The Reluctant Mommy Blogger

Popularity: 12%

I’ve been contemplating homeschooling the children when it comes time for them to start school. Heck, I’m already doing preschool here at home. I think that homeschool could offer the kids a lot of freedom to learn and be creative, things that gets stifled in a public school setting. I also love the idea of teaching the kids myself; I would be their teacher! We would really have the time to focus on the things that they are most interested in, while making sure that they concentrate on the other stuff of course!

The truth is, I’m also slightly terrified of doing it! What if I don’t teach them right and they end up being messed up? Not learning valuable knowledge that is crucial to succeeding today.  I wouldn’t have any time to myself. I almost want to send them off to school just to have time during the day to clean the house.

Then I remember that little feeling I had inside of me when I was pregnant with Trent. It told me that I could do this, that I could teach my child and make sure that it is done right. Obviously this is an issue that I go back and forth on all the time. Plus my husband doesn’t really want them to be homeschooled, though he is open to the idea and would be supportive if that is the road I ultimately decide on.

Luckily I still have some time to do the research and make a good sound and informed choice. Therefor, I was thrilled today when the Kojo Nnamdi Show (which, by the way, is fantastic show!) on my local NPR station did a discussion on homeschooling! I can’t wait until the audio is up on the internet so I can listen again. It was very helpful and informative as to what is happening in the world of teaching your child in the home today. Turns out that there are more and more families opting for this choice, and they aren’t necessarily the religious zealots that everyone thinks are doing it. Please do check todays show and discussion, Homeschooling Goes Mainstream.

Popularity: 26%

I just got back from taking the kids to their first ever parade! Since Garrick is taking his first long distance trip on his motorcycle this weekend, and he has been gone since early Thursday morning, I have been trying to keep really busy with the kids. Yesterday we had preschool, so that kept the kids busy, and luckily this is 4th of July weekend so there is lots of stuff going on to distract the kids. I found out a couple days ago that there would be an Independence Day parade this morning and the best part was that it was just a couple of blocks from the house!

Trent was just astounded and couldn’t get enough of the candy that all the cars were throwing. He was also so jazzed about all the motorcycles in the parade. Hunter was just happy to sit back and watch the sites. It was so cute to see them both waving their little flags. They are both so tired out right now. Actually, I am too. Of course, because of all the candy Trent started having meltdowns upon arriving back at the house, but that’s ok. I have been surprisingly patient with the kids all weekend, thank goodness.

Tomorrow we will be going to see fireworks in Manassas. There is a big party that is supposed to start at 4 and then the fireworks are at 9:15. I think we will have a quick snack after nap time and we’ll plan to be there at around 5:30, 6-ish and hope for the best. I hope it won’t be too crazy with them.

Popularity: 10%

I would post pictures of the kids playing on it, except that I cannot put ANY photos on my blog right now! Apparently I haven’t been able to do so for months now. Hence the lack of new pics of the kids.

Anyway, I found a good price on a playground on Craigslist and it was right around the corner from us. The boys seem to love it. Once I can figure out why WP won’t let me put any pics up and I have some pictures of the thing, you will see the kids climbing all over it. Maybe I’ll take some video and put it on youtube.

Popularity: 11%

Last week, when I was at the canning party, I was speaking with another Mom who uses cloth on her baby. We sat around swapping advice on washing the diapers for a little while and I sent her an email later on detailing how I launder my diapers. After months of trial and error in cleaning them, I seem to have come up with a system for keeping the boys diapers clean.

I now always do an initial cold water wash with a few spoonfuls of baking soda. After that I do a hot water wash with some Arm and Hammer perfume/dye free detergent (as per the diaper makers suggestion.) I add one important ingredient to the detergent though! To my bottle of detergent I always add tea tree oil. This seems to be my magic ingredient in keeping the diapers clean and odor free. I find that twelve or thirteen drops does the trick.

After the hot water wash I do another cold water wash, adding vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser. I use the vinegar to restore the ph balance of the diapers after using baking powder.

A majority of the time, this system seems to work the best. Occasionally I have to do a second or third hot water wash with the detergent/tea tree oil mixture. Never more than three, though. This has been a great improvement considering that before I started using the tea tree oil I was having to do six to ten hot water washes to get the smell out, on top of the cold water washes.

I’m glad to have a system that finally works!

On a side note, two of my older sets of cloth diapers are falling apart. I got a bunch of diapers on Craigslist for really discounted prices and some of the diapers were pretty old. Right now I really wish that I had a sewing machine to fix them. Since I don’t I’m ordering two more sets of Fuzzi Bunz and I am going to try two Happy Heinys at the suggestion of a friend. She has been doing cloth with her boy a lot longer than I have and has tried many different diapers. According to her, the Happy Heinys run large. Just what my kids need!

Popularity: 13%

I have been so busy the past two days. Yesterday I held preschool class at my house (as part of the preschool coop that I am participating in) AND I went to a House Party sponsored by Ball, the canning company. Today I took the boys on a trip to a local lavender farm where we picked bunches of the stuff, did crafts and had a picnic lunch. This evening I also went to knit and gab, the first one I have been to in over two months. Usually I get so stressed out by keeping myself this busy, but I seem to holding together pretty well, even considering that we were going almost nonstop every day last week. At least we have tomorrow off, and Caitlin is coming to visit with her dogger, Brody, and her good friend Chandler is tagging along as well. They will get here on Friday and should be here for about a week, so that’s cool!

Anyway, I’m so jazzed about everything that has been going on the past two days. Preschool is starting to go really really well. We started doing that back in March and had a lot of trial and error runs, but now the kids seem to be getting used to the routine. We were even able to bump up the number of preschool days from meeting once a week to twice a week. We have been going through the alphabet and are just getting to the letter G. I had the letter E, so we focused on elephants since we have so many around the house from Trent’s past obsession with them. That seemed to go over really well with the kids.

The canning party last night was so AWESOME! I went without the kids, which was so totally energizing. I have been really in need of getting away from the kids and my daily routine for quite a while and spending time with other Mom’s last night really seemed to help. We made salsa and peach jelly and played Trivial Pursuit. I discovered that I am horrible at that game. On the drive to that party and back I had the windows to the car all rolled down and I was BLASTING Nine Inch Nails on my car stereo. I felt horrible when I checked my phone and discovered that Garrick had texted me an hour prior saying that Hunter needed me. Of course by the time I got back home Hunter was passed out.

Good thing, too, since we had to get up early to go to the lavender farm this morning. That was such a lovely experience. The farm we went to to is Seven Oaks Lavender Farm. As soon as I got out of the car I could smell the lavender plants. The boys had a really wonderful time since we went with the Joy Troupe and a couple other groups, so there were a lot of children running around. The farm also has a great play house for the kids to use while Moms are out in the field picking the lavender or making a craft. I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but they are mostly of Trent since Hunter spent a good chunk of the time on my back. It was so nice being on a farm and not worrying too much about where Trent was and what he was doing. I made a sachet with him, and I wanted to make a Lavender wreath but that craft was too involved for me to concentrate on with both of the kids. I picked up some pet spray for Icesis’ beds since they are all so stinky and I also got a recipe sheet and culinary lavender to cook with. I was very impressed with the farm, I wish I could do something like that… Maybe someday! Check out this YouTube video about the farm, it’s cool stuff:

Since I had all that fresh lavender, I decided to bring one of the bunches I picke with me to Knit and Gab to pass out to everyone. It was great to see all the Knit and Gabbers. It was a full house, too! Well, anyway, look for pics to come of the boys at the lavender farm, and even a few shots that Trent took.

Popularity: 16%

It’s Blue’s Clue’s!

I’m way jazzed that back in February Trent and Hunter started getting into “Blue’s Clues.” I kind of like that one, plus Aunt Dottie got Trent a Blue doll for his first Christmas and now he really knows what it is! I have a picture of him with Blue to come…

Popularity: 9%

My oldest child is going to be three next month. The closer he gets to the three year mark, the better his speech seems to be getting. The sentences just become more elaborate and the words more understandable. He has also been watching a lot of shows and movies that have princess characters that wear big frilly dresses; his current favorite being the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, from 1989. (It’s Instantview on Netflix.)

The other day I put on a night gown. My Mom made it and wore it when she was pregnant with me and I wore it while I was pregnant with both the kids. I haven’t worn it in a while and when I came into the kitchen wearing it, Trent took a look at me and said “Mommies a princess!” I know he said this because the night gown is big and billowy and probably reminded him of all the princess’s he’s being see on DVD, but it sure made me feel good. That boy got the biggest hug!

Popularity: 7%

When we decided to move my oldest to his own bed after co-sleeping for ten months I ran into some difficulties. I did NOT want to do the cry-it-out method. It made me feel like a horrible parent and I was letting my child suffer. I did some research into sleep training for babies and came across the “The No-Cry Sleep Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley. I found this book to be an invaluable resource while transitioning my son to his crib and teaching him to fall asleep on his own.

Now that my second son is a year old I am ready to move him to his own crib after doing a year of co-sleeping and am once again looking to the Pantley method for solutions. With my second child, I face a lot of different challenges then I did with my first, so I am going through and re-reading the book. Since Hunter poses some unique challenges, I decided to go the source herself and email Elizabeth Pantley with a question that is unique to Hunter. Or at least check out her website to see if there is already advice that I can use to my advantage.

While on her site I discovered that she has a new book out, “The No-Cry Separation Anxiety Solution.” She has a series of six books at this point, and I would love to own all of them. Here the publishers summary of the book:

BOOK SUMMARY FROM THE PUBLISHER

A tear-free approach to child separation blues—from the bestselling No Cry author a generation of parents have come to trust

Almost every child suffers some sort of anxiety during their first six years of life. Babies cry when grandparents hold them, toddlers cling to mommy’s leg, children weep when their parent leaves them at daycare, at school, or to go to work. This can cause frustration, sadness and stress in an already too-busy day and can break a parent’s heart.

Trusted parenting author Elizabeth Pantley brings you another winning no-cry formula that helps you solve these common separation issues. Pantley helps you identify the source of anxiety and offers simple but proven solutions.

In this exciting addition to the series, she ingeniously includes a free “magic” bracelet inside the book as a special tool for children to feel close to their parents—even when they’re not together. This successful method gives anxious children something to remind them their parents aren’t too far away—instantly providing them with the comfort and reassurance they need 

Here’s what the professionals have to say about The No-Cry Separation Anxiety Solution

“In The No-Cry Separation Anxiety Solution, Elizabeth Pantley teaches us the difference between love-based separation anxiety and anxiety that stems from fear. She leaves us knowing that most childhood experiences are healthy, natural stops on the path of development. Through wisdom and many pointers, Elizabeth Pantley will provide a generation with an easier and happier journey through childhood – while also soothing the worry and guilt most parents feel. I’m grateful for this resource – and can’t imagine raising another child without it.” 
~ Gavin de Becker, Bestselling Author
The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift

“Pantley has replaced the angst of separation anxiety with solid practical tips and empathy for both child and parent. Her magical solutions are remarkably easy to implement and result in calm and happy separations for all.” 
Kathy Lynn, President

To learn more about the No-Cry Solutions, you can visit Elizabeth Pantley’s page.

Popularity: 5%

Popularity: 17%