Shopping

Toddler climbing out of crib

Escape Artists, Thrifting, and Fall Reading

I think Niva’s fence jumping habit is rubbing off on Sadie. I heard her stirring in her crib yesterday morning and checked her baby monitor to find this scene. We have two escape artists on our hands, lol.

Toddler climbing out of crib

Thankfully I caught her before she fully climbed out, but I feel like our crib days are numbered. Fellow parents, when did you switch your child from a crib to a bed?

We’ve been doing some fall-themed reading here in the Zottola household. Sadie really enjoys Biscuit books, so we added a few fall ones to our growing collection. 

Biscuit books

We don’t celebrate Halloween, and I’ve found it tough to find children’s books about fall that aren’t Halloween-related. When I saw Biscuit Visits the Pumpkin Patch, Biscuit is Thankful, and Happy Thanksgiving, Biscuit I was so pumped! 

Do you like to go thrift shopping? I don’t go very often, but every time I do I always wonder why I don’t do it more often. I especially like to thrift clothes for Sadie because she grows out of things so quickly. 

My mom, Sadie, and I went on a little girls’ outing to a local thrift store and found a few great deals.

Thrifted toddler clothing

The bird top was $2.09 and the bunny rabbit jumper was $1.04. 

Thrifted toddler clothes

The red dress cost $2.09 and the adorable animal print sweater was also $2.09.

Penn State toddler outfit

Last but not least for clothing, Sadie scored a Penn State shirt for $1.04 and jeggings for $0.99. 

I couldn’t pass up the book section because, well, books. I grabbed a book that tells the story of Noah’s ark for $0.50 and a marriage book I’ve been eying up for years for $1.99. I’m excited to dive in. 

Love and Respect and The Story of Noah

What was the last item you got a great deal on?

Duck Eggs and I Understand Now

When I was growing up, I never saw my mom buy anything for herself. She would take me back-to-school shopping and not even glance in the women’s department. I would always ask her why she didn’t buy herself clothes, or maybe a purse? A pretty necklace? Her response was always that she wanted her kids to have the new clothes, fun items, etc. rather than herself.

Since becoming a parent, I finally understand what my mom would always tell me. I would much rather buy Sadie a new shirt than myself. I think I can count on one half of a hand how many items of clothing I’ve purchased for myself since I’ve had Sadie, and most of them have been nursing bras. It’s just so much more fun to buy clothes for my child than myself!

Garanamals leopart toddler long sleeve shirt from Walmart

Like the above shirt. It was $4.50 at Walmart and Sader Tot is in need of fall clothing so I picked it up for her. While we were in the store, I didn’t even glance at the women’s department. I’m becoming my mom, haha. Not really, though, because I don’t have too much trouble using my spending money on books 😉

I just finished up Finding Zoe by Brandi Rarus and wow, what a (true!) story. It deals with adoption, deafness, and identity. It had so many twists and turns that I had a hard time putting it down. I’m also working my way through Hannah’s Song, which is a Bible study on the book of 1 Samuel. While I don’t agree on the author’s viewpoint oo salvation, the rest of the book has been very insightful.

Onto duck eggs.

My brother and his wife bought a few chickens and ducks this spring and they’ve been getting eggs lately and passing some on to me. They know they way to my egg-loving heart ❤

Duck eggs and chicken eggs

Can you guess which ones are the duck eggs?!

My brother said he heard duck eggs are excellent to bake with because the high fat content results in fluffier baked goods. I asked them if they wanted me to bake them anything with some of the eggs as a thank you and they requested challah. Can’t wait to make it 🙂

In other news, we had a normal day over here at the Zottola Zoo. Sadie learned about the color orange and did some painting.

Toddler painting with orange paint

I went on an organization spree while she went down for a nap. Our linen closet is one of the spaces in our home that slowly becomes a catchall over time and today was the day I decided to finally tackle it.

I ended up nailing baskets and old plastic containers to the door to add some extra storage and it helped clear up a lot of space inside the actual closet!

Closet organization with baskets on door

Time will tell if it all holds up 😉

Yesterday was Niva’s first birthday and tomorrow she is getting spayed. Poor girl. It was so hard to see Mavis struggle after she was spayed (I’m going to blame my crying on the pregnancy hormones in 2018, lol) and I’m hoping it’s a better experience for everyone involved this time!

Do you have any catchall spots in your home? Our linen closet, basement, and a few drawers in our living room are our places.

Do you like to buy clothes? I would much rather spend the day in a bookstore than clothing store, but enjoy getting Sadie clothes.