P. 52 photo challenge: week 13.

Oh little little boy of mine. How I love to watch you play. So intently. So focused. So in the moment.

This week's theme is 'details'. And I just love the little details of this pic. Of this little boy.

The little bead of drool on his lips. The color of his lips. His little lashes. Those cheeks. Even the little scratches on his nose. His utter focus on his task at hand (which happens to be very carefully placing a toy candle into the candleholder).

All details of his day.

Open Sky: social shopping network (with discounts).

These days, it seems everything is about social media and social networks. Open Sky is a new site being billed as a "social network for shopping".

What does that mean?

Well, you build your own team of "experts" in different categories (food, style, kids, home, healthy living) and follow them for recommendations on their favorite items.  Then you visit their virtual shop and get discounts on the products.

Examples of experts vary -  it's a pretty wide wide range. Some really are experts; Bobby Flay(food), Project Nursery and Dwell (kids).

Others -- not so much. Unless you count Ali Fedotowsky from the Bachelor as a style expert.

I have assembled an interesting team; a few people I follow - Alicia Silverstone (healthy living), Joy Behar (kids), Gabrielle Bernstein (no idea, but she has really cute stuff in her shop) and Julie Morgenstern (home).

It's a fun way to feel like you are getting personal recommendations from celebs and a great way to find out about tons of very cool, cute and useful products!

And, I was just grabbing open sky's link to include and saw that they have a refer a friend program.  If you click on my "personal invitation" and buy something, you'll get a $10 credit and I'll get a credit too!  So if you are going to check it out, do it by clicking here please.

Thank you!

Diaper bag and baby carrier in one. Can it be?

Ok, need your thoughts on this one.

I want to share this (seemingly) great item with you that I've been eying this for quite some time. The Go-Go Babyz Sidekick Bliss Diaper Bag -- it doubles as a diaper bag and baby carrier.

Two-in-one. Sounds awesome. Looks cute.  Comes in yellow, hot pink and gray. Reviews on Amazon (though only five) are all five stars.

I found it originally on Open Sky, a really fun and great site if you're not familiar. But I digress. More about Open Sky in a second.

Back to the bag.

I love the idea - I'd love to run into the Gap or run a few errands without shlepping the stroller in and out of the car.  Or stand in line and not worry about your little one running all over. This seems like a great solution.  If it works.  The write up says it holds a child up to 35 pounds, so we're still in the window.

It's a little pricey for a casual bag (for me).  It's $120 on Amazon, but there's currently a $15 off coupon, plus free shipping.

Thoughts? Experiences? Recommendations? I'd really love to hear what you think.  Please share!

ps, I'm adding a separate post about Open Sky.

P.52 photo challenge: week 12.

Hunger is this week's p.52 theme.  I decided to show the little guy eating, since he loves food and is a hungry little fella.

Buddy loves the whole dining experience and will pretty much eat everything. Definitely not picky. In fact, his favorite foods are fruits and vegetables.

While i was trying to pick a photo to use, I noticed I had an awful lot of pics of buddy eating. So instead of choosing just one, I decided to go with a whole montage of buddy eating pics.

Hope you enjoy them as much as he is enjoying himself!

waffles

puffs

raspberries

applesauce

ice cream

his hand

Spring shopping: adorable items I'm coveting for the little guy.

I'm always on the lookout for some cute clothes or fun room decor for buddy.  I browse a LOT, as my 'baby baby baby ooh' pinterest board can attest.  I wanted to share some really cute items I've found - many great for both little boys or girls.

Grandpa Tee @ Nature Baby:

I believe in Snuffleupagus Tee @ babesta:

Chambray Bimini Tiny TOM Classics @ Toms:

Skip Hop Sheet @ Layla Grace:

Pearhead Wooden Banks @ Amazon:

Aren't these items cute? I've looked at some of them so many times, I really think it's time to buy. Take a look at my baby baby baby ooh pinterest board to see some other great finds. And I love recos - so share your pinterest info or favorite items here!

Simple pleasure: Ben & Jerry's 'What a Cluster'.

Trust me when I tell you this flavor is A-mazing.  It's A-mazing.  Ben & Jerry's 'What a Cluster' is anything but.

What it is -- pure bliss.  It was previously known as Clusterfluff, is basically impossible to stop eating and is just as tasty as it comes.

Here's the scoop :) on what makes up "What a Cluster":

Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Caramel Cluster Pieces

Marshmallow Swirls

Peanut Buttery Swirls

Try it. You will like.

A good time to try it is on Tuesday, April 3rd -- because it's Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's! If you live near a Ben & Jerry's, that's free ice cream for you!! Enjoy.

Sweet shot Tuesday. Photo linky blog hop.

Sweet Shot Tuesday. Had to post this pic.  Sweet Shot Tuesday is from the same site as the p.52 photo challenge that I do weekly.

Buddy was wearing his new baseball hat backwards and just playing around. Grabbed my cam and took some pics. Especially love this one.  Look at that pucker! Thought it was indeed a "sweet shot".

Amazon.com deal: $10 gift card for $5

Typically I'm not a huge fan of the "deal of the day" shopping sites. Specifically because of a bad experience with Living Social, which has since been acquired by Amazon and is now Amazon Local. 

Who has a great deal today.  And I'm a big Amazon fan. big.  And maybe they'll handle things differently than Living Social did.

Anyways, the deal: $5 for a $10 Amazon gift card.

Mind the fine print - one per houseshold. 

Not a fan of one per household in this case. I imagine there are many households where two people (ie, me and my husband) would want this deal.  Why can't multiple people in a house redeem this offer? I understand one per email and one per customer, but one per household? 

How does one choose who gets the gc?  My husband and I both purchased today, so we shall see what happens. 

Keep you posted!

After the sippy cup. What comes next?

Today, since all of the sippys (?) sippies (?) were in the dishwasher and it was time for Buddy's milk, I had to improvise.  So I poured his milk into a big plastic cup and straw.  Worked well (but then again, he is very used to the sippy cups with straws).

Anyways, I'm thinking I ought to try a regular cup more often.  I've been giving Buddy sips from regular cups for some time now (either from my cup, or when we're at Trader Joe's and they're passing out free juice samples in little Dixie cups). And he loves it.

Maybe it is time to take the next step.

After all, Buddy did transition very easily from the bottle to the sippy.  And he is pretty darn good with the sippy.  Check this out:

double fisting sippy cups

Anyways, it got me wondering;
-When are you supposed to stop the sippy cup?
-What comes next?
-Is is straight to a regular cup?
-Is there a transition cup between sippy and regular?
-How do you teach using the regular cup without having spills all the time? 

So I did a little research on the good old world wide web of ours.  I found a good suggestion on the Distinguished Dr. Gregory Gordon's blog.  I'm joking - I have no idea who he is, but his website says he is a pediatrician and father of seven. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about. 

His suggestion is to set out two small cups, one empty and one with a few ounces of milk. Give your child the empty cup and keep the second cup with you.  Throughout the meal, pour single swallow servings into your child's cup for him (or her) to drink.  That way you limit the mess and they get used to using the cup.

Good idea Dr. G! 

It seems like once you start adding more into the cup at one time you'd end up with some major spills, but, I'm not a pediatrician with seven kids.  So I think I'll try Dr. Gordon's advice.

And, I found a good cup on Playtex's website, the spoutless Lil Gripper. 

It has a lid like a coffee cup with a little opening for the drink to come out.
 

<--- see little opening





I shall buy one tonight! Hopefully they have other colors besides pink & purple. 

And, if you have any other suggestions on transitioning or any good "first regular cup" suggestions, please do share! I'd love to hear them.

P.52 photo challenge: week 11.

The Eyes of March is this week's theme.

Look at these eyes.

And this face.

And this little body.

How I love this little boy.

Let's go to the hop: a great list of blog hops.

I've been trying to expand my blog's reach (naturally) and have been learning more about blog hops, which are a great way to get your blog out there and also find other great blogs!  I have learned:

There are tons of blog hops going on out there.

Every day of the week.

So, I found a few sites that each provide comprehensive lists of blog hops and I thought I'd share them with you. This would be a great post to bookmark and reference (hint hint)!

A Helicopter Mom includes a very nice list of blog hops and link ups.

Random Dealz also has a nice list of daily blog hops.

And Blog Hops Everyday is a website whose sole purpose is to list blog hops.

Stardust - Decor & Style has a nice list of linky parties.

All are excellent references, so thank you .   Time to get hopping (too much on the hopping references)?

ps - Do you know the difference between a blog hop and a linky party? I think that a blog hop just lets you post your blog and a linky party requires you to submit a post based on a topic (ie, a craft that you did, a dish you cooked, etc).  If I'm wrong, let me know please!

Could it be an over-the-pond Etsy? Yep, another great shopping website!

Ok, I'm in love. with a new website. just over the pond.

Fantastic. Or bloody brilliant as our friends across that pond would say. It's a cross between Etsy type stuff and oh, any other site you're loving.

Actually, as I'm browsing the site looking for international shipping charges, I just found out that the reason it seems so similar to Etsy type stuff, is that it is in fact a site that features products from over 2,000 British small businesses.

But unlike Etsy (and do forgive me Etsy, because I love you), it's organized much like an online shop. So, much easier to browse and find items.

Ok - so back to shipping. It's a little bit high for me (I tend to pretty much only go for free shipping), but it isn't as much as I'd think for shipping internationally.

Here are some items that caught my eye right away during a quick peek around:

I'll add the links later -- so tired. Must go to bed. Quickly approaching 1am.  And I've just eaten eight Joe-Joe Cookies from Trader Joe's. 

Cheerio.

P.52 photo challenge: week 10.

"Be still" is this week's theme.  My first thought was a picture of buddy sleeping -- but it's too dark to pull it off in his room, and a flash would wake him. Next thought - the hub sleeping (since he often falls asleep with the lights on the minute buddy goes to bed), but he doesn't want his pics used on the blog.

So - next options for "be still". Looking at the pics I took of the little guy yesterday and have some beautiful photos - and I found my pic.  Now, buddy was watching elmo on my computer, so quite different from the peacefully sleeping photo I originally envisioned, but he was sitting so happily, completely enraptured.  Makes my heart melt.  Enjoy!

Online shopping mood? Cute kids clothes and free shipping.

Found some cute stuff online for Buddy tonight.  Take a look:

1. Sesame Street t-shirt for buddy from Nordstrom. On sale for $13.90. Plus free shipping.

2. FEED t-shirt from FEED for buddy for $29. Good cause.

3. Yellow roll up cargo pants from Mini Boden. On sale for $22.10 (15% off and free shipping).

Decided to get the Sesame t-shirt and the adorable yellow pants tonight. Bought and bought!

Oh what a beautiful day.

Got to play and hang with buddy this morning...since he woke up at 6.30.
(too early for momma to get up)



55 degree weather, sun shining bright!
(oh how that makes me smile)

Able to leave the building for lunch.
(rarity)

Had lunch with my hubs.
(first time we're working in the same area in five years)

Had a cupake from the delicious Crumbs Bakery.
(the Ba-Ba-Booey, which I talked about in my post the other day)

Bought one bottle of water in the vending machine and two bottles came out!            
(yea for free water)

Viewership for this blog is up! Yea!
(thank you for reading)

Planning to walk home from work.
(brought my Toms to change into)

Spent the evening at home with buddy and hubby.
(my besties)

Yea for today.
(hip hip hooray)