30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 11 - 20

Continued from Day 1-10....

Day 11: I am thankful for all of the men and women who have served or are currently serving for our country! 

Thank you!

Day 12: I am thankful that I was taught how to cook. I love to cook meals for my family, and I love that they LOVE to eat whatever I make them!

Day 13: I am thankful for weekends or days off! As short as they may be, I am thankful that they do exist.  Not only do I get to spend all my time with baby girl, but they allow me to get all most of my cleaning done that I have slacked on over the week.

Day 14: I am thankful for the days that we can just spend at home....when we don't HAVE to go anywhere. It is nice to hang out, just us 3, and stay in our jammies all day long. 

Day 15: I am thankful for my parents. Without them, I wouldn't be here today!

Day 16: I am thankful for having a roof over my head and food to feed my family with. 


Day 17: I am thankful for growing up in the area of the world where my parents chose to raise me. Gotta love small town living!


Day 18: I am thankful for days where my daughter is in a good mood!  I very much dislike when she is having PMS. (I SWEAR)!


Day 19:  I am thankful for the times that Ryan and I can just get away and have dinner and go see a movie without the little one tagging along. I love Olivia to death, but sometimes it is just nice to go out and have an adult conversation without worrying if anyone has to go potty!


Day 20:  I am thankful for Education. I am thankful for being lucky enough to go to college and earn a degree in Early Childhood Education.  Even though it probably won't ever get me hired on at a grade school, I still am thankful for having that degree!




Coming soon: Day 21 - 30.

Did that just happen?

Two blogs in one day....watch out!! lol. 

Two events happend today that I MUST share with you. Both I can't believe they really happened, but they did. Here goes:

1. Olivia had to pee outside today at a rest stop. We were on our way to Chester to Reid's Harvest House after church this morning. In Ellis Grove, she said she needed to potty. We didn't know what to do because there is NO WHERE to stop between Ellis Grove and Chester. We came across a small rest stop and decided to pull in. We noticed when we pulled in that there was a board over one of the doors, but we thought that maybe it was just to hold the door shut or something. We were wrong. Both doors were boarded shut...I guess because they don't want to pay someone to clean them anymore or something. Well, they need to put a sign up or something because There is mass amounts of fecal matter, urine, and toilet paper/paper towels wadded up and in the corners of the outside of both of the bathrooms!!!!! EEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!  We were not about to have Olivia try to potty on top of that so we took her away from it and as cars are driving by on the highway, here are Ryan and I holding Olivia  so she can pee without getting her clothes wet. Ryan had her arms, I had the feet. BAHAHAHA!   It was the funniest sight I've ever seen!  Too bad we were both needed to help her potty, because if not, I would have had Ryan tape it to embarrass her later in life!  (LOVE YOU LIVY!)

2. We were nearly ran off the road by a semi  today. As we were on our way to Chester, by their golf course, a large semi was coming around the corner. There was a bicyclist on the semi's side of the road, but they were in the rocks off of the road. The semi could have easily slowed down and gone around the cyclist without having to swerve, but because they weren't paying attention (most likely texting) they swerved into our lane causing Ryan to swerve into the curb and into the grass to avoid getting smeared across the high way!  Yep...no joke, it really happened!  We were thankful that God was watching over us to help guide our car in the proper place on the road to avoid an accident. I even told Ryan that someone was there with him helping him drive, because it didn't even feel like the tires left the highway. It was a very smooth transition from road, to curb, to grass, to curb, to road, that it almost felt like we were being guided.  Thank You Lord for saving our lives today!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 1 - 10

Over the next 30 days I am going to post something that I am thankful for every day. I got the idea from someone on Facebook, but I'd rather do it on here and try to train myself to start blogging every day!  

So here goes:

Day 1: I am very thankful to have family that love us so much.  I'm not just talking about my blood family, I mean my married family as well! We are very blessed. Our family is doing us a WONDERFUL favor by saving us a day care bill. Everyone in Olivia's life, loves her so much that they all decided to take one day a week to watch her. Olivia is learning her days of the week by who watches her that day. (Nu-Nu/Johnny-Monday, Mama Tammy-Tuesday, Granny- Wednesday, Mommy-Thursday, Mama Jaci-Friday) bahahaha. The great part is that if someone can't watch her on their day, they will usually switch with someone else or we even have back up, if no one is available. (Ryan's parents and my dad.)   Sometimes I wonder if they truly know how thankful that we are!  And that we wouldn't make it without them. "It takes a village".....more like it takes a family!  

We truly are blessed to have such a great family!  


Day 2: I am thankful that Ryan and I both have jobs. Are they perfect, no, but we are very fortunate that we have both found employment and have kept it. With so many out of work and looking, we are grateful for what we do have. 

Day 3: I am thankful for my husband, Ryan. We have been together since April of 2000, and married since March of 2008. He has seen me at my best and worst, I can trust him with anything. He is my best friend. Like every couple, we do have our occasional argument, but we get through it, and it makes us stronger. I couldn't ask for a better person to be my soul mate. I love him for who he is more every day of our lives together.  

Day 4:  I am thankful that the Lord blessed me with a baby girl. Yes I do want at least one more child in the future, but one is enough for now. I love my daughter so very much. She brightens up my worst days just my smiling at me. She and I usually get to spend every Thursday together at home, just us two. I LOVE every minute of it!  We just play and laugh all day long!  My wish for the future is that when she grows up, she and I will have that best friend mother/ daughter relationship that I see, and envy, with so many other mother/daughters. I love you Olivia!

Day 5:  I am thankful that Ryan and I have finally found a church that we actually enjoy going to. We have not officially joined yet, but we will be looking into it very soon. We love that Olivia has some family that goes there as well. We want Olivia to grow up to love the church that she belongs to and we want her to enjoy what she is hearing during the service. We want for her to WANT to go to church and not like she HAS to go just because Ryan and I are making her. We are very excited to start this new chapter of our lives. 

Day 6: I am thankful for my friends, old and new. I am thankful to still have friends from high school that I know will always be there if I ever need them....even though I miss them terribly!  Never really getting to see each other but 2-4 times a year really isn't enough and I truly do miss my friends. It is always so nice when we do get to visit, that I never want the day to end.  I am thankful for the new friends I have made through work. It is really nice to have people to talk to, (that you actually get along with), who work with you, and understand the day to day stresses of working at a preschool/daycare. Thank you friends, for being there for me!

Day 7: I am thankful for the things in life that make me laugh so hard that I cry!  After laughing that hard, I always feel full of joy...almost rejuvenated. It is an absolutely wonderful feeling!  My daughter and husband make me laugh each and every day and I am so very thankful for that! 

Day 8:  I am thankful for nap time for by daughter. I love my daughter like crazy, but there comes a point in the day that I just need a break. This break usually happens at the same time every day...when she starts whining about EVERY LITTLE THING, and nothing will please her, it is time for nap!  It allows her to recharge her battery, and lets me recharge my sanity! LOL

Day 9: I am thankful for Doctors and health insurance. Without them, we couldn't diagnose the minor/major problems with our bodies. I have been having some issues with my heart and finally got it checked out. I had to get blood work, and make an appointment for and EKG and possibly have to wear a heart monitor. Hopefully everything will be good news after all is said and done, but it is nice to have a doctor that I can go to when I have a problem, and know that I can afford to make an appointment and not have to suffer with the discomfort. 


Day 10: I am thankful for books. During nap time at work, if I am not busy with anything else, I get to read a book from 12:00 - 2:30. It is so nice to have a designated time to actually read a book, uninterrupted. I love books that suck you in, and having that 2.5hrs to read is very nice!

play date and birthday party fun!

Olivia's play date with E went very well!  This was E's first time not staying with family while Mommy left and she was a little upset, but quickly calmed down once I started Tangled (Olivia's favorite movie). They played hard, cooking, wagon ride, climbers/slides, sand/water table, coloring, reading, baby dolls, all sorts of fun

Here are a few pictures from their play date and a video: 

 

Holding hands & watching Tangled

watching Tangled

busy cooks!

 

sand/water table play

wagon ride!!

Here is a video of them dancing to Tangled:

 

E's B-day was really fun too. Olivia sang the whole b-day song before E blew out her cake. Olivia did GREAT while E was opening her gifts. She kept covering her mouth and saying "oh my goodness!" when she would open a gift Olivia liked. It was really cute!  

Now it's onto another work week and another busy weekend ahead!

Enjoy the week.

PTL, We might have done it!

Olivia slept in her bedroom all night last night! PTL!!! 

We struggled with getting her to sleep in her bed pretty much since she was born. She wasn't necessarily sleeping in our bed, but from the time we brought her home, she always slept in our room..first, in her pack-n-play (bassinet feature), second, our bed, and third, we finally broke down and put her mattress into our room on the floor so that she could be in our room, but not in our bed. A friend from work actually gave me the idea to put her bed in our room because she knew someone that had to do it and it worked for them. 

From the time we moved her bed, she always snuggled with me in bed and fell asleep, then once asleep, Ryan would move her to her mattress, and most nights, she would stay in her own bed. Usually if she woke up, it would be after Ryan got up and she could hear him getting ready and would crawl into bed with me. No big deal. 

Here is her bed now:

Yesterday, I spent the entire day cleaning her bedroom and getting it ready for her play date with E tomorrow. I knew that I couldn't leave her bed empty like it was because it is a safety hazard. So, I washed all her bedding, made it up, and sure enough, after she fell asleep, Ryan carried her to her room and she never made a sound!  I slept like crap of course, because I didn't know if she was okay. I think I woke up like 15 times to 'pee' and check on her. lol. 

When I woke her up this morning, I praised her for staying in her bed all night long. She jumped into my arms for a hug, and then said, "I don't like the scary monkey!"  I assume that she was having a dream of some kind, so I told her that she doesn't need to be scared of a monkey and that mommy and daddy would tell it to go away. She then said, "Okay, But Daddy and Papa Bob need to shoot it!"  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  

I love that she always wants them to kill her bad dreams away!

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Being busy....that is an UNDERSTATEMENT!

We have been so busy lately, that I truly haven't had 10 minutes to sit down at the computer since my last blog!

We have had something to do every weekend since September 17th!  Wedding, Parade, Apple Picking, Appelbaum Training, Pumpkin Picking, etc. and we have every weekend full until October 29th!  Between work, cleaning, cooking, and trying to keep my sanity when I don't actually have a weekend off, I"d have to say I am pretty beat.  But today is my day off during the week, so here I sit at 8:00am while my baby girl is still asleep. 

Here are a few of my favorite pics from apple picking this year:

                         

SUCCESS!

TASTING

GIVING DADDY A TASTE

RIDING A RIDE

IN THE APPLE

DRIVING THE GREEN TRACTOR

DRIVING THE RED TRACTOR

She really did have a blast!

So, on a bit of a sour note, my dish washer broke! This really does suck!  I know that this may sound silly, but it really is hard to wash dishes in my sink. Because of how our house was made, our sink is like only 4-6 inches deep. Why they didn't put a deeper sink in, I have no idea, but whatever. I can only wash 2 things at one time without making a watery mess, and I can't let anything soak in my sink, because again, it's not deep enough. But believe me when I say that I am not opposed to doing dishes in the sink (like some may think). I am NOT lazy and I am not a bad person for Not wanting to stand for an hour to wash dishes from the weekend when we haven't been home while I have a screaming 2 year old that just wants me to play with her or sit and watch Tangled. I've grown up in a time where we always had a dishwasher. Don't tell me that I am being lazy, when I was raised with a dishwasher.  This dishwasher is only 3 years old. We bought it when we first moved in. The town we live in has such hard water, that we believe the calcium deposits burned up the motor. Ryan and I are not even sure we want to replace it right away because we don't want the same thing happening again. Some of our neighbors said they have even purchased a water softener, and it still doesn't help. So for now, no dishwasher. Just hope I don't break my hands, because then we are really screwed!. LOL

Today Liv and I are cleaning her room for a very special guest that is coming on Saturday. Liv is gonna have a play date with one of my best friends daughter. She has not stopped talking about it all week!  Every morning she wakes up and says, "E, coming today?" and I have to tell her not till Saturday. She can't wait for her to get here. 

The rest of our October looks like this:
Oct 8 - Play date with E

Oct 9 - E's b-day party

Oct 15 - 16 - Ryan's sisters b-day and Pumpkin Picking, just us 3

October 22 - bonfire

October 29 - 30 - free at the moment, however I am sure that someone will want to do something and we will have to go.

October 31 - HALLOWEEN!  We are taking Liv trick-or-treating this year for the first time.(we normally just hand out candy somewhere). She picked out her costume already and LOVES it!  I have to do some quick alterations to it because they only had it in a size 4T, but all it will need is some Velcro and with will be perfect!  

hopefully my next blog won't be a month from now!

   

better late than never, weekend wrap up

WOW did we have a busy weekend!

Saturday we attended Shara & Scott's wedding & reception. Livy was so excited to see Ms. Shara in her dress. She kept saying she looks like a princes....like "Cin-da-lella". It was too cute!  She didn't make it through the whole ceremony before crashing out on my shoulder though. Livy was excited to dance at the reception!  This was the first time Ryan and I have let her go on the floor with only some other kids. She had lots of fun dancing with some other girls that attend the day care I work at. But of course, all fun must come to and end. I noticed her looking around trying to find me to tell me she needed to go potty, and when she found me and started walking toward me, of course she had to get plowed over by some idiot child who thought the dance floor was a running track!  (SIDE NOTE: I HATE WHEN PARENTS DON"T WATCH/CONTROL THEIR CHILDREN AT WEDDING RECEPTIONS!! WATCH YOUR FREAKING KID YOU IDIOT!!)  This kid ran into her so hard that her face slammed into the ground. She had a red spot on her cheek where she smacked the floor with her face, and the next day she woke up with a bruise on her lip!    After she fell, and we made it to the potty, I decided that I would just go and dance with her. She really enjoyed dancing while I was there with her. She wore me out shaking her groove thang!  Just after 9:00pm, we decided to leave since she was getting really tired. She crashed as soon as we got home that night. 

Sunday, we got up early for church and after, we went out for a nice breakfast. I was dumbfounded when Liv asked me for pink meat for breakfast. I couldn't figure out what she was wanting until I read the menu and discovered she was wanting ham and eggs for breakfast!  LOL! sometimes she just cracks me up.  After church, and a full belly, Liv and I crashed for a nap.  Ryan woke us up around 1:00 to get ready to go to his parents house for the Evansville Parade. This was Livy's first parade where she could collect the candy herself. She really enjoyed getting all the candy...she just couldn't believe people just give away candy. I was a little irked when a lady handing out beads didn't just throw them on the ground like everyone else. She actually CHUCKED them at Olivia!  They hit her right in the face!  And I don't just mean like 2 necklaces, I mean like a whole wad of 5 of them!  Liv didn't cry or anything, but it still upset me as to how stupid this lady could be.   After the parade, we headed home and met Olivia's great, great aunt and uncle and cousin Jenny for dinner where Olivia stuffed her face with salad and pizza. When we got home, we all crashed out from the long weekend. 

Enjoy the rest of you week!!

Great day?...Not so much!

Thursday is my normal day off, but instead of staying home today, I decided that I would take Olivia shopping to Target and meet Ryan for lunch. We are going to a wedding this weekend, I needed to pick up a gift. Olivia has been really great about telling me when she needs to go potty, so much to the point that I rarely ask her if she needs to go anymore. As we were pulling into Target on 15, Livy tells me that she needs to potty. I told her that we would go as soon as we got into the store. When it is just me and, her, I prefer to use the family restroom because it is just easier. So today that is where we headed. We walked in to Target, and to our luck, the door was unlocked......

Now usually when a door is unlocked, that means that the bathroom is unoccupied. Well, this one was not....

Olivia and I walked in on a man POOPING!

He jumped (obviously not expecting anyone to come in), and said oh, sorry. All I could do was close the door and go straight to the women's bathroom. After Livy was done with her business, I just hugged her and said sorry you had to see that man. Of course, she didn't understand what I meant. 

Now I am left to wonder if the man did it on purpose or was it legitimately an accident?  When we were printing out a registry, I saw the man exit the bathroom, and walk out of the Target store. He hadn't purchased anything. The more and more I think about it, it really creeps me out!  I actually am starting to regret that I didn't report it to customer service so they could watch for him and make sure that he doesn't do it again. 

And to top the day off, Olivia peed in her pants in the Wendy's parking lot and I spent 30 min in the women's bathroom trying to dry her pants with the automatic hand dryer, because of course, I didn't bring a change of clothes today!

Hope everyone elses day was much better than mine!

Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather!!

Fun day with my baby girl

I am very happy that today, Olivia and I finally had a great day off together!  Thursday is my normal week day off and I love to spend it with my baby girl, but over the past few Thursdays, she has not been in a hang out with mommy mood. She has been waking up on the wrong side of the bed, and not napping during the day, then acting extremely crabby at night because she is overly tired.  It even started making me think that I should go back to working every day of the week since it seemed like she didn't want to hang out with mommy. But today was A LOT different. I asked her last night if she wanted to go to the park today or go swimming and she chose the park. This morning, when she woke up, the first thing she said was, "We're going to the park today mommy!" I was relieved that she woke up happy today. It definitely started our day out right!

After breakfast and showers, we packed up and headed to the park. It was hot today, but rather nice in the shade!  There was a breeze blowing and the entire playground was covered with shade so I didn't have to worry about her getting over heated. We were the only ones there, so Olivia had the freedom to play on any slide she wanted without being overrun with other children.   

All in all, it was an excellent day!  Here are a few pictures from the park: 

Terrible Two's, plus a bit more

I think we have finally entered the terrible two's stage of Olivia's life. I've been waiting and waiting for this time to come, and even though I knew it was coming, I still am not prepared for it. Everyone that watches Olivia during the week just brag and brag about how well behaved she is for them. I am very proud of her for this. I just wish that she was as good for us. I'm not gonna lie. Olivia is very VERY well behaved when we go out in public for a two year old. I am usually very happy with her behavior when we go grocery shopping our out to eat. It is the time she spends at home with Ryan and I that she is at her worst!  She struggles to explain to us exactly what she is wanting so when we ask her to repeat herself, she throws a huge fit. Or when she wants to do something that she knows she can't do and we tell her no, she throws a huge fit. Some of her fits have lasted up to 30 minutes!  It is very exhausting when she does this. I am happy though, that she doesn't act that way for others because it is rather embarrassing.

The newest part of the terrible two's is that Olivia has picked up a few curse words. I am not going to sit here and claim that Ryan and I are innocent and she didn't hear some of them from us, but I know she hears them from one person in her life. I will say what she said Sunday night, I know she didn't hear from either of us!  The first time I heard her curse was actually last Wednesday night when my dad (papa jim) and brother (uncle bubba) came over for a visit. She was doing something at her table and when whatever she was doing didn't go right, she said, "What the Hell?!?"  We told her that she couldn't say that but could say what the heck.  Well, now I am not so sure about that either and last night I started telling her she could say what in the world. I think that sounds much better than heck or hell. 

Then Sunday evening is when she let the real curse words she knows come out. She dropped the F-bomb!  The first time she was looking at a book of Ryan's that doesn't have any pictures in it. Ryan was hanging up clothes and wasn't talking to her and all of a sudden she says, "This is F****** stupid!"  I asked her what she said and she told me she didn't know. I then told her that she cannot say that and that it isn't okay, but I didn't want to repeat the F-word to her because was afraid she would repeat it. Later that night, she was jumping on her mattress (which is on our floor because she won't sleep in her room), and she fell off almost hitting her head on our bed frame. When I told her to stop because she could get hurt, she did it again. Then I told her that was her last warning or she was getting time out and she looked at me and said, "Are you F****** kidding me?!?"  I immediately gasped and sat her on the bed for a long talk. Again, I didn't want to repeat the F-word to her so I just said that it is not nice to use curse words and when she does that it makes mommy and daddy sad. Then I went through the list of all the family (mommy, daddy, papa jim, pam, uncle bubba, granny, papa dale, sissy, emily, uncle kenny, aunt darleen, mama tammy, papa craig, grandma monica, tiffy, paige, mama jaci, papa bob, nunu, johnny, and jenny)  and how it makes them so sad when she uses curse words. I had her bawling by the time I was done talking because she didn't want her family to be sad. She has not used the f-word since Sunday, so I am thinking that I may have gotten through to her. I just hope that I can break her of using any curse words before she says something in public!

The weather is supposed to get hot again for a few days, so stay cool!!

busy, busy, busy!

It's been a while since I posted my last blog, but I can not say it was due to me being lazy!  I have been so busy with work and family stuff, I seriously haven't' had the time to just sit at the computer and type.

I officially started with my new class on Monday. So far so good. It's always hard with a new class. My kiddos that moved up were so good at knowing my rules and knowing that I am SERIOUS when I say it is time to pick up that it is hard to have this new class of kids that just refuse to pick up the toys. I've decided to implement a new behavior system with this group and I hope that it works for them. We set up our classroom rules and discussed how our sticker charts work, and I think they really get it. I had a few kiddos say today, "you better pick up your toy, because if you don't your name will be moved to yellow!"  Something new for me in this particular room is that I have a couple of children who are not all the way potty trained yet. When I taught in the 2 year old room, none of the kids were potty trained so potty time was scheduled into our daily routine. Potty time in the room I am in now is just when you have to go, just go.  I have not had any children who were not potty trained in this room yet, so it has been difficult to get back into the swing of things and remembering that they need to potty more often to keep their pull-ups dry. Hopefully with a bit more practice, I will get the hang of it again. And I am hoping that I can whip them into shape and get them out of pull-ups ASAP!  I do like to try to put them in underwear when I feel they are ready, but until they are staying consistently dry in their pullup when we potty, they will stay in their pull-up.

This past weekend, Ryan took Olivia and I to the Mills Mall for the first time!  I didn't realize how flipping big that mall actually is!  We had a BLAST walking around and looking at all the shops. Olivia had lots of fun too until she was ready to pass out for nap and we were only half way through the mall. Her stroller isn't the best for sleeping so I felt really bad for her that she wasn't comfortable. We found lots of great deals on clothes though!  Since Livy's birthday is in June she got all summer clothes at her party. I love that she gets clothes, but that left us with NOTHING for the fall. The Children's Place has had some wonderful back to school sales going on and I just had to take advantage while I could. Old Navy had some great deals this weekend too!  We had the opportunity to go to the Carters store at the Mills....needless to say, the next time we have a baby, we will definitely be headed there!  

Speaking of babies, thanks to my husband, last week for one day, the Facebook world thought I was pregnant!  Believe me when I say that I am not!  Not that I don't want to be...because if we were financially ready for a maternity leave, we would definitely be trying for another one soon, but until we can get enough saved up to cover a maternity leave, we won't be having another baby.  Who knows though...that could mean a few months or another year...

Weekend Wrap Up

I took Olivia to the mall yesterday while Ryan was at the Shooting Complex for the last day of the Grand. Usually when Olivia and I go shopping alone, it is on a Thursday and the mall isn't really busy. Well, Saturday is a much different story. I couldn't believe how crowded the mall was. The stores weren't bad but the mall itself and the food court was crazy busy. I was going to take Olivia to get something to eat around 11:00 but after I got in line I realized that the crowd was so tightly packed that I couldn't breathe...and that there was no way that I could watch Olivia, my purse (which the zipper is broken), my phone in my open purse, order our food, carry our drinks and food, and push the stroller alone. It was right about when this happened, that my phone rang. I got out of line and to my surprise it was Ryan. He was bored at the Grand and decided he wanted to join us at the mall and for lunch. Needless to say I was ecstatic!  I pushed Olivia back towards Sears so we could get a lemonade from the pretzel stand and wait for Ryan, and that's when we saw him....the reason the mall was so packed full that day:

 The line for Sponge Bob wrapped from the escalators in front of JC Penney all the way to Sears.  They also had face painting, balloon animals, decorate your own cookie, and something from the pretzel place. Also, Macy's was having Hello Kitty!  Of all the days for me to pick to go alone to the mall, it had to be this one!  But I must say that I am thankful that Ryan decided to join us for lunch and shopping the rest of the afternoon!  I don't really know  how I would have gotten Olivia fed if he hadn't shown up. I decided that Ryan's isn't allowed to let us go shopping alone on a Saturday anymore until she gets older!  I doubt he is excited about that haha. 

Being the nice husband that Ryan is, and after spending last Thursday - Sunday away from the house at the Grand, he decided to buy me a new bag and sunglasses. I'm not all about labels, I just want a bag that doesn't resemble a diaper bag, and that functions the way I need it to, and that shuts all the way and won't let my stuff fall out! I don't know about you, but I'd say Ryan did an excellent job of helping me pick out a bag: 

 

As another gift from Ryan, he is taking Olivia and I to the Mills Mall next Saturday!  I have some coupons to the Children's Place and I want to go to their outlet store. I have never been to the Mills Mall, so I am looking forward to it very much!!

Time for school!.....wait, seriously?!?

The new school year is fast approaching, and with all of our older preschoolers going to kindergarten, this means I will be getting a new class of 3 yr old preschoolers. I am excited to be getting a new class, however, I am very sad to see most/all of my kiddos move up to 4yr old preschool. My very first class that I ever taught at DYC are all going to kindergarten next week.  It is hard enough to see them grow up, but this class that I am teaching now is going to be even harder to see them move up. I taught most/all of them when they were in the 2 year old rooms, and then when I moved to one of the 3 year old preschool rooms, I was excited to learn that most/all of my 2yr old kids were moving with me. I have had these kiddos for two years now and I am not ready to let them go. I love my kiddos and I love that they love to tell me all sorts of stories about the events of their lives. It takes such a long time to get to know a new class. And you wouldn't believe the age difference between a 3 year old and an almost 4 year old. It is incredible!  I am going to miss that the all the children in my class know the days of the week and the months of the year, etc and this new class isn't going to know the answers to my questions. But there lies the fun part. Now I get to mold new minds, preparing them for upper pre-k and kindergarten.  

Another positive note is that Fall is fast approaching. The fall months are my favorite to plan for because all of my lessons just come naturally. Actually September - May are the easiest to plan for...it is those darn summer months that really stink to plan for. I believe this is why school teachers take the summer months off....so they don't have to plan during these hard months! lol. just kidding!. 

I do hope, that I get to have my class roster soon though. I would really like to start preparing for my new class. Not that I am ready to push my old class out the door, but I absolutely hate to start a new class with nothing of 'theirs' on the walls. I like to make cubby tags, table tags, name tags on the door and circle time, sleeping spots, etc. and have that all done for when they arrive the first day. I believe that this makes the room seem more friendly and not so blank! It is nice for parents to feel comfortable and have a 'home' for their child and not just another room to put their things in. Seriously, it would be nice to get my roster soon...and not at the last minute. hint hint! :)

Well, that's all I've got for now. Time to get Olivia to bed.

Mommy's kisses can heal the world

One of my most favorite things about being a mommy is that at the moment, Olivia believes that my kisses can heal anything. Take today for example, Ryan and I took Olivia swimming at a friends house, as she was exiting the pool area, she fell off of a small rise in the concrete and scraped her knee. Ryan went to get her up off the ground and she cried, "Oh no! I need a band aid!" After applying the band aid, while still whimpering, she said, "Mommy, kiss it and make the ouchie better." I bent down, and kissed her band aid and she said, "tank you mommy, you make it all better." I know it is a little silly but it makes my heart melt that she needs me in that way. She is growing up so fast and is officially no longer a baby anymore. My 2 year old daughter is officially potty trained! 

I have had people ask me about how we went about potty training. We didn't have any fancy tricks, I promise. We introduced potty training to Olivia when she was about 18 months old. We didn't push it on her, but just wanted her to get comfortable with using the potty. We did buy her a toilet insert in case the introduction went well and she wanted to continue using it and big girl pullups for easy access.  Pullups were not a good choice for us. Olivia has never had an allergy to diapers, but for some reason, pullups seemed to bother her waste line. I believe it was because the smallest size we could get was a 2T, when her waste line at 18months was still fitting in 12month pants. We immediately switched back to diapers. It went well for the first couple of weeks, and then we got busy with life and kind of dropped the subject. As Olivia's birthday was fast approaching, one day at work, a coworker brought her baby cousin or niece (I can't remember) into work for a quick visit. The little girl was wearing underwear and was younger than Olivia. I couldn't believe it, and at that point I decided it was time to hit potty training hard!  I did some research online and stumbled onto an article about going straight from diapers to underwear. I can't remember what the article was called or I would post a link for it on here. The article said that sometimes it was best to just put a child into underwear and take them to the potty every 30-60min, but to also let them have a few accidents so they can understand why they should not potty in their underwear. I talked it over with Ryan, and that weekend, we went to purchase Olivia her first set of big girl underwear. She was so excited because she got to pick them out. I put them on her that weekend, and she did great! We also purchased an elmo potty chair because even with a step stool, Olivia was not quite tall enough to get onto the potty without one of us lifting her.  We did have quite a few accidents, but that following Monday, I sent her to her aunts house in underwear and she only had one accident. Seriously from that point on, Olivia wants to go potty on the big potty and not in her underwear.  Seriously, she will scream at us in the car that she has to go potty, even when she has a diaper on because she hates having accidents.  We just recently have even taken her in the car to Fair View Heights and no accidents!  We do make a stop about half way there to go potty just in case, but still, we have yet to have an accident in the car!  Now the only time that she wears a diaper is nap time, overnight sleeping time, or if we are in the car and know we aren't going to be able to stop for a break. I couldn't be happier that we no longer have to buy mass amounts of diapers, but i am a bit sad that my baby isn't a baby anymore.   So my advice to anyone looking for potty training tips is: PUT YOUR CHILD IN UNDERWEAR, IT WORKS! 

And speaking of my growing up, Olivia has no fear of the pool which is a good and bad thing. I love that she likes to swim, but she has no idea that she will just sink to the bottom if she jumps in. She knows she has to wear floaties, and be in a ring, or with mommy or daddy holding her, but she likes to jump off the side of the pool into our arms. I like letting her do this because 1. it is fun, and 2. it wears her out, but I am afraid that she isn't going to understand that we have to be there to catch her. The same goes for the diving board. She LOVES to jump off the diving board into my hands. I get it...the thrill of jumping off the board is exciting for her, but again, she just leaps with no fear what so ever and again, I am afraid that if I looked away for one second, she would just jump right in.  We only recently allowed her to go under the water for the first time. She absolutely does not understand the concept of holding your breath. I can get her to do it for about one second, but then she smiles and laughs. The previous time I took her swimming, I dunked her three times. All three times, she came back up choking on water. This time, I only dunked her twice. The first time she choked just a little bit and the second time not at all. She may be starting to "get it" but I am definitely not ready to just let her go. I'm glad she had fun today though and I am glad that Ryan decided to take today off of work to spend the day with us since he will be gone, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the Grand in Sparta.