Last week was pretty exciting around here. Fred the fibroid became famous on Twitter, and the lovely Niki from Hello Stripes nominated me for the Liebster Award (you should definitely check her blog out!). I’ll let her explain what the award is all about:
Thank you Niki!
Now for the fun stuff:
1. Thank the person that nominated you and link to her blog.
2. Answer your nominator’s ten questions!
3. Share the love and nominate 10 other bloggers.
4. Think up ten questions for your nominees.
5. Let everyone know you’ve nominated them!
Ten questions from Hello Stripes (and my answers):
1. Why do you blog?
I have loved writing since I figured out how to do it…I can remember locking myself in the bathroom at my grandma’s house to write a song about reading books when I was little. It was only natural that I pick up blogging eventually. Also? Yes, I was a nerd. I still am a nerd. I wear my nerd badge with pride.
2. What is your favorite part about blogging?
Unlike conversation, I can’t be interrupted in a blog post! That’s a big ol’ pet peeve of mine. Also, I’m a huge introvert and blogging (along with Twitter, texting, and Facebook) gives me a way to communicate comfortably.
3. What is your least favorite part about blogging?
I never know how something will be received. Sometimes I can come off as a little abrasive and I sometimes wonder if I’ve gone too far. I have yet to receive any hate mail, so I guess I’m ok.
4. What are your 3 favorite blogs and why?
Only three? Crap. I love a lot of blogs but here are the top three that come to mind:
The Bloggess… I just adore her. I can identify with her, she makes me laugh until I’m in danger of peeing on myself, and she seems to be a genuinely kind person.
Hyperbole and a Half… Another person that makes me laugh hysterically. I wish my crappy MSPaint drawings were half as cool as her illustrations.
Smitten Kitchen… The food this woman comes up with looks amazing. I’ve used a couple of her recipes to great success, so she definitely knows what’s up. If I could ever purchase a replacement for my super awesome camera that got broken, I would hope to photograph my food as beautifully as she does.
5. What is your favorite social media outlet and why?
At the moment, Twitter is my favorite. This isn’t going to sound very nice, but Facebook is just so full of ‘OMG, SELFIE!’ and ‘baking soda cures cancer!’ junk anymore that I don’t get much enjoyment out of it. I like Twitter because…Well, my reason doesn’t sound very nice, so we’ll just say I like Twitter.
6. Have you or will you ever vlog?
I have not…and I’m not sure if I will. I like the idea, but I kind of hate the way my recorded voice sounds. Plus, it seems like that would require looking presentable and I typically like to walk around my house with bedhead and no makeup. Ok, sometimes I go out in public that way, too…Hey, at least I put on pants.
7. What is one word that you would want people to describe your blog as being?
AWESOMESTBLOGEVER
What? That’s one word.
8. If you could (or have) work with one brand, which one would it be and why?
Oh, this one is tough…Can I say something like Procter & Gamble so I could test all of their new stuff? If not…I think Pampers would be a good company to work with. Gimme some free diapers, y’all!
9. What’s your favorite thing to blog about?
Life in general, especially when I have something funny to write about. I do enjoy food posts because they pretty much write themselves, but I love when I can bang out a good humor post.
10. Who’s your favorite housewife? (yes, I’m totally serious!)
ME! Can I say that? I don’t watch much tv so I can’t really make an informed decision about which of the Real Housewives is the best…
Without further ado, here are my ten nominees (in no particular order):
And here are my questions:
1. What inspired you to blog for the first time?
2. Who is your biggest blog supporter?
3. How do you make time to blog?
4. Is there a topic that you absolutely WILL NOT blog about? Why?
5. What is your favorite comfort food, ever?
6. You have exactly one hour of childless, significant other-less, obligation-less free time. How do you spend that time (anything your heart desires). What if you had a whole day?
7. What is one thing you would do for your blog if you had unlimited resources?
8. What is your goal for your blog?
9. Please link to your 3 absolute favorite blogs (yes, I’m stealing this question from my nominator!).
10. When you’re following (or subscribed to) a blog, what is an absolute deal breaker that makes you quit reading immediately?
I can’t wait to hear the responses from my nominees!
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I’m still accepting emails for a future Q&A post… Ask me anything you want to know! Send questions to willfullydisobedientblog (at) gmail (dot) com
Marcy of Live Life Successfully (go check her out!) has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you, Marcy!
There are a lot of exclamation points up there. Sheesh.
Ok, so here’s how the Versatile Blogger Award works:
1. Display the award certificate. (Check!)
2. Announce your award with a post. Thank the blogger who nominated you. (Double Check!)
3. Nominate 15 bloggers. (Check, check, check, check…uh, you get the idea.)
4. Link to your nominees and let them know they’ve been nominated.
5. Include 7 interesting things about yourself in the post.
The blogs I would like to nominate are as follows:
1. A Mix of 6
8. Lady Blogger
9. Life – Where’s the Handbook?
11. My Thoughts – Uninterrupted
14. All She Cooks
Interesting things about me!
1. I just had a three pound tumor removed from my uterus…Six months after having a baby removed from my uterus. I said uterus a lot. Uterus.
2. I still (yes, still) have two baby teeth.
3. I was a first soprano in high school. Prrrrrrrroooooobably not so much now. I haven’t tried to hit notes like that in a very long time and I don’t think I will be attempting to any time soon. You’re welcome.
4. I have a beautiful Alvarez acoustic guitar that my parents got me one year for Christmas. I took lessons from a guy that had an alcohol problem (I had to move beer bottles off of his coffee table for my Saturday morning lessons) and I vaguely remember a few songs but I probably can’t play anything all the way through anymore. I also have a pink electric bass that I bought off a friend when I was drunk. I have no idea how to play the bass.
5. As a little girl, I played with He-Man figures and my trusty Tonka dump truck in favor of Barbie dolls. Oh sure, I had Barbies…But lots of them ended up with buzz cuts or without heads.
6. Farts are, and always will be, hilarious. O let a loud one loose the other night (I heard it over the monitor) and I was trying to be quiet but I laughed so hard that the bed shook and woke the BF up. I actually had to get up and go to the bathroom because I was in danger of peeing in the bed…Navigating the stairs while snorting and trying to keep my legs crossed was a little difficult.
7. I have been told I look like: Catherine Zeta Jones (Hooray!), Rachael Ray (Eh…), Kelly Clarkson (Eh…), Mila Kunis (Hooray!), Zooey Deschanel (I don’t even see that one), and a handful of other celebrities. I’m not sure I believe any of them, but whatevs.
Thanks again to the lovely Marcy of Live Life Successfully for the nomination!
Becoming a parent for the first time is a bit overwhelming… You’ve got so many things to think about and (try to) plan for, plenty to worry about, and to top it off you have a lot of stuff to buy. Well, that’s what everyone tells you, anyway. I had a lot of people telling me that I just had to have a wipe warmer, or that I wouldn’t be able to live without a changing table. It turns out that you don’t really need a lot to take care of a baby.
Here are 15 products that made my life a little easier during this almost eight-month (whaaaaa?! I can hardly believe it either) sink-or-swim introduction to parenting:
1. Gerber First Essentials Bottles
These come in both 5oz and 9oz sizes. They’re inexpensive and work better than the pricier bottles we tried…And believe me, we tried a lot of bottles! Dr. Brown, Tommee Tippee, Playtex… Plus, it’s no big deal if you have to replace a couple that you’ve misplaced. Bonus: They fit my pump, so less stuff to wash. Hooray!
2. Boon drying rack
I love this thing. It’ll hold just about anything you want to let air-dry…Spoons, toys, pump parts… It isn’t dishwasher safe, but all you have to do is wash it in hot soapy water. There are two sizes, Grass and Lawn. If you’re limited on counter space, go for Grass. Munchkin also makes a good drying rack that’s a bit cheaper.
3. The Boppy Pillow
If you’re breastfeeding, this is wonderful! In the early days of trying to get O on the boob, I used this thing to keep him off of my c-section incision. Once I started pumping, I would occasionally set O down in the pillow next to me and feed him while I pumped (I still held the bottle, I just couldn’t hold O). Now, it’s O’s napping pillow. When he’s sleepy, he’ll crawl up to it and put himself to sleep snuggling his blanket. I love this pillow. You can find less expensive versions but I can’t vouch for them. I would consider getting the water-proof cover, also.
4. Ameda Purely Yours breast pump
Speaking of breast feeding…As I mentioned in this post, I had to start pumping exclusively when O wouldn’t latch. If you have to pump at all, do yourself a favor and go the double electric route.
5. The Bumbo Seat
I loved the Bumbo seat…as long as you SUPERVISE YOUR CHILD and don’t put him or her on a high surface while using it, you will too. O’s legs got too chunky to fit into the leg holes, but by then he’d figured out how to sit up so all was well.
6. Medela Quick Clean Micro-Steam bags
I think I got two boxes of these at my baby shower and I have yet to crack open the second box. You can use each bag up to 20 times, so they last for a long, long time.
7. Sophie la Giraffe
O LOVES his Sophie. You might want to get two, just in case you accidentally kill her squeaker by submerging her in water. Oops.
8. Summer Infant Day and Night Video Monitor
Seriously, best thing ever. It even has night vision. Night vision, y’all.
9. The First Years Take & Toss infant spoons
We’ve tried a number of different spoons and these are by far my favorite. The bright colors make them easy to find if one ends up at the bottom of your diaper bag, they’re sturdy, and O took to them better than the other spoons we tried. They’re really inexpensive, so if you lose one it’s really no big deal.
10. North States Superyard Play Yard
Also known as the Sanity Saver 5,000. Baby proofing done in one easy step. You can also buy a door panel if you don’t want to hike a leg to get over the thing… Nice for short people like me.
11. Eddie Bauer Wood High Chair
Ok, I feel a little pretentious even mentioning the high chair… But the thing is sturdy. My kid already thinks it’s hilarious to beat the hell out of it with his fists, and he really enjoys slamming his heels into it. I fear a cheaper high chair would’ve already been broken. If the boy would only contain his squash puree smears to the lift-out tray, life would be perfect.
12. Cloth Diapers
Before you ask, NO. These don’t go anywhere near my kid’s bottom… But they come in handy for just about everything else. Most of them are lint-free, so when you no longer need them for the baby you could use them as cleaning rags.
13. Munchkin Dishwasher Basket
If you have a dishwasher, these baskets are lifesavers. No more losing various bottle and sippy cup parts whenever you wash a load… They all stay neatly contained. I actually have two of the kind pictured because I needed more room, but you can find different sizes or expandable baskets.
14. Bouncy seat
I’m not sure what the proper term for this is…But I do know that my boy LOVES this thing. We have one similar to the Fisher-Price jumperoo pictured above. I don’t let him spend a lot of time in it, but he loves to bounce while I’m cooking dinner or cleaning.
Obviously this is not an exhaustive list. I’m sure I’ll continue to think of things that made life easier for me…So perhaps this post is of the To Be Continued… type.
To make it easy, clicking on each picture will take you to Amazon, where you can get an idea of the price or even order the items. I didn’t purchase any of these items from Amazon, but I think I found some of them at better prices for you. I’m a giver.
Did I forget anything? What baby products made your life easier?
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I’m thinking of doing a Question and Answer post in the near future. A couple of readers emailed questions about pumping, so I’ll answer those as well as any other questions I get. If there’s anything you want to know about me, or if you desperately need advice on a topic, or if you can’t make up your mind between that cute pair of stilettos or a new purse… Shoot me an email at willfullydisobedientblog (at) gmail (.) com.
Once I get a handful of questions I’ll post the answers. I think it will be fun!
Out of curiosity I pulled up a list of all of the search terms that have brought people here. Some made sense… Like “heart healthy lasagna”. Others? Well… Some of them definitely made me scratch my head.
In no particular order, here are my favorites:
Boobs
I feel sorry for the guy (or girl, I suppose) that typed Boobs into Google and ended up here. I’m guessing that person was a little disappointed.
foreskinheaven
…What?!
Jello shots and window curtain assembly
I’m not sure why Google sent this one to me. Kind of an odd combination. Let’s get drunk and hang curtains!
Mario Lopez fun facts
Disobedient girlfriend
I wonder if The Boyfriend has been snooping…
In other news,this weekend during study breaks I poked around the internet and…
I found CoolCussing.com and managed to work myself into a fit of giggles that almost made me pee.
I saw this picture and instantly felt better about life. Stupid Mayans.
I enjoyed reading this post about word choice…
And finally, this guy always makes me laugh. Freudian slip!
Willfully Disobedient 