Uncategorized

Life Planner link-up!

Aug142011

My friend, Meredith, at Sweet T Family is hosting a link-up today for everyone to show off their 2011-2012 Erin Condren Life Planners.

I am so excited about my Erin Condren Life Planner. I ordered it the day they were first available and mine actually shipped before her system was hacked. I was so happy that my order didn’t get messed up, but Erin Condren and her team handled this like champs and it seems that everyone’s order was straightened out. If you haven’t received yours yet, hang in there. It’s coming and it will be fabulous when it arrives.

The customer service is really impressive and the team really focuses on the details, all the way down to the packaging.

I chose the Candy Lace pattern in Mocha/Multi, which ended up being a really popular design. I love it even more in person!

I decided to do a vlog, so I could show more of the pages of the planner and get a chance to show y’all my home organization notebook and some of the other Erin Condren goodies I ordered after the Plum District deal.

Two things: 1. This is almost seven minutes long. If you want to know how you can talk about a Life Planner for seven minutes, watch this… 2. I say “umm” a lot. Anyone care to count how many times?

I’m excited to see the other Life Planners linked up to Meredith’s post. Happy Monday!

pinnable me: The Help and 60s fashion!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Aug122011

I’m linking up with Stefanie from Paw Prints and Pastry Bags again for Pinnable Me.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is one of my top five favorite books of all time. I was reading it right before Hudson was born and I have yet to find a book that I love quite as much as The Help. In fact, I started re-reading it this week in anticipation of the movie’s release.

The casting for the movie is perfect. The costumes and the 60s styles are so inspiring and make me wish I had been born many decades ago. The way the dresses fit perfectly at the waist and disguise the hip is just the way women’s clothes should fit.

I hope people flock to the theaters this weekend to see the movie! But if you haven’t read the book yet, do that first!

via

you're getting sleepy…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Aug112011

*Note: This post may be helpful for some people and some may not be interested at all. We all make our own parenting choices, so please be respectful with your comments.

I get a fair amount of emails from blog readers asking me questions about home organization, party planning, sleep training, and other questions that I don’t always feel qualified to answer. One of my most recent, most common, questions is about Moms on Call.

So I’m going to spill some of the dirt about Moms on Call and give you some background information to determine if it’s right for you, your baby, and your family.

With both of my boys, we started them on night one sleeping in their cribs in their nurseries with loud white noise machines, black out curtains, and swaddled as tightly we could manage.

I learned to swaddle by watching The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD from Dr. Harvey Karp. This DVD has some amazing soothing techniques that we have used for both boys. I truly believe that babies need to be swaddled- especially in those early days. Both of my boys have associated the swaddle with sleep and it puts them to sleep so quickly!

Hudson was eating at 7 pm, 10 pm, 2 am, 5 am, and 8 am, but he eventually dropped that 2 am feeding on his own. When he was 3 months old, we got the go-ahead from his doctor to let him “cry it out,” so we gave it a shot. He cried for one night for 30 minutes. The next night, he slept 10 hours straight without making a peep.

Hayes wasn’t quite so easy. I was giving him a dream feeding at 10 pm, and then because I was basically training him to wake up every 3 hours to eat, he would wake up at 1 am, screaming, and ready to eat. But he wouldn’t eat. He’d take an ounce and fall back asleep. It wasn’t funny! So I blogged about it and a sweet reader named Turner (who has truly become a friend as we navigate this sleeping thing) and my friend Callie started talking to me about Moms on Call.

Moms on Call offers books and online seminars to help mothers with basic baby care and scheduling. I had both of my kids on a schedule with naps at the same time every day, eating every three hours. But I was making one critical error with Hayes at bedtime when I’d try to do that dream feed.

I changed up our bed time routine, and followed the Moms on Call routine, and kept it consistent every single day. I also stopped waking him for that late night feeding. As soon as I stopped that, he slept 7 hours straight. Like magic!

And after a week, Hayes was sleeping 9-10 hours at night without waking.

I will tell you all that Moms on Call does encourage you to let your baby do some crying in the 0-3 month phase. It’s actually a pretty strict cry it out routine. And there’s even more crying in the 3-12 month phase. This doesn’t work for every family and I’m certainly not trying to stir up a debate. The great news is that Hayes only cried for one night, for an hour off and on. I was able to go in and sooth him and comfort him and then he slept and slept and slept. And now we’re all sleeping.

He was able to learn and realize that he wasn’t really hungry and he was only waking out of habit. And sometimes all he wanted was to be held. And believe me, holding him is not a chore. I want to hold that precious boy all the time. But in the middle of the night, we both need to be sleeping. Moms on Call recognize that letting your baby cry during the night is hard on a parent and they give you some tips to ease into it.

The information that the women from Moms on Call give about basic baby care, feeding, sleeping, routines, and schedules has been so great for me as a refresher course. Hayes is now sleeping 12 hours every night and is on a great schedule that works for him, for me, and for Hudson during the day.

If I ever ran into the Moms on Call, I would hug their necks and thank them for their wisdom. These women are pediatriac nurses. They each have four children and they each have a set of twins. I am so impressed with their knowledge and their willingness to share it to help other moms and babies.

I’ve already watched their 3-12 month phase and moved Hayes up to that program. In the 3-12 month seminar, they teach you about baby sleep patterns and you learn why they wake up in the middle of a nap and cry. And it’s not because they’re hungry. The Moms on Call provide amazing sample schedules for you to use if you have multiples, if you’re a working mom, or if you have a toddler going to MDO and an infant. I can’t say enough good things about it and it was definitely worth the almost $30 for the online seminar.

I also got the Moms on Call toddler seminar to watch. I’m eager to see what they have to say about parenting a toddler. I know that I have daily frustrations with trying to communicate, discipline, and still be a fun, loving mommy and if these ladies could work magic with my baby, maybe they can do it with my toddler!

I’m happy to try to answer any questions, but if you are remotely interested, you should definitely give it a try. It truly feels like magic when your baby just starts sleeping one night after not sleeping well at all before starting their program. Since learning about it, I’ve given it to two moms-to-be to check out before the babies arrive.

Hudson-isms

Filed Under: Hudson, Uncategorized

Aug102011

My funny, goofy, wild Hudson has quite the vocabulary and he often says things that cause us to scratch our heads and say to each other, “Where did he get that?”

I’ve been keeping a little list on my iPhone of the funny things he says. I’ll probably print out this blog post and put it in his baby book. (By the way, I’ll do a post soon showing y’all their baby books and photo storage.)

“Come here, Dreaux.”

Hudson no longer refers to our fluffy Golden Retriever by his actual name. He calls him Dreaux. Poor Boudreaux kind of looks around as if to say, “Is he talking to me?” He invites Boudreaux into his room and tries to get Boudreaux to play with him. At one point he was calling him Boudreaux, but now it’s just Dreaux.

The other day, Hudson woke up from his nap and was standing at the gate at his door when Boudreaux came walking by his room. On the monitor, I heard Hudson say, “Hey, Dreaux! Let me out!”

“Show me! Show me!”

When Hudson was younger, he would point to things on the top shelves in his room and say something that we couldn’t understand. It would take us forever to figure out what he wanted. So I started picking him up and asking him to show me. I’d say, “Show me what you want, Hudson.” So he’d point and I’d get the toy or video he was requesting. Now when he sees something he wants, he says, “Show me! Show me the firetruck!” Ha! He’s just repeating what we said, but it’s unnecessary because he can actually tell us what he wants. And he’s showing us, but saying “show me.” So funny.

“Somewhere” and “Anywhere”

If Hudson is asking for something, we might say, “where is it?” And his answer is always “ummm it’s somewhere” or “ummm it’s anywhere.”

“What happened?”

I laugh just thinking about this. When Hudson takes a tumble, he’ll jump and say, “What happened?” Ha! Because…ding ding ding… that’s what we say when he falls!

“I’m okay!”

Another thing Hudson says when he falls down is, “I’m okay!” We’re so glad!

“It’s stuck!” or “I’m stuck!”

If Hudson is in his carseat and wants to get it, he says, “I’m stuck.” If he sticks a big toy in a small space and can’t get it out, he says, “It’s stuck!” And when he is in his room, but the gate is accidentally locked and he can’t get out, he shouts, “I’m stuck! Help! I’m stuck!”

“Yes, sir!” “No, sir!” “Thank you” “Pwwwease” or “I say pwwwease”

Our little Hud Bud has pretty great manners. He has always been a “thank you” kid. When we’re at the grocery store, he shouts “thank you” to every employee he sees and shouts “thank you” every time the bagger puts a bag in the buggy. He has started saying things like, “Daddy, can I have some milk, please?” But sometimes he forgets the please. So we’ll say, “What do you say, Hudson?” And his response is always, “I say pwwwease.” Those Ls and Rs are tough!

He shouts “no, sir” when he’s correcting Boudreaux and has started saying “yes, sir” to TC when he’s asking a question. We’ve even heard a “no, thank you” a few times.

“I don’t think so”

We’re not sure how he picked this one up, but a lot of times instead of just a “no,” he gives a big “I don’t think so.” But it’s more like “I don’t FINK so.”

“SURPRISE!”

Lately, he has been running into the room and shouting, “Surprise!” Or hiding and coming up to shout surprise. He’ll still play peek-a-boo sometimes and when he moves the blanket or lovie, he shouts, “surprise!”

“Don’t smile….”

Sometimes when Hudson is pouting or pitching a fit, I’ll give him a look and say, “don’t smile…” And he always smiles and then laughs. So in the past few weeks, if I give him that look, he’ll say it to me. “Don’t smile….” And, oh, it just makes me want to scoop him up and cover him in sweet mommy kisses!

“It’s so funny!”

If Hudson gets tickled over something, he’ll laugh and laugh, and then squeak out the words, “it’s so funny!”

“That’s right, Mommy!”

Hudson will say, “What number is this?” or “What shape is this?” And I always turn the question back on him and get him to answer it. And he always knows what number, letter, shape, color, or animal it is. (Those Melissa & Doug puzzles are amazing!) So right after he say, “Number 2!” He follows it up with, “That’s right, Mommy! Number 2!”

Other great Hudson-isms are “it stinks!” (when having his diaper changed) and “it’s okay, Hayes!” (when Hayes is crying)

We love having a wild toddler around here. I could write a book alone on the rowdiness and then the sweet cuddles on the couch. And when he asks me to climb in bed with him to snuggle before he goes to sleep, I am more than willing to miss 30 minutes of my TV show for a lifetime of memories. He’s not going to let me do this much longer. Tear.

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