What about you?

As your bloggy bff, what do I need to know?

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I saw this post on one of my fav blogs Little Miss Momma and decided to do my own!

She also posted this great quote from SAHM:

I am just a regular girl.
A wife who loves her husband, but doesn’t always show it.
A mom who adores her babies, but runs out of patience.
A friend who cherishes her girls, but forgets to return calls.
A person so energized by being creative, but not without dry spells.
I am a homemaker who would rather rearrange furniture than dust it, repaint a bathroom than clean it, eat out than sit down and plan meals.
{Written by Emily}

When I read it, I thought,
"she could have been writing about me".

And I bet I'm not the only one...

I got married in October of 2009. To read all about the wedding hoopla click here.

My wedding dress was a Camille Le Vie from the Group USA Stores. I love my gown. I had decided early on that I was more of a spend-$500-or-less kind of bride. The thought of spending or making my parents spend thousands of dollars on a dress I was going to wear once made me sick! Don't get me wrong, I love watching "Say Yes to the Dress" and appreciating expensive couture gowns. I just don't want to spend money on one! So I was thrilled when my dad and stepmom took me to Group USA in Tempe, AZ to look at dresses. I found my perfect gown for around $400, including the slip! Quite the steal, I must admit.

That beautiful gown has been sitting in my closet for over a year. I keep looking at it wondering what to do with it. I thought about saving it for Jenna. But wedding dress shopping was the most fun part of my entire wedding planning experience. I really don't want to take that away from my daughter. I don't want her to feel like she has to wear my dress. Plus, by the time she gets married the styles will change and she'll probably think my dress is hideous! I thought about selling it...but that would require me to clean it thoroughly, post it, deal with inquiries, etc.

Last week I stumbled upon this charity, Brides Against Breast Cancer. It's an organization that collects wedding gown donations and sells them at special dress events across the country to raise money for breast cancer.

So I decided to donate my dress to a good cause. I mailed it off on Thursday! It felt good! You don't even have to clean it before you send it (you can opt to donate $40 and they take care of the cleaning for you). I know my dress is going to a great cause instead of just collecting dust in my closet. I did, however, save my wedding veil. I decided if Jenna wants something of her mom's for sentimental purposes, she can have my veil. She can use it for her wedding, make it into something, or just hold on to it.

So I encourage all the ladies out there to think about donating your dress to a great cause!

When I first started blogging, I decided to network on a few different sites to get some helpful advice and new followers. This turned into an "I'll follow you if you follow me." I thought it was only proper blog etiquette to follow someone back if they follow you. That has turned into a problem for me because I've ended up following a few blogs I don't relate to or "click" with.


So what's the harm in following a few blogs I never read, right? Well... I am all about de-cluttering and simplifying my life. I don't want to sound insensitive or rude, but I decided to quit following the blogs that I never read.

Even though I'm a SAHM, I don't have a whole lot of spare time to be on the internet. Therefore, when I get online to read blogs, I want to read the blogs that I really connect with. I was missing posts from my favorite blogs because I was sifting through posts that I wasn't interested in. It was information overload! It's just not possible for me to read 250 posts by 250 different bloggers every day, or even weekly.

We just had some family pics taken by Spears' Photography. Here are some of my favs...

I just ordered our cards yesterday...a little late because our family photos were rescheduled due to bad weather. Nonetheless, the photos are beautiful. We had them done with Spears' Photography in Grants. I highly recommend them. I will post my favs in a few days!

Here's the card...

I decided to make all of my stocking stuffers this year. One of the gifts I made is the Oatmeal Cookies & Milk Bath Jars.

I wish I could say I thought up the idea myself, but I didn't! I found the idea on The Motherload Blog here. She also posted a free printable to go along with this project, but I decided to make my own. To get my version click here. My PDF is formatted for Avery 5163 Shipping Labels.

The project requires jars, oats, cornstarch, powdered milk, and cinnamon. I found my jars at Dollar Tree for $1 each. Adding up the rest of the ingredients it cost me about $3.50 per jar and I made 10 for gifts.

Monday Blog Hops! Hop on over...

When I was anxiously awaiting Miss Jenna's arrival, I became obsessed with cloth diapers. I spent hours online reading reviews, talking to other moms, "window shopping" and daydreaming about how cute these darn things would look on my little one's bum.

So I ordered lots of different brands to give it a shot. Then Miss Jenna came. Her tiny little bum only fit in about 4 of the 20 diapers I had. Not to mention she went through about 15 diapers a day in the beginning. So needless to say, I wasn't using too many cloth diapers.

Then she grew into my stash. Finally! I started using them more. However, I've run into a few obstacles and I'm at the point that I need to decide if I'm going to give it another go or give up.

The Laundry - I was delusional when I thought I'd have time for all of my chores plus some if I quit my job and stayed at home. Even though I'm staying at home, I hate doing laundry with the fire of a thousand suns and struggle to make time for it. I'd much rather be playing with my baby, watching DVR'd episodes of Vampire Diaries, and surfing the internet. So...doing an extra load of laundry every other day is really a downer. Call me lazy.

My Water Bill - Water in Grants is expensive. I live in the freaking desert for crying out loud! Our bill is typically $70 in winter months. That's kinda pricey. So adding an extra 2 cycles every 2 days adds up on that bill.

My Water Hardness - We have extremely HARD water. Hard water causes build up and smells on cloth diapers. So...I've had to buy some softener additive to put in my loads every now and then. There's another expense.

Diaper Rash - Every mom raves about how cloth diapers don't give babies rashes. I'd like to know which ones they are using. I have like 5 different brands and Jenna still seems to get a rash every time she's in cloth. Plus you can't use Desitin with cloth. So I had to buy special diaper rash cream for cloth diapers. Another expense.

So...I'm just super disappointed that I didn't like cloth as much as I'd hoped. Yes they look adorable but I'm starting to worry they are not for me.

Any cloth diapering momma's out there have any advice/suggestions? Should I give it another go or call it quits?

I was thrilled when Miss Simplee invited me to contribute articles on the Miss Simplee Sufficient site. Miss Simplee Sufficient is a great site for women to find articles, blog posts, recipes, and how-tos.

So head on over to the site to check out my article, "Newlywed's Guide to Financial Bliss."

I can't believe its been 5 months since Jenna was born! She's doing so well. Everyday she does something different and amusing.

She took her first big road trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving. She did so well! She mostly slept and we had minimal fussing. We stopped every 1.5 to 2 hrs to give her a break from the car seat, change her, and feed her.

She loves her Baby Einstein jumper. Her feet barely touch the ground, so she can bounce a bit on her toes. She has learned to turn a circle in it and she loves playing with the toys attached.

She rolled over from belly to back this month. She doesn't do it often, but she can do it! She has to be in a good mood though...if she's tired or grouchy, she'll just lay her head down and cry until I pick her up.

She still loves standing and bouncing. Her legs are getting much stronger. She likes books - reading them and trying to put them in her mouth.

She was an eager beaver for solids so we started giving her a bit of rice/oatmeal cereal in the evenings. The week of Thanksgiving we started giving her sweet potatoes and squash in the evenings. She LOVES food. I hope she's not going to be a 'lil porker! She opens her mouth and leans toward her spoon so eagerly! It's adorable.

She's still sleeping in our room. Jeremy and I don't mind and she doesn't seem ready to move to her crib. Maybe next month! She does about 2-3 night feeding still. Maybe with the solids we started introducing she'll grow out of the night feedings.

Weight - roughly 14.8 - 15 lbs
Height - 26 inches
Clothing size - Size 6-9 months, Size 2 diapers
Milestones - rolled from belly to back