Growing up a NJ Wife

I hate my breast pump

2012-01-31T14:03:00.000-05:00

I hate my breast pump. I hate it a lot. It sucks {ordoesn’t which is the issue}. I can notwait until I can attack it with a hammer Office Space style. {The Mister is all about saving it for numbertwo, but I’m getting a new one. PERIOD} For some reason the damnthing has just stopped working.

I called the company thinking that maybe it was my pump that was dying and I just needed a newone. It was still under warranty so Igave Ameda a call one day at work and they shipped me out a new motor the nextday. I was very impressed by their quickresponse and general attitude of wanting to help me.

The new motor came and I hooked up my tubes and thenattached everything to myself; and nothing. The boobs were full, I could tell they were, but no milk was comingout. So I’m sitting in the boob closetat work having to manually assist my double electric breast pump. The breast pump that says it’s for workingmoms and has a bunch of quality assurance ratings and all this other please buyme I’m awesome crap.

I use to get four ounces at every pumping session during mywork day. {Sometimes more depending onif E ate at 5 am or 4 am.} Now I’mbarely squeezing out 2 ounces a session. I know it’s not my boobs either, because I’m able to feed E at home withno issues. I can feel that my boobs arestill full even after pumping.

I hate pumping so much. Pumping is ruining breastfeeding for me. I love breastfeeding and it’s awesome. Saturday and Sunday are great days because the breast pump stays in thebag and I don’t have to look at it or think about it. E is fed, happy, and has her fill of boobjuice from the source. Monday rolls aroundand I’m barely able to squeak out one feeding after two pumping sessions!

I’m thankful to have a very generous freezer stash, but I’mafraid that this lack of being able to get the milk out during the day is goingto ruin my supply. I’m so close to theone year mark. I really want to make ita year. I have enough milk in the deepfreezer to last these last two months, but I really want to be the one feeding her. I do not want a crappy breast pump to be thereason that I have to stop breastfeeding.

Oy it's been a long week

2012-01-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

So much has been going on that I've neglected the blog.

1. I designed and printed all of E's birthday invites

2. The Mister's Grand mom passed away suddenly

3. I started an Etsy store with my invite designs.

4. Ms. E is a mover and a shaker. She crawls, stands, and cruises. She is going to be walking without assistance really soon.

5. Miss E is also almost completely on table food now. No more spoon fed purees for my baby. In fact she will refuse to be fed with the "baby" spoons. She will allow us to give her some greek yogurt but with our "big" spoons.

Pasta Sauce Cups!

2012-01-18T20:58:00.001-05:00

Feta Meat Sauce

Ingredients

One block of feta cheese {cubed}
One can of crushed tomatoes
One pound of ground meat
Wine wine {a splash for the sauce and a glass for you}
Oregano {to taste}
Crushed pepper {just a little}
Parmesan cheese {sprinkle}
Basil {to taste}

Directions

Brown meat and drain
Add the crushed tomatoes and spices
Mix in the wine and feta
Simmer until warm and tasty looking

Now onto the sauce cups!

Do you ever have a lot of left over sauce and you don't want to put it on the leftover pasta? Because if you put it on the pasta it never lasts and just dries out? Well do I have the solution for you! Sauce cups!

Spoon your extra sauce into a silicone cupcake pan {using silicone is super important}

Put the pan into the freezer over night

"Pop" the frozen sauce out of the cupcake pan. {See I told you the silicone part was important}

Bag up your sauce cups and put back into the freezer until you need to eat them!

Put your leftover pasta into lunch containers and in the morning just toss a sauce cup on top. You'll have fresh sauce for lunch and it won't be dried out!

E approves of sauce cups for lunch!

Subway Art

2012-01-17T21:01:00.001-05:00

I made a quick subway art inspired print tonight for E. I'm going to have it printed and hand it in her room.

Would you like one for your little one? Don't worry if you have a boy the colors can be altered. Leave me a message if interested and I'll set it up for downloading {with your little one's name in it of course}.

Approved Toys

2012-01-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

The following items are the "mommy" approved toys {which of course E has little interest in}, and the E approved toys {which of course I have to continually remove from her tiny grasp}.

Mommy approved - Singing dog with a blinking heart {which you would assume would interest E}

Dog's bone that we stuff with cheese for him - The kid will do ANYTHING to get this within her grasp!

Mommy Approved - It lights up and flashes and talks to you {besides using this as a stepping stool E is very blah about it}

Dogs other prized possession - A 3-4 year old rope toy - E loves it! - I'm constantly taking it out of her hands before it can make it into her mouth.

Mommy Approved - {I actually had one of these!} - I approve of this toy, E approves of the black string on this toy and that is it. But hey at least she plays with part of it.

Mommy approved - I'm constantly trying to get E to have tea with me. The closest I've come is that we bang the cups together a lot. She would still much prefer Dog's bone or rope toy.

This was once attached to an entire Santa, but only the head has survived. Dog LOVES this Santa head and will cuddle with it on the couch. So since Dog loves it, so does E.

Mommy and E approved! - This table is both E and Mommy approved {do you see that green lid opening to a hidey hole of such? Well her Grand-pop put poofs in there a couple of times and now every time she goes to the table she opens it and expects poofs}

I find myself playing with her toys more often then she is playing with her toys. She enjoys her table, and "reading" books, but mostly she wants whatever Dog has, and being the good dog that he is, he gives them to her.

What are your baby's favorite toys?

{Oh we are also HUGE fans of pulling out folded clothes now that we know how to work drawers!}

{Also all of these pictures are straight out of camera and taken with some brand spanking new optics I bought, needless to say I'm beyond impressed and can not wait to really test this new puppy out!}

I went to a Mexican hospital - A sponsored post

2012-01-16T08:50:00.001-05:00

Did you know that while The Mister and I were on ourhoneymoon in Mexico we hadto take an unplanned trip to the ER in Cancun? No? Well we did. I woke up from a midday nap and my eye burned and hurt so bad I was ready to go home early. {We had only been there three days and hadplanned on staying ten}

The doctor on our resort couldn’t see anything wrong with myeye and sent via ambulance 45 minutes away to a Mexican hospital. I was in pain, I was cranky, and I was alittle nervous going to a hospital in Mexico.

The nurses there were AMAZING! They put me immediately at ease and tried tomake me as comfortable as possible. Notonly did one stay with me the entire time we were waiting to be seen by an eyedoctor {yeah the nurses called in an actual ophthalmologist for me}, but theymade sure that EVERYTHING was OK and taken care of for me.

It was because of those nurses calling in an actual boardcertified ophthalmologist that The Mister and I were able to stay on ourhoneymoon and enjoy ourselves. {I had ascratched cornea; apparently it is very common and extremely painful} The ER doctor wanted to just give me somemedicine to treat for that, but the nurses insisted on calling in the eyespecialist. It was because of them thatI was able to not only relax, but enjoy the rest of my honeymoon.

If you are a nurse or are interested in becoming a nurseplease make sure to look into TravelNursing Jobs.

I was paid by Travelnursing.org to write this post, but all opinions and stories are mine.

Celebrations

2012-01-12T13:07:00.001-05:00

In our NJ house we are HUGE fans of celebrating. Celebrating everything and anything;anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, the random great day Tuesday. You name it and we’ll celebrate it.

In less then three months there will be a pretty substantialcelebration. I have already startedplanning and I know exactly what type of party we are going to host for ourlittle lady. I’m not going to spoil thesurprise just yet, but I will give some hints.

Or more like one hint, I plan on attempting to make E hervery own personalized smash cake. I wantto make her a teacup cake. I’ve sentsome emails to a very amazing blogging cake artist friend of mine {Kathia ownerof Pink Little Cake in NJ}. You should really check out her work, it’s incrediblystellar.

She assures me that it won’t be that hard, but I’m still alittle skeptical. Here is my number oneinspiration photo, courtesy of CakeLove.

I highly doubt that mine will look anything like this at all. I'm pretty OK with royal icing, but I've only ever used fondant once. I imagine I'll need Kathia on speed email the entire time!

So I'm either going to create a fabulous little cake {for the entire purpose of E to smash in her face, yes I fully understand and accept this point}, or I'm going to end up on cakewrecks!

Have you figured out the "theme"? Care to wager a guess?

Sick

2012-01-11T14:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend E was sick. She woke up on Saturday seemingly fine and then half way through our daywe heard it. One lonely sick soundingworse is yet to come cough. It soundeddeep and painful. It really didn’tbother E, but I prepared for the worse. And worse came like a freight train through the living room.

Saturday night she was a snotty, coughing, low grade fevermess. It was official that my baby wassick. She went to bed after a thoroughsnot sucking and was up and crying two hours later. When I went in to comfort her all she wantedwas to snuggle. My baby is not in anyway shape or form a snuggler. She enjoysbeing held with her arms free to grab at anything that strikes her fancy andwhen she’s done she’s squirming to be free.

I sat down in our rocker and she immediately rested her headon my shoulder, popped her right thumb in her mouth, and wrapped her left arm aroundme. I was fully prepared to sleep inthat chair comforting her all night. Luckilyfor my neck I was able to place her back in her crib about an hour later.

Sunday morning she wasn’t any better. In fact her low grade fever had upgraded itselfto a full fever. She wanted no parts ofany toys or playing. She didn’t wantfood {boob was still acceptable so I worried a little less} All she wanted to do was be cuddled andheld. Both The Mister and I loved theextra cuddle time, but at the same time knew it was only because our littlebaby was sick.

We gave her a bonus bath with some vapor bath in it to helpbreak up the mucus she had housed in her nose. {For a little person she had a lot of snot} She enjoyed the warm bath and fresh jammies,but as soon as she was dressed she just snuggled down until nap time.

I felt so awful for her during nap time. My little girl is a thumb sucker. She is able to self sooth herself to sleepwith the aide of her thumb. However witha stuffed up nose and hacking cough she had a hard time calming down to sleep. Exhaustion on top of being sick is not a goodcombination.

Between Tylenol, Motrin, baby vapor bath, baby vapor rub,the blue hospital snot sucker, saline solution, and a lot of stress on my partE is feeling better. She no longer has afever, the cough is almost non-existent, and she is more interested in grabbingmy hair then cuddling with me now. Shehad her nine month baby well visit yesterday and was cleared for her shots withno infections and a diagnosis of getting over a bad cold.

I am now officially against my baby being sick and I wouldprefer if it never happens again. A momcan hope right? Unfortunately I thinkthat being E’s preferred tissue is catching up with me and I’m gettingsick. I might have to borrow her babyvapor rub, but I’ll pass on the snot sucker.

Bow Holder Tutorial

2012-01-10T00:30:00.000-05:00

Oddly enough we have a lot of hair accessories for a baby with very little hair. One day I’ll be able to use them all, but for now I needed a place to put them.

Needed Items -

A frame
Hot glue gun
Glue for said hot glue gun
Ribbon {I used a 1” black and 3/4” pink and 1/4” for the headband holding strip}
Fabric {I bought what my mom the quilter would call a “fat quarter”}
Magnetic closure {the kind that closes purses}

I bought the ribbon, fat quarter, and magnetic closure all at Walmart. Everything probably cost about five dollars. The frame I picked up at Marshalls for around ten dollars.

Instructions -
Assemble all of your items together. Wrap your fabric around the card board insert that came with your frame and drape your ribbon as a mock up.

Place the frame over top to see how it looks.

Wrap the fabric around the cardboard tightly and hot glue it into place. Make sure you pull it tightly so that you don’t have any wrinkles. Wrap the corners over so that it looks nice.

Glue all of your ribbon into place. Make sure it is tight. {I used a frame that came with an ugly picture of a tree}

Glue the board back into the frame. I was very liberal with the glue here.

Hot glue your magnetic clasp straight onto the frame. {it came with tongs that I hugged around the frame and filled with glue} Then glue one end of a thin ribbon to the bottom of the opposite side that the clasp is on. Wrap the ribbon around the tiny part of the magnetic clasp and glue into place. I placed a ribbon bow where this is to make it less obtrusive looking. This is an excellent place for headbands and it’s easily accessible with the magnetic closure.

Hang and enjoy! {I did have to shorten the headband ribbon a little}

Frequently Asked Questions

2012-01-09T10:46:00.000-05:00

I get emails occasionally asking me some questions {mostly about CDing and photography} , and I just realized that most of them are the same question. I always respond to the email, but I thought maybe some of my other readers might be interested and a tad email shy to ask. So here goes nothing.

How did you get in photography? – I’ve always taken a lot of pictures, but when E was born is when I decided I needed to start taking good pictures. It’s a great hobby!

What do you suggest to take better pictures? – Recently I joined Clickin Moms and my pictures have only improved ten fold! I highly suggest it. It’s a monthly pay forum, but it really is worth every penny. I’ve been a member since August and I don’t ever see myself leaving. I recommend it to anyone who wants to take better pictures.

Are you still cloth diapering (CDing)? – Yes we are!

Do you ever regret the switch or think about going back to disposables? – I won’t lie the thought has crossed my mind on occasion. Mostly only when it’s 8 PM and I realize that I need to still do diaper laundry. Or when E does a particularly nasty semi-solid poop. With a disposable diaper you can scoop the poop with the diaper and then get to wiping. You can’t do the poop scoop with cloth. But in true motherhood style I always just shrug my shoulders and remember that it’s just poop. I also realize that in a disposable the poop would probably be up her back and out the legs as well. CDs hold in an AMAZING amount of poop!

How do you take care of your CDs? – I wash them every other day. I have enough diapers to go three days, but I prefer to not cut it to close in case E has a large poop day. I remove all inserts from the liners and toss everything into the washer. I do a pre-wash and rinse with no soap and cold water. Then I put in two tablespoons of powder original Tide. {The Tide is per a recommendation off of many message boards}

Hot wash, cold rinse, and an additional cold rinse later and they are clean! I toss the inserts into the dryer on medium and line dry the covers.

If one has a poop stain I lay it in the sun. And yes this does take the stain out completely!

What do you do with the poop? – I do the same thing that someone who uses disposable diapers would do; I throw it/flush it away. I put a flush-able liner in all of E’s diapers, so the poop gets flushed and the diapers go in the diaper pail until wash day.

What is the best way to get into CDing? – I’m sure there are tons of ways, but this is how I started: I bought a couple of diapers {one all-in-one, one hybrid, and a pocket} online. When they came to the house we just started using them. We decided that we preferred the all-in-ones and pockets. Before we knew that we were going to do this until E was potty trained I decided to buy one days worth of diapers from Diaper Swappers. I bought a day and half worth of diapers from mom’s who were done with their CDs. Yes I bought used diapers. After going without disposables and seeing that it worked I took the plunge and finished off our “stash”. We haven’t looked back since.

What did you daycare provider say when you switched? – I have the greatest woman watching E during the day while I worked. I brought it up to her before I made any purchases to make sure she was OK with it. She said it was my baby so my choice. Instead of just sending her over one day with no disposables and only CDs I started slowly. I would send over one or two for her to put on during the day when she wanted to get use to them. Then slowly I sent E over with less and less disposables. Currently E takes six CDs and four disposables with her everyday to daycare. The disposables are for emergency use and the same four have been in her bag for three months.

My daycare lady actually prefers them! There are never any poo-explosions with them. She would put the poop diaper in a plastic bag and then into the wet bag for awhile, but she’s gotten over that!

If you have a question that I didn't answer feel free to email as growingupanjwife@gmail.com! I would love to hear from you too.

Cute Video Alert

2012-01-08T10:12:00.001-05:00

Baby "Fries"

2012-01-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

E has been all about feeding herself recently. I’m a huge ball of nerves as she’s shoving handfuls of poofies in her mouth.

In the attempt to get her to eat healthy and to introduce her to as many foods and textures as possible I started turning everything into “fries”.

Below are zucchini and sweet potato fries. Both are huge hits in our house.

Now that we’ve added lunch into her solid feeding regimen, we are letting dinner be more of an experiment in self feeding.

To make baby feeding friendly fries I wash and peel the veggie {or fruit} in question, and then cut into finger shaped sizes. {my finger size, not hers}

I lay out all of the “fries” on a piece of aluminum foil on top of a cookie sheet. Next I brush olive oil on all of the fries. Finally I top with seasoning. {Just because the food is for a baby does not mean that it has to be bland! I spice or season all of E’s food}

On the fries below I used Italian seasoning and a dash of parmesan cheese.

Roast in a 400 degree oven for 10-20 minutes. {Cooking time really depends on the food, the zucchini was done around 10, but the sweet potatoes took around the whole 20}

Here are some other options for “fries”:

apples
eggplant
regular spuds
squash
pears
beets

What have you tried or do you suggest I try? I’m always looking for more finger food options for E.

Faux-Fried Fish Sticks & Sweet Potato Fries

2012-01-06T00:30:00.000-05:00

My former co-worker’s husband goes on these week long fishing adventures where he lives on a boat and does nothing but fishes. He comes back with Alaskan sushi grade salmon, haddock, cod, and tuna. Well I’ve had this cod in my freezer for about four months and I had no idea what to do with it. I’m a basic this should taste good cook on my best days so fish was way out of my comfort zone. {I much prefer baking}

I decided we would be European and have fish –n- chips for dinner {minus the mushy peas because well those are nasty}. I wanted to make it healthy so deep frying was out. {Also I didn’t want to hurt myself with hot oil} I also substituted sweet potatoes for regular spuds.

Both turned out quite delicious and the fish sticks were crunchy and the only way you could tell they weren’t deep fried was because our fingers didn’t get all greasy. {SCORE!}

I used a variation from Rocco’s “Now Eat This Diet” cook book for the fish.

Faux Fried Fish Sticks

Ingredients:

Fish of your choice {The book suggests a white fish}
One egg
Flour
Breadcrumbs {I used Italian style because they were in the pantry}
Salt and Pepper

Directions

Cut your fish into stick type pieces
Place your egg {whisked up a bit, you can also just use the white if you choose} in a dish, the flour in a dish, and the breadcrumbs in another separate dish.
Dredge your fish pieces in the flour, then tap off the excess
Coat in egg
Cover in breadcrumbs
Repeat steps 2-6 until all your fish is done
Place a cooling wrack on top of a backing sheet and place your coated fish on it
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown and delicious

Sweet Potato Fries {These I “winged}

Ingredients

Sweet Potato
Olive Oil
Seasoning of choice

Directions

Clean, peel, and cut up your sweet potato
Lay on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil
Brush with olive oil and then season accordingly {I used Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese since I used Italian style bread crumbs above}
Bake at 400 degrees until you reach your desired fry consistency {I cooked them with the fish and they were a tad under cooked for my fry taste}

Where "things" have landed - 9 month pp body address

2012-01-05T08:40:00.000-05:00

I have been saying since E was born that it took nine months to put it on, I get nine months to take it off. Well those nine months went entirely to fast for me! So without further ado here is my postpartum body "stats".

1. - My Mind:  It will never be the same again. Everything is now a danger to E or could pose a possible threat. Ah the joys of motherhood! I'm a tad more neurotic now then I use to be. I can't help it. I do finally have a decent memory again. Pregnancy brain is no joke. I once parked my car at the food store, went in for about five minutes, came out, and had ZERO idea where my car was. I couldn't remember which side of the store, front, back, etc., nothing. So thankfully that is somewhat back to normal. There are still days that I'm running around without my brain completely on, but for completely different reasons.

2. - My Stomach:  Surprisingly it's not bad at all. It's not as toned as it was pre-baby but it's not really flabby either. It's almost exactly on par with how it usually looks after I've been gorging myself on cookies for the last two months. No stretch marks at all! I do still have a small faint line left going north to south. It just will not go away. My belly button never popped out so that still looks fine and dandy.

3. - My Incision: I have a scar. It is not visible in a bikini but it is there. I do not heal well and my scars tend to raised and red. I will never have a scar that fades away, it will always be visible and 3D. The same genes that saved me from the belly stretch marks are the same ones that don't allow me to scar properly. At least it's completely covered by my bathing suit. Silver lining?

4 & 5. - My Boobs: They are still huge. Not nearly as large and in charge as they were when my milk first came in, but I'm still a tad top heavy. In the very beginning I did receive some stretch marks there, but thankfully there are zero signs of them at this point. I'm still breastfeeding so I have no idea what will happen with them when I stop. I imagine gravity will take effect.

6. - Cankles:  They are GONE! I had the worst swelling towards the end and that caused me to have major cankles. It was pretty disgusting. I was terrified I would have them forever.

7. - Arms:  I have some pretty sweet arm muscles now. They are from hoisting and holding my almost 20 lb baby all the time. She is currently going through an "I only want Mommy to hold me and nothing else" phase.

8. - Fingers:  I'm also happy to report that I can wear all of my rings again. I think I had to take them all off somewhere between months six and seven. I couldn't put them back on right away, but a few weeks post partum they fit just as they had before. Swelling is no joke when you're pregnant.

The only other change I can think of is my hair. It has FINALLY stopped falling out in huge clumps. For awhile I was certain I would be bald and look just like Mr. Clean. It stopped falling out altogether when I was pregnant and I didn't lose one hair until about three months after I had E. Then one day all of it fell out. {OK I might be exaggerating a little} The Mister had to clean the drain out a lot. He did not miss that wonderful husband duty during my none shedding days.

All in all I'm pretty content with how things have "bounced" back. I'm well below my pre-pregnancy weight, all of my before E clothes are to big on me, and I'm no longer going bald. I do plan on toning up my butt, but that isn't due to pregnancy that's due to one to many Christmas cookies.

I am…

2012-01-04T00:51:00.000-05:00

Who are you?

Nine Months

2012-01-03T11:59:00.001-05:00

Dear Elisabeth,

This last month you have grown and accomplished somuch. My little dependent baby is slowlytransforming into an independent toddler. I’m torn by this. I love watchingyou grow and explore and accomplish tasks you once were not able to, but at thesame time I miss our early days together. The days and nights in the beginning where you needed me for everythingand anything.

You have spent just as much time in the outside world now asyou did in the protective confines of my belly. Sometimes I miss your little kicks and nudges through out the day. It was a time that you were mine and I didn’thave to share or leave you.

The word of the month has been independence. You are experimenting with exactly how muchyou need and want. Recently you have hadno desire at all to be spoon fed and only want to do it yourself. Unfortunately this causes me a lot ofstress. I’m very concerned when I giveyou normal people food about the size and whether or not you can handleit. So far you have had bread, sweetpotato fries, and zucchini fingers. Youdid great with them and excelled far beyond what I expected. I still worry about choking on an almostdaily basis.

You popped out one more tooth bringing your teeth total tofour. Two are on the top and two are onthe bottom. Your toothy grin is even moreadorable then your gummy smile was. Ididn’t think it was possible for you to get cuter, but apparently it is.

You not only crawl around now, but you can stand and cruise. You pull yourself up on everything. Not only do you pull yourself up, but thenyou let go of one hand and look over your shoulder. You are quite the little dare devil and Ithink it’s taking years off of my life. I’m a tad over protective and honestly I’m OK with that. Some days I’ve considered wrapping you inbubble wrap.

Your dad and I assumed that the one step leading in and outof your play room would keep you confined for a while. WE.WERE.WRONG! You can navigate that step in bothdirections. When you set your mind tosomething you accomplish it in record time. We first caught you standing when we went in to get you up in themorning on Christmas Eve. There you weregrinning at your Dad in a full and upright position. Needless to say we lowered your crib mattressfive minutes later.

Speaking of Christmas you had your first one and with it Dadand I got Santa back. You left cookiesand milk out for Santa, and threw carrots on the lawn for the reindeer. Santa even left you a letter thanking you andasking you to be a good girl again this year. You loved all the paper and the fabulous crinkly sounds it made when youripped it. The whole family came over tocelebrate with you. It was an amazingand exhausting day that I will never forget.

Another spectacular milestone that you hit last month was “talking”. You’ve been babbling incoherently for a whilenow, but last month you had your first word. You looked straight at me and said, “mama”. At first we chalked this up to a fluke, butthen you continued to do it. You willcrawl over to me, try to pull yourself up my leg, and say “mama”, I will leavethe room when you do not approve and you’ll yell “mama” after me. It’s amazing when you do it. Now we need to learn “dada”. It will make his Daddy day when you do this. It will also be the perfect time to ask forthat pony.

You also started to have some separation anxiety this monthas well. There are times when you wantme and no one else will do. You’ll cry{even squeak out a real tear}, reach out for me, say ma repeatedly, and onlycalm down once I am holding you. I’ll pickyou up and you’ll immediately rest your head on my shoulder and make acontented noise. You have me trainedreally well. You’ve never been aparticularly cuddly baby so this new trend is kind of nice.

You have grown and changed so much this last month that ifyou want to slow down this upcoming month I’ll be OK with that. I keep checking for your pause button andhave yet to find it. It marks one yearsince I wrote my first letter to you. Ilook forward to each and everyone I write. I continue to cherish every moment with you, and look forward to everysecond in the future.

Love,

Mommy

I am a working mom

2012-01-02T08:41:00.002-05:00

And I miss my baby today.

I assumed when I first returned to work on August 2^ndthat it would get easier with time to be away from E during the day, but it’sgetting harder. I do not want to leaveher or drop her off at the sitter’s house.

I want to put her down for naps, feed her breakfast andlunch, give her boob instead of bottles, and experience everything she has tooffer everyday.

I long for the weekends. On the weekends I get to pack my pump away and take care of my littlepeanut. I get to change her diapers,give her meals, and watch her play and explore. I don’t have those luxuriesduring the week.

In the morning it’s a race to get out the door on time, andthen when I pick her up I only have 2 hours until it’s time to start herbedtime routine. I miss her Mondaythrough Friday. I miss her a lot. This is probably the main reason why I’m notin a hurry to cut out her middle of the night feeding. It’s our time. It’s only five minutes, but it’s my fiveminutes and I love them.

The harsh reality is that we are a two income family and Iknew this even before E. I just neveranticipated how difficult it would be to lose so much time with her. I would love to be able to stay home withher. The Mister thinks that it’s healthyfor me to get out of the house and go to work. That the adult interactions are healthy for both E and I and that I needsome time away to be me and not solely E’s mom. I suppose he has a small point, but I still miss her none the less.

If you work has it gotten easier or harder since you startedback? Any words of wisdom for me?

2011 Recap

2012-01-01T11:31:00.001-05:00

January – Vermont Trip

February – Growing the bean

March – Baby Shower

April – Elisabeth

May – Beach Trip

June – Strawberry and pee picking

July – Fourth of July / SC visit

August – Wine festival and GG turns 90

September – Food

October – Halloween

November – Tough Mudder / The Mister turns 29

December – Christmas / Tree Hunting

Happy New Year!

10 lessons I’ve learned in 2011

2011-12-30T21:42:00.000-05:00

No matter how many “baby approved” toys that are out, E will ALWAYS make a bee line straight for the dog’s toys.
Age is nothing more then a number.
It really is just poop and poop is no big deal.
I am stronger then I ever imagined possible.
My body will in fact bounce back after pregnancy.
I am in control of where I go from here.
I cannot keep the same hours I kept in college.
I am a light weight and one glass of wine now puts me on my ass.
People change both for the negative and the positive.
Motherhood is the single greatest accomplishment I will ever achieve.

Meal Planning

2011-12-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

I need to start doing this again. We ate sooo much better and we saved so much money when I was doing and sticking to meal plans.

So starting in 2012 {no this isn't a new years resolution) I am going to plan all of our M-F meals out. In addition to planning out the meals I'm going to also plan our food shopping accordingly. No impulse purchases! If it isn't on the list we don't buy it {unless it's for the baby}. I'm also going to try to use ingredients that we already have available.

I have all of these cookbooks and recipes magazines so I might as well start using them!

Currently we have fresh caught Haddock and Yellow Tail just sitting in our freezer. I plan on using the Haddock Monday night.

I'm going to attempt to post my meal plan here as well. I'll also link up the recipes to the recipes tab at the top of my header.

So here goes nothing. Next week starting January 2nd here is what The Mister and I will be eating...

Monday: Faux-fried fish sticks, sweet potato fries,fresh fruit

· Now Eat This! – page 164 (fish)

· Old Bay sweet potato fries (wingingit)

Tuesday: Crock potchicken and biscuit

· Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book – page 191

Wednesday: Left overs

Thursday: Alfredochicken pizza

· Dinners for less magazine May 2010

Friday: Chickentortilla soup

· Dinners for less magazine May 2010

Also in addition to posting my menu I’m going to try and post my shopping list as well.

The evolution of blogging

2011-12-29T12:01:00.003-05:00

I started this blog in October of 2008 about four monthsafter The Mister became The Mister officially. We were {and still are} in the middle of a complete house renovation anda public blog was the easiest way I could keep everyone {mostly out of statefamily} updated on our progress.

I am amazed at how far this blog {and I} have come in threevery short and fast years. In the beginningI was all business when it came to blog posts. Every post was studded with facts of what we did, when we did it, andhow it turned out. I was afraid at firstto veer off that track. I was antsyabout what people what read, what opinions they would come to, and mostly Iwasn’t sure who was actually reading.

I started to slowly evolve out of the typical life updateposts. I added a little spice to the my writingby slowly adding more “me” to my posts. I let the internet world know of my fear of flyingbefore we took off on a vacation in January of 2009. After that I decided to jump on the 101in 1001 blogging band wagon. I’m sadto say that I completely forgot about it until recently {I’ll have to see whenthe deadline actually is/was}. This listsparked a few posts that would lead to a small influx of new readers; gettinginto an old pair of pants. I hired atrainer and bloggedweekly about the torturousways in which he worked. These postsalso gave me a bit more of a blogging voice.

Following that was the introduction of CD{cube-douche} and his incredibly irritating and impolite work ethics in a cube-dom. His constant thorn in my side ways led me toa lot of new blogging material. Therewas almost always something happening that I could share. Slowly I was attracting more and morereaders.

That was my blogging of 2009. There was a lot of exercise and a lot ofworking, with a couple of recipes thrown in. 2010 brought with it my firstgiveaway which then led to a lot more giveaways. I was hosting so many giveaways at one pointthat blogging went from a fun way to pass some time to actual work. I was very slowly becoming overwhelmed whichis why in April of 2010 I took an extended blogging break. I attempted to come out of hibernation inJuly, but didn’t really come back fully until December when I wrote my first letterto E.

I think that this is the point where my blog officially madethe turn to becoming a “mommy blog”. Inthe past year most of my posts have been baby related in some way oranother. I’ve come to realize that itcan’t be helped. I have always bloggedabout what goes on in my life, and currently my life is consumed with theadorable little poop monster I affectionately refer to as E.

This is where you find me now, happily living in a mommyblogging world. So if you are interestedin baby talk, baby pictures, motherhood woes, or breastfeeding then I wouldstick around!

Do you blog? How has your blog evolved?

Christmas post and run

2011-12-27T21:10:00.001-05:00

Christmas morning was AMAZING! E was in my opinion the perfect age for a first Christmas. She was really interested in ripping and occasionally eating the wrapping paper.

Christmas Eve found us leaving out Santa’s favorite cookies. I’m not sure if anyone else knows this, but Santa prefers chocolate chip cookies and whole milk. We set Santa a place at the table, provided him with some refreshment, and a spare hat just in case he needed a fresh change. We also made sure to throw some carrots outside for the reindeer.

Santa was even nice enough to leave E a letter thanking her for the treats. It may have also mentioned whether or not she was on the naughty or nice list.

Christmas morning found us waking up at 6:30 AM. The Mister was up at 5:30 but graciously let me sleep in until 6:30 before letting me know that Santa came. For anyone that is wondering, the baby was still asleep. The Mister however could not be talked back to sleep. I married Buddy the Elf.

Christmas Eve and day marked a time for making many milestones. E now pulls herself up! She tries to pull herself up on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.! She has been crawling for a few weeks now; immediately after figuring out belly off the floor crawling she was pulling up to her knees. Christmas eve morning we wake up, go into her room and there Ms. E is standing up in her crib and smiling at us.

We immediately lowered her crib mattress. She has been pulling up and standing at every opportunity now. She has zero sense of self preservation as well. She’ll pull up and then just let go. So far she’s only butt plopped down, but my mommy nerves are having a very hard time with all of this new movement.

This was the first Christmas that we didn’t have to leave the house and partake in the Christmas visiting marathon. We have said even before E that if/when we ever had kids we would not leave the house again on Christmas.

Well we stayed at home, and everyone came to see us. We had an open door policy all day long. It was an entirely different type of exhausting. I imagine it was a lot easier on E though. Not that I have anything to compare it to, but she was able to nap in her room and that makes for a happy baby.

At one point we even went up to her room and just sat in the rocking chair to detox. She became exceptionally clingy to me at one point. When we came back down she was happy to be passed around the family again. I guess sometimes all you need is Mommy to yourself.

Did I mention that we also have our very first official word? No? Interesting I think it’s something worth mentioning. =)

Not only did we have our first word we “think” that when E says, “beh beh” it means she’s hungry. She always says it before we have boob, when she wants boob, or when it’s getting around breakfast or dinner time. We aren’t 100% sure, but we are pretty certain it means something.

I’m not sure if you know this or not but presents are a great source of nutrition. They offer your daily value of holiday cheer. I spent the entire day on paper duty making sure that no little pieces went astray and ended up in a baby mouth.

I was super excited to give The Mister his present. So excited I almost wasn’t able to wait until Christmas. I made it though! The look of excitement and then pure shock on his face is GREAT! I’m so happy I caught it all on camera.

In unrelated holiday festivities we had to rush Oscar to the emergency vet on Monday. He went back for testing today and the ER vet and our vet both are pretty certain that something is wrong with his liver. We will have the results of his bile acid test in 24-48 hours.

Currently we are managing him with a protein light diet and an antibiotic. Both vets think that Oscar has a liver shunt. I’ll get into more of this in another post. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that Oscar will be OK and that we will get many more healthy years with him. We just celebrated his fifth birthday and are hoping for a minimum of five more.

Christmas Tree Hunting

2011-12-22T21:13:00.001-05:00

Christmas tree hunting is a sport we partake in yearly. It’s a hard core battle to find the perfect tree. We go to the same local tree farm every year. It’s 16+ acres of pine scented tree hunting excellence.

This particular farm is run by a very nice woman who is a few quarters short of a dollar. She has an Irish wolf hound named Keefe, and Keefe is HUGE! He is also run by biscuits. We bring him milk bones every year.

E loves dogs and really liked Keefe. She pet/smacked him in the head and fed him a couple of biscuits.

After we found a couple of trees that we liked I ran back and forth between them trying to decide which one is more perfect. The Mister was showing E the importance of a good stump. Stump checking is very important stuff.

They approved of this stump.

The best way to mark a tree as yours is to stick your baby in front of it. Perpetual dibs this way. Who would take a tree from a baby?

See that red thing? It’s a tree butt shaker. It removes the loose and dead needles from a tree. Every time a tree went on it E cracked up. She loved watching it shake the trees.

Our tree on the butt shaker. E was ecstatic!

And then she baked

2011-12-21T08:49:00.001-05:00

I've been a tad MIA lately, but I have a really good excuse/reason...COOKIES!

We have been a little behind in the Christmas festivities this year, due mainly to our kitchen renovation. Thankfully the floor is completely done. After the floor was curred and set we moved everything back into the kitchen. It's still only half done, but it's in full working condition at least.

Last Saturday I spent the ENTIRE day making cookie dough. I made cookie dough for about six hours. Four batches of chocolate chips, two of peanut butter blossoms, one of peanut butter cup, one of sugar, two of spritz cookies, and three batches of snickerdoodles.

I filled up our refridgerator with cookie dough and I smelled of cookies all night long.

I enlisted the help of my favorite Baker's assistant. She was in charge of the spatula and colander. She did a fabulous job tenderizing them.

Here is a picture of a semi finished snowflake sugar cookie. I should also note that all of these pictures are from my phone. Alas I haven't even had time to take any pictures with my actual camera in about a week. This makes me kind of sad.

And here is a finished cookie all packaged up and ready to spread some Christmas/Snowy cheer.

I will post all of my recipes later on. They will also be linked up top on my "Recipes" tab. I'm completely slacking on the blog, but only because the real world is getting in the way. I get an F for blogging, but an A+ for Momming.

Also today is the last day in my Cans for Comments donation.

In case I don't get back to blog before the end of the week I would like to wish everyone a

Merry Christmas!

My Latest Adventure

2011-12-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

I'm attempting to start a small photography business. I'm starting very slowly since I already have so much fighting for my time. Between working full time and spending most of my "free" time with E it's going to be a slow process. If you are curious how it's going here is my facebook page.

I had my very first paid photo session last weekend. I was very nervous that they wouldn't like the pictures, but as it turns out the family LOVED them! They even purchased a couple extra photo proofs! Needless to say I'm ecstatic.

Starting my own business I'm finding out that the old saying of, "you need to spend money to make money" is very true. I need to launch my website and get a new lens. I'm determined to only do those things with extra money. And just one more shameless plug for my facebook page!

Santa and his revival tour

2011-12-13T08:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my office had the annual holiday luncheon. During lunch one of the very high up gentlemenexplained how his youngest child (11) just found out that there is no SantaClaus while he was away on business. Hesat down at dinner and was ready for questions and explanations, and maybe somehugs and hand holding. However hisdaughter needed none and was OK with this realization. My boss on the other hand admitted that hewas more upset and could have used a hug.

This got me thinking. I finally get Santa back. I’mlooking forward to E knowing all about Santa and getting excited for hisarrival, setting cookies out, throwing carrots out for the reindeer, and allthe other Santa related festivities. Thenit dawned on me that one day E will find out that Santa is a hoax. I’m upset now thinking about this day. I don’t want to lose Santa again.

Santa is such a magical part of Christmas and we truly onlyget a few really good Santa years. ThisChristmas E will have no idea what is going on, next year she’ll be excited forthe lights and presents, but Santa still won’t make sense. However two years from now when she is almostthree I’m anticipating a big Santa year. Then we have what five to eight more good years of Santa?

At some point we’ll have to start worrying about friendswith older siblings, E’s older cousins, and anyone else who knows the secret ofSanta. Right now at this point I’msitting here thinking about all of the ways that Santa can be ousted.

In order to keep Santa alive and thriving for as long aspossible The Mister and myself talked about how we figured it out. I noticed early that Santa used the samewrapping paper that my mom used, and that the tags on the gifts with Santa’shandwriting looked exactly like my moms. I was entirely to smart for my own good at times.

The Mister and I have decided we will have Santa paper thatwe hide and regular paper that is out for all of our gift wrapping. I’m bringing the tags to work for someone elseto fill out for me. We also openly admitthat we’ll probably over engineer this entire fiasco and that will be what doesus in. We also admit that we will doanything to keep the magic of Santa alive for as long as possible.

How old were you when you realized that Santa was made up?

Another year older, another year wiser

2011-12-12T10:39:00.002-05:00

This day next year I’ll be 30 years old. It’s hard to believe that in one short year I’llbe out of my twenties and in my thirties. Where did all this time go? On aside note how cool is it to turn 30 on 12/12/12. It helps soften the blow of being in one’sthirties.

As a special birthday surprise the fabulous people of theinternet gave me a great present. MySalt Dough Ornament post is BLOWING UP on Pinterest. I’ve tracked it to being pinned over 75times! I saw a dramatic jump in postviews and after some investigation I found it ALL OVER Pinterest. Happy Birthday to me from the fine folks of Pinterest. That same post has also been re-posted andfeatured on half a dozen other blogs! I wouldlike to thank everyone who has read, viewed, pinned, or re-posted that post oranyone post. You have warmed my littlebloggers heart today!

While I’m at it and since it’s my birthday I think everyoneshould leave a comment. Not just becauseI love comments but for every comment left I’m donating a cannedgood to local food banks! If youwant to be really awesome you can write your own Cans For Comments post andlink it up here.

In celebration of being one year older The Mister is goingto take me out to dinner tonight. Where? I have no idea yet. But it will be delicious and fun!

Virtual cupcakes for all today!

Cans for Comments

2011-12-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

I'm jumping on the bandwagon! A fun fabulous bandwagon for a really good cause, in my really kick ass personal opinion! Cans for Comments! I read about this concept earlier today from Kyna, here. Cans for Comments is a way for the blogging community to give back to their non blogging real life community.

Starting right now with this post every comment that I receive on my blog will be equal to one can! So for the next ten days (until the 19th) if you leave a comment I will donate a can to a local food bank or group collecting for a food bank.

For any new followers I receive during this time I will donate two cans! So if you start following me AND leave a comment that's worth three cans. Together we can put food on the tables of people who really need it this Christmas season.

If you took the time to read this then please take the extra couple of seconds to comment. I enjoy reading comments and you'll be adding to the can count. I'm excited to see just how many can's can be collected!

Link up your Cans for Comments post as well. Kyna was gracious enough to set up a linky for everyone! Together we can feed the world!

Goodbye Gummy Smile

2011-12-06T21:44:00.001-05:00

And hello there toothy grin!

While we were on vacation I mentioned that little miss E cut a few teeth and it took me two weeks to get a picture of them! I was finally able to get some decent pictures of the little white knives of gum death.

Getting a picture of new teeth in a baby’s mouth is equal to getting a picture of bigfoot or the lock ness monster. It’s damn near impossible.

Teething not only hell on the baby, but it’s also pretty terrible for the parents as well. Yes I know that I did not have razor blades slicing through my gums, but there was very little I could do for E. That right there is AWFUL! Knowing that she is uncomfortable and in pain and being able to do very little to comfort her is down right sucktacular.

I followed a very simple rule on the worse days; Tylenol/Motrin for E and wine for me.

It was only really bad for two days. She wasn’t sleeping well and would wake up screaming in pain and I felt useless. During the day we managed the discomfort/pain really well. I gave E frozen peach slices in her mesh feeder, kosher dill pickle spears, and in dire need a little ora gel on her gums, but night time was a completely new ball game. Until that top tooth broke through she had Tylenol right before bed every night.

We currently have three teeth broken through, and I’m pretty sure we are working on one or two more. I have no idea honestly. It’s really hard to tell and it’s dangerous to stick my finger in there any more.

I always joked that when E got teeth is when she stopped getting my boob in her mouth. Luckily for me there has only been one biting incident and it wasn’t intentional on her part. She fell asleep on the boob and just sort of bit down in her sleep. It.hurt.a.lot. She still gets the boob for now. I am still hoping to make it to one year, teeth and all.

Do you have any magical teething remedies, because I could really use some!

Salt Dough Ornaments–Tutorial

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Recipe -

3 cups of flour
1 cup of table salt
1 + cups of hot water (tap not boiling)

Needed Items -

Salt dough
Cookie sheet
Straw
Cookie cutter or knife
Rolling pin
Cute baby

Instructions -

Combine the flour and salt and mix together with a fork. Add the hot water. Start with one cup and then add a little at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the side of the bowl. If you add to much water and the dough gets sticky just add a little more flour.

Roll out the dough on a cookie sheet to your desired thickness. I did it exactly like I would sugar cookies. I aimed for 1/4 inch thickness. Press your baby’s hand or foot into the rolled dough. We did toes because it’s what E wanted to do!

Cut away the excess with a cookie cutter or a knife. Use a straw to poke a hole in the ornament for a ribbon.

You can either let them air dry or bake them for 30 minutes at 200 degrees.

You can make the dough ahead of time as well. Just wrap it in plastic wrap and place in an air tight container.

After they dry I’m going to take write E’s name and the year on them with a paint pen. They are going to make great gifts for E’s great grandparents.

Crockpot cooking & my lack of kitchen

2011-12-05T08:30:00.001-05:00

This is the view from the door into the garage looking into our kitchen and then threw to the dining room. Now as you can see the refrigerator and stove are currently living in the dining room. Due to my complete lack of a functional kitchen we shall be crock potting this week.

I’ve been seeing crockpot lasagna all over Pinterest recently and I really wanted to attempt it. However here is my one issue; meat. All of the recipes say to brown the meat first. Which normally wouldn’t be an issue except my stove is in the dining room.

Here’s my thought though; if I can throw raw chicken into the crockpot why not raw ground meat?

Well I did it. I tossed the meat in broken up and raw. Honestly I have no idea how this is going to turn out.

Here are all of my ingredients except the shredded mozzarella which was still in the fridge.

I used a layer technique. Sauce and meat, then noodles, then ricotta and mozzarella cheese. Repeat. I hoping that the sauce will slow cook the meat. I also broke the noodles up so they would fit better and look nicer.

Ingredients

Crockpot
1lb ground meat (I choose turkey)
Lasagna noodles
Jar of pasta sauce (I bought the huge one, but a regular size would have been plenty)
Ricotta cheese (Again I bought a big one, but I have enough for another meal)
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Layer everything. Sauce/meat, then noodles, then cheeses, and repeat. I ended with cheese on top.

I’ll update on twitter how this turns out. As in if it is edible or not. Maybe a picture or two as well.

Belated Thanksgiving Post

2011-12-04T09:35:00.002-05:00

The greatest statement of the holiday was when my sister walked into the house with her one year old (who cried the entire 3 hour drive), “Is it to early for wine?”. It was 11 AM and the answer was no it is not to early.

8 Months

2011-12-02T20:44:00.002-05:00

Dear Elisabeth,
You are loved. I wanted you to know that. When I share these with you one day I hope you will know how much you are loved, not just by me, but by everyone.
You turned eight months old yesterday. Sorry this letter is a day late, but real life happened and you were a tad needier yesterday then you usually are. You won’t remember but you have your very first cold. Honestly I think it’s harder on me then it is on you. You are your same happy content self, just with a lot more boogies. You only get cranky with your cold when it’s time to eat because you are super stuffy. The blue snot sucker is now your mortal enemy, but you can eat a little easier after we use it. In my personal mommy opinion I would rather wipe a poop explosion then suck your snot. Snot grosses me out.

We had a very busy month. So much has happened that I’m afraid I won’t be able to remember it all. I try to remember every tiny detail about you. It’s going by so fast and sometimes I really wish we could pause time for a just a little bit. Alas you did not come with a pause button so time continues on.
Two of the biggest milestones you have accomplished this month is that I can no longer sit you down somewhere and expect you to still be there when I get back, as well as you now have teeth. You have three teeth to be exact and the fourth one is working its way out. You were behind on the teeth train until last week. Boy did you make up for lost time. You cut three teeth while we were on vacation at Grand mom and Grand pop’s house. It was brutal too. Luckily we followed a few simple rules; Tylenol or frozen peaches for you and wine for mommy.

On the topic of our vacation we went to SC for Thanksgiving because your Grand mom makes the best turkey, and it is the only one I will eat on Turkey Day. To get there you and I went on another airplane ride. Again I assumed you would sleep since our flight took off at 6 AM. I was wrong. However you love to fly and won the hearts of every passenger, including the man whose hair you insisted on lunging for at every possible opportunity.
On Thanksgiving we experimented with self feeding a little bit. You’ve had poofies but never any actual food this way before. I had Grand mom keep some sweet potato out after she cooked it and before she candied them. You loved it! I’m pretty sure some even made it into your mouth. The dogs loved it too. Both Oscar and Stella were on hand for anything that was headed for the floor. You also had turkey for the first time and you LOVED that eve more. Sometimes I have to throw in a spoonful of fruit between dinner bites, but not with turkey. You could care less about the peaches I had and only wanted the turkey.
You also were able to check off meeting the entire family this month. Aunt Kimi, Uncle Dean, and cousin Niko came for Thanksgiving (along with Aunt Alysa, Uncle Gabe, and Cousin Annabelle, oh and Niko’s dog Stella) and it was your first time meeting them. You had no issues with Aunt Kimi, Niko, or Stella, but it took you awhile to warm up to Uncle Dean. He eventually won you over by handing you your poofies. Before they left the next day you even let Uncle Dean hold you, but you kept your eyes on me just in case.

It’s hard for me to believe just how mobile you are now. Last month if we placed you on the floor on your belly or back you could roll around with no issues, but if I placed sitting up you were pretty much stuck there. Now however that is no longer the case. You have figured out how to go from sitting to lying down. You even figured out how to do it without smacking your head into the floor. The dog’s toy box is no longer safe. When you are on the move you “crawl” past all of your toys and make a bee-line for all of Dog’s toys. Sometimes Oscar will bring you his favorite fetch toy in hopes that you will throw it for him. One day you will and it will be here sooner then we know it.
Besides being super mobile you are also quite the chatter box. You have master actual baby babbling. You can say dada, mama, baba, gaga, mum, and probably some others that I’m missing. You love to talk to yourself and your toys. You don’t quite associate the words with anything yet, but it’s coming! Your very first consonant babble was dada and it made Daddy’s day. Now your most common one is mama.
It was a busy month for us! Daddy turned 29, you hung out with your Grand mom while Daddy did toughmudder, we went to SC, celebrated Thanksgiving, and you visited Santa and cried in his face, and met everyone in the family. I’m certain this next month will be even better! I’m looking forward to every minute with you.
Love,
Mommy

I have four eyes - A sponsered post for GlassesUSA

2011-11-30T10:25:00.002-05:00

According to the Vision Council of America approximately 72% of adults use some sort of vision correction. Both my husband and I are part of that statistic. I am pretty close to blind without eyeglasses and The Mister uses his mostly for reading and computer work.

We are almost always on the lookout for easy and inexpensive ways to buy glasses. Do we go through our doctor? The shops in the mall who offer speedy but expensive service? How about department stores that run the occasional sale or special? Honestly we’ve tried them all. I’ve overpaid to have glasses in about an hour, I’ve ordered straight from my doctor because I thought that was my only option, and we’ve browsed the sale frames at department stores. All of those options worked but they weren’t easy and still required a trip out of the house.

With a baby now in the mix I don’t have much free time. I always group our activities together as much as possible between nap times. Currently The Mister needs new glasses and it is pretty low on our list because Christmas is coming up we have more pressing matters to attend to. However until recently we never thought to order glasses online. I don’t know why considering we buy almost everything else online.

When I was contacted by GlassesUSA.com it was like getting a hypothetical palm smack to the forehead. I immediately called The Mister and we both sat on the phone looking at their site wondering why we never thought to do this. Let’s face it we get the same type of frames every time we buy new glasses, we don’t need to try anything on, we don’t need pushy sales people trying sell us the new designer frames, and we most definitely can use the extra time this will save us.

You might be skeptical about ordering eye glasses online. I won’t lie I am a bit too. The internet can be a risky place. GlassesUSA offers a 110% low price guarantee, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and a referral program. They are even offering a code for 10% off any order of prescription glasses to my readers. Just use the code: Blog10. I’ve browsed their site for my next pair of spectacles and their prices are pretty sweet without the code, but I’ll still use it because I love a good discount! Happy spectacle shopping!

I was paid by GlassesUSA to write this post, but all opinions are mine.