I Spy Bottles

I'm not sure what was more fun, exploring the house for items to add to our bottles or the finished project!

The other night, Thing 1 and Thing 2 were bored and started picking at each other. This typically happens in the evenings before bath time and bed time. After listening to them whine and argue for almost 30 minutes, I had to find something to distract them. Then I remembered the I Spy bottle craft I had seen on Pinterest.

Perfect.

I grabbed two empty water bottles and we began our mission to find things that would fit in them. As we added items to our bottles, I wrote each object down on an index card so we had an inventory. I had the kids add different things to their bottles to avoid creating identical toys. We scored most of the items in the kid's rooms. Turner added a miniature machine gun, a lego, and a dinosaur to name a few while Lauren added a hair tie, a pink button, a bracelet, and as many pink and purple things she could find.

After we found our Spy items, we filled the bottles with colored rice. I had the kids exchange bottles and they were thoroughly entertained for the rest of the evening.

 

Extremely Easy Oreo Truffles

I've been staring at this Oreo Truffle recipe on Pinterest for months and I finally decided to make them. They were so easy!

Here is what you need:

1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreo's
4 oz. Cream Cheese (you can use up to 8 oz. if you like)
Dipping Chocolate (we used white and milk chocolate)

Set aside 5 Oreo's for the topping.
Crush up the remaining Oreo's and mix in the cream cheese until well blended.
Roll into 1" balls and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Melt chocolate and dip the truffles into it. Top with crushed Oreo crumbs.
Refrigerate until chocolate sets up and enjoy!!

Happy 1st Birthday Gilbert!

Meet our dog, Gilbert.

He turned 1 year old today!

We adopted Gilbert this past Spring. Turner had been requesting a puppy for a long time and we finally buckled. Two weeks after we brought Gilbert home, I found out I was pregnant. I was not keen to having to clean up and train a puppy while pregnant and I was also worried about having Gilbert around the baby.

This is a pic of Gilbert taken the week we adopted him. He was adorable, right? How could we NOT want to bring him home with us?

And here is another pic of Gilbert taken a couple of weeks later. So cute!

Gilbert has his moments for sure. He had a bad habit of chewing on everything, jumping up on people, and his toilet training was a struggle. He has destroyed his share of the kids' favorite stuffed animals and I have found areas around the house that he has used as a urinal, but that stuff usually comes standard with a pup.

On a better note, Gilbert is very intelligent. He learns quickly and he's good with the kids.

Plus, Turner would walk through fire for Gilbert. They are buddies. Turner loves him very very much.

Lauren, on the other hand, is not a fan of Gilbert. She's still pretty bitter about him chewing up her Elmo doll a few months ago. Gilbert also obnoxiously follows her around if she has food and it pisses her off. Lauren and Gilbert avoid each other for the most part and it works for both of them.

Today was a special day and the kids and I had a small party for Gilbert. We wanted his first birthday to be special so we bought him a can of gourmet dog food and some other treats. We placed a candle in his special doggy cuisine and sang Happy Birthday to him. Turner blew out Gilbert's candle first. Then, I had to re-light it so that Lauren could blow out the candle too. After that, we gave him his food and treats.

Here we are in Gilbert's corner of the house. We brought him breakfast in bed!

Gilbert gobbled up the treats, but didn't touch his dog food. The entire day has passed and Gilbert still has not eaten his special birthday meal. I've seen Gilbert eat polyester, animal poop, grass, a tarp, and rubber. Evidently, the "gourmet" dog food we purchased is an entirely different taste and he wanted nothing to do with it.

Oh well, we'll know next year to keep the food a little more simple for him.

Happy 1st Birthday Gilbert!!

Our favorite things - January

As I attempt to organize and prioritize our living space, I'm constantly trying to determine what things can stay and what things must go. There are a few things in our home that we love dearly and will not part with. Some items are just non-negotiable no matter how old, raggedy, obnoxious, etc. I've decided to share with you a few of our favorite things.

TURNER: His favorite item in the whole wide world is a small security blanket named, "Silky." He sleeps with Silky, carries him from room to room, and even travels with him. (Yes, Silky is male) Turner has had Silky since birth and attached to it very early. Hubs and I have made efforts in trying to convince Turner to leave Silky at home, but he gets extremely upset so we don't really push the issue. We have told Turner that Silky will not be allowed to go to kindergarten with him and he seems okay with that. We also told him that Silky will be waiting for him when he returns at the end of the day. I really hope that by the time Kindergarten arrives, Turner will be prepared to leave Silky at home.

Here is a picture of Turner sleeping with Silky. Turner was about 2 1/2 years old at the time.

 

 

This pic is a more recent one. Here he is, watching TV with Silky on his head.

 

 

 

LAUREN: One of her favorite items is her little plush Elmo or "Melmo." She got him as a gift this past October and he has not left her side since. She sleeps with her Elmo, travels with him, and pretends he's her baby.She cares for him by wrapping him in a blanket and giving him a bottle. She also feeds him. It's not uncommon for me to pick up her Elmo doll and see that she has stuck a fruit snack or some other treat in it's mouth. She puts him in baby chairs or will push him around in her shopping cart. We are on our second Elmo doll. Our dog shredded her first one and it was traumatic. Lauren was so upset. Not replacing Elmo was not an option. She loves him so very much.

Here is a pic of Lauren and "Melmo" playing Twister the other night.

 

TYLER: Her favorite thing right now is anything that she can suck on. Her hands, my breast, a pacifier, or a bottle. It all makes her happy; especially if she gets a meal out of it. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of her with any of those things. We just introduced a bottle a week ago and a pacifier a few days ago. A picture of her breastfeeding... well, that would just be too much. So, I'm just going to post a picture of Tyler.

 

Here she is, our little sweetums!



HUBS:  One of his favorite things is by far, the television. Watching television is how he relaxes and de-stresses. He enjoys getting lost in TV land. He loves nothing more than spending a lazy afternoon laying on the couch and watching movies.

Here is Hubs and Lauren doing a bit of relaxing in front of the boob tube. (Oh my, she was chubby wasn't she!!)

 

ME: Presently, one of my favorite things is an Infantino baby carrier that I recently purchased. It's been a life saver and Tyler enjoys being in it. Tyler is getting to the stage where she wants to be held all of the time. The baby carrier allows me to keep her close, but I can still help Turner and Lauren with their needs. With Tyler in the carrier, she is content and I'm able to do everything from housework to crafts with the kids to working on my bench presses and push-ups. Okay, so maybe I'm not working on bench presses or doing any push-ups...
Seriously though, the carrier has been life-changing.

This is the Infantino Swift Baby Carrier I purchased from Target. Only $15.00, can you believe it? LOVE IT.

Twister aka the "Ow, I'm cramping up! Okay, I'm done." game

Nothing like challenging our agile children to a game of Twister to make us feel like an elderly couple!

Next time, we'll leave it to just the kids.

Turner loved the game and thought Twister was extremely fun. Lauren just liked stepping around the mat on the colored circles. Even her "Melmo" got in on the action. For Hubs and I, it was a painful session of poor man's yoga.

We enjoyed watching the kids laugh and play; therefore, it was another game night success.

A day of beauty - Part 2

Picking up from my prior post, A Day of Beauty - Part 1, the kids had their nails painted. Even Lauren's little baby got her nails painted and her entire body was decorated with washable markers.

 

The next thing we needed to do was give the baby a bath to wash all of the marker off of her. Most evenings, it is a challenge to get Lauren into the bathroom for a bath or shower. Well, it wasn't a problem when she knew that her baby doll would be joining her.

 

Once we were in the bathroom, Lauren got into our cabinet and pulled out my make-up bag. She was pulling out eye-shadows, powders, etc. I decided to go with it. We spent another half hour practicing makeup techniques and feeling pretty. Her favorite item was the bronzer, which she applied no less than 10 times.

 

 Coincidentally, Tyler had woken up right before Lauren's bath time and it was Tyler's evening to receive a bath as well. So, I put all of them in the tub together. Lauren loved it! Bath time was so much fun. Lauren washed her baby while I washed mine.

 

 

Once I had the girls out of  the tub, it was Turner's bath time. In an unexpected twist, he asked if he could bathe the baby doll too. I handed it over and watched him wash the baby with the washcloth and pretend to shampoo it's hair. He was so gentle and loving. It was very sweet.

 

Maybe we'll be adding "Bathing Babies" to our activities list. It was hit!

Little Fingers Octupi

Little Sis and I created a couple of Octupi last week. Another idea courtesy of Pinterest!

Pass the bottle!

It's bittersweet, giving my newborn her first bottle.
It means she will survive without me.
She won't need me as much.
Other people can care for her the way I do.

Selfish thoughts, I know. There is something that makes me feel so special about looking at my child and knowing that I am the sole provider of her nourishment. As she grows, I confidently think to myself, "I did that."

There is something about someone else feeding my baby that makes me feel unimportant.

Am I being over dramatic? Certainly.

On second thought... I can leave my baby for more than 2 hours and not stress that she is going to be hungry in my absence.
She will survive without me.
She won't need me to be there to eat.
Other people can care for her while I am gone.

I need my hair done.
I need to get back in my shopping/errands routine.
I need to leave my house more than once every 2 weeks or so.

I have kind of put my life on hold and only venture out when necessary, but it's time to get back into the swing of things.

Saturday night, Hubs introduced Tyler to her first bottle. She took it right away. The next night, I tried giving her a bottle to see if she would take it from me. She did.

We used a Philips Avent Natural 4 oz. bottle.

In the past, I always used Playtex bottles with latex nipples, but I heard great things about the Avent bottle and decided to give it a try. Evidently, Tyler liked it and that's good enough for me.

So, I'm officially "free."

Of course, I can't be gone too long without access to a place where I can use a breast pump but that's okay. I can deal with that as I have too.

What should I do first?
Go on a shopping spree?
Go to the spa?
Book a hotel room and take a nap in the nude?
Go to a restaurat and eat my way through the dessert menu?
Nah, I know what I want to do most of all. I want to go on a date with my husband. We are long overdue for a night out. (Our last date night was in October!!)

Like I said, it's bittersweet handing over my little one for a feeding every once in a while but if it means that I get a little time to myself,  then it's what I need to do. It's not selfish, it's healthy to have a life outside of the home. I love my kids, but I appreciate them much more after I've had some time away.

Now, what to plan for date night?

A day of beauty - Part 1

Since it was just Lauren and I yesterday, we skipped our craft and decided to paint her nails instead.
She always sits very still while I paint her nails and even waits a few minutes to allow her nails to dry before getting up.  In my opinion, that itself is an amazing feat.

Lauren chose a purple chrome color for her toes and a bright fuschia pink for her fingers.
She's such a little girly-girl!

Afterward, Lauren decided her baby needed it's nails painted too. So, we busted out the washable markers and started coloring nails on her baby doll. This led to the baby receiving lots and lots of body art. I encouraged her creativity and I may have also had an ulterior motive...more on that later.

When Turner came home from school and realized that we had painted fingernails and toenails, he wanted his done too. He usually chooses the clear polish because it's shiny and 'it looks like his nails are glass.'

The first time he wanted his nails painted, I was a little hesitant about it. I'm all for openness and creativity, but I was afraid the kids at school would tease him. Then, I found out the reason he wanted his painted is because his friend at school had his toenails painted blue. So, we went for it and painted his nails red as he requested.

I'm glad I did. He loved them!

Lauren constantly looks down at her toes and says, "PURPLE!" or she'll hold out her hands and say, "PINK!" She's pretty excited about having her nails painted and it was fun Mommy/Daughter time.

If you want to find a safe, natural, non-toxic nail polish for toddlers, I would recommend Piggy Paint. It can be found at Walmart, but the website also has other locations if you are anti-Walmart. Ordering online is also an option.

If you are gender specific, you can find nail painting pens for males at Alpha Nail.

Maybe someday soon, I can work in a little mani/pedi time too!

Dependency

Raised by a single mother of three girls and as the eldest child I learned to be very independent at a young age.

By the time I had reached high school, I was attending school full-time, working part-time, involved in sports, paying for all of my extra curriculars, paying my school fees, paying my auto insurance, buying my clothes, doing my laundry, and was responsible for making or buying my breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I graduated high school in June and attended my first college classes a month later. I started my first full-time job in November of that year as well.

By my 20th birthday, I was able to rent my own place and was officially independent.

Shortly after that, I met my husband. Between work, school, and being in a relationship, I was always busy and extremely content.

Fast forward a couple of years... I married Hubs and we bought a house a month after the wedding. We divided up the bills and kept our bank accounts separate. It wasn't until we had our son four years later that we combined our bank accounts to one.

After we combined bank accounts, we realized we were able to save more money. When we wanted to purchase something, we had another person to consider. It wasn't just "my money" anymore; it was "our money."

Fast forward 4 years and another baby later. I decided to leave my job and become a SAHM.

This was a HUGE step for me. I was nervous about our budget and putting financial stress on Hubs. I also had major anxiety about being home with our children full-time. Would I like it? Would I do a good job? Would Hubs think I was doing a good job?

All of those things worried me constantly, but they didn't come close to stressing me out as much as the thought of being 100% financially dependent on my spouse.

Being dependent was something I had never done before. It was very scary for me and I was hesitant to take that step; but my need to raise my children was stronger. If I'm going to do something, two things need to happen.

1.) I need to be passionate about it.
2.) I need to be all in. No half-assing it.

I have been a Stay-At-Home-Mom for a year and a half now. It has it's ups and downs. The amount of ups quadruple the amount of downs and it's been extremely rewarding.

Being dependent on my husband has brought us closer together. My full-time responsibility is caring for my husband and our children. I try my best to be a wonderful and loving mother and wife. I work hard at perfecting those roles and challenge myself to make our home a loving/fun/comfortable place to be. I'm hopeful that by doing this, my value here is worth more than a paycheck.

I always knew that Tanner loved me, but allowing me to be home with our children has taken our relationship to another level. He has repeatedly shown that he puts his family before himself and he will do anything he can to give us a happy life.

We've both made, and continue to make, big sacrifices for our kids. I believe that if you work hard, you will be rewarded.

I hope that the time, effort, and energy my husband and I continuously put into raising our kids will result in good kids; eventually resulting in caring, independent, responsible, and compassionate adults.

That is our dream.

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."
 -Unknown

Happy One Month, Tyler Veronica!

 

Our little Tyler turned one month old yesterday!

What we're reading - January

Last month, we found all of the Waldo's with Turner and we worked our way through all of Lauren's Look and Find books to the point of memorization.

This month, I decided to focus on the kids favorites.

When things get a little crazy around here, I can always count on books by Karen Katz to get Lauren's attention.

Karen Katz is known for her lift-a-flap books about babies. Her books always keep Lauren interested and I enjoy them as well. We own several, but the one that's getting the most attention right now is Ten Tiny Tickles. The book is about waking baby for the day by giving her tickles on her head, arms, belly, etc. As Lauren and I go from page to page of baby tickles, I will tickle Lauren along with the book. She looks forward to it and sometimes Turner will sit in and participate too. One thing my 5-year old loves is to be tickled!

 

The most recent Karen Katz book I have ordered is Princess Baby Night Night. I'm sure if it's anything like the others, Lauren is going to love it.

 

For Turner, he enjoys looking through his Avengers Look & Find book but recently he's been gifted a subscription to Highlights for Kids. This has made an amazing present because 1. He gets it in the mail. What kid doesn't get excited to get their own mail? and 2. It is an entire magazine focused on entertaining children his age and it features things from children.

I was fortunate enough to receive Highlights for Kids when I was a child. I used to spend many hours looking through them. Now, I get to do it all over again with my son. Turner will spend an hour or so looking through his Highlights magazine so we have to go through it in sections every night before bedtime. If we didn't, we would be up all night! When we are finished with a magazine, it gets shelved with his books so he can look through it again at another time. I suspect we'll be subscribing to Highlights for a very long time.

Chocolate Chip Bread

Hubs favorite cookie of all time is a big fat chocolate chip cookie. I decided to change it up a bit and bake Chocolate Chip Bread instead of the cookies.

I'm happy to report that everyone loved it and so I decided to post the recipe for you to enjoy as well.

CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD

Ingredients:
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. milk
6 oz. chocolate chips

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Easy and delicious, my favorite two things!

Debonnaire

I picked up a pack of mustache drinking straws and presented them to the kids at breakfast to jazz it up a bit.

Keeping it classy.

Fun Size

Today, Turner went to school so it was just the girls and I on the homefront. The days Turner has school make long days for Lauren. She is starting to really miss him when he is gone. I try to make up for that by being the best playmate I can be.

This can be tricky at times and often I find myself physically hurting at the end of the day. If only I could shrink down to "fun size."

Today was no exception.

I spent a majority of my morning in a bed fort. I was crouched under a sheet on a toddler bed for almost 2 hours. And what would a fort be if it didn't include 15 books, 10 stuffed animals, 3 blankets, and 2 flashlights?

But how could I say no to this face?

 

 

For lunch, I gave Lauren the option of choosing where she would like us to eat. I gave her the choice of the big table (our dining room table) or the little table (her Dora table). Little Miss decided that neither of the options appealed to her. Instead, she took my hand and led me to her little cottage. Yet again, I failed to say no and obliged to her request. We would be dining in the cottage.

 

So, there I sat. My arms crossed and legs folded Indian-style. I sipped water from my water bottle as I could not comfortably eat without wearing most of my food. By the time lunch was over, I couldn't feel my body from the waist down. Although, I must say, seeing Lauren's obvious excitement about lunching in the cottage was enough to make it worth it.

 



 

Shortly after lunch, I was challenged to a dance off to the tune Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in which I lost 6 times in a row. I was again challenged before bathtime.  I danced through the song 9 times before Turner begged us to stop. Who needs Zumba when interactive toddler tunes are put on repeat?

 

Tomorrow's Toddler Fitness Boot Camp: The Hokey Pokey. Hopefully, some of my sore joints will loosen up as I shake them all about.

 

Laaawwwd, have mercy!



Foot penguins

The kiddo's made these super cute foot penguins a couple of weeks ago.

My favorite crafts are always the ones that use handprints or footprints. I love those adorable little fingers and toes!

Sharing the love

On the mornings that Turner doesn't have school, he always waits for Lauren to wake up so he can crawl into bed with her and look at books.

If he doesn't hear her wake, she will sit in bed and call for him until he arrives.

He doesn't know how to read so he will either tell the story as he remembers it, or he will make up his own rendition. Sometimes I stand in the doorway and watch, but most days I try not to make my presence known.

They are sharing a tender moment meant just for them and I don't want to interfere with the bonding that is taking place.

On mornings like these, I am filled with nothing but love.

What a wonderful way to begin a day!

Where a kid can be a kid.

To treat his Strabismic Amblyopia, Turner has been prescribed eye patches to be worn 4 hours a day. He received a starter kit from his surgeon's office. Unfortunately, they gave us a kit for girls and not boys. We don't patch his eye for school or in public, so we used the girly eye patches, They were free and the adhesive on them was gentler on his skin than the OTC brands. His eye patch kit also came with a large fish poster with areas on it to fill with patches.

Some days, Turner would cry because he didn't want to wear his patch so we told him that when he filled up his fish, we would take him to Chuck E. Cheese's for a fun day.

Would you look at that!

 

As you can see, he made it! This is almost 2 months worth of patches. We have one more fish to fill and at that time, we should be finished with the patching. We'll find out for certain when we visit his surgeon in mid-February if we need to continue with the patching or if a third surgery is next.

 

 

Since Turner has done so well, we were thrilled to fulfill our half of the bargain today.

 

 

We packed up before lunchtime and headed to Chuck E. Cheese's for a day of pizza and fun. We also invited my sister and her daughter Brodie. All of the kids had a BLAST today!

 

It was a first for my Sis, Brodie, and Lauren and they really enjoyed it, thank goodness! It can be overwhelming with the oodles of children running around,  the noise of the games, and the continuous singing and dancing coming from the Birthday areas.

 

Here is Turner, playing his favorite game of the day.

 

 



 



 Lauren decided to ride a huge mechanical horse. She was frightened at first, but then she realized it was really fun. She rode it at least five times today.

 

 





 

My sis took this pic of me, Hubs, and Tyler.

 

 



 

I hope all of you enjoyed your Saturday! I know we did!

Lucky Ducks

 Finding things to do with my toddler can be difficult.

With my 23 month old, I certainly do plenty of sensory activities, pretend play, and crafts with her; but when family game night rolls around, it's challenging to keep Lauren occupied or involved.

Turner enjoys games that are a bit advanced for Lauren and Lauren doesn't understand the concept of most of the games. She either just wants to play with the game pieces or look at all of the cards. From board games to card games, little Sis was getting left out. That meant that one parent was trying to distract Lauren while Turner played his game with the other parent. Not quite the 'family' activity we were hoping for.

On a mission to find a board game or card game that we can all enjoy, I'm happy to report that I have found several.

Without further ado, the first toddler friendly game added to our family game night:

Lucky Ducks

 

Several years ago, my mother-in-law found this game at a garage sale and picked it up for Turner. I know it's still available in most stores or you can find it for around $15 on amazon.com. Turner has enjoyed this game for years. Sometimes we follow the game directions when we play with Lauren and sometimes we make revisions.



 

Each player selects a color card of choice. The red button in the center of the pond turns on the game. As the ducks swim by in the motorized pond, each player selects a duck of their choice.

 

 



 

The bottom of each duck has a colored sticker. If a color that matches the player's card is selected, they can set it down. If the player selects a color that is different than their card, the duck must return back to the pond. The first person to collect all three ducks of their color wins.

 

Another way I play this with Lauren is to give her all of the color cards and let her choose ducks until she's filled up all of the cards. She loves selecting the ducks and the best part is that it's an easy and  fun way for her to learn colors.

 

The Lucky Ducks game is simple, fun, and educational all at the same time. That's a win/win in our book! Now, when family game night rolls around, Lauren isn't left out. We not only have a game that she can participate in, she actually has an opportunity to win the game, and the rest of us enjoy playing it as well.

 

Look for more toddler friendly games in future posts!

Working it out

Since this week has been my first week back into the daily routine of stay-at-home-motherhood, I haven't planned anything extra. My family and I are still under the adjustment phase of Tyler's arrival.

The kids are having to be more patient. Hubs is having to be more helpful. I'm having to juggle as much as I can to help the kids and Hubs.

It's not going to get any easier and Hubs and I are going to get busier as Tyler gets more alert and aware of her surroundings. But, I don't have time to sit around thinking about what life is going to be like in 6 months, or a year from now, or even what next week may bring.

All I know is that with a new beautiful baby I am flooded with new emotion, more responsibility, more love, and more stress.

I handle my stress by working out. I'm unable to do that right now, but I hope to be back in the swing of things very soon. When I say very soon, I mean next week. I can feel my stress building up and I need an outlet.

For some reason, the only thing that makes me feel emotionally lighter is an intense workout. When I push my body to exhaustion, I feel great. I'm not sure if it's the endorphins or what, but a physical challenge brings out the best in me. In 45 minutes, I can sweat away my anxieties and become a more collected person.

I'm SO ready to kick my own ass during a workout!

I'll have to start slow. My body hasn't had an all out workout in almost 5 months. I had a baby 3 weeks ago so I'm still dealing with a bit of post-delivery bleeding. Plus, I'm breastfeeding so if I exercise too much, my supply will disappear. (Learned that the hard way with Baby #1)

With my first pregnancy, I gained 40 lbs. I came home from the hospital 30 lbs. heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. It took me 9 months to lose it all and believe me, I struggled. I have never worked so hard to lose weight in my life.

When I was preggo with Lauren, I had gained 30 lbs. but had double pneumonia the last month of my pregnancy. I came home from the hospital 12 lbs. heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. It still took me 8 months to lose that 12 lbs. Weight loss does not come easy for me. Thank goodness I enjoy exercise or I would have given up a long time ago.

I gained 30 lbs. during my pregnancy with Tyler. After I gave birth, Hubs and I got the flu and I find myself 15 lbs. away from my goal weight.

One thing I have learned is that patience is key. The weight will come off but I have to put in the time and effort.

Next week, I will start my weight loss journey. This sounds cliche since it's so close to the New Year and everyone resolves to lose weight after the holidays. But, hey, at least I'll have my Facebook friends keeping me motivated with all of their posts about getting fit and sharing their weight loss successes.

I may even post a picture of myself as a "Before" and continue to post pics monthly. I don't know, we'll see. I'm still on the fence with that idea.

My first approach to losing weight is:

1. Change my eating habits. I still enjoy all of the foods I did before, just in smaller portions. Instead of filling a dinner plate full of food, I use a salad plate and make sure that my portions are no bigger than the size of my fist. I always eat breakfast and I make sure lunch is my biggest meal of the day. This way, I'm taking in most of my calories early in the day and have the opportunity to burn some of them off before evening.

2. I snack every two hours from the time I wake up until 6 p.m. I'll eat a Nutrigrain bar, or a piece of fruit, etc. After 6:00 p.m., NO FOOD. If I get a hunger craving at night that I can't kick, I will make myself a glass of chocolate milk. It curbs my sweet tooth and fills my belly.

3. I do 45 minutes of cardio 4x a week followed by a series of sit-ups and push ups. I always leave time for stretching at the end. It seems that stretching is really underrated and most people don't do it at all. You would be amazed at how much better you feel if you work in 5 - 10 minutes of stretching after a workout.

I obviously am not a dietician, health professional, or personal trainer. However, in 3 years, I have gained 70 lbs. and I've lost 70 lbs. and I managed to keep it off in a healthy way. Another pregnancy has challenged me to do it again and I'm hopeful that my future posts will reflect another post-partum weight loss accomplishment.

Wish me luck and if you are one of the millions of people that resolved to lose weight this year, good luck to you too! I'm rooting for you!!

All aboard the Potty Train! Choo! Choo!

Since Tyler is still in the sleepy newborn phase and I  now realize that being a SAHM to my three children is do-able, I've decided to work a lot more with Lauren on potty-training.

Today, she only wore a diaper once! Progress.

Getting to the toilet on time is something we are struggling with, but we'll get there.

I was putting her in regular underwear, but on Saturday my Mom brought over a pack of Gerber Potty Training Underwear and it was life-changing. I believe she picked them up at Walmart, so I'm guessing you can find them pretty much anywhere. They are very absorbent, so when Lauren has an accident, she knows it but there isn't a mess on the floor. I can see they are wet from the outside and she can feel the discomfort of the wet underwear, but they don't leak nearly as bad as regular underwear do.

I've never been so thankful to have hard wood floors throughout our home! Today was a rough day and we had 5 pee accidents. Yikes. But, we have to start somewhere, right?

We were told by our pediatrician that Pull-ups are a bad idea. A child will potty train better if they can feel the discomfort of soiled underwear. A pull-up is so absorbent, the child may not recognize the difference between the pull-up and a diaper.

Turner was an EXCELLENT kid at potty training. He hated when he had a dirty diaper and would immediately cry to be changed if he peed or pooped. He was fully potty trained by the time he was 2 1/2 and, to this day, I can count on one hand the number of times he's peed in his bed or had an accident.

Lauren isn't quite 2 years old yet, but I'm at home full time and I'm able to work with her more. We don't typically go anywhere during the week so I can keep her in underwear all day long. She has shown many signs or readiness and we've slowly introduced the concept of potty training.  I have a potty seat in our living room and we have a toilet seat insert in the main bathroom. This way, she's never too far from a kid-friendly toilet.

We are using a very plain potty seat. It doesn't talk, sing, or provide any type of entertainment. It is just a plain white seat with a bucket and a back rest. In most things, I like to keep it simple.

I'm excited for getting Lauren started and hope to have her diaper free by Spring.

Wish us Luck!!

Survivor: Big Prairie, Ohio

Today was a big day. A day I've been fearing since I found out I was pregnant with Tyler.

Hubs returned to work and I was left alone with all three of my children.
Turner - 5 years, Lauren - 23 months, and Tyler - 3 weeks.

I was afraid of so many things going wrong. Hubs said I was psyching myself out... I think he was right. I was so nervous before bed last night. All I could picture was the baby crying, Lauren disappearing, and Turner yelling and running around like a madman, all of this happening at the exact same time.

I was paranoid for nothing.

Tyler is still sleeping most of the day. She's nursing every 2 hours and I was worried about how I would keep Turner and Lauren occupied during feedings. I nursed Tyler in the room where the kids were playing today and they didn't even seem to notice. They didn't stop their play once to request anything and they played well together.

It wasn't perfect, I mean, kids are kids. Turner picked at Lauren a little. Lauren had to be pulled away from a few things she wasn't supposed to get into (she's OBSESSED with toothpaste!!). Just normal stuff one can expect from children their ages.

One of my great friends dropped by to see the baby and she ended up helping out. (See what happens when you visit our home, I put you to work!) Sometimes she helped me by holding Tyler and keeping her pacified while I tended to Turner and Lauren and at other times she helped me by playing with Turner and Lauren so I could tend to Tyler.

I was so grateful for the company and for her help. (Thanks Chareia!!)

One of my goals for the day was to keep the kids in their routine as much as possible. I'm happy to say that we stayed on track. We made these cute hand print cardinals today for our craft.

Hand print Cardinals

For our activity this evening, we matched socks. That's right, I was THAT Mom tonight. I brought a basket of unmatched socks downstairs, dumped it on the floor, and said enthusiastically, "Time to match socks!" I made it a game with Turner to see who could match more socks. He was into it and helped me match all of the socks with designs and colors. I assigned myself the white socks since those are more difficult, and Lauren found it fun to sort the socks by color. Our socks were matched in no time!

I'm glad I can put today behind me and chalk it up as a success. I feel much more confident about being home with all of the kids and reassured that I can do it. I just need to take it one day at a time and do my best. Everything is going to work out and I'm going to continue to feel that my choice of being a SAHM was the best decision I've ever made. I'm sure I will have days when I get overwhelmed, but hopefully they will be few and far between.

Good riddance Monday!

Pinterest Fails: You win some you lose some.

I am a HUGE follower of Pinterest.

I find most of our family meals and activities for the kids on there. I have had much success but I have had my share of failure's as well.

CRAFT FAILS

Fail #1: Salt Painting. This is the craft I mentioned in my previous post.

The color didn't travel like we had anticipated. Plus, you have to use lots and lots of glue in order to make the paths wide enough to absorb the salt you need for the paths. The kids found it boring and just wanted to swirl the salt around with their paint brushes. FAIL.

Fail #2: Secret Message Hearts

This didn't work. Period. It might work better if white chalk was used vs. the white crayon as suggested.

Fail #3: Pipe Cleaner Bottle

This wasn't a complete fail, but there is a catch. A regular magnet will not work. You will need to have an industrial-ish magnet to manipulate the pipe cleaners.

RECIPE FAILS

Fail #1: Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

The reason I'm calling this a fail is because these cookies were a lot of damn work! Between the prep work, assembly, and baking time; the cookies took over 4 hours to make. They look beautiful, but only taste okay. The red velvet taste is present, but I couldn't really taste the cheesecake filling. Big disappointment on this one. Especially, since I spent a lot of time during my afternoon to make them.

Fail #2: Angel Hair Pasta recipe

Bland. Bland. Bland. Enough said. It looked pretty on the plate, that's about it.

I realize everyone's tastes are different, and some of you may not have had the experiences I have had, but I shared the above posted recipes/crafts with my family and they failed unanimously.

I must note that my intention is NOT to slam Pinterest or deter others from using it. I have a laundry list of success stories thanks to the network of Pinners out there. I still LOVE the website and will continue to use it.

I just figured that I would pass along some of the things I have found don't work. I know most of you are very busy and I'm hoping this will help you save your money and time.

As Pinterest always posts... Happy Pinning!

Keeping the Littles busy busy busy!

Keeping the kiddo's busy in the evenings has been pretty easy with BIG thanks to Ol' Saint Nick and our families.

Here is how we've been spending our afternoons / evenings:

OUTDOORS: Turner asks to go outside and go sled riding every day. Lauren goes out with him, but typically for only 20 minutes. Turner stays out for about an hour. I love that Hubs is an outdoorsman and enjoys taking the kids out. I haven't felt up to it yet and it's been nice to use that time to snuggle up with Tyler.

PLAYING BOARD GAMES: The kids received 7 new board games for Christmas. Add those to the games we already have and we've got enough to play a different game every day for almost 2 weeks. Awesome!!

BAKING: Cold weather makes me want to bake. I've been baking a lot recently and the kids are always eager to help. They know there will be batter to be eaten and warm tasty treats as a result. It's messy, but it's fun, it keeps them occupied, and they like to feel like they are helping out.

In fact, we're baking these this weekend:

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies. YUM.



Between going outdoors, board games, and baking, we haven't had the television on hardly at all. Hubs turns it on during snack time around 7:30 but that's usually it. I LOVE THAT!!

The noise of television irritates the hell out of me. I can't stand to have the TV on if nobody is watching it. I also have difficulty tolerating it if it's been on for over an hour or two. Drives me nuts!One of my major pet peeves for sure.

Well, time to get off of here and try to do something with this hair of mine. Hubs is getting groceries (yay Hubs!!), Turner is at preschool, and the girls are napping. I must take advantage of the time! Turner asked if we could go to dinner at McDonald's this week so he and Lauren could play in the Playland. We promised him we would and I'm thinking tonight is the night.

I haven't left the house in 13 days... this happens quite often as a SAHM. It's difficult to run errands with 3 kids; especially with a newborn. Throw in the snowy roads and freezing temps and I'm not going anywhere! Hubs has been home for the past 3 weeks helping me out and it's been amazing. I'm so grateful!

It's that simple

Sometimes I have a tendency to over think things. I can make things a bit more complicated than they should be. I sometimes find myself worrying over small things or worrying about things that are out of my control.

I have a family schedule posted on our refrigerator. (yes, I'm that much of a control freak) Sad isn't it? Or is it? Like I've mentioned before, schedules comfort me. I like knowing what to expect for the day.

Today my husband unintentionally reminded me that life and kids doesn't have to be so planned and organized. Oh, how I love that man!

It was craft time with the kids and Tyler needed to nurse. Hubs jumped in and offered to assist with the craft. I had planned to create designs with a large piece of cardboard, glue, salt, and food coloring. Long story short, things weren't going as smooth as they should have and we ended up ditching the project. Instead of having a planned activity, he just let the kids paint on the cardboard. They spent just as much time painting and creating whatever they wanted as they would have working on our craft project. I couldn't help but notice how content they were and how relaxed Hubs seemed to be.

Hubs constantly finds ways to get things done while watching the kids. This is something I struggle with. He just takes them wherever he needs to be and lets them loose. He's more of an open play type and I'm definitely a structured play type.

What type are you?

Regardless, the kids are getting both worlds and I am comforted by that. It makes me feel like together as a team, Hubs and I are doing things right.

I have my way and he has his. As long as we continue to integrate each other's ideas and have respect for each other, everything will work out fine.

I've been freaking out a little bit about Hubby returning to work next week. I haven't been left alone with all three of the kids yet. He is confident that I will do fine. I can't say I feel the same way. I'm really nervous about it.

I just have to keep in mind that leaving the kids to their own creative free play might be my only option at certain times, and that's okay.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and just in case you are curious... here is our family schedule:

08:00 Wake up
08:30 Breakfast
09:00 TV / Electronics
10:00 Snack
10:30 Open play
11:00 Arts and Crafts
11:30 Open play
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Storytime
13:00 Nap
15:00 Wake up
15:30 Snack
16:00 TV / Electronics
17:00 Cooking / Baking (I usually let the kids assist in helping with dinner or making dessert)
17:30 Dinner
18:00 Family Time (kid's choice of games, puzzles, coloring, etc.)
19:00 Snack
19:30 Bathtime
20:00 Storytime
20:30 Bedtime

Another New Year's Eve at home with the fam.

I can't remember the last time Hubs and I went out for New Year's Eve. I'm guessing it was before we got married and that takes us all the way back to 2003.

I'm not a big fan of packed bars, clubs, or houses full of people getting obnoxiously intoxicated. No matter how much people try to avoid it, there is always that someone that can't handle their alcohol and acts like an idiot. Even more so, I'm not a fan of being on the roads New Year's Eve. Way too many people out there drinking and driving. I'm scared to be out there with them. So scared, I haven't ventured out on New Year's Eve in 10+ years.

This year, I also have a little one that breastfeeds every 2 hours. Not exactly a lot of time in between feedings. We couldn't even work in a quick dinner if we wanted to.

I'm pretty paranoid about being out and about on NYE and, like most years, the safety of my own home is where I chose to be last night.

I made some snacky foods. We munched on stuffed mushrooms, taco dip, and ice cream sundae's. The kids and I also dyed pasta and made necklaces, bracelets, and for Turner we decorated wrist bands. We even made a bracelet for Hubs!

The jewelry turned out beautifully!

 

 

 

We skipped the sauerkraut and pork today since we typically have it for dinner once a month. Hubs is a big fan.

 

Today, the kids and I made Monster cookies. Baking with them is always messy and always chaotic, but they seem to enjoy it and I don't mind as long as they are having fun. Plus, Monster cookies are my all-time favorite so I would have tolerated pretty much anything in order to have them.

 

And tonight at dinner we wore our pasta jewelry; Tanner even wore his bracelet.

 

 

 

I hope all of you had a safe and fun New Year's Eve and enjoyed your New Year's Day!