Bring On the Pregnancy Comments...

This post is from my cousin-in-law, Abbey,  who I just love so dearly. She writes her own mom blog called http://thenaptimereport.blogspot.com/ which I love reading and I completely recommend to everyone. Abbey is incredibly pregnant right now and sent this post to me to put up that she wrote right before she had her first child. I thought I'd put it up because, If you have ever been pregnant you have run into at least half of these comments, and I hope you laugh and associate with this as much as I did.

Thank you Abbey!

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In case you were interested in unleashing the wrath of pregnancy hormones, here are, in my opinion, the 10 most incredibly annoying things I have heard in the past 8 1/2 months. Please note: if you have, in fact, uttered one of these statements, please don't feel bad (or offended). Mostly, these things are just annoying in repetition. Because you weren't the only one saying it. I decided this post would be a helpful, informative guide to dealing with the preggers in your life.

10. It's a shame that such young girls are getting pregnant these days. There are several variations to this comment, and I've had a few. This is partially due to the fact that I look like a pregnant 5th-grader (I'll appreciate my youthful looks when I'm 40, I think). This is also partially due to the fact that people are not smart. Seriously. Take a look at my left hand. I'm married. And my age is none of your business. But just to get you off my back, I'm almost 25 and have been married for 3 years. Plenty old enough to be starting a family, in my opinion.

9. You'll need practice for when that baby comes. Spoken mostly by other parents, this comment really pisses me off. Obviously, I have no idea what I'm doing. I get that. But, do I want to practice on your child? Absolutely not. Especially since your child is the one screaming/throwing a fit/running down the hallway.

8. Your life is going to change once that baby comes! What?!?! You're kidding me! A newborn is going to change my schedule a little? I'm shocked, really shocked. I might be a first-time mom, but I'm not an idiot. That being said, I can guarantee you that I'll still be going out to eat, watching my TV shows, and taking the occasional nap. I do have a husband (see #10).

7. You've got way too much stuff for this baby. I really just don't understand this comment. First of all, what is it that I'm not going to use? The carseat? Maybe the stroller? Perhaps the diapers? Or, maybe the crib. Second, who cares if I've got a lot of stuff? We've had a long, hard road to parenthood, and I'm excited to welcome this baby into our family. If that means I have "overprepared", then so be it. You ought to be excited for us, too.

6. Your feet are really swollen! Really? Because I hadn't noticed the throbbing pain every time I take a step (or just stand up). Also, I hadn't noticed that NONE of my shoes fit. But thank you so much for telling me!

5. You're about ready to pop! Closely related to #1, this deserves its own section. In church on Sunday TEN different people said this to me. Ten! Really, people, I'm NOT ready to pop. First of all, I've still got 5 weeks to go. Second, that's just another way of saying "you're fat".

4. What is the baby's name? This question in and of itself isn't annoying at all. I really don't mind when people ask me. What I do mind, though, is when people continue to pester me after I tell them that we don't have one picked out yet. Honestly, we don't have a name, and you standing here asking me repeatedly isn't going to change that.

3. I never got THAT big with my babies! Well, good for you! I, however, am this big with my baby. Have you looked at my body type? I am barely 5'3" and am pretty short-waisted. Where do you think this baby is going to hide? In addition to that, my baby is growing in my arms, face, thighs, and rear end. But thanks for pointing out that you were never as big as me.

2. Whoa! Are there two in there? No, actually, I'm just very large. But thanks for bringing that to my attention.

1. Haven't you had that baby yet? Hmmm...is that a real question? Because isn't it obvious by looking?

Easy Clips and the Pull-Through Ponies

I was incredibly excited when I found out that my first born was going to be a girl. I have always loved doing hair. As a little girl I wanted a bunch of Barbie dolls so that I could do their hair and once I could braid I was doing friends' hair every chance I could. I assumed that my baby girl was going to be born balled like I was and prepared myself to patiently wait for her hair to go in. To my surprise she was born with a head full of dark brown hair.

But, after a couple of months her thick brown hair fell out completely.

It took forever to grow back in and when it did she had a bunch of fine, thin fly-aways that I had a hard time taming.

I did the sprout look for a long time.

And looking back I really should have stopped doing that and started doing these hairstyles sooner. These 2 styles are the first that I learned and they are both quick and easy to do.

First, The easy sweep over and clip look. It's a fantastic way to quickly give your little girl a clean look.


This all really depends on the clip you use and how you clip the hair in. Thicker hair needs a more sturdier clip like this:

But, if you try to put that into my daughter's hair it would slide right out. We use these kinds of clips:

Now, the quick way of setting the clip in the hair is to slide it right in front like this:

This works well on all hair types and will keep the hair in place pretty well. But, I like this look a little better:

You just pull a front section of hair back and place the clip in at the desired spot. If you get enough of the pulled back hair in the clip and you place the clip close enough to the roots it should stay in really well. It takes just a couple of seconds to put the clip in and an easy look for the whole day.

From collages

NEXT! The pull-through ponytail. Once you've mastered this little trick there are so many hairstyles you can do with it.

Take a front section of hair and wrap it with a rubber band. Do not wrap it around the hair too tight, maybe one less wrap than what you would do for a regular ponytail.

Then, push your finger straight through the hair just under the rubber band, from the front of the head through the hair towards the back of the hair next to the scalp. This will make a hole underneath the ponytail to then loop the ponytail hair through.

Bring the hair through the hole by bringing it from the front of the head through towards the back of the head (The same direction you pushed your finger through).

Take the hair that you just pulled through and divide it into 2 pieces and then gently pull them away from each other in order to tighten the rubber band and create that tight pulled-through look.

This will definitely take you a couple of tries to actually get it right and that's okay. Once you do get it down then it's just fun to figure out how you can work it into a new hairstyle like these:

 

Really, just have fun and play with it!

My Shameful Hiding Place

For those of you that don't know me personally, this is where I live:

Yes, I live in a trailer. My first shame I've been working on getting over for the past 2 1/2 years. We moved here very quickly and this was the most affordable and easiest place for us to move into. It's surprisingly nice inside with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a large step-down living room and was a great fit for our family…at first. Since we moved in we've had another child and we quickly found out that these things don't come with any extra storage space. We put a shed in and have packed that to the brim and now we're busting at the seams in this small space. No closet left unturned, no space underneath beds are unused! 

Now this brings me to my next shameful admittance in this blog piece. I have now resorted to storing things here:

Yes, that is a bath tub. That is the bathtub in my kids' bathroom! I'm so ashamed! We are so running out of space! It all started with storing items from a function I was in charge of, then my work stuff got put in there and now, Easter and birthday presents are being hidden in there. Our kids take baths in our bathroom in the spacious garden tub so this tub has been sitting empty for a while. It was a quick fix at first to get things off our dining room table but now… I just can't think of (or find) a new place to put all this stuff. 

I'm not this person! I have organized, re-organized, eliminated, garage sale-ed, given away everything that I could and still this is what I have resorted to. I try to run a nice, organized home but we've never lived anywhere I really feel like we could stretch out and really make it our home. We're always busting at the seams and that doesn't make me feel like it's our home. I want a place that feels like our home! Not just a house but a HOME for my kids. 

That's not a bad thing to ask for as mom right? and I don't want to keep going crazy organizing and cleaning anymore! Or be ashamed of my storage alternatives ;)

Have a Crazy Eggy Easter!

By Jana

We have spent almost every Easter with my in-laws so truthfully we don’t have that many Easter traditions of our own.  We love decorating Easter eggs and rolling eggs in sand tracks with the family.  We usually have deviled eggs or Egg salad sandwiches. Here is the deviled egg recipe I usually use:

Deviled eggs

6 eggs (Hard boiled)

¼ C Miracle Whip

2 ½ tsp mustard

1/8 tsp salt

Paprika to sprinkle

Peel and have the hard cooked eggs remove yolks and mash with miracle whip, mustard and salt.  Refill egg whites and sprinkle with Paprika

And instead of decorating sugar cookies we have made our own eggs:

PB Easter eggs

6 T butter

¼ C Peanut Butter 

¼ C marshmallow cream

1 ¾ C Powdered Sugar

¾ lb milk Chocolate candy coating

2 T shortening

Cream butter, peanut butter and marshmallow cream together

Beat in powdered sugar drop on wax paper on a cookie sheet and form into egg shape freeze for about 10 minutes.  Microwave chocolate and shortening dip eggs in chocolate place back on wax paper and decorate with sprinkles.

Pretty Headbands!

So, I just bought this group of headbands at the dollar store 2 weeks back and the little pack of rubber bands the other day so I got really excited and revved up to start this little series hairstyle tips for little girls. And since I fell in love with these headbands so much I thought I would start out our little series with them


Now,  I know what your thinking, "Headbands are easy! why would you do a piece on doing hair with headbands?" Well, headbands are easy to put on a head but they are hard to keep them on and looking good. So, here is my way of making the hair look clean and flawless as well as helping keep the headband in all day.

This is what my daughter looks like every morning when she gets out of bed:

I, in no way, changed her hair for this picture. Crazy looking huh! In order to tame this crazy do I use these products:

Spray bottle with water, spray gel (usually this is the cheapest brand), leave-in conditioner (she has very fine, thin hair and we live in a very dry state), plastic hair bands, and I use the roller brush to do her hair but most people use a comb.

Now, in order to get a good look for headbands I put a bit of her hair into a ponytail where the bow is in order for it to look clean and then the ponytail helps keep the headband to stay put. What I usually do is put the headband on her head to gage where the ponytail is to go.

Then I section off the hair and put in the ponytail. NOTE: while making the ponytail hold the hair close to the head when wrapping it with the rubber band.  That way the ponytail will lie close to the head and not point out in a funny way. (If you are wetting the hair and blow-drying it, wet it down before you put the ponytail in and then blow dry after.)

Once you're all done, put the headband back on and this is what it will look like:

And I think that looks better than this:

If you're not wetting and blow drying the hair this little do will only take a couple of minutes. I really like it because with the ponytail in and keeping the headband in place, my daughter is less likely to play with it all day. And this is an easy do to do on any hair length and thickness. All you need to do is just take a small amount of hair from her natural part and hide it behind the bow on the headband. A little effort with a great look for the whole day!

Why My Kids Look FABULOUS! (or at least why I try)

In my opinion my children are a direct reflection of my parenting and home care when we are out in public.  This means that when we step out our front door my kids are dressed well, their hair is done, and I expect for them to be on their best behavior.

From collages

Now, I do realize that when we are out they are likely to misbehave and probably mess up their outfits but at least I try every time we leave our house. I believe that by taking care of them and their appearance I'm also teaching them to take care of themselves, value themselves, and that although appearance isn't everything, it is something. As they grow and learn to take care of their own appearances, they're learning how to appropriately dress for different occasions, their gaining self respect, modesty, and cleanliness. That is my job as a mother to teach them these things.

I don't think throwing on whatever I grab for them first out of the dresser, not brushing their hair and running out the door is teaching them anything good or reflects well on me and my capabilities as a parent, especially as a stay-at-home mom. I should have the time to take care of them and do them up right before I send them out the door.

I know that not all parents have the time or financial means to send kids out at their very best or what is at least your ideal best. I also know that there are some very head strong kids that refuse to wear clothes their parents pick out for them or want to dress themselves in their own outfits. My friend's daughter goes through picky phases. For a couple of months she would only boots no matter what, then she went through a pajama pant phase where even if her mom got her to wear pants out the first thing she would do at home is put pajama pants on. Right now, she's moved on from the pajama pants but refuses to wear jeans. And during all of this she goes in and out of letting her mom do her hair. And I actually think it's cute when I see little girls walking around stores in princess dress up costumes.

 I get that there are kids this way out there and you need to let your kids have room in their lives to explore their style and just have fun with it all, and I'm not counseling you to tackle your kids down and make getting ready in the morning a miserable and dreaded experience for everyone involved, but put in the effort each time enriches everyone. HINT: I will let my daughter pick out whatever she wants to wear on days I know we are not going anywhere and I usually don't really do her hair those days just to give her a break. She usually ends up looking like this:

Then she is happy to wear whatever I want her to on the days we do head out of the house.

Now, I also now that parents feel the burden of financial availability when it comes to buying clothes for their kids. I know this all too well because we don't have a lot of money to spend on clothes, but I have found away around that at least for my family. About 80% of my children's clothing is 2nd hand items. The rest are either bought at Walmart or in the clearance section of Old Navy or given to us as presents from their grandparents. I have a strict policy for buying kids clothes and that is to never spend over $8 for a piece of clothing accept for:

Shoes
A good pair of jeans (my kids have long skinny bodies and short legs so I have to be picky with jeans)
Holiday outfits- We get Easter outfits and Christmas outfits every year avg $16 a piece

There is a way to shop at Walmart and thrift stores and get things that don't look like they came from Walmart or a thrift store. And I will explore that in a later post but every spring and fall I spend about $85 a piece on clothes (excluding the holiday outfits and shoes) for my kids and you would never know it (I think).  So, look for that coming soon!

Also, in upcoming posts, I will showcase different little girl hairstyles for short and long hair that are VERY easy to do and very quick to do, so if you use the excuse, "I just don't know what to do with her hair so that's why she always looks a mess" you will no longer have that excuse!

I know that it would just be easy to let it all go and walk out the door with a family that looked "relaxed" but I realized when my little girl was really young that getting her ready for the day wasn't about the convenience for me, but it's for my daughter and all the lessons and moral obligations that I'm responsible for teaching her and all my children.

Foolish Friday!

By Jana

My obsession with holidays has gone too far! My daughter has April Fools in her top three!  We start out breakfast with eggs (vanilla yogurt with an apricot half on top).  For lunch we have our sandwiches inside out (thin breadsticks little cream cheese wrap the cheese slice around a little more cream cheese used like glue and wrap the lunch meat  around it.  For dinner I mix it up the meatloaf cake, spaghetti pie or you can have a milkshake for dinner too!  Have fun foolin’ your friends! 

Milk shake dinner

1 T vegetable oil

1 onion

1 stalk of celery chopped

1 clove mince garlic

1 bay leaf

½ t salt

6 C cauliflower florets

2 C chicken broths

½ C cream or ½ n ½

Heat oil, over medium heat fry onion celery garlic, bay leaf and salt.  Stir occasionally until onion is translucent (8 minutes) stir in cauliflower water and broth bring to a boil.  Reduce heat cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender (10 minutes).  Let cool for awhile then discard bay leaf and blend to puree the soup until smooth.  Let cool completely (I put it in fridge for about 30 minutes).  Strain soup into sauce pan and stir in cream heat over medium heat, until steamy.  Serve it in heatproof glasses and parfait spoons!  

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Our April Fools Tradition!

My family has a fun April Fools dinner tradition. Each member participating in the dinner gets in between 3-5 dollars (depending on how many people are coming) and pile into a car and head to the grocery store. Once there everyone goes on their own and tries to find the weirdest/funniest thing they can think of to eat for dinner and buys it. No one reveals what they bought for dinner until you get back home and everyone puts it out on the table. After everything is made, each person has to eat a bit of everything brought back. It's crazy what the dinner will consist of; pudding, cereal, hot pockets, candy, ice cream, fried chicken, little debbie's, and more! 

Last couple of times we've done this with our friends we've all dressed up as wacky as we could to get us in the crazy mood, plus, it's really fun to run around the grocery store looking silly and trying to be covert with your basket of dinner riches!

If  you like silly dinner recipes and want more as well as get some ideas for some harmless April Fool's pranks check out these fun links:

www.familyfun.go.com April Fools Recipes

www.familyfun.go.com April Fools Kid Pranks