Yesterday I was laid up on the couch ALL Day. Still trying to rest and catch up on the house. One day down and its a wreck. Will be back soon. Have a great weekend. Don't forget about the Qtip giveaway

Benjamin

Last Monday Ben turned 18 months. I had this great post written in my head, but it never got transferred to the computer. Ben amazes me everyday. Here are a few updates on Benjamin:

• He still LOVES to cuddle, but only on his command
• He does everything Alanna does. EVERYTHING
• His new favorite word is cereal
• He LOVES the pacifier
• He carries his blanket around the house and rubs the corner in the space above your mouth, but under your nose. Thats how he calms himself at night
• He eats everything, all the time
• His favorite foods are fruit, broccoli, ice cream, cake and cereal
• Coming in close second is everything else :)
• His wind down time starts at 6:30 and then he asks to go to bed around 7:30
• His whiny time of the day is 4:30 and MUST eat dinner at 5 or whiny time lasts until dinner is served
• He loves bath time. But hates when the water gets turned off.
• Hates getting his diaper changed. It takes him away from playing, hehe.
• Says ah-ub-boo ( i love you) at night when I lay him in his bed.
• Must give everyone a kiss before nap and bed
• LOVES nap time
• Wakes up yelling MOMMY every morning. MMM.OOO.MMM.MMM.YYY!
• Will lay in front of the fire place with his feet in the air to warm them.
• loves suckers
• will grab my face and kiss me until I can no longer breathe and I have to pull away, he then pulls me back for more kisses

As you can see, Ben is just as sweet as pie. I cannot remember him not being in our family. He is a great addition and keeps us on our toes. It feels like a few months ago I was bringing this little boy home and wondering if he would be an easy baby. Hes had his moments, but over all he was and still is a great eater, sleeper and player. I can't imagine life without my little boy.

Don't forget about my giveaway here

Giveaway time!

As soon as I found out the gender of each of the kids, I went online and ordered the bedding I was drooling over since the day I found out I was pregnant. The baby room was an important thing to me. Having a special place to bring the baby home to. Something that they could call their own. Even before the baby was born I would sit in the nursery and just think about the little one bouncing away inside my belly. Everything had to be perfect.

But, what wasn't perfect was needing the necessary items and having them stand out in their uncute packages. Diapers, wipes, lotions, and Qtips.

One company has decided to solve that issue. "Qtips" have designed 2 new boxes Safari and Farm animals to help "coordinate" with the baby room. The new pack also pulls open to grab a qtip instead of punching the hole in the back. It helps mom to grab a qtip easily and also closes to keep everything nice and clean for the baby. These new designs are sure to bring the finishing touches to your baby nursery.

Don't just take my word for it. I am lucky enough to give 1 of my awesome readers a a nursery pack of qtips AND a Chic silver elephant bank for baby's room from Elegant Baby. Its silver with yellow, blue, green and pink feet and hearts on the ears. Every baby need a bank in their room.

All you have to do to join the giveaway is leave a comment. You can say Hi, tell me your favorite color, or tell me your plans for the weekend.

Comments will close at midnight on February 7 and the winner will be announced on Monday February 8. Good luck and have fun!

This and that

I've been bitten by the craft bug. It is my new obsession to find new craft bloggers and be inspired by how awesome they are. I have several projects written down that I want to try, just getting to the craft store to get my supplies is the problem. The Joanns near my house just closed so I have to travel about 20-25 minutes away now..Its hard to justify spending the gas and time to get there when I only need a few things.

So instead I have been teaming up with my SIL and she is teaching my to knit. So far its going good, but slow. Knitting with 2 needles is difficult. You have to hold the yarn the needles and the stitches. But I am already on my first project. "Grandmas favorite dish cloth." I am very excited. I am about 1/4 of the way done. Once I am done I will post the pic, even if it is horrible. I have a hard time keeping the stitches tight.

I am also sick. Yup, the sickies are back in our house and it got me first. I am stuffy and coughing and sneezing and my head hurts constantly. I am almost positive its my sinuses and tonight they are draining..TMI? Its almost like a burning sensation under my eyes..I can feel the pressure moving. Hopefully I am getting better. Its already been about a week.

Hopefully once I feel better I will be in the mood to make a trip top the craft store. I will keep you posted on that too :)

Mommy Instinct

I am a mom. Therefore I have a 6th sense when it comes to my kids.

I took Ben to the dr on Thursday and he was diagnosed with pink eye in his right eye. He was given drops and we were on our way home, happy. Fast Forward to Saturday morning when Ben woke up and he had goup plastered to the left side of his face, his eye was swollen almost shut and he had a HUGE black and blue mark on his eye lid.

I called the dr and made an appt to be seen. They again diagnosed pink eye in his other eye, prescribed some more extra strength eye drops, and an antibiotic.

But I have been thinking..

Pink Eye doesn't cause a black eye. Yes it may cause the swollen issue and the goup issue, but black and blue?? So I sat and started thinking some more. And then I remembered that Friday late, late night Ben woke up screaming...Not just crying, shaking and screaming like he had, had a bad dream. I ran into his room and picked him up and cuddled him...5 minutes later he was calm enough to ask to go back in his bed. (pointing and grunting really) I laid him back down and went back to sleep, not thinking about it again..But what if Ben woke up and was standing in his bed, still sleeping and fell on the bar of the crib..He could have done that which might have caused the black eye.

His pink eye is already almost gone..Maybe just a little goup after naps and in the morning..Its still swollen and certainly still black and blue..Just check out these tough shots my baby gave after his bath today.

Don't you just love his faces?

Now, thats a black eye isn't it? His eyes are no longer red inside and this is still here. What do you think?

Wash Them Grow

4:00 pm is the start of rush hour in our house. 4:00 pm is when Hannah gets home from school. She sits at the table and eats a snack and then starts her homework. 4:00 pm is the time the little kids wake up from their nap and are STARVING for their snack.
4:30 pm dinner gets started and by 5:30/6:00 dinner is on the table.
By the time dinner is cleaned up and the kitchen put back in order its usually around 7:00pm. 7:00 pm starts bath time. We go in order from youngest to oldest. As soon as bath times are done its hugs, kisses and bed. The last child is in bed at 9:00pm.

So you see we are busy from 4:00 to 9:00 without much time in between. Bedtime is our hectic time, trying to get everyone their special hugs and kisses that we don;t always have a lot of time for bedtime stories. I know reading is very important so I always read the kids a story during bath time..This way we have plenty of time to read 2-3 books and the kids are happy to play and listen. When its time to get in bed they know they have already had their bedtime story and so we have more time for snuggles.

Recognizing that bath time is a common pre-bed ritual in many households. The Suave Kids Wash Them Grow Campaign encourages you to recognize your child's bath time routine as an opportunity to teach, nurture and transition your child through the stages of growth and cleansing.

To kick-off this campaign, Suave Kids has launched the Wash Them Grow Sweepstakes on January 18, 2010, with chances to win awesome weekly prizes like a Family e-Keepsake Kit (that includes a video camera, laptop and digital camera) and the Grand Prize of a family vacation to Orlando! Simply head over to WashThemGrow.com to play a fun online trivia game and receive an automatic entry into the Suave Kids® Wash Them Grow Sweepstakes.

This past week the kids have been testing out 4 sauve for kids products. Hannah loves the moisturizing body wash. She says it leaves her skin feeling soft and smooth. Alanna LOVES the Strawberry and Berry scents. Anything that makes her smell "pretty" is her favorite, and Ben has been using the Free and Gentle body wash. Since he is still so young the dye free wash works best on his baby sensitive skin. All of these products are tear free and it allows the little kids to feel "grown up" washing themselves. That leaves me worrying less about them getting soap in their eyes.

She smiled.

All day today I have had this overwhelming feeling. A feeling that made me text Chris out of the blue just to tell him I love him.

Things have been good between us.

Tonight Chris and Alanna laid on the floor in front of the fire...They were under a blanket, telling secrets. I could here her giggling.

It made my heart smile.

It made me smile.

He smiled.

She smiled.

Average

I know its been a few days since I posted last. I don't know why I don't write more. I read blogs through blogger so its right there, staring at me to post something..I am on facebook way to many times throughout the day, and I check my email a whopping 80 times an hour. So its not like I don't have the computer time available. Its just been pretty average around here lately. I am having a lot of trouble controlling my yelling reflex. I do good and then get tired and start yelling. I think to myself I should stop, but it makes me feel like I am getting somewhere with the kids when I yell, and in actuality I am not. So I am still working on that. I have it figured I will be working on that until the kids are at least 30...Yes 30 sounds about right.

Alanna is off from school this week. Her preschool does home visits mid year..Sort of a parent/teacher conference my in my home. It went well. They said she was smart and getting better everyday. In the beginning of the year when Alanna wouldn't get her way she would lay on the floor at school and would stay there until she was ready to get up..The teachers would leave her there until she was ready, if you know Alanna, you won't get no where if she is not ready..They said its been awhile since she laid on the floor so, much improvement. Alanna can wrote her name and can recognise almost ALL her letters, and numbers. She is beyond the shapes and colors at this point. I am very proud of her. She is doing so well.

Ben on the other hand, discovered temper tantrums. I think he is working toward the "king" status of temper tantrums. He practices them every 15 minutes...Pretty soon he may even go pro. Hes that good!

Hannah is also working towards being a pro...with her attitude. I say hi, how was school and she replies "FINE OK!" and runs into her room and slams the door. I see her again when its dinner time, but not without the sighs and rolling of the eyes to let me know I interrupted her life and how dare I ask her if she wants to eat dinner with the family.

See I told you its been real average around here..If there isn't rolling of the eyes, screams and temper tantrums coming from my house, then you better worry.

is it fate?

Our local JoAnn Fabric store is closing, so this morning Ben and I went looking to see what they had left. While there, I started talking to this lady ( she is my age and has 3 kids too). She was asking me what I was looking for because we were in the same area checking out ribbon. I started to tell her how I got this idea to make some headbands and was just checking stuff out. She told me how she has a small business in her home and she makes hair bows and headbands and stuff like that. I started telling her how I made tutus for Halloween and the no sew tie blankets and pillows. She told me she was looking for someone to help her out with making bows and headbands because she has so much going on and she was also looking for someone to buy blankets and tutus from to sell as well. We talked a lot more and exchanged phone#'s. We talked about ourselves and our families and she lives right around the corner from me..

I am really excited about this opportunity to get started. I think this is fate. I have been throwing the idea around with starting an etsy shop or trying to sell some blankets but needed someone to give that push...and here she is..We are going to try to get together tomorrow and see where it takes us. Who knows, she could teach me to make hair bows and I could start my own little business. But if it doesn't work out then I can at least say I tried. I am really excited for this. Wish me luck!

Will you be my Valentine?

If you have walked through the stores lately you have seen most if not all the Christmas decorations are gone and they are being replaced with Red, White and Pink..the colors of love according to Valentines Day!

I tend to struggle with Valentine's Day..Do I get the kids something to show my love (something that I do on a daily basis as is), candy is certainly out of the question..there is still Halloween candy sitting in big bowls begging to be thrown out. With 3 kids there are enough stuffed animals to line the entire earth..maybe twice. SO I have this problem of what to get the kids each year. That was until I was offered a review on a movie. The perfect movie for your little Valentine.

Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine for YOU (Special Edition)

Pooh and Friends are back and this time they are sharing the love in the 100 acre woods. There are 3 stories to choose from on the one DVD: "A Valentine for You", "Un-Valentine's Day", and "My Hero"

My favorite was Un-Valentine's Day. Rabbit complains that he had so many Valentine cards from last year that he didn't know what to do with, this year he doesn't want to do anything and wants to cancel Valentine's Day. All the friends agree, but of course it can't be that easy. I love how the movies teach about friendship and love and happiness.

This movie has really gotten Alanna ready for Valentine's Day. She wants to make her own cards this year for all the kids in her class. She has already started collecting her favorite things to glue to each special card.

This movie would be a great gift for your little Valentine, and its on shelves now in stores near you.

Still a work in progress

I'm having a very hard time the last couple of weeks. It may be the snow and cold temps, they have been holding me hostage in the house, or it could just be that sometimes I enjoy yelling. I really don't think its the last one, so lets just blame the winter season in Michigan for my heavy moods.
I hate the cold.
I don't want to go anywhere in the cold, I don't like clearing the snow from the car everyday. I don't like worrying about the roads being slippery and I don't like leaving early just to get there late.
I hate the cold.
Its certainly been hard the last couple days with the kids in the house ALL.THE.TIME. To cold to go outside to play, and to cold to go anywhere fun..

One good piece of news..Another one of my 20 in 2010 is getting crossed off soon. Next month Hannah and I will be serving food to the homeless with her 4H group. I am very excited to do this. This has been something I have always wanted to do, and now I get a chance. I also think its a very good experience for Hannah. She is always complaining that she is not allowed to have a phone or to do this or to do that...I hope this will show her we do what we can and sometimes she doesn't get to do everything. (even though most of the time she does)
Once the task is completed I will "bold" out that number. I am very excited.
Also..its not official yet, but I am in the works of planning a bloggy get together this summer. It will be just another number marked off. I am so proud of myself..Almost 4 things in one month that I have accomplished.

Is it summer yet?

I find that when its cold and there is lots of snow on the ground, and you don't leave your house for days, its really hard to be a better person.