Sorry

Sorry I have been gone from posting the last few days. As you guys all know motherhood can get overwhelming. Not to mention I decieded 2 weeks ago to paint a few rooms in my house, plan out a playroom from the unfinished part of my basement, and we are changing the "library" to a 3rd bedroom. I swear I don't know if you guys are this way but once I set my mind to something I have to have it done ASAP! My house is all torn up from empting out the kitchen, dinning room and foyer to paint them and get rid of A LOT of junk! It feels great but I am ready to be done! Unfortunitly this is only the begining! I plan on going through the whole house and purge! Now is the time! I will keep looking for great new ideas to let you guys know about! I have a few things I want to post I will get them out to you guys soon!

Fun Fact

I am reading the American Baby Magazine and they say that the airplane sounds while feeding actually work! Children whose caregivers provide positive encouragement during feeding time are more than two times as likely to take a bite. Source: Journal of Nutrition.

Teething Biscuits

A magazine I use to get at work (helps to be a child development teacher) had lots of wonderful ideas in it for children, it has since gone out of business. One of the ideas was a recipe for Teething Biscuits. I have never made them but I think within the next few months I will!

Teething Biscuits (makes about 15 biscuits)
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons applesauce

Heat oven to 300. Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until dough begins to hold together. Dust counter with flour, then transfer contents of bowl to counter. Knead lightly until the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes. If dough is difficult to handle, dust with a little more flour. Roll out with a rolling pin until 1/2 inch think. Cut out biscuits using an inverted cup and a clean soda-bottle cap (or your thumb) for the hole, or use a doughnut cutter. Transfer biscuits to a greased cookie sheet. Bake until barely browned, about 35 minutes. Let cool completely on cookie sheet. They're ready to eat now. They'll harden slightly more if you leave them out overnight. Store for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Baby Paint

Here is a recipe I came across years ago and just hung onto it for the right time to use it. Enjoy

Baby Paint
Pour 2 cups cold water into a large bowl. While stirring slowing add 2 cups white flour. When mixed divide into smaller bowls and add a drop of food coloring to each.

question for this week

Here is a question for you; when does the shedding stop! You guys know what I am talking about; 2-3 months after you have your baby you start loosing massive amounts of hair! When does it slow back down to normal! I hate this!

fantastic website with a ton of ideas!

This website is wonderful! It has ideas for all ages of children from toddlers to tweens! There are so many ideas on here that I want to create! I hope you enjoy!

http://familyfun.go.com/

recalls

A friend of mine just posted this on facebook. I thought I would pass it along.

recall baby bracelet and paci clips http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10139.html

My baby book

A friend of mine was telling me about a photo project she was working on where she takes a different picture everyday. I took that project and applied it to my life. I decided that I would take a picture of my daughter everyday and put it in an album where I could write a little note to her for each day. I did not know how much I love doing this! Some days I take 30 pictures that I have to choose just one and then on other days I only take 1 picture. Types of things that I write about are her firsts, such as her first time rolling over, sitting in a certain toy, the first time she smiled and wrinkled her nose just I like I do. Other days I write a quote that I like or just a note to tell her how special she is. I had now idea how much I would love this book and how often I go back and read it. She has changed so much in such a little bit of time I can't believe the gradual change I see throughout the book.

I am including a picture of one page just to show I don't write a lot just enough to let her know what was going on each day.

Tutus

Since I have a little girl tutus are a must! I never realized how easy they are to make. This video helped me make my tutus. When I made them I went a little crazy and made a bunch, everyone got a tutu this year for christmas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7aSPMEn7S0

more fun activities

This first activity would be great in the summer but I don't want to forget about it so I am posting it now. I found it on a website about preschool snow activities:

Non-Snow Snowman
Submitted by Nancy
Build a snow man by moistening packing peanuts and sticking together When your ready to melt it simply put it out in the rain or turn the hose on it.

Wouldn't that be fun on a hot summer day to dream about winter snow!



This was a winter treat for me growing up but we did not have a recipe:

Snowy Milkshake
Submitted by Irene
Make a milkshake from snow by adding a cup of milk, vanilla abstract, and ½ cup sugar to snow. This will take some time to figure out the correct ratios, but it taste great!



Two fun different drink recipes:

Frozen Juice
Submitted by Louis
For a fun activity during winter. Have your children pick their favorite drink (fruit punch, apple juice, etc) and then pour this into an ice cube tray. Have them write their name on a popsicle stick and put that in the tray. Finally put this outside and let it freeze (if it is not cold enough you can put it in the freezer) Then your children can have a yummy igloo block for snack

Frozen Kool-Aid
Submitted by Gayle
For a fun/exciting activity, give each of your children a gallon Zip-Loc bag full of crushed ice. Next give them liquid Kool-Aid in a smaller bag. Add ice crème salt to the gallon bag and put the smaller bag in it. The Kool-Aid will freeze quickly.

classes

Here are some website of different classes you can take with your little one.

http://www.thelittlegym.com/Pages/default.aspx
Their classes at some locations start at 4 months. I have not taken any classes with them yet. I have just sent in my information. They have other classes for all ages! Looks like a lot of fun

http://www.my-gym.com
They have classes that start at 6 weeks. I have not taken their class only because the class is offered on the same day as our music class. Otherwise I would have signed up with them.

http://www.babymoonboutique.com
We are taking a music class here and love it! I am also thinking about signing up for the baby sign language class once my daughter is old enough. This store offers a wide selection of classes.


http://www.stlukes-stl.com
St.Luke's offers the normal newborn care, labor and delivery classes but they also have infant massage classes. This was great and the woman who taught it was fantastic.

http://www.stjohnsmercy.org
If you want to take a great labor and delivery class take one from St. John's from Janice Morlock! She is wonderful, funny, and the nicest person you will ever meet!

http://survivalswimminglessons.com/default.asp
The classes here look fantastic but I don't know if we are going to do them. I thought I would share the information with you all. Classes start at 6 months

http://www.littlefishesswimschool.com
This place looks really interesting for swim lessons. Classes start at 6 months

http://www.ymca.net
At the Y most classes start when the child is preschool age. They do offer swim lessons at 6 months.

game to play in the evening

I was looking ideas up this morning and I came across a fun idea for a game to play with your baby around 4 months and older. In a darken room, use a flashlight a move the beam slowly around the walls and ceiling so you baby can follow with her eyes. This will help with tracking and it is very relaxing espicailly when you play soft music or ocean sounds in the background.

Just a thought

Okay why is it that after you have a baby all of your shirts are to short?!?!?
"Talk amongst yourselves!"

another idea for outside winter fun!

This idea comes from the Magic House

Baby It’s Cold outside!

Have fun with this “cool” art idea!

Materials:
• Containers (any shape or size)
• Food coloring
• Water
How to:
• Fill containers of various sizes and shapes with water.
• Add food coloring to each container.
• Set outside until frozen!
• Once your water is frozen remove from the containers. (May need to run warm water on the outside of the container to loosen)
• Now build a rainbow sculpture with your colorful ice blocks. (Be sure to wear mittens!)
How long did your ice sculpture last? What did it look like as it started to melt?

playing/painting in the snow

Here is an idea for playing/painting in the snow. You will need spray bottles, however many you want, water and food coloring. Mix food coloring and cold water in the spray bottles and go outside and "paint" the snow"! You could work on so many different developmental areas with this fun project! Enjoy and stay warm!

tip for kids scared of auto flush toilets

I was reading a magazine that gave a great tip of children who are scared of the toilets that flush on their own. It said to keep a post it with you to place over the sensor; once the child is done then remove the post it. This way the toilet will think someone is sitting on it until the post it is removed! I thought that seemed like a good idea.

making baby food

I am very interested in making Gianna's baby food once that time comes so I started researching some sites that might be helpful. These are the ones I found and I will continue to look for more. If you know any other ones please share!

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/baby/baby.html

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

http://homecooking.about.com/od/specificfood/a/babyfooddos.htm

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

a fun and easy get together

As cooks we are always looking for fun and easy recipes to try and use with our family and friends. So one day I thought it would be a lot of fun to have a girls night where each person brought copies of 3 recipes and bring one of the recipes made for everyone to try. Each person that came would get a copy of each recipe and eat a lot of great food! This has turned into an event that I love and I think all the girls love as well! Up until this point they have always been dinners but this time we decided to do a brunch. So tomorrow morning everyone is coming over with their copies and their brunch item! YUM!

Must have baby item

For me this product is a must have item! It is called wubbanub. http://www.wubbanub.com/ What makes this product so wonderful is that there is an animal connect to the pacifier. The point of the animal is so the baby can hang on to it and help her take it out of her mouth or put it back in. Also, it is weighted a little bit, this is important for babies that may have a harder time sucking. Developmentally to help a baby suck you should lightly push down on the pacifier not push it in their mouth. So the pacifier does it for you. Another reason it is wonderful because when it falls out of the baby's mouth it does not go flying across the room like regular pacifiers do! I love these pacifiers so much I have 3 and have bought countless more for friends who have a baby. When I first purchased mine I ordered them from the website but since then I have found a wonderful store in the St. Charles area who carries them. http://www.babymoonboutique.com/ Babymoon Boutique is an amazing store that has a wide variety of maternity items and baby supplies. It also offers a wide array of classes! Gianna and I are currently taking the baby music class and enjoying it so much I signed up for the next session! As Gianna gets older I plan on taking more classes through this fabulous store!

Gianna is in her sling as she sucks away on the pacifier! We don't go anywhere without our wubbanub!

Sleeping and snuggling with her favorite thing!

Birth Announcement

I thought long and hard how I wanted to announce my child to the world. I knew my little girl would be an angel so I thought why not make her an angel on the announcement. So when people got it in the mail and opened it up this is what they saw! The outside of the wings has the words from the Billy Joel song, Goodnight my angel. Her name makes up the halo, all Gianna's information are located on the inner part of the wings! I think it ended up being so beautiful!

I came up with the idea and design, a store called Dragonfly Design made it a reality. http://mydragonflydesign.blogspot.com/ Abby is wonderful to work with!

Idea for "wedding hankie"

When I was born my mom had a hankie made into a bonnet and I wore it when I came home from the hospital. When I got married I carried it on my wedding day. Well when Gianna was born I forgot about the hankie I planned on having her wear, so I needed to come up with another idea. With her upcoming baptism I decieded I wanted something for her to hang onto during the ceremony so I made the hankie into an angel doll.

I used stuffing to make a head and ribbon that was given to me at one of her baby showers to make the wings. To hold the bow together I emborered a heart on the back. I am so happy with how this turned out!

A front view of the angel for my angel!

Websites that are helpful

This website was so much fun and educational while I was pregnant and beyond. It sends you an update weekly about what is going on with your body and the growing baby. Once the baby is born it sends you weekly updates about what milestones your baby should be reaching weekly and possible things you might be going through postpartum.
www.babycenter.com

A great website for when you are at the end of your pregnancy and thinking you might be in labor. www.contractionmaster.com helps you time your contractions so you know how long it has been between each one! It was a lifesaver for me because it keeps track for you so you don't have to try and remember!

I have found this site since naming my child but I think would have been helpful with the process. http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/ shares a lot of information about each name you are looking up.

Okay that is it for now on websites. I have a bunch more that I will share at a later date!

The other project with the leaves

The leaf cut outs I used for the mobile I also used for this project. I had three baby showers and for each one I took blank leaves and pens. I wanted all the important women in my life to write a word of advice for my little girl. I call this Gianna's tree of life. I want her to know the importance of having wonderful women around her. I used her footprints as the tree trunk. It is so much fun reading what each wonderful woman wrote. At some point soon I will frame this and hang it in her room.

This picture is what I based the whole room on. It done by an artist named Rie Munoz, she is from Alaska.
Here is the mobile that I made. I love the way it looks with the crib. This picture was taken before Gianna came home. I did not leave the bumper in the crib because of the new SIDS recommendation to take them out. I love the way her room came together.
The mobile is made first by punching out a bunch of leaves; I had 4 different shapes that I used with a bunch of different type of paper. Then using fishing line and beads I strung each leave together and sewed it to a wreath. It was hard to keep them from tangling but once I got it hung in place the effect is exactly what I wanted. I used the extra leaves later in another project I will post about.

Where to start

Okay so I guess I will start in the beginning. Before I even started trying to get pregnant I was thinking about the room. I had bought a picture from a local art gallery that I adore and I knew it would be perfect for a boy or girl. I did not want a typical nursery I wanted something classic and pretty. I I went with a green color (not very original right now with everyone doing green) brown, tan, and since I had a little girl the accent color is dark purple. I created some pillows that I have on the floor and they will be fun when she is older to lay with and read. I also made the mobile. It is my masterpiece that took forever! I LOVE IT!! It is not the developmentally stimulating black, white and red, but now that Gianna is a little older (15 weeks) I can tell she looks up at it. I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that. Like I said I am new this whole blogging thing!

Hello

Hello out there! I am new to the blogging craze but I wanted to try it out. I have been told by many that I have creative ideas and I should share. So I am going to start!

A little about me, I am 31 years old and a mother to one child! My daughter is 31/2 months old and I am enjoying her so much. I am a high school child development teacher, however, I took this year off to be with my little one.

I am the type of person whose mind is always racing, new ideas are always coming I tweak them and play with them and then create them! I am pretty sure I drive my husband crazy!

I by no means know what I am doing with this new job of motherhood. I just plan on sharing my ideas and thoughts with other moms or anyone that wants to read! Please let me know of must have products or creative fun ideas you have or do with your kiddos! I cannot wait to learn from you!

I am really excited to be starting this blog and sharing more with you!