Sunday, July 11, 2010

It's almost potty time!

Sorry I have been MIA again! Weddings, vacation, and lots of Daddy time! :)

Tomorrow I am starting the Potty Boot Camp. I went shopping today for some new books to keep him on the potty, snacks for rewarding dry pants, and a bath toy as the "big" reward for letting me know he has to go potty. I know, not so big, but I'm not sure he'll understand the concept anyways.

I will be sure to write about how each day goes!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Swagbucks!

Sorry I've been MIA, this heat has me totally immobile most days lately!

So, have you heard of Swagbucks? It's this totally free site where you earn "bucks" to use towards great prizes, like Amazon gift cards! I'm saving up to buy my new cloth diapers for when this LO is born. You get points for searching the internet, just like we all do every day. What do you have to lose?!
 Sign up and install the toolbar--it has a search box so every time you think of something to search, it's right there. You won't get points for every search, it's totally random, but when you do it's exciting! :)

Check out the info here:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/mamatobe08

If you have any questions, let me know! :)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Loooong day!

First off, little goober woke up at 6:45 this morning. His normal time is 7:30 or 8. UGH! I did not want to get out of bed! Then I had a few Creative Memories events going on(have I mentioned I am a consultant?! I am, and I LOVE IT!) So Grandma had DS. I got home at 4 and was informed he never took a nap. Oh boy. You mom's know how it goes. Kid needs nap, but kid doesn't take nap, so kid is a miserable mess the rest of the day.

By 6 he was driving me bananas.

By 8 he had asked for more food 3 times...since dinner at 5!

At 8:15 I put him in his room. He is currently at the door fussing, but not crying or screaming so I'm going to wait it out and see what happens. Last night he went to sleep by himself in the big bed! Not too bad for a week of being out of the crib! It took a lot of time and a lot of patience, but he did it, and I was so proud! :)

Thursday, June 17, 2010

All Moved In!

Moving is rough. Moving with a toddler is worse. I can say that I NEVER want to move again! Unfortunately, once we find a house to buy, we will be doing it again--but hopefully that will be the last time for a LONG time!

I have decided I am going to start buying more eco-friendly cleaning products. This is a step in the right direction. I also want to start buying better food. We have been living off fast food for the last week or so, and it's disgusting. I want better for our family.

I am now a sorta-single mother. We will be away from Daddy for at least 1 week at a time--mostly it will be 2 weeks though. It's going to be rough. It's rough already and it's only day 1...And I only have 1 kid! When December comes, and baby comes, I am going to go insane.

My next OB appointment is next week Monday. I have an ultrasound to check on some potential issues that were found at the hospital last week, then in the afternoon I will see the actual doctor. Well wishes and prayers are much appreciated! I do have a heartbeat monitor now(Thanks Robin!) so I have been enjoying listening to the baby almost every night. :) Last night the heartbeat was right around 145, which is higher than it has been lately. I love this thing!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Moving Day is Coming!

Saturday is the big move! We haven't really done a lot of packing yet. I ended up at the hospital on Tuesday night because I started getting cramps while packing, so I have backed way off on the work getting done. Daddy gets done at work at noon today and has tomorrow off, so we should get a lot done. Plus, they're coming today to disconnect the cable, so really what else will we do?! :)

Everything was fine with the baby, I have a UTI but as long as baby is good, I don't care what I have to go through!

Grandma will be watching DS while I bring Daddy back to Illinois on Monday, and she said that if I want to start the Potty Boot Camp on Sunday, she will continue it while I am gone. I'm not sure yet if I want to have her do it, because it is bound to be some hard work, but I will see how we are doing on Sunday and decide from there!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

My Newest Obsession

 I have been obsessing for about a week now about what diapers to use when the new LO comes. I know I want to do cloth. I think I want to do hybrids, because we travel a lot and it would be nice to have the choice of a cloth or disposable insert.

Now I just need to see the GroVia's in person and make a decision:
These:














 Or these:
     













Have you tried either? What did you like or not like about them? 

Cloth diapering is so funny, it's so addicting to get the newest, cutest options! Everyone I know who cloth diapers is the same way--gets obsessed about buying the next big thing. Cloth diapering is so easy, I wish more people would try it. The recent Pampers problems has really pushed me to avoid disposables as much as possible!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

A Peek Into My Green World

How eco-friendly am I? Well, I'll admit, not as much as I should be. But I am well on my way! Before DS was born, I had thought about cloth diapering, but the thought quickly slipped away, as I realized I am just too much of a germaphobe for that. When DS was 10 months old, I changed my mind, we went to cloth. I found a great sale on BumGenius diapers and decided to go for it. I actually had started to read up on Elimination Communication and how cloth really helps that process. Daddy wasn't all that pleased, but said as long as I dealt with the dirties, I could do whatever I wanted. :)

EC on it's own is pretty eco-friendly. I mean, the whole idea is to have a "diaper free baby" so that you can help your child recognize the body's processes. It pushed me to try other things as well. I use more "natural" products. I have read about making your own shampoo, though I haven't tried it yet. I plan to cloth diaper this new baby, along with possibly trying out cloth wipes(YIKES!) and making my own baby food. I have also found other "extreme green" ideas, such as family cloth, but I will post about that later.

What green things do you and your family do?

Friday, June 4, 2010

Wow, I really AM pregnant!

DS and I just had lunch. I ate a pepperoni sandwich. While I was eating, I started craving potato chips. We don't have any and I wasn't going to worry about getting DS out and to the store just for chips. So I started raiding the fridge to figure out what I could have instead. I tried an orange, it was no good. So, I had 2 Eggo waffles! LOL! Seriously, who does that?!?? Eggos with a sandwich? YUCK! But it tasted sooo good!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Oops, forgot to post yesterday! Oh wait, maybe that's because I had NO time!

The house we are currently in is one we rent. We are moving out next weekend. The landlord had the house up for sale for 3 weeks and found a buyer(crazy how different the economy is down here than up in Michigan!) Last week I got a call from the realtor saying they were going to do an inspection on Wednesday. Well, Wednesday comes and at 11am I get a message saying it was cancelled. Ok, sweet, DS and I will hang out at home for the day.

2:30 rolls around. DS was driving me insane so I tried putting him down for a nap. I get a phone call from the realtor saying "Nevermind, it's not cancelled, they will be there any minute." I said fine, but I am not leaving, my son is napping.  He was babbling and playing in his crib for a while, which he only does if he's going to fall asleep....KNOCK KNOCK! Someone's at the door. Dog starts barking, DS starts crying. UGH!

So there were 2 inspectors and the home buyer here. They were friendly with us. They even played with DS a little. He loved the extra attention. They were here for THREE HOURS. DS was a total grouch by the end. When Daddy got home from work, DS was in the crib because I was having a meltdown because of DS's meltdown.

My night consisted of getting DS to bed as soon as possible, funny tv, and a big bowl of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and strawberries!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Potty Boot Camp

I can't believe I didn't mention it! I am starting a new potty learning phase. We are going to try the Potty Boot Camp. We have done Elimination Communication since DS was 10 months old. It was going great until I got pregnant and I couldn't handle the stress of having him in underwear(because he was mostly miss-free!) I was too sick to take him to the potty so often. So once again, he is "diaper-trained" and I am ready to be done with it.

I found this book after a friend said she saw an article about a Potty Boot Camp. I Googled it and www.thepottybootcamp.com came up. It's a book by Suzanne Riffel. So then on the website I see that the e-book is only $5.95! Seriously?!? That's awesome! I bought it and read it while DB was playing video games at 10pm. It took me a half hour to read--it's very to-the-point and it has step-by-step directions which was GREAT! It also had a flowchart at the end so you can refer to it quickly while doing the training.

The best part in my opinion? The author includes her email address and encourages you to email her if you have any questions! That's amazing, what other author does that?!?

We're moving in 2 weeks, so I didn't want to worry about it right now, but once we're settled, I am totally doing it! Oh, and the reviews on Amazon are GREAT! Read HERE.

I will post daily about our experiences while doing the Boot Camp!

Trip to the Zoo

Oh my GOSH! I took DS to the zoo today. We went with 2 other moms with their 3 kids each. First, I realized that I will be more than happy with 2 kids. I don't think I could handle going out of the house with 3 kids! More power to those who do! I always used to want 3, but dealing with this pregnancy while having another child to care for is tough. So, I think I will be pleased with only 2!

DS had a meltdown at the zoo. Actually, pretty much the whole time there was a giant meltdown. We did 3 timeouts. I tried snacks--they worked part of the time. I let him walk, which was fine until he wanted to run in and out of the building. I was fed up so we left after lunch. He fell asleep in the car for 30 minutes, then we got home and now he's wide awake. It's going to be a fun day! 

There are some days I really wish I was a working mom. Today was one of them. But then I get my happy, smiling baby back and he gives me hugs and kisses and I know that staying at home is the better choice for us. :)

Monday, May 31, 2010

Let me introduce myself. I am Michelle. I have a 19 month old son(will be referred to as DS). I am 14 weeks pregnant with my second child. It's a crazy life--trying to stay awake until after lunch when it's nap time,chasing a toddler while trying to hold down my breakfast, trying to stay awake until baby bed time. Oh, and don't even get me started on trying to make a nice meal for our family!

I am a stay-at-home-mom trying to cut costs for our family. I am constantly trying to become more eco-friendly. I am always trying new things with my son and visiting new places. I am the best mom I can be and I want to share those experiences with you. Join me on this crazy adventure called Mommyhood!

And that, my friends, is what this mama needs--a place to let loose, to tell it like it is, to vent about the day's frustrations, and a place to have some fun!