I'm back!!!!

Seriously. It has been a year!!!

The kids are growing so fast and keeping up with all they need has kept us busy.

Mini is 6 years old and in 1st Grade now!!!! How did that happen!! She is an avid reader, loves math, takes ballet & tap, and is shaping up to be a good defender on her soccer team.

Little Man is 3 (almost 4!) and is improving every day. He has Physical Therapy twice a week for his Hypotonia and Occupational Therapy once a week for his Developmental Delays. He has made major strides in the last 4 months physically and his OT therapist has helped him immensely over the last year. He goes to preschool 3 days a week and his teacher just enjoy him so much. 

Big Man is, of course, also 3 (almost 4!) and growing in leaps and bounds. He is the sweetest kid and is forever trying to help out his older siblings. He is also, literally, trying to climb the walls. I'm thinking early training for America's Ninja Warrior?

Hubby is as handsome as ever! ;-) I really am lucky. (So is he!!! Lol...) We are loving being in our 'new' house (can't believe we have been here over a year!) and the kids love having their best friends right behind us. 

Stay tuned.... (I promise I will be posting more!!) 

(This is from last year. Cannot wait to get new ones done this year. Love our yearly tradition of pictures.) 

There comes a time...

There comes a time when you have to decide what faith you are going to raise your children in. I was raised mainly in a Protestant church as my father was military and most posts provided a Catholic service and a Protestant service (there may have been a Jewish service but it was not on my mind back then.) My husband was raised Jewish.

Over the years I have examined my beliefs in an attempt to figure out where I stood in my faith. I do not agree with most organized religions. I find the idea of picking and choosing what you want to believe out of a book that was written hundreds of years ago, translated and edited many times over, to be mystifying. I do feel like there is a greater power out there. One that each of us can tap into. As I read and researched I stepped further away from my Christian upbringing and closer to a more Pagan view of things. It just felt right.

I will admit, though, that I chose not to broadcast it. Why? No reason, really, except that it was something I called mine and had no need to share. I played the fine line of never fully acknowledging my choice of beliefs so I would not be alienated by those who know me. There is a big trend in this world to see Pagans as something evil. Really it is quite the opposite. A Pagan sends out the energy they wish to receive. Why send out evilness if it will be revisited upon you??

Over the last year I have been more open about my beliefs. I am respectful of others beliefs but I don't let them preach to me. My family celebrates many customs that pull from many beliefs. I am teaching my children about Jewish customs as, in many ways, being Jewish is a cultural thing as well as a religious thing. 

So there you go. You respect my beliefs and I shall respect yours. Oh, and I'll teach my little witchling a that, too. ;-) 

                                

She Did What?!?

FLUFFY BUTT!!!

Huh?  We took a leap of faith and switched to cloth diapers today. :-)

I have long adored all of my friends' cute diaper stashes but was wary of the idea of twins in cloth diapers. Then I did the math:

4 diapers a day per kid at $.25 a diaper (I'm rounding for easy math!) is $1.00 a day.
At least 1.5 more years/548 days of diapers/pull-ups times 2 is $1096.  OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

I found out that I could purchase 20 re-usable cloth diapers with microfiber inserts for $96.00 from Alva Baby. I figured that I needed 28 diapers in total to CD both boys for 2 days (with some leftover for laundry day.)  Completely doable for only $137.  Wow! That sounds a LOT better than $1096!  Plus, if I take good care of my diapers I should be able to re-sell them for about 1/2 of what I paid.  Nice!  So I took the leap and ordered everything that I needed to CD. 

Now, I did spend a little more than $137 because there are different supplies that you need.  For example, you need CD friendly diaper cream.  I recommend CJ's BUTTer for any number of reasons; the 2 biggest being the yummy scents and the amazing BUTTer PLUS that is great for yeast rashes (I got it in a spray which is nice because it is so easy to apply!)  I am experimenting with different liners.  I recommend liners for first timers because they make cleaning up poopy diapers so much easier. You also need a couple of wet bags to keep dirty diapers in in the diaper bag and a pail liner for your diaper pail. Oh & you need cloth diaper friendly detergent (for some good info check here.)  There are lots of optional things you can get, too.  Sounds intimidating but once you've read a bit you realize that it isn't that hard to CD anymore.

I got my fluff (as CD's are affectionately called) mail on Saturday and was so excited it was funny! I spent the rest of the day getting it all ready to be worn.  Our first diaper Sunday morning was a cloth one.  There's no going back now.

FLUFF MAIL!!!

So pretty!

Washed and ready to be prestuffed for wearing

Ready to go, so many cute patterns & colors

FLUFFY BUTTS!!!!

I am such a geek.  I know.  :-)  And you guys know you love me for it!

I'm a Barefoot Kind of Momma (I hope)

Huh? I can hear you now- what is she talking about?? Well today after nap my daughter asked if we could go outside and play and I said sure but you need to get some clothes on first. (She had clothes on before nap time, I swear!) She asked if she needed shoes and I said 'nope' which lead, of course, to the inevitable "why". Well, because that's how we roll in this house. Why wear shoes if you don't need to? Why worry about things if you don't need to? So, I'm a Barefoot Kind of Momma...well, I'm trying to be.  Join me on my journey of raising 3 kids while trying not to worry about the small stuff, you know, like wearing shoes when we play on the back patio.

Turning off the noise

One day a few weeks back I forgot to turn cartoons on for Mini in the morning.  It was a school morning and we were busy and instead of clicking the TV on as we usually do we got busy doing other things.  When we got home from school it was nap time and after nap time we played for a bit and then had dinner.  After dinner we played for a bit more and before we knew it it was time to get ready for bed!  I suppose at some point I realized that we hadn't turned the TV on but I never consciously made the decision to not turn it on.

The next day I didn't turn it on and nothing was said.  Again it wasn't that I made the decision to not let the kids watch TV and, had Madi asked, I would have tuned it on for her.  She just never asked.  I began to enjoy the quietness and so began to make the choice not to have the TV on.  This is not to say that we don't watch TV any more.  Some mornings I turn it on; when we aren't going anywhere or Madi specifically asks for a cartoon.  And every night I watch my show so I don't see us getting rid of our TVs just yet.  :-)  But I like the lack of noise and I'm going to to my best to have the TV off more than it is on.  :-D

Keeping Baby WARM!

There are a lot of products out there that I LOVE!  Many of which I will soon blog about.  But first there is one I want to get out there ASAP!!  Why?  Because it will help your babies stay WARM this winter.  How do I know?  Because we have been using it for our daughter, Mini, and are now using it for our boys, Big, Little Man & Little, Little Man.

What is this oh so important product you ask.  The bed warmer from PerfectlySafe.com.  Go ahead click on it!!  I'll wait for you...

(Insert the music from Jeopardy here.)

I know, say what?!?  But it is only $8 (for a crib/toddler bed size!)  This cannot be true.  TRUST ME!!!  It is simply amazing!  We bought one for each of the kiddos (and 2 extra for Squidgy, her cousin, & Mini's beds at my sister's house- yes, Mini has her own bed there...lol...)  The house we were renting at the time was quite drafty (we were spending a small fortune every month to get the house to 68 degrees!) and we needed something on Mini's bed to help her stay warm when she lost her covers.  We figured that they were worth the cost even if they only made her a couple of degrees warmer.  We could tell the difference right away.  When we would check on Mini at night her hands and feet were no longer ice cold.  YAY!!!

Since the twins were either sleeping with us, in their swings or next to each other in their crib we didn't worry about them too much.  Plus, we moved to an energy efficient house & winter ended.  Well winter took me by surprise and when the first big heating bill hit I realized that something had to change.  Then I checked on Little, Little Man and realized that he was sleeping ON his blanket instead of UNDER his blanket because his crib mattress was ice cold.  Got to change that ASAP!  Luckily, I knew right where I had tucked my PerfectlySafe.com bed warmers (yes, I put the links in there AGAIN, just in case you didn't look the first time!)  I put them on today and I can already see the difference.  I just checked on all 3 of my beautiful sleeping babies and every single one of them has warm fingers and toes and Little, Little Man is still under his blanket.  :-D

So PLEASE check them out!!!  I cannot express enough how something that doesn't cost a whole lot will make a difference in your child's life (hey, I'm passionate!) 

Too Smart For Me!

So my Mini is an early riser.  She gets up between 6:30a-7:00a.  Shut up, it is early to me!!  I am more of a night owl than a morning bird.  I was talking about this with a friend of mine, Mae over at Mae's Got This, and she told me about this awesome thing she came up with for her Munchkin, she talks about it here.  I had heard from other parents that they used the same trick so I thought 'why not!'  Then I got lazy and so I never posted a picture of 7:00, I just talked to Mini about how she needs to stay in her room until her clock starts with a 7.  I didn't really expect much, fully taking the blame on myself cause I hadn't posted anything.  Well, she figured it out herself!  And will tell you all about how she doesn't come out of her room until there's a 7.  :-)  Go me, right!!!  Um, no.  Well... partially no anyways.  Every morning around 6:45a I hear thumping in her room (which is right above mine, YAY!)  Then at no later than 7:02a she is "sneaking" into my room.  Seriously?!  So I asked her this morning "do you wait for the clock to turn 7:00a?"  Her answer, with the cutest little grin "yep!"  So much for sleeping in.  :-)

Do You Hear The Words That Are Coming Out Of My Mouth?!?

If you are my 3 year old, Mini, you do not.  I swear she blocks me out better than anyone I have ever met.  I will ask her to do something when she is stand just a foot or so away and all I will get is a blank stare (if I get that!)  I repeat myself over and over and over again and it gets me absolutely nowhere.  I cannot begin to tell you how absolutely frustrating it can be.  Not to mention when I tell her to do something and she actually responds to me and then she STILL doesn't do it!

I know I am not the only mom in my crowd who is having this issue.  We have pretty much decided that the 3's are way worse then the 2's (and rumor has it that the 4's aren't any better!)

This article, from Scholastic's Parent & Child magazine, helped me to understand what was going through her head.  I know that I am guilty of not following through.  As in- "It's time to go...after Mommy pins this one last thing on Pinterest."  (Beware of clicking that link!  It will suck you in!)  Or- "I am counting to 5...and going to catch your little brother before he destroys something."    I know that Mini believes that we know what she is thinking or what she has done every minute of every day.  When asked what she did today or what she is drawing she constantly responds with "you know, you tell me."  Now I feels safe in the knowledge that this is normal.  How do I deal with this?  I plan to make sure she knows that I am talking to her; I have a feeling that a big part of our communication issues come from the fact she doesn't realize that we are talking to her.  I also hope to remember to break down tasks into small, short instructions so that she can remember and follow them easily.  I want to have her understand that I am in charge but that I respect her as a little one.  Plus, I will make sure that I am better at following through so that "give me just one sec..." doesn't end up meaning "it'll be awhile." 

I vow, as a parent, to do my part to make sure my child grows up to be someone who knows how to listen.  If only I could guarantee that she'll WANT to listen. ;-)

Nap Time

Nap time.  Ugh.  You never know how good you got it til the game gets changed.  In many ways I was spoiled when I had my daughter.  Because my husband worked long hours away from home 6 days a week it was mainly just her and I.  This meant that, as a stay at home mom, my world revolved around her & her needs.  I was able to get us into a routine that worked for us and by the time we moved across the country to be closer to my family & keep hubby from working himself to death, she was locked into a set nap routine.  One that meant I got 2 hours free in the morning and 2 hours free in the afternoon.  We moved in with my parents & I kept that routine and pretty much 'convinced' my niece (my sister & her daughter lived with my parents, too- they have a HUGE house) to be on the same routine.  Yay! After I got pregnant with our twins we moved out, our nap routine stayed the same (I know, a 2 year old who takes 2 naps a day?!?) and I was able to get the rest I desperately needed. 

The twins have not been as cooperative as my daughter.  :-(  I know that part of the problem is our daily routine is not as calm.  Mini has dropped her morning nap and it is not like we can just hang around the house while the boys take a nap.  She has school 3 days a week which means we have to be out of the house early and since the school isn't near home and it is near the gym that means we go there next, then it is lunch time and before I know it time to pick Mini up from school.  I took the easy road for the first year and just held both boys to get them to go to sleep for nap time.  Now that they have a set bedtime routine I am trying to get a set nap time routine for at least one nap, the afternoon one since, theoretically Mini takes one, too.

Getting their bedtime routine set was not fun.  It required the use of the Cry It Out method.  Now, before you get your panties in a twist, the twins are 1 year old and old enough to get the concept.  It only took a couple days but they figured it out and now they sleep from about 7:30p-7:00a.  :-)  Nap time has not been so easy.  I put them in their cribs at 3:30p every day and leave them there until 5:00p; 90% of the time Little, Little Man will sleep while Big, Little Man will scream & cry like he is being tortured. It makes me sick to my stomach to listen to him cry and I hate it.  I KNOW he needs sleep and I can't think of another way to make it happen besides holding him BUT I need to get things done without interruptions and, yes, sometimes I need some sleep.  I don't know what else to try and so tomorrow I will do it all over again...