My kids make me so happy! I have so much joy watching them learn and discover new things. I wish that I could be a part of their whole day, but luckily I have found a truly amazing daycare with some of the most loving women to teach my kids. Every body, even teachers from different classes know my kids by name and get smiles in return when they say hello too them. The women in the baby room are so excited when my daughter stands up on her own and gets more mobile. My son is learning about Johnny Appleseed and has been very excited about it. He comes home every night with a new song to share with me and I even catch him singing them when he wakes up in the morning. They are growing so quickly and learning so much its incredible. I am very fortunate to have found a great school to take them to every day and I'm so lucky to have them to call my own.

Picture this: A worn out woman leaves work in a hurry to go pick up her children from day care. She picks up her kids, both of whom are very happy to see her. As she gets ready to leave day care and go home she tells her son to hold her hand cause its time to go bye bye. Her son falls on the floor and starts sobbing... After a lot of effort she finally gets him to the door, lets go of his hand to open it and he falls on the floor again. She says "get up, lets go bye bye". He says no! After being watched by several employees like she beats her child at home or something, a teacher picks him up and helps her to the car. THE END.

That is what my day looked like from about 5:30 to 5:45 this evening. Its new. He just started doing it. Great that he loves day care! That makes me very happy! Not so great that he feels like temper tantrums are the best way to act in any situation however. He's never been a tantrum throwing kid. So I'll blame it on the other kids influence. (Always better to blame other peoples parenting skills then your own) I'm kidding!

But seriously, it was like night and day. He wasn't doing this yesterday or last week. All of the sudden it started. And to be completely honest, I'm not quite sure how to nip this one in the bud. With a baby in my arms and a defiant toddler throwing a fit on the floor, it doesn't leave me a lot of options.

I guess its something I just need to makes sure I'm folowling through on when I'm correcting at home. The best advice I've had on the subjuct so far was, "its better to be tough now and show them the right way to act, then to recorrect later." Thanks Jen.

Day two of potty training and I have not been able to get him to go in the potty. I have stickers and M&Ms to reward him when he goes in the potty but I have not been able to use them.

I can't help but feel frustrated.

I tried putting him on the potty every 30 minutes and he would sit there for 5 to 10 minutes each time. But almost every time he would go in his pull up just a few minutes after getting off the potty!

There was a little progress made. This afternoon he told me he had to poop and bolted up the stairs to the potty. But by the time he got there he had already gone :( SO CLOSE!

Any advice???

So I'm tackeling this potty adventure on Saturday. My parents are taking the baby out and about for bothe Saturday and Sunday so I can give my little tinkler all of my attention.

We will be going on a mommy/son shopping trip tomorrow night to get yummy snacks and any other necessities we think we need for the weekend. Seeing as we will not be leaving all weekend it is important that we are fully stocked.

My feelings: The idea of not changing diapers is great. Not sure about the idea of having to ask him every half hour if he has to go potty. Weighing the pros and cons.

His feelings: Completely unaware of what I'm about to get him in to.

I recently took a trip to California with my kids to visit their dad's side of the family. I had my brother in law's help on the way there but on the way back it was me...and two kids. I actually had multiple people ask me in the airport, "you're flying with 2 kids by yourself? You must be brave..." and I usually finished their sentences for them by adding "...or stupid!"

I thought that getting through security would be my biggest hurdle. But really, it wasn't that bad. I was blessed with patient and helpful people behind me and (what appeared to be) airport employees filled with sympathy.

Our flight was delayed so we waited 2 hours after we got through security. Luckily my 2 year old loves airplanes and my 10 month old happened to be sleepy so the 2 hours flew by.

When we got on the plane i had a strategy. I would sit my the window with the baby on my lap and my toddler would sit in the middle. Then NO ONE would sit next to us. But when the flight attendant announced that it was a full flight my hopes were crushed. A very nice man sat down next to my son and I immediately thanked him for being so brave as to sit in our row.

The first 30 minutes were a breeze but then the kids started getting antsy. So I broke out my "go to", my "lifesaver", my DVD player and put in a movie. But regardless of attempts to charge it, the screen flashed "LOW BATTERY". So we watched the first 5 minutes of Monsters Inc. before it completely died.

After that it got a little rocky. The baby was still tired and wouldn't go to sleep. My son wanted to do everything but sit down and keep his seat belt on. So I did what any mother would do...I broke out the bribe food. I packed M&M's in case something like this were to occur. I put them in his snack catcher so he had to work to get them. And after 10 minutes of rocking my screaming baby she finally fell asleep in my arms.

By the time it was time to get off the plane the guy sitting in our row said that my kids were very well behaved and complimented my mothering skills!

Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be...but I won't be doing it again anytime soon :)

I commend those of you who are outnumbered :)

Keep it up!

I have such a new respect for working moms. I just got back into the work world (which explains my recent absence) and it has been INSANE! . Waking up at 7 am, getting me and the 2 kids changed, fed, ready and in the car by 8:45 may sound easy but, trust me it is a little hectic. By 6pm I am on my way to pick them up from daycare only to eat dinner, give baths and be ready for bed by 7:30pm.

I went to bed Monday night feeling deprived of time with my children. It made me sad. But I can see the benefits that daycare has on them and I know that they are being well taken care of. I also feel that in some ways it is going to make me a better mom for them.

Whether you are a single parent, stay at home mom, working mom or a soon to be mom...my hat's off to you. Take care of those kids and keep up the good work!

So I'm starting the potty training adventure. I am requesting lots of prayers, crossed fingers, positive thoughts and any other thing you all can send my way.

So far I think I have the essentials:

* Potty training book for my son to read

* "Potty Power" training video

* His own potty chair that has all the bells and whistles (sings, lights up and basically talks him through the whole process)

* A potty chair that goes on the "big boy" potty

* A step stool

* "Big boy" underwear

* Pull-ups

* A potty training doll (well we're using a bear)

* Potty Training for Dummies (for me)

Let me just start out by saying that I'm terrified to start this. There are so many unknowns that come with it. Who knows how he will react, or how I will react or how much work it will be and are we both ready for that work. Yes, I tend to over think things...


He is showing all the signs of readiness...

So I plan to start this adventure in a month. By then our vacation will be over and he will be used to full time daycare.

Truth is, I think we are both going to need some help during this process so I thought I would include you all so you can give us some tips along the way. Advice or encouragement are always welcome :)

I personally like to save where I can. Who doesn't? Even if I was rich I think I would still be on the hunt for a good deal. That's why, today, I am feeling so satisfied. I just got 5 onesies, 2 pairs of pants, 3 outfits, a step stool and a potty chair for $40!!

There is a consignment store near my house that sells gently used or new items for practically nothing. There are toys, clothes, strollers, cribs, swings etc. for kids all ages. You can take your things there and sell them but they are very picky with what they choose.

They have a punch card, so after you get a certain amount of punches you get 20% off. They punch your card for anything you buy OR sell! (No, I don't work for them and I'm not getting paid for this advertisement) :)

Check out there website. They have locations in almost every state and Canada!

Once Upon A Child

A newborn's conversation with God...

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?" God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "but tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy." God said, "your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the child asked, "and how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?" God said, "your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?" God said, "your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?" God said, "your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore." God said, "your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.

"God said, "You will simply call her, "Mom."

I can't stand it when car seats and strollers get littered with snack crumbs. Or have you ever been on a walk or better yet, a grocery store and your child accidentally drops the bag of snacks? UGH!

I was shopping the other day and came across this nifty "Snack Catcher" (that's really what they call it). It's made by Munchkin. It allows your child's hand to reach in to get the snacks but if you turn it upside down nothing falls out. It's been a life saver. I paid $4.99 for it at Safeway. Get it! (Now we just need a solution for sticky fingers).

For those of you who don't let your kids watch T.V. I commend you. I however, am not one of those parents. Since my 2 year old was a baby he's been watching Baby Einstein. He loved it. My 8 month old daughter is the same. I don't let them watch a lot of T.V. and nothing with violence or adult content, obviously.

This morning, during breakfast my son was counting his fruit on his plate. I said "we need to teach you how to count to 10 in Spanish". His grandma said "uno", and he replied, "dos"! What the heck! They went all the way to diez taking turns saying every other number. I had no idea!

Thank you Dora!

Although sometimes challenging, parenting is extremely rewarding. Its amazing the things that your little creations pick up from you. The cute sayings they say and the funny gestures they do.

Last night, while giving hugs and kisses to my 2 year old son before bed, he folded his arms and said "prayers!" My heart melted. I, of course, want my son to have a relationship with Him and it was so rewarding to know that the prayers we say every night are making some sort of impact. He is on his way to having his own relationship with Him and I am facilitating that.

What a perfect reward!

We all have those days. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed and your bad morning quickly turn into your bad day. Kids have those days too. Take my 2 year old for example: He woke up in tears this morning at 7 am. Not sure why? For the next 5 hours he looked something like this:



Kids his age are exlporing their emotions. And some say they even get scared and feel out of control when they don't understand their emotions. I tried everything I had in me this morning to try to get him to stop (short of compromising boundries I have tried to put in place)but he just kept on.



Finally I had to step outside...and cry. I was the one who needed a time out. I think its crucial in these situations that parents do this. They can take the time to scream, cry or just say a quiet prayer to try to regain a little bit of sanity. Those of you who practice this I commend you. I think it speaks volumes about your parenting; knowing yourself well enough that you need a time out and actually taking it.

Don't feel weak or unsure of your ability to parent because you break down too. We are all human and need some sort of release from our stresses. I'm not sure how dads feel, but as moms we tend to try to take on too much and not let our fellow moms help when we need it that day. Don't feel ashamed. Because your fellow moms have those days too. Even if they don't want to admit it. Unless they are taking some very strong happy pills!

One last note. If you need help, ask! And for heavens sake if its offered, take it! And those of you who might not need the help that day, please offer it! We gotta stick together.

A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove…

But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

So far this is the best money I have spent all summer. This pool was $10 at Walmart. I highly suggest it. If not for your kids, then for your feet while you read a book during nap time!