Favorite Etsy Shops?

**First, thank you for the many suggestions on "self-feeding" techniques that some of you use! I REALLY appreciate it and never thought of some of the cool ideas! MUCH appreciated!!**

Do you have your favorite Etsy "top shops" that are your go-to when wanting to order something cute?

I sure do! Some of my true favorites are:

1. Sweetteaandpickles: Actually , it's where I have ordered the girls Winter ONEderland Snowbabies themed birthday party stuff! I think every year I will order birthday stuff from this sweet woman who live so close to us and is so talented! I just love her work!
2. AddieKat Boutique: I have ordered "Big Sister" shirts for the girls when our new Little Miss makes her arrival!
3. AlexanderCreative: Hoping to get out wedding vows, since we wrote them ourselves, on an art print, LOVE THESE!
I also want to order some shirts that say "My Mommy Believes in Miracles" for the girls, a crochet baby girl hat, booties and diaper for newborn photos of Little Miss, Christmas stockings that are unique for our family, some special Christmas/Birthday keepsakes for the girls and a few other items!

Any suggestions?

I would love to hear which ones you love! Please tell me your top shops!!

**And, I PROMISE, my 24-26 week pregnancy update is coming this evening! I had an appointment with a sonogram scheduled for last week and was waiting to add photos of Little Miss then, but it was cancelled due to my OB getting sick, and was re-scheduled for today, so after the appointment, I promise to write an update on the past three weeks..I know, I'm terrible keeping updated at this pregnancy!!!**

Our 2nd Anniversary ReCap!

Our anniversary was wonderful! It was a quiet day at home but filled with lots of love.

 We cannot believe that last year we were praying for a baby and this year our house is full of babies! Looking around our house, we couldn't have been more blessed! Our prayers for a family were answered and our love for one another has grown so much!

When Tim got home from work I couldn't wait for him to give me my gift...since he had been talking about it for two weeks and driving me crazy! I thought I knew what it was but I was so wrong...it was even better than I expected.

We opened cards and gifts and then just had one of our favorite homemade dinners, pot-roast. I must say, it is always a wonderful meal and it's one of Tim's favorite.

My wonderful hubby got me a beautiful diamond bracelet and diamond (right-hand) ring! I was speechless! I had no idea and boy did he do good! He is such a sweet man and I am so lucky!

Of course, my gift to him was a little more predictable...golf. His favorite activity in the summertime!

Looking forward to many, many years to come with my one and only love and our growing family!

My 3rd Baby Shower!

On Saturday I had my final and last baby shower, thank goodness I could make it. My MIL threw it at her house and it was nice to see everyone from Tim's side of the family. I love his family and I think I see them more than I see my own extended family. So it was just a small shower with family and a few close friends.

We had some really great food and Tim's Aunt Terry made our beautiful cake, unfortunately though my camera was acting up and would not self focus...I later realized it was because of the low battery..whoops! So we only have a very blurry photo of it, but it said "Welcome Babies" in purple and green!

We got some cute gifts, which included hair barrettes, socks, clothes, onesies, burp cloths, swaddle-me's, breast pump with hundred accessories and one of our cribs! Tammy, my MIL, bought us one and my parent's just bought us one also, so we now will have two...and hopefully soon! I cannot wait until they come in and Tim can start putting them together! We aren't going to worry about the other one for awhile. The girls will be in their pack-n-play for awhile, and then we'll move them to one big crib and then maybe do two in one, and one in the other for awhile. We'll just have to wait and see, but we are so blessed not to have had to buy all three.  Also, Tim's sister, Megan sent us the single and double snap-n-go strollers this week, since she lives in NM and couldn't be here for the shower.

This is Tim's Aunt's (minus one, who lives in FL), his Nana and me (my MIL is next to me in the pretty sweater).

We still have a lot to get though...bumpers, mobiles, a glider, a diaper pail, a monitor....and so much more! I used a few gift cards for a few other things, but with three babies, it's amazing how fast that money goes! None the less, we are so appreciative!

It was a great shower! And we are so thankful for all the wonderful gifts!

Tooshie Roll!

There's an awesome country store in our town that sells vintage and country crafts, (nothing cheesy) and one of mine and Tim's old teachers works there. She taught psychology in high school but no longer teaches. She is still as sweet as ever and I love going to see her when I need a cute gift.

Last weekend when my parents and I had a yard sale, my mom wanted to donate a bunch of old silver that didn't sell to the store so I tagged along, because I thought she would die when she found out I was pregnant with triplets. (She almost died when she found out that Tim and I got married...because she knew both of us in high school and was shocked that we had found one another years later without knowing one another and being so far opposites, plus since Tim's mom was the school nurse, she knows his mom too.)

So I went into the store and she almost fell to the floor. She couldn't stop hugging me and when I finally could get out that we were having triplet girls, she really almost died. It was so funny! I just loved it though.

As I was walking around the store, which I could probably take one of everything, while my mom and her discussed the silver, she made me up a gift bag with the cutest things! She gave me three pink bear bibs and this awesome "Tooshie Roll"...which is a changing pad that rolls up and ties with a ribbon and is waterproof and all!! I absolutely LOVE it! SO freakin' cute! It's from a store in DC called, A Little Anna Faith: Sweet Gifts Without the Calories! They have some of the cutest baby gifts...and so unique!!



This is what it looked like all wrapped up!

 

And this was the design of the changing pad...pink paisley!



"Babies Shower" Dates Set!

Last week my mom came to me and told me about my shower that is going to be in Dover, Delaware on Saturday, October 23, 2010! I am so excited! I HATE surprises so I am very thankful to those who were on my side pushing for it NOT to be a surprise! I am so thankful to those who want to make it special for me and these little peanuts!

It will be so nice to be with family whom I don't get to see very often throughout the year and it will give my other relatives who live even more north, in New Jersey and New York a chance to join in the fun!! SO happy for that! I'm so sure it will be a time to remember!! My only wonder is how we are going to get things home, even in my parent's Tahoe, after seeing all the big boxes of some of the things we registered for! So, I am hoping people send things to the house, even though that is far less fun then opening at the shower, I don't want to be strapping things to the roof, haha!

Also, the following weekend, Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 2pm, my best friend is throwing me a shower at my house for all of my friends (and a few relatives too) who live in the area and can't make the Dover, DE shower (because honestly, I didn't think it was fair to have a shower in Dover, when all my friends and majority other family members live here, so she is more than happy to have one here...I LOVE YOU KIM!!!!) That was the invite that I showed a few days ago...I just couldn't stand not sharing it, I love it so much!! I am so excited to have a shower with all my friends in my house (I love hosting parties) with lots of yummy fall food and spiced cider! I LOVE FALL!

I already have a list of things to get done in the house before October 30th! But with the "bed rest" looming, I am trying the get things done before that begins! Wish me luck!

Registries!!!!

We have been wanting to start our registries for some time now...we have decided to register at two places because of out-of-town guests, cheaper prices at certain stores and just the logistics of all the stuff we need, I thought it would be easier. But we were waiting to find out the sexes to really get started, even though  have been looking at baby gear and baby stuff for as long as I can remember...I guess ever since I stopped looking at wedding stuff (after the wedding).

So, we have decided to register at Target and Babies R Us!

Some things were clearly cheaper at Target so we registered for those things there, but Target didn't have everything I wanted so we had to do two stores. I really hate that I can't touch and feel things and pick it up and look at it, shopping/registering online, which Target doesn't have much baby supplies and stuff in the store, so it sucks to pick out things online (and not to mention boring and no fun what-so-ever). I guess if I was just having one baby, maybe, but let's be honest I need to look inside a diaper bag, look at compartments and see the sizes, see if it's big enough to pack for three babies...ya know things like that!

So Tim was less then thrilled to go to BuyBuy Baby, Great Beginnings, Babies R Us and Target (we hadn't decided at the time where to register, other than Target) but he sucked it up and got into it, just like when we registered for the wedding. He LOVED registering for the wedding gifts and this baby stuff just intimidated him a little but he really got into it!

Babies R Us was packed with new parents with their little bundles of joy and pregnant mom's to be with not-so-excited hubby's following along. I bet some of the people watching me scan 10 of things (like bottles, nipples, diaper packages, bibs) were thinking, what is that woman doing...but hey, I AM HAVING TRIPLETS! We registered for so many things and hadn't finished yet when our scanner said "registry full"...LOL, so they had to upload it and we begun again loading it up!

I am glad to say that we finally finished it and kept it as budget friendly as possible, because I am always looking for good deals and ways to save, even if other's will be buying some of these things...I want people to get a good deal and know that I spent a lot of time researching where things were the cheapest! For example, the car seats that we have decided on for the girls are $114.00 dollars at Babies R Us and $80.99 at Target! Umm, hello! Also, the snap-and-go strollers were almost $15.00 dollars a piece MORE at Babies R Us than at Target!

I did a little research about some things, but to be honest, everyone has a "favorite" bottle, binki, nipple, breast pump, car seat, and frankly, something works for everyone, so I didn't feel it was necessary to have the best of the best, but more what works for us, our babies and what I have seen work for the families that I have nannied and babysat. I don't need Dr. Brown's bottles, a $250.00 dollar infant car seat or a $500 dollar crib...just all unnecessary in my eyes! I wouldn't have considered these things even if we were just having one baby. It just isn't me!

It's really difficult because we need to put all the babies in one room and even though the room looks big empty, when we started measuring for the super over-sized cribs, things got tight, quick!! I was worried, and still am that everything isn't going to fit, but we have come up with some good ideas to fit everything (which will be discussed in the Nursery part-one post...coming soon). So originally the cribs I wanted, would just barely fit but logistically if we wanted to turn the cribs (long-ways out), we wouldn't have been able to (see below to understand) so we changed the cribs to another, but there is one that is cute too and it's 3.5 inches shorter in lenght..and cheaper, so we'll go with that one! I didn't care for the crib too much plain, but there was a photo of it all decorated in a nursery and it was super cute!

Also, I did not want the cheesy themed bedroom set...ya know the ones that come in a big bag...just not me. I like simple and elegant, so even though I have picked lilac and light blue for the bumpers and the walls, the bumpers might change...just don't know at this point.

This is the one I originally wanted:

Or this one:

But, here are some of the things we registered for:

The cribs will be this:

Madelynn and Claire's car seats (which I hate pink, but there are NO purple ones made by Graco, oh well):

Jackson's car seat:

High chairs (conserving space):

The pack-n-play:

The swings (2):

Glider (not super happy with this but oh well):

Bathtub:

Bumpers:

Strollers:

My First Baby Gift!

Last night I went to babysit a family that I have become closer with over the past few months; they have three beautiful children. When I first walked in, the oldest son, who is 5, said, "I will be careful with you," as he put his hand on my belly. Sooo sweet!

Then the other little boy says, "we have something for you," and runs away. He brings back this little outfit that I almost melted at, and says, "this is for your babies".

I was so touched! My first real/new baby gift! It was so nice of them! I will not get used to people just buying me things, however, it is so wonderful and I am so grateful!

Let's hope there's a girl in there somewhere!!!

Tim was asleep when I came home so I cannot wait to show him this little newborn outfit when he gets home today! It's crazy to think but our babies probably won't even fit into newborn clothing when they are born, preemie is more likely going to be what they are wearing for the first few weeks, since they will be so small.

On another note, and someone doing something so nice for me...I joined the Montgomery County Parents of Multiples, which has sooo many services and resources for parents, it's such a lifesaver and I haven't even begun! A bunch of other Moms Of Multiples (MOMS) recommended a book about triplets that I wasn't able to find anywhere so on the "Lender Library" through MOM's I asked if I could borrow it and not only did the lady say yes, she insisted in bringing it to my house, even after assuring her I could pick it up. She wouldn't listen, and said this is what she does as being in charge of the Lender Library! Ok, then! Sooo nice, again!

I think I could get used to all this, but of course thanking God everyday for his strenght, wisdom, guidance, love, support to help me carry these babies day after day. I couldn't do it without my love for God. I trust him and he knows my needs. These small tokens are so appreciated and just reassure me that God is listening to my every need.