Instagram Answers

After my post about leaving Facebook I received a lot of questions from friends and family about Instagram.  Hopefully this post will answer those!

Instagram is a photography app for your phone.  If you have a smart phone you can find this free app by searching in the app store for instagram.  Here are the steps for smart phone users:

1. Open the app store on your smart phone.
2. In the search box, type in instagram.
3. Download the app to your phone.
4. Once the download has completed, open the app by tapping it once.
5. It is going to ask you to log in or create an account.  For most of you you'll be creating an account.  Don't fret- it is SUPER easy and doesn't cost you a thing.  You'll just need to create a username and a password and then, walla! 
6. Once you're logged in you'll see something that looks a little like this:  (yours won't have my name or pictures... this is my profile view).

At the bottom of the screen you'll see 5 buttons.  The first is your home tab where you'll see an active picture feed from your photos and photos of the users that you follow.  Right now you won't have anything because you're not following anyone!  :)  That brings me to the next step...
7.  Click on the second tab at the bottom (kinda looks like a star).  Once you're here you can enter a username in the search box at the top of the page. 
8.  Search for NickiLynne15 (this is my username).  It will pull up my profile. 
9. Click on "Follow" and it will send me a request to let you follow me.  Once you've been approved you'll be able to view my photos in your feed (under the home button).  Now you're done!

If you enjoy taking photos this is a GREAT app, just click on the button in the middle (camera).  There are two tabs that I didn't mention.  The speech bubble with the heart is where you can see comments or likes for photos you've taken.  This is also where you would go to approve for people to follow your photo stream (make sure you put your profile as private if you don't want the whole world to see your pictures).  The last tab is your profile.  Pretty simple! 

I know this seems like a lot of work, but it won't take you more than five minutes to do, promise!  Once you've created a username you can also access instagram from your computer.  I just discovered this yesterday and it's AWESOME.  It's called webstagram... (click the link to go there)  I'm not sure if you'll be able to view my feed without logging in, but if it will let you this link will take you directly to my picture feed by clicking here.

Hope this helps answer those questions... If it doesn't work or you need further explanation just let me know, send me a message!  Good luck!

Little Green Pouch - AMAZING

As I wandered the aisles of Buy Buy Baby last week shopping for a birthday gift, I ran into the squeezable baby food pouches and thought about how wonderful and convenient they would be for feeding on the go.  When I saw the price for one pouch, however, I quickly replaced it and went on my merry little way.   There was NO way I was going to buy a pouch for almost $2.00 just to throw it away when it was gone. 

The question I kept asking myself was, why has no one made a reusable pouch?  Well.... Come to find out, someone has!  My Google search led me to this incredible website for the Little Green Pouch.  You can purchase 4 reusable food pouches for $14.99!  I quickly placed my order and not only were they quick to process it, they even sent me an email thanking me for my order and the box was on my doorstep before I knew it.  I love that these are reusable, but even more than that, I love that buying them is helping to support two wonderful mommas who came up with a great idea and followed through with creating it. 

This morning Callie had some homemade peaches straight from the pouch and did great!  I would highly recommend these to any of my mommy friends out there for your baby/toddler/kids! 

Adventures in Motherhood- Making Baby Food

There are a lot of decisions to make being a mommy.  One of those was very easy for me, to make or to buy baby food.  Please don't get me wrong, I am not anti store bought anything... I am, simply put, cheap frugal.  Finances can get tight with a little one and in order to save where we can this was an easy choice! 

For example, an 8 pack of organic carrots costs $12.79.  I can buy a bag of organic whole carrots for about a dollar and it makes 12+ servings!  How can you say no to that?!  Add to that it's easy peasy to make!  As a shower gift we received the baby bullet system and baby bullet steamer.  Veggies get washed, steamed and then blended with breast milk.  Fruits get blended with breast milk and purred to a nice smooth pulp!  So far Callie has had a ton of fruits and veggies and loves most of them. 

I've been keeping a journal of all of her first foods so that someday she can look back and see what she liked/didn't like.  It's also for me though, as my memory is less than stellar. :)  Here are a few pictures from our adventures in eating... And for those of you who have considered making baby food, I would totally encourage you to try!  It truly is not hard, only slightly time consuming and very worth it!  I love knowing exactly what Callie is eating and being able to mix it with breast milk is just an added bonus.  Anyone else out there making their baby food?  I'd love to hear your stories!

Nov.15, 2012 - Carrots (liked)
Nov. 20, 2012 - Sweet potatoes (liked)
Nov. 25, 2012 - Avocado (LOVED)
Nov. 29, 2012 - Tasted a pickle (LOVED)
Dec. 1, 2012 - Zucchini (liked)
Dec. 6, 2012 - Green Beans (hated)
Dec. 9, 2012 - Bananas (loved)
Dec. 11, 2012 - Asparagus (hated)
Dec. 14, 2012 - Mango (loved)
Dec. 19, 2012 - Acorn Squash (loved)
Dec. 27, 2012 - Apples (loved)
Dec. 30, 2012 - Tasted a tortilla from Uncle Julios (loved!)
Jan 2, 2013 - Peaches (loved)

New Year, New Me

As I take the time to reflect on this past year there are many things that I am thankful for.  Off the top of my head I can think of a couple;  successfully completing my first year of teaching without losing my mind,  Josh and I celebrated three years of marriage and even welcomed our first little blessing into this world as we started a family! 

 October 2012- Callie 5 Months old

Callie was without a doubt the highlight of 2012 for both of us.  She is now 7 (almost 8) months old and blossoming right before our eyes.  Our little bundle of energy is crawling, sitting up and even saying "Dada!"  She is so very determined and sweet.  No matter what she is doing, if she catches your smile or gaze she will stop, lock eyes with you, cock her head to the side and give you the cutest grin you've ever seen.  This girl loves the camera and is a natural in front of it.  She has brought Josh and I closer together and given my heart a reason to rejoice and celebrate after a very difficult year and a half without my daddy.  I can just imagine the look on his face seeing her for the very first time.  He would have a slight smile with those big brown eyes filling up with tears, arms outstretched reaching for his little girl that he'd waited so long to see.  I know that if he were here, no one one have a chance to hold or play with Callie... He would hog her completely and I would let him. :0)

Another part of looking back over the past year is discovering some things about myself and my life that I'd like to change.  Somewhere between the physical and mental demands of being a teacher, the 24/7 job of being a devoted mother and wife and attempting to squeeze in time for family and friends I lost a little bit of me.  I have not made the time to do things that I love, I have not touched my guitar in months or picked up a paint brush to create an image from my mind, I haven't let my fingers dance across the keyboard on my computer to pour out my heart and soul on this blog in months and, in general, I have lost a lot of my joy.  So how do I fix this? 

I am pretty positive that part of what I've been going through is postpartum, but that is a whole other blog post...  Somehow I have to figure out what changes need to be made in order for me to live a life of joy and fulfillment.  Along the journey through my thoughts I discovered that a lot of my time is devoted to habitually checking Facebook.  Sometimes I'm not even aware that I am flipping through my news feed on my phone until ten minutes have passed.  With the many positives that Facebook has; keeping in touch with loved ones, seeing what friends are up to,  sharing photos and videos with those you love... It also has its negatives.  I have lost friends through Facebook because of status updates/ comments made, I have grown tired of the constant ads and am now being forced to see what everyone "likes" in my feed.  Our generation has become "Like" hungry and in doing so spends more time on the computer trying to get complete strangers to "like" their photo of a little child with a life threatening disease instead of going out and doing something about it.  Getting a million likes will not save that child's life! All of this being said, I have grown tired of Facebook. 

For a while now, Josh and I have been discussing what to do about this problem.  I miss the good ol' days when Facebook was all about sharing your life with your friends and family and keeping in touch.  It has now become a bombardment of ads and an unwelcome infiltration of pictures, statuses and stories from people I don't even know.  Facebook has also become an enabler for me.  It has enabled me to stop being personal, to hide behind a computer at an attempt to maintain friendships and life-long bonds with real people.  There is a car commercial out there that says something along the lines of, tonight you can stay in and "like" something, or you can go out and live it... That shook me.  When did I stop writing letters?  When did I stop calling my family and friends to wish them a happy birthday?  And more importantly, WHY did I ever stop?   The truth hit me square in the face... Because I am lazy. 

Facebook is perfect for people who want to be lazy in life.  I am not saying that everyone on it is lazy... far from it actually, I am saying that it was that for me.  I stopped feeling the need to call my friends and family thinking, oh they know what I'm doing because they see it on facebook.  They don't need pictures in the mail or a hand written letter, they can see it all on facebook.  I'd run into friends I hadn't seen in a while and there would be nothing to catch up on because they already knew everything.  I miss sharing.  I miss the intimacy of a good glass of wine and a friend to talk to.  I miss being personal.  So this year I am doing something I never thought I'd do.  I am saying goodbye to Facebook.

Josh and I discovered that the only real use we have for it now is for pictures.  For those of you who know me, you know my love for photography and capturing life's moments.  I have somehow accumulated 13,989 uploaded pictures and a whopping 262 albums.  I have been on Facebook since November 14, 2004.  That is over 8 years!  This is going to be a big change for me. 

I still want to share my life with you, pictures and life events, don't get me wrong.  My desire is to do it in a more personal way.  Being able to quickly post a status or upload some photos without talking about it was very convenient... My goal is to make an effort to do things in a way that is fulfilling to my heart and soul.  This blog is an incredible outlet for me.  An online journal if you will.  My mood is brightened and my heart lighter after I write.  So, updates will be posted here (make sure to subscribe if you haven't already).  Just as much for myself as it is for friends and family.  For those of you who do want to see the millions of mundane pictures I take of life, friends, family, food, and sweet little Callie on a daily basis, you are more than welcome to follow me on Instagram.  If you don't know what Instagram is, it's pretty much twitter with photos. 

I am hopeful that making this shift will help me on the journey to rediscovering my joy.  A lot of thought and prayer have gone into this decision and I feel at peace with it.  It makes me uncomfortable, and that is how I know that it is right. 

I'd love to hear what your goals are for this new year, call me or post them below!  I am saying goodbye to lazy and convenient... here's to a more personal, intimate, fulfilling year!  Welcome, 2013!! 

Info for staying in touch:

• If you want my number to stay in touch and don't have it just send me a message! 
• You can follow me on instagram by searching for "NickiLynne15"
• This website URL is Morgans2Day.blogspot.com.  You should be able to subscribe on this page in the upper right corner.  I think the only thing you'll need is your email address and you'll get an update every time something is posted.  :)

DIY Diaper Clutch

Thank you Pinterest for yet another fun DIY project!  This one turned out super cute, if I do say so myself.  Bonus... it was INCREDIBLY simple.  My sewing skills are very basic and it only took me about 45 minutes (most of that was figuring out how things would go together).  I saw this tutorial and followed it for the most part but it was a little too confusing so I thought I'd make my own!  Good luck!

Take your wipes container and a diaper and place them on your fabric leaving a half inch border.

Cut your fabric

 Take the piece you just cut and use it as a template for another piece.  One will form the outside and the other will be the inside of the clutch.  

Take the inner piece of fabric and cut it in half (like a hamburger <-- that's the kindergarten teacher in me coming out).

Take one of the pieces you just cut in half and cut it in half (like a hamburger) again. 

 

Fold the fabric over to create a hem and press to hold.  The smaller pieces should have two hems and the larger inside piece will only have one.

 

 

Sew your hems

Placing the right sides of the fabric together sew the three outer edges together.

Do the same on the right side, make sure your hems are on the inside

When you turn it right side out it should look like this.

If you don't like the unfinished look of the inside center (like me) you can cut a strip of fabric and, using fabric glue, paste it down the center in the opening.

Now you need to cut a small strip of fabric to hold the two inner pieces (for wipes side) together

  Iron and then hem

 Sew onto fabric

 Tada! You can now insert your wipes

Take ribbon and trim down to create a "hook," then sew onto the opening on the edge of the wipes side

 Hand sew a button on the outside of the clutch, this should be in a position that will allow for the ribbon to loop over the button to keep the clutch closed

Put your diapers in the right side (it should hold about 3 diapers)

 Put your wipes container in the other side

 Then close and latch!  You're done... SUPER easy, right?

 Now you can open your wipes without having to take them out of the clutch.  Genius. 

Baby Changes

It's truly amazing how quickly they grow... You hear this from everyone and their dog, but boy is it true!!  It's hard to believe that only drinking breast milk can make your baby go from this (pic on the left) to that (pic on the right) in only two months! 

Left side: 8 Days // Right side: 2 Months

I'm sitting here wondering what she'll look like in another two months.  We may end up having quite the chubba wubba on our hands!  You'd never know she was a preemie. 

In other news, my mom's pool was completed yesterday!  We headed over after work/dinner to see the finished product and take a dip.  Callie really does love swimming, even in cold water.  She's going to be our little fishy.  And yes... her hair does look red in sunlight.  BUT!  It definitely doesn't look red indoors.  I guess she has a lot of her daddy in her :).

My family is in Colorado celebrating the baptism of my nephew Andrew.  Unfortunately we weren't able to travel that far to witness it, but we are so proud and couldn't love him more!  We are hoping to go on our first trip to visit Josh's grandparents soon and I'm looking forward to seeing how Callie Bug handles it all. 

I went out and purchased a memory book for the babe today.  Marsha pulled Josh's out last week to see his milestones and it reminded me that I needed to start one.  I've spent the past two hours trying to recall that last two months... I can't believe how much my brain has already forgotten.  Her pre-birth scrapbook is almost complete, I just need to finish her nursery page and the sonogram pages,  then I can get started on her actual baby scrapbook.  :)  

The little monster is currently starting to squirm... Guess I better log off and fill her belly!