New title and new kid!

Well, it has been quite a while since I have written. Quick update: we sold the house, moved to an apartment, moved from the apartment, are now renting a new house and have added a beautiful little girl to our mix. Cookie is about to be 10 months and Bee will be 5 this Wednesday. Boy, have things moved fast in just a few years.

In light of adding Cookie to our family I figured it was time for a new title and "The Harrold House" seemed fitting. It can no longer just be about my life with Bee since we now have another little girl. Plus, opening it up seems good and timely so that I can start involving all aspects of our lives in to the blog. I will be making more of an effort to make this a regular thing and will be reaching out to my friends and family for their support to make this blog more popular. I am hoping to incorporate tips on cooking, cleaning, saving money, having fun and just general goodness all around. Changes are coming, for sure, to our family and so, to here as well! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!

the cough

Well, it's been a while since I have had something to write about and now I do! Allergies! Generally speaking we have been dealing with allergies since Bee was born. She goes through periods where she has terrible coughing fits at night all of which are blamed on post nasal drip caused by allergies. We have tried everything from humidifiers, slanting her mattress, steamy showers, cough medicines, allergy medicines and, yes, even putting Vicks on the bottom of her feet. The Vicks does work by the way for a while but then it starts to not be as effective. This year has been especially bad. The coughing is so hard at night that she gags or seems like she might throw up from it. Forget about a good night sleep. I haven't slept through the night in a month. There is usually a 2 hour period sometime after 2:00 am that we are awake. I haven't been this tired since she was a baby. It's startng to wear on me and my nerves. I'm dangerously close to tears on a regular basis and I don't think she, my husband or I can take anymore! So, we have decided to take her to an asthma and allergy specialist. I have no experience in this area what so ever. Her pediatrician, while we really like her, just keeps giving us cough medicine and bronchodilator syrup which to me just treats the cough. I understand that the cough needs to be treated but to me it is just the symptom. So, off we go on Monday to see the allergy doctor to tell us what is causing this or if it is possible that she has asthma. I have been speaking with a co-worker who went through the same thing with her little boy, who's a few years older than Bee, and I have been getting a lot of wondersful information from her. But, I do want to know if anyone else out there has any other suggestions, advice, experience in working with an allergy specialist, etc. I will post more as I learn more. Thanks everyone!

Terrible 3's?

We are getting very close to Bee's 3rd Birthday and I am scared! Everyone told us the two's would be bad but that the three's would be worse. Luckily, while we had some meltdowns and stand-offs, I don't think she was anywhere near the evil child I was told would emerge during the terrible two's. So, I held hope that the three's would not be as bad either. Until, two weeks ago that is. And, I have realized that is has been steadily getting worse the closer we get to her 3rd birthday which is just a couple weeks off. I am not exaggerating either. I am surprised her head hasn't spun in a circle like in The Exorcist. She fights us on everything. Bed, getting dressed, going potty (which we are fully potty trained now, sorry no posts happened on that but we had enough to deal with), going to daycare, eating, putting her socks on, putting her shoes on, playing - am I making my point here? And don't even get me started on the energy level! That child goes and goes and goes all the time! She does not have a calm level right now at all. Everything is 110% and she runs everywhere! Doesn't she get tired, ever? I'm exhausted all the time from chasing after her.

Though the best, and the funniest, is bedtime or when she is dealing with her feelings in general. She yells and I don't mean a high pitch girly scream but a guttural Exorcist inspired yell and she tacks on at the end "I'm soooooooo maaaaadddd." Then with her tiny little fist, she hits something. Not me, we have pretty much done away with that, but something near her. Now, I realize that we are headed in to anger management territory here but there is something very comical about little 30 pound child yelling out her feelings by using the exact words. For instance besides "I'mmm soooooo maaadddd," there's "sniff sniff I'm sooooo saadd" or "laughing - I'm sooo happpyy momma." It's actually really cute and I am glad she can identify her feelings.

Here's my hope. My hope is that it doesn't get any worse than this. I mean she has to level out sometime right? You should see how sweet she is first thing in the morning when she crawls in to bed with me and says "momma, want to touch your hair" and she plays with my hair and rubs my arm. Then she snuggles up to me and we snooze until it is time to get up. I mean come on! She is the sweetest thing ever then so why doesn't it last? Oh well, I guess I have take those moments and hold on to them tight.....like when she is screaming at me. Maybe I can start using that philosophy of picturing people naked while public speaking, but instead apply it differently to us, and picture her peaceful and sleeping when I am dealing with her screaming, head spinning moments. Worth a try I guess...wish me luck. (insert Exorcist theme music here)

I give a lot of credit to the book Big Feelings: A book filled with emotions. (https://www.marketplace.parentingcounts.org/ProductDetail/Big_Feelings.aspx)
Figuring out how to deal with her emotions is still a work in progress but this book is helpful in identifying them and explaining them to her in a way that she can understand.

We are still here!

Wow, I am not very good at keeping up with this! I suppose that is why all of my baby journals are only quarter complete. I really need to get better or we won't have anything for her when she is older. My cousin completed a whole first year journal for her daughter. I mean this thing is mac daddy! It even has a calendar page for each month that she filled out extensively, everyday, when Bee's cousin did something or they went somewhere. I mean to tell ya it can make me feel like a slacker! Guess maybe I should stop blogging and start scrap booking? Nah, I can barely keep up with the blogging as it is so maybe I should just stick to it. I am making note to blog more though so stay tuned!

Heading into Summer!

Well, it has been eventful the last month I must say. The potty training continues. It has been difficult but we are hanging in there. Little Bee is in regular underwear for most of the day and does fine, as long as we keep reminding her to go! If she gets to playing, and doesn't think about it, we have a problem. Luckily daycare reminds her as well so we are fending off most accidents. What has worked seems to be giving her a little control and power over the situation. When we told her she was a big girl, and needed to go potty herself, she got in to it. Now we aren't aloud to be any part of it! We do stand there to make sure she goes and washes her hands (and we clean the potty) but other than she is in full control. Now if she could only be in control of WHEN to go we would have a home run!

She has also started to become a little parrot or magpie as Nana calls it. She repeats everything! Which means we really have to start watching what we say around her. Here are some favorites of ours:

1. When I ask her to do something she holds the sides of my face and says, "listen mommy, listen."
2. Looking at me speaking about her daddy she says, "what is his problem?"
3. From Bear and the Big Blue House she will get in your face, sniff and say, "what's that smell?" It's very, very funny, especially the sniffing part, but not meant in a mean way because, well, Bear is not mean!
4. "Focus" which is a word I use a lot with her because her attention is so easily set adrift. But, let's just say her "focus" sounds shockingly similar to a four letter word I won't write here. So, we have starting to not say that and we make sure to correct her pronunciation!
5. Lastly, our favorite, is when we ask her to do something and she turns and says to us, "few minutes" while holding up three fingers; meaning give me a few more minutes. Very cute that she tries to negotiate!

We are having so much fun with her right now. She is testing us daily to see what she can get away with but we are holding pretty firm, for the most part. I loved her as a baby and will always want her to be that but now she is lovey, she is affectionate, she is talkative, she sings, she screams and has all of the little characteristics that we saw before but she could never thoroughly get across. Now she can and it's a blast!

Hope your summer is a blast! I will update when I can because we have a lot going on in the two months. Including a road trip, Bee's first, to Omaha! That should make for some excellent posts! Ha!!

Craziness ensues!!!

Things have been pret-ty crazy around here lately. It constantly looks like a toy explosion in our living room and things have become completely unorganized. I am starting to feel like spring cleaning is in our very near future! Bee is doing wonderfully! She is talking so much and saying such funny things. I have found, though, that she does not like change and I mean does not like it. If there is a schedule, or something that we do regularly, she does not want to stray from it! Our morning routine is one of these things and just one example of what I am talking about.

Every morning she comes in at about 6:30 am, wakes me up and we get some cereal and turn a show on, I won't name it but to give you a hint it is a small explorer and sometimes her cousin or a curious little monkey! In any case, she has her breakfast and some milk and I get ready for work. We get in the car and I take her in to school. Once we get in to her class, she picks out the seat where she will eat her breakfast, yes breakfast again. Don't worry, she only gets a little bit of cereal to tie her over until breakfast at school. I don't need Jamie Oliver showing up at my door with a Food Revolution! Which, by the way, I caught the first episode and it was great. Anyway, I sit her down in the chair of her choosing and they give her breakfast. I give her a kiss and most of the time she then pushes me away and says, "go mommy or vamanos mommy." Thank you little explorer girl. The other morning, however, was a different story. We get to the school and there is a firetruck taking up most of the parking lot and parents with their kids out on the sidewalk. There are also teachers with the kids that had already been dropped off out on the playground. In their designated areas, of course, because every age group has their own fenced off section of playground. After waiting for about 25 minutes they decide to allow the parents that are waiting to drop the kids off to their respective teachers in the playground area assigned to their age group. So, I go in with Bee and give her to the teacher with her class, give her a kiss and start to leave. She freaked out! This is not the first time, that something has not gone normal or what she is used, that she has had a complete meltdown! So, I wonder, am I creating a schedule/planning/routine loving little girl? Have I been to strict on the schedule keeping since she was a baby? I myself am a planner and do not always handle spontaneity well. In fact it makes me itch, but, I do have to say that I am usually well organized when it comes to things happening during the week or bills needing to be paid. I keep a planner and an email calendar that alerts me when tasks are about to be due and it even emails me a schedule every morning at 5:00 am, like I am up that early but when I log in it is there and I know what is happening that day. I also have a backup online calendar in case my first one fails. Hmmm....looking back at what I just wrote am I a schedule monster? And worse yet, am I creating a smaller version schedule monster and is that bad of a thing??? I say, no way!! I say, schedule away mommas!! Teach your kids to schedule away!!!! Schedule power!!! Okay, maybe I am going a little over board but seriously, I would rather her meltdown every once in a while if things don't go perfectly than be completely lost.

P.S. There was no actual fire damage to the building and none of the kids were hurt. Whomever was making breakfast, the breakfast that Bee so expects to be ready when she sits at her seat, caught something on fire and burned it. Every thing was fine though and they were bringing in fans when I was leaving to get the smoke out. So, no worries there and yes I still completely trust them with my little Bee!

Checking in!

Boy, it's been a while since I have written! Needless to say potty training wasn't going that well so we put it on hold for a bit. Not sure if I have mentioned that at all. We have slowly started working with her on it again. The power of getting a sticker to place on a chart is truly amazing! Sunday was a pretty good potty training day! When she got up from her nap, and for the rest of the day, she stayed dry and only went to the bathroom on her potty and not in her disposable. This was a victory, small but a victory none the less. We are looking at this as a positive sign that she might be getting ready to really tackle this thing head on. We just need to get her to tell us she has to go instead of us always bringing it up to her. We will keep taking her in there and it will click soon enough. She's a pretty smart little girl. She counts to 20 and sings her ABC's and this, to me, means she is the smartest little girl ever!! Whether other kids are already doing it or not! Over the weekend she came up with a couple new little things:

The first is to give me a hug, rub or pat my shoulder and say, "It's otay Momma, I got you." And no I did not spell "okay" wrong, she really does say "otay." It brought tears to my eyes the first time she did it because I was exhausted and a little stressed out. It made me feel good to know that maybe she will have some of my compassion and empathy in her. Those little sparks of what kind of person she is going to be, or might be, are so awesome.

The second, and the funniest, is now her Curious George makes trips to time out. Why does he go to time out you ask? For none other than hitting! The one thing we have been combatting with her since she turned 18 months! It is funny though to see her. She puts him in time out, comes over, tells us he is in time out and that it's because he hit her. So, we tell her that is good and that he needs to say sorry. She goes over to the chair, picks him and says, "you say sorry," and he apparently does so she gives him a hug. It's really cute but also shows us that she is starting to understand more. That and the fact that the hitting has really dropped off since she turned two. Either way, another small victory!

There has been a lot going! I am hoping to be able to write more soon! Added an updated picture so you can see how big our Bee is getting!

Christmas!

Wow, Christmas has come and gone and now we are looking to the New Year! I looked back over some pictures from my work holiday party and compared from last year to this year. It is amazing to me how my little Bee has become a little girl! The changes in her are so apparent when I look at the photos side by side. (I felt I need to share what I was looking at so they are to the left!) While the face is not all that different, just a little less baby fat, the hair is really what stands out. She just looks like such a little girl now and it made me sad to think my little baby is gone! I know she is still my baby and still very young but it's somehow different. She's still gorgeous though!

It's been a great year with her! There have been some difficult times and some behavior problems but over the last couple of weeks she has been really good. I hate to say that ignoring something makes it go away, because usually that is not the case, but really when it came to not calling attention to the biting, hitting, tantrums and such that it seems to have really made a difference. I am so proud of her for being such a good little girl! So, because it's the end of the year I wanted to end on some good stuff!
Over the last few weeks we have had developments in:

Saying her ABC's - she can sing them, though she skips some letters and muddies the words at the end. She loves to sing them and is really trying. Every few days she gets one more distinctive letter in there. It's so cute and we caught it the other day on the camcorder. I can't wait to look back at that when she is older.

Saying her numbers - We have to get her started through three because she usually gets hung on saying "1, 2, 1" but once we help her get past it she can count to 10. She did it for everyone on Christmas Day and I felt so proud of her when they were all excited to hear her say them.

Saying "I Love You" - Now, this one we have been working on for a looonnggg time! I am proud to say that she now makes the words out, all three of them, instead of making it one long jumbled word.

Moving to her "big girl bed" - it is just a toddler day bed but she is doing very well. She does not get out and make a big deal out of not going to bed. I think this is because we changed the bed, said here is your big girl bed but we never made a big deal of her NOT getting out of it. So..my thinking is that it never really put the thought in her head that staying in her bed was a big deal drama thing. It has been working out well. She gets out of her bed in the morning and comes and gets us when she is up. She's doing good in it. (I hope I didn't just jinx us!)

With the new year comes.....potty training! This scares me to death! I bought her some training underwear. We are not going to keep going with the pull-ups because she refers to them as diapers and I think she needs to make the distinction between diapers and big girl underwear. I am sure there will be no shortage of things to blog about once we start this weekend. We decided that after the new year is when we would start since she just transitioned from her crib, to a new room at daycare and we were dealing with Christmas. So..wish us luck and I am sure you will be hearing about it soon!

Have a Happy New Year!!! Lots of love and well wishes to all of your families!

Bad Behavior, Tantrums and whining, Oh My!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been tough. Little Bee has developed split personalities! In one minute she is the sweetest, kindest, most loving little girl there is. She plays and strokes my hair, gives me hugs, tells me she loves me, all the little things that sugary sweet little girls do. The next minute, oh my, a little monster is standing in front of me telling me no, sassing while pointing her finger at me and hitting me! And a few times when I have asked her if she wanted to go to the naughty seat she said, "yes!!" Yesterday (and let me preface this by saying that a friend of mine, who has a little girl just a few weeks older than Bee, said her daughter did this and I thought in my head that there is no way MY child would ever do this, well boy was I wrong) little Bee was being a little monster and not picking up her toys. I told her she was going to go to the naughty seat, so what does she do? She said "okay" and walked over and sat herself in the naughty seat!!! I thought I was going to die! Everyone keeps saying "oh, she's only 2, she doesn't know what she's saying or doing" but I am sorry folks, that child is a lot smarter than you give her credit for! All of the parenting advice I read says to stay calm, don't react to it, don't engage. Don't engage? Don't engage while the child has thrown themselves on the ground screaming "No, mommy" while all of the windows are open! Or is screaming through the grocery store because I won't let her smash the bread! Yeah right! How am I supposed to remain sane and calm through all of that? And don't even get me started on the whining! She can not ask for anything with out whining! I do as all the reading says and say, "I can't understand whining, you need to use your big girl words" or "You need to ask mommy nicely and say please." When I try to talk to people about it I hear, yet again, "she's just a baby" or "she is still so young give her a break" Give ME a break! Sorry, but learning manners has no age limitation!!!! I just want this period to pass and to have back my sweet little helper who did anything I asked of her! Where did that child go???? I feel as though, since I have been venting, that I need to say that I love my child very much and she is frankly the reason for everything I do now! But, really, the two's is tough!! And please don't say, "You'll see, the three's are worse and so are the four's," blah, blah, blah, let me wallow in my own whining!!

Been a while...

Wow, sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything! It has been pretty busy around here. I had back surgery and that has set me back a bit. I am pretty good to go now though so that makes me very happy! Still can't pick Bee up which she does not like but we are working around it!

Things with Bee have been interesting. She is definitely becoming a little comedian! Once she finds out that you think something is funny she does it over and over!! We had her 2 year birthday party the weekend before Thanksgiving. Actually it was for both her and her sister. They share the same birthday, exactly ten years apart! Don't ask me how it happened, well, I know how it happened. Our little Bee needed to come early! So, here we are now with the girls sharing the same birthday. It has actually turned out to be really cool. They adore each other, which makes me happier than words can say, so I think it will always be great they share the birthday. 

It seems as though, ever since Bee turned two, that her vocabulary is on a fast track! Everyday she says new words and phrases! It's amazing! She now fumbles her way through the ABC's as well!! It is so cute to hear her sing the ABC's! The other day at the breakfast table at Nana and Papa's, she turned to her sister and said, "Hi sissy, how are you?" Clear as a bell! We were all so shocked no one said anything! Ha!! It was funny, she kind of looked around like, "what?" and just went back to eating like nothing even happened. 

She has been really good with the few exceptions of her acting out. It's all normal toddler stuff though and she does not throw tantrums as bad as I have seen other kids do. Although tonight she did pretty well in her tantrum throwing. Who knew that a saline spray bottle would be so enthralling?!? "No" still seems to be one of her favorite words but we are working on it. She started the "2's" room at school so as she spends more time with the older kids I am hoping for a more articulate way of communication. I do not hold any crazy notion that the whining and "no" won't still be the main form but I am hoping for it to be cute down at least. Here's to hoping!

Sorry, I don't have any funny anecdotes today. This is really a check in and a promise to get back into it more. It might be tough with the holidays coming but I will try! I would love to hear from you so if you have something funny to share or just want to say hi, please do! 

I love my girl - mushy alert!

The other night I was rocking my lil Bee and realized that I am not sure I could love another person as much as I love her. I mean, yeah, I love my husband but that is a different kind. She's so beautiful and so perfect to me. I always thought when people talked about loving their child, and how awesome it was, that they were exaggerating. I get it now. A friend of mine referred to it as a beacon the other day and I would say I would have to agree 100%. She's my beacon to move forward, to succeed, to be able to give her the best life possible. This is going to sound corny, and I told my friend this too, but I really do wish that the love I have for her could reach out like a little blanket and cover her up so she could feel it all day, every day and that it would protect her through out her whole life. I only want the absolute best for her. I am truly so in love with her and still very gaga over her. Now, I am not saying we don't have our moments where we are not clicking, I have posted about them, she is a toddler after all and I am only human! But it is so nice to have such an awesome connection with her! Makes my day better every day!

Miss Independent

Lately little Bee has been all about doing it herself and this morning was no different! Every Monday morning I fill a fabric grocery bag, we have tons because we try to use those at the grocery store but it seems I am always forgetting them so I end up buying one, anyway, I fill the bag with what she needs at daycare for the week. Her cot sheet, a blanket, change of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. This morning she took it upon herself to carry the bag to the van all on her own. (Of course, she decides to do this when I need to get her moving because I am running late.) Now, the bag is as tall as she is and about two of her wide. She insisted on carrying it herself and I was okay with it, however, she was only holding it by one handle. She held the handle at the bottom where it meets the top of the bag. So, she did good there because that enabled her to hold it up off of the ground pretty well but only on the side of the handle she was holding! Husband is home on Mondays and we were trying to explain to her that she needed to hold BOTH handles and it would be easier. Well, you would think we were starting world war three! Every time we tried to show her she freaked out! Screaming! So we let her go out the door and walk down the sidewalk herself. She tripped once landing on the bag thankfully but also on my lunch, which was at the bottom, not thankfully! At least it broke her fall though! Finally she dropped it and flopped open to showed that her blankie was in there. She reached down to pick it up. I, luckily, at that point was able to barter with her! She would carry the blanket and I would carry the bag. A deal was made and we got to the van that much quicker! Phew! This is just another in a long line of instances where she has wanted to show off her independence! Ah, toddler independence, is there anything cuter or more frustrating!

Bee Speak!

I decided that I need to write down some of Bee's cuter vocabulary words at this point in her life. I mean, we all know she can say, "no" "Mommy" "mine" etc. But these are cuter and this way I have a record of them! I have tried to spell them phonetically, I hope it works! So here it goes:

"fruip" = fruit

"yellow" = means she wants to color or is used to describe any writing tool.

"ass" = grass

"titty" = can mean either pretty or cookie

wa wa= water

inamean = (said with an "I" pronunciation) = vitamin

"side" = can be her slide, outside or inside

"pay" = play

"hmmm" = means she is thinking

Those are the words I can think of right now. I will probably be adding to it as I think of them or hear her say more!

Three little words...

Well, Bee has perfected the art of the three little words. It's absolutely adorable! However, it is also frustrating! These three little words are not of the lovey dovey sort. These little words are: no, mine and stop (with the hand up)! I think over the weekend we heard "no" about 10 times an hour while she was awake. And we even heard it a couple of times during the night while she was talking in her sleep! We went through something similar about 6 months ago with but then it was a small grunt and a light slap on our arm. Back then, we first made it a huge deal telling her no, not do that, it was not nice, be nice, etc. It seemed to only fuel it so we decided to ignore it and not call attention to it. That way we could sort of defuse the power of it. Well, that worked! It took a couple weeks but eventually she realized that getting that sort of attention wasn't going to happen. This time we started out the same with the "no's" and "be nice's" but we are quickly realizing that maybe, again, ignoring it and not giving it power is what is needed. The problem is that with her being a little older it's a little harder to ignore such down right rebellion! It is is so cute sometimes but other times it is so frustration! Especially when we are around other people. It can get a little embarrassing! I think people must be staring at us and thinking, geeze, that kid is a brat, her parents need to get her under control. Worst of all, I think, that they must think, we are bad parents! It's a terrible feeling! Especially since I know that is not really the case but it's hard. I really want her to be good in a group of people and out in public. I want people to see how sweet she really can be! This weekend we were at a baby shower and I got a lot of compliments on how good she was. I thought, really? They were just being polite. So she didn't have any meltdowns or outburtst, but she told me no about 50 times and wrote on the person's wall! I felt like she could have done better! Like, oh, I don't know, not talk back to me! She did redeem herself in the end when, as we were leaving, she went around and gave everyone left a hug and kiss. While doing that she was the sweet little girl we know at home! Certainly she was not herself earlier when I told her she couldn't draw on me and she smacked me on the arm and said "no, mine!" "You, stop!" I suppose at this point, thought, she is a mixture of both! I really, really want this to be the worst of it! Please, really, I want this to be the worst! Really!! I do!! Please?!

Sick kid!

Well, this past Labor Day weekend was a labor of love! Love of my child and wanting to make her better!! We had the whole weekend planned and it all went to crap on Sunday morning when Bee woke up at 5 AM with a 102.7 degree fever. I have dealt with Bee being sick before but never like this. The fevers were very scary for me. Mainly because when we as adults get a fever that high that means we are really sick. For a kid, however, I found out that I shouldn't get too scared until it goes over 104 even possibly 105! Is that crazy or what! Then I also found out that you should not take the temperature of a child, as young as Bee, right after they wake up! Because the fever can be higher as a result of them being all cuddled up and sleeping, they call it a "bundling fever." Crazy huh!? Anyway, we dealt with high fevers all weekend, one even reached 104.2! Like I said, she has been sick before but never like this! I felt so helpless and was kind of fumbling my way through how to take care of her. It seemed as though when I followed my instincts it went well. It was when I second guessed myself that I fell a little short. It was awful seeing her that way with her red little eyes, runny nose, tearing eyes and paleness! All she wanted was to be held by me or hubby. She was so cute and sweet though she did have an occasional outburst of snottiness but who doesn't when they don't feel good. She would ask for me, come to me and then ask for him. While we didn't get a lot of sleep for those few days I do have to say it was a good bonding experience for all three of us. Hubby and I know we can handle it and take care of our girl and she knows we are there and she can count on us to try our best to make it all better! I will leave it at that and not even go into the fact that I realized just how important we are to her! I found some perspective on that this weekend as well but I will leave that for another time! I am still trying to catch up on my sleep!! Just wanted to post a little something, ya know, to keep the habit up!

Goes with some of my blogs

A friend of mine sent me this today and I wanted to share it! It mirrors some of the things I have been trying to self-realize!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63PO-OFDYvw

Please take a minute to watch!

Top 5 Things

There are many friends, or friends of friends, that seem to be pregnant right now. The other day I was asked what were some of the things I use daily that I feel I can't live with out. So, I thought about it for a while and since I have nothing to blog about today I decided to share. And since usually everyone knows what they need for a newborn, thanks to the zillion "what you need for a newborn" lists and nana's and great aunts (in my case), not many people think about what they will need when that child gets a little older! So, here it goes!

1.) Books! - Bee loves books. She will walk right past her toys and play with her books. We read 4 books every night before bed. If we read less than 4 we are in trouble. That equates to about 20-30 minutes of reading depending on the length of the books she wants. I have read that reading to your child for 20 minutes a day and I quote, "inspires a life long love of learning." That is what I intend on doing!

2.) Floppy Seat - I am a huge germaphobe! This thing is the greatest and we get stopped all of the time in the grocery stores and restaurants by people asking where we got it! It is awesome! It covers up nasty grocery store carts and gross restaurant high chairs. If you have a kid like mine, who likes to put everything in her mouth, than this is for you! I keep it right in the van so I always have it.

3.) Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat - This thing is the bomb! As with the Floppy, I keep this seat in my van at all times! That way if we go to someone's house she always has a seat to sit on. It has different levels for height and it has a detachable, dish washer safe tray. It's very portable and easy to carry. Bee loves it!

4.) Baby wash cloths - I never seem to have enough but I love these things! They work for everything! Washing her face, for bath time, for clean up after dinner but the best is when she has a stuffy, dry bugger nose! I run the hot water and get the wash cloth nice and wet with hot water. I let it sit for a couple seconds to cool and then use it to get all the dry buggers off! Works like a charm and because they are soo soft it doesn't hurt her nose. They are very useful!

5.) Music - Bee has had a CD player in her room since she was born. Everynight since then we have played classical music, lately it's been Disney Princess Lullaby CD, for her to help soothe her and help her fall asleep. Now, we have a very impressive children's music CD collection because Bee is a music lover, just like her mama. We have CD's in the car and CD's in her room. So, whether we are riding in the van, she is playing in her room or she is falling asleep we always have music if she wants it! I even made CD's for Nana's car as well! And trust me, we keep the less annoying stuff in the van! Currently favorites include the Disney Princess CD, the Curious George Soundtrack, Baby Einstein: Sing and Play (mostly for Row, Row, Row Your Boat) and the newest is "B is for Bob," which is a children's Bob Marley CD. She loves them and even asks for them by name! It's very cute!

So, these are my 5... for right now anyway. They will probably change next week. I will alert if anything new pops up that I love! I would like to ask that if you have a top 5 please leave a comment with them. I think it's good to share! There are always some things I forget about or honestly don't even think of!

Is she growing up?

The other day husband and I went to a department store with Bee. We were looking around for some new clothes for him. Bee and I branched off to go to the toddler section to look around. Once we got over there I was just browsing through the sale racks when her breath literally caught in her throat and she said "prea!" "Prea" is her word for princess because she can't say princess yet. Anyway, I look over and she is looking up at this wall of Disney Princess jammas like it was the golden grail! (is that the right analogy? Anyway, just imagine angelic music playing in the back ground and soft golden light on her face and you are there!) Then she held her little hands out and said, "mine." I thought to myself, crap! How am I going to get out of this? Then I saw the 50% off tag and realized that I didn't really have to get out of anything, we could afford it and she did need new princess jammas. (hear me still justifying it?) We wheeled over there and I let her pick out, for the first time, her own new jammas. She held onto those things through out the entire store until we left. I was afraid she wasn't going to let go of them to let me pay but she did. We got them home, washed them and got her dressed in them for night night. They came with slippers and a head band so we put it all on and took some pictures and even some video. I sent the picture out and later Nana called me and told me that Bee was looking more like a little girl and less like a baby. At first I was like, that's okay, she's not an infant or newborn anymore, she's a toddler. Well, I have been thinking about it since then and last night it really hit me. Every night I rock her a little before she gets into bed and some nights I get a little impatient with her because I am ready to relax and that means she needs to get to bed! Last night was different! I realized that, while she is still really young and basically still a baby, she is going to grow up. She won't always want me to rock her, she won't always want me to hold her and read her stories. Sad, right? So, I have decided that I will start being more.. in the moment with her at night night time. Or really anytime. I will start spending as much time as needed rocking her just so I have that much more time to hold her. Everyone keeps saying (which, by the way, is such a pet peeve, I will have to blog one day on all the unwelcomed, cliche, advice a new mom gets!) anyway, they say that the time flies by so I am going to try my hardest to enjoy every moment of it!

I'm a bad mommy!

Let me preface this by saying thank you to all the supportive comments written after I posted a note on FB about this issue. The kind words really did make me feel better but I still feel the need to write about it in case others feel the same way! Yesterday evening I was an exhausted mommy, doesn't make it better, and I was dealing with an exhausted Bee. Still, it doesn't make it better to me. Anyway, it was about 2 minutes to 7:00 pm when Bee brought out her container of puzzle pieces. I promptly told her that she wouldn't be able to play long with them because it would be time for a bath. Her words to me were, "No!" and she wagged (this is a new thing) her finger at me. I sighed and let it go, still slightly annoyed, and told her not to tell me "no." I let her play and some time passed and realized it was past 7:00 and time for her bath. Now, I was being so strict on bedtime not only because if we get off schedule she is a bear to be around but frankly, I was tired and ready for bed! And even though we may start bedtime at 7:00 I know it won't be over until close to 8:00! So, I told her it was time to pick up her puzzle pieces and she again wagged her finger at me and told me "no!" I told her I would help her and she said "no!" Being the mommy I stood up and started to pick them up and asked her to hand them to me so that I could help her. Well, that is when she threw a puzzle piece at me! I said, "do you need to go have quiet time and sit in time out?" Not really knowing what I was asking, this sort of behavior punishment has just started in our house given she is so young but I wanted to start at least letting her know there are consequences to her actions, anyway, I asked her that and she said in the cutest voice, "'tay." I said to her again, "you want to sit in time out?" And she said sweetly again, "'tay." I really don't know why it made me so mad but I pulled one of her little chairs out and set it near the wall. Then, I walked over and snatched her by the arm, ooo twinge of guilt enters here, took her over and sat her in the chair. At this point she was crying, not the fake little cry but she was crying truly with the big fat tears streaming down her precious little cheeks. I walked over finished picking up the puzzle pieces, all the while she stayed right where I say her, and took the puzzle to her room. While on the way to her room I had to fight back the tears from feeling terrible! I would never hurt her in anyway and I know in the long run I didn't really but I still felt guilty. And I refused to go over and get her right away because I don't want her to think, in the future, that all she has to do is cry and she can get out of it. So, I put the puzzle away and then walked back and told her it was time for a bath. I picked her up and gave her a hug, told her I loved her and that I was sorry if I hurt her arm. I must have told her that a dozen more times while giving her a bath and getting her ready for bed. Which by the time the bath started she was totally fine but I was NOT! What I realize now is that this may be a long line of times I feel terrible because she will have to understand that when she does something wrong there are consequences. I also realize I may end up being a stricter parent than I would have originally thought! Hopefully cool but also a little more strict than what I always imagined. I do think I will need to work on my patience so that I am not a hovering, maniac, suffocating mother! Here's to working on my patience!

As many other mommys told me when they commented on the post I made: not bad mommy, just human mommy!! I just need to keep reminding myself of that!!

To Take Her or Not to Take Her!

Tomorrow my husband and I are off to the gulf coast to spend a few days together, alone! The last time we were away together was our honeymoon two years ago. So, it's been a while but that is the norm, or so I hear, for parents of little ones! We are very excited but also a little sad to be leaving our Bee. This will be the longest we will have been away from her since she was born! Usually, if she goes to stay at Nana and Papa's it only for a couple days. This time we will be away from her for FOUR days! Because of this we hedged back and forth trying to decide if we should bring her or not. It was very close! Taking her with us would be so fun! Just spending the day at the beach, taking her swimming and to Fort De Soto park for walks on the trails and out on the sand bars! Watching her discover new things! Hearing her laugh and have fun! Hugs, kisses, lots of love!! Plus, she looks sooo cute in her bathing suits! It would be a great time! Then, we remembered, we would have to rush back to the room for naps, we would have to turn in on the early side so she wouldn't get too crabby, we would be up early every day so no sleeping in! Trust me that child has an internal alarm clock that rarely lets her sleep past 7:15! Most importantly we would have to deal with meltdowns and temper tantrums and the terrible two's get closer everyday!!! Not exactly relaxation friendly! So, our decision started to sway! If she did not go we could stay out late and have some cocktails. We could sleep in for four days straight! Heck, we could sleep all day if we wanted! No getting up in the middle of the night to have to check on her, which repeatedly still do even though she is older! We could literally walk out of the room to the beach and plop down with out having to plan out everything and make sure we had everything we needed for her. We could read!!! Uninterrupted reading! And not kid's books either! Our decision was soon made after that. We decided NOT to take her. We have told ourselves, she's so young she won't feel left out or be mad at us for not taking her. She won't even remember it later in life! We are hoping these things will help us get through the guilt of not taking her and of course the sadness of missing her while we are gone!! We are going to miss her terribly but know Nana, Papa and even Uncle D will be taking care of her! It will like a mini vacation for her as well! She loves going over there so now I feel no guilt! Mom and Dad deserve some time away and we are grasping on to it for dear life! (Sigh, but we will still think about her contantly and wish she was with us!)