OCD - It finally sunk in....

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Edit This 4 Comments »
I've finally come to the realization that I'm OCD. Of course, I don't think I have a severe case of it (of course :) but I can finally acknowledge that I have it. For a solid week, I've been looking for one little purple ball that goes with one of Eli's toys. Mind you, he has about 20+ balls that go with all of his toys and he certainly wasn't missing it :) I've been looking all over for it every day and it has really been bothering me. I looked everywhere, so I thought. I was **this close** to calling my brothers to see if they hid it on purpose just to mess with me. In hindsight, why in the heck would they do that??? haha Well, I found it sitting in the snack tray on Eli's Jumperoo on Saturday. I immediately ran to my phone to tell Rusty. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? First of all, he could care less and I'm sure he was sick to death of hearing me go on about how this ball was missing. **DEEP BREATH**

I also have a confession....yesterday I ordered a bag of replacement parts from Fisher Price for all of Eli's toys that have small parts (even his Christmas present that he obviously hasn't even received yet. Gaaah). I even ordered TWO spare bags of balls for the toy that was missing the purple ball. HOW AM I GOING TO RAISE A SON WHO WILL INEVITABLY LOSE PARTS TO HIS TOYS OR BREAK THEM WITHOUT GOING CRAZY? :) I can't even go to bed without making sure his play area is put back together and all the toys are"where they go." Oh boy.

How am I going to raise a son and not have him impacted by my OCD issues? I know, I know...I need to let it go. Baby steps. Easier said than done. I've always known I was a neat freak (and certainly not a clean freak) but that dang purple ball just sent me over the edge. Doh. I will do my best to reign in my OCD but I draw the line at anything resembling a pack rat or hoarding :)

My Review of Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Shop and Learn Walker

Saturday, September 26, 2009 Edit This 1 Comment »

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

The Shop and Learn Walker by Fisher-Price is an interactive learning walker that teaches baby through everyday play. The walker features a wide, steady wheel base and a comfortable grip handle for baby. As baby walks, music and lights encourage him to continue and sing along to ABC's and other ...


Cute & Engaging

By Eli's Mom from Atlanta, GA on 9/26/2009

 

5out of 5

Pros: Durable, Interactive, Fun, Engaging, Promotes Learning

Best Uses: Indoor

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent, Working Parent

My kiddo is 8 mo old and I'd say this is his second favorite toy (FP activity table is his favorite). I was very happily surprised to see how sturdy it is. He started walking with it immediately and now dances to the music while playing with toys in the basket. He has not knocked it over while pulling up on it and loves all the shape toys and groceries. I'd buy this as a gift in a heartbeat.

Eli & the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Shop & Learn Walker

Tags: Using Product, 029

thumbnail

Tags: Picture of Product, Using Product

(legalese)

My Review of Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table

Saturday, September 26, 2009 Edit This 0 Comments »

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

This Bi-lingual activity table from Fisher-Price features interactive characters to encourage baby's learning and play. Characterized light-up faces on activities encourage baby to cruise around the table. Each character has a unique personality to interact with baby. After baby stops playin...


A must buy & worth the money!

By Eli's Mom from Atlanta, GA on 9/26/2009

 

5out of 5

Pros: Durable, Promotes Learning, Engaging, Fun, Interactive

Best Uses: Group Activity, Indoor

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent, Working Parent

My 8 month old absolutely adores this activity table. There is a huge assortment of songs and modes to put it in. Without a doubt, his favorite part of the table is the phone. He stands up and shakes it and hits everything on the table with it. I don't think my son would enjoy it as much if the phone was attached. I was surprised that the legs are a bit flimsy and I've heard from a lot of moms with this table that their kids can push it around like a walker. It stays upright to my son pulling up on it but it does shift. I highly recommend this activity table. My son has the FP musical jungle, the FP kitchen, FP shopping cart walker and more and this is his favorite...he goes straight to it. He also just started crawling under it and really gets a kick out of that.

Eli playin' with his Fisher Price Activity Table

thumbnail

Tags: Picture of Product, Using Product

(legalese)

My Review of Fisher-Price Go Baby Go! Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle

Saturday, September 26, 2009 Edit This 0 Comments »

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

With the Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle by Fisher-Price, baby can put and take one of six included balls in the hippos mouth as he spins a full 360 degrees. The hanging jingle ball rewards baby with music & lights as it is batted at. The crocodile rocks back and forth as baby plays activati...


8 mo old loves his jungle

By Eli's Mom from Atlanta, GA on 9/26/2009

 

5out of 5

Pros: Fun, Promotes Learning

Best Uses: Indoor, Group Activity

Describe Yourself: Working Parent, First Time Parent

My son is 8.5 months old and loves his musical jungle. It is also sturdy enough for him to pull up on and stand (and he is around 23lbs). My son prefers his FP activity table over this toy b/c it is more interactive but he likes to sit and stick the balls in the elephant ears and spiral.

Fisher Price Crawl & Cruise Musical Jungle

Tags: 042

(legalese)

Hyperlinks

Thursday, September 24, 2009 Edit This 1 Comment »
Can someone pretty please share with me how to get a hyperlink to work on Blogger? I'm VERY frustrated. hehe :)


EDITED TO ADD: Thank you Eric for giving me the 411 on hyperlinks!

Diaper Cakes!

Thursday, September 24, 2009 Edit This 0 Comments »
My friend Amanda is now selling her homemade diaper cakes on Etsy. Check them out! She'll customize them however you like, too :)

I've been a crazy shopping girl

Friday, September 18, 2009 Edit This 5 Comments »

I just can't stop talking about the awesome deals that Toys-R-Us / Babies-R-Us are having lately on Fisher Price infant toys. Most people either abhore TRU/BRU or love them. I'm tickled pink in love. I've NEVER had a bad experience with their customer service but I do know they are usually more expensive than other retailers of the same items (Wally World, Target, Amazon, etc.) but TRU/BRU offer coupons routinely unlike their competitors and have always happily stacked coupons. So if you shop the sales and work the coupons, TRU/BRU is back in the competition and leading the pack.

TRU/BRU is having a 30% off all Fisher Price infant toys sale and a free $10 pack of Fisher Price diapers with any $25 FP infant toy purchase. So, we have us a double whammie of savings here folks. Today, their 15% off one baby item coupon went into effect....so we have us a triple whammie now :) On top of all that, Fisher Price just sent out $20 off of a $100 purchase from their Laugh & Learn and Go & Grow line of toys (which are the ones on sale for 30% off). WOWZA.

I, gulp, confess that I bought Eli's Christmas present (Stride To Ride Lion), his birthday present (Laugh & Learn Home), 3 stand-up/walking/development toys for Eli (I swear he was in need!) (Crawl & Cruise Jungle, Activity Table & Walker Shopping Cart), our new baby niece and our baby nephew's Christmas presents (these are a secret) and Eli's BFF at daycare's 1st birthday present (Stride To Ride Lion). All with a coupon, or double coupons and 30% off and the diapers to boot. WOOOOOT!

Here is the low down: I spent $206 on 8 sizeable toys and got $80 worth of free diapers. The sticker price total on everything was $458. AMAZING. All of this was purchased with cash from stuff I sold on Craigslist that either I didn't use anymore or Eli stopped playing with.

I feel like I cheated on Craigslist with TRU :) Oh, let me not forget one more prop for TRU...I bought the crawl & cruise jungle right before the 30% off sale started, and they gave me a credit for the difference. They didn't have to do that. So nice. So I included that purchase with the total for the shopping spree this week.
EDITED TO ADD: The 30% off of all Fisher Price infant toys and free $10 pack of FP diapers with $25 FP infant toy purchase at TRU/BRU was good through Saturday, September 19th. The current 15% off one baby item coupons are good through 10/1 (one is 9/18-9/24 and the other is 9/25-10/1 and these are in the same booklet from TRU/BRU) and the $20 off of $100 FP coupon is good through December 1, 2009. I wonder if TRU/BRU will mark down their FP infant toys again before Christmas? Hummm. Since I'm new to this baby business, I'm clueless as to what the trend has been in the past.

Daycare

Thursday, September 17, 2009 Edit This 0 Comments »
Eli getting busy at daycare a few weeks ago. Rusty was dropping him off and he crawled as fast as he could to his friend Cameron (who is 2-3 months older) to start playing at the table. So today, I got to see Eli walking while pushing the exersaucer (which is in the background of this picture--one leg of this thing is stationary and the other two roll in a circle around the stationary leg). My lil man is growing up way too darn fast.

I took the spoon off lockdown

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Edit This 1 Comment »
After 4 months of not touching the spoon while we fed him, Eli finally got his little mitts on the goods. I made a bit of oatmeal & cinnamon for him to play with. Good times ensued.











RAVE: Immaculate Baking

Sunday, September 13, 2009 Edit This 0 Comments »
Publix has Immaculate Baking cookie dough on sale this week for 2 for $4. I've never seen them before but then again I usually am looking the other direction intentionally. These things are fantastic. They use organic flour and sugar and all natural ingrediants. Super yummy flavors too although our Publix only carried the chocolate chunk, oatmeal raisin and sugar. We tried the chocolate chunk and they are just perfect. A bit crispy on the edges and gooey and soft in the middle. One package has 24 cookies. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Now I'm off to bed with a lingering chocolate chip cookie scent in the air...aaaaah.
Check out the website to see what stores near you carry them and give them a try. Definitely worth it. http://www.immaculatebaking.com/

Edited to add that I accidentally just found the biscuits and blueberry scones at Whole Foods at an end cap. 2 for $7 I bought 'em and can't wait to try 'em out :) Yummmy. I'll be sure to post an update after we've tried them.

Coupons this Sunday!

Friday, September 11, 2009 Edit This 2 Comments »
Rumor has it that there may be up to 5 coupon inserts in this Sunday's paper...so don't forget to clip clip clip :) You really can save a lot of money if you use 2 manufacturer's coupons in conjunction with a BOGO deal at Publix or on the the 10 for $10 deal at Kroger (for you Southern shoppers :)
To my sister the coupon virgin: Mandy--don't forget to buy a Sunday paper (or two but check to see if the coupons are worth your while before you buy any additional). I can just picture you now sitting at Looney Bean with your paper and scissors. It could be your weekly get-a-way :) Love you and miss you HORRIBLY.

I'm a slacker!

Friday, September 11, 2009 Edit This 2 Comments »
I left the camera battery charger and cord at my sister's. Whoops. I am really going to try to get better at blogging in the future. Hum, maybe this is a good excuse to buy a new camera. I do definitely need one anyway...

Also, I added a live feed for the sole purpose of making sure people with bad intentions don't frequent my blog. Somehow over Labor Day weekend, this blog registered 11,500 hits. Not sure what is going on, and I'm positive the hits are NOT legit, but I do want to make sure those disgusting child porn sites we keep hearing about that steal blog photos aren't stopping by :) Maybe its just that the counter thing-a-ma-jig is on the fritz but I still need to make sure creepy folks aren't stalking my baby. Sooo wrong.

Here is a pic of Eli licking his Jack's Harvest apples and cinnamon out of the bowl last night. He didn't believe me that it was empty. This was after he also scarfed down some butternut squash and sage.



P.S. - Please forgive yet another craptastic pic from my phone :) And yes, that's a double chin you see....what do you expect from a kid was this big in the womb at 39 wks....