Cool stuff

Since being a stay-at-home mom for now, I have mastered the art of online shopping to my honey's dismay. I also have and will take advantage of Mom only discounts. I can't always go out like I want to but the internet is always open. I am listing a few of my favorites since some of my friends have no clue about the savings. And, no, I am NOT getting paid to endorse them, though I would LOVE to get some compensation for this...

1. Upromise. I cannot sing its praises enough. The way to save for college is 2-fold. You can enter your grocery club cards and buy products that participate in the program (sometimes they are not the cheapest, but if you follow brand names, then it can work for you) and shopping. For online shopping, you have to enter a credit card number for them to track but you get a percentage back from your purchase as long as you access the online merchant through the upromise site. It is VERY easy to do. You can also get money back from patronizing merchants (ie-ExxonMobil) by using the registered credit card. Then you link the upromise account to a 529 account (research the one right for you) and you dump the money in there for the kids college, tax free. Awesome.

We grabbed our relatives keys, copied their grocery card numbers and entered them as our own. There is a correct way to do it (through their Friends and Family link) but a lot of our family is computer illiterate, so we opted for the easy way. Granted, it is pennies on the dollar, but every little bit helps. If you have good credit, you can get the Upromise credit card from Citibank and get more savings.

2. ING Direct. All of the articles I have read in Money Magazine have told me not to open an account in your child's name as it can affect the amount of financial aid they are eligible for when it comes to college tuition. So I opened a separate ING subaccount for each girl under my main account and any money they get as gifts, I deposit into my checking account and then transfer the money into their own savings account. Why go with ING? 3.4% interest on the savings account. Even better rates for CDs. The site is incredibly easy to use.

I have also requested that the girls get savings bonds instead of gifts from family. Some toys are ok, but they have enough. It is the givers choice. You can also get savings bonds online.

3. Peapod.com. My savior. Online grocery shopping with home delivery. My mother is VERY jealous as they don't have something like this in her area, but it is coming soon. She HATES to grocery shop. Peapod is a service from Stop and Shop but other stores have it. In NYC, you can get Fresh Direct. I can also use my grocery savings card and get Upromise items. And I don't have to worry about schlepping the baby and groceries in the rain. So far, they have a 95% track record with me. Always on time for the delivery window I chose and no substitutions. They forgot the rolls and salad that come with the party platter we ordered for the christening party, so I called and they took 6 bucks off the bill. Quite a time saver.

4. Reel Moms. This is a cool thing for the occasional movie WITH the baby. If it is available in your area, there are other moms and dads there with baby in tow to see the latest movies. They don't turn off the lights, they are dimmed and the volume isn't as loud. If you need to breastfeed, no problem. Crying babies are ok. If you don't have a Loews theater that offers it near you, check out other theaters. Some cool theaters have daycare and a fancy dinner menu. Don't rule out date night outside of the home.

I have more stuff to share, but the princess is crying. She didn't sleep through the night this time. Oh well. We'll keep trying.

God Bless Miranda

Today the little princess was baptized. What a whirlwind of a day. Thank you to Aunt Beth and Uncle Johnny for being her godparents. You did a great job.

She wore the christening dress my grandmother made for my mother. She wore it as well as my aunt and me. She looked beautiful.

I will post better pics when my dad sends them.

Holy Crap

Miranda slept through the night. OMG. Two nights in a row. Double OMG.

Friday night we went to watch my cousin's soccer game in Connecticut (they tied) in the FREEZING cold. Yes, we took the baby to a 7pm game in 50 degree weather. She was bundled up well and slept most of the time anyway. The game ended at 10pm and then we went to IHOP for pumpkin pancakes and hot chocolate (the best combination). Oh, and to warm up. The rest of the trip home took about 40 minutes and she slept the whole time. When we got home, I didn't want to wake her or put her on her back on cold crib sheets, so I left her in the car seat and placed it in the crib.

Where she slept.

Until 6am.

I was in shock. I was up at 3, 4, and 5am checking in on her with a bottle in one hand and a clean diaper in the other, but no need. She didn't even stir. Or whimper that she needed her diapy changed. When she did finally want to wake up, she downed almost 7 oz of formula and had the poopiest diaper I have ever changed.

I didn't care. She slept for almost 7 hours consecutively.

Last night was a repeat performance. She slept from 1am to 8am (not in the car seat, but ON me). I was up at 4am and 6am for no reason. But still...

Let this be the start of something good. Please Lord. I would LOVE to get more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep. I pray. Please let the luggage under my eyes fade back to their pale shade and the whites of my eyes be WHITE instead of bloodshot. Please let her continue this wonderful streak and I will light candles or slaughter a lamb or whatever you want. (Okay, maybe not slaughter the lamb because I could NEVER hurt an animal like that, but you get my point). Thank you for blessing us with such a good baby. She gets baptized next week, you know.

Anyhoo, keep your fingers crossed for us. I really could use the sleep.

Happy Birthday Miranda

You are 2 months old today. You have gotten bigger (you are almost 10 lbs!). You have kept the beautiful dark hair that you were born with but you were cursed with the cowlick that runs in my side of the family. Your hair is growing and beginning to show signs of soft curls. Your cheeks have plumped up and are ripe for kisses. You still don't like to be breastfed, so we have decided to go with formula. Of course, you won't take the regular kind, you need lactose free to control the crazy amount of gas you emit. You also don't do well with the powdered version (just add water!) or the concentrate. No, you only do well with the ready to eat version. We also have switched to the Playtex Nurser system with the disposible bags which has also helped control the gas of your distended belly. You are no cheap date.

You have just started tracking things well, and have quite a grip. You scream like crazy as soon as you have a wet diaper, but can sit for an hour in a dirty one. You love baths (maybe because you had low amniotic fluid in the womb?). You hold you head up VERY well and love tummy time. You hate sleeping on your back. You are just discovering that if you cry, someone will pick you up. You are now sleeping between 11pm and 4am (hallelujah!) but still need to be fed every 3 hrs otherwise. Mommy passes out by 10 pm, so Daddy gets you to bed. You eat between 4-6 oz at a time. You are starting to outgrow the newborn size clothes and are in 0-3 month size. You like riding our dog, Boba Fett (with help of course). He loves you and licks your feet, but is definitely jealous that you get more attention than he does.

You sleep during our daily walks. You like listening to "Piglet is Surrounded Entirely by Water" while we drive along. You smile with gas and are just starting to smile socially. You can make the Elvis lip without even trying. I taught you to stick out your tongue. You imitate me and we do it together. Grandma Mia is horrified that I would teach you something rude right away. :)

We sing the alphabet 100 times a day. We count to 10 in English, French, German, and Spanish. Grandma Mia sings you songs in Polish. We need new songs. Mommy is getting tired of "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Mares eat oats and does eat oats" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". We watch the news often, you will be very worldly.

I still can't believe that you came out of me (though I have the stretch marks to prove it). I marvel daily about how beautiful you are. I can only hope that you know how much you are loved. I want you to play the piano like Daddy. We both want you to read music like we can. We pray that you can hold a tune. I dream of watching your dance recitals like I had. Once you are old enough, we will go see the NYC Ballet and the Nutcracker every year. We want you to like to play tennis, soccer and swim like us. You WILL understand the rules of football and know the constellations in the sky. I want you to love to travel and have great knowledge of geography like me. I want you to have great passion about things like your sister does at such a young age. I want you to have compassion for those less fortunate than us and be concerned about preserving the environment.

Every day holds something new. I want you to know that we love discovering life with you. I can't imagine it without you.

Meme

Ok, I am resorting to a Sunday meme from Patrick's Place. So sue me. I just can't seem to be original today. Must be the impending doom of flooding that is about to overtake my house from the river across the street.

Name seven books (title and author, please) on your bookshelf that you couldn't resist buying...but that you haven't read yet!

Hmmm....
1. Hell's Half Acre by Will Christopher Baer. He is one of my fave authors and I was really looking forward the this final chapter of the trilogy, but haven't had time.
2. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. NY Times best sellers cant be wrong.
3. Secret History by Donna Tartt. She is friends with Bret Easton Ellis and they similar styles.
4. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea by Thomas Cahill. I have read the other 3 in this series so far, but again, where does the time go?
5. Loitering with Intent by Peter O'Toole. This is his autobiography. If you have ever seen him and/or Richard Harris in an interview, you know that they are the craziest men ever to walk the planet. It has to be good.
6. Baudolino by Umberto Eco. Because I am DETERMINED to get through one of his books before I die.
7. The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte. He is another of my other fave authors. I LOVED The Club Dumas and have been hooked on his historical thrillers ever since.

My own fave author's list (in no particular order):
Anne Rice
Michael Crichton
Henry Miller
Hunter Thompson
Arturo Perez-Reverte
Chuck Palahniuk
Will Christopher Baer
Madeline L'Engle

Top 5 fave books (also in no particular order):
The Firebrand and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

All of these books have creases in their spines. I have read them all NUMEROUS times and they never seem to get old for me.

What are yours?

Apple Pickin Pics

They sold pumpkins too. Now if I can be savvy enough on Photoshop to erase that guys butt, it would be a cute picture.

A year ago today...

...we were doing this. When can we go away again?

Happy Anniversary

It was 1 year ago that we said "I do". I still mean it.

E. looked beautiful.

Traditions

I loved growing up in the sticks on Long Island. We lived close to the beach, so we practically lived there all summer. I used to race sailboats in the bay and go to private beaches on Fire Island and camp overnight. I canoed in 4 different rivers. I would spend time every summer in Sag Harbor with my grandmother and her sister. We would visit the whaling museum and spend time on the front porch telling stories eating homemade cheesecake and drinking unsweetened iced tea.

I could ride my bike a mile and a half from home at 9 years old without my parents freaking out. My neighbors had horses, chickens and goats. We could ride the horses and feed the chickens and goats anytime we wanted.

My brothers and I fished in the nearby river and swam in it too. We used a stick, string, and a safety pin for the rod and rolled up bread or freshly-dug up worms for bait. We had to dodge bees and mud bogs to get there, but we loved it.

The local lake was our natural aquarium and we would capture tadpoles and frogs and them have them race each other. We thought ice skating indoors was strange. There is something wrong about Zambonied ice.

The woods had "whoop-de-doos" in them naturally and we rode our bikes over them zealously until dark. The property next to ours had an old fashioned freshwater pump like I saw on Little House on the Prairie. We had tree houses and underground forts. We had impromptu kickball games and bike races. We played manhunt until way past our bedtime in the summer. In the winter, we would build igloos on both sides of the driveway and street and have snowball fights.

We used to go skiing every year with my parents best friends and their kids upstate. We all learned together and still have great fun recalling our mis-adventures.

At Halloween, my dad always made it special by dressing up in some crazy way and scaring the bejeezus out of the teenagers. Our house had candles burning and scary music playing. One year he chained himself up to the tree in our front yard with enough leeway so that he could climb to the branches above and jump down just as the kids were leaving. He carried an axe. It was great.

We used to go apple picking at a local orchard. The same farm had peaches and corn, so when they were ready, we used to pick those too. And pumpkins. How much fun is it to trapse through a pumpkin patch looking for the biggest or the most oddly shaped?

Honey used to go to Long Beach Island with his cousins and spent time at waterskiing camp on Lake Champlain. He had traditional Sunday dinners in Little Italy with his grandparents and the rest of the family.

Now that we live too close to the city, I feel an overwhelming sense of tradition and outdoor activities that I want to pass down to Miranda and E. How I want to give them the same opportunities for the best memories that they can take with them to adulthood. I want them to realize that the world didn't always revolve around playdates and things that cost money. You could be carefree and have a great time entertaining yourself wandering through the park or catching fireflies.

We took the first step this year by going apple picking this past weekend. We took pictures and climbed trees and ate apple cider donuts. We let the juice dribble off our chins from the Juna Golds. I want this to happen every year on the first Saturday of October. I want the kids to remember these things like I do.