Sweet Snuggles

Where the Naughty Barbies Go

Here is a picture of Sydney's dollhouse.

Nice, right? She loves it. Picture me frantically cleaning Sydney's room while she's at school and Savannah is napping. I was whirling along dusting and picking up when I stopped in my tracks and really looked at her dollhouse. Here are Cinderella and Ariel sleeping in their beds...


And here is Snow White outside, relaxing and catching some sun...


Here Fashion Fairytale Barbie relaxes on the couch while the other Cinderella is hitching a ride up on the elevator.


I have to admit, it concerned me. Do you see how perfect it is? Even the car is perfectly parked in the garage! What child keeps their dollhouse that orderly? Me, for one. It totally reminded me of how my dollhouse would have been as a child. Everything and everybody in their perfect little place. I got worried. "Am I inhibiting her creative genius? Am I allowing her to express herself in healthy, normal ways? Am I encouraging her to blend creativity with order or just pushing the order?" If she wanted to cut her barbie's hair, I would let her. If she wanted to use markers to put make-up on them, I would be down with that. I was really getting concerned and then I found this:


I immediately felt better. Apparentely this is where the naughty barbies go. You can see Belle and Sleeping Beauty there, and Tinkerbelle is shoved in behind them. This is definetely not something I would have done as a child! I'm not worried anymore, I think she's fine.

Side Note

I was talking to Melissa this morning. For those of you who haven't met her, she's not only my bestie but she's very nice. I am not very nice. I mean, I am nice, but Melissa is nice all the time and I am only nice some of the time. Apparentely there were some hurt feelings by my home birth comments from yesterday. I stand by what I said, but maybe if you knew where I am was coming from? It is your right and choice to have your baby any way you want. This is my blog, so I get to say whatever I want on it. You don't have to agree with it or even read it. I would NEVER say these things to someone's face, and I would never launch an attack on them on a public venue like Facebook or Myspace. I am tired of being made to feel like less of a mom for having my baby in a hospital. Especially when most of those people doing the attacking have never even set foot in a hospital. They blindly assume that hospitals are cold, infectious places where you are immediately forced to have an epidural and a C-Section. Not true. Many of my friends and co-workers have had natural hospital births where they could walk, sit, or have a waterbirth. They could do whatever they wanted and still be safe. This is my heart: I truly just want all babies to be safe. I hope you can believe that in me. I just want them to be safe and I honestly believe it is safest in a hospital. Just my opinion.

Baby Food

I hope my little rant yesterday didn't scare away my readers! Assuming there are any of you left, here are the promised pics of making baby food. I found lots of help from my friend Melissa, who had made baby food for her twins last year, and from the Homemade Babyfood Recipes site. Don't get overwhelmed by the thought of making your own baby food, it's really super easy. Plus, when you tell people you make your own baby food, you usually gets lots of praise and many expressions similar to "Wow! You're such a great mom! That's awesome that you can do that!" Bask in the praise, my friends, it's really easier than it looks.

Take whatever food you want, fruit or veggie, and cook if required. I get all of my food at Costco. They have a bag of organic green beans, frozen, for $5.99. One bag has supplied Savannah with enough green beans for the last 5 months, and I still have some left. Cook the green beans in a large pan. While they're cooking, go read a magazine or paint your nails. When they're done, puree them in a magic bullet or food processor, adding some water. I usually let them puree for a few minutes to get them nice and thin. Pour into ince cube trays and freeze overnight, then pop them into a freezer safe plastic bag and you're done. That's it. You're done, and your nails are pretty, too. When you serve the food to your baby, microwave it and then add some water to get to your desired consistency. We buy a can of peaches at Costco for $4.99. It's a huge, massive can. I pour them into a colander and rinse well so all the syrup is removed. Pour into the the food processor, puree, and freeze in cubes. 10 minutes tops for months and months worth of fruit. Same thing for pears, which are the same price. Here is a picture of some peaches.

It doesn't look very Martha Stewart approved, I know. I found when you overfill the cubes it makes them easier to pop out once frozen. This is especially true for foods with a thicker consistency, like sweet potatoes...


I have done sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, spinach, carrots, peaches, and pears. Here is what your freezer will look like when it's done!

Ha ha! Just kidding. That is NOT for baby. That's for mommy. And daddy if he's good. Here is what your freezer will look like.

I think Martha would approve.

Another helpful hint: try throwing a few of those frozen cubes in your own food to add some hidden veggies! I've put in some green beans, carrots, and/or spinach in meatloaf and meatballs. Try cauliflower in marinara or alfredo sauce. No matter what you're making, you can probably sneak something in. It's so super easy to make your own baby food, so give it a try!

That Kind of Mom

I decided a few months back that I was going to make Savannah's baby food. I had made some of Sydney's food back in the day, but I decided to make all of Savannah's with the exception of bananas (because they turn brown and don't preserve well) and peas (because they are super nasty and I can't stand to smell them). I didn't do it for health reasons, or because I wanted only organic food for her. I did it simply because we have zero money right now and it's a billion times cheaper to make baby food than to buy it. While it is healthier and mostly organic that way, those weren't my primary reasons. I decided to cook the food, puree the heck out of it, freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes into plastic bags. When I need to feed her, I pull out a few cubes and voila, dinner is served. I had to do a little bit of research into a few types of veggies that I don't cook that often, so I took to the computer and found some really helpful websites. I also found some not-so-helpful websites, which leads me to the crux of the issue.
I found one site where the mom described herself as a "home-birthin', cloth diapering, breastfeeding, baby-wearing, homeschooling" kind of mom. She, of course, makes her own babyfood. I imagine she grows all her own food, too. I actually had second thoughts about making baby food because I think it brings to mind, to my mind anyway, a picture of a certain "type" of mom. A type of mom that, frankly, I don't want to be. I think that home births are socially, ethically, and morally irresponsible and should be considered negligent parenting (yep, I just went there). To put your own life and your baby's life at risk so that you can control the surroundings is stupid. I would have died from bleeding out after Sydney was born if I hadn't been in the hospital, and I know a lady who's son died during a homebirth because he abrupted through, and this was after 4 successful home births. And having a hospital birth with an epidural doesn't make me any less of a mother. I enjoyed both of my birthing experiences and was pain free most of the time. Second, I don't cloth diaper because I don't enjoy doing laundry that much, but I do have lots of friends who cloth diaper and love it. My friends are totally cool about it and not pushy with it AT ALL, but some mom's are so mean to us Pampers lovers. It's like a cult! If cloth diapers had been more available when Sydney was a baby I would have done it, but I'm just not that into it. Third, I totally breastfeed my babies. I love nursing Savannah and plan on continuing for as long as she lets me. Just because I'm not into hippie granola parenting doesn't mean I don't breastfeed. As for baby wearing, I like it in the beginning when the baby hardly weighs anything, but come on people, why are you wearing your 18 months olds! Put the kid in a freakin' stroller and let him/her gain some independence! As for homeschooling...I'm not going to go there. It works for some people, but it's not for me. To sum it all up, there are those hippie moms and there are corporate moms, but I think the vast majority of us are somewhere in between. I paper diaper, I don't wear my babies, and they are safely delivered at a hospital. However, I do breastfeed and I do chose to make my own baby food. You could say that I am a "hospital birthing, breast feeding, stroller pushing, babyfood making, paper diaper loving, public school kind of mom." And no, I don't grow my own food in an organic garden and harvest it wearing 100% organic cotton mu-mu's or anything like that. I buy it in bulk at Costco and go from there. Stay tuned tomorrow for pics of the babyfood making process.

If you're going to post a comment, please remember...if you can't say anything nice, please don't say anything at all.

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Bows

About a month ago I won some korker hairbows in a giveaway. One was large and one was small, so they were perfect for the girls. They had little easter jelly bean ribbons and have been worn multiple times this last month in anticipation of Easter.



Ha! Look at this cheesy little grin!

Blinged-Out Easter Eggs

I have to admit, I considered naming this post "Pimped Out Easter Eggs," but this is a Christian blog after all, so I changed my mind. Wouldn't want to give the wrong impression!
Anyhoo, my dad came over this weekend to do Easter eggs, and we went above and beyond this year! Here is a collection of pictures of, I'm just going to boast, the best Easter eggs we've ever done!

This is my FAVORITE! It took me forever to do this one, and it's just too pretty to eat, don't you think?


This one is just as cool but didn't take nearly as long because most of those jewels are one big sticker. Yes, I cheated.


Saw this idea in Parent's Magazine and Sydney and I decided that this is Rapunzel from Tangled.


GO DUCKS!! We make one like this every year.


Gotta represent, you know?


Here are the ones that my dad, Chris, and Sydney worked on. Sydney had so much fun and loved putting the stickers on her eggs.



Savannah just chilled out in her high chair and had a snack while we worked on the eggs. You know, I've never liked Peeps, but now I think they're a bit disturbing, you know? Creepy little peep...

Easter Festivities

We have had a fabulous weekend celebrating Jesus' resurrection! Yesterday my dad came over and decorated eggs, pics will come tomorrow. He brought the girls little bunny ears to wear and they were so cute!

Poor Savannah!

(So I have to take a minute and comment on the appalling combination of colors that Sydney is wearing. She had just gotten up from a nap, plus we had been coloring eggs so I wanted her in clothes that didn't matter so if they got stained it was ok. Plus the too-small M&M bib, I was trying to prevent her from being a mess! She normally doesn't look like this.)

Savannah eventually warmed up to the bunny ears.


Then the girls got all dolled up for church. We always go all out in the dress department for Easter, but this was a special one in that it was Savannah's first Easter!





Sydney and Madison ran up to each other at church and hugged BIG HUGS. It had been since 10:30 that morning since they had seen each other, a LIFETIME.


This morning we did Easter baskets and I have to admit, I went a little crazy but it was Savannah's first Easter! Here are their matching baskets.


Sydney's had candy, a movie, a chocolate bunny, Playdoh, and a ladybug hairbow.


Savannah's had a summer hat, a summer shirt, baby snacks, Hershey kisses, and a matching ladybug hairbow like her sister's.


Of course they wouldn't both look at the camera for this picture, but it was still cute!

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning we went to an Easter egg hunt with Matt, Melissa, and their kids. Sydney and Madison were so excited to see each other. I mean, it's been 2 days, right? Which is an eternity to 4 year old's.


This was Savannah's first Easter egg hunt, but she wasn't sure what to think about all the people!


Once that egg started, those girls were GONE! There was no standing them still for a picture!




They totally cleaned up, too, look at all those eggs!



Sydney was willing go share just one egg with her sister!

I can't wait for church tonight and Easter baskets tomorrow!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I want to give a HUGE shout out to Aly over at Bridgework Blog Designs, she was awesome to work with and I love how this turned out! To celebrate the new blog, I will be blogging daily for the next month! I have missed blogging these last few weeks and have lots of pictures to share. Enjoy!

Goodbye For Now

Happy Wills Family will be on a short break for a while. I am in the process of having this blog completely made over (I'm so excited, it's going to be so cute!) and won't be posting until the new format is up and running. See you soon!

Can You Guess What This Is?

Sydney brought me this last week as I was making dinner. I have to admit the first thing I thought of was the last Austin Powers movie where that weird creepy guy peels off layers of his own skin and eats them? Um, can you say gross? But isn't that what this looks like? It took me a minute to figure it out. Here's a little background...
Sydney loves to cook. Real or pretend, she loves to cook. She is a great helper to me in the kitchen and she will happily entertain herself in her kitchen for a long time. Her favorite thing to watch is the Food Network, especially Giada and Paula Deen. So, as I was making dinner on this particular night, it was nothing new to have Sydney around the corner in the front room "making dinner" on her kitchen set. So she brings me this pot, full of...what is that? Oh yes, it's GARLIC. It's the peel of garlic that I had just purchased that day. Somehow she reached up to where I store things like that and grabbed the garlic and a lemon. She had ZESTED the lemon and pulled about 6 cloves of garlic out. She then took the cloves, placed them on her little cutting board, and SMASHED them with her little pretend knife. Once she peeled the garlic, she diced it all up and brought me the remains. As I'm standing in the kitchen looking at what's left of my garlic and smelling my child who REEKS TO HIGH HEAVEN of garlic, I start yelling, I mean scolding, her and she says, "Well, I'm sorry, but I'm just like Paula Deen." I immediately ran into the garage and busted out laughing so she couldn't see me. Then I went back inside, made her clean it up and wash her hands (because seriously she smelled so bad) and sent her to timeout. And then I laughed some more!