6 months

I can hardly believe that I am writing about Carson turning 6 months old. I feel like I was just sitting down at the computer to write about his birth story. He is an incredible blessing to have in our household. He is now enjoying the tastes of green beans, sweet potatoes, and pears. Savannah thinks she can "play" mommy by feeding Carson so I am going to have to start learning not to leave the food out and walk away. I have cleaned up 2 messes already and lost some baby food by my little helper. Carson is attempting to get in the crawling position too. I help him by pushing his butt down. hehe. I am not ready for him to crawl yet. He can just stay put with the rolling for my sake. I am not ready for the baby gates up again and to put away some of the "baby" items (the bouncer). He started blowing bubbles with his lips yesterday. He is quite a handful to change a diaper with now. He either finds his toes or rolls away from me. He has places to be and changing his diaper is not going to slow him down. I love watching him grow up and seeing how they now interact with each other. Now that he sits up, I'm constantly telling Savannah to "be nice to your brother, stop sitting on your brother, or don't push him down." Oh my! It has just started.

I have also been VERY busy this week with a job that Jeff suggested I get into. I have been buying/selling the kids clothes on Facebook now for a year. I have learned quite a bit on how to ship items, how to price items, and how to list items correctly. I still love to venture to our local Once Upon a Child's or other resale shops in the area. When Jeff comes with me, he often hears me say oh I know someone looking for this or do you know how much people would pay for this on Facebook? This past weekend he told me that I should turn that into a business. Go to find the stuff that other people are searching for at a fraction of the price and sell it for more. Granted I'm only making a couple dollars at a time profit mainly charging for my time spent looking for items and shipping it to them. In one week so far, I have banked $200. Quite an accomplishment for me. I love the thrill of walking into the store to wonder what you are going to find. Jeff enjoys seeing me being passionate about something again. I enjoy being able to bring a little bit of money in, doing 2 jobs I love, and still provide some means of income. Well now I'm off to clean the house while the kids are still napping.

The monkey and the hare

I realize I have not written a while. Summer has gotten the best of me and trying to wrap up all these projects has occupied most of my time. Oh yeah and taking care of those 2 kids. Savannah has gone into pure monkey stage. If you do not put things out of reach at least 8 feet high, she sees this as a challenge and will test your true "out of reach" ability. I cleaned the cupboards inside and out a couple weeks ago. She saw me push a chair over to reach the top cabinets. She finds this perfectly acceptable for her to do the same now. (insert big sigh) Now the top cabinets are not safe. I didn't even thing about child safety on those things. She also is very intrigued with the fridge and figures she has every right to help herself to a snack if we do not put a lock on it. She is so sneaky about it also. She doesn't even worry about making a lot of noise in the morning to let me know she is awake. Instead she tip toes into the kitchen to see if daddy forgot to lock the fridge. Some mornings he does when he is in a hurry. Jackpot! I wake up to mozzerella sticks, yogurt, and blueberries strewn across the floor. Not exactly the "good morning" I was looking for. She watches and waits for you to be out of sight to do things. We are still working on that "we obey mommy even when she's not watching" rule. This child has no fear. Well the only fear is being caught.

Carson just will not slow down either. We will be celebrating 6 months in a week. 6 months? 6 months? How did a half a year go by already. I have been thoroughly enjoying this little ham. He rarely ever cries. Right now he's singing in his crib waiting for me to come get him. He sleeps through the night most of the time. Last night he was woken by the storm. Wanted comforting for 2 minutes and was back to sleep. He rolls all over the place. Or maybe he rolls/scooches himself all over the place. He is also a big sitter now. He thinks he is no cool now that he can sit and play with his toys like his big sister. He giggles, coos, and smiles more than Savannah ever did. I caught him the other day trying to put himself up on all 4s. Nope not ready for that. I told him to get back down. I'm not ready for you to crawl YET. He just won't stop moving around and growing up so quickly. It just goes by so quickly.

Well I'm off to start my day. Carson will only be happy for so long before he would start protesting and Savannah only stays out of trouble for a small amount of her day.

More than clothes

When moving here a year ago my neighbor told me about different pages where you could buy/sell your children's clothes on facebook. I was foreign to this whole discovery but quickly became addicted as I saw all the cute things that I couldn't get in the store because they were out of Savannah's size or the price was just too high for me to spend that much. I always take very good care of Savannah's and now Carson's clothes. I hate bringing them to consignment shops only for them to "pick" through what they will take and what they won't take. I come out frustrated and often disappointed with the amount of change that is handed to me after I spent so much on their clothes. I for the most part am a bargain shopper but do splurge when its something that is absolutely adorable and will work perfect for such and such occasion. I didn't like the budget I was left to when I was paid by the consignment shop. That all changed after moving here and having Stacy bring me into the world of facebook selling. I learned how to ship items and how to price them accordingly. Now I'm addicted and love the "hunt" for the items that were from past seasons that people still have and will sell to me or trade.

Its more than clothes though. It's a weird bond that you form with these people. You joke and laugh about the silly things your kids do. You vent to one another about your child dumping the glass of milk all over the floor and smiling at you. You bounce ideas of parenting and what has worked for them in such a situation. Its a community of moms coming together in a way that is indescribable. Yes you do have the bad eggs of the group as everyone does. You have the people who labeled something as in almost brand new condition and you get it with holes, stains, etc. You also get those people who take your money but never send the item. It forces you to file a claim with paypal and take valuable time out of your schedule.

This past Monday the selling facebook world has been saddened. My newsfeed is clogged with posts of a mom who was killed in a car accident leaving behind her 2 young children (a one year old son and 3 year old daughter). You see people grieving over the loss of someone they never even met just became connected through a cyber world. You sit at your computer reading through all the comments and pictures only seeing your own family. You connect with that person so much and feel for what her family must be going through. I am amazed at the outreach that people are doing for not even meeting this person. Not even ever hearing her voice. There is a fundraiser set up in her name to help with funeral expenses along with the needed childcare as she was the primary childcare provider as a stay at home mom. Their original goal was to raise $3000 by August 14. They were not sure if they would be able to obtain that goal. This fundraiser has been set up for approx 48 hours so far and has raised nearly $28,000. It's more than clothes. Its a friendship, an understanding, a real connection to a person. As a stay at home mom you often wonder if you are making any difference in the world. The world lost one mom that should not have been taken away so soon.

Here's the info on the fundraiser and information what happened. http://www.indiegogo.com/AmberRoussel?c=home