking pages set up and it was super easy to do. I have used Shutterfly in the past for photo cars. I like that there are so many things you can personalize about it. You pick the design and the picture/s you want to use. You can also crop and edit pictures on their site. So, I could edit out these mystery photo hands in this picture. ;) Or I could crop out Nolan and Alexander, and just use a the head shot of Claire.
What I also like is that on the picture cards, you can include more than one picture, because it's pretty dang hard to pick JUST one picture. Especially if you can easily take, like 242 pictures in one weeks time. That's pretty unheard of in the day of negative-requiring photography.
I really really like this photo card:
I would of course, have to put my kids in there. Check out the pricing here I think that they are very reasonable as far as photo cards go. My favorite has always been the flat photo card in the past, but I'm not quite sure what exactly I'll be doing this year. I can't spoil it and tell you all the details or show you the pictures that I'm going to be using, quite yet!
If you wanna take a look for yourself at some of the other layouts you can check them out here:
· holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery
· Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards
· holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
And to top it all off, Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards of your choosing for doing something as simple as we just did....write a blog post about them. If you are interested, here is how you do it...
Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Other Recent Happenings
Confession: I'm not going to apologize if I don't update as often as I like. Reality is, REAL LIFE takes precedence over blogging, any day! During the summer, I would walk almost every day with Claire while Alexander slept in the stroller. We would sometimes walk with various neighbors or throw rocks in the neighborhood pond. I REALLY miss walking, but today we went to the museum and walked a lot there. If I refer to the "museum" it will be The Indianapolis Children's Museum, which is the WORLD'S LARGEST! I seriously wished we lived RIGHT smack downtown and the kids could go to preschool there. SUCH A COOL PLACE! Also, we didn't take any elevators and I parked far away so we'd get more walking in getting inside. I'd like to go the museum weekly, but we make it about twice a month, although I'll probably start going weekly in the winter because we can't go play outside!
We finally got Alexander's room done! This was a royal mess. We have had a guest room downstairs with 2 twin beds. We first had to empty out the entire guest room and closet in there and get it completely empty. THEN Josh had to move his giant desk and computers all downstairs. Then I put the changing table dresser and matching upright dresser into where Josh's old office used to be. I found a super cute fireman book shelf and tonka truck bench at Once Upon A Child (separate times) so he has some boyish stuff going on in there.
Then I pulled all the board books from Claire's shelves minus a few girlie ones, and filled up his new fire man book shelf. I also pulled all the baby toys from her room and put them in his room. I've also been swapping clothes out like crazy since he's been growing so fast! He is wearing 24 months clothes! He has outgrown almost everything that has been handed down to us. Sigh. My kids grow too fast!!! Claire is wearing about a size 5 in clothes and size 12 shoes. She is the tallest girl in her class, like I ALWAYS was! And everyone guesses Claire is 5 or 6. She won't even be 3 1/2 for two whole months! I try to keep both of my kids in babyish/younger looking clothes for this reason: to make them look younger! I also had Claire's hair trimmed when we were recently in VA Beach, as 1) it's pain to take care of and 2) shorter hair does indeed make kids look younger! At least I think so. I don't know? What are your thoughts on that?
We've had an expensive week. Claire's preschool tuition was due early because of the holidays. Then, we had a furnace repair. THEN I needed 4 new tires. The front 2 were bald and the back 2 were nearly bald. Don't they check these things on oil changes? Oh, and Christmas is in about a month. SO in other exciting news, I pretty much broke our good camera, which accounts for the SEVERE lack of pictures lately, as well as here and on Facebook. I do apologize for the poor-quality phone pictures on Facebook lately. However, Josh has ordered a new point and shoot camera for me, so I'm very excited about this! The camera will no longer require two hands.
But the most exciting news is....I got a part-time job! ***Very part-time. What is it, you do say? Well, I shall leave you hanging. I'll post again soon about that!
We finally got Alexander's room done! This was a royal mess. We have had a guest room downstairs with 2 twin beds. We first had to empty out the entire guest room and closet in there and get it completely empty. THEN Josh had to move his giant desk and computers all downstairs. Then I put the changing table dresser and matching upright dresser into where Josh's old office used to be. I found a super cute fireman book shelf and tonka truck bench at Once Upon A Child (separate times) so he has some boyish stuff going on in there.
Then I pulled all the board books from Claire's shelves minus a few girlie ones, and filled up his new fire man book shelf. I also pulled all the baby toys from her room and put them in his room. I've also been swapping clothes out like crazy since he's been growing so fast! He is wearing 24 months clothes! He has outgrown almost everything that has been handed down to us. Sigh. My kids grow too fast!!! Claire is wearing about a size 5 in clothes and size 12 shoes. She is the tallest girl in her class, like I ALWAYS was! And everyone guesses Claire is 5 or 6. She won't even be 3 1/2 for two whole months! I try to keep both of my kids in babyish/younger looking clothes for this reason: to make them look younger! I also had Claire's hair trimmed when we were recently in VA Beach, as 1) it's pain to take care of and 2) shorter hair does indeed make kids look younger! At least I think so. I don't know? What are your thoughts on that?
We've had an expensive week. Claire's preschool tuition was due early because of the holidays. Then, we had a furnace repair. THEN I needed 4 new tires. The front 2 were bald and the back 2 were nearly bald. Don't they check these things on oil changes? Oh, and Christmas is in about a month. SO in other exciting news, I pretty much broke our good camera, which accounts for the SEVERE lack of pictures lately, as well as here and on Facebook. I do apologize for the poor-quality phone pictures on Facebook lately. However, Josh has ordered a new point and shoot camera for me, so I'm very excited about this! The camera will no longer require two hands.
But the most exciting news is....I got a part-time job! ***Very part-time. What is it, you do say? Well, I shall leave you hanging. I'll post again soon about that!
Happy 7 Months to my Big Baby Boy!
WOW! Alexander turned 7 whole months today! The time has sure flown by! It seems that time just keeps flying! Alex sits very well unsupported, but I still keep a hand or pillow close by. He is indeed my little pumpkin: 
He is my little belly boy and absolutely LOVES being on his belly. He also sleeps on his belly most of the time! He rolls onto his stomach the second you put him down on his back and can push up quite far, as well as airplane very well.
Holly's friend, Leah, took these beautiful photos while we were recently visiting in VA Beach. Alex has killer blue eyes and everyone says so. If I could have a buck for everyone who commented on his eyes, he would have a fat college fund going already.
He is my little giggly happy boy and loves to smile! He weighed 23.14 a week ago at the breastfeeding group and has already outgrown his pumpkin seat. He now is riding in a rear-facing (of course!) convertible seat, which fits his 29 inch, 24 month size-wearing frame much better!
Other things about Alexander at 7 months:
- loves to be tickled and is very ticklish around his neck and will usually giggle when getting undressed/dressed
- has discovered that he is a boy when taking a bath or getting a diaper change
- LOVES to jump in his jumper
- loves tags/taggie toys and chewing on anything he can get his hands on, esp. paper!
- loves being outside
- loves splashing in the tub
- loves eating foods and has been crazy about everything I've given him!
- favorite foods seem to be peaches, applesauce, and bananas
- absolutely refuses to take a paci and has for a little over the past month (he just wants the real thing! Momma's pacifiers! LOL!)
- enjoys watching Claire run and play
- I think he likes to be on his belly so he can look around and play
- can scoot/roll pretty good
- is a great sleeper, and still sleeps more than awake, down to about 3 longer naps or 4-5 shorter ones
- will sleep 12 hours, nursing only 2-3 times at night
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A Whirlwind Week!
Last Wednesday morning, I flew out to visit my sister Holly who lives in VA Beach. I brought Claire and Alexander with me and Daddy had to work. (Haha. Sorry, Josh. Thanks for working so hard!) This is what our week looked like:
Wednesday: Travel day and settle in and then whoosh...here begins the Mommy meeting tour!
Thursday:
Morning -
Attended a clothing Exchange at a nearby church. You bring 10 items, and you get to swap 10 other items. We scored a 4T snow suit and a bunch of stuff for trading tiny newborn clothes that really nobody else in this family is going to wear!
Attended Best Milk Bistro with Hollly and our kiddos. It's like a BF'ing support group with a scale. All the kids/babies wore costumes so it was super fun!
Late Afternoon -
Went to Target and Babies R Us.
Evening -
Went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Super yum
Friday:
Morning -
Went to a LLL meeting at someone's house with a giant yard, including a play house, tree house, swing set, giant sandbox, and plenty of room to run. They had to be about 20 women and 30 kids/babies there. Maybe more. It was by far the biggest meeting I've gone to! It was fun, of course, and Claire had a great time in their playroom, too!
Saturday:
Morning-
Watched Holly and Mark run a 10 K with baby Nolan, now three months in their jogger. Everyone dressed up so that was a BLAST to watch!
Sunday:
Morning-
Went to church with Holly. It was Reformation Sunday, and so there were 5 confirmands. (Basically in the Lutheran church, where we practice infant baptism, the young adults are "confirmed" which is an affirmation of their baptism.)
Late afternoon-Went trick-or-treating at the mall. It was packed and 80% of the stores were out of candy.
6 pm - BEGIN the trick-or-treat! Claire had an absolute blast. She wore a pink dress and crown and declared herself SLEEPING BEAUTY!
Monday:
Park Playdate with AP group. Holly brought the parachute she has and balls to bounce on it. The kids had a blast! :) We brought a picnic lunch with peanut butter sandwhichs and Claire got to run around on a great big playground complete with swings, which oddly seem missing from lots of playgrounds these days!
Clothes Horse consignment shopping. I spent $35 and got Claire a huge bag of clothes, all marked down. I got her lots of solid colored wardrobe basics that will match other various items she already has
Evening - Indian food out! NOM! Alex also tried bites of the Buttered Chicken, Chicken Marsala, and Curry Chicken (all mild) and loved them all as much as I did! :)
Tuesday:
10 am - ANOTHER LLL meeting! This one was smaller and Claire loved playing with the little girls whose house it was. They had a princess room and a big Barbie house! Wawa for lunch subs and another store for more consignment sales shopping
Wed - We got our hair chopped off in the morning! Me, Claire, and Holly. Well, Claire just got a trim ;) I got my hair super cute! I'll have to post pictures soon!
For lunch we went to a place for Seafood place called Bubba's for lunch. Then we raced back to Holly's to grab the 3 suitcases and rushed to the airport at 2..only to find that my 3:45 flight was delayed a full hour. FUN! So that meant my connecting flight would be missed in Baltimore. So my layover was rerouted through to Chicago. We ended up not getting home until nearly 11pm.
Luckily, Alex is a great sleeper ANYWHERE and slept the entire 2 flights (nursing on take offs and landings when he was awake). Claire slept most of the first flight which was longer. Anyways, she was still up this morning and wanted to go to preschool so I took her. Then we all took a 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. No 8pm bedtime today ;)
Wednesday: Travel day and settle in and then whoosh...here begins the Mommy meeting tour!
Thursday:
Morning -
Attended a clothing Exchange at a nearby church. You bring 10 items, and you get to swap 10 other items. We scored a 4T snow suit and a bunch of stuff for trading tiny newborn clothes that really nobody else in this family is going to wear!
Attended Best Milk Bistro with Hollly and our kiddos. It's like a BF'ing support group with a scale. All the kids/babies wore costumes so it was super fun!
Late Afternoon -
Went to Target and Babies R Us.
Evening -
Went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory. Super yum
Friday:
Morning -
Went to a LLL meeting at someone's house with a giant yard, including a play house, tree house, swing set, giant sandbox, and plenty of room to run. They had to be about 20 women and 30 kids/babies there. Maybe more. It was by far the biggest meeting I've gone to! It was fun, of course, and Claire had a great time in their playroom, too!
Saturday:
Morning-
Watched Holly and Mark run a 10 K with baby Nolan, now three months in their jogger. Everyone dressed up so that was a BLAST to watch!
Sunday:
Morning-
Went to church with Holly. It was Reformation Sunday, and so there were 5 confirmands. (Basically in the Lutheran church, where we practice infant baptism, the young adults are "confirmed" which is an affirmation of their baptism.)
Late afternoon-Went trick-or-treating at the mall. It was packed and 80% of the stores were out of candy.
6 pm - BEGIN the trick-or-treat! Claire had an absolute blast. She wore a pink dress and crown and declared herself SLEEPING BEAUTY!
Monday:
Park Playdate with AP group. Holly brought the parachute she has and balls to bounce on it. The kids had a blast! :) We brought a picnic lunch with peanut butter sandwhichs and Claire got to run around on a great big playground complete with swings, which oddly seem missing from lots of playgrounds these days!
Clothes Horse consignment shopping. I spent $35 and got Claire a huge bag of clothes, all marked down. I got her lots of solid colored wardrobe basics that will match other various items she already has
Evening - Indian food out! NOM! Alex also tried bites of the Buttered Chicken, Chicken Marsala, and Curry Chicken (all mild) and loved them all as much as I did! :)
Tuesday:
10 am - ANOTHER LLL meeting! This one was smaller and Claire loved playing with the little girls whose house it was. They had a princess room and a big Barbie house! Wawa for lunch subs and another store for more consignment sales shopping
Wed - We got our hair chopped off in the morning! Me, Claire, and Holly. Well, Claire just got a trim ;) I got my hair super cute! I'll have to post pictures soon!
For lunch we went to a place for Seafood place called Bubba's for lunch. Then we raced back to Holly's to grab the 3 suitcases and rushed to the airport at 2..only to find that my 3:45 flight was delayed a full hour. FUN! So that meant my connecting flight would be missed in Baltimore. So my layover was rerouted through to Chicago. We ended up not getting home until nearly 11pm.
Luckily, Alex is a great sleeper ANYWHERE and slept the entire 2 flights (nursing on take offs and landings when he was awake). Claire slept most of the first flight which was longer. Anyways, she was still up this morning and wanted to go to preschool so I took her. Then we all took a 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon. No 8pm bedtime today ;)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Silly Blogger!
I was going to set my blog to private, and I did. Then I decided, well, my life is really NOT that interesting to anybody. And I'm to lazy to add everyones email address and send them invites. And there you have it folks, THAT IS THE TRUTH! Please give me a round of applause for finishing that silly 30 day blog Challenge. And remind me not to do one of those again!
THE END!
THE END!
30 Day Challenge -- Day 30
30 Day Challenge -- Day 30 -- A Dream for the Future:
That both of my kids will sleep through the night without tears and be able to wipe their own butts. That is in the future. :)
That both of my kids will sleep through the night without tears and be able to wipe their own butts. That is in the future. :)
30 Day Challenge: Day 29
30 Day Challenge: Day 29 - Hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days!
Wow. I can so not think that far ahead! Just spending more time with my friends and family, esp. my sweet babies!
Wow. I can so not think that far ahead! Just spending more time with my friends and family, esp. my sweet babies!
30 Day Challenge: Day 28
30 Day Challenge: Day 28 - What is in your handbag/purse?
I don't carry a purse. I carry a diaper bag and have for 3 years plus! :)
I don't carry a purse. I carry a diaper bag and have for 3 years plus! :)
- I have a minimum of 3 diapers for Alex, or generally about 1 per hour that we are going to be gone for.
- Pack of diaper wipes
- Pack of boogie wipes
- Pack of paci/toy wipes
- Pack of disinfecting wipes
- Mini-Lysol bottle (can u see my ocd)
- Extra plastic bags
- Snacks like granola bars
- 2 flavors gum minimum
- 3 chapsticks (one for me, and one for each of my kids...don't share that stuff!)
- pack of mini-kleenex
- about 6-12 pens
- coloring book
- coloring pencils
- wallet with checkbook, etc in it (a giant wallet btw :) !!!)
- complete outfit change for each child...you'll never know when spills/accidents happen
- pantyliner (Yay for lactational amenorehra!)
- Extra paci
- Sunglasses for me and Claire
- Hat for Alex
- Keys
- Phone (although this is laying on my desk at the moment)
- Disposable food bibs
- Disposable changing pads (oh, the environment hates me! ack!)
- Toothpicks
- 5 tubes of mini Aquaphor samples I jacked from the peds office (I forgot I had these! SCORE!)
- Another pen...wow
- A permanent marker (In case I need to write in the bathroom stall? I don't know why that's in there!)
- Swim ear
- Some barrettes/hairties
- Napkins/straws/plastic spoons
- Mini Hairbrush
- A couple toys for Alex
30 Day Challenge: Day 27
30 Day Challenge: Day 27 YOUR WORST HABIT:
PROCRASTINATION! (See dates on previous challenge posts.)
PROCRASTINATION! (See dates on previous challenge posts.)
30 Day Challenge: Day 26 -- Your week, in great detail.
30 Day Challenge: Day 26 -- Your week, in great detail.
Trust me. I'm not going into great detail. And wow. I started this challenge in um, August. It is now...mid-October! Let's just say my weeks consist of many things. Claire goes to preschool 3 days/week and story times at the library once a week and tumbling once a week. We go to the park and go on walks and generally do a lot of stuff. Hence the lack of posts! :) Alexander sleeps a lot and nurses a lot and is rolling both ways really fast!
Trust me. I'm not going into great detail. And wow. I started this challenge in um, August. It is now...mid-October! Let's just say my weeks consist of many things. Claire goes to preschool 3 days/week and story times at the library once a week and tumbling once a week. We go to the park and go on walks and generally do a lot of stuff. Hence the lack of posts! :) Alexander sleeps a lot and nurses a lot and is rolling both ways really fast!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Privacy Issues
I am setting this blog to private for various issues. If you are my facebook friend, I will be sending you an invite to look at this blog over the next couple of weeks. If you are not my facebook friend and have been following this blog, please send me a facebook friend request and tell me who you are and I will also send you an invite to view my blog. Thanks for your understanding.
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