Professional pics - July 2011

Some of you probably already saw these on FB or in the email I sent out, but wanted to be sure to share our latest batch of professional pics on the blog as well.  Gemma at 3.5 yrs and Kolbe at 1.5yrs.

House rules, the bees!

I mentioned in my monthly update about some of our issues with Gemma's behavior recently.  Probably just normal stuff for a three-and-a-half-year-old I'm sure, but still behavior that is annoying and inappropriate (sass, her tone of voice, not listening, being mean to Kolbe, etc.)  Anyways, I decided to come up with a few house rules for all of us to follow, and while this hasn't been magic by any means, it really has helped for Gemma to have something a bit more tangible with which to relate when she's misbehaving. So now we have "the bees".  They are three cut-out, colored and laminated bees that reside on the fireplace, each with a message.  "The bees tell us what Jesus wants us to do," and we try to remind her of this when she's misbehaving.  Sometimes I'll even get one particular bee out and we'll read it together (if I can remember to keep my sanity and composure intact that is....ohhhhhh patience and consistency how you allude me!).  It seems to be making an impression on her though.  Like I said, no huge changes but the fact that we now have a physical reminder has definitely been helpful.  She has reminded me a few times as well what the bees say, and this has been quite humbling let me tell you.  But good for me.  I need to hear it too.  I need to practice what I preach because heaven knows teaching by example is ions more effective than a whole list of rules to enforce.  This parenting thing.  Wow.  Never easy.  Still finding our way.  Probably always will be.  But for now, our bees are helping us along the road and as always, life is good.

Monthly update - July 2011

GEMMA - 3.5 yrs

• she often likes to say "very very" as a descriptor, but she pronounces it "rary rary".  it is "rary rary" cute.
• she has started pretending with toys/animals/dolls etc. and will make them talk to her and each other. she loves to play with our duplo train and small plastic animals.  she will spend 20-30 minutes lining everything up just right.  i always enjoy watching her play independently.
• she is a very good girl in lots of aspects, but lately she has not been listening well at all and has begun to sass.  i know i need to work on consistency and patience and calmness (and a whole slew of other things) but this behavior is very frustrating to me.
• she inherited a guppy from our neighbor.  we fish-sat for a week, and when they got back they said we could keep the fish, tank (2 or 3 gallon), filter, supplies, everything!  (I think they were looking for an excuse to get rid of it...)  Gemma was so excited, she'd actually just been asking about getting a fish.  the guppy has since been joined by two other guppies and a plecostomus (we've only had to replace two so far, thank goodness for Petco's 30 day guarantee) and she really seems to enjoy the fish, who live on her dresser.  their names are mommy, daddy, Gemma and Kolbe.  clever, I know. 
• she has started biting her nails.  shudder.
• she really enjoys signing and is currently learning the finger alphabet and enjoys using signs when she talks and plays
• she likes for me to write out the letters of the alphabet (or her name, or Kolbe's name, etc.) and then she traces them with a marker

 

KOLBE - 18 months

• he knows what "time to go" means, and will toddle out to the laundry room and get his shoes from our shoe-holder and bring them to you when you say this
• when he doesn't want something, he will shake his head no and make a growling sound.  it is very funny, and we often ask him questions just to hear him do this.
• he loves books with pictures of animals in them.  he has three consistent board-books at our house that are his favorite.  he especially likes cats and ducks, and makes these two sounds very well
• he had another haircut the day after he turned 18 mos.  trimmed the back again and a little of the poofy stuff that stuck straight up on his double (yes double) crown
• he is developing an opinion about things, but is still fairly easy-going overall
• he likes to nurse.  a lot.
• the only word he says?  ball-ball.  still.  once in a great while we'll catch a mama or dada, but for now all the world's a ball.  thank goodness for his signing though, he is able to communicate with us through that fairly well and it makes things soooo much easier!
• he has been successfully using the potty once a day fairly regularly (not every day), typically in the morning right after he wakes up or right after his nap.  he signs "potty" and brings me his potty chair.  so cute.  i have no high hopes for early potty-learning, but he definitely has an awareness of the whole thing and I'm thrilled about that.  he typically signs "potty" when he potties, poops or toots in his diaper.  and if he toots, he giggles as well. 
• he likes to "sing along" when we do morning prayers.
• still sleeping well enough in his bed or on his or our floor.  or in our bed...  once his eye-teeth come in I will probably begin thinking about night-weaning.  any tips? (Gemma night-weaned on her own at about 17 months). 

Gemma - 3.5yrs & Kolbe - 1.5yrs
July 2011

Small successes XL

1. Finally packed away all our newborn items (burp-cloths, receiving blankets, etc.) in an organized manner (rubbermaid tubs versus various places in the baby-room closet and dresser).  Yes, I realize my baby is 18 months old.

2. Finished the diapers I was sewing for a friend and am well into my next project, some baby gifts for family members!!

3. Made a successful day-trip out of town and my children (and hubby) survived!!  I was only gone 8-9 hrs, but Kolbe has never gone that long without nursing, so I was glad everyone (including myself) did alright with that. 

4.  Got the children's pictures taken today!!!!  And they turned out so well!!!!!!!!!

5.  My dear mother-in-law steam-cleaned my carpets.  First time after 4yrs in the house.  They weren't terrible, but it is nice to have it done.  (I guess this is in no part my success, but I'm still happy about it)!

6.  Celebrating FIVE YEARS of marriage today.  God is so good!

Share successes each week over at Chocolate For Your Brain!

Summer reading program 2011

Gemma had a lot of fun with the summer reading program at our library.  We read so many new books and stumbled upon some great new-to-us authors as well!!  Gemma's grand-total was 93 books (most of which we probably read 3-5 times each).  Yay Gemma!!! Here she is at the library before she turned in her reading chart.  She got to put 93 puzzle pieces in a big jar, pick out a new book (she chose Over in the Meadow) and got a bagful of coupons for area restaurants and such.  This really was a nice motivator to get us reading more each day, I think we had kind of gotten into a rut but our interest in library books seems to be renewed!  Have I mentioned how much I like the library?!  Next summer I hope to do some of the other activities that the library offers, and we're looking forward to starting down the Alphabet Path at home this Fall.  I'm so glad my little girl shares my love for books.

Kolbe's shorties

My friend Michelle and I did some trade back before Kolbe was born...she did some knitting for me and I did some sewing for her.  We collaborated again here in the past few months and here are the results!!

Cute Kolbe in his wool shorties!!

New diapers for Zane!

Check out Michelle's Etsy store if you're interested in some hand-knits of your own!

A tasty summer dinner

The other night for dinner we had crispy chicken salads with spring mix lettuce, roma tomatoes, romano cheese and caesar dressing.  We had an easy (canned) 3 bean salad and some focaccia bread on the side.  What a tasty summer dinner!!

Fourth of July 2011

We had a fun, low-key Fourth of July weekend.  I think that the Fourth of July (okay, Independence Day I guess technically) should always be either the first Friday or Monday of July.  Makes for such a nice three-day weekend.  Anyways, Saturday I spent some time with a friend and then Aaron went bull-frogging that evening. We spent Sunday afternoon and evening at my in-law's hanging out, eating good food and enjoying their company as we always do.  Monday we spent some time at my parents' for their annual 4th of July Party.  Good times, good food, good people, some small fireworks.  Fun weekend.  We got some little poppers, smoke bombs and parachutes to do with the kids the morning of the Fourth and they had a lot of fun with those.  Gemma kind of got the concept of chasing after the parachutes, and Kolbe LOVED the poppers.  Laughed hysterically the whole time we were doing them, so cute!!  We live about a half-mile from a country club, so we have a great view (well, it is quickly getting obscured by our trees, but still pretty good) of their fireworks shows.  Between that and the ones our neighbors shot off, Aaron and I enjoyed two nights of great fireworks out on the deck.  The kids slept through the loud noises the 3-4 days leading up to the Fourth very well.  I was pleased.  We had talked to Gemma about how the poppers we did were "small poppers", and the ones people shot off while she was going to bed were "big poppers" and they were nothing to be afraid of.  She seemed to do pretty good with that explanation thankfully.  I still think they kept her awake late, because the Tuesday after the Fourth she was so grumpy and weepy I thought I was going to lose my mind.  But alas, all is well and we had a fun holiday weekend.  Here are some pics of the kids having fun.

showing off her
parachutes

lighting the duck she picked out
it was our "grand finale"

POPPERS!

very proud of her first sparkler

running through the smoke

clapping for the poppers!

Review: Signing Time

Ahhh television.  The thing everyone loves to hate.  Or hates to love.  Hmmmm...  Aaron and I enjoy turning it on more evenings than not after the kids are in bed.  I justify it in that we watch pretty much exclusively things from which we learn something...learn about history, our planet, animal and plant life, things along those lines.  I know there are probably still better things we could do with our time, but it is something we enjoy doing together, and a nice way to just kind of kick back and relax after a long day.  Right or wrong, it's where we are right now.  We're still finding our way with the whole TV thing for our kids.  It is a balance I know.  Part of me wants to just throw the whole thing out completely, another part of me certainly sees some value in it.  So I don't know.  It's this big interior struggle for me.  I'm just weird like that.  We don't do the whole Disney (Pixar, etc. etc.) movie thing now and I don't know that we ever will.  I'm not going to swear them off completely, and I certainly don't judge those whose kids do watch movies, but at this point we just don't see the value in them for Gemma.  Talk to me again in several years, or when my youngest is three, and who knows where I'll be.  That's just how it's been with everything for me when it comes to parenting.  Don't judge, and never say never.  I'm still working on that, but alas...I digress.  A lot.   (I will get to the aforementioned review, promise!)

Anyways, to digress further yet, Gemma got really into Little Bear about a year ago now.  She had been enjoying the books (which were mine as a child!) for quite some time and one night while Aaron and I were searching for something on our DVR we realized that there were TV episodes of it on our OnDemand!!!  They are 25 minutes long and all very sweet.  There is no hidden agenda, and Little Bear is always sweet and polite to his friends, and respectful and loving to his parents.  His parents emanate patience, which always tickles me.  Anyways, so that was the only thing she watched for a very long time.  Until I asked (I think?) for some recommendations, and my dear friend Mary came to the rescue.  One of the series' she mentioned was Signing Time and oh I could rave and rave!!   This is such a neat series.  Each DVD is about 30 minutes long, with another 30 minutes or so of extras.  They are all hosted by Rachel (adult), Alex and Leah (children) and Hopkins (animated frog).  Leah is Rachel's real-life daughter and she was born deaf.  Signing Time was Rachel's way of not only sharing ASL (American Sign Language) with those who use it as a communication tool because they are deaf, but also for babies, toddlers and preschoolers to use prior to and along with speech.  We have done quite a bit of sign with Kolbe, as he doesn't talk much (at all) yet.  It has been fun and helpful (I own this book and it is a great resource).  Gemma talked really early so we hardly signed at all with her, but she thinks it's super-cool now.  She really enjoys these DVDs and I am amazed how quickly she picks up new signs.  I know this is due mainly to the way the videos are designed, using songs and lots of repetition.  I will admit, some of the songs (especially the theme song) really grate on me.  Like, if Gemma watches a DVD one afternoon, I may still be singing the theme song two days later.  BUT, I'll take one for the team because I really do like these DVDs that much.  There are a number of videos in the series geared towards all different ages.  While they are a bit pricey in my opinion, I have found that our library carries most of them so we have had a steady rotation coming in and out of the house which has been nice.  We own one, and honestly as long as the library keeps carrying them I don't see buying many (if any) more.  That being said though, I would highly, highly recommend these DVDs.  They are cute, fun, free of agenda (can you tell that's a big deal for me) and (at least in Gemma's opinion) highly entertaining.  Kolbe (at almost 18 months) really doesn't sit down and "watch" TV yet, but the other day Gemma was watching one while he played in the living room and I caught him standing by the TV signing along with "brush teeth" I believe.  So yes, fun and educational for all ages.  Check 'em out!!!

Our weather chart

My mother-in-law gave me a puzzle she found somewhere that was warped and essentially useless as the pieces wouldn't fit together or stay in the board.  She thought I might be able to use it to make a weather chart for the kids.  I am very pleased with the results!!  I painted the back of the puzzle board blue with my acrylic paint, it took two coats.  I glued velcro to the back of each of the puzzle pieces and used scrap-booking sticker letters on the board.  Then I put an "opposite" velcro piece on the middle of the board.  Now we can talk about the weather each morning when we finish prayers.  I just need a "snow" one as the puzzle didn't have a snow piece.  But heaven knows I won't be needing that anytime soon, so I'm sure I'll figure something out by winter.

Small successes XXXIX

1. Did a decent job (more than I've done in recent history anyways) vacuuming under the fridge and stove.  If I were really motivated I would have my hubby move them out and vacuum under them more thoroughly, but alas...  We won't talk about the inside of my oven.  And I must be honest, the only thing that motivated me to do this was dropping a tub of cornmeal on the kitchen floor.  But hey, it got done!!

2. Found some really cool educational stuff at Target for my children!  And I've already successfully used some of these items with my daughter and we both enjoyed ourselves...double (triple?) success!!

3.  Stripped some of my cloth diapers (the microfiber/fleece dipes/inserts).  It seemed to work.  They smell nice and fresh anyways.  If you're wondering, I used 1tsp. of original Dawn dish-soap and 1/4 cup regular Clorox bleach in a hot load and then rinsed until no more suds (3-4 rinses) per Cotton Babies' recommendation. 

Better late than never...head on over to Chocolate For Your Brain for more successes each Thursday!

Kolbe's new shoes

Kolbe's feet are growing (along with the rest of him obviously).  I recently had to buy him three new pairs of shoes as his poor little toes were hanging over the edge of his everyday sandals, and I had to work each Sunday to cram his church-shoes on his feet (and then they would fall off a million times during Mass due to their poor fit).  After a recent trip to an area park with a sand surface, I decided I should probably get him a pair of tennies as well as he seemed to have quite an aversion to getting his feet sandy (like brother like sister).  However he had no qualms about dumping sand by the handful over his head.  Crazy children.  Anyways, I thought these "ball-ball" tennies fit my little sport and his sweet personality just perfectly!  He thinks they are pretty cool too, and if he is wearing them will point excitedly to his feet and say "ball-ball, ball-ball!" until you acknowledge them.

Review: for mamas!

I feel kind of odd reviewing these on here, but I absolutely couldn't not review them because they are such a great product!!  But, if you're not an early to middle-aged woman, you might want to just skip this post.  Trust me.  You won't care.

The product?  Happy Heiny's mama pads.  These. Are. Amazing.  I first heard about "mama pads" shortly after I began to cloth diaper but didn't give them a whole lot of thought.  For whatever reason they weren't even on the radar for me.  However, when my cycle recently returned I was intrigued enough to give these a try.  And I will never go back to disposable pads.  Ever.  You can read some other reviews if you click the product link but seriously, give these a try and you will not regret it.  I will say, it is probably much more convenient using them while cloth-diapering.  I wash them with my cloth dipes, and my diaper sprayer and wet-bags come in handy as well.  But I think you could probably make it work even if you weren't CDing...I truly believe it would be worth it.  I also have one of these bags for my purse/diaper bag which comes in handy as it has a wet and dry section.  Not only are these pads more cost effective in the long run (like cloth-diapering, there is a bit of expense up-front), but they are earth-friendly as well and super-comfortable.  Seriously.  I no longer have even one disposable pad in my house.  I would think these or a comparable product (there are several brands out there) would be fabulous for postpartum also.

So my apologies if this post weirded you out any but really, give these a try and you will see why I rave.  And I promise, we'll be back to "regularly scheduled programming" for my next post.  ;-D

Feast of the Sacred Heart (and some cool Target finds)

I saw this neat idea for a children's activity for the Feast of the Sacred Heart over at Catholic Icing and adapted it onto paper for my children.  I think next year we will do t-shirts, I'm going to keep a lookout and see if I can find the supplies on sale/clearance.  I just thought it was a really cute idea, and anything involving children's hand-prints is just such a fun little keepsake to look back on.  We also learned the sign-language to the song "Jesus Loves Me" and sang it together several times.

Also, I had to run to Target this morning to grab some toothpaste and of course had to browse the dollar section as well. I hadn't browsed far when I stumbled upon a wealth of educational items.  I was SO excited!!!  I got all this (and a couple more items not shown) for right around $10.  YAY!!!  Go check it out!  

HAVE A HAPPY FOURTH, EVERYONE!!!!

Floor beds

I mentioned a month or two ago (maybe? I don't remember how long it's been) about resettling Kolbe on the floor when he wakes up from his naps but is still tired.  That has been working marvelously and as I mentioned in our monthly update, naps are going SO much better for him.  It is crazy, if he awakens and I try to lay him back down in his crib, he starts crying before I even have him completely laid down.  If I lay him down on the floor, he is usually back asleep by the time his head hits the pillow.  Weird.  I'm not even going to try and figure that one out, just glad I've found something that works.  As much as I love him sleeping with us at night, he's been getting pretty restless which means poor sleep for all parties.  He did sleep eight straight hours two nights in a row in his crib last week, and I really thought we were onto something, but alas no.   So I decided to make another "floor bed" right next to my side of the bed in our bedroom and that has been working fairly well.  Instead of bringing him into our bed I lay him on our floor, and nurse him (down there) as needed, returning to my cozy spot in bed when he is settled in.  This works because it is summer and getting out of bed during the night isn't a freezing miserable experience for me.  We'll see what the coming months bring (not that winter is anywhere soon), but right now he does seem to be sleeping better at night on the floor than he was in our bed.  I potentially foresee a toddler bed + bed-rail (our crib converts) in our near-ish future, but not until we're entirely sure he can enter and exit it without injuring himself.  My views on sleep have changed so much since having children, it really is kind of hilarious.  Wherever everyone sleeps best, that's my motto anymore.  I tell you though, sometimes it seems as if every night is an adventure.  Here are our floor beds and my sweet little sleeper.

floor bed in our room . . . yes, he prefers
sleeping sideways, hence the restless
nights in our bed!

floor-bed in Kolbe's room