Rush to the finish line

Getting ready for Christmas always seems to involve rushing around. It doesn't seem to matter how early I start and how on top of things I think I am, I seem to still find myself rushing around trying to get ready in the last moments. I think I am probably not alone in this. I'm guessing that many of us are this way.
This year for Christmas, we are going to my parents house. We booked our flight in July, and so I started shopping for presents then. I was really on top of it. By the end of August I had about half of my presents purchased and shipped to my parents.
Then on Labor Day weekend, I was checking my e-mail and noticed one from JoAnn's. Now most of the time I don't read junk e-mail, but for some reason, this time I did. I noticed that they had Christmas fabrics on sale, and for some reason I decided to follow the link to their website. While I was there I saw a blue fabric with snow flakes on it. Seeing that fabric put an image in my mind of a dress for Cinderella, and a little vest and bow-tie for Guy Smiley. So I just had to go out and get the fabric to make them.
Just a little background for those of you who don't know.... When I was in college I majored in Family and Consumer Science Education. One subject that is covered a lot in that major is sewing. I never really sewed before college, in fact I was terrified of a sewing machine. Then I had to take the class, and so I started sewing.
Just before the semester when I was supposed to take my second sewing class, my husband and I decided that it would by wise to invest in a sewing machine, so that I could work at home. I didn't know much about sewing machines at this point. All I knew was the ones we used at school were Bernina's and my mom's machine that she had for years and loved, as far as I know, was a Singer. So I looked for a Singer that was what we felt like an affordable price.
The machine I ended up with was a great machine for someone who is only doing basic sewing, or someone who is learning, but to do a lot of sewing, it wasn't the best thing we could have bought. This machine has a strait stitch and a zig zag. It only has a basic foot, and so you are quite limited on what you can do on it. So I haven't done that much sewing since I left college, where I had access to more advanced sewing machines. That and I hadn't even set up my machine since we had moved here.
So after I bought and laundered the fabric, my husband helped me rearrange the furniture so that we could get my machine set up. But still my machine stayed in it's box, because I just couldn't figure out when I would find the time that I could sew with two kids about. One of them being old enough to maybe catch on to what I was doing.
Then at the end of October I had one of my sister-in-law's come for a visit. She was working on sewing a quilt. She had done most of it at my father-in-law's house, but was stitching the binding by hand, while she was visiting us. I don't know if it was seeing her sew, or just realizing how much time I had while she was here, but I decided to do something about my sewing. So I got my machine out of the box, and decided to make some pillow covers, that I had been intending to make. I figured I would do this first, so that I wouldn't be as rusty when I was sewing my kids clothes. Well that plan worked for maybe 3 days. Then I realized, that I could do the sewing, but when would I cut out the fabric? So I stopped, and decided to just buy some clothes for my kids.
I stayed in this stage until about right before Thanksgiving. I decided that if I was going to buy some clothes for my kids I better get to the store to do it. I went shopping and came home disgusted by all of the holiday commercialism in the stores, as well as not having found anything that would work. I decided then and there that I would make them clothes and I wouldn't put it off any longer. The next day as soon as I got up, and my kids were still sleeping I got one of my peices of fabric laid out. Then any moment I got throughout that day I worked on getting it ready to cut. By the end of that I had my blue fabric cut, and so the next few days I worked on getting it sewn together as best I could. I then did a similar day with my white fabric.
Well somewhere along the line, I learned that the fabric I had gotten for my son's pants was too light weight for winter. So that put me on hold there.
Then I realized that the reason I had not been able to find anything for him in stores is because I was looking for something in a 9-12 month size, which by the way doesn't exist. Once I learned or remembered that baby sizes went 6-9 months then 12 months, I decided that I would try to buy a shirt and pants for Guy and then make the vest and bow-tie. So I found an outfit on Sears website, and bought it. When it arrived it was way too big. So now I am back to making a shirt for him, as well as the vest and bow-tie. And I only have a week. I am almost done with Cinderella's dress. I am doing everything except for button's and buttonholes. Those I will do on my mother's machine, most likely after Christmas. So now I am in a mad rush to the finish to see what I can get done for Guy, before the big day arrives. I'll post pictures of my creations after Christmas and tell you how it went.

1st Haircut

OK so this picture is in part a bad example, because he had just finished eating, and so he not only had food all over his face but in his hair too. But it was the best picture I could find that showed how much Guy needed a haircut. Particularly because I like my boy's to have short hair. So his hair is sticking out all over the place and if you look towards the top and back of his hair, you might be able to tell that he has some really long hair back there.
He used to reach up and pull on his hair, while he was eating his bottle. And that hair in that section, got really long.
Well, I've never given a baby a haircut before. Cinderella has naturally curly hair, and so her hair never really needed to be cut, to look cute. She has had it trimmed, but that was by my sister-in-law, who is a beautician.
I asked my visiting teaching companion, who has a son about 3 1/2 months older than Guy, if she has ever cut her son's hair. She told me she has a few times. She takes him into the bathroom, gives him something to play with that is kind of a novelty. And then she kind of combs his hair with her fingers and cuts the hair above her fingers. So if someone gets cut, it is her.
So we tried it this morning. I took Guy to the bathroom, put him on the floor, gave him something to play with and he held still for maybe 2 or 3 snips of the scissors. Then my hubby stepped in and tried to help buy holding Guy's head. Well we got the really long stuff on top, and most of the long stuff around the ears, as well as a few other places. There are still some long areas, and it is not at all even, but hey it looks better right?

Gettintg Elfed

I got an e-mail from my dad, about elfing people he loved. I clicked on the link in it and saw quite the site. You might get a kick out of seeing the people I elfed. Have a Merry Christmas.

Probably...

Cinderella has picked up a new word today. The word is probably.
She uses it all the time. If I ask her a question the answer always seems to start with probably.
"Do you want soup for lunch?"
"Probably not."
"What do you want?"
"I probably need to look and see." She opens the fridge. "Um, probably that." She points to the whipping cream.
"We don't eat that, by itself, we use it when we make stuff."
"I want to drink it."
"I don't think so, do you want a yogurt?"
"Probably some juice, and a muffin." Referring to the Costco muffins.
"Do you want a blueberry one?"
"Probably not, probably a chocolate one."
Do you see what I mean. Even without me listing who said what I bet you can guess who was talking where. It is cute and fun.
One of the things I love about being a mom, is exploring all kinds of new stages, and experiences with them.

Can't have Christmas without Snow

Cinderella was sick this weekend. So much so, that she missed church on Sunday. Going to church is one of her favorite things. Particularly nursery. (The class for children aged 18 months to 3 years). Daddy stayed home with her, and Guy and I went to church. Later in the day, I thought I would help her Sunday feel more like Sunday.
On Sundays in our home, we try to behave differently than we do the other days of the week, and we try to do things that help us remember our Savior, and Father in Heaven. So I suggested watching a movie. Well of course she was all for that, but when I pulled one off the shelf that wasn't one of the standards, she wasn't incredibly happy. The move was "Mr. Krueger's Christmas." A film staring Jimmy Stewart, and featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I tried to pacify her by telling her it is a Christmas movie. She said "NO! I DON'T WANT TO WATCH THE CHRISTMAS MOVIE. I DON'T WANT CHRISTMAS!"
I didn't respond to this the best. I have to admit, I was tired and emotional, and frustrated with my daughter. Well after some thought and prayer, I finally got her to sit down and read stories with me.
Well I kept thinking on this incident, and decided that she was tried with "Christmas" because all she understood about Christmas, is that it is something that has been changing a lot of things, like movies, and music, etc. from stuff that she likes, to stuff she isn't really familiar with, and she was tired of it.
So then we used our Little People Nativity, to tell her the Christmas story and try to explain what Christmas is.
Then this morning, she corrected my assumption. She found the case for "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" and asked me what it was. I told her it was the case for the DVD that was in the computer, and I took the DVD out to show her. She then told me "Cinderella doesn't want to watch that movie."
I told her, "you don't have to."
And then she said, "We don't have any snow. Grandma, has lots of snow."
I asked her, "so we can't have Christmas without snow?"
And she said, "No. We need snow."
Well for Christmas this year, we are going to Grandma's house, in the state with the slogan, "The Greatest Snow on Earth".
So hopefully for Cinderellas sake, we will have snow on Christmas.

Things that go bump in the night

So last night when we were sleeping we were suddenly awakened to a loud bang, that to me sounded like the dryer door being slammed shut. My first thought was that my husband had gotten up for the day, and was getting in the dryer for something. But I couldn't figure out why he would be getting in the dryer. Then I realized that he was still in bed and it was only about 3:00. So I turned to him and asked him if he knew what that noise was.
He said it was maybe the laundry detergent. You see yesterday we went to Costco, and in an attempt to save money, I thought we could get our detergent there. We had previously been using Tide, and decided to try Kirkland brand. I don't know if their bottle of liquid detergent is shaped slightly different than the Tide one, or if we just didn't have it back far enough on the shelf. But somehow in the middle of the night it fell, off the shelf onto the washing machine, and then landed on the floor.
The valve cap broke in the process and there was detergent all over. Thankfully though that is all that broke and it landed right side up.
Could have been worse. Now we just need to figure out how to close the container, and where to keep it.
I didn't think to take pictures of the mess last night, and I wanted to get it cleaned up before the kids got up. But you may notice in the pictures, there is detergent smeared on the side of the bottle, and some on the top of the washing machine that was missed when we were cleaning up.

No Snow

Just wanted to let you all know that our snow was pretty much melted within 48 hrs, after falling. Our climate came through with it's "normal" behavior, and rained half of Sunday, and all day Monday, and cleared away all of the snow. But at least we had it for a day. :)

A Winter Wonderland?

So we live in a climate that is known for their wet winters. Rain, rain, and more rain. So we figured we most likely wouldn't see much snow this winter. Cinderella was quite disappointed by this. She has gotten the idea somewhere in her almost 3 years, that Christmas needs snow. In fact one Sunday as we were driving home from church she told me "Mom, Christmas is coming." I said "Yes it is", and she said, "Do you see snow? Where's the snow?" We have seen snow forcasted a few times, but never had any fall. Well that all changed. Today we got snow. When Cinderella woke up from her nap, the world was white outside. So of course we had to bundle up the whole family and go and play in it.

The kids loved it. Cinderella couldn't get enough of it. And once we put Guy down in the snow, he took off and had a hay day until he realized he was cold. He was then ready to go back inside. However I think he would have been happy to come out again if we had let him.

"Cinderelly, Cinderelly, Night and Day it's Cinderelly"

If you didn't get it, that is a quote from a song that mice sing in Disney's Cinderella. The only difference is in the movie, it is Cinderella who is kept busy. In real life, it is Cinderella who keeps me busy.
Cinderella is the queen in our household. At least she thinks she is. What she says, usually goes. The only catch is now there is a king too. She's not sure she wants to share the power.
Cinderella is very smart. She may be average for an almost 3 year old, but to me, it always amazes me what she comes out with and what she can do. She can count past 10. She knows her colors, even though she sometimes gets tripped up over black, brown, and purple. She knows her shapes. At least the basic ones. Square, triangle, star, heart, rectangle, circle, arrow. She even knows that a square is a rectangle too.
Cinderella, loves to sing. She can sing pretty much any Disney song that is on the "Classic Disney" CD's. She loves to sing Old McDonald or as she calls it "Mickey and Donald". Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row your boat, ABC's, Follow the Prophet, Book of Mormon Stories, I am a Child of God, Families Can Be Together Forever, and other countless primary songs are all part of her regular song choices.
Cinderella loves to dress herself. She picks her own clothes. They don't always match, but that is OK. She is become quite independent. Now if only we could get her to use the potty.

The Wonderful World of Sharing. or Guy Smiley vs. Cinderella

So now that I am done with my Alphabet Soup, I can move on to other things. So lately Guy has become a menace. At least in the eyes of Cinderella.

Cinderella loves her Little People toys. We decided that this year, we would invest in a Little People Nativity, to have out with our Christmas stuff. Part of this nativity is a stable that has a spot for an Angel to sit on top. Then you push down on the Angel and it plays "Away in a Manger". Guy loves to hear it play.
So picture this if you will. Cinderella is sitting on the floor. She has her "special" People (what we call the nativity Little People), all organized the way she wants it and is playing. Guy sees her playing and wants to play too. So here he comes crawling over, right through the Wise Men, and animals, knocking them all over, continues crawling, picks up a donkey, and sits down, right in Cinderella's lap. Then he turns to the stable. He pulls himself up on it, pushes down on the Angel, turning the stable over in the process. So do you think Cinderella is as happy as can be that her brother wants to play with her? No! She yells, "Guy, my people!" Or "Guy, play with something else!" or "I don't like you, Guy!" Does she like him, yes, just not what he is doing at the moment.


Guy loves his sister. He wants to do whatever she is doing. The problem: She doesn't always want him to play with her. So she has developed those lovely sibling qualities. Yelling, hitting, kicking, pushing, etc. You get the picture. So my question is: how do I deal with it?

So I want some feedback. How do you deal with sibling love? Or lack thereof? Lately I've been taking away a toy that is being fought over. Well, that is, after time out didn't work.

It isn't fair to expect Cinderella to always have to play with Guy, when she wants to play by herself. But it also shouldn't be expected that Guy never play with Cinderella, just because she doesn't want him wrecking her setup. Anyway I'll accept any suggestions. Let me know.

V is for Very Blessed, and Very Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
I am so blessed. I have a wonderful family. A loving husband, who does much for me. A happy cheerful daughter who makes me happy, and cheers me up. A eager and energetic son, who reminds me to appreciate all I can do, and strive continually to better my self.
I have a body that works, without any major defect or handicap. I have a home to live in. My husband has a good job. We have food to eat, and clothes to wear. We are surrounded by a beautiful environment.
There is so much in this world that is wonderful. I hope you all think about it, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Y is for "You're It"

Or at least that is what I was told, so I guess more accurately I'm it.
My friend Shannon, tagged me, and I guess this is some sort of blog tag.
And because I took so long getting this post out, I've been tagged again, and so I'm combining Heidi's tag into this post as well. But her rules are a little different. So I have changed them them to the more complex.

This is a different tag, so here are the rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 7 little-known facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 7 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. (Here's the catch. I don't know that many people's blogs so it will only be 3, until I can get my hubby to start a blog, and then he will be tagged from the get go. And I may come up with some others to tag as time goes on. We'll see.)

So here goes.

1. I play the violin. Well not really, but I could. OK so I took lessons starting when I was 4, and continued until I was about 11. The method I was learning is called the Suzuki method. You learn to play by ear, and then I guess they eventually teach you how to read music, but I never got that far. When I was about 11 my family moved, and finances were a bit tighter, and where I wasn't practicing, my mom stopped my lessons. I tried to to orchestra in school, but I didn't really know how to read music, all I could do is play by ear. So after 7th grade, I stopped that as well. I still know the rudementery skills. And could probably manage something simple if asked, but that is as far as it goes.
2. I like to write stories. Starting in about 4th grade I took up the hobby of writing short stories. Something that I haven't really done much of since I graduated from Snow College.
3. I would like to write a novel some time. This is something that may have to sit on the burner until all my kids are at least in school, possibly even longer, and may never happen.
4. From about 7th grade until I graduated from High School, what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a High School English teacher. In fact I kept every assignment I ever had to do in an English class during that time. I think I may even still have them.
   
5. I hate shopping. Particularly for myself. But if I have to shop I would rather do it online, and not have to drive to the store, deal with the crowds, and shuffle through racks to try to find the right thing in the right size.
   
6. I am great at starting projects, but terrible at finishing them. Right now I tend to blame that on the fact that I have 2 small children, but really, I was never really good at finishing projects. For example, I still have a latch hook rug, I was given when I was probably 13 or so. I have finally finished with the yarn, now I just need to trim it and back it. We'll see if that ever happens.
7. I once dyed my hair brown to be rebellious. The catch. My hair is brown, naturally, I just dyed it a darker shade. Pretty rebellious huh?
   

I am going to tag
both Adam and Brandi (I know you have the same blog, but I want to see a post for each of you.)
Kirsten
And as soon as my hubby starts a blog he'll be tagged from the get go.

R is for Red Hot

The Victim: Guy Smiley

The Offender: The Fireplace

So this morning as we were getting ready to go to church, I was in the kitchen packing the diaper bag, and my husband says to me, "Do you know what they are doing over there?" So I turn to go and see what the kids are up to, and I suddenly hear Guy wailing. I turn the corner round the couch and somehow I just knew, he had touched the fireplace. I ran to him, grabbed him, ran to the sink, and ran cold water on his hands. Thankfully they didn't even blister, and he is fine using them. But that fireplace was HOT! REALLY HOT!
So my question is, how do I keep it from happening again? The fireplace is right there, on floor level. I have to use it. Other than using the oven, it is the only way I have to heat the main living area of my apartment.
I have a similar problem in our bedrooms. We have box baseboard heaters. You know those rectangular metal boxes that stick out from the wall and get really hot when you use them, but you can't put anything closer than 3' from them?
This is our first winter in our apartment. We moved here in March and so I haven't crossed this bridge before, so let me know if you have any suggestions.

Q is for Quiet

Yes sometimes I do get some quiet, even with two young children. It doesn't happen a lot, but I enjoy the noise. However, what I really mean by quiet, is that is what I am. At least when you don't really know me.
Something I have recently discovered is that I am (as I heard someone put it, only I think I reversed their saying), an extrovert trapped in an introverts body.
What does that mean you say? Well I love learning about people. I love hearing about people. Some of my favorite books that I have read are autobiographies. I like to read self help books, not because I think I need the help, but because I enjoy reading the true to life experiences the authors often include in the books. So what is the catch?
So what's the catch you ask? I have an incredibly hard time talking to people I don't know. I quite often will just sit there and either wait for someone to talk to me, or just listen to what others say and not add to the conversation.
It's not that I don't want to talk to people, I really do. I just don't know what to say, and so I don't say anything. I think I have this fear that if people get to know me they won't like me. Silly huh? How can someone really like me if I don't give them a chance to get to know me?
Have you ever known one of those people who seem so interested in you, they ask the right questions, and make even the things in your life, that you find boring and commonplace, seem interesting? I have a brother that is that way. He is so much fun to be around, and I really enjoy his company, and never worry about what he thinks about me. That is the kind of person I would like to be. I just need to get out of my introverted self and maybe figure out how to ask those kind of questions, and what questions to ask.

G is for Guy Smiley

So I had my sister-in-law visit us for a week, and she decided Guy Smiley was a good name for my baby. So between that, and reading a few other blogs of people I know, I decided I want to include pictures of my children in my blog, but I am going to use pseudonyms for them, for security reasons.
Anyway so I will from here out refer to my son as Guy Smiley, possibly shortened to Guy or Smiley, and we will call my daughter Cinderella, because she wants to be her when she grows up, and talks about her dreams coming true.

Guy is one of the smiley-est kids I have ever had acquaintance with. He is perpetually happy. Unless he has a need; he is hungry, needs a diaper change, wants in his pj's (yes my 7 1/2 month old cries to get in his pajamas, and has pretty much his whole life), wants out of his swing, play yard, crib, or highchair, or gets hurt he is just plain smiley.
Guy is anxious to grow up, and be on the go. He was scooting at 3 1/2 months. Crawling on the day he turned 6 months old, standing up fairly well (mostly assisted, but unassisted for 5-10 sec.) all ready and he is only 7 1/2 months old. I figure he will be walking by the time he is 9 months old. He loves to play with his sister, and get into things he shouldn't, like the cords under the computer desk. But he is so much fun. I am glad to have him in my family.

U is for Underwear

So I finally decided I was going to do some "hard-core" potty training. A week of just wearing panties during the day time, unless we had to go some where, or if she was taking a nap.
Well that was a few weeks ago, and I failed miserably. I have to admit that my baby got sick that week and I spent more time dealing with a sick infant and left the pull-ups on, and just increased my asking if she needed to go. But sometimes I feel like I am no farther in my potty-training than I was before.
If I ask her if she needs to go, she always tells me no, even if she is moments away from going. If I let her wear big girl panties, she somewhere got the impression that means she wears them on the toilet. We have even tried letting her see Mommy or Daddy go. She understands what we are doing, she just doesn't seem to be able to do it her self.
One thing I did learn though is that my daughter is under the impression, that she has to have something covering her bottom to use perform those functions. I took her to the bathroom one day, I had her sit on the potty. We read stories. She just sat there. She said she was done. We put her pants back on her, there was a knock at the door, so I went to answer it. By the time I got back to the bathroom, there was a mess on the floor and wet pants on the girl.
We read somewhere that to help with preparing your child for potty training, you should take messy diapers and in your toddlers presence dump the contents into the toilet and tell them that is where that stuff goes. So we tried that. My daughter now messes her pants, takes them off, and dumps the contents into the potty.

So am I doing something wrong? Is my child just not ready for this step? Or do I just need to persist further?

J is for Jessie, Woody, and Buzz Lightyear

According to my 2 year old, this trio has been accompanying us throughout our day today. No we don't have any of these toys. It is strictly imagination.
Her imagination has been starting to develop a lot lately. We first noticed it one night when I was out somewhere, and my husband was at home with the kids. He was feeding a bottle to the baby, and needed a burp cloth. He then asked our daughter if she knew where one was. She said she didn't then turned to the fire place and asked "fire do you see a burp cloth? Thank you" held out her hands to the fire place, as if taking something from someone, then turned to her daddy and said "here ya, go".
She also will take things like our alphabet magnets and personify them. Carrying on conversations centered on things that happen in her two year old world. "Are ya hungry" "I need a nap" "can I have a sandwich" and so on.
She enjoys carrying on imaginary telephone conversations with different extended family members. The whole thing is just fun and enjoyable. It is nice to see children grow up, even though it can be hard some times too.

K is for Kwala

About a year and a half ago, shortly after my daughter had turned one, she started showing interest in the computer and playing the computer. Well we don't have any kid friendly computer games, and our finances were tight at the time and so I did a Google search to see what I could find on line. I tried fisher prices web site, but had difficulty getting the activities to work so I continued looking elsewhere. Then I came across a website called Up To Ten Kids. This website is full of songs, games, and activities, specialized for children under the age of 10.
They have 2 sections. One for kids under 6 and one for kids between 6 and 10. I haven't explored the older section yet, due to the age of my children, but the younger section has become a favorite in my home.
It features a dog named Boowa and a koala named Kwala. It is an educational site, but it is also entertaining and fun. Almost any time I sit down to the computer, if my daughter is in the room she comes up to me and says "I need to play Kwala."
At the age she is right now it requires me to sit with her and control the mouse, but she really enjoys seeing what happens on the screen. They have many different actives on their free site and even more available. But if you are not wanting to spend money they still have a lot available and more released ever month.
So other than having my daughter request it any time I sit down to the computer and making it hard for me to get anything else done. I really enjoy this website. If you have been searching for computer games friendly to young children I highly recommend this site.

X is for X-tra work

So we went out of town on the 20th of September and came back on the 24th. We got back to our apartment probably about 4 in the afternoon that day. Well Monday's are my usual laundry day, so getting back that late on a Monday put me a bit behind. I tried to get as much done that day as I could, but didn't get very far. Well I had a hard time getting back to the laundry for a few days and when I finally did, the clothing that I pulled out of the drier, which happened to be my light batch, was covered with pink spots. Somehow a chap stick had ended up in my wash. Thankfully not too much of the batch has spots, and most of what did, it washed out OK when I treated it and rewashed it. So you think I would have learned to check pockets right? Wrong.
So today when I pulled my white (yes white) batch out of the drier and every single article of clothing that was in there, from my daughters slip to my husbands white dress shirt, was covered in dark green melted crayon splotches. I put forth my best efforts. I used spray and wash, and Tide. Washed it twice in hot water. Went and bought Shout after my spray and wash ran out. Washed it again after treating it with the shout. And the only thing that happened was the spots on the tricot fabrics, such as my daughters slip, faded but all the others are still just as prevalent on the clothes. I have thought of using bleach but haven't got that far yet.
So does anyone have any tricks that they know of to remove melted crayon from clothes?

So the other item that happened today was we also melted a plate in our dishwasher. Our dishwasher has super strong water pressure when it is washing. Quite often I find my cups turned over and filled with water. Well if we put our daughters plates (small rectangular plastic, bought at IKEA). on the bottom shelf, they quite often will be flipped to the bottom of the dishwasher and land on the heater coils. Which happened tonight. I guess it has just been one of those days.
But to look on the bright side. All of the other dishes in the dishwasher are fine, and I did successfully wash 3 other batches of laundry today with no problems. Although there were some things I found in pockets.

E is for energetic

Which is something that I am not lately. I have been so tired. My son has been teething and even though he is handling it without much difficulty, it does wake him up in the night. I have been blessed in that he has been sleeping through the night pretty consistently since he was about a month old, so I shouldn't complain about having to get up 5 times during the night to give him back his plug. But hey this too shall pass.
My daughter is quite energetic. And she loves playgrounds. Today I was going visiting teaching, and when I got to the apartment I was visiting, there was a playground right by where I parked my car. As soon as she got out the car she ran for the playground. I had to go and retrieve her, and she wasn't too happy with me. She decided to make it hard for me to climb the stairs I guess, I was holding her hand, and she latched onto my leg with her other arm, and legs so I was carrying her up the stairs with me. It definitely gives me a work out. Then when we got home, she held my hand because we were in a parking lot, and then told me to run. She wanted to run through the parking lot. So we did. Then she wanted to run after we got into our apartment. I had to put my foot down there however.
Where do young children get all their energy. If I could keep up with her, I bet she would run all day long.
My baby turned 6 months old last week, and he can now sit up and crawl. He has been scooting around for probably 2 months. My kids just like to go. I guess kids need to have energy so that they can keep us adults moving.
So what keeps you moving? Are your kids energetic or are they more calm?

Z is for Zip-A-De-Do-Da

OK so I know I'm stretching this letter thing a little far. But you know the old Disney Song from "Song of the South", Zip--A-De-Do-Da? The song is talking about how it is a wonderful day. Well, that is how I feel about fall.
As soon as you can start feeling that fall bite in the air, and the leaves start turning colors, I feel a renewed bounce in my step. It is kind of funny, but most of the year my favorite color is a shade of blue, but in the fall it becomes pumpkin orange. I also start craving pumpkin foods. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bars; and this year I even had a craving for pumpkin soup. The funny part about pumpkin soup, is I have never even had it. But I will probably remedy that this year.
So I'm not sure when these pumpkin cravings started I know it happened after I got married, but other than that I don't know. I also tend to crave apples more in the fall too. I think that one stems back from some childhood memories.
I love the crunch of leaves under my feet, the smells of fall, everything I can think of that is associated with fall. I just love it. It brings about a feeling of change. I don't know if that is in association with memories of school starting, or maybe because my birthday is in the fall. I just love fall.
So what is your favorite season? What do you like about it? Why do you think you like it?

L is for learning to pick my battles

OK so today was a hard day, and by the end of the day we were all tired.
My husband made a dinner of homemade macaroni and cheese, which I thought was very good. Anyway it was served just before 7 pm, which is about 1- 1 1/2 hrs later than we usually eat. My daughter was very excited for dinner, but when she was served something that looked a lot different than the usual out of a box stuff. Well she pitched a fit. She wanted the macaroni and cheese that is "in the door" or behind the door in the pantry. When she refused to be pacified I told her that if she would eat this macaroni and cheese tomorrow we could have the one that is "in the door" for lunch. So she grudgingly ate about 2 bites, and said she was done. She was now ready for the macaroni that is "in the door". Well we decided to not give in on this one.
I could tell she was tired, and so even though it was an hour before her usual bedtime I decided to get her ready for bed. Well she got even more upset when I tried to take off her dress. I managed to get it off and the pajamas on, but they didn't stay on. I told her to stay in her room till she calmed down and left the room.
It was at this point that I realized that it had become a power struggle. And I think when it gets to this point, both parties are the looser. I wasn't happy because she was screaming, and she wasn't happy because she had to be in her PJ's. So when she came out a minuet later, still crying, I asked her what she needed. She told me the "flower dress", which was her description of the dress she was wearing today. So I had my husband get the dress out of the hamper while I tried to calm her down. We put it back on her, and she told us she was ready to "take a nap".
So we gave up our regular night time routine tonight, let her go to bed in her dress, didn't read scriptures or say prayers, or even brush teeth. But it is now about 7:40 and she is asleep. Hopefully she will stay out for the night. I think because I was willing to give in, and let her "win", this time I am a winner too.
So how do you handle power struggles. Have you learned to pick your battles, or are you still in the learning process like me?

W is for weaning

So in my family right now there seems to be a lot of weaning going on. And before you get the wrong idea, no I am not weaning my 5 month old from his bottle yet, unless you count the fact that we have started rice cereal.
Most of the weaning involves my toddler. Another way to say it is we are trying to break habits, or one case, she is breaking a habit or routine.
So I will start with what she is doing. She has recently decided that she doesn't need naps anymore. This is difficult for me, because I still need naps, and I can't take one if she doesn't. She is down to about 2 naps a week. And don't get me wrong I totally appreciate those two naps. In fact I couldn't be writing this right now if she wasn't taking one of her two naps for this week, right now.
We are also in the process of weaning her from her "plug" or pacifier. This is one that is hard for me, and I have tried different ways different times and have yet to succeed. However right now we are trying a replacement method. She uses her plug as an item of comfort, so we are trying to displace that affection and comfort to another item. We bought her two stuffed bears that are identical. One is only for when she is taking a nap or going to bed, the times that she is allowed her plug. The other one is for when we are in the car, a time when she seeks comfort in asking for fruit snacks (another habit we are trying to break at the moment.) I'm hoping she will develop an attachment to the bear and then we can gradually remove the plugs and fruit snacks.
The last item that we are trying to wean right now is movies. If you read my "M is for movies" post you noticed that she watches a lot of movies. I decided she watches too many movies. I decided that instead of a movie a day (on weekdays) I would cut it down to one movie per week, plus special occasions. What I didn't count on were withdrawal symptoms. The first day that I tried no movies, I found myself craving TV, and movies. I think my daughter was having similar problems. She told me probably 6-10 times that day that she "needed to watch a movie". I didn't give in, however I decided that going from a movie a day to a movie a week in one shot was maybe too crazy of a move. So I have altered my plan for the moment. Right now I am trying to cut it down to a movie every other day on weekdays and none on weekends unless it was a special occasion. Once we have adapted to that schedule then maybe it will be twice a week, and then down to once a week.
So I don't know if it is my timing is bad, or that I am trying to do too much at one time, but my daughter has also lately become incredibly clingy. She has always been an outgoing independent child, but now if I go somewhere, even somewhere that is familiar and the people are familiar, she doesn't leave my side for very long. And she is clingy at home too. She always seems to need me right there doing what she is doing, and need my very attention. If I am on the floor paying attention to the baby, she will climb on my back, if I am at the computer she comes and pulls at my arm. If I am in the kitchen, she is underfoot constantly.
So what I want to ask all of you is, do you have any advice for a struggling parent in this situation. Am I doing too much at once do I need to cut back on all that is being cut out of her life at one time? Is there some way that I can pay her attention, and have her take some "own" time too?

A is for attitude

Which if any of you have ever had a two year old, I 'm sure you know all about attitude. She thinks she knows everything. She is a born leader, and domineering. She has strong opinions and throws a world class fit if you try to go against them. Whether it is leaving someones house, or some other play place to go home, or saying no to watching a movie, or getting a snack.
I think tantrums are a way that two-year-olds try to remind you that they are only two. They don't understand things on an adult level, or even an older child level, even if they come across as very mature at times.
However, I've found that even five-month-olds can have a strong attitude. And if I forget myself and allow a willful attitude on my part, we just never get anywhere.

However there is another side to attitude too. There is a positive attitude. Looking at the bright side. That is something my children are really good at. My son smiles more than I have ever seen any other 5 month old smile. True there is only one other 5 month old that I have been around as much as I have been around him, and that is his sister. But he is a very happy baby. He seems to be grinning constantly, even if he isn't feeling well. Even if he is tired or hungry quite often he is smiling through his tears. What a wonderful lesson to learn, to be happy through adversity. My daughter has an outgoing attitude, most of the time. She is getting to be more shy lately, when faced with unfamiliar circumstances, but it doesn't take her long to warm up and strive to make friends with any in the group, no matter age or gender. She loves people. She loves to say hi.

I think it is best to try to ignore the negative and focus on the positive and this is something that my children are teaching me daily.
So take some time and ask yourself, what good things have happened to me today, and forget about the bad.

M is for Movies

So my husband and I decided that we didn't care to have TV in our home, because we don't feel that there is much that is broadcast that we would care to watch or have our children watch. We decided however that movies are OK, and so we have a passle of movies, mostly Disney, that we play on our computer and that is our media center.
Well our current movie collection started maybe about a year and a half ago, when we purchased a Veggie Tales DVD. Our daughter, who was one at the time, loved it and requested it over and over. Unfortunately at least part of this time period was in my first trimester of my second pregnancy. So once I got past the majority of the nausea period, this video would still make me nauseous. In fact it still does. Isn't it amazing how those kinds of connections work? Anyway, I developed a strong desire to build up our movie collection with other films that our daughter would like, so that I wouldn't have to watch that one repeatedly.
We now have at least 18 DVD's that she watches on a regular basis. Now I know that for some people that really isn't that big of a collection. But for us it seems huge. Plus we have some other movies that she isn't as enthralled with.
Anyway, Monday through Friday, there is usually at least one movie shown in our house. And unfortunately the number watched per day has escalated since our son was born, and I find that sometimes the only time I can get anything done is to turn on a movie.
So now I have created a monster. I have a two year old who quotes movies left and right. She can sing many Disney tunes, and can identify a movie just from you humming the tune to one of the songs in it. And she tends to throw quite the tantrum if I tell her no when she asks to watch a movie.
Well yesterday, I realized an even bigger problem. She doesn't know what things aren't the best to repeat. Now we try to not have any movies that have swearing in them. But almost every show has words like; stupid, idiot, bozo, etc. Now I know these aren't the worst words in the world, and that she will eventually learn them anyway. But I don't want my children to learn that calling people names is all right.
I'm sure that this is a battle that most parents have to face at some point in time or another. So I want to know, how do you, or would you handle this situation, if faced with it? How do we teach our children that not all the things they hear in the world around them are worth repeating?
Also what kind of indoor activities can you think of to entertain a 2 1/2 year old?

F is for finding humor in situations

OK so it really should be H is for humor but seeing as how I have already used H I needed a different option.
Having a 2 year old and a 4 month old can create some interesting situations. For example, when I am home with just my two kids I have gotten in the habit of when I go to the bathroom, I take the baby with me and lay him on the floor in my bedroom right outside the bathroom door, and then I leave the door open. My daughter will then sometimes wonder where I am and start calling out "Mommy", and then I will respond with "what?" and she will ask "where are you" and I will yell back, if she hasn't found me yet, "I'm using the potty". Well today in such a scenario I realized that the bathroom window happened to be open, and I could just imagine someone walking past our apartment and suddenly hearing "I'm using the potty" in an adult voice, and the thought hit me as humorous, maybe you just think it is dumb, but I thought it was funny.
Recently we were given this toy for our baby that is a sphere shaped rattle on one side and a sphere with cloth flower petals on the other side and then they are connected by a curved bar that twists in the middle. Anyway, I gave him this toy to play with and it was so funny to watch. The bar is to big for him to get a hold of easily, so he would clasp it to his body with his arm, and then he would try to shove the rattle end into his mouth. It is too big to fit however and he would lay there and try over and over to get this thing into his mouth, it was funny to watch.
I'm realizing as I am writing these episodes that maybe you have to be there to get the humor out of some things.
Tell me what funny things have happened to you lately?

H is for Happiness

I think that happiness is something that you can always have if you so choose. Yes bad things will happen, and sometimes life will be hard. Sometimes your child will color on something like the computer monitor, or you will have to get up in the middle of the night to bath a child and change the sheets on their bed. Sometimes you might lose someone you love, or get in a car accident. You may lose your job, etc. I could go on listing all kinds of negative things, some more so than others, but all of them can have the tendency to seem overwhelming when they occur.
But you can be happy through it all. It may be hard, but it is possible. Happiness is a choice.
I was thinking about this this morning as things weren't going the way I would choose to have them go. I decided that I wouldn't let life get me down. I would be happy. And you know what, I am. I might be overwhelmed and tired, but I am happy.
Life is wonderful, I am so blessed. I have a wonderful husband who loves me, I have two adorable children, who light up my life. I have my basic needs provided for; a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear.
Decide today to be happy. Decide that you will enjoy your life. Take time and count your blessings. That is what I have done.

As a note on how the potty-training is going. I decided to let my daughter give me the cues and I will respond to them. Yesterday, she disappeared for a while and when I went to check on her I found her sitting on the potty. She didn't go, but she did it all on her own. It is progress.

N is for Naps

So have you ever noticed that once we reach adulthood we tend to appreciate sleep more? (OK maybe that isn't true about all adults and maybe some people appreciate sleep all of their lives). With my kids when they were really small, like under 2 months old, they tended to fall asleep pretty easily, there were maybe a few tricks that I needed to pull; feed them, rock them, hold them, but when they were tired they did a pretty good job of just falling asleep. My son more so than my daughter.
But he is getting out of that stage now. In fact at night time lately he has been so tired that he will just yell and cry until he finally falls asleep. And he is getting to be that way at nap time.
My daughter, has never been a great sleeper, but she is getting to be more so now. She has had a hard time taking naps since she was about a year old. But finally now on most days she will tell me after lunch that it is nap time, ask for her plug and at least stay in her room and look at books if not take a nap. And I am so grateful that she has gotten to this point.
I just wish my son would take a nap at the same time as his sister, but that has yet to be a regular occurrence.
But I guess I should just be grateful that he does take naps and so does she, and make the best of the situation.

By the way just a postscript, my children's doctor redeemed himself a little bit this last week, he actually took the time to look at the chart before he came in. Maybe it won't be so bad after all.

C is for Change

So I've recently noticed how much my parenting styles, and I have changed from the time that my daughter was born until now.
Some of it I'm sure just comes with having a second child. For instance, someone asked me today how old my baby is. I replied that he will be 4 months old on the 20th. I have no idea how many weeks old he is. I could count it out if I took the time to look at a calendar, but just off the top of my head, I really don't know.
Also, my son is a wonderful sleeper. I am usually in bed no later than 11, and up no earlier than 5. Yes that is less sleep than I would choose, but he rarely wakes me up in between those times. Now, with my daughter I would have woken up several times in the night and felt the need to check on her to make sure she was still breathing, had she ever slept that long. Not now, I just enjoy the sleep, and even have a hard time getting myself out of bed when he does wake up.
I'm really laid back about development. He finally rolled over for the first time from back to stomach today. Which is great, but I haven't been sitting around waiting for him to do it, like I was with my daughter.
But in other ways I'm sure the differences are because of what I have learned and experienced in my years of being a mother. I am a lot more patient with my children now, than I ever was in my daughters first year. I am more positive, I do a better job of keeping my house clean. (Not that it isn't still messy, it just isn't as messy.)
So, are there ways that you have grown and become a better person in the time that has passed since you started your current stage of life what ever that may be? Do you think they are because of time and maturity? Or from learning the lessons from the trials put before you? Or maybe a little of both?

S is for smiles

I have the tendency to be negative. I'm not a grouch, but I can be pessimistic. I also have a hard time reaching out side myself to interact with others, particularly those I don't know.
Somehow I got blessed with two wonderful, happy, social children.
This morning I took my kids to the park. My two year old was having a glorious time on the playground, when a large group of children from some organization showed up. Now most of these kids looked like they were probably between 8-11. My daughter would smile, at them, follow them around, say hi, and such. They completely ignored her. Now I know this is a common way for older kids to treat younger children they do not know. But all the same, my heart went out to my daughter. I knew just how much rejection I would be feeling if I were her.
Then I realized something. Yes they are ignoring her, but SHE isn't getting upset about it. SHE isn't letting it slow her down, or decide how she should act. She is willing to be happy and social still even though things aren't exactly how she would like them to be.
I decided then and there, that I need to learn from my children and not allow myself to allow others actions be what determines how I act. I need to decide to be happy and not let anything deter me from that goal.
Will you all join me? Take a day and say "today I am going to smile all day, I'm not going to let anything anyone else does make this a bad day for me. I am going to be happy."

I is for isolation

I just realized how isolated I am in my little world.
While checking my e-mail, and realized that I only get e-mail from someone who actually wants to talk to me, once in a while. Mostly I get silly forwards, junk mail, mailing list posts, and bills. Usually I handle it pretty well, except for when I let my self dwell on the fact that every Sunday my husband is pretty much guaranteed at least one conversational e-mail from one of his family members.
I have a cell phone, but pretty much the only time that I seem to get calls, is when my husband calls me, or occasionally I will get a call from a family member, but most of the time it is me that calls them.
I am a stay at home mom, and I get out maybe once a week to go to a play group with my kids, and then on Sundays I attend Church. Other than that I only get out to run errands. I need to push my self out and associate with people. I can blame no one but my self for my current isolation.
I was just wondering does anyone else feel so isolated with so much technology at their fingertips?

O is for Opinions

So I have a question. Have any of you ever had a doctor, either for yourself or a family member, that you liked 100%? That you had absolutely no qualms with?
Since I have become a parent, my little family has moved a lot, at least in my opinion. We have lived in 3 different states in the last 3 years. 2 on the west coast and one on the east coast. So needless to say I have gone through a few pediatricians. And I've had qualms with most of them. So I want to know if you think I am being to picky.
In Idaho, where my daughter was born, we were using Medicaid, and so we didn't have a lot of choice in what doctor we went to see. There was one clinic that I knew about, so that is where we went. My daughter had a really hard time putting on weight in her first month, and so we went to the doctors office a lot. One time that we were there the doctor told me that I needed to feed her every 2-3 hours even in the night time, because she obviously wasn't getting enough. The problems was, if I tried to feed her that often, she would get mad because she didn't want to eat yet, and she would just fight me, and scream. Well the doctor had the gall to tell me that because I was the parent, and she was the baby, I needed to make the decisions, babies can't make decisions. Oh she was making decisions all right. But I guess he has the right to have his own opinion too.
So I switched to a different doctor at the clinic. This doctor, I felt like, never listened to the questions I had about my child's health. He would ask me if I had questions, and after one or two answers, he would start the examination, and not listen to me any more through out the visit.
So we switched to doctor number three at that clinic, the last doctor there. This doctor, the only qualm I had with him, was simply not agreeing with some advice that he gave me. When my daughter at 6 months came down with some diarrhea, he told me to not nurse her for a whole day and just feed her pedialyte. I didn't think this would do her any good, so I didn't follow his advice, and she still got better.
Then we moved to Virginia, and we only lived there for a year, and it was my daughters second year of life, and so we didn't visit the doctors office a whole lot, and I really didn't have any qualms with him.
Then we moved to Washington State, where we now reside. We moved here with a new job about 20 days before my son was born. The insurance for this new job required that we have a PCP. So I called up a local doctors office and asked if they had any pediatricians accepting new PCP patients, and took the doctor that they had available. Now that my son is 3 months old, I have seen this doctor for a few well baby checkups, and my son also has an issue with congestion. He has been congested pretty much constantly since he turned 1 month old. Now due to the fact that he is so small, I have taken him in to the doctors office 3 different times, when the congestion has gotten worse, just to verify that it isn't extremely serious. So I think in the last 3 months I have probably been to the doctors office at least 7 times. Now I know that doctors see a lot of patients, and it has got to be hard to remember every one, but is it too much to ask that he at least review my son's chart before he comes in and sees him?
The doctor never asks how previous issues have been resolved. He doesn't remember that I have 2 kids unless I have both of them there with me. He asks me the same questions over and over. And then yesterday I took him in, after he has had a bad cough for the last 3 weeks. And the doctor didn't even refer to my son by name, until I used his name in talking to my daughter. He would just refer to him as "your son" or "your boy". This drives me crazy. But he seems to be a good doctor, so I am just letting it go.
But tell me, do you think I am being to picky?

B is for Bad day, and Blessings

I've just been reminded of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It has been a while since I read that book, and I may be remembering wrong, but I remember it being about a boy that one day just feels like it is an awful day, and then at the end realizes that it wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Right now, I'm going through the bad day part, and I hope to be able to look back and find that it wasn't as bad as it may seem to me at the moment.
This morning we went out, when we got home I got my daughter lunch and down for a nap. And my son was sleeping in his baby swing. So I decided that I would make some finger Jello to go with dinner, eat my lunch, and then see if I could get a nap.
So I put the water on to boil, and then I forgot about it. Until about an hour or so later when I was having a really hard time getting to sleep, and then I realized that I had that pan on the stove. So as you can guess, the water had boiled dry, and the pan was ruined. Not only that, but a plastic lid was on the burner behind the pan, and it had melted to the stove as well.
So that was a tough experience. But as I have been sitting here writing this I have reached the realization that my day isn't as bad as I had thought. Yes those were hard experiences, but at least I realized that the pan was on the stove before it got so hot it melted to the stove. And at least I was able to clean all the melted plastic off the stove. So I don't have to replace a stove, just a pan and a lid. Also I realized the problem before a fire started. That would definitely been worse. So yes even though bad things happened I can see how I have been blessed to. So I guess it isn't really a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day".

D is for Definitely Different

So it may seem to someone who has never had any children or is only the parent of one, that it shouldn't be too hard to not compare your children. They are different individuals and that you should know that and expect that.
Now maybe some parents do. But I can tell you that for me at least it takes some work.
I knew my kids would be different, and not just that one is a boy and one is a girl. But I was still kind of shocked when my son was born, and he looked very different from what his sister looked like when she was born.
My first child was a definite pacifier baby, in fact she is still quite attached to it. My second child will suck on one if it is put in his mouth, but definitely prefers his fist. As my husband put it one time, something I have to get used to is that the pacifier isn't the solution to all the worlds problems with this kid.
My daughter, loved to cuddle and be held for her first 4-5 months of life. My son would rather lay on the floor where he has more freedom to move his limbs around.
My daughter had a hard time nursing, but that is what she wanted to do, she didn't like the bottle. My son, refuses to nurse, the bottle is all he will take.
So yes they are different and I am getting used to it. And you know what I love them all the more for their differences. I don't think I would want two children who are exactly alike.
And I'm sure as they grow I'll come to realize even more differences, and enjoy every minute of it.

P is for patience, potty-training, pacifiers, pressure, and perservierence

Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of things in life that you do or want to do, because you are afraid of what everyone else will think?
For me, I have two that are really getting to me right now. Potty-training, and pacifiers or as it is better known at my house "the plug". So my two-year-old is not potty-trained, and she still uses her plug when she takes a nap, goes to bed, or when she manages to find one I didn't put away. So social pressure tells me that those two things need to be fixed. However my daughter doesn't agree.
So I find myself being wishy-washy and trying at times to master these steps, and at other times not really caring if they get mastered or not. Now this is probably a big part of the problem, I'm not consistent.
So we live in the world of diapers coming off by a toddler who wants to "do own" and then we have messes all over the carpet, and bare bottoms running around, yet refusing to sit on the potty. And pacifiers being thrown out constantly, due to holes from chewing, with the vow that I will not buy any more , yet I still find myself picking up some when I go to the store.
So I have decided that I just need to decide that today will be the day, and stick with it until we have truly mastered the situation. But first am I doing it for them or for me?

T stands for two, terrible, and terrific.

Have you ever dealt with a two-year-old? A two year old is kind of like a diamond. They are both multifaceted. You can be dealing with the sweetest kid in the world one minute and then the next your dealing with a major meltdown. They can be so cute that you want to laugh, and then they do something that makes you want to scream. You can go through happy, sad, crazy, mad, calm, and then yelling all in 30 min. time. But you know what? I love it. I wouldn't trade my two-year-old for anything in the world. She is my pride and joy. She is the best anti-depressant that I have ever had. My heart melts when she looks at me and says "thanks, mama" or when in her best two-year-old way she starts singing all of the songs that she has learned at church or that I have sung to her. So yes a two-year-old brings challenges, like potty-training, and independence, and a very messy house at times. (OK a messy house most of the time) But T also stands for temporary, which is what the two-year-old phase is. So you just have to enjoy the good time, and grin and bear the bad times. For when it is done it is done.