DIY Baby Sensory Bags

I made these for a baby sensory playdate with some mommy friends of mine.  They were a big hit!  And super easy to make!  Try it yourself!  :)


Materials:
Gallon Ziploc bags (wal-mart brand because there is no label/printing on the bag)
Decorative Duct Tape
1 bottle of CHEAP colored hair gel (green, yellow, pink)
Water
(there are items I used, you can use whatever you like!)
Pom Poms
Buttons
Pony Beads
Googly Eyes


Step 1: Pour 3/4 of the containter of gel into ziplock bag.  Add a little bit of water, I'm talking like 2-3 tablespoons.  Squish it around till gel is a little watered down.  Add more water or gel if needed, it won't hurt to have the whole bottle of gel.  Just depends on how much you want in the bag.

Step 2:  Add the sensory items of your choice.  I added the entire pom pom and button packages I bought.  For the googly eyes and pony beads, I added half of each package because so many came in them.  Squish them around some in there.  Add water to your disgression of suqishability.  :)

Step 3:  Close the Ziploc bag.  Make sure you get all the possible air out that you can.  Once done, start to duct tape each side, front and back.  It is easier if you do one edge at a time: do the front, then back, then go onto next edge.  Your all done!  

Texas Footprint Flag

Here is a super cute and fun craft to do with your little ones!   My son is 9 moths old and we had fun doing this!

Materials:
washable paint in red, white and blue
scissors
blue construction paper
large Popsicle sticks
glue stick
sharpie
paper plates
art sponges on a stick
toothpick

Step 1:  Take one piece of blue construction paper and folded it in half once, then in half again.  When you unfold it there will be 4 squares.  Cut them out the four squares.

Step 2: Pour the desired amount of red, white and blue paint onto paper plates.  First paint baby's foot with art sponge (left or right doesn't matter) white paint.  Put baby's footprint on blue paper.  Rinse foot with water.  Repeat process with red paint (use same foot as before) and put baby's foot print directly under white footprint.  Rinse foot with water.  Again same process, but we only need to paint the baby's heel with blue paint.  Put heel print on the baby's heel prints of red and white.  Let dry.  (be sure to wash out sponges, they can be reused many times!)

Step 3:  Take toothpick and draw a star with white paint.  Slowly and carefully fill in star you drew so that it is completely filled in with white paint.

Step 4:  Put a genrous amout of glue on the top 1/3 portion of popsicle stick.  The top of the popsicle stick should be in the middle of the blue paper when you glue it on, so you will have enough room to hold the stick at the bottom. 

Step 5:  Write baby's name and year on bottom of flag for keepsake.  Let dry and show off!   :)

3 Months of Catch Up!

I know....it's been 3 months.  I am getting back and slacking at my blogging.  Nothing in particular has stopped me from blogging, other than sheer laziness and not making time for it.  A lot has happened in the past three months.  Let's see what I can re-cap what's happened since April, and go!

--Holden has been in his helmet now for almost 3 months now, and doing swimmingly!  He is now at 7mm, when we started at 15!!  The goal is to get to 5mm or below.  We have a follow up in one week, so stay tuned!  He also got a custom designed helmet courtesy of his super duper cool Uncle Donald.  Check out the before and after helmet.

Here is the Camo helmet......and the super cute camo overalls Holden's Pappy got him!

                                               
                          And here is his custom made STARband helmet. 

 

The front has his name on it,                                 The back says "Fixin' My Flat!" and below his name it says "Firefighter".  
                                                                        

       
                                              

--My mom came to visit for the entire month of May.  It was amazing, fun, and not long enough.  Living a thousand miles away from your parents, who are now grandparents, is hard on both sides.  We had  blast and can't wait to see her again, and Pappy!

 Holden and Grandma Sharon the day she got here!
 

 --I quit pumping the end of May.  It was time....and my freezer could only hold so much milk.  It was a little harder easier than I thought quitting....but it was still emotional.  Good thing is though that I have enough to last Holden till he is a year, and that was my goal!

--Holden had O.T. a few times and some follows up with a developmental specialist for his torticollis.  He did great with all the sessions we had and has full range of motion to turn his head to the left side.  Still working on the tilt, but that will just take time and patience.  He is not a big fan of the stretches and exercies.

--My friends and I started a mommy group called Moms Of Faith, and have met a whole lot of mommy friends, who I LOVE.  Holden and I go on about 2 play dates a week with them.  We are loving getting out and seeing new things and meeting new mommies and babies.

So yeah, that about sums up the past three months in a nutshell.  We are loving life and enjoying every minute of it.  Nothing earth shattering has happened, just living an everyday normal life, and happy to be just that, normal.  :)

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie