Fun with baby gifts!

Two new babies have recently been born to friends of ours and what better way to celebrate than with baby gifts??

After Michael was born, so many people sent nice things over to the house through the mail. I was so surprised...I really had no idea people did that.

So now I know... and I had so much fun shopping that I wanted to share my goodies with you!

The first is for a little girl, whose parents are really into living green. I picked up this cute onesie that is organic cotton and soy. How cool is that? It is super soft and I really wanted one for myself, but no adult sizes. :o(

The crunchy store I was shopping at also had these wood teethers-so I sent one along with the package and also picked one up to take home to Michael.

The second gift is for a little boy so I included some of Michael's favorites. He loved wearing the little sleeping gowns with snaps. Because he hated anything going over his head, he lived in those the first month of his life! Also tucked into the package were a fun rattle (LaMaze toys...they are so cute) and of course my favorite, a board book. :o)

We are so happy for everyone! I hope they enjoy their gifts! Yay for new babies!

Sweet Shot Tuesday

My pretty kitty, taken totally by accident on my Canon Elph! :o) I thought it was a pretty sweet shot!

Baby bookworm

Confession: I am currently obsessed with baby board books.



I think the obsession was triggered during a trip to Barnes and Noble when I was browsing the children's section on a coffee high. I looked at the board books and I wanted to take them all home with me. They are just so little and perfect and cheery!! I love board books!! So cute!

But, I didn't buy any because I am a cheapskate.

However, I did log on to ebay when I got home and proceeded to bid on several lots of baby board books and I ended up winning a couple of them. How much did I pay for about 30 books? Around $5. (plus a little more for shipping and handling).

It is so exciting to get them in the mail and start building my little library. And of course...it is fun to read them to Michael too.

We've also been frequenting the library as well (because I love free things!!).
I joined a baby story time group and so we can get new books every week.

Here is what we picked up this week:



I love love love these Skippyjon Jones' books. Mostly because he looks like my cat and they are so fun to read out loud. Also as a bonus: they help you brush up on your meager high school Spanish!

Have you ever heard of Usborne books? An Usborne lady had a booth at the county fair this year and I bought a couple of their books because I just couldn't resist. They are so dang adorable! However...they are very expensive and again, I am cheap, so I was so excited to see the library had a great collection of Usborne books!



I like this one because it is a touch and feel. However since it is a library book, we try to be very careful and make sure Michael's fingers are slobber free before he touches it. But mostly he just wants to chew on it, so we usually hold it far away (good thing the print is large!)

How cute is that?

I also like the books with nursery rhymes or songs so you can sing the words.

...because sometimes I just think singing is more fun. :o)

Thanks for listening to me rant about my little obsession! Anyone else out there have crazy baby obsessions? Anyone have any favorite baby books they love?

Big boy pants!

Michael has the cutest pair of baby gap jeans and he looks like such a big boy when he wears them!



I figured I better hurry up and take a photo because when he was playing on the floor I noticed how painfully short they were!



Poor guy, I'm sure he will probably be dealing with this problem his whole life. :o(

(While I was trying to take his photo he was too busy checking out the bowl of m&m's! I told him he could have one if he could pick one up with his fingers, but our little pincer grasp has a lot of work ahead of it, as you can see from the photo! But seriously, I wouldn't have let him have any even if he could pick them up!)

(also, the m&m's were before we started our eating/fitness program...no more of those in the house!)

A little sunshine....

These happy daffodils were $1.78 a bunch at HyVee last week so I picked up a couple. They are so bright and cheery, it really makes it feel like spring around here. The weather has been beautiful the past few days but unfortunately with all the snow melting and rainfall, my beloved Jester Park is FLOODED! The gates are closed; you can't even go in! I need to find somewhere else with minimal traffic where I can park, get out and walk.

In other news, Scott has started a new fitness program called "Goals in Motion". He wakes up early every morning and heads to a 6:15 workout, alternating between kickboxing and resistance training. So far he is pretty sore, but he is really liking it! We are eating super healthy, and I am being a supportive partner by shopping and preparing good foods for us to eat. It is so much easier when we are both on board- he has a hard time coming up with ideas for meals by himself and when I do an eating program, he never wants to eat the food! So this is a good compromise!

I have been getting up early with him and I do my own workout at home before Michael wakes up. So far, so good except last night Michael came down with a bad cold so I skipped this morning's workout in lieu of sleeping in (but hopefully we can get some exercise in later today....maybe out in the fresh air)! I feel so bad for the poor baby because there isn't a whole lot I can do for him. :o( I hope he feels better soon!

Any tips on how to help a sick baby??

Or a tired momma?

Breaking for Spring

Happy Spring Everyone!

My sister in law, niece, and nephew came to visit me on my spring break since they were also on spring break. It actually felt like spring!

We went to Jester Park to hang out for a bit...the snow has been melting and the lake is up really high! We had fun throwing rocks into it.

The next day we spent the entire day at the Science Center. We had a great time! We got to play with lots of exhibits and saw an IMAX movie in the dome theater. Very cool.

We all had a great time!

Snapshots

It's time for another round of "Let's See what Rose has downloaded from her iphone camera!!"

1. Check out this crazy house:



Isn't that wild? It is one of the most expensive houses in Des Moines...I had only seen photos of it until I was driving Michael around for a nap the other day and cruised by it!

2. Also on our drive, we saw this house:

That's right, it is a Morton building and house in one! When we were building our house, I was seriously considering this because Scott could not get a garage that was big enough. How perfect would this be? It is like you are living in your garage!! Imagine all the cool storage space you would have!

3. Apparently housing is a theme here....

I was in our preK-1 building the other day for recess duty and I scoped out the igloo the kindergarten class made out of milk jugs. How cool is that? Our school sure drinks a lot of milk!!

4. And speaking of milk...

...here is Michael cruising the dairy aisle at Target! He recently started sitting up in the cart and that makes shopping so much more enjoyable for us and for all the old people who must come up and check him out. :o)