Do it yourself Fairy House!

I know, you're all thinking, "why would I EVER need to build a fairy house?" Or, "What's a fairy house?" Well, I'm about to answer your questions! You might need to build a fairy house after your 2 and 3 year old daughters become obsessed with Tinker Bell and want to build a fairy house for their new dolls. Or maybe you might want to catch a real fairy and keep it in a small cage for a pet...?

Well, either way, I built a fairy house with the girls today and it was lots of fun! They were thrilled that I would take the time to do this with them and it was fun to watch their imaginations bloom!!!

I took an old empty cardboard box, but a door into it, some windows on the back and drew all sorts of things on it and in it! :)

 Bailee was so excited to get her fairies "ready" to go inside!

 Here they are having lunch! :)

 They played with it for quite a while!

 Enjoy making your own, because I know you're all going to run out and make one tomorrow!!! ;0)

Need a babysitter?

He's not even a year old, but he would be the perfect babysitter! 

Your baby is guaranteed to have lots of drool on its face!

 He gives bottles (in the eye balls, but still, he tries!)

 He samples the milk to make sure it's not spoiled or too hot!

 He'll even hold your babies hand while babysitting! :)

 For an extra fee he'll even sing your baby his famous "Ooooo" song!

So? What do you think? He is available to babysit for the fee of 2 kisses/hour and 

can be reached at 1-800-baby-slobber! :0)

Van Tassel Pecking Order

Yesterday I wrote a blog about birth order and how it's starting to become very evident in my children's lives. Our family dynamics are starting to change now that Jack is getting around very easily on his own. He is not quite walking but is all over the place and into everything ~ including the girl's toys!

Since he has been cruising around I have noticed a big change in the way the kids play. The girls used to sit down contently and play together, but now they are very cautious about where they sit and what they take out. I often find them playing at the kitchen table or on their beds now since Jack can't reach up there.

Jack is also much more temperamental and fussy when he doesn't get his way. We used to have a rule that if Jack was in your way that the girls could ask me nicely and I would just move him. Now he throws a big fit when the girls take his toy or he gets removed from their play space. He is definitely taking on the role of pesky little brother! :0)

I know it's only a matter of time before I am hearing, "Mom, Jack is touching our stuff!" Or "JACK get out of our room!" I never had a little brother, but I now see why people always complained about their little brothers getting in the way! We all love him but he really does make messes of the girl's things! :0)

Birth Order in your Family

I'm sure many of you know the "rules" of birth order in a family. If not, it usually goes like this... the first born is bossy, goal-oriented, and strong willed. The second born or middle child is more easy going,  independent and a peace maker. The baby of the family is well, the baby. He/she might be more outgoing and competitive or maybe creative.

This may not apply to everyone because there are definitely exceptions, but I've found in our house that this is pretty much true. It makes things difficult sometimes because Bailee and I are both first born daughters and tend to butt heads a lot. Mia is also a typical middle child that goes with the flow often and tends to be flexible when needed. Jack is starting to show signs of being the baby and likes to be pampered and babied.

I think birth order is fascinating and love reading about different birth order traits and seeing them play out in all kinds of relationships (marriages, siblings, parent/child, etc...) I found a few interesting sites about birth order and this interesting chart... Check them out and see where you fall! :)

First	Middle	Last	Only
Natural Leader	Flexible	Risk-taker	Close to parents
High Achiever	Easy-going	Outgoing	Self-control
Organized	Social	Creative	Leader
On-time	Peacemakers	Self-centered	Mature
Know-it-all	Independent	Financially irresponsible	Dependable
Bossy	Secretive	Competitive	Demanding
Responsible	May feel life is unfair	Bored easily	Unforgiving
Adult-pleaser	Strong negotiator	Likes to be pampered	Private
Obeys the rules	Generous	Sense of humor	Sensitive

Are you a first born? Read here for first born traits

Are you a middle child? Read here for middle born traits

The baby in the family? Read here!

How about an only child? Read your traits!

So, what do you think? Do you fit in with your "birth order" traits, or are you a variable and don't fit it? It's fun to watch your children and see if they fit in to their birth order and to think about your marriage and if birth order affects why it does or doesn't work well for you both!

It's just fun to think about! :0)

You NEED to buy a CO2 alarm!

For the past 10 days or so our family had been dealing with the flu, or so we thought. Four out of the five of us had vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, headaches, fatigue, and other "flu-like" symptoms. It didn't seem to go away and our littlest children seemed to be affected the most. I was basically taking life one day at a time, one hour at a time, one vomiting spell at a time because there was nothing else I could do.

Well, yesterday morning at 4:30 am Tom and I both sat straight up in bed and looked right at each other. There was a high pitched screeching beeping sound coming from our kitchen. We didn't know what it was at first but quickly realized that our CO2 monitor was going off. It was VERY loud and so we quickly removed it from the wall and brought it into our bedroom. (We were hoping it wouldn't wake the kids.)

When we looked at the number on the monitor we realized something was wrong. It always blinked "0" but at that moment it was in the 60-70 range. We weren't sure what exactly that meant, so we got out the manual and started to read it very closely. The first thing it said was to get outside and call "911." We opened all the windows and called 911. They told us to get the kids out of the house and wait for the fire department to arrive.

Well, anyone with little children knows that waking 3 babies up from their sleep and getting them out of the house wouldn't be an easy task. So, first I asked Tom to start the van and I called my mom. She said we could definitely come stay there until things were figured out. I quietly scooped the kids up out of their beds and told them (with a smile of coarse) that we were going to go for a little ride in the van. They looked confused but were calm and happy to be "going bye bye!"

The fire department sent two fire trucks, a ton of fire fighters and a few police cars. We had our own parade in our front yard and the kids thought it was great. They determined that it was our coal stove that was producing CO2 and that we needed to leave the house unoccupied and open for the remainder of the day. Tom opened all the windows and we left for my mom's house where we spent the day.

I am just SO thankful that we had the alarm and that it was working properly! We could have had a much more severe or deadly experience and I am just thanking God for keeping us safe!

Since yesterday we have turned off the coal stove until we can figure out how to make it run properly and are enjoying lots of fresh air! I cannot imagine what would have happened if that alarm had not woken us up. I am counting my blessings!!!

So, I am begging you to go out tomorrow and buy a CO2 alarm. They don't cost much and could save your lives! (This is the one we have.) We never would have expected this to happen to us, but it did and we were grateful for the protection!

We thought we had the flu, and we still might have, but the symptoms of CO2 poisoning are identical to what we were suffering with. So I'm just trying to educate all of you out there and just giving you a warning that it could happen to anyone!

It's 1:27... What the heck's going on?

Blogging has not been a part of my normal everyday routine lately. I've been too busy to sit down and type something but it's been on my mind. I've decided that 24 hours in a day is not enough for me. (But the problem still wouldn't be fixed if there were more hours because I would find a way to fill them up!)

Today is different. I've been up since 4:45 with little Miss Mia. She's home sick with the flu and not feeling well at all. It all started at 1:27 am...

I was dreaming of some warm wonderful place when I found Mia on top of me in our bed. I looked at her and said, "What the heck is going on?" That woke up Tom and startled Mia. I was still half asleep when I realized I had a toddler on me. (The joys of motherhood!)

I quickly scooped her up and started giving her the lecture about staying in her own bed when I felt her whole body tense up... yup, she threw up allllllllllllll over me! I yelled to Tom who had already fallen back asleep and he jumped up to help me. It was too late, I was covered.

Mia cried because she's 2 and didn't understand what was happening. I'm glad she realized that something was wrong and came to get me. And then in our 1/2 asleep state we cleaned her up the best we could. I sat with her on the couch for quite a while until she was calm enough to put back in her own bed.

The night seemed to disappear between Jack's feedings, checking in on Mia and then at 4:45 I heard her throwing up again in her bed. :-( Nothing breaks a mom's heart more than seeing your little baby dry heaving so much that she's crying in between breaths. I knew at that time that I was up and awake for the day.

Therefore, I have lots of extra time to blog today... well, not really. I've spent the morning holding a sick child on the couch, changing bedding and trying to keep Jack out of the mess. Luckily Tom stayed home to help because I'm not sure how I would handle poor little Mia's meltdowns every time I leave the room. Right now she's freshly bathed and taking a morning nap, so I can only hope that her toast and gatorade stays in her belly!!

Now that the flu has infested our house I pray that the rest of us don't become sick too... only time will tell!

Baby Sign Language

When Bailee was a baby we started teaching her a few simple baby sign language words and she just took off with it! We were so surprised as new parents to see that our young baby could communicate with us so effectively! I was shocked at how fast she learned it and how it seemed so natural to everyone! It helped her "talk" to us and helped us to better understand each other. If she was hungry she could tell me, if she wanted more she could say that, etc... It really helped with her frustration levels and really helped me as a mom connect with her!

Ever since then her vocabulary and learning abilities have increased dramatically! We taught our second daughter, Mia, the same way and she also picked up on the new language rapidly! We even found that Bailee was teaching Mia a lot and showing her over and over again how to sign a new word.

Our third child, Jack, is now 9 months old and learning sign language too. He has mastered "bye-bye" (that's typically the first sign for most babies), "more", "yes", and he is working on "drink", "eat", "please", and "thank you." I have a lot of people ask me about baby sign, so I thought I would just give a few tips... I'm no expert, but if I can teach my kids sign then you can too!!!

1. Have fun!
This should always be something that you enjoy and want to have fun doing. Once your baby senses that you're not having fun he/she won't want to engage with you. Keep it fun and it should appear like you're playing a game, not teaching a lesson!

2. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat (get the idea!)
Your baby will NOT learn this immediately. Keep showing and saying the word over and over again. For instance, when giving "more" Cheerios for a snack, say "more" out loud and sign it at the same time. Say it a few more times and then do the sign with your babies hands. Do this every day for a few weeks. Eventually he/she will get the idea and sign back to you when prompted. :0)

3. Keep smiling!
Even when your baby doesn't get it right away, keep smiling. They are not a failure if he/she doesn't learn quickly. Remember this is a game to your child, so don't get frustrated!

4. Encourage more words but keep practicing new!
Once you're baby has learned a word, wait a week or so before introducing a new one. Keep practicing the old ones too, you don't want everyone (including you) to forget what you've been teaching!

5. Watch and learn from your baby!
Both of my girls starting "signing" words to me that they made up! I would watch them move their arms and hands very deliberately and have a very serious look in their eyes before I realized that they had made up their own sign that I did not know! It was funny at first and then I realized that their need to communicate with me was very real, so pay attention! Your child may teach you a thing or two!!

Like I said, I am not expert, but here are a few websites that might help too!!

www.babies-and-sign-language.com A baby signing glossary/dictionary! It shows you how to do many different signs!

www.signingbaby.com

babystrology.com/baby-learning/baby-sign-language I thought this one was really neat! The baby shows you how to do each sign at the click of a button!

I'm sure there are hundreds of books, resources, videos and websites, so feel free to search them yourself! I hope this helps those of you who were wondering about baby sign... go ahead and give it a try!