My mother in law Susie came into town last week and stayed a couple of days with us. We had a nice visit and she watched Hayden while I ran some errands. I have about a million size one diapers from my diaper shower. Okay, really, I counted. It is literally over 1000. So I finally had an opportunity while she was in town to return those and the bunch of pacifiers that Hayden refuses to take. I took them to Babies R Us, and I guess my registry (at both BRU and Target) expired this week. I just looked at them last week, so I know they were up at least that long. Since this is the case, BRU only took back a couple of boxes of diapers that were actually purchased there. Bummer. So then I jetted over to Target, where since my registry was expired, they had to make the return off of my drivers license. Their policy is that a person can only return $75 worth of merchandise a year. What? Really? I could only return $55 worth because one more would've put me over $75. I think that this is a totally jacked up policy. I also had bought a Disney movie for Hayden that I didn't realize we already had. I tried to return that as well (I only wanted a GIFT CARD for all these things... I didn't want money back. I only wanted to get a different movie and bigger diapers) and they wanted to charge me $5 to return the movie! That was a 25% penalty for grabbing the wrong movie! What the HELL?! Target is my favorite store in the entire world, but that royally pissed me off. They had charged a penalty for the diapers as well, but it was only fifty cents a pop. Needless to say, we refused the return. Why would I do that, when I can take it to Walmart for much better customer service? I rarely go to Walmart. Unless I'm with my grandma, I never go there. I prefer Target. But I thought this was utterly ridiculous. I came home and left a comment on their Facebook page that they had a horrible return policy and how disappointed I was in them for their lack of service to a loyal customer of twenty years. WOW. I started a firestorm of comments. First of all, people from all over, that I don't even know, are liking my comment. It also started off the first night with 56 comments, with all but two people agreeing. However, one girl in particular (and I think a rather young girl) called me cheap for returning diapers, that I should take the diapers and donate them. (I returned in total about $150 worth of diapers.) Whoa my God. While I was working out, little did I know that friends and people I didn't know alike were attacking her on my behalf. She was a young girl, maybe eighteen or in her early twenties from what I can tell of her picture. She obviously doesn't have children or know how expensive diapers are. But boy or boy, did she get ripped a new one! Mommies on attack! Holy hell, do NOT mess with a bunch of moms. I think we are the most vicious group of people on the planet, and not only that, we have each other's backs whether we know each other or not! I've definitely noticed the camaraderie since I became a mom. Even some of my guy friends were chirping in. Thanks, guys! Needless to say, she did not return for further comment. Today I will take the diapers left (and the movie) to Walmart for return. Just in time, The Rescuers and Pocahantas were released from the Disney Vault today, so I have a choice of what movie to replace with The Princess and the Frog. I think this week I'll get Pocahantas. I LOVED the Disney Classics as a little girl and am collecting them for H. You have to get them while you can because they go into the Vault for ten years after a limited time for sale. I can't wait until The Little Mermaid comes out. While Susie was down I tried out several new recipes! I've been Pinterest crazy lately, especially on recipes. I've even impressed myself by USING
what I'm pinning, instead of pinning for the fun of it, or "for one day." So I'm feeling productive! I made ranch pork chops, which turned out delicious, with sides of scalloped potatoes and French green beans; I also made egg muffins with Jimmy Dean sausage, bacon, bell peppers, cheese, and such for breakfast one morning. Fantastic! Last week I made the pizza bites as a snack for Will (with pizza sauce for dipping), no bake energy bites, and a honey mustard chicken breaded in Corn Flakes. I've always like to cook and have several regular recipes up my sleeve, but I'm really branching out now. My hubbs has always loved my cooking (one of my favorite compliments he always says is, "I'm so glad I married someone who knows how to cook!") But he's really getting the goods now. I'm having a lot of fun researching and shopping for my new recipes. Sometimes it can take some creativity to get them prepared and done while watching Hayden before Will comes home, but the Baby Bjorn has come in handy several times! She often falls asleep in there. But I have to keep moving and singing while she's in there or she doesn't like it. It definitely helps to be hands free, though!
In other things Pinterest, I also made my first craft since Hayden was born. That's one thing I really miss is making things, but I know when she gets a bit older, I'll be able to do it more. Inspired by all my new recipes, I decided to make a weekly dinner menu for the kitchen. Using scrapbook paper, my
Cricut, and a 12x12 frame, I created a reusable weekly menu! What would've ordinarily have taken me an hour took me THREE days! But I finished it and was proud; it immediately got put to good use in the kitchen! Now Will and I are planning our meals together and makes grocery shopping that much more enjoyable. Here's a pic:
If you'd like to see some of my recipes on Pinterest, please follow me! I have eight boards of recipes divided up in dinners (YUM! board) with other YUM! boards including sammies (sandwiches), sides and salads, desserts, apps and dips (appetizers), kiddos (food for children), drinks, snax (snacks), and tricks & tips. You can follow me by pushing the button at the top of the blog page,
Speaking of eating, after eight weeks of drinking once a day from a bottle from someone other than myself (mostly Will and my mom), Little Miss has decided to completely shun the bottle. She turns her nose up at it, and if we insist, she gets all kinds of upset. This has been most distressing for us. It is distressing on me because I can't fix it, or try to fix it like I want to. Hayden should not associate me with a bottle in order to keep nursing her successfully. It is distressing to Will because he wants to bond with her through feeding as well, and it hurts his feelings when she refuses the bottle from him. It is distressing for my mom, because she wants to be able to keep Hayden for an extended period of time and be confident that she will eat. That is distressing for us also; we want to know she is not starving or screaming her head off. We were using Playtex drop in nursers, which seemingly works for EVERYONE who is also using a bottle for their infants on top of nursing. She was doing great with them, and suddenly, nope. No one but Mommy will suffice. I bought latex nipples (instead of silicone) and have started to collect a few different types of bottles. At the suggestion of a lactation consultant, we can also feed her through a medicine dropper, spoon, or sippy cup. We will have to help her with the sippy cup because she is still just a couple of weeks away from the suggested age of use, but better than going hungry. Some have scoffed at my hopes of using the sippy cup, but I don't really care how my daughter eats while I'm gone, as long as she eats. I'm just trying to help my child. I let those things roll off my back, though. I know what's best for my baby. And one day, she will use those sippy cups regardless! She's just growing so fast, I feel like it's going to be tomorrow. And, this is only another bump in the road. We've had a few bumps along the way, and they've all passed, even when I never believed they would. Let me see if I can remember a few. First, the grunting. She would grunt, loudly, all night long. It would keep us both awake, because I am up at the smallest sound. I'd skip to her bassinet, and there she would be, staring at me. She would do it in her sleep, too. I worried she had reflux. And there's something else called Grunting Baby Syndrome. Geez Louise, if I listened to everything Google says, I'd be half crazy. It does help me, though, most of the time. I bought her a wedge to put under her mattress, and that seemed to help awhile. Then, she was just a-waving her hands all in the air in her sleep and it kept waking her up. She's loved her arms free since she was born, but that was the end of that. Back to full time swaddling. Next, crying in her car seat. She HATED that car seat; and not just mine, but my mom's, too. She'd start crying as soon as we put her in it and wail to wherever it was that we were going. I've grown so accustomed to the white noise sound I play to calm her that I don't even hear it anymore. In fact, I now fall asleep to it, too. But, after just a few weeks of that, and it's on to something else. She is just fine in the car seat now. Then, the poop. She started going five to ten days without going potty; number two, anyways! Can you believe that is normal for a breastfed baby? And when she goes, I'm talking BLOWOUT. Sometimes she gets fussy when it's been awhile, and who can blame her? I'd be fussy if I hadn't pooped in ten days, too. The doctor says the breast milk is such a perfect food for a baby that her little body is absorbing every nutrient and that there isn't any waste. Well, my perfect food is stressing me out! She cried for two days once (very unlike her) and my mom rushed us to the doctor that Saturday morning for a suppository. She did feel better afterwards. Last week after ten days, I gave her one myself, because it just freaks me out when she hasn't gone. I'm getting more used to it and not panicking so much now this has been going on over a month. She went on her own twice last week, so I'm thinking if I just hold out and don't panic, that she'll be fine. It just ain't normal, though, in my opinion! And now, the bottle. But this too shall pass. Hopefully.
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