Peaceful Slumber

I managed to capture this photo shortly after my last post of Little Bit's first time sleeping in her twin bed by herself, which, by the way, was just a nap. I realized later that I didn't make that clear. We're going to give her week of naps in the bed and then decide if we want to let her go all night.

She ended up sleeping with her head at the wrong end of the bed. I guess the bed rails we put up at the head of the bed were pretty useless. I checked on her periodically throughout her 2 and a half hour nap and she stayed in pretty much the same position the whole time.

Sound asleep.

Time for the Big Bed

In Little Bit's room we've had a twin bed mattress on the floor, in addition to her crib, since we moved into this house in October. Over the past two months or so she has started expressing interest in sleeping in it, but it wasn't something Daddy-O and I thought would be a good idea. "It's too soon," we thought.

Well, since we've been trying to spruce up the room, we went ahead and bought a twin frame and mattress set and put it in the room. Little Bit was soooo excited about it. I do believe she has asked before every nap and every bedtime if she could sleep in it.

She wore us down.

Today is her first time sleeping outside of her crib without somebody sleeping by her side. We went through our usual routine: change into a diaper, sing a few songs, then say "night-night" to everyone. It took her a little longer to settle down, but by the quietness in her room I would guess that she's peacefully sleeping now.

I'm dying to go in and take a picture but I don't know if I should risk waking her up. Maybe in a little while. :)

In the meantime, I just can't get over how proud I am of her at this very moment. She's such a big girl and is so confident in herself. I know that not every milestone she faces in her childhood will go this smoothly. But today, she has secured my respect and complete admiration.

The Writing's On The Ball: Beach Ball Invitations

Little Bit's second birthday is coming up in just a couple of weeks and we've decided to do a beach-themed party for her. Really it's a ball theme using beach balls.

The girl has always loved balls and this was the best way I could think of to incorporate balls into an actual theme that wasn't all about sports. And actually, it wasn't even my idea. It was my friend, Christine's idea. One of these days she's going to get her blog going and I'm going to be able to link to her. But for now, she will just be my friend, Christine.

So, for this beach ball themed party, we decided to do beach ball invites. Again, not my idea. And shame on me, I don't remember the site where I saw it originally, so I won't be able to spread any link luv their way this time. My apologies.

I blew up the balls and used a Sharpie to write, "Come have a ball at Little Bit's Beach Party!" I also included other pertinent information such as where and when and how to RSVP on each of the balls' respective stripes. Then I deflated them and stuffed them in little manilla envelopes. I used 3 stamps and I'm still not sure if that will be enough to cover postage, but I figure even if the recipient ends up with a few cents postage due, at least they're getting a free ball out of it! :)

 

With her birthday approaching quickly, I will be sharing more of our ideas for her party in the coming weeks. I've also been working on redoing the nursery (if I can still call it that) and I hope to get some pictures up of that soon, too.

We're still in the planning phase of this thing, so by all means, if you have any ideas for the party, please feel free to share them with me!

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado #3: Protein Snack

I love, love, love this book and have found so many wonderful ideas within its pages. Most recently, I served up one of the snack ideas it mentions and it totally hit the spot!

The book calls this snack, "Peanut Butter Pinwheels" but I think a better name would be "Goopy Protein Roll-ups".

Ingredients:

• peanut butter
• granola
• honey
• flour tortillas

Spread the PB, sprinkle the granola, and squirt the honey onto the tortilla shell, then roll. Slice into bite-sized pieces and serve. I made these during Little Bit's nap and chilled them until she woke up so that they would firm up a bit, thus cutting down on the gooey factor.

The first thing she said after trying them was, "More?" Which is always a good sign! However, these little bite-sized morsels of goodness are very filling and oh-so-very sweet. So, don't think you need to make a bunch at one time. I could only eat about two of the pieces before feeling like I'd had enough. I made two tortillas and it was more than enough to go around.

Enjoy!

 

Do you have any tips for parents of babies and toddlers, or even preschoolers? Parenting lessons you'd like to pass on? Snack ideas your just itching to share? Or a product you think every Mommy and Daddy of little ones should know about? Post your link here every Tuesday and check to see what others are doing!

 

 

Toddler Measuring Activity

I think I reverted back to my senior year in high school this week. I kept waiting for Mr. Clagget, my walrus-looking English teacher, to pop out from around my sofa and lecture me (read: yell and shake his finger at me) about procrastinating.

But, we did finally come up with an idea for this week's Unplugged Project involving ribbon and completed it. We used the ribbon to measure each of our family members and then we adhered the ribbon to a wall for comparison.

First we got everybody measured:

Then we stuck the ribbon to the wall, side-by-side, and briefly compared the different sizes. We talked about the biggest and smallest pieces. And I asked Little Bit questions about which ribbon belonged to who.

We also glued faces from magazine cut-outs onto paper plates, and then attached them to the ribbons at the top for little heads, but they turned out really weird looking. I think we'll use photo printouts of all of us instead.

We haven't made growth charts for the girls, so I thought that this ribbon measuring activity would be a great way to introduce the concept of measuring with Little Bit.

To see what others did with ribbon this week, click here!

Oh, Sure. I Had an Orgasm Too When I Was Giving Birth.

Well it wasn't really an orgasm, per se...but you probably couldn't tell it by listening to me. There were a lot of, "Oh, God"s and "Ahh ahh"s.

I gave birth naturally and was seduced by the notion of an orgasmic birth, which I read about in our childbirth bible, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way.

Such bliss. Ending ones pregnancy in the same way it began. If only 'twer twu.

While I was not so lucky as to experience this Heavenly gift, there are plenty of women who have brought their babies into this world while cheering "O". (I know, sounds a lot like cheerio, but there are only so many ways to say "orgasm" so bear with me).

A new documentary, Orgasmic Birth, is set to premier on May 16 in Prague China. For a little preview, visit the film's webpage or check out ABC's 20/20. According to Midwifery Today, 20/20 will air its piece on May 16 as well, but I haven't seen confirmation of that on ABC's site. Just keep a look out.

And, if you have any tales of wild, passionate, birthing, by all means, share them here! On second thought, maybe just a nice comment saying that you too are intrigued by this notion and will happily visit the filmmaker's website would suffice.

My Toddler, The Poet

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

With the wisdom of an eighty year old woman in her voice, Little Bit has been repeating this line since yesterday at dinner.

We have no idea where it came from.

We have no idea what it means.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe my little girl to be as precocious and brilliant as can be, but could she really have made up this little rhyme?

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

She says it with such conviction.

It's quite funny to hear. She may as well be sitting in a rocker, sporting glasses and a hearing aid, talking about the good old days.

"Oh me, oh my. Not a thing goes by."

And I can't decide whether or not it makes no sense at all, or makes absolute perfect sense. Apparently there's a fine line between nonsense and genius.

For now, I'll stick with the latter...but I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow when she's pouring her milk onto her PB&J.

Wordless Wednesday: Frustration

 

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado: 5 Ways to Reuse Baby Clothes

After Little Bit was born, we saved every stitch of clothing she outgrew, knowing we would be trying for another baby relatively soon (and hoping for another girl). Now that Bitty Baby is growing out of them, we've got piles upon piles of baby clothes that are taking up space in their room. Much of it will be consigned or donated, but some pieces are either too worn or too sentimental to give away.

Here are 5 ways get some more life out of those baby clothes:

1. Give to a teddy bear to wear.

Some garments are just too dear to us to part with. From both girls I have set aside a few outfits to hold on to as keepsakes. One is the going home outfit that Little Bit wore home from the hospital, and the others are just outfits that I loved seeing them in.

By dressing a medium-sized teddy in their clothes, I can hold on to the clothes, have them out where I can see them regularly, and make a bear look adorable!

2. Refashion into a quilt.

You can create a keepsake to last forever by cutting squares out of them and assembling a quilt. Even if you don't have mad sewing skills, there are companies like this one that will use the clothes you send them and make a blanket for you.

3. Embellish over stains and give away.

I always hated throwing away onesies with small stains, but what else is one to do with them? This Recycled Life shows just how to hide little blemishes, and make those onesies even cuter, by sewing sweet appliqués over the stains. Then, you can donate them, pass along to a expectant mother, or save for your own future bundles!

4. Use as scraps for crafting.

Even worn-out and stained clothing can have some good spots left on them. Cut off the bad parts and save the rest for future arts and crafts projects. Fabric collages are always fun. You could also use the fabrics as scrapbooking embellishments, or use pieces of them to make appliqués to cover up other stained clothing (see #3). Really the possibilities are endless.

5. Repurpose as Gift wrap.

The colors and themes found on baby clothing are ideal for wrapping a gift for another baby. Fabric is often a better choice than paper when wrapping awkwardly shaped items such as pacifiers, bottles, and some toys. You can find many ways of folding fabric to cover your gifts here.

These are just a few ways to squeeze a little more life out of those adorable baby clothes that you just can't find anything else to do with. Because really, who wants to throw away a sweet little yellow ducky romper just because it has a little spot on it?

Do you have any tips for parents of babies and toddlers, or even preschoolers? Parenting lessons you'd like to pass on? Snack ideas your just itching to share? Or a product you think every Mommy and Daddy of little ones should know about? Post your link here every Tuesday and check to see what others are doing!

Newspaper Streamers

Hooray for newspapers!

What a great theme for this week's Unplugged Project. So many possibilities...we made streamers!

We used strips of newspaper, a round plastic lid with the center cut out, a popsicle stick, and yarn and tape to hold it all together.

This picture shows pretty well how it all came together:

I think this was Little Bit's first experience with streamers and it was an instant hit! She loved swishing her new toy all around her body...

or just carrying it around with her.

 

And, not wanting to leave Bitty Baby out of the newspaper fun, we folded a newspaper hat!

We had actually planned on doing a couple other newspaper projects, but Little Bit fell sick at the end of the week and we just didn't get to them.  But never fear, I'm sure we'll do them soon!

Go check out what other folks did with newspaper at Unplug Your Kids!

Family Portrait

I've always preferred candid photos over posed. I love the reality that is depicted and the stories they tell. This picture in particular has always resonated with me.

We've stopped for a photo in front of the Washington Monument and nobody can look up because the sun is so bright. My mom is holding us closely and smiling as though all is perfect. A real smile. You can tell just by looking at her eyes.

That's the thing about my mom, she was always happiest just being a mom. She also happened to be a single mom serving in the military. We moved around, saw husbands come and go, but my mother's love swaddled and protected us from the harsh realities of her world.

We were such a happy little family that my brother and I never really knew things were supposed to be different.

Somehow my mom managed to carry out all of her roles in such a way that we never felt deprived of anything.

That's what I see when I look at this old picture. No, life was never perfect, but we were blinded by our happiness to that fact. We had each other, and we had a mother who was strong, confident, nurturing, and completely selfless.

About 10 years ago I framed this photo and gave it to my mom for Mother's Day. She thanked me and was happy to have received it, but she was puzzled as to why I chose this particular picture. Our albums were filled with better pictures of the three of us...professional portraits with us all actually looking at the camera. My explanation at the time was something along the lines of, "I don't know, I just always liked this one."

Well, Mom, only a decade later and you finally have a more complete explanation as to why this image of our family is so meaningful to me. Consider it the second half of the gift. :)

Our Mother's Day Gifts for the Grandmas

I didn't think it would be this long between my Mother's Day Crafts post and now, and I'm sure you've all been just teetering there on the edge of your seats waiting for me to present the silhouette card idea that I left as a teaser at the end of the post.

Oh...you didn't get that far? Just a skimmer, huh? Well, here it is anyway.

On the inside I included this poem (that I wrote so please be kind):

This is your day,

It's all about you,

Flowers and cards and how do you dos.

This one time of year,

We remember to say,

Thank you, dear Grandma, for your loving way.

We also made some hand flowers and taped the hands onto a pipe cleaner stem. One hand from each kid. Tis very cute. In fact, I think I'm going to make an extra one to keep for myself. :)

The silhouettes were VERY easy to do. The hardest part was getting a good profile shot of a kid who won't stay in one place for more than a second. Once you have the shot, there are just a few steps in Photoshop to go through.

I found directions here. Basically, you delete the background using the magic wand tool, desaturate, decrease brightness, and increase contrast. Very easy. Just make sure you have a good clean background...saves a lot of time with the magic wand.

I'm loving how mine turned out, but I think that someone who really knows what they're doing could turn this idea into something truly impressive. If you do try this, let me know. I'd love to see what others can do with the silhouettes!

P.S. A BIG heartfelt thank you to those who offered your kind words and prayers. The Lord heard you and every time I thought I had tapped out all my baby-watching resources, He would send someone else over to help keep an eye on my little ones so that I could go spend some more time with my husband in the hospital. Between the memorial services for Grandpa tomorrow and Daddy-O coming home, things should definitely start getting back to normal by the weekend. Thanks again for your thoughtful words.

Is it Over Yet?

Grandpa's funeral is Friday.

Daddy-O will probably be released from the hospital by then. Appendectomy.

Finally got some sleep last night, but didn't get to read any of the wonderful blogs I enjoy visiting everyday.

Will somebody please come over and watch my babies?

I'll be back soon.

Tuesday's Toddler Tornado #1: Mother's Day Toddler Crafts

This is the first of what will be a regular Tuesday post. We're gonna dish out a potpourri of toddler goodness, including craft ideas, child-rearing tips, product recommendations, and anything else that parents with toddlers would find useful. Please feel free to join me on Tuesdays and share your tot knowledge with others. I'll have a Mr. Linky up (yes, there's going to be another Linky widget hanging around the blogoshphere!). Since Mother's Day is coming up, I decided to do a theme this week. And, since I have nothing of my own to share, I'm going to give some link luv to those more clever than I!

The gifts that are made with love are always the ones we remember. In fact, that's what Mommies and Grammas often ask for when Mother's Day comes around. Rather than just have Little Bit scribble on some paper (which I've done in the past), I've been trying to find some crafts that she can do that are more "gift-worthy." Here are just a few of the ideas I've come across in my search:

Cards

• Use the dainty petals of flowers as stamps to make a truly lovely card for your child's sweet old granny, a la here!
• Don't just write a card, make a keepsake! I found this precious hand-print card via the Crafty Crow.

Flowers

Mother's Day + Flowers = 1 happy Mum.

• Check this out to see two great ideas of how to turn the "flowers" idea into a gift that will be treasured forever using hand prints and photos.
• If those weren't quite what you were looking for, you'll definitely find something here. There are several ways of making flowers listed using materials like cupcake holders, pipe cleaners, and tissue paper.

Miscellany

• Go here to learn how to make a stained-glass looking frame from tissue paper.
• You can find several hand-made gift ideas here, including a very clever dish towel gift. The one shown has writing, but it could be modified for toddlers by simply having them draw designs (aka scribble).

In addition to having Little Bit make something for the grandmas, I'm planning on making a silhouette card using digital photos and cardstock...more on that coming soon!

Have you posted recently about your ideas for getting your little one involved in the upcoming Mother's Day? Feel free to post your link (but don't forget to also leave a comment, just in case I lose my Mr. Linky widget again)!

Green Seek-N-Find

Green was the theme this week for Unplug Your Kid's weekly project. We painted a green apple tree earlier in the week, and today, we sent Little Bit on a green treasure hunt!

We gathered as many green toys as we could find and Daddy-O planted them throughout the yard.

Then we sent her on her way, armed with a handy-dandy green basket!

After much encouragement and several explanations as to what we were searching for, she began to look for the green .

Then she started to get the hang of it...

Here she is showing off her collection:

Once she had collected all of the toys, we talked about where else we could find green in our yard; the leaves on the trees, a blade of grass, the foliage growing in our flower bed.

She also found some yellow.

Check out what others did with this week's theme here!

Apple-Stamped Tree

I've seen the potato stamping done before and always thought it was such a cool idea. A couple days ago I was flipping through this book and came across an apple stamping project. It met our criteria for an excellent toddler craft (easy and quick!) and I just couldn't wait to try it.

So, since this week's Unplugged Project theme is green, I decided to stick with green paint and make an apple tree!

Just a few supplies were needed:

I cut out a tree trunk from some brown construction paper and let Little Bit do the gluing.

Then we dipped the apple halves into a plate of green paint and started stamping!

The only problem we encountered was that the apple was a wee bit too big for my toddler's tiny hands. Rather than stamping, her technique was more like: cradle the apple in both hands, dump it over onto the paper, then mash it down. But whatever...it still came out great!

Here's to quick, easy, and fun toddler art!