Plastics

My sister asked me about which plastics are the bad ones that have been in the news lately. Here is how I understand it: Check the number in the recycling code on the bottom of the plastic item. 1, 2, 4, and 5 are usually safe. 3, 6, and 7 are usually not safe. Heat on these old containers may increase the likelihood of chemicals migrating into your food (heating in the microwave, placing hot food in them, heating them with plastic wrap, and washing them in the dishwasher for example). I really want to start using more glass dishes when we get our own house.

There is a good article specifically on safer sippy cups here: ZRecommends' Sippy Cup Showdown and they followed up with Baby Bottle Safe Alternatives also. I highly recommend these links if you are in the baby bottles or sippy cup stage of life!

I've compiled a shopping list of BPA-Free cups and bottles in one convenient location here.

A New Bib for Elizabeth

After reading some of the information on recent bib recalls over at NotChinaMade.net, I decided to take some of my fabric that I used recently for a diaper and make a bib!



The back makes good use of an old towel and I included a velcro closure on it because I hate to tie things around baby's neck.

This took all of about 5 minutes to make! Think I may use some of my extra fabric & list some in My Etsy Shop to go along with my tag blankets!

And the test drive... it works!

Cross-posted at In Stitches

Wordless Wednesday x2

A watched pot...

Peasant Girl

For more Wordless Wednesday,

visit Wordless Wednesday HQ

or 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

We went to eat Chinese food with Grandma one day last week. In the parking lot...

David: Big green Cici's Pizza! (they had green awnings)

Mom: It's not Cici's Pizza, it's Chinese food.

David: Big green Chinese food!

Inside, he didn't eat any thing I offered him, but he had eaten before we left home, so I wasn't surprised. Kids eat free, so I wasn't concerned about it. He did eat the chocolate chip cookie I brought him, though. Then I got a little piece of chocolate cake. David looked at my plate, leaned close and said...

I want Mom's Chinese food!

>^..^<

Still working on this potty business... We empty poopy diapers into the potty. I guess it's not much different from imagining cloud animals, but David imagines all sorts of things from what he sees in the potty! He has named it a big brown sheep, a windmill (I never figured that one out), a cloud, a hippo, a brown cow, a bear, a seal and more... just use your imagination!

>^..^<

We have a Sesame Street video that we watch called, 1, 2, 3 Count With Me (see the link below - David LOVES this video!). The main song sings, "1 2 3, 4 5 6, that's how the number go..." Well, the other day on the potty, I sang, "1 2 3, TT with me!" and then David busted out with, "That's how the potty goes!" He never ceases to amaze me!

>^..^<

Read about more Tiny Talk this Tuesday at Not Before 7! You'll be rolling...

Hey, if you use a signature at the bottom of your posts, can you please explain how to add it in using the new Blogger widgets? I want to use this one. The two little hearts are for my two babies. : )

And lastly, there's another GIVEAWAY to spread the word about - And She Prays... is giving away a copy of the book, The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian this week!

Women of Faith 2007

This weekend, I got to go on a refreshing getaway to the Women of Faith Conference in Dallas. I got to order food I wanted to eat, go to the bathroom by myself, and take a shower uninterrupted! : ) Oh, and the conference was good, too!

(above) Nichole Johnson performed some very deep & moving dramas.

Sheila Walsh was one of the speakers for the Friday pre-conference, speaking on God Has a Dream for Your Life. This year's theme conference theme was Amazing Freedom.

As always, we enjoyed some wonderful praise & worship times. The American Airlines Center was sold out to 16,000 women, and another 3,000 overflowed into Reunion Arena.

Elizabeth attended the conference with me. Here she is napping with Aunt Wee.

We were able to sit in a private box, thanks to someone's uncle's company owning the box & sharing the tickets with us. This gave us plenty of room to move around, stretch, and have some tummy time while we were there!

Luci Swindoll was the last speaker of the event. I think my favorite speaker or performer had to be Anita Renfroe, though. She was hilarious, taking topics that can make a woman's life everyday/boring and turning it into a joy! If you ever get to see her perform or see one of her DVD's, you'd better not miss it!!!

We took another picture without the windows behind us, but I still liked this one best! Don't we look like we've been having fun? Sometimes I think you just need to get away for a little bit. I think it makes me a better mom when I get back home.

Meal Plan Monday

Hopefully no one will get sick this week & we can follow a plan this week!

Monday: Stuffed Peppers

Tuesday: Cheese Enchiladas

Wednesday: Wacky Mac with Homemade Sauce & Meatballs

Thursday: Swim Night - Eat Out

Friday: Grilled Sandwiches

Saturday: Stir Fry

Last time I posted my meal plans, I had scheduled grilled chicken-pineapple kabobs on Saturday. I forgot to get some more skewers, since mine are packed up somewhere, so we made them in a foil bag on the grill. It was amazing! The chicken was so tender & juicy! I may never kabob chicken again!!!

Thursday at the Splash Pad

Thursday night we went to the Splash Pad instead of Family Swim Night... David had sooo much fun!

Can you believe GV has a water park???

Works For Me Wednesday: Ribbon Storage

I've been making a lot of little tag blankets in the last couple of months. After a couple of days of making these, I end up with a dining table covered in spools of ribbon that an inquisitive 3 year old has a hard time leaving alone!

While I dream of the day when I'll have a craft room with peg board walls and can wire my ribbon up for easy access, I needed a fix now! Enter the drawer unit that I've had since college:

In the top 2 drawers I ordered my spools of ribbon and can now measure and cut off the 5" pieces of ribbon I need without even removing them from the drawers! The bottom drawer is a compilation of small pieces of ribbon that are not long enough to roll on a spool. And I can pick up the entire drawer unit & put it away when it's time to clean the table! How 'bout that? It works for me! See what works for others at Rocks in my Dryer's Works for Me Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

See more at Wordless Wednesday HQ and usually at 5 Minutes for Mom, but I can't get their page to load this morning.

Prayer for the Frys

Please pray for the Fry family on Wednesday. Their 22 yr old son died in a motorcycle accident on Sunday morning. The funeral will be Wednesday at the local high school because no church would be big enough to hold the crowd. Daddy Fry has been the pastor at the Grandview Church of Christ for as long as I can remember. Aaron was a senior at Abilene Christian University.

Checking Out Skabettios

You've all been there, or at the very least you've seen it take place in the checkout line in front of you. The kid in the basket is clutching a new toy, a box of animal crackers, or some other magical treat. He doesn't want to hand it over to the cashier to be scanned out of fear of never seeing it again.

That was us today. The prized possession? A can of A to Z Spaghettio's! "ABC skabettios," in David-ese.

We made it through the check-out. Then he willingly handed it over as I loaded groceries in the car... until I shut the trunk. Then you'd have thought I had burned his most prized possession! Of course, I did get the can out of the trunk... and he fell asleep holding it on the way home!

Momma Roar asked on my Tiny Talk Tuesday post if I let David have skabettios for breakfast this morning. Yes, I did! One cup of skabettios = 1/2 cup of veggies! (so the label tells me)

Pay For Blogging?

I have decided to try out this getting paid for blogging bit! After following several links from other bloggers, I decided to give Blogsvertise a try. It appears that I will be able to accept or reject all blogging offers from them, so I will be able to make sure I'm not linking my readers to any site that I find questionable. I like that. I looked into another such site that didn't offer such discriminating, and there's no way I would commit to that. Any time I accept an assignment, I will always use "Blogsvertise" as a tag, so that you'll know that I'm getting paid for that post. I'm also looking into PayPerPost. You'll see an affiliate link for them in my sidebar.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

You know I love him, but I think I really need a break from my oldest child! Thank goodness that I get to go to Women of Faith this weekend! Huge thanks to Grana & MawMaw who will be keeping David (Elizabeth is going with me). And thanks to Not Before 7, who's helping me think of the cute things that David has said this week instead of the Cheerios & pill cases that he just dumped out. Now think really hard...

David has a favorite helicopter that he likes to take with him when he goes to the potty. One day I told him to be careful not to drop his helicopter. David said, "Don't drop helicopter in the potty. That's a no-no!"

After trying to go to church Sunday (which is another story all together!), Dad asked me if we wanted to go back for lunch at Grandma's house or eat in town. David said, "I want go CiCi's Pizza." That sounded good, so we went to CiCi's!

For snack yesterday, David climbed up on the stool and said, "I want skabettios please." (Spaghettio's) Then for breakfast this morning, "More skabettios please."

These may not sound all that cute to anybody else, but he could have never said these sentences, much less strings of sentences, just a few months ago. After a year of speech therapy, the biggest change came when we moved him close to our extended family. And what a change it has been!

Other words to report this week come from Elizabeth!!! "MaMaMaMa!" YEAH!!! I'm her first word!!!! After David's speech delay, it's unbelievable to me that she's saying my name at 7 months old! She must be a genius! ; )

See more people sharing their Tiny Talk at Not Before 7!

More Fun: Space & Rails

Today we went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science & History and Trinity Park. Dad had gotten us tickets to go through the Star Wars exhibit. We got to see costumes, props and models that were used for the movies. The detail that went into those is amazing! Before leaving the museum, we went down to the KidSpace exhibits. David enjoyed driving the cars & trains, but especially loved the water table! Afterwards, we went to Trinity Park to ride the mini train. Elizabeth fell asleep as the train made it's way back to the parking area. What a fun day! The museum was packed but the park was practically empty. I guess a lot of people were shopping today on Tax Free Weekend rather than going to the park!

Cool Slideshows!

David's First Midway

David's First Pony Ride

His first solo train ride

And his first merry-go-round!

This first trip to the Midway took place tonight at the Old Settlers Reunion in Alvarado. We also got to enjoy a little bit of the fiddle contest before David began turning into a pumpkin. Maybe next year we'll get to see more music. Grandpa went later in the evening and added a video clip of some pretty good fiddlin' to his blog.

Wear that baby!

This is the sling that we will be taking to the Women of Faith Conference next weekend! I love wearing Elizabeth because it's so much easier than dragging the stroller out with us, it takes up so much less room, and she loves it! We learned when David was a baby, that strollers are not allowed at the American Airlines Center where the Conference is held, anyway.

Renee at When 2 Became 3 is giving away a great wrap that she made! I haven't tried a wrap yet... but sure would love to! : )

The Plot Thickens

Turns out David was only sick for a few hours in the middle of the night. Still have no idea what caused it. He was very tired & had a low appetite today, but that is to be expected after such a rough few hours last night.

Anyway, before the illness began, I caught this scene in the kitchen... It appears that Grandpa is an enabler!

.

More big news - David went all day today with a dry diaper! Yeah, David! Good job!

One Up, One Down

Elizabeth is doing so much better now. Just look at that grin. And she's got the telephone. How girly! Unfortunately, just after midnight David started getting sick. I assume he's got what Elizabeth had... Please pray for him this time, and that Elizabeth doesn't get it again.

Wordless Wednesday: Did you know Bumbo makes hats?

David borrows Elizabeth's Bumbo Seat

See more Wordless Wednesdays here and here.

Go see Grandpa's butterfly

while you're out looking for good photos!

What's *China* Doing Now?

I can not stand to watch the news since we've moved to an area that has so much bad news! So I am thankful for bloggers who keep us informed about topics that are important to me. I don't want to hear about all the crime in the larger D/FW area, but a recall on the Chinese-made die cast Sarge toy from the movie Cars was important news to me. I'd like to thank Mommy Zabs for putting the information out there for me to find! (and my SIL who called after she saw it on the news to make sure I knew) You can see the recall specifics on Sarge here... our car did not match the criteria to be recalled. But even at 3, I sometimes have to remind David not to put his cars in his mouth... now I find out that some of them have dangerous amounts of lead in the paint.

Mommy Zabs is taking a stand and speaking out on this China issue in her new blog, Not China Made. If you're wondering, "What China issue?" then I strongly suggest you go take a read. This site also includes information in other product recalls. Warning: You may be disturbed about some of the things you'll learn about China.

Some more interesting articles on China can be found here.

Tuesday's Show

Elizabeth continued to improve throughout the day and was starting to act more like herself by this evening. You can see a little smirk on her face here and we got some giggles back today.

This evening, David put on a little talent show for us. Listen closely, if you dare, to hear the words to Jingle Bells:

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Still in the throes of potty training, I had to go myself. Of course, being Mom, I was not in the bathroom alone. David looks behind me, hears what's going on and responds, "Good job, Mom!"

As many who've gone before, we are using the M&M Method for Potty Training. Look, there's my Inner M&M now... her name is Momma Sunshine, the Proud.

Don't you think she looks like me? You can get your own Inner M&M, too. Let me know what yours looks like!

See more Tiny Talk at Not Before 7.

Thank you for praying for Elizabeth's health! The doctor admitted that she has no idea why Elizabeth got sick, but she ruled out anything she could - no ear infection, no obstruction in her ears, nose or throat, nothing unusual in her diet, her chest and abdomen sounded fine. So far she has kept her fluids down for almost 24 hours. She still lacks energy, but I believe she is on the mend. Please keep her in your prayers today...

Elizabeth finally took 6 oz of pedialite and nursed just a little this morning. Held it down for about an hour before throwing up twice in a row. The doctor can't see us until 2:15.

Pray for Ebees

Elizabeth is sick today... been throwing up since she got up, hasn't nursed, and hasn't even been keeping pedialite down. Please pray for her.

Ebees & Mom

I think Elizabeth likes my new haircut!

Firemen are Hot!

: ) Well, I think so... but this one is MINE!

Not sure why Dad brought his bunker gear home, but he did some workout in it while he had it home. Grandpa took more pictures.

Mom's New Do

Today, Elizabeth went to her first beauty salon!

Anyway, there comes a time in almost every mom's life when she looks in the mirror and says, "Enough's enough. I've got to do something with this hair!" Well, that was yesterday for me and I was able to get an appointment today.

Here is my new do after the day was done. It's a little less fluffy than it was at 12:30 and probably had some ketchup residue from little fingers stuck in it, but I think I'm going to like the new cut. Oh, and I got my brows done while I was there, too! What d'ya think?

P.S. - Thank you, Grandma, for keeping David!

Wordless Wednesday: How did he do that?

Tiny Talk Tuesday

So I found this neat feature last week at Not Before 7 - Tiny Talk Tuesday - featuring the cute things kids say each week. I thought how much fun this would be! Well, I paid close attention to the things David said all week & the best thing I could come up with was this while potty training:

"TT, where are you?" spoken in the cutest little sing-songy voice you can imagine.

Then today, *I* said something that I think any Mom of a tiny tot might be able to appreciate... or sympathize with, at least:

"Get the bread out from between your toes!" Then not spoken quickly enough was, "but don't eat it now!"