Swaddlebees Cloth Wipes Review & Giveaway

The switch to cloth wipe event continues! Prior to these wipes, I had never tried any Swaddlebees cloth products, but I had swooned over their top quality cloth diapers and accessories. I was super excited when they agreed to be part of Letters from Momma's switch to cloth wipes. I was able to review both the bamboo wipes and the baby cloth wipes--in addition to receiving a wet bag! Check out the review below.

Menu Plan Monday

Last week's meal plan wasn't very intense...but our week was...so that meal plan wasn't even looked at (aside from making the chili). We were sick Monday - Wednesday, so didn't eat a lot--and then we just scrounged around the other nights. It happens. :-) Remember that meal planning should come with a little flexibility because life is unpredictable!

Here's our meal plan for this week:

source

Monday: Homemade Meatloaf & Homemade Mac/Cheese, with salad - dinner with friends (they're bringing cake balls for dessert)
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: Pork Chops, Rice Pilaf, Salad
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: homemade pizza <3
Saturday: Chicken & Rice Casserole (no condensed soups in this recipe)
Sunday: shrimp cocktails, toasted ravioli, & other finger foods

I think I need to start looking at my food magazines...I'm definitely in an uninspired cook mood. I blame the weather!

Thanks for checking out our dinners this week! See more menu plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com

Seven Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

I'll start with a prayer that is from yesterday's Small Steps for Catholic Moms page.

Don't let me look down, Lord, when I carry the cross you've chosen for me. Let me look up and whistle while I work!

---So HARD sometimes, but exactly what we need to do (especially me).

--- 2 ---

G is starting to look like a "big girl," despite not yet walking. I know everyone says that now is the time she begins to move from baby to toddler. Apparently, eleven to fifteen months is the "time of maturity." I guess after that she'll be a real toddler. It's crazy to me that I have such an old baby. Most days, I feel like I should still be toting around a baby who sleeps 75% of the time, nurses every 2 hours, and isn't mobile. I wonder if she will be eternally three months old in my mind?

Check out my post this week, with all of the fun 11 month old things G does!

--- 3 ---

Naturally, I have to share this too cute picture of baby G.

just love her toothy grin!

Treasure every moment.

I had a lot of 'blog work' to get done during today's nap time...but I didn't do any of it.

I spent the time sobbing my eyes out (literally, my cheeks are so wet...not just saying that for dramatic effect) while reading about a woman from my home town. I kind of knew her when I was younger, through my church. Her mom was a teacher at my high school, and then Sarah became a teacher too.

She passed away on Monday at the age of 31. From colon cancer, after being diagnosed in 2008, just 5 weeks after giving birth to her second baby. Can you imagine??

Baby's 1st Boat Show #linky #WW

G & Daddy driving a Cobalt boat

Momma & G riding a jet ski (notice the beco on my back...she did great in it pretty much all afternoon)

LINK UP :-)

One spot left on the "First Year" photo frame

11 months old!

Our baby girl turned eleven months old on Sunday. I didn't have this post ready to go, and I took the weekend off blogging...then we all got a stomach bug yesterday (still trying to recover). So a few days late, but here it is.

Home measurements:

Weight: 18.1 lbs

Height: 28.5"
Tooth Count: 5 (and one on the way)

Night Weaning:
We've started night weaning. Some nights are great (she sleeps all night), and some nights aren't so great (she cries several times). The highlight of this post was going to be that Momma's midnight milk stand had been officially closed since last Tuesday (yay!)....but then she was sick Sunday night. She vomited (again!) in the middle of the night. We cleaned her up and tried to calm her down. Then I nursed her (because who wants to vomit and have that taste in their mouth all night??), but it also ended up being thrown-up projectile style while I was still holding her. Ugh. (then we all got the tummy bug)

Gross Motor Skills:
G has taken 2 little steps and is also looking like she might stand up at any moment! She's pretty cautious; but has gotten up on her knees and tried to move one leg up to stand, before toppling over. So close! I'm half dreading having a walker, though, she's so mischievous already! G's also the fastest crawler I've ever seen. She also loves pulling up and hanging onto my pant legs at the most inopportune times (like when I'm in the bathroom cleaning a dirty diaper).
Baby G loves pushing the clothes basket around like a walking toy, and still loves pushing Winnie the Pooh rocking horse while crawling.

Menu Plan Monday

This week's meal plan is really simple. I made a HUGE thing of chili on Sunday and I'm thinking it will last almost all week. Soooo... pretty boring around our house, after an exciting weekend. We did his birthday dinner on Friday night with his cousin. Saturday, my husband and I took the baby to the boat show. We had planned to get take out Red Lobster on the way home, but then decided we'd rather just go out to eat since G was behaving so well. The wait at the restaurant was 45 minutes at 5:30 pm!! we were not about to wait that long and chance ruining her good mood. We opted for Carrabbas (it's like Macaroni Grill, if you've never heard of it). It was soooo good! We both had one of the specials: Champagne Shrimp & Scallops with a salad. I got peach sangria, and my husband had two winter lagers. Baby G got munchies, peas and bread. We had such a good time! I wish we could do it more often (but then it wouldn't mean as much when we do go out).
Anyhoo, here's our lame-o meal plan:

Bummas cloth wipe WINNER

I am really excited about announcing the Bummas' winner because there 148 entrants! That's a great turnout :-) I'm pleased so many people are interested in cloth wipes. After bonus entries were counted, there were 3277 entries. The most ever, to date, on a LfM giveaway!

Guest Blog at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer

My most recent submission to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer was posted yesterday. I have been taking a blog-break for my husband's birthday but had to pop on here to pick a new winner for the Bummas giveaway...and saw my blog had posted over there!

I hope you'll check it out! It's about traveling with cloth diapers.

Weaning to Cloth Completely

If you're visiting from the CDW, I hope you'll stick around :-)

I often have cloth related giveaways (a swaddlebees wipe one is coming up soon!); I blog about cloth diapers and other kinda crunchy parenting topics!

Seven Quick Takes (vol 8)

--- 1 ---

Six of this week's seven quick takes are for my husband, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday. This is his fifth birthday that we have been together. Three of the five we went on a trip somewhere, but last year I was too close to my due date. This year we are on a budget and have a baby, so our "trip" is to the boat show tomorrow! My husband loves boats, and claims his first word was boat. He is beyond excited, to say the least. I'm pretty sure he would rather own a boat than a house...give us a few years and we will have both.

--- 2 ---

He is the perfect husband for me. A great example is the fact that I had a rough, out-of-sorts day on Tuesday and he walked through the door after work with flowers for me. :-) I haven't gotten flowers from him in over a year. It was just what I need to bring a smile to me face!

taken with my phone