Mothership Confessional

I spent several hours DEALING WITH MY KIDS' TOYS the other day. I like to rotate their toys, but I haven't done it in several months, and it was way overdue! I'm going to tell you WHAT toy rotation is, HOW to do it, and WHY you should do it! Kids have a lot of toys, and it seems like they never seem to play with all of them and there's never enough space to organize them! With toy rotation, you put at least half  of the toys away, and rotate them out every so often. This controls the mess (to a degree), creates new interest in old or forgotten toys (maybe because all the toys can actually be seen ), and makes for a happier, cleaner home! A lot of my personal struggle with toy rotation is simply the logistics  of it. You'll need to have space to store toys where the kids cannot access them. This could be a closet, basement, a room away from the usual play area(s), or even a locked cabinet. Storage space is something a lot of us struggle with, I think! And oft...

So I haven't done one of these posts in a long  time because life got a little crazy! And it still is - but I was feeling like I needed to do something Ava-focused that is new and exciting for her! I've always wanted to make sensory bins for her, but I've been waiting for her to pass the phase where she puts everything in her mouth. The last time I tried this activity with her I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Liam and Ava was around 15 months old, and she would take fist fulls of rice and shove it in her mouth at our playgroup!! So now that she is 2, I feel that she is ready to try it again! I used to make Toddler Sensory Bags for her since she clearly wasn't ready for an open bin! I went to Walmart this morning and bought a big bag of the cheapest rice, cheapest dry beans, and I picked 2 fun items to go into the sensory bins. I chose a variety pack of pom poms (because she loves playing with cotton balls) and a little packet of plastic gems (because...

I feel like someone has turned a page into a new chapter in my book of being a mother. Chris and I were talking after we got home from our Kansas trip and we both agree that Ava seems to know that she is a 1 year-old. She just acts bigger!  She learned how to say "cracker". It just sounds like "kkkkkkkkkkkk" at the back of her throat! She's pretty impressed with herself when she says it! She walks everywhere! She has really become a walking expert and doesn't even crawl at all anymore. She also doesn't want anyone to hold her hand while she walks. She's very into the "me do it" phase with walking! She just acts like a such a big girl! It's almost as if the universe knew she turned one and now all these changes are happening. It makes me so happy to see her loving life and learning new things each day. I love all the communicating she can do - she finally signed "more" a few weeks ago and I love when she does i...

I have always had an eye for creating fun things for kids as a preschool teacher, and now that I am a mommy, I have been anxiously awaiting Ava to "come of age" for some DIY toys from household items! We recently emptied a roll of paper towels, and my instinct was to just throw the empty roll away.  But I stopped myself. What can I make with this? A baby rainstick! It's not fancy by any means, but my baby loves it! Here's What You'll Need: Empty paper towel roll (or a toilet paper roll) Clear packing tape Jingle bells (or other fillers - see below) Tissue paper Here's What to Do: Begin by taping one end of the paper roll closed. You will want to fold the tape over itself so the items inside won't stick to the tape. Tape well so the contents will not come out. Fill your paper roll with the jingle bells. And by fill, I mean toss a few in . There really doesn't need to be that many "noisemakers" in there...

I have found that as a new mommy, I am very interested in what other babies do all day, more specifically, what their routine is like. Every baby is so different, as is each household they live in. Since this is my first child, all I know is what Ava does. I have to say, I felt very out of place as an Army wife when we arrived at our first duty station. We only knew one other person here, and so I had zero friends. As female adults, it can be difficult to make new friends. And what does every Army wife sit around and talk about? Kids. Dogs. Deployments. At the time, I had none  of those. (well, I had experienced a deployment, but we weren't married yet and it was a Reservist Deployment, so it was "not on the same playing field".) My husband was encouraging me to branch out and meet people, and I had to try to explain to him that I had nothing to talk about, since all the conversations inevitably end up about kids. And all I could do was listen and smile politely. ...