Cotton Booty: "Good Night Sleep Tight" Box

My 3rd box from Cotton Booty and I am loving every one of them! This one is probably my favorite!

So here is my Cotton Booty Box for this month! Enjoy!

Instagram: jessicamommy22

One Size Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter:

Comes with 2 microfiber inserts. I have a Kawaii and I do like them however, my daughter leaks through all pocket diapers at night. The only thing that works for us at night time is a fitted or prefold with extra boosters and a cover to go over it. We will give this one a try for over night though. See if it does the job! :)

Angel Dear Muslin Swaddle: 

100% natural cotton muslin. 

I love the owls. I was planning on getting a muslin swaddle blanket anyway for Eden so this is great! She has outgrown swaddling but I was really wanting one for her to snuggle with. She likes to chew on blankets since she does not take a paci. I don't have to pay $30+ for a muslin blanket now. This blanket is so soft. I can't wait to wash it so that Eden can sleep with it. It'll be great with baby #3 when she outgrows it too!

A sample from Wash with Water

I can't wait to try this. I love trying out new body stuffs for babes.

Love the stuff I got?

Here is a link so that you can get $5 off your first box!

Enter discount code CTBY1001

-Jess

Christmas photos and others

Not even October and I am already planning on getting our Christmas photos taken! I know I am crazy, but for me the earlier the better. We have to think about not only putting money aside for beautiful pictures, but we need to set some aside for some much wanted Christmas cards and I really want to get a nice canvas piece of the 4 of us. It will be our first family shoot with Eden post pregnancy.

Speaking of which, have you seen our Christmas photos before Eden? They are lovely! I'd love to show just a few of them to you wonderful folks.

Gotta love that pregnancy pose. ;)
I was about 7 monthsish pregnant here. I loved how our pictures turned out and we will be using the same photographer for this years photos. Love her! Her watermark is kept visible to show how awesome she is. We have another photographer friend that is also really great at her work, so we have to go back and forth between the two. :) She did Edens newborn photos several months back.

I think that I may be slipping in a few breastfeeding photos with my daughter just to keep for myself. I love a beautiful, modest precious photo of my daughter and I bonding while she is feeding. I think that it will be so pretty!

I have some pins on Pinterest that I have been working on for our upcoming photo shoot. We have not set a date yet(nor have we told her ;)) but it will be very soon! Before it gets too rainy and cold hopefully!

Thanks for sticking with me! I know that I've been gone a lot. Our life has been busy with Ben's new job, I have been babysitting and life with 2 kids has made me a very occupied parent.

-Jess

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

So it took me awhile to find the perfect cookie. With the combination of my oven being difficult and not having the time I am so happy to have found this!!

This recipe is basically taken from Pinterest and tweaked a little bit. I was taken through a couple different blogs to find it and here it is!

This is the post from which I took the recipe from. click here.

Here is my recipe. Obviously it's practically the same from above just without the "Reeses surprise". The soft peanut butter part is what I was going for.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter(softened)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup of M&Ms

Optional: 

Add 1/2 cup of flax seed meal for added omega 3 and fiber

2 tablespoons of brewers yeast for added nutritional value

Omit half the flour for whole wheat flour

Directions:

Heat oven to 350.

Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add sugars and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping sides of bowl halfway through. Add peanut butter and egg and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture until completely combined.

Drop onto ungreased baking sheet. Cook for 8-10 minutes. I had the timer on 8 minutes but saw that they needed just a couple minutes more, so 10 minutes is perfect for mine.

This made 3 dozen cookies exactly with my cookie scoop.

Every ones oven is different.

One day when I was complaining about ours, my wonderful patient husband said to me "You gotta know your oven babe". He is totally right! :) Now I can bake cookies with no problem. 

Enjoy these lovely cookies!

-Jess

It's 5am.

Yep. Not the first time being up and doodling on my phone. Little girl doesn't sleep through the night still. Doing any kind of sleep method is impossible right not without the extra room for her to sleep in. So here I am,  sorta awake from waking up the 3-4 times prior tonight. Hope the sleepless nights end soon. I love my little girl,  but after 6 months it's starting to get rough. Pray for this momma to have strength today as well as future days like this. Gonna go grocery shopping with the 2 kiddos this morning and hoping to have a successful one. I think I'm gonna have a nap today while the babes are sleeping before one of my favorite little tots comes to visit while her mommy has her baby appointment. :) Good morning all and I'll be up in a few hours sipping on some much needed hot coffee.
-Jess aka busy mommy

Loving the Change

I am loving this new job that Ben has. 2 weeks into it and I love having him home every night for dinner. I love being able to plan stuff around or during his work schedule. I love him having Sundays off where we go to church in the morning and have a lazy afternoon at home afterwards.
Pretty soon here he will be quitting his old job and working Saturdays at his new one.
Same pay but he will only be working 2-4 hours. Another thing is that he can go in whenever he wants, morning or afternoon, they really don't care just as long as it gets done.. We love going to the Saturday market and things like it. So we can do that now!

We have been praying for this new job to come to us for a long time and we are so happy with it. God is really doing some awesome things in our lives right now and it's all been amazing!
Next step is to get a chunk of debt paid off so that we can move into something a little larger. I am looking forward to that day. :)

-Jess

An Update on my Two Littles

Both have reached amazing milestones! They are growing up so fast and I can't seem to catch up to them. They both seem to learn something new everyday. Josiah learns a new word or Eden learns a new skill. It's all so very exciting and scary at the same time.

Josiah- He turned 2 1/2 this month! We are officially 6 months away from his 3rd birthday. I am already taking notes from Pinterest and parties on what we are going to be doing.
He is daytime potty trained now. He goes by himself to the potty, he still needs a little help pulling down his pants but he is learning. He is slowly starting to have dry nap time diapers and every once in awhile a dry nighttime diaper.
He knows his "Please", "Thank You" and "Your Welcome". We have started learning colors and more animals this month. He loves to say cow and when he sees them he always moooos at them. So cute!
He jibbers a lot. I know what he is saying most of the time. It takes some translating to some people. He talks to fast and it slurrs together quite a bit still.
He is still sleeping in a crib like environment. It's technically a toddler bed, but I turned it around so that the open side is against the wall. About once a week I try to turn it around to see it he'll sleep in it with the open side. When he screams and we turn it back around. I am not too concerned about it so we are taking our time. I fear if I force it on him he won't sleep in his bed at all. He naps sometimes during the day. We give him a couple of books to read even if he does not nap. Its either a nap or 2 hours of quiet time
He is wanting to snuggle more and is definitely a daddy's boy now. If Ben leaves without Josiah during the day little man cries for him. He just misses him is all.
Josiah favorite show is any thing with Thomas the Train Engine.
He is a really great big brother, always wanted to help with his little sister.


Eden- She turned 6 months yesterday! Again, only 6 months away from her 1st birthday. I have decided to do both birthdays together. Until Josiah can say to me that he wants his own birthday, we will keep doing it this way.
She does not sleep through the night yet and the last few nights have been the worst. But that is because shes got 2 teeth coming in at the bottom. Teething has been fun!(NOT!!) It has not been a problem with breastfeeding so that's good. She wants to chew on everything because of her new found nubs.
She is grabbing at everything we put in front of her. She can roll both ways easily. She shimmy's towards toys. Ben thinks that she may crawl before Josiah did, I agree with him. She kinda crawls around in circles to get to her toys. She is starting to sit up, not super well though because she falls head first still. It is improving every day though!
She falls asleep on her own now. Sometimes she cries for about 5 minutes but falls fast asleep if it is time for her to nap.
She laughs, and smiles so much! A very happy baby girl!
We have started her on solids. We only feed her once at night during dinner time. She has had carrots, beets, applesauce and mushed bananas so far. We do give her a mesh feeder for after her food that has watermelon, cantaloupe, frozen grapes or apple slices. Keeps her occupied while I finish my dinner. Her favorite thing to do is to sit up in her Bumbo and watch me cook. She loves to come in the bathroom while I shower and listen to the sound of the water. She loves baths! Never thought a kid of mine would love water so much as she does. She could play in the bathtub forever if I let her.
She pretty much is a easy baby, its only at night when it's hard. I think that once she gets her own room nighttime will be better.

Having 2 kids has been challenging but I would not trade them for the world. If you are worried about having 2 kids 2 and under, don't be! It may be difficult in the beginning but it does get easier. They start to play together more the older your youngest one gets.
The biggest challenge is going shopping by myself. I have done this a few times, but only if I needed to get a few things. Get a carrier that is comfortable for you to carry your baby so that you can take care of your toddler with free hands. Once you get a routine down its smooth sailing. Get your oldest involved with helping you out. Make sure to give your oldest some one-on-one time either with you or their dad. Josiah loves feeling like the only child again and once he is back with his sister he seems refreshed and in a better mood. Instead of doing housework take a little time out of your day to play with your oldest while the youngest is napping. These are the things that have made a difference throughout my days. On hard days when non of them are cooperating I have Ben watch the kids for an hour so that I can go for a short drive. That helps me a lot on difficult days. Keeps me sane. :) Do you guys have any tips or tricks?

-Jess

I Love Consignment Sales!

I have been a consignor before. 

Let me tell you, there is a lot that goes on in being a cosigner. 

I did fairly well my first time making nearly almost $100! I ended up using almost all of it to pay for my kids summer clothes this year. It was a great feeling to sell and not have to really spend anything for summer clothes. 

Sadly I could not be involved this time for the fall. I had too much going on with my husbands new job and Eden is now almost 6 months. She is learning so many new things. Josiahs potty training is going at great success, but we still have some mess ups. Things that are/were more important keep coming up. With all the weddings, baby showers, bridal showers...I am beat this summer!

I still remember being a consignor back in spring and it was a lot of work. I just had Eden and she was so newborn that she slept all the time still. I really wanted to make some extra cash and help out by purchasing clothes for the kids. We have parents that help us out all the time and they would probably buy an entire wardrobe if I let them. But I like to be thrifty. Its my small way to be a little more earth friendly.

Anyway, when you are a consignor you have to go through all the steps.

Checking all your clothes for rips and stains(they will not accept it otherwise)

Washing all the clothes especially if they have been in storage for awhile.

Pressing a few collars and wrinkles. You want everything to look nice. I know that if I look at an article of clothing I am looking to see how nice it looks. Seeing a wrinkly stale toddler shirt is not eye appealing.

Then you have to go through the process of checking all of your items into the computer system. You price all of your items yourself. That's the part I hate the most.

After that tag all of your things. In my case I had to use safety pins to attach my bar-codes because I have not yet bought a tag gun. Also, you need to have enough hangers to hang all of your clothes. Even the cute little newborn onesies have to be on hangers.

Right before dropping off your things its a good idea to sort them at home. Boy from girl. Sized.

When you get to the place that your items are going to be sold, you have to put all of your things into bins and your clothes sorted out on the clothing racks. After doing all of that work, you sign up for a pick up time. (if you want your items back that is) They go to charity if you don't. If you don't want your check mailed then this is also a good time to pick up your earnings.

Its a lot of work. I can't tell you if its worth it or not. You put hours of work into making sure everything is right for selling and if your things don't sell, then it seems pointless.

But if you have a lot of items that are of great quality and are gently used then this might be for you.

Its a really great system. Working outside my home is something I would rather not do. So this is really great for moms that want to make a few bucks.

On the other side of that, I love to shop consignment! Think of it this way. Moms have babys that grow out of things. Moms want to sell their babys clothes that which they only wore probably a totally of 5xs. So they sometimes sell for really cheap! I have found some really, I mean really great stuff!

It gets harder to find nice things for boys when they are Josiahs age I have found out. 

Boys seem to be so rough on their clothes. I have a tough time finding something tasteful in consignments for him. They don't just sell clothes though! Toys are really great to buy because honestly, moms are always wanting to get rid of toys so those are super cheap.

Little hats and bows for girls are fun. I have even found a pair of baby legs for $2.

Every once in awhile I would find a good pair of shoes. Name brand shoes like Robeez(sp?) are great finds and if in good condition I take those up fast.Even if my kids don't quite fit in them yet I see if its worth the buy to save on the side until they are old enough to fit into them. 

That's what's so great about kids. They grow so fast!

Consignments take time to go through the articles of clothing, the bins of random and the piling heaps of toys on the tables. But just think of the small favor that you are doing another mom. Besides, you might find something really awesome!

Here is a consignment going on in my area this weekend!

click here

Another one to come up soon after that and I would be more than happy to post that one as well for you! :)

-Jess