Celebrate and Share Cherished Childhood Moments

Do you ever find yourself looking at your child and wishing you could just stop time? You are not alone! The people over at Gymboree want you to join them in celebrating and sharing those cherished moments in childhood. 

Gymboree has created an amazing new video to help kick off this campaign and I am so happy to share it with you. This video is truly touching and must be watched by all parents. So watch and enjoy, then share your favorite cherished childhood moments in the comments! Be sure to use the hashtag #cherishchildhood when commenting or if you share this video with friends! Without further ado, I present to you "Today we've got to play!" sponsored by Gymboree:

Disclosure: My Journey to Living Well uses affiliate (marketing) links whenever possible. This post may contain affiliate links. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Little Cheeks. Little Teeth. Everything Around Me is Little. Little Girls.

There is not one clothed baby doll or barbie doll in this house. 

I wash more barbie and baby doll clothes 

than I do my daughters' actual clothing.

Is anyone else out there raising girls? 

The laundry is excessively multiplied by their need to change clothes twelve times per day. 

One loves her "pretty dresses". A nightgown is also considered a "pretty dress". She will take off what I've dressed her in and wear her nightgown all day. 

This leads some visitors to believe that I don't dress my kids. 

Add to that the fact that she screams her head off if I go near her with a brush and the public view of my parenting skills is complete. 

Except to other moms who seem to silently understand.

Naked barbies, naked baby dolls, and little girls that look like their momma don't know how to dress them.

Tea parties, cooking with dirt, and a personal hair stylist (ouch!)

Hide your makeup and your perfume and God forbid if you leave some nail polish laying around.

This is what its like raising little girls.

Wouldn't change it if I could. But I would most definitely get a maid.

"Little cheeks
Little teeth
Everything around me is little
Some day I'll land in the nut house
With all the nuts and the squirrels
There I'll stay
Until the prohibition of
Little girls."

I have a NickJr Song Stuck in My Head!

First of all I'd like to apologize to all the NickJr watching moms out there for what I'm about to do. I'm hoping that by writing about it, I'll get it out of my head. 

The song is Happy Birthday by the Ting Tings and it has been playing on NickJr alot. 

This actually happens all the time with the NickJr songs. The last song this happened with is called 5 Days Old. I actually LIKE that song. What does that say about me? I'm not really sure! I suppose I can see why kids are drawn to them though. They are upbeat, catchy, and hard to forget. 

What songs do you get stuck in your head?

Little Passports - A Global Adventure

My daughter always wants to check our mail. She actually gets upset if I check it before she gets home from school so I usually try to leave a little something in there that she can bring in herself. So imagine her surprise when she checked the mail and brought it more than "a little something" and it was addressed to her!

A Collection of Letters From Moms and To Moms

I've often thought about consulting a family counselor regarding my inability to relate in some ways to my children. But I worry about the trend of so many doctors and therapists pointing both parents and children toward prescription medications as a cure-all for everything. I realized that I just want someone to talk to who has had similar experience. I did a little internet search and lo-and-behold, I'm not alone. I found these beautiful letters out on the internet and they got me thinking. Maybe the best therapy is an open ear.

A Letter to My Children About the “Good Life” 

at Generation Cedar

This letter talks about what it means to have the "good life". How we so often try to make up for our shortcomings by trying to provide things to our children.

"I love you dearly. As a parent, I want “to give you a good life”. But you may need me to define what I mean by that. A good life doesn’t necessarily include lots of material things. It may, it can, but things don’t define a good life."

Global Green USA Green School Makeover Competition Presented by Pureology

Could your child's school use a green makeover? I know my child's school could and that's why I nominated them for the Global Green USA Green School Makeover Competition. You can nominate your child's school too, but you have to hurry because entries are due by March 31st!

Every child deserves a learning environment that’s safe, comfortable and free of harmful toxins. Unfortunately, many schools across the country lack the funds to carry out much-needed repairs and renovations—subjecting children to outdated facilities with improper ventilation, poor lighting and inefficient energy usage. Global Green USA is working to address this situation and ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn in a healthy, green school.

Vera Bradley Collection at Tiny Prints

Tiny Prints is thrilled to present the Vera Bradley Collection, an exciting assortment of birth announcements, baby shower invitations, thank you cards and more. Head on over to Tiny Prints to check it out! You can find Vera Bradley Baby Shower Invites, Vera Bradley Birth Announcements, Vera Bradley Thank You Cards, and Vera Bradley Address Labels!

Yoga for Kids - Storyland Yoga Review

My six year old daughter received the Storyland Yoga by Playful Planet DVD for Christmas and she and my three year old are having so much fun with it.

Storyland Yoga

A Special Treat for Home-Schoolers Everywhere!

Little Passports follows the adventures of Sam and Sofia as they travel around the US and around the World. Each month your child will receive a new package from a new destination. Little Passports will inspire a love and understanding of the world as they learn about geography, history and language in such a fun way! You can even address the package to your child if you want.

Now is a great time to get started because they are having a special promotion for St. Patrick's Day! The first 17 customers of March will receive a special discount of 17% off of the entire 12 month subscription! All you have to do is make the difficult choice between the U.S. Edition or the World Edition.

Get Started!
Don't forget to use code: LUCKY17

There is a Stomach Bug Going Around

And my 6 year old caught it. It started on Monday. She came home from school complaining that she was sleepy. I thought she was either just tired because it was Monday or was trying to get out of doing her homework. She went to sleep around a 6:30 that evening, slept most of the night and had a fever the  next morning so I kept her home from school.

By the end of the day on Tuesday she seemed to be feeling fine and the fever was gone so she went to school on Wednesday. Everything was good until Wednesday night. First came diarrhea, then she threw up. We were up most of the night.

No school on Thursday. She slept most of the day Thursday and when she wasn't sleeping she was complaining about her stomach hurting. There was a few more instances of diarrhea but her main complaint is nausea.

She kept wanting to stay in the bathroom because she was afraid she was going to throw up. I finally put a grocery bag inside a big kitchen pot and gave it to her to keep in her bed. This way she is able to stay in the bed and not worry if she "feels" like she's going to throw up.

Today I finally gave in and called the doctor because she didn't seem to be getting any better. She's been sleeping a lot and not eating very much. She's been drinking plenty of water and the sparkling water that I give her when her belly hurts. She hasn't had a fever since Wednesday but she just wasn't herself. Of course the doc said to bring her in.

I really try to avoid doctor's offices when I can, I just imagine the amount of germs that must be in there, especially during flu season. But we went, kitchen pot in hand. Her doctor said that they've been seeing a lot of this going around, some type of stomach bug.

Her orders were to keep doing what we were doing (fluids and rest) and she gave her a prescription for anti-nausea medicine and recommended Culterelle Probiotics for Kids.

So off we went to Walgreens. I picked up the prescription and checked on the probiotics, already expecting them to be outrageously high. To my surprise Walgreens has a sale going on this week on Culturelle. It is regularly $27.99 but this week you can get it for $10.00 AND get a $10.00 register reward! It was free! That was the highlight of my day.

We are back home now and she is curled up in the bed watching a movie. Hopefully this will be over with by Monday and things go back to normal.

Anyone else dealing with this right now?

Disclosure: My Journey to Living Well uses affiliate (marketing) links whenever possible. This post may contain affiliate links. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The Potty Training Diaries Part 2

Overall, potty training has been a success. After the first several days things have only gotten better. Mya will tell me when she needs to go pee every time now. The only thing that is still an issue is the poop.

Mya has had "stomach issues" for at least a year now. She screams and cries every time she needs to poop. If you saw what she pooped out you understand why, its huge. (Sorry if this is too graphic but I'm sure I'm not the only one with a child who has poop issues) It has gotten so bad that she has resorted to "holding it in". For hours, sometimes a full 24 hours because she knows its going to hurt.


I think what it all boils down to is that she is not getting enough fiber in her diet. I called her doctor and she recommended flax seed. That didn't work so well because I couldn't get her to eat anything I put it in. I bought some wheat germ which is easier to hide and try to slip that into everything that I can. The fact is that she is a picky eater and a light eater. She also won't drink juice very much, only every so often. The pharmacist recommended I speak to her doctor about MiraLAX, that does seem to help a little, but the problem persists.

(Update! We have STOPPED with the Miralax after reading this article: IS MIRALAX THE NEXT VIOXX?)

What this means for potty training is that I spent most of day 6 and 7 in the bathroom with her. She'll start crying and get really still and I rush her to the potty where she seems to get control of it (has it held in good again) and "is done". Until about ten minutes later when go through it all over again. Several times there have been "accidents".

As for the rest, she still wears a diaper at nap and bedtime but she always wakes up dry from her nap. At bedtime she wakes up a little wet but not nearly as wet as pre-potty. She forgot all about our M&M deal the second day in and now she just goes to the potty because that's what she's supposed to do.

I rarely ask her if she has to go, not like the first day or two. Now she tells me but I do make sure she goes before bed or before we go anywhere. And I still cut back on liquids before bed and outings.

I'll keep updating for all you of you and if you haven't already make sure you check out my original post The Potty Training Diaries.

The Potty Training Diaries

Ladies and gentlemen.....potty training has begun. Finally! My youngest just turned three. I've always heard that they will let you know when they are ready and my other two did. So I waited...and waited....and waited. She was not interested a bit. "I don't wanna go potty!" That was always the response I got when I asked if she wanted to go to the potty "like a big girl". So I stopped asking.

After two and a half years of diapers and six months of pull-ups, we have laid them aside! (cue heavenly music) We are now on day four of this endeavor, still a work in progress, but the end is now in sight! I would like to provide a run down of what has gone on so far because I wish I could find something I could relate to prior to this.

Preparation ~

While I am NOT as organized as I am about to sound, this is what I did to prepare.

Step one - Run really low on pull-ups and DO NOT go out and buy more. I live in a rural area, the nearest Walmart is 35 minutes away so we plan our trips accordingly. This was a BIG step because I recognized that I was using the pull-ups as a crutch just as much as she was.

Step two - Get the big girl panties (back) out. We bought them a long time ago but I would get so discouraged when she would pee in them almost immediately that we gave up too quickly. She didn't care a bit that she was soaking wet.

Step three - Keep the washing machine open and empty. This step is very important. You do NOT want to get caught with poopy panties and no place to put them. (On a side note, my laundry has stayed caught up all week!)

Step four - Take a deep breath and jump right in! Take off the pull-up and put the rest away, to be used only for night time.

You'll want to make sure you don't have many places to go during this transition. Staying home has worked pretty well for us. We've only had one outing since it began and I planned for that by limiting the drinks and taking her to the potty at all three stops.


DAY ONE -
The pull-ups came off and the panties went on. I have learned to tell her its time to go potty, DON'T ASK! If I ask, she says no. We went to the potty about twenty times on that first day. It seems that when she had a pull-up or diaper on she just went a little at a time. I know this because even when she peed in the floor she still had some left when we went and sat on the potty.

The times that she went when I took her was a very big deal. I am not ashamed to admit that I offered her M&M's with every success (don't judge me, it worked).

I tried not to make a big deal when she wet her panties even though I was screaming on the inside (this is never gonna work!) We just cleaned it up, sat on the potty and put on a clean pair of panties.

I waited until the evening to wash all the panties we went through but I kept soapy water in the machine so I could toss them in there throughout the day.

Stats for DAY ONE - Three puddles in the floor and a half a bag of M&M's but she pooped in the potty for the first time!

DAY TWO -
We started first thing in the morning, straight to the potty. We took off the night's pull-up and put on the panties. It was a slow start, she seemed to forget about it and reverted back to "I don't care where I pee, even if it is running down my leg."

She even came to tell me that she peed in the floor. Then she had the nerve to ask for some M&M's! Nope! "No M&M's because you peed in your panties instead of in the potty. You have to tell Mommy when you have to go". Her immediate response "I need to go potty".

We had one more puddle in the floor by the end of the day, no big deal.

What was a big deal was the POOP IN THE PANTIES! It was AWFUL! NOT like changing a diaper! Try getting FULL panties off a three year old amidst gagging and retching. She STEPPED IN IT while I was trying to carefully pull them down. I got them off, used about ten baby wipes and hosed her down in the tub. Despite all my misgivings after this horrific event, I still went and got another pair of panties and was BEYOND grateful to have the washing machine ready for just such an occurrence.

Stats for DAY TWO - Two puddles, one poop and about a quarter of a bag of M&M's (she is starting to forget about our M&M deal!)

DAY THREE -
Day three went very well. She only peed in her panties once and actually seemed upset that she did! She's starting to realize that it is frowned upon to have a pee puddle at your feet. I was actually starting think that she would never get to this point but it happened! I assured her that "accidents" were okay and we went straight to the potty where she finished her business. She had actually tried to stop the flow this time!

I caught her "I'm about to poop" face today before the horror of horrors happened again so it was a great day!

Stats for DAY THREE - ONE puddle!

DAY FOUR - The first outing
We used up our last pull-up last night so we HAD to get to the store. I made sure she hadn't drank anything for about an hour and took her to the potty several times before we left (she only went once but I needed to make sure.)

We stopped by my mom's first to see if she needed anything from town and I took her to the bathroom there. (She didn't go) We went from there to Walgreens where she did use the potty (score!) and then we went on to Kroger's. We weren't there long and she still hadn't had anything to drink so we were good. We had one more stop at my mom's pharmacy and since she went to the potty there I thought it was safe to give her a drink for the ride home. Our first outing and NO ACCIDENTS!

In fact, no puddles today at all! She was a little damp once and came to tell me she needed to go! Things are going great!

Throughout this whole experience we have made a really big deal every time she actually used the potty. When family members come over we make sure to let them know that she is "a big girl now" and everyone tells her now great she's doing. We call her daddy everyday (he works out of town) to let him know how its going and so that he can congratulate her too. I was starting to wonder if this day would ever come.

I'll keep this post updated on our progress but its looking really good so far. Anybody else want to share any potty training tips and/or horror stories? Comments are greatly appreciated!

Check out the Potty Training Diaries Part 2 for an update!