Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

With the comments of a local radio host recently suggesting that women who nurse in public are exhibitionist, I thought I'd post my own example of just how discreet it can be. I think women should be free to nurse any way they want or need to in public. Nourishing our young ones isl in no way exhibitionist. I never use a cover, partly because I can't see what I'm doing, and partly because once my girls discovered their hands they would never leave them in place anyway. Even though I'm not "covered" I am always covered, because that's what makes me feel comfortable. If you're interested, I've written about nursing discreetly in public here.

Celebrating WBW at the state fair, nursing next to a real pro! Sugar Plum is glad she doesn't have that much competition...

Who's that pro I'm referring to?

Here she is! (her babies are a bit blurry, because they were so excited to be eating)

I have a few other posts planned for this week, if I can make the time. I hope so, because I'm excited about them!

This post was submitted for wordful wednesday and works for me wednesday

Holiday Greetings and Giving

Are you sending out Christmas cards this year? I will be, and it's something I really love doing as long as I get started in time! I think this year we'll be sending a combination of cards out, some photo cards and some "traditional" ones. Something else I'll be sending?

These wonderful e-cards.

photo courtesy of Robeez

For each card that we send to friends, family and coworkers, Robeez will make a $5 product donation to K.I.D.S. (kids in distressed situations). K.I.D.S. is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families who are ill, live in poverty, or are victims of natural disasters (per the website). If you'd like to learn more or make a direct donation, their homepage is here.

For each blogger who writes about this promotion, Robeez will add a $25 product donation. Are you interested in helping fund some great Robeez shoes for children in need? Here is the website.

Sending adorable holiday cards that benefit charitable organizations - definitely works for me!

For more Works for me Wednesday fun, visit Rocks in my Dryer

Babywearing Bliss - my journey

Some of you might recognize this photo from an earlier post, but it's the best babywearing photo I could come up with this week...I'm going to have to work on that! Why was I looking for a babywearing photo this week, you ask? Because it's International Babywearing Week!

When I was pregnant, and even when Sweetpea was very little, the only carriers I knew anything about where the Snugli and the Baby Bjorn. I had a hand me down Snugli, but it just didn't seem to fit us well. I saw many beautiful advertisements for slings in the back of parenting magazines, but I didn't really understand what they were or how they worked. I didn't know anyone who had tried them...and they (at least the ones in the magazines) were exPENsive!

At some point, my curiosity got the best of me, and I clicked over to check out the Mamma's Milk Baby Slings. Much to my amazement, not only does this company offer beautiful slings for purchase, they actually link to a tutorial for making your own - how cool is that? Inspired, I purchased some burgundy denim and a beautiful coordinating fabric and made my own sling. Based on instructions, my sling turned out a bit big and wider than necessary. I didn't know this at the time, however, and we both enjoyed this first sling. Sweetpea was small at the time, so it didn't matter as much that she was sitting lower than was ideal.

While at Target one day I did a "driveby" of the baby clearance rack (always a great idea, especially at Target!) and spotted a Hotsling. Sweetpea was getting heavier, and my homemade sling wasn't so comfortable anymore. I decided to take the Hotsling for a testdrive in the dressing room. As luck would have it, the sling was a perfect fit! With Sweetpea sinched up higher it was SO much more comfortable to carry her! The second stroke of luck this day was the price - this sling was marked down to $9.99 because it was a return in an open package - SCORE!! I brought it home with us that day, and it is by far my go to carrier.

I kept reading about other styles of carriers, from Megan and Steph especially. Then somehow I found my way to a great babywearing site. If you are considering buying a carrier and don't want to invest a lot initially, this is the place for you. I purchased my first Mei Tai, an Ellaroo, for $25 shipped. It's a bit hit or miss, because the best deals are on overstocks and closeouts, but there are some great carriers to be found. I love my Mei Tai, it's great now that Sweetpea continues to grow up on me, and she loves being on my back!

In case you're feeling crafty, here is another link for making your own carriers.

Babywearing works for us! I will definitely do it again, from the very start, if I get the chance. For more Works for Me Wednesday posts, click over to Rocks in My Dryer.

For more Babywearing posts and a chance to win great one of two great carriers, click over and see Steph. For a look at one of the prizes, go to Nonny & Boo. (recognize Steph as one of the adorable models? Where do I sign up for that kind of work? How fun!)

What is your experience with babywearing?

Haircutting with the toddler set

I have been trying for months now to wait out that awkward hair in the eyes stage that Sweetpea is going through - hoping to make it to the point where we could tuck her hair out of her eyes behind her ear. Not that we have anything against bangs, but they need to be cut somewhat regularly, and I was afraid to go near her face with anything sharp...knowing that she has the capacity to sit still for all of maybe 10 seconds at a time!

If you've seen the Wordless Wednesday pictures today, then you've seen the picture that finally sent me over the edge. We couldn't keep a barrette or pigtail in for any length of time, and poor Sweetpea always looked like she couldn't see where she was going!

I cut EmDee's hair with clippers, and as with most things that mommy and daddy do, Sweetpea wants in on the action. Always before we've pretended to cut her hair. This time I thought, what the heck, maybe I can do a decent job with these clippers, and then I won't have to go wielding a pair of scissors mere millimeters from her eye.

I followed my general strategy for cutting bangs, only this time I trimmed along below my fingers with the trimmer, and it worked perfectly! Not only does it seem safer to me, it was very quick! It definitely works for us...for more tips and tricks, check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

Everything you need for your little fairy princess

There are certain posts that are just so exciting or meaningful that you want to share them with as many people as possible. Rarely does a crafty post inspire me, but this one at Juicy Bits captured my imagination and got me excited - just look at these pictures:

photo by Juicy Bits

photo by Juicy Bits

What a fabulous idea for a little girl's birthday party, and the fairy wands are just magical!

Then I stumbled across this DIY fairy wing tutorial at ThreadBanger totally adorable and looks super easy.

Now there was definitely an idea forming in my head...I'd been thinking about making tutus for Sweetpea and 2 of her nieces that love dress up. Wouldn't a tutu and these fairy wings, along with the requisite magical wand make the perfect fairy princess costume? Then Sweetpea could imagine herself a fairy princess anytime!

For those of you that don't consider yourselves crafty, Jess at Juicy Bits tells me she bought the fairy wings in the top picture at Party City. You can also find adorable tutus at Sassy Pink Boutique.

Linking up crafty ideas is what's working for me this week - for other works for me suggestions, check out Rocks in My Dryer!

Fun fall family activities - say that five times fast!

I mentioned last week that I am committed to planning ahead for the holidays this year. I want us to have a fun, relaxed remainder of the year. There are lots of ideas swimming around in my head, but the time goes by so quickly.

I'm a list maker by nature, so writing down things I want to try comes naturally. I was surprised, however, how motivating it was this past summer to hang my summer list up on the refrigerator - that extra little visual reminder and the fun of checking each item off really helped us plan our activities well.

The success of the summer list spawned the Fall List, and the Christmas List is under construction too, ready to be unveiled next week! I have a little twist for the Christmas List I think you'll really like, so stay tuned...

Here are the things we are planning to celebrate fall:

What are you doing to plan activities for the fall and upcoming holidays? Do you think it's too early to start preparing?

Works for Me Wednesday - keeping lunches cool

In an effort to be frugal and free up some “me time” during the day at work, I pack my lunch and eat at my desk, saving the remaining time for little items on my to do list or checking out my google reader. I don’t know about you, but I’m forever forgetting to refreeze my cold packs or leaving them at work – I’m lucky to have one ready and cold for my daughter’s milk pack when we’re on the go. In an effort to eliminate cold packs from our lunches, I came up with this solution – whenever possible, pack something that can be frozen the night before! This won’t always work, as some things don’t thaw well, but usually there is at least one item in my lunch for the day that does freeze well. I (try to remember to) put that item in the freezer the night before – during the morning while my lunch sits on my desk that item thaws and at the same time keeps the rest of my lunch cool. Items that tend to get frozen in my lunch are: pasta leftovers, frozen meals (when they are on sale) burritos, applesauce, yogurt or pudding, and pizza. At lunch time, these items have kept my salad or cottage cheese or whatever perishable items might also be in my lunch cool and ready to eat – it works for me!

For more WFMW posts, head over to Rocks in my Dryer!

Works For Me Wednesday

I'm so glad this is a reverse WFMW today! I could really use some suggestions...

I have the most beautiful cherry wood dining room table, a gift from my dear famous grandparents for our wedding. It is by far the focal point of the room, a real work of art...which is why it bothers me so that most days it sits covered - with LAUNDRY!

Yes, friends, we have a laundry problem, and not your typical laundry problem! We don't have dirty laundry piling up in our utility room...we don't argue over whose turn it is to turn on the washer or sort the clothes...no, MY problem is that I HATE putting the nice clean piles of laundry away! So...any suggestions out there? I need a method, a tip, trick or mindset change! Please, sweet friends, help me find my beautiful dining room table and restore it to its former glory!!
For more reverse WFMW posts, stop on over at Rocks in My Dryer!

Works For Me Wednesday

Sweetpea has been teething like crazy lately, breaking molars in left and right. She will chew on anything and everything, so watch your fingers if you come to our house! I feel awful for her, but she doesn't seem interested in teething rings, and she enjoys a cold wet washcloth for awhile, but it doesn't seem to give her the relief she's looking for. I've come up with 2 solutions that seem to work pretty well:

1) I fill her solid food feeder full of ice chips. She has become a huge fan of ice chips, and this allows me to pack it full so she can gnaw to her hearts content for a good 5 minutes before everything is melted. She goes to the refrigerator now and looks up toward the freezer and says, "Ice"

2) For something a little different I made Popsicles from unsweetened applesauce. I just spooned the applesauce in and froze it overnight. They are a little more difficult to extract, so I usually run them under hot water to loosen things up a bit. Sweetpea gets one of these after dinner while still in her highchair, because the ARE messy. The other thing she struggled with was how to hold the Popsicle, she kept trying to hold the frozen part and she'd get frustrated when her hands got cold...so now she wears her little mittens when she eats these! I just throw them in the wash when she's done.

Do you have any other suggestions for teething? I think we will be going through this for a while longer, so if you've got them, please send them my way! And, for more great WFMW posts, check out Rocks In My Dryer.

Tips for Nursing Discreetly

Works for Me Wednesday is on hiatus, but I thought I'd post this in honor of - you guessed it - World Breastfeeding Week!

Have you ever nursed in public? If so, are you comfortable with it, or do you wish you weren’t putting quite so much “out there”?! My daughter stays with a friend while I’m at work, so she has taken expressed milk from a bottle since she was five months old. I’m sure that helped her willingness to take a bottle when we were out and about, but there were still times she was very adamant she wanted to nurse, and that was fine with me.

There are some very cute nursing covers available, but I wasn’t interested in spending money on something I wasn’t sure I would use very often, and it was just one more thing to carry around in the diaper bag. Same went for nursing tops, expensive and I would need to buy several of them if I was going to leave the house regularly!

I started out using a blanket to cover my daughter while she nursed. This worked reasonably well when she was very young, but it was still a bit awkward. As she got older, she grew interested in lifting the blanket or snatching it away…a game that was much funnier to her than mommy!

I found my perfect solution in the nursing tank! These tanks offer the access of a nursing bra with the added bonus of covering your belly when you lift your shirt. I find that I’m not really showing any skin when I pull my shirt back down to my daughter’s face, even without a cover. I saw lots of ads for nursing tanks in the back of parenting magazines, and I tried a few but wasn’t overly enthused.

My favorite nursing tank is from Bravado, and can be found here: Bravado Tank

(special thanks to Stephanie and Arianne from for the recommendation!)

The close runner up can be found at Target in the nursing bra section and is made by Gilligan & O’Malley. They are available in stores and online…with this one I would recommend wearing a sleep bra underneath for extra lift if you are well endowed.

Another suggestion if you like babywearing would be to nurse in a sling. Ring slings are particularly well suited for nursing because you can bring the “tail” up over the baby for extra coverage. I have nursed several times in my pouch sling, but for me, I still like the extra coverage of the tank when I’m lifting my shirt—It works for me!

Do you have any tips for nursing in public? I’d love to hear them!!