Eating for Two, Sleeping for Two, Shopping for Two
Vintage furnishings, a darling teal and colorful banners… growing up in a room like this couldn’t be a more creative start in life. Meg, a.k.a. elsie marley, craftswoman extraordinare always amazes me with her creations and this room for her daughter is no exception. I love every last thing about it.
I may not know much, but I do know about sleepless nights. I wish that I could fill you up on blog post after blog post on how to get your baby to sleep through the night, really I do. But I was never one for having babies who slept well, so I’ve become very good at functioning after months upon months of interrupted nights. It took both of my boys about a year and a half until they were reliably sleeping through the night, so that gives me at least three solid years of experience to which I can write these tips for you. These 10 tips of how to function after a nearly sleepless night will help you get through your days relatively smoothly. If you have a tip you’d like to add, please leave me a comment.
I’ve been a big fan of La Mere maternity bra since I first tried it over two years ago and it seems like the Shopping for Two readers have been fond of it too. I wore mine for about 16 months straight and really loved it. It was supportive and yet very elegant and I might even say, a bit sexy too with all that black lace. Oprah has raved about this bra in her baby shows too. The only thing that held me back from buying more than one was the price. It was always right around $60 which was the high end of my bra budget. But guess what? figleaves.com
is having a sale of up to 70% off everything storewide! So the La Mere maternity bra
is down to $31! At that price, pick up at least three. If I were pregnant or still nursing I certainly would. You can read my full La Mere bra review here.
Update: Unfortunately Figleaves doesn’t carry this bra any longer, but you can find the Elle Macpherson Intimates La Mere maternity bra
This past Saturday my two year old was a crying, tired mess of a toddler. A long mid-day drive to a family get-together messed with his nap schedule. That combined with the onset of a cold, left my poor guy at the end of his rope by evening. It was half an hour before dinner and he was crying uncontrollably, in front of all of our relatives. After my husband and I took turns trying to rock him and calm him down unsuccessfully, I ran out to the car for my homemade mei tai. I tied him onto me and rocked back and forth in a quiet room for a few minutes - he immediately calmed down and put his head on my chest.
It seems that after over two years of being worn, its instinctual for him now that being wrapped up against me is instantly calming for him. Soon after I was able to join the others and sit down for dinner, all the while wearing him. He nodded in and out of sleep while I ate and talked. I’ll admit, wearing a two year old on my belly while eating a multi course feast was not the most comfortable, but it was peaceful, which is all a mother could ask for at that point.
By dessert he found his second wind and played peacefully down on the floor next to me while I slowly savored coffee and apple pie.
Once again, babywearing saves the day. Now I’ll make extra sure that my mei tai is always close at hand during this holiday season.
If you’d like to learn more about babywearing, read my post on How to Wear Your Baby or see me wearing my little one during last years cold season.
While the rest of the country goes shopping today. I recommend that you do the opposite and save money by taking advantage of free stuff! One way to save money on a baby is to sign up with different companies that offer free coupons, trials, samples, etc. In addition to Shopping for Two’s Free Baby Stuff page, here are two sites I recommend signing up with:
This is a really nice site that not only will send you free offers as they come up but will also send you info about your growing baby with personalized weekly calendars, calculators, articles & information. ALL 100% FREE! Can’t beat that.
Sign up here: Free Stuff For New & Expectant Parents!
Baby to Bee is another great website that collects all sorts of free baby related offers and sends them to you via e-mail.
Sign up here: FREE stuff for any Mother or Father-to-be!
Morning sickness is one of the most common pregnancy syptoms and oh, it can be an awful thing to put up with. I suffered through it with both of my pregnancies and it was tough! I tried all sorts of tricks, but the only thing that really helped was ginger tea (slices of ginger boiled in water) that my husband would make me first thing in the morning. Even that only slightly helped. The thing that helped the most was time. Eventually I started to feel better.
Today I decided to round up some of the best articles I could find about easing morning sickness ailments. I hope you find something that helps you.
What morning sickness remedies helped you out during your pregnancy?
There are so many good things to share with you this week!
First, Mindi at Moms Need to Know explains all about how to create a price book for saving money on groceries. I kept a rudimentary price book for a while about two years ago because I have a horrible memory for numbers. I only kept about 25 things that we regularly buy jotted down in a notebook. This helped me figure out which grocery store or Costco carried the item for the cheapest price. I’d also make a note when the item went on sale and for how much. Once I got the hang of where the best deal was I stopped keeping up with the price book. However Mindi’s post has made me think that maybe it’s a good time to re-price everything.
If you don’t already menu plan, you might want to take notice of Blissfully Domestic. Every week now they are doing a weekly planning menu complete with photos, links to recipes and shopping lists! How fantastic. And I’m now craving ‘Brinner‘!
Money Saving Mom is a great guest post about cooking for your freezer. We only have the freezer unit that comes with our fridge, so we only have so much room. However we do always keep at least a few frozen dinners in there for last minute uses. We also keep extra pork chops, steaks and frozen bags full of our garden produce. I will always recommend to any expecting mom that you fill up your freezer with a bunch of quick dinners for when the baby is born. One less thing that you have to think about.
Also from Money Saving Mom has a great little list of Five Simple Ways to Earn a Little Extra Cash. I already started to bundle up my change with my preschooler last week. He loved helping me sort and stack. We talked about how we are going to take this to the bank to deposit. So far in only a half and hour of coin counting we made about $55! Not bad. And I hadn’t heard of the Cash4Books before. I have a handful of books that I’ve lost interest in. I’m certainly going to take advantage of this great website.
One of the things I advise when you are trying to cut back on your spending is to look at all of your regular monthly expenses and see how you can dwindle them down (you can read more here). I’m Will Teach You to be Rich shares some very detailed tips on how you can save money on your car insurance. He gives you actual dialogue that you can use when you call around to get quotes. I’m the worst at negotiating so any help I can get is appreciated!
Back when my blog was simply a shopping blog, I featured various nursery inspirations and I think I’d like to bring that back. It’s fun to look at what other creative moms have done with their little one’s rooms, isn’t it?
It only seems appropriate then, that I should start off with one of the very first nurseries that caught my eye. This is Kajsa’s (also known to the world as Syko) children’s room…doesn’t it looks like such an inspirational place to grow up? I love the neutral white background with the spots of color all over. I especially like how the books are organized by the spine color. That eye catcher is that bright red polka dotted comforter. Don’t you just love it?
Kajsa’s creations are very similar to the colors she used in this room. Whenever I see her colorful, happy work, it always brings a smile to my face. You can read her blog here, and buy her work here or over at Craftbury Kids.
I’ve been a big fan of Christy over at A Little Lark for well over a year now. I bought my sons two long sleeve shirts from her last fall and I was so sorry when they outgrew them. They wash well, fit well and are just so darn adorable! I highly recommend them.
Anyway, Christy has been killing me lately with her new designs. Look at that owl! And the bird on the branch! Dahlias are my very favorite flower. And the forest scene is one of the designs that I bought last year, so of course I love it.
my son in a little lark design
I know that finances are tight for many families this year, but I really do recommend that when you do your holiday shopping you buy at least a handful of things from local or handmade sources. Not only do you get to buy unique one of a kind items, but you are helping out other folks make a living doing what they do best. It’s a win, win for everyone. Buying something from A Little Lark not only makes your recipient the most stylish one in the neighborhood, but also helps out a fellow creative mom with her business.
Happy Shopping!
I thought I would share with you today a few places where I regularly go to save money. Where are your favorite places to go that save you money?
About a year ago, we made the switch to using Seventh Generation diapers exclusively when we use disposables. I just like how incredibly soft they are, how they don’t use bleach which can be harmful to babies, and how devoid they are of commercial cartoon characters. The only downside is that they can be expensive, but by using Diapers.com, they are only a penny or two more expensive than other cheapers brands. Diapers.com not only is cheap, but if you order over $50 worth, shipping is free and even though I choose Ground delivery my order ALWAYS shows up at my doorstop the very next day! Incredible. You have to give them a try.
I admittedly don’t use coupons as much as I used to because over the years our eating habits have changed so that the products we buy don’t usually have coupons. But when I do need a name brand product I always check coupons.com to see if they have a coupon. They send you a list of new coupons each week and it’s so easy to print them out and bring them to the store with you. Save on Groceries - Download the CouponBar and never miss another offer!
I had heard of Sierra Trading Post from a friend a while back, but came upon it again recently when Soulemama bought her kids socks through them. I immediately had to go and order my boys some SmartWools sock and boiled wool slippers too and now I’m addicted. I’ve bought quite a few Christmas presents from them and love the bargains I’m getting. Plus they e-mail you special coupons to save an additional 30%+!
Before I buy anything online, I always do a quick online coupon search. It takes seconds and frequently I’ll find a 20% off code or free shipping code. It’s worth it. CoolSavings has a nice list of online coupons along with grocery store coupons too. Sign up for the e-mails so you can keep up on all the sales.
I’d love to hear where you go to save money.
