Saturday Playdate - Alligator Lane

Welcome to another fun Saturday Playdate! Today we're playing with Amanda from Alligator Lane. I met Amanda through a local internet board when I was pregnant with Bryce. We eventually met in person at a get together a short time later, and we have been friends ever since. She is a SAHM to her adorable little "Alligator" and is pregnant with baby #2. Her blog is super cute and is filled with stories about "Alligator". She also sells the cutest hand-made items at her Etsy store.

When you're done here, make sure you stop by Amanda's blog and say hi. Let her know you stopped by from the playdate!

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Hi there! Thank you LeeAnn for having me "over" for a play date! LeeAnn and I e-bonded through an internet message board trying to sell our pool tables while we were both pregnant. I was pregnant with my first (the Alligator) and she was pregnant with Bryce. I offered her some advice because my family business IS pool tables. Thankfully I was finally able to sell our table so we could prepare our house for the baby. I finally met LeeAnn in person at a get together and she seemed really great so I wanted to keep in touch. I was in the new mommy mess mode at that get together and LeeAnn really helped me feel comfortable and calm considering Bryce is just a few months ahead of Alligator. Eventually LeeAnn and I are going to have a REAL play date. I think Bryce and Alligator will get along pretty well. Alligator likes everyone and especially likes other little kids. Plus I think our husbands would get along well too, sometimes LeeAnn's posts sound like she's talking about MY husband.

So a little about me....my name is Amanda. I call myself Mommy or Auntie, depending on who I am talking to. My niece Gianna was the only grandchild for 5 years and 5 days, so for that whole time my name was "Auntie." Now my sister is also called "Auntie" and it can be confusing when we're all together! I am a stay at home mom to Alligator, wife, blogger, and crafter. I am 25ish weeks pregnant with baby #2. My due date is March 23rd. So far we're 85% sure it is another little girl! The ultrasound tech was not so sure so we need to get some confirmation in a few weeks. My husband works for a gigantic shipping company, the good one, here in Orlando. He works entirely too much for my liking, but he adores our daughter and is so great with her. Alligator just turned 1 year old on November 21st. Our two girls will be 15-16 months apart. I am still in a bit of denial about being pregnant again. It took a year of trying for Alligator and this time happened our first try!

This is us a couple months ago. Pictures of her smiling, at the same time as I do, AT the camera are difficult!

Something happened to me a few weeks ago and shortly after it happened I thought "That would be a good blog post!" So I'll tell you what happened....

I was enjoying a quick day of errands and shopping alone. I think Alligator was home with S on a Sunday. I was in the Gap and I bumped into an old friend that I worked with at another Gap store. (Oh! How I miss my Gap discount!!) So I was shopping, he was working, we stopped to chat for a bit. He asked me where I was working. I told him I wasn't working and before I even realized it these words were out of my mouth, "I'm just a mom." We chatted a bit more and finished up our visit with some Family Friend coupons. Then as I walked away I got so mad at myself for the way I said "JUST a mom." As I was driving home I started thinking of my list of what I do as a mom and realized "JUST" doesn't even scratch the surface of what moms do. Moms do so much! My partial list of things I do: get up with Alligator in the morning, I feed her, change her, get her dressed, play with her, take her places, get her to take naps, clean up after Alligator, clean the house, get the groceries, do the laundry, deal with all the bills, do doctors visits, schedule everything that ever needs to be scheduled, walk the dog, clean up after the dog, fix things around the house, drop off/pick up dry cleaning, try to earn extra money, and so much more I can't think of right now! It is exhausting! I don't know how working moms do it all. They really impress me. I can't find time in the day to do some things sometimes, I can't imagine working on top of everything else that needs to be done.

So on top of all the mom duties, wife duties, house duties, I find time for a little bit of blogging at Alligator Lane, and some crafting. The crafting thing started as a need to make slip covers for some chairs and it has grown from there. I started making things as gifts, then selling some of those same things on eBay, and eventually my own website that I hand coded in HTML myself. (thank-you-very-much) That was years ago, though, before Etsy was around. I love hand made items. My store name on Etsy is called Alligator Lane, of course! I love to make custom items for people. My favorite thing I make is probably the Sophie holder. I use that for SO many things. Sippy cups, toys, blankets, keys, etc.

Here are a few of the things I sell in my store.



Another bloggy friend of mine is doing a giveaway to my shop right now, so definitely check out my blog for details and links to enter. I'd love to have you follow my blog and heart my Etsy shop. =) Hopefully eventually you'll find a giveaway here on LeeAnn's blog too.

I hope you enjoyed our play date! I'd love to hear from your on my blog so I can follow you too! Thanks for stopping by! Amanda!

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Thanks for stopping by for our playdate! I hope you had fun! If you would like to come over for a playdate, let me know in a comment or an email.