Lately, I've been very interested in mineral makeups, especially eye shadows.Being me, I never buy something without researching it extensively. One thing I love about giveaways is that sometimes, my interest will line up with a giveaway at just the right time. Sugar Pop Ribbons is doing a giveaway of some very pretty mineral eye shadows by Sweet Libertine. Check it out.

Check out her Orglamix Giveaway also here.

Another Orglamix giveaway is happening at Los Angeles Mamma Blog.

Giveaways

Over at Nursery Love, they are giving away a tutu and headband. http://nurseryloveblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/free-giveaway-review-tutu-headband-may.html

Bridal Gown Blog is giving away a paper cake and cookie cutters. http://bridalgownblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/may-giveaway.html

Carseat Giveaway

Sugar Pop Ribbons has got to be my favorite place for giveaways. They've now got a First Years True Fit Convertible Carseat up. I personally would love to win this carseat because I've heard good reviews on it. My nephew has a First Years Convertible Carseat so I have a general idea of how they work and how well they can fit in different cars. I especially like that it has the LATCH system which works with most cars now-a-days. If you'd like to enter the giveaway, you can click here.

I want a pearl necklace!

Newly Wed, Newly Bred is giving away a Pearl Distribution pearl necklace to one of its lucky readers!

Sugar Pop Ribbons' Summer Infant Sleek & Secure Multiview Handheld Color Video Monitor Set Giveaway

I know B is eight months old now. And I know that some parents are going to stop using baby monitors within the next year or sooner. But I know I'll be using my monitor for several more years because when I put her down, I NEED to know she's still asleep. With our sound monitor, I can hear her breathing and am usually reassured but sometimes, I really just need to SEE her breathing, see her sleeping. The problem is, if she's in a light sleep, my opening the door can rouse her and I've ruined nap time or early bedtime. That is why I would love to win Sugar Pop Ribbons' Summer Infant Sleek & Secure Multiview Handheld Color Video Monitor Set Giveaway. The comfort I would get from seeing her on a monitor, seeing her still breathing and sound asleep, would help me put her down more often. As it is, I'd rather her sleep on my chest where I know she's safe than put her down in a room all on her own. Of the few times I have put her in her crib, I have always gone to check on her multiple times through out. Now that she's able to pull herself up, I've even walked in on her standing in her crib after a nap, not making any noise! Luckily, I have already put the mattress low enough that she can't jump out. That's another reason winning the Summer Infant Sleek & Secure Multiview Handheld Color Video Monitor Set; she's getting older and able to do more tricks. While I'm ok with her playing in her crib after a nap, I'd rather know she's awake and what she's doing than assume she's asleep only to find out she's cruising her crib when I check on her.

You can check out the review and giveaway here at Sugar Pop Ribbons' blog.

Giveaways

Little Yaya's And Blessed is giving away some hair accessories.

New giveaway

I want this apron so bad! Just look at how adorable it is!

You could win this apron, or any one you choose, at Audrey's Give Aways!!. Double your chances by entering at Etsy It Up! also!!!

And what about this Cupcake iPod Holder and matching Keychain?

You can find it at Pink Dandy Chatter.

OMG I WON!!!

Remember this contest? Well, I won it! I'm sooooo excited! I decided on New Mom Power shirt and I <3 My Nana onesie. It's so rare to find things that say Nana so I was very excited to find this one. I can't wait to get these in the mail. Thanks again Mommy's Sippy Cup!

Bottles and cribs

From day one, B has wanted nothing to do with bottles. She never cared for her bassinet and would only sleep in her crib for a couple hours at the beginning of the night. Granted, part of that sleep situation was because of me. I was just too tired to put her back in her crib. But now, things need to change. I love co-sleeping, I love all the cuddling. But I miss cuddling with my blanket and sleeping on my tummy. I've also heard that crib babies sleep for long periods of time. While 3 wake-ups-a-night is better than the 6 we were doing a couple months ago, it might be nicer to only wake twice or maybe even only once a night. Sleeping a whole 10-11 hours is just too much to ask for with this kid though. So, we shall try sleep training again. I know this means that I need to stick to a strict bedtime routine (goodbye prime time TV) but hopefully it'll be what is best for us in the long run. Besides, I would hate to have a perfectly good crib and hardly use it till it's time to convert it to a big girl bed. Tonight, bed time is at 8...hopefully...we'll see.

The other issue to tackle is bottles. It might be nice to be able to go out every once in a while but in order to do that, B MUST take a bottle or sippy. She plays with them now, biting them to get the apple juice. But she doesn't care much for actually using them. Even while I was writing the previous part, she was fussing for a snack. I gave her a bottle and she looked at me like I was crazy. After a couple of minutes of shouting and biting, she finally ate the ounce in the bottle. Her reward? Letting her nurse and finish her snack. She's cool now.

If' I'm lucky, which I don't count on, I'll be able to attend a friend's birthday party next month. Maybe even two friends' birthday parties! Like I said, not counting on it but if it works, I will be one happy mama. Of course, you'll still find me cuddling and co-sleeping with my baby every once in a while because who could give that up?

Daily contests

Last day for Baby Elan's giveaway of Hair Bon Bons.

Baby Dickey is giving away a Find Me Book.

Spring has sprung!

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Perfect for pictures outside in the clovers. Also perfect for a long nap starting in early afternoon to late afternoon. And we missed the beautiful day. So, today we went out to take pictures. The sun was bright...but the wind was terrible. If you've ever seen what happens when you blow in a baby's face, you know that wind does not encourage smiles from babies. B turned away from the wind a lot.



St. Patrick's Day booties by CozyToes by Kathydee and tutu custom made by Kenzie Sations.



But she really enjoyed the clovers. We went to visit the ladies in the office and talked about the new addition to our apartment complex that is currently being built. We returned home after only getting the St. Patty's pictures. Tomorrow, if the weather is nice again, we'll be taking pictures with her pink and purple petticoats.

Different website, still a giveaway!

Orglamix was kind enough to supply Tales of a Sweeper with some of her fabulous makeup for a giveaway. Isn't that awesome? I love the colors offered on the Etsy site and am excited to see a GIVEAWAY! Check out this blog for more details. Good luck!

Help me name my blog

I know, I don't really have any readers. Part of that, I'm sure, is that the name of this blog is lame. But I had sat at my computer for a good 15 minutes, scratching my head and couldn't think of anything else. So, here's your chance to help me. Give me ideas and guidelines you think are good. Sorry, no prize other than helping someone out.

I've got MORE contests for ya!

The cool kids at Baby Elan Daily are giving away Mommy Necklaces and aden+anais cozy sleeping bag. How awesome is that? Just check out their site to find out more details. There are plenty of ways to enter and win. This is the blog to check out for the Mommy Necklaces and this is the one for the aden+anais sleeping bag.

I'll update this blog if I find more I like and think you should know about also. Might have to do this once a week since each contest lasts for a week. :)

Check out this blog!

 

We've all heard the expression, Mommy's sippy cup. Clever, right? Well, this Mama is! She's currently hosting a giveaway of Cafe Press items. Who doesn't like Cafe Press??? Head over to her blog to see how.

Laundry Day

Remind me to never again forget to wash our cloth diapers within 4 days. We were busy Friday (day 3) and Saturday (day 4) so I didn't really have time to wash them till today. Wow, they really stunk. Maybe I should get a new trash can after all cause the hanging wet bag I have doesn't do a very good job at keeping in the smell.

On the bright side of it though, we got to try our new and "improved" Pampers Cruisers Dry Max. I ordered a sample and we got three of the size threes. Of course, B blew out the back of the first one. Haven't had a problem with the cloth diapers but sposies don't work well for us. After changing her, I kept using them because I didn't want to hassle with cloth diapers while our wet bag was washing. So, on to diaper number 2. That one did better. The diapers are purple inside and I guess that's something that's supposed to help absorb? They are soft like the old Cruisers were. We're currently using Pampers Dry Baby at night and they're the same thickness (the pamphlet it comes with says Dry Max is 20% thinner than Dry Baby). I sort of wish I had one more to use tonight, just to see how well they really absorb but the Baby Dry does it's job perfectly well (on for about 12 hrs at night while we sleep). I see no reason to spend more on these new diapers other than they're softer than the regular Cruisers. The absorbency pad is still too small, not covering all of the butt. The characters on them seem more washed out and less vibrant.

Over all, I'm not terribly impressed with these "new" Cruisers. They're basically a purple version of the old ones.

It's been over a week now

We've been using the gDiapers for over a week now. We both really like them. They're very cute and easy to use. Though, I wish I had more liners because right now, I only have about enough for 2 days. Twenty-four gCloth inserts turned out to be more than enough, though I'd rather have too many than not enough. I'm thinking of buying more covers just to have more girly ones. The six from the starter pack plus the two pink ones I ordered are enough for 2-3 days, I just want more for summer, when she's going to want to crawl around in only her cute little diaper...that is, if she is crawling.

My sister's birthday is coming up this weekend. After the Christmas incident (when I spent several hundreds of dollars on her and her son then she scrambled to get a couple things the day AFTER Christmas), I swore I wouldn't get her anything for the holidays since I didn't get so much as a thank you at Christmas. But, once again, I'm planning to give her something nice. I have a netbook that I'm not using so I plan to give it to her. My father and I are going to split the cost of a memory card reader so she can upload her pictures too. We're also getting her a cake. Seeing as how the laptop cost me $300 originally, I think it's an over generous gift. However, with the memory card reader, I'll be able to see more pictures of my nephew and that's really why I'm giving it to her. The last time I saw my nephew, I barely recognized him. He's lost so much of his baby fat and has grown so tall. I don't want to miss more of his life if I can help it.

Now, I'm going to check the netbook to see if it's charged and cleared and ready to go to it's new owner.

I had meant to write about the gDiapers again today, since I washed them for the first time. In the past 2 days we used 10 gCloth inserts (one prefold the "first" night), 8 snap-in liners and 7 covers. Granted, I think I put aside the covers too soon with the first few dirty diapers. But that's not what I came to write about really.

B laughed today. Not just grunting. Not just one laugh then stopping because she got the hiccups. She laughed and she laughed and she laughed. It was the best thing in the world to hear my daughter laugh, really laugh. Last weekend, I was talking to my friend about her version of laughing. She told me about her youngest daughter. Since the day she was born, whenever she laughs, she gets the hiccups. Every time she laughs, really laughs, she gets the hiccups. Silly first time mom here, I was a little worried. I admit, I was starting to think that maybe something was wrong with her (maybe her lungs/diaphragm/stomach) and the newborn screen test was going to come back positive. I planned to talk to her doctor at our 6 month appointment. And I still plan to talk to him about it but know, I'm not as worried. I know there is at least one other child who hiccups as soon as she laughs. And I now know that B can laugh without the hiccups.

Oh, that laugh was the sweetest thing I have ever heard. She's learned how to...blow raspberries(?) with her tongue and lips. It was cute, so I started to do it back. She laughed. I did it again, she laughed again. After she started to get a little bored with it, I said "Boo!". She laughed again. I switched between "boo" and raspberries.She loved it! So many laughs. Then I tickled her. And she laughed and laughed and laughed. To a mother who has never heard more than a "ha" from her 6 month old daughter, a laugh is such a beautiful thing. I wish I had someone here, to get it on video. I want to hear that laugh for the rest of my life. I know one day, that laugh will change so I want it. And I want to show her, how she laughed, how adorable she was when she laughed.

She's laying next to me, in bed, right now. Every time I try to scoot away a bit, so I don't disturb her sleep, she scoots towards me. It's sweet. I'm running out of room on the bed but it's still sweet. So, now, I'm going to scoot towards her and cuddle the heck out of her while I still can. Six months flew by, I don't want to lose a moment of the next six.

gDiapers, day two (ish)

I received our gDiapers yesterday. After washing the covers and inserts once (all they said they needed), I used a prefold to try them out while the gCloths were still washing (6 washes!). It worked out well though I had to fiddle with how I folded it. Of course, that was when B decided she was gonna start pooping more often. So far, I have changed almost twice as many poopy diapers than just wet. Since she's still mostly nursing and only gets a jar of baby food with oatmeal twice a day, her poop is still pretty liquid. It doesn't slide off but it doesn't fall off well either. I've found the swish stick they sent for the disposables (though I didn't order any) works well for getting the excess off the insert. Haven't had a blow out and I think that's a good sign. Normally, with Pampers and Huggies, she would have had most of that mess on her onesie. The gDiaper holds it in well. It's gotten to about the edge of the liner but doesn't even get on the gPants! So far, I think we like cloth diapers. Though, I have to say, I will be happy once we're done with green beans. She's never smelled so bad!

On a less gross note, today B is 6 months. This amazes me. It does not seem like 6 months has gone by already. I can still remember curling up with her in the hospital bed, cuddling but too afraid to sleep. I had to know she was breathing, I wanted to know she was alright. I needed her to know she was safe cause Mama was holding her, all through the night. And now, 6 months later, I still hold her, all through the night. For a while, she did sleep on her own in a co-sleeper. She outgrew it about a month ago, around the time she started having bad gas. Since then, she likes to cuddle while sleeping and I'm alright with that. I miss tummy sleeping but at least this way I don't wake up every hour and check that she's breathing; I can feel her breathe against my chest. Of course, I do take the necessary precautions. One pillow, blanket never goes above my waist, hair pulled up. Once I realized this was how we were going to sleep, I researched safe co-sleeping habits; I didn't want to pose a risk when co-sleeping is supposed to be the safest way for a baby to sleep. The risk of SIDS is much lower in co-sleeping babies, breastfeeding is more successful, the bond just seems greater. I love having my daughter next to me while I sleep so I made it safe.

To be profound

I feel as though I should be profound, this is, after all, my first post. The trouble is, I've always found it hard to be profound. A few years ago, I learned a game called Profound or Profane. As you can guess, you needed to either deliver a toast with meaning or cussing. Try as I might, my profound toasts never were very good. Profanity was much easier.

As a new mother, I've learned many things about myself. For one, I don't like cussing. I don't like swear words. Simple as that. I find them tactless. I wasn't raised around that sort of language yet, for many years, I spoke it. The F word was thrown around quite a bit with my sister, as was the B word. It seemed to have become a sport to see who could use the most curse words. Looking back now, I am ashamed of my actions and my words. That is why I don't want people to cuss around my daughter. I want her to have a colorful vocabulary but not a vulgarer one. I have changed myself to be the type of person I want my daughter to be. Lead by example, as they say.

My profound statement is this: I want to be the person my father wants me to be and one day, I hope my daughter will be the person I hope she will be come.