...with the interesting wake up call.

Elena sleeps in her crib (in her own room) at night. In the morning however, I grab her out of her crib and bring her into bed with me so I can nurse her. She nurses for a while first thing in the morning...sometimes 30 minutes and often times she falls back to sleep. This past weekend, as she was nursing I closed my eyes to get a little rest myself. Instead of falling back asleep she decided to "wake up mommy". Imagine my surprise when I feel a little finger go straight up my nose. Talk about a wake up call like no other. I immediately opened my eyes upon feeling the little tickle her finger created inside my nostril (almost made me sneeze) and looked down to see a smiling little face staring back at me...followed by a cute little giggle.
Wow, how I love her...nose picking and all!

...with the MIA blogger

Yes, I have been MIA. I've been busy :)
My sister in law was married this past weekend and we made a 5 hour trip north to be a part of her wedding. It was a great weather day wise and everything turned out beautiful!
Her wedding was definitely a family affair! Many friends and relatives flew in from all over the US and Puerto Rico and many of us took part in making her day come together! My husband and dad built an arch for the couple to be married under, I arranged their flowers, the decorations were put together by my other sister in law and mother in law....the list goes on and on and on...!
Here are a few photos from our weekend!

...with the weekend in photos.

Last weekend my husband and I took Elena to visit my parents "in the middle of nowhere". My husband was on a mission....his sister is getting married in May and he offered to build her an arch to get married under, so he and my dad worked on that the entire weekend while my mom, Elena and I ran errands and relaxed at the house.

~my parents yard~






~the finished arch minus the final sanding and staining~

..where Elena checks herself out.

Elena has this toy with a small mirror on it, and she has recently started staring at herself in it. I caught her checking herself out in it the other day and was able to snap some pics of her. They aren't the best quality, as the lighting was terrible and I had to take the pictures quickly before she lost interest in herself!
Isn't this the cutest?
These make me laugh everytime I look at them!

...with the WillowSprouts Nursing Pads review and GIVEAWAY!!!

We have a winner! Thanks to everyone for participating and CONGRATS to Ben's Mommy!
Even if you didn't win, stay tuned for more giveaways!

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As you may have read before, I use hemp inserts for Elena's cloth diapers from the Willow Store. I love the hemp diaper inserts! After purchasing, using and loving the hemp inserts from Willow Store, I headed on over to their website to check out what other products they have available. I contacted The WillowStore and they so kindly sent me a pair of their Organic Hemp Fleece Nursing Pads to try out and review.
As a nursing mama, there isn't anything I wouldn't do to take good care of my "insert favorite name for boobies here!". I've dealt with some pretty bad leaking myself, and finding the right nursing pads can be difficult!

First, a little about the Willow Store! It all started back in 2005, when mom Catherine created WillowPads, reusable feminine pads that maximize absorption while minimizing bulk. WillowPads products are the ultimate in reusable cloth pads, and can be used as maxi pads or panty liners simply by adding or removing inserts.

Shortly after launching WillowPads, Catherine expanded her product line to offer additional solutions for modern families. WillowSprouts has grown to offer reusable nursing pads, baby wipes, and diapers. True to their mission, WillowSprouts emphasizes premium quality, with the greenest possible organic solutions and nothing to throw away.

Seeing a further need for sustainable products to replace disposable ones, she also created EveryDay Willow, a line of uniquely enhanced products for the home: from a replacement to the common paper towel to naturally healthy pillows and more.

Back to the Nursing Pads! The Organic Hemp Fleece Nursing Pads are made with organic cotton/hemp fleece material that's twice as absorbent as cotton but plushy soft! When I received my nursing pads, I opened the package and played with the pads in my hands. They were SO soft.

Now, back when I was leaking pretty much all day, every day, I couldn't keep nursing pads in my house long enough. I purchased disposable nursing pads (I tried almost every kind available on the market!) like crazy and soon realized I was creating such a waste! I did end up buying a few pairs of reusable nursing pads from the store, but they were horrible. They were incredibly stiff and scratchy....not something you want touching sore, leaking nipples! I did eventually buy a nicer pair, made by a work at home mom, but they were thick, which meant there was no hiding them discreetly under a shirt! I felt as though I was walking around with my boobs saying "look at me, look at me!"
My leaking has subsided greatly. In fact, I rarely leak now, but there are occasions when I go a long time without either nursing or pumping and the leaking starts!

After opening the WillowSprouts nursing pads, I couldn't wait to try them out. As soon as I could, I tossed those babies in my bra and my initial thought was that these were the softest things my nipples had ever felt. Feel free to laugh. But I'm not kidding. They feel better than my bra feels against my skin! I though "I must wear these every.single.day". And guess what? I did. I don't even want to admit how many days I wore them for. They are so slim, that I forgot that they were there! Now, of course I noticed them when it was time to nurse my daughter, but between feedings, I forgot I was wearing them!

And did I mention how soft they are? I can't believe I was missing out on these months ago when my boobies were flowing like Niagara Falls.

I did have a chance to leak while wearing these! I didn't plan it, it just happened! I woke up in the morning and knew instantly that I was leaking and that I had to feed Elena to relieve the pressure. But first, I needed to grab my nursing pads and slide them in my bra. Imagaine my surprise when I couldn't find them, gave up looking, and proceeded to feed the baby and found that the pads were already in my bra! Yes! They easily go unnoticed because they are so slim and soft. I felt the pads to see how they were holding up and they didn't feel the least bit damp! Because they are made from hemp, they absorb so much better than those cheap disposable pads....which I must mention, when the disposbles "absorb" milk, they also get big and thick. The WillowSprouts pads do not get big and thick after absorbing a lot of milk, the stay slim!

I also love that I can wear these and nobody has to know, as they do not show lines through your bra and shirt. I even asked my husband, "can you tell I have something in my bra? Do you see lines"? Yes, he thinks I am crazy :)

One more thing I have to mention. I ended up getting a blister on my nipple a short while ago and it hurt like crazy. I ended up grabbing the WillowSprouts nursing pad and using it in my bra to help protect the blister from rubbing against the inside of my bra. Because these nursing pads are so soft, it felt great against the blister until it slowly went away!

So, now that I have rambled on enough about these, wouldn't you like to get a pair for yourself? Well, you can! You can purchase a pair (or 2 or 3) from the Willow Store here.

Or, you can enter to win a pair here!

For all entries, please be sure to leave your email address so I have a way to contact you if you win!

In order to enter, you MUST visit the Willow Stores site, take a look around at their other products and then come back here and leave a comment stating what other products you would be interested in trying out. (This comment is required in order for additional entries to count!)

Want additional entries?!?! Be sure to leave a comment for each.

Follow this blog publicly....via the link in the side bar on the right.

Sign up to receive the Willow Stores Newsletter on their website.

Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave a link to it.

That's a total of 4 ways to enter! This giveaway ends on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at noon, CST.

...when I failed at dyeing Easter Eggs the natural way!

For Easter I attempted to dye some Easter eggs using a homemade all natural dye.
I found the instructions to this method on display at the local Outpost foods.
It required a few specific ingredients, which I picked up at the store and some extra time in comparison to traditional egg dyes (ya know, the boxed tablets you get in the Easter kits).
I thought it would be a great thing to blog about when I was finished (I took pictures!).
Well, it didn't work out so well. I thought about not posting about it at all, but who am I kidding? Nobody's perfect, so why not post about it anyways.
There were several different "colors" of dye you could get by using various household foods/ingredients.
I chose to use Turmeric Powder, crushed red cabbage (smelled horrendous!) and grape juice.






I followed the directions to a "T".
So, here are the directions, in case you want to try it for yourself....you know, a few days after Easter!

Turmeric Powder - Put 1-2 tsp (I did 2) ground Turmeric powder in heat proof cup. Fill 2/3 full with boiling water. Add 1 tsp white vinegar. Works quickly.

Chopped Red Cabbage - Plug your nose! Put 2-3 tbsp chopped red cabbage in heat safe cup. Fill 2/3 full with boiling water and add 1 tsp white vinegar. Le sit overnight and avoid excess handling.

Grape Juice - Add 1 cup frozen juice concentrate to 1 rsp vinegar. Let ist an hour or over night. (I did over night)

So the actual dyeing part wasn't difficult, it's what happened when I removed the eggs from the dye. I had to rinse them off (otherwise they would be wet and sticky, escpecially the grape juiced eggs!) Well, when I rinsed them off, guess what else rinsed off......yup! The color went right down the drain! I do have to say though, that the Turmeric powder egg did retain some of the yellow color. That was the best one. The grape juice one had this slimy "film" on it.
My husband ate most of the eggs before I could take a picture. But here are the grape juiced eggs.



If you have dyed eggs using a natural method before, please share with me how you did it! I would love to try it again sometime....like next Easter!

...with baby millet and zucchini.

I have been a baby-food-making-machine! I don't know why, but I get so much satisfaction from making Elena's baby food. Each time I try a new food, I can't wait for the next three days when I can try another new food! I have been going through the recipes in my favorite baby-food cookbook like crazy. I think part of it, is that I am making her things I would have never known I could give a baby.....like herbs! Up until I started making her baby food, I always just assumed that baby food was plain and bland. I never even thought about introducing her to spices and herbs! But lo and behold, one of the things I have learned from the two cookbooks I have is that you can introduce herbs and spices to a baby just as you would any other new food...one at a time! So far Elena has had fresh mint (with green beans) and basil.

The latest "dish" I made for Elena was a combined concoction of millet, zucchini, apples and basil. As embarassing as it is to say, I had no idea what millet was!
I went to OutPost Foods though and looked around the bulk section until I found it. It's just a grain of some sort! A very healthy whole grain.
I never made/introduced Elena to rice cereal, so this was the first grain she ate. She loved it! I thought for sure that this was going to be the first food she spit out...but I was wrong. This girl loves her food! I relaly hope she continues to be a good eater!
Next, I am going to make her a dish containing plums and amaranth (again, another food that I had no idea what it was.....also a grain!). My sister in law gave me some organic plums, so I've already made a plum puree for the amaranth.