Her mom day & NIGHT, but sometimes I fail at the latter

We've been awfully spoiled with India.  In her almost ten months of earth side life, we've only had four or five wake-up-and-scream-for-no-apparent-reason episodes. 

Yes, only four or five.

I know many of you reading this have a one month old that is waking up hourly, or a 10 month old who wakes up every three hours to nurse or a 3 year old who wakes twice a night, or any combination of the above, and you're cussing me out under your breath.

I'm not here to complain about my daughter's sleep habits.  No, sir, I'm not.

This post is a complaint against me.

Normally if India wakes up at night, it's so easy.  Either Dallas or I get her, bring her to bed, she nurses, and after she will either stay in our bed or go back to hers.  No sleep lost on either part, and we're all happy.

Last night, India woke at 1 am, I tried to shush her back to sleep, but she wasn't having it.  I brought her in bed with me to nurse, which she did for a couple of minutes, then she turned restless.  At that moment, I knew we were going to be up for a while, as this is almost exactly what she's done the handful of other times she's got up during the night. 

I was immediately frustrated.  Let me tell you a secret. I turn into this different creature in the middle of the night.  I'm normally a pretty chill mom, my baby cries, I comfort her, no big deal.  But I was angry last night.   

She started crying and screaming, no matter what I did and no matter what my husband did. 

I was frustrated, so he got up with her, which turned her cries into hysterical, overtired screams.  After he had reached his limit, I intervened, holding her and singing, getting her so close to sleep time and time again, but to no avail.  When she has one of these episodes, there is no reasoning with her, no joking with her, no distracting her, no cuddling her, no nursing her - nothing works.  I was beyond frustrated after an hour of screeching.

Then, I had to walk away, leave her in her crib, while she screamed the most horrible screams.  I had reached my limit.

I went into my living room for a few minutes with my husband to cool off.  I was both mad and sad.  We do not believe in crying it out, because of the biological and emotional implications but mostly because that's not how our heavenly Father responds to us when we need comfort.

But at that moment, I said, "She can lay in there all night and scream!  I DO NOT care!"

I sat on the couch, and rambled a prayer like this while my baby cried in the background, "God, I know when I cry out to You, or I'm distressed or confused, You answer me.  You never let me sit alone and scream and cry and leave me disoriented.  You always bring me comfort and peace.  I'm really trying to do that right now with her!  Please help me be patient with her as I try to comfort her.  I really don't understand right now."

II felt a lot calmer and had more resolve, so I went back into the bedroom, held her, rocked her, continued to pray over her, sang over her, and got her back to sleep.

I woke up this morning to a smiley, cuddly, giggling little girl, I was in my right mind and I felt awful.  I apologized to my daughter for leaving her when she needed me. 

You see, when I signed up to be a mom, I signed up to be a mom day AND night.  I can't selfishly say, 'No, it's only convenient for me now' because that is not being wise with my talents.  I have to invest in her day and night, night and day.  I felt like I had failed in my duty, in my commission as her parent.

One of the things that scared me the most though, was that at that moment, I was willing to give up some of my most sacred parenting convictions...all for an hour and a half of sleep.  Is that what's really at the core of me when things get tough?  I'm ready to throw in the towel?

I was cleaning with India a bit this morning, and we had a mix of children's songs playing on iTunes.  The second song that came on was a song by Plumb, called 'Me', which was ironic because it's not really a kid's song.  As soon as it started playing, I started crying, and I knew that God was comforting me in my conviction.

God heard my cries for understanding and once again reminded me how 'crazy blessed and oh so lucky' I am to be her Mama - day AND night.

Please listen to this beautiful song by Plumb.

Wordless Wednesday: 1st Easter

Pantry Purge: The plan

I've decided to take the entire month of May and do a Pantry Purge.  Yes, the entire month of May. :) To go along with spring cleaning, I need to to use up some of the food in my pantry.  I have a huge pantry, which I'm very thankful for, but it's way too easy to accumulate too much in there and forget about it.  The following reasons are why I need to do this Pantry Purge:

• When I see things on sale, I buy them.
• I go grocery shopping whilst hungry and I buy too much.
• When I have really good intentions to cook, but go out to eat instead and I'm left with extra food.
• I buy things from the bulk bin, but don't use it all in the called for recipe.

The Pantry Purge Objective:

In order not to waste what I've been blessed with I want to use up as much of the stuff in my pantry and freezer as possible, and to buy as little as possible from the grocery store.  This is a way to be held accountable and eat the things I don't always feel like eating. I plan to save resources and money!

The Pantry Purge will take careful thought, sifting through my deep freeze, incorporating excess ingredients, trying new recipes, donating items we won't use and throwing out old or expired food.  Searching for creative recipes, not Facebook & blogging, ahem, will have to become a new online passtime.

I want to be clear though, I will not empty my entire pantry!  To give you a better idea of which foods we plan on consuming, I will explain how I classify my pantry into three different areas:

1. One time foods - Organic fruit snacks, chips, licorice, etc.  This is mostly junk food.  I don't buy it that often, but it's nice to have on hand for a craving or if I need to bring something to a friend's house.

2. Staples - I always like to have a decent amount of staples in my pantry, because like I said I don't grocery shop very often - a few jars of spaghetti, a several of pounds of butter & cheese, tortillas in the freezer, different pastas, flours, sugar, several cans of various beans, tomatoes (diced, paste and sauce), frozen meat, etc.  I buy a lot in bulk, and stockpile.

3. Excess - These are things (mostly staples) that I just have too much of (like 30+ cans of different beans), need to move them out of my pantry, stuff we'll never eat (Jell-o), or things that are going to expire (last summer's frozen zucchini).  These will either leave through donation or my kitchen table.  The excess items are what I will target through the Pantry Purge.

Excess items (to purge items are in bold):

Grains - Quinoa, Couscous, frozen tortillas (2/3), rice

Meat - Tilapia, half a fryer chicken, venison, 1 pound ground beef, frozen shrimp, a lot of canned tuna & salmon (some will be donated because my husband refuses to eat it), turkey sausage, chicken sausage (I had NO idea that I had that much meat - we don't eat meat that often, so I suppose I was saving it for 'special occasions').

Fruits and veggies - Frozen zucchini, frozen strawberries, beans (use 10-12 cans), frozen stir fry veggies, frozen basil

Miscellaneous - Coconut milk (5 cans?)

CRAP food - half a lump of Velveeta (I know, trashy, but it was imperative for one of my husband's recipes a ways back, I think it might end up in the trash, that stuff isn't good for anyone!), cake mix, CRACKERS (NINE unopened boxes!!!)...

These are just some of the items I have excess of!  The items that I have the most of are beans and crackers and meat (weird). I can tell you right now, crackers are an impulse buy while shopping when I'm hungry.  Obviously, I get home and eat, and don't want them any more. 

I don't plan on using up all of our beans, because Glenn Beck thinks it's the end of the world so I need to save them.  I joke, I joke!  For real though, I like to have 8-10 cans of various beans on hand because I LOVE LEGUMES!  I will keep a couple boxes on crackers on hand too.

So, what can I buy???

• Dairy products (milk, sour cream, whole milk yogurt and cream for cooking - because I'm a snob and want full fat - are the only things that I think we will *need*)
• Eggs
• Fresh fruits and vegetables (if I don't have them on hand, like onions and sweet potatoes and any that we need for our daughter)
• Food for others (I'm going to make a buttload of hummus for my nieces)

I'm undecided about going out to eat.  In our house, I run the kitchen, and what I make will be ate, but when it comes to eating out, my husband has a big say in that.  I highly doubt I could convince him to forgo eating out, but I am sure we will cut down and be more aware.  However, when traveling, we will eat out.

I will update my blog regularly with meals and I will also let you know what I have purchased.

Join me!

I would love for you to join me in this endeavor!  You don't have to follow my rules, you can make your own that work for you and your family!

1.  Post a link to your Pantry Purge blog posts, with a short description of your blog post.  It can be a recipe, a story of how you did the Pantry Purge, or before and after pics, whatever - I want to hear from you!  If you don't blog, just post a comment stating your intentions with the Pantry Purge.
2. Come back to this blog post and post additional comments with new and updated ideas.  Tell us how you are progressing, how much money you have saved, if you've failed at all, and again, share any helpful links!
3. I will try to link your blog post into other Pantry Purge posts.

Happy Pantry Purge, my friends, can't wait to get started on May 1st!

Mama's Hands

Hands that help, that touch, that serve.
Hands with wrinkles, dimples and curves.

Small hands, big hands, plain and extraordinary hands.
Bony hands, chubby hands, hands that show age so young or so grand.

Hands that lift, support and hold.
Hands that build, that clean, that do tasks untold.

Hands that cover,
Hands that cool,
Hands that warm,
Hands that have amazing ability to transform.

Hands that create,
Hands that applaud,
Hands that protect,
and hands that make what's wrong correct.

Hands that move slow,
Hands that move fast.
Hands with scars that tell stories of the past.

Hands that work hard,
Hands that take rests.
Hands that repeat and repeat,
The same daily quests.

Hands that shield,
Hands that teach,
Hands that wipe away tears with a gentle reach.

Hands that heal,
                     that encourage,
                               that hope,
                                          that speak beauty,
                                                       that inspire,
                                                                 that believe.

Hands that without shame,
Complete one of the most important tasks in our world:
To unconditionally love and teach little hands to do the same.

© Genevieve Rostad, Uniquely Normal Mom 2011

Makin' money on my search engine!

Ooooh, it sounds too good to be true, but it is true!  Would I lie to you??

We all use a search engine multiple times a day and get no compensation for it.  How nice would it be to actually get rewarded for your searches???

I'm really starting to l-o-v-e Swag Bucks, especially after I'll soon be cashing in some swag bucks for Amazon gift cards!  Money is tight right now, so I'm saving them to use towards Christmas gifts! :-)

If you aren't familiar with Swag Bucks, it's one of the easiest search and reward programs on the web.  I use Swag Bucks as my usual search engine and after certain searches I'm awarded points, or Swag Bucks, which are then redeemable for all sorts of things! 

You can also earn points for doing online shopping through them, playing games, answering polls, watching Swag bucks TV and you get credit for coupons you print and use, trade-in old cell phones and books and when you complete tasks. 

I don't go out of my way to earn Swag Bucks and most of my Swag Bucks have come from searches.  At first, it was pretty slow-going and I thought it was a hoax.  I know someone who has earned over $1,100 in rewards doing it, so I thought I would earn that quickly too, but I didn't in the beginning. It's not a get rich quick scheme, but it is a legitimate way to earn rewards for something we all do everyday - search the web. 

If you want to sign up for Swag Bucks, if you would be so kind to use my referral name I would love that as I will get a few points from that!  http://swagbucks.com/refer/UniquelyNormalMom

Really, what do you have to lose?  You already use a search engine, why not get rewarded for it?




Hope this helps you! :-)

Do you use Swag Bucks?  What other simple ways do you earn money?

Wordless Wednesday: First Ponytail

What a craptastic day.

I had a most divine day yesterday.  I did. 

Although it was filled with appointments and teaching piano lessons, which were great and uneventful, my day ended with a GNO.

A girls night out.  Good food, good drinks, good laughs.

I'm not huge on 'I need to get out of the house to keep my sanity' because mostly, I'd rather stay home with my husband and baby and cuddle and talk and watch PBS.   The only thing that could make me seem more boring than that is if you put some embroidery floos in my hands (no offense to my most excellent embroiderer friends-I'm inspired by your work).

Last night while out with my girls, I realized that it is good for me to talk with other moms and hear what's going on in their lives.  We also like to talk about other non-momish things.  I love my girlfriends, and after a night with them, I always feel encouraged and refreshed.

I guess that all of yesterday's good was preparing me for today's not so good, but not horrible, day.

I was stockpiling goodness.  I probably should've stockpiled some more.

Today, I spent all morning running around the house, cleaning, doing dishes and laundry and taking care of a little girl named India. 

This little girl named India, started to go to the bathroom, so I quickly took off her pants and diaper and rushed her to the toilet to do her business.  I use a thin, flushable liner to catch her poo.  If she happens to poop in her diaper, I just take it off and flush it down the toilet.  No rinsing the diaper.  Easy peasy.  And most of the time, she comes to me, starts pooping a little, and I get her to the toilet, where she does her duty, and we have no mess. 

After she is done, I put the disposable liner in the toilet, flush and put on a new diaper and liner. 

I did all that, except the flushing the toilet part. 

We went back to playing, when I noticed she had to go again.  Quickly, I ran her to the toilet.  While I was trying to set her on the toilet, I was juggling the poopy diaper in my other hand...and it wasn't firm by any means, if you know what I mean. 

Wiggling 9 month old with a poopy butt in one arm, Mama with fresh clean clothes on and nasty diaper in the other hand.

Ooooh, you know this is going to be bad.

Because of my multi-tasking, I was totally deserving of having that diaper not only fall and slide it's way down my pant leg, but through the course of trying to avoid it, it landed on my nice, fuzzy slippers and I then smooshed it all over the bathroom floor.

Yuck.  After she was finished on the potty, I tossed the liner in the toilet, and was so quick to get the shitake off me that I rushed to change her and me, and forgot to flush.  Again.

I had already started the laundry, so I had to do another load, with just my pants and slippers.

Sigh.  This day had started pretty stinky in every way.

We had it set up that while I was teaching piano lessons and Dallas was officiating baseball this afternoon, India's grandma Shelly would babysit her.  Unfortunately, Grandma Shelly had to cancel due to illness.  India's never had a non-family babysitter, but I called my neighbor to see if her daughter could come over once she was finished with school.  She said yes. 

Babysitter crisis averted.

Next, I get a phone call from a number I know, expecting it to be someone I really like talking with.  Instead, it's someone that I don't enjoy listening to, so I was a little peeved that I was 'tricked' into answering.  There was a miscommunication between us, we went around on the issue for a while, and I was already feeling feisty, but I held my tongue.

Whew.  At least I didn't make a mess with that one.

About 25 minutes before one of my afternoon students was going to come, I went into the bathroom to brush my hair and put on a little makeup (maybe for the first time today), and I noticed that I hadn't flushed the toilet after India had gone to the bathroom. 

So I flushed.

And apparently, putting two disposable liners in the toilet is a bad, bad, bad idea.  Like, plug the toilet bad.


The water rose pretty high, but it was contained.  I went to change the laundry (remember my poopy slippers?) and came back to a poo-water flooded bathroom.

In just 5 minutes. 

Enter choice words.  I think I literally said, "oh shit"!

Just callin' it what it is.

Apparently, the toilet had been running.  I would stop it, then it would start again, flooding the bathroom even more.

India was as curious as all get out, and threw a complete tantrum when I made her sit in her least favorite spot, her exersaucer.  All she wanted to do was play in the water.

I threw every rag and junk towel that we own onto the bathroom floor. 

Then I decided to flush again.  And again. 

And oops. 

It was a disaster zone.  Less than 20 minutes before my piano student was coming. 

Screaming child.  Mama with no makeup.  Poowater bathroom.  Second pair of slippers full of diluted poo-ness.

In between leaving play by plays on Dallas' voicemail and trying to comfort India I noticed my piano student had arrived - early!  I quickly closed the bathroom door, and started piano lessons.

Lessons went good, and India's babysitter was great too.

As soon as lessons were over, back to the bathroom I went, sloshing up cold poowater with rags while thinking, "There has got to be a better way to do this!  Like, maybe some fuel and a torch"!

And here I sit, writing, eating barbeque potato chips as my dinner, waiting for my poor knight in shining armor to come home, to a nasty bathroom, in a couple of hours after officiating a double header and working over 12 hours yet again today.

And maybe dreaming that is was still yesterday and I was out eating yummy food with my cute girlfriends.  

Was my day that awful?  No, there was lots of great parts to it and I've had worse.  But it sure did make me laugh and say, this day surely was craptastic, in the literal sense of the word!

Now, excuse me, I'm off to find a working bathroom!

My 1st Blog Party!

Attention, attention! 

I'm joining my first ever Blog Party!  No, not block party (but we may get that rowdy), a giant Natural Parenting Blog Party hosted by The Peaceful Housewife.



I'm not a blogger extraordinaire, but I have realized how important it is to connect with other bloggers and hear about their lives and hear the thoughts that are spinning in their heads.

Don't forget to check out my giveaway for an awesome EIO Kids Cup!

Here are some 'Lemme get to know ya' questions that we are answering for the blog party!

1.How many children do you have, and how old are they?

-One spunky, spazzy, funny, aggressive 9 month old little girl, India Josephine.

2.Do you have a partner, or are you a single parent?

-I do have a partner by the name of Dallas.  We've been married for over 9 years. What a great partner he is!! :-)

3.What are your “hot button” parenting issues?

-You can get my blood boiling with mention of baby trainers, get my blood hot by bashing breastfeeding, and get my blood pretty warm by talking about c-sections and inductions.


4.Have you made any parenting choices that you didn’t think you would make before you were a parent, i.e. cloth diapering a child when you had previously thought it was disgusting?

-Hmmm, I've always been one who likes to be hear lots of options, and I'm pretty open-minded, and so on an issue like cloth-diapering I've known it was the best option for us years before we decided to have kids.  I did promise that I wouldn't put my gargantuan bows on top of my daughters head, but I guess I lied about that (look at above picture).


5.Is there one book or person in particular that’s heavily influenced your parenting choices?

-While she's not a parenting expert, I love Ina May Gaskin and I believe reading her book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, during my pregnancy laid the ground work for a close, connected relationship with my daughter; from birth and on.

6.If you had to describe each of your children using only one word, what word would you use?

-One word?!?  India = Determined. 


7.Is there one parenting decision that you regret more than others and wish you could change?

-I wish I would've taken it easy and babymooned more in the first two weeks after my daughter's birth.  I had too many visitors, took too long to heal and was exhausted.  I didn't get to take a real nap until my daughter was 10 days old or something!  I felt that just because someone had a meal to share with us, that meant they had a ticket to sit at our house for an hour or two.  Oh, and I wish I never would've used a pacifier - but I didn't really know any better at the time I introduced it.


8.Is there an area of your parenting you wish you were better at?

-I wish I was more patient in the middle of the night!


9.Now for the fun questions – is there one particular food or type of food that you could eat every day?

-Chocolate.

10.Vanilla ice cream or chocolate?

-Vanilla, I strongly dislike chocolate ice cream.


11.What’s your guilty pleasure?

-Meaning, what do I indulge in when I have a spare minute?  I'm a nerd at heart: reading & researching natural parenting studies.  I also have a horrible, horrible sweet tooth.


12.If you could be part of any television show, which show would it be?

-The 700 Club, so I could smack Pat Robertson upside the head.  Just kidding, I believe in non-violence!   Kind of.

Wordless Wednesday: Well, someone's gotta clean the oven

EIO Kids Cup Review and Giveaway! CLOSED!

The winner is comment number 59...

Jenny, from the Peaceful Housewife!! Yay!

Congrats, Jenny, I hope you enjoy your new EIO Kids Cup!

Thanks to all who participated!

Lately, we have been slowly removing plastics products from our kitchen items.  With the documented dangers of BPA and other dangers ingredients in plastic, we really don't want to take the chance when there are other, more eco-friendly options. 

We have been trying to find a sippy-like cup for our daughter, but since we prefer to avoid plastic, that seemed nearly impossible!

When choosing a cup for my daughter, I searched high and low for one that:

• was primarily made of something other than plastic
• didn't have parts where mold could grow
• was durable
• was eco-friendly
• was stylish
• something that advanced my daughter's drinking skills

My search for the seemingly impossible yielded the EIO Kids Cup, which met all of my criteria!

A glass cup with a very protective silicone sleeve (silicone does not react with food or beverages like many of the aforementioned plastics) and no parts for cleaning!   It's made of an 8 oz canning jar, so if you ever needed to replace the jar, you can just buy a new jar at the grocery store!  You can put hot or cold drinks in it and it encourages correct use of a cup and not passive suckling.  It's an earth-friendly option that will last for years.    

EIO Kids Cup has also received the prestigious PTPA Award, certifying it has been tested as a top children's product!  

My thoughts:

The EIO Kids Cup is not spill proof, but neither are plates and bowls and we still teach our children how to properly use them.  The same goes for this cup.  I was skeptical of using glass, but I let India play with it and feel pretty safe with the silicone sleeve.

It is still a little heavy for my daughter, but she is getting the hang of it.  I let my 22 month old niece try it and after my sister explained that she had to be careful with it, she didn't spill as much and was proud of herself!  Her older sister, who is almost four years old, saw the cup and wanted one too!  My sister had to stealthily remove the cup from her home! 

India has been having sips of water from glass cups around the house, but I'm excited for her to have her own, safe cup, as is she!

Buy it! 

Available online or at these retail locations.

Win it! 

EIO Kids Cup has graciously offered one Uniquely Normal Mom reader (US resident only) a chance to win an EIO Kids Cup (a $15 value)!

Mandatory entry:

Publicly follow Uniquely Normal Mom via Google Friend Connect AND visit EIO Kids Cup and tell me something unique that you learned about EIO Kids Cup.  Make sure you leave your e-mail address in the comment. (US residents only, 1 entry)

Additional Entries: (Leave a comment for each!)

1. 'Like' Uniquely Normal Mom via Facebook. (1 entry)

2. 'Like' EIO Products on Facebook, and let them know I sent you!  Leave your first name with last initial in your comment entry. (1 entry)

3. Follow Uniquely Normal Mom on Twitter and leave your username in the comment. (1 entry)

4. Follow EIO Kids Cup on Twitter and leave your username in the comment. (1 entry)

5. Retweet the following, or something similar, and leave the link (1 entry per day):

    #Win an @EIOkidscup from @uniquelynormal1 http://tiny.cc/hkcpg #blog #giveaway!

6. Follow Uniquely Normal Mom on Networked Blogs. (1 entry)

7. Subscribe to Uniquely Normal Mom via e-mail (right hand side of blog). (2 entries)

8. Grab my button, put it on your site & be sure to leave me the link to your site. (3 entries)

Contest ends Wednesday, April 20th, 2011, at 11:50pm CST.   Winner will be chosen from random.org and has 48 hours to respond or else a new winner will be chosen.

 

*EIO Products has graciously provided with the product and asked me to share my honest review on it.

39 Weeks!

Before I begin, don't forget to enter the giveaway for Chewbeads!!

My daughter is now 39 weeks old, and as of today, nine months old!  I still love her just as much and even more than I did nine months ago!

I thought about the last time India was 39 weeks or 9 months old, when I was 39 weeks pregnant, and didn't have very fond thoughts.  I know some women sail through pregnancy with very few problems and love being pregnnt, but for whatever reason, the curse of Eve was hard on me. 

Before I got pregnant, I considered becoming a surrogate, and would still consider it, but with more careful consideration because I now know how much work is involved with growing a little person.

It wasn't easy: nausea my entire pregnancy, horrible swelling, hips that twisted out of place (seeing the chiropractor every other day at the end otherwise I wasn't able to walk), and the worse thing of all, PUPPP.

I tried not to complain over the course of my entire pregnancy, being grateful and trying to cherish every minute.  In fact, only 3 or 4 people knew that I had PUPPP, because I was so worried about complaining, that I didn't like people to know anything was wrong! 

It wasn't until I gave birth that I said, "OH MY GOODNESS, THAT WAS MISERABLE"!   India was worth it, but I'm SO glad that we're on the other side now, as this is much, much, much easier!

Surely, holding a yummy-smelling, squishy, baby like this...

...is better than 9 months of sickness.

And this little coo alone was worth...

...ridiculous swelling!



These kissable cheeks and cheesy smile...

...was much more desirable than PUPPP.

To say I'm thankful that India is now here and not ^^there^^ is an understatement.

I know to get to these nine months, I had to go through those nine months - and I am thankful for every day and every moment as painful as they were. 

How did your body handle being pregnant?  Would you consider surrogacy?

Wordless Wednesday: You cannot imagine how fun this girl is!

Chewbeads Review & Giveaway! CLOSED!

The winner is...

Congratulations to Crystal of Anonymous Motherhood who won with this comment:

Anonymous Motherhood said...
I liked Chewbeads on FB and told them you sent me


 She's a mother to three kids and a doula, so I know she will get good use out of her Chewbeads!

Thanks to all who participated!

According to my daughter, everything, everything, everything, MUST go in her mouth.  I used to wear a pretty necklace that I bought in Tibet, but whenever I wear it now, my daughter treats it as her own personal chew toy.  Not only is it sentimental to me, but I worry about her safety as she tries to chew on my jewelry. I'm pretty picky about what I let her chew on/play with because of the toxicity in many children's products.

Most days, you will find me plain and sans jewelry because of this.  But I don't want to be a plain, frumpy mom.  That would be sad. 

I recently heard of this great company, Chewbeads, as I saw a photo like this, of beautiful bracelets that were safe for teething!  I loved all the color variety and I knew this would be perfect for my daughter!

I drooled at that rainbow of colors that could match every item of clothing in my closet!

Chewbeads has graciously sent me a beautiful Hudson Necklace to review!

 

India, meet Chewbeads.  Chewbeads, India.

Lovely.



  About Chewbeads:

• They look like 'real' jewelry - very fashionable
• No BPA, PVC, Phthlates, Cadmium or Lead
• Dishwasher safe
• Made of 100% silicone
• Soft on her little gums, but not soft enough to chew through
• Breakaway clasp - no matter how hard she pulls, this necklace doesn't break
• They feel different (better) than other teething jewelry
• They keep her from pinching me while nursing (THANK YOU!)
• It keeps my daughter occupied for long periods of time!

What I think:

I highly recommend these to moms with children of any age!  I think any mom or mom-t-be could greatly benefit from them!  I tried the Chewbeads on three different children, ages 8 months to 22 months, and all children were infatuated with them.  It could definitely be said that I am a fan because of all of the above, but the real test is my daughter, and well...

...she's in love! 

Buy it!

You can buy Chewbeads (hello, wonderful baby gift!) on their website or if you are from my area, at Pout Baby Boutique!

Win it!

Chewbeads has graciously offered one Uniquely Normal Mom reader a chance to win any one piece of Chewbeads jewelry in the color of their choice (up to a$36 value)! 

Mandatory Entry:

Go to Chewbeads and tell me which piece of jewelry you would love AND 'like' Uniquely Normal Mom on Facebook & tell me that you liked it in the comment! Make sure you leave you email address! (1 entry)

Additional Entries(leave a comment for each):

1. Publicly follow Uniquely Normal Mom on Google Friend Connect. (1 entry)

2. 'Like' Chewbeads on Facebook & tell them Uniquely Normal Mom sent you! (1 entry)

3. Follow Uniquely Normal Mom on Twitter. (1 entry)

4. Tweet the following (or something similar) & leave the link: (1 entry per day)

#Win a Chewbeads teething necklace from @uniquelynormal1! http://tinyurl.com/3hngje6 #giveaway

5. Subscribe to Uniquely Normal Mom via e-mail (right hand side of blog). (1 entry)

6. Follow Uniquely Normal Mom on Networked Blogs. (1 entry)

Contest ends April 12, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Winner will be chosen from random.org. Winner has 48 hours from being contacted to respond, or else a new winner will be chosen.

*Chewbeads has graciously provided me with this necklace and asked me to share my honest review on it.

Shhh, I've been crafting!

I don't know what the heck I'm doing when it comes to crafts. Most of the time, I have brilliant ideas, a cupboard full of supplies and about one-fifth of my projects that ever see completion. I'm a happy dreamer, what can I say? 

But since we're only-eat-rice-and-beans-broke, and I can't skimp on cuteness for my daughter or gifts for friends, I've been making some things. OK, I've been making gender neutral baby legs since I was pregnant, and I've been creating for months, but I've been really shy about sharing.

Here are some of my projects for my daughter and friends...Trust me, they are nothing special.



Some of the Baby Legs I've made for India



Headband



Headband and baby legs



Headband

 

Headband



Headbands and baby legs




Felted wool balls (before felting)



Felted wool balls, after first felting (India is addicted to these! Possible tutorial to follow!)






Little Man tie onesie & baby legs

  

Tutu