2 Months until Aleena Hits the Big 1!

Yep, it's true.  My baby girl is 10 months old today.  I am not even sure how that's possible since it sometimes feels like she was just born.  It's hard to believe her first birthday is only a couple months away.

Here's some info!

Weight: 20 lbs 5 ozs
Teeth: 4 top teeth and two bottom teeth
Mobility: Still scooching around on her heading and rolling everywhere.  She gets up on all fours and tries crawling sometimes but hasn't gotten anywhere yet. 
Foods: Loves almost everything except for meats
Words: Mama (that's it so far)
Other: She loves her brother and they giggle at each other all the time.  She loves singing and music and playing with everything she shouldn't be playing with (e.g. electrical cords).  She used to sleep really well and isn't too bad but nights of 12 hours straight are a distant memory.

For her birthday, I already have the invitations ready to go!  I just need to get them in the mail but I'll wait a couple more weeks for that since it's still a bit early.  I'll post a photo of the adorable invitations after they've been sent out.  I ordered them through Tinyprints after winning a coupon code through a blog giveaway.  It's my only big win to date although I haven't entered many lately so I guess that doesn't help.

Here's a couple pictures of my ten month old baby girl today.

The little man is also celebrating a birthday of sorts today.  2 Years 5 Months already!

Look what Aleena found!

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Valentine's Day is almost here which means my current giveaway is almost over!  Just a couple more days to enter for a Baby Chunky Cheeks customized headband and onesie.  Click on the photo below to enter!

Have You Seen This Book?

As usual, I seem to have way too many things going on and not a lot is getting done.  I won't even attempt to list everything but it's almost like I have a knack for finding something new just to procrastinate at everything else.  For example, starting my Facebook page to sell the kids' clothes.  I have to admit that I love doing it though.   It was fun to design the logo and accompanying images for on hold and sold items.  I enjoy going through the boxed up clothes and taking photos as it brings back memories.

It's been kind of nice to get the whole clothing situation under control because it's ridiculous how much clothing a two year old can have.   Just when I think I might be coming near the end of the boxes, I find more in his bedroom closet or dresser drawers.  I still have quite a bit left to add but it's working out okay to add things gradually.  In case you missed the post about Darling Dudz, here's a link to it on Facebook.  I have added quite a few items so feel free to check things out, say hello, and even make requests as I seem to have almost everything (in the right sizes of course).

Meanwhile, I have a book review due for my Masters class that is gnawing at me.  Yes, it's really bothering me so 'gnawing' is an apt description in this case.  After several hours of searching for a 'non-edited' book as the assignment requires not to mention numerous e-mails to my professor asking for assistance, I finally discover that the book can be 'series edited'.  That would have been nice to know and would have opened up all sorts of possibilities much, much earlier.

So, I chose a book and it happened to be available in the U or R library.  Perfect.  Or is it?  I went to the library after class on Tuesday night only to discover it's missing so they have to search for it.  I don't really understand how they expect to find a book that hasn't been signed out in over a year.  Clearly it's not an Oprah Book Club pick.  They took my name and phone number and I haven't heard back from them.  Big shocker there.  Now, I debate whether I should buy the book off Amazon or choose another book and go through the whole painful process again.  I think that Amazon is looking pretty good right about now.

I won't even mention my running right now..it's not going well.  I am just too tired to do anything and my Nike + receiver is still missing.  It's a great little tool until you lose half of it and render it useless.  I know that's a really bad excuse so I should still get myself on the treadmill and plan on doing that momentarily.  I feel like my Masters rhetoric is taking over in this post so please excuse the academic language.  I guess that attending a Master's class once a week is rubbing off on me..probably a good thing after speaking toddlerease for the past several months.

Last but not least, this lovely blog keeps me busy but at least I can do as little or as much as I want with it.  I have loved keeping up my blog and doing all these fun giveaways and posts about the best baby/toddler things out there so I hope you enjoy it too.  I am also excited for all the reviews and giveaways coming up in the next couple of months.  I've had some wonderful businesses offer to share their products with me and I am looking forward to writing about them.  It's really hard to keep it a secret!

Just a friendly and hopefully not annoying reminder to continue voting on Top Mommy Blogs.  I've been as high as #75 so it would be nice to climb up a bit higher but I need a few more votes and regular voters to get there. Thanks in advance!  Also, please check out and 'follow' some of the other Mom blogs I have listed as my favourite blogs in the right column of the page.  They share some fantastic ideas and viewpoints and it's always nice to hear about what other moms are up to.

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Remember to enter the giveaway for the Baby Chunky Cheeks headband and onesie.  It is open to Canadian and US residents until Valentine's Day.  Click on the photo for more details.

Baby Chunky Cheeks Giveaway!

Welcome to my very first blog giveaway post!  Oh, wait a minute....it WAS my very first giveaway and got the proverbial giveaway ball rolling.   A huge thanks to Jenna for helping me out in getting all of this started last fall.  As I mentioned way back when, Jenna and her Mom started an Etsy shop called Baby Chunky Cheeks and, like my blog, they have grown a lot since then!

In addition to the receiving blankets featured in the previous giveaway, they have plenty more items in their shop including cute summer dresses, colourful hand-dyed outfits, adorable crocheted hats, baby toys, pretty headbands, and much more.

I think it's fair to say that I am on of their biggest fans and have bought a few outfits and blankets myself.  I'll post a couple photos of Aleena at the bottom of this post with these items!   The quality is excellent and I love being able to customize outfits for my baby girl by choosing from the materials available.  If you check out their Facebook page or Etsy site, you can view all the different patterns and materials to choose from.  You should also know that they create these outfits and items incredibly fast!  I ordered several customized handmade outfits and they were ready in a very short amount of time.

As mentioned, Baby Chunky Cheeks has lots of lovely headbands for little girls including silk and tie dyed rosettes, silk flowers, and many others.  There are also numerous bands to choose from and these can all be customized with the colours and embellishments of your choice. 

The Giveaway:
One lucky winner will receive a customized Baby Chunky Cheeks headband of their choice (either silk or tie dye rosette, or a silk flower one) as well as a hand-dyed onesie (3-12 months available in various colour combinations).

Coupon Code:  As a bonus, Baby Chunky Cheeks is offering my blog readers 10% off all Etsy orders from now through Valentine's Day using the code 'vday10'. 

How to Enter:
As always, I will be numbering entries and using www.random.org to select the winner.  Please make sure you are either following publicly via Google Friend Connect or leave an e-mail address so I can contact you.  Please leave a comment for each entry below.

There are five ways to enter:
1.   Comment on this post and tell us which headband is your favourite on the Baby Chunky Cheeks Etsy Site.
2.   Follow A Sophisticated Mommy via GFC.
3.  "Like" Baby Chunky Cheeks on Facebook and "like" the giveaway post.
4.  "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook and "like" the giveaway post.
5.   Share this giveaway and let me know in the comments.  (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Blog)

The contest is open until Monday, February 14th (aka Valentine's Day) at Noon SK Time.  I will announce a winner later that day!

This contest is open to Canada & the US.

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A couple of Aleena's outfits from Baby Chunky Cheeks: