The wonderful crayon case to go

So one afternoon I was looking at different shops and found this little crayon case and thought what a great idea but what if it would hold more? so I cam home and started looking at the material I had a came across a nice size piece of material I had already cut and sewed into one large piece of stripped material.  I made a pillow of sorts without the stuffing then ironed it flat and folded it into thirds then unfolded one part of the third so that I was left with a nice size pocket then measured out 3/4 of an inch spots to fit the crayons which I double checked a few slots before I sewed them in place and decided that 24 slots was just the right amount and left larger pockets open to either side to hold other things as they grow.  The slots can also hold small colored pencils and thing markers ( which you could modify the design to hold thicker markers or make the whole thing wider to hold full size markers and colored pencils.) I think put in the crayons and affixed snaps to the case where the edge meets the main body, the snaps came from one of my daughters old onesies that I am using for her memory quilt.  Then I put her initials on it as I had them left over from a bag I made for her a while ago.  She is 2 years old and loves to color and can actually put them in and take them out on her own though right now I am still assisting her with this to avoid a giant mess of crayons. This case has already come in hand with her first sleep over she brought the case and I grabbed 2 pictures and her and her friend had fun coloring as a way to wind down before bed. 

So this case is fun for the kids and I found them fun to make and after running some numbers found that I can make and ship these for a flat $20 and a turn around of a week. So for those not interested in making them but would like to get one for your child or a child you know shot me an email at a.reynolds0809@yahoo.com

Oh yeah, if you order more than 3 you get a 20% discount on your total purchase.  Just mention my blog and the code casex320. Can't wait to work with you.

Gabriel and Makenzi big update

The kids are growing like weeds. Gabe Turned 6 months at the beginning of July and weighs 16 pounds and is 28 1/4 inches tall which is the same height at Makenzi at 18 months.  He is tall and skinny just like his daddy.  He is already wearing 6/9 month pjs though his regular clothing range from 0/3 month stuff to 6/9 month stuff.  It is amazing to say he is finally growing out of some of the 0/3 and 3/6 month stuff but most of it still fits besides the pjs.  He took his 6 month shots like a pro and only cried for a minute his doctor said he is very healthy and though weight is in the 60% his height and head have him in the 90% so they said he was good to go.  Gabe these days enjoys rolling around on the floor, attempting to sit on his own, holding his chest off the ground, eating pureed foods, holding his own bottle, and attempting to feed himself Gerber Puffs.  He has had very little interest in crawling but loves to jump in the jumper and watch Makenzi run around. He just loves when she stops to talk to him or plays with him.  She also likes to give him toys he cant really play with but at least she is sharing.

Makenzi is also growing up so fast.  She is now 2 years old and just like me.  she is 28 pounds and 35 inches tall.  She also took her shot like a champ and had also did pretty good with getting her picture done for her 2nd birthday.  Though we didn't have a party on her birthday we are planning to have one when Tyler gets home, we did get to sing to her at a homecoming banner making party which she loved all the attention and had a blast running around with the other kids.  She has so much fun playing with kids right around her age as well as playing with kids that are a quite a bit older than her as well.  She is also adding words and actually saying sentences now. We will soon be starting her potty training and I have gotten some great tips from everyone so if one tip doesn't work we will try another and I have a few that I plan to use together so thank you everyone for your success tips.  I am also happy to say she likes getting her hair done up daily and likes wearing "shoes and socks" as she likes to say.  I cannot believe all the words she has picked up now and she sings along to twinkle twinkle little star and is starting to sing the ABCs along with a handful of songs from her favorite shows.

Well, lately we have just been keeping super busy with play dates and going thru different stuff in the house trying to get rid of things we do not need to be storing. I have also been working hard on getting projects completed because I know when Tyler gets home I will have even less time and energy to do them, so, I have been trying to get them further along if not completed.  I know Makenzi is benefiting big time from getting to play with other kids and have gotten to see a completely different side of her with sharing, which she is pretty good at.  Just today she was being a brat and not sharing when I told her she better share or I am letting the other child have both toys she promptly handed one of the toys over then when she saw how happy the other child was she handed the other toy over and found something else to play with. Gabe also loves being around other kids and I think loves the kids attention than adult attention.  He is all smiles most of the time and Makenzi is too.  I try to keep them occupied and on schedule for the most part though I take them off their schedule from time to time to keep things interesting for all of us.  We have also been able to get thru a full day of running errands with little to no break downs.  I know Makenzi misses her daddy and I cannot wait to have my family whole again.

I am doing well with everything as well. I have managed to lose most of the weight I have been wanting to just a little to go and I will get to my ideal weight.  I have kept myself busy with projects and currently have 1 painting left to do, 3 quilts to finish, and 2 blankets to finish. Plus getting the house fully cleaned up and ready for the hubby to come home to and relax.  Still have a little time to go and so wish I could tell everyone when he will be back but security is our main concern and am unable to pass that information along.  I guess its time to really go thru each room one at a time and clean and organize each room.  Well, that is all that is going on out here.

Stay tuned for the next post I have some great new projects finished and some reviews coming your way.  Take care and thanks for reading.

Review: Baby Bullet and steamer

So, we got a baby bullet with the steamer and let me tell you what a big turn around my son has taken.  He was having such a hard time keeping from spitting up when I had started solids with the jar food and now doing fresh he loves the food and I love that he isn't spitting up nearly as much.  It is such peace of mind that I know what all is going into his little tummy and that its all good foods.  So the baby bullet works exactly as they say it does and its super easy.  Steam things soft and then put them in the blender and add a little water and go. Having the steamer is even better and makes the process even easier because its made to go with the bullet.  There are also easy recipes to follow and really takes the guess work out of how to make things. The best part is that it gives you a guide for what foods to give to your child that are easy and low allergy risk, and the guide goes through the stages.  I have also found that my 2 year old loves fresh fruit puree pops. I highly recommend this system, and really recommend making your own baby food.  I spent $15 and have enough to get me through for 3 weeks plus a dozen popsicles for my 2 year old. 

This is a great product and I almost forgot to tell you the best parts.  The baby bullet system is all top rack dishwasher safe and the steamer also sanitizes bottle nipples and pacifiers as well as makes boiled eggs in minutes. I know this is now a staple in our house hold and look forward to making much more than just baby food with this machine.  I see yummy veggie pasta sauces, awesome fruit yogurt bars, and even some homemade mashed potatoes with veggies mixed in. I know sneaky right?  Well when you have a picky eater sneaking veggies and fruits in where you can is a must.

So go out try this out yourself and then explore the possibilities.  Its a great set up.

Stay tuned I have a few new reviews coming soon so check back soon and often!

Makenzi at 22 months...wow.

Makenzi has turned 22 months old and she is growing by leaps and bounds.  She is starting to have name recognition with colors and letters.  She is counting more clearly and is singing along to her favorite shows.  She loves to color and plays with her toys with such imagination.  she is just shy of 3 feet and weighs about 25 pounds.  She takes naps when she needs them on her own, whether or not I put her down for one, so some days she naps and other days she doesn't. I have found that having a free flowing day within a schedule keeps my kids from getting bored and allows me to get things done, like updating my blog for all of you. 

Makenzi loves her animals and enjoys making them sit on her lap, I don't think they mind though since they don't run away from her once she catches them nor do they bite or scratch her.  I love the relationship she is having with them because it allows me to give a little less attention to the animals during the day and focus on the kids a little more. She also is understanding that if the animals run from her they don't want attention right then and she will leave them alone.

The relationship building between Makenzi and Gabriel is amazing as well.  She loves her little brother, though doesn't always want to let him play with toys. When I get on the floor with the kids, she will come give Gabriel hugs and kisses and tell him "its okay baby" even if he is just hugging her back.  She also pets his head and says soft and makes me rub his head too.  She is also listening to my requests at giving her brother his toy back and will return it after a few minutes.  I love sitting back and watching them interact without me sitting right there and Makenzi will talk to him and calm him down if he starts to fuss, it warms my heart to see her care for him.  She also will hand me his bottle or burp cloth if I drop them when I am feeding him a bottle and lets me know when he wakes up from a nap, even if I already know he is awake.  She runs to me and says mommy baby, mommy baby. 

Makenzi has started to eat more things too.  She no longer is tied to just eating chicken nuggets, popcorn shrimp and pasta, with a few snacks.  Now she will eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and quesadilla, she also will take a bite of whatever I am eating though she doesn't normally take more than a bite but at least she is now trying things.  She loves to eat pretzels, veggie straws, fruit snacks, chips, carrots, and loves popcorn.  She is eating pretzels and drinking milk as I write this too.

So this next month will see the beginning of her potty training as she likes to sit on the potty while she brushes her teeth and when I asked her to go potty while she brushed her teeth she did. I am so proud that she emptied her bladder into the big girl potty. So here we go with another mile stone.  We will also be continuing with building her vocabulary as well as letter number and color recognition.  I know with her next update we will have so much more accomplished.  She seems to be learning a lot in these past few months. I can't wait to see what happens next. 

Stay tuned next update will be for Gabriel at 5 months and oh boy what he is accomplishing.

Daily life while your away...finding ways to make time fly while dealing with deployment

Life isn't always perfect.  Some time you have to be apart from your loved ones and it sucks, but that is when we hunker down and make it through.  Deployment is not a fun and free time.  There is a lot more that the ones back home are dealing with then just watching the kids or going to work.  I am a stay at home mom and find that this deployment is weighing on me.  I am dealing with so much more than I ever have before day to day I am the sole care taker of 2 kids.  They are temperamental and get bored easily which means they are cranky easily too.  I knew taking on 2 under 2 would be hard but I never thought I would be doing it alone.  Even though it is a temporary alone its the hardest part right now. So stress levels are climbing as Kenzi is wanting my attention and Gabe needs my attention.  I am cherishing my evening time when things are quiet because anyone who walks by my house or calls me at any given time will hear at least one of the kids scream.  Anyway, just to wrap up my point they keep me running all day.  Then add in at least 1 outing a week to get supplies and have adult conversation and the running around for bill pays and you have my life.  Its nuts right now and the time is truly flying.  Half way threw this deployment and I am longing for that homecoming, longing for my husband to get home and take back the things he took care of, like bath time. 

So lets see, my normal day stuff is cleaning, cooking, feeding, and putting the little ones to bed.  Now doing everything I feel like I am getting stretched in many directions but I am okay with that because I know he will (have no choice) but to take back his home duties, granted I don't think he will mind for some reason.  So on top of cleaning, cooking, feeding, bathing, bedtime I am also doing craft projects which I keep adding to but am not actually working on them, I am trying to organize our storage stuff and purge it. Staying on top of bills, keeping the house stocked with food, not killing the animals, and above all else not running myself to the breaking point.

One thing women seem to do a lot is give and give and give and not realize what its doing to them.  Many women, me especially will go out of our way to help our friends and family but when you are the sole care giver to 2 kids and taking care of a household that has to keep running you have to scale back and realize if you keep giving you will end up sick.  I started finding that I was exhausted by the end of the day and still was staying up late to chat with not only my hubby but my friends and family and when he told me that he wouldn't be on at night for a while I realized that maybe I should be taking that time to catch up on sleep since I was so tired.  I had even started to get sick and feel like I was moving in slow motion which are big exhaustion signs that can be damaging, so I scaled down and stopped my diet and gave myself a week of just relaxing and playing with the kids.  Minimal house work and just running my basic errands no window shopping or walking.  I am feeling better already and only half way through the week.  I think this exhaustion was just everything catching up to me.  I have been worried and stressed over the deployment (still am but I guess I am getting use to it) I was stressing over bills and savings, stressing that I didn't have enough time to keep my daughter learning at the right pace and care for my son who is now in the cling stage because his mouth is hurting so much.  I will be very happy when the tooth comes threw, plus he is getting mad watching my daughter run around him and he can't crawl or walk.  I feel that he will be mobile very soon because he is getting so mad about it.

Well, like I said we are working through this deployment with staying busy, though I may have taken on a little more than I should have with my goals. Guess I need to start working on getting the projects completed.  So this is me signing off and reminding you all to stay busy because that is what makes time seem to fly bye.

Stay tuned the next big post will be in a few days as I update everyone on Miss Makenzi's learning curve and how much she's grown. 

Gabe at 4 months

Gabe is 4 months old and has grown by leaps and bounds.  He has learned so much already that I cannot even begin to imagine what he will do next.  This last month we saw Gabe learn to roll to his side from his back as well as roll from his tummy to his back.  He has rolled from back to tummy once but doesn't have the hang of that one though I know its only days away.  He likes to talk any chance he gets and has an infectious laugh though its not a big laugh its super cute.  Gabe looks up to Makenzi big time and while she is running around him he will do anything he can to watch her every move.  I know he will be mobile a lot faster than she was simply to keep up with his sister.  Gabe has also started to hold his own bottle, he is eating the baby oatmeal with fruit successfully, he can sit up with support and is trying to sit without support, pretty much has control over his head, has found his fingers and toes, and has been trying to catch his tongue.  He has some silly looks that I try to catch on camera but he goes cold every time he sees either my phone or the camera trained on him.

It is so much fun to play with him and he cracks up every time I grab his hand and make him move around as well he cracks up every time I change his clothing.  He thinks its so funny when I take clothing off him and then again when I put clothes back on him.  He also cracks up when I am changing his poopy diaper, this one makes me laugh but in the back of my mind I always think why exactly is he laughing about this. He also thinks its funny when he spits up all over me causing me to not only change my top half but bottom half as well.

Anyway, Gabe is sleeping through the night and most nights sleeping 12 to 14 hours at night he also likes long mid day naps too.  I do plan to move him soon to his own room but as it is just me here for a little longer I am enjoying not having to go up and down the stairs that much more.  Oh well, just gonna have more exercise to the day. 

Gabe's 4 month check up went great.  I was told I was feeding him too much at once but that I was right about how much he need in the day just to space it out a little more like 6 4 ounce bottles.  anyway I was also told that I could cut back on the number of bottles once hes really eating 3 meals from spoons which he is doing that now so every thing is good.  Also at the check up I found out that he weighs 14 pounds and 14 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches long. 

Well, that is what is going on with Gabe and I cannot wait to see what this month holds for us.

Stay tuned to see what my crazy kids do next. 

Gabe's 1st Bite...oh boy!

So, I had the bright idea to try some rice cereal on a spoon with Gabe.  I figured the only foreign part would be the spoon since he is use to the rice being in his bottles to help keep his food down as he is a little colicy still.  Well, as you can probably guess my bright idea got shot down with the first spoon full.  Now I got the mixture just right and it was a perfect slightly warm temperature but he wasn't going for it.  Shortly after he made this face (see photo) he began to scream his head off and of course I calmed him down and tried again and made him even madder.  The interesting part is that once I cleaned him up and he calmed down the second time what he hadn't drooled out on to my shirt he ate and seemed to like so maybe there is hope for him eating rice cereal yet.  I figured I will just have to keep trying until he is 4 months old which is just around the corner and then we will try mixing the rice cereal with a little added apple or banana baby food, this was the only way I could get Kenzi to eat rice cereal.  Its amazing that we are already at the intro to solid foods step didn't we just have him?  Well, life sure does fly when you have 2 under 2, or just kids in general.

So, I have been asked how I got the consistency to the rice cereal and here is my trick, I use a formula scope in my rice cereal. I take a full scoop of rice cereal mixed with a full scoop of formula then I add warm water a little at a time.  Pretty much following the directions on the rice cereal container but not to the full extent.  I mix the dry rice cereal and dry formula 1st then add the water just a little at a time to get the creamy (cream of wheat) type consistency. Keep in mind that you want to stick with your brand. I use Gerber formula so I use Gerber rice cereal too. If you formula doesn't make a rice cereal then chose what ever jar food you are planning on feeding your child and use their rice cereal. There are organic rice cereal as well from Gerber as well as Best Earth(I think is the organic brand for baby food) if you are planning on making your own baby food and don't want to use the regular stuff. I plan to make my own food but will continue to use Gerber rice cereal and puffs and everything because I am a brand junky and love the Gerber products. 

The other little bit to know is that most babies don't like the rice cereal by itself or mixed like this but they get use to it pretty fast you just have to keep trying (this is what Makenzi's doctor told us when she was at this stage).  If you find that its just not happening, like we did with our first child, our doctor suggested we add apple or banana baby food to the rice cereal mix just to give it a little flavor and it worked like a charm literally a baby spoon full.  Also, I found after you feed your child a successful meal let them sit for about 15 minutes where they are, or until they burp on their own, that way their food settles before you move them around and reduce the risk of it coming back up (again something we learned the hard way with our 1st child). 

Also don't stress your child out with shoveling in the food.  If they don't calm down to swallow the food immediately don't put more in try setting the spoon on their tongue or lips and get them to swallow that bite before you give them anymore and keep the bites small, remember they have no understanding of what you are doing to them so explain as you go and keep calm because they probably wont be.

Well, good luck to all of you taking this step either with me or shortly to follow.  I wish you all great success in your child's first bites and will be keeping you up-to-date with our progress.  I am also open to answer any questions you might have, whether that is about products I've used or anything at random too.  I'm here to help.

Stay tuned next big post will be Gabe's 4 month update, see how he's grown and find out the accomplishments he's gained.  See you soon.