Baby's Home Giveaway Celebration

Look out readers, this week is welcome home week.. yeah yeah, I know - Baby's been home for a couple of weeks now... I am planning to share some fun reviews/giveaways this week that are especially related to baby/mama and those first needs when you are welcoming baby! It's going to be a busy week on Crum's This N That, so keep your eyes open and your mouse ready!

Mommy Lesson #12

Moral: Trust your instincts.

So, I just finished writing my post about Crackers and his newly formed coffee problem.  I took a shower, and upon exiting the shower, Mr. Crum admitted something.  He just remembered that he had finished his coffee before running errands.  Crackers did NOT drink half a cup of coffee after dinner (although I'm certain he would if he had the opportunity - therefore that lesson still applies).

There we have it, mama was pretty sure that mug was empty, and mama was right.  Trust your instincts!

Mommy Lesson #11

Moral: Clear the table before you feed the baby.

Story:

Okay, so we finished our spinach artichoke dip dinner (yum) and Mr. Crum needed to run an errand - QUICKLY.  He was kind enough to take Monkey with him, leaving me with 22 month old Crackers, and 3 week old baby.  

Naturally, baby got hungry - leaving Crackers somewhat unattended.  Mr. Crum had cleaned up a few of the dinner dishes, but not all.  There were still cups and tortilla chips on the table. 

Crackers is a scavenger.  He loves food, he hunts for food, he FINDS food.  He was climbing from chair to chair, doing his typical after dinner search - making sure to get every last morsel.

He emptied everyone's cups (except mommy's because I did not want him drinking coffee).

As soon as I was able, I put baby down and cleared the table.

When Mr. Crum got home, he started getting the "big" boys ready for bed.  Crackers was emphatic that he was not ready for bed.  In fact, he was very vocal about this for about 3 hours.  This is VERY unusual for our little guy.  He's generally pretty easy, we put him in bed, he talks or sings until he falls asleep.  Tonight he would not stay in bed, he screamed he yelled, he cried... I could not figure out what was going on.

That is, until about 10 minutes ago, when Mr. Crum said, "I should finish my coffee from dinner..."

Oh... there was coffee in your cup?  I thought it was empty.  Crackers finished it.  How much was there?... half a mug... oi.. no wonder he couldn't sleep.

Next time - we clear the table while baby screams his head off.  My toddler does not need the coffee, especially at bed time!

A Pintrest Christmas

Christmas is coming

The goose is getting fat

Did anyone else learn that song as a kid?  I don't really know what it means - I don't eat goose.. maybe I would understand better if Christmas goose were a part of our Christmas tradition.

Nonetheless, my wallet is NOT getting fat.

Last year we decided to get 1 gift for each of the boys for Christmas.  I think we might do the same this year.  As I begin to think about all the people I would like to get gifts for, I am turning to Pintrest.  The truth is, I love looking at everyone else's great ideas on there.  I feel empowered to create when I look at all the options for making cool things!  

I think this year is going to be a Pintrest Christmas for our family with things like:

homemade apple pie filling, canned and prettied

a hand stitched mermaid tail

superhero capes

dinosaur jackets

special coasters

bath scrubs

handmade ornaments created by toddlers

I'm still in search of great ideas for so many family members - for instance, what do you give an 8 year old boy?  I don't think he's interested in the costumes.  What can I make for Mr. Crum that leaves him feeling appreciated and loved (even though he really wants an e-reader)?

I've already started some of our Christmas projects - I look forward to working on many more over the next month and a half!

What are you doing for Christmas gifts?  Are you making anything special?  Do you have Christmas traditions surrounding "making" something?

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Independent

Twitter Party

Okay, so I feel kind of silly admitting this, but hey - we all have to start somewhere.

At this point I've only used my Twitter account for sharing blog posts, improving "numbers" for my own blog, and entering giveaways on other blogs.

Honestly, I don't know how to use Twitter very well.

I've seen several blogs and companies that host "Twitter Parties"  and I cannot figure out what in the world that means or how to participate.  Some of them seem to have cool prizes for participants and well, I'd like to try it out sometime.

Can someone help me figure out what a Twitter Party is and how to participate?!

O.U.T.

Do you ever feel O.U.T.?

I'm feeling it now:

Overwhelmed

Unmotivated

Tired

It's been a fight for me to get back into the swing of things since baby came along.  Can you believe he'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow?  I find it hard to wrap my mind around.

I know, I shouldn't expect to be able to immediately jump back into things like a field worker in a 3rd world country.  I'm not going to give birth, toss the baby on my back, and keep going.  I feel, in some ways, like I should though.  Truthfully I started to feel O.U.T. a month or so before he arrived.

Now, as I try to jump back into the swing of family life, part time work, and keeping up with the home - I feel defeated! (again, still.. whatever you want to call it).  I'm getting there, I know it's going to take time.  My sister likes to remind me, "if you had a "regular" job, you wouldn't even be allowed to go back to work until you got it cleared from the doctor."  I'm glad not to have a "regular" job.

I LOVE my work.  I am able to help little guys and girls begin to learn about faith.  I get to be a support to their families.  I get to do fun things like family movie and game night, or Christmas programs!  I also have some great volunteers that make the ministry happen.  They are the ones that keep things going.  What a blessing.

All that said - I am overwhelmed, unmotivated, and tired.  Mind you, it's not the kind of tired that comes from not sleeping - I'm still usually getting my mid-day nap with the Monkey.  It's just the tired that comes from a body trying to figure out how to regain strength after being cut in two, and having an 11.5 pound growth removed!  

I decided that instead of beating myself up over having a hard time jumping back into things, I am going to spend time tomorrow in prayer for my family, my work, myself.

We'll get back to "normal" before long.