Christmas Cards

Okay, so you are probably all way ahead of me -- in fact, I've already gotten a few in the mail -- but I'm just now getting around to ordering Christmas cards. I was going to skip them this year, because of the effort required, but since I have an adorable baby to highlight in this year's card, I guess I'd better get to ordering. I will be getting them from Shutterfly -- here's the card I like best (although I could change my mind -- they have over 800 to choose from this year!). I get all my photo stuff from Shutterfly. I did my wedding albums and baby albums with them, as well as wedding photos (including a very cool collage), and I've used them for cute photo thank-you notes (featuring Evan, of course) and photo stickers. I find the site easy to use, they're always sending out good coupon codes, and their turn-around is really fast. Okay, commercial over -- back to your regularly scheduled programming. :o)

What's your favorite photo site? Do share!

Christmas Favorites

I refuse to put up my Christmas tree until the day after Thanksgiving, and I am completely annoyed by the retail world's insistence on hauling out the Christmas- (er, holiday-) themed merchandise as soon as the Halloween candy is on markdown, but it's never too early to line up your Christmas reading! So I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

Katherine Paterson, a two-time Newbery winner and a fellow King College alum, is also the wife of a Presbyterian pastor, and Angels and Other Strangers is a collection of stories she wrote over the years to be shared at the Christmas Eve service. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill (read: sappy) Christmas stories, each one explores what the incarnation means to us fallen humans. Also see her second collection, A Midnight Clear.

I am Christmas by Nancy White Carlstrom, a picture book with beautiful oil paintings by Lori McElrath-Eslick, is sadly out-of-print, but it's worth tracking down a copy. The simple, brief text is profound, using the different names of Jesus to illuminate the Christmas story. The conclusion always makes me tear up: "I am beginning, I am end/the message foretold/scratched in sand/ etched in gold -- / I am the story, I am the song." Definitely not just for kids.

A sweet picture book to share with kids is Christmas Cookies by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, charmingly illustrated by Jane Dyer. A holiday-themed entry in the Cookies series, it defines Christmas terms like "celebrate" and "hope" in relation to cookie baking. It's sure to be at a Borders (or independent bookstore) near you.

A new picture book I'm anxious to get my hands on is Christmas is Here, with words from the King James Bible and illustrations by Lauren Castillo. It got excellent reviews and reportedly connects a modern family with what happened in Bethlehem all those centuries ago.

What are your favorite Christmas books? Anything you read year after year? I'm looking forward to starting Christmas book traditions with Evan!

Coupon Clippin'

My favorite sport is saving money. (Those of you who know me well know that athletics are not my thing.) I come by it naturally; my grandpa Stadtmiller was a coupon clipper and often got paid to buy things! Having a baby is obviously expensive (actually, the actual giving birth was free; since I almost died, insurance covered 100% instead of 80% of the cost -- looking on the bright side here), but I'm saving money by doing things like cloth diapering and buying store-brand (organic) formula. (Oh, and by not decorating a nursery since we actually don't HAVE a nursery...)

But lately I've been doing even more than cutting out (and printing out) coupons and checking the Kroger ad. I've discovered a number of blogs that find the bargains for me. My favorite is Money Saving Mom (thanks, Amy O.!), but I also like Passionate Penny Pincher and Saving Naturally. I also print a lot of coupons from Coupons.com and Target.

By doing all this I feel less guilty about the fact that I am a Starbucks Gold Card Member.

What are your favorite penny-pinching tricks?

Funny!

For those of you who were Nancy Drew fans, here's some funny comic strips based on classic covers. Enjoy!

How the Cloth Diapers are Going

We've been cloth diapering Evan for a couple of months now. Here's the low-down:

When: When we're at home (except for overnight -- not brave enough for that yet) and on short excursions out of the house (I just can't bear to carry around dirty diapers with me).

What: I'm using a combo of BumGenius (one size pocket, fitted bamboo with waterproof covers, and fitted all-in-ones) and FuzziBunz pocket(one-size). I like all of them. Mike likes the BumGenius pockets and all-in-ones the best because they close with velcro just like disposables. I'm also using cloth wipes (I just get them wet) and bottom spray (for the messy diaper changes).

How It's Going: in spite of the extra laundry, which really isn't all that bad, and the ick factor of spraying off solids into the toilet before depositing diapers into the wet bag, and the bulkiness of cloth under clothes, it's been a pretty positive experience so far. I just keep reminding myself how much money we're saving.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about my cloth diapering experience. Ask away!

A few things to do

If you have a few moments, watch this Sesame Street spoof on the Old Spice commercials:




And, if you have another moment, please vote for Evan to be a Gerber baby! Just go here. You can vote once a day!

Back to Work

As you may have guessed from my lack of posting lately, I've gone back to work! Just part-time, an average of 20 hours a week (and it will be even less when Mike starts another job on November 1st), but I feel overwhelmed just the same. I have no idea how moms who work full-time do it.

Evan is 14 1/2 weeks old now, and so much fun! Yesterday was a big day for him. We had his first visit with a physical therapist for torticollis (basically, his head is tilted to one side because of the position he was in inside of me, and we need to do lots of stretching to make sure he'll have full range of motion, plus, you know, not look off-kilter), and he discovered his feet, rolled front to back (twice!) and back to front (once). I'm so glad I wasn't at work when all of that happened!

I don't have the energy to compose a book review, but a book I recently enjoyed was Deb Caletti's The Six Rules of Maybe. She writes thoughtful fiction for teen girls; I'd compare her to Sarah Dessen. You grown-ups who don't read YA fiction are totally missing out!

That's all for now. I salute all of you working moms out there...and if you have any advice on how to keep up with the laundry, let me know! The smallest member of our family currently produces the most.