Hello Again

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and New Year's.

So I'm back into the swing of everything and it's been a little hard getting in the groove. Christmas vacation was wonderful. Sleeping in, baking and relaxing with the kids was very nice. We did have a lot of running around to do though too. Last minute shopping, wrapping and gifting made our vacation a little hectic but it's all over now and I look forward to spring break :-)

We here in San Diego had so much to celebrate with the Chargers going to the Playoffs the last couple of weeks. The whole city was really in the spirit. I Just happened to go downtown this last Friday evening and many building were decorated with lightning bolts and Charger signs. It was too exciting! My Gorilla hubby went downtown for all of the festivities on Friday morning and had a great time too! To make it even better he won a autographed L.T jersey in a contest. He even made it on the evening news because of it. Let's skip the sad lost though and go on to the next subject.......

Babies, babies, babies!!!!!! It seems that there is a baby boomlet going on in the United States. The rates are the highest since 1961. Reports state that the expected number of children a woman is to have in her lifetime is 2.1 compared to other countries at 1.3 per woman . The Rise has been blamed on a larger population and an increase in Hispanics! We're having all the babies according to the CDC. Hispanics have a higher fertility rate, about 40% higher but I will agree with the experts that middle America just has a more favorable out look on family and children in general. As for me and the surrounding women in my life, we're all averaging three children each with the exception of a couple that have more than three. I do have to agree with Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, that "Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, `Let's have another kid,"'.

Love That!

Until next time

~Evie

Pretty Embarrassing

For my business promotions and spreading the word I use a great service called Constant Contact. This really works well because it keeps all of my customers informed on the latest happenings with Mommy's Little Monkey.

So I sent one out last night to my contact list at around 12 am. Being that I've stayed up every night until 12-1 am I was pretty beat. No excuses, I sent out a email with a misused word! That is very embarrassing! It wasn't a small word or hidden mistake either, it had to be right at the entry of the email and one of the main point words :-( of course spell check didn't catch it because it's a word, it's just not the word I wanted to use!

Here it is:

Need to but that special gift for that special mommy or baby in your life? You're invited to A Mommy Soiree!
To celebrate this holiday season, Mommy's Little Monkey is offering you 20% off of your next purchase. Present this coupon at the event or order online to receive this special offer.
*Discount will be refunded after on line purchase.

Event: A Mommy Soiree
DATE: Sunday, December 9Th
TIME: 3-6 PM
Location: 2802 Juan Street In Old Town, CA. 92110 (right in front of the boutique)

Really bad and embarrassing. If you received one please excuse my mistake.

I think it's time for a new and higher resolution camera.....don't you?

I have spent so much of my day trying to get my camera to take a good picture of my products. It's not working.

Santa will you please bring me a great new one?

Thanks,

~Evie

To my Wonderful Nurse......

When I was pregnant with my first little monkey I made sure I went over my birth plan with my doctor. Because he was not guaranteed to be there for the delivery he told me not to worry and to have it ready to fork over to my delivery team once I arrived at the hospital.

My husband and I had it all planned out. I was not to have any medication, I was also only going to breastfeed and we had chosen to save and donate her cord blood along with some other little details in our plan. So once in labor and in a ton of pain we set off to the hospital. In between contractions and concentration I made sure to remember my paper with my golden birth plan on it and tried to hand it to my nurse. The attitude I received from my nurse was more like the paper was written in a different language and was immediately disregarded. However this made me feel, a bit insecure, irritated and ignored, I continued laboring to get what felt like a 30 pound watermelon out of my pained body. As expected from people who had no idea of what my wishes were there was pressure to medicate, anger directed to my poor husband by the staff who was first of all only trying to carry out my original wishes, and of course a bottle feeding of formula.

I was an emotional and not to mention a hormonal wreck while recovering. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to just be heard and not treated as the inexperienced mother I was. Although I knew why I was so emotional, I still struggled against my emotions because I felt the staff had so much more knowledge then I could have had in the few hours I had become a mother. Clearly my nurse acted as if she knew what was best for me. She suggested we get rest and have our new crying baby taken to the nursery. So, after a 24 hour labor and a new baby that would not stop crying who would resist her invitation? I guess I should have. I didn't though and 8 hours later I woke up without my baby realizing we had been separated for a very long time and insisted on having her back with me. My nurse brought her to me bundled and comfortably asleep filled up on a bottle of formula. That 's when I knew my time was up at this birth plan disregarding hospital and I wanted out!

This experience and recent conversations with other women and their similar stories has inspired me to make a little difference. Giving mommies a little reassurance is what I hope to achieve. Introducing my new little "Note to Nurse" shirt/beanie set by Mommy's Little Monkey. The note reads:

To my Wonderful Nurse,

I am learning how to breastfeed.

Please no bottle or pacifiers while I'm in your care.

Mommy is waiting for my return to feed me.

(heart),

Baby

Beanie reads:

Breastfeeder in Training

Each set in carried in a stylish drawstring organza bag and come in size newborn. This is the perfect baby shower gift. Check them out and pass on the news about this great new product!

Wearing my Monkeys

When I started this business I really did not know how many groups or parenting styles women/parents place themselves in. I know, I know I talk about this a lot but just keep reading, I'm getting to my little intro..

I mean I labored naturally with all 3 children (with the exception of my first 24 hour labor- I had 2 shots of Demerol) but I never placed myself in a "natural birthing" mom club. Did I feel proud? Of course I did but it wasn't a lifestyle that I revolved around. I co-slept and still do from time to time but did I consider myself an attached parent? No, not until I learned what an attached parent was, I just did what my parents allowed me to do as a child. I wore my babies in carriers or Baby Bjorn's but I did not consider myself a baby wearer? No, really all that I was doing was taking very little steps at making motherhood as easy as I possibly could. With 3 children, sleep deprivation and a things to do list the length of Santa's list I just wanted rest so I slept with my kids and just wanted peace so I wore my kids so I didn't hear them crying. Plus it killed me to see them so uncomfortable so if I could help out in this very temporary stage of life by wearing them then I would and I did.

So do you know all of the different styles out there to wear your baby? There's the sling, and the pouch and the carrier and the back pack and I'm sure more than that but that's all I know at this moment. I personally wore a carrier BUT if there happened to be a next time I will try them all. A new company out there (which I consider a sister or cousin company since the designer of our sites is the same company) is

Wearing My Baby.

I'm very excited to meet the owner, Catherine, very soon at an event we'll both be attending. If you happen to be in San Diego come and check us out at the Mommy Soiree on December 9Th from 3-6pm in Old Town at the Ducks n Daisies boutique courtyard. A evening of shopping, prizes, food and beverages is what to be expected. Check out the advertisement on Page 50 of Family Magazine for December to find out more.

Project Runway is BACK!!!!!

It's finally back....yeah!!!! I love project Runway so much, it just gets my creativity flowing and my heart dreaming away. If any of you (the 2-4 readers I have :-) kisses to you) love it as much as I do I thought I would pass along a little reminder, tonight on BRAVO at 10/9c. Tivo or DVR it if you have to.

Love ya,

~Evie

And the Winner is.......

If you've had a chance to check out my myspace page then you've noticed that I have a guestbook. I really like this feature so much and wanted to do a giveaway that I combined these two ideas and motivated my myspace friends to sign my guestbook for an entry into a drawing I held today. The prize? Well one free item from my website of course.

I drew a name from the 14 entry's and Angie from Tennessee won! If you're interested in next months drawing being held December 1st then just log onto my myspace page and sign my guest book. You'll be entered into the next giveaway.

Pass on the word too.

Good Luck

~Evie

Halloween with my Monkeys

Halloween was wonderful and exciting!!! It's an actual exciting holiday here in my house. I make a nice dinner and this year I made a Halloween cake plus caramel apples. I made the monkey princesses their costumes by hand and of course being that little monkey man is absolutely obsessed with Cars the movie he was a very adorable Lightning McQueen (last year he was Tow Mater). Loved the day and had a wonderful evening with my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, grandma,grandpa, Nana and papa, cousins and their children.

To the 3 of You

To the 3 of you who read this blog Thank you! All joking aside, I'm back to write in and update you on this Mommy's busy life. So Far all has been good. If you've been alert lately you probably know all about the terrible fires southern California had two weeks ago. It rained ashes for days and our homes smelt of smoke. We couldn't open the windows and of course the temperature outside rose into the 90's. Here we've been hearing the terrible stories of loved ones, friends and family experienced during it all. It's tragic, very sad and honestly something we here in San Diego will dread every October to come now that it's happened twice.

In The Toilet

What is it with kids and toilets? Every one of my little monkeys has gone through a stage where they just have to clog it with something. The girls just toilet paper but my boy, let me just tell you what happened. Little Monkey Man loves toilets. He loves to throw anything he can into them, he loves to pee all over them (and on the floor) and he loves to clean them when I'm not around with wipes. Yes, my first and only boy so I'm as grossed out as much as everyone else will be after reading this.

Well, yesterday evening he just so happened to love the toilet so much that he threw his sisters toothbrush in it!!!! Just wonderful. Of course my 5 year old monkey girl reported the situation to me immediately. She also made sure to inform me that it was hers and that it needed to be taken out. The wave of voices saying the exact thing by the next two monkeys followed. I just did what any other mommy would do at 7pm at night. I told them I would do it later....at least once showers were done. Well, I forgot. So the kids took their regular evening showers and then Diva Monkey girl (the new name I've given my eldest daughter) had to use the restroom and flushed it down with the rest of the stuff no one wanted to sort through to remove this tool that would potentially cost me a fortune to fix!!! What a disaster.

I flushed and flushed and plunged and plunged and then thought of the one tool all homes need to have in case of an emergency, even if you won't use them in your closet, a wire hanger. Every time I'm in a bind to get something far in a corner, out of the sink, in a crack, I swear I could even use one as a weapon if I had to, I think of the good almighty wire hanger. So I went and got one out of my husband's closet and reshaped it and Ta Da I got the long nasty toothbrush out of the toilet. Yeah, I'm too proud of myself for fixing that problem.

Then came the lecture to Little Monkey Man that he is not to place ANYTHING in the toilet ever, except ....well, you know what naturally is supposed to be in there plus a little bit of toilet paper. So what does he try to place in there this morning? PAPER TOWELS!

Point of my story: Always keep a wire hanger around they're great tools.

~Evie

ebay

When I first started this business everyone had advise, they still do, and I appreciate it very much. One bit of advice I thought I'd stay clear of was ebay. I was told to try and sell on ebay and I was hesitant. Well, I tried it. I do have to say that I liked it. I sold two Simple & Sweet Nursing Curtains and am happy to say one went to Australia.

Pretty cool.

Don't ask me how much.

At least I'm spreading the word on my products :-)

~Evie

Detox

No, not the bad bad detox, the okay detox. I decided to detox my system of caffeine. I really don't consume too much of this very addictive drug. I usually just have it in my morning cup of coffee which hardly gets consumed because I have three kids that are either fighting, almost late to get to school or have hair to be brushed.

Now, there have been many times I've painfully put my cup of coffee down. I mean, I have to make a decision often do I make the kids their lunches for school or drink my coffee in peace, do I brush my child's hair or drink my cup of coffee and then there have been time that I've tried to do both and the end result is coffee everywhere including hair and none in my system. So I came to the conclusion I really don't need it and I'm going to try to go through the rough days of detox!

First day, forget it. Besides the fact that I stayed up until 1 am working on my business and started the detox program UI was a mess and mean. I was so confused all day long. I was a mad mess. Did I mention that I was a mess? It was good my family stayed away from me. I had to take a nap...if you know me I don't do naps. I even went to sleep that night at 8:30pm. I mean if I was going to have a headache, which I took 4 tylenol for all day long, I may as well have slept it off. The second day just a little cloudy. Today, the third day, I'm actually very clear headed and feel great. The only thing though, along with detoxing my body of caffeine I sware I'm detoxing it of food too! This program I'm on just makes me hungry!

Yes a program, it's the Jay Robb Fruit flush and detox program. I read the book and it was pretty healthy so I'm on it. Flushing my body. So far so good, just HUNGRY!

I don't know what's worse, me grumpy because I'm detoxing the caffeine out of my body or me grumpy because I'm hungry. My poor husband can probably answer that one. I

I'll keep you posted on how it works. I can say besides the detoxing I've lost 2 lbs. but come on when you're hardly eating that's sure to happen, right?

~Evie

UPDATE: Well I did last the 3 days on this little detox and I did feel mentally and physically better by the 3rd day. I also lost 8 pounds and got into my one size smaller clothes by the end of the program. I don't think I would recommend it for weight loss but I would for a caffein cleanse/body cleanse. It really helped me focus on eating better and focusing on my health.

My Space

I'm on myspace now! Click on the link to the side to check us out and add us as a friend!

Water Babies


This summer was filled with tons of fun in the sun. Swimming anywhere we could was the goal. There was a nice hot day that we we able to gather with friends at a community pool and my sister invited her friend and her little show off nephew :-)

Let me tell you a little about this boy. He's only 3 and swims like a fish. He could out swim any adult and pretty much made my three year old feel pretty competitive. Yes, there was a moment monkey boy took off his life vest and actually jumped into the pool. He was feeling pretty brave and had to show everyone he could swim too. Well, he sank. I made sure to be very close by and had his older cousin and Princess Monkey sister right there next to him to save him if he went under water for too long. I mean he had to find out that he was not a master at this skill yet.
After swallowing a small amount of water he realized he could not swim and did not fight with me further. Back in the life vest and into the water monkey man went. He was fine but now I'm a bit determined to have him ready for the next swimming season.
Come to find out this young swimming master (let's call him "show Off") started swimming classes at the very young age of 5 months. Now, that's pretty cool. Can't wait to get my little monkey man started so we can have a swim off :-)

Here's a link to such a great swimming technique for all babies and toddlers. I was sent it today and had to share.

Evie

Go To BED!!!!

Getting back into the school routine has been a challenge. I swore that I was going to get my monkeys practicing their normal 8PM bedtime a week before school started so that they would get used to it BUT that didn't happen. We pretty much waited until the night before school started to enforce bedtime at 8pm.

Three weeks into school and we're still fighting at night with all three of them. I found this really cute piece on you tube. Have fun watching, just don't watch while you're angry at them or waiting for them to fall asleep at night :-)

Public Breastfeeding

Okay, so I'm a bit late to discuss this issue but I really wanted to post and link you to it. A woman in a Applebee's restaurant was recently out to lunch with her children celebrating an anniversary and was approached by her waitress and asked to cover up while nursing if she wanted to remain in the restaurant. The woman did not have a blanket with her but the waitress repeated herself and then the woman had to go to her car to nurse her infant!!!!! I guess some people in this country have not been on top of what is happening when they mess with hungry nursing babies and their mama's. I hope this woman (Brooke Ryan) does some great legal stuff for at least her city and place Applebee's and other companies in their place!

Because I Said So!

This is something I do say very often to my children. I mean, if you're a mother, how could you not say it? With so many questions and little people around complaining, whining or hesitating to do as you ask, it's something you find yourself finally using after too much explanation.

Today I came across a very great blog I wanted to share with you, Because I said So. This very well written blogger, Dawn, mommy to six children all aging from 12 to 1 years, is hilarious. Dawn writes of everyday life with little ones and the funny, frustrating and just everyday battles a mommy to six goes through. Dawn is my newest hero.

Summer Vacation

Yes, I've been missing for the whole summer! My kids were around and drained every last drip of energy I had. I decided I would just take a little break and get into it once school started.

Well, it just started so I'm back. You were on my mind though, and I did miss you.

Good to be back and talk to you again.

Evie

Freebies!!!!!

I've been thinking lately about marketing ideas and getting my products out to the world at affordable rates. Being that my number one job is that I am a stay at home mom (SAHM) and secondly a work at home mom (WAHM) a marketing budget can sometimes be very far off when I want to promote my products. I came up with a little free idea and want to pass on the news about my few products baby step at a time. So I'm inviting my past customers and interested visitors to get involved. It can't hurt and I know it'll be fun. Everyone loves a freebie now and then. Right?
Besides my own products I have other companies and online boutiques in line. I'll start off with my own products and go from there. Just to get you a little excited, Babylegs are a cute and fun product I'm going to give away as well. Check them out and get excited!
Check in with us from time to time and have fun. Oh, one more thing, pass the word out to all mommies you know that this is going on here.
Thanks,
Evie

The Kids are out for the Summer!!!

My monkeys are out of school for the summer. This means I have 12 weeks with them here at home (2 down, 10 to go).

We started off summer with a weekend to Disneyland, birthday celebrations at school the last week for my monkey princess, 1 week bible camp and camping. All in two weeks! We've been busy but it has been wonderful so far being with them.