My Simple Day- Monday

For Today...

Outside my window...it is light and sunny out. Can't wait to get out there and enjoy the day.

I am thinking...about my brother's upcoming wedding! (and getting myself a dress for it- today I shop with my sister-in-law for something lovely to wear over what will be my five month bump).

I am thankful for...the season! I love the summer. It's a pleasure every day to wake up to mild weather.

From the kitchen...I smell chocolate chip cookies- it's actually Eggo chocolate chip waffles toasting :)

I am wearing...an empire waist, soft, sleeveless black dress.

I am reading...(or about to read) The Surrendered Wife. I will be starting it this week.

I am hoping...that the summer will be lovely. I would love to have lots of picnics and bbq's this year, and be very social. June was a tad too rainy at times.

I am creating...a library for my little bunchkin, and preparing the atmosphere in our home to be safe and calm for him/her.

I am hearing...birds chirping outside the front window.... I hear them every day, and I love it :)

Around the house...it is quiet and cozy.

One of my favorite things...is catching up with old friends. I reconnected with old college girlfriends recently on Facebook, and it's so lovely to hear how their lives are going, what is new, etc.

A few plans for the rest of the week...my anatomy scan! I get to see my baby from many different angles, find out the gender (do I want to know??), and these usually last 45 minutes, so it should be lots of fun.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...



http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

♥ Beautiful Scripture ♥

Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to take offense and get angry.

~ James 1:19

A Course In Femininity

This site offers an 18 week course in femininity for married or single women. It is totally free, and the owner of the site also gives free advice on clothing and hair styles.

I've taken this class in the past, it is very good, and I also enjoyed and appreciated her advice on clothing styles. She asks what you look like, your body type, your best colors, then finds clothes for you (she is a sort of free personal shopper) and it is up to you whether or not to buy what she suggests.

To sign up for the current class (presently starting) you can also email her at 1Femmy@gmail.com . Enjoy!

The Original Slumber Bear

This amazing product from Prince Lionheart features an adorable napping teddy, holding a removable "silkie", that is able to quickly lull your baby to sleep with its unique intra-uterine heartbeat sounds. The Slumber Bear comes in pj's and a silkie in your choice of beige, pink, or ice blue (I received the beige) and is very affordable (it usually retails at around $27).

The Slumber Bear has lots of incredible features that would make it a spectacular gift for yourself or an expectant friend. The inner audio pacifier (sound box) is the only one with actual sounds recorded inside a mother's womb, soothing the baby with its familiar heartbeat sound. It has a volume control that allows you to make the sound quite high, should you need to, allowing it to mask quite a bit of noise from outdoors, and the sound box also had a five minute auto shutoff timer to save on battery life. The sound box can be placed inside the bear, or used on its own by attaching it to the side of the crib with the included velcro strap. The bear itself may also be attached to the side of the crib, out of reach of a sleeping infant, with the same strap. The best aspect of this feature? It has motion and sound sensors. If the baby wakes up and cries, or jostles the bear, it turns on again to soothe the baby back to sleep!



The silkie mini-blanket is a smooth satin cloth that is worn by either parent for a time (to transfer their scent) before being used to comfort the baby. Babies are most calm, reassured and happy when they are near the comforting, familiar scent of a parent, and this also helps to bond the baby. The entire product is very well made, a beautiful addition to a nursery. Even the sound box is attractive enough to display on its own:



This company makes a lot of great quality products, and I'm so happy I found them.

Great Children's Books (That Teach Values)

I am building up our baby's library, and I came across some great books that I really love. The first book (it's the third in a new series of children's books) is called "Loukoumi's Good Deeds" by Nick Katsoris and it's about a little lamb named Loukoumi who learns how wonderful it is to do something nice for others each day. She and her friends find joy in helping others, visiting grandparents, and doing good deeds. It's a really enjoyable book for young children.

This book comes with a CD that features the voices of some well known stars today, including Olympia Dukakis, Jennifer Aniston (though this won't matter to your baby :) it's encouraging that celebrities see the value in these books and help support them) and others, reading the parts of the different characters. The CD also features an additional story called "Loukoumi's Gift" (it teaches that gifts do not need to cost a lot to have value) and a narration of a previous story revised, "Growing Up Loukoumi".

The author is donating two dollars from the sale of each of the Good Deeds books to research for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. He has been involved in other charitable activities as well, such as founding and presiding over the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund, and sponsoring the Growing Up with Loukoumi Dream Day contest (three winners had their ultimate dreams fulfilled, such as playing soccer with the New York Red Bulls and visiting NASA to watch the Phoenix spacecraft land on Mars). How terrific is that!

His other books are fabulous too, and the whole collection is the start of my baby's personal library.

Lots of Blessings

Today starts the beginning of a new week, and I'm looking forward to lots of fun events. Today is Father's Day, and I am looking forward to see my dad this evening for a family dinner. Wednesday evening I join my husband at a special work dinner where we celebrate the men in blue and have an enjoyable evening with his good friends and co-workers. Thursday is my monthly mommy meeting with a group of the sweetest, most fun gals ever. Too, I get to start shopping for a glamorous maternity dress this week, to wear to my brother's upcoming wedding. It is five weeks before my baby brother is hitched- how the time flies!

Last week was a great one! Last Sunday I went to two church festivals (one in the morning right after church, the second in the evening at another location) and had lots of great food (gyros and loukomades, which are fried dough balls that are smothered in honey and sprinkled in cinammon...yummy!), saw family I haven't seen in a long while (and we happily got to tell the news of our Great Expectation to them all), and enjoyed the very beautiful weather.


On Tuesday my husband treated me to my first every pregnancy massage...it was at a lovely salon called "Maximus" in New York, and basically is very similar to a regular Swedish massage, except that the tummy and lower back are pretty much avoided. I really enjoyed that treat, and needed it! I hope he'll treat me to at least one more before I'm due ;-)

On Wednesday, my wonderful mother-in-law had a dining room set delivered to my home, with a beautiful break front, and a chandelier made of brass with frosty glass covering the bulbs. It was from an estate sale, and replaced my very old, rather beaten dining room set that was too small to entertain very large parties with. I told her my dream of having large family get-togethers sitting around my dining room table, and when she saw this set, she knew I would love it (and she's right!). The chairs are made of heavy wood with ivory upholstery, the table enlarges with two additional leaves to seat twelve very comfortably (and even more, squooshed together), and the matching breakfront is exquisitely carved and elegant. It is very much my taste.


On Thursday, my amazing parents surprised me by visiting- just to clean my house. They knew I had been feeling a tad under the weather, and could not tolerate the fumes of cleaning supplies, so they came by equipped with sponges, buckets, rags, and more, to clean my house from top to bottom. Who does that?! I was very surprised and touched. I lay in bed with kleenex while they washed my windows, sweeped my floors, cleaned my counters and dishes and even the chairs, oven and sink. They vacuumed the whole house, even the stairs, and said they'd come back another day to finish.

Clearly, I have to have a great, big, delicious dinner for my parents and mother-in-law to show them how grateful I am. They are very special people, my husband and I are very blessed.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

To all the wonderful fathers out there, to all those men who work hard to support their families, who show love, patience, kindness to their children, who are brave and sacrifice on their behalf, I wish you a Wonderful Father's Day.

To my own father, and my husband (and daddy-to-be), thank you for all that you do for us. Your families are truly grateful for men like you, our heroes.

A Little Bit of Baby Luxury in a Kit

I recently received the Earth Mama Angel Baby Kit from Earth Mama Baby Angel Organics...What a great gift! It is not only entirely *organic* and safe, but it comes with a great CD to help babies sleep.

The products inside are for total baby pampering. They are totally natural, safe and organic (Earth Mama's promise: Read our labels: No Toxins Ever. We'll never have 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde, phthalates, or any other toxic ingredients in any of our products, because we guarantee safe, pure and natural products that work. Pure, toxin free gifts from the earth, especially for you from Earth Mama Angel Baby. ). It comes beautiful packaged in a box perfect for gift-giving.

This terrific kit contains organic bath blossoms (to be added to the baby's bath water- it helps calm fussy babies), a diaper rash balm that isn't gooey or too sticky, a natural, scent free soap that is gentle for sensitive skin, an organic baby lotion as well as an organic baby oil, both also unscented, and everything is perfectly sized to carry around in a diaper bag.

The CD has two tracks. I was listening to it for a bit (both tracks are wonderfully long), and I myself felt very sleepy. It even comes with a warning...do not listen to CD while driving. The CD is comprised of soft instrumental music and the first track also features a gentle woman's voice speaking softly to lull your baby into dreamland.

This kit would really make a terrific gift. I have many friends who are also expecting, and this would be a great baby shower gift that they would really appreciate and love.

Baby Sleeping Safety

I've been spending time lately looking into great products for a baby's nursery...mainly *safe*, great products. It's a lot of fun buying cute baby stuff, and as I research more and more (I research everything), I am learning more and more about safety for babies also.

I'm concerned about lots of thing- lead in the crib's paint, chemicals in a baby's garments, diapers, and creams, and lately, as I read more about it, preventing SIDS. I read that crib bedding has been tied to some precious little babies suffocating, so I already decided against any (crib bedding usually includes a blanket, a bumper, a pillow- all three of which are suffocation risks- and a crib skirt, which I don't feel is necessary, just attractive). The best way for a baby to sleep is on a firm mattress, with a fitted crib sheet, and a safe blanket...and that is it.

From The American Academy Of Pediatrics:

SAFE BEDDING PRACTICES FOR INFANTS

♥ Place baby on his or her back on a firm tight-fitting mattress in a crib that meets current safety standards.
♥ Remove pillows, pillow-like bumper pads, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, stuffed toys, and other soft products from the crib.
♥ Consider using a sleeper or other sleep clothing as an alternative to blankets, with no other covering.
♥ If using a blanket, put baby with feet at the foot of the crib. Tuck a thin blanket around the crib mattress, reaching only as far as the baby's chest.
♥ Make sure your baby's head remains uncovered during sleep.
♥ Do not place baby on a water bed, sofa, soft mattress, pillow, or other soft surface.



I found a great company-Halo- that makes a SleepSack Wearable Blanket, as well as a SleepSack Swaddle. So far I have only tried one of their Wearable Blankets, which is made from fleece, and is a very cozy, warm product. It comes in various colors (a buttery yellow, a baby pink, and a soft blue, for example) as well as different prints, and is also available in regular and organic cotton. As the above photo shows, the baby actually wears it like a garmet so that it can not move around the crib and get caught up around the baby or cover its face at all. It zippers downward easily, for comfort and convenience (you can easily change the diaper without disrobing your baby) and is longish so a growing baby does not outgrow it quickly. It is a good alternative to a potentially hazardous, doesn't-stay-in-one-place, crib blanket.

I'm planning to look into some swaddling blankets next, as a baby does best swaddled in the very early months. Even though I find it adorable when little bunchkins startle themselves by their own movements, it's not funny for the poor wee things when it happens while they are sleeping! My mommy group and I also plan on looking into other safe crib bedding options, and will post great finds here for other moms who are also looking.

My Wonderful Husband

I am almost four months pregnant, and I am finally over the tough early months of morning sickness (that lasts all day), being super cautious (my doctor said don't lift *anything* heavy, don't eat this, don't do that), and odd food aversions (I used to love chocolate ice cream, and for months the idea of it made me utterly nauseous).

But this post isn't about me, it's about my wonderful husband, who has been very supportive through it all. He vacuums for me (our vacuum is very heavy), has made some late night runs for odd food choices when I'm finally able to eat (I was losing lots of weight, which worried him, so he was very happy when I was in the mood for something), and he has been working any extra weekend he could get so that I could stay comfortably at home, and not have to trudge to work, bad weather, nausea and all.

I wish there was a prize I could give him (besides the "Diaper Changing Tool Kit", which he loved, lol!) to show him how much I appreciate him. I am aware there are lots of great men out there, but I feel very blessed that I have one of them. He is really and truly my hero. He is not only good to me, he is good to others. He is a great leader, strong, brave, has incredible integrity, is forgiving, very intelligent, loyal, and a great guy to be around.


Here is a little trophy for him...it's the "You're A Great Hubby Trophy"!

Free Chocolate Fridays!

The makers of Snickers and Dove Chocolate Bars is giving out 250,000 coupons for chocolate bars every Friday! Go here to sign up, and don't worry if you miss one Friday...this offer is available every Friday until September. I received a coupon last week and decided to use it to try out their Dove dark chocolate (pictured above), which I am now addicted to. They also make M & M's, Twix, Milky Way and 3Musketeers, and you have the option of picking any candy you want with your coupon. Happy Chocolate Days :)

Free "Future Christian Homemakers" Lesson Plan Download

Go to this terrific site to download a free copy of this book (which was previously sold as a book for $29.95), which will help moms raise the future's skilled homemakers and cooks. These are the lovely, old-fashioned womanly arts that are rarely taught anymore, but so relevant.

From their web-site:

Future Christian Homemakers teaches girls how to become successful homemakers.

We believe that a successful homemaker is a Godly woman equipped with the Biblical knowledge and practical skills to manage her home well. The Bible is God's word instructing us how to live now, and for eternity. A woman will find true joy and success in her life when she lives according to God's word.

Along with Biblical knowledge, women need to know how to cook, sew, and keep their home. This instruction should begin at a young age in the home. Future Christian Homemakers seeks to provide materials to help girls learn these skills at home, or through groups in churches, homeschool co-ops, or other settings.

Future Christian Homemakers encourages women to teach the younger women to love their husbands, love their children, and be "keepers at home." (Titus 2:3-5) We have much to learn from each other, whatever our age! FCH helps women share their knowledge and skills with the next generation and build strong Christian families.


Thank you FCH for making this available!

Really Cute Baby Clothes!

I came across a web-site that has some really, really adorable baby clothes. I reviewed a few with my mom's group, and I wanted to post some of the pics here. I have a Little New Yorker onesie and a set of vibrantly colored, adorable socks with pictures of cute animals on them. It's hard to express on-line how beautiful these garments are, or the quality, but suffice to say, I haven't found anything this adorable or appealing in retail stores.




The web-site is BibiandMimi.com. They offer onesies with funny expressions (like "Insomniac" and "Milk Junkie"), whimsical (and really unisex- these would be appropriate for baby boys or girls) socks, colorful leg and arm warmers and shoes, and attractive, doesn't-look-like-a-diaper-bag diaper bags. They also offer their onesies in organic materials, and their prices are very affordable (for the organic garments too!), and shipping is free when you order two or more items to be shipped within the U.S.


It's a little hard to resist wanting to buy the whole collection. Look at these precious shoes!

Bummas For Babies

Bummas are my latest addition to the baby's collection of adorable items. They are terry cloths that have multiple uses- to dry a baby's tush after using a wipe and before diapering, to cover the baby's privates while getting the diaper ready to put on (so you don't get squirted in the meantime) and they can also be used as wash cloths to bathe the baby.

I got them in the "wild bunch" colors, since I don't know what gender our little baby is yet. They are available in four color sets..."the boys", "the girls", "the calm ones", and "the wild ones". I personally like the wild ones best, as it's a colorful mix of the other three collections.


These cloths are 5x7 inches each and come in sets of ten cloths. They are made of 100% terry cotton and are to be used after cleaning a baby's bottom with a wipe, and before diapering. They are soft and very absorbent, so that no baby powder is needed on the baby's bottom (a plus if you are concerned about your baby breathing in all that talc). They can probably also double as a burp cloth if you are in a pinch (though they are a little small for this). The best part is, using them after wiping the baby helps prevent diaper rash, by fully drying the baby's bottom (you don't have to wait for the baby to air dry, and putting on a diaper while the baby is still a little wait just isn't a good idea).

I expect to mainly be using half the set to wash the baby while bathing (the colors are so pretty and vivid that the baby will probably be entertained by the pretty variety) and reserve the other half to dry the baby while diapering. I notice that the two sides have different feels- one is very soft, the other side has a bit more texture, which makes them that much more versatile. It's an ideal gift for baby showers too (a new mom can't have too many clean up cloths!) and is packaged attractively like a rainbow of cloths. They are priced low enough that getting a couple of packs is reasonably affordable (about $17 for ten cloths), and are machine washable, and do not pill or wear out after many washes. A great gift for new moms.

Fun Father's Day Gift!

I found this great gag gift for dad's of babies and dad's to be:



It's sold on funstuff4babies.com as well as giftsfordadtobe.com, and it looks like a real tool box (with warning signs on the outside such as "Warning: Compressed Gas" and "Biohazard"). Inside, there is a pair of safety goggles, tongs, nose plugs, a nose/mouth mask, a biohazard bag, a poncho, and much more, all to protect the brave dad who changes diapers from potential squirts, skinks, and accidents. It's really funny! My husband got a real kick out of it, and my sister is planning to buy one for her husband (a dad to be also) for Father's Day (which is right around the corner, two and a half weeks away).

Here is a pic of what's inside:



It also comes with a ribbon for the Dad To Be, a cute cartoon-covered diaper, wipes, and instructions. A great gift for men (it's just their sense of humor!). My husband already hung up the ribbon proudly (along with the enclosed magnet that reads "Real Men Change Diapers")!

Great Product For Making Baby Food At Home!

I received my "So Easy" Baby Food Kit from freshbaby.com today, that helps a mom make baby food herself at home. The package includes two storage trays, a recipe book, a CD, and tips/information about what to expect and prepare for when feeding a newborn (such as how often you should feed a baby and expect to change a baby).

As you know, I have been trying to go totally green over the last few years. I buy non-toxic home cleaners, I try to buy all organic foods and use very little packaged food, and I avoid chemical sprays in my home, whether it be pesticides or for cosmetic use. I've done this for myself, and now I do it for my family.

I've noticed that a lot of baby foods have ingredients in them I am not happy about (colors? preservatives? high fructose corn syryp??) so I was looking for an alternative. Buying organic baby foods is a good idea (and certainly convenient) but it's pricey, and it's still not as fresh as home-made.

With this product, you make the food at home (quickly, and in bulk for the whole week!) and freeze it until you use it, in the trays, which are made to fit 24 baby serving sizes. The recipe book advises you on great tasting foods to make, and this kit also guides you as to when to introduce what to the baby. The CD answers questions you may have about using it. The best part is, the trays are BP-A and phthalate-free (I plan to only buy bottles that are glass or also BP-A and phthalate-free), so you don't have to worry about chemicals leaching into the food being frozen.

I'm really excited about it, and plan to try it out this week!