Patio Progress: What Day Are We On??

Well...I can't say I wasn't warned. Everyone told me that our landscaping guy's "guarantee" to be finished in a week or less wouldn't hold up, but I assured them they were wrong about our guy. Our guy was different. Our guy would finish on time. We had used him before, and everything had gone so smoothly, so there was no way our guy would be like the rest. Definitely eating those words now.

Here are a few recent pictures:

We are currently on day EIGHT of the project. Yes..day eight (day nine if you count last Sunday when they didn't work, but actually only day six-and-a-half if you count the last three days they haven't shown up until noon). But who's counting, right? Oh right, I AM! Because every extra day tacked on means:

1. An extra day of having to wrestle Trent (and myself) into the BabyBjorn, wrestle Bevo into his harness and actually walk around the block five times since the backyard is off limits. Picking up dog poop is REAL fun with a baby strapped to you...especially a baby that is in the "grab everything within reach" phase. Awesome.

2. An extra day of being that annoying neighbor that wakes everyone up at the crack of dawn  probably doesn't actually disrupt anyone's day since her workers don't show up until noon...but has to listen to the ear-piercing sawing of flagstone for hours on end.

3. An extra day of not being able to USE the patio and enjoy the awesome weather we have been having lately. Today Lupe told us he would be done tomorrow afternoon. Weather forecast for tomorrow evening: a 30 degree drop. Figures.

BUT in spite of everything we are still making the best of it. We have been sitting outside every evening to eat dinner and in the mornings for coffee. The giant mound of wet cement/grout/whatever right in the middle really adds to the ambiance, as does the face full of dust you get with every breeze. Seriously though...even with the back yard an absolute WRECK, we have still enjoyed being out there. I can't even imagine how much better it is going to be all cleaned up and decked out!

Speaking of....we spent the better part of Sunday shopping for all the patio fixin's (and of course ended up getting pretty much everything back at the first place we had been). It is incredible how expensive outdoor furniture can be, and it seems like the quality of the pricier stuff isn't any higher than the cheaper stuff. We looked for bargains, used coupons and even negotiated with the manager at World Market to get a 15% off discount on our ENTIRE purchase (even after coupons and sale pricing). All in all, we are happy with our picks and now have a little extra room for plants and other finishing touches (booze and Sun Chips). Here is some of what we came home with:


This dining table and chairs..with striped cushions. It was on major sale, plus we talked the guy into a 15% discount..so it was a steal for sure.

This love seat and chair with rust/orange slip covers and coordinating chevron back cushions/pillows. This is the only part of what we got that I am not totally sold on. I really wanted the more modular/sectional style outdoor couches (like at Crate & Barrel, for example), but we didn't really feel like taking out a second mortgage on the house. Plus it was Sunday, and the banks were closed. So hopefully this set works out okay..

I will have to wait and share the rest, including all the fun little accessories and outdoor dining/drinkware next time! It has been a few hours since I last looked out the window, and I don't know how much longer I can wait. Also...my bag of Sun Chips is empty. Also..it is 4:30pm. Too early for a drink? Trent is battling his first little virus, and I think we could all use a nap, or a drink, or both. Can't wait to update you with the finished patio shortly..tomorrow...or the next day..or...who knows? Sigh.

Patio Progress: Days Three & Four

So sorry to be late with this, but I have been debating whether or not to keep posting the daily progress reports. It is getting to the point in the job where things are really taking shape, and I think I would rather do a grand unveiling at the end! Patience, anyone? Here is a sneak preview of the progress from days three and four. We are thinking they will be done by Sunday...just in time for a late weekend grill out to break it in. Hurry up, weekend!! Get here already!!!

In the meantime I have been browsing the stores aisles (real and virtual) for patio furniture, accessories and of course some summer-appropriate outdoor barware! Can't wait to share my finds! I may have to cave and post early! But for now...a little prosecco and some paper garlands. Night!

Patio Progress: Day Two

It was an eventful day in the Denny "back garden" (back yard for all us 'mericans). As I mentioned, the crew was here before 8am again and got straight to work. I told myself I wasn't going to check on the progress 87,000 times today like yesterday (spying from the upstairs window doesn't count), and so I held out for about an hour before taking a look. They had already poured and spread all the concrete! What?? How did I miss that, and how did they do it so freaking fast??

At the end of day two this is where we stand: 

 

 

There you have it. Concrete poured and flowerbed stone mostly done, apart from the back walls of each bed.  The weather was cool and misty today which made me totally nervous that they weren't going to be able to do the concrete, but the storms missed us and the cooler weather was much nicer for the guys to work in...so it was a win-win! Plus I finally got to wear my new Nike shirt that was a birthday present from Matt. So I guess you could say it was a win-win-WIN. Now if only we could burn ALL of that firewood in the next two evenings since it won't be this cool again for a while. Challenge accepted.

And even though it didn't match my outfit, I couldn't resist wearing my new favorite Mavi Band!! Excuse the mess of hair, although I should be thankful I'm not bald with the INSANE amount of postpartum hair loss. More on that another time. Or maybe we'll skip those details. Anyway, back to the point. Enter to win yourself one of these amazing Mavi Bandz, and you won't be sorry. I am seriously never taking mine off. They are non-slip and adjustable and actually STAY on your head. Ladies...you know that is a bold claim, but it is so true. Don't miss your chance to snag one for FREE!

As usual...stay tuned for more patio progress and probably a few cute pics of this little guy tomorrow! Goodnight, everyone!

Patio Progress: Day 1

As promised, Lupe showed up before 8am yesterday to begin working on the backyard/patio makeover. I tried to keep myself from looking out the window every five minutes, but it was so hard not to! After only a few hours they already had everything dug up and the form boards in place (is that even the right terminology?). Whatever. Anyway they had a TON of work done in a short period of time which was very encouraging. He told us it would take no more than a week, about which I was very skeptical, but if they keep up at this pace I think he might just be right! Unfortunately there is a chance of rain in the forecast which could slow things down, but so far it seems like we are getting lucky and missing the storms. Here are a few before pictures and pictures at the end of day one.

They arrived before 8am again this morning and got straight to work. The concrete is supposed to be poured around 11am, and I can hardly contain myself!!! I REALLY want to get a Bevo paw print and Trent hand print in there somewhere...we will see. Doubt Matt is going to let me get away with that one.

Just wanted to give a quick update. Things are looking good so far! And no, it is not crazy downward sloping...I don't know why it looks like that in the picture. And just to clear up something else..Trent does not wear clashing orange/white PJs and red baseball caps on the reg. Clearly Daddy was in charge of that one :)

Stay tuned for more!

Another Giveaway!!!

For once, Monday morning doesn't suck. Why, you ask? For one...the patio makeover has commenced!! Details to come. And you KNOW I was out in my PJs at 7:00 am getting some 'before' pictures as promised. Nothing like waiting until the last possible second, but hey, got it done! 

Another reason I was actually looking forward to getting up this on this glorious Monday morning is to see (live) the 6:00 am launch of an exciting giveaway on our good friend Catharine's blog, Your Modern Couple. Which, by the way, is a fantastically entertaining blog that you all should really check out. What makes this giveaway so exciting? Well...because it is a giveaway from my Etsy shop, SimplyScissors, for one. And also because it is a CUSTOM giveaway, meaning you can win not only an existing product but also choose a custom garland if you so desire. There are tons of ways to enter, and you can rack up a whopping 15 entries by following all of the steps! Don't forget that Cinco de Mayo and July 4th are coming up...these would make a great addition to your event! Or they would look awesome just around your house/on your mantle/etc. Even still...you can save them for the holidays...they look pretty freaking amazing on a Christmas tree.

So...go and enter, people!! And while you are at it, enter OUR blog's giveaway with Mavi Bandz! So much free stuff going around...I wish I were eligible to win! 

Stay tuned for patio pics and updates. It has only been four hours, and I am already ready to bust out the wash tub, fill it with beer (in bottles of course..although a wash tub full of beer could be pretty great) and sit outside all.day.long. Hurry up, week!

Money Doesn't Grow On Trees (Part Two)

Happy Sunday evening to everyone out there. I'm nothing but sure that you all have been anxiously awaiting the second installment of the GooGoo Review over the last seven days, but I have bad news for you. The GooGoo Review has been postponed for the next day or two. Devastating, I know. Never fear, though; We have plenty to keep you occupied in the meantime, and I promise to get back to the Review very soon.

Tonight we bring you the highly anticipated part two of "Money Doesn't Grow On Trees." During the last post I highlighted several ways our family has saved money and cut costs each month. You can find them here. There are plenty of more ways to whittle down your expenses and reduce what you spend each month including price-matching (shout out, Chelsea!), bargain hunting, being more conscious of electricity usage, cutting down your cable plan and/or cell phone minutes and just good ol' fashioned not eating. But that's no fun. We just picked the tips that had saved us the most money. Hopefully you all have taken our advice this week and wasted a few hours of your life sitting on hold made a few quick and easy calls to save some major cash as well! (tip #1: don't have this many credit cards)

So where did we leave off? Ah yes.... We had been so pleased with our success at decreasing what we were spending that we were then on a mission to build our savings. The quickest and easiest way to do this was to calculate the total of all the bill reductions we had gotten and set up a monthly auto-transfer in that amount to our savings account. That way we would never "see" that money (that we were used to spending anyway), and the $200+ we were saving in bills each month would just go directly, and unnoticed, into savings. So far, so good.

In addition to saving money, Matt and I decided we also wanted to start bringing in a little spare change wherever/whenever we could. Well, not whereever or whenever... I mean we DO have standards, people! When it comes to some things at least. Going to Wal-Mart in PJs? Never. Going to Wal-Mart at all? Pretty much never. Waiting outside the Dollar Tree at 7:59am for the doors to open so I can buy every pregnancy test they have in stock? Might have done this a time or two. Like I said...standards when it comes to some things. (saving tip #2: don't do this either. even if they are only a dollar)

So anyway.. to complement part one of the post (how to save), here are our favorite ways to make a few extra bucks and a few ways to build your savings quick:

1. Have a Garage Sale

I know, I know. I know what you are thinking: "Spend weeks getting ready, put out signs, request a permit and get up at the ass-crack of dawn on a Saturday to sit outside right in mosquito-zone and sell a bunch of crap that not even I want anymore for 25 cents a pop? No thanks, Holly." But hear me out! Well..first off..you'd be right about the mosquito thing. I know that would be my first thought, too. But really...having a garage sale every once in a while is SO worth it, and there are a lot of ways to avoid all those downsides you just thought of. A full post is coming up this week with all the details, so I won't spoil that..but just be open to the idea that a garage sale can really be worth your while and can be done with much less time and effort than you might think. For our most recent garage sale, we spent only about one hour prepping the evening before and ended up bringing in over $600 even with no big ticket items and really not a whole lot to sell. It CAN be done. We have started having one twice a year which brings in a good little chunk of cash to put toward our savings. Start collecting/saving your stuff now, and be on the lookout for our upcoming post with tons of tips/tricks for a successful sale!

2. Start a Side Business

There are countless ways to bring in extra income on the side, even if it is not much, without having to get a "real" part-time job. Starting an online business is becoming one of the most popular things to do. Whether you are selling your own items on E-bay, starting a shop that sells others' products, selling your own items on Etsy..or something else, there are infinite possibilities. Etsy is a great option for turning a hobby into a business with no risk and little fees involved. You can open a shop for nothing, pay no monthly fees to keep it open and pay only 20 cents per item you list. So even if you just want to dabble or dip your toes in to see how things go, you aren't losing a great deal of time or money. And you don't have the pressure of a monthly fee hanging over your head during those periods you may just not have time to devote to it. Do you know how to knit? Because the knitters are KILLING it on Etsy right now!

 Any skill or hobby you may have can become an extra source of income. Matt has a background in coaching soccer, for example and in the past often reached out to people in the community, neighbors and friends about private lessons. He was able to set his own schedule, there were no costs involved, and word spread quickly through the youth soccer clubs. Any skill you have (playing an instrument, dancing, coaching a sport, speaking a language, tutoring a school subject) can all be put to good use. So dust off that clarinet and get to it! People will pay oodles for private anything lessons. And judging by a few Toddlers and Tiaras episodes, just about anyone (or anything) can become a "pageant coach," and parents will pay more than they probably have should. It honestly might be worth looking into..

3. The Money Jar Challenge

This one falls under the "how to build your savings" category. I mean..there is no magic way to turn your money into MORE money (other than gambling a large portion of your checking account balance on black 31 after a few too many free chardonnays), but there are ways to kind of trick yourself into saving money before you spend it, most of which rely on the out-of-sight/reach-out-of-mind concept. We came across The Money Jar Challenge on Pinterest around the first of the year and decided to give it a go. You can read about it here, but the basic idea is just depositing a gradually increasing amount of money into a jar each week for 52 weeks. The amounts start out fairly small, and the greatest amount is only $52..so it really isn't too much of a stretch, and at the end of the year you have a nice bit of savings. That is if you can keep yourself from dipping into it after drunkenly ordering pizza at 10pm and then realizing you have no cash on hand. Which is why we edited the challenge a little bit and made it into an online "jar" (aka ING account). This keeps the cash out of sight and reach, and honestly it is much easier to make the deposits that way versus having actual cash to put in an actual jar.

4. Auto-Transfers and Online Savings

Along the same lines, setting up a few online savings accounts can go a long way toward building your savings more quickly than just a savings account with your everyday bank. The money is always accessible should you need it, but withdrawing takes a day or two which makes you less likely to make any impulse decisions. (tip #3: move all of your money here before landing in Vegas) Another good thing about these accounts is that they are free and earn at least a tiny amount of interest rather than keeping the money in your checking account where it gets truly nothing. ING is one of the more popular options out there. Within a matter of minutes you can open your account, make a few deposits, link it with your checking account and be on your way to savings all from your computer.

It is super easy to set up multiple accounts with nicknames to divide your savings into categories (Trent college fund, future IVF savings, England trip fund, etc), allowing you to save toward specific goals and monitor your progress for each. Having this separation also makes it much less tempting to dip into one area of savings for something unrelated. For example..I would feel WAY worse about taking money from "Trent college fund" and putting it toward, say, a David Yurman ring (hi, Matt!), than I would if the money were all just in one big pot. It is much easier to see, this way, for what exactly your money is meant.

Keeping with the out-of-sight-out-of-mind idea are auto-transfers. I mentioned that we set up an auto-transfer of the money we had shaved off our monthly expenses, but in addition we set up a small auto-transfer ($20 a week) into each of the three categories we had set up. When I initially looked at our budget, I wouldn't have seen where an extra $60/week ($240/month!) was going to come from, but we decided to go for it anyway and have not missed it. It is amazing how much less money you spend when it is just not there to begin with! Even if you start with a small amount ($5 into three categories=$15/week=$60/month), you will be amazed at how quickly your savings grows. Just that $15/week (which was probably going toward things you didn't even realize let alone need...Starbucks, the dollar spot at Target, etc) is now going straight into savings and will total almost $800 at the end of the year! 



A lot of the tips in part two seem to be just common sense, but sometimes it takes seeing them written down to make yourself realize their importance and to get you into gear to actually DO them! And as I said..there are a ton of other ways to save money and make money, but these are just a few key ones that have really made a difference in our lives. Hopefully they can do the same for you!

Stay tuned this week for the second edition of the GooGoo Review, garage sale tips and tricks and more. Also...tomorrow is PATIO DAY!!! Looking forward to documenting every detail. And I am excited to announce that my Etsy shop, SimplyScissors, is going to be partnering up with another blog for a giveaway! More on that tomorrow. In the meantime don't forget to sign up for OUR giveaway here with Mavi Bandz..the most functional and stylish new accessory out there! We are a quarter of the way toward getting enough entries...keep em comin!

As a side note, good job FC Dallas on the win last night!

Goodnight, everyone!

Money Doesn't Grow on Trees (Part One)

I have been wanting to write this post for so long now, and with the husband and munchkin sent out on a Hobby Lobby errand for some very specific yellow polka dot ribbon, I think it is pretty safe to assume that I have a good chunk of uninterrupted time on my hands. Manipulative? Me?

A few months before Trent was born we had the "holy hell...we need more money" moment/realization. Being 6-7 months pregnant, I was not really in a position to get a side job, and Matt was so busy with his work that he couldn't coach on the side at that point either. So we decided to focus on how we could save money and cut costs rather than bringing in more right at that moment. Thanks to a ton of hard work, discipline, research and the fact that I couldn't drink alcohol for the next several months, we were actually able to shave a pretty nice amount off of our monthly expenses. I was so impressed..and so annoyed that we had not done it sooner...so I wanted to share a few tips on how you can do the same. I know there are a TON of similar posts floating around out there, but how many of them feature this serious little saver putting away his Valentine's money from Grandma? (and don't worry...you KNOW I sanitized his hands immediately after this picture)

Fair warning: This is a wordy post, but it will be worth your while.

Two very important steps in beginning your money saving journey are:

1. Know What You Spend
  
This is definitely the most important (and least fun) step toward cutting down your expenses. I am definitely guilty of the whole not-looking-at-my-bank-account-out-of-fear thing, but I had to finally break myself of that. When we set out on the new budget mission, the first thing we did was create a detailed list of ALL of our recurring monthly expenses. Even the expenses we only pay quarterly, like pest control and HOA dues, we broke down into a monthly cost and included in the spreadsheet. After we had all the basics (mortgage, utilities, car payment, phone/internet, etc), we scoured our bank statement for all the things that you easily forget each month because they are auto-debited, perhaps...these included toll tags, the dog's health plan and our home alarm to name a few.

2. Know What You Make

Seems pretty obvious, I know. But after you have a comprehensive list of all the money going out each month, compare that to what you bring in each month. And the difference is what you have to work with for savings, incidental expenses, variable monthly expenses and any other category you want to add into your budget. Anyway...this wasn't really a how-to-make-a-budget tutorial, was it? Back the the point..


Here are several ways we have found to greatly reduce our bills and build our savings:

1. CALL YOUR PROVIDERS!

This is where we saved the biggest amount of money. For years we have been the suckers that just paid our bills without question, but we finally decided to get serious and bluff  threaten our various service providers with cancellation in hopes of some discounts. And wow...it was crazy easy. We didn't even have to get rude..and dangit I was all prepared and everything. Seriously though, apparently it is a well known phenomenon that you can simply call up AT&T, for example, and ask for a lower rate. Yes, just ask. Not even threaten to cancel. Just tell them you are looking for ways to cut your monthly expenses and noticed that AT&T was getting to be a little too much for you each month, and those nice folks on the other line will simply give you a better rate. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? I thought so, too. But just try it. By using this tactic with each of our service providers we saved the following:

- AT&T-, Phone/Internet/U-Verse TV: saved $100/month for exactly the same service!
- ADT, home alarm: saved $15/month
- Terminix pest control: saved $10/month

So there you have it...$125 more in our pockets every month without having to sacrifice ANYTHING but a few minutes listening to bad jazz on hold. Totally worth it.

2. Stop Paying "Fees"


Because I avoided looking at my bank account very often, I didn't notice for a pretty long while that Bank of America started charging a monthly fee for my checking account..$15 a month! Insane! I blew it off for a while thinking there was nothing I could really do, but while I was still on the high from our other savings I decided to just call them up and see what they could do. It was worth listening to a ten minute explanation of all the different kinds of accounts they offered to ultimately find out about an option called e-banking. It is exactly the same as a normal checking account, your account number/debit card number/etc all stay the same..they just change something "in the computer" that converts your account to another type of account. Whatever..the bottom line is it is a totally free checking account. The ONLY restrictions are that a) you only use ATMs and online banking...no teller transactions; and b) you convert to paperless statements. So easy. And if you DO need to go into the teller for any reason, there is a flat fee of $8 for that month. So even if you needed to go to the teller 15 times that month, it is just the one time $8 charge. Like many people these days..we already had paperless statements and rarely if ever use a teller anyway..so it was a no brainer. The lady on the phone even gave us a credit for the previous four months...so not only did I save $15 a month, but we also MADE $60 extra. Money in our wallet! I was on a roll.

3. Look Into Your Insurance

We had been meaning to do this for a while, but every time I thought about it, it just seemed like it would be such a pain in the butt to switch insurance companies. But since we were more determined than ever to save some serious money, we decided to just go for it, and I could NOT be happier with our decision. My brother finally proved his worth, hehe..shout out, hermano!...and put us in touch with Bryan Massey, an insurance 'broker' of sorts, over at Liere Insurance. Nicest guy ever, super efficient, genuine, easy to work with, calls you back when he says he will..etc. And not only all of that..but he actually is genuinely interested in getting you a good deal. He doesn't work for any particular company, but rather he just looks at all the options from different companies and finds you the best deal with a comparable policy to your current one. Anyway....he made it VERY uncomplicated. We didn't have to get our current declarations page or any of that garbage..we just got out our monthly State Farm statement, read him off some info he asked for and waited for his call back. Wait for it....he saved us over $130 a month on our auto and home insurance by switching to SafeCo Insurance with an IDENTICAL policy. I was sooo skeptical, and it didn't help that my State Farm agent tried every scare tactic in the book to make me believe I wouldn't be getting identical coverage. Although..I guess he was right. The ONLY thing our SafeCo policy does not cover that State Farm did is any food in our freezer that may spoil were the fridge to go out. Umm..I think we can deal. Can't buy frozen breast milk with insurance money, anyway! Other than that, we are getting identical coverage for a CRAZY amount less. It is SOO worth it, people. And if you happen to get in touch with Bryan, tell him I sent you. Their referral program is pretty great, too :) Our parents have already switched as well.


4. Clip Coupons

I have been clipping coupons for a few years now, and it has really made a difference. You don't have to become one of those insane women with a four inch binder who clogs up the checkout line at Kroger to make couponing worth it, though, I promise. The best piece of advice I can give for couponing is to wait and clip the coupons AFTER you make your weekly shopping list. Then clip your coupons with the list close by, and ONLY clip coupons for those items that are on your list. Coupons can be a slippery slope, and if you don't adhere to this practice you could easily end up with 371 Lady Speed Sticks..because you know...there was a coupon! I mean..if you happen to run across a coupon for an item that you regularly use but just don't have on your list that week, then by all means go ahead and clip it to save for later. Just don't get sucked in to items you don't need. 

Also...seek out coupons for anything/everything! If you plan to order Pizza, just Google "Pizza Hut coupon codes." We got our pizza for $7 rather than $18 this weekend. If you plan to go to a museum, Google coupons for it. Most cities have a "tourist information" type of website which almost always includes coupons for all of the local attractions. For instance, we went to the 6th Floor Museum recently and found a coupon on some sort of "Visit Dallas" site that got us in for half off. Bottom line...there are coupons floating around for most everything you can imagine. So if you plan to buy something/go somwhere/do something, it is worth a quick Google search!

Other shopping tips include making that trip to the grocery store (instead of Target...sadface) where you can use your store card for discounts (which REALLY add up and especially help save on gas with your shopping points). Ask you parents/friends/neighbors for the coupon section of their Sunday paper..chances are they don't use it anyway..and make sure and check online for digital coupons.


Looks like my blogging time is up for the night...so I will have to continue this post in Part Two. Probably best anyway..it was getting rather lengthy, wasn't it? Matt Denny...are you still reading? Doubtful. Time to make dinner...on the menu tonight: breakfast for dinner. My favorite! Does prosecco pair well with pancakes? 

Does it matter?

BackYard Makeover Preview

How is it already Wednesday afternoon evening night? Another day closer to the weekend - awesome! Another day of transferring 35 incomplete items from my to do list onto tomorrow's to do list - not so awesome. Oh well. It will all work itself out in the end..or so they say. 

Trent had a bit of a rough start to the day. Matt and I went to bed earlier than usual last night with big plans of getting up way before him this morning and getting a buttload of stuff done before he woke up, but I guess he heard our scheming because he woke up an hour and a half earlier than normal too...aka the exact time our alarm was set for. Sneaky little monkey. So instead of having an hour and a half of peace during which we could get a jump start on the day...or just catch up from yesterday....or just drink coffee and watch the news...we instead had an extra hour and a half of Teething Trent, as he is so affectionately known these days.

When he finally went down for his morning nap I got to work. And by work I mean avoiding work at all costs...which is actually when I seem to get the most done. Work? No. Housework/cleaning/blogging/Etsy-ing/laundry-ing/showering/bill paying? Yes. One of my "everything else" tasks today was sketching out a better plan for our upcoming big backyard makeover which I am just about to explode to get started on. Our original plan was left in the hands of our landscaper/contractor, so we needed a new one to go by. And voila...

 

You'll have to forgive the informality of it all...and the fact that it is not drawn to scale/proportion in the slightest, but locating colored pencils was about all I could manage before 8am.  

In our suburb (shut up) and particularly in our subdivision, the backyards are pretty standard and simple. Or I guess I should just say it...pretty small.  I have long had dreams of a big playhouse or swing set and ultimately a pool, but the yards here are just not made to accommodate that. Fortunately we have two great parks with loads of grass as well as play equipment and swings within 100 meters of our house, and there are two community pools in our subdivision. In addition my parents have a beautiful back yard and pool just 20 minutes away that we use often. So after two and a half years in our house I decided to stop waiting for my back yard to become something it would never be and just make it the best it could be, knowing that we have plenty of options for pools/big open spaces just around the corner. Trent is on board. We all (Trent, Bevo and I) hung out on the existing back patio for some milk and prosecco and musing this evening. Can.Not.Wait. So many fun times outside ahead for us! And btw aren't those chubby little hands the sweetest? LOVE.

I will save more of the details for later, but I just wanted to give a preview of what is in the works. And YES, I promise to take before and after pictures for the first time in my life. I put an alert in my phone and everything. Go me, tech guru over here. Anyway the project is scheduled to begin first thing Monday morning, and I plan on chronicling every step of the way! Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to follow our blog and comment for a chance to win our first big giveaway!

GooGoo Review

Ladies and gents, boys and girls….get ready…wait for it…wait for it…….

Welcome to the GooGoo Review…where we talk and review all things baby!

This has been a long time coming, and I am so excited to finally launch this section of my blog. During our TTC journey I was introduced to (and completely swallowed up by) the world of endless internet research on every single “what if,” “how come,” “what about,” “best this,” “worst that,” …that anyone could ever possibly think of. By the time I actually got pregnant I was so worn out from all the googling that I could not bring myself to do the obligatory baby registry product overanalysis when the time came..which is how we ended up with this piece of garbage. More on that later.

The few products I actually took the time out of my busy schedule to review (HA!, I laugh at the thought of my old schedule being busy now) didn’t ever seem to live up to what I had read. I am convinced that at least half of the reviews on the store/company websites are just written by moonlighting AT&T call center employees halfway across the globe that have never really used a Baby Brezza..  So I decided to start my own space for real moms..friends, family members, fellow bloggers…to review and discuss our must-haves, must NOTs and more. We will see where it goes. First up is a hands down MUST-have and still one of our/Trent’s very favorite toys to date:

ITEM OF THE WEEK

Fisher-Price Discover 'n Grow Kick & Play Piano Gym

Seriously..they could have come up with a shorter better name, but I won’t hold it against them. Fisher-Price absolutely outdid themselves with this product.

Price:         $41.99 (Target online)

What It Is: This falls in the play-gym, play mat category, but it sets itself apart by including a

                   piano at the foot.

The Story: We had your regular old play-gym/mat that we registered for but quickly realized

that a 6 week old baby cannot do much other than…lie there. The adorbs jingling zebra and flashing lion did much more to annoy the dog than stimulate Trent, and he wasn’t even close to being able to reach for or grab anything yet. So play-gym time was basically us shaking all sorts of jungle animals in his face, staring at him (while he was staring into space), googling whether there was something wrong with him because he wasn’t following said jungle animals..and then more staring. We desperately wanted him to DO something, but he just wasn’t there yet. Then on a hazy, sleep-deprived trip to Target we stumbled across this. Literally stumbled…like I said..sleep-deprived, and it was on the bottom shelf. It was like fate or something. We immediately added it to his Santa Grandma Christmas list. If we had known what a hit it would be, and if our cart wasn’t already full of frozen meals, Lanolin by the gallon, K-cups and beer, we would have bought it right then and there.

He got it on Christmas Day, and so at two months he started using it. We were amazed at the IMMEDIATE difference during his play time. Because he still wasn’t coordinated enough to grab/reach for things, he was in the stage of kicking and moving his legs. Once he had the piano as something to actually kick and give a bit of resistance, he was unstoppable. What had previously been just minutes of play time before he got bored and frustrated turned into a minimum of 30 minute piano sessions and sometimes went on for the two hours between feedings. He kicked and kicked…and kicked some more. Each key plays a different tone followed by a short tune. I went to bed every night and woke up every day (still do) with those four tunes in my head, but it is well worth it. He has SUCH strong legs now, and we really put it down to all the time he spent on the piano in those early days.

The toy arch can be moved to the floor for tummy time when they are ready, and the mirror props up during tummy time too which was one of the only things that got Trent’s attention early on. And now that he can sit up better on his own, we have turned the piano parallel to the floor and sit with him while he plays it with his hands, but he still plays it with his feet almost every day.

Pros:          -    GREAT source of entertainment/exercise for a younger baby that cannot do

                           much  on a regular play gym

-     Transitions to a wide age range

-     Easy to move and store (we took it to Grandma’s often)

Cons:         -   The bases that hold the toy arch are a bit close together, making the mat fairly

            narrow, and they are pretty hard plastic. Once he started learning to roll over we

padded them a little bit to keep him from knocking his head into one during a roll. 

OVERALL RATING : 5/5

Have you used this product? Comment below and let us know what you think! Or do you have an idea/request for a future GooGoo Review item of the week? Let us know by comment or email!

Stay tuned for more product reviews and a new rating system brought to you by Mr. Trent Fox! And don’t forget to follow our blog to be entered into the giveaway for a set of Mavi Bandz!!