Maternity Photos

Lori, a friend and parent of one of my former students, recently launched her new photography business Chasing Sky Photography. About a month ago, she approached me about taking some free maternity photos as both a service to us and to have some pictures to put on her website. At first I was a little apprehensive. I didn't have any photos taken with Caleb because many that I saw involved draped fabric and bare skin...something that I just wasn't personally comfortable with (even though most are absolutely gorgeous). I told her of my concerns and she assured me that she would only do what I was comfortable with. Here are just a few of the pictures she took and she did such a great job! Caleb was being a bit difficult when Lori came over, so we didn't get any really great ones with him, but I am really glad we will have these pictures as a memento of this precious time!

A Musical Family???

...Decide for yourself!

Noah's Baby Shower

Thanks to my loving, generous, and thoughtful friends from church for throwing Noah and I such a beautiful baby shower!!! We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family!

All of the hostesses...such wonderful friends!

Every little detail was so thoughtfully planned...


These cupcakes were made and decorated by one of the hostesses...she is absolutely amazing (we keep telling her she needs to open her own bakery). She handmade each of the fondant animals on the cupcakes and even drew faces on the lions!

An adorable diaper cake made by another one of the hostesses!

How cute is the mantle??? My friend Kristen handmade the adorable pictures on each side!!!

Independent Activities for a 2-year old

In 5 short weeks (maybe sooner), we will be welcoming our second bundle of joy into our family. While we are all super excited about Noah's arrival, I am a bit concerned about my 22-month old adjusting to not having Mommy (and Daddy's) full attention all the time. Therefore I am attempting to be proactive and plan for some activities that I can start teaching Caleb to do now by himself that will make times when I am caring for the baby (especially nursing) easier on all of us.

Originally, I had planned on having "activity bags", but I have decided that I am going to have a basket specifically for Caleb's independent activities. This basket will be taken out whenever I am preoccupied with the baby and will go back in a location out of Caleb's reach so that the activities don't lose their novelty. Some of these items that I am having to purchase (such as the puzzles and Color Wonder set) will be given to Caleb as a "gift" from his little brother once he arrives.

Here are some ideas for the basket's contents. I intend for Caleb to be sitting at a table or on the floor whenever he is doing these activities.

Puzzles: The Melissa and Doug puzzles are great for 2-year olds and I have found that TJ Maxx is the absolute cheapest place to buy them (they are normally 1/2 the price of anywhere else). If you go to Amazon, you can also find the Melissa and Doug Latches and Basic Skills boards which would be great fine-motor practice for your toddler. And remember...you can use your Swagbucks to purchase items from Amazon!

Color Wonder Marker Set: Caleb enjoys using crayons (and if I am brave, markers), but he still isn't great with keeping them on the paper. The markers in this set will only leave marks on the specific Color Wonder paper, so I don't have to worry about my carpet (or sofa, pillows, and walls). :) I was at Michael's the other day and used the 40% off coupon to purchase a set with markers and paper very inexpensively.

Shape Matching Game: This has been the hold up on posting these activities. I wanted to have it entirely made, but then with our crazy sickness this week...I decided to just take a picture of it unfinished. I made this "game" out of cardstock and the thin foam available at craft stores. I cut out identical shapes, then hot-glued one of the shapes onto the paper. I then trimmed the edges of the cardstock so that it will fit in a gallon-sized baggie. I will then include a smaller snack/sandwich size baggie inside the larger one that will hold the loose shapes. I am planning to take it to OfficeMax to laminate it. The object of the "game" is for the child to put the shape on top of the coordinating shape on the grid. Even though my little guy should be able to do this buy himself, I can still interact with him while he is doing it by telling him the names of the colors and shapes. If you have an older child, I would suggest adding more squares to your grid to make it more of a challenge.

Cereal Necklaces: Consider this an activity and snack in one! Give your child a new shoelace (so that there is the plastic still on the end, otherwise it will be too difficult for little fingers to string). Put a container of Fruit Loops (or any other kind of holed cereal with large enough holes that the shoelace will fit) on the table and let your child go to town! Afterwards, he/she can either eat it, or have you tie it and wear it as a necklace.

Feelie Bag: This too is an interactive activity that you can do while nursing or any other "baby duty." All you need is a paper bag (or a cloth bag if you are feeling really ambitious) and a variety of items with different textures. Some examples include both smooth and rough rocks, a wooden block, a small part of a paper egg carton, feathers, different types of cloth or anything else you can think of!

Place the items in the bag. Hold the bag closed, leaving just enough room for your little one's hand. Tell your child to pick out something hard/soft, smooth/rough, etc. Even if you child can't do it by him/herself at first, praise him/her for picking out an item and then correctly identify the item's texture. As your toddler gets older, encourage him/her to describe the texture in a complete sentence. After the item is taken out of the bag, encourage your child to use his/her eyes and describe the way that it looks (color, shape, etc).

You can also turn this into a guessing game by taking turns reaching your hands into the bag and describing the texture/feeling of the item. After a while, change out the items in the bag to make it new and exciting!

"I Spy" Bottle: This "toy" is made with an empty 20 oz. pop bottle (washed out, of course). Just add sand (either regular or colored) or rice until the bottle is 3/4 full. Then add your choice of tiny items that will fit into the mouth of the bottle. I would recommend adding a little hot glue to the inside of the cap before screwing it on to make sure that your ambitious toddler can't get it open. You can use household items like paper clips, jelly beans, coins, plastic action figures, etc. You can also cut out shapes from the remaining foam that you have left from the shape matching game. If you really want to spice it up, they have alphabet beads and other miniature items at craft stores that you can add. Keep it simple if your child is young...I would suggest no more than 10-12 items for a 2-year old. As your child gets closer to 2 1/2 or 3, make another or add more items.
Make a "key" with items in the bottle (and their pictures). While your child is still young, use the key to ask him/her to find specific items by saying "I spy with my little eyes a _______" or "something_______". As your little one gets older and more independent, he/she can "read" the key him/herself and find all of the items on the list.

*Another version I have seen is to use 1/2 water and 1/2 corn syrup with food coloring instead of sand or rice. Then you can add glitter and sequins.

Note: The pictures shown are from this website. I was planning on making my own prior to this post, but since we haven't been able to be out of the house for a week, I didn't have an opportunity to get all the needed supplies. As soon as I make one, I will post a picture as this one just isn't as cute as I'd like. :)

Additional Activities to add as he grows...

Playdough
Of course playdough will eventually be a fun independent activity, but he is still too young to not make a mess with it by himself. Here is a great recipe that I used in my classroom when I taught first grade (prior to having children). However, I would keep it away from the carpet and any upholstered furniture as food coloring is not forgiving! :)

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 cups water

2 tablespoons cooking oil

Food coloring
Optional: Food extracts to make it smell good (almond, vanilla, lemon, or peppermint)

Add the food coloring to the water. Then mix all of the ingredients together in a pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until it forms a soft ball. Let the mixture cool. Knead slightly. Add food extract(s). Store in an air-tight container.

Ziploc Bag Painting
Even though the intention of this bag is for it to be fully sealed, I am still a little apprehensive about it being an "independent" activity at this age. In time, however, I think this would be a great way to learn about colors (and how primary colors make secondary colors). Just put a gallon-sized baggy inside another baggy (double-protection). Then add tempera paint. Start with just one color and add more if you'd like. Close the bag and seal the top with duct tape. Let your child sit at a table and make designs in the paint without any mess.

*Another version I have seen is to add shaving cream in the bag to create a different texture!

So, that's it! Those are all of my ideas exhausted. And most of them aren't originally mine anyway...they've been borrowed from other people/books and tweaked with my child in mind. Us teachers are really good at "stealing" the ideas of others. :)

From what I've read and been told by other moms, one of the best things to do when you bring a new baby home is to involve the older sibling as much as possible. If your toddler is like mine, he loves to be a "helper." Have him go get a diaper or a pair of pajamas. Encourage him to sing to the baby and show him pictures in the books he's reading. Even if he brings the wrong diaper or outfit or doesn't do everything right, at least he feels like he's helping and is still part of the family.

Do you have any ideas for additional activities I can add to our "Independent Play" basket?

Helpless

We have had a scary past few days. On Saturday afternoon after we got back from the pumpkin patch, Caleb was running a slight fever when he woke up from his nap. We figured it was just because we were out in the cold all morning. However, the fever continued into Sunday morning. By late Sunday afternoon, his fever had soared to 105.7. Thankfully, my dad is a doctor and rushed over to make sure he was okay. Based on his symptoms, my dad was pretty sure that he had the H1N1 flu (because the seasonal flu isn't very prevalent this early here) but wanted to make sure that he didn't also have a bacterial infection on top of that. Kevin, Caleb, my mom, my dad, and I headed up to the nearby hospital to have a flu test and his blood drawn. Thankfully, his fever broke while we were at the hospital. We started him on the Tamiflu right away and he hasn't run a really high fever since early Monday morning. Today, he is fever-free, his cough is getting better, and he is back to his ornery self! I came down with it too on Monday, but started the Tamiflu early and that has helped me to have a VERY mild case.

I cannot tell you just how helpless I felt as I held him all day Sunday. All I wanted to do was take it away and make him feel better. I said countless prayers, asking God to help him. It gave me just the tiniest glimpse of the daily reality for parents with chronically ill children. However, this helpless feeling helped me realize just how dependent we are on God. Any control we feel that we have is really just an illusion. Most events in our lives are simply out of our hands. This realization has rejuvenated my desire to be more intimate in my relationship with God. Thankfully, our prayers were answered in healing Caleb. But even when things happen that I don't understand (they have in the past and I know they will again), I can rest assured that He is in control and His perfect plan will prevail. I might not see the full extent of that plan or purpose this side of Heaven, but that is where faith comes in. I am often comforted by Romans 8:28, "And in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

A Very Chilly Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Despite the frigid temperatures this morning, we still had a great time at the pumpkin patch! Since I've had difficulty with the Blogger uploading process, I've only posted a few pictures here (more are on Facebook). The actual pumpkin patch was really ugly this year (perhaps that's the reason for the pumpkin shortage we keep hearing about?), but there were so many things to do and we had a great time with friends. After we got home, we were "discussing" our pumpkin patch adventure with Caleb and we asked him what his favorite things were. He responded, so matter-of-factly, "Umm...slide, tractor." Each day I'm more amazed with how much he understands and how well he communicates. We are loving this age!!!

Caleb's "Almost" Big-Boy Room

Here it is...Caleb is SO PROUD of his new room! Whenever anyone comes to our house, he wants to take them to see his new room. He loves to put things back in their proper spot and will even go get his shoes out of his closet when it's time to leave the house.



He is sleeping in the room full-time now. Friday night was the first night he slept in there at night and when I turned off the TV to go to bed, I saw the nightlight from his old room glowing in the hallway and BROKE DOWN. Kevin awoke to a pregnant Mama literally weeping because my baby is growing up too fast (sniff, sniff). Like everything else, I am choosing to blame it on the pregnancy hormones. I think I have just about exhausted that excuse. ;)


Can you tell we're going with a transportation theme?

Oh, how I am so glad to get all of his books off of our living room floor!!!

The dresser, hutch, and chest of drawers in his bedroom was used by all three of my brothers and was purchased the same year I was born!!! Can you believe it went through 3 boys and still looks this good? We will move the coordinating twin bed into his room whenever we are ready and the time seems right...we are content having Caleb contained in a crib for now (and probably will be until after the baby starts sleeping well). There is also another twin bed that completes the set and the two beds can bunk once the boys get older. Kevin's parents let us borrow the crib in the room until we are ready to make the switch to the twin bed. :) Thanks to our parents for furnishing Caleb's room for us!!! The sham in front was bought at the Britches and Lace Consignment sale...on the half-price day! It is Pottery Barn and it came with a smaller sham and twin sheets!!! The quilt that will be on Caleb's twin-size bed will be the same as the sham in the back.

Caleb's "flying" airplane

The end of the curtain rod...just like Daddy's red truck!

We're not quite done with it. We still want to hang up his name and maybe order a quote/scripture to put on the wall. I think we'll wait to have the twin bed centered before we do that, though.

Parade Fun

The town we live in had its annual fall festival this past weekend. We went to the parade and Caleb had a blast! He loved watching all of the cars, trucks, horses, and floats. He especially loved all of the candy that they threw at us! Afterwards, we ate a quick Monterrey lunch at one of the local churches. We decided against the carnival after our experience at our last fall festival. I'm sure Caleb will enjoy some of the rides next year! :)

Our family...and one very chubby Mommy!

Watching in awe

Caleb, the triplets, and Grandma (who Caleb calls "Bumba")!

It was a chilly morning!