Packing, Cleaning, Closing.......Moving!!!! and more wins.

What a whirlwind! After waiting and waiting for all of this house stuff to work itself out, we finally got word that our buyers received their commitment letter from the bank, and have gotten a mortgage , yay! We still do not have the closing finalized, (darn holiday weekend), but our tentative closing is set for this coming Friday. Which means our last night sleeping in the townhouse is this coming Tuesday!! Wednesday we have the movers coming for the furniture and boxes, Thursday we are cleaning and getting any last minute decor (including the curtains), and Friday is the closing! Woo hooooooooooooooooo. We will then officially be homeless until the closing on our new place, which is still not set. In the interim, we are staying at my mom's house and putting everything into storage with our movers.

I am sooo excited,I am bursting at the seams. I cannot believe my dream house is now becoming a reality. It is a surreal time for sure. I will share photos when we have the closing set, and it is a done deal. I do not want to jinx it.

June is going to be a super busy month. I have my baby shower, a friend's baby shower, a cousin's wedding shower, my mom's retirement party, Father's Day, and two baby classes including Breast feeding and Child care. Also, I want to set up at least one pregnancy photo shoot, with my big mama tummy!!!

Thankfully, we will have the pool to cool off, the way the heat has already set in, I am thinking we are going to have one HOT summer!!!

 As for May and wins, I am super super grateful for all of the mommy blog wins, and new mommy products that I will get to review. I have a few on the way to my Mom's house now, as well as a couple that I recently received.

 From the fabulous blog at Blisstree, I won a cute brown Chicobag recycled carry bag and coupons for two free cartons of Silk Pure Almond Milk. YUM! I drink Soy milk, but I am so excited to try Almond milk, I have heard such great things about the silkiness, flavor and taste. I will let you know how it tastes after my next visit to the grocery.

From Facebook, I won some delicious, rich coffee from Vampire.com. for being a fan! I love all things Vampire, and their site has wine, coffee, chocolate and original products for sale. I had no idea how great the Brazil Ipanema Dulce coffee would be. I am a bit of a coffee snob, and since I am only drinking one cup of coffee a day during my pregnancy, I am pretty picky! Delish! I highly recommend Vampire coffee, and the packaging is cute too!! 

 Also from Facebook, on May 24th  on the Conair Facebook page, I won am amazing Conair straightener. It is the : Infiniti Nano Silver by Conair High Temperature Ionic Steam Straightener! And, if that sounds fancy, that is because it is! It is super fancy and beats the pants off of my mini straightener that I have been using for my bangs.  I packed it up with my hair items for the move, but I will blog photos the next time I use it.  YAY!!


I have more to blog about, but am waiting until I can take photos!! 

Now it is off to pack more, and have dinner! Have a fabulous holiday weekend
XO,

Calm Birth, Aden and Anais and a whole bunch of baby clothes....

   Last night was my final Calm Birth class with fabulous doula, artist and erudite woman around town, Mavis Gewant. I feel so much more in control of this birth now, have the strength and knowledge to get through the contractions and breathe through any (bad word), pain.  Calm Birth is a cd led meditation that I will be listening to daily and practicing as much as possible until Ana's birth. It is beautiful, calm and peaceful and I am so lucky that it exists. Sitting comfortably in a chair, on the bed or a couch, you keep your eyes softly open and follow the guidance of a dreamy, feminine narration that takes you through visualizations and peaceful self recognition of your connection to your baby , and the women around you. It is a three part program, and if I can follow and practice, so can you. I let my mind focus on the objects, words and Ana and all of my thoughts of the day, worries, and fears disappear. It really works.  I will be using it during the birth, and letting you all know how wonderful it was to keep the physical stress level low.

  Recently, I received a fabulous package of baby items from Aden and Anais to test for the Gloss Influencers program. The package included Dribble baby bibs with baby animals, a beautiful soft swaddle wrap in Brilliant Blue, and a copy of the book:  Swaddle Love. I loooove these products. The Aden and Anais cotton muslin is soooo super soft, I cannot wait to swaddle Ana, and take lots of photos of her all swaddled up. The book comes with adorable photos and teaches proper swaddling technique so I can learn how to do it properly. I can't wait to use these all. Thanks MyGloss!!

  Yesterday, in between my doctor's check-up (my allergies are in check) and my Calm Birth Class in New Paltz, I stopped by a fellow free-cycler's house to pick-up a few gently used and new baby items. Well, lo and behold, 5 bags later, I am going through the onesies, booties, hats and tees today.... Baby Ana already has a sizable closet of mostly 6-12 months, and now will have a lot of 0-6 onesies and cute lil outfits! When I am finished with them, I will be free-cycling to a lucky mommy to be too!!

Today is a lazy around the house kind of day, packing, organizing , daydreaming, meditating and enjoying the sunshine.

  Stay Well,

Infant CPR class, a carnival & more wins!! Welcome Week 30!!

   This was a fun filled, informative weekend!  Saturday we headed up to Northern Dutchess Hospital:Neugarten Center, (where I am giving birth),  for an infant and child CPR class.  I have the attitude that knowledge is power, and you can't know too much in dealing with babies and kiddies. I feel better knowing how to act in case of choking, and finding a baby  or child not breathing. It is scary to think about, but better to know what to do. I do not think I will leave Ana in the care of anyone until they prove they know how to administer CPR, whether I have to teach them or not! Interested in taking a class yourself?? There is some info here: Babycenter Infant and Child CPR info.  


    Saturday night, we headed over to a local Carnival/Fair for food, fun and fireworks.  It reminded me of the Heroes carnival without the house of mirrors or cool attractions. It was probably my last carnival childless. We stayed for the fireworks, (I loooove fireworks) and then headed home to rest.  I definitely get tired faster these days, and expect the last 10 weeks to be a bit slower for me.


 I want to tell you about a few more wins, and some new products , which I will feature in my next blog posting. May was such a lucky month for me. I entered a Babies tickets contest on facebook from :Big City Moms and ended up winning the Grand Prize of a MacLaren Stroller and 2 tickets to see the movie Babies.  I still have not chosen which stroller yet, but will let you know when I do :) 

Also, won a really cool colorful Covergirl smoky eye kit from the cool makeup blog: 
Beauty Girl Musings.

I have already experimented with some of the colors, and they look hot!! Check out Monique's blog for amazing beauty advice, new products and giveaways!!

I am heading back upstairs to continue packing in a few minutes, stay well and enjoy your Sunday. I cannot wait for LOST tonight!! What will happen??

XO,

Beautiful sunshiney day and More May Wins!!!

  I am loving these beautiful,clear May days! The sun is shining, the grass is a super cool green, and my mint and raspberry bushes are blooming away.  I cannot wait to own more land, and have a really big garden with veggies and herbs. :)

  The weekend should be pretty busy, so I am enjoying a lazy Friday, catching up on some packing, and watching the last of my recorded shows on the Tivo. I am almost done with Heroes, all caught up with Lost, have a few more CSI's, and some random Datelines and forensic shows. I am sure I will be all caught up by the time Ana arrives, in just over 10 weeks.

  Speaking of Ana, I won the coolest assortment of baby items through another cool blog: Galtime called the : 'Bonanza of Booty for The New Mom'. Included in the goodies was an amazing diaper bag which I already received, the :Storksak Kate Retro Dot Red.  It is really roomy, has amazing pockets inside, and is a nice bright color. I love it!! I can't wait until the rest of the goodies show up, and hope they make it before we move!

  Also the first week of May, I won a $50 gift-card to Old Navy from the fabulously fit: Trainer Momma blog. Mandi is a fit and trim mom who offers fabulous advice on diet, exercise and staying fit while living a busy life. She also has great giveaways, and I received this card super quick. Check out her fab blog!!

I have some other fab contest wins to tell you all about (including a McLaren stoller), a new Ambassador program from Dove, and some other great BZZ agent Buzzes.  I am also in the throes of testing some new products for various testing programs, but I am sworn to secrecy, wink!

 Have a fab Friday night, and a great weekend. Enjoy the sun, and stay healthy,

More fab wins, and a very healthy week!!

  I am feeling very healthy this week. Could be that the warm, mild spring weather is agreeing with me, could be that I am feeling very pregnant and connected with Ana!  She is such a little mover and shaker already. She kicks, punches, and moves around constantly, and I love feeling her move through my tummy! I cannot wait to see her in the flesh and kiss her, sniff her, and know what her face will look like. Will she have blue eyes like her daddy? Green eyes like her mommy? Curly hair? Wavy dark hair? Will she be teeny tiny, or healthy and chubby? Easily, I can say I am impatient to find out. How do women do this over and over with all the waiting??

Anywho, I have some great blogs and prizes to tell you about. I have been a busy girl, signing up for new blogs, and finding great mommy sites to join.

   First, let me tell you about the I-pad that I won.  I could not believe it, I won after entering one contest. It was through a facebook contest, sponsored by Six Seeds.  I entered for myself and also sent it out to a few friends.  Lo and behold, three of my friends won an I-pod Touch. I love this site, and read it regularly. Check them out for great family oriented articles, reviews, news, etc. They were a fabulous sponsor, and have made me a very happy techie girl.  I have downloaded some cool apps to the Ipad, but have not realized its full potential yet! I am sure I will, especially during my hospital stay or traveling.

   I also recently won the Bradley Bayou contest at Couture in the City, a cool fashion blog/site!  The prize: $150 worth of fashion merchandise from the BB collection at QVC.  This was a surprise win, as I was not sure what would be sent. Well, I just received my prize, and it is pretty cool.  A soft, black leather jacket with zipper details found at QVC here: QVC Bradley Bayou Leather Jacket.

 A really fabulous and much needed recent win:  From Ascending Butterfly, a really cool blog: Teal Butterfly Fleurville Lexie Diaper Bag Tote !! I pretty and colorful diaper bag that will be perfect for Ana!! It is from Layla Grace, which is one of my fave sites :)

It is sooo nice inside. And  will hold all the essentials! Soon, I will know what those essentials should be, lol.

More wins coming soon.  I will be posting for the next few days.... Stay healthy and have fun in the sun,

Some recent fabulous wins....

  Those who know me, know that I used to be a sweepstakes and contests addict.  Well, I took a year or so off from entering, but recently the contest bug hit me again. Taking time off from working to have a baby, and spending more time on the internet led me to some great contests, and I have won a few.  I would love to use this blog to publicly thank the sponsors, and let you know that real people DO win great things.  I only enter for prizes that I truly love and will use, and from blogs that I love read as well as sponsors who offer fabulous products!!

 The first is a fabulous King Cake to use with my book club while we read : The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, by Rebecca Wells! I have decided to have the meeting on June 5th, and am excited to get a new book club going for the new house/move. I won the cake from: The Book Club Girl.  She has a fab blog, with lots of info on great books for your club.

 On May 4th, I won a copy of  Something about You, by Julie James from Fresh Fiction.  I received my copy, and it will be a fun book to read in my last couple months of pregnancy this summer. Light, fresh and fun.

  The third contest that I am going to tell you about (though there are more this month) is a really cool one from Subu Rose. Emily makes homemade books and every Wednesday has a really cool contest, where you come up with a word to express how you are feeling.  My winning word was preggers, and Emily sent me a really cool pink empty journal to write my baby feelings in.  It was printed with the word preggers on the outside, and was really adorable.  I cannot wait to start writing in it.  If you want to buy your own, check out her etsy shop:  Subu on Etsy.

There are some other fab wins including baby stuff and an ipad (wow)...so look for my next post soon!! Have a fabulous winning day,

Feeling great at Week 29.

I cannot believe that I am already 29 weeks into my pregnancy. It seems like time flew by, and I am in my third trimester and counting down the weeks! D and I went to our OB/GYN appointment today, and Anastasia is growing steadily and is super healthy as well as has a strong heartbeat. I cannot wait to see her little face, and kiss her toes and fingers.

D and I finished our birthing class, though I am also taking a Calm Birth class in New Paltz. Plus we are taking infant and child CPR, and a Childcare class as well as Breastfeeding.

As for our house situation, everything is moving ahead. We applied for the mortgage, and had our appraisal, we are just waiting to hear from our bank on the approval. This week or next week, we should know the status of our buyers, and hopefully (fingers crossed), be able to set the closing date.

I had really fabulous mail week with a few fabulous wins, some products to test and review and even our first baby gift!! My next few blogs will be about the cool products I was sent to review and the fabulous baby stuff that I cannot wait to use with Ana, my dear sweet baby girl.

All else is right in the world, I wish you a fabulous and healthy week,