Beautiful Jesus, how may I bless Your heart?
Knees to the earth I bow down to everything You are.
Knees to the earth
Beautiful Jesus
How may I bless Your heart?
Knees to the earth I bow down to everything You are.
Beautiful Jesus
You are my only worth.
So let me embrace You always as I walk this earth.
- Watermark
Baby sign language has been a recent topic on our May/June mommies message board and I can say it definitely works for us here. When 'K' was around 5 months we started signing the word "milk" by the time she was 7 months she would sign for milk back to us.
I was skeptical as to how much she'd actually learn at such a young age, but I have been pleasantly surprised. She mastered "eat, milk, & more" by 10 months.
When she's hungry and wants to nurse she will come to me and sign milk, while I also know that "mmmnummah" also means milk - and "aaaheeeeah" means eat - it is nice to have the reassurance of her signing.
Just last week she learned "up" and "down" and we are currently learning "bath" and "diaper change".
I came across a website that has free online video of signs. We use this site to show us the correct way to do each sign. It really doesn't take much time at all to implement signs. We simply watch the video and use the chosen sign whenever we use the word we are working on.
I have noticed that since she was 11 months she is picking up on more and more signs. She is able to tell us what she wants and we can understand her signs, even if we can't understand her baby talk.
Here is the website that "works for us": Baby Sign language (select the ASL for babies link)
We had a birthday party for 'K' at our house yesterday with family. The cake turned out beautiful, but no one wanted to eat it....I don't think I'll do the picture cake again. I thought she'd be shy and overwhelmed by all the people and attention, but she loved it. She clapped and danced for everybody and actually let people hold her. After cake and ice cream she started breaking out in hives on her face. I guess this means it's not just Ibuprofen that she's allergic to. Other than the hives and the fact she fell and hit her head on the wall, she had a great day.
By request, I'm posting a lot of pictures so that family from out of town can get a peek.
I'm a little late today. I haven't had much "free time" to blog. We are gearing up to start school again on Monday, and I still have a lot of new books to go through.
Here's my weak attempt at a WFMW post: I have been wondering all week what I would post for my tip and then it came to me this morning at the changing table. Don't laugh - I get some of my best ideas at the changing table (maybe it's because I seem to spend a lot of time there lately) But on a shelf next to the changing table are 2 spray bottles.
The first is Dawn Power Dissolver. This is great if you are still dealing with "diaper blowouts" - I always had a hard time getting the stains out until a friend recommended using Dawn Power Dissolver. I keep a bottle near the changing table so as soon as I remove soiled clothes I can give them a quick spray. I tried this on clothes that had been washed/dried before but still had some discoloration and it made them look new again. This has removed many many stains that my other stain removers couldn't get out. (Great on onesies - you mommas know what I mean)
The other bottle I keep at the changing table is a little spray bottle with baking soda and water in it. At diaper change time I just spray a little on baby's bottom and use a wipe. The baking soda helps neutralize the ammonia and keeps diaper rash away. I discovered this when 'A' was little and none of my babies have had diaper rash since, and we don't have to use any creams.
For more WFMW posts - The list of other participants can be found here .
With Father's Day around the corner, the newspaper and TV ads are just crammed full of advertisements of all the things a dad could want. This morning I saw for the 'umpteenth' time a Se@rs Commercial done to the tune of "Silver Bells". In this commercial "Dad" was bumbling all over, cutting power cords and such, and desperately needed more Cr@ftsman tools to rescue himself from doing any further damage with the ones he had. The kids laughed, and I admit that I did at first, before I was convicted by how bad "Dads" (men) were being portrayed.
Where is the commercial where the dad comes home from working all week (or all day), and gets on his Cr@ftsm@n mower and cuts the grass, or gets his tools out to work on the car so his family has something safe and reliable to drive, builds a deck out back and a picnic table for them to enjoy, or builds a laundry room so no one is stuck doing laundry in the hot or cold garage? Just a thought - because that's the kind of dad/husband we have here, that's the kind of dad/husband/man I want my son to be....might make me want to go out and buy more Se@rs tools.
Ok - I know it was a commercial and meant in fun (I guess), and maybe I should lighten up, but it seemed (to me) a rather emasculating commercial and yet another jab at the role GOD has for the men in our lives.
The kids and I said how thankful we were to have the dad/husband we have. We are now making him a special surprise for him to enjoy when he gets home. :)
(This was not meant to pick on Se@rs - I've seen other commercials here lately that don't put dad in a good light, and if you watch TV you'd see a lot of the shows on don't either.)
I came across this picture as I was organizing my digital images into a new program. It was dated a year ago today. I took this "headless" picture as part of a picture sharing post on a May/June mommies board I am a part of.
This is my only my 3rd entry for the Works for Me Wednesday postings, and already I'm racking my brain all week long trying to think of what I do that may be a useful tip to someone else.
I'm calling this week's entry the "Never ending snack mix jar".
About a year ago I purchased a large container of animal crackers. (The 4lb bucket at S@ms Cub.) Once my kids emptied it, I decided to set that up as our Snack mix jar.
The key to the "Never ending snack mix jar" is to keep a steady supply of pretzels - Since I do my "staple" shopping once a month, every month I buy a few bags of pretzels (usually not more than $1 a bag - I stock up when they are on sale) I also add a big bag of miniature marshmallows and a bag of chocolate chips to my grocery list.
Every Monday I pour a bag of pretzels into the jar, and I scoop a cup or so of EITHER marshmallows or chocolate chips in with them. I usually alternate between the chocolate chips and marshmallows weekly. I then check our cereal boxes and if there isn't enough cereal in a box for both kids to have a bowl I add this to our jar mixture. Through the week as they eat cereal for breakfast, whenever a box gets low, the remaining cereal is added as well.
The mixture is always changing, and the bucket is rarely empty (I can always add a bag of pretzels if it's low). At snack time they shake up the jar and fill up a snack size Zipl0c baggie with the "ever changing", "never ending" snack mix.
Every Saturday morning (starting in May) when it isn't raining, I hit the yard sales with my girls and sometimes our neighbor. Armed with a biscuit, orange juice, and $20, we scour the little neighborhoods in our area looking for "treasure". Sometimes we spend the entire 20 in a hour, sometimes it takes 3 or more hours, and sometimes we don't spend much of it at all. Either way it is fun running around with my daughters.
Randy always laughs and says I need to host a yard sale rather than attend them, but he forks over the $20 anyways since he enjoys seeing what I bring in....especially when it's for him. :)
This past weekend was the weekend for "K" - because nearly everything we found was for her, except the couple of Tweety items we found that "A" just had to add to her collection.
Here are pictures of "K" enjoying her new goodies...
Good thing Daddy was just a cell phone call away with an extra $8 (yep, I went over my limit this time) and the truck . We had this toy box (and the pool) for him to haul home, too.
She has definitely benefited from our excursions lately - this was our $5 find a couple of weekends ago -
Who knows what we will find this weekend......I'll keep you posted. :)
You would think that 3 large dogs would be a sufficient deterrent to coming into our yard for any self loving rabbit, but unfortunately it would seem to not be the case.
Groups of rabbits are often seen eating the clover in the yards adjacent to ours at all times of the day. A "would be" peaceful scene disturbed only by the incessant barking of our dogs as they race along the fence line salivating for a taste.
I have yet to understand what drives these little rabbits in their futile attempt to graze in our yard - perhaps they think the grass looks greener on our side of the fence - it really isn't (imagine what 3 dogs do to a yard). Whatever the reasoning - it has proven to be a bad idea, as once again the carnage had to be removed from the yard.
{{Sigh}} I guess if the 3 dogs aren't enough deterrent to these cute little bunnies, perhaps the ever growing rabbit grave site on the other side of our yard will be.
Here are some pictures from this weekend. I found this plastic pool with a slide and sprinkler at a yard sale for $5 - I figured I'd get $5 worth of use out of it. Randy and I set it up on the back porch and let the kids make a mess - um - I mean "play" in it. After a brief protest "K" decided that cold water wasn't that bad after all. Of course the added playmates made it more appealing, too.
Update on allergy/hives: The hives are gone, but when they cleared up she broke out in little blisters. No one seems to have a clue as to what they are, or what may have caused them. The doctor doesn't think chicken pox because they are only on her arms and legs. He did say it would be a good idea to keep her away from other kids while they heal up - since we don't know what they are. We have missed all our friends at church and care group the past 2 weeks. Good news is they are almost completely cleared up! There are just a few remaining on her arms. There are light scars on her legs where they used to be, but they are getting lighter every day and I don't think they will leave a permanent mark.
As far as what triggered the allergic reaction a few weeks ago: we think we've narrowed it down to Ibuprofen. She had a couple of doses 2 days before she broke out, but I was told that the liver in infants takes longer to process things so it is possible to have a delayed reaction of a day or so from having the medication.
Not much to write about this morning - Don't have any recent pictures worth posting, so I went back through my digital photos folder and pulled out some of my favorites that I haven't posted.
This isn't just for the camera, they really can be this silly.
An unhappy little reindeer
Sometimes he wishes he had a brother
Pretending to be locked up at Granny's house
Just a cute one
another cute one - I miss that big toothless grin!
I remember when she couldn't move around and defend herself from pictures like this.
In our house we have been blessed that we all have our own computers, (except for "K" of course). Having a husband that likes to build computers has made that possible.
The older 2 have a computer station set up in the school/rec. room which is attached to the office where the adults computers are.
Everything is right out in the open and I can check in freely. But in reality I can't stand over both shoulders constantly. I wanted something to block inappropriate sites for when I wan't right next to them.
I searched the internet for filters and kid friendly programs, and that is when I came across TUKI. We had unsuccessfully tried Net Nanny, her concept was great, but she had many failures....sites she was supposed to block would come through when I tested it...and I found it to be unreliable. The other programs were costly and their interfaces weren't always easy to follow.
TUKI is an internet browser and filter built into one, and it is completely parent controlled and FREE. It is so easy to use. There are different browser designs you can choose from there is "Noah's Net" geared more for the younger kids, there is a "sports themed browser" that my 10 year old son just loves, and my daughter (12) uses the ladybug themed browser.
With TUKI - you set up a list of sites your kids can visit. If you have more than one child the settings can be customized per child. There is also an animated character that pops up from time to time with tips and or reminders that you can set. EX: I set mine to remind my kids they must brush their teeth before getting on the computer, and "remember to do your chores" etc....
You have soo much flexibility and control over what is available on this program. Nothing takes the place of adult supervision but this helps tremendously.
If there is a website they come across that they want to visit and it isn't on the list an alternate page with a policeman figure comes up that tells them that site isn't on the approved list and they need to get a parent to approve the site.
There is a paid service which I have purchased because my daughter is approaching her teen years (4 more months!!!) and really wanted/needed email. Using TUKI 's paid service she can have email, but I set up a "buddy list" - that means that only email from the buddy list addresses will come through. It is just great! No spam and she can email her grandparents, and a few of her friends. She can also get her email notices from the local library, etc.
It works wonderfully for us!
(Disclaimer: I like this program so much I did join their affiliate program. If you want to bypass my links you can read about TUKI at childrenseducationalnetwork.com)
I've seen interesting columns on some of my friends' blogs like: Works for Me Wednesday and the Thursday Thirteen. Well, for those days when I have "bloggers block", I've come up with one for my own blog - that is "Funny quotes for Fridays". This will either be a funny quote from someone famous or not so famous, or it may be something funny the kids have said.
Feel free to join in.
The following conversation took place a few weeks back upon leaving the dr's office:
J:"Mom, can we stop at McDon@ld's for lunch? I'm starvin'! A: "Yeah mom, we're starvin'! Mom:"Not today, I wasn't planning on stopping anywhere else so I didn't bring any cash" A:"Oh look, there's a bank right over there, mom" J: (looking incredulously at his sister) "We can't rob a bank!" Mom and A: - laughing uncontrollably
J: (even more confused) "Well, we can't.....we have the baby in the car!"
