moms – BabyCostsMoney

B. Ball. Balloon.

Published on April 9, 2017May 4, 2017 by Darlene Dee1 Comment

This post is brought to you by the Letter B.

We finally brought out the letter magnets that I’ve had tucked in the closet for over a year. I can no longer find my refrigerator. Babystar likes naming the letters now. Not all of them; she has favorites. And she is convinced that we have two ‘W’s.

Also, unrelated, Babystar fell in love with this rainbow ball at Micheal’s. I posted all about the crayons and stickers but forgot about this ball. And so did she, apparently, because it is currently under my seat in the van. $4.

And another balloon joined our family. Babystar asked for the ‘LELLOW STAR!’ at the Harris Teeter checkout line and then I almost died when I handed it to her and she very clearly said, ‘thank you, mama.’ But I recovered long enough to pay for it. $3.50.

We have also been to Busy Bees (more B’s!) twice lately with my darling niece, during 2-for-1 Tuesdays. $15.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $16,921.49

Cold!

Published on March 16, 2017April 9, 2017 by Darlene Dee4 Comments

Ladies and gentlemen, we have molars. Four molars. The landing was a bit bumpy, but we are in the clear.

Babystar handled it like a little champ. It only really bothered her at night, and since she sleeps with me, I heard every cry. I ended up giving her Motrin and/or Tylenol to get her through the worst of it.

Babystar was also sick for a few days so we went through the Motrin/Tylenol cycle to bring her fever down. However, she will now actually TAKE medicine so I guess that’s good. Protip: measure in the dropper but give it to Baby in a spoon. It worked for me. Good luck.

Infant Motrin 9.99
Generic infant ibuprofen 7.99
Infant Tylenol 9.99
Children’s Motrin 5.99
Children’s Tylenol 5.99

The trying-hard-to-be-a-cliche husband bought the children’s versions by accident, but Babystar is in the right weight class so we used them in a pinch. The bottles are sitting mostly full in the medicine cabinet though. Hopefully they don’t expire before she turns two.

I have before mentioned my love and support for Hyland’s Teeting Tablets. But. That last, recent, round of articles finally knocked me down. I am not at all actually convinced that they are harmful to Babystar. But that *what if* in the back of my head finally got loud enough for me to stop using them. Ten points to Big Pharma. Jerks.

We did the cold washcloth trick for awhile, and she liked it until she didn’t. I had some teething rings given to her long ago, and she didn’t really like those either. She very much likes chewing on frozen silicon kitchen spoons. Once we discovered this, we bought more at Home Goods ($3.99) plus a pair of pink whisks to add to her kitchen utensil collection that have nothing to do with teething but she liked them so ($3.99).

When she wants one, she tells us ‘cold! cold!’ and points to her mouth. Good communicating, Babystar.

Do you have any teething tips? What worked? What didn’t work? How are you feeling about the Hyland’s Teething Tablet controversy (if you care at all)?

RAISING BABYSTAR: $15,351.03

Eat.

Published on December 13, 2016December 18, 2016 by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

I don’t know how to make these food posts more exciting. Maybe I’ll make that my New Year’s Resolution. But it’s still 2016 so here goes.

Food we bought especially for Babystar in November:

those weird fruit and veggie melts x4 $11.96
canned diced tomatoes x2 $2.48
digitali pasta $1.99
zucchini x2 $1.67
yogurt (which she didn’t like btw) $2.99
raspberries $3.99
TJ graham crackers x3 $5.97
pears $2.99
so much cheese $5.98
eggs $9.98
deli turkey $3.59
sweet potatoes (which she wouldn’t eat btw because they are apparently for babies) $4.99
butternut squash (still sitting on counter and likely bad by now) $2.77

The November tab is low. Babystar was so sick the first week of November that she basically had milk and crackers. And the milk is free! And the grandparents bought SO MUCH FOOD when we were there over Thanksgiving. Babystar looooves shrimp. Crap. Expensive baby tastes. She really loves seafood but I usually just share my salmon or whatever. Now I’ll probably be buying shrimp cocktail platters.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $13,589.31

Hell is Costuming a Toddler.

Published on October 31, 2016December 12, 2016 by Darlene Dee9 Comments

I hereby announce my candidacy for President and this is my entire platform: I am calling for a ban on toddler Halloween costumes. Make Halloween Sane Again.

I totally planned ahead and everything. Over a week ago, I went to PartyCity and Partyland and Partyville and PartyHell and all of the Partys to find a Lion costume for Babystar.

(Do you know what is fun? Shopping in a crowded costume shop with an overstimulated, curious toddler racing down the aisles. Four stars.)

I could not find a single one in her size. I found a small lion costume and a big lion costume but not a Babystar-sized lion costume. I DID, however, buy some pieces to complete our genius family costume of ‘Lion, Tiger, and Bear, Oh My’. The Teenager was to be a tiger, and I found a tiger head hat, paws, and tail set for her. I was to be a bear. I could only find a panda bear mask but ok. I have black and white clothes. And we planned to make Husband a shirt that said ‘OH MY’. (My brother said he should just dress like George Takei because my brother is hilarious but no one has time for all that.)

I also bought a lion mask because Babystar loved it (and in fact still loves it). She brings us all the mask and when we put it on, we have a little growl party. I spent $65.58 at the Party Store on tiger and panda pieces. And I can return none of it.*

And then I went home and ordered a lion costume from Amazon for $22.60, sized 12-18 months. Boom. Thanks, Amazon Prime.

Friday was my MOMS group Halloween party. It was only me and Babystar so I thought we would both just go as lions. I could wear the superfun mask and we could growl and laugh and growl and laugh and it would be fantastic. Nope. I couldn’t find the mask anywhere. Who knows where that ToddlerMonster hid it? But it didn’t even matter because she WOULD NOT wear her lion costume at all for anything no way fuck you.

Ok, fine. No problem, Babystar. I get it. You don’t want that big adorable mane on your head. I changed into my Batman t-shirt and found the Robin costume from the Superhero 5K last spring and it looked like it would still fit. It would have totally fit, except no way mom this polyester shit sucks and you can keep your stupid cape and I AM NOT WEARING THIS NOOOOOOOOOO.

Crap. The party was in three hours.

I noticed that Babystar was wearing her monster pajamas during all of this Costume Torture. And I saw one of her new monster slippers that she LOVED (post forthcoming). Mama had an idea. Mama is smart.

I looked for the other slipper for forty-five solid minutes. I texted the Teenager at school and the Husband at work. I emptied every ottoman and looked under all the furniture. I even had Babystar in on the game. Nope.

So I changed the baby into regular boring clothes and we went ‘bye-bye’ with two hours until party time.

My first stop was Carter’s and I hurriedly bought three options. I bought a pair of cotton pajamas with a skeleton on them and a pair of fleece pajamas with a monster face on them and a butterfly costume that I didn’t think she would wear but at least looked cute and comfortable. Everything was clearance, so I spent $28.39 on all three. One of these would work for the party, right?

(Are you keeping count? We are now at FIVE costumes options.)

But now what to do for the family thing on Saturday afternoon? And actual Halloween night? Off to Target we went.

I bought two adult sized cat onesies. (The Teenager already had one from two years ago that she wore to school on Halloween.) And they were miraculously all three different! I then found a fluffy kitty jacket in 2T that Babystar liked and actually put on in the store! Miracle! Plus she could wear it all year — it wasn’t a costume. That is the trick! (Or is it the treat?!) I bought her a pair of black leggings and BOOM. $64.48 later and we were a Family of Cats. A Pounce of Cats. A Nuisance of Cats.

So on Friday afternoon, she wore the skeleton pajamas to the MOMS Club party. I have no pictures because all she did was crawl up and down the stairs so we had to leave early. Of course.

On Saturday afternoon, we went ‘trick or treating’ at the Village of Shirlington near our house. She wore the black leggings with a black t-shirt (her 9:30 Club shirt turned inside out) and since it was actually quite surprisingly warm, she wore an adorable black furry vest with cat ears that was a hand-me-down from her cousin that I just found that morning on a shelf in her closet and ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME.

She shared our pizza lunch after Trick or Treating on Saturday but I did buy her a Halloween balloon for $3.24 and it is her favorite thing in the world.

Tonight it will probably be chillier after dark so she will wear the same thing except with the long sleeve kitty jacket from Target.

Six costumes. SIX. Lion, Robin, skeleton, monster, butterfly, and kitty.

I fully intend to return the fleece pajamas and butterfly costume to Carter’s but I intend a lot of things. I tried to GIVE AWAY the lion costume and the Robin costume by posting on Facebook a few times since Friday’s ~~costume meltdown~~ fun new information about Babystar, but so far I’ve had no takers. Is everyone really so much more on top of this than me? Ugh. Probably.

Happy Halloween! Meow.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $12,974.80

*I returned some of the lion and panda things to PartyHell but of course I could only get store credit. The Teenager and I picked some family friendly (boring smiley) Halloween decorations and we got a tail for our smallest kitty. Maybe she will even wear it tonight!

Starstruck.

Published on October 26, 2016 by Darlene Dee1 Comment

I am in love, over the moon, OBSESSED with my new baby carrier. Yes, this makes five. Plus the water ring sling. (I gave away the Moby and K’tan.) Shhhh.

This print is EVERYTHING.

Rainbow Freaking Stars, I think it’s called. Or Incandescent Adventure, actually. I bought three of the Smart Bottoms diapers and one wet bag in this print at the Lil’ Tulips booth at MommyCon. Well, actually one of the diapers was Luminescent Adventure and two were Incandescent Adventure but they are basically the same except one is horizontal and one is vertical. Whatever, it’s RAINBOW FREAKING STARS.

(Oh, and I have one of those Incandescent Adventure Smart Bottoms diapers still unwashed and unused with a fun surprise in mind.)

I ordered the Tula and checked out and then remembered that I also wanted the matching Smart Bottoms drool pads. I hate paying shipping so I also added a pretty unicorn wet bag to the order to get to the minimum of $35 necessary for free shipping.

So I now get to wear Babystar in this beautiful Tula with matching drool pads and then keep it in a matching zippered bag. And she could even wear her matching diapers! I am genuinely so excited about this. I know it’s absurd and I don’t even care.

Between the mall and the zoo and regular life, we have already logged over ten hours in this baby and I’ve had it less than a week.

Look how pretty they are all packed up. That new unicorn bag has stars on it too — teeny tiny stars. The Tula Coast Shine lives there now.

I still love my Beco carriers but these Tulas are so soft and comfy, for me and for Babystar. Plus my husband can use them, and he had a hard time with the Beco. He loves wearing Babystar in a Tula, though. Yes, I am trying to justify these carriers to you lovely strangers on the Internet. Is it working?

RAISING BABYSTAR: $12,699.77