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.

DCB

I think I am walking the fine line between staying well and getting sick. I am trying really, really hard to not get sick.  So instead of doing a workout this morning, I decided that writing a blog would be better. Last night my husband and I went to the David Crowder Band Farwell Concert. We didn't get home until midnight. Just so you know, since becoming parents, that is really, really late for us. I think this is contributing to my near sickness.

Here are a couple shots from the concert last night. The tickets said that we weren't allowed to bring cameras so I had to use my camera phone - so I apologize for the pictures lacking in quality.

This was a band called Gungor. Before last night, I had never heard of them, but now that I have, I love them! They did an acoustic set, and it was amazing. The guy playing the cello actually beat boxed while playing the cello. Fantastic. The girl played all kinds of different percussion instruments as well. I felt so inspired to play music after seeing them last night.

And these two shots are the David Crowder Band. The guy in the center is David Crowder. I'm not going to lie, he was a odd looking guy. The fact that he was wearing a hat totally threw me off. When he first got on stage, I didn't even realize it was him until he started singing. I honestly though he was one of the stage tech guys!

This is what he normally looks like. Still pretty odd. :) But I am convinced that he is a musical genius. I've loved his music since the first time I heard it. We had such a fun time at the concert last night, but I have to be honest, it's been several years we've been to a concert. We are definitely not as resilient as we used to be. It was so much harder for us to stand on our feet for so long this time. And I totally hated the fact that I had to stand in an area of 2x2 feet without moving too much for several hours. (But I've been to concerts way more crowded than this one) And I'm kind of tired this morning. But it's all good. It was totally worth going to, especially since it's their last concert. :)

If you have the opportunity to go to one of the concerts, I totally recommend it. You won't be disappointed. :)

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?

I made this!

I've been doing a lot of browsing on Pinterest lately and have come across numerous diy necklace projects. They all look so fun and fairly easy. So I took that inspiration and came up with this:

I'm not going to lie. I love it. Now I just have to put together an outfit to go with it. Making this necklace was so simple. The hardest part about it was tying knots in the correct places to make it all balanced. And I just realized that when I took the photo above, the necklace was crooked. It's not crooked in real life.

I wanted to do something similar to the Helmut Lang necklace I came across on the blog, P.S. I made this. I don't have leather scraps but I do have tons and tons of blue fabric leftover from my wedding decorations. I'm always looking for new ways to use my blue fabric. These are the supplies I used to make the necklace.

• Thread three separate 18 x 1.5 inch strands of fabric with beads in random order.
• Knot them in random places. 
• Safety-pin the three beaded fabric strands together at one end and knot them together.

• Repeat on the other end of the three fabric strands. 
• Knot the ends of your unbeaded strand to the three beaded strands tied together
• After all the pieces are knotted together and balanced just how you want them, losen the knots from the unbeaded strand, put a small dab of hot glue inside the knots, and tightened them back up (to keep it from coming untied). 
• Finally trim the ends outside of the knots. Tah Dah!!! Fun.

Note: the fabric I used was polyester or something similar so it does not unravel easily. I didn't hem the fabric, I used it with raw edges.

Inspiration.

I want to revive my blog! I really do. It seems that I whenever I write a blog these days, I always start out by saying, "I want to write in my blog more." That's the truth, but it seems that between managing a house, being a wife, AND being a mother, the blog seems to take a back seat to everything else. A lot of times I'll start writing a blog, but then something else demands my attention - a toddler who let the crazy dog in the house and tracked mud in the house, dinner that needs to be made, the dryer buzzer goes off...you know.  But I miss blogging. And I want to do more of it.
 
I've been thinking about starting an additional blog too...Something fun, and not so much about life. I don't want to tell you guys about it yet, but it's in the works (along with all my free time). I will let you know when I start it. Speaking of blogs, what is your favorite blog to read? And why? At the moment, my favorite blog is A Beautiful Mess. It's such a neat collection of fun, creative craft ideas, decorating, snacks, and vintage fashion. I find it very inspiring. Mad Props to Sarah, who introduced it to me. This is her blog, and she is just getting started.

I've been feeling very crafty lately, and have been working on several projects. (Amazing, because I haven't felt this way since before I was pregnant. Maybe it's that we bought a house, and I finally feel free to decorate) The biggest project I'm working on is my table. I refinished it and painted it. It's so fun. I can't wait to show you guys. But in the midst of my project, I ran out of money! So the chairs to my table aren't finished yet. So my project will have to be put on hold until the next paycheck. (Paying the mortgage has to take priority!!) I also have immediate plans to do a wall art project like this one

One project at a time though! This morning I hosted the Moms Group from our church at my house. I made Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.

It tasted amazing and it was a huge hit! I highly recommend it! (And to be honest with you, I found it way more satisfying than Starbucks' Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino...I'm just sayin'. I found wall art project as well as the recipe for the Hot Chocolate on the Beautiful Mess blog :) I'm telling you, it's such a fun blog!!

The Potty Training Blog.

My son is taking a nap. I have a mountain of clean laundry on my couch that needs to be folded. I decided I would rather write a blog.

I've been questioned frequently about our potty training experience over the past several months, so I thought this would be a great subject to blog about it. But I also want you guys to know, that just because I did this so soon with him, doesn't mean that I look down on anyone who doesn't do it as soon as I did or the same way I have. I strongly feel that the age and method of potty training is up to each parent(s) and what their situation is. There is no single "right" way to do it.

In June I took him to his 15 month check-up. His doctor gave me a couple papers about potty training. At the time, I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me? There is NO WAY I will be potty training this boy anytime soon!" But I read the papers anyway (so the seed was planted). Around that time I started sitting hi mon the potty before bath time and pouring warm water over him to get him to pee in the potty instead of the bathwater. Soon after that I got an email from Babycenter.com about Julie Fellom's Diaper Free Method - a potty training method for toddlers 15- 27 months. I was still opposed to the idea, but I read it anyway. Over the next couple of weeks, I kept thinking about that method and started to come up with more and more reasons to try this method.

WHY. I ended coming up with several reasons to potty train so early. Here's a couple: 1) To save money. Diapers are expensive. I'm always looking for ways to save money. Less diapers = more money saved 2) He was already sitting on the potty before bath time and had no objection to it. He was at a stage where he was interested and receptive to the idea of using the potty. It was fun for him. What if I let this stage pass by without taking advantage of it? Would he be as receptive as his was at the time at a later date? Not necessarily. 3) Having my son potty trained before the next child comes around would be amazing. Less diapers. Less work. Starting him at this point would give him plenty of time to adjust to potty training before another kid comes around. 4) Time of year. It was still warm out, and this method requires your toddler to wear less clothes. Starting during the summer would keep him from freezing due to less clothes. This method also takes approximately 3 months to complete. If I started then, I could be finished before the holidays came around. (At least so I thought).  The more I thought about this the more I realized that I had too many reasons to at least try this method.

THE PROCESS. One thing that I've heard over and over from mothers is that potty training can be difficult and stressful. So before we started, I mentally prepared myself and made a goal to keep this from becoming a stressful process or a power struggle. According the the Diaper Free Method, it takes 3 days of diligent teaching and supervision and then 3 additional months of follow through. (You can check out the link if you want to know more about the method). We started him when he was 17 months, which was at the end of August. After the first 3 days, he had a solid understanding of the concept, "You cannot poop or pee anywhere you want. You need to hold it until you sit on the potty". But he had a hard time getting started peeing on his own (he had mastered the skill of holding it). Because he did so well controlling his bladder, we kept working with him. Since he struggled with peeing on his own, I started to research potty training. I learned that there are three different stages of muscle control that need to develop and they all develop at different times. First is the ability to control your bladder, like to hold in your urine (I think that develops around 15 months). Then the muscle control to poop. And finally the muscle control to start peeing - typically around 22 months for boys. (I talked to his pediatrician about all the muscle control needed, and he said that muscle control can happen sooner for a child, but it depended on the child) Along the way hemastered pooping on the potty, but we were still hung up on starting to pee on his own or peeing on command. So I started using warm water again to help him start peeing. Over the next several weeks I debated on quitting and restarting at a later date, but I had 2 reasons that kept me from doing so: 1) Levi was so good at controlling his bladder and was getting better by the day at pooping the potty 2) If I stopped now, I was afraid that it would reinforce the concept that wearing diapers was an option, which in turn might turn into a huge battle later when we started again. So we kept going. Throughout the next couple of weeks and months, I had to make a conscience decision to keep this process from being stressful. We stopped using water, and then started again. If something about the process was getting stressful, then we would change up our method or tweak something to a way that kept things stress-free. Around Thanksgiving, he should have been finished with the process, but still had yet to master peeing on command. At this point we were pretty sure that he had the developed the muscle control to control to pee on his own, but we needed to take the time to work with him on it. But when the holidays came, our schedule became busy, very busy. It was difficult to find time to work with him on this. So he had more accidents than I would like to admit, and he even reverted back when we went to my parents' house....just because he knew he could get away with it. But after we came home Joel and I took 3 days to work with him and help him pee on command. And it worked. Beautifully. These days he takes himself potty or tells me he needs to go potty several times each day. He has an occasional accident, but we are going more and more days without accidents. He still needs help getting his clothes off. If he sits on the big potty, he usually needs help getting up. He also still wears diapers when he sleeps. At this point I would consider him to be potty trained, but I've found that term to be relative. So this is my definition of potty trained. He understands the concept of being potty trained and practices it. He pees and poops on the potty. He has bladder control and uses it. Its a rare occasion for him to have an accident in public. There are still things we need to work on - like standing up instead of sitting when he pees, his aim, and pulling up and down his pants by himself, but I think that he has accomplished a lot considering the fact that he is only 21 months. :) And we only use 1 or 2 diapers a day!

THOUGHTS. I have a peace about starting him when I did. I tried to keep this as stress free as possible. Any time that the stress level began to elevate, we evaluated what part of the potty training was stressful and then adjusted our process to alleviate the tension. It was never a power struggle (but I had to be careful how I reacted to accidents to prevent it from becoming a power struggle). I never forced him to go potty and I never strapped him to the toilet until he went potty! And I also feel confident that he has not acquired any emotional trauma by learning so early. ;) This wasn't a easy process, but this definitely wasn't the hardest thing we have been through with him (His first year of life was way more difficult). Some people say that this is more like training the mom than training the child. Maybe so, but I've found the reward to be worth the trouble (my life is no more chaotic now than it was when he was younger by adding potty training onto our plate so soon). Plus, I RARELY change a poopy diaper. Let me tell you friends, that is awesome.

QUESTIONS. Questions that I get asked from time to time: "Now that you've gone through all this, and know what you know, will you do it again with your next child?" My answer - Yes? No? But probably yes. It's hard to say. It really depends on what is going on in our life at the time. From what I've read, toddlers who started after they had turned 20 months tended to have better success. I think that next time, I will probably be inclined to wait until the next one reaches 20 months. But it truly depends on what is going on at the time. I might want to save on diapers again next time! "Knowing what you know now, if you could go back, would you do it again with him ?"Probably. I think it may have been easier to start around 20 months, but that would have landed our start date in the middle of holiday chaos. Not a good time to start. If we had started after the holidays, I think it would have been harder because the house is colder in the winter. So yes, I probably would have still started him when I did. Another question I hear is "Don't you worry about him reverting back when you have another child?" No. I don't. I'm not saying that it won't happen, but if it does, I know how handle it - the same way we handled it before. Levi had a couple moments where he reverted back, but we had to stay consistent, and keep a closer eye on him and he always went back to using the potty. Even if he were to revert back, I know that he has a solid understanding of potty training, so it's not like all our work would be undone. If we were to have a baby 9 months from now, he will have been using the potty for over a year by the time the baby would be born. (I'm not pregnant. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying;)) That's one year of experience using the potty.

I don't think that I am the potty training expert. My knowledge is limited to the experience I've gained from my one and only child. From this experience, I've learned a lot, and I have a better idea of what I would like to do with the next child, but it doesn't mean that I will be able to. I've observed that while one method will work with one child, the same method may not work with another. He has taught me that although I may have plans to do things a certain way, it may not come into fruition. I learned that with the pacifier, with breastfeeding, and his eating...to name a few areas. So I have plans and hopes that things will go according to my plans, but I have to remain flexible in case they do not. But for now, I know what has worked for my own kid. :)

New Beginnings

Lately I've realized that more and more of my friends have blogs and I never even knew about it. Finding their blogs makes me miss writing on mine. I just have such a hard time sitting down for an extended amount of time to type out my thoughts - especially while my son is awake. You would be amazed at the amount of trouble he can get into in less than 2 minutes...well...at least, it amazes me. And drives me crazy. We are always busy, but these days it's a different type of busy. We have a lot of changes going on around here. And before you get too excited and jump to conclusions, let me just tell you - no, I am NOT pregnant. So here's what's up in our house -

Potty Training - Yes! We are potty training the little one. He is currently 22 months and we are nearly done (at least I think) with the training. I haven't done the traditional potty training method, but rather, Julie Fellom's Diaper Free Method. I have found it rather scary. But it has definitely worked. Levi poops on the potty regularly, and pees. He's a little more hesitant to pee on the potty, but he's definitely made a lot of progress. I got a lot of negative feedback from people about potty training Levi so early. I understand why, but one of the biggest reasons I chose to do it now was to save money on diapers. It's been a long road, but not a difficult one. (Potty training him has been a piece of cake compared to his first year of life). I have a peace about starting to train him when I did. I will try to make an effort to blog more about our potty training experience later. I have way too much to say about this topic to keep it within a paragraph.

House Hunting - We've been house hunting since late October. After much thought and discussion, we've decided to search for a house in the neighborhood that we currently live in. We like it out here. We've been on the lookout for a one story house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a back yard that is NOT the size of a matchbox. However, through our searching we've realized that there are numerous bank owned 2 story houses priced within our budget...at least it seems. So we've been looking at homes, putting in offers, and looking at more homes. We've put in 4 separate offers on 4 different homes. The first three offers didn't work out. We are currently in the midst of negotiating an offer on the 4th house. We'll see if this one works out. But at this point I am definitely not willing to get my hopes up...especially since the first 3 haven't worked out. My desire is to be able to buy a house sometime this winter/spring and be completely unpacked by late spring. Hoping. Hoping. Hoping.


New Church - God has recently redirected the pastor of our church to a new ministry and he resigned. After much prayer and with regret, we also felt that the Lord is redirecting our family. It has been hard to leave a place where we have personally invested so much of our time, energy, and resources into, but we do not have a peace about returning to the church. And so we cannot stay. One desire that has been on our hearts lately is finding a place for The Toddler in church. He could definitely use more social interaction, and what better place to find it than a church with other children his age? This has a large influence on the church we choose be a part of. I'm nervous to join a new church, but I'm also looking forward to making new friends and my son making new friends!

So we will see where this new year leads us, and I'm excited to see where we end up. And nervous too. Lots of changes. And now I have lost motivation to write anymore because my bedtime is drawing near. Yes, I go to bed early. I am a mom. And I need all the sleep and energy I can get so I can chase after my toddler each day. :)