Awesome Finds!

The kids and I ran a bunch of errands after music class this morning. The Tumbleweed had her bangs trimmed and we headed to B & N. I found two great books - 101 Things You Gotta See Before 12! and Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things. The first will be a great resouce to plan activities for our summer roadtrip, as well as local trips. The second is full of great ideas and will help me prepare for our Green MOMS meeting this month. I also stumbled up on a couple Preschooler magazines, including National Geographic Baby Animals. Great idea for the Tumbleweed's birthday.

I Hate Mail.

When I was a pre-teen I loved getting the mail. I would get home from school, bring in the mail, take out a letter or two from pen pals, and leave the rest for someone else (my mom) to deal with. Now the mail pile is getting back at me. I still love getting the mail, and the fun things that are in it. I still walk into the house and leave "the rest" for another time. The problem is, I don't always leave it in the same place and it contains important things that I will eventually need.

Over the past five years I have tried numerous systems for the mail. There was a flaw in each one, as I have left piles of mail just about everywhere except the designated location. I leave mail in the car, on the kitchen table, on my scrapbook space, in the diaper bag, on the bed, stacked a mile high on the desk, and, when everywhere else is full, on the floor. Every month I spend several hours searching for the bills I need to pay, coupons I want to use, and checks that should have been cashed.

This weekend I assembled my latest system. Just at the top of the stairs, I put two magazine files and a three-tiered tray. There is a magazine file for each of our incoming magazine and catalogs. The top tray is for incoming mail. The other trays are for the important mail each of us needs to look at again later. On the floor I put a bin for paper recycling. Maybe in the future we will remove the old filing cabinet and get a nice table with shelves to house paper recycling, trash and shredding.

Hope this one works...

Shopping for Me

Today I managed to successfully purchase some new clothes for myself while we were at the mall. I took the kids, in the big double stroller, into the dressing rooms and tried on a few things. Good thing too, because the jeans did NOT fit the same as the pants. I ended up with two shirts and a pair of pants. Not bad considering I had the kids with me.

Now I need to take some old things out of circulation.

We Hired A Sitter!

Tonight the Eagle and I went out and left the kids with a non-family baby-sitter for the first time. It was just dinner, but we were able to get out of the house. The Tumbleweed's gymnastics teacher had offered a few weeks back, "If you ever need a baby-sitter..." so we took her up on it. She came for about 3 hours, and apparently knows magic because both kids were sleeping when we got home. Yay!

Anything for a Princess

The Tumbleweed has taken the next step in potty training. She finally did a BM on the potty. For the past few weeks I could tell that she knew when one was coming, but she would specifically ask to have a diaper rather than sit on the potty. All that changed this morning.

Yesterday I laid my final cards on the table. I promised a new Princess Belle dress if she would do a BM on the potty. Last night she tried and tried, but no luck. But all was not lost! We were awakened this morning at 6:20 by a little voice whispering "I did poopoo on the potty! Now can I have my Belle dress?!?" Sure enough she had done what was asked of her. She now has her Belle dress and is another step closer to being a big girl.

One Tree Down

I finally took down some of my Christmas decorations. Yes I know it is a month past Christmas, but I haven't had time. Besides, I like Christmas, and why should we only look at the decorations for a month and keep them in a box for 11?!?

Alas, it was necessary to make more room for a large playgroup. So at 9 pm last night I started the process to take down the family room tree. I enjoy looking at the ornaments as they come off the tree and I remember when and why I bought them. And it actually didn't take that long to disassemble. Now that I have some momentum, I guess I should start taking down the rest of the decorations.

Scooting and Cupcakes

The Dandilion is mobile. He has been able to roll over in all directions for about a month, but rarely used the skill to cover large distances. Yesterday, he moved 6 feet. Not by rolling, though. He was sitting surrounded by the Boppy Pillow playing, and a few minutes later he was sitting 3 feet away next to his swing. I watched him as he continued for 3 more feet by rocking forward and scooting on his bottom. He was quite proud of himself. Time to double check the baby proofing and monitor the things the Tumbleweed leaves on the floor!

All this just in time for Cupcake Day #7. Fortunately for me he wasn't too interested in scooting forward to grab the cupcakes.

The Great Ball of Toilet Paper

The Tumbleweed is in the midst of potty training. With our busy schedules we haven't been very consistent, but she is starting to get it. She happily sits on the toilet and looks through books and does her business. Recently, she has started asking for "privacy". So, I give her some space. Today, I learned why I shouldn't do that.

I was feeding the Dandilion when I heard the sound of a jiggling toilet handle. The Tumbleweed had been in the bathroom for a little bit, so I figured she was finishing up. I went in to check on things, and she informed me "It won't go down". I peered into the toilet to see what she meant. She was refering to a ball of toilet paper the size of a soccer ball. She was very disappointed when I fished the ball out of the toilet rather than flushing it. She really wanted it to go down.

Once that was done, she put on her underwear with her whole body through the leg hole. She insisted it was fine and wouldn't let me help her fix it. All part of the learning process, I guess.

No More Swaddling

The Dandilion is finally learning to self-soothe. At 6 1/2 months old, he hasn't really slept through the night. We walk on eggshells anytime he actually is asleep. At night we would complete a sequence of nursing, swaddling, putting on left side, mobile music, shower sounds CD, nightlight, bathroom fan, and crossing our fingers and even then we didn't get much sleep. A good night would mean the Dandilion slept more than 3 hours.

But yesterday, when there were no clean SwaddleMe's, the Dandilion took a nap in the crib under just a blanket. A nap was a feat in itself, but without swaddling was practically a miracle. Last night we skipped the swaddling and he slept from 9:30pm until 5:15am. He cried briefly a couple of times, but soothed himself before I could get out of bed. And this afternoon he completed another successful nap (both he and the Tumbleweed slept through playgroup).

Keeping my fingers crossed for tonight!

My New Year's Resolutions

Every year, on New Year's Eve, I make a really long list of all of the things I intend to accoplish that year. This year was no different. The list is 5 pages long, with all kinds of goals and tasks. I never quite get to them all, but I like the tradition of writing it all out. It does feel good to cross things off.

One of the things I would like to do better this year is keeping up with the journaling in the kids and family scrapbooks. I have found that whenever I do find time to work on pages I don't have time to fill in the journaling and, sadly, sometimes I don't remember all of the details that I would like to. That is why I decided to start a blog. I want to record my thoughts and feelings about daily life, milestones and special occasions, so that when I do finally have time to scrapbook I will have preserved the details that correspond to the pictures.

It took a few weeks, but I guess I can check "Start a Blog" off my list!