Alone Time

Here I am! Did you miss me? Well, if you actually did miss me, you probably still will, because I still lack motivation due to pregnancy brain and exhaustion. So it's pretty likely that I won't post too often for a couple more months. My mom took The Toddler to "Old McDonald's" (aka McDonald's) for lunch, and so I have a little more time to myself today and a little more energy, which is why I've decided blog. So here's what you've missed:

• We found out that we are having another BOY.  The Spouse and I are completely content with this, but we would have been happy either way. This little one is due to make an appearance in Mid-October, but I'm hoping we don't don't go all the way to 40 weeks, especially since I only went to 37 weeks with The Toddler. (He wasn't a toddler back then, though)

 I think it's possible that this picture may not be appropriate. ;)

• Pregnancy during the summer is THE WORST! I knew it would be and it is just as unpleasant as I thought it would be. (The things you do for your kids!) Oh well. 
• I am not a nice pregnant person. In fact, I'm like the polar opposite of my normal self. My husband and I joke about that pregnancy is my alter-ego. It's not that I want to be mean, or try, but it just sneaks out before I realize what's happening. I feel like I am on one giant stretch of PMS. (I want you guys to know that I really am still trying to be nice...I just fail frequently) Sad and unfortunate, but true. So I just want to thank all my friends for putting up with me for all this time. I really do like all of you guys, and I still want to be friends!!!!
• I am the most comfortable when sitting in the recliner with my feet up. Therefore, I've read a lot of books lately. Plus, my brother recently bought me the new Nook Glow and I have just discovered the wonderful world of ebooks from the library. It really can't get any better than this. (just kidding). Btw - I am always up for a good book recommendation. Tell me what you've read! 

 Pretend like you don't see that pile of unfolded laundry in the backgroud.

• I've recently noticed a change in The Toddler's social development. I've started to notice that he has become a little more lonely lately. But at the same time, he doesn't even realize that he's lonely since at the moment he is an only child and doesn't know any different. So my husband and I decided to sign him up for a couple of activities this summer - a tumbling class, soccer, and horse back riding. I've also made more of an effort to schedule at least one play date a week. I've seen a huge difference in him too. 

Sorry about the sideways video! The Toddler is in the yellow shirt and his teacher is trying to show him how to do a somersault.

• I've mentioned it before, but I have blood sugar issues during pregnancy (which basically requires me to eat every 1.5 hours and avoid ALL sweets and starches). There are two blogs that I frequently check for awesome food ideas - Kath Eats Real Food and Sugar Free Mom. Check them out!!! 
• I am now on Instagram, thanks to my awesome friend, Sarah. You can follow me @MusicianAtHeart. Wait...did that count as a shameless plug? If you answered yes, I apologize. ;)
• The spouse and I recently went on a mini-vacation/business trip together to Colorado Springs - without The Toddler! We visited the Olympic Training Center, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, ate great food, turned down a hippie begging for ice cream and cigarettes (no joke), and I did a serious amount of lounging.

I hope to blog a little more often, but don't hold your breath for that one. :) I'm at the point to where I refuse to commit to things while I am smack in the middle of pregnancy...honestly I probably won't be ready for extra commitments until after the baby is born and I'm not sleep deprived. Maybe January? Until then, I'll try to update when I can. :)

Creative Parenting

The past week or so has been busy, and I've been...well, tired. I haven't had the energy to do much writing lately. Part of the reason was that my son has been on a I-refuse-to-eat-dinner phase. It's been great. Not really. At one point, we visited with the Feeding Clinic, to discuss different approaches for getting him to be willing to eat dinner.

After some time contemplating my son's decision to avoid dinner, I came to 3 conclusion:

1. He definitely has issues with food presentation - somehow if his food doesn't look how he thinks it should look, he refuses to eat it. Case in point - last night we went to a pizza, sub, and salad place for dinner. We go there at least once a month, and The Toddler always eats a slice of cheese pizza. I ordered the same slice of cheese pizza that he always gets, but last night, he took one look at the pizza, and said, "I don't like that." Yeah, right. Whatever. There was nothing wrong with it, but apparently in his mind there was.
2. He is still a picky eater. He's always been a picky eater. Since birth. Unfortunately.
3. He is definitely going through an autonomous phase. I've noticed a rise in his desire to do things himself, and make his own decisions.

I was pretty confident that the autonomy issue was the most influential part of his decision to skip dinner on a regular basis. Apparently I needed to come up with a couple of inconsequential areas where The Toddler could express his autonomy. So I decided to let him pick his clothes when he gets dressed. Within reason though. Sometimes we give him a couple of options, if we are going somewhere where he needs to dress appropriately - like Sundays. On Sundays we let him choose which dress clothes to wear. So he doesn't look completely like a wild child. :)

You know what though? It worked. After a couple of days, we started to notice a difference in The Toddler's attitude towards eating. He even took a couple of bites of meat! Amazing.

One thing that has really surprised me about parenting is the need for creativity when working with your kids through their issues. I've found that often times the normal approaches to overcoming conflict rarely work with my son. So I've had to get creative - like allowing him to pick out his clothes.

Just a thought for today. :) More creative posts coming soon.

Things to Not Do:

I need to tell you that I am really, really wise. Or maybe not so much. But I try. So I thought I should impart some of my amazing wisdom that I have acquired. Prepare to be blown away by these profound thoughts. It will change your life. Just in case you haven't figured it out, I am totally being sarcastic.

Things I don't recommend that you do:

• Sleep in so long that you feel tired for the rest of the day. I know it sounds tempting, but trust me. It's a bad idea. 
• Allow your child who still takes naps to skip their nap. Every once in a while I succumb to peer pressure and allow my child to skip his nap. This is NEVER a good idea. NEVER. I let him skip it yesterday and by the end of the day he was bananas! And drove me bananas. Fortunately I called my parents and ditched him with them. Ha ha. 
• Binging on sugar. Massive crash. Blahhh.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
• Procrastinate on updating and/or balancing your checkbook for 5 months. This is bad. bad. Bad. BAD. 
• Allowing your potty-trained toddler to take himself to the bathroom and then avoid checking on him for 5 silent minutes. You never know what they will come up with to do in there. (unroll all the toilet paper, play with the toilet brush wand, rub lotion all over their shirt, and pee all over a 2 foot area.)
• Saying words you don't want your toddler to repeat - even words that aren't bad. Example - "Oh crappy, Crappy, CRAP!" Yes I actually said that. (leave me alone). You never know when those words will sneak out of their mouth. 
• Getting a mullet...not that I have, because I haven't. But I'm just saying that you shouldn't.  
• Food battles with your toddler...AHHHHHHH!!!

 
Things that I think you should do:

• Make a nose out of Play-doh and stick on your child. It's awesome
• Sit your toddler on the driveway with their car seat and tell your parents to come and pick him up...wait...that sounded mean. I didn't mean it like that. I meant it in a fun way...Are you confused? Oh well. 
• Soak in the bathtub. Because it's awesome. 

Feel free to contribute to either list. 

Mohawk Knit Hat DIY (without actually knitting)

I've spent the last couple of weeks crafting to my hearts delight. Actually, I'm stuck on the couch most of the time to let my ankle heal, so I've been working on knitting and crocheting projects. This has kept me from losing my mind while confined to couch.

Here's one of my favorite projects that I've done lately.

I've seen tons of photos on Pinterest for knit and crocheted mohawk hats for kids. I've been wanting to make one for my son, but I'm not that good at crocheting, and I have no idea how to knit. But one night while laying in bed and thinking about those hats, I figured out how to make one - with a knitting loom! (I've come up with some of my best ideas while laying in bed. Seriously!)

A knitting loom is a round circular frame, that allows you to "knit" by weaving the yarn around the pegs. I love this thing! I have a package with 4 different size looms and also includes a hook and large plastic needle. I've made so many fun things with these looms. Last year I made a couple of infinity neck scarves with them.

Anyway I started this project using the green loom, which has a 7.5 inch diameter. I used the red yarn for the brim, and the "Mohawk" and the blue yarn for the hat. The actual instructions for using the loom and weaving the yarn around it are included with the loom. I got my loom at Hobby Lobby.

The brim was the trickiest part of the hat. It took me three times to get it right. The first two times I wove the yarn too tight and actually broke the yarn and then ended up cutting the broken brim off the loom. Oops.

Making the Mohawk hair was easy, but a little time consuming. I made several small long and loose pom poms and hand stitched them down the center of the hat.

Here's how to make a pom pom:

 Using a 2.5 inch piece of cardboard, wrap the yarn around the cardboard approximately 20 times.

After wrapping yarn, cut yarn leaving about inches to spare.

With a large needle, thread the long end of the yarn underneath the wrapped yarn, and tie a tight double knot at the bottom. (Note: if your knot is not tight enough, the yarn will fall out once it is made into a pom pom.

Next cut the wrapped yarn on the opposite end of the knot.

And there you go - a pom pom. Now make a bunch more. Use the long end to hand stitch the pom poms down the center of the hat to create the Mohawk.

Here was the final result. It was cute, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted the brim to be longer (up and down). And when I put it on The Toddler's head, it was a bit tight. So keeping this in mind, I made him another hat using the 9.5 inch knitting loom with yellow and green yarn. The yellow brim was approximately 20 rows of stitches, and the green part was 22 rows of stitches.

I'm much more satisfied with the second hat I made, and The Toddler loves it! He wears it all the time. It's such a great feeling when I make something for him that he actually loves. :)

Total time for making a hat : about 8 hours.
Total cost for me: free - I had both the yarn and the looms.

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Father Daughter Fun

I usually don't post pictures from my photo sessions on this blog, but today I am going to make an exception. This is one of my favorite silhouette pictures that I have taken. It was done during a family portrait session around this time last year. It was toward the end our the session and their toddler had had enough picture taking for that day. Her father swung her up in attempt to get a couple more shots before we ran out of light. It wasn't a photo I had planned on doing, but as he was playing with her, I was compelled to capture the moment. It's one of my favorite pictures. It's funny how the unplanned photos can end up being the most memorable ones. 

If you want to see more silhouette photos, you can click here. They aren't mine, but they are definitely fun to look at.

And if you want to see more photos you can check out my facebook page, my photography blog, or my website. :)

By the way - I have some more projects I finished and will be posting them soon. Watch for them!

On My Bike Ride this Morning...

I went on a bike ride this morning. I love riding my bike. It's one of my favorite things to do, and it's an awesome way to get exercise. I try to ride 10 -15 miles at least once a week. This morning I thought we would change things up a bit and ride the trail down by the river. Let me tell you it was complete chaos. But before I tell you the story, here are a couple things you need to know:

• My son always comes with me on a bike ride. I pull him in one of those trailer-chariot things.
• I always take our dog, Brody - a Border Collie with limitless energy, on about a 3 mile run for the last part of my bike ride (I ride home to get him, attach his leash to the chariot, and have him run next to us).
• Brody has not been walked in 2 weeks and has been driving us crazy with his excessive barking. He REALLY needed to have a walk (run).  
• We have an unfinished backyard, and it has been a while since we bathed him. He looked like a homeless dog.
• Before our bike ride, my son and I bathed him, so I wouldn't feel embarrassed to be seen with dirty homeless dog.

So now that you know all this, I will continue with my story:

• We don't have a bike rack on our Expedition (but we should get one) so it took me 20+ minutes to figure out how to get one bicycle and one giant chariot into the back of the Expedition. I ended up taking out the back row of seats (that took a while), and taking off the front wheel of my bike in order for everything to fit.
• In the car, on our way to the river trail my toddler was feeling extra ornery and tried to kick everything in reach of his feet. He got in trouble.
• By the time we got to the river trail, had the bike assembled, the trailer attached, the toddler in his chariot, and the dog on his leash, it was windy. Incredibly windy. Like 20+ mph. Awesome. But at least it's a flat trail!
• After about 3 to 4 miles, it's apparent my dog is tired. But I wanted to ride further. So what did I do? I put the dog in the chariot with my son. Then I realized that at some point my dog pooped while we were riding, and he had poop all over his rear section (So much for the bath).  It just so happens that I had a towel in the chariot (I don't know why). I wrapped the towel around the dog's rear and set him inside the chariot with my son. At that moment I had a spontaneous nose bleed. (awesome) I didn't have any kleenex and I refused to stand on the side of the trail, pinching my nose like a crazy person (there are just some things I refuse to do in public, and this is one of them). So I get back on my bike and keep riding, sniffing up the blood, wiping it on my cycling gloves, and trying to keep the blood from gushing out my nose. 
• So despite all this, I keep riding. Keep in mind that its really really windy. My son is not fond of the wooly beast sitting next to him in the chariot and screams bloody murder. For the next ten minutes. That was awesome. All the walkers and the cyclist looked at us. I'm sure they truly thought I was nuts. Probably was/am. 
• Finally we turn around. (It's been about 6 or 7 miles). I get the dog out of the chariot. My son is relieved, but covered in dog hair. And still aggravated. Our dog has a reputation for getting in peoples' kool-aid. This is how the toddler was feeling at the moment. 
• I make the dog run along the bike the WHOLE WAY back. But I was nice to him. I didn't force him to go fast like I usually do. And I stopped every couple of miles to give him water (that I poured into a energy bar wrapper, because I didn't have a bowl for him - aka diy dog dish).
• We finally make it back to the car. And the dog decides to jump into the back of the car as soon as I open the back hatch to the car. With his poopy butt. (ahhhhh!!!). 
• I load everything into the car, including toddler and dog (with the towel) and drive home. When pulling into the driveway, I realize that I had been driving with the emergency brake on. The whole time. (That explains the wierd smell.) And the toddler took off his shoes and one sock and tossed them somewhere in the car. They are still in there (the shoes and sock, not the toddler.)

Yes, that was my morning. I give you permission to laugh. How can you not? I'm sure everyone thought I was nuts on the trail this morning. That's ok. Despite the chaos, it was a really neat ride. There are some amazing fall colors along the trail - plus it's a pretty easy ride. (almost completely flat). So who wants to join my next week? I promise I won't bring the dog next time. :) Ha ha.

I passed by this sign this morning on the bike ride. I'm just not so certain I understand the sign about the alien???

Marble/Ball Ramp

We found this idea on Pinterest a couple of days ago and did this while my son was sick. It was a fun activity that involved relatively quiet play - which I find ideal for a sick toddler. You can find the detailed instructions on the blog Made by Joel. (p.s. this blog has so many fun children's activities). It was originally intended to be a "Marble Run" made from a cereal box, but we don't have marbles in our house - not when you have a toddler who puts everything in is his mouth. (Case in point - while I am writing this, he is playing with Play-Doh, and I just caught him putting it in his mouth. Of course I made him spit it out....in case you were wondering). So instead of using marbles, we used larger balls - about the size of a golf ball.

This only took about 5 minutes to make - cut one panel out of the cereal box, cut that panel into 3 strips, and then tape them to the inside to create ramps (and make sure to cut holes at the bottom of each ramp so the ball can roll to the ramp below).

My son thought this was such a fun toy. After using it to roll balls down, he used it for a car ramp for his Hot Wheel Cars. It's funny to see what ideas your kids come up with.

Bead sorting.

My husband and son have both been sick over the last couple of days so we've done lots of projects. I did one this morning that was lots of fun. We used two of my son's favorite things - a container of multicolored beads and an ice cube tray with fun shapes. (He is constantly rummaging through my cabinets to find the fun ice cube trays - which I find annoying because the rest of the contents in the cabinet end up all over the floor.)

My son is still not that great at recognizing colors, so I wanted to do an activity to work on colors. So I had him sort the beads into different colors using the ice cube tray and we talked about the colors as he did it.

He was fascinated by all the different colors of the beads at first. I had to explain it to him a couple of times before he understood what to do. He wanted to grab the beads by the fistful and dump them into the tray. But eventually he figured it out, and enjoyed himself.

 

 But after a while, his impatient nature took over and he decided that picking up beads one by one was a little too time consuming. So instead he started picking the beads up with his mouth and dropping them into the different categories. I made him stop after a while. It was too gross....and I kept thinking about how those beads would stink after we finished.

 

So then he decided that he was done. Oh well. I know he enjoyed it.

This was as far as he got - not bad for a 2.5 year old....at least my 2.5 year old. :) I think we will do this activity several more times. It was entertaining for him even though he lacked the patience to finish sorting the beads....maybe larger objects next time?