No More Curls

I left Max’s curls to grow for a long time, as I wanted him to have those adorable curls for his 2 year pictures.  You may remember how that turned out…the pictures certainly didn’t highlight his curls!

After that, I just dreaded cutting of those adorable curls.  Once I finally decided that maybe it would be okay to cut it, the kids started getting sick one-by-one.  I put it off because I didn’t want to have sick kids on the day of the haircut appointment.

Finally, Daddy had enough.  Last Saturday night, he decided we were cutting hair after supper.  Oooooh boy – he’s never cut anyone’s hair before.  I was pretty worried about how he’d do with curly hair on a wiggly toddler.

Max was definitely a bit wiggly and unsure about this!

Daddy’s a pretty good barber, though!  Max is sporting an adorable new haircut…and I (almost) like it better than those wild & crazy curls.  He looks so cute! 

Good job, Daddy! 

    

Watch out, Alex ~ Daddy might be after you next! ;)

Thank You, Lilia’s World!

A while back, Lilia’s World Boutique kindly agreed to do a giveaway on my blog.  She sells the CUTEST flower clips.  They are very reasonably priced, and they are oh-so-adorable!  You can clip her flowers onto any headband or hat, and having interchangeable products is a fun way to match any outfit.

After the giveaway (won by Angela W), Lilia’s World sent me TEN headbands and TEN flower clips.  That was a wonderfully sweet gift!  We wanted to pass it along, so we shared a few of them.

Our neighbors have a brand new baby girl, so we gifted baby Sophie with a few new headbands and flowers…and a business card for Lilia’s World, too! ;)  The rest are hanging the wall over Jensyn’s changing table, and she loves to look up at all the pretty colors while I’m dressing her. 

 

After two little boys, it was a real treat to buy girly accessories.  Lilia’s World was my first Etsy purchase, and I was so impressed!  When I wanted to make a change to my order, I got almost an immediate response.  How’s that for customer service?  I received the package quickly, and she’s great with all customer service questions & correspondence.

She’s adding some new products, and she’s got pictures on her Facebook page of some adorable new items that will be available soon.  I don’t often use this blog to “advertise”, but I wanted to THANK Lilia’s World for the generous gift.  We love these products! 

 

Check out her website at http://www.liliasworld.com or the Lilia’s World Facebook page.

Tot Pack – Can I Pick Your Brains, Please?

Those of you who use these packs, I want to hear from you!  I’d love to know what YOU’D like to see in the next pack. 

I’m currently working on a Thanksgiving pack, but after that I’ll be putting together a cowboy/cowgirl pack. 

What pages would you like to see in a cowboy pack?  What ideas do YOU have?  I can design these pages, but sometimes miss out on creative ideas.  You may have the ideas, but you don’t know how to design the pages. 

No matter how simple or crazy or complicated or…well, whatever…you think it might be, every idea is worth hearing! :)  Please feel free to comment on this post or send me an e-mail if you have some creative ideas for cowboy themed pages!

Here are a few samples of the graphics (from KPM Doodles) to get you thinkin’…

Thanks!  I appreciate all of you :)

Oh, Alex…

First off, the stories on CD are working!  Alex loves to pick a CD before his nap, and about three out of four times he falls asleep while listening.  If he’s still awake when the CD ends, he may quietly leave the room without bothering Max…and Alex has still had a 45 minute rest time.  Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions!

We do have a new “issue” with the CD player, though.  (I think we need speakers for my old MP3 player so I can just hook that up in his room instead of a big ‘ol CD player…)

There’s an LCD display on the CD player, and he wakes up panicking if the numbers are still on the display.  That means I’m supposed to sneak in & shut off the CD player when the CD ends.  If I don’t, then he panics and cries because “the numbers are still there, Mommy!”

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I attend a Bible Study on Tuesday mornings, and Alex goes to a preschool class at the church during the study.  Max goes to a toddler nursery, and Jensyn stays with me.  Last week, Max stayed home with Grandma & Papa because I didn’t want him sharing his lingering germs with all of the toddlers.

As we were driving home, Alex said, “Mom, I go to my class, and you go to a class.  Where does Jensyn go?  Does she have a nursery class?”

I told him, “I could put her in nursery, honey, but she’s usually hungry during that time.  Jensyn stays with Mommy. That way, if she has to nurse, Mommy can feed her.” 

Alex replied, “You don’t have to keep her with you, Mom.  Somebody else could nurse her!”

“Oh yeah, Alex?  Who’s going to do that?”  I asked.

Alex got quiet for a few minutes as he thought about that.  Then he called out, “I know!  Sabrina’s mom!  I believe Miss Karen knows how to nurse!”

Apparently, in Alex’s world, it’s okay to have your friend nurse your baby. ;)

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Not long ago, we had chili and cornbread for supper.  The chili was hot, so I spooned a little sour cream on top.  I told him, “Stir in the sour cream, Alex.  It will cool your chili for you!”

A few days later, we had grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch.  His soup was steaming in the bowl.  Alex popped up from the table and ran to the fridge, shouting “I know what I need!”

You guessed it…he came back with sour cream, spooned a little into his soup, and seemed to like it that way.  (I think it sounds kind of gross, but hey…I can’t argue with his logic.)  He is so independent these days.  We’re still getting used to that!

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Recently, we had a rotten night.  None of the kids wanted me to sleep, I guess.  Jensyn wanted to nurse, Max needed comfort, and Alex couldn’t find anything to blow his nose.  Then Jensyn wanted to nurse again.  (She’s teething and uncomfortable, so she’s waking more…)  Ugh.  I was exhausted, and I was finally sleeping HARD when Alex came crying into our bedroom.  He said, “Mommy!  Mommy!  I had to go potty and I couldn’t reach the bathroom light”!

I stumbled down the hall, half awake, turned on the bathroom light, and Alex thanked me and went back to bed.  Huh?  That doesn’t make any sense!  But it was almost morning, so I was awake for the day.

I asked Alex about it when he got up, and he said he’d already gone potty.  He just needed me to turn the light on so he could find his way back to bed.  His bedroom is right next to the bathroom.  Mine is down a dark hallway.  So he could find his way all the way down the hall to my bedroom, but he couldn’t walk into his night-lighted room.  Go figure.

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I just found this post in draft mode, so I deleted the post & just added it here…

While on vacation this past week, we visited a church near our hotel.  We felt very welcome at this small community church.

It was “Family Sunday”, meaning that they had no children’s classes or nursery.  Sitting near our family can be a little entertaining sometimes!

Sitting in between us, Alex was staring at the cross in front of church.  After looking at it for a bit, he asked, “Who died on THIS cross, Mom?”   I guess he thought that Jesus died on the cross in the front of our home church, so someone else must have died on this cross! ;)

A little later, he was again staring at the front of church.  He looked up near the ceiling and said, “Look Mom, GOD is up there!”  Turns out it was a stained glass window with a picture of Jesus…

Jensyn ~ 6 Months

Oh, how we love this little girl.  Her cute little grin, her pudgy cheeks (even though she’s a teeny girl), and her calm temperament.  She’s just too sweet!

It’s funny – just a few weeks ago, I was telling my mom that Jensyn just isn’t very interested in toys yet.  That very same day, Jensyn reached for a toy.  In the past 2 weeks, she has really taken an interest in her toys…and in grabbing anything within reach, whatever it might be.  She loves the bow holder over her changing table, and she’s starting to reach for the pretty bows hanging there.

We cancelled Jensyn’s well-baby visit because she was sick, so I won’t know her measurements until next Thursday.  Alex gave Max his cold, Max got croup, and then he shared his germs with Jensyn, who also got croup.  Poor baby…it’s her first time being sick, but she’s handled it well!

Jensyn’s first tooth poked through on September 28th, and she has a second tooth that’s just under the gum. 

We’re still cloth diapering, but Jensyn’s been getting a strange diaper rash.  I can’t figure out if it’s from the disposables we use overnight or if it’s from the cloth.  Currently, we’re probably doing about 50% cloth and 50% disposables because she’s got Desitin on her bottom…and you can’t use that with cloth.

Jensyn really loves her baby food most days.  In the past month, we’ve gone from starting cereal to eating fruits or veggies for both lunch and dinner.  (This is funny to me, as I’d intended to wait until 6 months to start cereal!)  She often polishes off an entire stage 2 container in one feeding!  (Once in a while, she’ll have an “I’m not hungry” day in which she barely tolerates food being put in her mouth.)

Jensyn has tried applesauce, mashed bananas, peaches, pears, blueberry applesauce, sweet potatoes, apple-carrot, squash…and a few more…and she’s enjoyed everything she’s tried so far!

She loves her big brothers.  It’s so much fun to watch them run around, and it’s lot of fun when they play with her or try to feed her…

(We kind of have a shortage of girly feeding bibs around here…she often wears camouflage, Chicago Bears, etc…it’s the “curse” of being the third baby, I guess!)

While she’s a laid back and content baby, she’s not always super-smiley.  When she does, though, it lights up her whole face.  Her giggles are amazing, too, once you get her going.

   

She LOVES our dog, Maggie, and shakes her arms & squeals with delight when Maggie is near her. 

She’s finally choosing to roll a bit more.  She’s been able to roll both ways for quite some time, but didn’t really care.  Now she’s always rolling…but not using it for “transportation” just yet.  Jensyn isn’t really a big fan of playing on her tummy, but she’ll do it for a few minutes now and then.

This face is one I see a lot – this little serious face.  I love it!

She LOVES her daddy, and she still lights up every time she sees him.  (Unless she’s super sleepy – then only mommy will do…and she gives me “the look” from across the room, bursts into tears, and screams until I rescue her.)

Jensyn enjoyed playing with Grandpa S when we stayed with them for a few days recently.

She’s such a routine napper – as long as we’re at home, that is.  I know she’ll generally wake around 8 AM, nap around 10 AM, nap again around 2 PM, and go to bed at aruond 8:15 PM.  (I also know she’ll wake between 3 – 4 AM to nurse.)  It’s not to-the-minute, but it’s a general rule that I can use to schedule our days.

Sundays and Bible study days are tricky.  She doesn’t get the good morning nap, and she’s worn out.  I set her under her play gym last week Sunday, and look what happened – an impromptu 12 PM nap. 

She had a very mixed-up day on Thursday when we spent the day at Aunt Deb’s house.  My sisters & I were making applesauce and apple pie filling all day, and Jensyn REFUSED to sleep in the pack n play.  She went all day with only a 30 minute nap…and SCREAMED for the entire one hour drive home, even though it was her bedtime.  This little girl will ONLY sleep well in her crib, but how can I complain when she’s such an AMAZING crib napper? :)

Just a few more random pictures to end the post…

 

  

  

Jensyn ~ We love your little sounds, your adorable grins, your happy smile, your sweet face…we love everything about you!  It’s so hard to believe you are halfway through your first year of life.  We’re enjoying this journey of growing, learning, and becoming your own little person. We love YOU, sweet baby girl!

Tot School – UGH!

We attempted Tot School on Monday, but it didn’t go so well.  Alex had a mini-meltdown, and he chose to spend Tot School time pouting on his bed.  He got angry that he had to do the RRSP board before we work on the theme activities.  That’s happened a few times this fall.   With a crazy week and a bad attitude, I never tried again.

I did some thinking throughout the week.  Tot School is all about having FUN while learning; it’s not about mom forcing tot to do things her way.  If Alex loves our theme pages, then that’s what we’ll do.  Next week, we’ll try doing our regular tot school time, slipping an RRSP letter practice page into the middle of our activities, and doing calendar time.  That might be the solution for Alex’s “silent temper tantrums”.

I’m going to try hanging the RRSP verse in our kitchen so we can review it at mealtimes.  I’ll just hold off on using some of the other elements for now, as Alex obviously isn’t ready for that right now.

What we DID do this week is play together, do puzzles together, build Lego barns, color pictures, make Caillou & Build-A-Bear paper dolls, and make a new color-matching game for Max with Disney Cars characters to match on the squares.  (What did DIDN’T do is take pictures…)

We also spent a day making applesauce & apple pie filling at my sister’s house.  We had just a few apples, ha ha!  Come on over if you want some applesauce; we have plenty! ;)

   

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’m offering a mini-pack that will work well with some of the pages available from 2TeachingMommies and 1Plus1Plus1Equals1.  Click on the picture to see the pack…

You can learn more about RRSP, Preschool Corner, or Tot School by clicking on the links below.  You’ll also see what other moms are doing with their tots and preschoolers!

Not-So-Scary Monsters! (Tot Pack)

COMPLETELY UPDATED IN OCTOBER 2012

{Click on the picture below to link to the free download at Teachers Notebook}

Now On To The Original Post...

If you use this pack, I’d love for you to leave a comment and let me know…especially if you blog about it.  It’s always fun to see how others use these packs in creative ways!  I’ve learned a LOT from reading your blogs & comments!

I’ve been collecting some ideas on Pinterest.  Here’s a link to the board, but below I’ve shared a few favorites…

felt monsters from Nifty, Thrifty, & Thriving…

It would be fun to supply the shapes, eyes, antenna, teeth, etc… and let your child create his own monsters on a felt board!

Isn’t this sandwich from Cute Food For Kids adorable?

CUTE toilet paper roll monsters from RedTedArt…

Visit Giggles Galore for ideas on how to USE this tissue box monster…

Monster Pudding – YUM! – from From Glitter To Gumdrops