TweeterMum

iPhone survives childhood

As I have mentioned earlier (‘Mummy loves iPhone’ April 17th, 2009), my iPhone has great applications for my son. It is always a great distraction when I need it also. My son loves to dance to Jared , listen to Lily and Stella  story, and play with bubbles but he loves to put my phone in his mouth, drool on it, hit my phone against things and with things and various other methods of abuse.  I have bought various accessories to save my phone from myself and my son. Some have proven to be iphone saving accessories. My husband found a great phone case for me. It is a hard shell but it feels soft and rubberized. It has a screen cover on it and a slide-on back so it keeps my phone as dry as possible, as enclosed as possible, and pretty safe from my sons ‘drumming lessons’. The case is best at keeping my screen clean from grubby little hands. Munchkin is not allowed to play with my phone unless it has some kind of case on it.

My biggest fear happened more recently when my son decided to include my phone in his percussion playing with the metal weights from our vertical blinds. I managed to get the phone away from him almost immediately but not before he left several gashes or dents in the screen. I was so upset when I first saw the marks / dents because I did not know how we were going to find the money to fix or replace the phone. Upon further investigation, I realized that ALL of the impact from the metal weights were absorbed by my screen protector that I had convinced my husband was a good purchase even though I was not entirely sure myself – but it was cheap enough and thought it may extend the life of my screen. I am so pleased with that decision now I can not even begin to tell you.

Would love to hear what accessories and applications you find useful with your family.

Mothers Day

It has been longer than intended since my last post. I was working on a post for affordable mothers day gifts and ideas but got so caught up researching ideas and trying to find something for my own mother and mother-in-law that was not able to write. I did get to enjoy some great time with my son. As he starts getting more ‘2′, he is an increasing challenge. The last few days have been so utterly delightful though, that I miss him when he sleeps. We have been at the pool, the park, the water park and the mall. The more he gets to run and tire himself out – the better he is. He gets so frustrated and combative at home and then starts to test boundaries and limits. I am talking all over the place and what I really wanted to post was about … what I ended up doing for mothers day. 

I added a web page to my mothers site and called it ‘Mothers Day Video’ and I made a video of pictures of every month of Calebs life from birth to present. I added titles and loaded the video to the web page. I took a screen shot of the web page and turned that into an email – mothers day card. 

I also found inexpensive digital photo album key chains at Tuesday Morning – I added all of the photos that I had that I thought my  mother would like. Unfortunately – the photo album is not working and I will have to take it back and exchange it for another one. 

Mothers Day for two mums for less than $40.

Free Family Things To Do (Boca)

I have been looking for things to do on the weekends. Sometimes I think that there is nothing to do and when I think of something, we can not afford it. The reality is, I usually forget things that we can do that are free or very cheap. I decided to compile a list of things that I new about – so that when I was looking for something to do – I could just read the list. I decided to share my list here so that other families can find free / cheap activities about town. Please feel free to contact me for more details on any of these places.

Sugar Sand Park

Gumbo Limbo

Public Library

Catherine Strong Splash Park

Chuck E Cheese

Playmobil

Beach

Pool

Bank Of America ‘Museums On Us‘ 

I would love to hear more suggestions of places that are free or cheap for the family.

Why do I need a website?

I love to scrapbook. I have three that I had made for weddings, parties and things I wanted to remember in my life. I am finding that as I get older, as my priorities change and I get busier – there is not always time to scrapbook. I have a difficult time keeping my scrapbooking supplies in order and finding places to store them and I have noticed that the supplies that I want to use are somewhat costly. 

When I got married, my husband bought me a new scrapbook to start recording our family events and memories in. A year later it was still empty and in various places around the house were objects that I planned to eventually put in the scrapbook. My husband had build a website with all our wedding pictures and that was a huge hit. All my friends and family that were not able to attend were able to go online and see all the pictures and all the people that did attend could not only view the pictures, but download the ones that they wanted. 

When my son was born, my husband build a site for him. He included Calebs ultrasound pictures, videos, and birth information. We both have family that lives far away – and they can also check in on Caleb by going to his website. 

Since that time – I have taken over my sons website and redone it. It was so much fun. He has his photo albums, videos, thank you’s, birthday invitations, a blog that keeps people up to date on his likes, dislikes, and general development. My grandmother in England and other family there have never met him – but they can see him growing and learning all the time on his site.

The site has been so much easier for me to manage – a great way for me to scrapbook all the wonderful memories and events without trying to find time, money and storage. This is definitely a cheaper and easier alternative to scrapbooking. Not to mention online scrapbooking has less negative impact on the environment. There is no paper being used, no photos need to be printed, no waste or mess.

Let me know if you are interested in building an online scrapbook for yourself or your children.

Calebs Party Invitations

I am a very happy mummy right now. I am managed to save money and I did not even use Geico. I sent out email invitations. 

They included an image of Curious George saying ‘Your Invited’ and then hyperlinks to his online invitation. I also included links to an interactive google map to the park and a map of the park to find the pavilion we rented. I made the actual invitation as a page in Calebs website. The invitation also contains the links to the two maps and a link to RSVP to my email. This is so much cheaper then making and printing the invites myself – I save money and save trees and ink. Yeah – smaller carbon footprint. 

I am very happy with the final product - 

After my email campaign I realize that I do have to print at least two cards, possibly four. One for Calebs great grandmother in Texas and one for the scrapbook. I already own the card stock because I make all my own cards. The rest is simple – I will use the Your invited image as the front of the card (printed in landscape) and use the online invite as the center of the card.

Curious Calebs Party is ON!!!!!

Exodus Oils

Please check out my blog at www.blog.exodusoils.com and my site www.exodusoils.com to learn more about aromatherapy for household and health. I have learnt about great alternatives to chemicals for pest control, laundry, toiletries, cleaning supplies and mostly healthcare. I have used natural., therapeutic grade oils on my sons umbilical hernia, use them when he has colds or upset tummies and I personal think they are a much healthier alternative to medications and dangerous chemicals. They are also safer for the environment.

Mummy loves iPhone

I love my iPhone. I am not a person to stay interested her gadgets for more than a month. I am not a person to love a cell phone or a computer. My iPhone does not compare to any other thing I have bought or owned in the past. I love that my iPhone grows to fit my needs – with all the different applications available – I have a new gadget at the touch of a button. As a mother, this is the most amazing invention ever. I can read my email, text my friends, use the internet, check the weather, check my bank balances, check upcoming birthdays and anniversaries, read the bible in a year, play games, check my spelling, blog, twitter, facebook, myspace, and much, much, much more without leaving my sons side (and most of the time without him noticing). What is even more amazing are the applications that my sons loves so much. Since my son was about 7 months old – he has also been an iPhone fan. He loves the bubbles applications, rain stick, kaledidolite, moo, iwaterfall, imaracas, my favorite flash cards, and his favorite Jared. There is now an application LilyandStella which is a illustrated story with words and an option for narration. My son thinks this is the greatest thing ever. Forget playing with mummy’s keys – when you can play with mummy’s iphone.

Potty Training

I have realized that it is time to potty train my son. I have the child and I have the potty – now what do I do? I am not sure how to get my son to understand that his potty is not a toy or just a seat and introduce to him the concept of this is now where he is meant to go to the bathroom. So far, in the two short days that I have been trying – I have felt like my son is more like a new puppy because I am spending more time running around cleaning messes up off of the floor. This can not be right? Is potty training meant to be the event that causes the carpet to be replaced? I know I am doing something wrong – but I am  not sure what I am doing wrong or what to do right? Please help me potty train my new puppy – I mean son.

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog. I am planning my sons 2nd birthday party and we have a very small budget. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions that could help. I am offering a competition for the best advice and will give the winner a free three page website from Trevaco’s websites and online scrapbooks. Click the Trevaco link to view sites. www.trevaco.com The party will be outside at Sugar Sand Park and will have a Curious George theme. I welcome as many suggestions as possible including any suggestions for cakes, decorations and food to feed my guests. Please help…..