Bright Starts Giveaway over at Mom to bed by 8!

Mom to bed by 8 is hosting a fantastic giveaway on her blog! It's a Bright Starts Ingenuity Sleep Easy play yard. They are great to have when you have a small baby or very young toddler- for sleep and play! Ends 3/18, enter here.

Yay! Having a good day :)

Today I am assembling a new floor steamer I purchased from Amazon. With two little boys, I worry about using harsh chemicals, let alone the time consuming nature of a bucket and mop and allowing the floor to dry.

A little over a year ago, we purchased our first steam mom, the Shark mop. It worked fairly well, but I really dislike dealing with velcro on the pads, and the staining not coming out of the microfiber in the wash. It was working fine until recently, when I slightly overfilled it, figured it was ok, because I've done it a time or two. This time, not so much. I plugged it in for the preheat, and I heard a big crack and boom noise, and steam started escaping around the water chamber. Ooops. The Shark is now dead.

I didn't do any research before buying the Shark, I just happened to be looking for a new vacuum cleaner at Wal-Mart and saw the shark for around $60, so I decided to give it a go. This time around, I did a little more research and checked reviews and ratings. I decided to go with the Eureka EnviroSteamer this time around, because it had great reviews and features (high steam temp, non microfiber cleaning pads) that I loved. I'm hoping this holds up longer and works well for us. I really don't enjoy mopping the floor, but filling a steam mop with water and plugging it in is so much easier for us.

Along with the new steam mop, I ordered Toy Story 3 on DVD for my boys (paid only $8.99!!) to complete our collection with all 3 of the series. Several months back, we cut back from our "economy" cable package that was around $30 a month to a very basic package with local channels only. So with tv, we have very limited options when it comes to tv programming. We've been using Netflix for over a year with our Xbox360, and it's the only reason we were able to comfortable cut down our cable bill. Lately though, I've been really tired from staying up late (10:30 pm and later) just to catch our "shows" on tv as they air opposed to trying to watch it on a small laptop screen at a later date.

With all of that in mind, today we decided to take the plunge and order a Roku XD. It's the midline model, but it's capable of streaming Hulu Plus to your tv (yipee!!) so we can now catch up on our shows without having to stay up late just to catch them. We had it sent overnight through Amazon, so it will be here tomorrow. I was thinking we'd go out to buy it opposed to wait for shipping, but I actually SAVED $16 dollars by ordering it online. What a crock! lol.

Either way, I am excited to wash the floors today, watch Toy Story 3 with my children this weekend, and catch up on some tv with the Roku with my husband this weekend. It feels like a great day- did I mention it was 48 degrees out??? It's February! I am just in a great mood today.

***This is an opinion post, a regular posting as any of my others. This was not a review post, I was not compensated or hired in any way by any company. The opinions expressed are 100% my own, and not prompted or compensated.***

Happy Valentine's Day & Update

It's been a little over a month since I last posted. I've been a little scattered lately, and not feeling too well, so my posts have been declining. Hopefully that will start to get better soon! I now have 10 followers, and that is exciting! I remember having just my husband and 1 other follower. 10 is a good start!

Saturday was a crazy day for us. While we were getting the tires on our car replaced, we decided to take the boys for their very first haircut (19 months old!) They did amazing! No crying, not even a whole lot of wiggling. I was so proud of them yet very sad to see their beautiful soft hair get cut off. I did save a lock of each of their hair so that I could put it into their baby books. I'm so proud of my big boys!

Today I am 13 weeks pregnant with our third child! We're really excited about this baby. I heard the heartbeat a week ago and it was AMAZING. I can't wait to meet the little guy or gal growing in there! As excited as I am though, I feel really sluggish and not so good. Tired, but happy. 

With Valentine's Day being today, I decided to make a special treat for the kids and my hubby. Red velvet cake from scratch (icing too!), along with cooking a nice dinner and cleaning the house up nicely. Also working on a Valentine for Daddy from his boys. 

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Funny thing is I started this post at probably about 10 am. It's now 6:40 pm, and I'm really not surprised that it's taken this long, lol. Between household chores, child care, and trying to bake a cake, I'm amazed I've gotten this much of the post written. Have a great Valentine's Day night all!

Took some time off!

With the holidays and the tornado that comes with it, I took some time off to spend with my husband while he had time off as well. We had a great holiday, and a great new year's eve/day.

I've been extremely nauseous (and exhausted) so staying on the computer for any amount of time is difficult lately. The kids have been doing wonderful going to bed in a reasonable time frame lately, which I love. The more sleep they get, the more sleep I get.

I'm trying to win and buying more diapers to get a really good stash going, I don't really have enough for a full 2 days of diapering the twins, and doing laundry daily is pretty difficult in this house. I've ordered some Econobum covers and prefolds, and a few more Smartipants diapers. Should bring my stash where I would like it to be, without breaking the bank. I've been really digging the few good prefolds I have because they don't get stinky like the microfiber. I am getting tired of soaking my dipes all the time.

Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up with tons of energy, I need to do a good sweep through of the house. I never imagined having 2 toddlers would be harder to have the house stay clean than when I had two newborns up every 2-3 hours. I got more sleep then as well!

Now I am hoping that with my magical Swagbucks earnings will buy me a carpet shampooer- because my guys think it's funny to open up a sippy of milk onto the rug. I keep hoping that things will get easier- and I'm hoping my kids learn to play nice with their sippies. 

Christmas Eve!

Today was pretty fantastic. Had the family up here, had some good food and opened a ton of presents. I got the three things I wanted most this year and I am very thankful. What are they you say? A winter coat (I haven't owned one in a few years), a better cell phone (got for free!), and a Keurig coffee maker. I'm not as materialistic as I was when I was a kid, but among the other bunches of stuff the kids, myself, and my husband got I am so happy it was mainly clothing and things we needed. My mom does "stocking stuffers" every year with toiletries, which saves me money and time by not having to go out and buy any for a while.

Overall, the kids had an awesome day, and took a nice long nap after everyone left (it was wayyyy overdue) and went to bed fairly easily tonight. They have lots more presents to open and play with from Mommy, Daddy and Santa. The house looks like a tornado blew through, but it was still an amazing day and totally worth it.

I don't think tomorrow can even top it, and if it's even half as good I'll be happy.

29 diapers is giving out the motherload today!!!

The blog 29 diapers has been gracious enough to put on a 29 days of Christmas giveaway, and tonight they are giving a great deal of products (everything from each of the 29 days to one person!) It's a fantastic prize and I hope that many people will head over here to win. It's really an amazing deal, so if you take a few minutes it's definitely worth a shot at winning!

It's crunch time!!!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we will be having 7 people up here in my tiny house. I still have tons of cleaning to do, but I can't do anything "noisy" right now, because the twins are finally napping and I don't want to ruin their much needed rest (cranky little teethers).

I feel a little overwhelmed- we just found out we're expecting again (#3 and possibly #4) and I am completely exhausted. Does anyone out there have any tips on caring for the household and children while dealing with pregnancy discomforts? I am seriously exhausted and feel like I could hibernate all winter long.

I think I will do some baking for tomorrow when hubs gets home. I have found it really difficult to bake during the day because the boys need my attention so much, and it's hard to safely "contain" them as they learned to tip over the superyard XT and can climb right out of their pack and play.

Hoping that I can rest this weekend after the holidays are over... Mommy needs a break!