My Newest addiction...

I have a coffee addiction, it's no big secret.  I have two kids under the age of five, it's a MUST in my case.  I can barely keep up with them.  I also can't keep up with the rate that these rug rats are growing out of clothing. 

One week the jeans fit the next week it's as if they are expecting a GIANT flood. It is very hard on a single mom's budget to keep up with these growing children.  Not only is it hard on the budget, but on the mountains and mountains of clothes Thing One and Thing Two can go through in a year just piles.  I have given plenty of clothes away to close friends who's children are close behind my two.  Somehow I can't around to getting rid of the clothes fast enough.  I've done consignment shops, particularly Children's Orchard. 

Consignment shops are a great idea, you take in your gently used clothes into the shop to sell and you get either store credit or cash back.  They normally give you more in store credit and I've had some great finds.  I got a great Children's Place denim jacket for Thing One for a lot less and in great condition.  The only problem I have with this consignments shop is that for clothing you are limited to making appointments with a buyer and it can be months out before I get the clothes sold. By then I have a whole new batch of clothes that have been grown out of.  Not only that but they have the oddest hours and the closest one to me is only opened during my work hours.  I work about an hour away, so there goes that idea.  I do however like the fact that I can take a lot of my large items, like high chairs, strollers, larger toys and not have an appointment for those.

So that still leaves me with children's clothes in the garage and I'm beginning to resemble a hoarder (YIKES).  Donating is a great tax deduction, but to be honest I need money for larger clothes quickly and this can't wait until the end of the year. I recently received a great invitation via email from my friend "C".  She has three growing kids and loves clothes just about as much as I do.  So what to do with this obsession?  Easy, that's when a virtual online swamping of boxes of clothes and other things that have been outgrown.  It's a consignment shop online and it's the easiest thing I've ever done.  I signed up to ThredUp in December and to date four boxes full of gently used clothes are making some other children happy and some mom or dad is grateful they didn't have to spend a fortune on clothes.

I received two great boxes full of clothing that my children loved.  You can also post request for items you are in search of.  I am currently ISO (In Search Of) some gently used soccer cleats for my Things.  At 30 dollars a pop for new ones times 2, well that's just too much. 

If you are interested in learning more and want to save a whole lot of MULA, get uncluttered, and save the planet (ok you knew I was going to throw that in there) please click on the link below to learn more.  It's so simple that a busy working single mom of two under two can do it!  So go on...click:
ThredUp and save. Click HERE! :)

A letter to My Birthday Girl..

Dearest Thing Two,

Today you turn three years old.  You have officially made it through walking, feeding yourself, sleeping through the night (well almost), potty training, pacifier weaning, and you are now a full fledged toddler.  Your baby face is fading fast and I want to burn into my memory the image of the first time I laid eyes on you.  I still see those wide eyes staring back at me and I hear those very loud, boisterous  vocal cords hard at work when you yell at your brother to stop.  How can three years go so quickly? 

You my love have been the sunshine of my days as well as my biggest challenge.  It's hard to keep up with the incessant chatting at 4:30 in the morning when all you want to do is tell me stories of the things you have done, your dreams, your hopes for things you want to do.  I hope that it will always be this way.  Let me tell you one thing, it will never be easy for us to get along.  It's part of the mother/daughter  relationship.  You will want to let go and do things that I may not approve of many times.  Just know this, I do it out of love.  I may have gone down that road and failed at many of the things you will want to do.  So it is my way of protecting you of the pain and frustration of that failure.  I do have to trust that you may be capable of doing those things that I fear.  I have to trust that you will be more than anything I have done.  Just promise me that you will always have those conversations with me at 4:30 in the morning, wherever or whatever.  I promise to keep an open ear, heart, and listen to you, ALWAYS.

Just let me add one thing before I go off to get your cupcakes for you and your friends at ballet class...be nice to your brother and stop bossing him around.  He will be your best ally and friend if you just give him a chance.

Love you Mi Muñeca!

Your Mommy <3

Wordless Wednesday - Parties are not for Grown ups!

I have that type of fever *SIGH*

I am starting to miss it.  I cannot believe I am say this.  I miss having a baby!

Thing One at 6 Months old

Thing Two at 6 months old

Thing One has been a full fledged preschooler for some time now.  I have to say, that I was so busy getting ready for Thing Two’s arrival that I barely had enough time to enjoy Thing One being a baby and toddler.  Not to mention Mami’s cancer and the break-up of my relationship to their dad. 

Then there was Thing Two.  I enjoyed her thoroughly as a baby.  She slept with me often.  I know your not suppose to, but she was the type of baby that screamed until she was cuddled.  I was super careful!  She stayed in a crib longer than Thing Two. She held on to her pacifier longer. She took longer to sleep through the night. She took longer to take the first steps.  She also managed to take an extremely longer time to potty train.  She has officially become a young child versus a baby.  It made me wonder if I could have possibly wished that she take a little longer to keep her as my baby.  I knew when I had her at the ripe old age of 38 that she would be my last child.  That and the fact that when she was born Big Cheese and I were on already split up.  I just didn’t realize she would be my last “baby”.

You  know baby, as in sweet smelling head, babbling, drooling, snuggling in the little nook of your neck baby.   The same baby that you rock in a glider for hours and lose track of time and are ever so grateful that you did.    The one baby that has a million milestones hit the first year of life.  First smile, rolling over, standing, walking, words, etcetera. 

So here I sit and I think of it and realize I won’t have a baby of my own to watch over and guide.  It’s a whole different set of goals now.  I started to feel a twinge of it when I finally potty trained Thing Two.  Diaper free at last!  Wait… OH MY! No more babies. Sad face, tear.  No more babies!  Oh sure I will have plenty of other babies to hold and play with later by family members, but it’s not the same.  Nothing quite compares to the endless hours of agony, joy, and fear that you feel when you are holding your baby for the first time.  

Thing Two will officially reach age 3 in a few days. *GULP*  *SIGH*  My babies are gone and the two preschool aged children have moved into my house.  Sure, they still depend on me for a lot of things, but they have become independent children, with thoughts and words, an quirky expressions of their own. Still, I feel a twinge when I think…no more, not mine. 

Baby fever sucks.  I know I am ready for the next phase, but still there is that little bit of me that holds on and would like to be up at odd hours of the night, just baby and me. 

Wait…let me look back on my blog… Sleep deprivation, mind blowing screaming, being told I’m doing it wrong…NEVERMIND!  I’m good.  I like to sleep, I like someone to talk to, argue with.  I like the fact that my diaper big is now almost non-existent.  I am sure I will go through this one more time, but it’s normal right?

Please tell me it’s normal! J 

Have you experienced baby fever lately?

Cutest Lil' Rascal...at least to me she is...

I thought I would try this out with Thing Two...

Well you help out?  Just click below to vote for her. 

Love ya bunches!