Thriftanista in the City

My 2010 in no particular order: Pregnancy related nausea and food aversion. Ugh, blah, and boo. An awesome 2nd trimester. I wasn't too big and wasn't sick. I felt great. A return to eating meat and dairy after baby was born (also the return of sugar and fat addiction). Struggled and failed to get my iron levels up to "acceptable" levels. Treated myself to numerous manicures and pedicures. Unemployed for over a year. Gaining 17 pounds of pregnancy weight. Developed a fondness for tofu. Crying my eyeballs out during Little Miss's first few weeks home. Longest span of time I've gone without alcohol since I turned 21. Spending my birthday alone in my 3rd trimester while He was at the World Cup in South Africa -- a blessing and a curse depending on my hormones. Birthing a baby drug free after 10 hours of pushing. Story found  here ,  here , and  here . Started a blog. Took a trip to Atlanta to visit BFF. Read 2 amazing books: The Immortal Life of...

You ever have one of those everyday days that have little surprises mingled in? Yesterday was that day for me. On the way to Target I found these waiting for me in the lobby: Never thought I would see the day I bought Crocs but I need flat and comfy while carting Little Miss around in the Bjorn. 2 for $12 shipped! Score. While at Target I picked up these I was jonsin' for new polish and I overindulged. Why do I need Hello Kitty stickers on my nails? I don't know. Seemed like a good idea at the time. I want to add some NYE sparkle to the dark polish I normally wear. When I arrived home these were waiting for me: I'm going to make flower headbands for Little Miss. The lovely woman who sold the flowers included 2 extra for free and partially refunded the shipping cost. (BTW, free is on my vision board . It's obviously working!) In the evening I received another package: Free boots from Bearpaw ( vision board again)! I wouldn't normally buy...

Unswaddled

I'm a big fan of the Secret  and the law of attraction. I write down intentions periodically. Some of my wildest intentions have come to past and I often wonder why I don't keep up with it.  I also have a friend who is a big fan of vision boards and imagining the life you want and we've had countless conversations on the subject. Yesterday I read this article and I decided to create a board of my own for the new year. reated using the  O Dream Board Click image to enlarge What are your intentions for the new year? What's on your (or would be on) vision board for the new year? I f you have a board to share, please leave a link in the comments section. I'd love to see it.

More true confessions : I've stolen something in the past 3 years.  This the 3rd week I've had intentions of visiting a church and I haven't made it there yet. I rock bras that give me uni-boob and I no longer care. A major factor in my decision to breastfeed was that it is free. I've tried to schedule Little Miss' nap time during All My Children and One Life to Live I've gone to the bathroom with Little Miss in Moby wrap. I think weddings are a waste of money. I'm glad all I had to do was show up for my "wedding" and probably would not have had a ceremony if it was left up to me. I use "like" a whole lot and I get annoyed when I catch myself saying it. About 80% of the reason I use cloth diapers are because they're super cute. I've had to talk myself down many cloth diaper sprees. I like getting presents slightly more than giving presents. I want to give Little Miss cereal because I always fear my supply has dippe...

I think she enjoyed her very first Christmas. Happy to be in Jumperoo on Christmas morning.   Laughing at Daddy's silly sounds. Taking a look at Grandma's gift. Closer inspection

At 6:30 a.m Christmas morning, Little Miss was awake in her crib babbling and laughing. I was about to go in and get her but decided to just wait and listen. I laughed and was proud listening to her entertain herself (good way for Mama to get some extra sleep). I also heard this clicking sound that her mobile makes when it's turned on. Odd since I hadn't turned it on. I figured I must be hearing the noise machine mixed with random phantom sounds. At 7 a.m I went to her and found her at the other end of the bed looking directly up at her mobile. Odd again since she is still perfectly swaddled and tucked in a sleep sack. There's also some wetness on her crib. I look up checking for a leak even though I can't see that well sans glasses. Nothing. Now I have two mysteries on my hand: 1. Where did the wetness come from? 2. How did she manage to make a 180 in her crib? My reasonable explanations are that the wetness was probably milk dribble from the feeding I ga...

Merry Christmas! Some Christmas music for ya

This year Me and Him are not exchanging gifts and did not buy gifts for Little Miss. It just felt like the right thing to do with me just one income this year. We already have everything we need so we're going to keep it frugal and focused on family this year. If we were going for the material goods this is what my list would look like. My Christmas List (for me and Little Miss) SCILIA rainbow crystal ring (unique and sparkly) Haji Couture earrings (these have been on my list many many years) iPad  (this is what Little Miss requested for Christmas) Zebra Mary Jane Baby Janes (more Little Bitty Baby shoes) VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer  (doesn't everybody want one of these?) Bumbo Chair  (Little Miss needs a seat) Beco Butterfly Carrier  (I learned about this from Mama Dweeb and now I want one) Flower Headband (big fan of fascinators and big hair accessories and it's PURPLE) Roku Player (toying with the idea ...

I love baby shoes. Even before I had Little Miss and didn't think too fondly of children, I thought their little shoes were the cutest thing ever. Little Miss has a nice collection of donated shoes (about 20 pairs). I bought her the below gold penny loafers from Trumpette (found a good deal on Ebay) before she was born. I bought a second pair of shoes recently. I went to Nordstrom Rack with Groupon in hand ($50 for $25) and bought these (plus some other baby stuff). Aren't they cute? So tiny. They were necessary. Really. She hasn't been wearing shoes but it's getting too cold for that. I love these Baby Uggs but I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on baby shoes. What does your baby's shoe game look like? Have you/would you purchase expensive baby shoes?

A gift from Mom when she heard we didn't have a Christmas tree.

Yesterday was Little Miss' 4 month checkup. This little lady is 12 pounds (42nd percentile) and 25 inches (85th percentile). Tall girl. She's officially a smaller version of Him. She also had her 2nd set of shots but recovered quickly. A quick boob and a nap and she was right as rain. I spoke to the pediatrician about sleeping. She suggested we put her down drowsy but awake and walk away. She also suggested an earlier bedtime. The walk away part is what we haven't been doing consistently. We normally do some rocking and try to put her in asleep and of course she wakes right up as soon as we lay her in the crib. Well, last night we tried it -- walking away and putting her down earlier. She cried 10 minutes and fell asleep! All this time we've been doing it wrong. We've been keeping her awake with all of that rocking and shushing. She did wake up a lot but fell asleep within 10 minute most times. When I had to go in and check on her, I turned on her seahorse (a...

30 minutes to wash, 4 hours to twist and curl on pipe cleaners, 2 hours under the hair dryer, and 1 hour to take it all down Curlylocs!

I am writing this Friday night after a cocktail so I'm feeling super motivated to make my hair "purty" and when I'm done...... What about you? Have any fun weekend plans? Any events I should know about (if you're local). A place to showcase my fresh and fabu hair? Do share. Update: Go  here  to see the finished look. SN: Just in case you missed my last post , my address has changed to windycitymama.com .

My address has changed from windycitymama.blogspot.com to windycitymama.com . GoDaddy is having a .99 sell and I need retail therapy practically everyday so this was a cheap session.

This is what my hair looked like in 2006. This was the only time I've ever had my locs washed, twisted, and styled by a professional. It cost me $20 in Nairobi, Kenya (can't beat that with a stick). I am going to DIY it tomorrow since loc maintenance is on my " Get It Together " list. If all goes well, I will be able to see my scalp again! He doesn't know it yet* but Little Miss will be planted in his loving arms for the day. This is an 8 hour job. Dare I try to recreate the front? I probably should crop that butt out of this photo. ....and when its all done I'll be one Sexy MF (of course not as sexy as Prince). *Update: he has been informed and has offered to pay for me to have someone else do it (less time). No thanks! This is apart of my mom-cation. I'm doing it myself!

Every night I go to bed with one thing on my mind. Is tonight the night? Is she going to sleep 8 hours straight? A few weeks back  (I guess I should have done a real knock and not a *virtual* one because I am now cursed) she was sleeping 5 to 7 hour stretches. For the past couple of weeks, not so much. I was only doing one night feeding and now I'm doing 2. I am transitioning her from the rocker to the crib and she's waking up more. She doesn't sleep longer than 4 hours. She's not addicted to the breast. She has slept without rocking but I do rock if she doesn't go down immediately. I really think the bed is just too uncomfortable. Is that possible? Is it just an adjustment thing? Two nights ago we had a blow out incident that put the miracle blanket out of commission. I can't find her back up velcro blanket. I have to actually use a regular old blanket. She's busting out of that and waking herself up. I'm too far in to go back to putting her i...

If she could talk the words would be censored.

It's been a long time since I told a stranger my secrets: One of the reasons I started blogging was to have extra chances to win giveaways on the PR mommy blogs. I grew tired of entering contest once I started the blog. There's a church that I would like to visit and had planned to go this past Sunday but I had the opportunity to sleep in so I did that instead. I haven't been to church (other than weddings, funerals, christenings) in about 8 years. I wasn't immediately in love with Little Miss. I'm a big fan of the Planet of the Apes movies and television series. The last movie I saw in the theatre was the Expendables (Sylvester Stallone and his scary face are in it). I've kissed a minister in the mountains of California. I would only want to have children with him. I wouldn't want to have them by myself and didn't want to have them with my first husband. I sometimes suck the pacifier instead of sterilizing it after it bungee jumps. I find s...

15 weeks, Hot Dog! ! Her likes: kisses hanging out in Jumperoo trying to stand and standing sleeping in Moby wrap or Baby Bjorn while I'm in motion roaring holding Mama's hair singing morning eating massages fresh diapers staring at mobile Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

This post is from a blog I had in 2006. The blog was called workisforsuckas and the focus was on my life being a disgruntled employee, a laid off temporary worker, and a little bit of sewing thrown in. The post: Since sewing was not going to happen for the rest of the day, I sat down and watched a really "thrilling" movie on Turner Classic Movies titled The Thrill of It All! . The synopis from IMDB…At a diner party, Beverly Boyer, wife of an obstetrician and mother of two, tells the manufacturer of Happy soap about her experiences with his product. Charmed by her spontanious appearance he offers her a chance to tell her story in his commercials. After some hesitations, Beverly accepts and she quickly turns from a housewife into a famous television personality, much to the disliking of her husband Gerald. Reasons I found it so thrilling: 1. Husband did not want wife to work once a week doing a tv commercial for 80K (in the 60′s). 2. Husband actually said ...

Playtime with Auntie Trying on her new thigh highs Finally enjoying tummy time

I had planned on posting a few days back but this snow, cold snap, and some tummy issues totally derailed me. While laying on my sick depressed couch, I had a chance to do a lot of thinking about a popular theme in my life -- getting it together on all levels. Being sick and in a funk with a baby doesn't work. Little Miss is not having it. Today's mantra and for many years to come is: Get It Together . And now the originally drafted post: Now that Little Miss is no longer a newborn and can be detached from me occasionally, I feel like it's time to get back on track. The past 3 months my focus has been 24/7 baby care (as it should be) but everything around me is out of order. Along with baby care I spend a great deal of time watching daytime tv and on the internets. No bueno. I figure a blog is a good way for me to hold myself accountable and get it together on all levels. The first Get It Together item on my list is me me me! The other items on my list include taki...

Is it a plant or a flower?