Money Not Well Spent

I've made a few purchases over the last week that have turned out to be a bust. The problem is...each purchase was made online or on craigslist, so I can't do any returns. The first purchase was the Woombie. $30 swaddle blanket from Woombie.com. Ashley has been a swaddle sleeping baby since day one. She outgrew the regular swaddle and I found an awesome Miracle blanket that she's been in for a while now. She recently started making her way out of that one and waking herself up. I searched online for something that came in a size for bigger babies. I came across the Woombie and bought it right away. Well....the next morning after buying it online I went in Ashley's room to get her and found her on her stomach. So....now the Woombie wasn't going to be an option. It holds the babies arms in kind of across their chest, not down by their sides, so there was no way she could be zipped up in it if she was going to be rolling. $30 Woombie down the drain.

Next, I decided to try and stop swaddling Ashley and put her to bed in a sleep sack. Horrible...she cried all night. So the next night I decided to try and go back to the barely fitting Miracle blanket, but I bought a movement sensor so when she rolled over swaddled I wouldn't be worried about her smothering herself. I went ahead and found one that day on Craigslist bought it right away for $45. So that night I set the whole thing up and put Ashley down in her Miracle Blanket swaddle. The first night went well, but then the second night was terrible. She kept rolling over and then would wake up all ticked off that she was on her belly and couldn't move. So....I decidedfor good that the swaddling needed to stop. So....$45 movement monitor down the drain.

Next, we have been turning a fan on in Makenzie's room for white noise so she doesn't wake up when Ashley is crying. Since it's winter time and about 20 degrees in the middle of the night her room gets kind of cold with the fan running. So again I went online and found a Conair sound machine. It came a couple of days later, I plugged it in, turned it on and after 60 minutes the stupid thing shut off. Little did I know that this particular sound machine only runs for short periods of time and is meant to only lul someone to sleep, not stay on all night. So.....$30 sound machine down the drain.

All the purchases were kind of impulsive, but when it comes to sleep, or the lack of, I can get pretty anxious.

I guess I'll just try and re-sell everything on craigslist and see how much I can get back......

First Haircut

Makenzie finally got her first haircut. Taylor was very anxious, but I thought it was time to trim up the mullet. We took her to cartoon cuts in the mall...$15 for a 2 second haircut. We did get a little certificate filled out with her name, date and location for her "first haircut" and there is a little baggie of her hair stapled to it. Next time I think I will just spray it wet with water, clip a little off the back and save us the $15! She sat there expressionless and didn't move a muscle. It was the quietest and stillest (is that even a word?) that she has ever been in her life. It really doesn't look too different because Taylor only let them cut off about a half inch from the back and the tiniest trim ever on the rest. We're trying to help the top of her hair catch up to the back to make the mullet dwindle out. I think it's going to take at least another couple of months though.

Finished product!

Once the cape came off she was back to her normal self. I think I should borrow that cape for my house to get her to chill out once in a while!

In other news...We took Ashley for her 6 month wellness appointment. She weighs 19lb 130z which is still in the 95% for weight. I looked back at Makenzie's wellness appointment sheets and she weighed 18lb 3 oz at 1 year old....and this is why Ashley can't really wear her hand-me-downs....

Christmas 2010

Mak and Mimi
Mak and Papa

Grammi and Cora

Grammi and Ashley

Makenzie and Cora. Too many toys to stop and pose for a pic.

Have you ever seen two sisters look more different?....
I'm very happy that Ashley starting sitting on her own right before Christmas...that way she is able to play with her toys much more easily...

Pete helping Ashley open her gift...

She had Christmas pj's on, but of course she had to change into these shorts. I guess she was wishing for Christmas in Florida...

Yes, we have a leg lamp...and it sits proudly in our bay window during Christmas time....it's a major award!

Under the Tree

Where's Makenzie??? This is what happens when your 6 month old is the same size as your 2 year old..... Little better......

Finally got it! They aren't dressed up by any means, but they were both in a good mood so I decided to go for it.

Decorating the Tree

Of course I couldn't get her to look at the camera while she was putting up ornaments.

Ashley and Pete had the same idea of how to help....eat the ornaments....

The inevitable.....

The bottom half of our tree always remains bare. Makenzie takes off all the ornaments she can reach and puts them in a bag. If I put them back on, without fail, she takes them back off. She thinks that the ornaments are better off in their boxes than on the tree.

Makenzie and Riley

Sometimes its not even worth it to me to try and get a posed picture...


(yes, we still have a tube tv. we actually are finally going to move into the 2010's....we bought our first flat panel at hhgregg online thanksgiving day. 50 inch for $599. we can pick it up at the store this weekend)

Check out those baby blues...

Ashley at 5 months. She decided to roll over today from back to front. She's only done it once though. She's also started trying to roll from front to back, but gets hung up on her side.