Cutest baby in the WORLD!

My sister calls me paparazzi - but I get some cute pictures.

These were taken with my sister's permission - not like last week when I did a little sneaky photoshoot when she was in the shower lol. She was sad that even though last week was christmas, she had no christmas pics of her little girl.

I said, "strip her down and let's do it now - she won't know it is "too late"

Got some great shots ........ and got the FIRST recorded smile. Oh - and I threw one in there from Christmas - two cousins!

Baby Items for sale or for Free

I created a new yahoo group which will be used so that NJ moms (moms to be) can trade, sell, or give away baby items. A great place for baby gear, clothes, books, toys, etc.

I am a member of an on-line chat room for NJ women and there are so many moms on the board. I thought it would be a great way for moms to make some money, and for other moms to get some great deals on baby/kid stuff.

Baby stuff - well, all kid stuff - is expensive. At least this way you can clean out closets and either give the stuff away or sell it for some cash.

I guess it is a combo of freecycle and craigslist. I was made with NJ in mind, but anyone could really join.

I am really hoping it is a success - it is like a win win for everyone.

Basic Rules:
= All items must be gently used or in like new condition
= Baby gear must not be under any known recal

Anyone can join - but just remember that most items will be sold by someone in NJ.

Here is the group site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nestbaby/

Yup - still waiting

I am planning on calling our resource worker on Monday just to get a status update. You know, find out what has come in and what is still pending.

I am sure the Holiday is not helping our timeline. For a while, I really thought we would be licensed by year end, that does not look it is going to happen. Not unless this coming week our worker works like a rock star lol.

Our worker told us that once everything is returned, then she needs to do one last home inspection and then the state comes to do their inspection. I guess it is possible that it could happen this week. But, another holiday, another delay.

Everywhere we go, I look at the kids. Especially when I am somewhere during the school day. I look at this kids and think, "the kid(s) that is placed in our home could be around this age" It is kind of cool.

I really want to decorate the room. But since we don't know the age or the sex, this is kind of hard. A 4 year old would not want a room decorated the same way that a newborn would.

Right now the room is a neutral green, which will not change. But, I do no want to buy bedding sets until we get placement. We have basic sheets and always have blankets in the house. But the actual stuff that will be in the room has not been purchased.

We got a $100 gift card as a "reward" from a points credit card - it is actually a debit card that we use for EVERYTHING.

We will use that gift card when we get placement. We have been collecting most of the big stuff - crib, stroller, car seats, etc. Basically just enough to get by when we get placement. I am sure there will be a huge trip to the store within a few days of placement. But, at least having the gift card will offset some of the expenses.

We are also working on getting some beds, I hope it works out because it is a great deal.

Just a random post

For some reason, I did not want the previous post on the very top of this blog. It is just like a slap in the face.

Instead, there is really no point to this post. We did some shopping today. We got lots of gift cards (mainly amex ones - yay, we can use them anywhere) and we had some store credit from when we returned some things a few weeks ago.

We bought end tables for the living room. We were using snack tables, so these are a huge step up. They were on sale for 50% off in Lowes of all places. They look nice and they really match the wood details that are on our couches.

We also bought shelving units for the downstairs closet. This closet was actuall 2 closets so the space is kind of awkward. We are using it as a multi-purpose closet. It will be a food pantry, a kitchen (small) applicance storage area, a coat closet, and general storage closet. Needless to say, figuring out where we wanted everything took a huge chunk of time in Lowes.

I think it will work out well. It will be nice to get some of this stuff out of the kitchen cabinets. We have plenty of room, but never enough if that makes sense.

With these two purchases, I can cross some things off our "list". The list is just stuff that I would like, plus I crossed a bunch off with gifts from christmas. I realized that most of my gifts were housewares - which is fine by me, all stuff I really wanted. I did also get lots of craft things, also things I wanted.

We still have some little things to do before our final home inspection. But that could still be a while. I really can't wait to decorate the room. But I guess that will have to wait.

Yup - still waiting

I am planning on calling our resource worker on Monday just to get a status update. You know, find out what has come in and what is still pending.

I am sure the Holiday is not helping our timeline. For a while, I really thought we would be licensed by year end, that does not look it is going to happen. Not unless this coming week our worker works like a rock star lol.

Our worker told us that once everything is returned, then she needs to do one last home inspection and then the state comes to do their inspection. I guess it is possible that it could happen this week. But, another holiday, another delay.

Everywhere we go, I look at the kids. Especially when I am somewhere during the school day. I look at this kids and think, "the kid(s) that is placed in our home could be around this age" It is kind of cool.

I really want to decorate the room. But since we don't know the age or the sex, this is kind of hard. A 4 year old would not want a room decorated the same way that a newborn would.

Right now the room is a neutral green, which will not change. But, I do no want to buy bedding sets until we get placement. We have basic sheets and always have blankets in the house. But the actual stuff that will be in the room has not been purchased.

We got a $100 gift card as a "reward" from a points credit card - it is actually a debit card that we use for EVERYTHING.

We will use that gift card when we get placement. We have been collecting most of the big stuff - crib, stroller, car seats, etc. Basically just enough to get by when we get placement. I am sure there will be a huge trip to the store within a few days of placement. But, at least having the gift card will offset some of the expenses.

We are also working on getting some beds, I hope it works out because it is a great deal.

A story with pictures

Short Story:

I am not pregnant.

Long Story:

Bye Bye Braces

Colin got his braces off today! Couple things to note in these pics:

1 - yes, that is the start of a mustache!!! Not sure if I am ready for that
2 - it is really cold here in NJ, he is NOT wearing makeup!