Fab Bag Giveaway Day!

Surprise!!! We're having a real, live GiVeAwAy today at Babbling Abby!!!! I am so pumped!!! See, look at all the exclamation marks I am using!!!!!!!

{Deep Breath. And...release...}

So, let's begin by discussing something crucial to motherhood. Like a key piece that keeps you forever organized and you usually don't leave home without it. And, if you do, you either wind up with a dirty diaper on your hands with no supplies to take care of it - OR - you're stealing Goldfish off the endcap at Kroger, silently scolding yourself for leaving that key piece at home containing your baby occupying treat. Oops. (And, P.S., I always pay for the Goldfish before we leave. Ahem.)

Yup, sweet readers, I am talking about THE DIAPER BAG.

I love and adore mine and find that it has pretty much taken the place of my purse for the past sixteen months of Beckham's existance. I own a very simple, black one that I carry everywhere. It has multiple pockets inside and outside, it's lined with a decorative plastic liner, and it came with a changing pad. It's functional, yet classy, and has been the one thing that has remained a staple during every phase of Beckham's life so far.

Soooooo, when I was contacted by a representative of CSN Baby, I was more than excited to host a giveaway of one of their fine products. CSN Baby carries a wide variety of baby-related products, from nursery decor , to strollers, to furniture. I recognized most of the brands they carry and have used many of them in my own home. Further, their prices are competitive, while lots of items seemed to be on sale or discounted to a great rate. Major bonus!

They let me choose {within reason, of course} the object of my desire and I decided that all moms - whether you're expecting or already are one - could use a fab bag to lug around. And, even if you don't have childen yet, you could still enter this giveaway for your future peanut or the peanut of a friend, right?

So, without further ado, here's what we're giving away today on Babbling Abby...

This is the Carter's Big Dot Tote Diaper Bag in Black & Lime. Totally fab, huh?!

It's modern pattern is super cute, and you can't beat the adjustable shoulder strap, accompanying changing pad, cell phone case, and accessories bag. Such a sweet combo. It's a $39.99 value and it can be your's FREE!

If you would like to take part in this giveaway, here's how you play...

1. Leave me a comment using the phrase fab bag anywhere in your comment.

2. To double your chances, leave a comment AND become a follower. Be sure to let me know in your comment that you're new follower or if we're already BFFs (blog friends forever.)

3. To triple your chances, leave a comment AND become a follower AND link up to this post on your blog. Again, be sure to let me know in your comment.

It would be helpful to include your email address if you don't have a blog so that I can get in touch with you if you win.

You have from now until next Thursday, October 29th to play. At that time, I will use a random number generator to select a winner. The winner will be announced on Halloween!

Yay! Please join in! Happy Thursday, y'all :)

{Disclosure: This giveaway is being sponsored by CSN Baby. }

Guilty Pleasure Day

This little guy, on the other hand, has no trouble pulling off yoga poses between bites of oatmeal. If only we all could have our feet and eat them too.

So, today. Today I am lazy in my sweatpants, watching The Hills & The City webisodes, while life just kind of piles up around me. There is no way that an empty tub of whipped cream cheese {that I dipped pretzel sticks into} and a carmel apple pop wrapper are sitting on the table next to me. And I'm positive that's not a wet diaper rolled up on the floor. Since Becks is the master diaper throw-away-er I guess I'll just wait for him to awake to take care of that. I'm just going to go right on being lazy.

Or not. We're going out of town this weekend, so there's actually plenty to be done around here. {Not including laundry and making my bed, both of which I do on a consistent basis these days. Seriously. That is not a joke. Be proud of me. Very proud. I'm sure it's going to be a short-lived phenomena and I want to enjoy it while I'm still motivated.} I could be making dinner for my boys, but since my MIL invited them over for dinner tonight I'm covered there. I'm off to schmooze at a service learning recognition banquet on behalf of my school. I'm wearing a cute black dress, so that's exciting. Or at least a step up from my sweatpants.

Do you know how many black dresses I own? A few too many, that's for sure. I just can't pass them up though. Especially when you find them for $24.95 at Target and they call to you from the rack, Abby, Abby....over here. On the hanger. TAKE ME HOME. And so I give in and add another little black dress to my ever growing collection. And my husband says, Oh where is that from? and before I can speak the little black dress is doing the talking and saying things like This old thing? Don't you recognize me? while I cinch the belt a little tighter willing it to shut up.

Actually, my husband has seen this particular dress before, so no secrets here. The shoes I'm wearing, on the other hand...

In completely other, non-related news, who here has done Jillian Michaels' The Shred? I've reserved it from the library and am anxiously awaiting it to arrive. Did it work? Did you do the full 30 days? Did you see results? If so, what kind? Was it fun? Did it seem like exercise? Did you sweat?

I'm just looking to tone up a little bit during the colder months. Now that I'm not nursing I don't have an excuse for eating pretzel sticks with cream cheese without compensating for them with a little physical activity.

Can't go turning into Flabby Babbling Abby, now can I?

Feliz Navidad. In October.

It is a great Monday here at Chez Babbling. The sun is shining and warm, tea is steeping on the stove, and I'm wearing tights and a sweaterdress. All combined make it a rather perfect fall day. Sigh.

My goal for the afternoon is to lesson plan, but I often find that Mondays are great days for catching up. Doing a little laundry, tidying up a bit, checking in on some of my favorite blogs, and kind of getting things resorted from the weekend. Lesson planning might be taking a backseat to slow living today...

I don't know about you, but I think the messiest day of the week is Sunday. It has to stem from the chaos that is getting ready for church, which probably shouldn't be chaotic, but it always is. There are always clothes that need ironing, coupons that need clipping, and - truth be told - it takes my husband years longer than the rest of us to get ready. So, while I'm applying a little lip gloss, baby on hip, ready to head out the door, he's sauntering out of the shower lazily admiring his stubble in the mirror and wondering if he should shave.

IT DRIVES ME CRAZY.

Many a Sunday morning argument have centered around leaving the house at 10:45am and not a second later, only to find Beck and I buckled into the car for 5 minutes before our driver decides he's ready to go. Then, we're scrambling to get Beck into the nursery while worship is beginning and I'm shooting daggers through the holy air at my husband. It's a good thing we live less than a mile from church.

I pretty much remember Sunday mornings at home when I was younger to follow similar suit. Trying to coordinate five showers (at one point, three teenagers who had to shower) was difficult, as was not being the last person ready to go after having searched entirely too long for a missing Esprit purse (tell me you weren't all over Esprit purses in middle school). Going even further back, to the days when my mom had three heads of hair to brush, braid, and bow was even more of a challenge. There may have been more Sunday morning arguments then than there are now. Oh, to be the mother of three girls under the age of six. Oy!

So, anyway, Sunday mornings are a bit of a disaster. And Sunday afternoons are now football and lesson planning, which is why it is my goal to have my plan done way before then. So I can actually enjoy the latter half of my weekend, and maybe take a nap or do something else besides pour over picture books for three hours.

Oh, and we did shoot a rather phenomenal family picture this weekend for my parents' annual Christmas card. All was well until we scanned through the digital images to select our favorite. Yup, that would be my husband there, sticking his tongue into my brother-in-law's ear. His talents never cease to amaze me...

PS. Did I really just say Christmas card? Where has 2009 gone?????

Timberdoodle's Bubber!

{Disclosure: This is a Mama Buzz Review. The product was provided by Timberdoodle for this review. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer for Mama Buzz, please visit their site!}

So, the title is a mouthful, huh?

I recently had the opportunity to experiment with Bubber in my classroom - a pretty swell modeling product offered by Timberdoodle. The best way to describe Bubber is as a combination of playdoh and marshmallow - if that makes any sense! It's texture is smooth, but somewhat grainy, it's weightless (almost as if you're sculpting with a less-sticky marshmallow), and it holds its shape similar to playdoh. Bubber has the ability to be maniupulated in many different ways - pushed, pulled, squished, cut, imprinted, stretched, and sculpted.

It's a perfect addition to any tactile learning center and it will guarantee to fascinate your students and/or children - even just grasping it tightly in their hands over and over was entertaining! My kiddos absolutely adored it and continued to squish and squash it thoroughly during their visit at the creation station. They loved the different molds sent with my 5 oz bucket of Bubber and quickly learned how to use the Mirett to shave and cut into this silly substance.

Now, while I did think it was a pretty cool product, and one I might be interested in using further in my classroom, I did notice some negative aspects. If you're planning on having multiple users, it may become dirty quickly. The color I was sent - yellow - would likely turn dingy pretty fast in my classroom of 23 students if used daily, especially when using their tables as a play space. Thus, if I was ordering it again, I would choose a darker color, like the purple or blue that Timberdoodle offers. (I had no choice in color for this review.)

Also, the Bubber I was sent was kind of crumbly, and didn't hold together quite as well as other modeling substances might. I'm not sure if this is the nature of the product or what, but it does say on the website description that it "never dries out," so I was kind of concerned about that. I'm all about quick and easily clean up, and found that several bits wound up on the floor - which is not good for clean-up and wastes the product.

Overall, it was a very unique product that held the interest of my students during their morning center activities. I would recommend this product to teachers and parents alike, as all children will find this substance play-worthy and a great alternative to the run-of-the-mill playdoh. Heck, my husband and I even enjoyed it :)

Here's some more information on the product, provided by Timberdoodle:

Cost
Bubber = $10.50
Castle Molds = $4.95
Mirett = $2.95
Spoon/Knife = $.95

Ages
Timberdoodle recommends kindergarten and up - but I think that as long as they child playing with it knew to keep it out of his/her mouth and was supervised, they would be fine :)

[Pictures to come!]

I'm going to be trite: Stop and Smell the Roses

Shoo. Glad yesterday is over. I was beginning to wonder if I should have renamed that post: It's a Pity Party, and you're invited...

But, hey, that nasty spell was sooooo yesterday - even though the car still isn't back and I'm still not sure how I'm going to afford grad school and Beckham still isn't napping right now.

The car drama is just part of life. I know Becks will eventually sleep again. And I just have to have faith that God is going to solve the whole graduate school finance issue. Or he's going to shine a huge old spotlight onto whatever I need to do to make it happen. The waiting part is the hard part. Waiting to see what God's plan is. This is a tough concept for those of us that need to know right-now-at-this-very-minute, and I'm very much that kind of person.

Psalm 37: 7 - Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act...

{Yes, the pic of Beckham riding the big, pink snuggle bunny at his Nana K's house is totally irrelevant to any part of this post. I just know some people only come here for the pics of sweet precious. }

In other news, I have tea steeping in the kitchen because it is suddenly arctic here. Like flurries are in the forecast. Is that legal? In October? I really wanted to enjoy fall this year, not speed into an early winter. I'm already afraid that Christmas is going to be here Buzz Lightyear fast and I'm going to be all Wah? 2010? Gahhhhh!

Along those same lines, I recently read an article in the November issue of Parents magazine entitled Life in the Slow Lane by Doug Most and it was all about a new movement towards chilling a bit when it comes to kid-raising. S-l-o-w-i-n-g D-o-w-n. I have never been one to hop on the latest parenting trend (in my whole 15 months of parenting...). I'm not a hipster or a devout baby-wearer, and, honestly, I didn't read to Beckham in the womb but maybe once. I didn't hook up headphones to my belly hoping to influence his intelligence with Beethoven or Bach, and the only reason we own a Baby Einstein video is because it was given to us as a gift. {Though I tried to get him to watch it as entertainment so that I could, you know, do something for 15 minutes without interruption, but he was so not into it. }

Anyway, the article goes on to say that, "the days of hyper-parenting are on the wane...I think the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction. More and more families are yearning to put on the brakes, to back off, to stop treating child-rearing like a competitive sport," ( p.138). I couldn't agree more. There is nothing that drives me more crazy than being a part of or listening to two parents stack their children's stats against one another. Oh, well, Baby X already knew 75 words at 11 months or Baby X can already identify the colors according to ROYGBIV.

Here's my response to that: WHOOP-DEE-DOO.

I'm perfectly content that Beckham does a lot of babbling these days and that unless you spend lots of time with him you're probably not going to understand 95% of what he says. Did you know that a guh-guh means good girl and is what he calls our dog? My point exactly. He would rather walk around tapping the TV with two paper towel rolls masking-taped together than listen to an educational toy spit out the alphabet. And I'm going to let him. "Slow parents give their children time and space to explore the world on their own terms," (p.139).

And honestly, what are those talking toys good for at this age besides adding lot of unnecessary background noise? {I swear to you, Beckham had like four different noise-making toys going at once recently and I about lost it!}

Another good point I found in this article was regarding the helicopter parent. This is the parent that cannot for a second let their child do something independently and must intervene if the consequence is not acceptable in the parent's eyes. While I agree wholeheartedly that a child's safety is top priority, I also agree that, "We all need to relax a little bit before the next generation of kids grows up without ever turning one cartwheel without adult supervision," (p.139).

Allowing our children to scrape their knees every once in a while is a good thing. Scraping their knees can metaphorically be interpreted as many things - letting them make the choice to not study for a spelling test and then dealing with the resulting consequences and feelings of failure, for example. It's a less is more mentality - the less you do to intervene in your child's life, the more enriching an experience can be for the child's independence. Plus, they need coping skills - the bitter taste of failure, rejection, and disappointment all make success, acceptance, and excitement that much sweeter.

Was that a soapbox I was stepping off? Um, maybe. It was just an interesting article I wanted to share my thoughts on. Not to try to convince you that it's a better way than any other way.

Also, before I sign off, it should be noted that a) Beckham has been sleeping for almost an hour now (yay!) and b) I'm sporting some super sweet patterned purple tights today. Try to say that ten times fast.

Happy Thursday, Internet!

Just tellin' it like it is...

Sour little apple. Literally and figuratively.

Beck has been a fussy mess lately. And I don't know why. Nor do I know how to combat it besides some good old fashioned patience.

My once two-a-day napper has suddenly decided to dramatically decrease his morning nap (expected), and give up on the afternoon nap too. Today he "rested" - a combo of kicking his feet against his crib, babbling to himself, and sleeping I presume - for two hours. His morning nap was only an hour, so I know he needed to rest/sleep/whatever.

He's into this grunt/whine-until-I-get-what-I-want thing right now too, which is hard for both of us since I am trying to instill manners in the young lad and insist that he say please before I will give him what he wants. And that's really hard when I know that just giving him whatever he wants would be a quicker solution. Then, I think about the long run, the run in which I don't want to raise a spoiled child who is demanding and whiny.

Believe me, it's really trying. And, often, by bedtime, my tolerance level is shot. I'm looking for the towel to throw in, but it was shredded to bits around 4pm. My nerves are in a similar state. I keep chalking it up to a phase. A really long, sigh-inducing phase.

Additionally, I applied for grad school yesterday, and that, too, has added to the head-spinning feeling that I have. (Carrie, are you ready to go back with me???? Puh-leeeeeease????)

{Backstory: Back in 2005, when I graduated from UK with a BS in psychology, I took the dreaded GRE and applied to UT and UofM in hopes of pursuing a Masters in Social Work. Then, after being accepted, and then after graduating, I freaked out and decided to not go. I spent the months of May and June in a state of limbo before deciding to go back to get my degree in education - another bachelors since my state does not have a Masters program for elementary education. Point being, that my GRE scores expire in February of 2010. Like, 4 months away. And, because I don't want to have to retake that pointless exam nor waste any more money on it, it was imperative that I go ahead and apply and at least take a course or two. }

So, that's where I'm at. Now I just need to find someone or something to fund it because the last thing I want to do is to take out more student loans. So, it's either save save save or apply for scholarships/grants which seem to be few and far between. If you know of any, let me know.

We're also amidst a slew of car trouble. B's car has been in the shop since Friday, so we're driving a loaner - a sporty little station wagon called an M3. We lovingly refer to it as the Mousemobile. The repairs are extensive, of course, and I'm dreading the bill. Add to that the fact that once we returned from the dealership my car died in the driveway behind the loaner, and you've got yourself a slew of car trouble. New battery. Installed by my husband in the rain on the day he took off to take us to the pumpkin patch. Sigh...

Did I mention that the furnace was also repaired a couple of weeks ago for $500? Yeah, it's been a fun month. A month in which I thought the extra paychecks would pay off the Jetta. The car that we're paying through the nose for right now as it takes a spa vacation at the VW dealership.

Yup, I'm complaining a little bit. That's life. Not always easy. But, I'm just tellin' it like it is...

ETA: My state requires that all teachers attain a Masters degree. You must start it within five years of graduating from undergrad, and finish it in 10, so my reason for applying now is serving dual purposes.

Way down yonder...

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

{Blogger has zapped all my creative energy trying to upload and organize all these pics...}