Sorry I did not post this yesterday on Munchie Monday. But it was one of those days.

You asked and I will deliver. Here is the homemade doughnut recipe. I made them this morning and they were gone in 2 minutes!

Supplies for Donuts:

• biscuit dough – ready to use or from scratch
• small circle cutter
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup cooking oil – vegetable or canola
• tongs
• paper towels
• cinnamon and sugar mix

Open the biscuit can and spread all the rolls out. Then using a small circle cutter, press out a donut hole right in the middle.

Then get your pan on medium heat with 1/4 – 1/2 cup oil.  You want enough oil to cover half of the donut when cooking. Place 3-4 doughy donuts into the pan and leave until the bottom is golden brown. Don’t do anything else but watch these, as they cook fast and don’t want them to burn. Then turn them over and cook another minute or so. Using tongs, place the cooked donut on paper towels to drain and cool slightly.

Now place the donuts on a plate and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Be creative with these…maybe top with chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting, sprinkles, powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Welcome to my world!

Most new moms after having their “little peanut” start thinking about when they will be able to fit into their skinny jeans or regular jeans without the elastic waist. Have no fear! The weather (at least in California) is starting to become amazing so you can take a walk or jog with your little peanut. But, if the weather or a cranky baby does not permit that then opt for some easy indoor activities.

For those of you that live in a two story home, get up and climb your stairs. For every minute you will burn 10 calories. That could be 100 calories in 10 minutes. Easy Right!.

What about turning up the radio when you hear your favorite song and dancing it out like you are on dancing with the stars (only a little faster). You can even put your little peanut in a sling and dance around with her/him. Dancing can burn up to 300 calories per hour.

Or you can dust off all of those exercise Dvd’s you have bought over the years and work out in the comfort of your home while your little ones takes a nap.

Whatever you do. Remember that some of the celebrity moms you see on magazine covers, E news!, etc that have lost all their baby weight within 6 weeks. Had a personal cheif, personal trainer and maybe even a good plastic surgeon. So don’t give up. And try a little more and a little harder every day and before you know it you will be back to your old self, just sexier!

Welcome to my world!

Good Morning Everyone!

So it’s Saturday and I have been up since dark thirty (5:30am). The little peanut in my belly decided that sleep was not needed. Now, I look forward to not hearing the alarm clock go off on Saturday or Sundays, but I guess I have a built in alarm clock in my pregnant belly.

So I am sitting here thinking of what I can do this early. Laundry, clean,  or what about hit some great garage sales. That was a couple hours ago and I am still sitting here doing nothing productive. Well I guess blogging is productive, right?

Last night my husband said lets make a big breakfast in the morning. Well it is now 9am and he is still sleeping. So I guess that means he wanted me to make a big breakfast. Waffles sound good! Or some of my homemade doughnuts(will post the recipe on muchie monday someday)!

Once that is done maybe my family and I should go see the Disney movie Oceans. I mean it is Earth Week. I heard they donate a proceed of your ticket price to further ocean research.

So I guess I better run tot he store as the husband neglected to mention that we did not have eggs.

Welcome to My World!

It’s two in one! The chalk board doubles as a drawing tablet with elastic bands to hold a Doodle Pad, Activity Book or piece of paper. Two side flaps to keep chalk or crayons handy and a built in lap cushion make it perfect for travelling and kids on the go. Moms will love this too, small enough to put into a bag or purse and a closeable flap to keep all the pieces together. Comes with 12 pieces of chalk and a chalkboard eraser. Size: 7.5″h X 10″w

To check out this product, visit

http://littlepeanutboutique.com/chalkadoodle.html

So as most everyone knows I am not a first time mom. My last child was born 6 1/2 years ago. Which does seem like a lifetime ago. Especially when I look at all the products they did not have when she was born.

Now because we own a baby/children’s boutique we do get sent all the latest and greatest product on the market. But for the average mom (especially a first time mom) I am sure that picking out baby gear is one of the hardest jobs of being pregnant. Not only because you are unsure what you need. But people are always willing to give you their two cents of the products you can’t live without. Plus the fact that places like major chain stores (will not name them), overprice their items because they know as moms we are a sucker for getting everything we see, read or hear about.

Recently I came across a list of must have items for a pregnant mom and her newborn. I started to read the list and thought that some of the items on the list were items you were not going to need for months or even a year after they were born. And then some of the things were things I remember getting with my last child 6 years ago that I would never recommend.

For example…..

HighChair, Plastic Spill mat, Bowls and spoons – ok so yes you will need these item but not till they start eating at 6 mths. Save your money now for formula and diapers and when your little peanut is 4-5 mths go out highchair shopping. Besides, by then the high chairs will be new and improved from the ones out there right now. They change every 6 mths.

Clothing – now with this one,  the list will usually give you a number about how many onesies, sleepers, sock, etc you need. I think this is funny because your little peanut is going to go through clothes like they go through diapers and formula. First they grow daily, the spit up hourly (just kidding) and then you can’t forget about the laundry monster who eats socks and things. On the subject of Laundry. As a mew mom, laundry will not be top on your list of to do’s. So if you only have a certain amount of onesies (the list said 7)and socks(also said 7 pairs) and run out because you have neglected the laundry, that means laundry or your baby goes without. I don’t think so. My advice stock up on onesies and socks. Babies live in these items for their first year of life.

Saftey Gates, Outlet Covers, Latches, Toilet Guards, ets – unless you have the urge to babyproof your house before your baby is mobile then this can also wait till your baby is about 6-9 mths (at least crawling).

This list can go on and on. The bottom line is get the essentials. Now if family and friends want to buy these things for your for a shower gift. Great. But save your own money for the insane amount of formula and diapers you will go through before you even need anything like the items above.

Welcome to My World!

Win Wednesday is something we would like to do for all our readers and clients.

We will be offering a prize to one lucky reader every Wednesdays. The winner of Win Wednesday will be announced the next Wednesday. So the winner of this Win Wednesday will be announced on April 28th, 2010.

This weeks item is one of our new Little Peanut Boutique Onesies or Tee’s. We will be giving away two of our onesies or tees to one lucky winner. You will pick your sizes and design.

Ways to Enter

1. Entry:  Tell us one item that you as a mom or future mom is a must have from our store littlepeanutboutique.com
2. Follow us publicly here on our blog – Make sure to leave a separate comment for being a follower on our blog
3. Follow/Tweet us (Twitter) – Leave a comment on our twitter page about being a follower and about this giveaway on Twitter. You can tweet once daily for extra entries.
4. When you make a purchase on our site at littlepeanutboutique.com for any amount you can get 10 extra entries.

Good Luck

Last weeks winner is Erica Mendez from Dallas, TX. Congrats!

Letting go of the pacifier or what we called in our house the woobie was a lot easier than I thought. My daughter Emma was addicted to her woobie and had a royal fit if it was not around when she wanted or needed it.

So we thought when we wanted to take it away, it was going to be a very long drawn out process. We were thinking that we would make sure it was gone by the time she was 2. But one day (not sure why we picked that day) I decided I had had enough and threw them all away.

That day we just kept telling her we did not know where it was and to go look for it. When she would go look for it around the house we would distract her by playing a game or finding something else to keep her attention off the woobie.

Now this worked fine during the day, but then came bedtime and I was nervous we would not sleep all night and get big crocodile tears. So we did our nightly ritual of dinner, bath and story and then said ok it is bed time. She asked for her woobie and I said “I think the woobie fairy came and took it to give to another little girl because you are already a big girl”. She looked at me and said “OK”. Cuddled up and went to bed. I think we went through a couple more nights of asking and then she never asked for it again.

Now that she is six and getting ready to have a baby brother she asks me if her brother will use a woobie and I say maybe. But we talk and laugh about her and her woobie and how the woobie fairy came and took her woobies one night.

A big pet peeve of mine is seeing a older child with a pacifier or a bottle hanging out of their mouth. So I knew we would have to break the habit quick. And we did.

Did any of you have a hard time taking away a pacifier or bottle?

Welcome to my world!

ingredients

• 1 18-ounce roll refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons preserves, such as raspberry, cherry, or strawberry)
• 1 pint vanilla bean ice cream

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Knead flour into cookie dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 13-1/2×9-inch rectangle. Cut into 1-1/2-inch squares. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and tops are browned. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
2. Place 1 teaspoon jam or preserves on flat side of 1 cookie. Place a small scoop of ice cream (about 1-1/2 tablespoons) on jam. Top with another cookie, flat side down, and press lightly. Repeat with remaining cookies, jam, and ice cream (there will be extra cookies). Wrap and freeze 4 to 48 hours. Makes 16 sandwiches and 22 extra cookies.

Enjoy! I Know I do!

Yesterday was spent at another birthday party that my daughter got invited too.

The party was at the beach. Now for any that don’t know my family and I live in Huntington Beach, California. So most of the time when people find that out they assume we spend morning, noon and night at the beach. We are the complete opposite. We hate the sun. I always say I could move to Oregon where it rains 85% of the time and I would be happy.

So even though I hate the beach, I did it for my daughter.

The little girl from her class was having a luau party. So the night before when we went out shopping for a gift for the party, my daughter told me she needed a new bikini and new sandals for the party (because she wanted to be themed). So being a sucker, I gave in and bought her a new bikini and new sandals. And we finally found a gift for the birthday girl.

So we get up and get ready for the party. Put on the new bikini, sandals, sunscreen and pack our umbrella and chairs and off we go to the beach. Not looking forward to it I put on a smile. The weather was not hot and the sun came in and out through the day. When we got their (we were fashionably late like we always are) we find out everyone has headed down to the water. We set off to the water. There we find the birthday girl and my daughters classmates in the freezing cold water. Off my daughter runs and remains for a good hour.

As my husband and I are standing their we are talking with the other parents and for some reason we were taking about boats(there was a boat race of the coast) and sharks(not sure why). So I am looking out and all the sudden I see fins coming out of the water. Now I am deathly afraid of sharks (blame Jaws). So I say to my husbands and the other parents “Look out there, is that a shark?” everyone  looks and we discover that it is not sharks but a school of Dolphins. Now I have seen dolphins at Sea World. But I was so excited to see them in there real environment. And so close.

Then after the kids ate they decided they wanted to go out again to the water. This time we are down by the water and we see the cutest sea lion pup swimming so close to the shore I though he was going to come up on the shore. Again I have seen them at a zoo and sea world but this was so beautiful to see them in their natural environment. Doing it’s thing without a care in the world.

I had a new appreciation yesterday for the beach. Does that mean that I will be there morning, noon and night. NO! But maybe we will make a couple more trips this year then the occasional one.

Welcome to My World!

Pregnant Decision

As most of the readers know I am past the half way mark of my pregnancy journey and have now reached the stage of all my decisions regarding our new arrival. Nursery color, bedding, names, breastfeed or not, etc.

Yet I find that you think so hard about a lot of those things, and then when asked about those things from people who surround you (friends, family and maybe some husbands) they make you feel like you are headed in the wrong direction. Which when you’re pregnant and told that you made a wrong decision, that is like instantly turning on the emotional waterworks. We pregnant women are already emotional about everything. Saying something we choose or picked for our new arrival is not good or ugly is like a dagger through your parental heart.

Case in point…. Back a couple months ago my husband and I picked a name we liked for the baby (boy names are not easy to find) and at first my husband said NO and then it grew on him and he loved it. So Easter weekend my mother and sister both said they hated the name and the way I was going to spell it. So I held in my emotion and on the ride home with my husband he proceeded to tell me that as long as we loved it then that was all that mattered. But I still could not get it out of my head that if two people I loved hated it then what about people I did not know. I mean he is stuck with it for the rest of his life. I still remember my six year old daughter asking why we named her Emma and could she change it to something else because she did not like that name. Stab to the parental heart again. So to this day I do still love the name but not sure at least about the spelling.

We have decided we are going to name our baby boy Tai (spelled like that and not the traditional TY or TYE)

My husband is right (even though I don’t say that enough)! I need to remember that parental decisions are mine and my husbands. And that we have our new son and the children we already have, best intentions in mind whenever we make a decision. We may make some mistakes occasionally and wish we could change the color of the walls in the nursery or wish we would have breastfeed rather than bottle feed. But they were our decisions and we need to own them.

Welcome to my world!