Sleepy Time

It can be a challenge sometimes to get Kiah to go to bed. So I made this chart in hopes that is may help things along. Kiah usually doesn't have as much trouble staying in bed as procrastinating getting there. So for us the "stayed in bed" part includes going with out much fuss. Basically she picks an animal and uses the animal to get to go through the bedtime routine. She can gallop like a hors, hop like a bunny, etc.

I also made this chart to help teach her a little about reading clocks and when her bedtime is. SHe can compare the chart to the clock above it. When they look the same it is time to start the bedtime routine.

Finally, I have been making some blankets as baby gifts. My mother-in-law has made similar blankets for all of my kids and they are so handy. I thought they would make great gifts. Now I just need to get them to all of their new owners. Some of them have been waiting for a little too long.

Fairy Wings and Tutus

Recently, Kiah had a birthday party to go to. We thought it would be a fun gift to give her fairy wings and a tutu. So Kiah helped me to make them for her friend.
First we made the wings. You start by taking two wire hangers and breaking the hook off the top. This was pretty easy. I just bent it back and forth until it just popped off.


Then I used some duct tape to tape the two hangers together where I had broken off the hooks.


I then folded the hangers together to make them point backwards a bit. It just looke dbetter than them being flat.


Then I gave them a bit of shape as best I could.


Next i took a pair of Kids tights. I couldn't find adult pantyhose in white. I cut the legs off right where the pantie began. I then slid one leg over each wing and tied them in the center.


Next I cut the leg openings of the pantie off to make "straps" for the wings. I just slipped the loops over the wings. And Finally I tied a big daisy in the center to cover the knot and tape. I added a few extra ribbons and glued smaller daisies to the ends of the ribbon. I think I turned out really cute.


The tutu is really easy. I have made several of these for Kiah in different colors.


Usually I use a piece of ribbon or elastic, or a bit of both so they slip on and off pretty easily without me having to tie and untie tutus all day long. But this time I used the waistband of the tights I used on the wings. It worked out perfectly.

You simply tie strips of tulle and ribbon onto the waistband. You can buy tulle by the yard and cut the strips, but I personally like to find the tulle that is sold on a roll. It is about 6" wide which is a great width. First you want to decide the length of the skirt. I made this one about 18". So I had to cut strips 36" long because you fold them in half to tie them. You tie them by folding the strip in half and looping around the waistband and pulling the ends through the loop. I took a picture using ribbon because it is easier to see what I mean than to use the tulle.


I usually tie 2-3 pieces of tulle or ribbon at once. Then you keep tying strips all the way around the waistband until the tutu is as dense as you want.
I also found it is easier putting the waistband around my thigh while tying the tulle. I find it fun to come up with themes for the tutu, changing colors, lengths, densities, materials. You can also play with the shape. Varying lenghts of the strips or how you cut the ends. The yellow and white one Kiah is wearing with the wings above used about 1.5 rolls. It was not as dense as some tutus I have made, but I thought it was great for a fairy.

Swaddling!

I swaddled Kiah a lot as an infant and I knew I would do the same with my other children. So I made a swaddling blanket based on a couple of blankets I was given. I made a couple for some friends and used Anna as a model on how to use the blanket.

Product Review - NasalClear Battery Operated Nasal Aspirator

Here is my review on epinions.com

Luna's review of NasalClear

Or, here it is written out!

"After the birth of my second child I was told about the Graco's NasalClear battery operated nasal aspirator. I thought it sounded like a neat tool, but not really worth the money. Especially since I had a couple of free nasal aspirating bulbs that I had gotten for free from the hospital. But after the birth of my third child I decided to give it a try, especially since we had already been through a bout of RSV.

"After using it, all I could ask myself was "Why didn't I buy this sooner?" I can't even explain the number of physical battles of will and power I had with my first two children over clearing their noses. Luckily, my very strong son learned at an early age how to blow his nose. I try not to kick myself too hard for not buying the NasalClear for them.My youngest has benefited greatly from the NasalClear. She hardly makes a peep when we have to use it. If she does get a little restless I just turn the music on. (yes, it plays music!)

"And the music seems to do the trick to help calm the nerves to get the job done. It is so much faster using the NasalClear too. And the aspirator only has to be inserted one time, as compared to the repetition of squeeze insert release, repeat of a traditional aspirator. I find it to be much more sanitary. I don't have to expel anything into a tissue, or fidget with the traditional bulb under the faucet, unsure as to how clear it is ACTUALLY getting. The Nasal Clear is easy to clean.

"There is another company that makes a similar product. As far as I could tell it uses a small balloon/bulb that is disposable for the reservoir. I chose the NasalClear because I didn't want to have to buy replacement parts all the time, and make sure I had them on hand and in the right place. Not to mention I hate creating more trash, just more for me to lug to the curb. "

Help me out and read my review at epinions! For those of you that don't know, you can earn some money writting reviews for products on epinions. But you need people to read your review and deem it helpful. So if you have a product you love (it doesn't have to be baby related) write a review. It isn't a lot of money, but it is kinda fun knowing you might get paid for spreading the word!

Lil Gardeners

Recently at Lowe's I saw these cute little cups to start some seedlings that I thought the kids would enjoy. So I bought 2 pumpkin and 2 watermelon.

First you have to add some warm water to the pellet to rehydrate the soil.

Then we had to use a fork to break up the pellet more and make sure everything was fully mixed.

Then we dig a small hole and plant the seeds.

Then I put the cups on the widow sill of our kitchen. In a few weeks we should be able to transplant them into the garden. Maybe we will have better luck this year.

I thought I would give a little update on our sweetpeas. If you don't remember, back around Valentine's Day we went to the Botanic Garden and decorated some little pots and planted some sweetpeas.
Well, they have really started to grow.

For St. Paddy's day I wanted to have something green fro dinner, but it can be a challange with a picky eater in the house. So I made green noodles. It was fun. And guess, what, Kiah actually ate them. I did asked her if she wanted green noodles before I made them. Chris and I are working on a plan to break her picky eating habits.

Baby wearing

As many of you know I love wearing my kid. Especially when they are little. I found this contest and thought some of you might be interested!

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Caught Red Handed Clowning Around

As mentioned before we decided to paint our kitchen cabinets. As we were finally cleaning up and getting ready to take our after picture Chris went to check on Kiah (Anna and Eli were asleep.) Kiah was coloring in her coloring book.

Here are the before pictures of the Kitchen Cabinets.

Notice the paint coming off of the Vent Hood.

After a lot of sanding

A lot of eating out

A lot of cooking in the microwave on the floor of the dining area

Many trips to the hardware store

A few mishaps

This is our finished product!

WE added some under cabinet lighting too! We really like it. It was a TON of work. And a few weather challenges made it take a bit longer than we had planned, but I think it was worth it. It is so much brighter in the kitchen now!

Meet Me in St. Louis

During Chris' Spring Break we decided to paint our kitchen cabinets (there will be a post about this later.) While the paint was REALLY drying we decided to take a trip to St. Louis. It was lots of fun, and a little disappointing.

On Friday we went to the zoo. It is ranked one of the best zoos in the nation, and it is free! And with the reciprocal zoo agreements, we were able to use our zoo pass from our local zoo to buy Safari Passes, which get us onto every ride. at half price. This paid off in a big way. We could ride the train around the park as many times and as often as we wanted. Kiah loves to ride the train and Eli was able to nap. We also rode the Carousel at least 4 times, but I think it was more than that. We also rode the ride simulator twice.
We saw a peacock protecting 2 peahens. It was a long fun day. As we were heading over to the Children's zoo, we ran into one of my old roommates. It just so happens that she married Chris' old roommate. We had no idea they were in St. Louis. It is unbelievable the odds of running into her at the zoo.

Unfortunately Eli got very sick that night with Croup. NO FUN! So Chris stayed at the Hotel with Eli and Anna on Saturday. So I took Kiah out for some more St. Louis fun. It actually worked out nicely. Chris really never gets the chance to just stay home and I never get the chance to go out alone with one child. I forgot how easy one child is!

Kiah and I headed over to The St. Louis Science Center. The Science Center is also free. Yippee! And with the reciprocal agreement they have with other museums we were able to use our Children's Museum Membership to see a few extra things for free, like the Discovery room. We played with all sorts of fun things, like a skeleton puzzle and a water table. Later Kiah played with a tornado. She got a little shy because everyone started to stare at her and talk about her since she could crawl inside the tube. She didn't much care for the attention. The whole time at the Science Center Kiah kept asking to go on the elevator, so I told her that I would take her to a really cool elevator.

Kiah and I headed to The St.Louis Arch. We had lots of fun.That night we went to get some Frozen Custard, Chris' favorite!


Eli really was doing a little better, but we didn't want to push it, so we stayed one more night.

The next morning Eli seemed a bit better, except for the fact that he wouldn't eat or drink anything all day and whined, wimpered, and cried all day. So Sunday evening Eli and I went to the ER to make sure there wasn't anymore going on. They wanted to take some x-rays. He got to ride int he wagon on his way to the x-ray. Then they took the x-ray. It was so hard to watch.

Overall, he was ok. It was Croup like I thought. He had some inflamtion in is throat so they gave him some steroids to fix that up. He is much better today!


there are lots of pictures I didn't post, but you can see them in the photo albums.