Staying Home Sawyer

Real Life Living on a Real Life Budget

DIY

Delivery Nurse Thank You Bags

Two years ago I did this thing: I had a baby. Before that, I was so put together. I even put these gift bags together for the nurses that would help deliver my baby girl. And then she came, and that was about the end of being put together.

So here I am now, finally sharing my little project for your viewing pleasure. I mean, if this is your first baby, you definitely have time to make these. And if you think you don’t have time now, just you wait girlfriend.

I wanted to put together little treat bags, and if I was being honest with myself I would have filled them with straight bottles of vodka. Because after dealing with laboring women all day, what else does someone want? Going into it, I knew that I wasn’t going to be easy, so if I had a million dollars I would have given them much more. But alas, a little treat bag must work.

I made eight bags total (I had zero idea what to expect, how many nurses I’d see, etc), and turns out I could have made even more. After we originally forgot them all at home in the trenches of labor (I mean, I’m not that nice that I’m thinking of others while giving birth), once I got the epidural I realized they were left behind and sent my husband home to retrieve them. If you’re thinking I’m crazy, relax. We live less than one block from the hospital. Besides, every second away from me was probably a blessing.

The nurses really seemed to appreciate these little tokens of appreciation (although who knows if they even ate them after dealing with me). But either way, I’m glad I did something for these women who did so much for us. I could get all emotional just thinking of that day and everything they did for us. So do your nurses a favor too: treat them to something sweet.

You can download the tag, in purple outline here, or in mint outline here.

Lifestyle, Products I Love

The Car Seat Change

So I don’t like to admit when I make a mistake, I mean, what woman does? But being the frugal woman that I am, I can’t imagine keeping this a secret.

When I was newly pregnant and had to create a registry, I was clueless.  I had no idea what I needed to register for, or what I would need for this stage called motherhood. I enlisted the help of my friend Aimee (who already had two babes) to do my registry for me. And that was that.

Fast forward a few months. I already went through the infant car seat and was looking forward to switching to the next stage. We had registered for one already, and we had one for one of our two cars. But when we were approached by Diono to use one of their car seats, we jumped at the chance. We needed two of this stage car seat anyway right?!

Sooo….Here’s where I admit I made the mistake. I didn’t look enough into carseats before I bought one. Or two. I put the infant car seat on my registry, along with the toddler one (which by the way is uber expensive), and never really thought twice. Turns out, I didn’t ever need BOTH car seats. Did you know that Diono car seats are able to be used from birth until they grow out of them? I mean, for you thrifty people like me, why would we buy two car seats when we only NEED to buy one?

So I switched Sawyer from her infant carrier to the Diono Radian 3RXT carrier around age one. She literally could not have been happier. She has more freedom to move (she was scrunched in her infant carrier) and she loves the better angle. Don’t get me wrong, I still think once I can turn this thing around we will have much better car rides, but for now this is the best we can get!

I’m kind of upset that as a frugal mama I didn’t realize earlier that I only needed one car seat. The amount of money I could have saved is embarrassing. I urge you all to look into the Diono car seats before you purchase two car seats, or put them on your registry. You don’t NEED to buy two stages! It’s such a lifesaver (not to mention it’s a money-saver too).

Lifestyle

The Days Go On…

There was a time when I hated that phrase, “you don’t get it, you’re not a parent.” I hated it because I didn’t appreciate the thought that I couldn’t comprehend something. But the truth is, I couldn’t comprehend something. I couldn’t comprehend what being a parent meant. It’s just different, your whole world is different. And that doesn’t mean you’re less of a human because you aren’t a parent, it just means you can’t understand the feeling until you are.

It’s different, this world. It’s something I never thought I’d be experiencing, but here I am. I still think what life would be like without that little brat running through our lives, screaming and crying at us for no reason. And the truth is, it would be fine. Life would be fine without her. But it would never be THIS great. It would never be this amazing.

My husband often asks me if I’m still loving staying home with her.

There will be a particularly hard day with her, and he’ll say “do you still love staying home with her?” The truth is, I can’t imagine my life any other way. I’ve never felt such a calling. I could cry just thinking about going back to work. I know this is what I was made for. I was made to be Sawyer Rae’s mom. I was made to make sure she is the best human she can be. I was made to ensure that she lives the best life she can live.

It makes a lot of sense to me now, looking back. I never got a degree in anything that made me feel important. I never really felt a purpose in life. And then we had Sawyer. And suddenly, everything just sort of fell into place. She was my person. The person I was meant to provide for, to love, to protect. She makes me so happy, I can’t imagine a life before her, or without her.

She is the happiest part of every day. She is the smile in my sunshine and the rainbow in my rain. She is mine.