Callie's Giveaway is Finally Here!

In appreciation of those of you who take the time to read our little blog, Callie and I wanted to hold our first giveaway contest! She wants to show you herself what she's giving away:


What We're Giving Away:
The winner of this contest gets a free (gender-neutral) pair of green polka-dot BabyLegs! These are legwarmers or armwarmers for children. They keep baby legs warm and make diaper-changing easier because you don't have to take off pants or deal with lots of snaps. They are also protective of baby knees when they start to crawl, and provide sun protection as well. And younger kids wear them as arm or legwarmers. Plus, they are just so fun and cute!

What if you don't have a baby to wear them? Use them as a gift! I think I know at least 10 expecting moms right now. And tons of babies.

How to Enter:
Leave a comment, any comment on this posting (directions on how to do this are at the bottom). Everyone who reads our blog, no matter who you are, is welcome to enter. We will randomly choose one winner (with the help from random.org). I will be announcing the winner on Monday, May 4th, so make sure to leave your comment by then and the BabyLegs will be shipped right to your door!


How to leave a comment (if you're not on blogger or Google):
1. Click on "COMMENTS" at the bottom of this post
2. Type your message in the box
3. Under "Choose and Identity," pick "Name/URL" and enter your name and/or how to contact you if you are a winner.

Easy as that!

Wordless Wednesday

This One's for the Grandmas!

Don't You Wish...

...you could be in the three-month-old baby club?!?


We went to a truly great parenting conference this weekend called Raising Truly Great Kids (more about that later...thanks so much to Steph). We also saw some friends from college there, including baby Adelyn.

I just love this picture of the dads in the nursery both holding their sleeping babies.

You're Invited!

You're invited to come watch Callie get dedicated! It's on May 10th, Mother's Day, at 10:45am at our church (late service). Contact me if you are interested in coming! We would love to have you join us in supporting Callie's dedication.

Infant baptism is a common practice, but we do not do this at our church. We believe the Bible teaches that baptism is something that should be done after making the personal decision to follow Christ.

Here are a few verses from the Bible that support this belief: Acts 18:8 and Acts 19:4-5. Also Acts 8:12 says, "But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." Because we do not baptize infants and wait until they understand and believe for themselves, we hold a special service to dedicate our children to God.

Child dedication is something that is important to the parents, the child, and the church (other Christians). It's where parents dedicate their child to the Lord, surrounded by family and friends that commit to help do so. This was also done in the Bible, both by Hannah with her son Samuel (I Samuel 1:27-28) and Mary with her son Jesus (Luke 2:21-38).

We do not believe that child dedication will save Callie in any way. That will come in the future as she makes her own personal decision to follow Christ.

If you have any questions or comments about this, I would love to hear them!

Sleeping Babies

Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli

English Breakfast

Here's a picture of the English Breakfast I made this weekend. I think it typically comes with mushrooms and blood pudding, but I chose to leave those out!


Beans for breakfast is kind of strange, but good with the whole combination! These are from Great Britain - I found them at Cubs.

Our Weekend: Chocolate Ravioli and Family Naps

Thursday night - date night. Took the stroller and walked to Bibo Restaurant and Wine Bar. Great authentic Italian food, will definitely go back. Italian wine, pasta carbonara and wood-fired pizza. Not bad for a weeknight. Bad for losing baby-weight. =)

Friday -- MOPS in the morning, loved getting to know some other moms from church. Callie’s first time in the nursery, she did well for the first half! Kiley and Matt flew in that afternoon to do some more house-hunting, we stayed home and went on a “family walk.” Later made Giada’s Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli…thanks to Beth for the great idea!

Saturday -- I had a brunch that morning and Kyle daddy-sat for the first time. I came home to him walking around the house on his Bluetooth with her in the Baby Bjorn (she was happy). Softball season started with a Two-Game Tune-Up. Brought the babe but didn’t realize how sunny it would be and forgot her sun-hat! Saturday night, dinner in Uptown at Chiang Mai Thai.

Sunday -- Rainy day, made an English Breakfast, something I’ve always wanted to do since having it at Bed-and-Breakfasts in London. Church then said good-bye to Kiley & Matt. Just got up from a little “family nap.” I think dad’s the only one who fell asleep (and is still sleeping)!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

Callie had a play-date at the zoo this week!

Not that she even realized she was at the zoo since she (thankfully) slept a lot of the time. It was a beautiful day, and we saw leopards and tigers and bears...no lions at this zoo. She's getting much better at smiling for the camera, can't you tell?

Bambina's First Giveaway!

Callie is so happy today that she decided it was time for our first giveaway!

Stay tuned, it is coming soon!

Conversations

Baby Weight

Callie's three-month birthday is almost here. Only 1 1/2 weeks away!

This is significant because she will officially no longer be considered a "newborn." Her 3-6 month clothes are already starting to fit, and I think it's time to get out the next size of onesies as well. It's a bittersweet thing for this mama because I love having Callie be my little baby and I want her to be one forever (okay not really). At the same time, it's so fun to watch her grow and change. She's talking more, is super alert and aware of what's going on around her, and is getting so big so fast!

The other reason this is significant is because three months was my personal goal to lose the baby weight. I know they say "nine months on, nine months off," but I figured that we don't have that much time before the next pregnancy, and I don't want to be carrying baby-weight around for the next 10+ years!

So I have 1 1/2 weeks left and 3.5 pounds to go. The not surprising thing is I have found that my body is shaped a little differently now and my clothes aren't fitting quite the same either. Usually my tummy was not my problem-area, but now all of my shirts feel a little too short! Good thing she's worth it...

Losing the baby weight has been both harder and easier that I thought. The first 20 dropped within the first few weeks, and the last 13 have been more difficult (yes you can do the math to find out how much weight I gained).

So hopefully I will reach my goal by next Friday. I'll keep you posted.

I would love to hear what other moms did to lose the baby weight.

Monday: A Day in the Life

Woke up. Callie was "talking" in her co-sleeper, it was so cute! I tried to go back to sleep but no luck. But I was happy to wake up to a happy baby! There's nothing better than waking up to her smile.

Read for awhile while I fed Callie.

Worked out. Four minutes walking, one minute running for 60 minutes on the treadmill while watching The Bonnie Hunt Show and Regis & Kelly. Not a big Rosie or Whoopie fan. Had to stop half-way through because Callie woke-up. Put her under her activity mat on our bed and finished.

Gave Callie a bath. Used this wonderful-smelling baby wash we got called Mustela. Now I can't stop smelling her!

Got Callie dressed. Finally tried on our BabyLegs from Kristy. So cute I might have to get more. I love baby legs (and BabyLegs)!

Talked to Abby on the phone while Callie was in her swing (thanks for calling). Can't wait to be her Personal Attendant in May!

Went grocery shopping. Callie was good the whole time! Forgot to buy diaper wipes, oops! We're almost out!

Tried to catch-up on some blog-reading. I'm way behind from being gone this weekend. It may just have to wait!

Put away the groceries and washed/chopped the veggies while Callie sat in her Bumbo on the kitchen counter (yes, I know) and watched. Finally got around to doing something with the two bags of onions I stocked up on when I was pregnant. What do you do with two bags of onions? I think I was on "nesting" overload. Anyway, I decided to chop them and stick them in the freezer in plastic bags (first freeze on a pan so they don't clump together). I guess next time I make chili, I will save 3 minutes on the chopping. Thank goodness! ;)

Put Callie in the Baby Bjorn while I put away the dishes. She fell asleep!


Next on the to-do list (and I do make lists):

Unpack from the weekend. Can't decide which is worse - packing or unpacking.

Laundry.

A few e-mails.

Make dinner.

Until tomorrow!

Perfect Hummus

Here is a very easy and simple recipe for hummus that I happen to be bringing to Easter this year.

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
3 T water
3 T olive oil
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t garlic, minced
1/4 t salt

Add ingredients to food processor; pulse until smooth. Serve with crudités or toasted pita triangles. Top with a little olive oil, parsley, and paprika for color. You can also experiment with other flavors like roasted red peppers, cayenne pepper, tahini, or curry powder.

Ridiculous

This...
...is...
...ridiculous-...
...-ly cute!

No Really...My Baby's Poop Doesn't Stink

When I was pregnant with Callie and heard other parents talk about blow-outs, I just never thought it would happen to my baby. I don't know what I was thinking. Callie is a little blow-out machine. In fact, just now I am washing our sheets (that were clean when I just put them on yesterday) because it leaked through her swaddle this morning. And, she went through three outfits yesterday. This girl sure gives me a lot of dirty laundry! And for those of you not sure what a blow-out is, it's not getting your hair blown-out. =)

I also didn't expect that my baby would spit-up. Much. I thought that because I was breast-feeding my baby, that she wouldn't spit-up. And she doesn't a whole lot, but the moments when she does are kind of humorous. For instance, I was feeding her in a women's lounge last week and another new mom with a baby about Callie's age was there. As we were both feeding our babies, she asked me if my baby spit-up much. I said no. Seriously, just at that exact moment she spit-up more than I had ever seen her, all over herself and me. The timing of that moment just cracked me up! God sure has a sense of humor!

[And just now I have to go change her pants because she got poop on her onsie. Very funny.]

I was talking to some friends of ours awhile ago about the need for one of these. I didn't think I needed one because, well frankly, my baby's poop doesn't stink! And it doesn't smell too bad actually, at least to me, but I wish I could just hear myself and how ridiculous that sounds! Ha, ha. I just crack myself up sometimes. Ah, the perils of parenthood!

A Few Shopping Deals...

...you should know about!

Erica told me about this great website, www.retailmenot.com. It has coupon codes for just about every online store you can think of. I've used it quite a bit to save money on things like free shipping and discounts. Definitely a favorite site, check there before you check-out when doing online shopping!

Two more deals that apply to teachers you might want to know about. I blogged about this before, but you can get 15% at J.Crew if you mention that you are a teacher. And I just learned that Ann Taylor Loft does likewise. Also, J.Crew offers a 10% student discount.

Podcasts, Anyone?

I am looking for some new podcasts to listen to. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Not a Non-Baby Post

Callie had her two-month appointment this week. Two months already, I know!

Can you guess how much she now weighs? She's just above average for her age at 11 pounds, 3 ounces. Her height (length?) is 23 1/4 inches - she's grown almost 5 inches in the two months since she was born! I wonder if babies have growing pains?

Soda Pop

Do you call it soda or pop? Or soda-pop?

We are usually coke-drinkers in our house (let's just say if you know Kyle, you know Coke). However, Target is having a too-great-to-pass-up deal on Pepsi. Buy five 12-packs for $15, and then you get a $5 Target giftcard for your purchase, until Saturday. So basically, five 12-packs for $10. Just thought I would share. My new fave is wild cherry diet pepsi.

Kiley and Matt

Have you heard the news? Kiley and Matt are moving here! To the twin cities, in a few months. We are so excited to have family near! Ki and I have a ton of things in common (to give you an idea, we are both what I would call creative-domestic, we get it from our mom), and Matt and Kyle do as well (they worked in ministry together/then engineering/then business).

So I've been getting more hands to hold Callie, they go out house-hunting most of the day, and we have dinner together at night. I think I will be sad when they leave! We love having guests (hint-hint). At least they are coming back soon.

Looking back, I think I need to start posting some non-baby posts on my blog. It's hard, she's just so darn cute and I can't help but take pictures all the time. Oh, and I apologize if you don't like pink. It's Callie's favorite color! =)

Wordless Wednesday