It's Rockin Mama Baby Gear's 5th Birthday

WOW! How is it possible that it's been 5 years already?? I cannot believe how far I have come with this little business. It's amazing the things you can accomplish with a little blood, sweat, tears and a heavy dose of determination. Yes, I said blood haha I can't tell you how many times I have sliced my hand with my rotary cutter, poked myself with a pin or even got my finger caught in my sewing machine - YYEEEEE-OOOOW! I do NOT want to ever do THAT again! Oh and then there's the tears. Tears of joy. Tears of frustration. Tears of exhaustion ... hahaha ... it has NOT been an easy road - trust me, it hasn't all been fun! I can't tell you how many times I have worked from 5am to midnight - BLAH! Owning your own business isn't always glamorous like a lot of people think. There is NO vacation days or sick time. If I don't work I don't get paid! And I have to be the WORST boss in the world! I am harder on myself than any boss would ever be, without going to jail hahaha ... OH and it's definitely not over. My little adventure continues each and every day I learn more and grow more. There's ALWAYS room for improvement. 

Well, I'm not going to bore you with business stuff that NO ONE wants to hear about ... blah-blah-blah ... I don't even want to talk about it hahaha! 

The fun part is the sewing and creating! Speaking of that: Did you know this little biz started at my kitchen table?? hahaha SO crazy to think back to those days. Just something for fun, something to do since my babies were a bit older and I wasn't so busy doing Mommy Stuff. Started in my kitchen, making baby stuff for my sister who was preggo with her first and wanted something different... and ... Now this is my career! My Life! MY OBSESSION! hahaha. I just hope as I grow and get busier I don't lose the excitement for the little things. Like hearing my Etsy shop app go "CHA-CHING!" with every sale. I LOVE THAT! and my kids will yell "MOM! You got a CHA-CHING!" ... hahahaha ... Or I get so excited when friends share my Facebook posts and their friends comment by saying "I LOVE that brand!" and I just sit back and think "WOW! I am a brand!" ... OR like in July when I did an out of state event and people recognized my logo and store name. One customer says "Hey! I saw you on Pinterest! and I've pinned a TON of your stuff!" ... *sigh* I am just amazed! 

SOOOO One of my most recent exciting events is I was requested to make 1,000 pairs of booties for a very well known website who found and contacting me through my Etsy Shop. I am so honored! And VERY nervous! I have no clue how I am going to make that many but I am sure as hell going to try! ... and you KNOW I will post more about that later ... well, OFF to work! Gotta finish a bunch of orders so I can get to work on those booties!!! BYEEEEEEEEEEE 

OH wait here's a little collage of 5 years of fan photos!! Enjoy!

The Liebster Award

A great customer of mine notified me and said she has nominated my blog for the Liebster Award. "OOOH Cool! How sweet" I thought, then my mind wondered on to thinking "What is a Liebster Award?" hahaha So I checked out her blog Confessions from the Playroom Here's what she found out about the Liebster Award:

"The Liebster Award is for blogs with under 300 followers and the rules of the award is that the nominee must link back to whoever nominated them, write 11 random facts about themselves, answer 11 questions from the award giver, and then nominate another 11 bloggers and make up 11 questions for them to answer. It's a great way for new and undiscovered bloggers to meet new people, get more followers and find some blogs that they want to follow."



So, like Miss Kelley says on her blog: "It's kind of like a chain letter". It's a great way for all of us fellow bloggers to get to know and promote each other. LOVE IT! And since my blog tends to be very neglected what a great way to inspire me to post here again. So let's get started, first I am supposed to write 11 random facts about me. Ok let's see here. I'll just post the absolute first things that pop in my head:

1. I LOVE Kit-Kat candy bars ... mmmmm ... ok, now I'm craving one - damn!
2. I married my high school sweetheart
3. I love to be outdoors and do anything outside: camping, fishing, hiking, off-roading... The list goes on & on! I just love this beautiful earth where we live.
4. I love ALL books written by Dean Koontz, he's such an amazing writer. I get lost is his way of describing things.
5. I started my life as a mom & wife very young. We had 2 babies before I was even old enough to drink haha and I have loved every second of it. It was tough, don't get me wrong, but there are no regrets here.
6. I love cartoons and Disney movies. Happy to watch them over & over again with my kiddos (and sometimes by myself). I have several of them memorized. It drives my kids nuts when I recite them word for word hahaha
7. I am a total and complete sunshiney morning person hahaha my eyes pop open around 5am and I am ready to go!
8. My mom calls me the "Tattooed Martha Stewart" haha I love to craft, cook, sew, bake and just be home taking care of my family, but I don't look the part on the outside. Never judge a book by it's cover, right? :-)
9. I am a total a complete geek on the inside. I even snort a little when I laugh really hard.

... ok only 2 more - this is getting tough LOL

10. I'm a tom boy, never been much of a girly-girl (besides my love of the domestic type stuff) my idea of make-up when I very rarely put some on is the basics: foundation, eyeliner, mascara & chap stick HA!
11. I am a work-a-holic. My husband has to force me to stop and relax LOL



No here are the 11 questions Kelley asked:


1. If they made a movie of your life, who would play you?
hmmmm ... this might be easier if I was good at remembering names because all I can think is
"you know, that one girl with the hair and she's really cute ..." LOL ... I think Sandra Bullock. I identify
with her personality. She seems very down to earth & sarcastic like me haha

2. Cake or pie?
Can I say both? hahaha I think cake comes first, wait unless it's pumpkin pie!

3. If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you want to sit down and have a meal with and why?
I'm a simple girl and the only person I can think of is my hubby and my best friends. Why? because it's
the simple things in life that matter most.

4. What makes you laugh?
Just about anything! I love silly - goofy movies. My hubby and I laugh together A LOT, and
my kids make me laugh.

5. What scares you (like hide under the covers kind of scared)?
Horror movies, if I ever watch one (this is rare) I won't sleep for weeks.

6. Your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement, First is my kids. They always come first. Second is working myself up in the
world. From starting out as a teen mom with nothing and my hubby & I working hard to bring my family to
where we are now.

7. What do you like most about being a blogger?
I started my blog as a way to promote my online business. I love how blogs allow me to show a personal side
of my business and to see the personal side of other women like me. It's fascinating.

8. What's the one song that will get you to get up and dance?
Accessing iTunes now to look at my songs (again, bad at remembering names haha)... ok anything by
Jack Johnson, it's not a fast beat but I just love the mood of his music :-)

9. Coffee or tea?
Ok, like the cake or pie question this one is definitely both! I like my coffee HOT with cream and
my tea cold with LOTS of ice - both with no sugar!

10. What's your secret obsession? (and we all have one, so fess up)
hmmmm secret obsession. That's a tough one. I tend to be an open book so not a lot of secrets with
me ... let me think ... ok, here's one: I google everything! EVERYTHING! I just caught myself googling
to find a list of example secret agent names for my next question hahahaha! I'm so not creative in a
writingg/making up names kind of way.

11. If you were a secret agent, what would your code name be?
Ok and as you read my answer to number 10 you know I cheated on this question hahaha I googled and found a
Secret Agent Name Generator and my secret agent name is: Agent HevyMetal BAH HAHAHAHAHA!

And now for my nominations, some of mine have just a little more than 300 - oh well haha:

Desert Star Creations
Art of Megan Dresback
Tattoo Tales
Tutuland
The Project Mama

OK so now here's your questions to answer & link back to me:

1. What inspires you with your creations? Why?
2. What's your favorite thing to do to relax?
3. What's your guilty pleasure?
4. If you were given a $10,000 shopping spree in any store, where would you go & what would you buy?
5. Your fave TV show?
6. What was your nickname as a kid?
7. Your secret crush? secret, as in embarrassing ... hehehe
8. Who's your favorite celebrity?
9. Are you a cat person or dog person?
10. When getting ready to start working/crafting what gets you motivated?
11. Comedy movie or Horror movie?

aaaaannnnnnndd GO!

xxxx*HUGS*xxxx

Celestial
Rockin Mama

I was nominated for the Liebster Award!

My blog was nominated for the "Liebster Award" ... YAY!!!! STAY TUNED FOR MY LIEBSTER POST & BLOG NOMINATIONS ...

"The Liebster Award is for blogs with under 300 followers and the rules of the award is that the nominee must link back to whoever nominated them, write 11 random facts about themselves, answer 11 questions from the award giver, and then nominate another 11 bloggers and make up 11 questions for them to answer. It's a great way for new and undiscovered bloggers to meet new people, get more followers and find some blogs that they want to follow."

Our CRAZY moving adventures - too crazy I HAD to share

Ok so here goes ... and just to be clear, after you have read ALL this we STILL have not moved in. ALMOST done, should have keys on Monday ... hopefully ... LOL

The beginning of January we learned that values came up 30% which if we sold our house at that time we would break even and I just got my settlement from my car accident (happened in October 2011 - which we can use for down payment with an FHA loan) so we decided to go for it. We looked at houses 1st because our realtor (who is my hubby's Dad) said houses that were conventional sales (not a short sale) are selling fast. We came straight to Logandale which is a small town 55 miles outside of Vegas. I have family here, it's a small town and most importantly it's NOT Vegas but still close enough for Nick to commute to work in Vegas.

So the 1st house we saw was perfect and we put our offer in then put our house on the market. A couple weeks later the seller, of the house we want, contacts us and says he got a better cash offer. TOTAL BUMMER! This was our dream house. So we decide to go back to Logandale to hopefully find another house. A week later, the day before we are planning to go look again, we get a call from the seller that his cash offer fell through and are we still interested. YES!!!! Then almost minutes after that we get a call that a cash buyer wants to buy our home and he wants to close by the 25th (which is in 10 days). SO the house we are buying is vacant so we asked the seller if we could move in before closing and rent until we closed. He said that was fine as long as the appraisal came in at the loan amount. Only condition is seismic straps need to be installed on the water heater. Ok, fine don't care we can do that. We got the appraisal back Friday afternoon the 22nd at the amount needed. This is the Friday before we are supposed to move-in so we cut it close! So we got everything set up, scheduled movers and got the kids transferred from school. We were scheduled to move in Monday morning the 25th. On Saturday the 23rd at 3:30 pm the seller called and said he changed his mind and we couldn't move in until AFTER we closed. I went into full panic mode!!!!

We had to tell our movers to take all our stuff to storage and just pack our clothes and a few personal items. Now I'm wondering how was I supposed to find a place for a family of 5 with a 110 pound dog to live in a small town on the weekend, with less than 36 hours notice!? So I called my Grandma to see if we could stay with her. She said yes we could stay in her 5th wheel and put kids on floors and couches. Then she remembered she had a friend who also had a house by hers that he only vacations in and called him to see if we could stay there. He said that was fine, it was a little one room shack.




So the 1st night of moving we are exhausted but we went to the lake and got water to fill the tank and get settled.
OK LET ME JUST STOP FOR A SECOND TO EXPLAIN THE WATER SITUATION OUT HERE WHERE MY GRANDMA LIVES: she lives ON the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The houses here were built BEFORE this became a national park. There is no "city water" you have to supply your own water to your house. So this is how we get water: we hook the tank to the truck, haul it down to the lake, fill it at the pump, haul it back up to the house then pump it from the trailer tank into the tank to the house (it's in the ground just to the right) ... it's amazing how fast you go through water when you have to carefully monitor it! And we are being extra careful on usage. Check out the pic below for reference.



SO as we are filling the tank to the house with the water we just hauled from the lake the water pump (which pumps the water into the pipes of the house) busted. So now we have no running water. We spent the night but now we have to carry a 5 gallon bucket to the outside tank, open the lid, dip the bucket in to fill with water and haul it inside so we can dump it into the toilet, you know so we can flush the toilet. Plus there was no heat, it was 35 degrees outside AND all the electrical in that shack was a total fire hazard. Busted outlets, switches with exposed wires hanging out of the wall, AND the fridge was plugged into a tiny white extension cord which was plugged into a broken electrical outlet! OMG get me outta here!!

Again total panic mode, and my kids are crying they just want to go home and right now we technically don't have a home so I didn't even know what to say to them. I just cried too. Luckily my Grandma was able to call another friend here who also has an empty house and so that is where we are still...

SO separate from the house subject I get my kids all enrolled in school, well my elementary kids are lucky enough to already have another elementary kid living in this area by the lake (30 miles away from there school - by the way) so they have bus transportation. YAY! I am told by the middle school, where my oldest son goes, that CCSD transportation refuses to send a bus out for my middle schooler. They are telling me where we are staying doesn't exist HA! GREAT! So now I have to provide transportation for my son. That is 120 miles a day I'll have to make to get him to school. Luckily my Aunt lives within walking distance of the school so we were able to arrange for him to stay with her 2 nights a week to save us on gas.

SO next we are told by our lenders that because we are buying a flipped house that was purchased and flipped within 90 days we have to get a 2nd appraisal! Seriously!? We are told this on Friday afternoon so of course I get to stress over it ALL weekend. Tuesday we find out we don't have to do the 2nd appraisal but it does have to go under a 2nd review. GREAT! So it's sent to the first appraisal company for review. Well, no one there wants to touch it because the property is in Logandale and they aren't familiar with the area. We finally find someone to review it, Friday afternoon I get word that the original amount is correct and we are good to go. WHEW!

THEN I get a call from the elementary school and I am told my daughter has lice and I have to pick her up immediately. I am so embarrassed to share this BUT it just adds to the hell we have been through. I lost it, complete melt down. I was crying, sobbing, blubbering you name it! My poor baby girl with her BEAUTIFUL LONG strawberry blonde hair has LICE! UGH I had no clue what to do. Never dealt with this before! To shorten this part of the story I had to tear apart and clean a house that isn't mine. Let's just say we had endless laundry and TONS of trips to the pump to get more and more water. We luckily caught it at a very early stage and are now clear of this awful, awful memory!

SO now I get a call from our lender and they need the Settlement Statement from our short refinance we did 3.5 years ago. Great! I'd love to get that for you except ALL MY STUFF IS IN STORAGE! UGH! So I'm scrambling to get a hold of the lender or title company to find this document. I go through old emails to find the name of the title company. Finally find it and look up the phone number. It's disconnected. So I Google search the title company's name. Guess what: they've been shut down for FRAUD! AHHHHHH! Panic! AND of course this too happens on Friday!! So I find the name of the Lender, the receptionist tells me it's probably in storage and she doesn't know when they will be able to get it. I burst into tears! I beg, I plead, I bribe! PLEASE get me this document!!! She will check into it and get back to me. 3 pm rolls around and she calls, she found it and is emailing it! YES!!!! Now we have the ball rolling, at least on Monday anyways LOL

THEN we get an email from our lender they need certain documents from title they have been requesting for a couple weeks. Boy did I rattle their cages for that! They finally get them over to our Lender. YAY!

Then as of Wednesday (March 20th) they have everything but OH wait did anyone put those straps on the water heater?? AHHHHHH! So that's where we are now. AND OF COURSE THEY FINALLY GET THE STUPID STRAPS INSTALLED AFTER 3PM ON A FRIDAY! Now it's too late to fund, everything has to wait until Monday. Cross your fingers for us!!!!

Hopefully we'll finally be "home" next week ... OH and let me just say I will NEVER be moving again! LOL

Modeling Sessions

Modeling Sessions have started! Jeniffer LaRocca and I have teamed up again for modeling sessions for the new outfits I created. I have to say this is one of my favorite parts of my job. The Mom's and babies have so much fun and I get to see and choose the pics for my website and listings. I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVE Jen's work. She is so great with kids, and I know she will treat my customers right. Can't wait for our next session!

New Baby Boy & Girl Outfits

Been working hard on getting new outfits in the shop for the warm weather that is just around the corner.

Skulls & Roses Baby Girl Pinafore Dress - available in sizes 6-12 months & 12-24 Months

Rockabilly Tattoo Baby Girl Pinafore Dress - available in sizes 6-12 months & 12-24 Months

Lil Cowpoke Boy's T-shirt Set - available in sizes 6-12 months & 12-24 Months

Captain Red Beard - Pirates - Boy's T-shirt Set - available in sizes 6-12 months & 12-24 Months

All outfits are handmade & appliqued by me using the highest quality fabric and t-shirts available. Below are picks of a couple of my very happy little customers that LOVE their Rockin Mama outfits

I also do custom orders!!! Feel Free to contact me with ANY questions

SAVE THE DATE: Nov. 24th - Small Business Saturday

Support your favorite small business.

This November 24th is Small Business Saturday, a day to celebrate and
support the local small businesses that boost the economy and invigorate
neighborhoods across the country.

ROCKIN MAMA BABY GEAR is proud to take part in Small Business Saturday, and we’re
encouraging everyone to Shop Small here on November 24th.

FIND ME ON FACEBOOK FOR SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY SPECIALS
www.facebook.com/rockinmamababygear

Most importantly, get out there, Shop Small, and let’s make this November
24th the biggest day of the year for small business.
To learn more, visit ShopSmall.com.