Ideas of What to Pack in a Mommy & Baby Bag

As I get ready to go to the hospital to deliver, I find myself wanting to make sure I have everything in order. I don't want to forget anything. Who knows when this baby can come?? Being the planner that I am, I decided to make a short video listing all the things you need for a typical hospital stay. Hope this helps and as always, be blessed.

Sports Themed Baby Shower

Just wanted to share a few pictures from my baby shower this weekend. I had a really good time and I'm so appreciative to all my family and friends for celebrating this special time with us!!

 

                                         Me and my hubby John

 

                                       

                            Krashaun, Tania, Leah, Marcy, and Lora

                                          My father Jeffrey

                                                Big brother James 

FYI: An interesting way to decorate your baby bump is with a personalized painting. My big sister "Krashaun" painted a baby hiding behind a football for the sports themed shower.
My last baby shower was winter themed, so she painted a baby playing in the snow!!

Baby Shower Cake

The baby shower cake design did not go as planned but it still turned out great. I've learned in life to expect the unexpected and always be flexible. My FAVORITE cake store by my house closed down. I called to see if they had edible images and there phone number was disconnected!! I decided to drive by and see if this was just a fluke. Imagine my surprise when I found out the cake store was now an Indian clothing store!! Normally I would drive to the next closest store but my pregnancy laziness kicked in. I told my husband that he was just going to have to wing it. As long as it was sports themed he could come up with whatever design he felt comfortable making.

Random Cake Information:

1. Avoid baking and decorating in the same day
I always bake my cakes and make the buttercream one or two days before I need to decorate. Experience has shown me that the quality of my decorating suffers when I try to do everything at once. So my husband made the cake Friday night. FYI: He's only dressed up because we just got back from church...lol

2. Make sure you properly grease the pan 
You can use shortening, butter, flour, parchment paper, or pam. He used shortening on the pan. Make sure to use a generous amount. If not, your cake will stick to the pan and could possibly break when you try to get it out.

 

3. Make sure the cake is completely cool before decorating
If the cake is still warm, the buttercream will melt when you try to ice the cake.

4. Make sure the theme or design you choose is within your ability
Try to choose a design according to your skill level. If you choose something more complex, practice before hand until you're comfortable. Youtube and cake decorating sites are really good resources to learn new techniques. My husband on the other hand did not have time to watch any videos. He only had my instructions to go on.

Here's the finished product...

 

 Tools used:

• Offset spatula to ice the cake
• #234 tip for the border
• #18 tip for the football
• #47 tip for football lines
• #1M tip to swirl the buttercream on the cupcakes

 

 

Update on Operation Baby Clothes

The past few days have been really crazy preparing for the baby shower. Now that it's over, I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures of the boy's new closet. I'm a firm believer of making the best of what you have. For those of you that are working with a limited space, its going to take more creativity and work consolidating everything.

5 Steps to Organizing Your Closet
1. Purge, purge, purge - Before you begin adding items (clothes, shoes, etc) you should eliminate items that you are no longer using or may take up too much space. I removed all the clothes that my four year old son grew out of and packed them up.

2. Try not to shuffle clutter - If you're no longer using it, give it away. There's always someone or some organization that might benefit from your items. In my case, I'm giving it to my three year old nephew. Moving clutter around from one room to another just creates another room that you're eventually going to have to organize. Giving it away also prevents the item from somehow creeping back into your closet...lol!

3. Separate items according to type - For example, you can sort your clothes according to color or style (dresses, tank tops, sweaters, etc...) Personally, I have tried both ways and like organizing my clothes and shoes according to style. I separated the baby clothes according to size (0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc...) and according to style (shorts, pants, pajamas)

4. Utilize storage and organizational products - I recommend going on Google Images and perform a search on closet organizational and storage products. This is a good way to visualize what setup you want for your closet and what products might help you achieve your organizational goals.

   I went to Target and purchased two items:

• Double hang bar from "Threshold" - The double-hang closet organizer increases the hanging space in your closet. I would not have had enough space to hang the baby clothes without it. 
• Plastic storage bins -  Plastic storage bins are an affordable alternative to wooden dressers. I purchased the bins with wheels just in case I wanted to roll them around the house on laundry day.  

5. Don't be afraid to improvise - Look around your house to see what you have that might be useful.
I used an oversized basket as a storage for my son's hats and gloves. I also used safety pins to adjust the height on the double hang bar. If you're going to hang heavier items, then you'll need something stronger than safety pins, but since baby clothes are light, it worked out :)

 

 

Lynk Closet Doubler Double Hang Rod, White Sterilite 29308001 3-Drawer Wide Cart with See-Through Drawers and Black Casters, White

Swapportunity

I decided to return the Mac nude lipstick ($15), moisturizer ($32), and lip gloss ($21). I went to Walgreens and purchased the following for the same price of one Mac lipstick!!!
I tried the Oil of Olay moisturizer ($9.99) this morning and it works great. It's oil free so it absorbs nicely into your skin, and doesn't feel heavy or thick. I wore the Wet & Wild nude lipstick ($2.99) today coupled with Victoria Secret lip gloss and it looked just as good as the nude Mac lipstick and cream gloss. Wet & Wild has stepped up their game. The quality of their products has really improved since I last used them. So far, I really recommend their lipstick.   

Birthday Presents

I celebrated my 29th birthday this week!! My husband decided to take me shopping. Apparently, I won't spend money on myself without supervision...lol! There's some truth to that. Here is a video of my birthday haul. Enjoy!!

Texan's Baby Shower

This weekend my family is throwing me a baby shower. Two weeks before my due date. I hope I make it...lol. One of my side hobbies is making and decorating cakes. I love it. It's a lot of work but its fun.

Usually, I make the cakes for my family celebrations but since its my baby shower, that would be weird. So I decided to have my husband make my cake for me. He's actually really good, especially with fondant. Check out this Hello Kitty Cake. He did all the fondant work. I LOVE the bows!! 

My baby shower is sports themed, centered mostly around the Houston Texans. My husband told me to pick out a cake and he would make it. So I picked out a cake similar to the one I made for my brother in law's birthday. A  Patriots pull-a-part cupcake cake.

I'm looking forward to see how it turns out. I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for him, so I'm going to the cake store to get an edible Houston Texans image. I'll post a picture of the finished product and a how to video as soon as possible. Stay tuned :)   

 

Operation Baby Clothes!!

   I have 3 weeks and 1 day left before my little boy arrives and I really need to get busy. This week, I want to organize all the baby clothes and somehow fit them into the same closet as my 4 year old!!! Most people would give their newborns their own room but I'm old fashioned. I'm the 5th child in my family and we all shared rooms until people started to move out...lol. I still remember the time my parents drove us (7 people) from Houston to Cleveland, Ohio in a Dodge Intrepid (a car not a van). Five grown kids all crammed in the same back seat liked sardines. As much as I hated it, I can't deny my heritage...lol. I'm a firm believer in the "cramming technique."
   I went to Target this week and bought some closet organization supplies; drop bars, drawers, etc..
I somehow have to cram this....

       
into this...

Without breaking the bank. We'll see how it goes. Stay tuned :)

 

Welcome!!

Hi everyone!! Welcome to my page. Sharron's Take is a blog about my life and the things I find interesting (family, friends, food, etc). I am currently 37 weeks pregnant with my second child. I'm beginning to get excited. I know most people blog or vlog their entire pregnancy but I figure better late than never...lol. This first post is dedicated to everyone with the courage to begin something new and different. Stay tuned :)