Stomach Bug

There's a stomach bug going around, and everyone in my family caught it at once. There are no words to describe how awful it is to have your babies sick and be unable to care for them because you are also sick. It's been a terrible 24 hours, but I remind myself that we will one day look back on this and laugh. Somehow.

Joanna is totally pro. No joke, she just puked last night and slept on it. She never cried, and we didn't realize she'd been sick until morning. Oliver was really distraught over what was happening. At about 2am, he was crying for help. My husband couldn't move without throwing up, and I was dizzy, sore, and exhausted. I thought I could maybe make it to my son, but that there would be no way I could clean him up and change his sheets and calm him down. We called in reinforcements.

What can you say about someone who will wake up at 2am to drive to your house to take care of your puking, pooping kids? I don't know what to say except that my mother-in-law is a saint. She stayed with them right up until when she had to leave for work. Bless the woman, as I'm sure she went and saw patients with more poop and vomit.

My mom came and gave us some relief in the afternoon so we could lay down. She took over getting the laundry done and brought food that the kids could hopefully keep down. By evening, we were feeling somewhat better. Andrew's still pretty down and out, and Oliver is still dealing with tummy issues, but Joanna and I are able to eat and get around. I told Jo that the girls won this round of Stomach Bug 2012.

Pre-School Activity: Matching Shoes

After reading an organizational activity on Crafting Play, I felt inspired to come up with a similar activity. The mom was organizing her shoes. She printed photos of each pair to put on the front of her shoe boxes in order to locate them easily. Her toddler matched her shoes to the corresponding photos for her. It looked like something Oliver would enjoy!

I adapted the activity to our needs and made it a game. I decided to skip the photo printing and just have him match the shoes to each other.

I used one of my storage cubes and tossed six pairs of shoes in there.

In order to introduce Oliver to the game, I asked him to first select a shoe. When he had one in his hands, I asked him to find the other one.

When he grabbed the matching shoe, I cheered him on and told him he did a good job finding the pair. Pretty soon, he was matching up pairs as fast as he could grab them and lining them up.

Jo enjoyed grabbing the matched pairs and sticking them on her hands.

Oliver enjoyed finding the matching shoes. I think it's a good introduction to games. Oliver's going to get his first game for Christmas, so I think this might help him understand that games have some sort of objective to them.

What fun! Next, maybe I'll teach him to match socks. Now that would be helpful! ;-)

Kids Say the Darnedest Things: Vacation

My husband and I went on vacation for five days. We talked to Oliver about it before hand, and I felt like he understood the gist of what was going on. I kept reminding him, "We'll be back on Monday." He did well!

We're getting back into the swing of things at home. Now, every time Jo gets into mischief or tries to play with Oliver's toys, he tells me, "Jo needs to go on vacation."

Edinburgh, Scotland

I apologize for being off the map for so long! My husband and I finally took our trip to Edinburgh. We'd won free airfare from British Airways. Family were kind enough to give us some travel money as 30th birthday presents to me, so we were able to travel without too much worry and stress.

It was hard being away from the kids, but it was also nice having grown up time. I liked being able to eat my meals slowly and to sleep in late. It was really nice not being interrupted in conversations! I'm sure a lot of you parents know what I'm talking about. It was hard to be away, but also nice to be away.

I hope to get back into the swing of things in my blog shortly. For those of you who are interested in traveling, I highly recommend Scotland! It was a great destination. You can read all about our travels right here.

Andrew's New Hat, Made by Me!

Just before our flight to Scotland, Andrew realized the only hat he'd brought with him was a German soccer hat. He wasn't sure how well that would be received in the UK, so I decided to quickly whip up a hat with the yarn I'd brought with me for the flight.

I used a free pattern that I found on the Lion Brand website here. I have no idea what colors I used, as one was leftover from the turkey hats I'd made and another was from a yarn beard I've been working on. I thought the hat was really easy to make, and it only took me a few hours. I had to add about half a dozen rows, though, because the pattern just wasn't anywhere near long enough (or else my husband just has a big head.

Here are a few photos of him in the finished hat in Scotland!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things: Fart!

A few weeks ago, Jo farted. Oliver laughed, and then he said to me, "Oliver gets to say play food processor, Mom gets to sing, and Jo gets to fart."

Weird and funny, but what's weirder is that he's said that exact phrase about half a dozen times since then! I asked Andrew if he'd taught him to say that, but he hadn't.

So, now, every time Jo farts, Oliver explains to us that he gets to play the food processor, I get to sing, and Jo gets to fart.

Easy Toddler Lunches

For a long time, I wouldn't make Oliver a lot of "kid" foods. I didn't want him having artificial colors and getting a taste for high-sodium junk foods. Oliver was so picky. He wouldn't eat anything! I don't think he gained a pound from about 16 months old (when he was weaned) until close to his second birthday. People say kids grow a taste for what they're given, but that was not true with Oliver. Our nutritionist at WIC would talk to me about how Oliver wasn't keeping up his weight on the weight-height chart. I kept food available to him literally all day long to try to get him to eat more, but it didn't work.

I had to learn to be less picky as his mom and started to let him eat lots of more typical kid foods, like chicken nuggets. Oliver eats a little of what Andrew and I eat, but he's happiest with simple foods like Cheerios, fish sticks, quesadillas, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So, we let him have those foods for lunch. I don't serve separate dinners, though. I expect him to eat the same dinner as Andrew and me. It doesn't really work, and we have to fight to get him to eat each bite.

Anyway, Oliver doesn't eat fruit and vegetables straight up. He'd literally rather not eat. Our WIC nutritionist told me to always have fruit and vegetables on his plate so he gets used to seeing them so that maybe he'll start eating them one day. I do that, but I also hide fruits and vegetables into his meals to get him to eat them.

Here are three lunch ideas that help me get extra fruit and veggies into my kids' meals. Enjoy!

1. Use baby food in quesadillas

This tip was given to me by a friend a couple years back, when I was struggling to get Oliver to eat his vegetables. For the life of me, I can't remember which friend it was to give credit to (Lisa??).

If your kid is especially picky, use a fairly mild flavor of baby food, and one that will blend into the color of the cheese, like squash. My kids don't notice the baby food and will eat their quesadillas no matter what baby food I smear in there. I used Gerber Garden Vegetables.

All you do is smear a bit of baby food onto your tortilla:

Sprinkle cheese over the baby food:

Oliver's Cooking Show: Peanut Butter

Oliver loves cooking shows, so my husband decided to make him his very own! Learn how to make peanut butter from a toddler here:

Another Successful Black Friday Weekend

Black Friday is my big day weekend to go around and get as many freebies and almost-freebies as I can. It's so much fun to see how much I can get for almost nothing.

Sports Authority opened at midnight on Black Friday, and they gave away a gift card to the first 80 people in line. I received a $10 gift card. They had men's T-shirts with matching athletic shorts on sale, 2 for $5. Baseballs were half off, so I got 2 for $3. I had to spend a minimum of $10 to use my $10 gift card, so I bought a candy bar. Total after taxes? 49¢

I missed a few freebies. Toys R Us opened at 8pm on Thanksgiving (boo). They were giving away stockings stuffed with $30 worth of goodies to the first 200 people in line. By the time I got there after Thanksgiving dinner and pie, the line was 220 people long (yes, I counted...). After Sports Authority, I went to Shoe Carnival, hoping to score one of the 100 gift cards they were giving out at midnight. Alas, I was too late.

In the morning, we went to World Market. They gave us each a free ornament and a free movie ticket voucher. After World Market, we picked up our free Godiva chocolate bar. We enjoyed a free pancake breakfast at the local mall, and then we went to Costco to pick up our free cookbook (one cookbook per member). Here are my freebies:

We also went to JC Penney to get our free buttons. Free buttons you say? Yes, free buttons. This is actually way cool. You can go to JC Penney every day between Black Friday and Christmas Eve and get two free buttons, while supplies last. Each button has a code you can enter online (maximum of two per day). One out of every four codes is a winner!

I entered a JC Penney code on Black Friday and won a $5 off of $5 purchase. They emailed me the coupon the next morning. I ran out and bought a toy for my baby nephew. Check out that receipt. FREE!

I picked up two more buttons when I checked out with my free teether. One of those buttons was a winner! I won $10 off of a $10 purchase! They sent me the coupon the next morning, and, again, I went back out to JC Penney. They had a stamp set on sale for $8. Oliver loves stamps, so I thought it would make a good Christmas gift for him. I picked up a $2 pair of socks for Jo. Total? FREE.

I picked up more buttons! I'm seriously planning on going every day. In addition to possibly winning free coupons, you could win prizes like a Kitchenaid mixer or a vacation! They're giving out one trip every day. Seriously, guys, this is like the most exciting thing to me. I love contests and freebies. Is it sad that I think this is the best thing ever?

Anyway, my next big score was for Small Business Saturday. You might have seen my post explaining how to sign up. All I did was register my American Express card for Small Business Saturday. Then, I had to spend at least $25 at a qualifying small business to earn a $25 American Express credit. I went to a neat little toy store called Timbuk Toys. Andrew and the kids played with all the demo toys they had set out while I shopped. I ended up spending $27.28 on a game for Oliver and some jingle bells for Jo. American Express is giving me a $25 statement credit, so my total for the two toys comes to $2.28! 

Everything you see on this blog post, I got for a total of $2.77. The T-shirt, the athletic shorts, two baseballs, two candy bars, two movie tickets, an ornament, a cookbook. a teething toy, a stamp toy, socks, a board game, and jingle bells--under $3. Score! Have I mentioned I love Black Friday weekend?

Kids Say the Darnedest Things: Disney Edition

Oliver was watching the ballroom scene from Beauty and the Beast on Youtube. He said, "Oh! Look! It's Mom and Dad!"

I laughed and said, "What?"

He walked up to the monitor and pointed to Belle and said, "That's Mom." Then, he pointed to Beast and said, "That's Dad!"

At least I'm Belle.