Choices, Choices, Choices....

Recently I was faced with the option to return to my professional career, after being a stay at home since our son was born. For me it was not about returning to WORK because STAY AT HOME MOMS WORK 24/7! We work all day and night caring for our children and staying at home IS a full-time job, for which many moms do not get enough kudos or credit. It the most exhausting, challenging, and simply INCREDIBLE job I HAVE EVER LOVED!! Before I had J.B. I actually thought I would be bored (WHAT WAS I THINKING?? LOL LOL), but being at home with him has made me so very happy, watching him grow and change everyday is AMAZING and there is never a dull moment. I love the quality time I have been able to enjoy with him and I know that it's precious time I will NEVER get back, so I literally cherish every giggle, smile, and milestone met. So when the opportunity to return to my professional career came about I was completely overwhelmed and just riddled with guilt and then I began to actually feel awful because I was considering it and looking forward to the possibility of going back. I could not sleep or think straight and it became an emotional journey! After much prayer, consideration, and wisdom from a great friend who told me, "Christina, you have to give yourself permission to return to your profession, and not beat yourself up about doing something you love, IT IS OKAY TO HAVE BOTH!" For some reason that resonated with me and I realized that I can still be a fabulous mommy to our sweet J.B. who I LOVE with all my heart and return to my professional career which I LOVE AS WELL. It is perfectly fine if I want to do both, and the real person who needs to be okay with it is ME AND ONLY ME! As long as I am okay with it then I do not need to seek the opinions of others, because each mom's decision is strictly their own. I cannot help that some may judge me and I am okay with that because I know that GOD himself is in control of our lives and that our son will be well taken care of and LOVED when I am away from home. I do wonder though if I can ACTUALLY and realistically DO IT ALL? This question is still is in the back of my mind... but when I am flooded with that heavy and loaded question I remember that I have the support of my SAVIOR, my sweet husband, both sets of parents, and our church family and that is ALL I NEED! Is it REALLY possible for moms to have IT ALL? And that my friends is a question ONLY YOU CAN ANSWER FOR YOURSELF! ( For me personally it is YES and it does not make me any less of a GREAT MOMMY to want it all!)

Parenthood Top 10

As we all know parenthood changes us and changes what we do and even how we do it. Right now J.B. is watching EVERYTHING WE DO! To the point that we are so very concise of what we say and do because he is absorbing it like a tiny sponge. Many people say after you have a baby nothing is the same... well of course it is not and why would one expect it to be the same? You now have this tiny person who loves you and is solely dependent on you, parenthood I believe makes you better as a person and stronger as a couple. It allows you to become more patient, you capacity to love is so much deeper, and you become the master of multi-tasking. Below I have listed my top ten, just a few ways our lives have changed and YES these are TRUE as far as our family is concerned, so if you are a parent or becoming a parent.... READ THESE and enjoy every moment with your little one!!

PAMBLANCO PARENTHOOD TOP 10:

10. Loading the dishwasher is now a daily game of Tetris.
9. You will forgo just about anything if it means you can sleep longer.
8. Your bathroom is no longer filled with romantic candles and soaps, it is now overtaken with tiny bath toys and baby soaps.
7. You are willing to do anything to get your baby to smile, including making up silly songs and dancing around the house.
6. You are so exhausted you wash your hair with shaving cream instead of soap (TRUE STORY).
5. Going out means loading up the car which is now at least a 10 minute thing.
4. You have a "back-up" diaper bag for everything including for your back-up.
3. Your purse now contains an "emergency" pacifier in it.
2. You stop wearing a watch, because the baby makes your schedule now.
1. Suddenly NOTHING is more important than holding your baby, including at all hours of the night
(which is THE BEST TIME because times just feels like it stands still for just an instant :).

BABY FOOD FUN

Since being at home I have decided to take on what I thought would be the challenge of making homemade baby food for our infant son. I thought it would be a tedious task and a lot of work to provide a natural choice instead of buying jarred baby food but it was much easier and way more cost effective than I ever thought. For my birthday, I received a baby food maker which made the process a lot easier and faster, but at the same time moms can use their blender or food processor as well to do the same thing. I first go to a local fresh produce market where fruits and veggies are locally grown, next wash all produce, for some food like veggies they must be steamed or boiled first, then I just blend and add water. I freeze almost everything then defrost as our son needs it. The above picture shows squash and bananas, a week supply of each (he eats one serving two times a day) and the cost for two weeks worth of baby food was only $1.57! AMAZING! That's almost the cost of just a few jars of baby food which would definitely not last two weeks! The savings and the fact that it is ALL NATURAL is worth the time put into, which is MINOR! To make two weeks worth of food, it took me about 15 minutes and that was only because I needed to boil the squash, the bananas took about two minutes! WELL WORTH DOING IT! I actually have LOVED making his food and it feels good to know that I am providing a healthy option for our son. So al moms out there... PLEASE TRY IT, your baby will LOVE IT!

HAPPY VERY FIRST FATHER'S DAY JASON!

HAPPY FIRST FATHER'S DAY MY LOVEY! This post is dedicated to the most WONDERFUL man in my life... my sweet husband JASON. After five long years of praying to become parents God blessed us with our sweet sweet son J.B. It has been such an incredible learning experience for us both as parents and you my love are an absolutely INCREDIBLE, WONDERFUL, MAGNIFICENT, SUPER,AMAZING  DADDY!!!! Sometimes I just watch you with J.B. and pray and thank God for the breathtaking blessing of our family. You do so many amazing daddy things with him like make him laugh, get him to give you a gummy smile, rock him, feed him, change him, and play with him (I love how you can get him to have hard belly laughs when you rub your beard on his neck! LOL LOL) You are the most gentle and loving father and husband and you are so GREAT at taking care of our family and we know that you LOVE us so much every single day with all your heart! Thank you for being our spiritual leader and for encouraging me a a wife and mommy. YOU ARE AMAZING!!! WE LOVE YOU LOVE!! Christina and J.B.

BPA FREEDOM...

So with having a baby comes worries.... worries about EVERYTHING!! And now that our son has started putting everything in his mouth, I did some reading about BPA. After doing some reading I have rid our house of anything that is not BPA free. To some this may definitely seem extreme but to me this is something that we personal feel is important to our families health. Now we are taking steps to reduce our use of items with BPA such as using glass to heat things up in, not using plastic cups, and I am making sure everything we buy for our little one is BPA free if it is a plastic item. Now, there are going to be times when I cannot be 100% sure that every single thing is BPA free but I can lessen what comes in our home and what goes into our sons mouth.

Formula 101

After making dozens of bottles a day and dealing with our son's acid reflux I decided to use a blender to help make it easier, like batch cooking but this milk batch only last about 24 hours. Myself like many moms wander through the formula aisle dreading the cost of formula that we all know only last about 2-3 days but we are ALWAYS willing to buy it so our babies are well nourished. After meeting a complete stranger in the formula aisle who asked me how many bottles I got out of a canister of formula I said.. "I don't really know but the canister says 15?"Because it is so expensive this conversation prompted me to do a little experiment to see if I really am getting my monies worth. So I kept track of how many bottles I made with a tally mark on the lid to help me see the difference. I found that when using the blender I can get an extra bottle or even two out of a canister or jumbo canister. Now that does NOT sound like that much of a difference but when you are spending $25.00 every two-three days or so one extra bottle can make a difference!
* This is just a tip for moms and it is NOT to endorse any certain brand of formula.

Why NOT save money?

 So this post is being generated after couponing yesterday and saving an AMAZING $101.01 in grocery savings for a two week grocery trip. This trip included a case of diapers and the largest container of powdered baby formula you can buy. Couponing was introduced to me by two co-workers and my grandmother. Over the past few years, each month like clock work my grandmother would send me coupons she clipped for me in the mail, I would use a few here and there but really saw NO difference in my total grocery bill, so I would pass my unused coupons onto my co-workers, both of whom have shopped and paid pennies for items from everything to cosmetics to laundry detergent.... which to me is INCREDIBLE! ****It is important to say in advance that each consumer and couponer should be responsible by knowing a stores coupon policy and I DO NOT CONDONE clearing store shelves! I DO NOT EXTREME COUPON, but I do coupon to save money for our family and every little bit of savings to a family means being able to pay down debt, pay another bill, take a vacation, or even go to out to dinner each week. I am of course just an amateur but I absolutely have learned from the best!!! I do not have a binder (Although I may consider one one day) I just use a three envelope system where grocery coupons are in one, retail and restaurants in another, and J.B. (BABY) coupons are in another. This system keeps me from digging around in my purse to collect my coupons and just keeps me organized. As I shop I pull out each coupon as I need it and pile them up for checkout to make check out faster, and not to anger the people behind me in the checkout line. So one may ask... HOW DO YOU DO IT? Well, the extreme couponers have a MUCH BETTER and more refined system, but for me I do what works for me so here are my tips.

Couponing tips:
1. DO YOU DOUBLE?....Many stores in our area do not double coupons, so that option is out for me.
2. CONSIDER YOUR SOURCES... I clip coupons both on the internet and in Sunday's paper, which I LOVE the paper.
3. PLAN PLAN AHEAD.... Take the time to plan out your trip, before I shop I plan out what to buy according to my coupons. Now I just don't buy what I have coupons for but couponing has opened our family up to trying new products, foods, and brands.
4. DON'T SKIP on the FRESH... Vegetables,cheese,meats, and fruits because you don't have a coupon. These items are essential for your families everyday nutrition and I ALWAYS include these at every trip and as part of EVERY MEAL. You CAN make healthy meals by couponing and not just eat boxed and frozen dinners.
5. MAKE A MENU.. I planned out the past two weeks for this recent trip and I am currently cooking for 4-5 adults each week and I always have enough :) .
6. FREE FLIERS... Pick up stores weekly fliers these may only have a few coupons but are worth it!!! I got $3.00 off diapers this week because that type of a coupon was in the flier, these are rare, so always look!
7. BABY CLUBS... Join every grocery stores baby clubs, one club I joined provided soft tip spoons, baby food, and shampoo for FREE on this trip. Many of these clubs have buy one get one frees, and I donate my extra baby items to a local women's shelter in my town... again I am NOT clearing the shelves!
8. DIAPERS, DIAPERS, DIAPERS... Join diaper websites, on these websites you punch in diaper codes and earn points towards photos, invitations, and more diapers. You are already buying diapers regularly why not get some rewards on all that money you are spending?
9. KNOW AND ASK... Ask about each stores coupon policy, you do NOT want to figure it out when its tie to pay your bill.Some stores will take a manufacturer coupons, in-store coupons, as well as a competitor coupons at the same time for one product. For example, diapers were on sale this week, one case for $19.99.. so I had a computer coupon for $3.00 off, an in-store coupon for $3.00 off, and then a manufacture coupon for $2.00 off, and then an in-store coupon for a free 184 count of wipes when I bought the case, so I got an entire case of diapers AND WIPES for 11.99- that's a big savings!
10. INVEST TO SAVE.. Invest in printer ink... many couponing websites have a ton of coupons that have to be printed in order to use them, so make sure you have plenty of printer ink.
11. COMPARISON SHOP, it may mean going to another store or making another trip but its worth it. For me I will ONLY do these if it means picking up multiple items.
12. DRUGSTORES TAKE COUPONS??...  Most chain drugstores TAKE coupons so comparison shop and use your coupons there, they also offer in-store coupons so use them as well.

13. REWARD CARDS... Sign up for all store rewards cards they save you money or accumulate points for rewards later, they are awesome!
****14. HAVE FUN!!! Couponing allows you to be creative and try new things so have fun with it, start small if you want by saving a few dollars here and there if you need to, just do what works for YOU and YOUR family.