Hittin' the books.

We're about to be schooled. Or at least, enlightened. Hopefully.

We've been having a few struggles in the Tbaugh household lately. Nothing out of the ordinary for a family with two very spirited, stubborn and sassy (not to mention stylish!) children. Typical power struggles, tantrums, screaming matches, etc between the girls and with us. And some major sleep issues with the little one. We're all a bit worn out and grumpy. So we figured it wouldn't hurt to call in the experts.

No, not Mary Poppins. Although I wish I had her on speed dial. Then I could call her in the midst of the crazy and yell: "Mary Poppins! Spoonful of sugar, STAT!". And she would float down with her kind of creepy parrot umbrella and shabby chic carpet bag, sing and dance while shoveling sugar into our mouths. It would be wonderful.

Alas, Mary Poppins is not at my disposal. But Amazon is. A perusal of parenting and toddler sleep issue books lead me to these two choices:

Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids. How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers

After I've had a chance to read the books, I'll come back with my thoughts on both. We're not looking for any magic answers, but for some ideas and suggestions that we may not have already heard and/or tried. Chris and I both have quick tempers and we really hate that we've reached a point in our parenting where we seem to be yelling more than listening and talking. It's waaaay too early in our parenting careers for that. Let's save that for the teenage years.

And regarding Pen's sleep (or non sleep, as it is), there may not be an answer. She may just be a crappy sleeper that wakes and screams and cries and thrashes and crashes every hour. If that is the case, I will just start counting the multiple (multiple, multiple!) times I get up and adjust covers, put her back in bed, comfort her during a bad dream/night terror/after she bangs her head against the wall as my daily exercise. And stock up on coffee.

Oh and p.s. Jake has been feeling neglected. Please admire his cute face.

Have you read either of these books? What are your thoughts?
 

Recycled Crayon Valentines.

Good morning, readers! Happy Sunday to you and yours. I am currently sipping coffee (with coconut oil (my latest obsession) mixed in. So good!) while listening to the rain pitter patter against the window. My favorite kind of morning. Well, besides the rain part. Rain in the spring, summer and fall? Love it. Rain in the middle of the winter? Yuck.

I have some rather shocking news to share. Are you ready?

The other day I was feeling crafty.

As in, I wanted to spend my time working on a craft project with a particular end result in mind. And if you know me, you know this is not normal.

Olive wanted to make something for Valentine's Day, so I went with it. I got my craft on.

We decided on recycled crayons. You've probably seen them floating around Pinterest, Etsy, Target, everywhere over the last several years. Obviously we're a little behind in all things crafty.

With it being a Valentine's Day project, we really wanted to make rainbow heart crayons. So we went off in search of a heart shaped muffin tin, silicon mold, something. I was hoping to find this. And we struck out. We found a silicone mold at Michaels but the hearts were too big for our needs. But I bought it anyway because too big for heart crayons means just the right size for heart brownies. Woot! In the end, we decided to just use a mini muffin pan. And since we already had one at home, we didn't need to purchase one. Score.

Olive and Penny grabbed our crayon box and started going to town taking off all the wrappers. I am pretty sure this was the best day of Penny's life. She was given the ok to pick the wrappers off. She kept asking "I rip the paper? It okay to rip the paper, mama??" In her world, just for that day, I was the coolest mom EVER. I preferred to use a knife and slit the wrapper end to end. But to each their own.

Our crayons were an assortment of old, broken and well loved Crayolas, restaurant crayons rescued from the bottom of the rarely used diaper bag and other misfits. Regular size and the bigger toddler size. It was a motley crew (totally just wrote motley crue. rock on!) and perfect for the task at hand. We made quick work of the wrappers and I started chopping them into small (~1/4") pieces.

When I had about 2 cups of chopped crayons, we filled the (sprayed) muffin tin. Two cups was the perfect amount for a 12 count mini muffin pan. I tried to make sure every cavity had a nice assortment of colors. You could also sort them by color or color families. But we wanted rainbow.

Then we popped them in the oven at 275* for about 9 minutes. I am sure this varies by the size of your muffin tin/mold and the size of your crayon pieces. You want all the pieces to be melted.

After they were all melted, I pulled them out and let them sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. Then I put them in the freezer for another 20 minutes or so to make sure they were cool all the way through and they popped right out.

Now, I'll be honest. They are not the prettiest or most rainbow-y crayons out there. But my two helpers were more than pleased, so I consider it a success! If I were to do it again, I would make sure to use all Crayolas. The cheaper crayons seems to create a film of sorts. Or maybe some were washable? I was able to flake most of it off, so it wasn't a big deal.

And here is the finished product!

No, I did not design the card. But this lovely blogger did and has kindly offered them up for free. Three years ago. See, I told you I am behind the times! They would have been much cuter with heart shaped crayons, but c'est la vie.

So there you go. I was crafty and a) didn't hurt myself, b) was successful and c) am already thinking about our next batch. I am thinking glitter crayons. Or possibly neon. Maybe I'll go all crazy and do both!

Here is the "recipe":

Crayons
Cooking spray
Muffin tin/silicone molds/cookie cutters (place a cookie cutter on a baking sheet, fill and bake)

Take wrappers off crayons
Chop crayons into small pieces (2c. was perfect for our mini muffin tin)
Spray muffin tin/molds
Fill muffin tin with broken crayons
Bake @ 275* for 8-10minutes until crayons are melted
Let cool completely and remove
Eat a cookie to celebrate a successful crafting adventure
The End. 

Wow.

Long time no blog! Blogger was being beastly and then life just kind of got in the way. Sorry about that.

Big doings going on in this part of the internet. 

Olive celebrated birthday number 3. 

 (Favorite gift? A nightgown. Clearly she is not my child.)

We had several small celebrations with different family groups. Fun was had and cake was eaten. Good times.

My dad got a new lung. Wait, let me say that again. MY DAD GOT A NEW LUNG!! How freaking cool is that?! We are beyond happy and so excited at what this means for him (and us).  Sorry no pictures. Everything went well and he feels great though!

Penny sprouted a tooth.

And then another. And is working on another. She likes to bite me with said teeth. It's tons of fun. She also hit 9 and 10 months. Which means she will be one in less than two months. *sob*

Let's see what else. Golf season is in full swing which means we see less of Chris. But that also means summer is upon us and we can be outside all day long! Yay! 

What was that? 

Hasn't it been cold and rainy here? High in the 40s? Gale force winds? Torrential down pours?

Oh yes, that's right. I must have blocked the last few weeks from my memory. It's always sunny and 70 in my mind. Or maybe that's San Diego...

Let's just say we've been playing a lot of Candy Land lately. A LOT. 

 

(Notice the nightgown. She wears it 24/7.)

Which I am ok with. Actually, I kind of like it. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to the Candy Castle? King Kandy is kind of kute.

Clearly the recent bout of being stuck inside has left me delusional.

I think that's about it. So really, even though I haven't posted in over a month, I still don't have much to say. Huh.  Clearly, I need a life.

OH! I ran a 5k! 

I know! I am as surprised as you are.

It was a midnight 5k and although I was slower than molasses in January (or June with the weather we've had) it was a blast. It was a beautiful night (we were actually hot!) and there was a sprinkling of spectators along the way. I ran it with one of my BFF's and she didn't complain one bit when I slowed her down.

She was great at keeping me motivated.  Heck at one point she even smacked me in the butt to get me moving. I liked it. We're planning on doing it again next year. And looking into other 5k's to do this summer. 

I am still rocking my FitBit everyday. I love this little gadget more than I care to admit. I forgot to wear it a few weeks ago when I went out of town and I was heartbroken over the lost steps. Ok, not heartbroken but I was pretty bummed. If you like stats and/or need a motivator to get moving, FitBit is for you. So go get one and then we can be FitBit friends and compete against each other. Nothing like a little friendly competition to get your ass off the couch! (And no, I am in no way shape or form associated with FitBit. I just really like it!)

Well, I think that's it for now. What have you been up to my dear readers? Fill me in!

Hope all is well! 

Blast from the Past: Olive's birth story

(I started this blog after Olive was born and never got around to posting her birth story. Here it is in all it's glory. Enjoy!)

(Written 6/20/2008)

An entry from Olive herself....

Friday June 13th 2008, a day we will always remember! But let’s start this story two days before on Wednesday when Mom started having contractions....

Mom woke up Wednesday morning feeling sharp pains and a tightening feeling in her back...hmmm. She went to her weekly doctor’s appointment with Dr. Ulland and told him about it. He said that was  a good sign, but there was still no sign of progress. He also talked about something Mommy had been dreading.......inducing her to MAKE me come out. Since Mom had been diagnosed with Cholestasis of Pregnancy (unbearably itchy hands and feet due to high bile serum levels) a few weeks before, Dr. Ulland had decided that Mom needed to get baby out sooner rather than later. Since Mom obviously wanted to avoid being induced at all costs, Dr. Ulland ordered some more blood tests and said they would talk about it the following Monday after they got the results back.

That evening Mom and Dad went to Grandma Mary Jo and Grandpa Jeff’s house for dinner-spaghetti and meatballs, one of Mom’s favorites! Unfortunately she wasn’t able to eat much because the contractions had come back and were starting to become stronger and more painful-all in her back. So Mom and Dad headed home and Mom went to bed with a heating pad, tylenol, and her usual nightly dose of Pepcid AC. And as much as she knew she needed to rest, she couldn’t. Every 15-20 minutes a contraction would come and Mom couldn’t do anything to help relieve the pain. At 4:30am she finally figured out that being on the floor on her hands and knees seemed to help. And where was Dad during all of this? In the guest room where Mom sent him! She knew that her chances of sleeping were going to be slim so she sent him to the other room so at least HE could get some rest!

And it’s a good thing she did! Dad stayed home on Thursday and spent the day helping Mom get through the contractions that were getting longer, stronger and closer together- 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 8 minutes..... By Thursday night they were anywhere from 4-10 minutes apart lasting about 60 seconds long. It was a very long day and they knew that the night would be even longer.

That night was the longest night of Mommy and Daddy’s life. Mom’s contractions were getting unbearable, but they weren’t consist in how far apart they were. Finally at 2:30 Dad called the on call doctor (not Dr. Ulland) to see if we should head to labor and delivery......he never called back. So Dad then called labor and delivery and they said to hold off until they were consistently 4 minutes apart or less. Mom was in tears at this point (maybe Daddy was too?) because she was in so much pain and it was all in her back, which she didn’t really know how to handle. In frustration she said “Oh I just wish my water would break so we could go already!” Lo and behold, at 4:30am Mom got out of bed for a contraction and felt a gush of fluid. It happened again and again for a third time. So Mom got in the shower, Dad called labor and delivery and they were off!

At 5:30am Friday the 13th, Mom and Dad arrived at the hospital and were admitted. Apparently it was a popular day to have a baby because at first the nurse wasn’t sure there was a room available! (Not what Mommy wanted to hear as she was rocking on her hands and knees in the reception area....) But they found us a room and Mom was examined and found to be 4cm dialated and about 75% effaced. So they quickly gave Mom some pain medication that would take the edge off the contractions and help her get some rest-she hadn’t slept since Tuesday night! While it did help, it wasn’t enough to make the pain of the contractions go away, so Mom (with Dad’s help) was still trying to find ways to cope with the pain- now with an IV attatched and numerous medical personnel in and out, including a med student who asked Mom a bunch of questions during the middle of a very intense contraction that she had already been asked by the nurse and the resident OB. Needless to say Mom didn’t have a whole lot to say to her....Dr. Ulland stopped by Friday morning to check on Mom and she was still at 4cm and he said that if she hadn’t progressed by that afternoon he wanted to started Pitocin to help get the process going. So........at 1:00 or so, Mom got an epidural and a Pitocin drip added to her arsenal. Dad had to leave the room when the epidural was put in- he thought that was too scary to see. Mom said it didn’t hurt one bit, but she didn’t like not being able to feel anything from the belly button down. But at least she was able to finally sleep!

At 5:00 they examined Mom and said the words they had been waiting to hear all day- it’s time to start pushing! So at 5:30pm Mom started pushing, it was very hard for her to do since a)she couldn’t feel anything that was going on down there and b) she was so exhausted, she started falling asleep between contractions! Finally at 7:57pm, I decided to grace the world with my beautiful presence! Dr. Ulland pulled me out (after getting my one shoulder unstuck), flipped me over and announced “It’s a......GIRL!!” Everyone was so excited! I think Mom would have cried but her eyes were so swollen and blood shot from pushing she couldn’t!  Mom and Dad (and Dr. Ulland) were very shocked to see that I had a head of dark, thick hair and that I was so big!

The medical team was a little concerned because I wasn’t turning a nice rosy pink, (I was content to stay blueish gray) and I wasn’t making any noise. So after weighing me,7 pounds 15 ounces, they whisked me away to the nursery. Dad came with and was able to show me off to Grandma MJ and Grandpa Jeff and Grandpa David and Grandma Jolene. Needless to say they were thrilled to meet me! After a brief stint in the nursery where they warmed me up and finally got me to give a few good wailing cries, they brought me back to Mom. She was having a rough time too. Dr. Ulland couldn’t get the placenta delivered and Mom was losing quite a bit of blood. So they had to give her a shot to help her uterus contract and to help stop the bleeding. Finally, about 45 minutes after I was born he was able to get all of the placenta delivered. Dad was not in the room for that process, from what I can gather he doesn’t do well with blood.

After many long, hard hours for Mom and Dad they have said that I am well worth all the trouble I caused. We are all in love and can’t wait to begin the adventure that will be our life together, as a family. 

That would be one heck of a party.

Olive: Mama, do you think Elton John can come to my birthday party?

Me: Hmm. Well, I know he is very busy with his new baby so I am not sure he will be able to make it.
 

Olive: He could bring his baby with! Penny will play with him!

Me: That's a great idea. We'll talk more about it when your birthday gets closer.
 

Olive: Hmm, ok. I'll send him a text. 

So, what do you say Sir Elton? Are you free June 13th?  Text me.

Wordless Wednesday. Er, Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday

Playdate.

Olive had a friend over to play yesterday. They had the best time together! Over the course of the day they:

played with play-doh (and thankfully did NOT mix anymore colors together)
colored 'beautiful art'
played and chatted with Penelope
had snacks
pretended they lived in a tree house
took a nap together
read books
danced
went to the bathroom together

It was a great day full of laughter and playing. I think Olive's friend is coming over after nap today.

What's that? You want to know her name?

Marigold Trout. (Her long name is Double Trouble Marigold Trout)

She's 16. 

She's a 'little girl grasshopper'.




And I hope she never goes away. 

The Story of Christmas. According to a 2.5 year old.

"Once upon a time there was a Daddy boy and Mama girl and their names were Other Grandma* and Jophes. They had some friends that were boys or girls, a puppers, a horse and some sheep. And a cow with a bell that says "ding-dong, ding-dong". And they had yummy foods to eat for their breafkast. And then Baby Jesus came out of Other Grandma's tummy at the hospital and she had yummy cookies and water in a straw cup. And then Baby Jesus was a big boy and he loved me at Sunday School because the Bible told me so.  And the ankle's name is...Mae-mae. The End."

Not bad, eh?





*Other Grandma is my mom, whose name is Mary Jo. See, it all makes sense! 

Molars. Bite me.

Olive is sprouting some major chompers right now. Poor girl has a molar that can't decide if it's coming or going. Makes for a very "ouchie mouth".  Too bad we're fresh out of brandy...

In other news, Penelope was *thisclose* to rolling over! She rocked herself up onto her left side and then decided being an over achiever did not suit her personality so back to her tummy she went. 

Big doings in this house, big doings.

 

Never too young to get the words...

wrong.

You know how there are those songs that everyone gets the words wrong? Or make up their own lyrics to because they're not really sure what the real ones are?

Well apparently that skill starts at a young age. Here are a few creative lyrics I have heard Olive singing lately:

"Mama Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.

Mama Bridge is falling down, my pair lady."



"Have you ever seen a Wessy, a Wessy, a Wessy.

Have you ever seen a Wessy, go this way or that."

(What makes this so funny is that my brother's name is Wes.)



"Where is Thumbkin, where is Thumbkin?

.......Milk and Pie, Milk and Pie" (run and hide)



But yet she can sing the chorus to Madonna's "Hung Up" spot on. What can I say, she has great taste.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Olive!*








*This is a few days late but I have been having trouble signing into Blogger...anyone else?

Wordless Wednesday. Earth Day edition.

My daughter, the Tree Hugger.

And we're back.

Olive and I made our triumphant return home yesterday.

It's good to be home.

Traveling with a toddler is tiring. Traveling with a toddler while pregnant is exhausting. Traveling with a toddler while pregnant and dealing with transportation snafu's is exhausting and frustrating.

But well worth it.

Oli and I headed down to sunny Arizona last Monday to visit my Grandma for the week. The weather was gorgeous (even though all the Arizonians (Arizonites?) kept apologizing for the cool temps. It was sunny and in the upper 60s and low 70s the entire trip. We didn't complain. Even managed to brave the "cold" for daily naps in the sun and soaks in the pool.

Olive was a dream the whole trip. I couldn't have asked her to be more well behaved than she was. She was her usual happy, sunny self and charmed the polyester track suits right off all the residents of Fountain East Mobile Home Community. Being that the average age of the residents is probably around 78, it wasn't that hard. She enjoyed going for walks around the community and admiring everyone's "lawn" ornaments. And the citrus trees. We picked a lot of oranges, lemons and grapefruits to bring to Great Grandma. And she now has about 20 extra Grandma and Grandpa's in her corner.

We fully embraced the spirit of the senior community and partook in several events; spaghetti dinner, shuffleboard, bocce, naps in the sun, visiting friends and watching for the flag to be put out on the club house signaling the arrival of the mail.

All in all it was a great week. I am glad we went.

But it is so good to be home.

Great end to a great night.

Last night as I was lying in bed (exhausted) after a great Wilco concert, I felt the faintest little flutters of baby movement. I rolled over from my side to my back and sure enough, I felt it again. And again. And again.

I am fairly certain it was the baby and not the tacos I had for dinner.

It seems so early (15 weeks) to be feeling this already, with Olive I didn't start feeling anything until 19 or 20 weeks. But several people have told me that everything happens faster/sooner with the second (third, fourth, etc) child.

In other (baby related) news, Olive has started kissing the baby (my stomach) and worries that when my shirt is lifted that the baby is cold.  She is a great big sister in training.

Home again, home again

Chris and I are home from our get away in sunny San Diego. As hard as it was to leave the sunshine, warm weather and king size bed, we were very excited to get home to Olive.


She greeted us with a shriek, a hug and "Dada home! Mama home!". She then spent the next 5 minutes running around Grandma and Grandpa's house showing us her prized possesions we may have forgotten about. Babies, books, colors and toothpaste. (It is never too early to stress the importance of good dental hygiene.)


We then proceeded home where Olive was reunited with all of her toys. All 5 of her babies have been dubbed "new babies". It's amazing what a little time away will do for a toy's value! And between Valentine's Day gifts and two special deliveries in the mail, Olive has acquired 7 new books. So we spent the rest of the evening playing with "new" babies and reading new books. And every once in a while Olive would shriek "Dada home! Mama home!".


After Olive was in bed, Chris and I discussed how she had changed since we've been gone. We're pretty sure her hair grew two inches and her voice seems different. It seems she has had another vocabulary explosion and she is using more sentences. She had a lot to tell us about her stay with Gma and Gpa. All in all she seems much older, bigger, wiser and cuter. And we love her more than ever.


This morning I was greeted with "Hi Mama! Mama home!" and a big hug. Not a bad way to start the day.


Even better than lounging in bed with a cup of coffee and The Weather Channel.

Cheek to cheek

Olive and I love to dance. We are the dancing queens of our living room. Some might say, dancing fools. But whatever the name, we love it. The majority of our day is spent dancing. Sometimes there is music on, sometimes not. Sometimes we have an audience, sometimes not.

We each have our own unique style of dance. I am more of a sway and twirl girl, whereas Lou-lou is more of a the shake your booty kind of girl. Even in a chicken suit.

 

(I used to be one of those girls too. Now my booty shakes more than I care to admit.)

And lately she throws in a sweet shoulder shrug. It doesn't matter the beat, she will drop it like it's hot and get down with her bad self anytime of day or night. She loves to dance.

But my favorite dance of ours is  "cheeks!'. 

"Cheeks!" usually takes place during a slower song, but that is not a requirement. It involves Olive running to me with her arms outstretched for me to pick her up. I hold her close and she squishes her face against mine so we are dancing cheek to cheek. I am not really sure when or how it got started. I think I've been doing it since she was itty bitty and we would spend our days swaying and slow dancing. It has evolved into a daily dance that never fails to melt my heart.

I know there will come a day that the request for "cheeks!" won't happen.

But until then, we will dance our hearts out.

Sympathy pains

Olive is one of those kids. You know the ones that cry when someone else cries? Yup, she's one of 'em.

This is a newly acquired emotion for her. It started a few weeks ago at ECFE. We noticed she would start 'crying' whenever one of the other kids started crying or got upset. And, I won't lie, we thought it was kind of cute.

But now, it has moved on to a whole different level. If she hears anyone cry, sound upset or sniff, she cries. And it's no longer 'crying' it's crying.  With real live human tears. And it's not only tears, but genuine concern for the person who is crying/hurt/upset. She clings to me with her real live human tears shining in her eyes and points at the poor soul who is upset. And then buries her head in my shoulder as if it were just too much to bear. And if things are really bad, she'll go to said upset person and cry with them.

And it kills me. It makes my heart physically hurt for her because her heart is hurting for someone else. She is too little to hurt that much. Can't we save the heart break until at least junior high?

I know, more than likely she isn't truly feeling that much empathy for someone else. It's more likely that she is responding to their emotions and tears. But still.

My tough cookie is really a big ol' softie on the inside.