I Have Given Birth To a Monkey!!!

An Easy Recipe For Toddlers...

2008-03-13T09:35:00.002-04:00

The whole family went grocery shopping last weekend and my husband was looking for something new to eat. I told him to go look around and get anything he wanted. He brings me back this huge butternut squash. He tells me he wants to try it and I could just go home and cook it. Sure, no big deal, I have never cooked one in my entire life!!

We got home and I searched the Internet for an easy recipe and found one (recipe will follow later). It actually turned out great and we loved what little bit of it we got. It seems my 11 month old son thinks it is the best thing ever created. He ate it like there was no tomorrow! Although he does not eat baby food out of a jar anymore I always saved the jars to store food in for him. I got ten jars (stage one size) of butternut squash for him out of half of a squash. The whole squash only cost $1.50. That is so much cheaper than jars of baby food.

So here is the recipe for those who want to save a little money and get your toddler to eat veggies.

1 butternut squash
3 Tbs. melted butter
3 Tbs. cinnamon and sugar mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half and scoop out seeds. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Place in a pan deep enough to hold 1/2 cup of water. Place them cut side down in pan and add 1/2 cup water. Cook 1 hour- 1 1/2 hours or till tender. Scoop out inside of squash and serve!

My Monkey Boy Creates Yet Another Mess...

2008-03-12T19:15:00.004-04:00

My son loves his bath time. It is a nightly routine right before bedtime. I still bath him in my kitchen sink, mainly because he still fits and it is so much easier than putting him in the bath tub. Recently he has been grabbing anything he can get while he is bathing in the sink. Before bath time I move all the dishes out of the drainer and move anything on the cabinets. I thought we were good to go..Wrong!!

I had my son in the sink with the water running and he was playing with a cup. I turned around to get his towel off of the kitchen table, by the time I turned back around he had grabbed the faucet and pushed it behind the sink. Water was flowing all over my kitchen cabinets then it started flooding the floor before I could get to it and shut it off!

So I couldn't even clean the mess up till I finished bathing the baby and got him dressed for the night. By the time I got done with the baby water is spreading all over the kitchen floor and heading for my hallway. Needless to say it consumed most of my evening trying to cleanup this mess. But that is the joy of being a mommy, you learn very quickly what they can do in 2.2 seconds of unsupervised bath time!!!

This is What Sleep Deprivation Causes...

2008-03-11T08:06:00.003-04:00

I hate when we have to set our clocks up an hour every spring. I am lucky to average 5 hours of sleep a night as it is and now I have to lose another hour! When I woke up Sunday morning I was so sleepy. My son stayed awake about 3 hours and was ready for a morning nap. I was so happy, I could take a nap to!

I was so sleepy but I had to change his diaper before he took a nap, and it was one of those nasty dirty diapers that took 20 minutes to change. So after I cleaned up the mess I threw away his diaper and grabbed him a bottle. He fell right asleep and I went to the bedroom and had just laid my head down when he started crying.

Great, I didn't even get to lay down! So I go to get him out of his bed. I picked him up and he was soaked and so were all of his blankets. I could not figure out how he had peed so much in 15 minutes?? I laid him down to change his clothes. I lifted up his shirt and he had no diaper on! I looked around for it thinking he had took it off or something. But I finally figured out I was so tired I forgot to put a diaper on him!

So instead of having a nice quiet nap I ended up washing laundry all day and cleaning up a mess that was my fault. This may have been the dumbest thing I have ever done : ) I hate Daylight Savings Time LOL : )

A Review About A Sandbox

2008-03-08T18:03:00.002-05:00

Posted above is a sandbox from the company Step 2. I recently purchased this for my son's first birthday. For those of you that may be shopping around for a sandbox I would highly recommend this one. It is called the "Naturally Playful" sandbox. When I first started looking for a sandbox I thought about those cute ones that look like turtles or crabs, but after further research I found out that these were very small. My one year old could not even sit in one and play, so I started searching for something different.

I found a ton of 5 star reviews for this sandbox. Many people have 7-8 year olds still playing in this sandbox. I love the color of it. It doesn't stand out like a sore thumb in the yard. It also has these cool little notched out seats inside the box so a child can sit on it instead of in the sand. It has a ton of room and I thought the price was great.

I ordered this sandbox from Amazon.com. It cost $49.99 plus $23 dollars for shipping. I could have got it at Wal Mart or several other stores for around $65 dollars but ordering online was more efficient for me. I think this is a great investment. For under $100 my child will be playing with this for years. Another parent had a great idea too. They said when their child got done playing with the sandbox they turned it into a flower box! It is such a pretty sandbox that is exactly what I will be doing in several years. Highly recommend this for anybody searching for the perfect sandbox!

My Son Finds Yet Another Way To Embarrass Me....

2008-03-06T11:06:00.003-05:00

I was expecting a package to be delivered by UPS yesterday so I thought I would take a quick shower so I would not scare the poor guy off. I left my son playing in the living room with all his toys and the safety gate in place. As I was getting out of the shower I heard our dog barking. She always barks while she is playing with the baby so I didn't think anything about it.

I was drying my hair and I thought I heard a knock at the door. I came to the living room and saw my son knocking on our front door (from inside the house). I kinda laughed at him and went back to the bathroom. A few minutes later I thought I heard another knock.

Finally when I get to the door I open and there is the UPS guy holding this huge package. I asked him how long he had been there and he said about 5 minutes. He said somebody was knocking at me from inside so I assumed someone was at home! I was so embarrassed! But that is just part of being a Mommy!!

Planning for 1st Birthday....

2008-03-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to post a short blog about a few cool websites I have found lately. I wanted a special theme for my sons 1st birthday and I found this website called celebrationexpress.com it has complete packages for kids birthdays. I found the cutest Noah's Ark 1st birthday set. I ordered it for about 27 dollars but it came with all the plates and cup and thank you cards. If anyone is planning on throwing a party for kids check out their site, there is a lot to pick from.

I also found a site called cftoys.com. They have a large selection of toys for kids of all ages. I found their prices and shipping charges to be reasonable and their customer service is outstanding. I ordered the product Sunday evening and it is already being shipped here. It should arrive by this Friday. Hope these sites help some of throw the perfect party with the perfect gifts!!

The Return of Monkey Boy!!!

2008-03-03T16:36:00.002-05:00

Well, just when you thought you had safeguarded your house, the monkey boy finds something new to climb out of. He has a high chair which does not have a belt in it. It is the kind where you just push the tray up against them. He has been sitting in that thing for months now and never once even moved, much less tried to climb out of it!

He had just finished his dinner and I was going to put him in bed. All the sheets and blankets for his bed were in the dryer which is just right down the hallway. I left him in the high chair with a bottle, I got his clothes out of the dryer and went in his room to put all the sheets back on his bed. I noticed he was being really quiet but I thought he was safely in his high chair and just playing or something. WRONG!!!

I look out his bedroom door to check on him and he is on top of my kitchen table on his hands an knees just sitting there. I run and grab him and about have a heart attack at the same time! So let me explain how he did this. I had his high chair in the living room and there is a divider between the living room and dining room. It is a half wall that has 4 spindles going up to the ceiling. Apparently he had pulled on the back of the high chair till he was standing up and then proceeded to climb through the spindles and onto the table!

Just a warning for all you moms out there, never underestimate what an 11 month old can figure out. Thank God he was not hurt, I would have never dreamed he could climb out of the high chair and onto the able. You can never leave them unsupervised for a second!

Never Feed a Baby Mushrooms : )

2008-03-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

I am determined to feed my 11 month old son a variety of fruits and vegetables. The kid will eat ANYTHING (except kiwis). I am so proud of him, cause I know a lot of friends that have so called "junk food babies" all they eat is sugar and candy. I want my boy to have a well balanced diet.

But anyways, I was cooking a new recipe for dinner last week and it called for some fresh mushrooms. After I cooked dinner I had about 5 normal sized mushrooms left over. My son had never ate them so I thought I would let him try them...BIG mistake!!!

My son actually ate all the mushrooms which surprised me. He will eat anything, but mushrooms do kinda taste funky just plain and raw. I had no idea these would work like a laxative on him!! So now for the third day in a row I have been changing at least three nasty smelling dirty diapers. Usually my son has one dirty diaper a day!

I have learned my lesson about mushrooms and babies. And although they may not affect every baby in this way Mommys be warned, mushrooms will clean out your baby : )

Diapers...Name Brand VS. Store Brand

2008-02-29T12:16:00.001-05:00

We all know that diapers can be a very expensive necessity. But are those cheaper store brand diapers really a good value? Or are we better off spending more for Pamper's or Huggies? This post is based on my experiences with both types of diapers. This is only my opinion and experiences. Some people may agree or disagree with my views.

When my son was first born he only wore Pampers. I felt they were very absorbent and fit him well. But after he moved into size two diapers I started looking at the store brand diapers. I realized I was paying double for the same amount of diapers. I am not a rich person, so I am always trying to find ways to save money. I decided to give Parent's Choice (a Wal Mart store brand) a try.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Parent's Choice. I had tried Huggies a few times and my son leaked through them about four times a day, with the Parent's Choice he has yet to leak through them.

My Mother shops at Sam's Club (A warehouse store) she suggested buying diapers there cause they were cheaper to buy in bulk. Once again I tried the store brand (Member's Mark) and was very pleased. My son has yet to leak through these as well.

So all this got me thinking. Why do we spend more money on name brand diapers when most of the time the so called store brand diapers work just as well or better than others? I figured we have been told forever that this brand or that brand is the best ever so we buy it for the name.

Others are determined to only buy the best for their babies. That is great if you can afford it, but I am looking for the best value for my money and I have found this in store brand diapers. Besides I don't think my child will ever remember that he did not have Pampers or Huggies when he was a baby!

The Battle of Dog and Boy

2008-02-28T12:32:00.001-05:00

Yet another day of chaos in the house. It seems that our beloved dog Angel (pictured on right) has figured out that the baby bottles contain some sort of food. She has proceeded to eat at least 3 nipples off of the bottles in the last 5 hours! And now the baby realizes if he reaches her food she will come to him.

Of course the baby does not understand that he can not feed the dog, and the dog doesn't understand that it is wrong to take food from the baby. So what to do?
I try to keep them separated but that is near impossible and not fair to either one of them. Sometimes I feel like I am watching two babies!

Last night was fun, I am functioning on 3 hours of sleep right now. It seems the baby is having another bout with cutting teeth. This may not work for everyone, but I have found that rubbing his gums with a cold wet rag helps him greatly. And I give him half a dose of baby Tylenol to help with the pain. I can only hope he pops out the rest of these teeth soon.

Looks like my husband does not have to work this weekend, which means we have a huge shopping day planned for Saturday. That should be fun, dragging a baby around town all day! Stay tuned to see what kind of chaos that creates!

Monkey Boy

2008-02-28T12:32:00.000-05:00

My 1 year old son has already learned how to crawl out of, over top of, underneath or around everything I have bought to try and keep him confined to one large play room. So my latest adventure was trying to find a baby safety gate। Sounds easy right? Nothing is ever easy here!!

The problem began with the entrance to the play room. It is an extra large opening that measures 70 inches wide. Now I am not a rich person and I hate wasting money, but it was inevitable that I had to buy something to keep the baby in that room. So my shopping started at 9am.

First stop, Magic Mart, a local retailer with a mid size selection of baby products. I was excited when I realized that the first gate I saw was 72 inches wide, but alas nothing could be this simple for me. After inspecting it closer I realized that the gate had this diamond shaped design. My first thought was he is going to stick his toes in there and climb right over it. Then I noticed that the top of the gate had these little x designs on it that were not covered up. I could see my baby poking his eye out on one of those.

You would think they would make safe products for children. But anyways on to the next store, Wal-Mart. Now we all know that Wal-Mart has everything anybody could possibly need all in one store. But remember, nothing is ever simple for me.

I was very disappointed with Wal-Mart's selection and prices on baby gates. They only had five to choose from and three of those were very flimsy and cheap looking. I don't think they would have kept my baby confined for more than five minutes. So now I was off to Toy's R Us which I was not happy about. I had always thought that the store had high prices and only toys, boy was I wrong!

Upon entering Toy's R Us I saw the exact gate that I needed for only $43! It was very sturdy and secure. It is made by Even Flo and extends to 72 inches. I will definitely be shopping at Toy's R Us again. I would highly recommend this gate for anybody with an odd shaped doorway. It is also a great value for the quality.