The Cute Factor

Babies have cute factors. Let me tell you, my baby's cute factor is off the charts! (As I'm sure all mothers say of their children!) Goose has really turned up the charms the last few days. He has started taking things in with a look of quiet ingenuity in his eyes. And I think this is adorable!

Yesterday I got an oil change at BJ's and it took over an hour. So I strapped Goose into his "portable womb" AKA the Snuggli Baby Carrier and we walked around the store for the whole time. He opened his eyes so big and just GAZED at all the merchandise (sign of Christmases to come??) He was so enthralled that he would forget to suck his pacifier and I had to hold it in his mouth. The look of wonder on his face was amazing.

He has also started "talking" to his toys. He coos at them for about ten minutes and then starts to get mad when they don't talk back. Its very funny!

Works For Me Wednesday - Help! My neighbors dogs bark ALL THE TIME!

Behind our home is a thin stretch of woods behind which is an older development. Through the woods you can just barely make out a white house with a dog pen in the back. The dog that lives in this pen is a BARKER! All dogs barks, I know - but do all dogs bark all the time?? This one thinks it needs to defend its home against everything. If we so much as open our back door the dog will bark incessantly. Keep in mind we can't even see the dog from the door - we have to walk down to the property line to actually make him out through the woods. So why does he think we are trying to invade his property when we sit on our back porch!?

I can imagine its possible the owners of the dog are also frustrated. For years they lived with no houses on the other side of their woods (I think this was farm land, either that or more woods) and now they have us to contend with. Maybe the dog thinks we built a house on HIS property?

Sigh...So my Works For Me Wednesday question is - Have you ever faced a similar problem and how on earth did you fix it?

I hope that with time the dog will adjust to having us here. I am an "outside" kind of person and I hate to think that I will not be able to peacefully use my own backyard thanks to this dog!

Thanks everyone for visiting!

Hello....47 Cent Can of Cream of Mushroom...

My trip to Aldi yesterday was a success, albeit a tad stressful! Goose was hungry and I had to breastfeed him in his carrier while navigating the unfamiliar layout of my new favorite store. I was pushing the cart with one hand, holding a blanket over my chest with one hand, holding the carrier in place with one hand, and checking off my grocery list with one hand - oh wait - I only have TWO hands...! Maybe that's why I was so stressed!

Anyway, I got some good loot! There are definitely some items at Aldi that are significantly cheaper than what I normally pay. I got the majority of what was on my list and picked up a few other items just because they were SO cheap!

For $22.08 I purchased:

5 1/2 pounds of ground beef
Wheat cereal
Large box of Spaghetti
Tortillas
Salad
Coffee Creamer (French Vanilla!)
Bread
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Box of Stroganoff
Cream Cheese

Of all the items the beef was the most expensive at $10.00 (or $1.79 a lb). So that means the rest of my items only cost an average of $1.33 each. Pretty good I'd say! I was most impressed with the price on everyday ingredients that I use. The Cream of Mushroom soup being only 47 cents is a good example of this. Another example is they have boxes of Powdered Onion Soup for only 50 cents. That is a pretty huge savings considering they are over a dollar for the name brand (Lipton's).

As for the shopping experience at Aldi -MAN do they check you out fast! The Cashier was literally THROWING my groceries into the cart, I could barely get my money out fast enough! As for the "no shopping bags" concept, I was a little worried because I had forgotten my shopping bags, but I noticed no one else in the store had bags either. So I just put the items directly into my car with no bags, which I thought was just fine.

So all-in-all a great experience and I plan to do PLENTY of more shopping at Aldi. It was definitely worth the trip into town.

Over the Highway and through the traffic, To the ALDI Store I go!

Today is a great day because I am going to ALDI for the first time today! I am so excited because I see all the great deals Kacie over at SenseToSave is saving and want to join in the fun! Plus it sounds like a cool shopping experience.

I had no idea we even had ALDIs down here until I noticed my mom from HomeMakingDreams commenting on Sense to Save that her nearest ALDI was 30 minutes away. Well if my mom has an ALDI then surely I must!! (We live close to each other) I went on the website and BLAM KAZAAM (that's the sound my computer made) I have an ALDI!

A few things I love about the ALDI concept:

1) Bring your own shopping bags. This is so awesome. It takes about KAJILLION KAMILLION years for plastic bags to break down in landfills. Plus, it takes OIL to make plastic. And I am all about the U.S. not needing as much of it. So I just love the idea of reusing bags.

2) Quarter for a shopping cart. I seriously hate seeing people not put their carts back. Everytime I go to the store I see someone just push their cart into oblivion and inevitably THAT is the cart that will reappear next to my car when I come out of the store - along with a huge ding! So I love having an incentive to put carts back.

3) Generic AKA "Private Label" Brands. I like that I won't be bombarded with typical marketing when I go in. I am not a cow - I do not need to be "branded".

I'll let you know how it turns out! To find an ALDI near you click here.

I LOVE Cloth Diapers, Part ONE

Before my son was born 9 weeks ago, I was skeptical on the business of cloth diapers. Would I rather put my baby in disposables and be on my merry way? Sometimes..... But do I crave a penny saved? YES! Am I a frugalizer? YES! Do I even have a couple thousand dollars lying around somewhere to pay for this convenience? Uh, NOOOOO!

It is for these reasons we decided to use cloth diapers. I was planning to stay home with my baby and that meant all extras were to be cut out of the budget. For us, cloth diapering was born out of necessity. But "if I had a million dollars" (as the song goes) I would STILL choose cloth now that I know how good it is not only for the budget, but for baby's bottom AND the environment. Plus - it's WAY easier than I ever thought it could be.

Most of my traditional cloth diapers, the ones you fold and pin, were given to me by loved ones before Goose was born. So my continued investment has been minimal. I have spent around $150 to date on cloth diapering. That money was spent on diaper covers and a few nicer diapers for outings and overnight. That $150 is a one-time investment. Had I been using disposables I probably could have blown through that in a month, two at best, on diapers that just got thrown in the trash.

What originally scared me about cloth diapering, I have found to be completely false. So I want to take a minute to shatter these myths for anyone who might be hesitant about cloth. I'd love to sway your opinion over to the "cloth" side!

Myth #1 - They are WAY messier than disposables

FALSE. Whether you are changing a cloth diaper or a disposable - you are still engaged in hand to hand combat with POOP. No matter how you slice it, if you have a kid you are going to touch their poop at some point. It really doesn't matter if you get to throw it in the garbage or not. The difference with cloth is that the diapers get washed. I honestly thought I would have to manually scrape poop into the toilet with cloth. But I was (Thankfully!) wrong. I had read online that many parents just throw the diaper straight into the wash. This is what I do and it works great. My diapers come out clean and fresh. It really is just like doing an extra load of laundry.

Myth #2 - The money saved will be wasted on the water and electricity used to wash the diapers.

FALSE. My water bill is only $20 dollars a month and our electric bill has actually gone down. Granted we DO use more water and electricity than a family NOT using cloth diapers, but that cost is minimal compared to the money spent on disposables. Plus, you can hang your diapers to dry on a rack or a line and your electric cost will be almost nonexistent. Even if the total of our water bill each month was from washing dirty diapers, that would STILL be cheaper than buying new diapers each week.

My drying rack and diaper basket

Myth #3 - It's time consuming and I don't have the extra time.

FALSE. Once you get the hang of it, it only takes a minute or two longer to change a cloth diaper. I think its kind of fun. Goose is usually at his sweetest when getting changed, so I don't mind a few extra seconds spent watching him smile and listening to him coo.

Here's a few more good reasons to use cloth:

1) Bye bye Diaper Rash. Goose can only wear disposables if you cake his butt with Desitin. With Cloth he has NO problem.

2) They actually make cloth diapers that work just like disposables, with velcro tabs and such. Only difference is you don't have to buy MORE.

3) It's a really nice thing to do that makes you feel good! I feel great just knowing I did not throw another dirty diaper into a landfill. Every little bit helps right?

So there you have it. I LOVE cloth diapering! Check back next Friday for Part 2 where we'll highlight different types of cloth diapers and how to tailor it to fit your lifestyle! For more frugal tips go to http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm

Baby Must-Haves

I'd like to share with everyone a few "tools" I've found work wonders on a baby. Goose loves these items, and when baby's happy - Mama's happy!


The first item is the bouncer seat. We have the Fisher Price Safari Animals edition, but I'm sure they all accomplish the same task. I would like to add that this chair was one of the cheaper ones I've seen and it works great, leading me to believe that higher price does not necessarily constitute a better product in this category. Here's the effect this seat has on Goose:


I also really like our swing. This swing is actually my sister-in-law's but her kids have recently outgrown it. Little "d" loves sitting in this! He smiles at the toys and will usually fall asleep. This swing is made by Graco:



And now - for my absolute FAVORITE item - a true miracle. The product is the Fisher Price Rainforest Waterfall Soother. Here's how it works: You install it inside the crib and it plays soothing nature sounds and music while a waterfall lights up with blue falling water and a cute little monkey swings back and forth. It mesmerizes our child and after a few minutes he will usually fall asleep. If he doesn't fall asleep it will at least keep him occupied for a few minutes while I finish up dinner or something to that effect. Fisher Price has a few different versions of this item and I'm sure they are all at least as good as this one:If you don't have at least one of these items you are missing out! Have a great Thursday everyone!

Colic

Well my sweet little son has colic. I have always heard parents talking about colic and how awful it was, but not having experienced it myself I just took their stories with a grain of salt. I mean, techinically speaking, Colic is just long stretches of inconsolable crying and certainly my baby could never be "inconsolable". Not with such a loving mom as myself! Surely he can always be comforted by my gentle nature and loving touch?. NOPE! Colic is awful. All the stories are true. Goose is not comforted by my gentleness or love!

To describe Colic to those of you who have not experienced it: Imagine the most annoying sound you can possibly think of. Some good examples are nails on a chalkboard, the monotonous beep of the Emergency Broadcast System weekly test, and the sound a phone makes when left off the hook for too long. Got your sound? Ok - amplify the volume x10 and multiply the intensity by 2 or 3. Now listen to that sound for 4 or more hours straight per day. Also, take away any option what-so-ever of turning off the annoying sound. The sound can only cease of its own accord for a reason that you do not nor ever will know. THAT, my dear friends, is Colic.

Poor Goose cried so much, I finally concluded that something must be wrong. He wasn't eating normally and barely sleeping during the day. I took him to see our doctor yesterday thinking he must have an ear infection or SOMETHING. There was nothing wrong with our child at all. To top it off - Goose ceased all crying while at the doctor's office. In fact, he turned on all the charm he could muster! He made eyes at the doctor and cooed those sweet little sounds. "I swear he was not like this at home doctor!" I said. Sigh...The doctor left the room and Goose started up with the crying again!

At any rate, he was diagnosed with Colic and it was suggested that I try Mylicon Gas Relief drops on the child. Apparently they work on some children and not on others. Well - I'd like to send a big "shout out!" to the makers of Mylicon!!!! My kid is one of the kids that it works on!! YES!

Goose stopped crying. He also slept for hours after we got home, went to bed for the night an hour earlier than usual and slept this morning until his usual time. Thank you Mylicon!

If anyone has any experience with Colic, please leave your stories and suggestions here in the comments. I would love to hear what works for this!