Sleep Deprivation and Smothered Love...

Well, I can't for the life of me find sleep tonight. I'm left sitting here in bed wondering why it can't be one of those glorious, stormy, 'Coast of BC' nights where the rain is hitting my bedroom window sideways and the wind is blowing the bathroom fan around and around, "tap, tap, tap..." I love those nights. Those stormy nights sooth me like a lullaby until I'm fighting sleep, fighting for just five more minutes to cuddle up to the warm body of my husband sleeping next to me and surrender to my 'West Coast' storm gratitude. Tonight is not one of those nights. Our bedroom is stifling, the husband is snoring yet somehow restless at the same time, and my sad baby boy is coughing the night away down the hall. Maybe my wakefulness is due to the fact that I know I will be up all night long dealing with sick baby boy? Whatever the reason, I'm trying to make the best of it. Reminiscing...

I feel so lucky for so many things in my life, and recent conversations with friends and family have got me skipping merrily down memory lane: Afternoon snack time with my mom and brothers, talking and joking and eating...almost fifteen years later and it's still one of my favorite pastimes. Fort building and exploring in the woods, feeling so rustic and independent, lost in the world of my imagination. The fourteen amazing years that our dog spent on this earth. The outdoors, all of it, in every capacity - swimming in the ocean, rivers, lakes; hiking; boating and kayaking and canoeing; camping; sleeping under the stars in my best friend's back yard each summer; beach parties, bon fires, sunsets, storms - I think I have a million great memories for each tiny category. Camping with my Nan, my brave Nan and her 13 little grandchildren, every summer for two weeks. I know that I am so lucky, so blessed, to have lived such a full life already...and each night, as I check on my two sleeping angels before I search for sleep myself, I can't believe my luck.

And as I open my mouth to whisper words of thanks in their tiny ears, I stop myself...maybe if I don't vocally acknowledge how lucky I am, no greater power can take notice and say, "Oh yeah, wait a second...what DID she do to deserve all that!?" For now, I will just go on silently relishing in my luck by smothering my family with love.

Snow Day

I think it's safe to say that the craziness of December and all of the cooking, parties, shopping, visiting, and crafting have long since come to an end. What does that mean for Blooming Blessings? Well, today it means nothing because I'm out enjoying the snow with my littlest man. Happy Snow Day!

Frugal Friday - When To Splurge

I do not use cloth diapers for my little ones - with two under two, I have enough chaos and more than enough laundry to last me two lifetimes, thank you very much! That said, discovering that cloth was not the path we would take wasn't an easy process for us, and neither was finding the best disposable diapers to fit our needs.

We have tried multiple brands of disposables in the past 10 months. When my daughter turned one and we no longer had the income from my maternity leave benefits, we had to start cinching the purse strings in every aspect of our lives. Naturally, diapers were the first area that we explored in the savings department, because they are one of the largest household expenses for our family each month.

What did we discover?

Every family that we know uses either cloth, Pampers, or Huggies for their little ones. Pampers and Huggies cost roughly the same, and one brand or the other will definitely be on sale at one big box store each week. For us, Pampers are a dream: they hardly ever leak, they're baby soft, and they fit great. If we can't find Pampers on sale we opt for the Huggies, though they don't work as well for us. We have found that they don't fit as snug for our babies, and we have multiple leaks when we use them. That said, we've had more luck with Huggies than we have had with the other less popular name brand diapers out there, and after speaking with our friends, some swear by Huggies the same way we swear by Pampers.

However, all of the less popular brand name diapers that drug stores and big box stores carry have a much more pleasing price tag, but they come at a price. They either cause terrible diaper rash, or they leak. EVERY TIME. For that reason, I always make sure that our budget will allow for us to splurge on Pampers. Sometimes it makes more sense to splurge than to save, though not often...and in my opinion, this is one of those rare occasions.

Judgement Day

My husband and I are really proud of the schedule that we have for our two babies. Most of the time, we experience life relatively chaos-free, and on top of that we get to enjoy 3 hours alone each night after the children are in bed. It comes with great sacrifice for us: we make sure that breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, naps and bedtime happen at roughly the same time each day. If that means we leave a party early, or have only one of us attend a function that we'd both love to be at, we do it. We go to the extreme to make sure that our kids experience the most balanced diet of life that they can. We attribute this strict schedule to the lovely fact that both of our children are asleep each night by 7:30pm, and although we may experience a night time feed or two with the little one, often we sleep uninterrupted until our 6am alarm clock goes off. The evening hours of alone time that my husband and I get to share with each other are so priceless and important to us, and that is another reason why we are so in love with the schedule we currently uphold.

Frugal Friday - Deals and Freebies

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Baby Steals & Women's Freebies

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