An Enchanted Childhood Playschool ~ January 9th-27th ~The Letters L, M & N

L is for......

Lion!!!

M is for...

Marsupial!!  (One family has Sugar Gliders and loaned us a book, pouches, and lots of fun ideas!

The Mitten!!

One of our favorite books!

And Muffins!!

We read If You Give a Moose a Muffin and sang Do You Know the Muffin Man!

Mmmmmmm!!!!!

 N is for....Nocturnal!

Linked to~

Virtual Book Club for Kids

A Birthday Surprise

Yesterday, The Hubs and I were finally able to have our Birthday Day Away.  (Our birthdays are January 10th--YES, we share a birthday!)  We had a wonderful day, eating and shopping at IKEA, just the two of us, while Bunny had a day with Nana.

While out for the day, we were able to get a sneak peek at our joint present (still under construction).  Seeing it makes it even harder to wait for our gift to be delivered in early July.  Do you wanna see a picture of our gift?

Children are gift from the Lord! Psalm 127:3

Stats~

*We are 17 weeks pregnant.
*Baby's estimated due date is July 2nd.
*Which should mean the baby will be here by mid July (Bunny was 7-11 days past EDD).
*We are planning a home birth with My Ruth, a sweet, experienced midwife.


The day before the ultrasound, we tried a few of the "gender predictor" type tests.

*The Chinese Gender Predictor said GIRL (ha! It said "boy" with Bunny.)
*The Ole Ring on a Thread over both tummy and wrist both said BOY
*The Ole Needle on a Thread over both tummy and wrist both said BOY
*The Pee in Baking Soda (yes we tried that too) said BOY (slight fizz...)
*Brother-in-law (who's never been wrong) said BOY
*A solid, landslide majority of family (who voiced an opinion) said BOY (except my dad who held strongly to GIRL)

So we went into the gender scan thinking we might have an idea of what we were having. It was beyond words how wonderful it was to see our healthy, beautiful, precious baby.....

GIRL!!!!!!!!

Our baby, Squirrel, was very active and bounced up and down for about half of the ultrasound. Even so, we managed to get a clear view of her bottom.

We made the gender announcement at our family's Sunday evening dinner.  Family members were given a choice of a cupcake or cookie and when they bit into them, the baby's gender was revealed!

 Thank you, Pinterest!

With two little girls, we will probably be seeing a lot of pink over the next few years. Bunny is very happy to have a Tiny Baby in Mama's belly. She is going to be such a little mama, and teach her little sister everything she needs to know. I wonder what kind of things they will do together. They will be quite a pair. I am very excited for the many adventures of Bunny and Squirrel.

Wonderfull (Full of Wonder) Wednesday

Really?  Could anything be more wonderfull than a tent for the "Twin Cousins"?!?!

Underwear Are Fun To Wear

We introduced the idea of the potty to Bunny late this summer. I would take her to sit on it a couple of times a day, just to get her used to the idea. Sometimes she would pee, sometimes she wouldn't. It was all very casual. Around Christmastime, she started saying, "Pee potty!" and getting more and more interested.

The the week after Christmas (I had a few days off), I decided it was time to get serious. I took her every 30 minutes. If she didn't pee, I would take her again in 15 minutes. We still had wet diapers about half of the time, but she was starting to catch on. The next week she had a mild backslide. With doing full time daycare there were a lot of thing to distract (her and me) from remembering to potty. We slowly got back on track.

We ordered some Little Comet Tails Trainers (cloth pull ups). The go up and down like undies, but still have the snaps for big messes. We ordered smalls, but they made Bunny look like a plumber, so we got some mediums. I started saying corny things like, "Underwear are fun to wear!" and "Push out the pee so we can get a potty treat!". We buy Annie's Organic Fruit Snacks and gave her one anytime she pottied. This is the only time she gets them, so she thinks they are a great reward.

(Disclaimer: I know some people don't like using food as rewards, but I am not too concerned that she will develop an eating disorder from potty treats. She is already forgetting to ask for one most of the time anyway.)

Over the last week and a half, she has started telling us she has to go. We put her in dresses and no undies at home, and she just runs off to her little potty when she has to go. When she is done she yells, "Pee potty!" and we go and help her wipe and dump her little potty. She is very independent about it, and loves to tell people about her great feat.

We haven't had a pee accident in a few day, and haven't had poopy pants in over two weeks (Thanks, God). She is still in diapers at night, but other than that, she is pretty much potty independent. I still remind her (or even have her sit to try) every now and then if she hasn't gone in a while, and I know she will still have accidents sometimes, but I am very excited that she has come so far in such a little bit of time.

(Pics to come!)

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Look Here

Check out the blog of a sweet young friend of mine (the same girl who made the hat for my giveaway). 

Follow her on her journey of preparing for a mission trip to Uganda.

An Enchanted Childhood Playschool ~ January 3rd-6th ~The Letter K

K is for Kangaroo!  We read Katy No Pocket and made Kangaroos with "pockets" using brown lunch bags!

Thursday, we read The ABC Bunny and did a simple project--water color painting on the Letter K.

Friday, we celebrated Three Kings' Day!  We heard a story about Baby Jesus and the three kings, sang "We Three Kings", and make crowns!

My Honeys

Ever since B was a little baby (my first little daycare baby ever), he has been my Honey Bee. When Bunny was born, she became my Honey Bunny. Thus making these two my honeys. They are the best of friends and it is often just the two of them at my house in the afternoons. Today was one such day.

I awoke B from his nap and he came with me to wake Bunny. We climbed into my queen sized bed and started to gently try to get her to open her eyes. She fussed and wanted to nurse, so we all layed there, three in the bed, and she nursed. This is one of my favorite things to do after nap time. After a few minutes she unlatched and lay there asleep again. I was just about to begin to rub her back and sing our good morning song, when I looked across her and realized that B had fallen asleep as well. My honeys, snuggled up together, sleeping soundly. So soundly that I was able to steal away to retrieve my camera and take what may be my favorite pictures of the two of them ever.

Look Here

Check out my friend's blog about decluttering 2012 things (or more) in 2012.

I am so excited to follow her journey to a simpler life, as well as get some clutter out of my house.

A Kiss At Midnight

Seven years ago, a boy and I shared a kiss just after midnight. We have not missed a year since. Looking back I have a hard time believing that it was so long ago, or that I was really so young at the time. But I suppose it must all be true seeing as how I have never woken up, or closed a book, or snapped out of what I was sure at the time was a daydream. I mean really, no one marries the first boy that ever held their hand. But I did. A third of my life ago, I fell in love with the man (who was more like a boy at the time) that is now an amazing husband, wonderful father, and still my best friend. So many things have happened since then. So many possibilities in the year to come.

Happy new year everyone! What a wonderful year it promises to be...

An Enchanted Childhood Playschool ~ December 27th and 29th ~ The Gingerbread Baby

We had a sloooow week at Playschool... just like the week after Christmas should be!  We only worked Tuesday and Thursday and had mostly "older" children so we revisited one of our favorite books, The Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett.  We read it both days, made gingerbread playdough, ate gingerbread cookies, and decorated a foam gingerbread man.