Bumps and Bruises

Just taking a little snack break in the cart watching the world speed by upside down.

Last night Kendall had a little run in with the floor and got herself a little black eye, which is just red and swollen now. But last night it was the end of the world for her, she did one of those cries where they hold their breath until they are bright red and then let out this big scream. It was close to bed time so she was tired and it just went downhill after the incident.

I think I have all my Christmas shopping done, I just need to get one more small thing and I can do that here in town. Now I just need a few moments time to put some things together and I will be done. Jason and I are doing presents together for all our family this year, it is so much easier and it saves a lot of money. We are just getting each other something small cause we wanted to put a majority of our focus on Kendall. We are only getting her a few things and we decided this because EVERYONE is getting her a few things, so she will not be without anything. As much as I want to go all out and buy her tons of presents I am resisting cause she will be getting a lot of gifts and half of them she wont know what to do with. Right now we have 3 things and I want to get her 1 more but i am resisting. She doesn't know what Christmas is yet or the meaning behind it, next year we will be able to explain it to her better and she will probably understand the concept of it.

Christmas cards are in the mail today! We had a little printer malfunction so we had to go out and buy a whole new printer and we just got it yesterday. This is the first year I have done my own cards. Its looking to become a nice tradition.

I am pretty excited for Prairie Princess and her Hubs to come down and visit us for the holiday, they will be here in 10 days!!!! Its just a short visit but we are going to have so much fun. We have a game night planned and will be making lots of yummy food to eat. It is going to be a lot of fun.

I have been thinking of changing my blog a little bit. As much as I love posting about Kendall I sometimes feel I want to post a wider variety of things. I have been cooking a lot and its been some really good recipes. I would like to share those with you and just random other things that are going on. Its still in the thinking process, mostly cause i need to come up with a new name and cant think of anything. Any suggestions????

Immunizations

There was never question in my mind about getting Kendall all the necessary shots. As hard as it is to see it hurt her for a few seconds, i know she will be protected from things for much longer and will have a healthy immune system. Today I am surprising her with the second half of her flu shot (when they are little they have to give it to them in 2 doses so they can get the correct amount). I personally am for kids getting all the vaccines they need to keep diseases from spreading and also from epidemics of illnesses coming about. I guess I don't fully understand why people don't choose to have their children "pumped full of poison" as they put it. Yes the phrase sounds bad, but its not poison. If you plan on being a stay at home mom and your child is home all the time and not out in public places or with other kids i could understand not getting them. But, if your child goes to daycare, like Kendall, then i think it is 100% necessary. I chose for her to get the flu shot seeing as it is optional and everyone in my family also got one. She is around 15 other kids everyday, their parents, the teachers and the staff at the facility. That is a lot of germs to be brought into one little place where there are a bunch of kids under the age of 3 with immune systems that are not fully developed. Plus you know, if you have been kids of that age group EVERYTHING gets put in their mouth. I believe every vaccine is necessary and she will be getting all of them, not only to protect her but to protect the other kids she is around.

Cheese

This is Kendall, she likes suckers on Halloween and drooling green...

She likes playing with her "cars" and making cheesy grins when she sees the camera...

When she gets excited she claps....
and makes silly poses for the camera while her shirt is covered in drool.

She is ready for Santa to come, she is wearing her Christmas jammies with camo socks on. She probably wont know what to do with the presents she gets but she is sure going to love all the paper they come wrapped in. She is good at ripping it to shreds and eating it.

This Christmas will be so exciting since it is her first, but next year will be even more fun when she can understand and appreciate it better. She turns 10 months in 2 days!!!! Where did the time go, pretty soon I will be planning her first birthday in the middle of winter, i hope i can come up with something good.

Christmas cards part 2

Can you guess which one of these pictures I used on our Christmas card?

I made my Christmas cards the other day. I was going to look into having them done on Shutterfly or Tinyprints and I couldn't find anything i liked or a price i liked. So i decided to bring out my creative side and I made my own. It took me a couple tries to make what i wanted. I am not super computer smart but i know how to do some things. I got on Microsoft Publisher and used the template for a 5X7 flier and basically changed everything on it. You can use your own color scheme, add borders, 1 or more pictures and add in whatever caption you want to use. It was very simple and it saves me about $30 cause now I can print them off at home on photo paper and it will be a nice surprise for people to get in the mail. All I have to do is get the envelopes to mail them in and the stamps. I am all about doing things the easiest way and this was definitely it. It took me about 20 minutes to do on my lunch break 1 day. Maybe this will inspire me to do more things like this instead of ordering them, say for instance.....Kendall's first birthday invitations :) As much as I don't want her to be growing up this fast, I cant wait to celebrate her 1st birthday with her and all our friends.

Christmas Cards

I finally got my pictures from out little photo shoot we did for Halloween and I LOVE how all the pictures turned out. The one above is my absolute favorite!!! I love everything about it. When I decided to get her pictures taken and had an ulterior motive as well. I am going to get some printed off for Christmas cards. Yes they are Halloween pictures, but they are so cute. I try to cut costs as much as possible to save money and having professional pictures taken all the time for every occasion just is not possible for me right now. I try to take a lot of pictures of her myself and I know I am bad at posting them, it just takes time and that is not something I have a lot of these days. I was thinking things would slow down come winter and boy was I wrong. Since I have a long weekend this week I will try to get some of the ones I have on the camera posted. I only posted a few from the photo shoot on FB cause I want the rest of them to be a surprise. Have a happy Tuesday and if anyone is travelling for the holiday I hope you have safe travels :)

2nd Hand

I encourage everyone to buy a lot of their baby needs at second hand stores or from other people. When you start looking and realizing how expensive stuff is you will highly consider it. Things I bought used are:

~Crib: It was never used the lady didn't like what her parents picked out i got it for $20! I saved over $100.

~Changing Table: From one of my moms coworkers for $30! Again I saved over $100.

~Highchair: Jason got this at the second hand store in town but I have no idea what he paid for it, but again save at least $75!

~Jogging stroller: Again Jason picked this up so I don't know how much he pair for it but they cost about $150 brand new for a good one.

~Walkers: I had 2 for a while and spent a total of $15 ($5 for one, $10 on the other) Brand new they are $50 each. I gave one away to a family friend after Kendall started daycare.

~Clothes: I have only bought a few articles of clothing used cause she is at an age right now where they are more worn from crawling. Plus she has SO many outfits to choose from. Also brand new baby clothes are really not that expensive.

~Backpacks: I have 3 of these all used, one is the little front baby pack that I got for $12 and it is regularly $75. One of the hiking packs i got was $15, regularly probably $50 (it was a cheaper one), the third one is a heavy duty for long hikes Kelty brand pack. We got it for $20 regularly well over $100.

Just by buying a few things used we have saved so much money. Everyone tells you babies are expensive and they are, but you don't really realize how expensive. Above is at least $500 dollars we have saved so I have been able to buy other things for Kendall. One of the second hand stores we have in town is called Little Britches and is specifically aimed towards pregnant women and kids age 0-5ish. I called them and said I was looking for a crib and they had one and held it for me. The same goes for one of the walkers, my mom went in and said we were looking for a walker and when they got one it they called her and she had first dibs on it. Most places will do this if you are looking for something specific, so don't hesitate to call.

Things you need

I was thinking today and I remembered I was going to make a post about things you do and don't need for a baby, these are all things I did/didn't use:

Must Haves:

• 
  
  Changing table: I use this every single day, I have a couple different pads so I can alternate between them and wash them. Also it has shelves for storage (which i put baskets on). They are designed to be a good height so you don't strain your back.

• 
  
  Crib: This is obviously a given. You cant live without it.

• 
  
  Swing: This is a lifesaver, K didn't like it when she was really but once she hit about 2-3 months she loved it. I would put her in and she would fall right to sleep and then i could take her out and put her in bed. Saved me a lot of rocking and walking.

• Bouncy Chair: This is great for when you are the only one home and need to get things done. I would stick her in the bathroom while I was taking a shower or in the kitchen, very handy to have. I almost wish they had a bigger size for when she grew out of it.



• Bassinet: We didn't have one of these at first and so the first few nights home K slept in a laundry basket in my bed with me. The crib is just to big for them, when they are that little and plus its almost like having separation anxiety when they are that far from you.



• What to Expect when you're Expecting: The book. Now a days you can just look something up online real quick. I liked having the book cause it was month by month with all sorts of questions that you might have and it was easier then running to the computer to look something up.



• Cloth Diapers: and not for the purpose of diapering. K spit up a lot, every single time she ate and sometimes in between. She stopped when she was about 6 months old. These are so absorbent and can clean up big or little messes.



• Robeez: These shoes are amazing, they are super comfy for babies and they make it so socks don't fall off.



• Breast Pump: It was hard with this at first cause K didn't like bottles and it took a while for her to get used to them, but this makes it so you can leave her for longer then a couple hours and know that she will be able to eat. I don't use it anymore. But very good to have.



• Highchair: Good place for them to play while you are busy in the kitchen. Also it makes feeding so much easier.



• Walker: Helps strengthen their leg muscles and if your child is very independent like mine it is a must. She wants to do everything on her own.



• Baby Gates: If you have stairs or rooms baby cant go or want to block off a safe area for them to play, these are a must.

Must NOT Have:

• Wipe Warmer: I had one of these I got at a garage sale so I didn't spend a lot of money on it. It was such a pain you keep having to soak the little pad in warm water and if you didn't do it, it would ruin the wipes on the bottom of the stack turning them brown. Just hold the wipe in your hand for a few seconds or blow warm air on it.



• Diaper Gene: I started off with one of these and it is great i do recommend it. But I was trying to cut costs any way I could and I didn't want to keep having to buy refills. I now just have a garbage with a lid and i would suggest using odor blocking garbage bags.



• Boppy Pillow: Not necessary at all! Use a regular pillow. There is absolutely no point in spending $35 for a pillow and $10/each for extra covers. Save your money.



• What to Expect the First Year: The Book, pointless, every baby that first year does things at their own pace. I didn't even read the whole thing. I liked the What to Expect When your Expecting so i bought this one thinking it would be just as good.



• Bumbo: Again save your money. I didn't really need one of these since K could sit up on her own since she was 5 months old and from then on she sat in a highchair or a walker.



• Jumper: I would rather have the walker. A jumper is a lot of fun for them but they cant go anywhere. I think it is more geared to babies who cant figure out the walking motion yet. But they do eventually get to that point, so I think the walker would be the way to go.

• Baby Monitor: I have mixed feelings about this. I did use it A LOT and still use it from time to time. But at the same time i don't really NEED it. I can hear her crying down the hall without having the monitor on. Its not a necessity but it does come in handy. I also use it at night occasionally. But the batteries die easily and its a pain to constantly be replacing them.

All of the things listed above are things i found helpful or not helpful at all. Every baby has different likes and dislikes. All the things on the Not list are things i thought i would need (some of them i didn't buy cause i couldn't afford them) mostly i thought i would need them cause "Everyone" had them and i thought i should have them too. That is not the case. I try to be as reasonably as possible with my money and have a hard time spending $100 on something that is only used for a couple months. It might helps some of you out in the future when you are looking to buy things for a baby.