Valentine's Day Project!

My quick and easy Valentine’s Day project came out better than I expected! I found mini canvases at Michael’s for cheap and I used some red finger paint I already had. The kids love getting their feet painted and just giggle the whole time. Or whine until it’s their turn. Lily’s first print smeared but I just wiped the slate clear with a diaper wipe. Oh the perks of tempra paint! I added some ribbon to the top so they could be hung up and voila! Simple, easy, and cute! 

Mom brain occurrences & the bishes...

When one of your legitimate questions that pop into your head while zoning out is “how much does the Dinosaur Train cost because not only do they use it every day, it goes through different time periods?!?” and you start to compare it to prices/experiences of your own using public transportation, it might be time for a vacation. Or at least a mom’s day out.

That thought did pop into my head on Friday. I am not ashamed to admit it. Both kids were contently immersed in their own activities and I was zoning out watching children’s television (which happens a little more than I would like to admit). These things happen. Good thing the weekend brought some fun adventures, shopping, and some family time.

We had a fun morning Saturday at the aquarium with Julie and Alyssa. We got there right after opening so we were able to let Lily loose to explore the eye level tanks. It was very nice to have 4 adults + Lily because one person could push the stroller, and the other three could chase her and show her the fishes. Or as she tends to call them, “bishes”. That girl loves her bishes. We are very fortunate to have a family pass to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. We can bring two guests for free, so it has already paid itself off. I wish the area was nicer and not so scary, but it’s a great place for a morning trip. We’ve been there enough to know what we want to see and the best order to do it in. It gets better each time we go because Lily gets more and more exciting. She was pointing and squealing and trying to get the kids around her as pumped as she was. It was adorable.

My second mom-brain incident occurred Saturday afternoon at Kohl’s. I had a coupon for 20% off when you spent $100, and we had $50 in Kohl’s cash. Sidebar…if you are paying full price for anything in that store, you are a fool. There is always a coupon, a steal, or a reward. Anyway, I found two pairs of jeans that actually fit and somewhat flatter me, a pair of Chuck’s for $25, and some summer clothes for Lily that were under a buck a piece. Jordan threw in a pair of jeans so we met our $100 goal. The cashier rings us up, applies our coupon, and I hand over the Kohl’s cash…that starts the next day. I was so disappointed because our haul was actually stuff I wasn’t disappointed with. The kid was very nice and called his manager over to see what could be done, and the manager (who is always very helpful there) let us apply our cash because we had earned it the week before. It’s that kind of thing that helps me remember not all people are turds.

And so the new week begins. My to do list for this week needs to be written up. It includes Kara’s handmade shower presents (more on that soon), some cleaning and reorganizing, bill paying, mommy lesson planning, and maybe some crafting.

Have a good week!

Life Hacks Wanted!

I am all about finding ways to consolidate my junk and organize my life. We live with Jordan’s parents, so we have our room and Lily’s room to ourselves for our personal things, and then downstairs is where most of Lily’s toys reside. I have tried to keep everything as neat and organized as can be. It gets a little tricky downstairs in the family room where everyone always ends up sitting. Before Christmas, I went through all the toys the kids hadn’t played with in a while and boxed them up for the attic. I bought plastic bins from the dollar store and used my new label maker to sort and organize the smaller toys we have downstairs, like Lily’s “people” (FP Little People) and rattles/teethers.

My latest life hack concerns something I am sure we all have an abundance of somewhere. Possibly stuffed in a plastic bag. Yes, you guessed it. The handy dandy plastic bag full of other plastic bags. I am working with very little in the closet space department (more on that shortly) so the plastic bags floating around in there had to go. Even stuffed in a larger bag they take up too much room. So I bought contact paper from the Dollar Store, washed out an old boogie wipes container (any cylinder will do), and stuffed as many bags in there as I could. I slapped a label on it just in case someone was wary of opening it up, and voila. I can store this under the bathroom sink now or even out on my dresser.

As for my closet…eek. It needs help. Major help. I have been trying to brainstorm and rework it at least once a week and bit by bit it’s coming together. I have two wide plastic 3 drawer dodads in there that house my underwear, bras, tank tops, t-shirts (long and short sleeve) and all my yoga pants. It’s a tight squeeze and a little shaky, but it works since I don’t have any dresser space (I let Jordan keep his dresser since I just about took over the rest of his room). My sister in law Aubrey introduced me to the magic of a tension rod and let me in on her boot keeping secret. She will stick a tension rod anywhere and hang shoes from it. Boots are easiest, and she uses kid sized pants/skirt hangers. I don’t really have the space in my closet, but I have one jammed in between the wall and the huge hot water pipe that’s in there. It’s working for now.

Well back to the lovely task of putting away my laundry. I can, for the moment, say I have three empty baskets...only because I have Lily’s outfit from today laying on my bedroom floor.

Until next time!

Back to school, back to school...

Yesterday marked the start of “Mommy Preschool” for Lily and Tristan. I came across a few blogs of moms (mostly former teachers) who make and follow lesson and unit plans for their kiddos. I have tried to do at least a themed project a month or so with the kids, and we do flashcards every day, but both kids have been soaking things up like sponges so I figure there is no better time to start a more structured day.

The theme I chose to start with is shapes. I used my handy dandy notebook to brainstorm a few ideas for easy projects that would take up a little bit of time each day and act as a change of pace from our daily routine. I racked my brain for simple projects I used as time fillers or sub plans in my classroom. I decided to start with the easiest---pasting circles on a circle.

After breakfast and some free play time, we followed the leader back to the dining room to start project time. I taped a coloring book sheet to each high chair to entertain whichever kid was not gluing. I find that taping the pages down prevents some agitation and frustration for them since their papers are not slipping all around the tray. It took about six minutes total for both kids to glue the pre-glue filled circles to the paper. I did not really let them put the glue on themselves nor did I let them manipulate the colored circles too much because we were using my Modge Podge and not Elmer’s. (Non-toxic glue is on my next shopping list). It didn’t take a ton of time up, but we talked about circles and sang about circles during those minutes.

We went on a circle hunt after lunch and looked in each room for things shaped as circles. We knew what things were circle because “it goes round and round!” They loved marching around and pointing things out to me, even if they weren’t always circles. It was fun to march around on a mission.

The more structure day made it go by faster and kept the fighting to a minimum. I am no fool. I know that this won’t work every day. My projects won’t always go as planned. We didn’t do any projects or circle walks today, but we did our flashcards and read our books and had a play date with Aunt Alyssa.

Ashley did tell me that last night while Tristan was taking a bath he started to point at something and say a two syllable word that she thought was ‘turtle’ but there wasn’t a turtle in the tub. Turns out he was pointing to the drain saying CIRCLE! I am so very proud of my baby geniuses! 

Just a few thoughts...

I am two days and six months away from being the mother of a two year old. YIKES! Where did the time go?! I find myself now googling things like “when should I start potty training?” and “how do I get my 18  month old to stop sucking her thumb?” and of course “why the heck is my precious little baby girl munching the crap out of her (sometimes) innocent cousin?” The answers to some of these questions are quite amusing.

My goal was to start potty training after Christmas. We got a potty, and prior to Christmas Lily sat on the ‘big potty’ twice. Once I caught her mid-poop so even though I had to hug her to keep her on, we successfully pooped on the potty. And when Jordan was watching her the other day and he came in her room to find her reading while sitting on her little potty. That’s progress right? HA. Ultimately I would like to have her using at least her potty by her second birthday/our road trip to Tennessee. My only fear of starting this now is that there is a 99.9% chance I am going to be doing double duty with both kids. Pun intended.

As for the thumb sucking. It really doesn’t bother me that she does it. She’s adorable and it’s always been her quick fix to calm her down. I do feel bad that her poor little thumb is chapped because of this cold weather. When she’s 15 and still sucking her thumb then I’ll be concerned.

The biting is the hardest to deal with. When I first started working at the daycare, I was in a classroom where the kids were about the same age as Lily and Tristan are now. The one little boy bit the other two kids in the class at least once a day. I could be on top of him, and he would still find a way to munch on his classmates. I even got bit a few times in the crossfire. I remember thinking “why is he doing this?” and I remember talking to his mom every day as she was signing the incident reports. She was just as frustrated and lost about it as I was. It all boils down to not being able to communicate their needs, wants, and emotions. Lily will hug Tristan or try to kiss him, and once he’s had enough, he’ll just open his mouth and lunge towards her. And if he takes a toy that she wants to play with, she comes running, mouth open.

These are three topics I need to further research. They’re on my naptime to-do list but so far this week my naptime ‘free time’ has been just long enough to take a shower and throw on a tank top. Sigh. I started to read some mommy blogs and threads tonight, but I am beat and we're watching our addiction..The Wire. 

"I hate writing. I love having written." -Dorothy Parker

I read an article on how to write an effective blog this afternoon and one suggestion that stuck with me was to just write. I usually do have to start each blog in a Word doc and then edit after I have gotten everything down that I wanted to say. Usually my thoughts jump all over the place and what I originally started out writing about gets lost in the sauce.

The holidays are over and yet I am still pooped! I feel like the month of December was just a big blur of running around and wrapping paper. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it, but man…I think I still need a day to recoup! We did have a snowstorm last week so I did not have Tristan Friday which gave me a chance to finish opening Lily’s new toys, organizing her room, and cleaning out her closet. I am trying to keep our room clean and somewhat organized. I started a new craft (more on that soon) which involves rolling up magazine pages, modge podge, cardboard, and a hot glue gun. My work space is the 4 x 6 space in between our bed and the closet, and it tends to get a little over run. I did get a label maker for Christmas and that has done wonders. I feel like if a plastic drawer/box has a name on it, I will be more likely to put the items away. We will see how long this lasts!

I also have been making myself weekly to-do lists. Sometimes during nap I get sidetracked or I don’t know which project to start. It never fails, though, that if I have a set plan, or a big idea, one kid wakes up waaay too early. I make sure most lists have simple things on them like “wipe down the bathroom” just so I can cross something off!They balance out the ones that have been on the list every week, like "sew buttons on your coat". 

Oh and I am very excited to announce that I am blogging from the comfort of my bed while watching The Wire on HBO Go. This is the life. 

Hello 2014...

This year, instead of the usual half-assed resolutions and promises I usually make, I decided to keep it real and true to myself. So here are my resolutions for the upcoming year!

1.  Blog More! Putting my thoughts and concerns onto paper (word document?) does help to relieve some stress. Plus Jordan got me this awesome new laptop for Christmas so I can blog from anywhere! He’s the best! And I guess I can start spreading the news that I started this bad boy. Maybe if I know there's a chance people are reading it, I'll keep up with it. Maybe. 
2. Read More! One year, I averaged one book per week. I did not have a steady boyfriend, a child, and I was still just hosting at Iron Hill. This past year, I barely got through six books. So in order to challenge myself, but also be realistic, I am aiming for one book per month, and I would like them to be ‘good’ books. The year of the 52, I threw in some YA books and finished the year with Chuy Bravo’s autobiography. I would like to maybe read one or two ‘classics’. I did get the Game of Thrones series that I am very excited to start, but I have a feeling I am going to have to take breaks in between each of those six books. I also might have to ask Alyssa for some suggestions.
3. Smile More! Enough of sweating the little things. I have a beautiful baby girl who is growing up so quickly before my eyes. I get to stay at home and watch not only her, but also my nephew Tristan grow and learn and play. I am truly blessed to have an amazing support group in not only my family, but in Jordan’s family, and my friends. I also have Jordan, my partner in crime, my best friend, who I couldn’t do all this without.
4.  Learn a new trick or two! I want to learn things this year! I want Jordan to teach me how to use his tools and maybe even throw in a cooking lesson. I am creative and crafty, but I would like to expand my horizons and learn new things!
5.    Appreciate Family Time! We spend a lot of time with both sides of our families and sometimes it can be overwhelming and tiring. I love days or nights when it’s just the three of us, but I also love seeing all the kids interacting and how Lily plays with my parents. Family is there to make you nuts but love you uncondidtionally and we are so lucky to have so much love.

Well, there ya go. Let’s do this 2014. And if I happen to lose a few pounds or get ahead of the game financially or learn to cook a few more meals, then so be it!