Firsty Firsts!!

One happy Momma is typing this right now! What a great two weeks we have had! Isabella has FINALLY sprouted her two bottom "teefies." Which might I add would put a shark to shame! Holy sharp! They are like little scissors. It's great to see them poking through, though they aren't fully out yet, just the tips. She seems much more relieved that they have broken skin.

She also turned 6 MONTHS OLD yesterday and on her big 1/2 Birthday, or .5 as we were jokingly referring to it I took her swimming for the first time as well. She absolutely loved the warm water and was splashing like crazy!

Me and my big 6 month birthday girl during her first time swimming



And here is my little fishy and my friend Tammy splashing away.

Replacement Spouts and Straws

Hey Nuby Lovers!! Do you have a little chomper like mine who chews everything in sight? Then maybe you have experienced what I am going through now, Bella and her two brand spanking new bottom "teefies" have chewed right throught the rubber spout on her sippy cup, yikes!

Luckily you can actually get replacement spouts and straws for your Nuby cups instead of having to replace the whole cup. Brilliant right? I honestly haven't seen any companies that have done anything like this before, most of them would want you to have to go out and buy a whole new cup over and over.



If you are in need of some replacements for your kiddo's favorite cup, http://www.buybabydirect.com/ has what you need! Head on over and check out all the sales and great deals they have going on.

Medical Kit Sale Today & My Review of my own Nuby Medical Kit!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope my Blog readers are experiencing some better weather than I am here in Vermont today. It's dreary and rainy and cold! A good day to stay inside and get things done, and get some baby snuggling in too.

It's also a great day for a sale, and what better to do on a dreary day then some online shopping? Sounds good to me! Today Nuby's Medical Kits are on sale at BuyBabyDirect.com, the link to the Medical Kit can be found here: http://www.buybabydirect.com/p/139/24170-medical-kit

I was fortunate enough to get one of these kits with my Nuby Welcome Basket and I personally love it and highly recommend it, I've added my thoughts on some of the tools below. The kit which normally goes for about $7.00 or so is on sale for only $5.24! A very good deal considering all you get in the kit.

The Nuby Medical Kit includes:

Sure-Drop Medicine Dropper & Medicine Dispenser - Measure in Teaspoons and Milliliters. I love both of these for a few reasons. I have a very, very hard time giving Bella baby Tylenol because she hates the taste and gets very worked up and almost always ends up choking no matter what position I put her in. Really scary! I believed it was partly because of her hating it, but also because the dropper that came with the Tylenol was terrible and would slip and end up squirting a big mouthful at a time into her mouth unless you used two hands on it. With Nuby's Medicine Dispenser you have to put some effort into squirting down the dropper so it comes out slowly and not in one huge squirt, which I love. With the old dropper giving her medicine was a two person, very stressful process (not easy whatsoever for a stay-at-home Mommy). Since I have had the Sure-Drop Medicine Dropper and also the Dispenser I have been using both of them for her medicine to see which works better and have been able to throw out the one that came with the Tylenol and can give Bella medicine much more easily and with just one hand. The Nuby Dropper is also skinnier and longer than the one I had so I can put it deeper into the side of her mouth and she actually gets it down instead of just spitting it out all over the place. Success!

Medi-Nurser - To administer oral medicine with a silicone nipple tip on it. How smart! I've never seen anything like this before, which is so strange because it makes perfect sense. What better of a way to get your baby to take medicine then putting a nipple on it like they are used to? Brilliant Nuby, Brilliant.

Nasal Aspirator (Much, much better than the one I received at the Hospital and not as sharp and scary! It's got a much more blunt tip and better suction, this Mommy approves!)

Ear Syringe - Gentle tip won't poke inside little ears.

Not only is the Nuby Medicial Kit a heck of a deal today, it's just a really smart purchase in general and I feel every Mom should have one on hand because you will need it and you will use it! Don't miss out :)

Save the Jars

The link to the article is here: http://www.lilsugar.com/How-Reuse-Baby-Food-Jars-23154590?utm_source=babycenter.com&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=babycenter_facebook

I came across this cool article today for ways to "upcycle" instead of recycle used baby food jars. I love simple crafts like this, because I am unfortunately not as creative and crafty as I'd like to be. Hopefully

Mommyhood brings some newfound craftyness! A Momma can hope right!?

I really like the crayon idea, it's smart and it looks good as well. I will definitely be doing the photo jar idea here, it'd be a great gift too. My FAVORITE is the children's Advent Calendar idea in the article! Lets you make your own and put little gifts and knick-knacks in it for kiddos, if every month were a hassle then doing it the month you are counting down to something exciting would be a smart idea.

A few crafty ideas of my own for these baby jars was to put makeup brushes in a painted baby food jar, or q-tips! You could always label them too. Perhaps put a nail through the lids on a board and then add spices to the empty jars so when you are done with the spices you can simply screw them back onto their lid! They are sealed really well so it would certainly keep the spices fresh. You could also do it with nails, and screws and all those sort of miscellanious do-dads that have no specific place to be around the home. I know my Mother would suggest that empty food jars could house seashells because anything and everything in her house that even midly resembles a bowl or jar houses an endless array of seashells and seaglass :) Something I have done with really neat bottles in the past that would work for baby food jars as well is putting a little food coloring and some water in them for a little rainbow theme or all the same color if you have a color scheme you follow. If you do a little reasearch there seem to be endless things you can do with baby food jars, so now is a good time to start saving some because they aren't so economical anymore and those smart baby food bags are going to fizzle them out eventually I would say.

If you have any other fun ideas for baby food jars, or "upcycled" products of your own I would love to hear about them, feel free to share on here or my Blog Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100003659578701.

Upcycle on Mamas!



Angry Momma

I am one frustrated Momma tonight! I recently celebrated my first Mother's Day and as a gift to me because I am such an obsessive reader and am in love with my Nook, my Mother bought me a Barnes & Noble Gift Card to get some new Nook Books with.

SO...I tried to redeem it today and it wouldn't go through. It even lists on Barnes & Noble website that yes you do have to have a card on file, but if you have a Gift Card it will take over and that will be redeemed first. No problem since I have a Gift Card right? Wrong. I have a card on file but it currently has about .67 cents in it because sorry this Mommy doesn't get paid to be a Mommy. Yes I work, but my "job" is 24/7 and I don't punch in and punch out, it doesn't end, and it's hard, and wonderful and exhausting and beautiful and full of meaning, just not monetary. So I chatted with two of their customer service representatives and they said that even though my card is on file and even though the Gift Cards on an account get used before they touch your card you have to have at least .99 cents in your account. Ridiculous!

I sent them an email complaint voicing exactly this and how hurt I am that this rule is the way it is and how unfair it is to me, especially since I have been an avid Barnes & Noble customer since I was a little kid. My Mother and I used to spend hours in there just reading and browsing and getting lost in stories.

No books for me tonight, but hopefully someone will message me back and do something for me, but I'm sure like any other big business there will be "nothing they can do."

Whew! Sorry for the negative post tonight, I am just frustrated and wish that stay-at-home Mommies like me could catch a break once in a while!

Tick!

Today started out beautiful and relaxing! We went to the park for a little family time. Family time = Bella and I on a blanket with my Nook and all of her fave toys, and Daddy shooting some hoops nearby, that way we all get to share a little bit of heaven. It was great, we live a stones throw from our local park, and there is a little path that cuts right through from our house to the park, can't ask for a much better location. It will be great when Bella is a toddler (an older) full of energy to take her right there close by and let her burn off her energy. Another thing I love is that the fireworks are held there each year, so for the first time we don't have to worry about PARKING! We can actually see them from home, so we'll see how Bella handles them this year, and hey if she doesn't like them, it takes about a minute to get back home.

I have been so crazy paranoid about ticks this year, being that we had such an unseasonably warm winter and the level of ticks is about twice what is usually is in past years. I picked up Bella of her blanket and there was a tick! After cursing, crying and freaking out (all while grinding it up in my hand and yelling at it), I called my Husband over who knows a lot about them and it was NOT a Deer Tick, and it was a little baby one so PHEW! This Momma for sure had a panic attack though. I wish there was something I could do, in short of wrapping my kid in a bug net!

So after a thorough tick inspection and a tubby, Bells is relaxing safely at home while we cook up some steaks and unwind! I love the weekend and the summer! Keep up the good weather!

My yummy steak dinner!

Goodnight all :)

Giveaway for NEW Nuby Facebook Fans ONLY!

Hello There!! Do you happen to not yet be a Fan of Nuby on Facebook? If not, then today's giveaway is just for YOU! Nuby is giving away 1,000 No-Spill Hard Spout Cups to their NEW Facebook fans! All you have to do for your chance to be 1 out of 1,000 is to "Like" their page at www.facebook.com/nubyusa and then follow the instructions with your information at www.surveymonkey.com/s/may18hardspout.

Good luck!!!!