101 Things to do...

So I have joined the rest of the internet browsing hoards out there ... and finally joined Pinterest. The thing I love most about it are the ideas of craft things for kids, recipes... it's seriously a magazine where you choose the content, clip things out for later and best of all... it's free!

*love*

I've stumbled onto a few great ideas of activities to do with the kids... most aren't anything new but when you are sitting at home, staring at the same four walls, pile of toys and the mess around you... it's hard to find something new and creative to do. Want to check it out yourself? Let me know, I can send you an invite.

So as I narrow down the final days/weeks of being in the maternity section of this kiddo... I've decided we are going to need a few new things to do when I'm on maternity leave. And since the weather isn't cooperating and dumping fresh new snow to play in. Here is what I want to do.

100 things to do with todders... I want to get through most of these. (Original link is here)

1. Color
2. Blow Bubbles
3. Play Hide-and-Seek
4. Peek-a-Boo
5. Play Chase
6. Do Finger-plays
7. Sing a song
8. Collect rocks in a basket
9. Make an obstacle course out of cushions and/or furniture
10. Make a fort out of cushions and sheets
11. Go for a Walk
12. Make a Car out of a Box
13. Read a book
14. Go to the park
15. Finger-paint
16. Play with Play-Dough
17. Toss Bean bags into a Bucket
18. Play the shell and pea game
19. Dance to music
20. Download games for toddlers from the Internet
21. Practice putting things in and taking things out of boxes and bags
22. Make a temporary slide out of a table leaf and your couch
23. Roll a ball back and forth on the floor
24. Scoop dirt or sand into a child's bucket (or use a serving spoon and bowl)
25. Practice climbing by stacking boxes on top of each other (only with adult supervision)
26. Put on a puppet show
27. Go fishing with a yard stick and yarn
28. Make a Horseshoe game
29. Make a Shape Puzzle
30. Play paper basketball
31. Run through a Sprinkler
32. Play with a bucket of water and a sponge (PLEASE WATCH CHILD AT ALL TIMES!)
33. Make a Drum out of an oatmeal box
34. Play with a kazoo
35. Wash windows together
36. Bang on Pots and Pans with a spoon
37. Brush each other's teeth
38. Play dress-up with stuffed animals and your child's clothes
39. Stack canned or boxed food on top of each other
40. Let child stack mixing bowls inside each other
41. Make a playhouse out of a large box
42. Let child play with a sticker sheet (make sure your child doesn't eat them!)
43. Put stickers on fingers for finger puppets
44. Play a musical instrument together- i.e.recorder, piano, etc.
45. Go on a Smelling Hunt
46. Frost Cookies
47. Plant a flower or vegetable plant together
48. Roll a tennis ball into an empty trash can or bucket
49. Draw on a mirror with dry-erase markers
50. Play hide and seek together- trying to find a stuffed animal or other object
51. Have a splash party together in the bathtub
52. Put a leash on a stuffed animal and walk around the house
53. Record each other on a tape recorder (great for scrapbooks or journals!)
54. Make and try on paper hats
55. Give a piggy-back ride
56. Play "Horsey"
57. Talk into an electric fan (it distorts your voice)
58. Play tug-of-war with a blanket
59. Collect flowers (felt, artificial, real...)
60. Make a camera and go on a Safari
61. Play games with frozen juice lids
62. Disconnect your phone and pretend to make phone calls to relatives
63. Leave your phone connected and really make phone calls to relatives- let your child talk too
64. String large beads onto or along a shoelace
65. Squirt each other with squirt bottles
66. Glue shapes onto paper
67. Make sock puppets
68. Make paper puppets
69. Fill an old purse with toys
70. Use a paper towel tube as a megaphone
71. Make binoculars and go "Bird Watching" or "Stuffed Animal Watching"
72. Put snacks in different fun containers (paper sacks, empty canisters, etc.)
73. Act out a story from a book
74. Walk on a balance beam- use a 2x4 placed on the ground
75. Draw with chalk on the sidewalk
76. Sketch an outline of your child on the sidewalk or paper with chalk
77. Paint child's palms with tempura paint and blot on paper. Makes a great card for loved ones!
78. Put lipstick on child and kiss a mirror
79. Make a puddle on cement and splash barefoot in it
80. Let child decorate and eat an open peanut butter sandwich
81. Make a toilet paper barricade for child to go under, over, or through
82. Do the Hokey Pokey
83. Make a super-hero costume out of household items
84. Do Knee-Bouncing Rhymes
85. Play "Red Light, Green Light" saying "Go" and "Stop"
86. Make a shoe-box train for stuffed animals
87. Make a pillow pile to jump on (keep it clear from any hard surfaces, including walls!)
88. Make an easy puzzle with felt and Velcro
89. Make bracelets or collars for stuffed animals out of pipe cleaners and jingle bells
90. Learn numbers from a deck of cards
91. Play the matching game with a deck of cards
92. Make a domino chain
93. Have a picnic in the park, backyard, or living room!
94. Play dress up in Mommy or Daddy's clothes
95. Make a tin cup telephone and talk to each other in it
96. Make a nature collage
97. Mirror each other
98. Make a "Mummy Mommy" with toilet paper
99. Make a tape recording of short music selections and instructions to move in different ways
100. Make and walk along a toilet paper trail
101. TAKE A NAP!

Vday + One

I was so tired I didn't get a chance to post this last night but I wanted to make sure that I documented it. :o) We had decided a few weeks ago that we weren't going to do anything for Valentine's Day... or so I thought. Money is a little more tight right now and we don't have anyone to babysit... plus I had to work during the day and he had to work at night.

So Valentine's Day came along and I went about my busy self, not really paying attention. My doctor came out and told me that there was someone waiting out front for me. I went out to the front lobby and there was a Barbershop Quartet. They sang to me and gave me a rose. It was shocking and wonderful.

We gave each of the girls a little Valentine M&M fan... and Abby had her Valentine's Day party at school. It sounds like they all had a pretty good time.

I'm glad today is the last day that Tom has to work tonight. It is exhausting running things alone. I had an appointment this morning and it looks like our little stinker is still breech... now we wait until Monday to find out if he still is, then we talk other options.

Greeeeeeeeeat.

Hope he flips on his own! I've been antsy all day. I can hardly stand being at work and I just feel out of sorts. Hope that Monday gets here soon....

There and Back

I have a confession to make... I'm not a perfect mom.

And in the midst the crazy exhaustion I'm feeling, the pregnancy hormones and stress from work... I feel like I should still be able to come home and be the mommy I want to be.

And it's one of the worst feelings to know that I can't. Somehow I need to let go of the rosey perfect picture of what I want to be as a mom, that perfectionist ideal that no one can live up to and just be mom. And the tears that I cry are the evidence that it's something I have a hard time doing.

I'm exhausted. My feet are cankles, I feel more unattractive right now then I have probably felt since I was 13. I can hardly sit on the floor to play with my girls because the cramping in my legs or abdomen will get so bad. T-shirts and sweatpants are about the only things I feel remotely comfortable in because the rest of my clothes doesn't fit. I've completely given up on trying to find the time to get my hair cut or permed or whatever. Aka I'm miserably trying to bask in the last few days/weeks of this pregnancy... because I know I will miss carrying him around with me.

And of course bedtime was a disaster again, Abby has been driving me a little crazy with her random screaming just when the girls are settling down, Kiley needs to get out of bed 20 times to give me a hug. Kara likes to get involved in schemes with Abby or keep her going on the path of madness. I sit on a little pink beanbag for an hour telling them to lay down, stop spitting, stay in your bed, stop bouncing...

And I get upset.

And I hate getting upset. Because they find it funny. Which makes me more angry.

My girls fell asleep tonight and I was tired of giving them hugs. I didn't want to kiss their 'owies' that they got by trying to crawl out of bed for the 100th time. I didn't want to hear their 'stories'. In fact they only fell asleep after I told them that I was crying.

Then I wrapped Abby's Valentine's Day box for preschool without her... and I cried again.

Now I wish I could have been more patient, because more then anything I miss them during the day. I miss being Mommy, (or Mimi as Kara calls me)

I believe it's just time to get a little sleep. Tomorrow is after all a new day. I love my girls with all my heart, beyond even words. And tomorrow I'll get back up, dust myself off and try again... and perhaps sneak in a little more snuggle time and that extra hug... even if it means I need to hear about the birthday party, cake and decorations for the next 3 months... 

Sometimes we all need a simple reminder that we can't do things on our own. I'm thankful that I don't have to. And please Lord grant me the confidence, courage, patience, serenity to be the mother you've called me to be... 

"They know me in a way no one ever has; They open me to things I never knew existed. They drive me to insanity and push me to my depths. They are the beat of my heart, the pulse of my vein and the energy in my soul. They are my kids."