Babies, Babies Everywhere!

With all these women I know in the final months of pregnancy I’ve been a baby gift making machine this week!  Aside from a friend who requested a babysling because she doesn’t need a most of the basic stuff I’ve spent the week making gift baskets and diaper cakes for the others. I can’t make everything, but I prefer to give a gift that I did put a little bit of craftiness into.

All in all I’ve made 3 gift baskets, 6 diaper cakes, and I have 2 more to make in the coming weeks.  Why do I feel like we’re in the midst of another baby boom?  Some days I really feel like I must be the only woman around here who isn’t pregnant!  Just last week I had to go on a wild goose chase for a pregnancy test when my own period was late because no one had any in stock, well none of the ones that aren’t seriously overpriced.  I’m a dollar store test kind of gal.  They’re cheap, and they’re more sensitive than most of the name brand tests, so they’re also the ones that sell out the fastest.  I went to 7 different dollar stores before I finally found one that had tests in stock!  I went ahead and bought the last 3 they had just so I wouldn’t be stuck in the same situation again next month if this one isn’t the lucky month for us.  It figures Aunt Flo came to visit shortly after I got home, and I didn’t even end up taking a test.

I guess until we’re lucky enough to welcome a new little one into our family I’ll stick with welcoming all these other babies into our circle of friends.  I’m searching for a few more items to add to my bff’s gift. I got her some adorable baby clothes for her little girl, and I’ll throw in a few essential bath items she can definitely use.  I’ll wrap it all up in a diaper cake and hope she loves it, but her baby shower is this Saturday, so I better get to work!

It’s Not Normal!

What happened to my daughter?  Did someone kidnap her from my Grandparent’s house while she was there today and send her to manners school?  I really have to wonder because she came home a totally different kid! She has please and thank you down, but we’ve had a really rough time with the whole picking up your toys thing.  Since she came home she has been the perfect little angel, and she has not only helped me clean, but she picked up every single toy she’s played with.  She even put one thing away before pulling something else out.  Did the pole shift happen early or something because this is just not normal.

I’m sure tomorrow will be a different day and she’ll be back to creating a tornado out of thin air in her room, so I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts.  I’m especially enjoying the fact that I can actually sit down and relax for a few minutes before bed instead of spending the next hour cleaning her room and the playroom.  I might even grab the vlc free download for the desktop and watch a movie before bed tonight while I fold the rest of the laundry, or I may finally get around to finishing The Lucky One before I see the movie.

2 Going On 16

The things my child wants! She’s 2, and she’s already asking for some pretty expensive things! We were just watching one of her toddler tune music video dvds together winding her down for bedtime, and the guys in the band were playing Fender guitars. She looked up and said "Mommy, I want one." I said want one what? She replied, "I want guitar Mommy!"

She already has four toy guitars, so why would she want another one?  She informed me she wants a real guitar because the toys are “no fun”. 

*Sigh*  2 going on 16!

Day Of The Rowdy Toddlers

There was so much I wanted to do today, and I didn’t get a bit of it done.  I’m not too worried about it because I knew today was already going to be a busy day.  I dub today as the day of the rowdy toddlers.  Our bff’s son’s 3rd birthday party was this afternoon at Par-Tee Time in Easley.  When I found out the party would be there I Googled for info since I’ve never been there before.  The large building is divided up into sections, and everything is inside.  They’ve got a bounce section with 5 of the really large inflatable bouncers with slides, an indoor putt putt course, a few arcade type games, and 2 indoor batting cages for the older kids.  They also have 2 party “rooms” that can be reserved for birthday parties, group outings, and events.

Overall I liked the place.  Most of the kids had a great time.  I checked out the prices, and they’re pretty reasonable.  It’s $5.25 to play during the weekday, and $6.30-$7.35 (dependent on age) to play on the weekends.  If you just want putt putt it’s $2.10 per person.  The layout was pretty good, too.  It was easy to sit in the parents section and keep an eye on the kids no matter where they were playing.

When I first checked the website I was a bit concerned because it says parents are only allowed to enter the bouncers to assist small children under the age of 2.  When we got there my concern doubled because it was very clear it was going to be impossible for the toddlers and preschoolers to climb the ropes and steps to reach the slides when even the older children were having trouble getting up them.  I was happy during the private party play time the rule wasn’t enforced, and parents were allowed to play in the bouncers to help the younger ones.  At any given time there was a parent playing in each one to give the little ones a boost and keep an eye out as well since some of the bouncers didn’t allow you to view inside them.  They even let some of us “really big kids” have a bit of fun on the slides, and I’m sure many of us will be hurting tomorrow.  Just keeping my footing with a bunch of kids bouncing around me gave me a major workout!  I definitely won’t need to order any safe diet pills at the moment!

After the play session the moved to one of the party rooms for cake and snacks.

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It’s not exactly a room because it’s another sectioned off area that is blocked from view by a wooden fence “wall”.  You can’t see into the area, but you can definitely hear all the noise that is going on around you.  I can’t imagine trying to have a party in there on a busy day.  Also, the “wall” is only about 6 feet tall, so the kids still had a view of some of the bouncers.  That made it a little difficult to keep them focused on cake eating and present opening when they were begging to go play again.  The rule is once your party moves to the party room the kids aren’t allowed to return to the play area.  That’s understandable since you don’t want them bouncing and puking after eating, but when the play session is only an hour long it’s also understandable many of them wanted to keep playing.  Most of the younger kids didn’t understand why they couldn’t play again, and with 7 upset toddlers you can imagine how that went.  Most of the older kids were happy enough with their cake instead.  The kids were getting tired as the party wound down, and it was time to go home.  As we migrated to the parking lot most of the “original” toddler group who’ve grown up together over the last 2-3 years took advantage of the concrete ledge to rest while the adults packed everything up.  Unfortunately most of cell phone photos are blurry, but I still wasn’t missing the opportunity to get them all sitting still on their own!

Even though Ellie is the “middle kid” age wise she’s definitely the smallest!

 

They didn’t choose to sit separately by gender.  That was my daughter’s doing!  Ellie has this thing about sorting everything.  Apparently that now includes kids.

I haven’t gotten a picture of all of the “four musketeers” together since they all started walking!  Getting the pic was hard enough.  Next time we’ll go for the gold and see if we can get them to all smile and look at me!

 

After the party we were supposed to go to dinner with the birthday boy and his parents, but both kids were so tired we decided to grab take out Mexican and take it back to their house.  As much as we hoped the kids would nap neither did, so we let them run the rest of the energy out outside since the weather held out.  We had to make a final stop by Ben’s parents house so Ellie could spend a little time with her MomMom before heading home.  We finally walked in the door at 10pm.  Ellie went straight to bed, and I’m soon to follow.  Unfortunately I have a chunk of work with a midnight deadline I have to knock out first, but as soon as I do my head is hitting the pillow and hopefully staying there the rest of the night!

Baby Fever & Boredom

I admit it. I’ve got baby fever. I love the little girl Ellie has become, but lately I’m really missing the baby that she used to be. Maybe it’s because just about every other woman I know is either pregnant or just had a baby. Maybe it’s because financially we’re at a good point right now to grow our family. Whatever it is I’ve been having a major case of baby fever lately! It could also be because Ellie has been spending more time off with family and less time at home, too. I love that she’s got her little independent streak going on right now. I love that she wants to spend so much time with her grandparents, but sometimes I want to snuggle up on the couch with my little girl and spend the day being lazy together.

She spent Saturday morning with my aunt then spent the night with her MomMom on Saturday night, so we didn’t have a lot of time together this weekend. Don’t get me wrong. I loved having plenty of baby free "me" time (and I’m thankful I have wonderful people in my life who want to spend time with her so I can), but I missed her a heck of a lot. I got all my housework done during all that free time, so I figured we could spend the day together today watching movies, playing outside, and just having mommy/daughter time.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

Ellie hadn’t been awake 10 minutes when she heard my Papa riding his lawn mower across the yard. She hopped up in the window and begged to go outside to see him. I obliged, and we went out to the porch to wait for him to ride back by. He stopped to see her, and as soon as "want to ride on Papa’s lawn mower and go see Nana?" came out of his mouth she was out of my lap, across the yard, and on the lawn mower in his. I watched her clap and grin the whole way to their house next door and run to Nana’s arms in the driveway.

She loves spending time with them so much, and I’m happy to let her have as much time with them as she can get. I know her great grandparents won’t be around forever, and it’s a blessing to have them right next door.

I came inside with my coffee and sat down to make today’s to-do list. That when it hit me that I really don’t have much to do today at all, and I’m actually going to be pretty bored without Ellie around this morning. I guess I’ll spend the morning sorting through yard sale stuff and seeing what else I can find in the closets and attic to sell. I mean, who needs three pair of welding gloves when Ben hardly ever welds anything? Maybe I can use this free time today to get everything ready for a yard sale this weekend. We’re supposed to have some pretty weather, and I’d rather do it before the weather turns unbearably hot. Then I’ll walk up to Nana’s in a bit and try to wrestle Ellie home. It’s always a battle, but now that she’s in that terrible two phase getting her to leave Nana’s house has turned into full blown temper tantrum time. So, what do you have planned for today?

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