Tah dah! Everyone at our house is now a princess... due to our wonderful new dress up organization for the girls' dresses and accessories! It works as great storage when the items are not in use and gives them easy access to use things during play time!
We had originally seen a dress up station on Wayfair.com, but my husband thought it was something he could tackle and do himself. We came across blogger Jess, that had that same thought on "Craftiness is not Optional", which even contained a link to another site by Ana White that had some plans for similar designs! He went to work on ours and came up with a design that would work great in our play room.
My husband put it together over a few weekends, with some additional work time being added on it by using a router on all of the edges to give them a rounded finish - so there were no sharp corners in the girls' play area. We picked out paint at Lowe's (Valspar "Plum Burst" 4002- 10B, in case you're looking for it!) - and made our own stencils on some card stock using a font in the word processing program on our computer. I think it turned out beautifully!
The top shelf has storage space for tiaras, cowboy hats, and the pirate hat... if it was ever not in use!
Lots of room to hold the ever important dresses & tutus!
The bottom has a bin that is a great little cubby for purses, shoes, and jewelry:
It has been a great addition to the play room! I will do an updated playroom organization video soon!
Here's the reveal of the dress up station to the girls for the first time - and a mini tour of their dress up items (so far, ha!) in their collection:
The girls loved it, as you can see here!
Cupcake looking all grown up in her Rapunzel costume!
Peanut enjoying the dress up selections!
Great job to Daddy and Grandad - and a very special thanks to Craftiness is Not Optional who was a great help in giving us inspiration for ours, and the plans by Ana White that she linked on her page that gave Daddy a great place to start for ours!
Week 10 was another fun week about reading! We'll be focusing more on numbers in week 11 since we've been talking a lot about reading, but since we had so much fun during Dr. Seuss week (see our previous blog post) - we decided to keep the colorful, imaginative reading fun going with "Rainbow of Reading" week!
We focused on reading again this week and had fun reading some of our favorite bright colorful books, like "Rumble in the Jungle" by Giles Andraea.
Our crafts included making a fun circle rainbow, shamrock snake, and "R is Rabbit" art!
Peanut is now weaned from the bottle and exclusively using a sippy cup! What, you say? Did I accidentally have the prior post in a queue and it didn't posted in a timely manner? Nope... Less than 12 hours after my blog post, I found the trick to weaning tough to wean children off the bottle... Leave them with Daddy for the evening!
I had an eye appointment last night (because I'm blind as a bat and have to stringently go to my yearly appointments to get new contacts) and Daddy came home from work a bit early to watch the girls while I had my eyes checked. During my 2 hour appointment, during daddy boot camp, Natalie magically decided she was a sippy cup baby and gave in on her non-sippy cup using stance.
Today, she has been a totally different child! Very few instances of crying (and the weeks prior to this would be crying spurt after crying spurt), she is happily using the sippy cup and I even noticed she seemed more independent when I picked her up at the gym child care today as well! (She normally would be on the little "baby" side in a swing or playing after they had to console her from a crying spurt, today she was on the "big kid" side happily playing with toys even after my hour long Zumba class!)
So what I have learned from this instance was...
1) Keep trying!! Getting to where you want to be could be just around the corner!
2) Sometimes a little tough love might be best instances of weaning... I was too soon to give in and get a bottle (either with milk in the beginning or with water at the end) to put a stop to the crying.
3) If you must use the bottle while trying to wean your little one off of it, try the cutting an "X" in the top of it! It could be sheer coincidence... but she might have also gotten so fed up with the bottle not working that she turned to the sippy!
4) Out of sight, out of mind... one thing that my husband mentioned he did differently was that his "emergency" bottle with water on it (yes, he had one - but never had to use it) was out of Peanut's line of sight. I suspect she had always been able to catch a glimpse of the one I had on hand and knew it was there as a safety net.
5) When they open their mouth while in the high chair, stick the sippy cup in it. Repeat, repeat, repeat. When we had gotten into the depths of weaning, I tried this - but gave up too easily. I would "repeat, repeat", and finally give in - getting the bottle with water. My husband just kept doing this over and over... and it is what he felt finally got her to just decide to do it on her own!
6) Once it "clicks" with them - ditch the bottle forever! My husband mentioned that Peanut had that "a-ha!" lightbulb look and just started drinking the whole sippy cup. Once they have that moment, you know there is no turning back. All of our bottles were put in our basement last night.
7) And last... but definitely not least. It never hurts to let someone else have a try at it! A mere 2 hours with Daddy, and Natalie was bottle weaned...
... I can't wait to see what he can do with potty training Cupcake! ;)
(Reservations at Daddy boot camp are currently being made!)
We have woes around our house weaning Peanut from the bottle... just like the old adage says - every child is different. And at my house, this rings especially true - my two girls are VERY different, almost opposites in many ways.
Cupcake was easy to wean off the bottle. She wasn't particular about the type of sippy cup that was used, we started her with them early... introducing them around 4 months and always having them on her trays at meals. Around 6 months she actually would begin to "use" them for some water along with her meal (with her main drink still being formula in her bottle) and by 8-9 months, she was proficient at using the sippy cup herself. She could pick it up and maneuver it around with ease, often times keeping a piece of food in one hand while holding her drink in the other!
At 12 months, we weaned Cupcake from the bottle with ease. The bottle was eliminated cold turkey... bye bye bottle one day, milk in a sippy cup from that point on, easy, breezy. (We did use two different types of cups for water versus milk, so that she associated a certain type of cup with a certain drink. We still do this now at 2.5 years old as well.) A bottle weaning parent's dream.
Peanut? Not so much.
Her first words? "Ba, ba!" Not as in sheep, but as in "Ba-ba, give me my darn bottle RIGHT NOW..." Even now at 13 months, it is her most spoken phrase.
She had eating issues right from the beginning of life - not taking to many kinds of formula, issues with transitioning to the soft Gerber baby foods, and then issues again taking to "regular" table food... always meeting the milestone behind the ages that Cupcake had taken to the foods. I should have know that bottle versus sippy cup would end up in the food woes category. It just takes her a longer time to adapt to change and she isn't fond of change to boot, which is all okay... well, would be okay.
If.it.wasn't.for.the.horrific.screaming.
Peanut's new trick that she has also learned in the past month (super fun that it coincides with the timing of weaning off of the bottle) - is to shriek a blood-curdling scream at the top of her lungs when she isn't getting what she wants. Fun. Fun. And more fun!
I put down my foot at the beginning of the week. She is 13.5 months old. By her doctor's appointment for 15 months, we HAD to have made at least some progress on being "off the bottle".
So bye, bye bottle - kind of. We tried cold turkey in the beginning, and it became rapidly obvious that cold turkey would not be working with Peanut. So then we transitioned into putting water in the bottle, milk in a sippy as a little psychology test. She still chose the bottle. The next step was to lay down the gauntlet. Today, I cut slits in the top of the bottle so that it no longer had that smooth flow action for her to even get water. She is not happy.
I will update you on our progress, and I'm still hoping to find a sippy cup that she actually likes. We have yet in our menagerie of cups found one that she has "taken" to... We have them all, Playtex, Nuby, Tommee Tippee, Munchkin, small ones, big ones, ones with handles, ones without handles,ones with straws, hard top... we have the full range. Peanut hates them all.
Don't let that smile fool you! Nothing is standing between this girl and her prized, "ba-ba"!
How did you wean your toddler that loved their bottle? And what kind of sippy cup did they prefer?
So vlogging every day is a new thing for me, but it has been quite fun taking part in "Vlogmas" - vlogging every day on YouTube until Christmas (or the end of December - it seems to vary from person to person and we might actually just finish out the entire month)... Some of the videos I'm looking forward to having to look back on - to see how we decorated this year and that sort of thing, while I'm also thinking it will be great to have some firsts, like Natalie taking her first steps this month, on video to look back on as well.
We also vlogged our recent trip to Michigan - where we visited Somerset Collection mall, Great Lakes Crossing, downtown Rochester, and more. It was great to be back and sight see for a bit. Now we're back and with only one week left to go until the holidays are here... package wrapping and gearing up for the holiday festivities will be in full force!
It's that time of year to think of what gifts would be great to give for Christmas 2012, or other holidays that you may be celebrating this time of here! I put together a holiday gift guide for toddler girls (1 year old & 2 year olds), to give my opinion on what some of the best gift ideas out there this year may be!
Gifts under $20: Melissa & Doug Puzzles, from $9.99: Target, Toys'R'Us, and other toy retailers Book gift sets, from $12 - Barnes & Noble or your local book retailer Holiday books, from 5.99 - Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and other book retailers
Gifts for the young toddler: Fisher Price Magical Music Vanity, $:www.fisherprice.com Fisher Price Zoo Talkers Zoo, $:www.fisherprice.com Fisher Price Zoo Talkers Animals, $3 & up: www.fisherprice.com
Gifts for older toddlers: Fisher Price My First Dollhouse, from $49: www.fisherprice.com Dollhouse accessories, from $7: www.fisherprice.com
Joint Toddler Gifts: Fisher Price Disney Princess Castle, from $39: www.target.com Fisher Price Disney Princess Gift set, $17.99: www.target.com
Pretend Play: Princess dresses, from $10: www.toysrus.com Hand puppets, from $1.99: www.ikea.com Fabric food, from $6.99: www.ikea.com
Stocking stuffers: Fisher Price Wheelies, from $3: www.fisherprice.com
** This is not a sponsored video. All opinions are my own, all items were purchased by the reviewer.
Here's our updated review and final review showing the Britax B-ready with the infant carseat on the bottom. We've now ordered the second toddler seat for the bottom, and will be installing it this week. So the next follow-up review I do on the B-ready will have the two toddler seats!
This shows updated wear & tear on the stroller, as well as how it has held up with over a year of use:
Well, we've cleaned up pretty well during the Gymboree RBS Sale, and I practically won't need to need to buy clothing for the girls until 2013... (Or possibly, literally?) So our kid focus for the end of 2012 will probably be less on clothing and more accessories, and those other incidental things that they need.
One of which, we were able to pick up for Bella this weekend... she got her first "big girl" pillow from Pottery Barn Kids, with a little toddler size pink polka dot pillowcase as well.
Pottery Barn Kids Toddler Pillow, www.potterybarnkids.com, $18
While we were in the store, we also saw some adorable things that would be great Christmas ideas... This toddler alphabet set looks cute and cozy to snuggle up against for winter:
Pottery Barn Kids Alphabet Bedding, www.potterybarnkids.com, $99
Pottery Barn Kids Alphabet Pillow, www.potterybarnkids.com, $39.50
And how cute is this play Dyson vacuum cleaner?!?!? I about had a fit in the middle of the store... it is adorable and pink - and just like a miniature version of Mommy's vacuum!! This is definitely going on the Christmas wish list.
We received a few more gorgeous flowers from GiaCoco in the mail this week! I'm just loving her flowers, and may even get adventurous enough to try the purple one for myself in an updo!
These are from the 2012 Summer "Alice in Wonderland" Collection:
I'm loving the sparkly middles and tulle mixed in with the flowers. Her designs are just so original! Thanks to GiaCoco for some more great hair accessories!
Korker bows are fun and easy to make at home, to match special outfits or for holidays! They are a great way to make a unique bow for your bow collection... one that is made by you for baby!
We have a variety of bows in our collection, some store bought, some bought from sellers on Etsy, and I really appreciate that every bow is different. A lot of thought and effort goes into the making of hair bows by individual sellers we've gotten some of our favorite bows from. I also occasionally like to make our own bows at home though, because I think it is a neat way to have something your child's wardrobe that is made by you. They are easy to make... even if you're not especially crafty! (If I can make korker bows, ANYONE can make them... trust me.)
Check out my You Tube tutorial, and step by step instructions are below!
How to make a korker bow for babies or toddlers!
1) Collect your supplies: - 3-4 ribbons in 3/8" length, 1-2 ribbons in 5/8" or 7/8" length, Scissors, Glue Gun, Baking Sheet, Alligator Clips, Crafting Wire, Dowel Rods, and Clothes Pins
2) Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
3) Wrap a 3/8" ribbon around a dowel rod that is the next size down from your ribbon (so 1/4" dowel for 3/8" ribbon) and use the clothes pin to hold the ends.
4) After you've wrapped 8-10 dowel rods, fill a baking sheet with the dowel rods and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
5) After you let the dowel rods cool, remove the ribbon from the rods.
6) Cut into desired lengths.
7) Connect the cut pieces with a small piece of crafting wire, twist the wire to create a defined center.
8) Wrap a small piece of coordinating ribbon around the center of the bow to cover the wire.
9) Glue the bow to a alligator clip that is covered with a bit of coordinating ribbon.
10) Let the glue dry, and don't forget to finish the edges of your cut ribbon! You can use liquid stitch or a heat source to gently melt the edges so that they don't fray with use.
I've wanted to do a review on the Angelcare Deluxe Movement and Sound Monitor for quite some time, because it is something that we hold in high regard around our house. We've used an Angelcare monitor since the day we brought Cupcake home from the hospital, and now use it in both girls' rooms. We're even still using the movement monitor on Cupcake's Angelcare monitor at almost 2 years old... because we've also found a nice secondary use for the movement monitor - it lets you know if someone has climbed out of their crib! (Which has only happened once, knock on wood... but it was good to know by the alarm the day it did happen!)
Angelcare Deluxe Movement and Sound Monitor, www.amazon.com, $159
The Angelcare Deluxe movement monitor has the regular sound monitor option to hear the sounds in the room, but also senses movement in the bed which basically equals it monitors the baby's breathing during the middle of the night or while sleeping. If it does not sense movement after 15 seconds, a warning beep goes off on the base unit, after 20 seconds, an alarm sounds on the base unit and the portable parent unit that you carry with you. The slightest amount of movement can be detected by the monitor, so you have to make sure to test the room before using it with the baby... to make sure that ceiling fans or drafts aren't causing a false movement reading. In that instance, the sensitivity can be adjusted up or down to better meet your room atmosphere, however lowering the ceiling fan level may also be necessary.
We've test the monitor before and it doesn't just sense weight, it does actually sense the slight movement of a sleeping baby breathing. We've set books or other inanimate objects in the crib when we first got the monitor to simulate the weight of a baby, and indeed the alarm still goes off. It must sense movement. If you lightly touch your hand across the top of the crib sheet, the monitor can sense that. It is that effective.
We did have a number of false alarms with Cupcake's monitor in the beginning, she has the ONE under mattress pad version, which is the original version. From about 2 months old until 7 months old, we would occasionally have false alarms with her Angelcare monitor, if she had scooted herself into the corner of the crib where the monitor could not pick her movement up. (Since the pad is placed in the center of the crib under the mattress.) Once she was large enough that her body mass was just large enough to be able to always be within the radius of the movement pad sensor capability, the false alarms subsided.
For Peanut, we decided to get the TWO under mattress pad version - to try to reduce the number of false alarms... and indeed it has! Since we moved Peanut to her room, we have only had the alarm go off less than a handful of times, and each of the times it did go off - we felt it was legitimately a true alarm because she had not taken a breath for 20 seconds. (Which is more common in younger babies than I think most people realize... she also went through a period where she was having eating and breathing troubles, which I think increased her odd of having a legitimate alarm go off.) Since her eating troubles have subsided, we have not had any further alarms with the two pad version. I would confidently say, we have not had any false alarms with the two pad version.
The parent units are easy to use and switch between the functions that you want the monitor to use. You can use the monitor with sound only, movement sensing only, Tic sound on, Tic Sound off, and it also has a function that can set a different alarm if the temperature of the room goes outside an acceptable range that you set. I really like that the temperature of the rooms is shown on the face of the monitor, and we actually use that alot to control the temperature in our home and in our girls' rooms.
All in all, I would recommend the Angelcare movement monitor to any exception or new parent that was considering it. It has definitely been worth the money, and we liked it so much with our first daughter that we had no hesitation in buying a second one! While of course there are other precautions you should take for the prevention of SIDS, the Angelcare monitor has helped me to sleep better at night when I knew I wouldn't be able to go in and continually check on the sleeping baby.
I also like that the monitor goes UNDER the mattress and that there are no wire or other apparatus from the monitor inside of the crib. Another popular model has a clip that goes on the baby's diaper to detect movement, however the lifespan of that monitor seems fairly limited - since the baby will be able to remove the monitor on their own by age 6-7 months or sooner. (And also could be agitating to them when they begin rolling over on their own.) Having a two under mattress pad version would definitely be my recommendation after having had both the one pad and two pad versions. It seems to lessen the chances of having a false alarm, and also gives you more confidence that the entire span of the crib is being covered by the monitor.
Check out my You Tube review, on my new "Mommy Vlogging" Channel!
New You Tube Mommy Vlogging Channel, for mommy vlogging, baby product reviews, and more:
Thanks for stopping by! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments, as you can tell... the Angelcare Movement Monitor is something we definitely passionate about around our house!
