Words of Wisdom - He's the Boss

This week I'm sharing some Words of Wisdom given to me by ladies at my wedding shower, almost twelve years ago.


Words of Wisdom - To Have a Happy and Successful Marriage

"Love begins when you sink into his arms and you end up with your arms in the sink."

Spoil each other

Make him feel he's the boss (but you know better).

Give each other room to grow!

May all your problems be little ones.

and lastly,

Learn how to count to 10 slowly.

What words of wisdom have you been given (or have learned) over the years?

Words of Wisdom - Major Decisions

This week I'm sharing some Words of Wisdom given to me by ladies at my wedding shower, almost twelve years ago.

Words of Wisdom - To Have a Happy and Successful Marriage

At our house, I make the every day decisions and Tom makes the major decisions (so far we haven't had a major decision!)

Never go to sleep mad at each other. 

Keep a sense of humour and laugh together a lot.  

 

What words of wisdom have you received over the years?

Words of Wisdom - Joint Bank Accounts

Yesterday, I shared how I had come across a small album filled in with Words of Wisdom according to the ladies at my wedding shower.  Almost twelve years later, I bring to you Words of Wisdom - To Have a Happy and Successful Marriage

Recipe for a Good Marriage:



1. Communication
2. Understanding
3. Accepting each other's faults
4. The wife is always right
5. Patience
6. Laughter
7. Hugs and Kisses
8. Make time for each other
10. Joint bank account

Do you remember any pithy pieces of marriage advice you were given?

Words of Wisdom - Peel an Onion

We've been on a crash course this weekend in an attempt to finally get our garage well and truly purged of stuff.  While I was very pleased with the pile of things we managed to donate, I am somewhat afraid of the pile of boxes my unusually motivated husband has managed to pile inside our home.  Because of course, we all know who is going to end up finding a home for the majority of the stuff.  Blah.

Anyways, as I was sorting through my box of photo albums (remember those before the days of digital photo frames?), I came across this one small album that was filled with "Words of Wisdom" from the ladies (both young and old) that attended my wedding shower.  Well, let's just say there was quite a bit in there to give me and K a few good chuckles. 

Of course, I immediately thought what excellent fodder for my blog.  So... almost twelve years later, I bring to you Words of Wisdom, To have a Happy and Successful Marriage 

If you had a busy day, and you are home before hubby, peel an onion and put it in the oven low heat, while you are making dinner.  He will think you have been busy making dinner and be content to wait for dinner.

Come back tomorrow for more Words of Wisdom

(It should perhaps be noted that all of these ladies are still happily married and the only one that did write a note but said she had not words of wisdome to share with me..... is divorced. Sad but true. 

Timmy Steals the Show

Don't you just love it when they come out with a cartoon that you enjoy watching as much as the kids?  One of those shows for me is Shaun the Sheep.  I just love everything about it.  The characters, the non-dialogue approach to storytelling, the claymation. Obviously, my kids just love it too.  They will watch the same episode over and over again.  I think the lack of dialogue really forces the kids to pay attention to whats going on onscreen.  Nobody is laying out the story for them, they have to watch and figure out the clues as to what's happening. 

One of the lovable characters of the farm is Timmy, a baby lamb, who gets into all sorts of mishief. He's absolutely adorable, complete with sou sou. Well the Oscar winning Aardman Studios felt Timmy deserved his own show, hence Timmy is off to pre-school in his own series. 

For the first time Timmy Time is being released on February 22nd in Timmy Time:  Timmy Steals the Show.

"Timmy Time follows the adventures of Timmy, a little lamb with a lot to learn as he enters preschool. Fans of Aardman’s hit children’s series Shaun the Sheep will recognize Timmy as the baby lamb on the farm who is frequently drawn into all kinds of chaotic adventures by the mischievous older sheep. Used to having his way by being “the only lamb in the flock,” Timmy is now heading to preschool to graze on some important life lessons about playing nicely with others, namely his fellow classmates of the furry, feathered and spiky types."

Haven't seen or heard of Timmy Time?  Here's a clip. (Note audio wouldn't work for me but maybe it will for you. Let me know if it doesn't so I can switch the clip. Thanks.)

Waiting

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Women Who Lie

Do you lie to your husband? 

According to reality television a lot of women do.  Mainly about how much money they spend.  Apparently, they'll go to such lengths as hiding bank statements and hiding their booty in the back of the closet and then bring it out months later at which time they could honestly say they've had it for a while.
The more that I thought about it, the more I was confounded by it.  It just doesn't occur to me as being a realistic option to hide my spending by lying to my husband.  Of course being of an analytic nature, I had to disassemble why that is and I realized there are two main reasons why lying wouldn't work for me:

#1.  There is no way I could hide the fact that I'd spent the money.  He looks at our accounts more than I do and with online banking there's no way I could even hide the bills from him.

and,

#2.  I suck at lying. No, I really suck at it.  I instantly feel guilty and you can pretty much read me like a book when I'm lying and if I do get away with a lie.. I don't feel good about it.   

I just blew $30.00 on some yoga mats online and while I hemmed and hawed over buying it because money's tight, I really wanted the mats to go with the DVDS I was getting (with a gift certificate) because it's our plan to get fit.  I knew he probably wasn't going to be pleased.  Did I lie to him or fudge the truth about how much the mats really cost?  No. I may have wanted to but the price tag was staring me in the face and I had to be honest.  In a sense, I am lucky.  The way our finances are set, I really have no option to lie if I wanted to or not. 

Still this got me thinking about women who do lie to their husbands. I don't get it.  After all, if you think your husband is going to blow a gasket because you just blew $100.00 bucks at the mall,  call me crazy here, but maybe there's a reason why you shouldn't be spending the money. 

Of course, I'm not a saint and I'm sure there have been times when I've been guilty by omission and I definitely know there have been plenty of times when I've downplayed my involvement in certain items getting broken around our house. Just as I am sure I don't tally up my blogging hours in a day for him to peruse or confess that I ate the rest of the candy I supposedly shared with the kids.

Which is where we come to white lies and how we define what constitutes a serious lie and a harmless (white) lie.  Depending on who you are and your background, that can vary a lot. 

So what it came down to for me was that I realized that lying about those types of things isn't okay in my book.  I want a marriage based on respect and trust. I would NOT want my husband to lie to me about those things.  He has, in fact, lied by omission to me recently and it hurt .... a lot.  There wasn't a thing I could have done differently at the time but it would have been nice to have been involved in the decision rather than him thinking he'll take the money and put it back before I know it's gone. 
I believe lying is usually done to save face. To save ourselves from blame, culpability, consequences etc.  But what about the people we lie to?  Months later, I'm still resentful.  It's hard not to play the blame game... if only we had that money we'd be able to buy a new washing machine or I'd have some money to invest in that home business I wanted to start.   

While you may think it's no big deal for you to lie about what you spend, think about it from their perspective.  If they know and/or are constantly finding out that you are over spending the budget etc they are already feeling angry and resentful and one day it will catch up with you.  The couples I see on these reality shows like Til Debt Do Us Part that are struggling financially are all on the verge of divorce, especially if one of them is being deceitful. 

I don't really think that's worth a new pair of Jimmy Choos.

Do you lie to your husband?  If so, do you think it's affecting your marriage negatively?


*Please note that this post is not intended in any way to be judgemental on how others live their lives but merely hopes to provide a platform for discussion concerning the issue of lying.* 

Extra Extra Wife Takes Public Revenge

Wife vs. Husband

Judge:  It says here that the Plaintiff is suing the Defendant for damages due to a wilful failure to complete projects in an efficient and timely manner.

Plaintiff Counsel:  Yes sir.

Judge:  Present your case

Plaintiff counsel:

Well you see, your Honour, it is the plaintiff's position that upon their marriage the wife and husband entered into a contract to love, cherish and help one another through life's journey.  It is furthermore the Plaintiff's position that the Defendant is failing to uphold his end of the bargain by failing to complete projects he begins in a timely fashion and by failing to clean up after himself.  I will begin by cross examining the Defendant.

Plaintiff counsel:  "Do you recall the project called Operation VHS Reduction?"
Defendant: "Yes"
PC:  "Do you recall when you began OperationVHS Reduction?"
Defendant: "Um.. sometime during first week of January 2011"
PC:  "Would you please look at this photo of a box VHS"

PC:  "Can you tell me where that box of VHS is sitting as of 10:30 a.m. this morning?"
Defendant:  "In the family room."

PC:  "Thank you.  Perhaps you'll recall Operation Shower Head/Thermostat.  Can you tell me when you purchased these items?"
Defendant:  "Sure, January 8th"
PC:  "That's right and can you tell me on what day the showerhead was finally installed after several reminders from your wife?"
Defendant mumbles. "January 23rd".
PC:  "And can you tell me what you did with the old showerhead that you removed?"
Defendant:  "No idea"
PC:  "You left it on the kitchen counter"
Defendant: "Yeah but I put it away after work the next day"
PC: "Only after your wife reminded you."

PC:  Your honour, we have many more such examples and it is only owing the plaintiff's reluctance to completely embarrass her spouse that we are refraining to expose such failed Operations such as Garage Clean-Up, Gutter Gunk Removal and Retaining Wall Assent.  However, it was only after today's events that the plaintiff has finally reached her breaking point and has elected to expose all in the: 

Operation Paint Trim

PC to Defendant  " Is it not true that you stayed home on January 16th while your wife and children went out so you could paint the trim?

Defendant: "Why yes I did and I did a fantastic job if I do say so myself. My wife was very pleased with the results."

PC:  "And did you clean up your brushes and put your paint supplies away?"

Defendant (sheepish): "Uh no. I planned to continue painting the trim so I put a baggie over the brush and tucked it and the paint supplies into a corner of our kitchen."

PC:  "Are you or are you not aware of your 3 year old son's penchant for getting into things and drawing all over the furniture and house.  Have you not personally witnesses the great Felt Debacle of 2010 in which all the upstair carpets had to be cleaned?"

Defendant:  "um yes."

Your Honour, May I present the final evidence of my client at what their son accomplished while she was having her shower this morning.  Supervised, I might point out by the five year old daughter who was home sick today.

Judge:  I find in favour of the Plaintiff.  The Plaintiff is entitled, at the very least, to a day at the Spa.  As for the Defendant, for his flagrant irresponsibility I sentence him to 10 days hard labour to be supervised by the Plaintiff. 

(This is meant to be a tongue in cheek poke at my husband.  I recognize that he works very hard at his job providing for his family and doesn't always feel like working around the house when he's off. And I should mention he's not the only one that procrastinates around here.) 

Knowing When to Say Enough is Enough

I've been reading quite a few blogs lately of larger families and it's left me feeling a little sad.  Now I have three and most days I am quite happy with my three and there are the rare days I wish I had none.  Still, there is this little part of me that wishes we had at least one more.  I miss my babies. 

I know it's completely crazy, although not according to my girlfriend, because we are past so many of those difficult stages like breastfeeding, diapers, bottles, naps, sleepless nights, the terrible twos.  My youngest will be four this April and in another year he'll be going to full day kindergarten and I'll finally manage to get some free time. We've managed to scrape through the last 7 years financially but reached the point where we really need an income from me again.

When I was in my teens there was this lady at church whom I admired.  She had four children and every Sunday, she would arrive (usually by bike) at Church with her four children in tow.  She wore dresses and was lovely.  My mother never wore dresses. Not that that is a negative reflection on my mom, but I loved dresses as a child and for some reason mother's who wore dresses and didn't work awed me.  I'm not sure why I thought this woman was the epitome of motherhood but I always swore that I was going to have four children when I grew up. 

Well, life doesn't happen the way we plan because I also planned to be married and have those babies by the time I was 24.  Not an unreasonable plan I suppose except that Mr. Right didn't show up until later.  I was 28 when I got married, we decided to wait 2 years before getting pregnant only two years turned into 4 due to a bout of infertility.   My first baby was at 32. 

Fast forward 8 years. My baby will be 8 this summer and I'm turning 40 in September.

Not a significant reason in and of itself to stop having children. I'm know lots of women do have babies later in life. I don't judge those women.  If I hadn't had children already I'd wouldn't even bat an eye at my age.  I'm just not sure if it'd be the right choice for me now.   I'm heavier than I have ever been, I have diabetes, high blood pressure and truth be told, I'm not enjoying motherhood as much as I thought I was going to. 

I love my kids, I love the creativity of them, their joy and their exuberance and yet... I hate the mess, the noise, the cleaning, the whining, the crying, the constant demand for things, the monotony of it all.  One moment I'm cross and impatient with them, the next moment I'm in awe at how adorable they are and most days I yell like a banshee.  It's disheartening to realize that you're not the mother you'd hoped to be no matter how hard you try.

Granted the last 4 years have been extremely stressful for us and that doesn't help my outlook.  My last baby was a very difficult birth, we almost lost him and me.  So no wonder I'd be reluctant never mind the naysayers in my family.  My husband looks at it like our family life is finally coming together for us to be able to do things.  Just think of the money we save on diapers.  My mother was less than thrilled when we got pregnant with our third and has made more than one comment about hubs getting fixed.  She loves her grandchildren but being a wise woman, knows how hard it is physically and financially draining it would be for us to have more children.  I think she wants me to have a well rounded life.  I'm not sure.  The other part of me thinks that she sees my stress and thinks I'm not coping well. 

Most of the time I'm okay with the thought of not having any more babies.  Just every once in a while, I get this little ache for a baby.  As crazy as it is, if my period is irregular, I secretly hope that I'm pregnant and can imagine all sorts of little scenarios of telling hubs and family. 

I'm envious of those friends I know that are absolutely adamant about only wanting two. When I was struggling with infertility, my friend once told me very firmly that two was enough for them and all I could say to her that for me at that moment not having had one yet, I couldn't imagine not wanting to have more.  

So I wonder when it's going to change.  At 40, 45 or will I hit 50 and wish we'd risked it after all?

How did you decide when to stop having babies?

Waste-Free Lunches - Review and Giveaway



Courtesy of Easylunchboxes



You may recall my post "It's Not Easy Going Green".  Well sometimes it pays to share our troubles because Kelly Lester emailed and offered me a possible solution:   check out the Easy Lunch Box system.  As a matter a fact, I had already checked out this system and found it to be the most affordable system out there.  The problem was that it's in the U.S. and what with being Canadian and all you're just never sure how much duty and/or taxes you might get hit with once that delightful parcel arrives.  Not to mention duty, taxes and shipping all help drive up the costs. 

So when Kelly asked me of I'd like to do a review, I jumped at the chance.  Here's what Kelly has to say about her Easy Lunchbox System:

"Born out of my response to unhealthy school lunch programs, EasyLunchboxes.com started from the desire to send my 3 kids to school with a nutritious meal, using little to no wasteful packaging. But the EasyLunchbox System is not just for kids. Adult size meals fit perfectly too.

The EasyLunchbox System 's design, functionality, and low price has quickly made it a top choice among green lunch box solutions since it came on the market in December, 2009. Named a 'top 5 Eco-Friendly Mommy Must Have" by Parents Ask, the EasyLunchbox System has been rated TOP CHOICE by many independent reviewers. Read their reviews HERE .

My clever solution to the lunch-packing chore is the simple two piece EasyLunchbox container: The bottom has three compartments to hold an entree or sandwich and two side dishes. The fitted lid (which comes in 4 colors) covers all three compartments at once. No more squished sandwiches, mismatched plastic container pieces to keep track of (matching up all those bottoms and lids was the thing that drove me nuts!) or wasteful baggies. Fits perfectly inside the roomy EasyLunchbox custom carrying bag. And there is still plenty of room to throw in an extra snack or two, whole fruit, perhaps a thermos of soup, drink and ice block. Flexibility is key, and since so many different things can fit, no matter what menu you choose to include, it packs easily and quickly. It's amazing how much faster, greener, & easier lunch box packing is with the EasyLunchbox system.

FDA approved. No BPA, phthalates, lead, vinyl, or PVC. Safe for dishwasher, freezer, and microwave.

Our Cooler Bags are made of the highest quality 300D Polyester for premium durability and toughness. Vinyl free (PVC free) & lead free, with an FDA compliant PEVA lining.

The Lunch Bags come in a choice of five colours.  The Lunch Bags and Food Containers are purchased separately and it is recommended that you buy both.

When I first received the lunch box system I was impressed with how sturdy the food containers were.  The lids fit nicely together and were easy to pop open.  The Lunch Bag too was sturdy and a nice size as well as very colourful (we chose purple).  My girls were thrilled at the thought that one of them was going to have a new lunch bag to take to school

At first I was hesitant to let the oldest take this lunch box system to school.  She, is after all the one I've been having problems with returning her containers.  You know how it is, you get something new and you're reluctant to let it go.  But then I came to my senses and realized, duh this is the child I need to try it out on.

So that's what I did and so far it's been an entire week and E has remembered to bring home her lunch box every day.  It has even motivated her to bring her water bottle home more often.  The reason being is that there is only ONE container to look after and due to it's size, there's no way she's going to tuck that in her pocket and take it outside with her at recess. Nope, she's going to take out her snack and put it in her pocket. 

I didn't want to leave my younger daughter out so I checked to see if the food container would fit in her lunch box and sure enough it did.  Since you get four food containers in a pack, it makes sharing easy. 

I should mention that the lids are not spill proof. They are made to be easily opened by small hands. Which is why it's recommended to use these food containers with the corresponding lunch boxes. The containers fit snuggly in the bag in an upright position and unless the bag is tipped upside down the containers stay upright.  So I can see how liquids could spill if you put these containers in regular lunch bags which are meant to be carried sideways. 

I really do love this product and it's taken me from ziplock baggies to one step packing eco-friendly lunch boxes.  I also should mention that these containers stack really well in the cupboard.  When not in use they nest together with the four lids clicking together and sitting on top. 

Possibly the best news for me is that there is a now a distributor in Canada (no more duty) and so I will definitely be buying a lunch bag for my other daughter and for my son when he starts school.  

THE GIVEAWAY 

Open to US and Canadian Residents

Please do not enter this giveaway if you have won or received free product

from EasyLunchboxes within the past 3 months.

Enter to win your own Easy Lunchbox System. 

 Winner receives 1 Lunchbag (colour of your choice) and 1 set of Food Containers

Contest Ends February 4th

Mandatory Entry

Visit Easy Lunchboxes.Com and come back here and leave a comment about something you've learned from their site.  Must be done before any other entries.

Extra Entries

• Like Easy Lunchboxes on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/EasyLunchboxes
• Follow Easy Lunchboxes on Twitter  http://twitter.com/EasyLunchboxes
• Follow In the Mommy Trenches on Twitter  http://twitter.com/Zeemaid
• Follow In the Mommy Trenches on Google Friend Connect
• Like Zeemaid on Facebook (See link at end of post)
• Tweet about this giveaway @Zeemaid and @EasyLunchBoxes once per day.

Disclosure: I received one lunchbag and one set of food containers in order to conduct my review.  In no other way was I compensated and the reviews on this product do honestly and accurately represent my experience with this product. 

A Sick Day and I've Cracked

It's a sick day.  I.E. my youngest was up in the night sick. First at 2:30 a.m. to announce he threw up in his bed and then again at 4:30 with a raging fever.  The fever had been sweeping through his preschool and I had hoped that we had missed it.  Of course, with my poor bubba feeling so crappy there wasn't much I could do but get up with him, feed him advil and put on Treehouse.  Nothing like a little t.v. to distract them from their woes. It gave the medicine a chance to kick in and by 5:30 we were back in bed.  Hubs never even cracked an eye open.  It figures. Worse because I've been playing Poppit on Pogo lately, all I could see when I closed my eyes was perfect coloured ballon formations that I popped. I hate nights like these.

Of course, I had a hard time falling back asleep and 7:00 came way too fast.  Now is when I would have appreciated the foresight of having made the girls' lunch the night before because while Hubs takes the girls to school, I couldn't leave him to shower, make lunches, breakfasts and hustle the girls along all by himself.  Especially since he doesn't like dragging himself out of bed until the last possible minute. 

O slept in until 9:44 and if I was smart I would have climbed back into bed for an hour but I figured he'd be up any minute.  He seems perky and fever free so far so hopefully he got a short bout of it and I hope too, that frequent hand washing will keep me from getting it.

So it must be the lack of sleep and generally all fuzziness I feel that had me pouring apple juice into O's cereal this morning and that's when I said.. "I've cracked, completely cracked."

Anxiety or Control? Advice... Follow Up

Thanks to everyone who comment and/or left advice regarding O's separation issues.  We left O with his Grandma on Thursday night and he cried for like two minutes.  It's funny but it was his big sister who told their grandma just to leave him alone and he will get over it.  Sure enough, he did.

So on Friday, armed with this information I presented it to the preschool teachers and when they were ready (i.e. done greeting the other children etc) I left O.  I just went down the hall and waited to make sure he settled.  He cried and screamed for ten minutes.  Phew, so I finally left. He was perfectly fine when I picked him and was proud to tell his dad and his grandparents that he went to school without mom.  Of course, we had a whole weekend in between the next class.

So this a.m., we did the same thing only this time he knew what was coming and was very clingy and held on to me for dear life.  He finally let go and I left.  This time, instead of turning right and heading down the hallway to wait, I decided to turn left and just exit the outside door and wait there.  So I did.  After a couple of minutes he stopped crying and so I left.  Only this preschool has glass patio door facing the parking lot.  Now he has never done this but when I was crossing to get to my van, I looked back and who's standing in the middle of the window looking out but O.  CRAP.  So I duck my head down and hurry to the van where I hop in and drop down. I peek over.. he's still looking the window.  Double crap.  So I hunker down with my cell phone in hand for a few minutes until I finally look up and see that he's gone.  So I'm looking over making sure he's not going to see me leave when the teacher sees me and waves bye.  Now I felt like a complete tool for two reasons.... a) Hopefully she doesn't think I was being completely dense sitting there where he could see me and b) I hope she didn't see me trying to flatten myself in my van like a twit. 

Anyways, I'm hoping this will be the last day of this but we shall see.  I appreciated hearing that this is normal for his age.  It helps to know that even though it's driving me crazy.  At least I feel loved. ;)

Anxiety or Control? I Need Advice

Here's the story.  My 3 year old son seems to be suffering from separation anxiety.  It started in the beginning of December.  Suddenly he didn't want to go to preschool and he refused to let me leave him there.  This after three months of him being just fine.  It goes farther.  If I step into the garage to throw something away, he's immediately behind me checking where I went.  If I go upstairs, same thing. 

With school, I figured he wasn't feeling well that day, he when to his Christmas party but I was there with him. I thought he'd be ready to go back after the break.  Not so. 

If anything he got worse.  I can't gas up my van without him freaking out.  The last time I literally had to roll his window down while I pumped the gas so he could see me, even though I stand right next to his window practically the whole time.  The only time he didn't cry was when that window open.

I have had to sit throw two entire sessions of preschool in an attempt to get him resocialize there.  Once he's assured that I'm not going to leave, he plays and has lots of fun and has no problem interacting with the teachers. 

I thought we were making some progress though until this morning when I went to have my shower.  Now he was fine with me being by myself until he was all ready. I had come out, wrapped in a towel to help him with his pants and told he could sit on my bed and look at a book until I finished getting ready.  I went back in my bathroom and closed the door.  Not five minutes later, he pushes the door open and I tell him it needs to be closed so mommy can have some privacy.  I close the door and he proceeds to cry and bang the door saying he needs me.  I told him that if he could not stop crying then he'd have to leave my room completely.  I can't stand listening to crying, it absolutely drives me up a wall, pushes all my buttons etc.  So finally, I make him leave my room and close the door.  Of course, he gets more mad and cries louder. 

Once I was finished getting ready, I went back into my bedroom and told him that I wasn't opening the door until he stopped crying.  Finally, he stopped.  We're talking like 15 minutes.  I go out and he's all snotty and sniffling and giving me the whole sad eyes thing.  At this point I'm not feeling very sympathetic.  It's not like it's the first time I've had a shower, it's not like it's the first time I've asked for privacy.  He can hear me the whole time. 

My mother tells me I'm allowing him to control me, the preschool teacher is concerned about retraumatizing him if I just leave him there to cry, and my husband tells me to cancel preschool since it's a complete waste of my time sitting there.  My mother has suggested that if he says he doesn't want to stay at school then I take him home and not play with him so he will realize what he's missing out on.  That's not going to work because he wants to go home.  He's perfectly satisfied being at home. The last time I had to stay at preschool, he wanted to go out to his grandparents after and I told him we couldn't since mommy had to stay at school with him, I needed to do work that afternoon.  He came home, I worked on the computer and he entertained himself.

The only thing that I have done that may possibly contributed to this was that when I took E to her jazz class, I'd leave O and J in the van watching a movie while I walked E to her school. Now, I parked across the street from the school so that the van has completely visibility of the front door of the school.  I walked E across the road, helped her switch her shoes, outside, and saw her through the door and walked back. I had done this the once a week since before October.  The last time I did that at the end of November he freaked out and managed to un lock the doors and was crying and yelling for me.  I think what had happened is that another parent chose to stop in the middle of the road (instead of parking) and just let the kid hop out.  This may have blocked him from seeing me for those moments.  Still, he did go to preschool after this event at least three or four classes.  Because of his anxiety the very next time, I gave up on leaving them in the van and took all three in with me which is a complete pain in the ass.

Seriously, I don't know what to do.  He has preschool again tomorrow and I do not feel like sitting through the whole class again.  I'm really behind on my bookkeeping work. With his sisters in school all day, I really think it's important for him to get some socialization with other kids especially other boys.

Do you think it's severe separation anxiety or he's really trying to control me?  Any suggestions on dealing with this?

Devious, Ingenious or Just Really lazy?

I have a love/hate relationship with my dishwasher.  I love to fill it and run it, I hate emptying it and putting the dishes away (especially the silverware).

I have gripped for the last two years at my husband for loading up and turning on the dishwasher in the evening and leaving me with a full dishwasher first thing in the morning.  Especially if I could spy empty spots.  All I wanted was just a wee bit room for a couple of bowls and plates so I didn't have to start my morning emptying the darn thing.  He, of course, thought I was being typically female and ignored my repeated requests not to run the machine unless it was absolutely jam packed full. Now that I don't work evenings anymore and hence I'm loading the dishwasher more often than not after dinner, that particular problem has simply gone away.

Only now it seems that as I wait for the dishwasher to reach maximum capacity, I find it doesn't get turned on until after lunch with the result of having a full dishwasher that needs to be emptied right before supper. Can you see where I am going with this?  Hubby has, on occasion, opened the dishwasher after supper and groaned.  Paybacks a b***, right?  Not that it's happening because of that but still. 

So rather than be greeted with my hubby's groans and silent criticism I either try to unload the dishwasher while I'm waiting for dinner to cook or... and this is the devious part (finally) I take just enough dirty dishes out of the dishwasher and wash them by hand. 

So am I being devious, ingenious or just really lazy? 

What's your pet peeve household chore?

$35 CSN Stores Gift Certificate

I am thrilled to announce that CSN Stores has offered one of my lucky readers a $35.00 Gift Certificate to any one of their over 200 online stores.  From stylish Modern dining room furniture to cute baby gear to groovy cookware, you are guaranteed to find something that you will love! 

I know I did.  Last year I was offered the opportunity to review something from CSN Stores and after much drooling over the keyboard I finally chose a casserole dish by Rachael Ray.  See my review here.

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I Am a Culinary Genius

Or at least that's what I want my husband to think.  Why else would I make sure I tucked away that recipe or closed down Allrecipes before he gets home while trying to memorize the last few directions.  If I do happen to admit that I *gasp* read a recipe it was you know so I could start from there and "tweak" it with the end result being 100% completely me.  If it tasted like crap then it was the recipe's fault, of course.

Sure I've had some accidental discoveries.  One of the things I've appreciated as I've gotten older is the plethora of cooking shows out there.  After all, the extent of my cooking training involved one semester in home ec where I learned to make an upside down pineapple cake. I don't know but I've never liked it.

My mother belonged to the "if you want something done right, do it yourself" mentality of cooking so I can honestly say that in the 18 years I lived with her I learned nothing from her cooking wise.  Oddly enough, it was my non-cooking father who taught me how to make a white sauce when I was 20.  And when I tell you non-cooking, I mean non-cooking.  The man is old school European.  Men don't cook, that's women's work.  How he knew how to make a white sauce, I'll never know. 

So I am proud of what I have managed to learn "on the job" so to speak over the last ten years.  Not that I can do much experimenting with the 3 picky taste testers in our home. 

But why the deception?  Maybe it comes down to the whole being a SAHM thing.  For some reason I feel like I have to show that my time at home is not completely wasted. I know, I know, my kids are the most important thing I can "waste" my time on but still, I'm always craving that validation.  Why else would I itemize for him all the things I've acomplished that day. 

Of course I fail to mention the time online or how many pages I read of my new book or hey.. what new book, I don't have a new book. Oh that book, I already read that book... twice.

What We're Reading Now

I love to read and love even more passing that love on to my children. There are so many books that I've just been dying to share with my kids: Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables etc.

In fact I've been pretty impatient waiting for E to get old enough. Two years ago I tried Anne of Green Gables but she found it boring without pictures. So imagine to my surprise when she stumbled on an old copy of My Side of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George.  (Sorry to the School library for not returning it umpteen years ago)  Not only was she not bored but extremely interested in learning all about this boy surviving in the wild. While I may have paraphrased some of the scenic descriptions and skipped overly descriptive passages so as to not lose her interest, she was pretty eager to hear of his adventures.  Even I enjoyed rereading this book. 

From there we moved on to Little House on the Prairie. She just loved hearing about the olden days and how they built their homes and survived on the land.  Although I do find it a little difficult explaining to her about the Indians and all the fighting and prejudices that went on.  She's a little young to grasp why people do what they do and I'm half afraid that the next time she sees a  First Nation person, she's liable to pop out with something insensitive like "Hey, did you know white people shot Indians and Indians scalped people?"  Okay.. I didn't use the word scalped and I'm pretty sure that didn't come up in the book but you get the drift. I don't believe we should edit our history because it is what it is and we need to learn from it but still, when it comes to explaining the old west to your 7 year old, you end up on shaky ground.  Teaching a child about being politically correct and sensitivity is a mighty long road full of pitfalls and traps.  It's hard enough trying to get them not to stare at someone with a disability and to NEVER point out the fat or hairy person.  (Thanks to my nephew who embarrassed my 16 year old self at the waterslides by repeatedly referring to the hair man behind us as a gorilla).

But I digress.  I think she may still be too young to get into the Anne of Green Gables series but we're getting close. I know she will love them after all her mother rereads the whole series about once a year.

Thanks to the school library we've been introduced to the Magic Rainbow Fairies series by Daisy Meadows. We started with the Rainbow set and she liked them so much I bought her the Rainbow Party Fairies set. They are simple yet sweet stories with just enough black and white sketches of the fairies and the two girls helping them to keep E interested.

Best of all I find them to be interesting enough for me so that it doesn't put me to sleep while reading them. Okay, they're not so great I'm going to run off and read the rest of story before she gets home from school but it doesn't make me yawn.  Plus it gives us plenty of one on one time every day. No matter what happened during the day, good or bad, bedtime reading routines allows us to reconnect.  It's like wiping clear the slate for the day.  Especially when we've had a "bad" day.  When I read to her I'm letting her know that I still love her no matter what and to quote Martha Stewart... "It's a good Thing"

***please note this wasn't a book reading recommendation and not sponsored in any way but merely a reflection on reading progression with my oldest. ****

Christmas is Over For Another Year

Christmas went much better than expected this year.  There was less bickering, less fighting and definitely less tears.  We opened our presents, had a marvelous Christmas breakfast of waffles with blueberries and whip cream along with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon and headed off to "faraway" nana for more presents and Christmas dinner.  It was a lovely day only marred by a leak in our bathroom ceiling. 

Boxing day was a lovely day of relaxation and Monday was back to the business of sorting and putting away Christmas presents.  Fortunately, we cut back our spending this year, not only from a necessity but because our children truly do not need so much.  It doesn't make sense to buy them a ton of new toys when I'm constantly getting mad at them for not picking up their old ones. 

On top of the two presents Santa brought each of my 3 children, we bought them each a new quilt for their bed and one craft project.   Do you know what?  The kids never even noticed that there was less this year.  I think it's a good thing we cut back now so they get used to it.  It's a lot more difficult to make those sorts of changes when they get older and have been used to more.

I don't know why I've had such high expectations in Christmases past.  Somewhere down the road of childhood, it had been drilled into me that Christmas was a time of not only good will towards all men but also of good behaviour. 

Yet, why I wonder should I expect my children to behave any differently on Christmas Day than any other day of the year? After all, I have vague recollections of mouthing off to my mother and being sent to my room where in my resentment at being smacked, I packed up all my gifts and gave them back to her.  I also have one funny memory of singing Deck the Halls only when I was supposed to sing "Tis the Season to be Merry", I sung..Tis the Season to be Horny".  Of course I was only like 9 so I had no clue what that word meant but I sure figured out it was a no no fast from my mother's look. 

So I swore that this year I would not use vague threats of Santa not coming to get my children to behave.  Why turn Santa into the boogeyman?  However, when I got pooped out from trying to entertain the little monsters and tired of refereeing for the umpteenth time who sat in who's spot on the couch, I broke down and used Santa's good name in vain. 

Still, I wish I could learn to not sweat the small stuff and to some how respond to my children's bickering with a hell of a lot more grace.  More than once I've been reduced to a shrieking banshee to get my way. Not a lot unlike my 3 year old.

So if there is one thing I will be asking for in the New Year, it will be an extra measure of peace and a reign on my temper.

Christmas Sex?

Do you remember, you know before kids, when any sort of holiday usually meant celebrating it with a little nookie?  Christmas stockings were filled with all sorts of naughty goodness? ;) 

These days, we're lucky if we can stay awake enough to change into our jammies and slip between the sheets.  If it isn't hubby nodding off on the couch then it's me.  Then too, sex wasn't strictly regulated to the bedroom.  Four years of living with the in-laws will dampen your creativity. 

Sigh.  I miss those days.

Merry Christmas 2010

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas, 

and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Doings

My girls had their Christmas concerts last week at school.  I was very proud to learn that my girls had been learning to play the xylophone since Halloween and never once told me.  I was amazed at what the music teacher was able to do with a group of kindergarteners and indeed the whole school.  As much as I have been posting about my frustration with my children, it was nice to see that other side of them and experience some motherly pride. 

My eldest E, was dressed in her best and waited patiently for her class to sing.  She learned her lines and played her xylophone marvelously.  It amazed me because this was my girl who has trouble learning new things especially something that is so particular like playing the correct notes.  Not only did she learn a new instrument but she's learned several new songs in Choir, half of which are in Spanish.  She has done amazingly well and it's such a joy to see the growth she has achieved.   One lady actually stopped us in the hallway to compliment us on our daughter and the efforts that she had taken with her appearance for the concert.

My middle child, J, who is in kindergarten surprised me as well.  She is normally shy and retiring and generally refuses to talk to all strange adults.  It's taken some time for her to open up to her teacher and she even refused to participate in a recent school hearing test.  But there she was standing with her class in front of a whole gym full of parents and not only did she stand up and sing her... "Mary had a baby, Shout for Joy" but she did the actions and waved and smiled at us and was all around a delight.  She too got to play the xylophone and the whole class did it with so much charm and energy I am sure no one noticed any wrong notes or missed lyrics. 

I was also surprised to find myself a wee bit teary when I saw J sing but then I realized that this was her first concert and she's becoming such a big little girl.  She's no longer a baby but a little lady with her own identity, strengths and weaknesses.  E takes up so much energy that sometimes it's easy to overlook the fact that this second child of mine is developing her own personality.  Fortunately, she's learning that sometimes you need to push forward to get yourself heard. 

Even O got to do his own little xmas concert this morning at preschool.  Stage fright hit him at the last moment while I saved the day by agreeing to sit with him and his little friends on the carpet.  I got it all on video, mostly of him not singing but hey... he's only 3 1/2.  Still it was sweet to see my little man all dressed up in his best. 

It's the last day of school today and I am so glad.  It will be nice to not have to get up so early and make lunches.  Of course, I had to make myself even crazier by comitting to making chocolates for the girls to give their school chums for Christmas.  I haven't had the funds and didn't get around buy anything interesting for crafts or cards so I thought it'd be neat to make some chocolates.

While it's a simple task to melt chocolate and pour it into molds, it is a whole nother thing to have three children "help" you and then find out you can't find the other molds you had so you can only make six at a time.  And when each kid has twenty something in the class.. that takes a little time for the chocolates to set etc.  Before I knew it I was out running around last night looking for cellophane bags to put the chocolates in only to find out I should have gone to the store earlier because it closed.  I had to wrap everything in saran wrap and hope for the best.  Then I decided to switch gears and make chocolate covered marshmallows for J's class because I knew I didn't have time to make and set 20 chocolates.  So there was hubby and I melting, dipping and rolling marshmallowes at 10:00 at night and by the time we finished wrapping and tagging the other ones, we were more than ready for bed.  Then I had to get up first thing, makes tags and wrap and roll the marshmallows that had set over night.

This is where I tell myself that I will be more prepared next year and not leave everything to the last minute.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAaaaaa. 

On the other hand..... my girls were the only ones who gave out home made chocolates.  I bet there were moms out there that wanted to smack me. It's so nice to be on the other side for a change. (LOL)

No Good Intention Goes Unpunished

As part of the goals I'm trying to achieve with my whole new Diabetes lifestyle, I'm trying to get more exercise.  My husband graciously rose to the occasion and with some heavy lifting, shifting, dismantling and reassembling, we managed to get our treadmill from the garage upstairs to our bedroom.  The idea being I'd be more likely to use it if I saw it. 

So I can't let all his hard work go to waste and since I've already shed several pounds (in thanks I am sure to the adverse side effects of my medication), I'm all the more eager to use it.  Until today.

My five year old was home sick having complained of a headache last night and a headache this morning and what appears to be a nasty sinus cold.  Of course, once the advil kicked in she perked up and was happily playing with her brother.  They had set up a game on the living room floor and I figured surely I could steal 10 minutes on the treadmill. I told them what I was doing and then reminded them that they were to behave and not do anything they weren't supposed to.

Eventually they came upstairs and I thought nothing of it... even when they closed the bedroom door.  You see they like to play house in the hallway landing and will close all the doors so it will be dark and then get out their flashlights.  No so today.  When I was done my time and did some cool down stretching, I walked into the hallway only to be greeted with stripes of black felt all across the carpet.  They led a path into each of their three bedrooms.  Aghast I turned only to see wild black felt scribblings all along the wall.  A quick glance downstairs showed me the offending felt marker lying on the floor. 

Well, you can imagine that I lost it.  My five year old daughter swore up and down that O did it all himself and that she told him to stop.  She didn't seem to get it that I was just in the room next door and she could easily have told me what was going on.  Going downstairs (after banishing the offenders to their rooms), I found more striped carpet on the stairs and could all but follow the line of felt markers all around my kitchen, living room and family room, picking up felts and caps along the way.

I will admit that I lost it.  Not only did each of them get a good swat on their butts and sent to their rooms, I broke down and cried.  Must be all the endorphins because I was furious.  They have been told and told and told.  I've tried yelling, I've tried talking firmly to O, I've made him wash walls, given time outs.  All markers have been banned from being upstairs even accidentally to avoid temptations.   Because the main culprit is generally O.  He just can't seem to get the message.  And J is just as bad.  I think she figures by O doing all the bad work, that she can live through him vicariously and so escape all responsibility.  So far it hasn't worked for her so I don't get why she persists in playing dumb.  Especially when as they started cleaning, there was ink mixed in with all the felt.  Guess who was the pen wielder?  Yup.  She still justified herself by saying that she only did a little bit. 

Now I know that O occasionally gets up to mischief while I'm busy or distracted but usually it's pretty harmless and usually it's when he's on his own.  My mistake was in thinking that because his sister was there, that it would be alright. 

Don't worry, I'm not about to let this stop my exercising. He will just be sitting in the rocking chair under close supervision in my room while I'm on the treadmill.   Poor hubby he came home to clean the carpets for me.

BTW I'm sorry but I didn't take any photos of the crime scene.  I was just too angry at the time to even think about blogging.  I figured I would strike while the iron was hot in getting the little monsters to wash the walls etc and ended up getting carried away in cleaning myself.  Imagine... getting carried away with cleaning.  sigh.

So the big question is... we were going to do Christmas cookies after school today.  Do I still do them?

Worst Birthday Party EVER!

Life has been so crazy this week that I haven't had much chance to post and funnily enough, I actually have enough fodder for several posts this week.

I will start today with J's birthday.  My middle child, J, turned 5 on December 2nd.  As her birthday fell on a week day, we took her to the movie Tangled for a special birthday treat and held her party on the Saturday.  BTW, I have to say Tangled was a GREAT movie.  We absolutely loved it. And the kids did too. ;)

Beef #1 : RSVPS.  Why do people not bother to take the time to let you know whether or not their child is coming?  Because it can go either way, you still have to do up goody bags for everyone that was invited.. just in case. 

Beef #2:  Arrive on time. We had one kid show up 20 minutes before hand and one kid show up 20 minutes late.  The late kid I knew was definitely coming so we were waiting for him.  Then you figure well if they're late maybe a non RSVP'd kid was going to be late too.  You just don't know.

Those are all minor hiccups though.  The real problems started when guest kid #1 saw guest kid #2 arriving and immediately started having a panic attack because guest kid #2 apparently isn't nice to them (these are all kids from the same class).  Crap.  So my oldest takes guest kid #1 upstairs to play away from #2.  I'm feeling sorry for kid #1 because I know #2 is pretty energetic and bouncy kind of kid and #1 was pretty sweet. 

However, I quickly learned that          Sweet = High Maintenance

It turned out that both kid #1 and kid #2 are control freaks, want everything their own way and that's why they are clashing all the time.  Only kid #1 is more sensitive and prone to break down and cry while #2 brushes it off.

Still the first half of the party goes pretty well except that kid #1 doesn't want to do anything except play the piano.  So J is complaining that #1 isn't playing with her.  Add to that my three year old, O.  His friend Josh had come to the party, he is almost 5 himself and went to preschool with J as well and is now going with O.  Josh is just about the cutest little boy on the planet.  O suddenly decides that whatever Josh is playing with O has to take away.

It was supposed to be a cupcake party but I forgot from last year... just how quickly the little munchkins can decorate and eat two cupcakes.  Kinda makes the hours I spent baking cupcakes, coloring icing and setting out pretty bowls with sprinkles etc seem like a waste of time.  I could just slopped everything on the table and told them to have at it.  The results would have been the same.

Then my oldest (7) E has to get into the picture.  She wants the kids to play her games.  None of the kids wnat to play her games.  So she starts to whine about how no one wants to play and she's sick of playing these baby games.  (the party has only been on for like 1/2 hour).  Then the entire time J was opening her presents I get to listen to E whine about how J's presents were better than what she got and how she never gets such nice presents or she really wanted a pink zhu zhu pet too.  THE ENTIRE TIME.  I'm not kidding, E got sent to her room twice, had daddy yelling and reading her the riot act while she was up there only to come down sulking and pouting.

Kid #1 is mad because everyone is being too noisy for us to hear her play the piano.  All the kids decide they have to rip open J's presents immediately and play tea party to which I become some sort of maid fetching them water and mopping up spills.  They then decided to dump skittles into their "tea" and when I finally call a halt to the game... kid #2 defies me by dumping all the skittle water from the tea cups  back into the tea pot so she can reserve it all and then proceeds to run around the house with a water filled tea potty dumping enough water on the floor that it is literally making puddles.  Kid #1 starts to cry and whine about wanting to go home but her dad was the only parent I forgot to get a phone number for. 

The two boys J invited were the best kids ever.  I am sure they were glad to go home and get away from our noisy chaotic home.  Hmm both those boys were only children...... a connection?  I'm just saying.

So the whole party was spent refereeing two kids from fighting, dealing with a grumpy E and trying to convince O that it was okay for Josh to play with the Dora chairs.

It was the longest two hours I have ever spent in my life.

Oliver's Labels - A Review

Remember that talk about my kid's losing their lunch stuff? Well the same goes for their jackets.  By the end of September, I think I had made five trips to the lost and found bin at their school looking for jackets left on the playground.  Easy enough to do except when your kid owns the the jacket that was on sale at Wal-Mart and 25% of the school is wearing the same one.  So when I had an opportunity to review name labels for kids by Oliver's Labels, I jumped at the chance.


Fantasy



Sports Theme



Dinosaurs

Oliver's Labels provides durable name labels for kids.  Not just for clothing though, they run the gamut from mini-labels for things like pencils and sunglasses, to shoe labels, bag tags, safety wristbands and more.  The labels come in a variety of colours and design themes to choose from.  They even have allergy alert labels and Found-It Tracking System which provides a free-online lost-and-found.  If someone finds your item, they can go online at Oliver's Labels and enter in your unique code.  From there Oliver's Labels intermediates between you and the finder so that you never have to share your personal information.

Transportation

For my son, I chose the Transportation theme as he's into cars and trucks right now.  The labels all come on an easy-to-peel  sheet with instructions for their recommended use.  I certainly discovered that while the labels feel flimsy and light, they certainly were strong.  The clothing labels actually are bendable and fairly soft which is important so they don't cause chaffing on kid's sensitive skin.  I really liked these labels and found them to be bright and colourful .  O was certainly proud to have them in his clothes and couldn't wait to show his pre-school teacher the cool label in his coat. 

Even the shoe labels are designed with left and right foot shapes, making it easier for my 3 year old to put on his shoes properly.

Teachers really appreciate clothing and personal items being labelled.  In my children's school, the policy is if it has the child's full name on it, they will actually return it to that child's class.  Otherwise, it all ends up in the lost and found and unless you are at the school nagging them to go find their stuff, it often stays there until donated. 

I've used the original labels on snack boxes and while I hesitated to put it through the dishwasher, it went through with flying colours.  It's really helped keep my son focused on grabbing his belongings and found that things that had their names on it actually ended up in his lunch bag more often than not.  Go figure. 

As for pricing, it's actually pretty reasonable.  You can order individually or take advantage of one of their packages starting at $26.99.  You actually get a lot of labels for that price and I found a little goes a long way.  Oliver's Labels also offers free shipping on orders over $30.00.

I think it's definitely a worthwhile investment.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

It's Not Easy Going Green

I, like most moms out there, am becoming increasingly concerned about the environment and my family's impact upon it.  It seems like everything out there comes in multiple packaged layers.  Cookies are no longer just in the bag, they have to be in a plastic tray covered with another layer of plastic film.  We can buy snack foods individually packaged for our so-called convenience (which are more expensive than their bulk version).   Even some breads come covered in a plastic film and then a bag. 

AND I am ashamed to admit that at first I was pretty much forced into recycling by the increasing laws and requirements of my community.  If you're around my age, perhaps you can relate to when "recycling" first started to really be promoted.  You know, back in the days when recycling was voluntary.  'What's the big deal?' my youthful self thought?  The old phrase "with maturity comes wisdom" springs to mind and I lament the fact that it is all too true.  I'm sad to say that my young and hip self couldn't be bothered to recycle because I lived in an apartment building and no one required us to separate our garbage. 

It's only gradually over the years that I've began to put more and more effort into recycling and again, I have to admit that it was really because I was being forced to.  If I didn't want my gargabe dumped on my lawn and a $250.00 fine, I better make sure I don't have any recycables in it.  Being forced to recycle actually forced me to become more aware and to somewhat quote Martha Stewart "That's a good thing."

Now, I am proud of how much I am able recycle and by how much we've reduced our garbage output.  I've realized that it's not just about recycling but it's also about reducing our consumables.  My husband has finally convinced me to buy the large tub of yoghurt instead of the individual serving cups, even though it's more convenient to simply hand out to my kids one cup at a time.  I always figured the extra expense was worth the convenience but being on a restricted budget really gave me some perspective.

So it was with some good intentions that I researched my lunch options for my children prior to the start of this school year.  I researched lunch systems, bento boxes, laptop lunches, enviro friendly lunch bags... you name it. Know what I discovered?  They're all damn expensive. 

Sure I know I'm supposedly going to save big bucks by making this one time investment but how can I really justify spending $40 or $50 on a lunch system PER KID?  I see a ton of great ideas out there by mompreneurs for re-usable snack sacks, cloth napkins etc.  How can a budget tight mom afford this stuff?  It's a lot easier to fork out $2.00 for 50 plastic baggies now and then than to try and justify to my husband why we should spend $7.00 (plus shipping) for ONE cloth snack bag.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea.  I just wish I could afford it.  It seems that being Green really is more for those hip and trendy people with disposable cash.

So what did I do?  I ended up buying the standard kid's licensed lunch kits instead and managed to find something similar to bento boxes at Wal-mart for $7.00 a set.  I bought the girls rubber maid watter bottles (they look like juice boxes), labelled everything and we were good to go. 

Or so I thought.  What ended up happening is three months of ... "Where's the lid to your sandwich case?", "Did you bring your water bottle home?", "Why not?".   "Where's your spoon?".   I went from having 4 water bottles to two.

My oldest child, I've given up on packing her lunch in the containers and have reverted to wrapping it loosely in a cloth snack wrap I bought years ago.  For some reason, that makes it home almost every time.  If it wasn't for a no juice policy at her school, I'd toss juice boxes into her lunch instead.  Her water bottle has been at school for a week now.  She's reassured me yes she's washing it out at school and putting fresh water into it.  Um yeah.  I really believe that she's not drinking stale water.  Fortunately, our tap water here is alright. 

So while I may have the best of intentions of trying to be more green, my kids really are doing their best to discourage me and I have to say .. they're doing a pretty darn good job.

How are you making going green successful at your house?

Top 5 Baby Toys For Christmas

Suzy is the editor of SureBaby.com, the ultimate guide on parenting and pregnancy symptoms. She loves to share her knowledge with fellow parenting experts, as she believes that sharing is the only way to make this world a better place.

5 Most Popular Baby Toys for the Holiday Season

Gifts to keep kids babies and toddlers happy
The holiday season is here, and the great toy scramble is on. While the trendiest dolls, trucks and electronics are great picks for many school-aged kids, there is a whole other arena of toys for the younger kids on your list. This year's popular toys for babies and toddlers feature some old stand-bys as well as some innovative designs to stimulate learning and interaction. Here are the top five baby toys for this holiday season, and why your baby or toddler will fall in love with them:

Best Baby Toys to Give this Year


1. Baby Einstein's Takealong Tunes. This incredibly compact and stimulating toy has topped many popular toy lists for a couple of years now, and that's no surprise. The Baby Einstein brand has made a name for itself with their adaptation of classical music combined with pleasant sights and colors, which has an impressive effect on baby comfort and development. The Takealong Tunes accessory will promote auditory development and keep your little one entertained with colorful lights that dance to the music, and at around $10 this engaging toy won't break your holiday budget.

2. Singamajigs from Fisher Price. If you're not a Fisher Price devotee yet, you just may become one after witnessing the newest musical addition to their family of baby toys. Appealing to kids of all ages, these brightly colored plush toys will spring to life at the touch of their tummies, offering energetic chatter or a song. Each of the 13 Singamajigs has its own personality and song to sing, and though one singamajig will make a lovely gift, they work best when you have a few to operate the harmony singing mode.

3. Fisher Price Brilliant Baby's First Blocks. Stacking blocks are timeless choices for babies and toddlers, and though the basic design has endured for centuries, some brands have taken blocks to the next level. These Fisher Price blocks are perfect for babies, with a variety of bright colors and large, curved shapes with matching holes to encourage comprehension and motor skills. The handle makes it easy to tote around and the durable plastic will ensure this block set lasts well beyond the holiday season.


4. Pillow Pets from Ontel Products. These are really just what the name implies – large, soft stuffed animals that are cleverly designed to flatten out like a pillow or pull together in the middle to resemble a traditional stuffed animal. With a wide range of animals to choose from and a super soft material to snuggle up against, these pillows are perfect for travel or to use within the house. Also, since they feature a Velcro closure you don't have to worry about parts falling off or protruding from the toy.


5. Dance Star Mickey from Fisher Price. One of the most popular toys for toddlers and young kids this season has a familiar face. Dance star Mickey is a mobile incarnation of the beloved cartoon figure, with modes that let him walk, talk and dance. A repertoire of several songs means that you won't have to listen to the same tune over and over, and the interactive nature of the toy will keep your child dancing and laughing for a while.