Organizing Jigsaw Puzzles

Part of my New Year's Resolutions was to organize my house better. As a parent to both a three and a one year old, the constant battle we are having are toys. However, the worst of all the "toys" are the millions of jigsaw puzzle pieces that we own.

This kid of mine LOVES puzzles:

With puzzles comes all of these annoying boxes that become very hard to store, lose shape which causes pieces to fall out of the side, and then we have lost pieces. 

One day as I was on facebook, I saw an ad on the side for a photo box organizer. (Like the one time I actually look at that sidebar!) It was something similar to this:

I had an idea that this might be just what I need to organize these puzzles. This box opens up and contains little boxes (originally designed to hold 4"x6" photos) but all I could think of is PUZZLE PIECES!

Let the puzzle organization begin! I first decided to make sure all of our puzzles had all their pieces. We put them together and I marked the back of each puzzle with a different symbol. If they ever get mixed up, it will make it easier to tell them apart. 

Next, I took all of the puzzle boxes and scanned the image. (You could just cut the box instead, but I wanted it to be more uniform.)

I printed the images out and trimmed them up.

Then I affixed them to the inside of each box and filled them with the jigsaw puzzle pieces.

The results are wonderful. All the puzzles fit great and it's a nicely organized way to keep the puzzles together.

Looks a bit more organized to me, how about you?

One problem area of my life solved! If you have a great toy organization tip for kids toys I would love to hear it, just comment below!

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The Joys Of Toddlerhood: Bad Behavior

I am really not quite sure how to write this blog, so I guess I will just start out with how much I love my little angel Aiden. He was born with the blondest hair, the longest eyelashes, and the cutest smile. He is a spirited toddler to say the least but always so cute and sweet that I have no problem putting up with his occasional orneriness....until this week....

It all started the other day at Target. Aiden and I were having a Mom's day out with my Mom's group at the local orchard and I had it all planned out:  Aiden and I riding the hay ride to the orchards, him asking all sorts of cute questions, teaching him how to properly pick apples, and getting a few Mama & Me selfies with my phone. It was going to be perfect! However, on the way out to the orchard I realized that I forgot my lip gloss. (For those of you who know me, I am very addicted to the stuff.) I had this brilliant idea to pop into Target, pick up some lip gloss and a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte and head to the orchard. The idea of sipping a PSL on the hayride with the brisk morning air blowing through my hair holding my little man's hand, just made the morning seem even more appealing.

As I was daydreaming in the checkout line I hear the cry of another kid and turn around to find my toddler standing over some stranger's kid yelling "NO! You put that back!" I was shocked! I have never seen him act this way. Sure I have seen other toddlers be bossy, push to get what they want, and throw tantrums --but that's not my kid. I apologized about 10 times to the other child's mother and made my toddler apologize not only at that moment but again when we were leaving. This poor child's Mom just looked at me and shook her head with that look of "you are the worst Mom ever!" 

Fast forward to today. I am involved in a local MOPS group and today was the meeting. My son loves MOPS days because it's his time to play with other kids in a daycare setting. This morning I walked him into the daycare and let the ladies working know we had been having issues with him pushing other kids and being mean. I figured it's my duty as a parent to let them know. I thought maybe a little pep-talk before playtime would keep him from being a mean little boy, however on my return I find we had not one but two more "mean" incidents with other kids.  WHERE DID MY LITTLE ANGEL GO!?!?!

I arrived home with my son without saying much to him the car ride. When Mom is quiet, he knows he is in big trouble! After talking with my husband, we both agreed that we really had no idea what to do about this mean behavior. The normal timeouts just don't seem to be a big enough punishment in situations like this. Hurting others and being mean is not OK and he needed to learn that. We decided the best punishment for him would be to remove all toys and books from his room. He HAD to figure out that this is not good behavior and maybe being bored with no toys in his room will teach him that.

While my toddler took his nap today I still couldn't get over his attitude and all the questions I have about why he is acting this way. Where did our sweet toddler go? Where did he learn this? Are we yelling too much? Is it something he is watching something he shouldn't? Is he not getting enough attention? Are we not punishing him enough? The questions went on and on.

I felt the sudden urge to go for a run, even though it was raining and we were having threats of tornadoes (in October??) I went anyways. On my run, there was something I figured out. I am not quite sure if I am more upset about my toddler acting out or was I more upset with myself? Don't get me wrong --my toddler was being extra naughty this week, but isn't that what a toddler does? No one says, "Oh, the toddler years are so easy!" They wouldn't call the the terrible twos or horrible threes without a good reason. I wonder if I am more upset because these incidents have me questioning myself as a parent. I don't like the feeling of being judged by others as a bad parent because of the way my toddler was acting. I don't like thinking that maybe we really don't know how to raise a good child. I don't like questioning if we are raising him to be a good adult or maybe another Dexter? How does a parent really know if they are doing the right thing with their child?

Later that evening, I happened to be at the grocery store and watched another child about my son's age throwing a tantrum in the produce section. He was yelling at his mom, smashing the children's cart into stacks of produce, and pushing his sister to the floor. The mother looked at me with embarrassment and then looked away quickly. It was at that moment I decided to walk up to her and say to a perfect stranger, "I know how you feel, my son was having a bad day too. Don't you just love this age!" She smiled and laughed a little with both of us in silent agreement that these toddler years are tough. We all have our bad days and it's important to remember that toddler's do to. They are learning to become little adults and all of these new found social skills are tough. That doesn't mean that we let them get away with murder or throwing tantrums that hurt others, but we do need to realize that this is part of what they have to learn in life. Parenting a toddler takes patience and true understanding that none of us are perfect parents. We just need to keep trying our best, stay consistent in the disciplining, and say lots and lots of prayers that our children will turn out fine.

UPDATE: I wrote this blog a month ago and can say that the "mean" behavior has gotten much better. Being consistent with timeouts, losing books before bed, and taking toys away has really helped him realize that there is always a punishment for bad behavior. He is back to being a sweet little boy again...on most days!

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The Joys of Toddlerhood: Potty Training

It's that time in every parent's life where you have to tackle the fun 'potty training' adventure. My son is officially 2 1/2 years old and we felt like it is time to begin this somewhat interesting (difficult) process.

For the last 6 months we have taken him to the potty on several occasions, but nothing really serious. I could tell he just wasn't quite ready, until now. We went on a week long trip down to Oklahoma to see GG (great grandma) and while down there Aiden told me very loudly that he needed to use the potty...and he went...not once, not twice, but five times. It was time.

That is where this guy came in:

Meet the Potty Penguin.  I had this genius idea to order this timer for him to set every 30 minutes to remind him (really me) that it was potty time. And boy, did I build up this Potty Penguin. While on our trip I kept telling him, "You know when we get back the Potty Penguin is going to have to you sit on the potty!" and "Are you excited for the Potty Penguin!" and "It is going to be so fun for Potty Penguin to live with us!" Really I think I built this guy up WAY TOO MUCH! I think in his mind, this Potty Penguin was cooler than Santa. I seriously wonder what was going on in his mind and it makes me laugh a little at all the scenarios he was thinking about this Potty Penguin. 

The moment arrived when we returned from out trip to find a small Amazon box sitting on our porch. We waited until the morning to open it up. His excitement was unreal! As I opened the box, he looked in --almost disappointed-- at this little tiny penguin timer. Then I showed him his new Mickey underwear and he became a little more excited. I explained to him "Aiden we are done with diapers. The Potty Penguin will make a noise and that will mean you need to sit on the potty. The noise sounds like this..." and I set the timer to a minute. The minute went by and nothing....no sound. We were both disappointed now. I forced it to ring and he became very excited! I put him in his new Mickey undies, set the timer to 30 minutes and waited for the "potty time". At 15 minutes, the timer went off for about 2 seconds....what?!?! was this! Needless to say, after a few attempts this awesome idea of the Potty Penguin was over. The timer was broken to start with.

Even though my original idea fell through, I thought I would just write on what I felt has worked so far in this potty training adventure. We are going into day 3 and other then naps/night he is very potty trained. Here is what I have done so far that has seemed to work.

1.Wait until they are ready: Advice I have received from so many of my friends who were mothers before me was to wait until he was ready to start. They all said the same thing. It's something that will happened eventually, but don't force it. Some kids just do it later then others. When I tried in the past, he just wasn't that interested but really was showing the signs now. This post on baby center is a great resource.
2. No Pull-ups: The first time he went in pull-ups he didn't care --it was just like a diaper. The big boy undies work best. He knows when he is wet and doesn't like it. Honestly, most of the day I have let him go commando around the house and he has no accidents. The two accidents he has had, he was wearing the undies and forgot to hold it. The naked method seems to work the best.
3. Timer: Even though it's a plain old timer, it works. I set it for 30 minutes and he knows he needs to sit on the potty. He stops it and starts it on his own each time.
4. Potty Chair: Some parents hate dealing with this but I don't have to lift him up to get on it which is great for me. It is always close by and when the timer goes off he will run over and sit on it himself.
5. Routine: It helps to make a routine. The timer goes off, he shuts it off & starts it again, sits on the potty for a few minutes. When he goes, I pick up the potty bowl and carry it to the toilet, he dumps it in the toilet, flushes it, washes his hands and gets a treat. He likes the routine and gets mad if I don't stick to it (totally a first child!)
6. Treats: Have lots of them --I didn't and wish I would have. I started with gummy worms, but ran out. I went to fruit snacks, but ran out. Now since I haven't had time to make it to the store he is eating all my Dove dark chocolate :) Whatever works right?
7. Rules: Make rules like "No sitting on the couch or bed" and "You must wash your hands after going potty" Also, I no longer buckle him in his chair for meals so we have an easier escape to the chair if needed.

Anyways, those little tips have seemed to work for us. We are on day 3 and he is doing great. I figure once we tackle the daytime we will work on naps next. I predict some wet sheets in the future...

If you have any potty training tips, I would love to hear them! Anything to make this toddler adventure easier!

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DIY: Valentine's Day Heart Bird Feeder

Is there anything sweeter then a little boy and his Grandma?? Or in my son's case his Farmor? There is! And that is watching them make these super cute heart shape bird feeders together!

Here is what you need to make these super cute bird feeders ---btw a GREAT gift idea for Valentine's Day! 

1 1/2 cups of birdseed
2 (1/4 oz) packages of unflavored gelatin
heart shaped cookie cutters
cooking spray
wax paper
twine

Step 1:  Mix 1/2 cup of water and gelatin together in a bowl.

Stir until dissolved.

Step 2: Pour in 1 1/2 cups of birdseed.


Step 3: Measure about 7 inches of twine out and cut it.

Tie the twine in a knot to make a loop.

Step 4: Lay heart shaped cookie cutters on some wax paper and spray with cooking spray.

Step 5: Fill the cookie cutters half full of the birdseed mixture.

Step 6: Press the birdseed down into the cookie cutter.

Step 7: Lay the twin loop on the birdseed.

Step 8:  Top the twine with more birdseed until cookie cutter is full.  (Look at those cute little hands!)

You will end up with a couple really cute heart-shaped filled cookie cutters.

Step 9: Let the cookie cutters dry for a few hours and then gently unmold the feeders. Let the birdfeeders dry for another 72 hours until hard.

 Step 10: Find a nice spot, preferable near a window, to hang your finished heart bird feeder.

And enjoy the view as you show the birds in your neighborhood some love!!!

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Baby 2.0: Being A Mother Of Two Children

It's been officially one month since we brought home our second child Remy. It feels strange, because I can honestly say that it hasn't felt like it's been a month. Things have been going pretty good, but you can tell by my lack of blogging that I have been a little busy. With that said, I have been pretty good about responding to the random emails I get from a number of friends asking many questions--- such as "How are you doing?" "Are you getting sleep?" "Are you going insane yet?" and more along those lines. I love the concern that my friends have and thought I would write a blog about the most common question of all,  "What's it like having two kids?"  Well here it goes....

The Second Is Easier
I know this one is a HUGE statement to start out this blog, but I really feel (and might regret) saying that so far having a second child is easier. I say this because you aren't as jumpy or as clueless of a parent the second time around. I remember when we first had Aiden and any little noise he made would send me running over to the bassinet. You aren't familiar with nursing (which I can say now I have had two kids, Aiden was SUPER hard to nurse) and you just aren't accustom to all the other things that come with a baby (burping, diapers, crying, and lack of sleep.) With the second one, it's just like a repeat, especially if you are like me and can remember doing it with the first one not very long ago. Now, I should also say that God has blessed me with not one, but two calm babies with quiet cries-- who enjoy sleeping.  This could change any minute with her and I might regret writing these words because she is only a month old, but so far she has been an easy baby to have.

The Balancing Act

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It's somewhat of a balancing act to have a 2 year old and a 1 month old. As an only child your toddler is use to you praising every little accomplishment, laughing at all the silly things they do, and comforting every little noise of frustration they might make. When the second child comes along, it's hard to be there to "reaffirm" every little action he or she makes. Between lack of sleep, nursing a newborn, changing multiple diapers daily, and trying to maintain your household it becomes very hard to notice every little movement the first child makes and give them the praise you use to. They notice this and it's hard for them to understand. I know it's very hard it is for him to comprehend having a sibling this at this age, so I try to make my best effort to give him my undivided attention between all the other activities going on around the house. Even if it's yelling "Good job buddy!" all the way across the house, he hears me and notices that I am noticing him.

Super Powers

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With the second child comes a type of parenting super power you never wished you had so much with the first--- the ability to not just protect one child, but now two children. It sounds easy enough, but you never realize until you bring home child number 2 that you might have to protect them from child number 1, especially a toddler! My toddler is all boy....loud, hyper, rough, and dirty. With the new baby around, I have to make sure he understands he can't be so rough with her and it's very difficult for him to understand. The other day I turned my back for a second and he was trying to shove a bottle into her mouth. (It was seriously a second-- I walked 5 feet from the table to the kitchen.) He has a habit of shoving a stuff in her face and yelling "THANK YOU BROTHER" as he things he is being helpful. Although you can't really grow eyes in the back of your head (which would be nice), I now have to learn to scan the room for any "harmful scenarios" that could take place between a toddler and a baby. He is learning not to be as rough with her, but he still has to be reminded once in a while.


Enjoy The Moments

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In all the not so fun times of adding a second baby, it's important to remember to enjoy the moments with your kiddos especially in hard times. I found at first I was becoming very frustrated with having two kids. It gets overwhelming to change 7 "stinky" diapers in 2 hours or have your toddler mimic the cry of the baby at the same time to get attention. Not to mention the hormone fluctuations that come with just having a baby. Life can be hard adjusting to two kids and I found myself yelling more and honestly most of the yelling was directed at my toddler. Not screaming or anything like that, but just yelling "No" or "Timeout" louder. Let's face it, toddlers do naughty things because they don't know any better and they are learning. I had to stop and remind myself that at this moment-- the moment when I have a 2 year old and a 1 month old-- will never happen again! This is the only time in my life when my kids will be this age. I don't want to feel like all I do is yell at my kids. I don't want my toddler to learn yelling is the way to handle stress. I don't want the baby to grow up only knowing a mother who yells. It's important to realize that these "hard time" are not really hard. They are uncomfortable moments, but will for sure make good memories some day. It's important to keep my cool, control my emotions, and speak in a normal voice for the benefit of all of us.


Ask For Help

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This one is a given. With the second child, you have less time to get things done like you use to so asking for help needs to be done. I don't think I have every had a problem asking for help when I have needed to. I am one of those people that speaks their feelings, so asking for help just comes naturally to me. I have no problem asking my Mom to watch the kids or the husband to vacuum the living room, but I have now found a new resource of help--- my toddler. Toddlers LOVE to help out with anything they can and I take full advantage of it! Aiden enjoys getting the burp rag, throwing the diapers away, getting my water bottle, unloading the dishwasher, and even burping his sister (which he has learned to do gently.) It makes me happy (and sad) to see how much he is no longer by baby but a helpful little boy that LOVES to help his Mama out!

Well that is how being mother of two has been going for me. Times aren't perfect always, but we are learning as each day goes by...and WOW is time flying by! I can't believe it's already been a month! 

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The Joys of Toddlerhood: The Food Battle Part 1

Periodically I have been posting about The Joys of Toddlerhood (Part 1 & Part 2) and the fun that comes with these years! When I say fun, I actually mean it! Everyday is like a new adventure for him and it's fun to watch him grow and learn! A common battle with these toddler years is the food battle and I thought it would be a fun blog to write about this topic. I have several friends with kids his age or soon to be kiddos his age that have asked me what I do for food so hopefully I can answer all their questions with this two-part blog. 

In this first part I will start out with my philosophy on eating and in the second part I will cover some foods he loves to eat and I keep on hand for him to eat.

What We Eat

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I am not a person who believes in only buying organic, grass-fed, all natural, and no sugar items for our food.  I am not vegetarian or vegan and we don't have any special diets we follow. I have nothing against those people that buy that way and I will buy the items if they are a great price, but normally I buy what is available to me and cost effective. I do buy items that are lower sugar, low salt, and I try to cook all my meals....which translates to we don't buy a lot of perservity pre-processed foods. We have a large garden and I use as much as I can out of our garden and can/freeze what I can't use. However, saying this, you will find some pre-proccessed foods on my list (in the next post) for convenience and I always say

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What He Eats

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A few months ago we went through this food battle, sort of. I noticed he was becoming picky about his eating and wouldn't eat certain things we put in front of him. My son like meat and fruit. Everything else is just something to play with. When we first became parents, we decided to feed him what we eat. He doesn't get some special meal of hot dogs and chicken nuggets every meal....he eats the exact same food we are having for that meal.  He eats what we eat and if he doesn't like it, he doesn't eat. At first I felt guilty, scared he might starve to death, but my husband put me in check. He said "People are programmed to eat when they are hungry and even if they don't like the food, they will eventually eat it." With his medical experience, I decided he is most likely right. I usually feel just fine knowing that he eats one really good meal each day, which he does. 


Variety Is The Spice of Life

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I have found that my child likes a variety of foods. Each meal I give him a small amount of a each item that we eat and throw in a little extras. He will eat little bites of everything and overall gets a nice variety of nutrition from each item. Muffin Tin Mom has some great ideas for meals for your toddler if you want an example of foods. I don't use the muffin tin, but it's a good concept. 


In addition to variety, we let him try new things all the time. For instance, my son really didn't like salad until one day while out to eat with my husband's aunt she gave him a piece of her lettuce that had balsamic vinegar on it.  You know what, HE LOVED IT! Now when we have salad, he eats his with balsamic vinegar on it! I am not big on condiments so I try to keep those to a minimum but we have found he likes barbecue sauce with his baked french fries, so I let him eat that too. 


Eat Like A Grown-Up

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In addition to eating the same meals we eat, I have started to transitioning him over to grown-up eating. He sits in a booster seat at our table, eats with glass plates and metal silverware , and even puts his hands together in prayer before every meal. (Obviously, with the forks you have to watch him very closely, but we are right next to him.) I think he likes the feeling of being a "big boy" and the newness of the glass plate and metal silverware he uses are something different to play with so he eats more. We hope to tackle the normal cup soon!


Give Up The Battle

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I will not fight with my child over his food and decided to give up any battle that might arise with his food. I like to give him options. Today for breakfast, I asked him if he wanted Nutella or peanut butter on his toast, he chose peanut butter.  He can choose between mozzarella cheese or cheddar cheese, cucumber or green pepper, grapes or strawberries....  If he eats, he eats.  If not, he will be hungry later and he will get the same plate that he didn't eat before. I do this quite a bit with lunch because sometimes he isn't very hungry for lunch after his big breakfast and usually an hour later he will walk over to his chair and say "eat". He gets the same plate again and will usually eat it. 


I hope this post helped some of you Moms out there with the food battle you might be having with your little one(s). I am no expert on kids, as this is my first, but have found these little rules work great for us. However, one thing I have noticed being a Mom is all children are different...so this might work for me, but not work for you. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the post and look for part two of the post where I list off some of the best toddler foods to keep on hand. 

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The Joys of Toddlerhood Part 2

A few weeks back I posted my first blog about the 'Joys of Toddlerhood' and hope to make it somewhat of a series that I can use as a way to vent my frustrations of toddlerhood, but also look back and enjoy reading all the fun times with my child.

Toddlerhood is here to stay, complete with all the bumps and bruises that go with it. My little guy got his first scrapes on his elbow the other day. From what, I have no idea. I should say that I am not a bad parent, for not knowing when my kid gets hurt, but I have one tough kid! He will take a spill like Steve-O from Jackass and will barely make a peep. He was blessed with my husband's non-dramatic personality, so he usually stays pretty calm even when he has hurt himself.

Each day he becomes more and more aware of his surroundings. He will point at the sky and yell "Bird" when he hears the birds. He loves to play with earthworms and watch the frogs jump in our pond. (We have tried to catch a frog, but they are way too fast for us!) He experienced his first run through the sprinkler the other day. He has always been a kid that loves water, but I soon quickly found out that he is not a fan of the sprinkler's ice cold water for a long period of time.

Though I talk about my son as if he is some sort of angel, he is not. One thing that has come with toddler years is the whining. The constant, non-stop, daily whining.

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It's enough to make a woman go insane and it really tests my patience, I am sure the whining is his form of communication until he develops more words. I notice his whining is worse when he is tired and hungry, so usually I will try to subside him with food or sleep. However, on occasion, it seems like he just likes to walk around an whine. I guess that is just one of the fun parts of having toddler. My husband and I have decided that whining is a bad habit and to adopt a "No Whining" policy.

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Even though it is hard to really enact forms of discipline, the phrase "No whining" probably comes out of my mouth about 50 times a day. After one warning, we do the "That's One" count down to a time out. (As instructed by the 1-2-3 Magic Discipline Book.) Some people might think it's mean to do timeouts on a 17 month old, but with our son we can tell he knows the difference between right and wrong and it's a good way to reinforce it.

After talking to my older sister, she says the whining battle is a battle you will fight for the years to come. She still sometimes has to remind her kids (now 9 and 6) that they need to quit whining. Right now, I feel like my son mainly whines as a way to communicate and also get attention. (Much like the fake coughing he does.)  No matter the reason for the whining, it will not be tolerated this house. Or at least we will do the most we can to prevent it. I am sure it's just one of the many fun things that comes with the toddler years!

To end this post on a happy note, my son has learned the word "No". Now I think many parents cringe at the thought of their child learning "No" but I have found it quite hilarious. My child has decided that right before he is going to do something naughty he will repeat to himself "no, no, no." It's a great warning for me and it also shows me, even more, that a toddler can understand so much more than they can communicate.

So for now, we will make it through these whining times and cherish the times when hearing "no" makes me laugh. Parenting isn't for the weak, but I think in the end all the bad times will outweigh the good and it's good for me to remember to keep my cool.

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