Chronicles of a Babywise Mom: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Index: Shepherding a Child's Heart

Behavior and the Heart
Externals vs. Internals
Mistakes with Shaping Influences
Parental Authority
Selfishness and Rebellion Are Not Outgrown
Shaping Influence: Family Life

Index: Miscarriage/Stillbirth

Miscarriage/Stillbirth: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/03/miscarriage-and-stillbirth.html
Baby Braxston
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day
Traditions for Lost Child's Birthday

Index: Love and Logic Magic Book

Index: Family Dynamics

Dealing With Difficult Family Members
Duties for Dad
One to Two Children Transition
Two to Three Child Transition

Index: Education

Education Week
Considerations for Charter Schools
Homeschooling
Kindertude
Public School
More on Public Education
Kindergarten Readiness: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/04/kindergarten-readiness.html

Index: Child Summaries

Brayden Summaries

Child Summary--5 Years Old: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/06/child-summary-5-years-old.html
Child Summary--5.25 Years Old: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/08/child-summary-525-years-old.html
Child Summary: 5.5 Years Old
Child Summary: 5.75 Years Old
Child Summary: 6 Years Old
Child Summary: 6.25 Years Old
Child Summary: 6.5 Years Old
Brayden Summary: 6.75 Years Old
Brayden Summary: 7 Years Old
Brayden Summary: 7.25
Brayden Summary: 7.5 years old
Brayden Summary: 7.75 Years Old

Kaitlyn Summaries

Index: Charity Drives

Little Dresses for Africa (Let's Giveaway!): http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/05/little-dresses-for-africa-lets-giveaway.html
Let's Give Back: Christmas Giving
Locks of Love
Toys for Tots {Giveback!}

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

I am a day late, but Merry Christmas to you! I hope you all had and are having a wonderful holiday season. We had a nice day yesterday; we had to wake all three girls up in the morning. They do so much better than my husband and I did as children--we were both the type waking up our parents at 1 am, 2 am, and so on until they finally stumbled out of bed sometime close to a reasonable hour. They probably should have just given us clocks and told us not to walk out of the room until X time :) Happily, Brayden is obedient to that rule and though he reports waking at 6:20, he did not get out of bed until 7:00 AM. We then tortured him to wait until we woke the girls at 7:45. He was very patient.

I will be taking the week off from blogging this week and next week to have fun with my family. I plan to do some work here and there on the blog index (it needs a lot of updating!). I also have a whole new blog look ready to go--I will put that all up at the new year so be sure to come check it out! I am very excited. It is taking all of my will power to wait...why am I waiting you ask? (My husband asked the same...) I have no real answer. Just that I decided it would be fun to unveil it at the new year so that is my plan.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Little Gems Creations {Giveaway}

Today's Giveaway is from Little Gems Creations. This is a shop on Etsy where she sells adorable headbands! Here are some samples:

They are extremely well made and very cute. Anytime Brinley wears one, we get a ton of compliments.

Today you are entering to win two shabby chic headbands--your color choice. This is one of her best sellers! Here is a sample:

Let's enter.

For Your First Entry:

Become a follower of this blog. Then leave a comment. If you are already a follower (the thing where your cute face pops up with all the other cute faces of people following), comment telling me so.

Sample Entry
I am a follower!

For Your Second Entry:

Heart Little Gems Creations on Etsy. You need an Etsy account to do so.

Sample Entry

I heart it!

For Your Third Entry:

Like Chronicles of a Babywise Mom on Facebook. Already do? Tell me so. Comment saying you like it.

Sample Entry

I like Chronicles of a Babywise Mom on Facebook!

For Your Fourth Entry:
Go to Little Gems Creations. Comment saying which two color combinations you will choose if you win.

Sample Entry
I will choose white/white and pink/brown!

For Your Fifth Entry:

Follow Little Gems on Twitter. The comment saying you did so. Include your Twitter ID.

Sample Entry

I follow! @valplowman

For Your Sixth Entry:Like Little Gems Creations on Facebook. Then comment saying you did so.

Sample Entry
I like it!

For Your Seventh Entry:

Check out Little Gems Creations blog. Become a follower. Comment saying you did so.

Sample Entry

I follow the blog!

Entry Rules

You must leave a comment in order to have an entry.
You must leave a separate comment for each entry. This is not so I can get lots of comments--it is because it makes it a million times easier to choose a winner. It takes less time, and less time is good. Plus, it makes sure I don't miss an entry.
You don't have to do all seven entries...for example, if you just want to follow this blog, you can just do entry one.
One entry per comment.
Up to seven entries per person.
You must fulfill the rules of each entry for each entry to count. If I see the entry is not valid (did not meet entry requirements), I will disqualify your entry. Trust me, I check.
Entries will be accepted until I choose the winner sometime early January--January 4-7ish.
The winner will be randomly selected at random.org
The winner will be announced early January 2013.
If you would like, you can add your email address to your entry. If you are the winner, I will email you to let you know. You do not need to add your email address in order to win. I understand not everyone wants to share their email addresses with the world. I will announce the winner on the blog, so you can check the blog Saturday to find out if you won.
Once the winner is announced, you will have one week to contact me or another winner will be chosen. Be sure to check back. The only thing worse than not winning is to win but not realize it in time!
US mailing addresses only

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Traveling Tips

a trip to Florida

by Emily from http://www.journeyofparenthood.com/

From a very young age I had a love of travel. I love the variety it brings to my life and I need those little escapes every now and then ;) Thankfully the Lord blessed me with a husband who shares my passion. We both want our children to see the world and experience different places while making wonderful memories together. At home, life is often busy. We rush rush rush through the day. We are constantly "plugged in". Constantly thinking about what we need to accomplish. Worrying over the house being clean, bills being paid, etc. Vacation time with our family is a time to let go of all those concerns and just focus on each other. Focus on fun and focus on family!

While we love to go and do with our children, their schedules always come first. Even when we are not at home! When our son, Kye, was four months old we went on a short vacation and decided to throw the schedule out the window. It was horrible. NONE of us had a good time and we vowed from that day forward to never break from schedule again :)

Our son will be four in March and our daughter, Brittlynn, just turned one. We still go and do quite often with them and have found many tricks to traveling with our Babywise children. With this being the holiday season and a time where families are often traveling I hope some of these tips will be useful to others!

We stay on the kid's naps and bedtime schedules even when traveling. We typically don't do independent playtime...and eating times may have to be adjusted. But we make sure to plan our activities on our vacation around naps and bedtime! Everything else can be flexible, but well rested kids make for a MUCH happier trip for everyone :)
Since our children do go to bed so early (7:00 for Brittlynn, 7:45 for Kye) we always bring along a portable dvd player with headphones so we can enjoy quality Mommy and Daddy time watching movies together once they are asleep :)
We try not to go on trips that are further than 6 hours driving (we have flown with Kye once when he was 6 months old) and mostly try to stick even closer to home...majority of our little getaways are 4 hours or less away.
We drive during naps when our children will still sleep in car seats. Once they stop sleeping in the car we start trying to drive during awake times. We use dvds once they are old enough to enjoy them. We don't watch tv at home much so this is a special treat and helps us all have a smoother trip ;)
Both of our children sleep with box fans as "white noise" and we always pack these fans with us on our trips. It helps them to feel at home and it helps to keep down noises from other hotel rooms, from us being in the same room, from them waking each other up. An extension cord is always smart to pack too just in case there isn't a plug near their sleeping spots for the fan!
We also always pack dark colored sheets, thumb tacks, and tape. My husband is a PRO at setting up sleep spaces for our children in hotel rooms. He will hang the sheets around the pack and play so it's nice and dark.
We use a pack and play for our daughter and also used it for our son until he was just too old for it. Now we bring along a toddler sized air mattress on trips. At almost 4 years old he's old enough to sleep in a "big bed" obviously (since he sleeps in a twin at home) but we want to avoid that as long as possible. With the air mattress it's easier to put him in places to keep it dark and quiet than it would be if he were to sleep in a regular sized bed.
Usually we do a little rearranging with the hotel furniture. We have found that there is more space in rooms with two double beds than with a king. Often the king is in the center of the room leaving very little floor space but with doubles there is much more space between the beds as well as between the beds and the walls!
Typically we travel within our same timezone. We have only ever taken them places with a 1 hour time difference and when that happens we just keep them on the same timezone as home.
When booking a hotel I will call ahead and ask if a pack and play will fit in the bathroom or large closet etc. It is always best when we can put the pack and play in the bathroom! Nice and dark and have the added bathroom fan!
Having a free breakfast at a hotel is a really great feature. It's wonderful to be able to all stay in our pjs and eat right when our kids wake up like we would at home. I also look for rooms with refrigerators and microwaves in the room when possible. We have our own travel fridge we will bring when needed. It's nice to have so we can bring our own food and to keep left overs to reheat when eating out.
We also try to book hotels with free internet so we can search for places to eat/driving directions/etc from our room during naps. The more planned out the trip is...the smoother it all goes and the happier everyone stays :)
I also look for hotels with activities for Kye or hotels that are located near fun things to do. While Brittlynn has her morning nap one of us will take Kye to swim in the hotel pool, or play outside on a playground, or go somewhere nearby. It gives us that quality alone time with him, lets her stay on her schedule and keeps him out of the room so she can sleep!
We do not get housekeeping to clean our room when we travel. I don't like to worry about them banging on the door during naps so we just go to the front desk and request extra towels and toiletries as needed. It also helps to request the QUIETEST room. Often it ends up being on one of the higher levels but what little kid doesn't enjoy pushing the buttons on the elevator ride? ;)
Even though we're typically sleeping in the same room as our children, we still bring along our video monitor for the youngest. I like to be able to see her and know if she's asleep!
I know many people visit family during the holidays. It is tough to keep kids on their schedules while trying to see family but it is possible. We will bring along all their stuff for sleeping and set up their "sleep stations" in spare rooms in people's homes if needed. It may be a little uncomfortable asking but I'd rather ask and my family get to see my children at their best...than skip naps and my family see my children in a miserable state!

For us, small little trips aren't about doing anything fancy. We stick on a tight budget! We often bring along our own food and find free or very inexpensive activities for us to do. Every trip is a little adventure and we always have such a fun time with our sweet children! It may be tricky to make it all work but giving our children these experiences makes it all worth while.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Advertising

I wanted to give you readers a heads up on things here. I have had many, many, many friends, readers, and *ahem* my husband telling me over and over again for years that I should have advertising on my blog. I have slowly added simple things. I am now branching out into a whole new world.

I have recently had two good friends really push me for advertising, and with their help have come up with a plan. I don't think it will be detracting from what the blog provides to you. This will start up in 2013.

I have had many companies over the years contact me to advertise on this blog. I have always ignored them. Recently, a good friend wanted to advertise and I thought it would be a worthy advertisement. She even helped me figure out logistics. I thus decided to open up advertising on this blog.

I hope you as readers know that my desire in writing this blog is not now nor has it ever been to get money. I started this blog as an easy way for me to help people. I was writing out the same things over and over again and thought a blog would be an easy way to share the same answers to the same issues. I have always had readers telling me to find ways to make money through this blog. After a couple of years, I started my first feeble attempts at adding some revenue to what I am doing.

I have always been hesitant to attempt to make money through this blog because I want the readers to know that my motives here are just to help readers. I could happily strip away any money-making ability and I would still put as much time into this blog as I already do. I really just want to help babies, children, moms, dads, and families. I do think, however, if I can make some money without it becoming a hindrance then why not?

If you are interested in advertising on this blog, please see the Advertising/Marketing tab at the top of the page for details.

Thank you all!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Brinley Summary: Week 19

Reading a story with her Daddy

This is a summary for Brinley's 19th week--she was 18 weeks old.

NURSING

Nursing was all the same. Nothing new to report.

SOLIDS

This week we added pears to Brinley's menu. She wasn't so sure about them at first, but she quickly liked them okay. She doesn't have the love she has for bananas, but she likes them.

NIGHT SLEEP

There were three nights toward the end of this week that Brinley woke up early. The first one, naturally, came the morning after I had stayed up late for the first time since she was born. We had friends over and I was up until about 12:30 AM. It was a Friday night and I figured I could sleep in a bit the next day. Then she was up at about 6:50. Oh babies! She just talked until we got her at about 7:10. It was so funny because it has been months since she woke earlier than 7:10--most mornings are right around 7:30.

The next morning was even earlier--right around 6:30-6:40 if I remember right. The next night was 6:50.

So of course when you have a baby start waking early, you start to analyze why. I had four theories.

Theory one was that the dreamfeed was disrupting her sleep. She had started to wake for the dreamfeed and talk to me, so I knew it was disrupting her more than was ideal. Because of that, we started leaving her swaddled for the dreamfeed.

Which leads me to theory two. Theory two is that she liked to be unswaddled for the dreamfeed so she could stretch out a bit. Maybe she wanted to be unswaddled again for the dreamfeed.

Theory three was that the heater was waking her up somehow. It had suddenly gotten much colder right when she started waking early so the heater was coming on earlier in the morning.

Theory four was that it was just some random thing. Babies are people and can randomly have some insomnia. This was my initial go-to theory until she woke early the second day. I didn't think she would have a random off day two days in a row.

Then you of course have other endless possibilities. Is she getting sick? Does she need to drop the swaddle? Is i ta wonder week issue?

Which theory was right? I believe it was theory three--the heater.

DREAMFEED

So Brinley woke early night one and we did nothing different. We decided if it was a fluke, we didn't want to do anything that might further the waking.

After the second night of Brinley waking early, we decided to go with the dreamfeed. We just dropped it cold turkey and went to bed early :) It was so sad for me. I love the little sleepy baby feedings. But if it was disrupting her sleep I obviously didn't want to keep it around just to suit my own desires.

As you might recall, the next night she woke early again, but back up to 6:50 so it was better than the night before. At the very least it told me she likely didn't need the dreamfeed anymore. We stuck with it and she continued being fine without the dreamfeed. So it is officially gone.

HEATER WAKING

We moved on to the theory that it was the heater waking her up. I had noticed this months before--she seemed to wake up in the morning shortly after the heater came on in the morning. So we set the temperature to come up at 7:30--her desired waketime.

With the colder nights, however, the heater was kicking on and she was waking shortly after. It must have just been close enough to her wake time that it disrupted her because I know it comes on a few times through the night.

I started making sure the heater did not come on and she did not wake up. I honestly have no idea what about it would wake her. It isn't blowing on her--we bought a deflector and have it blowing away from her so that isn't it. It also isn't noisy. I don't have the mystery solved.

PLAYTIME

Brinley started to love to stand this week. I decided to get out the old Jumperoo. She loved it! She couldn't stay in it for long periods becuase her muscles weren't strong enough to keep her there, but she is slowly getting stronger and able to play in it a bit longer.

I am also amazed at the strides she is making with her hand abilities. She is improving on those fine motor pincer practice. They learn so fast!

SWADDLE

I decided to try a nap with one arm unswaddled again. It took her about 20 minutes to fall asleep, compared to the 5-10 that is her norm at that time of day, but she did it! It was her first nap to fall asleep with partially unswaddled. I did it for the fourth nap of the day because it is short anyway and the least important nap in my mind. I stuck with that each day. Once she gets better at falling asleep for that nap, I will move it to the third nap as well.

CHECK UP AND VACCINATIONS

She had her four month check up this week. Everything was great. She is continuing to move higher on the growth curve. She is still small, but getting higher and higher on the curve at each visit.

She did not like her vaccinations. At all. It took her a few minutes to get her to stop crying. I did this visit later in the day. I typically like to do it after the first nap of the day so they have all day to react to vaccinations if they are going to. This time slot was all they had and I figured it would work out well so I could take older kids with me and get the flu mist for them.

Brinley did not like the initial injections, but she had no issues with the aftermath--no swelling, no fever, no disruptions to sleep. I have found if my children had a rough time with the two month shots, they don't for four months. If they didn't for two months, they do for four months.

SCHEDULE

Our schedule typically looks like this:

7:30--feed

8:35--nap

11:30--feed

12:45--nap

2:30 or 3:00--feed

3:45--nap (75 minutes later)

5:00 or 5:30--feed

6:30--nap (80 minutes after waking)

7:30--feed, then bedtime

9:45--dreamfeed--until it was dropped

HELPFUL BOOKS

RELATED POSTS/BLOG LABELS:

baby summary (blog label)
Baby Summary: Week 19 (McKenna)
wonder weeks (blog label)
dreamfeed (label)
Swaddling (blog label)
vaccinations (blog label)