Trial Run

I worried myself that Riley was not going to let me put curlers her in her the night before cheerleading competition, a tradition that I did as a little girl! So we did a trial run, and boy did I underestimate her! She loved it and had no trouble at all sleeping with them in, I even found this adorableness in the morning:

Isn't she the cutest?

How do you teach a 3 year old the United States?

There are just those things that stick with you your whole life. I guess from having it repeated in music class my entire grade school career, the Fifty Nifty United States song has stuck with me my whole life, well at least half of it did.

I am always trying to find ways to play with Riley that are educational. We sing songs and I try to buy her toys that will teach her something. So I began to teach her the United States song. I could only get to Nevada though, without needing a little refresher. I did what any other parent would do; I got on YouTube.

 

Riley asks  to play this about 54837543785 times a day, and sings it even more than that. 

Since Riley is starting to understand that our country is divided into states, and that she came name a good portion of them in alphabetical order, we busted out our huge USA puzzle.

We would pick a piece out of the box, sing the song till we got to that part of the song, then find it on the directions that they puzzle comes with. Fun and educational, I love it!

It even has the large landmarks that are significant to some of the states. 

I know all parents are bias, and I have said this before, but I think Riley is advanced for being 3. She grabbed the puzzle piece for Alaska and said, "Hey mom, this looks like Louisiana." I'm impressed that she saw that connection, and more so that she knew the names of both states!

When the puzzle is done it's huge, which makes it even more fun for her! Because she can climb on it. 

What fun ways do you teach your children?

Easy as...

pie? Nope. Easy as chicken.

I love chicken. When I was a vegetarian for years, it was the chicken that I missed most.
I love chicken and I love simple.
I love honey and mustard too, and salt.

So here is the yummiest chicken recipe made with all things I love:

It's 4 simple ingredients

*Chicken breast (after watching Food Inc, I try to buy organic free range whenever possible)

*Yellow Mustard

*Honey

*Salt

Your portions of meat should  be the size of your palm. My husband and I usually share a chicken breast, Riley will eat a small portion of mine, if we're lucky, and Raiggie, she isn't quite there yet, close, but not there. I sometimes make more to have leftovers, but not very often, because unless Brandon takes them for lunch the next day, they just sit in our fridge till I get around to cleaning it out.

You preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put a chicken breast(s) in a shallow pan or baking dish (I use aluminum foil because it makes clean up easier).

Cover the chicken breast(s) with a good squirt of honey and a good squirt of mustard. Sorry if I'm being too technical here. haha

Sprinkle with a small dash of salt.

Pop it in the oven for an hour, baste the chicken a few times throughout with the honey mustard glaze, and.....

voila! Honey mustard chicken breast.

MiA

Long lost blog, I have come to write:

So I survived Monday. Hardly, but here I am, one week closer to a BSN (bachelors in the science of nursing). I can see graduation in the horizon, it's faint, but I can see it. I even received this in the mail, which made me realize how far I've come:

and how close I am.One of the professors has the quote hanging on their office door:

Never 

Never 

Never 

Never 

Give Up

by Winston Churchill

Smart man, and it is possible that that quote alone has got me through this nursing program.

Monday Monday MONDAY!!!!!!!!

I've never been a fan of Mondays. In fact, most Mondays I have a case of the Mondays. Having class and being at school for 13 hours on Mondays doesn't help much... Anyways lets get to this, because I have hours of homework ahead of me.

It's Monday, Mamarazzi Monday with Ann Maire at Household 6 Diva.  Time to share the results of stalking your family this past week. I did not cheat this week, and took many pictures of my family myself, pictures of my friend Candice for my photography project, and pictures of myself for my self portrait project which is pure torture I must say, having to take a minimum required amount of photos of yourself with a DSLR that shows every last imperfection detail.

I don't usually let my 9 month old play with hangers. Or take pictures of it. Not usually.

Raigan does usually give me this, "Mom, are you seriously going to take another picture?" face. Usually.

And Riley, she usually plays dress up, spins in the mirror and says, "This dress is good for spinning." Usually.

I usually try to be an optimistic person, usually, but I think was made a pessimist. Tomorrow (I'm writing this post Sunday night) is going to be the longest day of my life I think. I have Community Health Nursing at 8am, Nursing Research, have photos for my Photography class printed, finish up my English assignment, then an English class, have to do a Community Nursing observation and help give flu shots at a local inner city church, and my cheerleading squad is doing their competition routine for all the other aged squads on our team and parents. There aren't enough hours in the day, I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Wish me luck that I don't have a case of the Mondays tomorrow and that I survive. I usually do.

Babywearing

I had no idea about baby wearing when Riley was a baby, well she still is baby-my baby, but I guess other people would consider her a toddler. We had a baby carrier though, a structured one and I think I only put her in it once or twice, it was awkward for me at the time, but then again, so were the first 12 months of motherhood for me in it's entirety. With Raigan though, the shock of being a new mommy had worn out, and I was pretty comfortable with the big aspects of motherhood, and had time to focus on the smaller things like baby wearing. Even though I think it's pretty important, feeding and sleeping probably take precedent.

So it all started when I went to a baby wearing class at the Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center when Raiggie was a few months old and have not looked back since.

Before that class I was a little overwhelmed with all the baby waring options:

Structured carriers, Mei Ties, Ring Slings, Baby Bjorn, Hawk.... what did all this mean?!

After much research and a lot of walking up to moms at Target and asking them about the carriers they were wearing, I think I finally got a grasp on the world of baby wearing. I am by no means an expert, but I will share with you my little packet of knowledge I have on the topic.

In this post:

The benefits of baby wearing.

It is easier to nurse when wearing a baby. It's easier in a bunch of ways. The babe is already right there so it's easily accessible. When the baby is so close you are able to pick up on hunger cues like rooting more easily. The smell of the baby allows your letdown to flow more easily. I remember the first time I had Raigan in a Moby Wrap and was able to nurse her hands free, I thought I had discovered a new world, which I guess I had in a proverbial sense. Also, there have been many times out in public when I felt awkward nursing Raigan, but I just covered myself and her up with the wrap or sling. You don't have to stop and sit down either, you can just keep going around say the Zoo looking for animals all while feeding your baby, which is super convenient, plus no one can even tell what you are doing. (I'm not saying either that one should hide what they are doing, but some of us just choose to be more modest about it than others.)


It's exercise for you and your baby. When babies are worn it provides them with more time to practice using their neck muscles than say in a car seat and they gain head control more quickly. As for you you're carrying around the weight of your baby, which is pretty much like weightlifting right? Ok, maybe no, but it does provide you with exercise by holding the extra weight. 


You can snuggle your baby and still do pretty much anything. Much more doesn't really need to be said about this one. I mean you could even go to the bathroom while snuggling your baby, not that I have done that before.. just saying. haha


You baby feels safe and secure. Physical contact plays a huge part in the development of babies and children. An example would be the use of Kangaroo Care with preemies, and how they thrive with human contact. Such is true for your full term baby. You are essentially recreating the womb for them. They can sway with your walk, hear your heartbeat, and be be close to you. Also when a babies needs are met, it makes the baby feel secure. Babies that are worn are actually more apt to play by themselves and not need mommy in other areas because their needs are already met by being held closely.

It helps your baby fall asleep: Raigan often falls asleep when I wear her:

Sometimes a carrier is a lot easier than a stroller.  Carriers are much cheaper than strollers, a lot easier to transport (you can just throw them in your diaper bag), and it's easier to walk around carrying your baby than negativing a crowd or climbing stairs with a stroller. 


It allows the baby to engage and interact with the world. When wearing a baby they are held up at the level of the rest of the world. There is so much more going on up at chest level than down at feet level where a baby in a car seat or stroller would be at. Most carriers face allow you to face the baby in many positions and can either face you or face outward like this:

Her legs are tucked up, which looks uncomfortable, but she loves to carried like this. Or on the hip like this:

These are just a few of the many benefits of baby wearing.

Do you wear your baby? If not, you should try out, you'll fall in love.

This chair

I almost forgot about this chair that I took a million pictures of and seriously considered tying to the roof of my car when we left Hilton Head. Hub wouldn't go for it though... plus I'm sure Marriott would have noticed. Not only did I love this chair I loved the curtain behind it. This photo doesn't it it justice, but the yellows and reds were beautiful. Where do people find this stuff? Every time I go to buy something decorative for our house, I can't find anything that I like. I wanted to take all the window treatments that were in the villa that we stayed in. I sat in this chair to blog and do homework and whatever else while they girls took their afternoon naps. Not only is it nice to look at, it was really comfortable. I wish we even had room in our bedroom for a sitting chair, but we didn't take that into account when buying our bedroom furniture.

Do you think about stealing furniture when you're staying away from home?