Toddler Schooling

January 28, 2012 | posted by | 2 Comments
 
We have been seriously considering homeschooling Elizabeth since before she was born. I realize she’s only 18 months old, but I truly believe parents should be the primary teachers, and that it is our responsibility to teach our kids.

I have been doing age appropriate things with her pretty much since she was born. As part of the Healthy Parenting Challenge, I’ll periodically be sharing a few of the things with you.
You can use anything to teach! Count her blueberries when you give them to her. Name your body parts while you dress her. Name all of the colors of her toys, food, etc…
Something that Elizabeth loves is bath time, so I of course utilize it to teach her!

bath learning
(sorry about the poor pictures, there are few lights and no windows in our master bathroom – and even if there were, bath time is at night)

 IMG_9536 IMG_9537
 IMG_9538 IMG_9541
I teach her to pick out all of the green toys, the red toys, the pink toys, the yellow toys, etc!
And I have her pick out the yellow ducks and the green frogs as displayed in the top picture!
She still needs help picking the first color, but once I put one red things, she can sort them!
Children are much smarter than we think they are. Their little brains can hold and retain so much information, even as babies!

Do you toddler school? I’d love to hear what you do to engage your little’s mind :)

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Mommy Moment, new year challenge, toddler schooling

It Controls Me…

January 26, 2012 | posted by | 14 Comments

 

I’ve shared with you all before how much I worry about leaving Elizabeth without a mother. Don’t get me wrong, I’m equally terrified of losing her, but I also know the pain of losing your mom.

Not a single day goes by that I don’t think the “what-ifs”. It seriously controls me.

I read about this local 29 year old woman two weeks ago who had four young girls, but was fighting for her life. It broke my heart. I’ve thought about it for days. Prayed about it so much. Well just now, I read where she left those girls today on her 29th birthday. I wept for those sweet girls. Only 9, 6, 2, and 4 months. She had to deliver the baby at only 25 weeks because her cancer was spreading too fast. It’s so hard to even type that.

Can you imagine?

It’s things like this that really test my faith. Don’t get me wrong, I know and believe whole-heartedly that God has a time and plan for everything, but… I just can’t imagine. I know there is nowhere better to be, and that it is the ultimate gain to reach Eternity. but…

Since Mom & CJ died, I pay careful attention to even how I put my seatbelt on.

I go out of my way to put special notes on things like the Christmas ornaments (I have a post about how I reorganized my Christmas stuff soon) that I want Elizabeth to know about God forbid, I die before she’s old enough to remember. I make sure to write down and document her pictures incase I’m not here to tell her about her childhood.

It controls me.

I just want Elizabeth to know how much I love her. And I never want her to feel the pain that I’ve had to feel…

us

                             El’s newborn pics by E. Chambliss Photography

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: grief, Mommy Moment, This is Us

18 Month Old Elizabeth

January 9, 2012 | posted by | 1 Comment

Dear Elizabeth,

Happy 18 month Birthday!!!

I cannot believe you are 18 months old. Everyone told me this time would fly by, but I never dreamed it would go this fast. I wish I could just freeze time right now. This is officially my favorite stage of your life. I say that every phase, but for real, I just love it…

You are learning and growing so much! You amaze me every single day!

Your Daddy and I have never prayed for something so much as we’ve prayed for you. You are such a blessing from Him and we can never thank him enough for you. We pray that you grow to have a kind and forgiving heart. We pray that He will continue to help you grow strong and healthy. And we pray that we are the best parents we can be and that He will help us parent you in a way that bring Him glory and ensures that you always follow Him.

You are the most perfect baby. I’m sure every parent says that, but for real, God couldn’t have given a more perfect child for us. You are beautiful and smart and so silly!
You are also very much like me. We will either be best friends or worst enemies when we’re older. You have my stubbornness and strong will for sure!

You love to give kisses, and are so giggly, and girly! I love it so much!

You are saying more and more words every day, too. Here’s a quick list:
Mommy, Daddy, Jade, Sissy, doggy, kitty cat, baby, eyes, belly, boobies, bye bye, hi, no, one two threeee,
NaaNaa, get down, all done, where’s…, duck, night night, uh oh, all gone, love you, tickle tickle tickle, and I’m sure there’s others.
You make it very clear what you want and what you’re trying to say. Though sometimes you speak your own made up language of what I call Polish. AND, you love to sing your ABCs! You excitedly say zeeeee at the very end every time! You don’t sing them very clearly yet, but you definitely know a b c and the tune ’til the end at z!

You’d rather play with your books, tea set, puzzles, and russian dolls than anything else. Which I happen to love and find amazing!

You know what a duck, cow, dog, Indian, lion, and cat (sometimes) say! And you yell, “duck duck duck” anytime you see one!!!

You can also identify a star, baby, mommy, dog, and cat in a book!
You can identify your eyes, ears, mouth, arms, knees, toes, belly, and boobies. You stab yourself in the eyes when someone asks where they are. AND, you like to stab other people in the eye too and exclaim, “EYE”! And you love to dance and do “fast feet”! You crack me up!!!
You are still very attached to your crocheted blanky from Marta & your Kitty Cat!

You are an excellent eater! You don’t always eat a whole lot at meal times anymore, but you’re definitely not picky yet (which I love)! You love to snack on apple crushers, yogurt smoothies, string cheese, baked snap peas, animal crackers, and cheese its!

I’ve started to let you help me cook and you love it! I haven’t successfully gotten you to not taste test though :)

You are so tough! You very rarely cry when you fall. You love for Daddy to throw you around. And you are not afraid of anything!!! You climb up the slide backwards and I cannot keep you off the kitchen table!



Bean, you will never know how much I love you. At least not until you have your own baby. Not in the tightest hugs can you feel how much I love you.


You have taught me soooo much in your short life. So much about myself and about life! You have made me let go of some things in order to cherish you and the time we have together. Know that I will always be here for you. Always. Even when you don’t want me to be and when you don’t need me. I’m sure there will be days when we butt heads, but just know that everything I do in my life and everything I’ve done for the past 2 years has been for you.

I love you, Princess.


With a sugar and a peck and a hug around the neck.


Mommy

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Elizabeth, Mommy Moment

Elizabeth – 14.5 months

September 30, 2011 | posted by | Leave a Comment
Elizabeth Ann, 
You are growing incredible too fast. 
I swear you get prettier and prettier every day, which is remarkable considering you’re already the prettiest baby girl ever.
 
You have the most contagious smile. I find myself laughing at you over and over every day. 
And your personality, oh my, your personality is just amazing. You are such a happy girl.

And your eyes are the most gorgeous shade of blue I’ve ever seen.

You are not afraid of anything. Nothing. You love to climb on top of anything possible.
You are fearless. You loved to be thrown up in the air and riding on top of Daddy’s shoulders. 

You are full of energy. All day every day. Which leads to two awesome naps every day. You love your naps as much as you love to play.

You love to dance. You love to clap. You love to laugh. You love to dress up.

And I love you. More than anything else in the whole wide world, except for our God who gave you to me. I hope your spirit is always joyful. And that you always need me the way you do now. You are perfect, Mini.

With a sugar and peck and a hug around the neck,
Mama

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Elizabeth, Mommy Moment

Some Days…

September 26, 2011 | posted by | Leave a Comment

Some days I feel like such a bad Mommy.

Some days I am already so exhaused by 10:00am that I want to quit.

I over slept this morning (thank you Nyquil) and awoke to my niece here (like every Monday Wednesday & Friday) and needless to say she wasn’t so happy to have her Mama leave. She screamed for 10 minutes. Blood curling, high pitched, whiny two-year-old scream.

She woke Elizabeth up.

Elizabeth wasn’t so happy to be awake yet. And she was soaking wet. I thought maybe from the vaporizer mist (because she’s still kind of sick). Nope, apparently as soon as she got in her bed last night she ripped her diaper off because it was still brand new. I guess sleeping in gowns is out of the question from now on.

So I had to give her a bath. Dress her (which is NOT easy – she hates having her diaper or clothes changed). Wash her bedding and toys. And change her sheets.

Then, I could start our normal routine of preparing and having breakfast. Cleaning up the kitchen. Playing. Cleaning up the dog’s water that Elizabeth dumps out no less than three times a day. And chasing around 2 toddler girls.

I get frustrated. I get impatient. I don’t understand the whiny screaming behavior. It makes me want to scream.

But then I sit down in the quiet of Elizabeth’s 10:00 nap time and remember that this is what I was made for. And that, someday I will miss the sounds of li’l feet trampling down the hall. I’ll miss having the girls here to make messes. I’ll miss the dancing.

So I compose myself and get myself put back together to be the best Mommy I can be for the rest of the day.

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Elizabeth, Mommy Moment

blah

September 9, 2011 | posted by | 1 Comment

This week has been so blah to me. I’m just being honest. Some weeks are super great and you accomplish a lot and you feel like an awesome Mommy. And then there are weeks like this. Sunday it was in the high 80s-90s like it has been for months, and all week (at least ’til yesterday afternoon) it was in the 50s. And rainy and gloomy and yuck (I hate grey days)! El’s been sick, I’ve been sick, Jade’s getting over being sick, A’s getting sick… Because El’s been sick, she’s been super fussy (which is very unlike her), which makes me fussy. A’s been on call all week, so even when he’s home, he’s working… I’ve been on the computer more trying to work on some Shaklee training and networking, so that part of my challenge has not been so great either…

Blah… just one of those weeks. Please tell me I’m not the only one who has weeks like this.

Next week will be better. I’ll make it better. I’ll try harder. I’ll stick to my lists and rest up in the meantime so I can continue to kick this cold or whatever it is. I won’t be so impatient when El refuses to sit still for a diaper change…

Happy Weekend, y’all. Are you doing something special in remembrance of September 11, 2001?

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Mommy Moment, This is Us

Mini Table & Chairs

September 6, 2011 | posted by | 3 Comments
One of the things I was able to retrieve from Mom’s was this li’l table & chairs for Elizabeth. It had a really ugly painting of bunnies on it before the actual “before picture”. I’m sure Mom just didn’t have the time to paint over it, she probably bought it at Goodwill, but I can’t be certain.
Anyway, I wanted it to serve as an overflow table where the kids (I often have a house full of children + my own 14 month old Princess) could eat when the big table filled up, and also as a table where they could create and work at. 
 So I gave taped off the edges and sprayed on a good coat (two I think) of chalkboard paint.
 
After it dried good, I taped a trash bag over the new center and gave the rest of the table & the chairs two good coats of Rustoleum’s heirloom white. 

After the chairs were good and dry (I hate the waiting period between coats) I took a piece of scrapbook paper that I had cut to size and applied Modge Podge to the back of it & to the top of the chair. I smoothed out any bubbles with an old credit card (or store savings card, actually) and then applied a good coat on top for protection.

I hand wrote the words pray, eat, laugh, & create to either the fronts or backs of the chairs, and then painted over it with a green that matched the paper.

And voila, I had a refashioned Mini Table & Chairs, perfect for my Mini.

Who immediately pushed the whole thing to a different spot in the dining room and climbed right up in the chair (her new thing is climbing – up every thing!)

But the good news is, she reallyreally likes it!
 Linking up to House of Grace where I received Queen of Twice Owned last week :)

HOG

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: diy, Elizabeth, Mommy Moment

Must Haves for Baby

July 26, 2011 | posted by | Leave a Comment

Since Mini is 1 now, I thought I’d do a recollection of things that I would not have wanted to do without with her, or when she becomes a possible big sister.

Here’s a compilation of things that she and I both loved!

*Comfort & Harmony Bouncer – she didn’t so much love the bouncer itself, because quiet frankly I couldn’t sit her down for more than 15 minutes at a time when she was still li’l enough to stay in it. (Keep in mind that she was mobile and crawling at 5.5 month). However, she LOVED the vibrator that was removable. I had to tuck it under her swaddled feet and later against her side until she was probably 9 months old, and even now, sometimes to put her back to sleep I’ll cut it on.


BaaBaa Sheep – was definitely a favorite of hers! She loved this toy! And still does! It was definitely her favorite for a good while. And then we lost it, and had to wait to order a new one… It was quiet dramatic.

Rock & Play Sleeper – I loved this! It was small enough to travel with (remember, we made a 16 hour road trip, and took her to church camp when she was 3 months), move from room to room, and it folded up so easy! It was the perfect size for her li’l immobile body, and I’m sure it’s size was comforting unlike a big overwhelming crib/pack&play. It allowed her to sleep right beside me until she was 4 months old when she started turning over more and generally outgrew it. They have it in several colors now, but only had it in the fun yellow polka dots (which I happen to like) when she was born. It also comes with a cute li’l toy/rattle.

here you can see the vibrator mentioned above. She was only 9 days old here! Sorry it’s blurry.

Vacuum Noise – Seriously, do not think I’m crazy because I have many witnesses that can testify to the glory of this awesome iPhone app! Anytime El was super fussy and I couldn’t soothe her, I would cut the vacuum noise on and she would immediately calm down and quit crying. I don’t know why or how it works, but it does. I discovered it by reading lots of suggestions online for cutting the vacuum on for baby, or recording your vacuum to save it’s life. I would put my phone on airplane mode (you know because of the studies linking cell phone usage to brain cancer, I didn’t want to chance her li’l developing noggin’) and sleep with it tucked in her li’l cradle all night. Andrew didn’t think we’d ever get a quiet nights sleep without either her crying or the rumble of a vacuum. I used it in the car too on many occasions!

Video Baby Monitor – I still use this. In fact, I just got a back up one because my original (bought used) has started getting hard to charge. But, I love it! I love being able to see her, and also love it’s mobility. Some video monitors aren’t portable, but hers is very portable. We always take it with us when we travel, and it allows me to be outside or even working in the garage without worry while she sleeps.


Cradle / Swing – We were blessed with 3 different swings (all from our great friend & dentist along with a walker, a jumparoo, and other goodies), but this was definitely the favorite! It has 3 different positions and several different song/noises to choose from. She loved the side to side motion. Some nights it was all I could do to put her in that and allow it to rock her to sleep while I soaked up some much needed sleep myself. Again, she didn’t want to be anywhere but my arms during the day for more than 15 minutes, but sometimes this gave me a few more minutes.

Fuzzy Blankies – Bean LOVES her blankies! We have 4 of these (different colors of course, in fact you can see them in most pictures above). These were perfect for swaddling her with as a newborn, and we’ve always covered her with one since. She is very attached to a crocheted blanket my bestie made, but we always cover her with this at night too. And now, she insists on having all 4 of these pulled out along with her favorite and the 2 backup crocheted blankies! This girl is a blankie fool! So at any given time, there are 7 blankets strewn around my house! Usually in one big pile or being dragged around by her…

bottles – I nursed her exclusively for a good bit, and had to start supplementing when she was 4 weeks old. Even with my strong pursuit & desire to only breastfeed, my milk supply never agreed. I used these bottles, and I don’t know if she just wasn’t a gassy baby, or if the bottles really work, but she never (or not that I remember in the fog of Mommy brain) was colicy or gassy using these.

Sippy cup clip – I use these so often! To keep her from throwing it in the car, or throwing out of the shopping cart or stroller! Keeps them within her reach and off the yucky ground!

organic puffs & organic yogurt melts – these were some of her first “finger foods” and snacks she still love! I didn’t have to worry too much about the sugar content and other fillers/nutrients in other puffs & melts having these! They also make gluten free puffs! But these are kale, spinach, and greens!

Busy Toy – She use to love this during tummy time, it was definitely a favorite, if not the favorite toy. Once she started using her hands, she would spin the li’l balls and things all around! Now, she carries it around like a gigantic rattler and bangs it on stuff. Ha.

And that’s all I can think of for now, but I’m certain there will be others that come along!

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Baby, Elizabeth, Home Making, Mommy Moment

1 Year Old Elizabeth

July 25, 2011 | posted by | 1 Comment

Elizabeth Ann, my beautiful one year old Mini,

I simply cannot believe how fast your first year flew by and how quickly you have changed from a teeny tiny 7lb swaddled baby into an energetic 19lb toddling li’l girl. I have absolutely loved being able to enjoy nearly every second of your first year with you. It has been one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever been given, and it is my hope that you have enjoyed it and will forever be changed by our times together as I have.

Changed me, you have for sure done. You have changed almost every aspect of my life. From the way I look at life to the way I appreciate it, and the way I make every choice. Even li’l everyday ones like what to eat for lunch. I have prayed my whole life, but I have never in my life prayed for something as much as I pray for you.

Bean, I cannot express how much I love you. Not even in the tightest squeezes can you possibly feel what’s in my heart. Some days it is so overfilled with love and passion and happiness that it physically hurts. I know I tell you all day and that “Goodnight, My Princess, I love you” is always the very last thing you hear at night, but I don’t think there’s anyway for you to feel it until you become a Mommy yourself. I always knew my Mama loved me, but never understood the extent of it ’til God gave me you.

It is my greatest fear, and constant worry, that something terrible will happen to you. But it is often trumped by the fear of something happening to me. I read just yesterday this terrible story of how a family lost their 3 year old princess, and I’ve been so sad ever since. But, I know I am strong. And, I also know what the hurt feels like to lose your Mommy, and because I love you so much, I hope you never have to experience that hurt.

God forbid something should happen to me, LizzyBean, I hope and pray that you know I love you. I want you to know that I will always be with you, just as your BB is always with me. God will allow you to feel me just as He does for me, so please don’t be scared. It will hurt, very bad, but know that it can be somewhat defeated by lots of prayer. God will wrap His huge arms around you and protect you. For I know that somehow His love for you is greater than my love for you, which is unbelievable. If something should happen, please always follow your heart. Chase your own dreams, and don’t live your life for anyone other than God. Allow him to be your number one, and anything will be achievable. Trust me. I pray that one day you will find a man as great as your Daddy and that you will love each other as much as your Daddy & I love each other. And then, when God’s timing is right, may he bless you with a blessing like He gave me.


But until that day, I will always live everyday with you as if it’s one of our last. Full of tickles and snuggles and songs. Full of giggles, snacks, and open-mouthed kisses.

I love you, my big blue-eyed one year old.

With a sugar and a peck and a hug around the neck,

Mama

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Elizabeth, Mommy Moment

Real Quick

April 6, 2011 | posted by | Leave a Comment

I know I need to blog.

There’s LOTS of things brewing in my mind.

One of those topics has to do with this song I just heard for the first time and HAD to share. I swear, it’s like my mother just sang into the radio. It’s everything she would say to me.

LOVELOVELOVE it.

This is definitely my new song to Elizabeth (who is 9 months old today).

alternate text
connect
instagram rss pinterest twitter facebook Default
Filed Under: Elizabeth, Mommy Moment, My Mom
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»
Easy AdSense by Unreal