Easy Easter Baskets

I seem to always end up being too busy to do something special for the kids in our lives for holidays so I tried to start early for Easter. However, shopping for Easter baskets coincided with my official resignation from my job and the realization that I have to be more budget conscious than ever. Here's what I can up with.

So here's the breakdown:

Animal bags - $1.50 // Daiso

Pre-filled animal eggs - $6 per bag, 2 bags with leftovers we'll add to the Easter egg hunt // Target

The Story of Easter - $4.50 // Amazon

Lamb beginner chopsticks - $1.50 // Daiso

Set of 5 scented markers - $1.50 // Daiso

Notebook - $1.50 // Daiso

Annie's gummy bunnies - $4.99 for 12 pack // Target

Annie's cheddar bunnies - $4.99 for 12 pack // Target

So each came out to around $15 per bag including tax. When I first started looking, baskets at Target were $5 and then I had to FILL them and I knew they'd be way out if my budget. Thank goodness for Daiso!

Can't wait to share these with J's little buddies!

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

I know every baby is different and so some things will be easy for some babies and hard for others and vice versa. Sleep has always been hard for us. We went to Hawaii and our friends' kids adjusted to the time difference in 2 days. My Bub? He finally adjusted on day 9... The day after we got back home from LA.  Some babies can be put down for a nap early or late and they'll still take a luscious nap. Homeboy? Put him down too early and he'll sleep for 20 minutes. Put him down late, he'll wake up after 30 minutes crying bloody murder.  One year out, I've finally accepted that my Bub is a sensitive sleeper and God made him that way for a reason (to keep me humble?).

But for every hard thing, God has given us something easy. For example, homeboy began drinking out of a straw at 5 months. When it was time to start transitioning him over to cow's milk, he easily took cow's milk out of a straw cup on day one. We've been at it for a week and he takes all of his milk in a straw cup and we're about halfway done with weaning off formula. Hopefully the transition will finish as smoothly as it began. 

I'm trusting that my Maker knew what he was doing when he made my beautiful

 baby!

Blog? What blog?

I have a blog? Oh yeah. But I also have a baby that has taken all of my energy and time which is why my blog has been totally neglected.

First off, Baby J is one. We made it to a year. Wait, how many years left? :)

It's been a really hard year for me. My best friends are exhausted of listening me talk about our sleep woes. But after a full year, I've figured out that Boo Boo is just a very light sleeper (he gets it from Chris because I sleep like a log) which is why naps have been a real struggle for us. But this week, magically, we've had great naps. It's either his gift to me for carrying him for 9 months or a fluke or something has just clicked. I don't know but I love it.

He's also full of energy. At our 12 month we'll check, the doctor said, "wow! He is REALLY active!" It's hard for us to go out for long for this reason because he needs to crawl, stand, sit, climb and move!

He's hilarious. I don't know. I'm sure all mommies find their babies adorable and hilarious but this kid will hear music and begin bopping his head and moving his hips and sometimes he'll hold his hands up in the air (and wave them he just don't care). He makes me laugh.

So it's been a hard year but a very rewarding one. I love when he crawls up to me and comes in for an open mouth kiss. I love when he puts his head down on my shoulder and just melts into me. I love his big buck teeth when he smiles and when he does silly things like this!

Post Partum Insomnia

It's incredible the different things that can happen to you after you give birth. Ive discovered so many different after effects in the post partum period either through personal experience or that of friends and family.

Currently, dealing with insomnia. I'll be exhausted, get into bed and I can literally lie there for hours before I finally can fall asleep. And even through Justin has been sleeping through the night for well over a month, I still wake up a couple times a night. 

It's 1:10 am and my baby is going to wake up in 5 or 6 hours and I am still tossing and turning.

It's seriously a cruel joke. My baby is finally sleeping through the night, but I can't!  Hope you aren't reading this at 1 am because it means that you might be suffering from insomnia too!

Major Handmade Cuteness

I love handmade things. So much love, creativity and thought goes into every handmade piece.  However, handmade generally comes with a heftier price tag because of the time and effort that goes into each piece. I know this first hand as I use precious nap time to work on my goods. So, for now, we ooh and aah until this momma saves up enough to buy some of these handmade goodies for baby J.

Liz Taylor Handmade Etsy Shop

Liz Taylor Handmade Blog

Really? These are amazing. She also makes pandas and bunnies and owls and birds. And how ridiculously awesome is that chevron quilt? I think quilters are amazing people. 

Such Great Heights

If I had emoticons on here, it would be that yellow happy face with hearts for eyes. I've seen a lot of different handmade teepee's, but this one probably is my favorite one. If our house were bigger, this would be in Baby J's room already. I wouldn't be opposed to putting a mat inside and letting him use this as his bed when he's older. 

Kokokoshop

I don't know about Justin, but I need one of these on my bed and on the couch and maybe up on a shelf  somewhere. This pillow is perfection.

   

Juniper Wilde

Okay, I know I just said that handmade goods are expensive and so we're saving up, but I have to admit that I bought these when they went on sale. They're still pricey, but they're super soft organic cotton and the prints are to die for and even though I'm on a SAHM budget this year, I.could.not.resist. We have the goodnight pillow which Justin loves to chew on and that lightning blanket is so reminiscent of Harry Potter that I could not, would not resist it's awesomeness.

Hookaway

I'm crafty, but crocheting and knitting were never my thing. I didn't have enough patience to practice and so when I see things like this, I am baffled ...and slightly jealous. I would love to add one (or many) of these to Baby J's wall. 

Hope you're having a beautiful Thursday!

And all of a sudden...

He's a week shy of 7 months. Where did the time go? When Bub was first born, I knew exactly how many weeks/days old he was. In my sleep deprivation, the time could not pass fast enough. Now that things are more settled and predictable, time seems to be moving at the speed of light. My little Boo is becoming his own little person and growing up so fast.

Sometimes I'm baffled by the idea that God is not bound by time. No schedules, no routines, no gotta-be-here-by-this-time. Such a foreign concept since my life ran on bells as a teacher and nowadays, I have to keep a schedule for Boo.  I think we get glimpses of eternity. i sense it most when I want to cherish a moment forever. When I am holding the baby and he rests his head on my shoulder, feeling safe and content, I want to hold onto that moment, but memories, videos and photos only offer a glimpse and doun't fully capture the tangible and non-tangible details. It reminds me that this world is not our home. We were designed for another home where we are not bound by the limits of time. I can't wait to experience that freedom, but for now, I'll cherish each and every special moment I have with this guy.

Overhaul

When I had the baby, I knew I'd have to shut down my Etsy shop for a little while. I was sad take a hiatus, but at the same time, the baby was my first priority. What I thought was going to be a 2 month shut down, turned out to be 6 months as we battled (and are battling) with short naps. However, I reopened to shop thinking it'd be quiet for awhile and I could take some time to create some new sashes, rephotograph and just overall do a little overhaul of my little corner of the Internet. But on the day I reopened my shop, I started to get orders!   This is happy news for a stay at home momma!

I have a long to do list of things I want to do, but I am hoping to use a little more social media with my shop. Although people general have a separate Facebook page, I know a lot of people merge their personal and business Instagram accounts!  So, I got to thinking... how would I merge a personal and business IG account? What would I call it? Just keep it as joanteng22? Change it to whenlovehappens? Or best yet... change it to when Joan happens?!