Sara - I don't think it's a Disney brand. We paid about $750, DH and a neighbor put it together. We have plans to add on to it. Dh wants to tie in a tree house with it. I'm glad you were able to get E on a sippy cup and solve the daily drink requests. LOVE the photos. His hair is beautiful.

Rachel - I love the play yard. Fun!
Jaime - I finally started fixing Tucker's sippy of chocolate milk (Ovalteen) the night before and leaving it on the bottom shelf in the fridge. Now Tucker helps himself and I get to stay in bed a little bit longer until Carsen starts stirring.

__________________

Candes, I keep meaning to say what fun your house party sounded like! I need to look online and see if I can find more info.

MIL is out of surgery and all went well. She will be in the hospital until next week. Thank you very much for the prayers!!

Any of you nursing moms ever had a milk blister? I have either that or thrush on the same side I had the giant plugged duct. It hurts like heck. I am treating it with Lotrimin and Neosporin and Lansinoh in between. I really hope it goes away soon. I am lucky I made it so long w/o any problems nursing this time, I guess, but owwwww. Thrush really scares me. Last time I got in my milk ducts and it was a nightmare.

Jaime, I second the WE NEED PHOTOS request!! I am so happy to hear you are doing well. And Mel, so happy Max continues to be a dream baby. Wonderful for you, after all the months of sickness!!

Sara, those are darling pics of Enrique. Glad you solved the wanting to nurse all the time issue. Bryce sleeps through the night sometimes and sometimes not. It is what it is. If he weren't getting all his teeth early, maybe it would be better. I hope it WILL be better when his molars come through.

__________________

Those are great playsets! We only have $500 for the set itself, so we'll have to wait for the walmart or toys r us sets to come in. They're only $300-$500, including the delivery charge, which is why there aren't any left!


I checked our credit card balance today (which I never do, DH pays the bills) and was shocked that he's spent $1400 in the last 2 weeks on electronics! When I called him on it he freaked because he didn't realize it was that much because they were many, many smaller purchases that add up. It's his mess to fix, but now we can't afford the swingset for the kids. He was really sad when I showed him the statement and pointed out how there isn't any room for the kids' purchase that we had planned on (it's a $2k limit, our only credit card) so we're going to come up with a plan to fix this. Sigh. I think he got his spending gene from his mother. We had to open a bank account for her because hers is frozen due to debts, because she had no way to access her paycheck money to pay her rent and utilities. She's almost 50 years old, it's time to get your finances together. I hope I can help Juan before he turns into some spending maniac.

__________________

Melissa -CK out houseparty.com and bzzagent.com. I'm a Bzz Agent and I just signed up for a campaign for Logitech. I'm getting the Harmony One universal remote control to try out for free and I get to keep it!
Logitech Harmony One

I'll post pics when I rcv it if you think it's too good to be true.


Want more info? PM me and I can tell you what I've already rcvd free.

__________________

Hello ladies! Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been reading everyday though.

We took Truitt for his 4 month appt today. He is 17lb 8oz and (90%) and 27 inches (97%). He is just a big boy. I now need to find a new carseat for Keegan so that Truitt can move into his. Our infant seat only goes to 26 inches.

Amy, we bought the cheap Wal Mart playset a few weeks ago. It is perfect for the small area we have in our backyard. Dh and his dad put it together. It was pretty easy to put together. It was just time consuming. I will try and post pics of it later.

Our tax rebate is already spent. We recently purchased our airfare, hotel and park tickets for Disney World. We will be using our rebate to pay all of that off on our credit card.

Candes, tell me more about the houseparty thing. How does it work?

__________________

Angela

Mommy to Keegan Jude & Truitt James

Amy & Sara, consider buying one on craigslist if you only have a set amt. of money. We bought an amazing one for $500. It's redwood and huge! It came with three spaces for swings, two regular swings, one of those teeter totter swings, a trapeeze, & a disc swing. It has a clubhouse, sandbox and a big, bumpy slide. The guy said he had 40 hits on it, lucky for us, we just happened to be first. Putting it together took a bit of work, but so would have the Costco one which we had considered as well. The only thing we had to do is buy some stain and truthfully, I got it off freecycle, so that didn't even cost us anything extra. We will have to buy a bucket swing, but that's a drop in the bucket in comparison to the whole deal.

We looked forever on craigslist and put in for a few, but in the end I know we got the best deal. There are a lot of people who are always just trying to unload things and sell things way under their value.

Amy, seriously consider going straight to cash to curb Juan's spending. "Cash only" was the best things we ever did. Dh spent a lot more when he used his ATM and credit card. Now we actually have a budget we stick to rather than a budget that we hoped worked every month. I got the recommendation from Candes, but The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey was really one of those life changing books for us. I've read a few of those life changing books over these past two years and I am so glad that was one of them!

Jaime, glad to hear you are doing well. I think the transition from 1-2 is so much easier than from 0-1. I felt fine until my work thing happened and then it just kinda all fell apart for a little while, but even with all that, it was still easier.

Sara, glad to hear things are going better with E. I think some of E's fussiness must have rubbed off on Ty though. I don't know what has gotten into that boy lately, but ugh!!! E is still just the cutest thing ever. You take wonderful pics. I am sure your business is booming!

Angela, you spent your rebate the way I want to spend mine! Have a great trip!

__________________
Andy

Andy, I'm definitely going to get that book! I'll keep browsing craigslist, too.


Jaime, I'm so glad you're having a PPD-free time with Cole! I experienced the same thing with Lily's birth and you hit the nail on the head when you said you didn't know how great it could feel to have a baby when the first time was so hard. With Jack's birth I felt like all my happiness had been sucked out forever and been replaced with incredible anxiety. With Lily it was just a smooth transition and pure enjoyment of early motherhood exhaustion. I was praying you'd have the same experience, and I'm so glad you are!!!!

__________________

House Party lets you preview products and shows for free. You invite friends to a party, you share the product/show, take pics, talk it up and report back. There are specific days to throw the party, you determine how much you want to spend on the party $0 or whatever. They supply the product and give aways for your guests.

You pay nothing to get on their list, you pay nothing for the product they send and you get to keep it. The only money you spend (if you want to) is for the party you throw.

I'll PM you the rest.

__________________

Hi Girls

Amy- That really sucks about your student loans. We ar pretty lucky here in oz, we don't have to start paying back undergrad degrees till we earn over $37,000 and they only take like $14 a week and atm you pay back whern you earn over $51,000 you pay $53 a week no matter how much debt you have. It's all controlled by the govt they pay loans for you and you pay them back.
However for postgrads except doctorates you pay half upfront and the other half works the same as undergrad.
Also undergrads here cost no more than $44,000 all up. So i have yet to pay a cent back but will when i start working when the kids are older. Since when i was working i didn't earn that amount.

Melissa- Glad to hear that Bryce had a great party. Lots of prayers for your mil.
Kate- I hope the mastitis clears soon.
Mel- Glad to hear the Max is a dream baby hoping my #3 will be the same.
Sara- Those pics are amazing.
Jaime- So glad to hear that all is well.

__________________

Angela- YAY for Truitt's stats
Jamie- I forgot to say i remember how mcuh easier thigns were 2nd time around even thought Deana was more demanding. I think #1's are so much harder since it's a shock to the system.

Life is still busy but good except for my damn infections nothing new there. I have got some pics from easter to share, excuse the weird sizes photobucket is playing up. We are going shopping for the christening this weekend so we will see what we find. Trying to get stuck into this essay and both kids haven't been well.
Deana has had shocking teething and diarrhea to match Marcus had a cold. Oh and we are now getting out washer replaced since the part they were looking for has been discontiued and it's only 9 months old.
Hope you all have a great weekend.

__________________

Cute pics, Rosalie! So nice to see Deana's beautiful eyes working perfectly together!

Sorry I have been scarce; the MOMS Club consignment sale was today. I know I sold a couple of my big items (woo hoo! that Jumperoo was taking up too much space!) and I hope I sell a lot of the clothes. What doesn't sell I will give away. I am ready to be DONE!!

Candes, I have a friend who was a Bzz agent and I always meant to sign up but never did. Thanks for the links!!

Quiet week for everyone, huh? Who else is around this weekend and what are you doing? It is raining so we aren't doing anything outside today, at least. Apparently May showers will bring June flowers this year.

__________________

I'm around (a little!) this weekend. I went to an art fair last night with the girls and passed out my business cards. We are going to another one tomorrow to do the same.

__________________

Melissa - I had a plugged duct too. It hurts like hang. I had to tease the blocked milk blister thing on my nip with a clean needle to help clear it. I also fed Lydia upside down and some other weird ways in an attempt to clear it. My LC also suggested pushing behind the blocked duct while feeding to put pressure on it from behind to help clear.

__________________

Hello. Leo took the baby to the grocery store so I have a few minutes alone. Yesterday was long. I got up ran errands, did a session, went to the store came back got ready went to the gym, took a shower and went to a party. Yawn..lol Today we have a family picnic and I have to go to the grocery store for some stuff. I think alex will have a blast.

Nothing really new. I have looked on cragslist but nothing really good ever comes out. And anything good is gone in like two seconds. I might just wait till I can save up for someone to make the playpit and put together the playscape. Maybe in september when it starts to get cooler because right now we are going into the hottest months.

__________________

Penny, thank you. I still have what I think is a milk blister but it has gotten smaller, just one little white dot. I don't think it is thrush. I am working at it.

Sara, you sound very busy! Do you do mostly kids photography or families or ?? Nice you got a little break from E. Yesterday was the least I have seen my kids in a year. From 8-5 I was home only about 2 hours, busy at the consignment sale. I got a stack of clothes for Bryce when he is 3-4. When things are $1-2 a piece you can't say no. I already have stuff up to 2T from a mom friend. So nice to have that stuff ready to pull out when he is the next size!

__________________