60-day Countdown to Baby

Though we are all about personalization and customization,  we realize that some folks just want to make it fast and easy.  We have just launched our first in a series of "standard" countdowns. A 60-day Countdown to Baby is now available at Amazon. It's reasonably priced, at just $15.99 and has 61 (due date makes 61 entry dates) funny and thoughtful sentiments as you countdown to the due date.  The standard countdowns, unlike our fully customized countdown calendars do not countdown to an actual calendar date. We do, however, leave a space available for you to fill in the due date. 

Since the inspiration for Creative Countdown was a gift Joanie and Melissa put together as we awaited the birth of our child, its fitting that Countdown to Baby Adoption is coming within the week.  I know so well how stressful the process of adoption can be, so I authored many entries to add some humor to the situation. I call them 'adoption bonuses' (I.e. Adoption Bonus: no baby weight to work off!") This calendar is also a 60-day countdown.  Many couples don't get 60 days notice when adopting, but we figured that the couple (or gift giver) can just tear off pages to the appropriate due date or induction date.   

Countdown to Wedding, and Countdown to Retirement will be launched within the month and We have an entire lineup in the works. We'd love your suggestions to add to our queue.   Let us know what big event you are looking forward to!  We'd love to hear from you.

Party On with Stripey Straws!!!

  I'd like to discuss my recent obsession with stripey straws and ALL super cute party supplies, for that matter.  I used stripey straws last Thursday at my preschool Valentine's Day party.  Those little 3-year olds slurped up their raspberry smoothies like nobody's business!  It looked ridiculously adorable with stripey straws shooting out from our heart cups.  Can't wait for the next occasion when I get to jazz up a party beverage with a new fancy straw.:) 
  I came across a website on Pinterest which I happen to be in LOVE with and I'd like to share with you.  It carries party supplies like....You guessed it: fancy straws....Millions of them in every color imaginable AND they even come with polka dots, as well as some other fabulous designs.  I found mini-vintage milk bottles for special party drinks, beautiful cake plates, retro tablecloths, unique utensils with retro prints on them and cups and plates to match.  I spent WAY too long "playing" on this website-- I'm addicted and am counting down the days to my daughter's birthday so that I can place my order. 
Check them out......shopsweetlulu.com  ENJOY!!!       MM:)

California Dreamin'...of my own bed!

Soooo, Southern California was TONS of fun for the family.  We visited the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Park, saw seals, sea lions and dolphins in the harbor, climbed rocks by the ocean in La Jolla and ate our faces off!!!  I must confess, however, by day 3 this little lady was counting down the days until I could go home and sleep in my own cozy bed....is that wrong?!  Am I a bad mom/wife for happily anticipating our trip back home????  I had a little secret countdown going on in my head..no calendar for this one:)  I hope I don't seem ungrateful.  I truly did have a wonderful time with my family and know I am very lucky to have had this opportunity.  Just sayin' - slipping under my own covers last night was HEAVENLY:)

I wish I was savoring the moment

Why is it that the mornings I am able to sleep in, I just can't?
 I am lying in a hotel room in my OWN bed. My husband and son are soundly asleep in the bed beside me.    We set it up this way so I would get the chance to sleep a little later this morning (tomorrow it will be his turn). the room is pitch black and silent, perfect for sleeping.   We have a wonderful room at Disney's Beach Club Resort. It's comfortable.  I'm comfortable.
I stirred briefly at around 5am. I had a faint flash through my brain that Keenan, my 2 year old, is having lunch with Mickey, Goofy, Daisy and Donald today at the Tusker House.   He is going to be so happy and excited.  (Which clearly makes Mommy happy and excited)  This kid loves characters, and these are his favorite.  I imagined him asking Goofy to sing the 'hot dog' song for him.  That brief flash woke me completely.
So I lay here in complete darkness in this comfortable bed, willing myself to sleep another hour, and instead.... I'm savoring the suspense of my son seeing Mickey Mouse AT LUNCH!  
I wish I was savoring the moment by sleeping.

We've Gone International

International. Yep.  We did it. Tonight. Unfortunately, Melissa's house has the plague (flu) so we can't even get together for a little toast.  
Cheers to our British friend who gave us our first international sale. You know who you are. (You also know that we hadn't set our www.creativecountdown.com shipping up for iternational sales, so you got a heck of a deal on the shipping! ...And please know that we believe you deserve it for being the first..... heck, If we could have had streamers and confetti streaming down onto your computer as you finalized the sale, I would have!). The count down was so fun... And it was counting down to something that would have never crossed our minds.   Now of course, I can't really share it.  You will just have to take my word for it.   
Since I can't toast with my partners, I'm going to write to you.  Please raise your glass with us!   Cheers!
Amy

Anticipation is making me WAIT!

     In developing Creative Countdown, I've come to realize that I have a need to count down to the various events in my life. I'm not talking about some obsessive compulsive need with a timer ticking off in my head. I'm just talking about a tendency to always be counting down to something fun that's coming up.
     I asked my husband if he's ever noticed that I begin imagining (scheming) our next getaway within a couple weeks of returning from a vacation. He smiled. We've been together a decade. I know that with him, that's a 'yes'.
     It's not that I don't love and enjoy my life. My little family is perfect; I hit the jackpot of great work environments; I love my home and I have neighbors whom I adore. I'm not bored. I don't have time to be. I have a full time career, a husband and two year old who gets 100% of every waking moment I'm not at work, I trained and ran three half marathons this past year (though you wouldn't know it if you saw me) and of course am a partner with www.creativecountdown.com. Dreaming up an e-commerce company and bringing it to reality with late nights and during weekend nap-time is no small feat. My point. Who has time to be bored? Heck. When I look at it on paper, I wonder how I have time to think? 
     I don't have to do much soul searching to know why I enjoy having something to count down to. I like to have something to look forward to. To me, everything from the mundane to the stressful is bearable when I have an escape in my sites. I want to capture the anticipation. Savor it like a good wine. (Heinz made a fortune selling anticipation, right?) For me, the event (or the trip), is never as fun as the anticipation. It's like the anticipation of a Christmas gift that's been sitting under the tree. The buildup is wonderful, a gift in itself. Who cares that it ends up being a pair of socks? 
     The anticipation of our vacations is always better than the vacations themselves. I imagine relaxing, sleeping in late, and exploring new sites with my husband and son. My anticipation never includes the fact that my child will not sleep as well in a strange bed or that he'll be cranky with all the changes in his routine. The vacation I anticipate is absolutely perfect.
     Oh yeah. I feel the need to mention...... We're 9 days out from our road trip down to Jacksonville (and then Disney). It's going to be a great one. I can't wait.

 www.creativecountdown.com

LOVING Personalized Cards using Kid Art!!

Just saw a CUTIE idea on loveandlifecards.com!!  You can upload a favorite piece of your child's artwork and turn it into stationery.  I'm definitely going to do this!  There are infinite possibilities.  Might even make this a surprise "L.O.V.E. Day" gift for the grandparents:)  I'm also itching to use the idea in my 3's Bees preschool class.  The parents would just eat it UP!  If you'd like all the juicy details....check out the "Mini Monet" section on their website: http://www.loveandlifecards.com

Counting down to family vacation

Heading down to Jacksonville on the 28th.  Its a casual little family vacation to visit family and some friends in the Jacksonville area. We're planning to throw a couple days of Disney into the trip mid-week.  I've put together a countdown to get Keenan excited about the trip and let him know what to expect. He's just turned two and doesn't recognize his letters yet, but he can count to 13 (eleventeen comes next when we play hide and seek) and has a good sense of time. (At least he never seems to forget things we've told him we'll be doing on the weekends.) 

Here's my favorite entries:

January 20th,  8 days left. Keenan, you and Mommy will watch movies and have popcorn in the backseat while Daddy drives.  Pick out you favorite five movies that you'd like to bring. 

January 26th, two days left. Keenan, it will be warm in Jacksonville. Lets get together your sand toys and put the beach bag in the back of Daddy's truck. 

January 27th, 1 day left.  Keenan, tomorrow we will be staying in a hotel with a pool! Plan to go swimming as soon as we arrive. 
Due to his age, I opted to do a two week countdown.  Get much further out than that, and I might as well be telling him he gets to drive when he's sixteen.  (Reminder that he can only count to 13.  16 might come after eleventeen in his mind.  There's no telling.)

My son has his own suitcase, which he loves to pack.  I take great joy watching his choices of what he needs to bring when we travel, which I why my major theme is centered around packing what he wants to bring.  I can't wait to see how he prepares for this trip. 

Attached is the design I chose for my printed countdown....
Amy

www.creativecountdown.com

Where's the LOVE?

Valentine's Day is coming up. It's not really a big holiday in our house. No hearts and chocolates around here. My husband and I are in this phase where we don't do lavish gifts for each other and don't really do dates. Don't feel sorry for us. We know we love each other and we are not sad about it, nor do we feel unloved or unappreciated.

We both work full time and we have a toddler. When we get home, we are 100% on with the boy.... He gets all our time, attention, and affection. We do a little bit of tag-teaming for those important things that need to be done, like cooking and going to the bathroom, but that's about it. The 'rest of life' comes about 9pm, when he's settled in for the night. That's when we exercise, clean, catch up on emails, the DVR, and well, you get the point. We know this phase won't last forever. It was a long, difficult road (filled with IVF and eventually adoption) to become parents. We want to enjoy every moment of it. 
Though we are together every evening and weekend as a family, we've kind of forgotten to communicate as a couple. Our acts of love are typically the gift of solitude. "Go take a bath. I'll occupy the boy" or "I'll put the boy to bed tonight. Go for your run". (We really do refer to him as 'the boy'. We do it to amuse ourselves.)
Though I openly admit we take complete advantage of one another, we still know that every once in a while, we need a moment to reconnect and tell each other how we feel. That way, the next time my husband calls me on the way to work and tells me "you know you kissed your son goodbye and told him you loved him before you left and didn't even acknowledge the person holding him" we can still laugh about it. (We did have a good laugh over that one).
I am planning to make my husband a Countdown to Valentine's Day from www.creativecountdown.com . I want to sneak it into his office. (well never mind. I just blew my own cover. He's going to read this post before anyone else will.) I want to take the time to create a personalized daily countdown, and each day, tell him something I love about him. Wow. As I sit here and type, I realize that there are just not enough days until Valentine's Day. There are just so many reasons I love him.

 www.creativecountdown.com

The birth of an idea

After years of angst over infertility, my husband and I were about to become parents.  We were three weeks from away from a trip out to Utah to meet the birth parents... and roughly 26 hours later... our son.
Friends and neighbors, Melissa and Joanie (and their spouses) invited us to dinner at one of our favorite spots, +Crooks Corner, to celebrate.  At dinner, they presented us with a gift, Baby Countdown.  A list of things to do before your new baby arrives.  As I read through the entires aloud to the table, it quickly dawned on me that this countdown was personalized for us!

"November 28.  16 Days Left. 
Amy: Leave the house with the smallest purse you or or leave without a purse at all.  Soon it will take you at least 30 minutes to walk out the door for just a simple errand."

The calendar made for very lively dinner conversation.  We loved it.  When I asked the girls where they found such a unique and personalized gift, I was surprised to learn that upon deciding what they wanted to get us, they scoured the internet to learn that it did not exist.  They put Joanie's graphic design talent and Melissa's quick wit to use and made it themselves. 

I carried that countdown calendar around with me like my son carries his favorite blankey, 'Blue'.  I bragged about my friends' talent and creativity to just about anyone who'd look and listen. It was my favorite gift.  (And trust me, there's something about adoption that brings out the generosity in folks. We were showered with many generous and thoughtful gifts.)

In the weeks after our son was born, I spent many cold winter days at home alone with him trying to come up with a plan so that I could continue to (quit the daily grind at the office and) stay home with him.  Though a more practical solution presented itself, I kept coming back to that calendar.  It was such a unique gift, it was personalized, and well... YOU can count down to just about ANYTHING!  I approached Joanie and Melissa to see if they were interested in exploring whether we could come up with a marketable product backed with a sound business plan.  After MANY late night sessions after our combined six kiddos went to bed, and 32 days short of my son's 2nd birthday, www.creativecountdown.com went live.  I've had as much fun in the process of creating it as I did discovering and sharing that initial prototype "Baby Countdown."  Wow.  We've come a long way, baby!

P.S.  www.creativecountdown.com offers a wealth of customized adoption specific suggested entries for our Countdown to Baby.