2 Minute Reviews - pre and post baby

Hello out there fellow parents (and parents-to-be)!

If you're at all like me, you go out and google reviews, check Amazon.com, and go down your own checklist before committing to a purchase or moving on to the next product.

I like to look at videos as well as read commentaries - the videos help me understand size, how things move (if they are meant to) and basically how to put it together.

I'm going to be doing reviews of baby items, as a new-again mom (my youngest is 10), there are SO many new items out there that weren't even in the thought process stage yet when my son was born!

The difference between mine and many others, namely the videos, is that mine will be 2 minutes, will highlight the pros/cons, strengths/weaknesses and go right to the heart of the matter. There won't be a lot of talk, jokes about my dog, or unnecessary commentaries about my kid.  Thats what the rest of this blog will be for!!!

I have a YouTube Channel that will be used to Vlog and do reviews.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for the first few reviews!!! 

I'm a Crafty One...

These days, down to one income, I'm looking at any way I can to save moola and make things better on our growing little family.

Everything from contemplating sewing things for the kids, to making my own diapers, to making diapers to sell, to knitting gloves, hats, diaper covers, etc. to just watching another kid for awhile.

I've also had the treasured and rare time to spend with my kids.  Having been a career focused mom for so many years, just hanging out with my son and daughter has been really nice!  The daughter has one heck of a great sense of humor, and the boy is still as sweet as he ever was, but he's growing up. Both of them are.  I've had a wonderful time this month teaching my son to make quiche and making my daughter her requested birthday dinner (filipino style!).

Even so - as much as it pains me - I do have to find something else to do with my time while they're busy having social lives.

I've been learning to knit (mostly to keep myself from going insane in the last few weeks of pregnancy).  It doesn't require much in the way of physical exertion, but keeps my hands and brain busy.  I've managed to knit a pair of mismatched sized (and shaped) baby booties, a pair of fingerless gloves, and now I"m working on a baby cap. Today I may run to Michaels and get a new pair of knitting needles and some different yarn.  

Another thing I've been researching is wool diaper covers. I did go to Goodwill and buy two wool sweaters and successfully felted them down for use. I debated on deconstructing the one and knitting with the yarn, but I opted to felt it instead. For those of you who don't know what Felting wool is - I have only done it once so I'm no expert - but it's the process of shrinking the crap out of it, basically. To learn more about how to felt wool, click here.   The two sweaters I felted down will become diaper covers for the baby one she's here.   I'll be doing another blog/vlog on that once she's born and I get my new serger!!!

Couponing - Well, I'm not getting all my groceries for .37, but i am saving on average about $7 bucks a trip.  That's nearly $30 a month.  Maybe it doesn't qualify for "Extreme Couponing" but it's pretty exciting to me!

Other than that, just working on slowly adding to my CD stash, thinking about the baby, and waiting.

Welcome to the Dark Side....

MWAAHHAHHAHAAHHAHA.....


Well. Not really.  It's just that I always considered being a SAHM (this means "Stay at home mom" for those of you who don't know the lingo.  Stick with me kid, I'll teach you what you need to know and fill you in on stuff you will probably wish you never heard...) something of a laughable task.

NOT that being a SAHM is an easy job, I meant laughable that *I* would ever be caught doing it. No way Jose.  Uh uh.  No siree bob.  I go to work and get to get AWAY from home for a few hours.  Everything 50/50 down the middle, housework, bills, kids, etc.

 Yea, that was when I was younger and had something to prove. I wanted to prove I COULD be a career mom, a housewife, a laundress, a chauffer, a nurse, AND STILL VOLUNTEER at the school!
I had a healthy social life, a lot of friends, a job, two great kids, what on earth would I be wanting to stay home for?

Fast forward a decade.  A new relationship and new relationship dynamics with my kids now that they're older.  I'm due to have a baby again in about a month and J-man and I have concluded that I cannot afford to work and pay daycare. It's not only impractical, but nearly impossible.

For the first time in my life, I'm looking forward to staying home. Keeping my house together, seeing my kids more than for dinner and bed time.  Being able to network with other moms. I don't relish the idea of climbing the corporate ladder for at least a couple years.

This doesn't mean forever, at least it's not intended to at the moment. I will more than likely return to the workforce after Baby Girl is a bit older and able to attend a preschool. At least that's the plan right now.

So - because of that, I invite you to join me on my journey of being a newly christened SAHM and share my family's adventures in late parenting, teens, tweens, relationships, cloth diapers, and money saving tricks and tips I've learned (and will learn).

Yea. I'm the princess.  (not really)

Thanks for popping by!!!