Why I'm a Mom: Wordless Wednesday

Valentine's Activities

Helping in your kid’s class Valentine’s party? Want to have some Valentine’s fun at home? Then here are a few ideas to get you started...

• Make pictures out of different sized hearts. Use your imagination to create animals, flowers, etc.

• Pin the kiss on the frog prince. Take an old classic (pin the tail on the donkey) and turn it into a Valentine’s game.

• Decorate cookies: Any excuse to slather frosting upon a cookie….yummy! Enough said.

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Marie is a stay at home mom of two adorable kiddos who keep her super busy! She has a dual degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education and continues to use her degree everyday of her mommy career!

Marie is one of my good friends and someone I look up to very much as a mommy. She has tons of fun ideas for things to do with your kids - so keep an eye out for her future guest posts.

Nursing Uniforms: Sponsor Spotlight

I am not a nurse - but who doesn't love the idea of lounging around in comfy scrubs all day? You know you do. I know I do!

My newest sponsor is Nursing Uniforms - they have the largest selection of nursing uniforms around! Free shipping for orders of $100 or more (so get together with some friends/co-workers and order up!) and they have fashionable prints, not just drab one color items...

Really - some of their nursing tops don't even look like nursing tops, super cute!

"Are you a medical professional? Are you trying to find the right uniform for your profession, one that looks good, is beautifully designed and lasts for a really long time? Working as a medical professional is hard enough; do you have to settle for boring uniforms as well? Check out our colorful, stylish, beautifully tailored, naturally breathable cotton nursing uniforms, medical uniforms and scrub tops today.


What’s more, our prices are hard to beat for the quality and the style we bring you. With fashionable scrub tops at as less as 11 dollars apiece, why would you want to wear the boring old standing issue scrub tops again? Browse our collection of happy colored and printed scrubs today, and find the one that looks best on you!"

Head on over and show my newest sponsor some love!

Nursing Uniforms

40 Week Challenge

It's been a week since my Little Man was born - oh how we love him! But more on that later...it's time for a horribly embarrassing confession...

When I had Little Miss I only gained 25 lbs...this Little Man made me gain 45!! ::sigh:: 45 lbs...ugh. Good thing he's cute {note adorable picture on the left}!

{*Update 2/5/11 - My math was wrong - he made me gain 55 lbs! Even better...I topped off at 180, oy. That hurts to say. So...as of today I've dropped 25 lbs, I'm down to 155lbs.}


So I figured since I went from this...{note the skinny face}

...to this...{note the fat face - gotta love water weight}

...in 40 weeks. Maybe I should challenge myself to see what I can become in the next 40 weeks. *I'm going for thinner, not thicker* So that's my plan. And being held publicly responsible on my blog for my transformation will probably help me be a little bit more motivated. So if any of you are struggling with weight loss for any reason - please join me! Maybe we can help each other get over those plateaus.

First order of business - this great little new gadget on my sidebar, I found this site through a friends blog and love it! I'm excited to track all of my activity.

My goals for the coming 5 weeks (while I'm still recovering and can't do a lot) - is to walk as much as I can. Which proves to be a challenge since it is ridiculously cold outside where we live. Think I'll join those retiree mall walkers in the morning. =)

My ultimate goal is to be back to my 125 lbs by the end of 40 weeks and back into my skinny jeans! Cannot wait! And yes, I will be posting things like my weight and pictures (whether good or bad).

Have any good post-baby weight loss tips? Please share! My last pregnancy all I did was breastfeed and that was enough - but again with the 45 lbs, I think I'll need to do a little more than that.

Homemade Valentines

I always feel that homemade is better. Instead of buying the store-bought valentines this year, have your kids make their own to give out at school or to family members.

There are many ideas for homemade Valentines. But here are some we are making this year. That’s right---bust out the white lacey doilies, stickers, stamps and glitter glue—we’re doing old school valentines.

A few more ideas:

• Handprint heart: Dip your child’s hands in paint or ink, then place on paper to form a heart.

• Fortune Cookies: For something a little more formal, make these fortune cookies from felt. Then write things you love about your valentine on strips of paper to place inside them. My daughter made these for her Daddy last year, and he loved it. For a tutorial, go here.

Happy Valentine making!

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Marie is a stay at home mom of two adorable kiddos who keep her super busy! She has a dual degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education and continues to use her degree everyday of her mommy career!

Marie is one of my good friends and someone I look up to very much as a mommy. She has tons of fun ideas for things to do with your kids - so keep an eye out for her future guest posts.

Why I'm a Mom: Wordless Wednesday

Books for Fair Trade

Have some books you've read and don't want to keep? Instead of giving them away - you can always trade them for other books online! There are a couple of different sites you can go through - super easy to use.

Just set up a user account and start listing your books. Soon you'll get requests for your books, ship them media mail (which is way cheap), and request your own books from other users!

I have used Book Mooch - not too bad. But from what I hear Paper Back Swap is more user friendly and has a greater selection of books to choose from.

One thing I do like about Book Mooch is the ability to set up a "wish list" - then you'll get emailed when someone lists one of the books you want so you can go request it from them, you don't have to constantly be searching the site inventory.

Have you used either site? Or a different one? What was your experience?