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As Maya has outgrown her toys over the years some of her more favorite toys have made their way into storage bins waiting for new little hands to come along and play with them again. I haven’t had to buy Anna many toys at all because I already had all Maya’s toys. Before Anna was born I pulled out all the young baby toys, the rattles, soft books, teeters, etc, washed them and put them in new toy bins for her. Slowly as she has gotten bigger and more interested in toys I’ve brought out a few new things to add to her little collection.
The other day as she was sitting on the floor playing I decided to bring up a couple of new toys for her. I knew they were going to be a hit not only for Anna but for big sister Maya as well. The toys I brought up were a couple of Maya’s favorites when she was a baby and young toddler. And, I was right. The girls had so much fun playing with the “new” toys. They played together for close to an hour. Anna touching and getting to know her new toys and Maya showing her baby sister how everything works. It was so fun to watch them.
I think Anna was just a little happy to spend some time playing with her much adored big sister.
I’m not sure who enjoyed playing with the “new” toys more 
I do know that no one enjoyed watching the girls interact more than I did.
Working out is something I’m always glad I did after the fact, but I’ve always had a hard time motivating and convincing myself to do it in the first place. I know I’ll feel good when I’m done, but that hasn’t been enough to get me going. My workout time has always been after the girls go to bed and once I have them in bed all I want to do is curl up on the couch and relax. The last thing I want to do is get in the car and drive to the gym. On and off over the last few years I’ve tried to stick with it. I’ve tried to make exercise part of my routine. I’ll stick with it for a while but I always lose motivation eventually.
Exercise and staying in shape are important to me, and this year I am making my fitness a priority. For Christmas Lorne got my a fitness video game for our XBox Kinect. I started using the video game to work out just over a month ago. Most evenings (I do typically let myself take off 2 nights a week) I change into my work out clothing after the girls go to bed, and I bust a move in the family room using my Your Shape:Fitness 2012 game. I’m sure I look like a complete idiot, but since there isn’t anyone around to see me, I could care less.
It has been great. Not having to motivate myself to leave the house to work out has really helped me stick with it. I find myself not even trying to come up with an excuse not to work out, I just do it. I feel great after and I find I have more energy all through the next day. I am already noticing a difference from my work outs. My clothes fit better. My energy is much improved. My fitness level and strength have improved as well.
I’m shaping up for my girls and for myself. It feels good to be a month into it and still having the motivation to keep going.
I’ve received a lot of requests for this recipe so I thought I would share my first ever recipe here on Let’s Talk Babies!
These chicken wings are so, so good. They are a huge hit with my whole family and we eat them frequently. The added bonus is that since they are baked they are much healthier than traditional wings. I usually serve them with carrots and celery sticks, but have also done them as a more traditional meal with rice and steamed veggies.
What You’ll Need:
- 2lbs of chicken wings
- 1-2 T of olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Cooking Spray
- 2 cups of flour
- About 1/4 cup of your favorite wing sauce
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
To begin, cut your chicken wings into 3 sections and discard the wing tip.
Once all your wings are cut, place them in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with approximately 2 T of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you like your wings hot you could also add a dash of Tabasco at this point too if you wanted. Toss the wings to coat.
In a large tuperware dish or a large ziploc bag place approximately 2 cups of flour. Transfer the wings to the dish or bag and shake to completely coat in flour.
Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray liberally with cooking spray.
Place wings on the baking sheet, being sure to shake off any excess flour first. Once all the wings are on the baking sheet spray each wing liberally with cooking spray.
Place wings in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove from the oven, turn the wings over and place back in the oven for an additional 30 minutes.
Once wings are done place them in a large mixing bowl. If you are going to be using the same wing sauce for all the wings place them all in the same bowl. Since I have no tolerance for spicy things and my husband loves his wings hot I usually use two different types of wing sauce so I transfer mine to two different bowls.
Add your wing sauce to the bowl, use as much or as little as you would like. I typically use a total of about 1/4 cup of wing sauce, a couple of tablespoons per batch of about 8 wings. Toss the wings so they are evenly coated.
Transfer wings to serving dish and enjoy!
These baked wings turn out crispy on the outside and nice and moist inside every time. They are super delicious. I pretty much always have a pack of wings in the freezer for those days when we are all craving them. Maya loves them! Although, I don’t put wing sauce on hers, she likes them plain.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Let me know what you think.
Have you ever had to purchase a special occasion outfit for your baby or toddler, a special dress for a party, a little suit for a wedding, a costume, and wondered to yourself why on earth you were spending $30, or $40 or $50 dollars on a tiny little outfit that your child was going to wear once? It seems like such a ridiculous waste of money, and yet we spend it anyway, because, what else can you do. I’ve often wondered to myself, wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a place where you could “borrow” an outfit for your baby, kind of like a baby clothing library! Well, it turns out there is!
It is called Wooky Baby.
Babies grow fast! Wooky Baby, a clothing rental service for size 0-3T, was founded with the goal of reducing the “cost-per-wear” of children’s clothing. At an average of $8 per outfit, a customer can save upwards of $50 by renting instead of purchasing an outfit that a child may only end up wearing once or twice. Wooky Baby clothing rental service is not only cost-effective but also environmentally responsible.
The option to purchase outfits (new and used) was recently added to the site. Wooky Baby offers unique, fun clothes that are changing daily. Labels include Burberry, Florence Eisman, Good Lad, and Bonnie Baby.
Here’s How it works:
The Wooky Baby online catalog works like most shopping carts. There is a $5 flat rate shipping fee which includes the cost of a label to return the items when the child is finished wearing the clothes. The clothes can be returned with the supplied shipping bag and label provided via email. The shipping bag will be picked up in the mailbox by the postal service. The cost includes a one-month rental, but the clothes can be kept for longer. A recurring fee will be charged for each month the clothes are rented. The $5 flat rate shipping fee applies to both the rental and/or purchase of as many outfits are in the order.
As the mother of two girls I know how expensive it can get buying clothing for them, especially those special occasion, one wear type outfits. Having a place to go where I can rent a beautiful dress for a wedding or a party seems like such a fantastic idea. I love what Wooky Baby is doing, the service they are offering to parents. I’ll definitely be scouring their site looking for a dress for Anna for an upcoming wedding we will be attending. I’m much more open to spending $8 to rent a dress she’ll wear once instead of spending $40 to buy it and have it hang out in the closet after one use.
Now for the best part! One lucky reader is going to get a chance to give Wooky Baby a try for free. Wooky Baby is giving away 5 free rentals to one lucky reader, that’s a $50-$85 dollar value! All you have to do is leave a comment telling me about a time when you wish you had been able to rent an outfit for your child instead of having to buy one. On Monday, February 27th I will draw the winner.
You can find Wooky Baby online, on facebook and on twitter.
*Open to US residents only.
*I received no compensation for this post and the opinions within are my own.
Rhythm pulses through her veins. Melodies fill her brain. Her days are filled with music and dancing. A day without dancing isn’t a day worth living as far as she is concerned. She is a musical soul.
Dancing to her favorite Dragon song
There isn’t any one type of music that she gravitates towards, although a good beat does seems to help. The only requirement for making the list is that the song speaks to her and makes her want to dance. If she can’t not dance to a song it will become an instant favorite and very quickly makes its way onto her iPod. Her favorites range from Gwen Stefani’s The Sweet Escape, to Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, to Forbidden Friendship from the How to Train Your Dragon Soundtrack, to OneRepublic’s All the Right Moves, to Led Zeppelin’s Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, to Eminem’s Like Toy Soldiers.
Her musical tastes are beautifully eclectic. And, there is just no swaying her opinion, no matter how hard her daddy tries You can’t convince her she doesn’t like a song once she has developed a taste for it and you can’t convince her that she likes a song that hasn’t spoken to her. She usually knows the very first time she hears a song whether it is a keeper or not. There is no telling what her next favorite is going to be either, she will hear a song on the radio or in a movie or something, it makes her want to dance and is an instant new favorite.
I love her love for music. I love how she sings to her self a random times throughout the day and will just start dancing to some tune playing in her head. I’m pretty sure there is always a song playing in her head.