(incog)NEAT-O!

OK, I might have just created my new favorite Sweetish Baby item.  

Before now, I think the Mom and Dad tattoo shirts were my faves-

But now, I think it's this (incog)NEAT-O t-shirt that I made for Dax to wear to school tomorrow!!!  It started out as just the shades.  Then a friend suggested a mustache.  Then I had some accidental space left at the top after embroidering it all, and couldn't resist the ridiculous pun!!!

Spring 2012 School Pictures & Phone Picture Dump

Kind of a lot has been going on lately -(mostly related to the allergist- whom I have officially kicked off of my kids' list of care providers.  Long story, I'll save it for some day when I finally have the answers I am seeking.  Let's just say we have spent a few dollars shy of $1000 on medication this MONTH alone prescribed by her, and it's not the cost that I'm most unhappy about.  She's just an over-reacter, over-prescriber, over-bearing woman- and we're over it!  Appointment with a new allergist next week.  Hopefully she's more tolerant, more patient, and not as anxious to jump on the steroid/antibiotic/antihistamine bandwagon.  Let's treat the cause, not the symptoms, people!)- 

so I will instead just please your eyes with some of the cutest sites you've ever seen! :)

Spring school pictures were taken a few weeks ago-

OMG, I love her so much my heart is going to explode.

I miss him so much during the day!

I seriously cannot get enough of them.  Light of my life!

My kids making me giggle-

Dax has been on antibiotics for, ohhhh.. about 6 months now, so I think he's got a yeast diaper rash.  So we played naked after bath time for a while tonight to let him "air out."  

Bahaha!  They're going to kill me someday for posting this!

 Sweetish Baby fills an order for Ada-

My own sweet baby girl placed an order for a new dress before going to bed tonight.  :)  This is actually her first outfit I've made her.  (The bows are for pigtails, they're not attached to the dress at all!)

iLove

Me: Ada, don't color on your face, baby.  That can make your skin hurt.

Ada: NO, MOM!  I don't have skin!  Kids don't even need skin.  Only SKELETONS NEED SKIN.

{There ya have it.}

Ada is completely resistant to doing any sort of learning related activity at home with me.  Which is sort of problematic, since we are considering stay-at-home-mom options for next year- you don't really want to yank your pre-schooler out of pre-school just 2 years before Kindergarten if she refuses to let you educate her!  

But, I think we may have found a solution.  Technology.  Who knew that you could use Technology to engage young children, and trick them into learning things?!  {Sarcasm} 

Confession: I've been avoiding it.  I used to kind of secretly judge moms who utilized these resources.  Thinking to myself: children these days are so dependent on computers, apps, internet, TV.  They should be playing, exploring, reading, learning. Churning butter. Milking cows.  Building life-sized, livable homes with plumbing out of Lincoln Logs.

I downloaded an app in a moment of weakness on my phone this past weekend {after 5,001 different approaches to help Ada remember to quit skipping from 14-18 when counting to 20.} She sat, for over an hour, correctly identifying letters and sounds that we had no idea she knew.  She whipped through 26 letter puzzles. She happily discussed things related to learning. 

She still skipped 15, 16, & 17 when counting.  

So, we rushed out and foolishly dropped $600 on happily purchased an iPad.  And this girl is obsessed!  And I am now one of "those" mothers.  Oh well!

Speaking of technology, I've been wasting even more money utilizing my Sweetish Baby profits to purchase some more geeky things!  I purchased a subscription to a website for my Sweetish Baby stuff.  I'm not ready to advertise the domain just yet- I want to develop it a little more before I bear my soul!  :)  It's not going to be just Sweetish Baby.  

I describe the website as: 

a "platform" for the boutique.  It'll be one of several different sections of a webpage where I will post craft tutorials, health/nutrition, & budget tips {all centered around all things domestic- easy healthy recipes, eating healthy on a budget, inexpensive entertainment for your child- probably won't blog about that impulsive iPad moment!- etc}  Eventually, I'm operating under the assumption that the goal will be to generate enough traffic that I will be able to "monetize" it. {Allow/attract advertisements.}

And, worst case scenario: if it flops, I only lost a week's profits from the monograms and bows! :)

And, I also purchased PhotoShop Elements.  {One of my pseudo new year's resolution was to begin taking better photographs of the kids and Sweetish Baby merchandise/website posts- so this was a business investment!}  Here are some " doctored up" pictures of Dax's awesome afternoon in the swing on Sunday-

I love these KIDS!

Glam Girl Gift Sets @ Sweetish Baby!

Visit Sweetish Baby's latest blog post about our newest gift set- for the Glam Baby Girl!  Here's a little sneak peak-

The bow socks are just killing me. To die for!!

Jungle Animal Gift-In-A-Bag

Check out the boy version of the Sweetish Baby baby shower gift set!  You can read about it HERE, on Sweetish Baby's blog.  :)

Sweetish Busy Baby

These are the orders we've received in the past week (the last 2 are just gifts- orders I've put in myself, if you will!)- and this is just via word of mouth, mostly from school!  (And we had 3 orders last week!  2 taggies and an Interchangeable Tie Onesie.) I'm so excited to see what will happen if/when I actually have the time to advertise.  As you can see- the "Baby-Shower-Gift-In-A-Bag" seems to be taking off-

Yay!

New from Sweetish Baby -

Check out what's new at the Sweetish Baby Boutique!  :) 

New and Improved: Sweetish Baby Blankies!

We've tweaked our design for the Sweetish Baby original taggie-loveys to include a ribbon that can be used as a pacifier clip or stroller/toy clip!  They will arrive with an attached ring, but you can use your own binkies you already have hidden in every nook-and-cranny of your own home.  :)

How FUNNY that this order was for a baby named "Dex"!?

Newest Sweetish Baby Creation

Sweetish Baby has been hard at work this weekend creating a custom piece- Tiffany Reeves, it's ready!!!  And it turned out even cuter than the original!!!!!  Love love love~

You can see Sweetish Baby's post about it at Sweetish Baby Boutique Blog.

Interchangeable Tie Onesies Complete!

O. M. G.  I'm obsessed with how these Interchangeable Tie Onesies have come out!  If anyone orders any, I'll have to make more- because I'm sending everything I've already created as gifts because I can't just hoard them in the darkness of Dax's closet!

How do I look, Mom!?

PS- I llluuuuuuuuurve my sewing/embroidery machine.  Most of these ties have been monogrammed after taking this picture- and it just takes them to the next level of adorable!

Interchangeable Tie Onesies

Go HERE to see the nearly-finished interchangeable tie onesies- our latest item for Sweetish Baby that I semi blogged about in my last post.  I will take some more "professional" looking photos tomorrow of sweet Dax modeling his new set.... but I just couldn't resist giving a little sneak peak!!  :)

Solids, Ada's Art, Sweetish Baby, and Mama Bear...

Random post about some random things!  All photos are ones I took with my phone- poor quality, but cute.

Did I mention that Dax started solids, in addition to finally rolling the opposite direction?  It was a week of some big milestones for my widdle guy!



"I drew an airplane!"  And I thought it SERIOUSLY looked like an airplane.



She cracks me up.  Since I won't let her IN the jumparoo, she found a different way to play with it.

MorMor and I at a Sweetish Baby business meeting.  Someone is not working hard enough!



This is what I've been piddling around working on tonight- a onesie with interchangeable ties!!!  I've got 2 ties sewn and velcro on the ties and onesie.. and a TON of other adorable tie fabric.  I can't wait to put Dax in this for church on Sunday!  :)

 And, to close out this random late-night weekend blog, I want to post a Facebook conversation on my wall today.  Dax was still having a rough go at daycare up until this morning.  You will see why everything is dandy at the end of the post!  :)

Alicia: A mama bear will KILL you if you don't do what you tell them to do with her young.  Just sayin'...
Facebook friend: Tonight at 10, a Katy-area mom goes on a killing spree..
Alicia: Local 22 year old daycare employee, loved by all, was mauled and left for dead in Suite 100.  Mama bear still on the loose- tranquilizers ineffective.
FB friend: Officials advising residents to let Dax sleep however the f__k he wants.
Alicia (about 20 minutes later): This just in!  Daddy bear- who is much taller, bigger, and hairier (and also a fairly successful salesman)- stepped in and resolved the situation in 5 mintues!
FB friend: Mama bear maims and mauls, but Daddy bear kills in one swipe.  Which is worse!?

... if you are having trouble deciphering that convo: Dax's teacher was STILL refusing to let Dax sleep on his tummy (even though he'd proven he could roll over 10s of times) because she hadn't witnessed the OTHER roll (which he RARELY does on purpose b/c the kids hates being on his back- the issue in the first place!)  She also won't let him sit in the swing longer than 30 min.  Period.  They are woken up and moved every 30 minutes NO MATTER WHAT.  So, Casey called the director and fixed it so I could quit worrying about it.  :)  Love you, babe!  (BTW- Dax was happy as a lark when I picked him up today, and had taken 2 very nice naps in his crib, on his tummy.)

A Rough Start...

So, school is right around the corner. I'm officially back on "duty" next week.  Waaaaaaaaaaaa.  I'm weaning Dax into daycare this week.  I don't like it one bit.  And neither does he.  :'( 

Dax sleeps on his tummy- he has since he was just a few weeks old.  It's a huge "no-no" these days.  But he was waking up about every 30 minutes at night on his back (even swaddled)- so his chances of a SIDS tragedy were about 1 in a 1000, but his chances of something else terrible happening because of a severely sleep deprived mother were much worse. He's been pretty much sleeping through the night since we flipped to his belly.  Anyway- they can't let him sleep on his tummy at Kids-R-Kids.  (They didn't care at Tigerland, so the thought never crossed my mind as something to worry about.  Or I would have- of course.)  I understand and respect their adherence to policies- but it made for an AWFUL first day at school. He bawled the entire time.  He arrived exhausted, and wasn't able to nap.  Then, once he was belligerent enough, couldn't settle down. 

I was distraught all afternoon and evening- wondering how I could solve this issue.  He has to be rolling over *both* ways for them to allow him to sleep on his tummy.  (And they still won't *place* him on his tummy.  He has to make it to that position on his own.)  So we worked on rolling the opposite way than he already rolls.  And, after 1.5 days, he DID IT!  We officially have a back-to-tummy and tummy-to-back rolling kiddo.  Now, he just has to figure out that when he goes down on his back at school, just flip over and drift off to dreamland. (I tried to catch it on video, but he started fussing immediately after I flipped out the screen.  Typical!  I still haven't captured the tummy-to-back roll he's been doing since he was 2.5 months old!  Mostly because he doesn't do it a TON, since he hates being on his back.  Why go there on purpose!?!?)

Anyway, this has turned into a ridiculously long post, when I really wanted to just blog about the following pictures!

These are the photos I sent to decorate his crib with.  He's got the coolest pad in Suite 100.  :)

And, my sewing machine came in!!  Sew I've been pracicing (HA!  Get it!?). I decided to create Dax an absorbant cover for his lunchbox ice pack because it gets condensation EVERYWHERE the minute its temperature drops.  I've got some serious perfecting to do, but I think it's a cute idea to try to sell over at Sweetish Baby!



I was initially going for my go-to child's character, a monster.  But realized it is really more of a frog.  Whatevs.



I even sewed in some velcro!  :)  I want to be able to take it off and wash the thing.



I freaking love this boy.  His day was MUCH better today, BTW.  He even showed a glimpse of his true personality with a few smiles and giggles for the girls.  He's going to be OK!

New Business Venture! Meet Sweetish Baby-

OK, I've been DYING to blog about my latest adventure, but was giving some of the items pictured below as gifts, and didn't want to spoil the surprise!!  But they should have all arrived safely (and hopefully soundly!) by now, so I'm so excited to introduce to you: Sweetish Baby! 

Online Boutique-  www.Etsy.com/shop/SweetishBaby
Blog- http://www.sweetishbabyboutique.blogspot.com/

It's a business that began with MorMor and I collaborating on these adorable baby blankies-

These will be the primary focus of Sweetish Baby (read the profile on the website - www.etsy.com/shop/sweetishbaby-  for a more flowery description of our services)... but I always have funky "pop art" ideas inundating my mind and thoughts, so I will probably sporatically paint some pieces for the site as well.  Here are a few that I was moved to create just yesterday!

Obviously, these are nothing special. I'm not what you would call "artistic" or "talented"... but I am creative and resourceful, which sometimes counts for something!  :)

So, I've already been picking MorMor's brain on the sewing front (I've actually purchased a sewing/embroidery machine already- I'm SERIOUS about this, and so optimistic!) , putting her to work with the few orders that we have already recieved (by networking, not via the site.  YET!), and now the floodgates have opened in my brain and the ideas are pouring in!  :)  Follow us at http://www.sweetishbabyboutique.blogspot.com/ for the latest shop scoop!