Matching Cards

I'm especially proud of my creative mommy skills today. I've been feeling a bit sad about finding ways to engage Ethan's mind. Being pregnant, feeling tired or nauseous and now having a bad cold, the poor child gets more TV than I ever imagined I would allow.

So I decided that I could make him a matching game. He loves holding little cards and he loves naming animals. What could be easier. I browsed the internet for images of animals he was already familiar with and saved them, sizing them to fit 4 on a page in Word. I printed them on some thicker card stock paper, cut them all out and then cut each animal in half.

Voila - we have a matching game. I didn't want to overwhelm him with choices so I would put out the parts to 4 or 5 animals at a time and encourage him to match them. He did great.  It was such a simple game to create but I forsee hours of fun for us. And as he gets older, I can add more & more animals out at one time to challenge him. 

Helper

They grow so fast!

Ethan is very into "helping" with everything he can right now. He loves "helping" me fold laundry by flinging stuff around while I speed fold and keep him out of the folded piles.

I have let him "help" with baking a few times too. This usually consists of tasting the batter or giving him a bowl, a spoon and some wet flour to muck around with.




And today my big helper decided he needed to help with dishes so he pulled his chair over when I was at the sink and I wasn't sure how he could help. He wanted to touch the bubbles and the warm water. So I filled up a sink of warm soapy water just for him and let him go to town with some old plastic containers.

I finished the dishes over half hour ago and he's still there splashing away, getting soaked and having fun! There is a small flood around him and everything in a three foot radius is splashed but he's loving it.

Good incentive to wash the floor today anyways!

Posted by Becky using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sleepless Nights

Ah the joys of pregnancy! Insomnia! Couple that with headaches and night time nausea and I'm one tired mama this morning.

We also started Ethan in his Big boy bed lastnight but fortunately he did fine and slept well. He's growing up!

Pregnancy is far from glamorous for me. I'm in my 22nd week and still waiting for the morning sickness to go away and hoping that some energy will return. The January Blues probably make it all worse cuz it's too cold to go outside and dark more than half the day.

Every January I get antsy and ling for sunnier skies or exotic lands and new adventures. I do believe there are some big adventures in store for our family in the future but first we need to figure out what to do with our present. We still aren't sure how long we will stay up north here or where we want to live when we return home to BC.

But we're only granted one day at a time thankfully and try to focus on the moments we are in, which happens to include those sleepless nights but also enjoying a growing up toddler and his very kicky baby brother to be!


- Posted by Becky using BlogPress from my iPhone

Teeny Tiny Diapers

 

I know that I still have MONTHS to go before this little guy makes his grand appearance but the other night I had one of those dreams that he was here and we didn't have anything ready. I was panicking about clothes & diapers. We were trying to put a disposable on him in the dream and those flimsy sticky tabs kept ripping off. So I rumaged thru my bag of newborn cloth diapers knowing that there were a few I had already washed cuz I tried them on my friends baby.

And then, I was waking up to my 2 year old saying "Baby! Baby! Baby!" from his crib! How did he know what I was dreaming about?

So, I decided I needed to pull that bag out and check out what I actually had. I have to admit I was surprised to see that I already have 36 newborn diapers! (um, and two more in the mail somewhere) OK, I guess in that department I'm a little more prepared than I thought. I will probably order a few more cheap prefolds and a couple covers to go over the prefolds & fitteds in case I need to have a few extras or have a few days where I just don't want to do the laundry but other than that, I'm all set.

We didn't cloth diaper Ethan from birth, we didn't start till he was about 7 months old so I am really excited to experience the newborn phase with cloth. I remember that Ethan was a super pooper so I definitely want to have lots on hand so that I'm not doing the wash every day.

So many people seem so grossed out with cloth diapering, saying I'll have to "deal with poop" more. Um, hello, how many times did your newborn have poop up his back & down his legs that escaped his disposable? The extra bonus with cloth, is that it will contain all those explosive newborn poops, hence saving me more laundry, and in this sense, I really will be touching the poop LESS than the non-CDing mommies.

Another bonus, with newborn poop, is that its water soluable, until you introduce solid foods. As if breastmilk isn't wonderful enough, I don't even have to RINSE breastfed poop out of the diaper, it can go straight into the wash and will COMPLETELY rinse away. Some find that hard to believe but its true.

And really, can these tiny things GET ANY CUTER than these fitteds?! I have stripes, sheep, giraffes, duckies, ooga boogas, pirates and more. I have solid greens, yellows, reds, & blues. I have a fleece cover with a snowman on it, a minky soft dalmation cover and one with frogs & lily pads.

And all of these are just for the first few weeks of his life. Once he hits around 10 - 12 lbs then he can move up into the one-size-fits-most diapers that Ethan has been using for the past 2 years. Hello diaper savings!!! And I know that purchasing all these tiny newborn diapers were so NOT a waste of $$ even though he only fits them for a month or two, because newborn diapers re-sale on the internet like hotcakes. So not only did I buy all of these diapers when they were on various sales, but I will make at least 50% or more of my money back when he's done using them. Can't say that about a disposable now can I.

The Year of Another Baby

That about sums it up!

2011 will be the year of another baby...another baby BOY to be more exact.


While I've left the world of blogging for the last 5 months, its a new year full of new hopes and I want to make it memorable.  (New post on Words of A Wolfe also)


We left the relative comfort of our life in Osoyoos and are now living the wintery life in northern Alberta, on my in-laws property in a cozy trailer.  While it feels like we've spent the last 5 months, moving & settling in, with the entrance of a new year, the Christmas stuff all put away, I finally feel like I'm ready to blog again!


So, today I'm 21 weeks pregnant. I'm still suffering with nausea every morning, smells make me gag and I'm dealing with the typical joys of sore hips, tiredness and aching back. But we are now on the count down to baby instead of the count UP!


I'm thrilled to be giving Ethan a brother to play with and grow up with. We had the most amazing Christmas season, experiencing it all thru the eyes of our precious 2 year old and we can't wait to add to our joy and experience it more through 2 rough & tumble, loving precious brothers.


I have many changes planned for our lifestyle in 2011, most of them consist of health changes *hint: new blog coming* and changing the way we live, eat, consume, etc. While I'm not a big "go green" activist, there are many things we've been researching in the past few months that make us excited for the changes to come.


But the biggest change will be adding another son to our family and I just can't wait! 19 more weeks to go tiny man. We love you to bits already, just as much as we have & do love your big brother!!


Blessings to you all in 2011!