And so this is a post that has very little in the way of updates, but just what is going on in my little pea brain right now.

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I am a procrastinator. I know you are shocked, given the status of the blog. I always have grand ideas when I go to bed. Tomorrow I shall blog, and sew, do fun educational things with Alex, and get that bathroom cleaned etc… And then Tomorrow comes and I just don’t do it.

Now you are a very kind soul to say that it is because I have 2 very little ones, and so I shouldn’t be hard on myself. If I manage a shower I should consider it a good day.  And I use that as an excuse for procrastination all the time. But the truth is. I would have the time to do all that stuff most days. Alex goes to bed at 8, Kalea usually by 9. Both nap during the day. It isn’t like I don’t have any down time.  My sweet baby girl even sleeps all night long! I am quite rested for a mom.

I see those wonderfully organized moms on TV, have amazing kids, clean houses and crafty things in the works with a gourmet meal on the table and get discouraged. I want to be them NOW. And trust me I fail miserably. Probably because I don’t have the same “writers” they do. I have come to realize that I just have to take it slow and step by step to get organized. I came across the verse Heb 12:11 today (thank you FaceBook news feed)

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

I am determined to take this to heart. Here are the disciplines I plan on working on.

• I want to have a tidy house (we will work on clean later, baby steps)
• I want to eat better. Exercise more and lose this blessed baby weight
• I want to blog consistently.

I love to pretend that I am that organized wonder mom who can be creative and efficient and that “worth far above rubies” Prov 31 woman. And I am convinced I will be… Tomorrow.  But until then I will be a  Heb 12:11 kind of gal.

My supplies

Step 1: Jason sanded the board to take the rough edges off

(Sorry no pics of this he awesomely did it while I was at work.)

Step 2: Paint the borders

You can see how insanely picky I was about this being perfect.

I used some of mom’s old craft paints. The sides and back are ivory, the “border” is a tanish color.

Step 3: While the paint was drying I designed on the computer what I wanted to be on the wall hanging. I used Open Office’s Draw program. After I printed it I just cut out the wording/background.

Step 4: I taped the sheets together on the back so the text would line up.

Step 5: Then I used the Mod Podge. Painted a coat on the board, laid the paper on top of the board and put another coat of ModPodge. (The Mod Podge acts as a glue/sealer)

You can apply as many coats as you want or feel comfortable with. Just allow it to dry in between. I will probably end up doing about 3 coats total.

Step 6: Attach a wall fastner to the back. (Sorry no pics of this either because we still haven’t done it

Step 7: Enjoy your handy work!

The wording is “Beloved” “My dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and my crown, stand fast in the Lord” Phil 4:1

This was essentially a free piece of art. The only thing I had to spend money on was the Mod Podge (which will do many projects) and Brackets to hang it up (shouldn’t cost too much). Even the program I designed it in was free

~Hambergermama

]]> http://www.cheapparenting.com/?feed=rss2&p=144 1 http://www.cheapparenting.com/?p=136 http://www.cheapparenting.com/?p=136#comments Sun, 02 May 2010 15:11:08 +0000 Stacy http://www.cheapparenting.com/?p=136 I hate spending money…. no thats not true I enjoy spending money, I just don’t like to spend a lot of money all at once… unless I am getting a TON of awesome stuff

We never have lived a very extravagant lifestyle, but around December we decided to get REALLY serious about getting rid of some of our debt. We sold our house in Wisconsin (which is a whole post or 10 in and of itself) so we no longer had housing debt, but we did have a credit card and some student loans looming over our head.  The first priority was the credit card, we haven’t used it in I don’t know how long… but we were still paying for it. Highly annoying.  So we decided to do a major whack job on our budget and get rid of it.

Somehow we found enough stuff to cut (and God blessing us with a car accident that left a little money after we purchased a replacement vehicle) that we were able to knock out 2000.00 in debt in about 2 mos. Even with that debt gone, we continued to live on our tighter budget… and you know what? We are kinda enjoying it So how did what does it look like?

Once our bills are paid (we use our checking account/debit card for all of that) We have a set amount that goes into cash envelopes (I will talk more about those later) and that is our “spending money” for the whole month. I will tell you that my total monthly spending is probably what an average family of our size would spend in one month on groceries alone. So here is how we did it (do it)

1st things first – cut out non essentials.

For us this meant one of the things that went was cable (and Sat) TV. Instead of spending a truly insane amount on a bunch of channels you barely watch we spend about 10$ a month on NetFlix.  Netflix isn’t just movies though, they also have great TV show seasons and you can stream online so you don’t even have to wait for the next disk to come in the mail. Additionally for those shows you believe you really can’t live without (LOST anyone?) most shows you can stream from the networks.

Added benefit- my schedule doesn’t get dictated by what is on TV. I can do things on a Tuesday night without having to make sure I am home.  Wed becomes LOST night, or if we are really busy that week, maybe Saturday morning is when we catch up on a favorite show. AND I don’t have to pay the extra for TiVo

But Stacy, surely there is something that you miss from TV… I have to admit, I do miss watching Fox News.  (Yes I am a nerd) But mainly during election season. So every 2 years. Worth it to cut it. We also cant’ watch sports live at home.  1. Basketball… we don’t really follow. 2. Baseball (my fave) Tom Hamilton calls a REALLY good baseball game. 3. Football. NFL one day a week and College one other day a week. If there is a game we feel we just can’t miss… well we may or may not choose to visit one of our parents during those times

So long land-line… Ok probably most of you have already made this cut, but if not its something to think about. We never used it. We have wireless internet (so don’t need phone line for that) and why do you need a land line when you can have a cell phone

We cut some stuff out of our grocery budget as well.  So long Potato chips (I do get them if they are on MEGA sale… (I’m talking buy one get one) Say hello to air popped pop corn you can get an air popper for under 20$ I think. (about 5-6 bags of chips) and 2lb of pop corn kernels at Wal-Mart for $1.50.That will make a lot of snacks

We also cut out (for the most part) pop. If at the end of the month I have money left over, we get the off brand cans from Wal-Mart. (Note: some off brands are really bad, so you might have to play around a bit. And while the cans per oz are more expensive than 2liters, they do help control the portions so it lasts longer)

I have to give Jason MAJOR kudos for both of these items, because he really does love both pop and potato chips. But he has been content with popcorn and the occasional carbonated drink. I really appreciate it!!!!

Added benefit – healthier

I also don’t buy many pre-packaged convenience foods. If we want Mac N Cheese. I make it … from scratch. Not much added time if any, and it tastes a million times better than even Kraft. If we want buns for sandwiches… I make those too. That does take a little extra work (night before I spend 5 min mixing up dough, then about a combined 10 min of prep the next day) But Jason will tell you, my homemade bread is really pretty good.

I bet if you looked really looked at what you are spending on different convenience things every month, you would see more than a few things you could do without. I dare you to try it for 1 month. I bet you probably survive.

We don’t eat out as much. This one admittedly has been tougher, since we enjoy eating out. But trust me we still survive, and I have learned (am learning) how to try and make some yummy meals at home. Including making my own egg rolls something like under 15$ gives me 30 egg rolls. Which is a lot cheaper than buying them. And… Jason liked them better than restaurant egg rolls

There is probably other stuff we cut out, but I can’t remember what they are. Which just goes to show how much we really “needed” it anyway

Steps 2 and 3 coming soon to a post near you…

FYI… OS = One Size cloth diapers. They generally fit between 8-35lbs. They can range in price from $4 – $20+. Pockets, are diapers that you don’t need a separate cover for. Fitted’s are diapers that do need a separate cover but are shaped and attach around the baby like a disposable. And Prefolds are probably what you are thinking when you think about a cloth diaper. Flat that you have to kinda fold around the baby. You need to either use pins to attach, or something called a snappi and a cover.

I spent $210 on my initial stash, which included 4 OS diaper covers (from cheeky diapers) 20 med fitted diapers (used from a second hand kids sale) 12 OS pockets (from e-bay) 3 OS Fuzzibunz pockets (I actually didn’t spend any money on these, b/c I won them from a blog. Its worth it to enter those giveaways!) and 24 med (or large can’t remember) prefolds (these are the only ones I haven’t used yet since Alex isn’t quite ready for them size wise.)

When I use Sposies (for going away and to the sitters or church nursery) I get the walmart brand since those are the cheapest I have found. The price for size 2 is about $0.15 a diaper. SO with the amount I spent on my CD I could have purchased 1400 diapers. (Or since I get the jumbo packs of 92…) 15 packs.

Now Alex is a heavy wetter so I have to change him every two hours (except at night) whether cloth or sposie to prevent leaks. So that is about 7-8 diapers a day (now I can’t remember what it was like when he was a NB) Using this number I came out with 200 days of Sposies (and this number is low balled) which is about 6 mo worth of disposable diapers. But almost everything I have (and use) is OS. So that means that I can continue to diaper my child for that same price… and the next one. I will be getting some more OS pockets from e-bay which are 30 for $120. That will bring my total for both kiddos to….

$330.00 = 2,200 sposies = 275 days of sposies = 9 mos of sposies.

So… bottom line for the cost of disposable diapering one child for 9 mos I will be able to Cloth diaper at least 2 children up to 35lbs.

This of course doesn’t take into account the decrease in diaper rash cream that I need, or diaper pail liners, or wipes (since I just cut up an old towel and reuse that). Yes we do do laundry more, but I usually hang the diapers up to dry so there is little added cost for the dryer.

Basics-

He is about 20 lbs and 27″ tall. (As of his last well baby check). He is still just a “little guy” on the 10th percentile in height/weight but right on track proportionally.  That’s OK we just get more use out of his clothes

He is wearing a wide variety of sizes. 12-18mo shirts. 12mo jackets. 9 mo pants (even still fits into a pair of 6-9mo pants!) and size 2 shoes (though he is quickly needing size 3)

He has 2 bottom teeth, and his eye teeth on top oddly enough look like they will be the next ones to come through.

Food -

He nursed up through 9 mos. It made me sad when he was done, but being pregnant really kills the supply I am just happy I made it through cold and flu season!

He is now getting 4 bottles a day. And we are working on replacing the bottles with sippy cups. He does pretty well… sometimes. He has good days and days where he gets so proud of himself he forgets to swallow before he smiles so out spills all the formula!

Drinking like a big boy!

He eats “big people food” now. He likes cheese, cucumbers, zuchini, MEAT and pretty much anything he can pick up with his hands. Especially rice puffs. LOVES them. I am thankful he is not a picky eater!

Activities-

He has been pulling himself up and walking along things for about a month now. He CAN walk on his own, but won’t if he is thinking about it or if you draw attention to it. But he does motor pretty quick crawling!

Walking!

He likes to play ball. He will roll/toss the ball back and forth with you. Or will toss it across the room and go fetch it himself

He is “helpful” if he has picked something up and you want it, if you ask him to give it to you, USUALLY he will.

He loves to sweep. He will play with the broom and loves to follow me around while I vacuum.

"sweeping"

He likes to play with Jasper, and Jasper’s toys (they play “fetch”) and Jasper’s food. Poor Jasper only gets to eat when Alex is napping or not at home, otherwise we would spend all day moving Alex away from the dog food.

Tackling Jasper

Communication:

He waves “Hi” and Bye-bye. Even without prompting

He says “Da-da”. If Jason leaves the room it is not uncommon for Alex to bellow out da-DA??!!! and point to wherever Jason left from.

He points and says “DA” when he wants to know what something is.

He says “uff uff” for animal noises, usually dogs and frogs. We are working on differentiating between the animals

Other:

He goes to sleep on his own now, usually with no fussing at night (still working on the naps). This is awesome for mommy!!!

He is such a daddy’s boy. Its really cute, he loves to hear Jason play guitar, and would choose Jason over me most days of the week I think

Chilling with Daddy

Alex loves to "play guitar" with daddy!

~ HambergerMama

Nope. Honestly, I am just lazy…. really really lazy…. This will be an attempt at a catch up post. A TON has happened in the last year. So this will be really just the highlights. I have a bunch of pictures that I could use to catch you up on, but that would swamp everything. So here is just a little of the last year-

July/Aug

- Went on a LOVELY vacation to the beach with the Ham’s. (Pics are on my Facebook) Alex had his first taste of the pool, and the ocean.

Aug

-We moved again Not far this time, we actually were able to work on it all summer, and then when we got back from vaca moved into the apartment just up the road a little ways from both sets of parents.

- We also moved Church (locations) Jason and I are still attending NewPointe, but have now gone to the Millersburg Campus. Jason plays electric guitar on the worship team and I volunteer back with the little kiddos in the Reign Forrest.

September

- Celebrated our 2 year anniversary! We have packed a lot in those years, I am not sure if I should say I can’t believe it is 2 years already, or I can’t believe it has been only 2 years

- We also took another wonderful beach vacation with the Berger’s. It was fun to see Janelle and Kenny for a few days, and of course any time at the beach is pretty much amazing.

October-

SURPRISE- we found out we are expecting Hamberger #2! It was a bit of a surprise, but we are super duper excited about it. (Yes, what lil #2 is is also a surprise!)

November/December

- Full of many holiday get-togethers. It was so much fun to celebrate these first holiday’s with Alexander

- Welcomed a new lil hambaby -Lucas- into the family. He shares a birthday with Jason It has been pretty neat to see Alex figure out how to interact with him, perhaps a preview into what is in his future. Though at this point he would still rather play with the “big cousins” Keldan and Allie.

January

- Happy New Year! We celebrated at New Grounds, Alex came along for the festivities, he made it till about 8:30

- I had a total blond driving moment (those are the worst!) and totaled my beloved Focus. Once again we were shown how God really does work everything together for the best. We ended up getting enough back from the car to cash off our credit card and pay for a mini-van (which we are well on the way to needing )

Feb/March

- LOTS of SNOW.  Have some pretty sweet pics of my awesome hubby shoveling. Alex is not a big fan of snow, even if it is safely in a container in the kitchen.

- Said goodbye to Double G. What an awesome legacy he left through his family.

April

- Easter! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed celebrating the Resurrection!

- Mommy and Daddy went to another cold Indians game to celebrate my birthday It was chilly, but a GREAT game and they actually won, plus we had all you can eat food so pretty much an amazing b-day present from my awesome hubs.

That pretty much catches you up on the overall picture of our life since I’ve been “gone”. Look for a few more specific updates to come.

~ HambergerMama

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