Today

I confess that I cannot achieve the level of blog posts I aspire to.  Every time I want to sit down to write, my brain begs for downtime if no one else is begging for a piece of me.  But I'd still like to blog.  So I'm taking a cue from Missy over It's Almost Naptime and attempting shorter posts.  (I don't know Missy, but I'd like to.  And I'm not even going to pretend that my plate runneth over like hers does right now.)

Today, A went to her one-day enrichment co-op that we like to call "Wednesday school."  She has classes in art, Spanish, P.E., drama, character building, and music.  It's good exposure to classroom behavior and learning from someone other than mom.

While she's away, I try to have some preschool time at the house, though it is so hard to resist plugging them into a screen so I can accomplish something that appears more productive.  We compromised today.  I de-cluttered the living room while they scattered rice in my kitchen.

When A got home, we turned right around for our first return-to-gymnastics class.  The girls really enjoyed gymnastics last spring, but we chose to drop when money got tight.  When we got the wiggle room in the budget again, the girls were eager to go back.  C couldn't stop hopping through the whole class.  She stayed where she was supposed to and got nice comments about good listening, but she was so excited she could not be still.

Z's got a little tummy bug that made last night interesting.  I'm praying it's short-lived and contained to one host.

That's us.  How are you?

Back to Being Six

I had to interrupt the six-year-old birthday posts with the baby-brother-walking post.  It only seemed appropriate to not make that one wait a month.  But it's been the requisite month (or six weeks) since A's birthday, so I'm getting around to posting pics of it.

-Sidebar- I use blogging as a motivator.  I only let myself post if I feel like I have gotten done what I needed to get done in a certain day/week.  Only, I never get it all done.  Then the blog posts build up to a crescendo in my head and I can't shut up my own inner monologue and I finally give in and do a slew of posts and make something else wait.  That's why I'm always late on milestone posts.   -End sidebar-

We had a bit of a conundrum over A's birthday party theme this year.  She finally was enjoying swimming and decided she wanted a pool party.  But we don't have a pool.  And our neighborhood pool is too deep for her to enjoy.  Not to mention it's crazy expensive to rent a neighborhood pool!  We may have dropped enough hints, manhandled enough conversations, and eluded to enough happy things to convince her that she really wanted a party at our house with a readily-available-at-major-retailers theme.  So, My Little Pony it was!

It was really helpful that her favorite things right now are very simple...duck, duck, goose was her first game request.  Done!  We also pinned the tail on Pinkie Pie a few times.

We had at least a dozen too many cupcakes.  Mind you, they were frosted with each of the six main Ponies' colors.  

The girls were enamored with balloon animals and face painting at several events we went to over the summer.  So Daddy twisted a few balloons and cousin R stepped in to paint cutie-marks on hands.  Although, the boys got spiders and lightning bolts.

J is amazing at his powers of persuasion and imagination.  He spun his two-balloon-trick repertoire from dogs to ponies, then pegasuses (pegasi?) and even a baby dragon.  The kids were amazed!

"What?!" you say.  "You let small children run around your house with wet paint on their hands?!"  Why, yes, I did.  It was a small price to pay to get out of making a piñata, thank you very much.  And I used an old trick up my sleeve and had each masterpiece powered with baby powder when it was done to set it.  It dulled the paint, but since everyone's looked the same, none of the kids complained.  And I haven't found any smears on my walls (yet).

Happy Birthday, A!  May the wonder of you never cease.

A Magical Childhood

I found a new blog that I'm in love with called A Magical Childhood.  This lady excels at my deepest weakness...fun.  Every Monday she posts "10 Ways to Make Today Magical."  Ten new ideas, every week.  Ten.  Every week, y'all.  I don't have that kind of magic in my pinky nail.  And they are ideas that I can actually see myself doing.  Well, at least, when I'm not big pregnant.  Granted some are beyond my comfort zone, but there are plenty to choose from!!  It's so inspiring!

Since I feel prepared for baby to arrive, I've been trying to make life less horrible for my daughters.  Pregnancy has not been easy on them.  Lots of angry, tired, achy mommy does not promote a magical childhood.  So I've been trying to say "yes" more often than "no" in the last week or so and really evaluate if I can do what they are asking or if I'm just saying no because I'd rather lie on the couch and eat ice cream.

Tuesday afternoon, I tried my hand at a little magic.  I told them I had a few chores to do and if they helped, we might get done in time to do something fun together before supper.  They cheerfully pitched in to fold the laundry and occupied themselves while I did some filing.  So I told them to put on their swimsuits and head to the backyard.  They were very surprised when I walked out in my swimsuit as well!  My sister had suggested I sit in a patio chair and let them spray me with the hose and there really wasn't a good reason not to.  We had a good time taking turns squirting each other, holding the hose on the slide, running in the sprinkler.  Letting them soak me with the hose was about the only way I would play outside with them in this heat. And I was only out there about 45 minutes before coming in to finish dinner plans.  That was just long enough for J to get home and wonder what he had missed out on.  I'm glad someone else witnessed the event, because I wasn't going to break out the camera while wearing a maternity swimsuit.  No amount of magic can salvage that mental image.

Here I Am!

Congrats!  You found the new blog site.  All the old posts are here, so no need to hang on to any old bookmarks.  Be sure to update your RSS Feed, if you use that.  You can scroll all the way to the bottom of this page and click the "subscribe" link.  Or, you can subscribe by entering your email in the box on the right under the girls' pictures.  Please let me know if you have any trouble switching over.  Thanks for keeping up with us!

This Too Shall Pass

I've been saying this to myself often in recent weeks, knowing that we are in a season with well-defined time boundaries.  I will not be pregnant forever.  I will not be the mother of three under five forever.  This too shall pass.  Time passes at the same rate of speed no matter my circumstances.

I was so encouraged by one of the posts over at It's Almost Naptime this week.  If you are a mother of littles, please go read One Year Olds Hit and other amazing bits of wisdom.  Here's a sneak peek:

"Oh, and then there's the fun of discipline. What are realistic expectations? How much do they understand? Am I too hard or too lenient? Am I being played, or am I scarring them for life?"

 Bet you never have that debate with yourself.  Only about a dozen times a day.  This too shall pass.

This Post Brought To You By...

...a two-year-old who won't nap.  Utterly infuriating!  She's lying in her bed alternating between cute sing-songy play and downright belligerent demands yelled at her mother.  "Mommy? Mommy, can you hear me?!  I don't want to take nap!  Get me out NOW!" Brief silent pause, then "itsy, bitsy spider-man went up the water spout."  I don't know who told her it was Spider Man that went up the water spout, but she's convinced.

I really would be fine with her not napping if she would play quietly like her big sister.  But this is a foreign concept to a toddler.  That's why they are supposed to take naps.  'Cause if you're too loud during quiet time, then mommy doesn't get her nap and that's just bad for the whole house.  Never mind that a toddler who won't nap is predisposed to lots of discipline as the afternoon stretches into evening.

And so mommy stands in front of the computer and tries to lose herself in bloggy world while eating chocolate and trying to make up the day's water intake.  But don't think I can concentrate to really write anything significant or worthy of your reading.  That will have to wait for another day.

Name Dilemma

No, not the baby's name.  We've got enough ideas for boy names that we haven't really opened the door to suggestions yet.  Not that we're opposed to audience participation.  We've just already got some pretty strong options.

It's this blog!  What am I going to call this blog now that I have a little boy to start writing about?  Bring on the suggestions.  And no, I don't think purple arrows are any more masculine than pink ones.

Hint, hint

SimpleMom had a great post today about frugal Valentine's day gift ideas.  Just thought I'd throw that out there in case any one needs some suggestions.  I like #1, 3 and 5 myself, but that's just me, thinking out loud...nothing specific or anything.

Genius

There are two ideas we have implemented recently at our house and all I can say is, "Genius!"  They are not our own ideas; we borrowed them from the interwebs.  But we love them like our own.

The first solves a really old problem...how to get the preschooler to stay in her room until the sun comes up.  Both my children wake up when the light penetrates their curtains and it was really becoming a problem for A to stay in her room.  We had used an alarm clock that would play music when it was okay for her to come out, but she never knew how much longer it was going to be until the music came on.  I saw a really fancy preschool alarm clock online that had several different lights to go on/off at various times plus music. Looked brilliant, except for the $50 price tag.  J said he could rig up something similar with a plug-in timer that we use for Christmas lights.  Voila!  He plugged a dim bedside lamp into the timer and programmed it to come on at 6:45 am and go off at 7:00 am.  The idea is you stay in your bed until the light comes on, and you can leave the room when it goes off.  Works wonderfully!  Goodbye to the 4-6 interruptions between 6-7 am asking, "Can I get up and play yet?  Now?  Now can I get up?  How many more minutes until I can get up?"  Genius!

I found the second idea while searching for ideas to compile "busy box" activities for C to do while I am doing reading lessons with A.  Another mom mentioned using a small, inflatable pool to let the toddler play with rice, beans, buttons, beads, etc. while mom is nearby helping the older child.  Genius!  Especially since I already had the pool and the rice.  Only problem was keeping the older kid out of the fun.

What would we do without the internet?!

Beautifully Said

I have a lot of admiration for well-written blog posts that communicate truth and love in a way that is hard to ignore. Here are a few posts from blogs I read that made me say, "Amen!" or "Ouch!" when they arrived in my inbox.

Love is Not Colorblind

Better Me Than You

Herein is Love

How to Live a Better Story

10 Ways to Instantly Become More Attractive

How to be Disorganized & Unproductive at Your Job #1

How to be Disorganized & Unproductive at Your Job #2

Some of these are brand new, others are really old. I've been holding on to some of the links so I could share them here, and this is my way of de-cluttering my inbox. I think that takes the prize for laziest spring cleaning ever!

Big Dose of Funny

Okay, I had to stop reading the comments on this blog post because I was starting to cry from laughing so hard. Go read and get a good dose of the best medicine. (Please note that given the subject matter, not all comments are g-rated; but they are all hilarious!) I'll go back and finish reading them about five minutes before nap time and that will see me through.

Subarban Snapshots: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

Not so crazy

I finally found a natural recipe that I'm not so crazy about. It took me awhile to try because it's quite a leap...natural deodorant. I tried this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand. Even saved my empty deodorant bottle (is it a bottle? can? jar? holder? what do you call that thing?). I knew I would have to refrigerate it because the coconut oil melts at 76 degrees and we keep our thermostat on 78. But I thought that maybe it would be refreshing to apply chilled deodorant.

Well, the first strike against it was the remembering to put it on. Once I'm out of the bedroom, I hit the ground running, meeting demands thrown at me by whoever is loudest. So I often forgot to use it until my pits reminded me that they were bare.

Then strike two and three came at the same time. I had put it on one day when I knew I'd just be around the house, trying to give it a good trial run before taking it public. I went in the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror to re-do my pony tail. With arms above my head, I saw the verdict under both arms....huge oily circles on my gray t-shirt. It wasn't wet, I assure you. I think it must have been the coconut oil working itself into the cotton of my shirt. Of course, I looked like a sweaty construction worker with huge rings under my arms. I hadn't noticed before because I was wearing darker colors that camouflaged the circles. That shirt still needs to be laundered, but I haven't noticed any stains on other shirts. Nevertheless, homemade deodorant is dead to me. I've got to draw the line somewhere and I prefer to keep my dignity and modesty in tact, tucked out of sight under my arms, thank you very much.

More Natural Stuff

So, I've gone natural with shampoo, conditioner, and face cleanser. I also wanted to try some natural household cleaners, so I started with homemade dish detergent and laundry detergent. I used this recipe for dish detergent and so far, it's working great. One time I noticed some residue left on the dishes after the dishwasher had run, but I can't say for certain if it was a result of the detergent or the person who did the rinsing (hint: it wasn't me). I'm very much a rinse-it-almost-clean kind of girl. I have yet to find the right combination of dishwasher and detergent that will actually clean dirty dishes without having to rinse them first. If someone out there knows this magical combination, please share it with me for the love of all that is dishpan hands!! As a general (and rather concise, wouldn't you say?) review, I rate this recipe as effective as commercial detergent and certainly cheaper, more simple and environmentally friendly to boot.

Equally cheap and green, this site has some great recipes for homemade laundry detergent. I chose the powdered one, mainly because I don't have any two- or five-gallon buckets that I want to leave lying about in my laundry room full of tempting goo for a toddler and preschooler to happen upon. I did sub Ivory soap for the Fels Naptha because I couldn't find the latter. I haven't noticed any problems with it dissolving in the washer, but next time I will use the fine side of my grater to grate the Ivory, just for my peace of mind. It seems to get the clothes just as clean as the liquid All that I was using. I'm still using Shout as a spray pre-treatment, especially on all of C's stains. I'm not sure if it's the Shout or the detergent that gets it all clean. But I know I'm saving a load of dough on laundry detergent!

Cheer it with me....Yyyyyeeaaa, GO NATURAL!

Lists

I like lists. Here's a few neat ones I came across in my blog-hopping recently:

8 Things People Never Tell You About Having Kids

10 Things You Can Do For A Mum With A New Baby

5 Simple, Natural Ant Control Remedies

Enjoy!

Mamalympics

I've had a running post in my head for a few months now about crazy olympic feats that moms attempt and should get a medal for on a daily basis.  Every event I would organize would be timed, like the obvious fastest time to change a messy diaper with the fewest wipes, or fastest time to buckle screaming children into their car seats.  Or maybe, fastest time to get all the items on the grocery list with at least two children in the buggy.  I thought I was being creative, but I've clearly not put as much thought into it as the writers of these posts.  Only, I like the name "mamalympics" better.  Check 'em out for a good chuckle:
At the Mom Olympics
Welcome to the 2010 Mom Olympics
The Mom Olympics

Super skin saver

This is a really superficial post.  Literally skin deep (couldn't resist).  But I've found a new skin care secret and I want to tell the world!  I actually have to give a hat tip to SimpleMom.net.  She's very granola and has lots of great natural, frugal ideas for health and beauty, like homemade shampoo, deodorant, and face cleansers.  Most of these ideas test my comfort levels and/or require mixing of products that I either don't have on hand or don't make the time to mix up.  One of her tips caught my eye, though, because it required no mixing and I already had the product--lanolin.  She recommended it for lip balm.  Makes sense, doesn't it?  I still had some on hand, so I tried it and I have to say it works wonders!  Usually during the winter I have to keep chapstick in my pocket, but I apply some lanolin at night and don't need any more until the next night. 

I figured if it worked so great on my lips maybe it would help the dry, itchy skin on my hands.  It's a little sticky to be slathering on as a general lotion, but I spot treated my cracked knuckles before bed a few nights in a row and haven't had to use my prescription lotion in weeks!  SimpleMom points out that lanolin is basically sheep sweat, which is not the most pleasant thing to think about when putting it on your lips.  But if it's safe enough for breastfeeding babies, then I can get over its origins and relish in my healthy skin.  End of infomercial.

Who do I know?

While window shopping with J during our anniversary trip, I saw a Christmas wreath that reminded me of someone.  I did a mental scan to try and figure out who I knew that was trying that color scheme with her Christmas decorations this year.  She had said that it was a brave, new thing - the colors were bright greens, pinks, blues.  But she really liked it and wanted to incorporate more of it in her Christmas decorations.  The wreath was marked down quite a bit and I debated purchasing it for my friend, or at least telling her where I had seen it (when I could remember who it was).  It occurred to me later that it was a fellow mommy blogger whom I've never met before.  Isn't that crazy?!  I feel like I know that woman well enough to shop for her Christmas decorations! 

J said I should do a post on what that means for the quality and significance on online relationships.  I don't really want to go there, though, because I'm quite certain the anecdote would cease to be funny the moment I began dissecting it.  Now who do I know that was wanting to try homemade dish soap?