thirty-one.

What better way to celebrate my 31st birthday, than to share a (guilty pleasure of mine) little peek at BabyKO2's wishlist!  There aren't many things we NEED for this babe, especially because she's a she and we saved everything.  There are a few things though, that I have discovered in my wise-old-two years as a mother ;), I think will surely be of use.  These things I kinda wish I had purchased last time, and I'm saving our pennies for this time around.  Though, to be honest, most of our pennies will probably go to a double stroller...how are the nice ones so expensive!?!

*Baby K'tan - I feel like this will be much more efficient for city living than was the Moby.  I liked the Moby - all except for the football-field-length fabric.  Hopefully, the K'tan is an answer for that.

*Blessed Nest Nursing Pillow - Now, I know.  Ringing in at just under 100 bucks, this little number might have you scratching your heads.  Why am I dying to try this pillow?  Mostly because my back is pretty much humped from the first two years of nursing.  Even with the Boppy, it was difficult for me to get Lua up high enough (without 5 extra pillows) to be effective.  My hope is that this buckwheat-filled number is super conform-able to baby's shape and will allow this nursing journey to be less of a strain!

*I've heard from numerous new mamas that the Fisher-Price Rock n Play sleeper is where their baby lived for the first few weeks.  It's portable and its sloped design keeps baby semi-upright.  A feature I wish we would've had for Lu!

These last two wish-list items are a bit frivolous, I'll admit:)

*The headband from wildjuniper is a perfect alternative for a summer baby newborn cap, don't you think?

*I labored in a too-tight sports bra with Lua.  This time, I want to be beautiful and comfortable.  So there.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.  I am so so so so lucky.   I mean, just look who I get to hang out with today...

check out BabyKO2's entire wishlist here.

mommy appreciation day!

A few weeks ago, Andrew surprised me with a trip to a shopping outlet and a night away from NYC.  What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man ;)

We shopped all day (well, I got a bit tired of shopping after about 2 hours), ordered in from Applebees (I know) and took Lua swimming at the hotel.  

It was so nice to get away from the city for even a night and do something as a family.  There's something so fun about staying in a hotel.  The continental breakfast, free shampoo...

Lua must have liked it too, because she slept better than she has in a looong time :)

mama to mama.

Money money money MUHH-NAY!

 

I was really looking forward to this week's post (hello homemade wipes?!?!).  Andrew and I have been very luck to receive almost everything we needed for Beetle as handmedowns from friends, but we are constantly on the search for new, innovative ways to save some dough in this crazy town.  Recently, I was introduced to the site zulily.com by my MIL and have found quite a few great deals on there if I'm looking to "splurge" on something new. I actually just "splurged" on this adorable rick-rack hat for summertime - found on zulily.com for $7.99.  On other sites I found it priced anywhere from $12.82 to $17!

 

Check out these money saving tips from the Mamas! 

 

PS - my parents were here for two weeks, so get ready for some serious Nana and Papa snapshots, coming soon!

 

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Leslie, mom to Eloise, 6 months

 

 

I had my first experience with hand dyed onesies today!  I bought a few packages of the Gerber white 100% cotton onesies in different sizes at Marshall's and some Rit at the fabric store and ta-da! Pretty, inexpensive, solid colored onesies.  (No princesses, divas or monkeys):)  

Another place I've found solid colored onesies (and other super cute stuff) is H&M.  They have a very limited online selection so every once in a while I scope out my local store.  They usually have a 2 for $10 deal, plus Eloise has been wearing their 2-4 month size since she was a little over 2 months old, and she is now a rather large 6 month old!  

If you're curious what some of the Rit dye colors look like, left to right, I used violet, purple, and petal pink...the last one was a mommy oops moment when I forgot to take a petal pink one out of the washing machine before washing the purple ones.      

   

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Betsy, mother of June Ellen, Evelyn, and Olive

 

When you have a baby (or three) every trip you make to the store seems to get more and more expensive. Even worse is when you take the trash out at the end of the week and see all of the waste going out the door about as fast as it came in. My money saving tips for new moms are as follows:

1) Breast Feed if you can. Obviously it's the most natural way to feed a baby and super cheap, too!

2) Make your own baby food. This is so easy to do and will keep you and the rest of your family eating healthy as well. Just steam your veggies and puree them. You can add salt/pepper/sauces/ after you separate a portion to be pureed for the baby. Pour the extra into ice cube trays and when they are frozen, pop them out and save them in a freezer safe container of you choice. We like to use mostly glass jars that I have saved from buying salsa, pasta sauce, pickles, etc.

3) Try to get hand-me-down clothing, or buy at a resale shop. Everyone needs a little something new every once in a while but for daily wear, especially to be pooped or thrown-up on, used clothing is a treasure.

4) Make your own baby wipes! Really quite easy and affordable. Here is a link to a great recipe http://www.quadcitymomsblog.com/2012/02/04/diy-baby-wipes/

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Natalie, mom to Cole

 

Our biggest money saver has to be amazon.com.  We started out with our baby registry there, because it was a universal registry you could find items from outside vendors but purchase them through amazon.  So, you can get pretty much anything your heart desires there.  That aside, we order all our diapers and wipes from amazon through the subscribe and save program and amazon moms.  This saves you about 30% off the regular price.  With subscribe and save they send you the product every month, however many quantities you desire.  They send you an e-mail notifying you of shipping and at that point you can make changes.  Skip the delivery if needed or up the quantity, whatever you want.  It ships for free, as do tons of things on amazon over $25.  Another great site is diapers.com but they have a $49 min for free 2 day shipping.  The cool thing about them is that they affiliated with 3 other useful sites and you can reach your $49 buying from all the different sites if needed.  Soap.com for toiletries, wag.com (great for Mom's with pets) and another that is toys I think.  I can order cat food and hand and face wipes for baby at 9pm and they are on my doorstep by 5pm the next day.  Pretty impressive. 

I hope we are saving money on this...  I have a baby bullet food processor and make all Cole's purees.  This way I know he is not getting any sugar or preservatives, and I am sure in the long run it is a money saver over the packaged goods.  As for shopping we usually try to get hand me downs, because they grow out of stuff so fast.  But, for those Mom's uptown or in the heights there is a big superstore with cheap cute baby stuff called Young World.  It is around 181st and St. Nick's.  Happy shopping Mommies.  

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Kerrie, mom to Aspen 9 wks

In my quest to save money on baby supplies I found that if you have a Sam's Club membership you can get on there website and they have an auction section...even with shipping you can usually get pampers for around 11 cents (since i'm sharing this tip with everyone, your not allowed to bid against me! ;)...fyi Aspen is in size 1.  With amazon.com charging for membership, I have found that Sam's Club or walmart.com's prices are very close and sometimes less.

Retailmenot.com is another good site to find codes for % off or free shipping codes. I do not make an online purchase without checking this site first, they also have some of the huggies and pampers rewards codes.

Free-stuff-finder.com has a baby section that has stocked me with free samples of formula (even though i'm breastfeeding it's nice to know I have some on hand just in case...and even better it was free) and some diapers.

I also check websites for any baby products I use and sign up with them because they usually send coupons!

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ThankYOU, Mamas!

Simply Printed.

 

Aren't these the CUTEST prints!?!  For my baby shower, Aileen made Beetle a couple of hand printed onesies.  One of them is still too big, but she wears the other ALL THE TIME.  

...see?

Anyhoot.

She just open this shop on Etsy Simply Printed and it is so amazingly cute (and so reasonably priced!).  I will definitely be getting the peacock for Lua, maybe the camel too :)

late night finds.

it's 3a.m. and i'm waiting for andrew to get the babe back to sleep so we can finish watching this amazing documentary...CATFISH...anybody heard of it? i caught the tail end of it earlier today and could not wait to share it with the hubcap when he got home. about a friendship made through facebook that is unexpected. very unexpected.

anyway, i'm sitting here on the computer and so i hop on etsy.com to buy some scrap fabric and yarn for my next DIY (i KNOW! go me!) and I stumble upon this great baby shop - the measure. Check out these gems!

snapshots.

So, I just found the coolest iphone ap - picture show.  I've been looking for something like instagram - which I love - but, without the requirement to post the photo right away (sometimes I take too many photos of beetle!).  Picture Show features totally edit-able photos, plus some pre-fixed actions/filters for quick adjustments!  Check out the snapshots of the beetle this week :)

P.S. -  Yes! We got Lu a Christmas tree this year :)  She loves looking at all the twinkly lights and I love having something green in the apartment, if only for a couple months.

 

P.P.S. - can you tell I LOVE the film strip frame!?!

if i had a million dollars...

...of course AFTER I donated to charity, paid off our student loans and did a bunch of other things...I would snatch me up these fancies ;)

found these prints on etsy from trafalgar's square.  so cute and simple!

i found one of these chairs at Salvation Army when we were first moving for $150, but we had no room for it.  this one looks so worn and comfy :)

i'm always on the lookout for vintage inspired baby clothes!  this hankyblanky romper is just perfect.

back when i was a nanny, the family invited me to go on vacation with them to hawaii.  i thought hawaii was going to be this cliched and touristy place, but it completely proved me wrong.  if i could afford it, i would take andrew and lu in a heartbeat!

i've finally gotten the hang of layering my clothes to easily breastfeed the beetle, but this top by the company BOOB is just awesome.

i'm a little embarrassed to put this wayyyy too expensive bag on my list but, alas, I'm a bag gal.  if you've got a ton of moolah lyin' around, you can find it here.

my brother-in-law and i like to talk about someday co-owning a cabin on a lake.  i would love the family to have our own little getaway...

What would YOU get if you had money to burn?

the day before it snowed.

it snowed in NYC!  what?!  I'm so sad that we didn't have a proper autumn here.  andrew, lua and i head to the midwest tomorrow...hopefully we can find the fall there.

friday the family headed to soho to do some shopping with some coupons we had saved.  we usually steer clear of soho, because of all the tourists (that being said:  come and visit us any time!) and because we don't have enough moolah to just "head down to soho for some shopping".  can we drop a few dollars at H&M?  ya.  Nordstroms?  nope.  i'm not even sure that's how you spell 'Nordstroms'.  my spell checker is no help either.  at this point, i'd also like to say how disappointed i am with pearl river trading company...or rather, with everyone who told me to go there because it was so cheap.  come on, people!  $15.50 for an owl mug...?  I mean, it was way cute, but...not in an actor&mom's budget :( sometimes it sucks to live in nyc.  i bet i could find this mug at the thrift store in Aurora, NE for 50 cents.

we did pick up some cute onsies, though!

the corn onesie is from a stand we passed on our way to dinner.  this nice man and his wife are trying to launch their printing business and have such cute, nature-y prints.  fruits, veggies and bugs!  check them out here.

hopefully the snow doesn't follow us to Wisconsin or Nebraska and we can enjoy some more walks before winter!