New business launch

During the time I was home caring for my sick babies I had some time to think(not much but just enough).
I wrote on one of previous posts that I was going to sell cupcakes out of my trunk and as I reflected on that days later I thought, that's not a bad idea! I used to love baking and then life happened and I didn't do it anymore after I moved to the northeast.
Until now...
So I started baking a bunch of batches from scratch to perfect my cupcakes.

Perfecting the icing...

Perfecting the cupcake...

They MUST be fluffy!!! This was my top criteria and VERY important stuff!!

I got it!! 

The perfect fluffy cupcake! Not to mention, the perfect icing to go on top.

I even made a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese icing... I'm not a big carrot cake lover but these were very good. ;)  (See Below)

I tested my product out on several different people, some of whom didn't even know I made them, and got really great feedback.
And so, JoliRose Cupcake Catering was born.
My website, Jolirosecupcakes.com, is up and running and my business cards are almost here. This is soo exciting.
I finally have a hope of staying home with my babies, still bring home income and realize a dream I've had for as long as I can remember... Own my own business!
And let's not forget.... Do something for a living that I actually like doing!!

Now the hard part begins.... get people to purchase my cupcakes.... It's ok.. I like a challenge! Besides,once they get a taste of my sweet treats, they'll be lining up. Hopefully. :/
Oh yeah... and just wait till I start getting really creative with this icing!!!!  Stay tuned!!! Much more to come!!!

Things Learned

After a two week hiatus from work to care for my sick babies, I am going back. :(
The babies are finally better after 3 long weeks of doctor visits, antibiotics and infections. Needless to say, they won't be visiting a daycare for a very long time.
Now here we have some issues we didn't have before:

1- My daughter has to be trained to sleep in her bed or at the very least sleep in her brothers bedroom with him. She got very used to sleeping with mommy while she was sick because I needed to be with her to monitor the fever spikes at night. This is proving to be extremely difficult and its actually amazing how quickly children get used to things.
I'll be hitting up babycenter.com for some tricks and tips on figuring this challenge out.

2- Our bedtime routine is completely out of whack. I still put them to bed around 8 but they don't go to sleep till after 9:30!! This is not good and so very tiring for me. Not to mention my poor Madison is literally asking for a bedtime story. With them being soo sick, I was just happy to keep them comfortable and didn't really worry about bath time, pajamas, etc... This is an easy one but nonetheless needs to be addressed.

3- Madison has very little appetite. This is a BIG issue. The ear infection and subsequent antibiotic intake has caused her to have little to no appetite. Madison is already a finicky eater so now this is going to a whole new level of stress for me. The doctors say it will come back and not to worry but she's so thin. It's not like she was chubby before and could stand a couple of pounds being lost. She was already lean and now she lost a couple of pounds. Ugh!!!!! I hate not being able to fix my children and make them all better!

Most Helpful Info

I believe some of the most important mommy necessities aren't actual "things"...
My biggest mommy necessity is INFORMATION!  I constantly need info on development, illnesses, where to go when I need things for the kids at reasonable prices, etc...
Let's face it,  the reason we've heard the following saying over and over is because its true!
"Kids do not come with instruction manuals!"

I have found the following links and book essential in keeping me sane when it was the middle of the night and you can't call anyone for advice on what to do for a screaming baby who isn't sick,  hot, cold, hungry, wet or anything....or when I just didn't have the time or energy to go out to buy anything.

Number 1 on my list goes to none other than....
BABYCENTER.COM
This site is AMAZING! There are sooo many parents from all over who give great advice for any issue you could think of.  This is life experience advice... and some expert doctor advice too...
This is where you want to go when you need lots of information.... they have almost everything covered.

2nd place belongs to
DIAPERS.COM
This is a "convenience" site.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE diapers.com.  Who wants to be lugging around huge diaper boxes and one or two babies all over a store???  Not me!
Diapers.com delivers diapers, formula and almost anything else you need for your baby right to your doorstep within 2 days. And best of all,  they have FREE 2 DAY SHIPPING with orders of over $49....
When you think about it, a box of Pampers are about $40 and you almost always need a onesie or a PJ set(which they have at competitive prices too).
Next thing you know...
POOF.... 
You have diapers and whatever else at your door in a couple of days and NO running around a store with kids and (impossible to accommodate on a stroller) diaper boxes!

3rd place goes to
THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK by Harvey Karp
This book is amazing!  It really does work!  I have read many parenting books but this is by far the best and most effective.  Not to mention its an easy read and its not 500 pages.  :)

First timers at being sick. :(

One of the the last posts was about how happy the babies were at daycare.
Well, here's the update:
A day after those pictures were taken, my children who have NEVER been sick, started getting sick. Now I'm not talking about a little cold, I'm talking about full blown ear infections with antibiotics and fever spikes!
Look at these little faces....

Lessons learned from this experience so far:

1- If you feel "iffy" about your child's caregiver, change them!
There was something about our pediatrician that I didn't like but I let it go because my husband thought she was good... I should've trusted my instincts. Which leads me to #2.
2- Trust your gut!!!
Had I trusted in what this pediatrician said, I would've let my son continue going through pain because "it should work itself out". Ofcourse, I did not trust this knucklehead and took them both to the baby ER.
3- There's nothing worse than seeing your little angels sick and not being able to take it away.
4- If you have to, you CAN function on 2 hours of sleep a night and still go to work the next day. 
You will do whatever it takes to make those babies comfortable and try to meet your obligations as a working parent.  It's not easy, but it's doable.
5- When it rains it pours!!!
Not only have the children been very sick, but my husband and I both got sick too....
6- It's OK to walk around the house with your shirt full of spit and snot and smelling of vomit and sweat.
It's your kids stuff.... it is what it is!  You either do that or have a wardrobe change every 15 minutes. No time for that "Divaness" when your dealing with two sick munchkins.
7- And lastly,  just praying to stay home with my babies has not worked and someone else ALWAYS wins the damn lottery!!!  :/