A Sign Language Update!

I know it has been a while.. time flies by way too fast! Especially after you become a parent! I just wanted to give an update on Caedmon's sign language adventures. He will be 13 Months Old in just a couple of days and he has been learning sign language since he turned 4 Months Old. As of now he knows the following signs and uses them accurately to communicate what he wants/needs:

• Milk
• Eat
• Please
• All Done
• More
• Play
• And we are currently learning Thank You

Research shows that babies who learn/use sign language from infancy will more than likely develop earlier speech and a better variety of vocabulary than infants who aren't taught this. It is also known to slow down "bad" behaviors during the toddler years because the child doesn't become frustrated as easily as a child who doesn't know how to communicate their needs. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/baby-sign-language/AN02127

I am so incredibly proud of how fast Caedmon picked up the sign language and how well he uses it. It is so hard to catch his signs via photo.. I do have a few pictures and I can explain which sign he is using, but if it's blurry it is from his little hands moving so fast.

"MORE" 



 

Here has was asking for more chicken, as the only thing left on his tray was cheese and cheerios! This is his version of "more".. only because he hasn't quite grasped having both hands closed at the same time.

"ALL DONE"



 

 

 

A few minutes later he signed "ALL DONE" to tell me that he was done eating and ready to wash up. To sign "ALL DONE" you move both of your hands back and forth.

 

 

Here, he was telling Mimi "ALL DONE" reading :)

 

 

In this video at the very end, you will see Caedmon get a little frustrated at first but then ask to "eat" with his sign.

We had lunch right after he signed this! And the pictures above were then taken during lunch time on this same day.

 

 

Have you ventured into teaching Sign Language to your baby? I would love to hear how that is going! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Consignment Sale: Lil Pirate Exchange

Another consignment sale is coming up. It is called the Lil Pirate Exchange! Information Below!





January 31st - February 3rd

At the Greenville Convention Center

Link to Flyer: http://lilpirateexchange.com/LPE_Flyer.pdf

Website: http://lilpirateexchange.com/

NEW MOMS CAN SHOP FIRST!

If you have had a baby in the last 12 months or are currently expecting then you can attend the presale on January 31st at 12pm.

New moms need to register at this link

http://www.mysalemanager.net/mom_newmomregistration.aspx

I've never been to this consignment sale so I don't know how it is but it can't hurt to check it out!

A Day of Firsts

Well it's been a while, it's a new year so maybe I'll do better. Christmas was very very hectic between buying tons of presents, taking care of Kaley, working, and youth church events...my time was very tied up. Kaley had a great Christmas! Even though she didn't know what was going on lol.

Yesterday she turned 4 months old! It's hard to believe how fast she is growing up. It's cliche but time really does fly!! She had her 4 month well baby check yesterday....this was her before the shots!

This was the smile before the tears!

She was great for the doctor, grinning and happy! But those shots were bad...probably almost worse on me! I wish I could take the shots for her. They did 3 shots altogether. The first 2 they did at the same time and it was delayed crying...at first I was like really is she not going to cry then here it came. She turned so red and just opened her mouth, held her breath and you knew it was coming...the screaming! Ugh I hate it! I'm really going to hate it when she starts to wonder why I'm letting them hurt her :.-( Ugh no fun at all!!

Lying On The Table Waiting On The Bad Stuff...Shots!

Today was also the first day she sat in her high chair! We have a space saver high chair that attaches in a regular kitchen chair since our house is so small for the time being. I LOVE IT! and Kaley does too! She was so happy sitting in it. I was thinking she might not like it because of having to get strapped in like a car seat but she looked like she enjoyed it.

The doctor suggested to go ahead and start feeding her a little bit of food so I got anxious and since she was in her high chair I figured...well might as well feed her a little something. So it was also her first day to eat bananas. She didn't hardly know what to think about it. I think she ate a very small amount but at least it's getting her use to it somewhat! Her main nutrition of course still will come from milk. The food is basically to get her use to eating, and hopefully so she won't be a picky eater...he said that was a plus of starting at 4 months vs 6 months.

I Just Don't Know About This Stuff!

By the way this starts my journey of homemade baby food...I started really simple. Took a very small piece of banana, added a very small amount of water and mashed it up with a fork. Simple....why would anybody spend money on a jar of bananas...it has to be the simplest food to do...and super cheap. It would be nice to put a little small amount of formula in it so it would be a slighly more familiar taste but I just wanted her to try a little bit so I didn't bother doing it this time. So....though it doesn't need one here is the complicated recipe!

Baby Bananas

Part of A Banana

Add a very small amount of water or formula

Mash up with a fork

....

voila

....

Homemade Baby Food!

ShopKick: Get it before black friday!

Wow it's been so long since I've posted! I feel like I've had no time lately! Here to tell you about a great app that will help you earn some free gift cards and maybe save you some money also!

 

 

I was watching the Today show and they talked about this great app! And it was on the Today show so it is legit, plus researched it online. Anyways you earn "kicks" (points) for looking through the stores "lookbooks" on the app, walking in the store, scanning items, and purchases. You can earn giftcards, a $10 card at say Toys R Us, Macys, drugstores, Lowes, movies and a whole lot more is only 2500 Kicks! They also have gifts such as magazine subscriptions, shoes, perfume, makeup etc. You can earn kicks from your home just by flipping through the books and finding the secret kicks!

I think this app is great and I will definitely be using it black friday!

 

Some Examples of How I can earn kicks this week:

 

125 To Walk In Target

100 To Walk in American Eagle

100 To Walk in Best Buy

65 To walk in Old Navy

--------------------

That's 390 Kicks Just for Walking In A Store without purchasing a thing! Just open your app, walk in and voila!

 

Also if you want to earn BIG kicks you can link your Visa card and for example if you spend $75 in Toys R Us you get 500 kicks or 1250 kicks for $125. $1250 is enough to get a $5 giftcard!! So why not do it! It's free, it's legit and it's EASY!!

If you decide to sign up:

Please download your app by following the link below. For the first month anyone that signs up under you, they match all there kicks up to 2500 for the first month!! So that would help me out so much especially being that it's Christmas time! And then get your friends to do the same for you!! We can earn a ton of kicks! Btw You can't see where they earned kicks from or there account, it just automatically adds them to your account so don't worry about any privacy issues.

 

http://get.shopkick.com/washington7409

Here is the main website if you want to look around more before you sign up...but please don't forget about me when you sign up :-)

http://www.shopkick.com/

Yal have a great Thanksgiving and a great Black Friday!! I can't wait to get shopping!

 

Homemade Laundry Detergent...I was skeptical

I had seen on pinterest about homemade laundry detergent but I was a little skeptical that it would actually work as good as some of the big name brands. A friend on facebook posted a status about that she was making liquid laundry detergent. I began to look more into it and I found a powder recipe that was a lot easier, requires less storage space, and no heating materials. Soooo it didn't take much money to invest so why not give it a try. When I saw people talking about 1 cent a load... it was worth a shot!

What you need

1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 Cup Borax

Fels Naptha Soap ($0.97 at Walmart on Detergent aisle)

Grater

I couldn't find my receipt but other than the grater, it was less than 10 dollars...may have been about 7-8 dollars but I really can't remember for sure! The A&H and Borax will make a LOT of batches so if you make another batch all you have to buy is a bar of soap. YES CHEAP!

Step 1

Grate the soap.

I tried all the sides of the grater, the soap would get stuck in the grate and on the outside. So I used the bigger side that you can't hardly see in this picture.

 



 

What it looks like after your done...cheese lol

I'm sure if you had a blender or food processor you could get it much finer and it would blend better but I have neither so I left it as it is.

 

Step 2

Add borax and washing soda to soap. Stir for a few minutes, really mix it together well. I tried to break up some of the pieces of soap to make them a little smaller but I mainly left them large.

 

A great use for those empty formula containers!

 

Great activity for my niece! Mess up some shirts with ketchup, mustard and soy sauce! It was like fingerpainting lol.

 

BEFORE

Use 2 Tbsp of laundry detergent per load

 

AFTER

 

So what do you think? Pretty good huh?

 

So based on looking at the shirts the homemade laundry detergent did just as well as Tide! I was in shock when I saw how well it performed. I thought it actually did slightly better than tide on the soy sauce stain! And most of the time your clothes are not going to look like those shirts did!

My opinion...it's worth making. I've done several loads since then and it's worked great. The clothes smell fine but it doesn't leave a strong smell so if you like more scent to your clothes just add a sheet or two of dryer sheets when you dry them.

I will be making more! This is the cheapest way to clean your clothes!! I don't know when I'm going to be able to bring myself to buy $10 Tide again!

 

Crazy Couponing

Well recently I had a couple people message me about how you coupon and get started getting the crazy deals. You know free things and paying just a little bit of money for things. I use to coupon weekly but since the baby I stopped. My time was limited for cutting coupons and keeping up with the matchups. I need to get back started because my stockpile (or what my husband calls walmart) is slowly depleting.

How do you get started? I learned on my own by search on google about coupon matchups. You can type in any store and "coupon matchups" and it will usually bring up multiple listings you can use to find the best deals.

My suggestion is http://www.thekrazycouponlady.com This is the website I used weekly for couponing. It was my favorite. She outlines what's the best deals, what coupons to use, and how much it should be. There is also a brag lounge where people put the things they purchased on there couponing trips and sometimes it can give you ideas of things you should buy. It's amazing what some people can get for so little. But YOU can do it too!

To get started start buying the paper. Coupons usually come out in the Sunday paper but where I live the "News Herald" comes out on Saturday for 50cent so that is the cheaper way to go instead of buying for instance the Virginian Pilot on Sunday for $1.25. Also you can print free coupons off the internet.

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/print-coupons/

http://www.coupons.com

http://www.redplum.com

I also used http://www.sundaycouponpreview.com to see what coupons would be in the papers. Some weeks there may not be any coupons such as on holiday weekends so this is helpful in showing you when the coupons won't be there. Also if there is a high value coupon on something you like, go ahead and buy multiple copies. This site can help you decide whether to buy 1 or multiple copies.

What I did is cut out all the coupons and organized them in a small photo album. I had an album for beauty/hygiene products, one for food, and one for cleaning supplies/household items etc. They were small enough to fit in my pocketbook. I bought these for $1 at walmart. You have to figure out some way to organize your coupons or it's going to be hard to find what you need when you need it.

Multiple websites have already done the work for you. They've matched up the weekly sales with coupons so that you can get the best price. My favorite place to get deals were walmart and rite aid. Krazy Coupon Lady tells you how each drugstore works. They all have a rewards program so you need to learn how they work before you get started.

If you have any questions or tips about couponing feel free to leave a comment or message me!

Weight Watchers: Week 2

I went over one day on my points. I went with our youth group to Raleigh and the pizza and starbucks vanilla bean got the best of me! Sometimes you just have to enjoy yourself though. I was shocked when I got on the scale this morning and despite blowing it one day, I still loss 3.5lbs. Right now I'm loving weight watchers! I was able to eat 3 pieces of pizza, The Pit (Barbecue), McDonalds twice, and starbucks and I still loss weight!

 

Goal for this week: Lose 3 lbs, Exercise at least 3 times this week.

Weight Currently: 160.5 lbs

Weight Loss This Week: 3.5lbs

Weight Goal: 135lbs

Total Loss: 7.5 lbs

Need to Loss: 25.5 lbs