Happy Wednesday to you! It's time once again to post another WFMW tip!

Labels: groceries, shopping, Works-For-Me Wednesday

A blogger whom I admire, Barb from A Chelsea Morning,  has just opened up a new online shop and I'd like to encourage you all to go take a look!

At A Chelsea Morning's Little Shoppe you'll find all sorts of wonderful hand made items like burp clothes, sock monkeys, fleece blankets, and more!


Before her shop even opened, I ordered a set of three burp clothes from Barb, to give as a gift to Baby Bug's parents.

Paying Barb was made simple by using Paypal.  Once my payment was received, Barb shipped out my order quite promptly.

I was delighted with the quality and style of the burp clothes and I loved the adorable way Barb had packaged them.

I would highly recommend any hand made item that Barb has to offer!  She is a pleasure to do business with!

Labels: baby products, bloggity goodness, product review, shopping

Do any of you use baby wraps with your little ones? If so, what kind do you use?

I’ve always seen the benefits of wearing your baby to promote attachment. Now, I’m becoming a fan of baby wraps, thanks to the loan of one from a friend.

With Snuggle Bug, I used a Baby Bjorn. It was “okay” but the contraption was so bulky that I often bumped into things and knocked things over around the house when I was carrying Snuggle Bug and he seemed to fit in it rather precariously. It got to the point where I stopped using it.

Shortly after Baby Bug arrived, a friend lent me her baby wrap (that she had made herself) and gave me an in-person demonstration on how to use it for what’s considered a Hug Hold. It took me a while to get used to the awkwardness of getting the wrap on right but the more I used it, the quicker I got at it. Baby Bug seemed to enjoy being in it “most” of the time.

After about three weeks of having Baby Bug in our home, another friend gave me a Moby Wrap. She’d had it given to her as a gift for her daughter but the wrap was too short in length for her so she never used it.

I have to say I really love this Moby Wrap. It's comfortable and convenient. It came with a wonderful instruction booklet that gives you step-by-step picture instructions for 7 different ways to wear your baby (including how to wear twins and how to nurse your baby while wearing the wrap)!

I’ve found that although the Hug Hold works on Baby Bug when she’s tired, the Cradle Hold works even better. She likes to be held facing out and this method allows that, with great support for her head. I couldn’t wear Snuggle Bug facing out like that in the Baby Bjorn when he was this age.

Last night I had Baby Bug in the wrap and my hands were free to fold laundry while she slept. Wonderful! I intend to use this wrap to hold Baby Bug in the airport when she travels with us back to the Midwest for family visit in February.

If you haven’t looked into a wrap for your baby yet, I’d recommend the Moby Wrap! By the way, this was not a solicited product review. I’m writing this because I love this wrap and want to share the details with other moms.

Labels: Baby Bug, product review, shopping

Oronzo and I went on a shopping spree for Baby Bug last night. We got paid from the state yesterday and I couldn't wait to go spend the alloted clothing allowance on new outfits for the baby! I just love little baby girl clothes. :)

We went to my two favorite stores, Old Navy and The Children's Place, where I knew they were having great sales. Sure enough, Old Navy had 75% off many of their clothes, including some baby clothes. The Children's Place had 50%-75% off!

Between the two stores, we got Baby Bug six zipper sleepers (my favorite kind), two two-piece outfits, six shirts, and a pair of tights. We're not done shopping. We still want to get her more pants and two-piece outfits.

Believe it or not, every piece in this bunch was $6 or less, many of them were $4.80-$5.50. That's less expensive than most Wal-Mart outfits, and these are much better quality!

Even Oronzo got into selecting cute outfits for Baby Bug and this is a man who normally hates shopping and cringes when I walk into my favorite children's clothing stores.

We bought Baby Bug 3-6 mos. and 6-9 mos. sized clothes, even though she still hasn't grown out of her 0-3 mos. clothes. If she gets to go home in early April, as we suspect, we want to be sure to send her home with lots of new clothes that she can grow in to, in an effort to help out her parents. They won't get a clothing allowance from the state like foster parents do.

In other news, we got approval to take Baby Bug with us on a trip to the Midwest to visit my side of the family for 5 days in February. Baby Bug's parents initially expressed concern about us taking her with us, fearing an accident might happen while we were away. Thankfully the baby's CPS worker went to bat for us, telling her parents, "Well, she can either go on vacation with them or she can be put into respite care with another foster family that she doesn't know. It's usually not good to put foster children into respite care."

Put that way, Baby Bug's parents decided they'd rather have her go with us on vacation than be shipped off to a "strange" family during the time that we were out of town. We were asked if we'd be willing to call Baby Bug's parents when we arrive at our destination, to set their minds at ease that she did well on her first plane ride, and then call again when we get back home to let them know she was safe and sound. If it helps set their minds at ease, we're willing to make those calls. Of course, we'll be calling from payphone both times because we are making a concentrated effort not to share our home address/emails/phone numbers, mainly for safety reasons.

So, all is well at the moment at our end. All that shopping has put me in a very good mood and there's more to come! :) We had to stop because Snuggle Bug was getting bored and hungry.

Labels: adoption #2, Baby Bug, foster children, fostering, shopping

With Christmas just around the corner, I thought it’d be fun to put together an exchange of hot deals for a cool Christmas! Here’s what I have in mind:

Please join me in sharing any hot deals that you know of for toys, books, and other gifts, either online or in stores. It might be a sale that you have confirmed is taking place. It might be a coupon that you found online or in your mailbox. It might be a mail-in-rebate that you learned about recently. It might be the most reasonably priced product you’ve found when you’ve done your cost comparisons. Anything that might save us some money during our holiday shopping is acceptable (keep it clean, this is a family-friendly website)!

I have some basic guidelines for this information exchange:

1) Please only leave a link if you have written a "Hot Deals" post. Please mention my "Hot Deals for a Cool Christmas" in your post (you can grab the image/button from the top of this post) and link back to my master list here. I will delete any links to blogs that haven't posted a "Hot Deals" post.

2) When adding your post to Mr. Linky, link directly to your "Hot Deals" post, not to the front page of your blog. This makes browsing easier for everyone, especially when people browse around in the archives. For an explanation on how to do this, go here.

3) Enter a 3-4 word description of your post, in parentheses, after your name. Be descriptive, be specific, and BE BRIEF.

Thanks for participating! I can't wait to see what savings ideas you all come up with! Take your time, I'll leave this post up for a couple of days and then it'll still be on my sidebar if you want to continue to add ideas until Christmas!

Labels: holiday, hot deals, shopping

Here are a couple of hot deals that I've stumbled across that might be useful for the holiday season.



1) Polly Pocket $5.00 coupon- You can print this coupon directly from my post and get $5.00 of any Polly Pocket product. You might even find this coupon in the store next to the Polly Pocket toys. Some Polly Pocket toys are $5.00 or less so this coupon would make them FREE! I purchased a Polly Pocket rolling case (to hold all the little dolls and accessories) at Toys R Us this past weekend and got a good deal. Normally, the case is $15. Toys R Us is offering 30% off all Polly Pocket products right now and I used my $5 off coupon and got the case down to approximately $7.50! Not bad, eh?



2) $5 Chef's Pan or Roaster- Early last week I got a Bed Bath & Beyond flyer in the mail. The flyer has a coupon on the back page for $5 off a purchase of $15 purchase. There's an expiration date on it, but BB&B accepts expired coupons so don't worry about that. You can use the coupon to get a chef's pan or a roaster for cheap, after mail in rebate! Here are the details:

Invitations 5qt non-stick covered chef's pan (it's really a fryer) or Oneida 18" Roaster (holds up to a 30 lb turkey)- either are $19.99 - $10 mail in rebate - $5coupon = $4.99. If you don't have the $5 off coupon, you can use one of their 20% off coupons --> $19.99 - $4 (20%) - $10 mail in rebate = $5.99.

I'm going to purchase the roaster pan myself!

I hope these two deals are helpful for your holiday shopping. I may be back to post more hot deals as I discover them!

Labels: holiday, hot deals, shopping

It's time to post yet another WFMW tip.

I can’t remember which parenting magazine I saw this article in (I cut it out some time ago), but these bargain tips come from Kimberly Danger, author of 1000 Best Baby Bargains.

 Shop at Gap and Old Navy midweek, when items usually go on sale. Their final markdowns end in “.97,” so if the price tag reads “.99,” you know the item will go lower.

 Some Targets mark down kids’ clothes on Mondays and start with 30% off. (Wait two weeks and those clothes will be half price).

 For the best prices at The Children’s Place, visit its online outlet (go to childrensplace.com and click on Shop Outlet), where clearance prices go as low as $3.99.

 Sign up at Gymboree mailing list online and have a chance to earn and redeem Gymbucks for deeper discounts.

Here’s a tip that I learned from a warehouse worker at Toys R Us.:

 Start watching the sales at Toys R Us as they should have massive clearances in August/September. Don’t just rely on the flyer that comes in the paper, go in and look for great bargains!

These bargain shopping tips for me, maybe they'll work for you. To see what works for others, be sure to check out the other links at Shannon's, the creator of Works-For-Me Wednesday!

My past WFMW entries:

My-Calorie-Counter
free customized ring tones
party favor basket
10 ways to make brushing fun!
Crayola Twistables Slick Stix
kids car organizer
stop urban legend emails
send credit scores soaring
foolproof extra creamy cottage cheese
stainless steel ball whisk
Uses for your child's wagon
10 Reasons Why Parents Should Not Spank
Love Sweet Love
travel tip
free children's printables
calendar labels
Strawberry Spinach Salad
mesh laundry bag uses
12 lbs 'til Christmas
toddler healthy eating techniques
reindeer puppet
Grocery Game website
No Fear Shakespeare
list of age appropriate children's chores
linking within comments
baptism gift
creating blogger categories
alternate use for pot rack
cake decorating tips
unique way to stay connected
cake baking tip
comforts of home while traveling
quenching the thirst of your little one
pie crust made in bulk
hot chocolate kicked up a notch

Labels: shopping, Works-For-Me Wednesday

I’ve never been a purse sort of gal. Oh sure, I have always had a couple of tiny, tiny purses (you know the kind that only fit a few bills and a tube of lipstick) for my occasional grown-up nights out, but for everyday use I’ve stuck with what I refer to as a large wallet. If you look at the pictures I’m sharing, you’ll see how unorganized the large wallet option can be!

After Hetty died, her daughter came in and went through all of her things to prepare much of it for donation. Hetty’s husband, Jack, insisted that I have a few of her favorite things, like the black purse that you see below. I didn’t have the heart to tell Jack that I don’t do purses, so I took it home. Once I got it home, I contemplated giving it away but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it…it was one of Hetty’s favorite purses, after all. It made me think of her fondly when I looked at it.

So I decided, “I guess it wouldn't hurt to give the purse a try.”

It didn't take me long to transfer the contents of my large wallet into this purse and take it out for test drive.

It also didn't take Oronzo long to start teasing me about carrying a "little ol' lady" bag.

Come on now! Even at 85 years old, Hetty was one stylish lady! Does this look like just another "granny" bag to you? Having never owned a real purse before, I'm a bit fashion challenged in this area.

No one ever clued me in as to what cheap entertainment a purse can be for a toddler. This purse kept Snuggle Bug distracted in a restaurant last night for nearly 30 minutes. He pulled everything out of my bag, examining each piece as if it were a hidden treasure newly discovered. He put everything back in the purse, rearranging items with zeal. He was quite fascinated! It was if he'd never seen a purse before. Come to think of it, he probably hasn't, at least not a mommy purse.

I realize now that, if I'm going to keep using this purse, I'll need a small billfold for my money and credit cards, rather than leaving these things floating around in a jumbled mess in one of the three large pockets. Who knew that purses would need accessories?!

Does anyone have suggestions on where I might find a nice black billfold? Are there any companies out there reading my blog that would like to donate a black billfold in exchange for some linkage love!

Anyone? ((sound of crickets chirping))

Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to take my "little ol' lady" purse and go shopping!

Labels: handbags, Hetty, shopping

How cute is this??! It's a t-shirt that I'm going to order from Babesta. I have two nephews, with upcoming birthdays, that will be starting pre-school this year. I think this will be a cute gift for each of them! The cost, $20 plus $4 shipping per order. There's some other cute stuff on this website too, so check it out! And if you'd like to receive 10% off, use this code: BABESTA70.

Another thing I'm ordering soon is a couple of solid color Flap Happy sun hats. I'll probably go for one white and one navy blue. These hats are awesome because they protect not only Snuggle Bug's head, but also his neck and ears! And the hat stays on much better than most other hats. Snuggle Bug currently has a fish print Flap Happy sun hat that's cute, but it's hard to match with anything but a solid color shirt. I want some solid colored ones to mix and match better with many of his outfits.

So tell me, what baby/toddler/child product have you ordered lately?

Labels: shopping, Snuggle Bug, toddler

Snuggle Bug has been showing some interest in the potty lately. Although he's just turned two less than a month ago, I thought it might not be a bad idea to invest in a potty chair and at least introduce him to the concept.

In talking with other moms, and knowing what a wiggle worm my little guy can be, I decided against starting out with the type of seat that attaches to the top of your regular toilet. I knew I wanted a stand-alone potty chair.

I went to Target earlier this week and my attention was captivated by the Royal Potty chair from Fisher Price. It sounded neat with a reward system that is built right in. It plays different tunes to reward your child for their potty deposits. I noticed it also included a storybook and reward chart with reusable stickers. What sealed the deal was that Target had it on sale for $13.92 (regularly $19.99). So, I purchased it for my little prince, proving Oronzo right once again that I'm easily influenced by marketing ploys. I also bought a pair of training pants (cloth on the inside and rubber on the outside) to try out for $5.95.

Excited, I rushed home and assembled the potty chair while Snuggle Bug napped. The chair seemed sturdy enough, once I figured out how to snap the legs onto the core seat. Apparently you can use just the core seat part on top of your regular toilet but that doesn't seem stable enough to me, so I doubt I'll be trying that anytime soon.

After getting the chair assembled, the deflector shield in place, and the narrower-than-I-expected container slid under the seat, I took out the chart, reusable stickers (2 sheets) and the book. The chart and stickers looked neat. The book was a bit flimsy and there wasn't much substance to the story. It also didn't fit very well into the slot behind the chair that the set of instructions noted was designed for that purpose.

I wrote Snuggle Bug's name on the chart, I even drew on a crown next to his name. I taped the chart up on the wall next to the potty chair, at eye level for Snuggle Bug to access. I tucked the stickers safely in one of the vanity drawers for future use.

When Snuggle Bug woke up from his nap, I cheerfully suggested that he go try out his new big boy potty chair. He dutifully followed me into the bathroom, where I proudly displayed my new purchase to him. He cautiously approached, peering at it curiously. I took off his pants and his diaper and attempted to set him on the chair.

The first problem I had was the deflector shield. It got it in the way, making it hard for Snuggle Bug to sit down comfortably. He protested so I removed it.

The next problem I had was the very feature I thought would be the most appealing, the music. The royal potty seat plays a quick, snappy tune (involving the sound of trumpets) when your child sits down. The music startled Snuggle Bug and made him scramble off quickly with a loud protest. It took some coaxing to get him back on the potty again, and he didn't stay on for very long.

I now realize that the sticker chart may not be of much interest to him at this time. I also realize that we probably won't be using the deflector shield. And most disappointing of all, I may be taking the batteries out that power the laser sensor that triggers the music when Snuggle Bug successfully uses the potty. Snuggle Bug has quickly figured out that he only has to wave his hand in the container, or touch the laser point to trigger the music. So, now he goes in just to play with his potty chair and, so far, has no interest in using it to actually go potty.

If I had it to do again, I think I'd buy a plain Jane potty chair. The bells and whistles that this royal potty chair touts, just aren't worth it. I'm glad I got this chair on sale!

Labels: parenting, potty training, product review, shopping, Snuggle Bug, toddler