Recovering. Printable for toddler schedules.

Oh these little feet... how much I love these little feet. These little feet didn't want to get shoes on...

These little feet had a difficult time easing into real life from being sick the past week. Little man has been extra needy, demanding, clingy, and just plain emotional. His whiny voice (nails on a chalkboard to my ears) is pretty much all he knows how to talk in these days.

Here is a scenario that just occurred this weekend. Little man very capable of putting on his shoes- refused to do so and kept insisting that I did it. Me being tired of over doing things for him the past week was ready to have him start doing things for himself again.

Total and complete MELTDOWN.

 My parent brain was saying "Oh he is just doing it for the attention. He has been spoiled this week with all my attention and nurturing around the clock that he just wants to take advantage me some more. Don't give in."

My child counselor brian was saying, "He is emotionally regressed right now due to his recovery from his illness, disruption in his schedule last week, excessive amount of TV consumed, lack of nutrients due to his limited appetite, and most importantly is yearning to maintain the connection he had with his me all week because he still doesn't feel back to himself. What he needs is MORE positive interaction and attention with his parents and perhaps some reinforcement that he can do hard things."

Do you see what goes on in my head? Parent vs. Counselor dialogue! But I usually have to fight off that parent brain sometimes and dig deeper to understand where the child is at in his world and all the factors that play a part of his mood...and all of a sudden "ah ha!" I understand. 

So I pulled out the chart we used when he first started learning his daily routine. I had to go back to encouraging and motivating through external reward which in this case is a star that says he completed it and one "listening ball" which I will explain on another post later. 

And you know what happened after I pulled out the chart...

 Crying stopped...and he put on his shoes. Then he walked over to the sink and started to brush his teeth again. I didn't have to ask him- the chart did it for me.

Oh how I love this chart.

 Just in case you are wondering how I made this chart you can read this post {here}!
And if you want to download my printable for this chart- go ahead and do so below!

TODDLER DAILY/NIGHTLY ROUTINE (2 pages)

Download here

Anyhow- enjoy time as a family this holiday!!

besitos, xo

Watch out...There's some Nesting Going up in Here.

About two years ago I came upon this cute little egg... so I took a picture of it. I have a weird thing for nests and eggs...and was excited!

Then out of nowhere came this mom bird...she puffed up her chest and stared me down...I took this one measly photo...and backed away slowly.

For the next few days I watched this mama bird sit on the roof of the neighbors house keeping watch over her little one. She would stare down anyone who dared to come close.

Lately, I can relate to this mama bird.
 Pregnancy brings out the protective and dare I say- ornery side of me. I apologize in advance in you ever have to witness it.

But this past week my mama bird has been paired with the intense desire to NEST!

I am not sure if it's the fact that I am starting to realize that I only have a few months before I am a mother of TWO but my mind is constantly racing with ideas on all the things that need organizing, fixing, rearranging, etc.
It doesn't turn off.
I wake up in the middle of the night planning.... planning for when he will be here...what will it be like...what do I need to have ready...etc. And the inability to not be able to just get up right then and start moving furniture around kills me!

Not to mention, the lack of sleep mingled with my racing brain has totally affected my mom factor the last few days... I feel unavailable, preoccupied, impatient, and really just plain grouchy. And apparently it has been rubbing off on Little Man because he seems to be feeling extra emotional, needy, and impatient as well. Or does it just seem that way because I feel less patient? It's like I am in a hurry to be somewhere... but where? It's as though I have to have it all together and life figured out by June...how do I stop? As much as this instinct is a blessing it makes it so difficult to enjoy the moment. I am always thinking about what has to get done for the future- how can I get back to being in the moment?

Well I think I found the cure...I wrote the above paragraph yesterday during nap-time... and since then I had my little man up in the middle of the night with severe growing pains- so bad in fact that he even threw up from the pain. It was then that the burdens that I had placed on myself were lifted and I could just focus on enjoying the moment of spending the night cuddling my baby or actually my not-so-baby boy.

Hopefully, this feeling stays around.
besitos, xo

Flash Back Friday and Confession: Valentine's Day Card 2012

How's your Media Diet?

CONFESSION: 
Mine? Oh well let's just say the past two days have been an epic FAIL. Last week and the first part of this week started off fabulous and I was noticing so many changes including our bedtime routine becoming so much smoother.  But then crunch time came and I became a desperate mother trying to complete a task and I hired PBS to entertain my child for the past two days.

You see, last Saturday I woke up with a brilliant idea to take on the project of cleaning out our "Save it for later room." Yes, I vowed never to have one of those but it just happened. It was the extra room that everything that we didn't know where to put would live. Boxes and boxes of graduate school lectures, counseling journals, photography equipment, textbooks, Mister's comic book collection, and more filled this room only allowing for a little pathway from the door to the computer.  I had seen one too many episodes of hoarders to make me begin to question and woke up with the nesting instinct to organize something. So we pulled everything out into our hallway and began. That was EASY BREEZY part...the rest was not.

It wasn't until I was nearing the end of this project and was placing something on this metal shelving in the closet when all of a sudden it came crumbling down on me! Literally the entire shelving collapsed raining stacks of paper, business cards, and craft boxes crashing down on my head.  This photo doesn't do it justice because that rack was once taller than me (which is not really that hard to do) and the majority of it is now on the floor out of the frame... but at that moment I realized how ridiculous the past two days had been- it's Valentines Day and I am choosing to complete a task rather than spend time with my actual Valentine?

I once heard that it is not so much what you did but what you do after what you did that makes the difference to the relationship of your child.

So, I picked him up apologizing and trying my very best to walk away from the room and shut the door (for now). The day was nearing to an end and unlike the past valentines where we spent the day baking pizza and dessert-  we went to Papa Murphy's and a local bakery and got ready for daddy to come.

 I feel like the past few days I have been a preoccupied and distracted wife and it's not because I am spending my monday nights watching the Bachelor (I gave that up to watch later) but it is because I had an unrealistic expectation of completing something that took more time than I had. And may I add- little man had two emotional difficult days because of it...more about what I observed in another post.

Moving forward to the now...today is a new day. I'm up early making pancakes as a peace offering. Pancakes makes it all better right?

Now on to
FLASHBACK FRIDAY

I don't think I ever posted last years letter and card and since I want to compile years to come of these babies-I have to start with the first ever Valentine Letter.

Merry Valentines Day!!! 

Say what? You read that right. The Dames are no longer going to send out a Christmas card…okay they actually never have. Why? Is it because they ran out of stamps? Is it because nothing worth sharing has happened during they year? Are they on Christmas Card Strike?  No, really they figure Christmas is busy enough. To add on scheduling a photo shoot for their pictures in matching reindeer sweaters, just really didn’t leave much time left for fruitcake making and caroling. Plus you already get a ton of cards over Christmas. They don’t want to be just another card in a sea of many. Ask yourself how many Valentine’s cards you get? We’re guessing unless you’re a teacher you may get one or two (Lets hope the 2^nd card is from a grandchild or you’re gonna be in trouble with your significant other). So let us help you up your Valentine’s Card Quota starting this year.

2011 has been a pretty exciting year for the Dames. They kicked off the New Year in New York with Cristi’s Sister and our brother in law Joe. They were very gracious hosts and put up with a baby waking up in the middle of the night and even gave us their bed in their Bronx apt. We kicked off the New Year in Times Square while standing shoulder to shoulder with a couple 100 thousand of our closest friends for 8 hours. Bucket list item checked off. Will we do it again? Probably not.

In January Brooks launched a “garage based” business that soon became a “home and garage” based business. He started Proof Wood Sunglasses and launched the website www.iwantproof.com  January 31^st. Proof sold 6 pair in the first 24 hours. Now with the help of Brooks’ younger brothers Tanner and Taylor Proof is thriving and selling a couple 100 pairs a month. Friends and family get a discount if you’re interested in getting a pair. (Just in case you’re wondering if you are reading this you fall into the friends and family category)

Cristi continued to wear many hats starting this year out running her own counseling business in a new space near downtown Boise, shooting photography when she could fit it in,  working as a counselor one day a week at St. Lukes/Elks Children’s Rehab in their pediatrics department, and last but not least being a pretty rad mom to Little Man. Her counseling ways often show through in her conversations with Little Man and the rubber really meets the road when Mama Cristi starts dropping her counseling skills on Little Man and Brooks at home. The two of them just sit back in awe and let her do her thing.

Little Man is doing pretty dang good and had his first birthday last February with lots of cake. He’s a cute kid that always keeps us smiling with his cute mannerisms and sayings. He’s fond of saying “Oh Boy” and is very well mannered. In addition to saying “Thank you Mommy” to pretty much everyone (not just his mommy) after you give him something or help him,  he also picked up the habit of cleaning up after himself with Clorox wipes. (We are a little worried he may have OCD, or it may be that we really are so boring as parents that he’d rather clean than play toys). He does really likes Mickey Mouse, trains, cars, boats, and planes and points them out to us when he sees them. He also discovered the joys of drinking eggnog this holiday season. He started requesting that sweet nectar 24-7, and after stocking up on the last inventory of eggnog from the store and freezing it.. Cristi was able to single handedly wean him from his eggnog addiction. Brooks on the other hand is still an addict and there is a freezer full of frozen eggnog. Brooks would like you to know that this year the 4^th of July is going to be even awesomer with chilled eggnog to go with the burgers and dogs.

In May Brooks made a career change and moved from Sales at Woodgrain into HR.

He has liked the change of roles and instead of Selling wood products he’s now focused on Health care plans, safety, retention, 401k plans, incentive plans, and fun things like that. If you want to have a long conversation about Health Care reform give him a call he’d love to give you his $0.10 on it.

The summer held a lot of fun events for the family full of family reunions, road trips, and some new roomies- Tanner and Darlene. However, the most memorable trip of the summer was going to El Salvador to visit Cristi’s family and attend the LDS Temple Dedication. It was a really special experience to be there with Cristi’s family. Some of which are pioneers for the Church in El Salvador and count as some of the first members in the country. Since Cristi’s family is from El Salvador and Brooks served his mission down there, they ran into a lot of old friends, some mission presidents, an ex roommate and family that had  showed up for the dedication. But they made sure to spend plenty of time on the beach. Brooks and his Brother in Law Joe went surfing and soon realized that just because a wave is big and you have a surfboard doesn’t make you a surfer. But besides almost getting smashed onto some rocks it was the best surf trip ever. Little Man ate and loved his first Pupusa and drank his first Kolashampan (a proud moment for any Guanaco) and got to meet a lot of his relatives he hadn’t met yet. The El Salvador trip was both spiritual and fun for our family and won’t soon be forgotten.

Cristi decided she didn’t have enough to do and started not one but 2 blogs! www.weedstowishes.com a blog that draws on her counseling and motherhood experience and www.trulymodlydeeply.com a style blog with her friend and hair stylist Camilla Orosco. As if that wasn’t enough blogging for one person she now contributes regularly to www.howdoesshe.com (it’s is a cool website for women with tips on how to do and make stuff) on fashion and parenting ideas.

Little Man got to stamp his passport for the second time this year because the entire Dame family went to Mexico for Thanksgiving. They spent most of the time just relaxing and enjoying great food and good conversation. The men folk went fishing with their matching marlin tank tops while the women folk went to the spa. Although the marlins wouldn’t stay on the line, they caught plenty of Dorado to keep them busy. Later, they took their annual Evelyn Dame coordinated clothing Christmas card photo on the beach and celebrated their niece McCall’s birthday. It was an amazing trip.

Cristi kicked off the Christmas spirit by co-hosting a Christmas benefit concert with her friend Makita for Rett Syndrome. They were thrilled and honored to have Mindy Gledhill perform that night. Together with countless hours of volunteers from loved ones they were able to fundraise around $18,000 and still counting to go towards the International Rett Syndrome Foundation in effort to learn more about and hopefully one day find a cure. It was a successful and magical night that won’t ever be forgotten.

Later, Christmas was spent in Salt Lake with Cristi’s family and not a lot of snow. Boo. However,  Little Man did figure out how to climb out of the crib and things haven’t been the same since. He’s a big fan of showing up at our bedside at all hours of the night now. It’s awesome.

What did we do for New Years? Well, you will just have to wait for next year’s Valentine’s Day to find out.

We send you all the love we can muster on this Valentine’s Day. Hope you have a great Valentine’s Day filled with happiness, love and maybe some of those candy hearts with messages on them that taste like chalk.

besitos,

xo

I'm a Cloth Diaper Addict

My 4 reasons for choosing cloth

#1 SAVES THE PLANET: Did you know that 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills each year? It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers just for US babies alone! Not to mention that it takes up to 500 years for most diapers to decompose! That’s a lot of poop and plastic! Also, did you know that the fine print on disposable diapers tells you to “Shake baby soil into the toilet.” I mean REALLY…how many of you actually do that? I know I didn’t.

#2 SAVES MONEY:  Did you know that on average a person changes 6,000 diapers from birth to potty training?  It’s no wonder that diapers are a 7 billion dollar industry costing parents at least $2,500 on diapers and wipes on one child. If financial savings is your reason and you are aren’t afraid of a little extra step when diapering- you can cloth diaper for $200! That is a saving of $2,300! The best part is that once you have all the supplies- no need to buy more for the next child! You already have it! Here for a diaper calculator from diaperpin.com

#3 BETTER FOR MY BABY: Did you know that there are concerns that disposable diapers contain is dyes, Sodium Polyacrylate (the gel), and Dioxin ( by-product of bleaching paper)? It is also noted that cloth diapers cause less diaper rashes due to their materials that actually wicks away the moisture from your baby’s bum.

#4 THEY ARE SO CUTE:  I mean really- how could you argue with me on this one. They are just so cute on little bums and the bright colors and patterns make diaper changing more fun for me. After all, I have 6,000 of them to change right? Might as well make it more fun!

So, if you are thinking about the possibility of making the switch- stay tuned because I will be talking more about it this week. Stay tuned for more on how to get started tomorrow on How Does She!

Also, here are some links I found about saving cash with cloth diapers...take a looksie.


Diaper Decision 

Babyworks

Mint

Diaper pin

The New Parent's Guide

The Real Diaper Association

Thirsties site

Coming up next...the Givaway...

besitos,
xo

New Tradition

 I have been reflecting on our family  traditions for the past few weeks and making it a point to get started and to continue with traditions we have started.  

And we have one more to add to our list... this past weekend was General Conference- (a two day conference held twice a year where leaders of our church speak) and I really wanted to make this an exciting and special weekend by having a huge hot breakfast with the works on Saturday and then hot homemade cinnamon rolls on Sunday. I also created a conference bag where Little Man could pick an activity or a treat to do every time he heard the choir sing! He loved it! My heart is so full from the messages that were shared. Next conference will be held in April and I will share photos of our conference feast and bag (since I neglected to take any this year)!

Anyhow, start thinking of traditions you want to incorporate in your family...next month there just may be a challenge around traditions!

I am off- nap-time for little man is almost over!

besitos,
xo

Wishing on a Dandelion

Dear Mr. Dandelion Wish Granter,

I always take the time to stop and make a wish every time I see a dandelion... and I am wishing the same exact same wish...so there must be hundreds of the same wish up there...

 I don't mean to sound impatient...or pushy... but... 

Is there any way you can send that wish my way anytime soon?

Patiently and impatiently waiting,

Any other Gleeks out there?

{Nap-time Confession}

You know you have a problem when you find yourself often daydreaming about having a live band playing your favorite song while you belt out the solo (on pitch) and dance around in sync with other random strangers who join in all knowing the same song and same dance moves as if they were all long lost friends.

Yes that happens to me. Not just once but pretty much every day. 

I blame Glee.

Before you judge- because I know Glee has been criticized- I have to mention that I have only seen a number of old episodes that they have on Netflix and it is from those episodes- that I am officially a gleek.

There I said it. I am a gleek.

I just love the dancing- the music... the awkward characters...
... maybe a little too much.

I even have Mister watching with me at night before going to bed... it is my current guilty pleasure.

Don't you wish every day was a musical- people dancing and singing in sync to lyrics that represent their exact feelings at that exact moment.

It would be amazing.

That is all.

Besitos

xoxo-

Fill up My Wishing Well.

Nap-time Confession:

I woke up feeling slightly... well lost today.
 For starters...I thought it was Monday- So I am pretending it is...okay?

 Since my miscarriage back in April, I have felt an emptiness that causes my heart to ache every once in awhile...and then it's followed by me trying to shake it off by focusing on what I do have instead of what I don't.
But the pain is still there.

There are moments like today where I feel like I just need some time to grieve again...where the cravings for oreos and ice cream are strong. :)

 As the days become shorter and the evenings begin to cool off, internally I know another season is approaching...

...the season in which my baby would have arrived.

One more season where my dreams and hopes didn't seem to come true.

I knew something strange was up as I spoke to my little sister Bee on the phone today and found myself sobbing as I told her of the experience of taking yet another pregnancy test just to read the dreaded words, "Not Pregnant." I prepared myself for worst case scenario as I usually do and placed it on the counter to come back a few minutes later to find that one line. I gently laid it in the garbage because I knew I would be back a few minutes later to see if it would have magically changed.
 It didn't.
Here is my current WEED:

In my sister's wisdom and very much relating to what I was going through, she reminded me of the different trials that each and everyone of us goes through to be taught the lesson or gain the strength we need at that time. I may not understand it right now in the moment- but I know there is a bright spot in my future. I mean really- I already have many bright spots- I am so blessed.
I am.
Here are some of them during out carnival time this past weekend.

My current WISHES:

For Music Monday (although it is Tuesday) here is a song called Wishing Well my sister recently wrote... about the very idea of wanting something so badly that it hurts. I needed to hear this again today. Thanks Bianca.

I think my little man is up from his nap... Thanks for letting me get that out... now I am going to refocus and spend time with my little bright spot.

besitos

xo

Scattered...

Nap-time Confession right here:

I have been feeling a tad bit scattered lately from the summer traveling and...well from my mind really. It's constantly thinking of great new ideas and posts I want to post but haven't had the time...it seems as though once I put one project down to make more time- I then pick up another project without realizing it!
Story of my life.

  I may have mentioned that {here} once before when I was closing my private practice. I just have so many passions for so many different things...so I start new business, new blogs, new projects...I think I may be a project hoarder. I can never have just ONE of anything... is this an addiction to multiples?
 I am a gemini.

So, the wheels in my head have been turning for sometime now and I have decided to consolidate a little bit more in my life once again and am revamping the front page of this blog to be able to consolidate several other blogs and workshops and projects I will be doing this fall... I'll explain more later... still sorting things out.

Bare with me okay...?

But I thought I would share a little funny moment. Well, to me it was funny...


 I was doing a photo shoot for a post I was writing for How Does She  on fashion in New York City, when all of a sudden I heard a band coming down the sidewalk...
 all wearing I heart NY shirts....

...I froze. 

...then posed...

...Which was a mistake because I almost got trampled. 

Then I was strung along down the sidewalk to a local pub they were all meeting at.

Only in New York.

Pretty sure you had to be there.
More photos of this over {here.}
Besitos xo,