Great Contest

Check this out! 5 Minutes for Mom has teamed up with Best Buy for a contest where some lucky person gets to win a 37" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!!!! Check in with 5 Minutes for Mom and see what it is all about.

I hope I win this. James has a birthday in few weeks, and I KNOW he would LOVE this.

Cute Lena Moment

Yesterday in Church, we were singing "Blessed be your name", and when the song ended and everyone was sitting down, Lena decided to belt out, "Maymen!", which is her version of amen. The people around us just smiled. Amen is one of her favorite words lately.

When we sit down to eat at the table, we always hold hands and pray. It sure does make you feel good that you are doing something right when your toddler holds out her hands and says "Pray" before you can say it to her. And she loves to say "Maymen" at the end with enthusiasm.

I love being a mom!

Does it count?

Tonight, James was making brownies, and after he put them in the oven, he took the bowl over to the table so that he could eat the leftover brownie mix. He gave Lena a taste of the brownie mix. She said, "Mmmm, good. Amen!" She said the words somewhat close together, with only a couple of seconds in between, so does that count as a three word sentance? Anyways, it was a cute moment.

Another Contest

Hey everyone! Adventuresinbabywearing is having a contest where someone gets to win a $50 shopping spree at kangaroodle. Also, Mama Speaks is a cool place to visit. Go check them out.

Snack Time

Lena decided for herself that it was snack time. So she climbed up into her booster chair, grabbed the box of cheese nips, and poured them all onto the table. I told her she needed to tell Mama that she wanted a snack instead of helping herself, and then made sure to take advantage of the photo op. My silly girl.

No more crib

As I posted before, Lena got out of her crib last sat. after nap. Well, since then, she hasn't been sleeping as well, and it has been harder to put her to bed. So....Thurs. morning, I pulled her mattress out of the crib and put it on the floor for her to sleep on. That afternoon I put her on the mattress on the floor for her nap and told her to stay there on her bed and go to sleep. I told her that if she got off of her bed, that I would spank her. I walked out and closed the door, and then came back about 5 min. later. I found her off of her bed reading a book. So I spanked her, put her back on the mattress, and told her to go to sleep and that if she got off her bed that I would spank her. She cried about it. I went back in 10 min. later and she was asleep. We are now going on 3 days and nights of putting her to sleep on the mattress on the floor without any problems and no more spankings after that first one. She is sleeping longer, and waking up happier. We are working on getting a bed so that she doesn't have to sleep on a mattress on the floor. So far, this transition has been really good. She was ready for it. Thankfully, she doesn't know how to open doors yet. Although, that will come in time. Hopefully not for several months. Our little Sweet Pea is growing up.

New Accomplishments!

Yesterday afternoon, Lena learned something new! When she woke up from her nap, I heard her talking to her animals in her bed. I was about to go get her when I heard a thud, and then Lena crying. I ran into her room only to find her not in her bed, but on the floor! Yes, Lena figured out how to climb out of her crib. She was just fine and only cried for a short bit. She has been trying to create nearly every piece of furniture into a jungle gym, and the day before learned how to climb in and out of the bathtub, so I should have known that climbing out of the crib would come soon, but I was surprised and not ready for it. I did hear that when your child gets to be 35 in. you should move them out of the crib. Lena was 33 in. a month ago at her 18 mo. checkup. We are still trying to decide between teaching her to stay in her crib, and going ahead and moving her to a big bed. Right now, I'm leaning towards moving her to a big bed. We saw a neat expandable bed at IKEA that can start out as a toddler bed and then transfer into a twin bed. I don't know what we'll end up doing, but I guess we better make up our minds soon.

Contest fun

Hey friends! At 5 Minutes for Mom, they are having a July 4th Giveaway! So head on over there and check it out. There are a lot of great prizes that could be won!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the BEST Daddy in the whole world! James is a wonderful daddy to Lena. She just thinks the world of him. She can't wait till the end of the day for him to get home from work, and when she hears him come in the door, she runs to him saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" and gives him the biggest hugs. I knew he would make a great daddy, when my nephew attached himself to him before we had been married a year. I'm so blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband and father.

Father's Day 2006-Lena is 6 mo. old

Like Father Like Daughter--Big cheesy grins.

Contest!

At 5 Minutes for Mom they are having a contest where they are giving away two gift baskets with new baby toys made by Playskool and CVS/Pharmacy. Be sure to go check it out!

Pudding

Last night, Lena and I thought that we would make some chocolate pudding.
She had a lot of fun helpingmix it up and tast testing. I think she got her love
of chocolate from her Daddy and her Granna.

I better taste this, just to make sure it's good.

Yum! It is good pudding!

Having a baby changes everything

I was recently taking a poll online on a baby website. One of the questions was:

What does the phrase "Having a baby changes everything" mean to you?

Here is my answer:

Your thinking changes, you no longer think about just yourself and your spouse. You think about your child, and how you conduct yourself will affect your child. How your money is spread out is different. You no longer have the same amount of spending money for yourself, you have to buy diapers, clothes, doctor's visits--and they are more important than that new shirt or pair of shoes you've had your eye on. Your schedule changes. You no longer get to stay out late, or be able to go somewhere on a whim. Bedtimes and naptime are important, otherwise the rest of the day is cranky time. Your sleep pattern changes. You no longer get to sleep in when you want to. But, amidst all these changes, come a lot of wonderful unimaginable changes. Your sense of joy changes from the things you used to love, to getting that toothless gummy grin. Even those slobbery kisses (that do eventually change to sweet ones), put a smile on your face. You find yourself having spent half of naptime just watching your child sleep, in awe of their beauty and amazed at the fact that they are yours, and the other half of naptime catching up on your sleep. And who can forget how your heart leaps when your child first says, "Mama", or "Dada", or how proud you feel when the doctor says your child is smart. Yes, having a baby changes everything, but the positives outweigh the negatives. For me, having a baby changes everything for the better, and I wouldn't ever exchange my "Mama Time" for the times I had before having a baby.

I'm so proud to be a Mommy. This is the job that gives me such joy.

Dreams

It is interesting how dreams are. Some are good, some are weird, and some are scary. Some dreams actually come true. Last thursday night, I dreamed that we went to Midland and was out with my family. In the dream, my sister-in-law forgot to pack diapers for her son, Lena's cousin, who is two weeks older than Lena. She asked in the dream if she could use one of Lena's diapers for him. Well, the next morning, I ended up packing double the amount of diapers and wipes in Lena's diaper bag. Well that day we went to Midland to go to my niece's high school graduation. We went out to dinner with my family, and sure enough, my sister-in-law (the same one from the dream), realized she didn't bring the diaper bag and asked if she could use one of Lena's diapers for him. Freaky, huh!? Like I said, it is interesting how dreams are. There have been some other times that some dreams have come true, but the one I like the best is when I dreamed when I was pregnant with Lena, (before we found out she was a girl) that we had a little girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Well, that certainly came true. I like to see how dreams come true. Of course there are times I wake up in a sweat and pray really hard that dream that woke me up would not come true. Dreams are interesting.

First time mom lessons

First time mom lessons I have learned:

1. It's okay when your toddler refuses to eat meat. She substituetes it with veggies, and it's just a phase.
2. When you encourage your child to foster a love of reading, be prepared to read each of her books a million times a day.
3. "No" becomes a favorite word, even though you're sure you weren't the one to teach it to them.
4. Your child surprises you every day with something new they have learned.
5. Slobbery kisses are the best.
6. Toddlers are good at hiding things :)
7. How to multitask beyond the meaning of multitasking.
8. You don't have to buy the expensive diapers--the cheap HEB brand works just as well.
9. Getting a puppy is like getting another baby--only with a lot of bark.
10. What the meaning of a schedule is--and it's okay when it gets changed. Tomorrow is always another day.
11. Meals and food prep. are scheduled events.
12. Babysitting trade-off with other moms is a wonderful thing.
13. No matter how much you thought you knew about children before having them, you still learn new things every day.
14. Sleep is a luxury.

This is just the beginning of what I have learned in the last 17 months.

Sleep is a word in house again!

Lena is over her fear of going to sleep alone in her room! Yay! Last night I left the lamp on in her room and let her cry it out. She was in and out of crying for nearly 10 min. before falling asleep. She also woke up at 6:00 am, but she did sleep completely through the night in her own bed all night. We were so happy to get sleep last night. Now I know not to put her in her bed right when a storm starts, but rather just wait a little till it ends. The lessons you learn when you're a first time mom.

Back to no sleep

Well, we're back to the no sleep topic. Only this time, it's not because of not wanting to go to sleep without James there. Lena is now afraid to sleep by herself alone in a dark room. On wednesday night, when it stormed, I put her to bed at her normal time, but that was when the storm was just starting. The lightening and thunder scared her, and since then she won't sleep at all in a bed alone in a dark room. Last night I tried putting an extra night light in her room so she would have 2, and it not be so dark, but she wasn't going for that. I even tried putting her in the pack n' play in our room to sleep. The only way that she would go to sleep is to sleep in our bed with us. That is not a normal thing for us to do. Sometime around 12:30 am, I moved Lena from our bed to the pack n' play. There was a night light right by her bed, so she had plenty of light. She slept there till about 5:30 and then woke up with her scared cry. I was so sleepy, I just put her back in our bed. She sleeps just fine for her daytime naps in her own bed. It's just at night now, she doesn't want to sleep where she can't touch us and know that we are there. I'd love to break her of this, I just don't know how yet. I don't want to have to go to bed every night with a toddler in my bed.