Appreciate it when it is gone.

You know that saying you will appreciate it, when it is gone? Well the saying couldn't be more true. I found this out when my dishwasher wouldn't work.

When we bought our house I came into it thinking all the appliances worked. From the oven to the dishwasher. I assumed they all worked. I never thought to test them and why would I? Have any of you? We moved in late March and I wanted to do dishes. I loaded the dishwasher and put in the Cascade. It was the loudest piece of machinery I have ever heard in the history of ever.  You couldn't hear the person in the kitchen, even if you were standing next to them. Horrible.

When the dishwasher stopped I opened it up and what did I see? Dishes that were still dirty and cloudy. The stupid compartment that holds detergent didn't even open. I was mad, did I over load it? I emptied it and reloaded it with a smaller load, hoping that some how it would work. Did it help? No! So I added jet dry and still nothing..
The dishwasher was cooking the stuff on the dishes.

I went almost 3 months with no dishwasher.No dishwasher, a small kitchen, and no space can make dish washing a bad time. I never felt like I could keep up, there were always dishes in the sink. Holy moly did that annoy me.

Then it happened, I got my dishwasher. It was beautiful. This gorgeous piece of dishwashing glory was now in my kitchen begging for use. I love my Whirlpool and will never take it for granted again.

Couponing, a learning curve indeed.

Everyone loves saving money. Especially on groceries, food costs have gone up and coupons are a way to save. But, many people do not use coupons. Many view couponers as crazy and have nothing better to do on a Sunday. Well, I am going to be one of those people. I am an up and coming couponer. I am that crazy person. However, I used to not be. I was a non coupon using food shopper.

Couponing is work, a lot of work. From scouring the newspaper to stalking online coupon sites. Like here.  My sister got me into coupons, ever since I heard how much she saves. She is one savy extreme couponer. Who, need storage for stuff, just like Honey BooBoo's mom has extra storage for items. She has them all organized in a folder according to type. She goes through the coupons all the time and is very devoted to her craft. I, on the other hand, am figuring this coupon thing out. Trying to be organized is hard so I ordered coupon pages on Amazon. I am also trying to figure out what coupons go where. I am also trying to figure out how many coupons I can use at once. It is definitely a learning curve and so far I have yet to pay full price on diapers and formula. Huggies or Pampers I make sure I always have a coupon. Last trip I saved $50 and before that $92Usd. Like I said learning curve, and while Target takes coupons they may not take competitors coupons. Publix Supermarket does take competitors, like Walmart and Target coupons.
I will post my quest to save! Stay tuned!

Don't tread on me...

Awhile back I posted about how people can say just the most hurtful things. Hurtful things that can ultimately stick with you,taunt you, haunt, and piss you off. I wrote about this very thing on my fashion blog gofashiondeals. I was made to feel bad that I can not be home with my baby.  I still can not get over this and I still cry that I can not be home taking care of my boy. I know there are plenty of moms in the same boat. It made me realize the United States has a flawed maternity leave system. Severely flawed.

The U.S. only gives you 6 weeks of maternity leave for vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for cesarean. That's it. Husbands or significant others can't get paternity leave, which is available in other countries. In fact, good  ole U.S.A is one of the few countries that does NOT have some sort of mandated maternity or parental leave. Shocking...especially when other countries do.
In fact it seems like FMLA is more of a suggestion up to 12 months. But guess what, each state has it's own guidelines and regulations. There is short term disability insurance but, many times people are unaware of it or the cost just isn't there. I had to save money out of every paycheck to help out when I was out. Because I didn't have maternity leave pay, fml, or qualified for short term disability. Smaller businesses may not be able to offer such "luxuries" either.

In Canada a mother can get 17 to 52 weeks of maternity leave, which is mandated by the government. This is also based on how long she has worked for the company and how many hours she had worked.  The employers have to give the mother her job back or equivalent, at the same pay. The Canadian insurance plan helps expectant mothers and new moms  by allowing 15 weeks and both parents can either share the 32 weeks or be alone ,once the child is born or adopted. If eligible it will be for approximately 55% of their pay on average with a cap of $485, lower income families can get up to 80%.

The Uk, women are entitled to 52 weeks. 39 weeks paid and that is being pushed to 52 weeks. The first 6 weeks paid at 90% of full pay and the remainder of the time its at a fixed rate. Fathers can get 6 weeks of leave, which is wonderful, because the daddies seem to be overlooked. I think they should paternity time off. The U.S. needs to think about that.

The U.S seriously needs to rethink what maternity and lack of paternity laws we have here.
We need to give more options for parents new to it or not. I think 6 weeks is not enough, your body hasn't healed all the way and the baby needs his or her mama. Let's face it FMLA is a joke and short term disability is not available for everyone.  We need something for domestic partners or spouses so they can bond with the child and help take care of mom.You need time and having dad home or you partner home helps! Sometimes you just want your spouse and not in laws or others.
So, come on U.S. face it we want more time  with baby and deserve it !

Merida gets a makeover?

http://www.gofashiondeals.com/merida-gets-a-makeover-let-out-the-drama-llama/
Merida from Disney's Brave gets a makeover! Do you think it is right to change her image to become the 11th princess? Should we be outraged? Should we petition Disney? Many think so and you can see the petition on change.org . Let me know what you think! You can  read my whole write up on the link above, get the pitch forks ready! 

He was asleep, and now he isn't, is he?

Sleep is a beautiful thing. It is magical and awe inspiring, at least for parents of a baby that was sleeping and now isn't. Oh little guy why wont you sleep? I thought I had him on a schedule of some sort. I followed the guidelines my pediatrician gave me. And one day it worked the next not so much!

He would go whole night of sleep for several days in a row, then all of a sudden no sleep or very little. But, last night I may have discovered a link to him being up. A. When I got home from work I would cuddle with my boy and he would sleep. B. I would give him his bottle of the evening too early. C. He was gassy and finally D. He is starting to teeth.

Cuddling for me is a stress reliever when I get home. I miss that little giggly baby boy and all I want to do is hug,kiss, and never let go of him. Well, that is all fine and dandy, but, he would ultimately fall asleep. Big problem there, because that is a factor in my no sleep and my not sleeping kid. So, while I do hug and love on him I do not let him sleep when it is 6:30pm. It helps. Especially when he had a nap 2 hours prior. So, we play more sure,tummy time and him with his gym.

Bottle time. My goodness, who would have thought this would be a factor? But it is. I would get home and see he is making some sign of hunger and try to shove a bottle at him.I started to wonder why he would only eat 2 to 3 ounces. Still being on breast feeding 2 hour regiment I got myself used to it and the boy. But formula fed babies can actually go longer in between feedings. It takes more time for the formula to digest, and my son has gone 3 to 4 hours in between feedings on formula. So, I make sure of his last bottle and wait. Sure enough he went through the night by letting him go a few hours between eating. He didn't wake up wanting a bottle at 2 am. Of course ask your pediatrician about feeding, mine said formula fed babies can actually go 4 to 5 hours before a bottle. And of course there are exceptions, thanks growth spurts.

Gas! Oh my God, the gas!!!! My little man had trouble at night due to gas. We found out part of the issue was the formula. He was on Similac Advance which is a great formula, however, we had to switch him to the Similac for gas and fussiness. It is the orange container, and is a soy based formula. He loves that stuff and never pushes a bottle away anymore. I'll touch more on the formula woes later.

Teething. I'll be honest that part scares me. My nieces were just fabulous when teething. I recall the drool, everything is chewable, and the beautiful tube of ora gel. I know teething well, but I didn't realize it would start now. The things I learn, and teething can start at 2 months! And little guy has the beginning of teething, I know, I have the puddles of drool to prove it. As well as my little guy has his hands in his mouth a lot! Nom nom nom, hands, nom nom.

Last night we got a whole night of sleep by sticking to our schedule. It was glorious. My husband got up on time, I had energy as did he, and baby was in a great mood(yesterday he was Oscar the Grouch). We were not the zombie parents today,nope! We were well functioning parents who had coffee, coffee we could enjoy, and not for fuel consumption. This whole sleep thing, I could get used to. How are you dealing with sleep now?

Nothing beats a mama's love.

Today was my little guy's 2 month follow up. It was the usual appointment, weight the baby, measure the baby,measure the baby's noggin, and go over the necessary stuff. All was good in the land of baby, until the baby's day was ruined. Ruined by a series of needle pricks for vaccines. Something necessary and yet, it is still heart breaking to watch the baby go from oblivious giggles and cooing to gut retching squeals. I was at work when this happened, so I didn't see him squeal or bleed.

It still breaks my heart and I wish I was there. My husband does a great job, well he is an amazing dad, but there is just something about a mom's presence that makes it all better. From a simple touch to a soft spoken it's alright, moms just can make an upset child alright again. I truly believe we have 6th sense or ability for nurturing. Still, I was not there today, and it is ok I am making up for it now. But, I wish I had been there to hold him and say those magic words, "mama's here,it's ok".
Right now I have my little guy in my arms, he has been attached since we picked him up. He started to fuss so I kissed his little tennis ball head, put a blanket on, and am now holding him humming the Lord of The Rings theme. And, right now, besides baby Tylenol, it is exactly what my little guy needs.

Me vs cradle cap!

Cradle cap or seborrheic dermatitis appears as scaly patches on the scalp. And my little booger has that as do many other babies.
It looks like little off colored dried up patches of skin. Let me be the one to say what a pain for me and the little sir to go through this. Not that he minds having his little tennis ball head brushed. He loves that part. But the daily washing he hates! He hates it too when those flakes of skin land on his cute little face. It's a pain for me because I feel like my efforts are falling short.
To get rid of the cradle cap you have to wash the baby's hair daily with baby shampoo and then brush out the flakes. I have also been using baby oil to help. Some parents gave been known to use petroleum jelly. This fun little  part of being a baby usually goes away on its own within a few months. But if not you may have to get special shampoo.  Fun times right?
Oh and did you know cradle cap can be found on the face and diaper area? When it gets to other areas that is when it is just know as seborrheic dermatitis.  Mainly because it occurs where the greatest number of oil glands. Fun, fun. 

It isn't contagious and baby doesn't itch. I guess just got to give it time and treatment.  Oh to be 1month old.

Iphone baby proof?

Ok, in my world my phone is my life line. My tablet is my life line. I want to protect them and keep them nice. Cases are so very important! 
Cases are so very important , especially now with little guy. I want to keep the phone safe.... from him. That's when I saw the Fisher Price apptivity iPhone case.
It is just like the one for iPad. It comes with a drool guard, a teether, and keys. It also has learning apps for baby. It is a hard shell case kind of like an otterbox.
The only drawback fellow mamas is the fact it is only for iPhone. Yeah....wth Fisher Price? Give us android users something to go with. We need to protect our Galaxy phones, our nexus phones, and other droids. We need to be able to have the baby grab these phones with confidence , not to be destroyed, and with a drool guard on. So, come on Fisher Price not everyone owns an iPhone, iPod, iPad, and whatever else apple. If there was a Galaxy s3 version, I would buy it! We need nice things too!!

Baby weight and body issues.

I went to Target and saw the newest designer for Target, I thought to myself do I dare try it on? Nope, I made a direct line right to the baby stuff. I figured buying my boy something was better than me in a dressing room fighting with a dress. Hurray for post-partum and the struggle with body image. When you are pregnant friends and family tell you things wont be the same and your body changes. Yes we know, what I guess what I didn't know was by how much.  Arms bigger than they were,  chest is bigger, hips, and butt. The pants you used to wear are only able to go up halfway.  The dress you used to wear, you know the one, is now like packing a sausage. You figured it would be back into you pre-pregnancy clothes after baby. Well guess again! There are some ladies who are fotunate enough to get back right away into those regular clothes. Me? I am not one of them! Nope. I lost 25pounds after little guy and have been plateaued since. My clothes hang in the closet mocking me. I am still in my maternity items and while they are cute, I want to be able to wear all my clothes. I can fit into some tops but not all. And I am almost considering buying some new clothes for my new curvier self. What to do? How many mamas have just said the hell to it and gone and purchased some new things. Either as an self esteem boost or just as a inbetween size to get you through. I am curious to see what others are doing, going to do, or did.

Also, with work, baby, hubby, and housework, how do you get your exercise groove back.?

Why are there limited CUTE boy clothes?

I was out shopping with my mom one day picking up diapers and formula when I decided to look for some clothes for little guy. I saw plenty of little girl clothes that were cute as can be but the boys clothing was sub par. I mean the clothes were cute but not as cute as the girly things.
Then my sister and my brother in-law went to the Children's Place to look for little guy clothes. They found more ugly and drab clothing for boys and an immense amount of cute skirts,dresses,shirts, pants,etc for girls. Good to know that someone else felt the same way, as I thought it was just me. But the truth is there is not much for boys and that is disappointing. I go to Toys R Us and look online for something and sure there are cute baby blue onsies and "mama rocks!" Onsies. Which he already has, probably should get more because I do rock!
But why are the clothing they make for little boys not as fun? Why can't boys have as many options must it always just be about button downs, zippers, and body suits? And has anyone noticed that  for some onsies and body suits it is hard to tell what gender it is for?  Can't 0-3 months have more options? Sure, if they are a girl.

This was hard for me when I was pregnant and clothes shopping at Toys r Us and Target for my future little blue arrival. Nothing made me wow! I did see once at Ross baby boy clothing by Ralph Lauren and it was cute, also affordable. But alas I didn't pick the items up. I put the clothes back.  And I am kicking myself for that.

So designers and department stores beef up that baby boy section! Get more options for mommies to dress our boys in!
Now there is some light at the end of the tunnel, my sister did find 2 cute onsies and a pair of shorts. I guess you really really have to look.

Any ideas?