Lil' J and Elmo: Tickled or Terrified?

We had a lazy day around the house Monday--My day off, after giving some visiting friends a tour of the city over the weekend. By the evening though we were getting a bit of cabin fever so I decided we should take a trip to the Goodwill outlet store.

I know I know... I wondered the same thing... Why in the world is there an outlet store for a thrift store? Well, every Goodwill store around here rotates their stock once a week. So once a week there will be an entire overhaul of stuff that wasn't sold. All of that stuff goes to the outlet stores, where everything is sold by the pound.

You have to dig and I mean DIG to find stuff that's piled in humongous bins, but there are lots of good finds to be found. I, however wasn't a huge fan of the digging. Right off the bat I looked for a toy to hand Lil' J to play with in the cart while we rode around. I'm not a huge fan of buying toys everywhere we go but they're a good distraction while I'm shopping, and before we got there I said she could play with toys and this girl remembers my promises.

I handed her an Elmo pull and spin toy thingy. The kind where you pull the lever and it spins around talking about the shape/number the arrow points on.

That entertained her for a bit, but then I showed her this Elmo doll and she freaked. She has a Tickle Me Elmo but it's not this animated. This one flaps his arms, moves his head, stands up, sits down, sneezes, dances, opens his mouth, blows kisses, and I don't even know what else. The only thing I didn't like about it was how heavy he was. She tried to hug him but quickly realized he wasn't soft and cuddly, so I just stood him next to her in the cart and she danced along as we strolled through the store.

At one point she got distracted and I hid the toy while we prepared to check out but I noticed her looking around in the cart and shrugging her shoulders asking "Elmo?" I felt so guilty that I went back and got him. GAH!

The good thing was out of everything I got: The Elmo, a big umbrella, some skirts and sweaters to up-cycle to toddler dresses and a bunch of thread, was all just $8.

I brought Elmo in her room at bedtime and she asked me to set him on the bed while I read our goodnight story. Since the bed wasn't a stable surface he kept falling over and hilarity ensued.

I just bought a new DSLR that has a video component but I haven't figured out how to work it yet, so I used my handy dandy iPhone to capture the scene on video. 


It took me a good while to convince her Elmo "went to bed" and he couldn't play anymore. I'm hoping to sneak him a away and give him a good bathing down before she plays with him again. Not sure how yet. Hopefully a gentle rub with some disinfectant wipes will do the trick.

Lil' J says...

My sister-in-law wanted to hear her talk so I recorded and sent her this video.

On the Go with Lil' J at Walmart Baby Days Sales {$50 Giveaway}

If I'm not at work, I'm usually out with Lil' J trying to find something fun to do. Monday we're going on a bike ride downtown, and Tuesday we may go swimming, or to a yoga class together. We are two girls always on the go.

I've learned how to pack her diaper bag quickly but that doesn't mean I don't usually forget something. I try to keep an extra pair of clothes, of course diapers, and some snacks on hand to keep her happy and entertained while we're out.

Watch the video below to see what we take with us on the go (and to see Lil' J's walking debut).

I love Earth's Best Yogurt Fruit Smoothies. They are tasty, don't need to be refrigerated, and easy to give to Lil' J when we're out and about. She loves them too, and if you're one of those moms who goes nuts over organic stuff, you'll be happy to know they're stamped organic by the USDA. I buy these things close to by the case full and give them to her as a breakfast snack on her way to school.

I also now have the Johnson's Take Along Pack in her diaper bag for emergencies in case I'm out and forgot to pack baby lotion, shampoo, powder, or diaper cream. Or in case a friend is in a bind and needs one of those things. It's all of those things in a travel size pack for under $3.

Growing up my family always joked that we were going to my dad's "favorite store" when wed head out to Walmart. He's a bargain shopper, and I've turned out to be the same way. I love that store. Don't hate.

Right now online Walmart.com is having their Baby Days sale and it continues until September 16th. So you can take advantage of even lower prices than they already offer, and get deals on things for your little ones. I took advantage and got Lil' J a new car seat. She has an infant seat and a kid seat but she needed a convertible for in-between so she can still face backwards. After reading this years car seat ratings from Consumer Reports I decided to get the Graco Comfort Sport seat. I'm not going to go into my confusion over paying $300 for seats that are rated the same or lower, but I will say that I'm stoked that I got a top rated car seat that has exactly what I was looking for for only $80. More expensive doesn't always mean better.

To make her ride more comfortable I also got her a portable DVD player ($55), and a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD ($9.96) to drive me crazy watch while we're getting where we're going.

Last but not least, I'm obsessed with As Seen on TV items, and I've been dying to try the Gyro Bowl ($12.88) and the Pillow Pet ($34.99), so I ordered Lil' J both to test out for me.

I got all but the pillow pet sent to my local store where I could pick it up without any shipping cost.

The estimated delivery date was something like two weeks away but I got them items just three days after placing my order! The pillow pet also arrived the same day to my house.

From now until September 16th you can participate in Walmart's Baby Days sales online. Also, many of the baby items (96 to be exact) qualify for free photo prints too (I personally love uploading pics to their website and picking them up at the store while I'm shopping. It's a genius idea).

I hope you enjoyed Lil' J's and my video as much as we enjoyed making it. Poor thing, I think she's going to be a talker like her mama. Future news anchor maybe? We'll see.

As stated in the video, there's a giveaway. Three winners. 
One will win a $50 Walmart Gift Card.
Another will win an Aveeno Gift Basket.
And another will win a Johnson's Baby Gift Basket. 

Leave a comment below letting me know about your on the go ritual to enter. GFC blog followers or email subscribers get an extra entry. Just leave a comment letting me know you're one. Also make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.

Giveaway ends next Saturday the 17th at 11:59pm. Good luck!


*This post is sponsored by BabyCenter in conjunction with the BabyCenter Blog Network. All prizes and compensation are provided by BabyCenter, Walmart and Johnson and Johnson. All opinions expresses, as always are my own.

Because you asked...

Remember in my 365 post earlier this week I posted a picture of Lil' J with her crawling in her dress? Well, without her dress she still does. I guess it's habit now since she's almost always in a dress. In this video she's making a beeline for the pool. That's why I had to cut it short.

We were at a work pool party last night and I had just changed her before we left. I should have got this in her cute bathing suit but there will be pictures of that in next week's 365 photos. Someone wanted to see a video of how she looks so here she is. She kinda reminds me of  Mowgli from The Jungle Book.

Source

My favorite part about going to work...

Is coming home to this...

Cloth Diapers are Friggin' Hilarious

I was getting Lil' J dressed for bed after a bath,  and stuffing one of her Fuzzibunz pocket diapers. We have a handful of those for night time.

As I pushed a cloth insert through the middle of the diaper I heard her giggle. I looked down at her smiling but I didn't know what was so funny. I continued stuffing the diaper with a second cloth insert and realized what was making her laugh. My hand stuck inside the diaper made it look like it had a life of it's own and she apparently thought that was hilarious.

Now the diaper tickles her each night after her bath before bed... Well, on the nights mommy puts her to bed. It never fails to get her going. I recently captured it on video.

It's not possible for me to watch this and not laugh myself.