Sensational Finds: August 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

Baby B's 6 Month Photoshoot

Hey Ladies! Today I finally took B's 6 month photos even though he'll be 7 months next week. I'm slacking, but it's all good. At his 6 month check up he was 14lbs which puts him in the 10% for weight. He's tiny, but the doctor said that he's growing fine. He started crawling and now wants to pull himself up on everything! It's all about defense now, I try to block him from anything that can hurt him. He's definitely keep us on our toes. There hasn't been any teeth break through yet. He still isn't STTN but only wakes 1 or 2 times for the Binky. We did sleep training this month, and could not be happier with the outcome. I plan on doing another post about our experience with sleep training. Here are a few of the shots that I took at our house with my "set up", (if you can even call it that). He's such a ham with the camera, and always smiles when I bribe him with puffs!











This is my favorite picture!




Thursday, August 25, 2011

My best friend... and Playroom ideas!

Hey Ladies! I've been hanging with my dear friend tonight, one that always has tons of great ideas. Her name is.... Google. Yes, Google is a she and she happens to be one of my most dependable friends. I can always count on Google to get the wheels in my brain spinning. I've been contemplating turning my office nook into a play nook. Mostly because it's half office half playroom, and I'm hating the way it looks.  It's a nook in our living room so I look at everyday, and it's starting to bother me.
I have so many ideas of what I want. I definitly want tons of storage, since that happens to be a huge issue it the rest of our house. I also want it to be colorful, fun, comfy, and transitional. We have lived in this apartment for the last 4 years and plan to stay here for a while longer, so whatever we have here needs to be able to move with us. Anything like built-ins just wouldn't work. Here are a couple different rooms I found and really liked and wanted to share with you guys. If you have any tips or would like me to check out your playroom please let me know!
I love the color scheme in this room. I like how the color of the rug matches the doors on the book case. 

This is a foam play mat painted in the Chevron print. Love Love Love this! Amazing idea.

The low table with storage underneath is great for little ones. I know there will be chalkboard paint somewhere in our playroom!

The book shelf built around the window is so cute

This looks like it was a t.v entertainment center and they decided to add a seat and chalkboard. I'm all about reinventing something, and hope to do the same.
I feel so inspired by all of theses rooms. I plan on spending some more time getting ideas. Baby B is almost 7 months, and really just started playing with toys, so I've got some time. I want it to be entertaining and educational for him, and not just thrown together. I just had to share my thoughts and ideas with you guys. Now I'm off to catch some zzz's before it's too late!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Debating: T.V. or No T.V.


I know that children and television is a very debatable topic. I personally love watching t.v, and have since I was a kid. When I was young I can remember having the tiniest t.v and laying around it with my sisters. In our house growing up you could only watch family friendly t.v shows, so 90210 wasn't allowed. This is why the mini black and white t.v would come in handy. When I was 10 my mom passed away, and with her went the rules she had set. My sisters and I each got t.v.'s for our rooms and we were addicted from there.
 With all the raunchy reality t.v that's on, I'm nervous for B. I'm not against t.v watching, everything in moderation is OK. Right now at 6 months old Baby B watches Handy-Manny and Baby Einstein in the morning while he has his first bottle. It's become part of our schedule, and I really enjoy watching him stare intensely at the screen. It only last about a half hour, then he gets distracted and wants to play. I personally always have the t.v. on, more for background noise, but I'm struggling with turning it off. I would much rather have B listening to music, then the television. I know as he gets older he's going to want to watch more t.v., and I'm fine with that. As long as it doesn't consume his day. I plan on having a set amount of time each day that he can watch a show or movie. I hate when parents use t.v. as a babysitter, because they don't want to play with their child. That's so sad to me. A child should have human interaction, and not have to rely on the t.v as a playmate. I totally understand that there might be a time that I have to stick B in front of a movie so I can get something done, but that's not going to happen everyday. Parents that use the t.v. as a babysitter I feel, need to re-evaluate themselves as parents. They need to dedicate more time to their kids and help build their developmental skills. They should be the ones teaching their child colors and not the Disney Channel. Like I said I watched a ton of t.v after the age of 10, but up until that I played all day for the most part, and watched T.G.I.F on Friday nights with my mom and dad. It was something special that we always did together and I'll remember that forever. I hope to do the same with Baby B.
What are your thoughts on kids and t.v.? I would love to hear your opinion!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

We heart Toys!

I want to share some of the toys that B loves. He just recently started to show interest in real toys and not just  infant toys. It's so fun to sit down with him and watch him play. He even started to play independently, while I do the dishes or fold the laundry. That makes me one happy mama since I can get more things done.  I absolutely hate buying toys at full price. He plays with them for 10 minutes, then goes back to the ones I got for cheap! So I plan on going to this huge consignment sale they have twice a year and buying a bunch of toys for the next couple months. I've brought the majority of his toys from consignment sales or Craigslist, and I encourage you to do so too! They even have a website that works just like Netflix but you rent toys! Here's the link it's called Toygaroo, I plan on checking it out and will post a review once I use the service.
 
Here are the toys that B loves and plays with almost everyday! You can find most of them on Amazon if you want more details and reviews.
Leap Frog Learn and Groove Musical Table
V-tech Move and Crawl ball


Graco Jump 'n Jive Doorway Jumper


Fisher Price Laugh 'n Learn Puppy

Fisher Price Little Superstar Jammin' Band Piano




Monday, August 8, 2011

Halloween Costume Ideas

I know I"m probably getting ahead of myself thinking about Halloween, but I am! I can't help it, I'm really a kid at heart and love to plan and things. So I've begun my hunt for the baby's Halloween costume. I've only looked on Toy's R Us.com but they have a ton of cute costumes. I talked to my mom and we've made plans to take B to the campground that they belong to in the Poconos Mountains. She said the weekend before Halloween they have different activities for kids, including a parade and trick or treating. I'm really excited for that and plan on finding a great family costume idea for all of us. Then on Halloween we will get the baby dressed and go out around our house. These are a few costumes that I saw for Baby B and plan on finding "the one" my the end of this month. What are you and your little ones going to dress up as, any ideas yet or am I the only one excited?
This is my favorite one
The  Incredible Hulk costume is so adorable
Woody from Toy Story




I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Making your own baby food and My Birthday!

I've growing a love for making homemade baby food. It's fun for me and I love knowing that I'm giving him fresh food that's made with love. I always say food that's made with love tastes way better! It's not hard at all and can become kind of time consuming if you don't have the right appliances. I feel that making our own baby food is cheaper then buying the jars. I talked to you before about the Ella's Kitchen Organic baby food that I give to B. This is only because it's hard for me to get green beans made in the right consistency. They also have some amazing combos like spinach. apple, rutabaga that I've given to B. This is still new to me, so once I get the hang of it I'm sure I'll be making it all myself.

 To start your going to need something to puree the food. If you have a food processor at your home, that's perfect to use. I started out with a small grinder, it's perfect if your going to be doing something quick for that day. I didn't know if I would like making the baby food so I didn't want to end up wasting money. I use this for now to make all the baby food. Believe me when I tell you at the end my arm hurts! So hopefully I'll be able to upgrade to the Baby Bullet soon. The Baby Bullet is a another way to puree it does the same job as a food processor but smaller. The good thing about this is it comes with all the storage containers you can refrigerate and freeze all the food you make. This is a popular one among moms. The Baby Brezza is a system that I've been looking at as well. It steams and purees all in one bowl, this would save so much time. It's the most costly of the three, costing about $100.00 on Amazon, but saving time is always a plus.
Munchkin food grinder $10.00 on Amazon
Baby Bullet $60.00 on Amazon
Baby Brezza $100.00 on Amazon
Cuisinart food processor $35.00 on Amazon




 For the first couple months all fruits and veggies should be cooked. Either by steaming, boiling, or baking. I suggest taking a look at my favorite baby food website they have tons of information on which foods should be steamed, boiled, or baked. If you are steaming you can use a food steamer or what I use is a colander inside a large pot of boiling water.


Once your fruits or veggies are cooked your going to puree them into the consistency that right for your baby. You can thin out your puree with water/breast milk/formula or thicken with cereal. I would suggest you do this before you freeze your puree. Once the puree is completely done I use ice cube trays to freeze them. Cover the trays in plastic wrap and place into the freezer. I normally will do enough food to fill 2 trays. Once the puree is frozen you can remove them and place in Ziploc freezer bag. Make sure you write the date on the bag so you'll know. For optimal quality you only want to keep for 3 months, even though they'll remain safe for 6 months. If you choose not to freeze your baby food keep refrigerated for 48 hours (many safety authorities say 72 hours is fine).


When your ready to feed your baby you can thaw the baby food in the microwave, but be careful because this can cause hot spots and burn your little ones mouth. Many bottle warmers also will steam your food to De-thaw, this is what we use most of the time. You can place frozen cubes in a closed container and refrigerate over night.

I know making your baby food may not be an option for everyone, but I hope your able to try it out and see if it's for you or not. You can buy organic or regular old fruit I've found that farmers markets have some great prices. Whole stores like Sam's Club and BJ's also have bulk size fruits and veggies that can be cheaper per pound. With meats you can save a little of whatever you make, for example I made fajitas for dinner and before I seasoned the chicken I took out some for B. I ground it up really small then placed it in his puree. Since he just started out on meats he doesn't need a lot, but I plan on just saving whatever we make for dinner then freezing it for him. I hope you were able to get some ideas and tips, if you have any new information to share with me I would love to hear it.

Today is my birthday and I had a wonderful day celebrating turning 26. My wonderful fiance brought me a watch that I've been eyeing. He made me pancakes this morning and woke me up with the baby signing happy birthday, it was so sweet. Then we spent the day lounging by the pool and just hanging. It's been one of my best birthdays. I got to spend it with my two boys, and for that I couldn't be more thankful!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Reinvent Your Style With Me

I'm sure most of you can agree with me that over the years your body has changed. No matter if it's from not watching what you eat, exercising less or like me. having a baby. I'm down to my postpartum weight but the shape of my body is different. I've always just accepted the way I looked, but I can see myself starting to get a little self conscious and wanting to cover up a bit more. Lord knows, no one wants to see a mom prancing around with a baby in daisy dukes. So this has inspired me to create a new wardrobe I've decided to call "mom-chic". It's casual, put together, comfortable, and trendy. I'm loving reinventing my style, it's so fun and I've started to open my eyes to clothes I might not have looked at before. I think style should be effortlessly put together, you don't have to have a ton of money to look good. I always feel so much better when I can take a little extra time, and get ready.
I've put together a 3 examples of my "mom-chic" style for you. H&M has an awesome feature on their website, you pick a model then dress them in different clothes, accessories, shoes, even hair styles. It's like those paper dolls you used to dress up in paper clothes, but way more fun. Once you completed the outfit, they give you the break down of what everything cost plus a total. H&M has great prices and they always have trendy clothing that fits well. Here's the link if you wanna try it out.

New Look
Look #1- This is a great outfit I would call casual-dressy. You can wear it out day or night, and will be comfortable and cute. The top is lightweight blouse with a cinched waist. The belt is a braided leather, which gives the top a polished look.  I added a knit cardigan with a shawl collar over the blouse. The cardigan can be worn with so many different outfits, you'll get a ton of use out of it. The jeans are a slim-fit black waxed denim, they have a little sheen to them, and aren't a flat black, which can look retro. Shoes are an imitation suede ballet flat, they are a great go-to shoe. They have a bow detail on the front, which gives a feminine touch. I just added a short gold pendant necklace.
New Look
Look #2- Denim fitted shirt with a white tank underneath. The pants are a khaki green slim cargo pant. These are a great casual pant that can be worn with heel or flats. I added an imitation leather lace up boot with a small rubber heel. The heel is perfect for everyday wear, you don't have to worry about your feet hurting at the end of the day. The accessories are a great bracelet combo that comes with 3 different bracelets that you wear together. I love these and love the way they look.
New Look
Look #3- Light beige knit sweater with a white tank underneath for layering. I always have a tank or cami on underneath my tops. It gives your shirts a little more length and I like that. I paired it with dark wash 5 pocket straight-cut denim jean, I accessorized with a fine knit tube scarf in light putty. It's perfect for running errands, play dates, or a casual day at work.