Intervention...

The first step to overcoming any addiction is admitting you have one. So here it goes.

Hi. My name is Renee, and I have a baby carrier addiction. 

Let me jump on my soap box for a minute. I am a huge fan of using a baby carrier whenever possible instead of throwing a baby in a car seat. Reason for this is because with foster babies in particular, I think it is crucial to develop that bond. Many of these kiddos have not had the love and attention they need. They may have been left alone in a crib and/or car seat for extended periods of time without that interaction between mommy and baby. This will allow me to have that closeness and still be able to live my life and get things done around the house.

So this addiction all started harmless enough and before I knew it, I was the owner of 4 baby carriers. That is right, 4 carriers. The sad thing is that I have never actually used a carrier, so I don't even know how much I will use them or what I am looking for in a carrier. It is a small problem.

It all started when I bought a car seat off a friend after her son outgrew it. When doing so, she found her old baby carrier and asked if I wanted it. It was a Baby Bjorn Classic. Never having a baby before, this was the one carrier I had ever even heard of. Of course I said yes, and I went on my merry little way not thinking a thing of it.

Baby Bjorn Classic Carrier

Well then I got really into Goodwill's 50% off Saturdays. I found amazing baby gear for pennies on the dollar. This next carrier was no exception. This thing is in amazing shape. Honestly, I think it is brand new. I can find no signs of any use or wear and tear. Plus, I found it for $2.50. People, if you haven't tried Goodwill's 50% off Saturdays, you have to do it!

This isn't the color, but the model is the same.
Chicco Ultra Soft Baby Carrier

Then the shower came. I got my most favorite carrier yet, the Ergo Baby. It had amazing reviews, several positions to use it, and has a great weight range I can use it for. This one will be in our family for years! Thank you sister for one awesome carrier. It wasn't on my registry, but she is officially ALWAYS allowed to shop outside the registry.

Ergo Baby Carrier

 



Lastly, it is the Baby K'tan. This is a carrier I actively went searching for. It all started when I learned that for my Ergo baby carrier, I would need an infant insert for little ones. When I found this one I loved that it was easy to use and was a hybrid between a wrap and a carrier (in my mind). It gives that super close snugly fit I want for those infants! When a friend approached me saying she knew of a friend of a friend selling one, I was sold. :)

Baby K'tan

The smart thing to do would be to pick one or two and sell and/or donate the remaining. Where it stands now is that I am ABSOLUTELY keeping the Ergo Baby carrier, but without purchasing the infant insert, it isn't made for little little babies. For this reason I think having one additional would be OK. I am leaning towards Baby K'tan, but I just can't decide. Opinions would be greatly appreciated. 

The struggles of a baby carrier addict...

Foster Shower Pt 3 (The Last, I Promise)

So I know you are so sad, but this is the last and final installment of the foster shower! Yes I know I dragged this out for a ridiculous amount of time, but really don't rain on my parade! 

So this is all about the items that we bought using our gift cards from the shower. It was items we didn't get, but still needed/ wanted. Luckily we had a lot of people give us gift cards and so we were really able to get a lot of items and saved ourselves a TON of money. 

So after my big post about the car seat we had registered for, I ended up getting a totally different seat. You see this one was awesome and on clearance and yea...

See how nice and gender neutral the pattern is.

Here is the pack and play. Again, not what we originally registered for. Really I cannot resist a Target clearance section.

Fun little lion on the pack and play.

This little item is again one of my favorites for the baby room. Honestly, I kind of want one for our room. It is a sound machine and projector in one. It has 3 different discs for projecting on the wall and 6 different sounds! Until the kids arrive, it may find itself in our room.

Now I know that pacifiers are really an item that varies from baby to baby, but I couldn't pass these babies up. Too cute. Plus whether our child is a boy or girl, they will like football...

Well there you go. A summary of everything. Now clearly I didn't include every item we got or every gift we received in this post, but you can get a good idea of what we got. This was just intended to share with those of you who couldn't be there. 

If you saw anything you want a review on or opinions on, please let me know. 

Meal Planning

I have a friend that actually does all of her grocery shopping for the entire month in one trip. She does make a few trips just for produce, but that is it. That sounds awesome, but that is NEVER going to happen for me. It just isn't. I could never in my mind plan and execute an entire months menu in one shopping trip. Especially because I have been known on occasion to get bored or frustrated while grocery shopping and just check out at that moment. It never ends well because I literally have only half the items I need and therefore nothing to make a full meal.

Well this August I wanted to give myself a little challenge/ distraction while we wait for our official licensing. The challenge is NO going out to eat in the month of August. I have 2 exceptions for this.

1. Mark's birthday is during the month and I will give him the option of going out to eat or preparing a special dinner (obviously of his choice).
2. Mark's lunches. He works in the field all day and bringing his lunch isn't always practical.

So in order to make this happen, I should probably go grocery shopping. So I am going to meal plan! My goal is to shop for 2 weeks worth of meals. I have tried a million different methods and honestly, none of them have gone great. So who knows if this newest method will work, but it is at least worth a shot.

So this is super hard to read because honestly, I didn't think I was going to be sharing it. 

So here is my calendar. Now these meals are not necessarily going to be served on the day they were written, but that doesn't matter. This just helps me visually see that I have enough for the entire two weeks (8/1-8/15). 

Now I will go through and make a list of ingredients needed for each meal. If it is something that is perishable and I think that it won't be eaten in time, I will hold off on those items until the day of. Luckily, we have a grocery store directly on the corner so this makes things easy.

Lets see what happens and if I can actually do this! I will check in throughout the month.