Alas, after almost 9 years of use, the Eureka was dying. It wasn't working well. The hose had a hole in it. It was time for a new vacuum. 9 years is a not a bad run! I was totally willing to go with the same vacuum again. But I can't buy something new without looking into all of the options. 

I ultimately looked at Dysons and Sharks. It seemed like the Shark was a less expensive version of the Dyson. Dyson has a good reputation, but I was not sure how much of that was manufactured by themselves. I also saw a lot of unhappy reviews. Now, almost every product out there has unhappy reviews, but considering that the Shark was much less money and had better reviews, I felt more inclined to take that risk.

We settled on the Shark Rotator Professional Lift-Away (NV501). We LOVE it! Now, it isn't really a fair comparison since the Eurkea was 9 years old and the Shark was new, but the Shark cleaned so much better. 

There are a lot of features about this vacuum I love. I love that it is a canister. It is kind of gross because you can see what you are sucking up, BUT it has made me realize we did not change our bag often enough in the Eureka. I am shocked at how dirty the floors get. I shouldn't be when I think logically, but I am shocked. You know how your vacuum works best on the first day with the bag? This way, you can have a "fresh bag" every time you vacuum. You could have on in every room if you wanted to.

This vacuum is much lighter than the Boss was. This is very nice for the children. Then can push it easier. With the Boss, the younger kids would have the part that sucks just off the floor. This vacuum is light enough that they can vacuum the right way. They also can get it up and down stairs themselves. Lots of bonus there. 

It is easy to clean. The attachments work well and are easy to change out. It has a smaller area that actually sucks than the Boss did. I was wary about that. I figured it would take longer to get things vacuumed. However, it means I can get the vacuum into smaller spaces.

I highly recommend this vacuum. We have had it for almost 9 months and it continues to work well. I love how clean it gets my floors. I mean, look how gross this is! (by the way, I didn't get paid for this nor did I get the vacuum for free or discount or anything. I just like it a lot).

I was no different when Brayden was starting school. I worried about making him sit and do homework after being at school all day. I worried about forgetting to get it done if we waited. I am a big "work before play" person, so ultimately we went with doing homework when he got home from school before he did any playing.

Today the ladies from the BFBN are all blogging on back to school topics. Visit their blogs for more!

Ties can be a defect but they can also be hereditary. I have a tongue-tie and a lip tie (by the way, my mom wasn't able to breastfeed me). These things haven't had any negative impact I am aware of on my life other than the breastfeeding thing. So if you have one, there is a chance your kids can have one. McKenna had a lip tie, but it never impacted breastfeeding and she has no issues because of it. 

Here is Lacey's info:

Brinley loves to sing

This is a summary for Brinley from 23.5-24 months old, also know as two years old!

SLEEPING
Brinley moved into a new stage. She moved into the "try to delay sleep by any means possible" stage. This is when you get to see your child's imagination and genius come out. This is when you teeter between being impressed with how bright your child is and being angry that your child won't just lay down and go to sleep already.

She would ask for a different song in the middle of one the song you were singing. She would suddenly need socks. She would need her drink filled up (she sleeps with a sippy of milk WATER. I accidentally put milk originally, but it is not milk. It is water. I have literally never put a child of mine to bed or nap with milk. That is a slope I don't want to start down. However, I do let them all have water in bed. I like water by my bed and figure they will, too). She would see something out of place in the room that needed to be put back. She would need more kisses and more hugs. Then more kisses again.

Finally, I would feel like a big jerk and tell her no more kisses were allowed and that this next kiss was her last kiss. Then when she asked for "mas" (yes, she speaks Spanish when she says "more" at bedtime), I would tell her she already had more and that was it. Then I would cheerfully tell her good night and to sleep well while she started yelling for "MAS!" She would cry for about 30-60 seconds after I closed the door. Then she would go to sleep.

My husband and I both got very consistent and stuck with the same routine no matter what her requests were. Even after a couple of weeks, she is still persisting in trying to delay her sleep by trying out new tactics. She definitely has some tenacity in her.

EATING
Pretty normal here.

PLAYING
Playing was good here. We did have a big development for independent playtime--Brinley learned to open the door. So she was having IPT one day and then showed up in Brayden's room (his is right next to hers). He told her to go back to her room, and she did. Of course, this happened on the one day of the week I shower after she is awake (cleaning day) and I was in the shower. I am glad it was at least during the summer and that she went to Brayden first! He is responsible and he doesn't give in to her (Kaitlyn is responsible, but a sucker for a sad face. McKenna is a party girl and would be thrilled to have Brinley show up during IPT).

The next day, I put her in and told her she needed to stay in the room. She did, but she opened and closed her door a billion times. Each time, she put a toy in the hall outside her door. You can see below--her toys are piling up outside the door.



Then it dawned on me. I suddenly remembered what I did when my other kids learned this special ability of opening doors. I put a child lock on the inside of her door knob. It doesn't take terribly long for them to learn to use the child lock, but it does seem to buy enough time that by the time they are able to open it, they are also better at obeying and having self-control. I am not usually one who likes to do child-proofing--I prefer house-proofing the child. In this instance, however, I really like IPT to be a time I can get things done so that I can give more attention to the child when it isn't IPT. I don't want to battle during IPT (see House-Proofing: Pick your battles).

FAMILY VACATION
We had a vacation in Park City with my husband's family (by the way, I have to say, that Park City, Utah is not a terribly family-friendly place to be. I haven't really experienced the dirty looks for having a lot of kids living in Utah, but apparently Park City is an exception. People obviously did not approve of us having more than our allotted 1.5 children).

Anyway, while there, we were in a room with large bunk beds. Nate and I were on bottom and Brinley was on top (in her Pea Pod). The bed was very creaky. Every time Nate or I would move, we would feel so paranoid that our creaking would wake her up. She is a light sleeper. But she did great.

TELEVISION
Brinley suddenly got an interest in watching TV during this time period. She likes to watch Elmo's World.

With that in mind, I love this quote:

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives." -Robert M. Hutchins

This quote can be applied to any form of education a child recieves--which is basically every realm of life. Teach your children how to improve themselves in their cooking skills, cleaning skills, gardening skills, mechanic skills, and other skills that come in handy in the home. Teach your children that no matter the age or life experience, they can learn something new. They can learn how to sew. They can learn how to bake a pie crust. They can learn how to change their own oil. Lead by example and explain with words that it is possible. 

Teach your children that new talents can be worked on and developed throughout their lives. When I graduated high school, I didn't know how to do many of the things I now do. I hadn't ever grown a garden. I hadn't cooked anything to be impressed with. I had barely learned how to sew during my senior year. I didn't do crafts at all. These are all things I taught myself to do during my 20s. I still have things I want to learn. 

My husband has always wanted to play the guitar. He has talked about it for years. This year for his birthday, I gave him guitar lessons.

Brains that continue to learn thrive and stay sharp throughout a lifetime. Our lives are so much longer than our first 18-22 years. There is no reason to think that once we graduate high school or college that we are done learning and have reached the peak of our abilities. 

Remember as you are teaching your children, you wan to teach them to be able to figure things out and take the necessary steps to learn something if they don't know. If your child asks you a question that you don't know the answer to, say, "I am not sure! Let's look that up and find out." Then show your child how you research something to find an answer. 

Always keep this goal of teaching your child how to learn as you parent. This means allowing your child to struggle to figure something out. This means requiring your child practice. This means allowing your child to do chores you set before them (even if their work is not as perfect as yours). This means teaching them to love to read. This means teaching them to research.

This is all taught a little here and a little there over the years. If you keep it in mind as you parent, you will succeed!

Mobilefun.com asked me to review a free product from their site. I decided to go with this Quirky Converge Universal USB Docking Station. In our house, we are getting a lot of products that need charging. Kindles, phones, iPad...it got to the point that we couldn't even plug our lamp in because so many things were plugged in to charge. 

This has worked great! You plug this one thing in and you can charge up to four things. Any four things that charge using a USB cord will work. This is a great space saver! I also thought that once my kids are old enough I start allowing them to carry cell phones (no idea when that day will be), this would make for a good family night charge station (I don't intend to allow them to have phones in their rooms at night). 

Take note when looking at things on mobilefun.com, many items, like this one, have a UK plug. I also had to get an adapter to use this product. I put it in the outlet and I can still plug in the lamp. Nice to have light again :) This is a great product that is contemporary looking and suits our needs well!

Then came time for Kaitlyn to go to first grade. Now, the other first grade teachers are fabulous at my school. Really, all of the teachers seem great. We are very fortunate at our school. But the teacher Brayden had for first grade is, in my very strong opinion, totally amazing. Totally. You should see the letter I wrote last year recommending her for an award. I really hoped Kaitlyn would get that teacher.

I was talking to one friend who shared that she had felt like she should request a certain teacher and didn't and her daughter got a different teacher. That year ended up being a bad year for her daughter--it wasn't necessarily with the teacher, but with the dynamics of the class. She had previously had the opinion to not request, but then realized that as her mother, she should be doing things that she felt are best for her daughter. With that in mind, I requested the teacher for Kaitlyn for first grade.

On the flip side of that, if I had requested for Brayden for first grade, I would have requested a different teacher than the one he got--the amazing one. So there have been many times things  have not been as I thought they should and they turned out better.

There are pros and cons that I see to requesting a teacher.

Cons

• You can potentially hurt the feelings of other teachers if they find out you requested a certain teacher.
• You might miss out on growing opportunities.
• You might miss out on getting to know a great teacher.
• Administration might find you burdensome.
• You can make the wrong choice!

• You are being an advocate for your child.
• You know individual needs of your child and can assess what you think is best. 
• You can choose a teacher who you know will work well with your student and with you.

Now I pray to know if I should request or not. If I feel I should, then I pray to know who I should request. I still try to primarily leave it up to the administration to decide where they think things would be best.  I stay prayerful so that I can know if I do need to step in and make a request. That way, we can benefit from the pros when we need to request and can take advantage of the benefits of not requesting when we do not. 

The point is that over the years, I have really come to see a lot of benefits for helping in class. It takes time from my day. It doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it is one more thing piled on to the many other things that are happening, so yes, it is a sacrifice of time. It isn't always convenient, but it is definitely worth it. Here is why:

You helping in the class helps your child's education be enhanced. You might help run centers or reading groups. You might help struggling children during a math lesson so they don't fall behind. You might simply do some clerical work for the teacher, freeing her to be more present for the students. You helping makes it better for your child. If your child doesn't struggle, it still benefits your child if the struggling children are helped because then the class can move ahead faster. 

You also will be more aware of the expectations of your child's teacher. I know when I help with some teachers, I help correct papers or help students during lessons and I then know how the teacher is teaching a concept and can build on that foundation. 

Conclusion

Helping in your child's class can defintely be inconvenient at times, but I can promise you that I have found nothing but benefits all around by helping in class. I have helped for the past 4 years and plan to continue doing so.

Acknowledge Feelings

Do not dismiss your child's worries. Do not make comments like, "What are you so worried about? It is only a little first grade test. It will get much harder than that!" This is big stuff to your child. Be empathetic and recognize that your child is having real feelings.

It was okay when I had one in school. My plan then was I put all of the papers Brayden brought home in one nice pile and then once a week I went through that pile. 

When Kaitlyn entered the picture, I continued that plan with one tweak. I decided I needed to look through the pile of papers each day as they came in and just throw away anything I could. That helped so there weren't so many papers at the end of the week, but I still had a giant pile of papers on the counter by the end. And if I missed a week? Whoa Nelly. Guess what? Spring time is crazy time for us, and I missed several weeks. Then summer came and I forgot about it while Kaitlyn continued to add pictures to the pile as she did art all summer...and by the end of the summer, I had a humongous pile of papers to sort through. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of papers.  

Last year, I spent some time thinking up a better plan. I had McKenna about to enter preschool, so I would have three bringing home papers. After much thinking, I decided I wanted to go with a wall file folder. I got the Advantus Panel Wall 3-Pocket Organizer.  I liked this one because it comes with 3 files and each file has 3 pockets to store things in. I labeled the files with "Photo," "File," and "Homework." So I can immediately organize the papers as they come into the house. I also have a place for each item.

I love this system. I did it for the entire 2013-2014 school year and I plan to follow the same plan next year with no changes. I was able to stay on top of the paper flow. I never had a huge backlog of papers to do. I did not have that messy counter in the kitchen full of school papers. Amazon has a ton of options for Hanging Wall Files. I chose the one I did because it was cheap and offered a lot of organization options for me. I have loved the system.

If you don't have kids in school, you can use the same idea for any paper clutter you find yourself faced with in your home. I think most of us have at least one spot that turns into a catch all for clutter. I know mail is a difficult thing here and I plan to implement a similar system with the mail if I can. The basics of this are that you want to get rid of what you can as soon as it enters the house, have a spot to put it until you can get to it, and then have a day that you go through it and get it in its final resting place.

Do you have a system you love for organizing school papers, mail, work papers, etc.? Do share!

Hanger Tags {Organizing Life} Free Printable!

Kindertude

Parental Influence Stands Supreme {Bloom Where You are Planted}

To Preschool Or Not?

Considerations for Charter Schools

Homeschooling

and

Kindergarten Readiness

I plan to try to share anything that I think is pertinent to parenting--the whole realm. I often think of little tips that make my days easier but they don't really ever make it into a full on post. This seems like a great avenue for those. We shall see where the road leads.

1-Language Explosion: There are a lot of language explosions as these little ones grow, but the one during this time period is probably the most noticeable. It makes the most dramatic difference on the life of the child and those around the child. The sentences start and the new words flow like honey from an overworked bee hive. The child is able to communicate wants and needs and everything is easier!

2-Rose Smelling: These little toddlers stop to smell the roses. Every single one. Through the eyes of these toddlers, I see the world in a whole new light. I notice things I have taken for granted. The world is an amazing place and toddlers appreciate every pebble and are in no hurry to do anything. They are very good at enjoying the moment they are in.

3-Sense of Humor: The sense of humor is really emerging. I love to hear Brinley say, "Hahahaha! I funny." Not only do they love to laugh, they love to make you laugh (which is why you need to be careful about what you laugh at! Something may be funny the first time, but not so funny the hundredth). 

4-One Nap: By this age range, toddlers are down to one nap. I LOVE one nap! You have the mornings for errands and playing and the afternoon is still quiet time you can get stuff done.

5-Mini-me: I love the little mimic that toddlers are. Children mimic you, but this age range and into the next age range the mimic-ing is super obvious and noticeable. Your child looks at just how you are sitting, drinking, talking, walking, and wearing your clothes. Then she assesses herself and makes it so she is the same. You see her studying you and adjusting herself to match you perfectly. The highest form of flatter is to copy someone, so around a toddler, you should feel quite flattered!

6-Close Yet Independent: Toddlers are even more content to do things on their own. Imaginations are sprouting and they are able to entertain themselves without necessarily tearing things to pieces. Even with this new independence, a toddler in this age range still makes sure to stay close to mom. Most toddlers won't stray too far. This is very nice for trips to the park--you aren't doing much chasing of the child. If you sit still, the child stays in a radius. It doesn't mean you don't need to watch the child, but you don't have to get up much.

7-Helper: The toddler in this age range will start to actually be helpful when it comes to helping to clean up if you have required it throughout life so far. If you are lucky enough to have a natural cleaner on your hands, you might even start to walk into Independent Playtime and find your child just finishing cleaning up the room.

8-Holding Hands: I love walking along with my little toddler running double time to keep up with me while she holds on to my finger with her entire fist. She feels big and important, but she still wants to be close to me and make sure I am not going without her. That little hand around the finger is a feeling to memorize and cherish.

9-Easily Excited: I love the excitement these toddlers show. Daddy comes home? Best moment of a lifetime! Grandparents visit? Couldn't be better! Apple for lunch? Wahoo! Brinley is a bit more exaggerated in this than I remember my other kids being. She literally shakes with joy at pretty much anything positive in life.

10-Singer: I love to sing and I love to have a little toddler start trying to sing a song with me. Once their sentence capability comes, they love to try to sing songs that they have heard their whole lives. 

Do you have any favorites with this age range?

SLEEPING

Sleep was normal here.

EATING

Eating was less during this time. I figured out it was because of sickness. More on that below.

PLAYING

Brinley was super clingy during this time...again, sickness.

HAND, FOOT, and MOUTH DISEASE

One day, Brinley got a random fever. I checked for teeth. None. I checked her ears. They looked fine. I thought it was so weird to have this random fever day in July. She was very clingy this day, also. I put her in Independent Playtime and she just put herself on the floor and tried to get comfy. I knew she was really sick at that point, so I went in and got her out and just held her. I sat with her the whole day other than when she was napping.

The next day, she was fine. 

A few days later, my husband changed her diaper and said, "It looks like she has a diaper rash." This made me pause because there wasn't anything that would explain her suddenly having a diaper rash. I sat her down on the floor and inspected her feet. Sure enough, on the bottom of her feet were some sores. Ugh! Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease! 

In most cases, this actually sounds worse than it is. Some children do get a really bad case of it and are miserable for a couple of weeks. They don't eat or sleep and don't want to play. Brinley didn't want to wear shoes (I am sure the sores didn't feel great with shoes on) and she wanted me to carry her around. She also didn't eat well--I am sure she had sores in her throat. She also had a couple of spots on her bottom. That was it, so she was lucky. 

I used some essential oils from doTerra. I put doTERRA Melaleuca (tea tree oil) on each sore. I had read this helps immensely and it really did--I put it on some sores and not others one night and in the morning, the ones I used it on were much smaller. doTERRA Lavender is also very helpful. I also used doTerra OnGuard to help boost the immune system. Other helpful oils were doTERRA Oregano, doTERRA Lemon, and doTERRA Frankincense. 

COOKIE HEARTBREAK

One day, I made a bunch of cookies. I was taking some to a funeral and saving some for a family reunion. I had them all over the kitchen. I gave Brinley a cookie. She ate it and then asked for more. I told her she couldn't have more. Her eyes filled up with tears and she looked at the cookies around the room, pointed to them, and said, "More cookie peez!" I told her one was all for now. Oh how she cried! She was heartbroken. She could not understand why she could not have more of this delicious food that was obviously bountiful. She is used to food running out, but I don't limit her food when it is healthy, so if it is there, she can eat it. She was confused and heartbroken. You can't really explain nutritional value of food to a toddler.

NAP SKIPPER

Brinley is old enough to be able to skip her nap and it be okay. She can get a bit cranky for the next day or two, but on the day, she makes it--especially if it is for a fun purpose. We have an amusement park pretty close by and we have enjoyed going there several times over the summer. She loves to go and watch the rides and to play in the water park and she does really well without a nap. She is definitely my most flexible child when it comes to sleep lost.