Sick Mom - Stace

When mom is sick it just throws everything off. The normal routines, housework, just everything. Well I'm sick and my husband is a great father but he doesn't know the children's routines like I do because why would he? I'm there to take care of it. He doesn't know what time to leave in order to have BuddyBoy on time for breakfast at school, he doesn't know which days he has after school activities and which days he doesn't. Normally my husband is also not great about house cleaning. Don't get me wrong, he does do some housework but it usually requires quite a bit of asking to get it done. He actually is the best at bedtime. Bath's, food before bed, bedtime stories, he does it all awesome. But the regular day to day stuff not so much.

Being sick it makes me realize that I do quite a bit. Now I'm not saying I'm super mom or that my house always looks perfect cause to be honest most of the time my house it cluttered with toys but I do pride myself with the fact that my house if never filthy. There is a difference between cluttered and filthy, trust me, I know the difference. This morning I went into the living room and my heart sank a little. I'm sick and my living room is messy and dishes need to be done. Do I ask my husband to do it? He was able to bring his work laptop home so he is trying to work while taking care of CurlyGirl. Do I ask him to clean up later after he's had a chance to work a bit? Do I just leave him alone because he's sacrificing his normal routine and work to help me so that I can rest and take care of myself?

Jared's a very nurturing man. When I'm sick or hurt he wants me to go and close myself in the bedroom so I can feel better. He doesn't feel put out or bugged but just wants me to get better. He also normally gets me a little treat I like to show his love. Today my house is dangerously close to crossing the line from cluttered to filthy. In situations like this it is so hard for me to know what do to. Apart of me feels like, yeah, he's my husband we are partners and I shouldn't feel like I'm putting him out by asking him to help around the house so its not just left for me. The other part of me does feel bad asking him to do all this extra stuff. Basically I just wish he would take it out of my hands and clean without my having to ask him to, that's my perfect world.

Even when a mom is sick and has a wonderful husband or helper a mom still is a mom. I still worry about people being picked up on time or taken to where they need to go. I still worry about them having a good dinner and whether or not they get a bath when they need it. I can't seem to help myself. Once a mom always a mom no matter how old children are, no matter if mom is sick or well moms worry.

Stace And Spring Break

Spring break. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Spring break can truly go either way. This may sound terrible but I am a parent who dreads school breaks. Not because I don't love my children but because it throws everything off. I am a creature of habit and spring break just ruins it all. I feel like most parents, when it comes to school breaks, are frantically trying to fill the time with stuff. Trips, playgroups, hikes, movies, art, ect. Steph and I just got back from an amazing trip to London and Paris so I was only home for a few days and then we had spring break. In a lot of ways it worked out perfectly. I got the space from my people and missed them so it made it easier to be with them 24/7. Something I've found out as my children get older is that they either play awesome together or they're doing everything in their might to bug the other. BuddyBoy doesn't like when CurlyGirl gets in the middle of his lego building? Well then clearly she needs to go on ahead and get right in the middle of all that. CurlyGirl doesn't like when BuddyBoy is pretending to shoot her with arrows constantly? Obviously he needs to keep shooting at her.

A huge thing that I have learned with this spring break is know your people. Know your kids and try to find a good balance that will make each of them happy. Easy! No it is not! Understanding this though as helped me to plan accordingly. My children have complete opposite personalities. While BuddyBoy and I would be happy as clams to just lounge at home with our games and coloring CurlyGirl needs to go out, she needs to be busy. I've tried to have at least one thing planned a day.

Monday we had lunch with daddy and went to his work. Jared started a new job a couple of months ago and I like to take the kids to see his office at least once so they know where daddy goes everyday and I also like to have lunch with him at least once a month so we took spring break as the perfect opportunity to do that because BuddyBoy doesn't get to have lunch with daddy anymore because of school.

Tuesday was a rough time. Oh Tuesdays how I loath you. It was only Tuesday which means only the second day of spring break and we were all losing it. I had decided to take them to the movies (Beauty and the Beast!) we almost didn't go because people were being wretched and did not deserve to be taken anywhere especially somewhere that cost money but I decided it would be better all around to just get out of the house and do something and it really did help.

Wednesday we had nothing and I really worried about it. It totally worked out though! It was a lounge day. BuddyBoy and I were totally fine with it and the kids actually played fairly well with minimal incidences which I take as a win.

Thursday we had a play date with our favorite friends which is always so nice. Not only do we get out of the house for a bit but friends wear people out real nice.

Friday we have some shopping that I've been putting off for BuddyBoy. The poor boy has been wearing floods to school for awhile so I'm taking advantage of him being around  and going to the mall in the morning hopefully avoiding horrendous crowds.

And then its the weekend! Which means daddy is home and I have some backup. I felt like we found a decent balance of being busy but not overdoing this spring break which is extremely pleasant. If anyone reminds me that summer is just around the corner I may weep.

Why Does Life Gotta Be So Hard - Stace

I have not been happy the last few weeks, well months really, and I couldn't figure out why. I'm not awesome at self evaluation or reflection and just kind of go through my day to day life being like yeah that annoys me...so does that....oh that's real annoying...I'm annoyed...I'm annoyed...I'm...ANNOYED! I let things build and truthfully I don't know how to not do that because I'm not even aware of it. I'm going a long mildly bothered with people (people being my children and spouse) to completely losing it and not wanting to be around any of them because I'm so done with them. So pleasant.

Last week I went on a trip ALONE to visit an old college roommate. It was the first time since having a child that I've traveled by myself and let me tell you it was just glorious. My husband asked me what my favorite part of my trip was. I had a lot of things to choose from. I was in Pennsylvania so obviously we went to Hershey's Chocolate World, we ate out which is always a favorite, she has adorable little cats and you all know how I feel about cats! Not to mention I was finally with a friend that I had not seen in about 6 years. I told him that obviously other then being with my dear friend my favorite part was the freedom. We came and went as we pleased. Yes we had tentative schedules everyday to be sure and get all the things done we wanted to do in the few short days I was there. But we could just leave. There was no making sure anyone ate or went to the bathroom no making sure I had diapers and wipes in my purse just in case or extra snacks. No worrying about the time so CurlyGirl could get her nap or so that I wouldn't be late getting BuddyBoy from school. We just walked right out the door.

Every night I was there we stayed up talking most of the time it was just laughing and being ridiculous, but sometimes we had some pretty deep self reflecting conversations. And because I finally had the chance to just step away from my life for a bit I could step back and see what some of my troubles were. Ever since I was a teenager I've dreamed of having a family of my own. A husband and children and being a stay at home mom. That may sound old fashioned and feminists might be cringing but that is what I wanted. I've never been a particularly ambitious person. I've never had a drive to do something amazing or had a dream career that I wanted to work toward. I've simply just wanted a family. At 22 I got married and started my family. Now I'm 29 and unhappy with my life.

I think things changed for me when we decided not to have anymore children. It was a prayerful and thought out choice and we both felt like it was the right thing for us. And by decided not to have more children I mean my husband got a vasectomy decided to not have more children. Like I said we were both very happy with that decision but when it happened it became very real. I'm not going to be pregnant ever again. There is going to be no other addition to my family. I've been married for 7 years have a kindergartner and a two and a half year old and that's all. I've realized that my life has suddenly become about everyone else. I've heard women say that after they got married or had their kids they lost themselves and I did not understand that because for me that was the dream! And I didn't think that I really had anything to lose. I'm an introvert, a home body. My favorite is to be alone and read or watch my shows. Going on a random play date to try and meet people is my nightmare. But I understand now. I've realized my books aren't enough I need more in my life I just don't know what.

Going on that trip changed a lot of things for me. It made me realize that I need to do more for myself. That I'll be a happier person if I do more things that make me happy but truly I need the time to figure out exactly what that is. I'm selfish. Part of me wants to go back to Pennsylvania and be roommates with my friend again. But then of course I'm home and think 'oh I'm so grateful I'm here for the Literary Festival' or just the fun one on one time me and CurlyGirl have because I know that time is coming to a close.

My husband is important. We are not just spouses but best friends and working to stay that way can be both really hard and incredibly easy. My children are important I don't think love is a strong enough word to express my feelings for them, it goes so much deeper then that. But you know what? I'm important and I need to find things that will make me happy. Its going to be hard to find the balance of doing things for me and being a good wife and mother but that's something I need to do right now. I need to feel okay about myself and my life. I hate knowing that it's my problem the child in me wants to point the finger and say "No, this is your fault you fix it!" But no. This is my deal and while I have no idea what I'm going to do exactly I've already started to feel better knowing that I'm the one who needs the change I'm the one who can control it.

Steph's Book Recommendations for Kids

As many of you may know I am an avid reader. I love books and I love words. Books are my go to. When I have spare time on my hands I almost always choose to read. I've tried to instill this love of reading in my children. I honestly don't know if loving to read is an inherent trait or one that is taught. Maybe my kids like to read because that's what they see me doing. Maybe they like to read because that's just who they are, they're readers. 

Now my youngest is just barely 6 and is not reading independently for fun yet. We're still doing all of her reading together as she's getting more and more confident. My son likes to read, however it is not his first choice of activity. When he has spare time he almost always grabs a ball and heads outside. Occasionally though I find him curled up on the couch or laying across his bed with a book. It makes my book lover heart swell. 

My oldest child is another story all together. That girl can not get her head out of a book. She reads all of the time. In the car, eating her breakfast, brushing her teeth, trying to get dressed. I've literally had to pull the book out of her hands and say please just put your shoes on. It's awesome, I love that she loves to read but it's also kind of annoying. Annoying because she's so immersed in her book that she doesn't hear us when we talk to her and also because it can be torture to  get her to find an alternate hobby. We must be well rounded people. The other reason it's annoying is because it is extremely difficult to find books that are engaging but also age appropriate. I can not possibly read everything she is reading. It's just not feasible. So I've had to let her spread her wings a little bit and learn to self regulate. 

I'm doing a lot of online research when she brings home a book. We make lists of books together that she is interested in reading, I read the summary of the book and try to find reviews. We look on Pintrest and Goodreads for book lists and blogs for recommendations. It has been really helpful. So I decided to pay it forward and throw out some recommendations of our own. My children made the following list. I asked them which books they would tell their friends to read and this is what they came up with. But for the record my oldest child would like me to state that her favorite series of all time is Harry Potter and everyone should read it. 

 Big Sis bookworm (age 11)-

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
 My oldest loved loved loved this series. This is an adventure book about orphaned kids who are part of a Society working to thwart Mr. Curtain's evil plans. She says there are 3 books in the series and then there is a 4th book which is a side story and a 5th puzzle book. She's read them all multiple times, these are a little bit more complex and are quite long. 

Green by Laura Roberts
This is a fantasy book about Leprechauns, trickery, and passing test to become the Leprechaun money keeper. Green is a stand alone novel.

A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz
Another fantasy trilogy that includes Hansel and Gretel and 8 other Grim inspired tales. This book was a darker (shocking as it's Grim)  read that I was skeptical about but she just loved it. 

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones
There are 7 Chrestomanci books; six novels and a collection of 4 short stories. My daughter read The Lives of Christopher Chant and Conrad's Fate. She hasn't read the others but don't let that dissuade you, some times she gets distracted from a series if we have to wait too long to get it from the library. These are another fantasy story with magic and castles which is right up her alley. 

Treasure Hunters by James Patterson with Chris Grabenstein and Mark Shulman
Both my oldest and my son like this series, there are 4 books about the Kidd family who are shipwrecked. It's adventurous, dangerous with secret rooms and irreverent humor (not in a bad way).

Boy bookworm (age 8)- 

Land of Stories by Chris Colfer
My son is in the middle of these right now. He is devouring them. They are a fairy tale adventure type about boy/girl twins who end up falling through a book and in to the Land of Stories. These are bigger books and quite frankly I'm surprised and impressed that he's stayed with them but they're easy to read and the story is keeping him engaged. 

Bunnicula by James Howe
My son was introduced to these by his 3rd grade teacher and he thought they were awesome. The story is told from the perspective of the Monroe family's dog, Harold. The family cat, Chester, is convinced the new bunny, Bunnicula,rain is a vampire and is trying to convince Harold to save the family from the perceived threat of the bunny. Hilarious and a little bit wacky, my son loved them.

The 39 Clues
This series of adventure novels is written by a collaboration of authors and consists of 4 series. The Clue Hunt, Cahills vs Vespers, Unstoppable and Doublecross. Now my disclaimer is that he has not made his way through all of them. This is another book introduced to him at school but they are shorter and he was able to read through them quickly while being engaged in the story, My other disclaimer is that my oldest daughter did not like these at all. She found them stressful and upsetting due to some tension and the threat of some violence. It didn't bother my son. 

The Notebook of Doom by Troy Cummings
Ok when D started bringing these home I was like uh what are you reading... The titles are totally bizarre but also quite hilarious. The first book is Rise of the Balloon Goons book number 8 is Rumble of the Coaster Ghost and the most recent book is 11 entitled March of the Vanderpants. These books are short, easy to read and appeal to my sons sense of humor. He read them all really fast but being able to finish a book quickly actually helped him feel successful as a reader. 

Little Sis bookworm (age 6)-

The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale
This series of books is not one she can read completely independently but we really enjoy going through them together. She loves the idea of the princess being frilly and also mysterious heading out to defeat monsters that want to eat all of the goats in the kingdom. 

Rainbow Magic
This is another series of books that is done by a collaboration of authors and there are about a million of them. My oldest daughter got in to these when she was 6 or 7 and so my youngest has easy access to them. They are simple chapter books with some illustrations and she just loves the fairies. It's one that we read together but it's a good way to start introducing chapter books.


I hope your family enjoys some of our favorites and please feel free to pass along some recommendations of your own! We are always looking for new books to read. Happy reading!

Stace And Toddlerhood

This. Almost everyday of my life this. And not just about toys but about eating too. I have a two and a half year old little girl and something that I am remembering about two and a half year old's is that its quite difficult. No longer do I have my little lump of a baby who lays around and coo's at me. I don't even have the adorable little crawler, no I have a runner! Not just a runner but a climber. People say that boys are the adventurous ones, the risk takers, I say to you that that is not always true! I can't tell you how many times I've heard "Mommy, wook at me." and turned to see my baby girl precariously perched on some type of high ledge and before panic even has time to set in she's already jumped off while I only have time to gasp and watch her little life flash before my eyes. No, having a two and a half year old isn't easy.

You know how they say to only let your child have like 30 minutes of screen time a day? Ha! Okay! Sure, that's no problem at all. Do "they" have a two and a half year old? I don't think that they do! Because another difficulty with the two and a half year old is their attention span. Do I want my daughter to sit in front of a screen all day whether it be a TV, phone, or iPad? Of course I don't. I'm not that terrible of a mother. Does my child have more then 30 minutes of screen time a day? Yep. I can't even tell you how many times a day I hear "I wanna watch a show" and she has her favorites you know. One thing about my girl is that she knows what she wants and she definitely has her favorite shows. Sofia The First is one of them and we went to Disney World at the end of November and got to meet Sofia. Oh my goodness. She wanted to crawl into Sofia's skin, she literally draped her body over Sofia's and followed her around with her arms out hoping to touch her just once more. Thing's like that make me glad for kids shows. What doesn't make me glad is when I'm at church, or trying to have a conversation with someone and the lovely songs are  whirling around in my mind. That's just not appreciated but I am not a saint, I can only play tea party and tag or Candy Land for so long. She isn't old enough to sit up at the table with paper and crayons that lasts 5 minutes if I'm lucky. 

And can we talk about potty training for a minute? I feel that we have been potty training for months. Months. We got so close. She talked about going on the toilet, we bought the pretty Frozen and Mini Mouse underwear and a little seat to put on the toilet. But no she still isn't potty trained. She poops on the toilet and that's so exciting but she won't pee. She likes to listen to me pee though. Oh yes, I'm trying to do my business and my little girl comes waltzing in cups her chubby hand to her ear and whispers "I hear it! I hear the pee pee's." and then she wants to see my pee. I don't know that I've ever looked at pee more. I don't want to look at my pee. I don't want to talk about pee either. Or poop. There are other things that I would rather talk about. When she sits on the toilet she whispers so that we are sure to hear the poop or pee, she never pee's. We listen for it though, don't you worry. I don't remember the last time I was left alone in the bathroom. 

I've always hated the in-between stages. Like when you're pregnant and start not fitting in your clothes but you aren't ready for maternity clothes either. That's what two and a half is for me. We're way out of baby stage and deep into toddler. A toddler that is learning and growing everyday and is understanding more and more yet can't go to preschool. A toddler who is still in diapers but so close to potty training that you believe that maybe one day you won't have to talk about bodily functions anymore in your everyday life. A toddler that wants to be entertained every minute that they are conscious and even when their unconscious its not a for sure thing man!

Steph came to visit with all of her kids over the summer and one night at about 1 in the morning CurlyGirl goes cruising in her room "Stephy, Stephy what you doing?" Yeah, she just told her to go find mommy. I believe that same night she got up again at like 3 to check that Stephy was still there. Nap times can also be a joke. Oh she still naps for sure. Or does she? Just the other day we did the whole put her down for the nap think she's asleep but then there's singing so put her down again awhile later there's chatting put her down again. I honestly kept hearing her every 15-30 minutes. I have no idea if that girl napped, she was in her room for about two hours though so I took it as a win.

One day I won't have to talk about poop and pee. One day I won't have to schedule my life around nap time and stress whether or not I'm ruining my child by how much time is spent on a screen. One day children's songs won't be the theme spinning in my head. One day, but not today. Today I just want to go to the bathroom by myself. 

Stace's Love Of The Timer

  Being a parent is tough probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm not talking about the labor and delivery, which hello no picnic! But truly its the day to day part of parenting that can be so hard. The pressure of raising a human being to become a decent contributing member of society while maintaining a good relationship with each other is harder then it sounds. 

  I have good children. For the most part they are well behaved and kind individuals. But they are children and can be incredibly frustrating. I went through a period where I felt like to get them to do even the simplest things was just agony. I'm talking about things like putting shoes and a jacket on and not wanting to have to ask 5 times. Or to just sit and eat their food. You know, life sustaining nourishment. I sometimes would want to pull my hair out because of the struggle it was to get them to eat. And it was the food they asked for by the way! I got so frustrated that I brought up from frustrations with my pediatrician and he told me about the beauty of the timer.

   My five year old loves Lego's and when he is playing with them he gets in the zone and it can be hard for him to suddenly be pulled from his play and to hurry and get ready for karate or the store. We have had many frustrating experiences where BuddyBoy gets mad from having to stop the fun thing he is doing and I get mad because I want him to get his flipping shoe's on already. 

  I discovered that warning can go a long way. If I know we need to be somewhere at a set time I set my timer and let him know when I do so that when the timer does go off he knows its time to get ready.

  Another way the timer has saved my life is when its time for clean up. If he is dragging his feet or arguing with me about cleaning I set my timer and if he beats the timer he gets a marshmallow, if he doesn't beat the timer, sorry, no marshmallow. 

  I don't just use the timer for him either I also have used it with my two year old. Though granted I don't use it as much with her because she is still small but because I use it with her brother she does understand a little of what it means. CurlyGirl can give me a hard time when it comes to eating. She hounds me for food and I when I get it for her she takes a bite and then wanders around and plays instead of just eating her food. I kept getting so frustrated by this that I told her if she beat the timer she could have dessert after she ate but if she didn't she still had to eat all of her food but would not get dessert. I explained it several times making sure she understood and, oh, she beat that timer. 

  We also use the timer for taking turns. I don't know about your kids but when mine sees the other playing with something, like the IPad for example, they must have it! I set the timer so they know that they will get a turn and it helps the person whose turn it is to not feel so territorial. 

  I try to keep the timer a positive thing because I feel like if its not it can just add to the problems instead of helping.

  I hope I don't sound like a Nazi mom and that my children live their lives by a timer. Its just the timer thing has truly saved a lot of frustration and tension in our home. I've even used it at bedtime. When the timer goes off its time to get ready for bed. 
 Do we still have arguments and frustrations? For sure! But the timer has been something for us that has helped keep a more peaceful home.



  

Stace and being induced.

I finally had my sweet baby girl. She was 7lbs 6oz's and 21 and a half inches long. Yea! Long long girl. She's beautiful of course and has been with us for 2 weeks even though it feels like longer. She just belongs to the family. But, I will write more about her later. This post is going to be about the labor and delivery and being induced. Wahoo!

This pregnancy has been far more trying then with my son. At about 24 weeks I started to have preterm labor pains and went to the emergency room because I was contracting every 1-2 minutes. To keep a long story short my mother-in-law came to town to help so I could take it easy than my parents came into town. After awhile things got better but then I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes so needless to say when it was safe for her to come out I wanted her to come out. I had also heard a lot of horror stories about gestational diabetes being big. I was afraid of having a 10lb or bigger baby that's why I decided to be induced at 39 weeks. My doctor was ok with it so that's what we did. 

I was nervous about it because I worried that maybe it was just a little to soon and that maybe I was being selfish and I worried about my body being ready to deliver because the body has a process for delivering a baby and has steps it needs to go through. I worried that the Pitocin would maybe make me sick or nausea's or would put the baby under stress. There is always so many different things to worry about when having a baby regardless though. 

Turns out the worst part of my delivery was getting my IV. They blew a vein in my hand and then proceeded to dig after a wiggling vein in my wrist. Now, this was the worst part because I got an epidural. If I had not gotten an epidural the IV experience would probably have paled in comparison. Everything though with the induction went awesome. They started to give me the pitocin at 8am I got my epidural about two hours later and had her at 1:26pm. Everything just went so smoothly I was able to even watch quite a bit of FRIENDS. That's right I took my FRIENDS DVD to the hospital.

Before I had her I did research on being induced and kept finding stories about it being a long labor or being a frustrating process and it didn't really make me feel awesome so I thought I would put a positive induction story out there. 

Being induced was so nice because we do not live by family and my family is pretty far so it made it so much easier and less stressful to know that on a specific day was when the baby was coming. You just never know with little ones when they will decide to make an appearance. 

Stace and Living with Gestational Diabetes

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and I will be honest, it made me a little bitter. Not at the baby of course, just general bitterness. When I was diagnosed I truly couldn't believe it and a part of me thought there was a mistake. They gave me a giant packet to read over on what to do and what it means. Talk about overwhelming. It helped that my mom was in town and could help me try and make sense of everything. 

I wanted to post about this because it was a very overwhelming thing and for about two weeks I was stressed and not sure if I was doing things right or if I had or was going to ruin my baby and of course there is the fear of having a giant baby because those who have gestational diabetes are more prone to having larger babies. People want a full term baby but no wants a giant baby. I know everyone who reads the blog is not pregnant but there might be someone you know who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and its not a fun thing to have but it is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. It is a little annoying because at first they want you to check your blood sugar 4 times a day which means pricking your finger 4 times a day. No one wants to do that. I am finally at the point where I only need to check my blood sugar twice a day, first thing in the morning and before my bedtime snack, and its still annoying to have to prick my fingers but you gotta do whats best for the baby.

Basically the diet, though they don't call it a diet but a lifestyle, is having a balance of carbs and protein. Obviously there is more to know then that but it helps to have it be more simplified because that truly is the basic thing you need to do for the gestational diabetes, balance between carbs and protein. What has really saved me is a veggie steamer. My mom bought it for me because you can basically eat all the vegetables you want and I've never been a big veggie eater and a part of the reason was because I didn't know how to prepare fresh vegetables. So, mom and I went out and found a rice cooker that could also steam veggies. Its so cool! And sooo easy to use. Its almost like the crock pot where you just put the the veggies in there and let them cook. The longest something takes to steam is like 25 mins, its awesome. Another thing that has helped is my parents found already made protein drinks that have only like 5 grams of carbs in it (knowing how many grams of carbs are in something is very important, always check the carbs) they are called Premier Protein drinks and I have one almost every morning for breakfast along with like toast or a waffle. Balance people.

Having gestational diabetes does not mean no more sweet stuff. Hallelujah because this girl loves the sweets. I have had a major sweet tooth this pregnancy and I have had to cut back on the sweets, which really isn't a bad thing considering, but, its helped to know that I don't have to go completely off sweets. That would have been really tough. I was just told to only have kiddie sized portions of desserts. I can live with that. There is a slight chance that I might get type 2 diabetes after the baby is born but I would be pretty surprised because I have been eating how I am supposed to and diabetes does not run in my family. 

My husband and family have been very supportive which has really made it a lot easier to deal with. They have helped me figure out the changes I need to make and then helped me find the things I like so that I don't feel like I'm just eating gross food for the sake of the baby but can actually enjoy my meals and snacks. Gestational diabetes does kind of suck to have but its really not as horrible as I thought it was going to be and its very doable. 

Here are just some of the snack and foods that I eat pretty regularly.

Breakfast: Premier Protein drinks with toast, waffle or half a muffin. Also a breakfast burrito is good balance as well.

Snacks: Square cheddar cheese with Wheat Thins and some fruit. Light or Greek yogurt with granola.

Lunch/Dinner: Rotisserie chicken with veggies and half a yam or potato. Lime chicken tacos. Enchiladas. Hamburgers. The occasional pizza.

Dessert: Ice cream, brownies, cupcakes, and cookies. 

Stace and finishing school online

  

  I am 26 and I still haven't graduated from college. A part of the problem was that I didn't know which school I wanted to go to so I kind of bounced around a bit doing a summer semester here and another semester there. The problem with bouncing around a ton is that you lose credits because each school is different on what they will take. Finally, when I was like 19 or 20 I got accepted into BYUI and was wanting to try and take my education more seriously.  I started going to BYUI (Brigham Young University Idaho) but the problem was I still didn't know what to major in. Why was I going to school? I've never been super ambitious, never had a great love for anything and, really,I don't like having a job. So I was just going to school with no plan.

   As you can see doing school with no plan doesn't really work out great because like I said 26 and still no degree. Well, I did a few semesters there and was barely starting to get an idea of what I wanted to graduate in. I had finally decided to get my degree in English with an emphasis on Literary Studies because reading is what I like to do and that is basically what the major was. I met Jared we got married and moved around a ton and didn't do school. In those years the focus was trying to get Jared back to school and trying to figure out where. Finally we ended up back at BYUI and Jared is on his last semester and is going to graduate in July (yay!). But what about my schooling?

    When we first moved back I decided to see about finishing my degree as well but it was a little more difficult now because I have a nice little boy and we wanted to have another child soon. Turns out I would not be able to graduate when Jared could and we did not want my schooling to hinder his and then stop him from getting a good job after. So, I decided to finish my degree online.

   There are big pros and cons with getting an online degree. A big pro is that I can do my school around my schedule and I can travel and still do my school and not worry about missing classes or anything. A huge con is that you cannot take as many credits a semester as you could going to actual classes so the graduating process is even longer. And, at least through BYUI, you are very limited on what you can get your degree in online. I met with a school counselor and we decided, with the credits I already had, that I would graduate fastest with my major as University Studies and two minors one is English and the other is Marriage and Family. Lame right? What kind of job could I get with that? I mean, that was kind of the point of getting my degree was in case something happened to Jared or he lost his job or something I could get a job that would help provide for the family. You know something better then like just a retail job. 

    I've been doing the online classes for a year and sometimes it can be really frustrating. I have gotten some really pain in the butt teachers, but that happens anyway, and its just going so slow. The most credits I've taken a semester is 5 (two classes) when doing online you can't look at credits anymore but just focus on how many classes there are left. I have about 8 classes left and then I'm done. Sounds simple right? No. It is still going to take me years to finish because I am limited on how many classes I can take a semester and this year I am only doing one semester because last semester I was in the first trimester, no thanks, and next semester I will have a new born, again no thanks.

  

   Should I keep going? Should I even bother? I asked myself those questions just recently because my teacher has already been completely ridiculous and it is barely the third week of the semester. Is getting a degree really so important? Especially one as lame as mine? I finally decided, after talking with Steph, my husband, my parents and anyone who could share different perspectives, I decided that yes getting my degree was important. I have no idea if I will ever use it but you know what maybe I will and I know that I will feel good about myself to finish what I started and to just do it and be able to say that I did. I also really want to be an example for my children because I want them to go to school and get degrees also.

    Education is important, While my education has not gone exactly as I thought it would I am still really grateful to have the opportunity to finish my schooling and be home with special ones. I do wish I had been smarter when first starting school, like just going to one school and meeting with school counselors more often to help lead me on the right path, maybe things would be different. But, this is what I've decided to do and it can be pretty annoying and difficult but I truly believe its worth it.

    

Steph and testosterone overkill

      So I'm obviously a girl. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother but my brother is 12 years younger that I am so by the time he started really getting into the whole, I'm absolutely a boy thing, I was headed to college.  I also have 2 daughters. I work in church with all of the 12-18 year old girls. I know quite a bit about girls, how they work, how they think, and the whole hormone issue. It helps to have personal experience in these things to be better prepared in a crisis situation. Boys on the other hand are an entirely different story.

   I do have a husband and he is a boy. Thank goodness. He has provided me with some insight into the male world, it's been interesting. But I married my husband when he was 22 years old, I stepped in mid way and didn't get to see what had brought him to legal adulthood.  Our oldest child is Addy, she's a beautiful little girl who refused, for 2 years, to wear anything that was not pink. I'm not really a frilly mom, I don't wear much pink myself, I don't enjoy high heels much or doing my hair so 2 years of pink was a bit much. But she was familiar to me. I get where she's coming from. Our second child is a boy....when I went in for my 20 week sonogram and the tech said ok are you ready to find out the sex of the baby then moved the doppler my husband literally started jumping around the room yelling "I did it!! It's a boy!! I did it!!" He did it alright. I was totally shocked. Happy for sure but instantly overwhelmed. What the heck am I going to do with a boy?

    Fast forward 5 1/2 years and I have the sweetest, cutest, most hilarious boy on the planet. He's a little short for his age, dark blonde (with constantly messy hair), has my build so the poor boy is just skin and bones, and laughs like a minion from Despicable Me. He loves me in a very special son/mom way and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But it took me a few years to get his number. I know without a doubt that as the years go by I'll have to adjust my footing with him but I think we have our relationship pretty well figured out. It wasn't easy getting there though....

    He was my easiest and happiest baby by far. Slept pretty well, good eater, he did have ear infections from 3 months to 2 years but we were able to avoid tubes. Things started to get tricky just before he turned 3. Now I've posted before about our current 3 year old and the trials of life that are presently besetting us. You know my opinion about 3 year olds..... The problem was that a boy 3 year old is an entirely different thing than a girl 3 year old. The most marked difference was the crazy tendency to lash out physically when he got angry. My boy is sweet and loving! He doesn't hit, or kick, or push. Ha, yeah right. I couldn't figure out how all of the sudden I found myself doling out punishments daily for some kind of physical altercation. I felt like I was drowning, I was always punishing him. Always telling him to keep his hands to himself. Constantly reminding him that "hands are not for hitting" that if he had a problem to just use words and I would help him. As we were going through this I figured out 2 very important things.

    He had lots and lots of physical energy. Duh Mom. He loves to run, he still loves to run. His favorite activity is for me to time him as he runs from one point to another and tell him how fast he is. He had that physical energy as a toddler. And as he was growing from babyhood to toddlerhood he was having a hard time knowing how to appropriately outlet that energy. I talked to friends of mine who had boys or brothers and the general consensus was put him in a sport. I used to judge people that would put their 3 year old's in soccer, or t-ball or whatever extracurricular activity. Why would you spend money on something like that for a kid that young? Well I no longer judge them, I am one of them. You do it because if you don't he's going to break everything in your house throwing a ball, he's going to crack his head open jumping off the kitchen table, and he's going to hit his sister.  Putting him in Soccer Tots was the best decision I could have made, I think that company has since changed its name to like Youth Premier Sports or something. It was non competitive, love that. The "teams" were no more than 8 kids and he got to run, throw, kick, jump and it was all allowed! And constructive! It took his testosterone filled body and gave him an appropriate outlet. 

    The second thing I figured out may or may not be backed by current science. I've not researched it at all, this is just my opinion. I have noticed that when Derek starts exhibiting the signs of a growth spurt it almost always comes with his "manstration" cycle. He gets more whiney, sleeps deeper, his appetite increases and he gets very very testy. I think that a growth spurt triggers a burst of testosterone or something in boys that causes them to get irritable and more physically aggressive. I have a friend who's little boy also gets more clumsy during growth because his body can't keep up with itself. I haven't really developed any tricks to stop this from happening but it does help me deal with it knowing that every month and a half or so my happy boy will disappear for about 2 weeks and become an overly sensitive, angry, sister shover. As he gets older he's learning to control his physical aggressiveness more and more, I'm no longer afraid I'm raising a brawler (he's really too skinny for that anyway), and I'm learning that sometimes boys just need to hit something. So I'm getting better at recognizing those times and sending him to his room so he can spend some time with the Captain America punching bag he got for Christmas. 

Stace and trying to exercise while pregnant

     The second pregnancy has been somewhat of a surprise. You would think it wouldn't be because, you know, I've done this before! But it is. Symptoms happen sooner. You get bigger sooner, you get nauseous sooner, you get the aches and pains sooner, oh and my personal favorite Braxton Hicks. Everything is sooner! Steph warned me and maybe I didn't want to believe her or just hoped that it wouldn't happen to me. But, it did. I will be six months tomorrow and I already feel like a house, or as I told Steph yesterday, a beast. 

       The worst thing that has been happening to me is lower back pain. Now obviously you don't have to be pregnant to have back pain, but my pregnancy is just making my already weak and troubled back all that much worse. I have actually been concerned because the pain and aching has been so bad already and I still have quite a while to go. So, I have been trying to find some exercises (or really stretches) to help. In this pregnancy my cravings have been more toward the sweet side of foods as opposed to the savory and while that is quite delightful it also doesn't help with feeling enormous and not being able to work out like I want. I did Zumba before I got pregnant and I was actually sure I could keep doing it but with the back pain I really can't.

      What I have started doing is going to the gym 4 or 5 days a week and doing the elliptical. I really like the elliptical because it doesn't hurt my back or bad knee ( I've dislocated my knee twice and have had surgery). Also, a lot of elliptical machines have these arm things attached to them that go back and forth like your legs and it works your biceps, triceps and some chest and that's very nice cause lets face it I'm not going to go and pump some iron. At home I have a prenatal yoga DVD that I do which is basically nice easy stretching and that has help quite a bit with the tight sore lower back. Another thing that has been helpful is using the heating pad before I go to bed at night. I sleep better and don't feel so tight and sore the next day.

     Everyone knows when you get pregnant you gain weight and we all know its a good thing. Weight needs to be gained. But its still really hard to have happen. Especially because the mean doctors have you stand on the scale every single time! I have been feeling better though as I have tried to make the effort to exercise. My exercises are not hard core they are not a big deal. The longest I've done the elliptical so far is 30 mins! But everything counts and it helps me to not feel discouraged or gross when I look in the mirror and see that belly's coming out and see my face getting fatter...Maybe I shouldn't talk about this anymore. I'm going to go stuff my face with apple chips, that will make me feel better about my fat face.

    If there are any suggestions about different exercises to strengthen backs or other simple exercises leave a comment I would love to hear them. I am very willing to try anything to not be in so much pain and feel better about myself. Go pregnancy! 

Stace and being positive while potty training

     I have mentioned before that my son Kade is two and a half. To some people that might be a little old to finally start potty training and to others that might be too young. It's hard to say the best age for potty training. I think a lot of it is knowing when your little one is ready. There are some signs like waking up with a dry diaper for consecutive days or maybe starting to go to the bathroom on their own. With Kade, my husband really wanted to start potty training fairly early (about two) but there were a few reasons we held off a bit. I didn't feel he was quite ready and I did not want to start the potty training just to realize it was too soon and stop and try again later. Another reason that we waited a bit was because we traveled quite a bit over the holidays and then Kade and I just went on another trip in March. I was way too scared to start potty training then travel. And then the biggest reason we waited was because I was in the first trimester and exhausted with a ridiculous sense of smell.

      So two weeks ago we finally started. In a way, I think it did help that Jared and I were talking about potty training because we started laying the ground work for it and he had like 3 months of ground work working toward potty training. He probably did not need that much time but I feel like having the ground work really helped.

     What we did for ground work was talk about it when we went to the bathroom, what we were doing, showed him what it looked like, had him listen, all that it was great fun (some sarcasm in that last statement). He even went poo on the toilet a few times before we really started the potty training.

    The way we went about it, when it finally happened, was not using pull ups because I felt like that was to similar to a diaper and didn't think he would catch on and understand very well. So we bought him some underwear and we got ones that we knew he would like. They have Nemo Lightning McQueen, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. His favorites are the Lightning McQueen ones and I swear to you one of them is a lucky pair. I also did not get him a little kid toilet. I just felt like he needed to know and get used to a regular toilet because no where else but home had the little toilet. We just bought him a little stool to help him get on the toilet. I have heard though that some moms like the little kid toilet and get good results from it.

     The first day he had four accidents until he went on the toilet and when he did go there was a lot of cheering and clapping and he got a treat as well. We've been through two bags of Gummie Bears. As the days went on he would sometimes have accidents in the morning and afternoon then he wouldn't the rest of the day. Other days he wouldn't have accidents until the end of the day. I don't know. I would use a pull up when we would go out because I had the fear and as of yet he has not peed in the pull up though I'm sure that day will come. After about 4 days he stopped having accidents. We were shocked. He went almost an entire week and then all of the sudden he is having accidents again.

      A few things I've noticed is because he was doing so well we started relaxing a little on the treat and cheering. We would still cheer but it wasn't as enthusiastic and we started only giving him a treat when he asked. I don't know if this had anything to do with his relapse or if he just stopped feeling like going on the toilet. He has also started to want to go in the bathroom by himself, with the door closed, but I still don't trust him not to just mess around and then claim he went to the bathroom. He also has started to refuse to go if I suggest it or ask him to. He says no or he just whines and whines while sitting on the toilet till I finally take him off of it but then not even ten minutes later he'll go. It's frustrating to say the least. And that's the thing!

     I think the key to potty training is to keep it something positive. My little guy is huge on positive reinforcement, he does very well with it (most of the time). When he started to figure out that when he went to the bathroom he got a treat he would finish his treat and then immediately  go back to the toilet and then start cheering so I would just tell him good job sitting on the potty, because that's what we refer to it as, but (excuse my language) you didn't go pee pee or poo poo so no candy. I always try and tell him 'good job' and 'thank you' and 'good boy' so that he would not sense my frustration or get frustrated. 

     The relapsing. I think relapsing may be the death of me or maybe even him. Like I said he's been doing great and then Sunday he started having accidents again. He has had three today and I do not understand it. I think honestly he just doesn't want to do that right now. But, like I said before, I am trying to keep this a positive thing. It helps no one to get mad and frustrated at them. Both my mom and Steph said that relapses can happen for about six months after starting potty training. Maybe that makes me want to weep. And it makes it a lot harder to stay positive and encouraging but I really think that this approach has helped him. He really is doing well for only two weeks of potty training, he just fooled me with doing so well so early, but I think expecting relapsing will help all through the lovely potty training experience. 

       

The hard choices--Stace

     I will be married 5 years this year. My husband is in school. He has one semester left then he graduates and we are both really excited. School has been a hard thing for both of us. It has been hard for him because he doesn't love school, at all, but he made the hard choice to just buckle down and do it. It has been hard for me because not only is he gone a lot for school but he is working part time as well trying to support his family. 

      Once he started going to school full time we were both ready for it and ready to be able to put the school experience behind us. Maybe because he is so close to the finish but not quite there yet am I really realizing how hard this is and has been for both of us. We have a two year old and I am five months pregnant and he is working so hard that there are some days we are lucky if we get to see him for an hour. As our son has been getting older the more aware he is becoming and some days it is hard for him to have daddy gone so much. He really loves his daddy you see. And, as Steph can attest, I am a bit on the needy touchy feely side so it is hard not to be with him a ton. 

       It has also been hard seeing him come home at 10 o'clock at night looking worn down and pale knowing he has to get up and do it all over again the next day. As his wife and best friend I have tried to make things easier for him but getting pregnant has put a little chink in our routine. This pregnancy was not a surprise but its just thrown things a little off balance what with the first few months of pregnancy and the complete and total lack of energy, he has had to pick up a lot of slack. 

    Now that I am out of the first trimester and feeling better I thought, oh great now we can get balanced again. We can some, but not like it was before. There are lovely aches and pains when growing a person and some days it is worse then others. Today is one of those days. I guess that's why I am bringing it up. In life and in marriage there are just periods of time when life is harder or life isn't exactly fair or easy for one spouse or both. What has helped me get through is the wonderful support, and I know not everyone gets this, from family.  And even though in some ways having children while he is still in school has been harder its also been nice to have a really nice little one for company and joy.

  I guess the whole point  of this is that a lot of the time the hard choices are usually the best choices. Like going to school, or having children, or taking a particular job, deciding where to move, when to buy a house, there are so many hard and potentially life changing choices that need to be made all of the time. Its not like you can make one really hard choice and then be done with that for the rest of your life. I hope we won't be to afraid to do the hard things, they are scarey. But, I think as long as we can stay close to each other and make hard choices together that we can pull through every time.

 

Steph and the Texas ABC Book

      Since my son started kinder he has had to do 4 major school projects. This is more than my second grader has had to do in her entire public school career combined. It's because since moving to a new area, our children now go to a gifted/talented academy. The curriculum requires them to do 5 major projects a year based on the unit they are studying. Now, I'm really really not a creative or crafty person. My motto is why make it if you can buy it. I don't get joy out of that kind of creativity. I find gluing, painting, cutting, measuring, and mod podge frustrating and not in any way joyful. 

       So when my son (who is also not really a make it, glue it, or color it guy) comes home and tells me he needs to make a book about himself, I wasn't super enthused. But we did it. There was cutting and stapling of pages, coloring and stickers involved. Then came the traditions poster which included printing of pictures and more stickers, some handwriting (which is never fun with a 5 year old boy) and lots of tape. When he came home with the assignment to do a biography project I thought it couldn't be worse than that. He chose Ben Franklin, so we had to research and then I had to bring it down to a level that a kindergartner would understand. Then he had to fill out the papers Who? When? What is he well known for? and What were his dreams? Oh the writing!  The poor guy was in agony trying to find the patience to write down information about a man he in no way even understood. I though that was bad, then came the Texas ABC book.

       I am not a native to Texas. Oh if I've never said it before we live in Texas. I moved here as a teenager and met my husband in college, he is a native Texan and so when college was done we moved back home. I have as much Texas pride as the next Texas transplant, however, I have never fully understood the absolute love and obsession that most Texans have with their native state. In kindergarten there was an entire day dedicated to Texas Appreciation. A Texas Extravaganza if you will. The kids learned to do-si-do and do a very fine square dance. Poems about Texas were recited, songs were sung, including the ever popular Texas theme song. Chili (the state food) and Dr Pepper (invented in Texas) were served and each child was required to do a project about Texas. My boy chose to do an ABC book of Texas facts. His teacher is excellent and she gave us plenty of notice to give us time to work on said project. Unfortunately, my tendency to procrastinate reared its ugly head and before we knew it the project was due on Friday. 

     Of course it was also the week my husband was out of town. There was soccer practice, church obligations, and Stace was in town. So each night we plugged away at the project little by little. We had already make a list of our word for each page. A is for armadillo the small mammal of Texas. B is for bluebonnet, the state flower and so on. So for an hour my son and I sat at the computer and found pictures for each page of his book, then we printed them all out one day. Another day there was lots and lots of cutting. He started gluing the pictures in his book and then we had to come up with the sentences for each letter. After 1 1/2 hours we had the front page done and letters A-D. I was dying a slow death. So we decided that he would dictate to me and I would type out the letters and sentences hoping it would be faster. It did prove to go more quickly but of course as I was printing it somehow the format changed and it all printed in 8x10 format and it used up all my paper. (I am also not especially computer smart). There was more cutting and fitting the words together so they didn't hang off the end of the 5x7 book. Oh my.

      The long and short of it is that Thursday night at 9 pm I was sitting alone at my kitchen table after soccer, snack, and bedtime gluing the words into the kindergarten ABC book. It was a time of reflection on what my life had become. Here I am, an educated woman, sitting alone in my kitchen with glue covered fingers. By that point I had already moved past irritated, frustrated, and annoyed. I landed smack dab in the middle of resigned. The next morning the boy in my house woke up and asked me if I was able to get his project finished. I showed him the completed book and he grinned the biggest 5 year old grin at me and said, "Wow mom this looks awesome." He gave me a hug and said thanks for helping me so much. Then he ran off to get dressed. I would do that stupid project everyday for a year to get that grin, hug, and thanks mom.

Living away from home--Stace

   Kade and I are at the end of our fun trip to see family. Every time a trip comes to an end it's always a bit bittersweet. It will be nice to get home and be with my husband and get back into a more regular routine, but it's always hard to say goodbye.
  
     Steph has been very lucky in that most of her married life she has lived close to mom and dad. I have not. My first year of marriage we actually lived basically down the street from them but then we moved, and moved again, then moved again, then moved again. And I'm talking bouncing states. But there is always a sense of almost well being when returning home.

     When I first moved away from home it was very difficult for me. I don't think it helped that it was just before Christmas and I was in the early stages of pregnancy with my son and it was the first time I wouldn't be home for Christmas. Yea it was a difficult time. As my husband and I have started our lives together it is still hard to be so far from my family.  At first it was hard because I missed everyone so much, especially my nieces and nephew. As I continued in my pregnancy, it was hard because I wanted them to be there and share the experience with me. After my son was born, my mom stayed with us for two weeks and it was hard for both of us when she left but, strangely, it was then that I wasn't living for when my family would visit or when I would visit them. I was a mother. I was a wife. I finally felt like I belonged in the life I was living.

      It was hard to let go of the life that I had lived so long as a college student who would go to school and on every break go home. After I got married it was hard for me to adjust and accept the mindset that I wasn't going to go home as often or as long as I had. I guess it took becoming a mother to realize hey, I'm not a kid anymore and I have a family of my own.

     Now I think of my small apartment as home, but, I also think of my parents house as my home as well. It may be corny but I guess it's true that home really is where the heart is. Home is where my husband and son are. Home is where my family is.

Stace's non listening 2 and a half year old

Steph tells me it's because he is two and a half and he is just working toward the horrible 3's, but I still don't understand. My little boy is a sensitive nice boy. He listens really well. He is ever so polite.
 
   Until about a week ago. It's like something switched in his brain or that little elves or something came in one night messed with his brain and now he is mister "I'm sorry did you say something mommy? Oh, you've told me to stop like three times? Hmm." I don't know what to do! It's honestly like one day he just woke up almost a different child. He is still a sensitive little guy and polite, it's the listening that has gone out the window and it's driving me nuts!

   It always throws me off when he goes through a new phase because we've set up a routine and we know what to do when he behaves a certain way but then he will randomly throw a wrench in it. Stupid developing. I've tried to not be a monster mom and just jump all over him when he isn't listening but I wonder if I'm being too lenient and not being firm soon enough. My mom suggested that when he is ignoring me and not listening that I should tell him to look at me and I'm not sure if that's making a difference or not yet.

   This is a really hard phase for me because I loathe repeating myself and this repetition is driving me to distraction. But it's more than just getting frustrated about it. I'm concerned because he is not listening to me and when he is running in front of me and doesn't stop when I say, I'm so scared about him just running into the street. I am not a fast mover, especially with a 5 month pregnant belly. I'm exhausted. Gotta love the little ones.

    

She's not even a teenager yet. Steph and her anxiety prone 8 year old.

    My oldest child has always been a funny girl. When she was 2 I thought she had OCD because she used to wake me up 6 times a night to fix her blankets. She needed the seam on the socks to sit on her toes "just so" and she refused to eat if her bowl, cup and spoon didn't all match. I spoke to her pediatrician thinking what in the world is wrong with my child. She was my first one, I didn't know what was "normal" and what was not! He assured me that she was simply a very intellectually aware child that was using these small things to exercise control over her environment. I felt better about that and we allowed her to use some of these idiosyncrasies as a way to sooth her self but kept a reign on them. As she's gotten older some things she has grown out of and new troubles have developed. Every year at the start of school she makes herself physically ill. Whenever there is a big change of any kind no matter the amount of prep work we do to prepare her she can't make the adjustment with out going in to a downward spin. She gets cold sores, stomach aches, she loses sleep and says she feels dizzy. When she started first grade I took her to the doctor because I thought she had a urinary tract infection. She had to use the bathroom before we left for school then she would beg me to stop the car because she had to go again, she would go at school multiple times and again at home. She didn't have an infection she had simply made herself so nervous that her body couldn't  keep up.

    My biggest concerns with her have been this last year in school. She made herself sick again at the beginning of the year and actually ended up missing 3 days the first week because of stomach trouble. Her doctor recommended that we use Valerian root in small doses as a natural relaxant. It seemed to work pretty well but as soon as something would come up at school (like a teacher got upset with her or she and a friend got in an argument) the anxiety would flare back up. As she has gotten older she exhibits stress by picking at her fingernails or twisting her hair. She has a hard time falling asleep and doesn't like to eat breakfast before school. She's a wonderful student and is exceptionally bright, she has lots of friends and her teachers love her. She is a great big sister, she plays soccer and is the best goalie on the team. My husband and I have done our very best to keep our family life as stable as possible we are a very close family and she feels comfortable at home. She holds her stress and anxiety in at school or in social settings and then as soon as she gets home she dumps it all on us! I keep telling my husband it's because we're good parents! She feels safe at home and knows that no matter what she dishes out we will handle it and continue to love her. Bless her heart. 

    Our most recent challenge has been a school switch mid year. Because of her enhanced academic needs we tested her to attend a gifted and talented academy in our school district. The initial testing was recommended by her 1st grade teacher and her test scores qualified her but there was no room in the program for 2nd grade. Our son also tested into the program for kindergarten this year and it has been an absolutely wonderful thing for him. Our daughter was very excited about potentially being able to go school there and was disappointed when it didn't work out. I've had the kids at 2 different schools for over half of this year and then a few weeks ago a spot opened up at the academy. We were all so excited, our daughter especially. But when it came time to actually go to school the anxiety set in. It's completely understandable that she would feel overwhelmed and scared to be the new kid mid year. She has done so well the last few weeks trying to keep herself positive and get caught up on the extra work load. She and I have spent LOTS of time talking about her feelings and her fears. The thing that I think has helped the most has been an exercise I've told her to do during the day. I told her that whenever she feels overwhelmed or scared or confused to say a little prayer in her heart and then quickly list 3 things that have gone well that day. She came home the first time she tried it and said she felt happier that day. We also got a Doterra oil called Balance that I rub on her feet before school. I really think it helps keep her relaxed and if nothing else it works as a great placebo!

    My girl is awesome. I worry about her little mind and her emotions. I feel so overwhelmed as her mother because I want to give her the skills she needs to deal with these things in a healthy way so that as she gets older she'll manage better and better. I think we'll get there but man I think I need to rub something on my feet too!!!

Stace's kid show Team Umizoomi

I have a two and a half year old and sometimes we get bored. Every parent wants to be careful about how much "screen time" our children get. We don't want to have couch potatoes, at least not before they're five. There is one TV Show in particular though that I do not mind my son watching more then others, it's called Team Umizoomi. In Umizoomi there are a brother and sister and their robot friend and they are tiny super heroes with mighty math powers. Yes, their math powers are mighty. The reason I am ok with my son watching this show more then others is because I absolutely believe that it has helped him to learn numbers and shapes. When he was around 1 years old he counted from 1-15 and he looks for numbers and shapes wherever we go. So I think Umizoomi has been beneficial to him and has helped lay the ground work for more learning and study. They also teach children about patterns which is right up my sons alley because he can be a little more on the meticulous side and finding patterns or making patterns is something that is quite enjoyable for him.  Another plus to Umizoomi is that it isn't complete agony for me to have on unlike other kids shows (such as Dora the Explorer for example, her voice is so shrill).

Steph thinks 3 year olds are worse than 2 year olds

   I have 3 children. Why is my youngest the hardest of the lot? I thought I was emotionally and mentally prepared to deal with my youngest child as she moved out of the baby phase and into the toddler phase. I've done it twice before, once with a girl and once with a boy, I figured I was pretty good to go. I didn't account for the fact that my children are all completely different. Rookie mistake. I thought that our lives were hard 5 months ago when we started potty training her and she was purposefully having accidents just because she didn't want to take the time to go to the bathroom. And when she completely regressed in speech for no apparent reason and refused to use actual words for weeks at a time. I thought it was hard when her appetite started to change and refused to eat anything but spaghetti. Then she turned 3 and our lives have been thrown into the tornado that is my youngest child. 
   She is still doing all of the above mentioned things (not to the same extent thank goodness) but now we've added getting out of bed repeatedly all night long. Not wanting to go to bed at all. Refusing to let her siblings out of the car with out a password (I have no idea), she argues with me about everything from what she wears that day to going to the grocery store. The only thing I can think of is that she is a complete control freak. She is using any means and situation at her disposal to exert control over her life. I realize it is my job as her parent to set boundaries and see that people adhere to said boundaries. We got through it with the other two and I know that we'll get through it with her but man I feel like I'm taking a very small very irritating beating. The sleep issues have been the worst and hardest to deal with. I am not prepared to be a happy mom in the middle of the night. We have a set bedtime routine (that she is continually trying to add to so she won't have to go to sleep) we are very very careful about the media that our children view because of nightmare issues and we got her a clock that lights up when she's allowed to wake up for the day. None of the things have helped her stay in bed all night. So then we decided to let her sleep in her older brother's room. He was very sweet with her and was very willing to allow her to sleep on a little mattress on the floor. It worked for a little while but it didn't permanently solve the problem. After a week or two she was back up and in our room at least a few times a week. 
   Last week we decided that enough was enough and she's now back in her own room. I got a copy of the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and the last resort is to buy a lock for their door and say goodnight and lock them in their room. Well we have reached the end of our ropes. So I spoke to her pediatrician and he assured me that as long as there wasn't anyway she could hurt herself and that we explained the situation to her she would be fine. He even admitted to doing the same thing to his daughter when she was 3. Well we have started out slowly by showing her the child proof lock and explaining that she can choose to have the door open by staying in bed or she can choose to have the door closed by getting up. For the last 3 nights we have had to shut the door because she is the most stubborn girl in the universe. Once at bedtime, once at 3 am and last night at 12:30. I think we have reached a you have lost your choice to have the door open mindset and will just have to keep her door closed from the get go. Sigh.
    My girl is an exceptionally advanced communicator and processor. Which almost makes it worse. Because I know she's playing me for the fool that I am. I love my baby girl and this whole terrible twos thunderous threes is killing my heart. Why is part of parenthood forcing our children to do hard things? And yes I realize that there will be many more difficulties to come. No wonder I can't sleep at night...

Stace's love (or not so much) of traveling with a toddler

• Traveling with a baby still using a bottle
• Applesauce packets
• An electronic device
• Blanket
• Pros and cons of bringing a stroller

Since my little guy was five weeks old he has been traveling. Most of our traveling is flying, but we have also done the long car trip as well. We are preparing to fly yet again. Tomorrow we are going to visit family and our travels consist of two planes and a 4 hour layover, yay. I don't think that I am an expert traveler but since we have done it so much (we fly about 3 times a year) I think we have a pretty good system.
    One of the hardest things for me was traveling with a baby who used a bottle. Since airports now have so many new rules it makes traveling with children so much harder, and the limit of water that you can take through security makes it impossible to be able to have everything you need before getting on a plane with your baby. The water for a bottle has to be a certain temperature. I bought a thermos that keeps the water temperature up to 4-6 hours. After going through security the best way to get the water is by stopping at the little restaurants or coffee shops in the airport asking them to fill up my thermos, I even told them to check the water temp with their wrist. Sometimes I would get lucky and I would get the perfect temperature. A few other times people told me the only water they could give me was the water they used for coffee which is boiling hot. Depending on how much time I had I would either wander around and ask several different places, if I didn't have time I would ask them to fill my thermos with the boiling water a little less then halfway then go to the bathroom, or get a water bottle, and fill the rest of it with cold water. If the water still wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be I had to learn to be ok with it. As long as its not significantly to cold or hot the baby will be just fine.
How much formula should I bring? That was a hard thing to learn as well because when the air plane takes off and lands your ears pop and that can be very hurtful to our little ones so you want  them to be sucking on something for both of those. When he was really little, under six months,  I found it worked best for him to have some bottle then just sucking on a pacifier. So I needed enough formula for the take off and landing, for multiple planes if I had to switch, and also needed enough for meals. I used to try and have it measured out in advance for what I needed instead of bringing a whole container of formula but I actually found it was a lot easier and less stressful to just have the container, yea it took up more room but you can never have to much formula.
    Something that I found essential when traveling with a toddler is applesauce packets. The take off and landing on the airplane can still hurt their little ears and since he no longer eats from a bottle or has a pacifier I had a hard time getting him to suck on something when we were landing and taking off. Applesauce packets are the best. They are somewhat healthy, most kids enjoy applesauce and they aren't to messy. There have been a couple times when my little guy got a bit to excited about the applesauce packet and squeezed before it was in his mouth, but hey, that's what wipes are for and no one expects you to look pristine after traveling all day by yourself with a toddler. 
     I used to stock my diaper bag full of toys but then I learned that we only need a few essential favorites and a couple books. If you have a portable travel device that they can watch something on by all means bring it! If its a portable DVD player or a Ipad, Kindle whatever, bring it. They may be on it the whole time they may be on it only a little of the time, it doesn't matter because it takes up time. I save our device as a last resort in case he is on it a long time the battery is all saved up. Its my big ammo. 
     Another thing I tried to do when we first started traveling together was pack his blanket and not take it on the plane because I was worried about losing it. But I have realized he actually travels better having it. It can be a little much and overwhelming for little's to travel and having that blanket makes people feel more secure and a lot happier. In my mind, while we travel, that blanket is as important as my phone and wallet, do not lose it!
    To bring a stroller, to not bring a stroller. I went back and forth on that one. I say absolutely bring a stroller if your baby cannot sit up by its self yet. Yes you have to bring the big bulky stroller, which I hated doing, but it is worth it. Trying to get the water for bottles while trying to carry your baby is a lot harder then it sounds. After my son started to venture more into toddler and not baby I was torn about bringing a stroller. You don't need the big bulky one anymore just one of those little umbrella strollers. Sometimes when I have very short lay overs the stroller stressed me out because you have to wait for the nice airport people to unload the stroller and bring it to you and sometimes its not sitting ready and waiting. Another thing I don't like about the stroller is that its just one more thing to have, one more thing to worry about. I have gone both ways when he was at different stages of flying with and without a stroller and, for me, the stroller is worth it. Even if your toddler doesn't want to sit in it you can put the diaper bag or purse or whatever other paraphernalia you have in it so you don't have to lug it around and its a lot easier on the shoulders and back. Even when I have a short lay over and I am stressing waiting for the dumb stroller when I get it I am grateful because I can put my child and most of my stuff on it and book it. Imagine having to carry your not so light child and two bags and a blanket and run across the airport. Unfortunately I don't have to imagine and its the worst. Even if strollers can be a bit of a pain they are worth it and can make traveling a little easier. 
   These are some things that after a lot of trial and error I found were really helpful. Hopefully it will be helpful to you as well and you will probably have to go through your own trial and errors to figure out what works best for you but maybe having some of this information will help make your travels a little less stressful. 
Wish us luck!