No Naps

Today was our normal hurried Sunday morning. I have seen time and time again the advice to get out the door in time for church is to lay everything out at night to save time in the morning. Hopefully one day I will actually apply that. I woke up later than I wanted to so I was already semi-panicking, but I decided panicking wasn't going to help the situation. I decided to save time by not washing my hair and just curling it and planning what I was going to wear in my head while I was doing my make up. I also had an extra step in my Sunday morning routine because I was planning a pot roast for dinner, so I had to brown the meat a bit and chop the vegetables to go in it and get that started so it could cook while we were gone. We were only a few minutes late getting there and nobody had any major meltdowns so I consider it a success. When we got home our pot roast wasn't quite down, so we grilled hot dogs for lunch. By this time it was almost 2pm and Maddox still hadn't had a nap and it was showing. He was having toddler meltdowns all over the place. I put him down for his nap, but he never did go to sleep. That makes two days in a row he has went without a nap and I hope he is not making a habit out of it.

After he came out of his room from his "nap", we ate our pot roast which turned out sooo good. I am not a good cook at all, so every time I cook something new and it turns out good I am pleased. I finally got a little time this afternoon to get the house back to reset mode, which for me is just having everything picked up and sweeping. I haven't been able to do that all week and I have no idea why. The past few weeks I haven't had a problem with cleaning. 

I didn't get any pictures today although I said I was going to do better about that, but I did get a screenshot of the cute but funny picture Maddox colored on his Disney Creativity app on the IPad. We rarely let him play on the IPad, but he was being really quiet so I went in to see what he was doing and this is what he was making! :)

It looks like he tried to write his name in the upper right hand corner
even though he has no idea how to write his name.

-Hannah

Toy Story Boy

Today was an interesting day not really our typical day. I thought Maddox would take an early nap because he woke up early this morning, but he ended up not taking a nap at all. I thought he was asleep at one point so I decided to get myself ready because we had a baby shower to go to at 2. Once I got in the bathroom I heard him in his room reading The Wheels on the Bus to himself (he just says the parts he can remember haha). After I did my makeup I went back in and read to him again hoping he'd take a nap because I did not want to go to the baby shower and him not had a nap. I finished getting ready and he still hadn't went to sleep. By that time it was time to get him and Natalie ready to go. 

Love that smile!

Surprisingly they both did really well at the baby shower. Maddox's had small kids to play with and Natalie slept in the Moby wrap the whole time. 

We came home about the time Bryan did so I made a quick dinner of cheese sticks because none of us were real hungry. 

I just took mozzarella string cheese and cut them in half then rolled them in flour, then in egg whites, then tossed them in bread crumbs. Then I baked them for five minutes at 350*.  This is a healthier alternative to frozen premade cheese sticks. 

Maddox finally got a Woody doll with his birthday money. We had got him a Buzz for Easter this past year so he was excited to have a Woody to go with him. 

We had to tie the balloons to them so they wouldn't got to the ceiling.

I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but I signed Maddox up for the Disney Movie Club so he could get his favorite Disney movies and not have to pay full price for every one. Any day they should come in the mail and I can't wait to see his face when he gets then. He hasn't got to watch Toy Story since we cancelled our satellite so I'm sure we will have to watch it a few hundred times when it gets here!

All and all a good day! Now time to prepare for our busy Sunday we always have! :)

-Hannah

Respect

Sorry this post is going to be short because I have had a really fussy baby today that has wanted to be held constantly. I'm finally getting five minutes to myself so I thought I'd share it with you. :)

A topic that's been on my mind lately is respect. You look around our society today and not many children or adults for that matter have respect for their elders, their parents, or even anybody. I love watching Leave It To Beaver because kids in those days respected their parents and elders. That is what I want for my children especially for my boys. There is nothing that makes a man more attractive to a woman than one who is respectful especially to his mother. 

I read a great article today that said if you want your children to learn respect you have demonstrate it first which is so obvious but most of us don't apply it. It says to look your children in the eye and get on their level when they are talking so that it teaches them how to listen respectfully. On an episode of Leave It To Beaver I was watching today Beaver pulled out the chair for his mother at dinner. I thought you never see that anymore. I want to teach Maddox and any future boys I may have how to be respectful and courteous to me so they will know how to treat a potential wife one day. I want to start being intentional about training Maddox now so that being respectful becomes part of his character rather than waiting until it becomes a problem. 

It all starts with me and Bryan as with anything in parenting. Dr. Charles Stanley says kids are going to do what you do not necessarily what you say. 

Just thought I'd share what's been on my mind instead of a daily update, but if your wondering another normal day except with some fussiness, but I survived and tomorrow's a new day!:)

I leave you with a cute Natalie picture since I obviously did not get any pictures today. 

Surprised Face 

-Hannah

Meal Planning Tips

So today we went to the grocery store because we were supposed to make last week's groceries last for 2 weeks, but they only lasted a week. It was because I did not have a meal plan. So this week I downloaded an app on my phone called Meal Maker. It has the seven days of the week listed like this:

Then you can click on the day of the week you want to see the meal plan for like this example;

When you hit view meals that is where you can edit what you want to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that day. You can add the ingridents that go in each meal and then add them to the shopping list feature it has. 

So this one for me was turkey sandwich with carrots and oatmeal cookies. Then as you got through the grocery store you can check off items as you get them. I really like this app because I used to do my meal plan on paper, but either lost the paper or forget to bring it to the store. This way my meal plan and shopping list is in one place. The only bad thing is the shopping list isn't categorized by meats, produce, etc. and if you want to add other things like snack foods or items that aren't designated for a specific meal you just have to add it in under the ingredients for a meal.

I like having a meal plan so we know we will have enough food for the week and we don't impulse buy on junk food and blow our grocery budget. Meal plans are definitely a must if you are on a budget. I can only meal plan a week at a time because we eat at home at least 6 days a week breakfast, lunch and dinner. We may have fast food once a week if we are out for a long period of time and usually I eat dinner at my mom's once a week, but other than that we eat at home. So to plan 3 meals a day for more than a week would be too much to handle. It usually takes me 2 days to make a meal plan for a week just because I have limited time to research recipes and sit down and think strategically so that food doesn't get wasted. 

So there are my tips on meal planning. If you have any questions on meal planning comment below! :)

6 Weeks Old!

We have made it to the six weeks postpartum mark! My little angel is growing up so fast! I had my six week check up today and everything has healed up nicely. We have had another typical day today which I love so I don't have too much to report. My dad always says, "no news is good news" and I find that true too. We just did our normal routine with a little less cleaning. Natalie had been a little more fussier than usual the past couple of days which I'm pretty sure it is because of some tummy troubles that will hopefully pass soon. So cleaning got traded in today for extra baby snuggles. I wish I could do that everyday, but it doesn't take long for my house to look turned upside down.

This was as happy as she got today, poor baby!

Bryan and I have started the Dave Ramsey way of becoming debt free. We haven't created a strict budget plan yet just because right now Bryan's income is fluctuating a lot, but we are following the "baby steps". We have completed #1 which is to save $1000 as quick as you can for an emergency fund. Now we are working on #2 which is to pay off debt from smallest to biggest excluding your mortgage. Thankfully we don't have very much debt other than our mortgage so it shouldn't take us very long to complete that step. We have already paid off the smallest and working on the next one. After we finish that we will be on to step #3 which is saving 3-6 months worth of income. There are 7 steps I believe, but I haven't read a lot past step 3. My goal one day (hopefully a 5-10 year goal) is to be completely debt free with no mortgage, car payment, etc. Hopefully we can become debt free before one of our cars kick the bucket because right now both of our cars are paid off. We have said we were going to do this before, but quit before we really got started. Now we are committed to it because we look at debt differently now and we also want to have a nice retirement one day Lord willing. 

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:8 KJV)

Any tips for becoming debt free??

-Hannah

Finally Organic Beef!

Today was another rainy day. I'm glad we enjoyed yesterday as much as we could. The morning started off a little rough mainly because I was letting my emotions control me. So when Maddox would do something he wasn't supposed to I would get frustrated instead of looking at it as a opportunity to teach him. I always tell Bryan that you can let your emotions control you or you can control your emotions, but you have to intentionally decide to control your emotions. This morning I wasn't taking my own advice and I realized it pretty quickly so I decided just to hold my tongue until after nap time. I decided to cheer us  both up by making a pizza at 10:30am. We usually eat after his nap, but pizza makes us both happy lol.

Nap time is always a good reset for both Maddox and I. It gives me time to reflect on the morning and figure out what I need to do different and to get my emotions in check because I'm the adult and I have the ability of self control that he doesn't have yet. 

Happy boy!

We snacked and cleaned up the kitchen. Then we snuggled in bed and watched Blues Clues. His favorite thing right now is watching movies in our bed. We made a trip to the farmers market and they finally had organic beef! We haven't ate ground beef in a while because every time we go the vendors are always out. I probably should of stocked up on it, but I bought enough to last a couple weeks. We are now at my moms as usual on Tuesdays so I can catch up on my shows. 

What are your favorite farmers market finds?

-Hannah

Fall Breeze

Today was absolutely beautiful! I definitely needed a day like today. It was about 75* outside and breezy, just perfect. I actually got to hang my towels and diapers on the clothes line for the first time in over a week!

Maddox was my big helper all morning. He helped me clean up the house and do the laundry and hang the towels. I've found that the more involved I keep him in what I'm doing the less he is focused on me sitting in the floor playing with him. It's a win-win for both of us because he's getting the attention he needs and I'm getting housework done. While he napped I got on Pinterest and found this cute routine/chore chart. 

Print your own copy here

The sad part is he ripped it off the fridge and tore it apart before we ever got to use it (toddler moment). I had "laminated"  it with tape so he could take a dry erase marker and mark off each thing as he does it, but I guess I'm going to have to find a chore chart he can't rip up. I want to start implementing some responsibilities to him. Nothing real hard just picking up after himself and grooming himself with just a little help. 

When he woke up from his nap he saw his Buzz Lightyear costume hanging in his closet so he wanted to put it on. 

...but he didn't want me to take his picture.

Natalie swaddled up during her nap

After he finally decided to take the costume off, we went outside to play. Natalie laid in her rock n play the whole time just smiling and enjoying being outside.

Happy girl!

Bryan came home and we ate dinner outside, which we haven't done in a long time! We gave both kids their bath and then he had to head to his other job. 

I've got Maddox down for the night and I think I'm going to use this time to catch up on some bible reading. 

-Hannah

Celebration

It is still raining here! There's a pretty good chance that it won't rain tomorrow, but I won't be surprised if it rains all day. I got up this morning at 6:30 which is about an hour before I normally get up for the day. As I was feeding Natalie in bed I kept thinking of all the stuff I needed to do and how rushed we always are on Sunday mornings to get out the door. I went ahead and started my pot of beans in the crockpot for a meal I was planning on having today, but now will be for tomorrow. I got Maddox's bag together and started to get ready when Maddox woke up. So I put that on pause and made his breakfast. We made it out the door in time which seems to be a rare occasion around here anymore.

After church we had a church picnic, which Bryan calls it Golden Corral when we have lunches after church because it looks like a buffet from all the dishes people bring. Then, he dropped the kids and I off at my step sister's baby shower. I love baby showers and celebrating new life. 

Our dinner I had planned got put on hold until tomorrow because once I got home from the baby shower none of us were really hungry from all the food we ate today! We spent the evening resting and now I'm going to bed really early because  I think that post partum fatigue is finally catching up to me!

I didn't get any pictures today from all the busyness but here's a couple cute pictures of Natalie :)

She likes to "wink" :)

Sweet baby

-Hannah

Home Bodies

Another rainy day here, so we stayed home all day. I was hoping to go to the farmers market and library today, but I didn't want to take the kids out in the cold rain. We have been such home bodies lately that I'm sure Maddox is starting to go stir crazy. I tried to get caught up on my laundry. I actually got 3 loads done today! 

After Maddox's nap, we did some more fall activities.

I found this scarecrow coloring/cut out page. I helped him color it and then I made him a little shirt and pants. Maddox then taped the head, hands, and feet on. 

Finished product

Then we made a big candy corn. I just printed off a color page of a candy corn and cut up little pieces of orange, yellow, and white construction paper to glue on. 

Candy corn template

Maddox liked sticking the little pieces on.

His gallery is growing!

After our crafts, I had one of my friends stop by for a visit. I love having visitors! It seems to break up the monotony of the day. We usually talk on the phone everyday, but since Natalie has been born I haven't been able to call as often so I think she was starting to worry about me haha I reassured her I was adjusting well, but I hadn't got in the complete swing of things yet. She has three children so she knows it takes a while to get back in that swing. She doesn't live far from me so I hope to start having weekly play dates with all of our kids. 

Bryan came home and none of us were real hungry for dinner so I made one of Maddox's favorites, homemade cheese sticks with marinara. Now we are all winding down for bed and getting ready for our usual busy Sunday tomorrow! 

-Hannah 

Rain,Rain Go Away

 It has been raining everyday for almost a week now. I wake up and think it's still really early in the morning because it's always so dark outside. 

I started the day today making eggs, bacon, and toast (my favorite breakfast) for Bryan, Maddox, and I. As I was throwing away the bacon pack after we had already ate I realized that it was out of date! We haven't had it long, so I never thought to check the date. So far no food poisoning so that's good. 

Bryan left for work as usual and Maddox and I played for a bit. It was a pretty usual day of playing, nursing, naps, & cleaning. Maddox has been a finicky eater lately, so I have tried to get a nutritious meal in him all day. He's a snacker right now. Hopefully it's just a phase that will pass soon. 

He wanted to wear his hat after he woke up from his nap. 

Sharing his beloved cars with sister. 

Maddox has really stepped into the big brother role. He puts her diapers in the pail for me, he gives her a pacifier (under close supervision), and for the moment he is happy to share his toys with her.  He's always asking to hold her or give her a kiss. He has done really well with his independent play today. Some days he constantly needs someone to play with him, but today was good. 

Maddox, Natalie, and I snuggled up in bed and watched some Blues Clues until it was time to fix dinner.

 Bryan had show some houses today so he didn't go to his other job. He came home just in time for dinner. After dinner we just let the mess sit for a bit because Maddox wanted to lay and our bed and watch his Blues Clues movie again. It was nice to have everyone all snuggled up! Bryan put Maddox to bed and is now cleaning up the dinner mess for me while I feed Natalie and debate cleaning up Maddox's toys. I usually like to "reset" the house for the next day, but sometimes I feel like cleaning up Maddox's toys is pointless because he tears them all back out as soon as he wakes up. Most nights I'll clean them up, but maybe not tonight haha. So there is out exciting day, but I've come to appreciate "normal" days. 

Do you have an everyday routine?

-Hannah 

Happy Thursday

Bryan finally took a day off work today which means I got a helper! I love days he is off. They always seem to fly by so I treasure every minute. I got to sleep in a little and start my morning slowly rather than hit the road running as soon as my feet touch the floor. We started the day by going to the Sprint store because Bryan was eligible for an upgrade, but because he's such a wonderful husband and because his phone is still in perfectly good shape and mine looks like it's been run over by a car, he let me use his upgrade to get a new phone! My upgrade is in March and I was perfectly content waiting until then, but he was determined that I was going to use his upgrade.

We then headed to the grocery store, which went fairly well with two babies. It usually doesn't go very well when we take both babies, but Natalie slept the whole time in the Moby wrap and Maddox behaved well. 

It started out a beautiful day, but then a storm blew in. I'm glad we made it home before it started storming. 

Little Sister

After we got home Maddox  took a nap while Bryan and I cleaned. I actually got some laundry done today even though the basket is still over flowing. 

My one load accomplishment for the day

Maddox woke up from his nap really cranky so we headed out for a stroll since the rain had stopped. A change of scenery is a good way to reset Maddox's mood. After we came back I gave sister (as Maddox  calls her) her bath. 

Bryan and I are ending the night watching Survivor online and having some chocolate chip cookies. It's been a good day and definitely a well needed day!

-Hannah

I Made It

There are some days where I get to the end of the day and lay down and think "I made it". Some days just feel like I've been through a battle and today was one of those days. I think I ran out all my energy in the first five weeks of Natalie's life and now the postpartum fatigue is kicking in. Natalie sleeps so well so I know it's not because of lack of sleep. Today I just had no energy and it seems my patience level is very low when I have no energy so I tried to keep that in mind when I felt like I was getting frustrated. Little situations can seem like a big deal if you don't stay on top of your emotions when your overly tired.

We had some good moments though of playing, snuggling up in the big chair, and silly dancing. We made it to bed time with no major meltdowns so I count it a success. Natalie on the other hand is having her own little meltdown. I'm not sure if it's tummy trouble or if she is fighting sleep (she's figured out at a very young age how to fight sleep!). I am currently walking around with her and she's wrapped up in swaddle blanket. Hopefully I can get her in a deep enough sleep that we can go lay down. 

Needless to say I didn't get any pictures today, but tomorrow's a new day and we can start fresh! I've been clinging to these verses all day: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

I'll leave you with another cute Maddox throwback!

-Hannah

Baby Snuggles

If I could choose one day to sleep in as long as I wanted today would have been that day. It has been so rainy outside today. I knew as soon as I got up I was going to have to take a nap at some point. I think Maddox was on the same page to because he was ready for his nap an hour early today. After I put Maddox down for his nap Natalie and I snuggled up on the couch and also took a nap. I didn't get a real long nap in, but I got to rest at least for a couple hours which was exactly what I needed to get some energy on a dreary day. Natalie kept on sleeping while I fixed Maddox lunch and got some cleaning in. I had debated just taking a "lazy day", but I knew if I didn't keep up with my daily chores they would be twice as bad tomorrow. I actually cleaned a little more than I though I would. Sometimes once I get cleaning I go through a spurt and power clean as I like to call it.

She's a tummy sleeper. If shes laying on her side she rolls over to her tummy.
 I try to make sure she stays on her back at night.

Maddox has behaved pretty good the past couple of days thankfully. His biggest thing now is testing my limit. If he does something and I tell him not to, he will keep doing it to see my reaction. It's almost like he wants to see how long he can do it until I snap! lol Thankfully I know that is what he is doing and can keep my emotions out of it and eventually he gives up. Today his test for me was climbing on me. I was sitting in our big chair and instead of sitting beside me as he usually does he just kept climbing on top of me and him being a 30 pound toddler it is pretty painful to be stepped on. I kept telling him over and over he had to sit still or I'd have to put him down in the floor. This went on for about 20 minutes until he finally realized if I climb on mom, she's going to put me down. I wish I could say he learned his lesson and will never do that again, but I'm sure it won't be the last time. At least I was consistent and my hopes is that one day it will sink in that I mean what I say every time and that I'm going to follow through.

Bryan came home between jobs and cooked us all dinner and cleaned up the mess afterwards which is so great to get a little break. As Bryan was headed back to work we headed to my mom's for a bit. 

Maddox decided the tow truck needed a diaper.

Overall a good day! 

-Hannah 

Craft Day

Today started out really sunny and fairly warm, but by mid-day cooled down alot and came a massive rain. It looked like a monsoon outside as much as the wind was blowing. Thankfully I remembered my towels I had on the line right before it started raining!

During Maddox's nap today I got ready some activities for him to do. He's always wanting me to sit and play with him, so I thought I'd shake it up a bit and do something different.

For the pumpkin activity I just googled "small pumpkins printable" and these pumpkins came up. I cut them out and colored the stem of each one a different color. The idea was for Maddox to color each one a different color, but he decided to make them multicolored which was fine too. After he colored them I stuck some folded tape to the back and let him stick them wherever he wanted on the paper. For the apple tree activity, I cut out a tree shape from brown and green construction paper. Then, I googled "small apples printable" and found those apples. I cut them out and then let him color them red (which you could do yellow or green too). I placed folded tape on the back of those and let him put them on the tree. We counted the ten apples on the tree! Maddox does really well with structured activities like that. I'll have to start planning more.

Maddox's Art Gallery (in progress)

I saw the idea on Pinterest to make an "art gallery" for your kids' work. As I've mentioned before I love to hang up thing that Maddox paints or colors, so I made a little place to hang his crafts on display. I just used some twine and clothes pins and a couple nails to hold up the line. The funny thing was Bryan had taken the hammer with him for one of his real estate signs, so I used a fairly big rock to hammer the nails in. I felt like a caveman! It worked really well though!

Bryan had his first closing on a house today, which is exciting. I'm hoping soon he can get enough closings that he can only work one job and we'll be able to spend the evenings and Saturdays together.

We are ending the day watching Charlotte's Web before bed. No big plans for tomorrow, so hopefully I can come up with some more activities for Maddox to add to his gallery!

Sleeping Beauty :)

-Hannah

Road Trip

Today was busy, so busy! We went to church this morning as normal then we headed to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge Tn.

  We got there later than we had expected so it didn't leave us much time to spend in the park. Thankfully the weather had warmed up some since yesterday. 

My mom and step dad were already there, so we met up with them so Bryan could ride some roller coasters with my step dad and my mom and I took Maddox to ride the kiddie rides. I didn't realize how much longer things take with two babies. We didn't get much riding rides in by the time we changed diapers and fed everybody, etc. 

Then Bryan, Natalie, and I went to watch the McKamey family sing while mom and my step dad rode some more rides with Maddox. It's always a blessing to hear them sing. Although our time there was short we still had a great time an it felt nice just being out of the house. 

We put Maddox in diapers after church and while we were at Dollywood because I don't have a travel potty seat yet. I hope it doesn't back track our progress. 

On our way home the roads were very trafficy (if that's a word) so it took us longer than normal to get home. We had a great, busy day and now it is time for bed because my eyes are having a hard time staying open!

*I forgot to take my phone in so I'll have to add more pictures tomorrow from my actual camera. 

Happy Sunday!

-Hannah

Natalie's Birth Story

I figured since Natalie is a month old now it was time to write about her birth. Let me just start out by saying that I had this "perfect" birth plan typed up and was planning a natural birth at the hospital. Well my due date came and my group of doctors that I go to apparently think it's crazy for someone to go many days past their due date. They wanted to schedule me to be induced at my 39 week appointment, but I asked to wait because I really wanted to have a natural birth. I made it to my 40 week appointment and was told I could wait a few more days, but couldn't go past 41 weeks. They went ahead and scheduled my induction to be at 40 weeks and 3 days. I prayed and prayed and prayed that she would come on her own if it was the Lord's will.

Last pregnancy pic

Tuesday night (the night before I was to be induced) they had me come in around 8pm to start Cervidil, a medicine that goes on your cervix to try to thin and dilate it. They actually got that started around 10pm and I was just to lay there (and try to sleep) and be on a monitor all night. Bryan left shortly after that to go home and sleep and so Maddox could sleep in his own bed. I started having contractions around 11:30pm and contracted on and off all night. I thought surely I had dilated and possibly in labor, but around 6am they checked me and I had not dilated any. So then they started the pitocin and I knew I'd have to have an epidural. At this point I threw my birth plan out the window (not literally). Bryan came back around 7am and my mom watched Maddox. I got the epidural, but after a few minutes I realized I wasn't getting numb, so they tried to up the amount and still nothing. They decided to redo the whole setup, so I ended up getting 2 epidurals! Thankfully that one worked because the pain was getting pretty intense. I was really numb with the second epidural.

Then they broke my water and I went from 5cm to 10cm in like 30 minutes! They were afraid my doctor wouldn't make it in time! Thankfully he rushed in just in time because in three pushes (4 minutes) she was here! They placed her on my chest and we waited until her cord stopped pulsing before Bryan cut it (the only thing that happened that was in my birth plan)! I nursed her right then and just like her brother latched on like a champ. It was all such a whirlwind that I don't remember much after that until all the family came in.

Proud Papa!

We stayed as little as we had to and left the next day. Although nothing went how I planned, I know everything went how God planned because every time I prayed about giving birth I prayed His will be done. I am just so glad she is here and a healthy baby. We can't imagine life without her!

The many faces of Natalie :)

-Hannah

1 Month Old!

Today Natalie is 1 month old! Where has

time gone! I know the first two years of Maddox's life flew by and I'm sure hers will do the same!

Today we got our normal chores out of the way before nap time. After Maddox's nap we went to Target so he could use his gift card he got for his birthday. I'm getting braver about venturing out with two kids. Maddox picked out (with a little help from me) a Disney matching game, Color Wonder markers with a Mickey Mouse coloring book to go with them, and some really cute Hape jungle animals lacing beads. I refuse to buy him anything that requires batteries anymore for three reasons. #1: Batteries are expensive and 99% of the time when the die I don't replace them. #2: Battery powered toys are generally very noisy. And #3 (the most important): I once read a quote, "Active toys make passive children, but passive toys make active children".  When a toy does all the imagining for them they don't do it on their own. I love to watch Maddox play with his little cars by himself because he's using his imagination with them. Maddox often gets gifts that are battery powered toys and we gladly accept them and I'll let him play it until the batteries run out, but if someone asks me what he wants I try to suggest non-battery toys. The only battery powered toys I really like are ones that pertain to learning like his See N Say or he has a Leap Frog Tag Jr with the little books. 

I ended up getting some tote boxes at Target because Maddox's toys were becoming piled up and cluttered. I decided to do a toy rotation with them. He has an organizer bin that has 12 little buckets, so I put one toy or activity in each bucket and put the rest away. His toy organizer still looks full and I had to use 2 big totes for the rest that's how cluttered it was! I plan to swap out toys every two weeks. This also will give me a better idea of what he plays with and what he doesn't. I'll probably leave his little cars out full time because I know he plays with them everyday and a puzzle of some sort because he does those everyday. 

We spent the evening playing with his new toys. He hasn't seemed to notice that most of his toys are missing. I hope this helps his independent play a little better because he won't feel overwhelmed at the massive pile of toys. 

We have decided to postpone our little trip we had planned tomorrow to Sunday because it's supposed to be really cold tomorrow, but warm back up on Sunday. 

Do you do a toy rotation? How do you do yours?

-Hannah

Potty Training Day 4

I think we have come to a stand still in potty training. I let him lead the way today about when he needed to go, but I would remind him every 30 minutes. He never would tell me when he needed to go and we had several accidents, so I went back to making him go every 30 minutes. I think that is going to be our groove for a while because I learned today that 30 minutes is about how long he can hold it. I hope if we do it this way for a while he will eventually get the idea of what it feels like when he needs to go and will tell me.

Sporting his big boy underwear.

We had a pretty normal day today. I had to pull out the iPad today with a show to keep Maddox occupied so I could feed Natalie. I don't like to resort to electronics to occupy him, but he is going through a phase of wanting someone to play with him all the time. I need to get some activities that he can do on his own that I only pull out when I need to nurse so they always seem new and exciting. 

Milk coma :)

It was the perfect weather today so we got out for a walk. Bryan had to work for a little bit today, so I tried to have dinner ready when he got home. After dinner, I gave both kids a bath and go them both to bed while Bryan mowed our jungle we had growing outside. Mowing is apparently not on our high priority list and we are definitely not "keeping up with the Jones'" when it comes to having a manicured yard. Now we are trying to enjoy a little quiet before heading to bed.

What household duty do you tend to put off?

-Hannah

Potty Training Day 3

Big Brother helping sissy with her pacifier!

We have moved up to 30 minute increments between potty breaks! We only had one accident and it was my fault. I turned the timer of and then got distracted before we made it to the bathroom. I think I have changed my mind on nap time and night time training for now though because he is still waking up really wet. If he just wears two diapers a day that will drastically cut down on my diaper laundry. I'm going to continue tomorrow with 30 minute reminders, but I am going to let him tell me when he needs to go instead of making him go. If it turns out to be a total disaster I'll go back to taking him every 30 minutes.

He had a bit of a rough behavior day today. We stayed out pretty late at my mom's house last night so I don't think either one of us were well rested this morning (although Natalie slept from 11pm-6:30am!). I thought if I could just make it to nap time we would all feel better after a nap. The nap did help him out a bit, but I think I felt more tired when I woke up. He did good until around 6pm when he started to get sleepy. Things started to head down fast, so I had to get creative to keep us both positive. We had a silly dance party, which got us both laughing and back in better spirits. 

He wanted me to take his picture in his Woody PJs

On a side note: I signed up for the Disney Movie Club, which seems like it is going to be a good deal. I got Maddox 7 movies for $26 and the catch is I have to purchase 4 more movies at regular price ($19.95) within the next 2 years. Not a bad deal at all especially considering the 7 movies I got are all movies I was looking to buy right now for him anyway. I got him  Toy Story 1,2, & 3, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Planes, and Cars. I can't wait to see the look on his face when all his favorite movies come in the mail! 

Chunky Cheeks

Now I'm off to bed early so I won't be dragging tomorrow!

How did you tackle nap/night time potty training? 

-Hannah