Pinterest!

Recently I was formally introduced to Pinterest (*you have to request an invitation or ask a friend to send you an invitation). I was invited by a friend. Verdict: I lovvvvvvvvvve it! (And I think you will too, if you don't already).


If you haven't heard of Pinterest, it's basically a resource website where you can browse thousands of pictures posted by others and "pin" them to save them into your account. It's almost like tagging yourself on Facebook in other people's pictures. There are also options to "like" or "comment" on a photo like in Facebook too. 


Pinterest was started in March of 2010, almost two years ago, by a group of people in Palo Alto, California. Wikipedia defines Pinterest as the following: 

"Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The mission statement of Pinterest is to connect everyone in the world through shared tastes and the “things” they find interesting."


You create a board, which is almost like an album, to organize all the pictures that you pin. When you search for something (i.e. Eric Carle birthday party--the theme for my daughter's first birthday party coming up soon), it brings up several pictures from other people's boards.You have the option to look at individual pins, boards, or people. Oh that too...you can "follow" people and see what they are pinning. For instance, I recently saw my friend's ideas for her daughter's birthday party because I am following her.


So, what can you search? Just about anything. Need some birthday party ideas like I did? Just type in a keyword or two and see what comes up. Need craft ideas for a rainy day? Creative snack ideas? Home decoration? Find something you like and "pin" it to a board. 


I love that you can get D.I.Y. ideas from Pinterest. This part has helped a lot with making my own party invitations and decorations for RaeRae's 1st birthday next month. 

I also learned another plus...there's an app for Iphone users! 


If you are curious about Pinterest and would like an invitation, feel free to leave a message below with your email address. Write it all out without the @ symbol to keep away spammers. 

Planning RaeRae's 1st birthday party...

For the past couple of months, I have been occasionally browsing the web and getting ideas from friends for RaeRae's first birthday party! I can't believe she is going to be ONE in just a little under a month!!!


The theme is Eric Carle...mostly Very Hungry Caterpillar.
One more month and this is what I have so far:

Invitations in the works

Almost completed invitation

Completed invitation

1. Birthday outfit:
• Dress and matching diaper from MightyDiapers!(Swooooon....when I got these in the mail, I squealed!)
• I haven't decided if I want to post a picture of this yet or wait until her party. 
•  Adorable and sturdy shoes from Pitterpat to match her dress and diaper. (I will write a separate post about these shoes soon enough...)
• Exact shoes I got for RaeRae: click here. 
2. Invitations in the works. I have completed some of them. I got the idea from Pinterest.
3. Wall decals to use for decor.
4. A friend will make caterpillar cupcakes and smash cake for RaeRae.
5. My other ideas and links I have looked at and want to share:
• http://www.eric-carle.com/world.html
• http://episencial.com/

• Scored samples for the favors!! 
• There's sooooo much on Pinterest!
• I made a caterpillar banner with green circles for each letter of her name connected together and with the face in the beginning. 
• My album: http://pinterest.com/coleregis/raerae-1st-bday-party-ideas/

The Pinterest link has most of my ideas. 

Reflection of 2011 and Coming of 2012

Happy New Year! 2012 is finally here! We started the day doing a few local errands and heading home for lunch. After lunch, both RaeRae and I took an almost 2 hour nap, while hubby only napped half an hour (didn't want to sleep too much, he said). 


We spent the afternoon walking along the San Leandro Pier and eating some good food at a restaurant called Horatio's since DH had a gift certificate for there. The food was quite good and the service was excellent. I got Smoked Chicken Tortellini, DH got some crab cakes, and RaeRae munched on bread. She sat in a high-chair and did so well. 


In all, we had a nice family day...a great way to start the new year.

As we start 2012, I stop to think about the past year. A reflection of the sort.


2011:


A lot of things happened this past year:

• I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
• I became a cloth diaper consultant.
• I became 26 years old. 
• Made new friends and visited with old friends.
• Traveled a bit within the state. 
• Moved!
• Playdates with other mama friends and their kiddos.
• And more...

I told my hubby earlier today that I believe my greatest accomplishment for last year was giving birth. "Such pain for such love," were my words and ain't that the truth. One year ago today, I was in my last trimester and four weeks away from giving birth to the greatest joy of my life. 

When she finally arrived, I remember feeling such awe and yet overwhelmed at the neediness of a little being who depended on me 24/7 for her survival. I could barely walk the first week or two from the labor and delivery pains. Second degree tears. Post-delivery contractions as my uterus shrunk back to its normal size. The mother-load of all periods. A baby who would not latch on right for the first month. Ouch. Breastmilk coming in. And at 3 weeks postpartum, oral thrush which made my nipples itch like crazy and where we had to boil my breastpump parts and wash my bras after each wear. We got through it all. I was also thankful my hubby could stay home the first month with paid paternal leave. And still so thankful he is a great husband and wonderful daddy to RaeRae. 


RaeRae continued to grow and charm us with her dazzling smile, beauty, and personality. We fell in love and the over-whelmingness feelings started to go away. I became a stay-at-home-mama and loved it. I still do. I felt such responsibility to taking care of my daughter, especially for her first year where she nursed and napped on demand. We are grateful we are able to make do for me to stay at home for her. I am happy to say that as she is almost 11 months old, I am still exclusively breast-feeding. 


What else happened last year...

When RaeRae was about 3 months old, I became a cloth diaper consultant for a wonderful business called Diaper Parties by Everything Birth, Inc. I mostly did personal consultations for friends and acquaintances. I went into this business because I loved all the cute cloth diaper options out there and wanted to help educate others about the modern easiness of cloth diapers. In addition to the cuteness factor, it was important for us to use cloth diapers on RaeRae because they were healthier for her bum, better for the environment, and saved us a lot of money (well, sort of--I got addicted and spent more than I really needed at some point, but that got better). 

Diaper Parties was a way for me to soothe my addiction and make a little extra income each month. I love teaching people about cloth diapers and how much easier they are to use than ever before. Using cloth diapers also helped us to evaluate how we could be more eco-conscious with our other daily habits. I learned how to use the sewing machine so I could make some cloth napkins in our kitchen colors for our everyday use. Very proud of myself for that.


Last summer, we traveled a bit. 
We drove to one of my favorite places in the world: Irish Beach near Mendocino.  All my family was there--parents, sisters, nephew, etc. It was good quality family time. The three of us flew to San Diego for the 4th of July holiday and RaeRae got to meet her other grandparents for the first time. They couldn't get enough of her.  They came back with us for a week to help with packing and visit more with their granddaughter. 

A few weeks later, we moved to a bigger place! Goodbye 600 square feet 1-bedroom apartment, and hello to 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1000 square-feet condo, across street from a cute park. Moving with a baby was not easy, but we did it! And the space is so much better for us. RaeRae currently crawls a storm from room to room, chasing the kitties and playing with her toys. Sometimes she will chase us or crawl away from us as if she's trying to run away. Lol. 

At least once a month, we drove for overnight trips to Sacramento to stay with my parents and visit friends. 


In the fall, RaeRae and I flew alone to San Diego for a good friend's baby shower. That was quite an experience--flying alone with a baby. For the most part, she did well. It was a bit of a challenge with the luggage because not only is there the suitcase, but there was the stroller, carseat, and diaper bag. And...carrying the baby too. The flight home was more eventful because RaeRae pooped on the plane, right before take-off. Luckily, there was a bit of time and the flight attendant helped with setting up the small plane bathroom with the changing table so I could change her. She hadn't pooped in 3 days so it was um...massive. But overall, the flight was fine. I wouldn't want to fly alone with her again though. 


The fall holidays were also fun: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. RaeRae dressed up as a ladybug for Halloween and was sooooo stinking cute! We visited a couple of pumpkin patches and celebrated hubby's birthday, as well as my grandma's. We took RaeRae to the snow for the day. Thanksgiving and Christmas were more fun with all the food since RaeRae finally took an interest into table food at about 8 months old. She was also definitely spoiled at Christmas with toys and clothes.

2011 was a good year for us overall. Financially, we took some strain since I stayed at home to take care of Isabelle, but we made it work. We grew as parents, and still continue to seek balance each day for ourselves. I think that's just life though. You do what you can do, to the best of your own effort. 

As of 2012, I hope you will be another good year for us. My goals for this year are to:

1. Write more.
2. Come up with an exercise plan and stick to it! 
3. Meal-plan each week with healthier foods so we can eat better and save money.
4. Do one photo-book each month or every 3 months (see how it goes with pictures). 
5. Continue breast-feeding until RaeRae weans herself. 
6. At least one day a week, take a couple of hours for "me-time."

 That's it for now. I look forward to writing more about this year about our lives and just enjoying each day at a time.

Happy Holidays!

Just stopping in to say...

Happy Holidays from the Cole-Regis family!

Rae-Rae is now 10 months old! And crawling everywhere. Hope you and your family have nice winter holidays. 

Check out Everything Birth’s end of the year bonus Freebies.

Check out Everything Birth’s end of the year bonus Freebies.

We took RaeRae to the snow!

We took RaeRae to the snow on Friday instead of shopping. It was her first time there and she seemed to have liked it but was cautious about the cold snow. Hubby took this pic--thought it was too cute and wanted to share. 
 

The Fluffy Itch

When I first entered the world of cloth diapering, there were all these abbreviations, slang, and code words for different brands of diapers (i.e. BG=bumgenius), certain family members (i.e. DD=dear daughter, or darling daugåter), or whatnot. In the beginning of my cloth diaper journey, I swore it was all part of a secret language that I would never completely understand. It was, in a word, overwhelming!



As I dug deeper into the world of cloth diapering, the terms and codes started to become more familiar and I started to get a feel of the danger of fluff.
Fluff...aka cloth diapers...can be addicting. You want to try everything, and even after getting some fluffy mail, you still want more. You are constantly thinking about cloth diapers and browsing shops for sales, deals, and new products. You might be a Hyena cart stalker (for those custom made diapers). You might stalk Facebook pages for diaper brands for any upcoming announcements or cute pictures of other babes in fluff.


I think some people are confused on why someone may be a fluff addict. Then one of my friends came up with an analogy: it's like shoes for moms. 

Like Carrie Bradshaw from "Sex in the City" type of shoe addiction.


Just when you think you are good on fluff for a while, the itch comes back up again. Lately I've been having the itch. I have my eyes on some of the new prints coming out for a few diapers. I want to try the Freetime diaper by BumGenius and also the new Grovia Prints.


Do you get the fluffy itch? What helps you get over it? What diapers are on your list? It's safe to share here. I won't tell anyone ;-)