We have a WINNER!

Thanks to all my last-minute posters for stopping by to enter!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2009-02-21 04:59:03 UTC

Congratulations to Alexis who said:

Alexis said...

okay you can enter me a third time cause i wrote my entry about this :) can you tell i want to win? haha!

February 14, 2009 12:00 PM

Just goes to show you that it pays to enter three times! I'll be contacting you soon, Alexis!

Another Giveaway Opportunity

In honor of My First Giveaway being drawn tonight, why not take a stab at another fun giveaway?

Check out this neat crafty blog created by two sisters. Just click on the picture of the item they are giving away below:

They are giving away a fun party banner, much like the banner that the Crafty Twin made me!

Georgia Peach

It is no secret that Baby C was born with enough Peach Fuzz to keep her warm on the coldest of nights. Seriously it was hard core fuzz. Thankfully, she has lost most of that fuzzy hair! Now she can just enjoy peach fuzz in its edible form. Here is Little C eating her first (frozen) peach:

*Multiple* prayers

I've seen a lot of blogs about mamas in hospitals, praying and waiting for their babies to arrive who may have a medical condition (MckMama), or about seemingly healthy babies who arrived only to get sick while in the hospital (Kelly). I've read and followed those blogs and prayed for the babies and their parents.

Now I have a very good friend from college who is in the hospital waiting for her twins to arrive. They've gone through a lot of ups and downs lately but everything is holding steady. Despite the great news, they still need your prayers for healthy babies and a healthy delivery. Please visit their blog and encourage them with a comment!

Here is their blog:

Mind Your Millers

Thanks!

New toys!

Well, The Twin (check out her newly-public blog) found a steal of a deal on the local Craigslist so that the babes wouldn't be bored. So, they technically have a new toy, too, as illustrated below:

However, the real reason for this post is to talk about my new toys! I finally received my shipment from Peas and Carrots diapers of brand new cloth diapers. I cannot wait to wash them and try them out on C! Woo hoo. Who knew you could be so excited about diapers?

The second toy is my birthday present from J.

Yeah, I'm just a little excited! Hopefully I won't spend too much time on that thing :-o

DON'T FORGET: Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for my giveaway! Tell your friends!

The Twin goes public!

The twin's blog is finally public! Now you can all read about her fun life with Little Miss (aka Baby R) and see her creativity in action!

Check her out by clicking on this cute picture of her family:

MVOTW

I know a lot of you may have become my follower to win a great bib and burp set. Thank you for doing so! I hope that you'll stick around for a few more weeks as I plan on giving away more items...and not just baby things!

In the meantime, please get to know me in my About Me section. You'll find that I am a Christian. One of my resolutions for 2009 was to memorize a Bible verse every week. Here is this week's:

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Why Memorize scripture?

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

Billy Graham said, "I am convinced one of the greatest things we can do is to memorize scripture" [Personal Thoughts of a Public Man, p.88].

D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R

What a trip.

I have to start by saying we are so thankful for prayers for safety and alertness. And whoever prayed for us to stay awake sure prayed hard because we never got tired...even 20 hours after we woke up from our 3 hour sleep.

Okay, so now to the real beginning. After planning a 3 AM departure, we tried to get some sleep by going to bed early. 12:45 AM rolled around, R was up, and we couldn't sleep so we thought, "Let's just head out now." (I will note that J thought it was an absolutely wretched idea to leave that early on so little sleep but we were adamant about going so off we went.)

Well, R decided she did not want to have anything to do with sleep. Nothing. She wanted to "talk" and cry--both of which kept me company and awake (!) while I drove. About 2 hours after we started, she finally fell asleep. Not even an hour later, she woke up screaming and C decided to join her--here is a little snippet of the sounds we heard for the next 45 minutes:



Joyous.

Around 5 AM we ran into accident #1. We could actually see it looming on the horizon from quite a distance away. The closer we got the larger the accident looked--come to find out, it was so big that it closed down the entire highway and we were re-routed off of I-75 and onto US 41 for the next 25 minutes. We can only say that we are grateful that 1) the girls were finally quiet and 2) that we have larger interstates now as neither of us can imagine driving to Florida on a 2-lane road like our parents used to do!

Then, around 9 AM we ran into accident #2. Again, we were re-routed off the highway because the accident was so big. We know that at least two people died in the accidents we saw and we pray for their families and praise God for keeping us safe.

We arrived a little after noon and cannot wait to do it all again in a week. Ha.

Here is Baby C--she was the only one who slept in the car:

And the sleepless wonder, Baby R:

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

We're headed to Florida tomorrow! My postings will definitely be few and far between until Friday night when I announce the WINNER of my first giveaway!

While you are waiting anxiously for my next post, don't forget to sign up for my Bib and Burp Cloth Giveaway or my Pay it Forward Giveaway.

Have a great end to your weekend and a wonderful start to your week!

Last post of the day, I promise

Seriously, I promise not to post 4 times every day. Its just that a lot happened today AND today is Valentine's Day. Here are a few highlights from today:

J took C out for a daddy-daughter date. He proved to be a boring date as she came back home fast asleep. J then managed to sneak C into the crib without her waking up. She decided she'd slept long enough 8 minutes later so J made me go in and get her. This is what I found:

C had a VDay gift for me! Aww. Thanks J and C for your thoughtfulness. That Nerd Rope was gone in 2 seconds flat but the card will be kept forever.

After bumming around for a few hours, we went up to visit the twin and her family. The girls hung out with each other, took a bath together (where we experienced an hilarious #2 incident), and then prolonged their bedtime by playing with a fun stroller toy ingeniously attached to the bottom of a dining chair by the twin (I told you she was creative)

Here are some priceless photos of the two of them together:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pay It Forward - first five

So, this is an interesting post. My love of all-things-free and giveaways, led me to this blogger: CutieFruity. I'd seen her hilarious bibs and adorable bellybands on Etsy and had liked what I'd seen.

When I saw she was offering a free handmade item, I was all ready to sign up. Then, I realized there was a catch--if I received something from her I, in turn, would have to send something to 5 more people.

Hmmm.

I thought about it for a while and then finally took the plunge and cannot wait to receive something from her! Now it is your turn to think about posting a comment below...and, if you don't want the weight of paying it forward, feel free to still sign up for my first giveaway!

----Now for the details----

The first Five (5) people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me. However there are some limitations.

1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it is going to be, poetry, clothes, paper goods, or a little invention of my own. I may bake something and mail it you . Who knows? Not you that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

Here is the catch if you choose to do this: You must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.

New Blog Header Title!

I am so excited to have a beautiful new image as my header. My creative friend (who I mentioned before in this post) has an equally creative sister who makes these blog headers in her spare time. I keep telling her she needs to charge for them! She is so good at what she does! Go on over to her site and check out her other images she's made for friends:

http://kellyandlincoln.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-new-hobby.html

The joys of solid food

I've been wanting to post on babyfood since I started this blog. Who knew that I'd become so obsessed with it? I LOVE solids. It really is fun!

My twin has a daughter, R, that is 5 months older than C. She started baby R on solids at exactly 6 months. After trying Earth's Best Organic Rice Cereal for a few days, she started reading Super Baby Food and implementing the ideas and recipes found in that book. I was intrigued. Who knew you could feed your baby millet and brewer's yeast? For Christmas, the twin gifted me with the Super Baby Food Book and two freezer food trays shown here:

C started showing an interest in our food in the beginning of January so, on the 18th, I decided to start her a few weeks shy of her half year celebration. I didn't want to start her on grains so i decided to try sweet potatoes. After the first reaction of solids on her tongue:

she became voracious and acted like she'd been starved for the past 5.5 months. Its been smooth sailing ever since. She LOVES her solids and will sit in her booster chair and just kick those little legs when she sees the spoon coming. It is really quite hilarious. She now eats with gusto peas, carrots, butternut squash, green beans, avocado, bananas, apples and millet. (What is millet? I asked that, too! Millet is a grain that is more digestible than rice and just as good for you.)

Of course, with solids, you need to drink water, too! Here is a pic of her meeting her new friend the sippy cup:

I now put Rooibos Tea in her sippy. If you've read that post you know she gulps that down faster than lightening. I actually have to watch her intake because she can't drink too much or it would dilute her poor system!

A few of the blogs that I love to read have some great information on starting solids or using the Super Baby Food book. Check it out:

Baby Wise Mom

and

Passionate Homemaking

And don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Please note: I was not compensated for this review. This review is based on my own opinion. I love this babyfood book so much that i just wanted to share!

First Giveaway!

In honor of my first blogging week, I'm inviting you to enter my first giveaway! Sadly, it will probably only interest those who have babies or who have friends that are having babies.

A little about this giveaway:

You could win a coordinating bib and burp cloth set. The front is made of a gender-neutral designer fabric and the back is an ultrasoft chocolate brown fleece. Perfect for wiping up your child's messes or for giving to your friend who has messy children :)

Of course, Baby C is anything but messy, hence why I don't need this in my house! I wish! C is, unfortunately, a big-time drooler and spitter and I'm constantly cleaning up after her! But I digress.

Back to the giveaway! This set is from Sarita Baby. You can find some of her products on her Etsy store by clicking here She describes her store in this way:

"Sarita Baby is a line of funky baby accessories made out of designer fabric. Because who wants boring baby stuff?"

She makes baby quilts, onesies, blankies with silk tags (because Taggies is trademarked), and, obviously, bibs and burp cloths. Take a look at the adorable set you could win:

To enter, please just leave a comment in the post below...about anything!

If you want another entry (and why not? its a cute giveaway!), sign up to be a follower of my blog and then post a second time to let me know that you did that. And, if you are really desperate to win this set, you can get one more entry by posting about this giveaway on your own blog and coming back and leaving a third comment telling me you did so. Since I think only 5 of you read my blog, you have a very high chance of winning :)

The contest ends a week from today, Friday, February 20th at 11:59 PM EST. I'll use a random number picker to choose the winner and then announce the winner on the blog on Saturday. Please leave me a way to contact you (via blog or email) so that I can get you your prize! Alternatively, check back on Saturday the 21st to see if you are the lucky recipient. If I don't hear back from the winner by Sunday, the 22nd, another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

My crafty twin*

When I was in middle school, high school, and college, I used to tell my friends that my sister sucked all the creative juices in the womb and left me with pretty much nothing. What do I tell them now days, you ask? Well, no one really asks but, if they did, I could claim that I finally found some small bit of craftiness in me. It took about 26 years for it to appear but I'm glad I've tapped into it!

Regardless of that talent I've found, though, my twin is still much craftier than I (no, not in the evil sense!). And I have proof! She has made me many things over the years and now that her daughter and Baby C are around, she has gone overboard on the crafts. For our birthday, for example, she made me a wonderful pennant banner for C's nursery. I just wanted to share a few pictures of them so that you could all agree that she is very creative.

Also, if you look to the far right of the last picture, you can see some canvas paintings made by, who else, my sister. She has a lovely blog, too, full of cute pics of her daughter (baby R) but it is private. Feel free to ask her if you'd like to peruse her personal site!

*I was desperately trying to think of a creative title that had to do with craftiness and twins but, other than something like a "crafty evil twin" that was all I could come up with. See why I need my more creative sister?