~Children's Books~ Weekly Question!

Just because your blog isn't as well-known as some million-follower blogs out there doesn't mean you don't have good ideas and good advice! And I want to hear it. It's Weekly Question day! ;) There are 2 ways to participate.
1) Answer in the comments! Just comment on this post with your answer. Simple. Easy.
2) Participate in the Blog Hop! Blog a post that answers this week's question and then click "get the code!" to add the SAME Linky list to the bottom of your blog post. When you're done, add your own link to the Linky list and it will show up on ALL the participating Linky lists. That way if someone enjoys the topic being discussed, they can "hop" from blog to blog using the linky list and might decide to follow some blogs they didn't follow before. Blog hops are a good way to get "discovered" by new readers!
-You may answer or link any time within the week following the question post- for as long as the Linky is still open you may still add posts/answers. If you have an old post/posts that answers the question and you would like to link those up that's fine, but please come back for a future question Thursday with a fresh post, to be fair. ;)

~Question Thursday!~

Topic: Children's Books

What was your childhood favorite? What's your kids' favorite? What lessons does it teach? Do you think it's important to have a moral of the story?  

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(*Next Week's Topic: Gardening! Do you? Don't you? Why or why not? If you do, what are some of your tricks and tips?*)

Couponing for Those Who Don't Have Time or just Don't Wanna (but know they should)

Do you hate cutting out coupons? Have a rule against coupons? Ever wondered if the money saved was worth all the time and effort or wondered if there was a way to do it for coupon haters like yourself? Or maybe you're just new to couponing and don't want to get in over your head and make yourself hate it? Well, everyone else seems to be doing posts on how they coupon or how they avoid couponing, and I decided it's my turn. ;)

Coupon Rule #1. Never ever ever use a coupon for something (product or brand) that I do not already use. If it's not what I'm already buying, it's a trap not a savings. Say I always use Bumble Bug Tuna because it's the cheapest and my family loves it. (I don't have a favorite tuna, and you could switch or pick different brands; just a parable to illustrate my point. ;) ) Along comes a coupon for Turkey Of The Sea and we try it out because the coupon makes it come out to less than the Bumble Bug (or vice versa). Now what happens if we like Turkey Of The Sea so much that we don't want to go back to Bumble Bug? Now we're stuck having to buy Turkey Of The Sea at it's regular higher price after the coupons run out because nobody will eat Bumble Bug anymore. Or what if we HATE Turkey of the Sea and nobody will eat it? It sits in the cabinet for 6 months and I finally throw it out or donate it because nobody will eat it? Wasn't much of a savings if it wound up in the trash. Now the exception to this rule would be if you were going to try a product or brand anyway and there is providently a coupon for it available at a time when you can afford to try something new. That would be a savings because regardless of whether you liked it or not, you were going to spend your hard earned grocery budget on it anyway. Might as well try it for less. So rule #1 is to never use a coupon for something you wouldn't already be buying.

Coupon Rule #2. Don't print coupons that are worth less than $1 off per product. If you find a printable for $1.00 off when you buy 2 gallons of milk, keep in mind that when you print a coupon it uses anywhere from 1 to 3 sheets of paper to print out a single coupon and the advertisement that goes with it. That means at 2 sheets of paper with a color advertisement printed on one and your coupon on the other you are paying for all that colored ink and 2 sheets of computer paper to get 50-CENTS off each of 2 gallons of milk. See where I'm headed with that? If a printable coupon doesn't knock at least $1.00 per product off my price, I'm not even going to look at it. When printing coupons, make sure to follow Rule #1, subtract the cost of ink and paper from the amount of the coupon, and always set it to print in B&W so as not to waste your colored ink. While you can't choose what coupons you are getting, it's almost always more cost effective to buy the Sunday Paper than it is to print coupons. At least if you don't find any useable coupons you get to read the Funnies in the paper. ;)

Coupon Rule #3. Don't buy coupons- yet. If you're starting out, don't wanna get coupon burnout before you get the hang of it, or just hate couponing, do not buy coupons. This goes hand in hand with the printables theory. Buying the Sunday paper for coupons is great once you get the hang of it or if you enjoy couponing or if you have a bunch of free time on your hands and like to sit around cutting out coupons. Or hey if you have alot of older kids who are pretty good with scissors it might be a good idea after all! Just hand out scissors and coupon fliers and tell them to have at it. It's good for their hand-eye coordination and they will think it's fun. Then you can look through all the coupons afterwards when they are neatly cut out and decide which ones to keep and which to pass on. But if it's just you and you've got kids too young to cut them out for you... it's just not going to be worth your time until you develop a taste for couponing. There are plenty of coupons that are easier to obtain and require less work until your appetite for coupons grows or you find you have enough time to make buying the paper worth it.

Coupon Rule #4. Sign up for coupons and freebies. "If you're not buying or printing your coupons, then where on earth do they come from?!" I get asked this alot! Well the answer is that coupons show up in my mailbox constantly as a result of things I signed up for months ago. Companies keep your mailing address when you sign up for a free sample, then they periodically ship you coupons to keep you coming back to their brand.

WalMart- I know Wally World doesn't have it's own coupons, but if you go to the website you can sign up for freebies HERE. You will have to allow pop-ups for the site because the signup forms for the samples are pop up windows. Most of the free sample companies will not contact you again, but they do usually send a coupon or three in the envelope with your free sample. Besides, who can resist free samples? ;)
Membership Stores- Costco for one will send you a book of coupons each month. Also Carter's and OshKosh childrenswear will mail you a new coupon for 20% off a purchase of $50+ every 3-4 weeks if you register on their website. Toys-R-Us and Babies-R-Us send out periodic coupon fliers and booklets that sometimes don't have anything good but sometimes have the jackpot of good coupons in there. You have to create a registry with Babies-R-Us to get the coupons, or sign up for Geoffrey's Birthday Club to get Toys-R-Us coupons. I know there are probably lots more but these are all I have here. ;)
Print At Register- Some stores like Albertson's have a coupon printer at the checkout that spits out random coupons when your receipt prints. Sometimes these are REALLY GOOD coupons so it pays to check it out instead of just walking away without looking. Alot of times it will print a coupon for the item you just bought so that you can come back and buy more later for less money. I love it when we buy YoBaby there and Albertson's treats us with a juicy YoBaby coupon for the next batch.
Product Websites- If you use alot of a product it pays to check out the website. Alot of times they have rewards programs and/or will mail you coupons for the next 2 years if you register to use the site. Stonyfield YoBaby has a rewards program where you can earn free Leapfrog Tag Junior books by entering codes from YoBaby products. Huggies and Pampers will regularly mail you coupons if you register on their websites. Both also have rewards programs. (But beware Pampers right now- see THIS post.)


Doing the coupon thing can be really easy or really complicated. When I get a new coupon flier in the mail I look through it that afternoon when my son is napping and cut out the 2 or 3 that I will use. It takes all of 2 minutes to do. Then I sort them into some small mailing envelopes in my purse. I don't have a coupon organizer, just a few envelopes with labels scribbled on them. Here's what mine say;
Babyfood
Diapers/Pullups/Wipes
Other Baby-related
Grocery
Toiletries/Other
Costco
Outlet Stores
USE TODAY!

I just stuff the coupons into the appropriate envelopes and then go on about my afternoon. The envelopes stay in my purse all the time when I'm not actively looking at them. On grocery day, or the day before, when I'm making my list, I take out my coupon envelopes. I go throught the envelopes and put all the coupons that match an item on my list into the USE TODAY envelope. I also take note of expiration dates and throw away any that are expired or will be before I can use them. This doesn't take but maybe 5 minutes extra as I'm writing my list as usual. So a few minutes to clip them, and a few minutes to sort them, very low maintainence couponing. Then I put my grocery list into the USE TODAY envelope and when I'm in the stores I have that envelope handy so I can get out and read my list, and then at the register when I put my list back into the envelope for safekeeping to the next store, I take out the coupons I will need to give to the cashier. I used to hold my coupons the whole time I was in the store, then that evolved into paper clipping them to the grocery list, which finally gave way to the USE TODAY envelope. All those methods work, but the envelope is the best for my clumsy coupon-dropping self. ;) Now I only have to hold them in the checkout line. In fact, I have 2 little helpers who love to hold them for me in the checkout line! ;)

I don't save a truckload of money by couponing, but I've saved enough. I typically will save a dollar for every minute or two that I spent clipping and sorting the coupons. Money's tight, the economy is bad, and saving $5 in the checkout for a minute or two here and there of couponing over the past week is totally worth it to me. Even if you're not pinching every penny, just only buying necessities, think about that $5 for a minute- that's the difference between no extras or a Starbucks on the way home. And hey, who doesn't need a Starbucks after a day of shopping with kids, right? ;) If 5 minutes a week earns me a frappuccino, I'll take it! :D

So that is why I DO do coupons! And how, when, where, etc. :) I'm a very basic level couponer. If you already are a basic level couponer and were hoping for advice on how to get a little more hardcore with the coupons, then check out THIS post by Nicki over at 400 Things! She's got a whole bunch of posts on couponing, just click the button in her sidebar that says all about couponing to read more.




This post is linked up to my Question Thursday post! To read what others have to say on the subject, or to link up your awesome post (or just comment with your advice if you don't want to blog it) on why you do or do not DO coupons (and how if so), then click the first link below to go to my original Question post and join the fun!

~Coupons~ Weekly Question!

Just because your blog isn't as well-known as some million-follower blogs out there doesn't mean you don't have good ideas and good advice! And I want to hear it. It's Weekly Question day! ;) There are 2 ways to participate.
1) Answer in the comments! Just comment on this post with your answer. Simple. Easy.
2) Participate in the Blog Hop! Blog a post that answers this week's question and then click "get the code!" to add the SAME Linky list to the bottom of your blog post. When you're done, add your own link to the Linky list and it will show up on ALL the participating Linky lists. That way if someone enjoys the topic being discussed, they can "hop" from blog to blog using the linky list and might decide to follow some blogs they didn't follow before. Blog hops are a good way to get "discovered" by new readers!
-You may answer or link any time within the week following the question post- for as long as the Linky is still open you may still add posts/answers. If you have an old post/posts that answers the question and you would like to link those up that's fine, but please come back for a future question Thursday with a fresh post, to be fair. ;)

~Question Thursday!~

Topic: Coupons

Do you clip coupons? Avoid them like the plague? Why do or don't you do coupons? If you're a couponer, how into it are you? Any tricks of the trade you'd like to share? Tell us all about how you do or don't do Coupons and link up below!

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(*Next Week's Topic: Children's Books! What was your childhood faviorite? Current favorite? Kids' favorite?*)

~Laundry~ My Laundry Schedule

This post is linked up to my Thursday Question Blog Hop! Please go HERE to see the original question and add YOUR post or read others' thoughts on this subject!

Laundry... How do you do it? I myself do not generate a large amount of dirty clothes, but lets just say that I am the only one who does not! We have 2 toddlers, one of whom is "freshly potty-trained" (you know what that means... accidents do happen! Especially the kind that involve complete bedding changes in the middle of the night.) and the other of who is still in diapers and has a propensity for ... um... well let's just say that diapers do not exist which can hold all night with him. So not only do I wash a high volume of wet britches and skirts, but I also wind up washing a high volume of toddler-sized bedding. And pillows. And... well you get the picture. This is in addition to the laundry associated with the typical yuck that winds up on a child and everything and everyone around them during a few hours of living life. :)
Then there's my awesome husband. His work has a dress code and when he's on a job site all day, often in the hot sun or un-air-conditioned buildings... well lets just say he can't wear the same clothes twice. So, barring the purchase of a dozen expensive wardrope pieces for work, I need to be on top of the laundry all week so he can at least ARRIVE at work clean and fresh. ;)
Then there's the regular non-clothing items like the adult sheets and the bath towels.
And THEN there's my obsessive nature. I have to wash the throw rugs if they don't look fluffy enough, and I sniff the dishcloth every time I use it to see if it needs washed, and I wash everything from the carseat covers to our shoes to my purse whenever it looks less than sanitary and I can fit it in.
So, how do I get it all done so we don't run out of things? I made myself a schedule that hangs on the laundry room wall. This serves 2 purposes. It keeps me on track so I know what I have to do to catch up if I miss a day, and it is there if my husband ever needs to take over for me, like he will probably have to do for a few days or more when this little bun in the oven arrives.

The thing about schedules is that they can help TREMENDOUSLY but they need to change often, and differ from family to family. What works this month might not next month and what works for me might not work for you. I thought this would be a great post because I've started getting out the baby clothes and washing them up for the coming baby (yes I know I still have 3 months to go- I'd rather have things prepared now and be able to relax in those roasting-alive beached-whale final weeks, KWIM? I have a theory about that... but then that's for another post.) and as I'm having to add the tiny baby things into our family laundry it's throwing off my laundry schedule a wee bit. ;) Which means that it's time to redo the schedule in anticipation of our new bundle of joy! And you know I won't be able to sit down and redo it after the baby is here without falling asleep! ;) I'm going to share my FORMULA for creating a laundry schedule sometime next week but for now, here's an example of my current laundry schedule so you can see how it works. Or, well, how it's supposed to work anyway. Now, I took the paper off the laundry room wall not too long ago and it must have run off on 2 chubby toddler legs or something because it has not been seen or heard from since, so this is by memory, which we know tends to not work properly during pregnancy. So lets hope I am remembering it right! If not then hey maybe that's why the schedule stopped working for me! Haha...


SUNDAY
-Soak any stained or dingy whites and lights in OxiClean overnight. I just toss them in right before bed.

MONDAY
-Finish washing the Whites that were soaking overnight.
-Bedding day: Wash all sheets.

TUESDAY
-Darks; one load of darks a week is the linty kind that fuzz up all the other darks so I wash them by themselves, usually linty's are on Tuesday with the towels.
-Towels
-Odds and ends; like carseat covers and throw rugs and anything else that needs wash by itself.

WEDNESDAY
-Whites/lights; always after washing every load of whites/lights I examine each as it's going into the dryer and if it's dingy or the stains did not come out I drape it over the edge of the hamper to air-dry and then it will go in the OxiClean soak on Sunday night to make it pretty again. ;)
-Red/pink/purple/browns

THURSDAY
-Kid bedding that has been soiled since Monday.
-Darks; one dark load a week is just the blacks to keep them blackest and un-linty, usually the blacks are Thursday's darks.

FRIDAY
-Whites/lights; as mentioned, I sort and save out the dingy/stained ones before putting the rest in the dryer.
-Red/pink/purple/browns
SATURDAY
-Greens/yellows. Yeah I know this is an odd color for a wash load but my family goes through enough laundry to make an entire load of yellows and greens once a week. If I try to put the yellows in with the whites it can sometimes make the load too big to wash, and adding the greens to the darks DEFINATELY makes the load too big to wash. It's just the simplest solution to make a seprate load of the yellows/greens. I do it on Saturday because our nicer clothes are worn on the weekends and most of the yellows/greens are not our nicer outfits so we won't miss them if they're in the washing machine while we are out and about. Sometimes I wait to do them until Saturday evening when we're done our Saturday activities so that if someone wants to wear something again on Sunday that got dirtied on Saturday then I can wash it up with the yellows/greens before bed on Saturday.



Laundry Tips:
-Use lingeree bags (you can get 3/$1 at Dollar Tree!) to keep tiny baby and toddler socks together in the wash! No more dryer eating your kids' socks! I have these mesh bags by the laundry room hamper and as I'm sorting the laundry I put the socks in the bags and then in the color-coordinating hampers. I have found that the max amount for baby socks is 2 pairs per bag or they won't wash and dry well, and for toddler socks it's 2 pairs. I imagine, accordingly, that an older child's socks would be 1 pair to a bag for optimal washing and drying. I think an adult's socks would be much too bulky for this to work but hey, I have not tried it, and I have been known to be wrong on occasion! ;)
-The sooner you get the stain treated, the more likely it is to come out in the first wash. I prefer Shout spray to combat stains. It seems to work the best for me, and all my friends call me the laundry queen and bring me their stained stuff to work on so I like that it makes me look good... Haha! I put Shout on everything... well I make sure to wash it out of my Whites very well, see the next tip for why.
-DO NOT put whites/lights that have been treated with Shout into a washload with OxiClean and soak them! For some reason if you do not do an OxiClean-free light wash cycle first to get the Shout out, it reacts with the OxiClean and yellows your whites. I have then tried, and FAILED, to get this yellowing out. It's permanent in most fabrics. So if you're going to soak it in OxiClean, wash the Shout out of it first! Or just don't use Shout on the whites at all. Now, maybe this has something to do with my fabrics, or my city water, or I don't know what. All I know is that this combination has proven unpleasant results for me and I thought I should warn you!
-Tide To-Go Pen is a lifesaver when you have babies and toddlers. A life saver. Seriously. No mom should be without this in their purse!
-Use half the reccommended amount of laundry soap. Seriously. You really don't need that much. I have toddlers too and I know how gross laundry can get and the only time I use the full amount is on my hubby's work clothes simply because they stink.
-White Vinegar is great stuff. Put some in the fabric softener dispenser instead of fabric softener, and splash some in the filling washer to get out stink. The smell evaporates when you dry them so don't worry about your clothes smelling like vinegar.
- Baking Soda is great for getting out stink too. I've gotten hand-me-downs from heavy smokers and alternated soaking them in Baking Soda, OxiClean, and Vinegar until they were fresh as a daisy. I recently had to do that with the fabric parts of my double stroller that had been stored in the garage and the neighborhood tom cat peed all over it. It smells fine now, thankfully!

~Laundry~ Question Thursday!

Just because your blog isn't as well-known as some million-follower blogs out there doesn't mean you don't have good ideas and good advice! And I want to hear it. It's question Thursday! ;) There are 2 ways to participate.
1) Answer in the comments! Just comment on this post with your answer. Simple. Easy.
2) Participate in the Blog Hop! Blog a post that answers this week's question and then click "get the code!" to add the SAME Linky list to the bottom of your blog post. When you're done, add your own link to the Linky list and it will show up on ALL the participating Linky lists. That way if someone enjoys the topic being discussed, they can "hop" from blog to blog using the linky list and might decide to follow some blogs they didn't follow before. Blog hops are a good way to get "discovered" by new readers!
-You may answer or link any time within the week following the question post- for as long as the Linky is still open you may still add posts/answers. If you have an old post/posts that answer the question and you would like to link those up that's fine, but please come back for a future question Thursday with a fresh post, to be fair. ;)

~Question Thursday!~

Topic: Laundry

How do you handle laundry at your house? Do you do it all on one day or some each day? Do you have a laundry schedule or certain way of sorting so you know what goes where on which day or do you just pick what needs doing most each day? Tell us all about how you handle the laundry and link up below!

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(*Next Week's Topic: Coupons! Do you? Don't you? When? Where? How?*)

What To Feed The Baby?

Here are some things I feed my beginning eaters. Use your own discretion regarding your child's readiness for certain foods. Different kids are aready for different stuff at different times.
-Egg yolk; to make it easy just fry an egg without breaking the yolk. Cook all the way through. Cool and peel out the disk shaped yolk and give it to baby as a finger food. It's like a little egg yolk cookie and separating the white from the yolk AFTER it's cooked is alot easier and more thorough. These were a favorite with both of my babies from about 7 months on.
-Toast with fruit babyfood spread on it instead of jelly. Jelly is so high in sugar and a nice babyfood fruit puree tastes just as delicious to your baby. I cut the toast in strips, usually about 5 strips per slice, to make it more baby-friendly. Make sure baby can chew well enough to eat toast before trying this out.
-Popcorn; you should NOT give your baby popcorn in it's freshly-popped glory, or if you do not fully understand my explanation here. The popcorn seed explodes it's fluffy white insides out, but the outer hull of the seed is still attached to the side of the popcorn. The hull can get stuck in anyone's throat, adults included, and cause them to choke. IF you ever feed a baby popcorn, you should REMOVE the hull, and anything that looks like it's related to the hull, and ONLY feed the soft fluffy white part to your baby. So if you're watching TV and baby is mooching your popcorn, don't let her stick her hand in the bowl and have at it. Take a kernel and bite off everything but the fluffy white part. The fluffy white part will melt in baby's mouth just exactly like one of those Gerber puffs will so follow the safety instruction for the Gerber puffs when feeding your baby the "modified" popcorn: Only feed to a baby who can sit without assistance, is seated, supervised, can pick small objects up with two fingers, and can chew cheerios and Gerber puffs with no problems. Again, feed your baby popcorn AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. Some babies might be ready for it and some might not be ready until they are 2 or 3. You know your baby so use your noggin. ;)
-Shredded meat. My babies ate finely shredded chicken as soon as they were old enough to pinch food and get it to their mouths. I shredded it hair-fine and then spread it around their plate so they couldn't pick up very much at a time.
-Peas. I buy the frozen kind and then when I want to feed baby some peas I use a little juice strainer to scoop out a good amount. I then run hot water over the strainer full of peas for a minute until the peas are thawed through. When they were first learning to eat before there were many teeth to speak of, I would pinch each pea to break the skin so it would moosh when they bit down instead of sliding down the throat whole. As they got proficient at eating I stopped pinching peas and just dumped the strainer out on their highchair tray and let them have at it.
-Bananas. It's tricky for a little tot to hand onto something as slippery as a little cut piece of banana. And if you give them a whole peeled banana they've squeezed the bottom end into slime long before they ever eat down that far. So I devised a trick for bananas. Cut the banana in half. Take one half, and cut the peel away about an inch down so that there are no floppy peel parts hanging out but the banana is peeled for exactly one inch but has the peel on the rest of it. Now, providing your baby doesn't approach bananas like corn on the cob, they will theoretically be able to hold onto the banana and eat that top 1 inch that is peeled. When they've eaten that inch down you can take it and cut off the peel for another inch down. You'll have to supervise them of course so you can peel further before they start gnawing on the banana peel. ;) Leaving the peel on all but the one inch end protects the banana from being squeezed into oblivion by a tiny tot that doesn't know their own strength yet. ;)

-Cheese. My babies loved cheese so much that if I diced it up they would put too many pieces in their mouth and not chew what they had until their mouth was so full of cheese they could not chew or swallow. So I would just cut a slice slab of cheese off the block that was about 1/3" thick, and then cut that slab into 1/3" sticks. My babies did so much better with those because I gave them one at a time and they would have it in their hand so they were not fascinated by repeatedly grabbing and stuffing tiny dices into their mouths, they were instead fascinated with passing the cheese from hand to hand and examining it from all angles - meanwhile they were chewing the bite they had and not realizing it. Sneaky. Plus it taught them how to take a bite off something in a world where all baby food items are mooshy or finely chopped. ;)

A typical menu for my under 1 year babies was,
BREAKFAST:
YoBaby Yogurt & Organic Banana
OR
Baby oatmeal with Peach Babyfood mixed in
LUNCH:
Peas & Egg Yolks
OR
Veggie Babyfood and Cheese

SNACKS:
Puffs or whatever other Gerber baby snack I had a serious coupon for, Cheerios, Peas, Toast, Rice Rusks, Fruit, Cheese, and/or YoBaby.

SUPPER:
Some variation of what we were having for dinner. I would usually take out some meat and noodles and veggies for the baby before I put whatever sauce or seasoning into the meal for the rest of us. When they were teeny I used babyfood or ground up our meal (minus sauce/spices) in the Magic Bullet, but they love to feed themselves once they can pinch things up so after that I just let them as much as possible.
One thing I learned was that babies don't really mind the repetition, it's us grown ups that do. I have fed my kids a banana or YoBaby for (and later as a side dish to) breakfast almost every day since they were born and they gobbled up their banana this morning like it was ice cream, not like it was something they are tired of. I think there are things they don't like, and they might tolerate them for a while before staging a revolt, but I also think that strategic repetition can get babies who hate a food to like it eventually. Of course that theory did NOT work for my kids with baby cereal. No kidding I tried and tried and you'd have thought I was trying to poison them the way they acted. I could get Chicklet to eat ONLY the oatmeal kind and ONLY if it was mixed with a heavy dose of peach puree, but that only lasted so long before she refused to eat even that. Bug wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole no matter what. But then he pretty much didn't like food at all until... well hey come to think of it he's still not overly fond of food. It's a good day when he finishes one whole meal over the course of the day. He'd rather play with it, which I won't tolerate (another post altogether!) so it's lucky for him I offer lots of snack opportunities if he's only gonna eat 5 bites each time before I have to remove the leftovers to save them from floordom. He's probably healthier than the rest of us with his 5 bites every 2 hours. I read somewhere that grazing is the healthier way to eat...
But I digress... what I was getting at was that we have to be careful not to accidentally make our kids picky by stressing out about giving them more variety lest they get sick of something. I know it's hard, and we get bored seeing the same thing go in their mouth all the time, but really eating alot of a few healthy things is not going to make your kids picky or not picky. But if they see you worrying that they'll reject something because it's the 7th morning in a row that you've fed them some flavor or another of YoBaby, they'll start to pick up on that and think they're supposed to reject it. And if they eat all fruit one day, all protein the next, all starch and dairy the next, and all veggies the 4th day, well then that really is fine. They covered their bases just fine over those 4 days. No big deal.
And another thing I've been thinking on is a mistake I made with Chicklet. I would encourage her to finish her jar of babyfood if she had only 2 bites left and was acting full. I should have just let her stop when she acted full and tossed the 2 bites. Really. She's doing much better at listening to her own fullness cues now than she was 6 months ago, I'm pleased to say. ;) Although tonight we had corn on the cob for dinner and I think ALL of us, Bug included (little mister 5-bites ate almost a whole cob! Yes a whole one! Himself!), got a little carried away just because it was sooooo delicious! So moral of the story, if they're acting full it's best to just throw those last 2 bites away or save them for next time. Better to learn earlier than later how to stop when you're full.




This post is linked up to my Thursday Question! Please go HERE to see the original question and add YOUR post or read others' thoughts on this subject!

Question Thursday!

Just because your blog isn't as well-known as some thousand-plus-follower blogs out there doesn't mean you don't have good ideas and good advice! And I want to hear it. It's question Thursday! ;) There are 2 ways to participate.
1) Answer in the comments! Just comment on this post with your answer. Simple. Easy.
2) Participate in the Blog Hop! Blog a post that answers this week's question and then click "get the code!" to add the SAME Linky list to the bottom of your blog post. When you're done, add your own link to the Linky list and it will show up on ALL the participating Linky lists. That way if someone enjoys the topic being discussed, they can "hop" from blog to blog using the linky list and might decide to follow some blogs they didn't follow before.
-You may answer or link any time within the week following the question post- for as long as the Linky is still open you may still add posts/answers. If you have an old post/posts that answer the question and you would like to link those up that's fine, but please come back for a future question Thursday with a fresh post, to be fair. ;)

~Question Thursday!~

Topic: Meal Plans, Infants/Toddlers

Do you meal plan? What does a typical menu plan look like at your house? Do you plan breakfast and lunch too or just supper? These are just to get you started. The question I would like to see addressed is what to plan/ meal ideas for little kids, particularly babies and toddlers, and more specifically for breakfast and lunch as I think those are where people get the most stuck. What are some safe, healthy, yummy, bitty-finger-friendly meal and snack ideas for the learning-eaters and/or preschoolers?

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Recipes for wild game? Please!

If you were noticing the lack of photos recently, my Camera battery died and I couldn't find the charger. I finally found it yesterday and charged it overnight so I am once again armed and dangerous! Lol!! So there will be more pics coming up soon. :)

As some of you have read in my prayer requests in the sidebar, my Nana fell off a stepladder on Labor Day and broke her leg. She was in the hospital and after 3 days of refusing to eat, they put a feeding tube in her. She had alot of swelling so they had her leg in an open topped cast. She was doing physical therapy and they would discharge her when she was able to see to her own basic personal needs again. Then I got an update a few days ago that she was discharged from the hospital and was home. I was supposed to go see her this past weekend but it did not work out for me to go. My husband had offered to help my sister move from near here to my parents house, and I was going to follow in the car to make sure the truck did not break down. It turns out sis was able to fit what was left all in the trailer they rented, and my husband did not need to take a load in his truck after all. So since my husband is going up there for deer/elk season next week, I will just go up there with him then. He will need me to follow in case the truck breaks down anyway. I wish we could go this weekend but gas is too expensive to go 2 weekends in a row - they live on the opposite end of the state! :( So that's what's up with that; I didn't go last weekend but I'm going next weekend. I'm so relieved that Nana is improving! Especially since my visit was delayed. Thank you to all who have prayed for her!

And speaking of my prayer list in the sidebar... My friend is pregnant and they saw a problem on the ultrasound a couple weeks ago. The cord was enlarged in one place. From my understanding, among other posibilities that are nearly as unpleasant, the enlarged place could rupture and the baby would die. They did an amnio on Monday to see if the baby's lungs were mature enough to induce. The lungs were NOT ready so they did not induce. My friend will be 36 weeks on Sunday. If you think of her, would you please say a prayer that the cord does not rupture and that the baby is born healthy and ALIVE? Thank you!

And back on the subject of travels... my husband was out of town on business for a few days and is currently on his way home! He just called to say he's almost here! Yaaaay! I just hate it when he's gone. I (we) miss him so much! Chicklet (3) at naptime was mumbling to herself and I overheard her saying, "Ooooh Daddy. Why are you not here? Why?" Poor little one! :( Made me so sad! She will be so happy tomorrow night when he comes home from work at normal time. It would have been nice if he could have gotten home in time to the kids goodnight tonight, but they kept him late so he didn't start for home until around 3:30pm. It's 9:30pm now.

Question of the week:
Do you have any recipes for elk and deer that would be good for someone who dislikes the flavor??????????? Lol! I used to like it but when I was pregnant with my Chicklet the smell made me get sick so now every time I taste or smell wild game I have the urge to hurl. Sorry, TMI! :p So if anyone has any recipes that disguise the flavor I would be eternally grateful! ;)