Products I Love for my Kids. Part 1.

1). Infant-to-Toddler Rocker by Fisher Price



This chair is perfect if you have a baby and a toddler.  If you do, you know that your toddler will want to play with all the toys and equipment that is meant for your new baby.  My 2 year old is over 30 lbs and I could just see the destruction she would cause on another chair or bouncer.  This chair holds up to 40 lbs.  It can be used as a rocker which sits your baby at a good reclining angle or it has a kickstand that lays the chair further back at a great angle for sleeping (at least for the first few months when your baby will sleep in any room anytime.)  The vibrating switch allows me to put my baby in there and he stays happy for a few minutes while I take care of my toddler or get dressed.  If you don't have a lot of space and can't have 5 different pieces of play equipment this chair is nice because it is versatile and will last into toddler-hood

2.) A Backpack instead of a diaper bag.

I know there are certain people who long for those $200 designer bags.  I am not one of them.  I need function and practicality.  With my first baby I had a black messanger bag.  It was adequate but I was frustrated that it would slip off my shoulder while I was lugging my heavy baby around.  When I got pregnant with the second one I knew I wanted a backpack.  I was lucky enough to get one for christmas while I was still pregnant and that helped a ton because my belly was already in the way and a diaper bag would only take up more needed space around me.  I suggest one with two large zipper sections.  You can separate things by child or by purpose.  I use one side for feeding (nursing cover, burp cloth, snacks/food for my toddler etc) and the other side for diapering (changing pad, diapers, change of clothes for each child, etc).  This is also an excellent option if you babywear which will bring me to my next topic.


3.) Baby carriers

If you haven't gotten on this train yet, I highly recommend it.  With my first baby I didn't have a carrier.  My biceps did all the work as my 8 lb 13 oz newborn turned into a 15 lb 2 month old and a 20 lb 5 month old.  I was seriously buff after that first year lugging her around.  She was also a needy, gassy baby and was held and carried most of the day.  That was hard and I wish I would have had known then what I know now.

I have 2 carriers that are the most useful to me at this point. One is a Ring Sling by Sleeping Baby Productions.  Again I did not go for anything fancy just neutral utilitarian and inexpensive though she makes some beautiful slings.  This sling is great for carrying in church and around the house, or anywhere that I won't need to be too active for too long.  It holds my toddler too, though we've done this more for fun than out of need.

My other go-to carrier is the ERGObaby carrier.  I got mine when babysteals.com had them for about 50% off retail.  Woo Hoo!  I use this at least 4 out of 7 days of the week, much more than my double stroller so far.  My baby sleeps in it when we are at the park, library, grocery store etc.  Without it I would be stuck at home or would be forced to leave him in his infant seat which weighs almost 10 lbs on its own so carrying him in it is no small feat.  If I could afford it I would buy one of these for anyone having a baby.  I already want another on in their Sport or Performance version for the warm weather.  If you are considering a carrier PLEASE ignore the Bjorn and the Snugli (which hold the baby in a crotch dangling position that can harm their hips and spine) and check out the ERGO.

 
4) Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Now this is not technically a baby product but is a must have with babies.  We purchased this just before my first was born.  I was adamant that our other camera was inadequate and we would NEED a new one.  This one is not compact but not huge.  I keep it in my backpack/diaper bag usually.  It runs on AA batteries (which is a bummer but if you get one I would suggest to buy rechargeable batteries).  It takes pictures in almost any light very quickly (great for catching those cute faces and action shots.) It also has a high quality video recorder so I can switch quickly between photos and videos if my kids do something brilliant that needs to be filmed.  There are probably newer versions and I would love an even better camera with the same features but one thing I try to tell my friends having kids it to get a camera that takes pictures quickly and takes them indoors well.  If you aren't worried about a little bulk for better pictures get a camera like this. :o)


I will add more products I have found useful as time allows so stay tuned. :o)

Albondiga Soup

I should say "Rosa's Albondiga Soup," but I have modified the recipe from the original. Also, it tastes better than it looks and is more hearty like a stew as opposed to a soup like chicken noodle.

Albondiga Soup
Serves about 8, but if you had a side dish with it or a salad before it would defintely serve more probably 10-12 with one bowl each. I usually get 2 full dinners out of it and at least one lunch for me and my husband and toddler.  (He has at least 2 big bowls for dinner.)

1-2 lbs ground beef (more if you like a lot of meatballs but less is fine if its all you got.)
2 bunches green onion
4 medium zucchini (Italian zucchini)
2 bunches of cilantro
2-3 Anaheim chilies (sometimes listed as green chilis in the store, I use 2 medium ones)
2 small cans of tomato sauce
2-3 tsp chicken bullion powder (cubes could work too)
1 cup rice (it doesn't sound like a lot but it thickens the soup a lot more than you would think. )
4-6 cups water
Canola oil
dried oregano, dried onion, salt, pepper, garlic powder (okay here is the area I've never measured but I'll give my estimates. 2 tsp oregano . 2 tbsp onion, 1-2 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp salt.

1. In a bowl mix beef and all the spices.  If you use a lean beef add some bread crumbs to hold them together. Make 1-2 inch balls. Saute in stock pot until browned on the outside. 2 lbs will make 25-30 balls depending on size so you will have to brown in 2 batches.

2. While sauteing, roast chilies on open burner/flame until blackened.  They will pop a little but its fine just turn them occasionally.  Let cool on a plate.

3. chop zucchini, green onions.  If chilies are cool, run under water and peel them.  Cut out seeds then chop.

4. Take meatballs out of pot. Put in veggies with a few tbsp of oil and saute.
5. Add tomato sauce, bullion and water.  Bring to a boil.
6. Add meatballs back in with 1 c. of rice.
7. Cover pot and simmer on low.
8. Cook at least 30 minutes (but I have left the pot there on low a lot longer and its fine. A good measure is to check if the rice looks done or not.  If you use brown rice you will definitely need longer cooking time.)
9. The last 10 minutes add chopped cilantro.

*Modifications: Add whatever you want to the meatballs, but try to keep it in the Mexican/Spanish family of spices.  I added some Worcestershire sauce and it was good.   If you are into more heat add more chilies or experiment with more flavors in the tomato sauce.  If you are really not into heat, use only 1 chili pepper.  To stretch the soup further you can always add an extra can of chicken or beef broth.  This would probably freeze well but I may leave out the rice and cilantro and then add them in to cook when the soup is thawed.  I've never frozen it myself though.

New Dress for spinning

I used this pattern for the dress and some fabric I had not used that my grandma gave me.  I found a basic blue cotton to coordinate with the floral and it took a total of 4 days to finish.  If I didn't have a toddler and wasn't 7 months pregnant I could have done it easily in a weekend.  This is the second dress I've made with this pattern and both were made about a year apart.  I'm hoping to make at least one more.

Excuse the wrinkles, she won't take the dress off and has been playing in it on and off over the course of two days.  At least she likes it. :o)

This is the other dress I made for her last year.  She wasn't a walker yet so getting upright pictures of her was not easy.

Part 2 Baby Quilt

I decided to use 12 x 12 squares and make the quilt itself square.  This helps for a couple reasons.  The total size will be about 42 inches square.  It will be useful as a play blanket when the baby is little and due to the symmetry there is no top or bottom of the blanket.  I made a blanket for my daughter and it is a rectangle.  I find that I always turn in so that I can wrap the long side around her so I won't have to worry about that with this blanket.

The actual cuts were 12.5 x 12.5 for the internal blocks, 3.5 x 3.5 for the corner blocks, 3.5 x 36.75 for the border strips. Everything was done with a 1/4 inch seam.

I have never made a quilt before (not with actual pieces).  The most challenging part was the corner pieces and getting the boarder, corner and blocks to make a nice corner where they meet.  I didn't follow any directions on this so I was just going on assumptions, some of which turned out wrong but hey, at least I learned.

I still have to iron the top, cut the batting and the back and sew that all together.  Then I will do a cheater sort of quilt with embroidery floss.  The point of quilting, in general, is to keep the inner batting layer from shifting.   Its also decorative but I'm more utilitarian and time saving.  All I did was get several coordinating colors of embroidery floss and tack down each corner on each intersection of fabric with a small stitch through the back.  I would leave about a 2 inch thread coming out of each end and tie a square knot.

Current Projects

Crayon pouch with small note pad.  

You can find a tutorial in a ton of places online.  For this one, I used a fabric place mat I found at Walmart and a small notepad I found in a 3 pack at the store for about $2.  The crayon slots are about an inch wide each and with the notepad, I fit all but the black and white crayons from a 16 count box.  I thought about cutting off the top extra fabric but I used it as a flap to ensure the crayons don't fall out and the paper stays clean for the next use.  I figure if I run out of paper I can always use index cards, or computer paper cut smaller in a pinch.

 

Bear Ears Hooded Towel

I used the tutorial from Make it and Love it.  The tricky part is that the towel is thick and gets thicker with each fold.  It also lints and can snag if you aren't careful.  Some parts I had to reinforce by hand because the thickness would not fit in my machine (I'm not an expert and there may be some other foot or modification I could make to my machine but I didn't take the time to figure it out.)

My daughter was not cooperative as a model.

Bandana Dress

I have yet to try this on my daughter because she is not being helpful in that regard especially when she is wearing one of her favorite dresses already.  This was SUPER easy and really fast.  I want to try it on her and maybe modify it a little for more shape but as it is the whole thing took 15-20 minutes (with a toddler distracting/helping) and would probably take 10 minutes had I done it during her nap. I used grosgrain ribbon because I had it on hand.

I was not on a weird red streak, I just was trying to get all the red stuff done before I switched thread because switching to a new bobbin and thread and dusting out the other color is not as fun as just sewing.