Cleaning Schedule

A few weeks ago, to my horror, I realized that our house is just gross. I'd been slacking so much on the cleaning from feeling so tired all the time. So while having a proactive sort of moment I decided to take a look online and get some cleaning ideas, and finally stumbled upon a blog that described their 'cleaning schedule'. The theory was that if I tackle one large chore a day I could keep my house in relatively good order- I thought I could handle one large chore a day, no problem. That blog, however, claimed that their cleaning took only 25 minutes a day at most and I'm here to verify that they either have a very small house or are lying. 25 minutes is definitely not enough time to do most of the chores each day. But still, having a schedule helps to keep me on track, and I don't mind that it takes longer. 

Their schedule, I realized, wouldn't work for us. With Kayla, It's not always feasible for me to run up and downstairs nonstop all day, so some of the days covered a broad topic like 'surfaces' which just didn't work for us. The first week I tried and it was impossible. 1.) Our house has an exorbitant amount of surface area. Thanks to both my and Brian's obsessions with collecting DVDs, CDs, collectibles, figurines, and books, we have shelving covering the entire house- often filled with very small, very tedious-to-clean objects. 2.) Running upstairs and downstairs all day isn't really a great idea with a 3 year old who follows underfoot half the time and wanders crazily the other half. So I had to adjust the cleaning schedule a bit, but after several weeks, I'm pretty proud to announce that I've worked out most of the kinks and it's been going well. 

Here's a quick look at our household cleaning schedule. I decided to make it so that most days there is one large chore, as well as one or two smaller chores included. I probably wouldn't need to write down the smaller chores, but I'm a visual sort of person. Having it written down makes me more likely to finish it. 

Monday- 

Laundry Day- This is our main laundry day. I do bedsheets, throw blankets, clothing, towels.

Vacuum downstairs- Downstairs is where we spend most of our time and definitely needs the most vacuuming.     

Garbage to the Curb

Tuesday-

Bathrooms- dust, disinfect, toilets, sinks, showers, walls, chrome, sweep, mop, change towels, refill TP... everything. Spray something pretty-smelling when done. We have three bathrooms so this takes a while. 

Laundry- anything left over from Monday, or diapers if needed.

Collect trash cans from curb.

Wednesday- (the dreaded day)

Surfaces- I schedule ALL the surfaces, but aim to get at downstairs done. This means counters, tables, shelving, windows, cabinets, walls, floors. It also can mean the desk, top of the fridge, picture frames, inside the cabinets, etc. You can see why it takes forever, even without seeing the hundreds of shelves in our house. 

Thursday-

One large task- pick something specific to clean or organize. It can be a closet, the fridge, a messy cabinet, toy boxes, etc. Anything at all that just needs to be straightened up and organized works. 

Surfaces- Upstairs, since that's almost always leftover from Wednesday. 

Friday-

Vacuum whole house- Upstairs and downstairs. 

Clean goldfish bowl.- Believe it or not, I will forget to do this if I don't see it written!

Laundry- At least one small load- There is always enough for another load! 

And those are the main things! I also keep a dry erase board on the fridge now and each day I write the date and everything that needs to be done. I will add everything else for the day I want to accomplish, too, that varies each day. Food shopping, appointments, a craft I'm working on, a project I want to get done with Kayla, going to the post office, etc. Since like I said, I'm a very visual person, seeing everything written out really helps keep me on track. I love lists and checking things off. Having little miniature goals each day has made me more focused and I've actually kept up with everything for the first time in a long time. 

It feels so amazing to accomplish things! 

Transferring ownership of blog to updated email

Wow, blogger. Could that have been more difficult?! All I wanted to do was to update my email address from an old gmail to a new one. I just spent an hour transferring administrative permissions to my new email address and then having to re-follow all my blogs. For cryin' out loud, blogger, do something about that.

31 weeks or so pregnant

I have some pictures I wanted to upload but I just don't feel like it anymore. Which is essentially how I've been feeling about most things. My belly has gone quickly past that "Obviously a baby bump but still cute" phase into being large and in charge and cumbersome and painful. My ribs are starting to ache and I am losing the ability to get comfortable quickly.

I passed the 3 glucose test, thankfully, after failing the 1 hour with a whopping 174. But... the next appointment showed me spilling sugar in my urine, and the doctor informed me that she was extremely surprised I passed my 3 hour, and that I should still act like I have GD. She wanted to do a blood stick thing in the office. She did, and I asked what number would be considered normal- 100 or so. I got a 54!! After not eating for only 1 hour my blood sugar was a 54. That's actually closer to being hypoglycemic than it is to being too high. Needless to say, I've only taken her suggestions for eating differently very lightly. I'll have to keep being monitored at every appointment to see how my sugar levels are.

Other than that, baby is moving around quite a lot and I've been having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions. It can't be for lack of drinking water because I'm inhaling so much all day I want to throw up. The doctor thought she was head down last week, so I'm hoping we're not getting ready to make any appearances any time soon. I don't have time right now to go into labor. There is just way too much left to do around this place and Christmas is just a really inconvenient time for me. Nevermind the fact that I'd like to avoid a premie.

I'm always so, so, so, so, so soososososososooo tired. I could sleep all day and not feel any less tired. I don't know how I did this working and going to school over-time last pregnancy. I feel like I'm ready to collapse from fatigue and driving is even getting a little scary! Ugh.

February, come on and get here!

Some more of Albus' antics

Just some more photos of Albus' adventures here this year:

14 Things I've learned from Pinterest

1.) I am no where near as crafty as I like to think I am.
2.) Facebook is not as fun as I used to think it was.
3.) There is absolutely nothing that white vinegar, Dawn dish soap, and/or baking soda can't do.
4.) Never throw anything out. Ever. Somehow, someone, somewhere offers a tutorial on something really awesome to reuse it for.
5.) Mod Podge is a household must-have.
6.) Never buy store-bough Mod Podge. There's a tutorial on how to make your own.
7.) My sense of style is awesome on my Fashion pin board.
8.) People who see my "food" board must think I weigh 800 pounds. I really may as well rename the board to "food porn" because there's nothing on there that I don't go, "Ohhhh yeaaaah" when I see.
9.) I need to learn to crochet and knit. Asap. And my husband needs to take up woodworking.
10.) It's crack. Pinterest is crack. Before you ever use it, you don't really get it or the obsession people have with it. Then you join, get the general idea of it, and 2 hours later you reemerge having 12,000 new pins. Repeat several times daily.
11.) I'm already married, but my Pinterest wedding is coming along beautifully.
12.) People put more planning into their children's second birthday parties than I did my entire wedding.
13.) I need to visit... everywhere. I'm thinking if I start traveling today I might actually get to see half of the amazing things to see the world has to offer.
14.) Baby animals. That is all.

Pregnancy updates

I also forgot to add some pregnancy updates. I'm 28 weeks and a few days... again. They changed my due date and didn't bother telling me, and I had to find out when they sent me to Labor and Delivery to have the baby monitored for slower movements. I really, really, really can't stand my doctor. She has no idea who I even am when I walk into the room and swears she's told me things that she definitely has not.

When I asked her if she delivered at the other hospital in the area, she told me "No, we tell all our patients that the first visit, I definitely told you the first time I saw you." I had to remind her that no, she definitely did NOT, because the first time she saw me I was brought in early as an emergency for bleeding, and she insisted my pregnancy was non-developing. Why would she have told me where she delivers while she's also telling me, absolutely, that my pregnancy isn't developing?

At the last appointment she also insisted my due date has never changed from the start. I had to remind her, again, that she was wrong, and then she gets awkward. It definitely did change, though, and she definitely did recalculate it twice because at my 8 week appointment when I thought I was due Feb. 19th, she told me twice I was due the 12th. Now I'm Suddenly due the 21st. It makes me wonder if she's dyslexic or if the date was written down backwards accidentally at some point. I know what she told me that one appointment way back when- definitely that I was 9 weeks and some days instead of 8 and some days, and that I was due the 12th. If she's insisting it was never changed, then I don't know what to make of it.

Anyway, I know it's a just an estimate, but the 12th is a huge jump from the 21st.

Aside from that my pregnancy isn't as painful as Kayla's was... I'm mostly just tired. All my other symptoms are fleeting and manageable. I did have a scare with her movement earlier this week that landed me in Labor and Delivery for monitoring, but it turns out that she's perfectly fine, just slipped into a position that is making me feel less now. It's just really strange to go from violent kicking all day long to barely anything at all.

My 1 hour glucose tolerance test came back abnormal. I was so surprised (I really expected to pass it) I forgot to ask the actual number while I was there. I read a ton of posts online about people's numbers, and decided to call and see what it was- 174. They said they do the 3 hour for anything over 120... so I was WAY over. Most of the other people online have doctors that fail you after 140. Either way- still WAY over. I did the 3 hour yesterday and that was some new form of torture for me. Fasting starting at 8 PM the night before, waking up hungry, exhausted, nauseous, thirsty, getting stuck with a needle 4 times in 4 hours, having to sit still in the waiting room the entire time... AND the last lab tech to draw blood messed up the needle so my blood squirted halfway across the room- all over me, her, the floor, the chair, and my suede bag that was on my lap. I think everyone in the room was waiting for me to lose it... they suddenly were all very helpful and overly nice. They must get a lot of nasty, hungry, crazy pregnant ladies in there for that test to know that at that point I was ready to rip someone apart anyway. But I was nice and just said it was fine. I was so relieved to be able to leave I couldn't even care at the moment.

By the time I got home I barely made it upstairs before I blacked out. Like, not sleeping- my vision tunneled again and I passed out. Not feeding pregnant people for 16 hours is just stupid. I came to, ate something, and passed out for 4 hours. Thankfully, Brian was home all day so he was with Kayla and I could sleep it off.

I get the results sometime next week. The statistics all say that about 2/3 of the people who have to take the 3 hour pass with flying colors. I'm hoping I'm in that category. I will be so surprised, again, if I actually do have it- I have none of the risk factors. If I do, then I'll be the most miserable person you can imagine being around. I feel bad for everyone who has to deal with me.

I have no problem admitting that my complaints are stupid and shallow, but I can't help it. I never have had to care about my diet- I'm lucky to be able to eat whatever I want and never gain weight. I have no other health problems to make my dieting a concern. I'm spoiled by being able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I don't even know what people with diabetes can't eat. Seriously. Carbs? Sugar? I don't even know what a carb actually is. After my appointment at he doctor when she told me I failed the 1 hour, shed told me to assume I have gestational diabetes for now until I get the results for the 3 hour. I stared blankly. She said to watch my carbs. So I came home, subduing the panic attack on the verge of happening, and wanted a sandwich. I remembered I needed to actually pay attention to the label, so I was looking at the bag for the nutritional information and lost it. I just sobbed. ANd sobbed. It was suddenly overwhelming. I was sitting there reading the levels for a slice of bread- I'd have to do this for everything I ate? My brain doesn't function on that level. I have anxiety attacks trying to prepare ONE MEAL without diet restraints- just trying to cook a regular old meal makes my heart race and my head spin. It's a large part of why I hate cooking. If I do cook anything, I need hours to prepare myself to do it. I go over each step in my head over and over. I go through the ingredients I'll need. I have to have all of them lined up on the counter, in the order that I'll need them, and I have to put everything away as I'm done with it because stuff on the counter just sitting there makes me nervous. SO yes, this whole caring in great detail about the carb content of food makes me cry.

But then again, I could, and more likely than not, and worrying over nothing. Since most people don't have a positive result from this second test, I am comforting myself in assuming it was just something I ate the morning before the 1 hour that cause my number to be so high.

I hope.

Even More Adventures with Albus, and our Struggle with the letter "H"

Well, First, here's our latest Albus pictures-



He's been relatively well-behaved, and down-right sweet last night, leaving Kayla an art project to do. That's one of her favorite things! She was so happy she drew a picture for Albus right after we finished Santa's beard and showed it to him. I wrote on the picture of Santa , "To Kayla, Love Albus" and colored a small bit of the hat to look like he got it started for her. She's loving this Elf thing! So glad I bought it, and it was definitely worth every penny.

And on an unrelated note, Kayla for some reason is struggling with the H sound this week. No idea why, she just isn't grasping it. She writes her letters pretty well, and H is no exception there. She picks up on that pretty quickly and can write them all up to H so far. But when it comes to the letter sound itself we are really having a hard time with this one. Boo! I guess they all can't be easy!

More Adventures of Albus the Elf

Albus the Elf is generally a hit so far. Every morning she still wants me to hold her hand as we walk downstairs, but she has loved finding him and laughs when she sees what he's up to.
Day 2-
Albus decided to play with Kayla's blocks.


Day 3- Taking it easy this morning, Albus relaxed with a couple of good books:



Day 4- His first night of minor mischief. I wonder what Kayla will think of this!




And in other holiday-related news, I decided to do a little 'countdown-to-Christmas' treat for Kayla. I found a bunch of small stockings at the dollar store (2 in a pack) and picked up a few, but I'm pretty sure I could have found different ones for much cheaper. I just was lazy and didn't feel like looking. So I also made a handful of cheapo ones using two table runners from the dollar store, and a santa hat. I cut up the table runners into little stocking shapes, sewed them together, and then just hot-glued the white fluffy part onto them.

Adventures with our Elf on a Shelf

Meet Albus, our Elf on a Shelf. (I swear I did not prompt Kayla in any way to choose a Harry Potter related name, but admittedly did give her a huge hug when she came up with that all on her own.)

Today was our first day meeting him. This morning when Kayla woke up she was excited to start looking for him. She bounded down the stairs quickly, turned the corner, and since I had placed the elf conspicuously on the DVD shelf close to the stairs she saw it right away. I figured that for the first day it would be best to just ease her into it and let her get used to seeing him.

Well, upon seeing him she froze in her tracks and started yelling for me to help her. She was pretty terrified. I picked her up and we waited a few seconds, and I let her hold the elf (which you're technically not supposed to do, according to the story). But it helped her and she quickly smiled and liked him. I put him back on the shelf where she couldn't reach him and told her it was time to choose his name. Albus. Can you believe it? She's so awesome. In hindsight, I actually wonder if she was trying to say "Elvis", which would have been a lot less exciting for the Harry Potter nerd in me, but I'd be equally impressed with her wit (Elvis the Elf is, after all, still pretty funny) and wonder where she heard the name. Either way, when I asked her again, she confirmed it was ALBUS, so we went with that.

I'm very excited to have some fun with this little dude. I can't wait to see what he gets into this month.

In Progress: Cloth Diaper storage and Upcycled bookshelf

So here's the progress on my cloth diaper storage unit. I got the idea from pinterest, so I can't claim originality.

Here's my inspiration:
http://wallfry.blogspot.com/2011/06/upholstered-drawers.html

Here's the result:





The original tutorial mentioned that you needed to use dressers that don't have handles, but I still was able to do this without a problem. I just unscrewed the knobs, and then used an exacto to cut a very small hole through the fabric and batting. The knobs screwed on perfectly and it looks nice.
Ever since I redid the kitchen chair fabric, I'm finding a new love for upholstering. I wonder what else I can add some fabric and batting to around here?

Now if we could just get the crib put together, a mattress, and an actual dresser for in the room and maybe the nursery will start to actually come together. Brian thinks I'm rushing things, but I'm almost 27 weeks pregnant now, and even if I didn't have the bleeding problems early on, Kayla was almost 2 weeks early. I can safely assume that this baby will also be that early since subsequent pregnancies tend to have earlier labors than previous ones. So that means we're down to 13 weeks for a 40 week, full term pregnancy, 11 weeks for a probable 38 week pregnancy, and less if my bleeding complications and friable cervix lead to any other issues later. It is NOT that far away.
Holy crap, it's really not that far away.

Nursery Stuff

So somehow, despite getting only 3 hours of sleep a night for the past month and a half, and after chasing around a crazy 3 year old all day, I've still managed to find a little energy left to do some crafty things for the third bedroom. Not too much so far, but still think it's looking pretty cute.

Stuffed owls for a mobile:


Of course I still have the monumental task of assembling the mobile, itself, but so far I am happy with the owls!

Painting:


Those are actually the only two I have pictures of so far. Ha! It feels like I have so much to do left, but really it's only a matter of organizing a few things and making some final touches. I'm having a lot of fun with this decorating thing!

Nursery Tree with Hanging Name

Woohoo! Behold! My latest creation.



It's not entirely done in that picture, but I couldn't wait any longer before I shared it. I'm just so damn proud of myself. So just imagine the leaves a little fuller around the edges, and a couple of bird houses in the tree.

Since we can't paint- or, more accurately, we COULD technically paint, but don't feel like making the effort to repaint later when we need to move- I have been looking for non-paint ways to spruce up the owl nursery. I wanted to do a tree with some owls in it, and more specifically wanted that long branch over the crib to hang her name from.

My original plan was going to be to use cardstock pieces for the whole thing, including the trunk. But I was worried how terrible it would look having tiny pieces of brown for the tree trunk. You'd definitely see the lines and everything. So I got an idea from another mommy-to-be on Babycenter.com to use foam board covered with cloth. Perfect!

I got 4 large pieces of foam board from A.C.Moore for less than 2 bucks each. Then swung by Joanne's and found the brown fabric that actually looks sort of like tree bark (that wasn't a must, just a lucky bonus, and I would have just used any slightly patterned brown fabric) and got 3 yards of it. It was way more than I actually needed but since I wanted the entire center of the trunk to be one pieces of fabric, I needed it to be longer. I could have also just gotten less fabric and cut it in pieces like I did with the branches, I guess, but I wanted it to look uniform. I got a can of spray glue, too.

At home we already had a box cutter (although we desperately need a new one and I wish I knew that before trying to use the one we have!), cardstock for the leaves and owls, and duck tape.

I just cut the shape of the trunk out first by lining up the foam board pieces, sketching it out, and cutting away with the box cutter. I also cut out the shapes of the branches to make sure they lined up with the trunk. I taped the pieces of the trunk together, and then used the spray glue to put the fabric over it on the front. Once the whole front was glued I turned it over and secured it and pulled it tight on the back with duck tape. Then I did the same for the branches. After the trunk was covered, I did the same for the branches. For the hole in the trunk, I taped a pieces of darker brown cardstock behind the foam. All of that was hung up on the wall with small nails.

Then I started cutting out the leaves. I just picked some of the paper and cardstock that I liked for the colors and patterns, planted myself down in front of the TV for a little while and cut until I had a massive pile of leaves.

I have a lot of leftover foam board. For the trunk and branches I actually only used two full pieces of it. Instead of just hanging the leaves on the wall, I decided to glue them onto large pieces of foam board and hang the board on the wall. I used the other two left to cut them into half-oval and oval shapes. I knew that the two half-oval shapes would go against the ceiling (why they had to be flat) and the two ovals would be hung below the others. I covered each board with the leaves, layering them from the bottom up.

At some point, I ran out of spray glue. I just substituted with some Matte Modge Podge that I had anyway and it worked just as well. *LOVE Modge Podge!*

When all those pieces were covered with leaves I used small nails again, first hung the half-ovals with their flat edges along the ceiling, and then layered the oval pieces over the other pieces. I decided after that point that I wanted some more leaves, so I made a few extra foam board-covered leave chunks and added them here and there where I wanted. I will probably fill in a few more leaves by just using glue dots to hang individual leaves on the actual wall itself. I'm sure with better planning this would all be unnecessary, but I like to fly by the seat of my pants with projects like this so I wind up adding and adjusting small things all the way until it's done.

Then I made those cute little owls out of cardstock, gave them a home up on the branches along with a few more leaves. Like I mentioned, I'm not done with details like that. I have a couple of small wooden birdhouses that are painted and ready to be hung but I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

As for the name- first I printed out letters from the computer in the size and font I wanted. I cut them out to make a pattern for the letters. Then I traced the pattern onto the cardstock and scrapbook papers of my choice and used matte Modge Podge (Squeeee love Modge Podge!!) to attach the letters to their pages. After that, it was a quick trip to the Dollar Tree for 5 one dollar 8x10 picture frames, hot gluing some pink ribbon to the back of them, and putting my letter pictures into them and I was done! Easy peasy.

See what happens when the 3 year old spends a week with Mimi?

At least I think it's productive!

Cloth diapers!!

Ok, so my newest baby-obsession is revolving around diapers. I never would have guessed I'd fall into this particular hobby (as I'm already beginning to see this as), but here I am. I know I'm prone to becoming a little... hmm... what's a good word here? Intense?... when it comes to various baby products.

When Kayla was little, I obsessed over bottles. Don't ask me why. I just loved trying different bottles and had a massive spending problem. I should take a picture of the two totes worth of bottles we have in the basement sometime just to verify this. And now with this second baby on the way I am already starting to feel the pull of bottle-buying again, even though we hardly need them. I did get replacement nipples for a couple bottles and caved to buy a two pack of Avent, but that's only because I want to try nursing again, and we don't have many wide-neck bottles that would be good for going from breast to bottle. Our Avent bottles were the older ones that had BPA in them, but I remember Kayla liking them. So yes, I already did buy another pack.

This also applied to sippy cups. We have another entire tote of sippies.

As she got older, it became bows and tutus.

Somewhere in the countless files of pictures on this computer, there exists one of her full collection. That's most, but not all of them.

I tried to calm it down a little. I really did. And I think I was successful. My spending habits were under control up until about two weeks ago, when I made my first cloth diaper related purchase for baby Paige. And now I'm once again proving that I can't be trusted with a debit card or Paypal account.

I decided that I wanted to use cloth this time, mostly knowing how much money you can save. I read on some site that the average person spends about 2000-2500 on disposable diapers for two years, assuming you don't buy Pampers and Huggies all the time. Well, we sometimes bought the big names, and Kayla didn't even begin to potty train until almost 3. We are still buying Pull-Ups for sleeping and long trips. I shiver to think what our number would be.

I also realized that we have a washer and dryer now, and I'm a SAHM. Um, no excuse this time, really. I was confused at first- and I can see why people try to read about it and give up. It's ridiculously confusing when trying to figure it out on your own. It took me about 2 or 3 weeks of reading the same material online over and over again before I could wrap my head about the concept of most of this cloth diapering stuff. And with all the options for types of diapers, nevermind the literally COUNTLESS brands and designs- your head could spin right off your shoulders if you don't keep an eye on it.

But I started to get it. After a lot of reading, I decided that I would ultimately like to try and wind up with a stash of mostly one-sized pocket diapers, possibly some AIO diapers, too. They're slightly more expensive than some of the other choices, but I like that they seem to be easy to use. I did, however, decide that we should start with diaper covers and prefolds, because most people agree that newborns don't really fit in most of the one-sized diapers until they're at least few weeks old. Even working out the math as far as money is concerned, investing in NB sized prefolds and covers still works out to be cheaper than buying NB disposables- or at least close to the same amount.

So I searched for some covers and prefolds that seemed good. I decided to just pick a handful of the more popular brands that I've seen online- Thirsties and Bummis. I got 5 NB and Small covers, and need to order the prefolds and snappis still. (Snappis are the modern-day answer to saftey pins). I'll go with the NB-sized prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers when I do order them, but in the process of ordering THOSE, I got distracted by Sunbaby diapers.

Sunbaby is a brand that one of my cloth diapering friends suggested I look into. After lots of reading online, most people who use these diapers seem to just love them. And for about 5 bucks per diaper, they're an amazing price. So I went ahead and caved, and did something that I told myself I wouldn't do. I ordered a 12 pack of these diapers a few days ago. I couldn't resist! I went on the site and started looking through the patterns they are offering now, and I almost literally had no choice. I mean, come on!! Look at some of these!!











!!!!

See? Practically no choice in the matter, really.

And they're exactly the type of diaper I was hoping to really fill my eventual stash with- one sized pockets. So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that they fit my baby as well as most others seem to claim.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'll stick with Sunbaby. Of course not. Knowing my obsession with bottles and bows, I can't stick with one brand of anything. Not when there are so many options out there, I want to try them all!

Tonight I ordered a large sized Fuzzibunz diaper for Kayla. I'm sick of buying pull ups for her to sleep in, so after debating for a few months, I decided to finally just go ahead and give the cloth diapering a try for when she's sleeping. It'll also give me some practice for when Paige gets here. If the Fuzzibunz Large size fits her and it works, I'll order a few more and stop having to buy pull-ups. Plus, I'll be able to reuse them when Paige gets bigger.

Fuzzibunz also makes a one-sized diaper that I'd be more likely to buy for the rest of the stash. They're also pocket diapers.

I just read a little more about Bumgenius's Freetime all--in-one diapers and I'm now obsessed with the idea of those. While some people favor pocket diapers because you can change what you stuff them with and they dry faster than AIOs, I can't help but be drawn to the idea of a cloth diaper that is as easy as one piece that you pop on a little bum and go. I might find I don't like them as much as the other types, but it's so worth a try to me!

There are several other brand names that I'm interested in, either because of a recommendation from a more experienced cloth-diaperer, or because I'm just in love with the way they look and good reviews. Kawaii Diapers, Blueberry Diapers, smartipants, to name a few.

Well, that's about it for now. Here's some links to some of the stuff I mentioned.

http://www.greenmoutaindiapers.com

http://www.cottonbabies.com/

Cottonbabies offers free shipping all the time! This is where I ordered my diaper covers from. They also sell several different brand names and all different cloth diapering accessories.

http://www.bumgenius.com/freetime.php

http://sunbabydiapers.com/

https://www.smartipants.com/

http://www.blueberrydiapers.com/

http://www.sweetbottomsbaby.com/Kawaii-Green-Baby-One-Size-Bamboo-Pocket--Blue-Label_p_42.html

http://www.blueberrydiapers.com/

Ok, I gotta run. There's obviously a mountain of details I'm skipping out on for now. Maybe another post for another day. I'm also lacking one very important detail to all of this- firsthand experience. I'll probably write about what it's like actually dealing with cloth after Paige gets here, but for now I just had to share my excitement with discovering this entire world that I really didn't even know existed. It's like a subculture all it's own. So fun!!!

Back to Preschooling

I wish I remembered to update this blog more often. Blogger, for some reason, doesn't let you change your log in email address. I'm stuck using an old gmail address and I hate having to deal with remembering the extra information.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I'm getting back into the swing of doing preschool with Kayla. We were going to start Five in a Row last month, and I was super excited. In fact, I'm still excited to start, but I realize now that it's just not the right time for that for her. My friend, Jen, sent us the curriculum and we started buying some of the books to go along with it. It's really geared towards kids who are slightly older (around 4) or maybe kids who are her age but not so crazy. I struggle as it is to get her to listen to stories- even shorter ones. These books are a little longer and require some actual concentration. She's too hyper to get anywhere at this point. My plan is to try to read them in parts to her from now until we try again, and also keep them for bedtime. She likes stories at bed time best and I think enjoys longer ones so she can stay up a little later. I think it'll be the best way to introduce them to her, so when we start again she'll be really ready.

For now I'm back to using the next step in the Letter Of The Week program I was using before. We just finished the first week and I think it's going well once again. For now, she learns best when we can involve a lot of play, music, and art. Plus, this curriculum allows for a lot of flexibility and I can be a little more creative. Instead of focusing on one story, I can basically do anything I want as long as it focuses on a certain letter.

The site is letteroftheweek.com and I recommend it. Kayla learned a ton with the preparatory curriculum and she's showing a lot of promise with the preschool curriculum, too. I like that each day only calls for an hour worth of 'school' stuff, but Kayla tends to do things spread out over the whole day that add up to much more than that. We do a ton of art and coloring things because she's very interested in that stuff. I know that I'll have to start working on a more structured day for her, especially once we get closer to Kindergarten, but it's so far away that I don't want to even worry about it right now. She's thriving this way and learning a lot so I don't want to risk it.

This week is B week. I'm looking forward to finding a bakery and taking her there!! I wanted to go Apple Picking for A week but came down with a massive cold/cough thing and haven't been really up to getting out and about so that had to be skipped for now. I'll still probably take her anyway but it won't be so relevant. Oh well, still fun.


*****Off topic----- In unrelated news, baby is doing well so far. I'm 21 weeks and 1 or 2 days, and we found out last week it's a second girl. I'm happy, and Kayla wanted a little sister so I'm even more excited she gets what she wanted. Brian was disappointed because he wanted a son, and we know after this baby we are D-O-N-E, done! M-O-O-N, that spells DONE! (The Stand, anyone?). Anywho, I'm still very glad. Aside from the fact that we get to reuse most of Kayla's stuff, I feel comfortable with girls already. A boy would have been sort of scary. Like I'd have to relearn everything over again for some reason. So I feel more prepared and ready to go. The nursery is coming along. I'll make another post soon once the room looks less disastrous and more nursery-like. I made the curtains and they turned out pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself! Not PERFECT, of course, but for my first time I was very content. I have a lot of plans for DIY things in there, if only I could get Brian to get HIS mountains of stuff out so we can get baby's stuff in! GAHHH!!
Baby is still nameless, btw.


That's all for now! I just came online to print up some letter B things and decided to drop in. I'll really try to update more.

I'm 15 weeks Pregnant

Well, depending on whether you ask my doctor or my online ticker, I'm either 15 weeks or 15 weeks and 1 day pregnant. The doctor insisted my due date was February 12th, but the also told me I was one day ahead where the online calculators and other Feb. 12th mommies say I am. I'm not complaining, but it's a little confusing.

The baby is doing well. We had an NT scan and the results were all normal- not that the doctor even bothered to contact me about them. I just read the paper before I handed it back over to the tech, and the result was written on there. I googled it later, and the number was very within normal range.

I have to admit that I'm not thrilled with my doctor, but sadly I'm just too lazy to find another at this point. She's never had good bedside manner, and I also don't feel like she's very thorough about anything. I guess the coming weeks will confirm that for me. My only 'normal' appointment with her was at almost 10 weeks, and it was the fastest sort of check up you could imagine. Other than that, my experience with her has been her disinterested comments about my 'almost certain' miscarriage. She has actually delivered news of that nature with a smile, and then a quick, "I'm sorry, I know it's not what you want to hear."

As far as how I've been feeling- meh. The nausea has been better, especially when I take the Zofran. That stuff is just a miracle drug. The only problem with the medicine was actually when the doctor prescribed Phenergan for the days after I ran out of Zofran. Insurance would only cover 12 pills every 30 days, and wouldn't budge when they asked for more. So she gave me the phenergan, and I had a terrible, terrible reaction to it, so bad that I wound up in the ER. I honestly thought I was dying, or having a stroke, or something. I took it at 4 PM, and by 5 I was so tired that I could barely lift my head. When Brian got home, I said nothing and walked upstairs and just collapsed in bed. I couldn't move,and every limb felt like it weighed 100 pounds. I could barely speak because I couldn't move my mouth. I was nearly catatonic. Brian called me down for dinner, and I managed to get downstairs after about 15 minutes of willing each part of me to move, and then I couldn't even hold my arms up to the table or hold the silverware. When I went back upstairs I was completely passed out until the morning. I was nearly immobile for almost 17 hours.

When I got up I could move again, so I thought that was good. I got Kayla up, dressed and downstairs. I gave her some breakfast, and sat down at the table intending to read the medicine's pamphlet to see if my reaction was normal. As I started to read it, I realized that I couldn't see the words. I got insanely hot, my breathing got shallow, and I felt my heart starting to race. My vision started to tunnel to black but with a bunch of light starbusts, and I ran to the bottom of the stairs to call Brian. He didn't hear me, so I started to climb, still feeling everything closing in and, calling him again and again. By the time I got to the stairs, I let out one good scream and collapsed on the floor. I couldn't see anything. I know I told Brian something was wrong, I couldn't see. He got me into bed at some point, and after a few minutes my vision was ok again and I started feeling normal. But I called the doctor and she said it sounded like blood pressure and since I took the meds last night it probably wasn't related. She sent me to the ER just to get checked.

The doctor at the ER barely looked at me, but seemed confident that it was a reaction from the medicine. She called it a dystonic reaction. She was even able to get the insurance company to allow 30 pills a month since I definitely couldn't take any other medicine. All they did was give me benadryl and told me not to take the medicine again- duh. Well, other than that, things have been pretty normal.

I'm showing more this time. I already look 5 months pregnant. oooof.

Still no kicking or anything. I sometimes think I feel things, but I'm not entirely sure.

I'm always, always tired, but I also blame Kayla for that one.

Kayla is her normal, crazy self. She knows of the baby, but I'm sure she really grasps the idea yet. She will tell you that she wants a sister (sometimes a brother, but mostly a sister now). She's so good with babies so I'm sure she will be ok once this one arrives.

Now that I don't have Kylie any more I am trying to force myself to cook more. It's not easy because Brian is so unbelievably difficult, but I'm still trying. Even just crock pot meals- I already have two for the week. I've been horrendously slacking on the preschool curriculum with Kayla, and I just got everything out to get organized again. I want to start the Five in a Row this fall, so I have to finish up the letteroftheweek.com curriculum. I am also going to enroll her in a tumbling class very soon!



I'll post some pregnancy pictures soon. Gotta run for now- naptime!


Edit:
13 weeks, 6 days



The Belly at 15 weeks

I am 8 weeks pregnant

Yup!

Today I'm tentatively 8 weeks, 1 day pregnant and feeling appropriately like crap. Nothing compared to last time with Kayla when I was throwing up at least 3 times every day, and couldn't even sit in a car let alone ride in one without hurling. So far, I've only thrown up twice and once was Kayla's fault for pooping and smearing it on her bedroom wall. That's another story entirely.

The nausea is pretty much constant but I'm relatively functional. I have been slacking on Kayla's letter of the week, which I really shouldn't and feel guilty. But right now I'm spending much more of my time and focus on not throwing up, so there's very little for other thoughts.

Aside from that I've been a little tired and feeling what I think is some round ligament pain. My pants already are getting tight and something about that just isn't fair.

We had a little scare earlier, so the fact I'm even this far in the pregnancy is a miracle. On June 21st I went to the ER for spotting and cramping and the found that I had a subchorionic hematoma, where there is blood between the placenta and the uterus. Not a huge issue and it usually resolves itself, but the thing that worried me the most is he said they thought I was only 4 weeks. I was dating it at 6 weeks, and that seems like a huge difference. He told me my beta level was at 5999.

4 days later at the regular doctor, they still couldn't even see an embryo, just a sac. And my hormones only went up to 6085. She rushed me to the hospital for an ultrasound to see if it was ectopic, but told me based on everything that it was a non-developing pregnancy.

It wasn't ectopic, so she prepared for the a miscarriage and made another appointment for a week later. Something about making a woman in this position wait an entire week for confirmation of a dead embryo is just cruel beyond measure. I was so depressed by the following week I just didn't care what they had to say. I was still feeling pregnant with sore boobs, nausea, headaches, everything. That, too, seemed unfair that I would lose the pregnancy but still have to suffer these symptoms.

Well, surprise surprise, she saw something on the ultrasound. SHe said because of the hematoma that they couldn't be sure with their equipment that it was an embryo and not a blood clot. She sent me again to be hospital for a better ultrasound the following day, where they found an embryo, heartbeat, and were able to date it at 6 weeks 5 days. That would be almost a week off from what I thought, and a week off from what the ER told me. Some somewhere comfortable in the middle of two wrong dates.

I went from having a 20% chance of a developing, viable pregnancy to having a little embryo with a heartbeat.

It's sort of annoying, however, that my family who knows all about this stuff immediately asks "Well, does this mean the baby will have problems?" Really? That's you first reaction to all this? Shouldn't you just be happy to hear the incredible news that the little bugger overcame an 80% of not even surviving? Sometimes people really know exactly what to say to people, I tell ya.

Well, now I'm waiting for the next appointment in a few days. Hopefully more good news ensues. For now I'm stuck battling my ultra-sensitive nose, which currently can't find the source of the cat food smell it's detecting around our computer desk. We have a cat, but when I smell her cat food, that's not the same smell. Something in this general vicinity smells like catfood, and it's getting nearly unbearable.

Gotta run!

News

I'm pregnant!

We found out on June 15th when I got a positive home pregnancy test, and it certainly shocked me. Not in a bad way, but still, I really didn't think I could even get pregnant any more. With my ridiculous cycle and the history of girly-part problems in my family, I was convinced it wouldn't happen. Nevermind the fact that Brian and I had been trying for 9 months with no luck.

We estimated that when I found out I was about 4 weeks, maybe 5. Since then I was experiencing cramping and spotting, and by yesterday (June 21st) I was worried and slightly losing my mind enough to head to the ER, hoping they would do a couple of quick tests to put my mind at ease. I know that both cramping and bleeding can be common and totally normal, but I couldn't concentrate for worrying about it.

I spent 6 hours there yesterday. Went in at 11:30 and sat for about an hour in the waiting room before they called me in for some bloodwork. Then, about 20 minutes after that, I was called back again for more bloodwork. Back into the waiting room after that, pee cup in hand, for another stint there. It wasn't too much longer after that when they called me back and set me up in a backless gown and little nook with a bed. It was 2:30. A couple of nurses came in to take some vitals but other than that, I was alone for another hour before a doctor came in to verify that my lab results indicated that I was very likely pregnant. Ok?

He ordered an ultrasound and by 3:30 I was back in my little room, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. By 5, another nurse came in to tell me she was taking over, and I asked her if she could tell me how long it was going to be. Brian had to be at work at 1, and I really had to get home soon. She got cold and said she didn't know. Then I told her that I was so hungry, and that I hadn't eaten or had a drink since 9 this morning. She told me I wasn't allowed to eat or drink until the doctor saw me. Great.

Another half an hour went by, and I called the nurse using the button to tell them I really, really had to get going soon, was there any way they could please find out how long this was going to be. She said Ok, she'd check. 15 minutes later, I got dressed, walked up to the desk with my bag in hand and said that I had to leave. Now. The snarky woman behind the counter said to the doctor, now sitting across the bay at a computer, "Doctor So and So, 18 has to leave... NOW." He asked if I was able to, and I said I felt about the same as I did before, but I really couldn't stay an longer because my husband was already almost 5 hours late for work. He then started to tell me what he found on the ultrasound, which he had been looking at as we spoke.

They found that I had a subchorionic hematoma. Basically, a blood clot in between the placenta and uterus. He gave a quick description, and then said he'd meet me back in the room and I'd be discharged.

When he came back, I asked him if that meant I'd miscarry. He said it was a possibility, but that many people had these and had perfectly healthy babies. As far as what was to be done- nothing. Sometimes they correct themselves, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they can lead to miscarriage, sometimes preterm labor if unresolved by 20 weeks, sometimes they are gone by the next ultrasound. Many people get to about 20 weeks and then lose their babies.

I went home and started googling it, which was probably a bad idea. I found there were plenty of positive stories of success with these things, but there's still a good number of people who's outcome isn't so happy. I knew going in there yesterday that something was wrong. I've had a bad, gut feeling about things since I found out. You'd think that having tried for so long to get pregnant that the positive test would make me elated, but I felt morose and hesitant to tell anyone about the pregnancy, especially family. Brian wanted to scream it from the mountaintops, and it was all I could do to stop him from putting it on Facebook.

And now I feel even more distanced. I know that there's nothing I can do one way or another to affect the outcome of this, but it's easier for everyone else to say not to worry. They're not feeling the constant cramping and pulling I'm feeling. They don't see the blood every time they go to the bathroom. Even knowing that I really shouldn't be concerned, I can't do anything but worry with the perpetual, ever-present reminder that things aren't right. So instead of feeling happy and excited, like I obviously hoped for this pregnancy, I'm not even allowing myself to think of myself as pregnant. As a general rule now, I try to imagine that someone ELSE is pregnant. Someone else has this ridiculous worry to deal with, and someone else might possible miscarry or go into preterm labor.

Aside from that, they dated the pregnancy at 4 weeks. Which is just not accurate. The math is wrong, and it wouldn't have been physically possible. I'll not dwell on that one just yet until I get a better dating. He said the embryo was so small they couldn't read anything on it, including whether or not it was even in the uterus. Great.

Next appointment is Friday. Three more days, if you include today. We'll see.

Letter Success- Our first breakthrough

FINALLY.

Weeks (14, now, to be exact) have gone by without a semblance of a trace of an interest from Kayla in letters and their sounds. I know she's not even three, but there will always be a part of me that expects her to show me how smart I know she is, even when I know she's a toddler and prone to being easily distracted or stubborn.

I made a letter board and hung in it her little book nook. I toss the letter of the week up there and then add pictures of things that start with that letter. Last week I had M hanging up, and added pictures of Muno, Mommy, Mouse, Monkey and Moon. Several times a day, as I have for the past two months (plus), I ask her what words start with the letter M, and finally, FINALLY, this week she actually got some. "Muno! Mommy! Mousie!" Of course I'm pretty sure she's not gasping that it's the MMM sound, but remembering the pictures from the board is a start. I guess we'll see how the other letters go, but for now I'm reveling in our minor success.

Today's happy mommy moment brought to you by the letter M.

Another Random Update

Kayla's been doing pretty well. We're on week 12 of the letteroftheweek.com preparatory curriculum, and she's picked up on quite a bit. She's very successfully added several words to her vocabulary (vines, claws, duckling, dough, etc.) and she can identify new things like lighthouses and crescent moons. She also knows the difference between a full and crescent moon. We're beginning to have some issues learning numbers- we're slow to pick up 11 and 12, and although she can usually count up to 14 if she's in the mood, sometimes she struggles with identifying the numbers by themselves or remembering what they're called (for example, she'll say 'eleventeen' instead of 'eleven'). As far as letter sounds go, she can't care less. She identifies the letters just fine, but so far we're not connected them to specific sounds. Gotta keep working on it.

I made the corner of the bottom of the stairs Kayla's reading nook. Kylie kept eating all Kayla's paperback books, so I moved them up onto the landing and moved the kitchen set down where the books were. I put her little soft chair up there and a corkboard above it where I hang the letter of the week and pictures of things that start with that letter. I'll get pictures soon.

Kylie's parents are very happy about the preschool thing... they look forward to seeing how Kylie does picking up on information. I'm glad I'm surrounded by so much positive feedback!

In Defense of Child Harnesses

Ok, I just want to go ahead and get this off my chest. I have used a child harness. There, I said it. I used to be one of those judgmental people who looked at parents using those leashes on their kids and shake my head in disbelief. In my naive state of mind I questioned why they couldn't just hold their children's hands, or better yet- teach their children to stay put and listen to them.

Then I had Kayla, and it threw my worldview upside-down. Here was this little toddler who was on the go from the moment she was born. Literally, almost, because she was rolling onto her side at 3 days old. THREE DAYS. Not to mention that while in utero I felt as though my internal organs were being pulverized and that she'd burst from my stomach with one more kick. And since those first movements I have had the challenge of my life attempting to control this little, energetic, adventurous, willful child. Everything that Kayla wants, she will fight to get. There is very little compromise in any toddler, but she's even more determined than than the average two year old.

So, when it came to be that she fought us when being put in the stroller and just wanted to walk, we appeased her. After all, it's not a bad thing to encourage a kid to learn to walk on their own- who wants to be pushing a stroller around any longer than they need to, right? Then we quickly learned that not only did she want to walk, but she wanted to walk without holding our hands. And this confrontation usually went the same way every time: we let her begin walking, and ask for her hand. She acts as though we never spoke and continues on her way. We reach down, grab her hand, and tell her she needs to let us hold her hand. She rips her hand away, and continues walking. We reach down and grab it again, more firmly, and she pulls back, even more determined, and beginning to get pissed off now. We stop her completely in her tracks and crouch down at her level, trying to calmly tell her that there's no option- she has to stay with us and hold our hand. She then throws herself on the floor and refuses to move, all the while screaming loudly and causing a scene. We attempt to pick her up and she kicks wildly, screaming, writhing out of our arms. Repeat this little episode until we either leave completely or continue on our way with her melting down in public and causing angry people to look to us as though we are ruining their day. (Yes, because listening to a screaming kid for 10 minutes is MUCH worse than dealing with the screaming child all day long. I'm trying to parent a child, here, teach her right from wrong, mold a human being. Back the hell off you selfish jerks.)

I've listened to people who are against the harnesses speak as though because their children cooperated and learned to hold still and behave, that all children OBVIOUSLY should. It's wonderful for them that their kids held their hand and didn't run, but to assume that all children are as willing to be confined as their own, or that parents are just bad parents because their children don't cooperate is just cruel and unrealistic. Parents of runners understand each other, and parents who've never had one of these kids doesn't. It's basically that simple. If you are of the belief that all kids are passive and controllable as long as you're a good enough parent, then you're ignorant. My daughter's stubborn streak isn't a result of our bad parenting... if anything... it's genetically passed own from my husband. But it doesn't reflect that I'm doing something wrong and it was because of all the condescending onlookers that it took me a long time to realize that.

I've also seen people argue that leashing your child is degrading because they're not a dog. Yes, because toddlers and dogs are REALLY so different. Let's evaluate for a moment. A dog and a toddler are both impulsive, curious, free-spirited creatures with little to no understanding of how the world actually works. Neither would understand impending dangers such as an oncoming car in the road, or a fall that could kill them, or a stranger with intent to take or hurt them. If either got lost, they would both wander aimlessly until someone found them and helped them or they were harmed or killed. Neither knows to stay put wherever they are and wait for help, or to find 'someone in a uniform, like a police officer, or someone who works here' or any other responsible adult. And yes, many dogs and toddlers actually COULD be trained to stay right next to their caregivers without wandering away. Many can not. And even the most well-trained dog or toddler can see something that attracts their attention enough to send them flying without notice, because shiny things are distracting sometimes, ya know? Perhaps most importantly, dogs and toddlers both have people who love them and they trust to look out for them, people who are adults and know better than they do. That's why in most cases, dog owners do leash their dogs while out in public. Not because they're just 'treating them like dogs' but because they know that dogs need to be kept safe sometimes. Parents of harnessed toddlers aren't 'treating their kids like dogs,' either. They're realizing that their kids, while human beings, aren't capable of thinking like full-grown humans yet. They're toddlers. By nature they're inquisitive, impulsive, self-centered, and naive. If you add willful, high-energy and adventurous to the mix, then you've got a huge potential for harm coming to that kid. Or in the very least, for losing that child because you needed to look away for a moment.

It's been said before, but I'll say it again. It really does only take ONE moment. I don't know any person who can stare at their child every second they're out in public. I mean, you'd be walking into walls. The best, most attentive of parents still have to watch where they're going, right?

I was originally so irritated with the judgments of these people who hate the harnesses. But then I realized that it is those same people who would be shooting looks of disgust at the parents who don't leash their children and they're running wild. I mean, sometimes it's the parents neglect, yes, but I've also been that person struggling to control my daughter and keep her still in public, getting those looks myself. They're also the same people who would probably automatically blame a lost child on a neglectful parent. So in the eyes of these people, parents like me- parents with willful, spirited, high-energy, determined toddlers who will fight you every step of the way to get what they want- we can't win. So I'm tempted to admit that I'm actually jealous of them. How wonderful it must be to be the perfect parent, with perfect, passive, well-behaved children!

But then I realize that it's my daughter who will be CEO of the company that won't even hire their children, and I don't feel so badly any more.

Articles

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Socialization/

http://media.johnwiley.com.au/product_data/excerpt/45/04717481/0471748145.pdf

March 2011

We are well into our 8th week of the letteroftheweek.com curriculum. I've decided that for some of these vocabulary words, I'll just improvise. I can't figure out how to teach the word "prism" successfully to a 2 year old, and some of these other words are clearly more for the older kids. Last weeks information was: Theme- Sun, Vocabulary word- Ray, Yellow, H, 8, Nursery Rhyme- Hickory Dickory Dock. She's doing really well with most of the curriculum and I feel confident she's learning lots of new things each week. We've already gone through several more themes- stars, rainbows, Lighthouses, etc.

I can't wait for Spring to finally get here so we can play outside and get more exercise. I think I'll feel better about giving her a more well-rounded day if she can get some fresh air every day. I'm guilty of hibernating in the winter- I hate the cold on top of being paranoid about driving when it might be icy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that within two weeks we can have the backyard set up and ready to play in.

Pics-

Stars-



Some of her Artwork hanging over her art desk-


The beginnings of her reading corder:

I needed a fix to keep Kylie away from the paper books (she eats them). The play kitchen used to be in this corner, but since it's up a step anyway I switched the books and the kitchen giving Kayla a little nook to read in. I'll spruce it up, maybe get a cute sign for her. I also added the letter of the week cork board. She's terribly uninterested in the letters and their sounds as of yet, so I'm trying to get her more psyched about it by giving her a board to hang things that start with with whatever letter we're working on. We'll see how it goes.

My feltboard-



I'll be making some fun things to play with on there, eventually. The other night I dreamt in feltboard stories, and although it was the most boring dream I've ever had, I took it as a sign to make on of these bad boys. I got a cheap frame from Walmart, although I'm sure I could have found a prettier one for cheap at a thrift shop. I bought some felt from the fabric store and let Kayla choose the color- she wanted green. This frame had a cardboard back and a flexible plastic where nicer frames would have glass. Remove that glass, but I left the plastic to make it sturdier. Then I just hotglued the felt to the cardboard and put it back in the frame. Yay!

Anywho, I have two babies getting into shenanigans again so I'm off!

I'm not sure how I've been doing this a month so far and still have yet to tell anyone aside from a few friends and my dad. My dad is all about it. In fact, he ranted for quite a while about how preschool is just an excuse for parents to get rid of their kids, any parent can teach a 4 year old what they need to succeed if they tried, they can get socialized everywhere, not just in a classroom, how parents are suckered into paying expensive preschool costs for fear of messing up their children, etc. I know it's mostly just his tendency to hate the 'establishment' and see corruption in everything, but it certainly made me feel happier hearing someone support us.

I know that there have been a bunch of studies that show the benefits of sending your children to preschool, and that's exactly what made the choice so difficult. Much like breastfeeding, the advocates make sure that you feel like an evil, ogre-parent bent on setting your children up for failure in life should you choose another path than what they are explaining. Formula-feed your child, and you are poisoning them (and that's not an exaggeration, I've had someone on a message board tell me I was poisoning Kayla by giving her formula). Don't send your child to preschool and watch them falter and fail in all things academic and social.

When I discuss this with the families, eventually, I will not bring up the other studies that I've read that show that while preschool's short-term effects are well-documented and are the basis for all pro-preschool outcry,the long-term effects are non-existent and that the vast majority of children who showed some advantage over others because of their attendance at a normal preschool even-out with their peers in a few years and go on to score the same in all aspects of their schooling from then on. That'd just cause a fight. But it will be a nice, secret little knowledge that I keep within me and whenever I doubt myself or our decision, it will be my confidence and boost to keep on going.

Oye.

Second Week

Well, our second week of 'preschool' is in full-swing. Since it's Wednesday, we've already changed the theme, colored in the square to the color of the week, and changed the letter of the week to "b". The more that I do this, the more I realize that she's already very comfortable with most of what I'm teaching to her. I'm using these tools as a reinforcement method more than anything else.

This week's information (courtesy of letteroftheweek.com and slightly changed for our needs is:

Theme- Jungle
Vocabulary- vines
Color- red (instead of the their suggested green)
Letter- B
Number-2

I know that green makes more sense in correlation with the theme of 'jungle', but it's Valentine's Day next week and we'll be doing a ton of appropriate projects for the holiday, too. I figured that it would be just as productive to work with red as it is green. And besides, she knows green so much better than red already. For some reason, red and yellow are the hardest ones for her to grasp and she often confuses them. Green will be much more appropriate for next month when we're making St. Patty's day things anyway.

So far for this week we've drawn and colored several pictures of Jungles and jungle animals. I am in the process of helping her make a diaramma of a jungle- I just need to get some pipe cleaners to really get going with it. I found a bunch of little cut and paste projects to make jungle animals and puppets. I have a big board book called "Jungle Animals" that we've been reading. I will, at some point this week, put on Jungle Book for the first time and let her see some jungle creatures in action. Our Disney Journey is slowly beginning with Toy Story and a handful of other movies that she's enjoyed, so maybe Jungle Book will also hit home with her.

I lucked out with the vocabulary word, because one of her favorite shows- Dora- shows her swinging in on- yep! vines! in the opening song. Every time she's seen the show this week I've been repeating- Dora's swinging in on vines! Look! Dora's swinging on a vine!

This Sunday I was thrilled to find an area rug on clearance for Kayla's room- with letters on it! Yay! And so we've played with letters several times already! We jump around on the rug looking for different letters.


So for 15 bucks, I think it's a win!




And here's a few pictures from last week... nothing spectacular, but may as well post while I'm in the mood!

Hello, fine motor skill development:






("How Many apples, Kay?" ".... FIIIIIVE!"



Since it's been freezing, snowing, and I'm not interested in attempting to drive and get back up the drive-of-death, we've been kind of stuck inside a lot. Aside from the normal dancing, running, and shenanigans in general, we've called in the big guns and brought up the best investment we've made so far for Kayla....




The Step2 Up and Down Roller Coaster. Thinking about getting it? Do it. Easy to assemble and disassemble, lightweight but sturdy as heck. Hours and hours and hours of entertainment. We take this up every once in a while from the basement and let her play with it. On those days, she can ride this thing easily 50 times. Here it is in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7qGV9R4gF0
Then, of course, there are the other random things we did through the week:


Her finished poster:


Letter A:




Cut, paste, color cows



Random





There was a lot more done, but it's almost nap time, and I can't keep sitting here all day!

In conclusion... so far this preschool thing is going well. I'm very happy.