Baby Pool Ball Pit

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.

A few weeks ago, I grabbed a baby pool on clearance at my local Walmart. I couldn't beat the price and I since I needed to take a part the pack and play for our vacation. The balls needed a place to go. 

This also gave Baby E a little more freedom while playing with them. She hated being confined. Plus, she has the opportunities to throw her balls and roll out whenever she feels like it.

A cheap and easy play toy that barely cost $5.00. 

Now, all I have to do is teach our puppies that they can't sneak into her room and steal them whenever they want. They are obsessed! 

Harry's Big Adventure by Terminex

Picture taken from Terminex Website

Terminex has a fun on-line education center for students and teachers to explore the world of insects. Students follow Harry the Chinese Praying Mantis as he introduces them to fun and interesting facts about a variety of insects. Below is a list of some of the items in Harry's World.

1. Educators Guide (PDF)
2. Lesson Plans (Grades K-8)
3. Games and more
4. Watch and Hear Bugs

You can also schedule a visit from a Terminex pro to come visit your classroom and present some information regarding insects. This is for grades K-6 only.

A Lifesaver For Us and Our Sick Baby --- The Graco Nasal Aspirator

~*~ 

Let me just start off with the fact that I am not endorsed of affiliated with this company in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a real mama sharing what's worked for us and our baby girl.

~*~

So, after we found out that we had mold in our blue hospital nasal aspirator (and yes, we cleaned them constantly); I ended up freaking out and literally crying about it. It was the whole new mama thing and hoping that my baby girl was still okay. Anyways, I looked on-line for some other options and found the Graco Bebesounds Nasal Aspirator. We chose this aspirator not only because it was electric and would give us a better suction, but it was easy to clean and it had a musical option to soothe baby. Now, we did have to buy the extra replacement tips to the longer tip. However, it was a reasonable price; under $2.00, then I got it for about nothing with some babies r us coupons I had from my purchases. 

In the end, this has been the biggest life saver for us! Right in the middle of a nasty winter storm our baby started to get worse. She sounded horribly, coughing, sneezing, congested, a low grade fever, and a runny nose light a faucet. She had already had a rough night and so that we could be at ease and know she was at ease we packed up our stuff and headed out at the height of the storm. We drove down to our pediatrician to find out they were closed so we headed out to the pediatric ER. After hours of sitting there, we found out that she had an upper respiratory infection. We told to just monitor her and suck out the snot. 

As you can see below this thing has seriously worked! This has just been the past couple times today during her diaper changes so far. A LOT OF SNOT!

Now, I usually wash them out with warm soapy water after every 2-3 diaper changes and then a full clean in the dishwasher every 2 days when we wash her bottles. 

Here are a few places that you can buy them:

Walgreens ~ $19.97 (they don't sell the replacement tips)

WalMart ~ $19.87 (I haven't seen the replacement tips there)

Target ~ $19.89 (they don't sell the replacement tips)

Amazon ~ $19.87 (the replacement tips vary from $9.39-$17.00)

CVS ~ $19.99 (the replacement tips are $2.99)

Babies R Us ~ $29.99 (the replacement tips are $1.99)

The only thing I would say that I am disappointed in is the fact that it does say that it includes 2 tips (it only includes one) and has a carrying case (which there was none in the package). Otherwise despite those two downfalls it's been an absolutely amazing product and has seriously helped us with the baby E's snot faucet. She sounds so much better after each suction :).

National Geographic Young Explorer

If you go to the National Geographic's Website for kids, you can click on the NG Explorer Magazine link at the top. This will take you to The National Geographic Young Explorer Magazine (geared towards Kindergarten and First Grade) where your students can listen and read a variety of issues that date back to September 2009. They also have a teachers section for each magazine with lesson plans, worksheets, questions, etc. There is even a section for the Whiteboard.

To go to the direct link just click here.

Holding Down the Changing Pad

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.


Every diaper change it seems like we have to fight Baby E to lay still. Since, she's figured out how to push herself up to a sitting position and the fact that she loves to crawl. We're always fighting her to just stop for one second. Just to let us change her and then she can be off on her merry little way.

Of course, any time we've fought her... the changing table decides it wants to try going flying off of the dresser. In the end we always look like a jumbled up mess. Not to mention what the dresser looks like.

With that, I had thought about getting little Command Velcro Tabs to hold down the changing pad. This way I could easily remove the changing pad to clean and what not. However, every time I go to the store I seem to forget about them. Even when I write it down. Seriously, it's kind of like I have a brain fart in the store.

Anyways, I figured why not just use the over abundance of Command strips that I already have. Some how during the move some of the holders were broken.. probably during the time period that my in-laws decided to drop every box we had on the ground. Who knows.

So, I grabbed them and placed one on each of the corners and pressed down. Then I placed one in the middle on the other side. I pressed each down once again, as a just in case.

I then removed the paper shield and carefully laid it down onto the dresser. Pressing down each side as I went. Once, it was completely down and pressed; I wiggled it around to see if it would move. It didn't. Woohoo!

It even was Baby E approved when I went to change her not to long after that. It didn't move and it was less of a mess afterwards.

Making Geodes

So, to end our lesson on minerals and to begin our lesson on rocks I decided to take a day and have the kids create their own geodes. The best part was they were so excited and so nervous at the same time! The day before the activity I had the kids choose their materials. Over course we spent a few minutes with some of them changing their minds several times --- but that was okay, I didn't mind :). No point in fretting over something that will be theirs!

Now, for the next day I showed them a variety of pictures of what their's may possibly look like if they chose that material. Of course, some changed again, but still it was okay! We then began the experiment....

Our Mineral Materials:                                              

• Borax
• Brown Sugar
• Salt
• Sea Salt
• Baking Soda
• Cream of Tartar
• Sugar
• Epsom Salt

Other Materials:

• Hot Water
• Spoons
• Cups
• Food Coloring
• Eggs (Halved and Cleaned)
• Egg Carton

I called each mineral material and had the kids come up for their chosen ones. Then each went back to their seats and after a few minutes and all materials were passed out, I poured the hot water into their cups. They then stirred it for a minute or so until ALL of the solution dissolved. We then added it to their eggs and placed it up on the shelf (so it wont be disturbed). 

Here are a few pictures (DAY 1: 11/11/11):

A few pictures, notice some have already completely evaporated with no crystals! :(

 This one (on left) has small crystals and has already evaporated and the other (on left) has some crystals growing on the far blue....

These two have already started to crystallize after only a day! 

The whole group......

Found the activity at Suite 101 and I'll update you on 11/14 on how they look since it's the weekend! :)

E's 8 and 9 Month Favorites

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.

I honestly don't have any 8 month favorites for Baby E. Unless you count the pool and her pool toys. Those have been by far her favorite things. 

We're crawling around and attempting to walk so you know everything is now awesome! Between the tables to the chairs, the DVDs, dog toys, and even the dog bowls. Oh yeah, we found the dog bowls.

Ahh! I cannot believe in just a few short months Baby E will be a year old. The time has flown by so quickly. We haven't really bought any toys, because E seems to be more entertained by everything around us. She'd rather sit outside and play with the sticks/leaves/grass/acorns as well as throw things rather than play with actual toys. She's just a very curious little girl.

Although she's not big on a lot of toys. We do have a few new ones that she seems to enjoy.

Fisher Price Rock a Stack, Fisher Price Paint Brush

She also has a set of Disney keys that she loves to play with while we're driving down the road and as she plays in her walker. However, she also takes the toys above and just moves around like there's no tomorrow. Even as she explores everything else.... dumping them into containers, water bowls, and even the attempt into the toilet. She's a mess, but I love every moment of it... I swear some days I couldn't trade all of this even for the world. 

Does your baby have a favorite toy or activity right now? Or are we just cruising around the house into everything?... I know mine is ;)

Oh, Baby Tub

As I told you in my welcome post, you may see several post that have the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo in them. This is one of them. I had prepared it for my previous blog, but since I decided to change everything it is now here :). 

When Baby E started to figure out how to stand up in the baby bath tub we knew we were screwed. Literally. We would tell her "no" and sit her back down. She'd laugh. Then give me the look. Kind of like "HAHA Mama, you know I'm going to do it again!" And of course she would. Then laugh.

Our Baby Bath Tub
First Years Sure Comfort

So, we tried a baby seat. She figured out how to scoot out of that one and climb up the side of the tub. We would once again tell her "no" and sit her back down. She would once again laugh. Give me the look. And do it again.

Our Bath Seat
The Hug Tub

Once, this started happening we would pretty much end the baths either really quickly... you know get down to business and get out OR we would have to sit in the tub with her to keep her from attempting to stand. Let me just say it's really uncomfortable even with a baby in a tight tub. I always felt squished. 

So, one night while perusing Pinterest... I do that a lot once Baby E is down for the count... I found this nifty little idea about using a laundry basket in the tub. When I saw that, a light bulb went off. That was probably one of the coolest ideas I've seen on there. 

Tub Time Lifesaver from Happy Home Fairy

After thinking about it, I realized we only have one laundry basket... So either I needed to be ridiculously prompt regarding our clothes or I needed to go buy one. Then I thought about the fact that I would possibly need to put a lot of water in their to honestly make it work for her. As much as we LOVE bath time at her age, we don't really need a lot of water. 

I then dismissed the idea.

About a week later, I was going through our front room. Organizing and throwing things out. When I came across a storage bin. It was just sitting there without a top on and it was like once again a light bulb went off. I could use this as a tub! It would be a tad bit harder for her to stand up and it could be easily reused without having to worry about having to keep switching/drying with the laundry basket. Plus, we could put the needed amount of water for Baby E.

All we had to do was rinse it out. Cause it was a little dirty from the stuff that was in there. Then it was on.

I just placed it under the faucet, filled it up with the desired amount of water. Placed her baby seat within it... for comforts sake and added her toys. Clean up was a breeze too. Once she was off to bed, I would wash it out and lay it up against the inside of the tub to dry. Then we could use it the next day without any fuss. She seemed to enjoy it and it worked like a charm for almost a couple of months. Until she figured out how to stand up in that too.

And it was back to the beginning of laughing at us. Until she all of a sudden would start crying when we told her "no"... Oh, Baby E.

Book Shelf Additions Part 1

When we first started our daughters room we didn't have much. We only had a crib, a rocking chair, and a hand me down old dresser. So, we looked at some of our items that didn't have a home; we chose to take the bookcase that matched the crib and rocking chair.

I figured we could use the bookcase as a place to store her books, dolls, and toys. At first I had placed several Huggies wipes boxes in there. My goal was to recover them at a later date with polka dot fabric. Well, the more I thought about it the more i didn't like the idea. This was because I felt the boxes wouldn't hold up to wear and tear as well as they didn't seem big enough. So, back to the drawing board I went. After talking with my mama she suggested picking up some fabric bins. I had thought about them, but, also thought about a few baskets.

After weighing the options and looking at baskets we figured that the fabric bins would be our best option. So, we drove down to Target and picked up 4 bins in 2 different shades of pink. This actually helped pull out the lighter and darker colors of baby E's comforter.

Baby Bottle Funk and Gunk

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.

Okay, so after time and most of us know it; things that are seemingly clean end up having a funky smell. Although Baby E's bottles seemed beyond clean they would some how start having a weird smell and sometimes we would still see grime left from her formula. Now, this after the bottle's been washed umpteen times with a scrub brush, checked, and then washed in the dishwasher. Sometimes, I even wonder if my eye sight is getting worse because I don't see it until I pull them out of the dishwasher. Then it's like "eww gross" and back to the hand wash again.

Now, this starts to get a frustrating especially when you have a little one screaming their head off. Cause they want that bottle, like now and your not moving fast enough.

So, one day while I was washing dishes and I saw the bottle of vinegar sitting next to the sink. Once, again light bulb.

Vinegar has become one of my favorite things to clean with. Especially when you add baking soda into the mix.

So, I'd sit each bottle on the counter and add a little bit of baking soda to each. Then. I would grab the bottle of vinegar and add it. Of course, you know, you get this awesome chemical reaction... that brings you back to being a kid.

Once, the chemical reaction was finished... I would swirl it around and then dump. Then I'd add a little bit more water and a smidgen of soap and scrub. Just in case. Popping it into the dishwasher when I was finished.

Let me tell you, Baby E's bottles never looked better. They almost looked brand new and smelled even more amazing.

This has become my new regimen and the bottles look awesome. I don't have to worry about that funky smell and then finding gunky formula residue after washing.

Have you guys found an easy way to wash the gunk and funk out of your baby's bottles?

Em's 7 Month Favorites

I cannot believe Baby E is 7 months old! I know I say this every month, but no matter what I still cannot believe it. The time is surely flying by and soon she'll be a year old. Oh my.

Anyways, Baby E's tastes have stayed somewhat the same regarding toys. She plays with them all equally and now that it's summertime, seems to enjoy the pool more than anything. However, here are a few of her new favorite things that have popped up this month.

 

Evenflo Jenny Jump Up, Evenflo Triple Action Fun, Fisher Price Crawl Along

Oh! And then there are the dog toys... now that she's scooting around, she's found the dog toys... and sometimes the dogs bring them to her.

Does your 7 month old have any favorite toys? OR do they still enjoy the ones from previous months?

Easy Peasy Teething Storage

We have several wipes containers sitting around the house doing nothing. In reality they're just there, they kind of take up space since we're not using them at the moment. The majority of them were given to us at our baby shower (which we were very grateful for), but we found that Baby E HATES and I mean HATES a cold wipe. So, we bought a wipe warmer for her and that's where the majority of her wipes go.

With all of them just sitting around I felt that I could use them for something, anything. Then it dawned on me when I was grabbing one of Baby E's teething toys out of the fridge. All of them were just sitting there on the shelf and I felt like they were not clean. Every time I'd go to give one back to her, I'd wash it off. Not like I already didn't wash them off after every use before going back in the fridge, but I felt like just like anything else they were picking up the fridge odors.


So, I picked up one of the empty containers and washed it out. I also grabbed her toys and washed them again. As I waited for each to dry I decided to clean a small space in the fridge to place the container.

Once everything was dried, I placed her teething toys in the wipes container and placed it in it's place in the fridge.

Now, whenever we're looking for a toy we can just open up the container and grab one instead of always feeling like we have to re-wash before giving them to Baby E.

Here they are all snug in their little container in the refrigerator door. An easy access  for us when we need them and a place where they can stay clean versus picking up all the refrigerator odors and messes that sometimes occur in there.

Do you use your extra wipes containers or do you throw them away?

Ours and Em's Teething Favorites

Right now Baby E is teething like crazy. It hasn't been as rough as people have told us; but it's been hard. There again is parenting ever easy? For example, a lot of people kept telling us that she'll be staying up all night, crying all day, never eating, etc. Honestly, we're still sleeping at our normal times and some days we're fussy and others we're not. But hey, who isn't? I know I can be a grump some days.

Anyways, here are some of Baby E's favorite items while we enjoy this momentous time waiting for the arrival of her teeth :).

Orajel Swabs, Mam Mini Cooler & Clip, Nuby IcyBite Hard/Soft Keys

Sassy Firefly Teethers

Of course, she also enjoys chewing on her fingers and ours, as well as chewing on her bibs, and a washcloth. She's not to keen on the whole frozen washcloth, but she does like to chew on a wet one. So, she mainly gets that at bath time.  

What are your babies favorite teething items?

Baby E is GROWING Up--- We're Pulling Out All the Stops

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.

Well, over the past few weeks Baby E has COMPLETELY found the cabinet doors. She doesn't pull anything out, but she does LOVE to open and close them.

So, after I fixed the door (I seriously couldn't stand looking at a crooked door any longer)... I pulled my husband in to help me put the safety latches on. I marked where they were to go and he drilled.

It took us about an hour. Mostly because we were also entertaining a 10 month old at the same time with silly dances. We couldn't resist.

Here's the beginning with the sticky tape holding it up.

Here's the end result. 

I will say that these things are awesome! Baby E doesn't play with the cabinets as much since she can't fully open them. However, it does pull out a few dammit moments. I FORGET EVERY TIME!!! Seriously, I go to open the door and it automatically shuts. Great for babies, horrible for adults ;).

Simple Homemade Sugar Scrub

As everyone's birthdays begin to pile up and holidays are just around the corner, sometimes we just can't afford the greatest things in the world. With that, I decided that it would be a good idea to try and make a sugar scrub. These were for my mama, my brothers girlfriend, and my mother in law. They honestly didn't take long to make and everyone seemed to like them... at least that's what they all said. 

Here's what I did ~

I grabbed a package of mini mason jars at Target. They were absolutely adorable!!

                                  

I then walked around the house grabbing quite a few of body washes that had been given to me, but never used. To be honest, some of them smelled way to strong to me... but, I knew a few people would enjoy them. 

After grabbing a few, I also grabbed a bowl, some sugar, and baby oil. I then started adding everything into the bowl. I used about a half a cup of sugar and a few drops of the baby oil. Then grabbed one of the body washes and added a little under a 1/4 of a cup. 

                               

Once all of the ingredients were in the bowl, I grabbed a spoon and stirred the mixture together. 

                                  

As everything was mixed together, I grabbed the adorable little mason jars and scooped the mixture into them. 

                        

After that, I put the tops on them and labeled each of them with type of body wash that I used. 

                         

It really was the simplest of gifts to make. As I said it took barely any time to make it... maybe 30 minutes. 

Not Your Traditional Trashcan

My husband and I never really bought our daughter a trashcan. We honestly couldn't fathom the idea of buying a nearly $30 trashcan and then buy the trash bag replacements for them. This was mostly because baby E HATES being wet. The moment she pees is the moment we have to change her. Yet, unless we smelled it or listened to her grunt we would never know she pooped. She's such an unusual child.

Anyways, last year my husband brought home boxes full of stuff from around his work. The place he works at throws a lot of stuff out and he'll sometimes bring it home. However, one day in the box full of stuff that he brought home was a little green bucket. Seriously, there was nothing wrong with it; they only threw it out because it had been used as a display... such a waste!

This little green bucket had been sitting in my husbands truck for some unknown reason... I have no clue why he put it there after he brought it home, maybe he was going to put his junk of a trunk in there or it was supposed to go into our storage unit. Who knows. Well, as we were both cleaning out our vehicles he pulled it out and it was moved inside to our kitchen floor... just sitting there.

So, while I was cleaning up the other day I stood there and stared at the bucket then of course walked away. Not to long after that I had to change baby E and as we walked to the kitchen to throw her diaper away... it clicked! I could use the little green bucket for her trash can. All I needed to do was clean it up a bit (I mean it had been sitting in my husbands truck... not so lovely) and then use the plastic bags that we constantly had left over from our shopping trips for her trash bags. Completely easy and I didn't have to pay a thing.

The Bag Needs A Container

I decided to change over my previous blog to this blog. You can still find me over a at twodaisiesandanelephant.blogspot.com. However, most of my blog posts from there will be transferred over to this one. So, at times you may see the "twodaisiesandanelephant" logo going across many of the photos. No worries, it is me. I promise.

Okay, so we all have it. That moment when you open up the doors underneath the sink and every bag falls out. Of course, you may have a few words come out and then shove them back in. Talking about how you'll find something to put those bags in, then of course you never do it. Getting more and more frustrated each time. Of course, that's my husband and I.

So....

One day after perusing Pinterest, I found an easy way to kind of maintain the bags and store them in other places. You know, where they're actually needed but aren't really there. This way you don't have to walk everywhere just to grab a bag.

So, like I said while I was perusing I found this awesome way to reuse a Lysol/Clorox/Store Brand/Whatever You Use Container into a plastic bag holder.

It didn't require shoving bags into a jumbled up mess. It's so neatly organized. It's awesome.

I clicked on the picture and found this adorable little website called Infarrantly Creativewith detailed directions on how to complete this.

I grabbed all my grocery bags and threw them into the laundry hamper.

I then picked through each. Throwing away any that had random holes in it. I then flattened out the good ones on the table.

Once flattened, I would fold them in half. Smoothing them out and placing them to the side. I did this about 14 times.

 

As I finished that, I laid each on top of the end of the next one. Making a little train.

I then tightly rolled them together, pushing any air out as I went.

Grabbed my Lysol Container and placed the bags into it. With the tail sticking out.

 

Taking the tail, I pushed it through the opening of the top of the container. Sealing it.

I did leave the outside blank. This one just hangs out next to my daughters trash can. You can't see it. So it's all good.

Oh and let me just say, this has become ridiculously hand when it comes to replacing the trash bags in Baby E's trash can. Just pull, replace, and go.