Seven Quick Takes Friday 18

--- 1 ---

During this week's Target trip I was stocking up on some toiletries and browsing the clearance section. I had some coupons that I let G play with in a moment of weakness. She was getting ancy and I just caved. You probably know where this story is going... We got to the check out and I de-carted everything, then turned to hand the crumbled coupon mess to the check-out lady. My Charmin $1 off coupon was missing!! They had a $2 off sale on the super huge pack, and when coupled with that $1 off coupon, my glorious red package of Charmin (the ultra strong kind) was cheaper than any other kind! I was pretty stoked until I couldn't find the coupon ANYWHERE. I told her that I wanted to go retrace my steps to see if I could find the coupon and she looked at me like I was off my rocker. She basically said, 'well let me ring you up and then if you find the coupon, just take it to customer service and they'll give you the dollar.' She probably thought I wouldn't do it...but I surely did. I knew that I had it in the TP aisle, so I only had to retrace from the check out to the hand soap to the cheese to the peanut butter to the paper products; which in all actuality ended up being a third of the store. I was starting to go into panic mode when it wasn't in the first few aisles I checked, but low and behold I found my mangled Charmin coupon in front of the jam. Victory was mine as we headed for customer service and I got my dollar refund :-)

--- 2 ---

From a high to a low... Thursday brought the discovery that our bedroom floor will almost certainly have to be torn up due to a leak somewhere. Our landlord (thankfully we won't have to pay for any of this because we don't own the house) is having a leak detection company come Friday to find where the leak is because it isn't any place obvious (he had a plumber search the typical places). Everyone thinks it is in a pipe under our floor, and the bulging laminate wood floor pieces would indicate that's a correct assumption. I'll keep you posted on the situation, but it pretty much sucks since we just got settled in and now everything in that room will have to be put elsewhere and who knows where we will sleep.

Lucky 13.

I never really did a developmental post about G as a 12 month old. I feel pretty bad about that, but with the craziness of moving and such, it was just an oversight. Rather than try to recreate a post on memories, I'm moving forward and addressing her in the present...as a 13 month old.

I.am.in.shock. of how amazing my baby girl is on a daily basis. She does the cutest things and melts my heart with the tiniest hug. She's turning into a real toddler and even if I really think about it, I can hardly remember her as a little baby. Ten months ago she was 3 months old, and for the longest time that's how I thought of her. A little girl who rolled over for fun, cried to communicate, and nursed as her only means of sustenance. She was light and short. She still used an infant car seat and couldn't sit up. She was active, but that was a totally different definition of the word compared to the active 13 month old we have now.
When she is older and asks about herself as a baby, I will tell her that she loved people and was very social. She smiles and waves at everyone, and will often try to jump into their arms (especially at Target, where a check-out lady had almost no choice but to grab her because she lurched so far out of the cart). Literally everyone comments on how happy she is (in public...mhmm) and almost every time we go out I hear that "she just made my day." While she doesn't always behave perfectly, I do enjoy taking her places. We tend to have better days, though, when we stay home because I am able to keep her on track for eating and napping. She likes her routine and tends to sleep better when we've had a low-key day. In that respect, she is a very textbook baby.

As a 13 month old, G:

A Hair Clip Wordless Wednesday #linky

G's hair is finally long enough for some hair accessories. Today she wore her purple hair clip. At first she kept pulling it out, but eventually she left it alone.

If you have a blog post with pictures today, please consider linking up!

Beginning Weaning

I know a lot of breastfeeding moms want to make it to a year, as the APA recommends, but my BF'ing goal is to simply nurse my kids until they begin to wean themselves (if they don't show any signs of starting before 18 months, though, I'd start nudging them in that direction). I think that's the best thing for me too. If I let her lead the weaning, I shouldn't be too uncomfortable (avoiding engorgement, much leaking, and mastitis).
Apparently G started weaning herself in the past few weeks. I don't know exactly when it started because of the chaotic move, but I know it was a little after her first birthday. I had been nursing her 5 - 6 times a day for about five months, without any reservations, but we are down to 3 nursing sessions now. This is obviously due to the fact that she is eating more--both quantity and type--solid foods and drinking from her straw cup like an expert (water or watered down juice; no cows milk for us, more on this later). She nurses before bed, when she wakes up in the morning, and before nap time.

Menu Plan Monday

The highlight of this week (Monday) comes from a great episode of Giada at Home that I saw last week. Man, I missed Food Network! We don't have too many more channels than we did in Kansas (locals only there), but Food Network is included in the Digital Economy package we have & I am so excited! If only HGTV was too...

#BFBBP WINNER Thirsties Cloth Diaper Pack

Thank you to the 144 people that entered the Thirsties Duo Diaper & Hemp Prefold giveaway as part of the Babies First Birthday Blog Party!! There were 3454 total entries :-)

I appreciate everyone reading my review & hope you consider adding any or all of the amazing Thirsties cloth diaper products to your stash. I really can't recommend a better company in the cloth diapering world. They have something for everyone! Perhaps I'll be able to review their new Duo All-in-One diaper sometime soon!

Without further ado, the winner of the recent Thirsties giveaway on my blog is:

Congrats to a fellow Catholic Momma blogger!

Please consider entering the last BFBBP giveaway for Happy Baby organic toddler food, it ends on 3/30!

Seven Quick Takes 17

--- 1 --- busy

This post is a little later than normal, but at least it's still Friday :-) I feel busier than I actually am, because I'm so tired. G's sleep is kind of crazy again (see number 4), so my husband and I are feeling really sleep deprived and I can't nap during her nap time because I have to get house work / crafts done that I can't do while she is awake. The blog has started taking a back seat...I suppose that's normal for a momma who just moved into a new house/state and has an active 13 month old.

--- 2 --- 13 months

Oh, that's right baby G is official 13 months old. Wow. That sounds old, no? I've been a mom for 13 months!
I know she isn't a teenager or anything (whew), but 13 months is much more substantial than 12 months old. She's really past the baby stage, and I don't think I get away with calling her Baby G much longer. She's also walking for real now (not just taking steps), although I wouldn't say she is a "walker" because she will crawl about 70% and walk 30%. I assume that ratio will change quickly. I used to get so excited when she took 10 steps or more, but now she is walking from room to room--and even walking in circles!

Confession.

The almighty cloth diaper queen has fallen. Two days ago I bought a package of disposable diapers. Sad Face.

Baby G woke up FIVE times Sunday night, so no one really got a lot of sleep that night. She leaked through five diapers and we ran out of sheets. We resorted to covering her mattress with a large blanket and tucking it under (I know, not the safest in the world). The only diaper that hasn't leaked at night is my trusty Thirsties Fab Fitted/Hemp Insert/Duo Wrap cover and the only nap time diaper that I've trusted is my Mother-ease Sandy's fitted with Stay-dry insert and Londonware fleece cover. Other than that, everything has been leaking. My hemp solutions are not working as they had before moving to California. I don't know if it's the water here, or if baby G has turned into an even heavier wetter than before.  I have no idea what is going on, but I even tried "stripping" my diapers yesterday.

I'm on a mission to fix it, but for now...disposables at night time if the Fab Fitted is dirty :-(

SOS!

Green Toys Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Green Toys stacking cups giveaway! There were nearly 70 people who entered and 1651 total entries. I appreciate everyone reading my review :-)

The winner is:

Please check out the rest of the #BFBBP giveaways still going on! One is for a cloth diaper pack from Thirsties and the other is for a variety of toddler appropriate Happy Baby organic food.

My new clothes line's first use #WW #linky

One of the best things about having a house / yard: I can now really utilize the sun as an energy-saving  alternative to a dryer. In our old apartment, I could occasionally use an indoor drying rack out on our small patio to sun a few diapers. I wished for more space and sun to dry more things "naturally."

I've finally have that now and Tuesday I put our new clothes line to the test!

My husband did some extensive research on a clothes line we could take with us when we move (read, wouldn't have to cement into the ground of a rental house). He ultimately decided on this Tripod Portable Clothes Dryer

If you have a photo posted on your blog today, please link up!