Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Yo Gabba Gabba

Violet has never been one for TV. She never glanced up at it in her first year of life. Starting a few weeks ago I would put on different TV shows for little ones (I don't care about the whole no TV till your 2 rule seeing as she literally watches a few minutes a day) to see if she was interested and finally I that I have found one she will watch....Yo Gabba Gabba of course. I mean she only watches for a few minutes and glances at it while she plays but I just love it when she moves her butt to to the music. We joke that she has a "groove thing." When she hears music she can't help it but to dance. I actually like the Yo Gabba Gabba shows because they are educational without being annoying. I especially like the music. I seriously catch myself singing them. I hope as Violet gets older she will watch more of DJ Lance. And to go with the theme here is a pic of Brad Pitt as DJ Lance for Halloween this year.


I think Yo Gabba Gabba has a music CD out. I should probably buy it for Violet for Christmas.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Name Your Tune: Review and Giveaway

Name Your Tune: Review and Giveaway I am super excited about my first review and giveaway. It is a Name Your Tune personalized CD!!!!

With the love of music, arts, children and creativity, Candace Alper founded Name Your Tune. The award winning Name Your Tune is a compilation of many popular children's songs on one CD. What makes this CD special is that it is made to order with your child's name. Your child will hear their name more than 80 times while listening to this CD! Violet has very few things with her name on them since her name is not that common so it is a special treat for her to have something with not only her name on it but her name sung on the CD. We travel in the car a lot and as soon as we got the CD I was excited to try it out. What a fun CD! The songs were super catchy and I know it will be a CD that will be played in the car for many years to come.


Since the CDs are personalized upon receipt of your order (including a personalized label), you can include one, two or three names and they simply alternate the names among the list of songs. Although Violet can't really understand the songs yet she still loves the melodies on the CD and she hears and understands her name when it is sung in the songs. I just know that as she gets older she will love it even more. I can’t wait to hear her sing along with the CDs.
You can also get to personalize the label! It will have your child(ren)'s name(s) on it, along with a brief message. I had ours personalized to say

"Special Songs for You
Violet
Love, Mommy & Daddy."

These make absolutely wonderful gifts! They are so unique and fun, any kid of any age would just love this!

A huge thanks to Name Your Tune for offering this review and giveaway!
Buy It! Stop by Name Your Tune to find out how to purchase a personalized CD for the special child(ren) in your life! They also have other products including placemats and lunchboxes. Even better Name Your Tune has offered the coupon code, 'wakeboardingmama' for $5 off for your Name Your Tune CD order.

Win It! The very generous creator of Name Your Tune CDs has offered to give one personalized CD to one lucky reader!

To Enter: Simply visit Name Your Tune & pick your favorite song from their playlist, then come back and leave your pick in a comment. This is mandatory and must be done before any additional entries are done.

For additional entries:
--Follow my blog publicly (+2 entries)
--Write a blog post and link back to this contest on your blog (+2 entries)


RULES:
--An email address is required to enter. Please leave it in your comment, or make sure one is visible in your blogger profile. Write it out to avoid spam bots ex. (your email at gmail dot com) --Make sure to make a new comment for each entry.
--A winner will be chosen using random.org.
--The winner will be contacted via email and will have 72 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen.
--Open to US & Canada addresses.
--Ends on Wednesday 11/18/09 @ 11pm EST. Good Luck!!!


Sunday, October 4, 2009

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!!!

I will be hosting my first giveaway soon! Be on the lookout for your chance to learn about a great company and your chance to win a product of your very own . I am incredibly excited and I hope you are too!

Monday, September 14, 2009

1st Birthday Party Planning

As a stay at home mom it takes very little to get me excited about things. One of those things is my daughter's 1st birthday that is coming up. Another thing that gets me excited is coupon and bargain shopping. Put them together and I am in heaven. Over the last few weeks I have been shopping around for the best deals and it looks like everything is coming together.

I got super cute invitations from Tiny Prints that I won for free from Mom Giveaways.

The party theme is (plates and cups):

and I searched high and low on the internet until I found the absolute best price.


For toddler entertainment I got a small indoor ball pit on clearance at WalMart:

and I got 250 extra balls for it from Toys R Us and I used a birthday coupon (sign up for the Toys R Us birthday club and they send a coupon for the child's birthday and they get a balloon at Toys R Us).

The day of the party I will be going to Sams and getting food for everybody (between 20-25 people but that includes kids). This is mainly a family and close friend event.

For Violet's birthday her Daddy and I got her a ride on Little Tikes Coupe:

And we got it brand new in the box for 50% off from T.J. Max.

And finally we got her a leap frog learning puppy:

We mainly got it because the dog's name is Violet and of course it was on sale. It looks cool too, apparently you can plug it into the computer and add songs and stuff so that your child can interact with it.

All that is left to do is order the birthday cake. I am so excited....my baby is not a baby anymore!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Breastfeeding in Public

Friday, July 24, 2009

Water Baby

Violet is just now finishing up on week 3 of swim lessons and I am super proud of my little girl. A better term would actually be swimming survival skills. Her lessons are through Infant Swimming Resource which is the same company that I learned to swim with 27 years ago. The founder of the swim technique taught me when I was just a baby. My mom had actually taken me to two other classes before she found ISR and she felt that the methods they were using were not teaching me anything. Then she found Dr. Barnett and ISR and she knew she had found the right method for us. Even though Violet is only 9 months old I knew I would not use any other way but ISR. I know this sounds like a paid endorsement but I have not received anything for this glowing review. I just feel it is important for every baby to learn how to float should the unthinkable happen. Violet is already floating on her own for a few seconds and over the next 3 weeks or so I know that her skills will get even better and in the end she will even be put in the pool fully clothed and she will roll to her back and float. Since we live in Florida we felt it was extra important since we are literally surrounded by water.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Big Titty Commitee

So I will be going on a 3 day trip with my husband's firm without dear child. I will be wearing dress clothes and such so I have been shopping to find the perfect outfits. I also had to go and get a new non nursing bra. That was an adventure all by itself. I absolutely hate when the bra ladies try and help you with finding a bra so decided to go at it by myself like I always have. After having huge nursing boobies I kept picking bras with too small a cup size. I decided to let my guard down and have the sales woman help. She ended up being awesome and she even nursed her son for 4 years. I must have tried on ever single huge boobie bra in the whole store....which amounted to about 30. I ended up with 2 that fit good and should look good under my outfits. The grand total was a size......DDD. Ugh....thankfully the size G was too big.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Like mother like daughter.

So Saturday my mom, baby Violet and I attended a family birthday party at a park in Lakeland. While I was there I breastfed V in the car in the same spot my mom breastfed me in many years ago. It is the only pic of my mom breastfeeding me and I let my mom take a picture of me in the same spot. I thought it was sweet.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Silence your phones and leave your baby at home!

I got into some online arguments today about bringing babies to the movie theater (excluding children's movies). Seriously that is my biggest pet peeve on earth! If your baby cries even 2 seconds it has already disrupted my movie experience. Movies are expensive and I found a responsible sitter to watch my daughter and you should do the same. All it takes is one cry and a critical line in the movie can be missed. Coughing I can handle, people getting up to pee can get up all they want but please be considerate and leave your baby at home. It is loud and can not possibly be good for their hearing anyway. The only little kids that should be in a movie should be sour patch.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

My nipple is not a teether!

So V is now 8 months old. Sometimes I still think it is weird to think of myself as "mom." But Mom I am. This also marks 8 months of breastfeeding and let me say that I NEVER thought I would last that long. I have officially surpassed any other member of my family in terms of breastfeeding the longest. When I was pregnant I would say I hope to breastfeed to 6 months but we shall see what happens. The more I read and researched the more I realized that 6 months was not enough and my ultimate goal is to make it to 12 months. I do look forward to my boobs being "mine" again. V got her first tooth on June 3rd and proceeded to bite down on my nipple. It even left a tooth mark...yikes! Hopefully the rest of her teeth will come in slowly so that I can finish up my breastfeeding goal.

At the end of next month I will be going on my husband's firm retreat and I will be away from her for 2 nights. I do not look forward to it. We are not ready. V still takes naps on my shoulder and spends half the night sleeping in bed with me while nursing. Agh....must not stress as a weekend away from daughter should be a stress free relaxing time. I have noticed that she nurses a lot less than she use to and she no longer nurses for comfort during the day. If she is not hungry than she does not want boob. All bets are off at night though and all she can think about is BOOB!

When she is finally weaned I want a nice cold bud light. I do miss social drinking at gatherings. One thing I do have to look forward to is college football!!!! Go Gators! I know that has nothing to do with what I was talking about but it is my blog and I will send out random shoutouts to my school if I want to :)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Rubber Ducky Your The One




What is sad is the fact I have at least 40 more rubber duckies that are not in the picture. I hope to take a pic of her with all the rubber duckies she owns one day this summer. Needless to say her bathroom is completely done in ducks.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Breast is Always Best

"Suess" for Nursing Mothers
from The Compleat Mother Magazine

Mother's milk is just the thing!

Would you nurse her at the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?
I would nurse him in the park,
I would nurse her in the dark.
I'd nurse with or without a Boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse
with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her 'till she's full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy's milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare to complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.

As for those who protest lactation,
I have a perfect explanation.
Mommy milk is tailor made
It's perfect food, you need no aid.

Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast's the perfect food!

I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would not be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk's the perfect food!

We make the right amount we need,
The perfect temp for every feed.
There's no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest. Thos nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy milk is such a treat.

Human milk just can't be beat. I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.
I will not let my baby cry,
I'll meet her needs, I'll always try.
It's not about what's good for you,

It's best for babies, through and through. I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.
Leave me be lads, leave me be ma'am.
I will nurse her, Mom I am.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Hobby Turned Obsession?????

My other motive for starting this blog was to continue my hobby/obsession for freebies. For the last three years I have in my spare time at work entered contests and signed up for freebies. My biggest wins have been a free year of Netflix, 3 ipod shuffles (I returned 2 for a nano though) and some $100 leather shoes I won for my husband. As for freebies I get anywhere from 10-20 magazines in the mail a month, and tons and tons of small samples of deodorant, toothpaste and such. I also belong to a company where I test products for them and afterwards I get to keep the product. Finally, I belong to a survey company where I get paid $3 a survey and I usually get to do around 2 a month. It adds up though because I have bough stuff for V’s nursery using the money.

Since becoming a stay at home mom I have found more time to devote to my hobby and I recently uncovered mommy blogs. Many have giveaways for free stuff. They blog about a product/company and you go to the company website then comment back on the original blog post describing an item you saw to prove you went to the website. I love checking out the websites because it tells me about products and cute items revolving kids/babies. I usually enter these contests while V is boob feeding. Maybe 2 hours a day tops. So far I have won somewhere around 16 contests and I have only done this for maybe 2 months.

My loot thusfar:
A organic newborn outfit for a boy (will make a great gift)
$50 gift certificate to tinyprints.com (where I will make V’s first birthday invitations)
Around 10 different books
A huge box of organic cleaning supplies (stuff I had wanted to try anyways)
Pillow
New kind of toothbrush
Super cute pink hair clips for V
A toy watch
2 baby/children’s CDs
Napkins
Toy wrangler (too keep V’s toys from falling out of the stroller)

Back to my original point. I started this blog because if you post a button for the blog on your blog some contests then give you an extra entry. Therefore on this blog I will have a blogroll of my favorite blogs (that offer giveaways).

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No Food and Drink Allowed

So today after 6 months in my new town I finally have my library card. As a future library professional this is very exciting for me. It is a smaller library than what I am use to. Coming from Orlando and their massive downtown library it is very strange to see such a small library and small book selection. I will make do and as soon as Violet reaches 18 months I will have her there weekly for toddler time. I am seriously excited to share my passion of books to my offspring.

I also experienced my first session of nursing in public. I picked the back corner of the library put a blanket over her and let her get some lunch. I got a few double takes from some library patrons but it was more painless than I thought it would be. My mother was with me and reached out to the nearest shelf and pulled a book off so we would have something to do while she ate and it was a giant history/picture book of my college (UF). We laughed at the odds of that happening. We also laughed at the no food or drink allowed in the library rule. Should I have checked my boobs at the door?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Population Control

One sure fire way to ensure that my dedicated bachelor brother never has children is to inform him that diapers do not always contain poop.

Six Months!

Today my baby turns 6 months old. For a birthday treat she got 3 vaccinations, poor baby. I did nurse her immediately after to help take the edge off. Now to the stats. She is 90th percentile for length and 50th for length. My baby is growing right before my eyes. Although she can't sit up or crawl yet she melts my heart with every toothless smile. Poor baby is a little extra tired from the shots so she gets lots of extra boobie today. Rest up little Violet, the next 6 months will bring so much more for you.

UPDATE: All day I have had a very tired and cranky baby. Shots do not a happy baby make.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

First Time Mom, First Time Baby Blogging

I decided with a new baby comes a new blog. One to talk about the craziness that is raising a child. From cute toothless smiles to explosive poop I feel the need to share these stories with others. It could be nice for moms to know they aren't the only ones out there for these things to happen to and for those without children these stories could be a WARNING. Enjoy.