Project- Pailynn's first Birthday

So-- I found out I am that crazy mother who goes all out for their child's first birthday party! I may find myself regretting it later but so far, the decorations I made are ADORABLE. Plus, the items I am making- can go into PJ's room as décor.. Here is a sneak peak on why I have been soo busy that I haven't had time to blog...


So here is your sneak peak to Pailynn's "Look WhoOoo's Turning ONE!" Birthday Party!!

Mommy daughter time

Regardless of how old your daughter may be, spending time with my little one still makes my heart thump uncontrollably, She is the second love of my life! Some times it its great to forget about all her little tantrums and play with dolls or other things. But life isn't that way. You have to learn to grow, together. My daughter is 11 months. She will soon be a one year old, I can't seem to wonder where the time went? This is why I vowed to her, that we will do more fun mommy and daughter dates. She is young and may not understand but I shouldn't let my time with her slip away. I find myself hiding away on the weekends to study and to do homework. I know that right now that may seem important but I have spread myself thin a lot of times, but not with this one person. Don't get me wrong, I do a lot with PJ. I feed her, bath her, and play with her. But I always thought she wasn't old enough to do FUN mommy daughter things together. This girl has my full heart and will always be my favorite little girl in the whole world! Which is why I decided to change the way I thought and start doing MORE baby friendly activities with her.

So .. I wanted to paint her nails. I didn't want to use my regular nail polish, she sucks her thumb way too much to put all of those toxins in her mouth! I did my research and found piggy paint. Walmart actually carries them for like 7 bucks you get pink, blue, and purple. It is a non-toxic, ordorless, kid friendly.

Making this whole "TIME" thing work was a little ruined when I first painted her big thumb and tried to blow it dry.. Lets just say it takes a little to long to dry and ended up on her pants.. So I decided I would wait just a little while... She actually fell asleep on me.. and well.. I atleast got one coat done!! haha! We will try for another coat tomorrow!.. Still a little fun for me.. NO lie. Plus look at those cute little pink fingers!

DIY Photo invitations

I never realized how much planning your little ones birthday party could be! Specially since I am on a budget but I still want it to look amazing! I am finding all of this DIY stuff.. the problem is trying to budget time in between her party, school, working, taking care of PJ, and actually being able to do each project. I am not going to lie.. These SNOW DAYS are definitely helping!

I wanted a CUTE invitation with a picture of PJ on it. The problem was, I didn't want to spend 15 bucks for 20 invitations. So I came up with this CLEVER idea to get past breaking the bank.

I used the website pizzap.com and edited a background, cut around PJ in her picture, put a sticker, added some text and PRESTO. I sent the photo to walgreens (first I made sure that everything fit on the picture, I actually had to redo it because you need a gap between the edges so it doesn't cut off the picture or text. BAM- 20 cents per invite. I then went to the dollar tree and bought a pack of invites only because I wanted HOT pink envelopes. There were 8 for a dollar. I ended up only spending 7 bucks on her invites. One thing off my checklist and so far.. I have already saved -$23!!!

Here was the final result. Don't mind the black out spots- that is where the original information for the party was. But I don't want everyone and their momma coming to my daughters first bday unless you actually receive an invite! Sorry! xoxo.

baby shower GALOR part #2

Lately, a lot of my friends are having children and I have constantly been going from one baby shower to the next. Here are some of the different foods/recipes and activities

Games:

1. Crap happens: my friend laid out diapers on a table. Each diaper had something a little different in each one. The guests are supposed to guess what is in the diaper without tasting it. You can smell, touch, etc. The guest with the most correct answers wins!

2. Baby stats: have each guest guess how long, the weight, the date, the time, the eye color, the hair color of the soon the be newborn. My friend also added in some fun. The last part of the question was, what do you think the new mom steal from the hospital? Let's be honest! Who doesn't load up on the diapers, wipes, etc. lol! I was even guilty of this! My friends told me it wasn't stealing, more like taking what is yours because they are actually supposed to throw out anything that was left over from the room during your hospital stay.

3.Pacifier Toss Have guests stand in a circle and take turns tossing the pacifier to each other. The person who catches it has 10 seconds to name a baby item -- without repeating one that's already been said. If you repeat an item, or don't call out an item in time, you're out of the game. If you are the last person standing, you WIN!

4. Tinkle in the Pot: Each player puts a balloon under their shirt while holding a ping pong ball between their knees. Player must waddle down the line and drop the ball into a jar. This was actually really difficult for us, and we had a lot of people, so we lined up everyone that made it in the first time to race off against each other, the fastest won!.. But you can run the game however you want, even relay!

5. Rice rice baby!- Blindfolded guests will race to find baby pins in a bowl of rice. The one who gets them all moves on to the next round!

6. mom or dad baby shower game. One person read the questions one by one and we had to try and guess if the question applied to Mom or Dad. For example, the first question was "Who was born with blonde hair?" So if you thought it was Mom then you put on your lips and if you thought it was Dad you put on your mustache. ( I am not going to lie. I lost this game! lol )

7. Guess that baby food! You are better off blind folding the ones who are being fed, this way they can't even see the color of the baby food, which means they can only rely on their taste buds! Also, take the wrapper off so the ones who are feeding don't have any idea either and can also try it out for themselves. But the ones that were feeders for the one I was involved in were too scared to do it!


Clever Ideas:
1. Craving section- dedicate a WHOLE section to everything that the new soon to be mom has been craving during her pregnancy! Genius! That would have made me extremely happy! Make sure to add some tums close by! lol!


Rawkin pink punch-
Ingredients
1 (2 liter) bottle raspberry ginger ale
1 tub pink raspberry sherbet

Directions
1. Add raspberry sherbet to punch bowl then slowly pour ginger ale over top about 5-10 minutes before serving.

They also added pineapple juice which gave it the most amazing Flavor. Seriously the best I have ever had!

15 FUN activities to do with a 10 month old

Are you looking for a fun SAFE activities to do with any little one that is mobile? I was looking for things to do with PJ during my school break (While I had plenty of time). But there isn't much crazy remember fun things to do with a 10 month old! So I brainstormed. I wanted her to make something for Kevin but I also wanted her to learn... I googled activities with 10 months old and got this strange list. Some of these games are what we already play or do on a daily basis but some are things I would have never thought of to even try! I have know created my To-Do Bucket list with PJ to accomplish before the New year hits! Which is a few days away! SAY WHAT!

1. Arrange & re-arrange- Pj and I usually do this daily. We have foam blocks she loves to play with. Possibly almost as much as she loves chewing on them! I also bought her stacking cups that she loves to play with. She hasn't gotten the hang of stacking just yet but, she does clash them together or knocks over what I built. After a while, I don't find that fun anymore. I can never get past my third story building!
2. Endless cruise- Pj LOVES to follow people now that she is mobile. I can't get her to stop moving unless she is asleep! She is like the energizer bunny! At first when she wasn't crawling and was kneeling on the floor I would crawl around her to help her get the point of crawling. I would place a toy in the middle of the room walk over where she was, position her just like me. I would crawl and then move her hands just like mine a little at a time. Once she started crawling there was no stopping her. I no longer have to get on my hands and knees and crawl. She just follows me as I walk room to room.
3. Bath time fun- I don't consider this to actually be fun. It is a lot of work on my part. She goes CRAZY in the bath tub. I feel like I get more water that she does and she is the one in the tub! I tried bubbles to help her not splash me as much, hoping she would be more interested into feeling the bubbles
4. Copy cat- PJ has gotten really good at this. Some times too good! She can imitate the sounds I do like when you flick your index finger over your lips and make a sound. Yes that one! That is her favorite! And she does it CONSTANTLY. Mainly every time she she's her farther now! I was a little annoyed by this at first but I got used to it and started teaching her a new task to copy!
5. Stick it good!- this sounds cruel but it is actually teaching PJ problem solving. I duct tape a small toy to the floor and have her try to get it unstuck. Sounds silly but it strengthens her as well!
6. Obstacle course- this is a little more difficult only because PJ doesn't really understand she is supposed to go a certain way and not pick up her toys and just stop in the middle of the tunnel I made from the couch and footstool with a blanket draped as a roof.
7. Reading- M-F Pj gets two-three bed times stories at night. I only do it 5 out of 7 days because I can't be too silly when people can hear me!! So I try to focus on doing this with the hubby isn't home. I don't need anything that he can hold against me for in the future!
8. Hide and seek music- I take PJ's mobile base and hide it in her room and let her listen to the music to find it. Some times she doesn't even look for it because she is to busy dancing to the music which then turns into a dance battle lol
9. Which brings me to singing & dancing- Again I do this when no one is home. If anyone every recorded me I sure would be embarrassed. Only because I don't dance with my baby girl to look cute or sexy I do it goofy because I love to hear her laugh!
10. Playing tag- this is more like the "I am going to get you game!" Any time I say those words her eyes light up and starts crawling in the other directions once I crawl and catch up to her I blow on her neck, give her kisses, tickle her and let her get a jump start so we can do it all over again!
11. Walker- I bought pj one of those sit-to-stand walker. We have been playing with that every day. Needless to say she will be walking SOON thanks to it! She is so smart! She realized she can push it forward just a little bit then step forward. If she only had her balance she would have that whole walking thing nailed!
12. Pick up game- I am constantly playing this game. PJ drops a toy, looks at me, then looks down at the floor to find the toy. This game is not one of my choices. I am actually forced to do it.
13. Painting- I know you may think this is impossible with a child who LOVES to put her fingers in her mouth but there is actually a homemade edible paint recipe. The inner child in my got way to excited to wait to do this. But I wanted to wait until Kevin would be there to join in on the fun as well! (See below for recipe)
14. Rainbow soap foam bubbles (see recipe below)
15. Simon Says- As your little own grows they learn to mimic you really fast. I play this daily with. I believe this helps her learn certain things about daily life.. For instance I taught her the word hug and when I say it she now hugs (most of the time). Now I am working on waving hello and goodbye. I am also working on getting her to gives kisses when I say the word. 

Edible Paint
* 2 cups of corn flour (corn starch in the US I think)
* 1 cup of cold water
* 4.5 cups of boiling water
* Liquid food colouring
Method:
Mix the cornflour with the cold water and stir together. Pour in the boiling water and stir between each cup. It goes really strange (you are basically mixing a hot oobleck goop) but keep stirring and it literally seems to “melt” into a wonderful, custard-like consistency. We then separated it into individual jam jars before adding colouring, but you can do it however you like and this is the stage to add colour.

Rainbow Soap Foam Bubbles
* 2 tablespoons of dish soap
* 1/4 Cup of water
* food coloring
Method:
Add all ingredients together and mix on high for about one or two minutes. Repeat until you reach your desired amount.

I used an the plastic container I got from ice cream. I put 2 tablespoons of dish soap (any if fine) and a cup of water. Since I had a bigger container I was able to double the bath. When you add food coloring you also need about 2-3 drops. Repeat until you have the amount of foam you want. I put it in a plastic tub and set the tub in my bath tub. This way once she was done with playing I could switch her over to her ducky bath tub and give her a bath =)

When I did this- I left PJ in her diaper which might have not been such a good idea. I recommend using swimming diapers. I am not going to lie, PJ BAWLED when she first got in. But after a while of me splashing the foam around, she started to get more comfortable and started to play in it by herself.

Sleep PLEASE

Any one feel like they are sleep deprived? Silly me, all mothers are!! I am one for LOVING my sleep and I am really cranky when I don't get enough. My husband can contest to that! It took me almost a month to get the swing of this whole SLEEPING with a newborn ordeal. Let's just say I learned quickly on what worked and didn't work for me.

Here are some tricks to get your little one to sleep, as soon as you bring him/her home from the hospital.

1. Elevate the bed- I bought one of those crib wedges and put it in her bed. It helped a lot with her acid reflux.

2. Differentiate- Make sure your little one knows day from night. Some ways to do that is.. When they are taking their nap on during the day, leave the light on. Get them used to NOISE, which will happen during the DAY! When it is night time.. PJ only gets a night light. Even if I change her diaper in the middle of the night and feed her.. No lights on, just the night light.. Takes some getting used to at first to make sure you get all the stool off them.. but you will thank me in the long run. When you turn on the light you are waking up just as much as your little one is waking up!

3. Swaddle- In the womb the baby is used to be in a warm tight place. That doesn't change when they are born. They still love it! So PULL that blanket tight baby!!

4. Pat on the back- many babies need burped.. ALOT.. So don't be surprised if you have tried feeding, changing the diaper, rocking, and if your little one is still cranky, chances are that they probably have a gas bubble! So, pat that sucker out!

5. Collic calm- This is an all natural mixture that helps with collic, upset stomach, hiccups, and acid reflux. For a while this was my best friend when it came to PJ. I had a lot of problems with switching her over to formula at first. She was constantly vomiting the regular baby food so we tried soy thinking maybe she is a little lactose intolerant like me, that didn't help! I was about to pull my hair out! We then changed over to gentleease, which worked for a little while maybe a month and then the symptoms got worse. FINALLY I found Enfamil- AR (added rice)

6. Routine- Keep your routine on track as much as you can. It will help her body create a biological alarm clock letting her know when its nap or bedtime! Try to keep the same nap times, bed time routines. (bath, lotion, bottle/boob).

7. Stand your ground- I have problems with this a little bit, PJ will cry some times in the middle of the night. I do use the cry it out method but for a limited amount of time. (Ten minutes) After ten minutes, I know something is wrong that she can't calm herself back down. (which usually means diaper or bottle) But as soon as both are done... It is back to the crib she goes.. But I will be the first to admit.. Some times I break down- When I have had a really busy week and a lack of sleep instead of standing my ground I back down. It maybe happens once a month. Pj ends up cuddling up to me in my bed. What can I say.. Some times a momma does need a wink of sleep!

Baby's First Cold

What is worse than having a sick child? Nothing other than you being sick at the same time they are! Over the past almost 10 months I have quickly learned ways of improving how my little one feels when she is sick. All of these things that are listed aren't all on the internet, some came with pure experience!

Here are the items that help ease the cold:

1. Johnson & Johnson- Soothing vapor bath wash It is perfect for when you baby needs a bath. It works just like vicks but works while the baby is playing in the bath tub! Two for one WOOT WOOT! It costs about $4.30 but check out johnson & johnson's website some times they have coupons! I got a $2.00 off coupon and ended up only paying 5 bucks for TWO of them! Ohh YAY!
2. Vaporizer- It actually makes my nose run more but seems to help my little one out. You can get one that is warm mist or cold mist (incase your little one is always on the move and your afraid they will touch it) I set the cold one on the floor and PJ just acts like it isn't even there!
3. Vicks baby rub you can buy or make your own. Here is a great website that teaches you how to make Homemade vicks vapor rub
4. Saline & nose syringe- I actually have an automatic one where I push a button and it sucks her nose- Works really well actually! Remember to plug
5. Boogie wipes
6. Tylenol/Mortrin

Here are some things you can do:

1. Warm bath with Soothing Vapor
2. Turn on vaporizer at night.
3. Put vicks baby rub on little ones chest and feet! make sure you cover there feet with foot pajamas specially if your little one is all about taken her socks off like mine is. I don't want her to get the rub in her eyes!
4. Use saline spray and suction out little one's nose. It will help dry out their runny nose quicker! Don't forget boogie wipes to get those straggles ;)
5. Make sure to check their temp! Remember to call your Pedi if the temp is 104 or greater. If your little ones temp is constant 102+  Mortin is when I switch to motrin otherewise it's Tylenol for me! Make sure you check with your pedi on how much to give to your child. REMEMBER: motrin and Tylenol have DIFFERENT doses!!!
6. For moms who breastfeed- you can actually use breastmilk instead of saline.
7. When PJ was little I would put her bouncer chair in the bathroom while I showered to help open her up. When she got bigger I had to switch to shutting the bathroom door running hot water in the sink and putting her in the bath tub.
8. If your little one is a bit older you can boil vicks in a pan and place paper over nose and inhale. I use the paper so the steam of the vicks doesn't get into my eyes because it burns! lol
9. If you have a scentsy pot you can put one teaspoon of vicks and two tablespoons of water and let it glow!
10. Cuddle. When they are sick they love to cuddle with you. Just make time for it! What helps the heart helps the body! =)