Mommy and Me Monday

My Happy Birthday Crown

Mommy and Me Monday this week was impromptu.  I didn't plan to take any photos with my girls, we just haven't had time since I went back to work.  But Saturday evening I got to play with Audrey some.  It was very sweet and special.  Audrey just LOVES playing blocks, but doesn't like to play alone, so I sat on the floor and played with her.  

I built a structure, had no real purpose for it.  Just building away.  I was being silly and put it on Audrey's head.  Then she thought it was great and put it on my head. I kept trying to put it on her head but she kept putting it back on mine.  I guess it was my little crown to wear.

Then, after she put it on my head, she sang Happy Birthday.  Not really sure where that's coming from, but OK.

So here we are, playing with blocks and singing Happy Birthday.  (Couldn't get her whole face in the photo and capture the crown........)

Head on over to Kryssyn's blog to see more Mommy and Me Monday

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

One week in daycare

photo has no connection to post content; I just thought it was cute

So today makes it a week since Audrey and Annie have been with the new daycare.

Annie, of course, didn't need an adjustment period. She was just fine. Took a bottle great for Gayl and Gayl's had no issues with her.

Our week went something like this:

Monday - excited to play at Gayl's house. Drop off was easy. When we picked her up she was happy to see us, but not running to meet us at the door. Ate great, no potty accidents.

Tuesday - Dropped them off and Audrey wouldn't walk up to the front door. I had to carry her inside. She started freaking out when we left and Gayl had to hold her back. I forgot the extra breast milk, so I had to take some after I pumped. Picked the girls up on their way home from the park. Both were very happy to see us, but not running to get in the car. Annie didn't need the extra milk afterall. Go figure. No potty accidents.

Wednesday - Audrey was carried into the house again, but didn't cry nearly as much when we started to leave. We picked them up and again she was happy to see us, but not running to greet us. No potty accidents, but she did poop in her trainer. I forgot an extra trainer, so she was put in a pull-up. I should tell Gayl to just use a diaper if that happens since the diapers fit both girls. Anyway ....

Thursday - only day this week she woke with a dry diaper. I suspect that she's drinking more water at daycare and therefore is peeing more. She walked to the front door and didn't cry at all when we left. I remembered extra trainers in the diaper bag today.

Audrey's bed time has been pushed up by 30 minutes since we are getting up earlier. She's not sleeping in the car, which is surprising to me.

Audrey is napping great - 2 hour naps in the afternoon. And she gives Gayl her binky when she gets there. Which is AWESOME. Gonna work with Gayl on taking it away during naptime and then we'll take it away for car rides and then bed time.

We've heard from both Gayl and her husband Mike that both girls are a joy and a pleasure and a real treat to have over.

We've been told that Audrey eats great - more than the 3 y/o.

I'm loving that she provides all the food for Audrey (and eventually Annie). One less thing to think about. She is playing with great kids. The oldest one reads to all the younger kids. And they all play well together. My girls are the youngest. Audrey will probably learn some more advanced skills from them a little sooner. I'm really hoping this will instill a good sense of sharing and playing nice together; up until now, Audrey hasn't had to share much or play nice with other kids her age. She's been the doll and been able to do whatever she wanted with whatever toys she could find.

As much as I hate leaving them and desperately miss them during the day and wish I could stay home, I think we found a great place for them to be. 

On having two kids...

I've heard some women say that they didn't want to have babies too close together because it would be unfair to the older kid that mom has to devote so much time to the newborn so early. Or that they don't want to miss out on the growth and experiences that the older one is having at a certain development stage.
And I understand that. Fully and completely. I really enjoyed watching Audrey learn and grow and could devote all of my time and energy to her.
But now that I have two, and very close in age, I will say that I'm ecstatic. I LOVE watching Audrey grow and develop and learn new skills. But she can do that with a little sister too. And I would venture to say that its more fun watching her interact with her baby sister than play alone.
She has such a loving personality and it is so obvious with a baby around. She's so sensitive to people around her and is very aware of emotions and feelings.
She's a huge helper and wants very much to help her baby sister with things.  She is very curious about what makes Annie tick. And has started playing with her dolls the same way I "play with" Annie. She potty trains her cabbage patch doll. She puts diapers on her monkey.  And a binky in her Elmo. She rocks them to sleep. She gives them water. No, she hasn't tried nursing any of them yet, but she has pretended to make "baby milkies."

Conversation with Audrey

Audrey: I'm sad.
Me: why?
Audrey: I want my binky.

Dollar Tree Love

Against everything I've been pre-programmed to believe, I have fallen in love with the dollar store.  I always believed it was dirty, cheap and overall a waist of time and money.  But with Josh's paycut last fall and a new baby and just trying to cut costs wherever possible, we've started shopping at the Dollar Tree.

Yes, there are some really cheap items there.  And we know those and stay away from those.  But some things are just as good as at the grocery store.  Candy, soda, etc.  Those are awesome at the dollar store.  We've also started to get dumb toys and trinkets for Audrey there.  The best find of all, though, has to be Dishwasher detergent.  We started getting it there when we were desperate and low on funds.  And we love it.  The dollar store Sun Sations dishwasher detergent actually works BETTER than the Safeway generic Cascade stuff.  Maybe even better than Cascade.  

We've found that most things are of the same quality, just lower volume/smaller packages.  So if we don't need a whole bunch at once, it's a great place to get something.  For instance, oxy clean.  WE don't use much, so getting it at the Dollar store really does save us money when we need to buy it.  In fact, it's even cheaper per oz than the name brand at Safeway.   Frozen fruit.  $1/bag.  I get 3 bags.  It lasts me 2 weeks usually for smoothies.  Same quality fruit as at Safeway and like 1/3 the price.  

I often will get ziplock bags and lunch bags at the Dollar store.  Buy shopping for these items at Dollar Tree, we've probably cut $20/week out of our grocery budget.  (We don't buy those items every week, but a combination of all our items probably is that much.)

However, not all things are as good at the Dollar store.  I bought a couple oven mitts there.  I figured a cheap oven mitt was better than our holey mitts we had at home.  I brought them home and pulled dinner out of the oven and burned my hand.   Ok.  Lesson learned.  I'll buy those at Target next time.

Yoga - good for the soul, body, and lost items

We all know the benefits of yoga on stress.  We know it's benefits on weight loss.  And we all agree that yoga is great for toning and stretching the muscles.

But today I discovered a new benefit of yoga.  Finding things that the toddler lost.  Today, while doing my yoga, and lying on the floor, I glanced under the bookcase and found Josh's Road ID dogtag that Audrey lost.

My husband loves me

I know that my husband loves me. I see proof of that every day.

One example.....

I have a horrible sense of direction, but I think I know where I'm going. My husband freely admits he doesn't always know, so he asks me. I tell him where to go and he faithfully follows my directions, almost always resulting in us going the wrong way.

He never yells at me for being wrong, just irritated. Every time he says, "why do I listen to you?" But will inevitably listen the next time.

When I asked him why he still listens he responded, "because you might be right." He has faith that I will be right the next time and trusts me every time. I don't trust myself anymore, but he still does. :)

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Diaper Parties By Christine (Bay Area) March Giveaway

Facebook does not allow giveaways without their consent, so instead of going through the red tape to host the giveaway on my facebook page, I'm doing it here on my blog.  

The month of March, I will be giving away a pair of Imse Vimse Organic Training Pants.  Entering into the giveaway is easy.  All you have to do is enter into the Everything Birth weekly giveaways and then comment here in my blog with a link to your entry.  That's it.  Super easy.  No spamming your friends, no facebook pages to like, no tweets to send.  

There are 5 Everything Birth giveaways in the month of March, so that means you have 5 possible entries into my giveaway.  I will draw a random winner on April 2 (no April Fool's drawings here ....).  

I will say, however, that I would love more followers on my FB page, so feel free to follow and get updates on brands or Everything Birth changes and giveaways and coupons and whatnot.  

http://www.facebook.com/BayAreaDiaperParties