Baby Shower Gift

As you have probably seen before in my blog, I have been making Tag blankets as gifts for friends. We do not sell these in our shop at this time but I have made them at the request of people or as gifts. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, keep reading or you can check out these: Kieren and Makenna’s, Makiah’s and Kylie’s

Another friend of ours from church is getting ready to have her first boy (She already has two girls.) and I am not able to make it to her shower. I was planning to make her a tag blanket, so I got it done this week so that I could deliver it before her shower.

 

Tag Blanket

I also decided to try and put her son’s initials on a washcloth and his name on the matching towel. It was something I had in the closet and never gave as a gift. Sadly the machine messed up on his name on the towel and it didn’t turn out right. The washcloth turned out okay, but I didn’t give it to her because I thought it would be silly to just give her the washcloth.

 

 

Washcloth

 

As I was wrapping up the tag blanket, I realized that I didn’t have a card to go with the gift. Seeing that it was after 9pm and Little Monkey was in bed and Little Monkette was hanging out with me, there was no running to the store to get a card. I checked my stash and noticed that I didn’t have anything that would really work for a baby shower either. So I decided to take some card stock and make a card. I had never tried to do what I was thinking in my head so it was kind of a trial run. Thankfully it turned out okay!

 

Card

I just the letters from some leftover fabric scraps we had and used a glue stick to get them in place. Then I did a zigzag stitch around the letters to help keep them on the card and make it look fun. I took a piece of construction paper and cut it to fit on the inside of the card to cover up the thread and holes from sewing. Then I wrote a message inside. Simple but quite cute if I do say so myself!

 

Little Girl Needs A Blog Name

Okay folks, she really could show up just about any day now….and we still don’t know what we are going to call her on the blog. I need some ideas…otherwise Big Monkey wants to call her Little Monkette.

So if you have any ideas, leave me a comment and we’ll see if we can come up with something!

Little Girl’s Gift For Little Monkey

I thought that Little Girl (We still need a blog name for her folks!) should have a gift for Little Monkey when he comes to meet her at the hospital. I just couldn’t decide what. Today while shopping at Target (after reading about it online) I decided what to get him.

Target currently has the Leapfrog Tag Reader System on clearance for $12.48 (at our store they were still marked $49.99 and the ones with the Dr. Suess book are $49.99). At the store I was at, someone had left a $5 off Target coupon for the system, which I used (Thanks whoever you were!) because I forgot my $10 off coupon at home. Yes you read that right. You can go here and print out a $10 off coupon for the Tag Reader system. So it will only cost you $2.48 plus tax. (Talk about an AWESOME gift…think ahead, birthdays, Christmas, etc.) They are not discontinuing these yet are currently there are at least 25 books you can get to go with the system. I plan to go back and get another one with the $10 off coupon and return the one I got today to save the extra $5. Hopefully there will still be more whenever I get back there. (I imagine there will be because they are marked at $49.99.) If there aren’t, it is still a great deal at $7.48. Hopefully Little Monkey will love his new book reader once he gets it.

Where Have I Been?

You might be wondering why I haven’t posted over the past couple of days. It was a VERY busy weekend around here!

Friday night I went to a bridal shower for my sister-in-law.
Saturday was my mother-in-law’s birthday and we all got together.
Sunday was church and then my baby shower.
Monday started Little Monkey’s swimming lessons and we had a bridesmaid get together that night. (We made jewelry for the wedding. So fun and everyone’s is different but similar.)

The bride took all of our jewelry to hold onto but I did get a picture of what I made. I can’t wait to see it with the dress on!

My jewelry for the wedding.

I would like to say that things are settling down  and getting back to normal, but I don’t know that that is the case! I will be doing some sewing for some orders we have and we are working on getting the little one’s room ready for her arrival!

Progress???

Baby Girl's Room

Doesn’t this look like progress? We got Little Monkey’s room all settled, but now Baby Girl’s room is a wreck! I’ve got some of that stuff listed on Craigslist and am hoping to sell it! Some of it is stuff that we are keeping for Baby Girl. Yeah…it’s a mess. Oh wait, is that not enough mess for you??

Our Room!

This was what my room looked like yesterday and most of last night. Thankfully it doesn’t look like that anymore. Big Monkey moved the bed, flipped the mattress, vacuummed under the bed, cleaned out the junk from under the bed and put window tinting on our window. I washed the sheets and mattress cover and today I will wash the comforter. I appreciate the work he did, as it was needed but it seems as if he is on a war path to get as many things done in as little days as possible. Oh well, at least things are getting done!

Little Monkey’s New Room

Over the past week, Amy has moved her stuff out of her room and so we spent most of Wednesday working on getting Little Monkey’s stuff into his new room. At first he was very confused about why Mimi’s bed and drawers weren’t in there but then he started helping move stuff in and got excited about his room. It was quite a production getting things moved around but it happened. Little Monkey has bunk beds…and well the way his old room, new room and hallway all line up, we had to take one end off of both the top and bottom bunk to get them out of one room and into the next.

I also finished going through his closet, where I found three boxes of clothes that don’t fit him yet (size 3T stuff) and four boxes of clothes that are too small for him! (Along with plenty of toys for our baby girl (She still needs a blog name) and some clothes for her too.) Her room is now a HUGE mess of stuff we are keeping for her, stuff we need to sell and stuff we need to give away.

I think Little Monkey’s favorite part of his new room is his computer area. We used to keep his computer out in the living room, where he could use it while we watched tv or worked on our own computers. Unfortunately for him (or maybe fortunately) we could really use the space his computer was in for storage. We gave him a new tv (the one Amy used in her room) and put it on his desk. He now has a little computer corner in his room. He has gone in there and turned in on to play many times already. I think having it out in the open makes him remember that it is there more and so he is playing it a lot.

Computer Corner

Here you can see his bunk beds and there is a large bookshelf back behind there that is filled with books and toys (He’s also housing some of our books!). In between his beds and the bookshelf he has his little lego table with his extra legos on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf. You can also see his car carpet in front of his bed.

Bunk Beds

And here is Little Monkey’s closet! Thanks to clearing out those boxes of clothes that are too small, he has lots of space in his new closet. All his shirts are hanging up and the rest of his clothes are in those cubbies for now. I would like to find him a dresser that will fit in his closet that he will be able to use on his own. Until that happens, we’ll see how the cubbies work out.

Closet

We even got all of Little Monkey’s pictures hung up on the walls too. I think he is happy with his new room. It is bigger (or at least seems it) than his old room and he is enjoying having his computer out to play on. We’ll see what he thinks once his old room turns into the nursery!

Diaper Cake

Last night we had a baby shower for a friend at church who is due in just four weeks! I was in charge of some of the food. I brought cookies, veggies, fruit and banana pudding (my first time making banana pudding). I am told everyone thought the banana pudding was very good. I thought it was not like how my mom makes it (even though I did it how she said to) and that it seemed maybe a little runny. It was still tasty though.

I had seen many times before “Diaper Cakes” that people had made as a combo decoration and gift. I had never made one and wanted to try my hand at it. I did some looking around online for some decent instructions and went to work. When I was done I thought it was a little plain but my sister suggested adding some flowers to it. That did the trick. It was very cute and everyone liked it, especially the Mom-to-be. It served as decoration and she can take it apart later and use the diapers once the baby is big enough.

One of the hostesses, who house the event was at, used her gift as decoration too. It was very cute. She had gotten a handful of clothing items for the baby girl and hung them up as if they were on a clothesline drying. At the end of the shower, we took them all down and sent them home with the mom-to-be. I believe she enjoyed herself, as did the guests.

Kohl’s Shopping

Yesterday I ran a few errands and one of my stops was to go to Kohl’s. My mom had sent over a $10 off $10 or more purchase. I figured I would be able to find something for close to $10. I was right!

There was LOTS of stuff on 60, 70, 80 and even 90% off! I ended up getting three tank tops for myself (they aren’t maternity, but they do fit). They were $1.60 each (90% off!). I also got a nice dress shirt for Big Monkey. It was $3.80 (90% off!). And I found a cute Carter’s brand pink sweater for the baby. It was $1.80 (90% off!).  After all was said and done, I handed in my $10 off coupon and ended up paying just $0.43 for all five items! What a great deal! I would not have bought anybody any clothing right now without that. Not that we NEED clothes, but it is nice to get something new every once in awhile and you certainly can’t pass up nearly free!

Once Upon A Child Trip

Monday I got up early and headed over to Once Upon A Child to try and sell them some of Little Monkey’s old clothes and shoes. I had been warned to get there early and I am SO glad that I did. I got to the store ten minutes before it opened and there were two people ahead of me!

When they opened the doors, we all went in and filled out our form to sell our items. I was told it would be about an hour and a half before they would be done going through my items (about 50 pieces of clothing and some shoes). I looked around for a few minutes and then headed out to waste some time. I went to TJMaxx and found lots of stuff on clearance. I ended up buying just one item for $2! I think it is going to be the inspiration for our little girl’s room. I love the colors…now to find other stuff to make her room work!

$2 Mirror!!

After TJMaxx, I walked around Target and managed to not buy anything. I headed down the road a bit to go check out the Aldi down there to see if they had any of the Yogos for 50cents. They did have Yogos but sadly they were not 50cents. Oh well. I also wandered around another discount store (like TJ Maxx) but didn’t find anything. When I was leaving there, Once Upon a Child called and my stuff was ready (exactly 1.5 hours later like they said). I headed back to see what they decided to give me.

They ended up buying all but one pair of shoes (which I figured they would because they were in great shape and lots of name brands) and some of the clothes. I was surprised at some of the items they sent back home with me but oh well. They offered me $51.xx for all the items they took. I ended up looking around and got a few things for our little girl and ended up with a check for $43.xx! Not too bad. I got a 4 pack of Carter’s onesies (two for sure haven’t been worn…and I doubt the other two have been). And I got these other two onesies. They had some other cute stuff but I decided to take the money instead. I’m sure our little girl will be spoiled with plenty of clothing!

When I was leaving with my check, new clothes and old clothes…the wait to have items looked at and purchased was 6-8 hours!! Oh my! I’m so glad that I went first thing in the morning! As I headed back towards home, I stopped at the mall but once again didn’t buy anything. I was starting to wear out from all the walking around, so I headed home for a nap (which I don’t think I ever even fell asleep but at least I rested.) I would recommend Once Upon a Child to others for both buying and selling. Just make sure you have your stuff in great condition, follow the guidelines on their website and get there by opening so you don’t have to spend your entire day waiting on it!

Baby Girl Update

I went to the baby doctor yesterday for my standard once a month check up. I think it was the fastest doctor’s appointment in my life. I got weighed…gained four more pounds. They are happy with that. My blood pressure was also good.

I saw the doctor and he let me know that the penta test (which looks for possibilities of Down’s Syndrome) came back normal. He also said that he looked at my ultrasound and everything looked good. He also confirmed that we are expecting a little girl. We got to hear her heartbeat and it sounded great. I am measuring 21cm, which is also right on track. Since I had no other questions, he sent me on my way, saying that everything looks good and we’ll see you in four weeks. So we don’t go back until the end of June for another checkup. We are now 21 weeks into this pregnancy, amazingly already halfway through! Before we know it, our little girl will be here.

I’m trying to come up with ideas for what I want to do to decorate her room and I have quite a list of craft items/clothes that I want to try and make for her. Big Monkey told me no crafting until I clear out Little Monkey’s old clothes. I am working on that! If you know of anyone who would like some gently used clothing for a boy, size newborn to 18 months, let me know. I am looking into selling some at a consignment sale and also (if that doesn’t work out) either to Once Upon A Child or on Craigslist.