Super - Mom

So here is where the craziness begins, after putting forth my application for the messiest house award I started to do one of the things I do the best - beat myself up. No not literally, but thinking things like; well my Mum did it all, plus she worked!

So first as a note to all the Mommas out there, you are Super Moms. We just show it in different ways.

So my house isnt the cleanest, and I may spend a lot of time online, however my son is happy and my Husband is too.

So in order to get things done, I need to take off the cape and decide what I want.

My priorities will always be my son, and I love looking after his newest little friend. It helps her Momma and it helps my son with his social skills. So now that that is established i have decided that I will limit myself to one game on Facebook, keep up with my freebies as it really doesnt take that much time. My Inbox Dollars and Swag Bucks take very little time and make the family money and I just love posting on my blog.

I am also going to try and stick to the FlyLady system, even though I already failed as I changed day one into day one, two, and other things as well. May have caused an overwhelming effect.

I just pray each day for the strength to provide the love, care and nourishment for my family, the dedication to give them strength and the spirit to show my love of Christ, my Heavenly Father. I think that the Duggars said it well on the episode of 19 kids and counting I watched. "First love God, Second love your family" This is a powerful statement as I sincerely believe in;

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them. (1 Nephi 3:7). As the Family Proclamation states "Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners."

I know that these statements are true, and that by loving my Heavenly Father, I am loving my family. We truly are SuperMoms as that is what we are pre-destined to become.

You know I didnt expect this to become a testimony but you know what after reading those two pieces my strength is renewed and I am feeling great about myself. SO I am super happy to share it :)

Application for messiest house award!

So if you know me you would know that I can be obsessive with cleaning however after Xavier was born I have to say I have become very lax. I joke that I need me time when he is sleeping and that face book is my outlet. Then I start on Neo and before I realize it I have spent an hour on the computer and Xavier is waking up. Then I look around my home and shudder with the state of it. I am ashamed of my home and that is the truth! So I have decided to start afresh and get the place cleaned. Now lets be totally honest if I was to tackle it all in one day I would probably have a nervous breakdown, after all it has taken longer than a day to get this way.

So heres my challenge, to get my home clean, decorated, and then keep it clean somehow with a toddler(well he might as well be), babysitting a little 7month old princess, doggies and a wonderful husband that works hard and tries hard at home to help. Well other than socks everywhere he goes!

I started by looking on line and I found a site called Fly Lady;

http://www.flylady.com/pages/begin_babysteps.asp

Now she is talking about getting things clean to a point and that is great for a start but I need cleaner. I am going to give myself 30 days to get the house in the condition I want, without decorating (I will finish the master bath/bedroom though) and then keep it there.

So I have hung my head in shame and taken some pictures of my home, that ladder has been in the bathroom for about 2 weeks, ok its laundry day and I havent put it away yet and I just made Xavier Eggy Bread, the front room is ok but still not clean enough for me. I also have to get over the freak storm and fix my back yard.







Wish me luck and I will try and stick to this, plus I only have about 40 boxes to go through from the move still.

I have been told that my application isnt severe enough for 15 minutes of tv fame but it is severe enough to make my skin crawl

Lets Talk About Diapers!

So as a new Mom, the most expensive thing I have found is the diaper expense.

So what choices are there? My first choice is to cloth diaper, the expense is far more upfront, my favorites were kisaluvs which were $100 for the starter kit. The problem I found is my little guy grew so quickly that he was out of them too soon. I intend to get more and integrate them more into my usage. I just wish I had bought more upfront. The terry ones were not the easiest to use and luckily I found a decent sewing pattern to make some of my own;

http://www.ottobredesign.com/en/print/pdf/vaippa_en.pdf

This is a free pattern and was easy to complete. I have even considered making them to sell to design, so if you ever wanted 'Twilight' diapers for you little one, maybe as an ode to Jacob or Edward or because of what a child does in a diaper for Jacob or Edward. Hey I don't judge!

The advice I would give to Moms cloth diapering is to be quick with changes and what I did to prevent staining is to throw the poopy diapers into warm water with dish detergent as soon as they came off and then washed as normal. Also wash cloth diapers before you use them as it helps with absorbency.

So now let’s talk about disposables!

There are many brands out there, Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, Parents Choice and many store brands. Each one is different and each work differently for each child. So your little one may have been perfect in Pampers and now a second child breaks out in rashes. I would suggest signing up for as many samples as you can for diapers. Even if you cloth diaper, I found having a couple of disposables in the diaper bag was such as blessing for that just in case moment.

Every Time I find samples for Diapers I will post here! Also coupons for Diapers are a huge plus because a lot of the time they are for dollars off the price and not cents.

Personally I got one package of Luvs at my baby shower and I will never use them again as they leaked all the time, they may be perfect for you and your family.

So here is my biggest piece of advice, no matter what kind of diapers you use. Sign up for the free rewards programs for Huggies and Pampers. Even if you don't use them, the free codes that circulate can get you free toys, shutterfly items, sweeps entries and lots more!

Huggies
https://enjoytheriderewards.com

Pampers
Click on the link to the side :)

Here is a list of current codes for them as well to get you started! Plus if you want me to email you an invite to give me a couple of extra points, well I won't say no :P
Huggies Codes

Plus click on the earn points tab and watch all videos and take all the polls available. As new ones come available I will post them.
1 point ~BGSHBQLWTGRKPGB
5 points ~BJQRFNCNMCNPPGB
1 point ~ BGQGLPKMCPXPPGB
5 points BJLTSTSFXCQMPGB
5 points ~BJKFTDXKFHCDPGB
5 points ~BJKNGQJRMBQRPGB
1 point ~ BGNDNHQCDQBMPGB
5 points ~BJNZKHMLTMXDPGB
5 points ~BJNDJSLLMDXJPGB
1 point ~BGQGJPQZFGDXPGB
1 point ~ BGNDJBBNXFKTPGB
5 points ~BJLKLQJQFKQBPGB
5 points ~BHSGSWKLGQRQPGB
5 points ~ BHJXFWSCMRQSPGB
5 points ~ BHSQJQKKMLFTPGB
5 points ~BFZJXQLFCXQLPGB
1 point ~ BGJRJLNWQBHNPGB
5 points ~ BFXRHQZZHCNLPGB
5 points ~ SLHPGDSPRWCDPGB
5 points ~ BFSFFMHFHCWCPGB
1 point ~ BHQWTLDZFKJTPGB
1 point ~ BHQXZMKTGBZRPGB
1 point ~ BHPCDRBCKXWNPGB
1 point ~ BHNXGRWNDTQKPGB
89217100 (bonus code)
96739416 (bonus code)

Pampers Codes

50 points ~JOINNOW4REWARDS
10 points ~facebookoct2010 (Expires 10/31/10)
10 points ~PUNTOSPARAMI123 (Expires 6/30/11)
20 points ~GIFTS2GROWBONUS
10 points ~ CAREFORNEWBORNS
10 points ~GTGCOUPONPOINTS (Expires 12/31/11)
50 points ~WELCOME2PAMPERS
10 points ~ GTGTENMONTHCODE (Expires 10/31/10)
10 points~ GTGFIVEMONTHS10
10 points~ GTGGETREADYSOON
15 points ~15GTGSUMMERFUN
10 points~GTGLEARNMORE089
10 points~getstartednow10 (Expires December 31, 2010)
30 points~GTGPLAY3USA2010
10 points ~Welcome2GTG2010
10 points ~Welcome2Village
10 points ~GROWWITHVILLAGE

Please let me know if any codes are expired so I can take them off. I am looking forward to giving you more codes and remember even if you don't use Huggies or Pampers, 5 minutes of time can equal lots of freebies.