My Baby's First Christmas

I am off of work for a couple days and I am just excited - this will be Aaron's first Christmas and I can't wait to see what the day brings. I probably won't be posting much the next couple of days since I will be soaking up these days with my munchkin but I wanted to wish everyone a most Joyful & Happy Holidays!!!!

After the holidays, I have much to share:

• a couple DIY Christmas gifts
• a super easy way to create a key holder
• more baking
• my new "100 in 1001" initiative
• and I'll share how the little guys first Christmas went

so back to bed I go, to cuddle with the big & little guy! It's going to be a great couple of days!!!

XOXO,

 

DIY Christmas Cards

I made my own Christmas cards this year!!!! They are not amazing as I am just learning how to use Photoshop but I came across a simple template and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

I found an awesome free template HERE.
Here are more free photo card template resources I came across in my search: http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2010/12/free-christmas-photo-card-templates.html

Enjoy!


 

2nd attempt at Digital Scrapbooking

Template: Jessica Sprague - Echoes of Asia Kit
Done in Photoshop CS

Thoughts or tips?

Infant Night Terrors

being woken up at 2am by your baby's gut wrenching screams is not fun! especially when it's been happening three nights in a row. I know he's ok because I still have him in the room with us. He falls asleep on our bed and then we move him to his crib (that's in our room).

The first night it happened I cried myself, I picked him up and just help and cried with him because I didn't know what to do. This wasn't an I'm hungry or wet cry - it was an out of nowhere loud cry.

The second night, I told my husband we had to call his pediatrician like NOW, of course my husband thought I was over reacting so we decided to do some research before I woke up my whole family and drove to the hospital hehe.

looks like he's having night terrors and by picking him up and trying to sooth him we were probably frightening him even more and he is still asleep during these incidents. We just need to ride it out.

Looks like it can happen when a baby isn't getting enough sleep, my guy hates sleep and fights it whenever he can. He's also a light sleeper and will wake at the slightest noise.

The good news: He has no recollection of the episode (thank God) and we can try to stop the night terrors from happening if we rouse him a bit after he's been asleep for a couple hours. I'm trying that tonight, let's see what happens.

Resource.

Cuteness

At 7.5 months, he can now sit and hold his own bottle. But of course now that he can sit he thinks he's a big man and refuses to be laid down and if we try he screams bloody murder, lol.

 above is the little guy in best bottom cloth diapers. We are still cloth diapering part time.

 and who doesn't love chunky baby legs!! 

   & Baby Aaron! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Cupcakes

Yup!!! Cookie & Cheesecake in ONE cupcake! aaaamazing!

Again, I am not a baker but I sure do know how to follow instructions. This was the result of a another late night baking session with my girl Diana.

I found this recipe on Hostess with the Mostess Blog, and here is how it came out:

Cookie batter layer first:

Then cheesecake topping:

Final Product:

YUM!!!

You can find the recipe here!

To my new blog followers HI!!! So happy to have you! I have been slacking on blogging for a couple weeks but there is LOTS to catch up on! Post you blog in the comments section, I'd love to stop by and visit you as well! :)

Cleaning Tip: Make a Cleaning Schedule Part. 2

I first blogged about needing a cleaning schedule back in July of '09 and I posted a really good one that I found from the Eight-Step Home Cure. You can see that post here.

It was great but I admit I didn't follow it! but things are different now. With a baby in the house, I have to stay on top of my cleaning routines. So I went back to my friend, google, to search for a full-time-working-mommy friendly routine. My recent search guided me to two great blogs listed below:

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-asked-squeeky-clean.html
http://hannahkeeley.com/home-zone

Based on their tips & suggestions, I updated the schedule posted back in '09 to the one below:

Daily Schedule:
Make Bed. Who am I kidding? I want to, I really do but I know I won’t do it.
Put dishes in dishwasher
Wash aaron’s bottles
5 minutes pick up in bedroom & living room.
Sort mail.
Clean all kitchen surfaces
Take out full garbage.
Take trash out of car

Weekly Schedule:
Clear all surfaces including microwave (put odds and ends away).
Dust – TV, bookshelves, picture frames.
Wash clothing, take in dry cleaning. – TWICE WEEKLY
Vacuum - TWICE WEEKLY
Change sheets.
Clean bathroom and kitchen.
Vacuum interior of car

Monthly Schedule:
Vacuum, sweep, or mop all floors.
Clean bathtub – it’s probably nasty to wait a whole month but I am being realistic with my time.
Clear out refrigerator.


Every Three Months:
Flip mattresses.
Dust celing fans
Clean Stove top burners & oven
Vacuum mattresses & Sofa
Wipe down baseboards (you know the end of your walls)

Every Six Months:
Declutter refrigerator, pantry, entry way, mail, bulletin board, etc.
Clean out cabinets & drawers. Donate and/or sell what I no longer use.
Clean Curtains & shower curtains.
Steam Clean carpets


*Spring cleaning (April or May)
*Fall Cleaning (October) * Perform deep treatment on your home: clean and declutter, change seasonal clothing, clean out drawers, closets, under-sink storage, purge clothing, extra CDs, DVDs, books, and furniture.

Have a cleaning schedule you'd like to share? or am I missing something you'd like to suggest?