Mac is a high-spirited child if I have ever seen one. She has very definite ideas and when she decides to do something, she does it. Which is why she started walking at 9 months and now at 14 months can already climb to the top of the playground climber. In fact, she just figured out how to climb on the couch. She was pretty pleased with herself.
As a high-spirited child, she is so insanely curious that she has to explore everything and anything. Every time we think we have “Mac-proofed” the house, she proves us wrong.
Life can be quite challenging with her because she lives life at 100 mph. She is on the go constantly, only sitting down to read a few books here and there, but never at a convenient time for me to get things done of course. She finds anything we have accidentally left within her reach, any flaw in our childproofing system.
I shouldn’t be surprised by her because she definitely takes after my side of the family, personality wise. I should’ve been prepared to have a baby who never sits still and is always looking for adventure.
Some days I want to tear my hair out because I get so frustrated with her. But then, come moments like this:
When she is so sweet and serene. Despite the fact that she is NOT a sleeper, I am sometimes tempted to wake her up because I miss her.
But I let her sleep because I’m not a total idiot.
Let me start off by saying that I’m sure everyone my age has pictures like these. I laugh as I look through my picture albums because before digital cameras, you just had to point and shoot. No one knew until you got the pictures developed if you were smiling or had your eyes closed. So the unphotogenic among us (like me) really struggled before picture technology progressed. Add in some questionable 90’s fashion choices and some of the pictures are a real doozy.
So let’s start with an easy one.
This was my first day of preschool and despite the prominent placement of my school branded bag, I was not paid to model for them. I think I would honestly dress Mac in this outfit. Floral overalls (Although why anyone thinks elastic at your ankles is a good look is beyond me), a cap-sleeved pink shirt, and some white mary janes. Cute.
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When Mac was too old for a co-sleeper bassinet (read about where she slept as a newborn here), she moved into a Montessori floor bed. I already explained what a floor bed is and why we chose it (read about that here), but today I wanted to talk about where we set up the floor bed to start with.
Once Mac grew out of the bassinet, I already knew I wanted to have her in the floor bed. The problem was our two bedroom townhouse had our bedroom and another “bedroom” masquerading as a storage unit. I also wasn’t ready to have Mac move so far away from me. So I started to search the internet, looking for inspiration to share a room with Mac and her Montessori floor bed. But I couldn’t find anyone who had a floor bed in their own bedroom. Well, we went on to successfully share a room with Mac’s bed for six months, so I thought I would talk about how we did it.
Update: If you’d like to see her floor bed after she moved into her own room, you can read about it here. Make sure you also check out why she bed shares with us part time.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
A while ago, I posted about trying to tidy up my house. (Read about it here.) I have been re-reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and attempting to apply it to my life. So I think it is time for an update.
Overall, I feel like it is going really well. But decluttering is a slow process. Kondo recommends doing it all at once, but I just can’t do that. Not only do I work full-time and have a daughter and a house to care for, I also spend a lot of time working on my blog. When the weekend comes, I feel like we can either have a fun weekend or a productive one. And most of the time, I will pick a fun one. But I was finally able to be productive and start in on the second chapter of the book: Finish Discarding First.
See that giant, stuffed full bag of clothing? I donated that. Plus 3 other boxes of stuff! (And P.S. to anyone who might not know, keep a list of things you donate and you can write them off on your taxes.)
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I used to think that when I had a baby, s/he would sleep in a crib, just like every other baby. But when I began working at a Montessori school, I learned about floor beds and never looked back. I have found so many benefits and it has been so easy to use, that I just had to talk about what a floor bed is.
So, here is a quick progression on how we got Mac into her floor bed. When Mac was a baby, she slept in a bedside bassinet. Once she was a bit older, she moved into a floor bed in our room. Eventually Mac and her floor bed moved into her own room. Now we bed share part time with her as a toddler.
Toddlers can help clean. I know it seems unlikely, but toddlers love to clean! At first, they won’t exactly be helpful, but it will be good in the long run. Not only are you teaching them how to help out around the house, but you are also getting a little extra help around the house. Win-win for everyone!
There are a few things to keep in mind. It will take extra time. It won’t actually be clean when they are done. If the toddler hasn’t gone through the sensitive period for order, they may not exactly understand the process of cleaning for a while. It may be frustrating. But toddlers will love feeling included and helpful. And the more they feel that way, the more motivated they will be to continue helping you out. So here is a list of four simple ways toddlers can help clean.
Dusting
Mac loves to take a wet washcloth and wipe down surfaces in our house, like bookshelves, the coffee table, or her own little table. Sometimes I will direct her to another place, which also helps her learn how to listen and follow directions. She has her own spray bottle of water, but isn’t quite able work it yet. So for now I will spray the table and she wipes it up.
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When I found out I was pregnant with my first child, there were so many decisions to make. Many things I always assumed I would do, I wasn’t so sure about anymore. One of those things was having my baby sleep in a crib. There isn’t anything wrong with a crib, but after working at a Montessori school I was intrigued by the idea of a floor bed.
But before we started my daughter in a floor bed, I needed to figure out where to have her sleep until she was old enough. I knew that I wanted her nearby, but I had some anxiety about bed sharing with her. So after some research, I decided to try a co-sleeper bassinet. (We bought an Arm’s Reach Euro Mini Co-Sleeper Bassinet. That exact style is no longer available, but the Arm’s Reach Mini Ezee 2-in-1 seems like almost the same thing!)
(If you are more intrigued by the floor bed, you can read about what a floor bed is, how we shared a room with a floor bed, and how Mac has her own floor bed room now. We do bed share part-time now that she is a toddler.)
At first, I was going to try to make a sidecar crib. There are plenty of DIY instructions on Pinterest and Google to describe the process, but I just wasn’t certain we were handy enough to make it work. So instead, I found the Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper Bedside Bassinet. We ended up using it for both of our children so far. (Make sure you check out this co-sleeper bassinet by the same company. It looks almost identical!) Here are a few reasons why we love it.
Motherhood looks like a grumpy baby with a runny nose who is practicing putting on her own socks.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
It seems to be a generally accepted idea that once babies are old enough, we are supposed to first feed them rice cereal and then move onto purees. Some people take the initiative to make their own purees, which I considered. But none of that seemed like how I wanted to feed my child. So instead, after some research, I decided on baby led weaning.
Baby led weaning means that baby feeds themselves their solid foods with your encouragement. Some people are scared off by the word “weaning” thinking that it means to stop giving breast milk or formula, but it simply means that you are introducing solid foods.
Now, when I was starting Mac on solid foods, I was a little nervous to begin with. Food is such a huge aspect of life and I didn’t want to somehow mess it up (Typical Mom Guilt!) But I feel like I struck a happy medium and now I want to talk about the process we went through in case anyone else is thinking of trying baby led weaning.
My baby sister Molly celebrated her 21st birthday on Saturday. When she decided to rent a party bus for the night, Andrew and I decided to try to be young and carefree again for one night. We dropped our babies off (Mac went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house while Ralph stayed with Aunt Jo) and then we hit the road.
After a barbecue, we walked in the cold to Hardee’s to catch the party bus. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve really ever been on a party bus before. I’m not a goodie goodie (anymore) but I’ve just never really been to an event where we rented one. But the one we got was a lot nicer than what I had been imagining. So the first thing we did was drive to the Catholic church to pick up my mom. Typical.