Ladies and gentlemen, the move is complete! With the exception of a bit of ongoing tweaking, everything is up and running at the new blog. I hope to see you there! Subscribers, make sure to update your feeds, as this is the last post that will come from this address!
Come and visit at http://fromcribstocarkeys.com
No, I'm not relocating the family, I'm relocating the blog! I have recently purchased the domain www.fromcribstocarkeys.com and will be making the move to the new site over the next few days, if all goes well.
I'm looking for a shiny new template, as I type, and have some big plans to share some great new projects that I am working on with all of you once the new site goes live.
Keep checking back! Things around here are about to change drastically, but for the better! Hope you like what you are about to see!
Friends, fear not! I am not about to use this blog as a political sounding board in any way, though I do prefer Obama as the next potential President.
Instead, I am posting because I am in awe of the history that is being made, right before our eyes. Though there is a long campaign ahead, we are standing on the brink of seeing the first ever African-American President of the United States. Not to mention the fact that he fought for his nomination against one of the most politically powerful women that this country has ever seen. AMAZING!
I am making a point to reiterate the key points of black history to my oldest, as the campaign unfolds. Though racism is still present in this country, many of our children do not realize the plight of African-Americans in this country and so not understand what a huge, historical event this election is.
There is still a lot that needs to be done in this country to completely eliminate racism and prejudice, but this is a monumental step in the right direction. These are the moments when I am the most proud of our country and the ability of its people to see what is right and accept change.
No matter your own political affiliation, make sure that in November, you participate in the election. Even if you do not like the outcome, you only have the right to complain about the choice if you make a stand, yourself.
Checking to make sure that I have Windows Live Writer configured properly......
I guess if you're seeing it, I have it figured out! LOL
A friend was just telling me a story about her son's recent school trip to Washington, DC. While they were visiting the Arlington National Cemetery, they happened to cross paths with a funeral procession for a fallen soldier.
Instead of showing respect and honor for this hero's final journey, many of the children began taking pictures and videos of the horse-drawn casket and the grieving family walking behind. Even some of the adults in the group didn't have enough respect for the soldier's family to stand quietly as the procession passed.
My question to you on this Memorial Day is: what are you teaching your children? No matter what your political stance on the war or your own personal feelings about the manner in which these soldiers died, are you teaching your children to have respect for those who have sacrificed their lives for their country?
Pro or anti-war, soldier or civilian, respect is an important issue that should not be ignored when raising our children. Take a few minutes today to remind your children and yourself just what Memorial Day is all about and why honoring those who have died serving our country is important.
Take a few moments to say a little prayer or send positive thoughts to the families who are trying to heal themselves after the loss of a loved one in battle. As you prepare for your Memorial Day festivities with your family, spend a few minutes remembering that this isn't just a convenient day off to start the summer.
A friend was telling me tonight about a story on Nightline that suggested that in about 125,000 years, men would cease to exist, due to some defect in the Y chromosome. Women would evidently live on, as science has recently proven that it is possible to procreate using the genetic material from two women, however the result would always be girls.
At first, I was amused by this concept. Though I love my husband dearly, there are days when a world without men doesn't sound like such a terrible thing. Not trying to get rid of him for anything in this world, but the fantasy, in and of itself, could occasionally be appealing.
But then my thoughts turned to my kids. For anyone who doesn't know, I have three boys, ages 13, 2, and 1. Life without the male of the species would mean life without little boys. That would be the most horrid world that I could imagine. Occasionally, I complain about the overabundance of testosterone and the sickening balance of power in this house, but honestly I wouldn't change things for the world. Sure, I would like to buy something pink, now and then, or have a tea party with a table full of dolls, but I'll take trains and race cars, any day.
Without boys, the world would be lacking so many little things:
~ No one would pee all over my walls because they want to do it like daddy.
~ No one would hand me boogies, expecting a "thank you" in return.
~ There would be no Hot Wheels cars to slip on or Legos to step on in the dark.
~ I would never have to move furniture to set up a train track or race car set.
~ There would be no more "wet doggie" little boy smell, after coming in from outside.
~ No one would bring wildlife into the house, as if it was a rare treasure.
~ No one would try to "fix" my coffee table with daddy's hammer and screwdriver.
~ No one would crawl into my lap asking for "tisses mama"
~ No one would run to kiss me goodbye, as they headed out to the store with daddy.
~ No one would play with my hair when they were getting sleepy.
~ There would be no one to tuck in at night, or to crawl in my bed at 3 a.m.
~ There would be no one to wake me up after only 3 hours of sleep, saying they're "Hungee"
There are too many things that would be missing from my world if the male species were to disappear. I certainly would have no desire to exist without the excitement, imagination, determination, and love that go along with my little boys.
Ok, so it wasn't wine, it was actually iced tea, but you get the picture.
While the baby was distracting me, the two year old decided to climb up in my chair and knock over half a glass of tea. of course most of it went straight onto the keyboard. Lovely.
Thankfully, hubby was able to clean it up and dry it out. It actually is in better shape now than it was before the tea incident. I had no clue how much ick could collect inside a keyboard. Who knew...
However, this wasn't our only child/computer fiasco of the day. The baby decided to shove my printer off its shelf and onto the floor. I'm hoping its ok, but am a bit nervous of checking it out. Keep your fingers crossed that he didn't do any major damage.
As I just posted on my other blog, I am finally out from under a huge pile of work and deadlines, so I can get back to doing some things for me and not just things that pay. I still have plenty of paying work, but should have some time to blog and get to work on my professional website.
This week I'll be coming up with a plan for the baby's birthday. He's turning one on the 29th. I'm thinking we'll wait until the weekend after to have a small party. Weeknights aren't good for anyone around here. Anyone have any clue if they still sell Toy Story party supplies? He's really into Buzz, for some reason.
Image: Flickr - Siobhan Curran
This weekend was a major working weekend for me, with lots of projects that needed to be finished and a few that I am still trying to wrap up. Even with all my work, I try to take breaks to spend time with the kids and dh when I get to a stopping point.
This afternoon, during one of the breaks, I had the bright idea of dragging out the playdough. Sounds like lots of fun until you remember that the 11-month-old eats everything in sight. Needless to say, he made a snack out of a nice sized chunk of the stuff. Other than that, we had a blast with it. Mommy made snakes and bowls and all the fun generic stuff, while artistic daddy made Thomas the Tank Engine and Spongebob. Hope the kids take after him in the art department...
Tonight, I'm involved in a game of hide and seek, that the kids started without letting me know. Somehow, my digital camera has disappeared from my desk and I know that one of two little people are behind the disappearance. I've checked in all of the usual places, but so far, no luck. Anyone know where it might have gone?
Once again, the ladies of 5 Minutes For Mom have outdone themselves with another great promotion. Over the next two weeks, they will be giving away loads of amazing toys from well known retailers. So far, they have offered prizes from Playskool and Lego, and there is much more to come.
The competition is stiff, but it only takes a minute to enter and who knows, you might just get lucky! Swing by 5 Minutes For Mom, through the button above and find out how you can enter, too!
I am probably way late jumping on this bandwagon, but I just came across this tonight and had to share. This is one of the best parodies I have seen in a long time!!
About a week ago, my 13-yr-old comes to me and informs me that he "needs" a laptop. I sit back, roll my eyes, and wait for the nagging and reasoning to begin. Much to my surprise, it never does.
Since he obviously wasn't going to offer anything more, I bit the bullet and asked why he needed one. He proceeds to start rambling about his Xbox live tournaments and recording screenshots with some techy thing he has to prove game wins. As my eyes roll back into my head, he proceeds to ask me what he can do to earn the money to buy one on his own.
I honestly almost fell out of my chair!
I expected to have to deny his request and deal with sulking and moping for a few weeks, coupling with nagging and whining. Nope, all he wanted was some work to do. He doesn't want the laptop today or tomorrow, he actually wants to save and buy it himself.
Never in my life have I been more proud of my son!
My kids are very smart for their ages. This may just be a biased mom talking, but they impress me on a daily basis with their newfound capabilities and understanding. That said, even with their budding intelligence, sometimes I wonder what ARE they thinking...
Now my oldest struggled with ADHD when he was young, but has since outgrown it and developed into a very mature and responsible young man. One of my favorite stories of the funny and strange things he did is the day he decided he wanted to water the lawn, but didn't feel like being outside. It was a warm, early spring day and I had the windows open. So he closed his door, pushed out the screen, hung the ladder from his bunk bed out the window(first story), climbed out and turned on the hose. By the time I noticed the door was closed, he was climbing back through the window, hose in hand and spraying water all over his room. I believe this was right around his fourth birthday.
The middle baby, who turned two in February, hasn't quite matched his big brother in the scheming and plotting department as yet, but I have a feeling his day is coming. His current obsession is with spices, particularly pepper. This morning's adventure took place while I was changing and dressing his brother. In about 5 minutes, while he was supposed to be watching the Wonder Pets, he managed to pepper half my house. He dragged a kitchen chair to the counter to get the pepper shaker, somehow quietly enough that I didn't hear the chair scraping the linoleum. He then peppered all the couches, and headed to the bedroom. He opened my bedroom door, which he had never managed to do before today, and peppered our bed and the pillows. I came out as he was coming back into the living room and when he saw me coming, he took off and jumped on his own bed. I knew he was up to something, and by the time I figured it out, most of the almost-full pepper was gone. I'm now washing all the sheets...And there's quite a bit of sneezing going on around here now.
The littlest has yet to do anything strange or mischievous, but I know it is only a matter of time. He has two very talented big brothers to learn from!
So what are your favorite "strange things that kids do" stories? I know mine can't be the only ones who find so many adventures!
My littlest has been working his way up to toddlerhood over the past few weeks. He's been cruising the furniture for awhile now and finally decided it's time to let go. He's still takes the occasional spill, but would rather walk than crawl now!
He seemed to get really brave, very quickly and has even figured out how to climb up onto the smaller pieces of furniture. I'm starting to see the baby slip away and the curious toddler emerging.
He'll be turning one on April 29th...where has the last year gone...
A couple weeks back I was asked for an update on the potty training situation.
The truth of the matter is things are not quite going as planned. Stomach bugs and not so nice reactions to apple juice have stalled our progress. However, we keep trying...
We have had one single success in peeing in the potty and well, several messes on the floor to clean up.
It seems he'd rather be naked than wear underwear or even a diaper these days and that leaves mommy with a bit of a dilemma. Do I succumb to the pleas to let him go to the potty (which doesn't actually happen) or do I keep him in diapers awhile longer?
Stay tuned to find out!
The kids are in bed and the Easter Bunny has made his visit. We have baskets full of small toys and a bit of candy and plastic eggs full of M&Ms hidden throughout the living room.
My work for the week is done and I have all of tomorrow free to spend with the kids. Life is good, sometimes.
I'm keeping things brief tonight, as I would love to see the backside of my eyelids before 3 A.M. for once.
Hope all of you have a very Happy Easter!
Well, its been an insane week or so around here and between clients and my real life, I haven't had a minute to update things around here.
I have been quite busy trying to keep up with my ever-growing writing business. That has been on the front burner lately and keeping me up nights.
Also, this past week my oldest finally hit thirteen! My baby is all grown up...or so he thinks. Like it or not though, mama still knows best!
We also had a death in the family last week, followed by another yesterday. Two of my great aunts passed away, both from pneumonia. These were the oldest and youngest of 5 sisters, one in her 90's, the other her 80's, and the first of the sisters to pass on. Keep my grandma and her remaining sisters in your prayers, as it has been a very rough couple of weeks for them.
To round out the fun over here, the middle baby had some kind of viral thing going on, which started Saturday and finally finished Tuesday night. Fluctuating fevers, a little bit of stomach stuff, all around good times. Of course, he shared with mommy, but luckily we were the only ones hit, as of right now.
Here's to a better week for us and I hope all of you are having a better beginning of Spring than we are!
My blog reading over the past few days has inspired me to make some adjustments!
Things should be semi-normal within a day or two! :)
As I have been browsing the blogs in the Ultimate Blog Party, I have noticed that many of the moms homeschool their children. My mother and I share the homeschooling duties with my almost-13 yr old and we're always looking for fun online resources to use.
Today I ran across Fact Monster and thought I would share it here, in case some of you might find it useful. I haven't had a chance to dig too deep, but from what I see, there is tons of information on almost every subject.
There is even a blog section, catering to both gender and age. Looks like a really fun site!
I'll definitely be looking here for fun quizzes and study help for homeschooling.
Anyone else have any must-see homeschool resources to share?
Hello! Welcome to everyone who has dropped by for this leg of the Ultimate Blog Party tour! I'm glad to have you here! As my blog is fairly new, this is a bit of a housewarming for me as well. Feel free to leave gifts! LOL
For any regular readers, the Ultimate Blog Party is taking place this week and is a great chance to get the word out about what you are doing on your own blog. You will find some great new reads and also have the change to win some amazing prizes. Check it out if you have a few minutes...or hours, as you'll likely get hooked into visiting some more great blogs!
Of the awesome prizes available at the ultimate blog party, I most want to win:
#1 — Rocking Horse
Provided by: A Rocking Horse To Love
#7 — Bead Dangle Photo Tile Necklace
Provided by: Elemental Memories
#100 — 3 books
Provided by: Jill Norwood
When my middle son was 6 months old, I found out that I was pregnant again. Terrified at the thought of having two babies under the age of 2, I pretty much panicked. However, nearly everyone I talked to with children close in age said that their back-to-back babies were much easier to deal with, as they had each other to play with. Those whose kids were grown said that this closeness lasted their entire lives and the children were each other's best friend.
I was still a bit skeptical about the idea of 2, but tried to remain optimistic about the possibilities of their relationship in the future. In less than a year since my youngest son's birth, I am convinced that there might just be something to all the hype about having children close together.
Though initially there was a bit of jealousy from my toddler, as the baby has become more mobile and interesting, I already see a strong bond forming between them. While they haven't got the sharing thing quite perfected, they are learning to interact and play quite well together most of the time. I think that the experience of having a younger sibling is teaching empathy at a younger age. My toddler usually shows great concern when his brother is upset or gets hurt.
Things were a little tough in the beginning, when the baby was very demanding and taking my focus away from my toddler. Once he was used to the idea that the baby was here to stay, however, things took a turn for the better.
All in all, I foresee a great relationship for them in the future and think that having a close sibling will help them both grow and learn.
I heard a disturbing story today about a mother who nearly lost her three-year-old daughter a few days ago, by leaving her unattended in the bathtub.
Allegedly, the mother left her two young children (one and three) in the tub and went to get their clothes. She claimed to have been distracted by "American Idol" and momentarily forgot that the babies were in the tub. When her oldest daughter went to retrieve the babies, the three year old was under the water. CPR was performed and the toddler was resuscitated, however, as of the last update, she was in critical condition.
While in this case, drugs were found in the apartment and could have been a factor, anyone can become distracted for a moment. The accidents that can happen within that moment can be devastating. Please, do not leave your children alone near water, even for a minute. The consequences can be more than any parent could handle.
A wise man once said, "Don't sweat the small stuff." More sage advice has never been given. However, many don't really stop to think about what the "small stuff" is in their lives.
How many times in your days as a parent have you felt as if you are being pulled in so many directions at once that you might just start to rip apart? Have you ever stopped to think how many of these things we force ourselves to do in a day are really that important? Does everything have to be done perfectly, by the book, to get the desired results?
Yes, the dishes have to be done and the laundry needs to be put away, but will the world fall apart if it doesn't happen tonight? No, but your kids will soon outgrow that Memory game that they have been begging you to play all day.
Is it really going to ruin your day if your son sleeps in his new shoes? No, and the newness will wear off, likely before he's outgrown them. The sheets will wash with less effort than that wasted in the argument.
Not to say that we should let our kids rule our lives, sometimes we should allow the things that are more important to take priority. Choosing our battles and giving in can help us to keep a happier and more harmonious household. Considering our actions every day will make us more aware of what is really important to us.
Though there are things that are extremely necessary, not everything has to be done right now. Giving in to whims on occasion is not going to teach your kids to walk all over you. For the sake of your kids, yourself, and your sanity, stop every now and then and prioritize your time and rethink your actions. Someday, looking back on things, you will be very glad you did!
We are about to take the plunge, so to speak, and get down to business with potty training our toddler. His 2nd birthday is next Saturday, so I think it is high time the "big boy" gets down to business. We have casually introduced him to the potty, but really haven't worked on it to date. I've been searching around for advice and here are the techniques that I am planning to try:
We've been hit by a nasty little stomach bug around here and I've had an exciting time cleaning up the aftermath. As I sit here, I'm trying to decide if the churning in my own stomach means my turn is coming or if its all psychosomatic.
Once I finished the final clean up after what I hope was the last round of sickness, I could still smell that nasty vomit smell. After checking to be sure it wasn't on me, I realized that it was my carpet. The carpet cleaner did the trick on the mess itself, but didn't kill the odor.
I did what any good mother would do and hit up Google for an answer to my problem. There were quite a few remedies suggested, but the only one that I had the ingredients on hand for was baking soda.
I sprinkled baking soda all over the smelly area and let it to sit for an hour. I threw a towel over it to keep the kids from tracking it everywhere and the baby from trying to eat it. When I went back and vacuumed it up, the smell was gone!
I'm going to recheck the carpet tomorrow and see if the results are the same, but a few hours later it is still working. If the smell doesn't return, this will definitely be a trick that I'll use again.
As the mom of 2 children under preschool age, my heart was broken when the FDA announced their new recommendations regarding cough and cold medicines for children under 2. The findings suggested that children under 2 should not take any over the counter cold medicine, as there is a laundry list of serious side effects that could result. Many of these come from giving a child the incorrect dosage, as there is no actual recommended dosage for children of this age range.
First, I was a bit afraid, as the older of the pair of babies is just turning 2 and last year I gave him cough and cold meds on a couple of occasions. Once I read the study and realized that I had obviously done now harm, I began to wonder what I would do for the inevitable next cold. Nothing is more miserable than a coughing, stuffed up baby who can get no relief, so I started hunting for alternatives to medication. Here are a few treatments that I have tried or am going to try.
Ok, so the title of my blog isn't exactly accurate, but its close. I'm a mom to 3 boys, ages 9 months, 2 years, and almost 13 years old(YIKES!) and stepmother to a 13 1/2 year old boy. Though we're not quite there yet, it truly does feel like we're stretched from cribs to car keys! Join us here as I share the trials and tribulations of a stay-at-home mom. I'll be sharing stories, tips, tricks, advice, and relevant news for parents of children of all ages.
Grab a seat and join us!
