Dressing Up Like Daddy

I have a feeling this is just the beginning...






...I guess I'd better start looking for good deals on dress-up items and a container to keep them it!

Gold Digger

Miriam found Owen's wallet.




Enough said.

I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee

And she didn't even sting me!




Miriam had a blast going from trunk to trunk on Halloween collecting "canny" but was less than impressed that she didn't get to eat it all at once. Her bucket was almost overflowing, so I'm hoping to make it last for a long, long time. She begs for more every time I open my closet (the hiding place that she unfortunately caught on to -- at least she can't reach it!) but I'm a mean mom so I turn her down 95% of the time. Next year should bring some fun challenges for me!

*And for the record, she actually begged to have her harness on. We very, very rarely use it, but she walks around the apartment with it all day long because to her, it's just her monkey. She likes to have him snuggled on her back. Go figure.

A Sweet Tradition

One Granny Smith apple.
Smother in caramel.
Dip in milk chocolate.
Roll in Oreo crumbles.
Devour with caution!

Calling In a Sick Day

Miriam woke up with a fever in the middle of the night. She's been doing a lot of this today:




Pretty pitiful looking, huh? We've had lots of snuggle time, whining, and sleep. Poor babe.

Homemade Jammies

I'm not sure about all the other moms out there, but I have this little thing about most store-bought pajamas. They are pricey and usually cheap quality. And a lot of them have characters* on them (another little thing for another day).

I have looked and looked for decent quality second-hand pajamas in Miriam's size with very little luck (probably the cheap quality playing in here). So, about six months ago, I decided I was sick of buying them because I felt like I was wasting our already small budget on something that wouldn't last as long as I need them to. So I added "make homemade pjs" to my craft to-do list. It stayed there until my mom came home from Nigeria and kicked me into gear. And by kicked me into gear, I really mean that she did all of the work. :) Thanks, Mom! For the record, though, I did cut fabric and sewed a couple of cuffs.

The morning that we planned to go fabric shopping, my Mom had the brilliant idea of checking her boxes and boxes and boxes of fabric first. Good thing we did! We found enough for three pairs of pajamas: two of the jumpsuit style and a shirt and pants set.

The jumpsuits are both finished and I plan to make the other all on my own. They turned out super cute and will hopefully last a good long while.



*Oh, and I do realize they are Hello Kitty pajamas. Hey, the fabric was basically free! At least it's not Dora or a Disney princess; I probably wouldn't have used it then, free or not! A girl's gotta have standards, ya know. But Hello Kitty isn't so bad, so I'm okay with it.

What Works for Me: Cleaning the Bathroom

I love learning how others manage their homes and make life work for them in general. I often glean new ideas in the process and am able to streamline my time so I can do more of the things I want to do instead of only doing things need to do. What Works for Me is a blog series where I share my home management routines so others can see how we run things at our house.


My bathroom routine really isn't anything special, but finding a way to keep the toddler away from the chemicals was a challenge at first. I guess I could sacrifice my precious nap time, but...wait a minute...sacrifice nap time?! Yeah, right!

So, here's my secret. Clean the bathtub sometime during the day when Miriam is busy elsewhere. Then closer to her bedtime, give her a bath. Add bubbles so she's entertained for more than 2 minutes.




Now, go clean your bathroom. But be quick!! Even the bubbles will only last so long. I clean every week, so upkeep is really easy and fast. My mom taught me that trick. It's genius, really.