Late Night Blogging

Here I am laying in bed, wishing I was asleep. I did myself in tho cause a little bit earlier I ate 15 Dove chocolates. I know because I counted the wrappers. I’m not even ashamed. I would eat more but the caffeine is not helping the sleep situation.

My hubby is snoring away and for some reason that sound makes my blood boil. I don’t mind the crickets or the tv or any other sound for that matter but that snoring. Wow. Anger inducing. Ok let’s move on.

It’s late. And I’m blogging to hopefully wear myself out. Thankfully hubby is home tomorrow so I’ll have help with the littles. It’s always a bit easier when it’s two on two Instead of two on one. I was about to go off into a full on story about that but I keep catching myself from diverting from my point here.

Back on track…I got to thinking, so many people make money off their blogs, so why can’t I? I came up with a million negative reasons why I won’t be able to. Then I stopped myself in my own tracks because the one and only thing that would stop me from being able to is my negativity.

My desire is to be able to stay home with my children through at the very least middle school. My mom was always home for us when we got home from school and she was always home with us for the summer. Thinking back on those times makes me so happy and I want that for my kids. I’m so thankful that my husband is on the same page as me so we’re making it work but I want to be able to relieve him of some of the financial burden. I also would LOVE nothing more than to be able to help my parents out financially. After all they sacrificed for me and my four siblings growing up, it’s the least I can do.

I do realize it takes time and I’m willing to take the time. I also know you have to gain a following which takes building friendships, so to speak, with other bloggers and readers, etc. I would love to get some input from the few followers I already have on how they like my posts (I know they’re sporadic and I’m going to try to work on that) and my pictures. I need to make myself a logo and purchase a domain and a few other things. That’s all coming soon. If anyone is willing to help me understand the money making end of blogging I’m all ears!

I’m very excited about this and want to encourage everyone else out there who’s on the same path. I also am so encouraged by the well established bloggers and want to congratulate them on their success. It’s something I’m striving for so seeing so many success stories gives me hope. I’m super excited to look back a year from now and see how much I’ve excelled. Thank you to my first followers so far! You guys have been my motivation to keep going!

Gloomy But Happy

It’s been so gloomy lately. Lots of rain and snow and gray skies. Sometimes it’s so hard to be happy on these days. My mood is definitely not great on rainy gloomy days.

As I was watching my little one looking out the window I noticed she wasn’t affected in a bad way at all by the rain. In fact it brought a smile to her face. She started saying “Peppa boot Peppa boot!” I knew right away what she meant. I just got her a pair of rubber rain boots because every time we are leaving to go somewhere and it’s rainy, she wants to splash in the muddy puddles like Peppa pig does. I usually can’t let her because her shoes are too low or the fabric would just get soaked all the way through so the new rain boots have become her favorite thing.

Anyway, before I go off onto a totally different topic (I tend to do that and forget my point completely) her ability to be able to be positive about something that’s usually a negative, such as a rainy day, was so refreshing. As a child we don’t really know negativity, it’s learned over time which is kind of sad. I could stand to learn a thing or two by watching my littles and turning negatives into positives. It’s easier said than done, I know, but these moments give me hope!

Nap Time

Nap time truly is a glorious time of day.  I love my children more than life itself but man when this time of day comes around I am so ready for it.  It’s good for them too, they need sleep which makes it even easier for me to love it that much more.

My daughter has been a very good sleeper naturally from early on.  She’s always loved her naps and takes about 2 to 2-1/2 hours each day in the afternoon.  I definitely attribute a lot of that to consistency.  Consistency is key when it comes to good sleeping habits and for getting a good solid nap out of your baby or toddler.  I have never really been a big schedule person but now that nap time is a thing, I am a scheduler.  On the days we are home, which is most, the schedule stays pretty much the same.  Nap time after lunch which falls anywhere between 1:00 and 1:30.

I have googled so many different tips and ideas for getting babies to nap and noticed that most of the schedules I’ve come across include two naps a day.  My daughter never took two naps, always just one big long one right in the middle of the day.  My son is tending to take two naps right now, a real short one in the morning after breakfast and another one after lunch.  He’s so young still so this is typical anyway but I know his schedule will evolve.  The awesome part about the after lunch nap is that the two kiddos end up asleep for most of it at the same time.  This gives me that little break in the middle of the day to get things done.  So nice!

So here are some of my tips…these are what worked for me.  I realize each child is different but these things I did made nap time a breeze:

1. I never used/use blackout curtains.  They sleep in broad daylight.  They’re tired so they sleep.  This one is good for daylight savings too because even when it’s still light out till 9:30pm they will be able to fall asleep at regular time regardless.
2. I never tried to block out all sound all together.  This caused them to be very adaptable to sleeping with sounds in the background. Now obviously I don’t go blasting my Back Street Boys throwbacks while they’re sleeping or anything but I do go in and out of their rooms here and there to put away laundry, vacuum downstairs and put dishes away (which is always obnoxiously loud no matter how careful I am!)  Also occasionally a very loud helicopter will fly by or if it’s thundering out, they sleep right on through it.  Don’t be alarmed though, if our smoke detectors went off, they’d wake up!
3. Nap in the same spot each time.  This one is important.  Again with consistency.  I found that having them take their long nap (the after lunch one) in their bed has brought the most success.  They know this is the only place where sleep happens through the whole night so they associate that place with sleep.  My little guy takes his first small nap in his swing but that nap is only about 20-30 min tops so it works.  I really believe that because they nap in the same spot each time, they already know when they get put down there that it’s time to sleep.  And they do.
4. Last, if they wake up mid-nap, I don’t go running to pick them up.  I used to do this with my daughter because she was my first baby, but found that it only cut naps much shorter than they should be.  Allowing a little bit of time to see if they fall back to sleep gives them the need to self soothe which is very important for them to figure out.  At 2 years old my little girl is a pro at this.  She picks up “turtle” which is her muslin blanket that has little turtles printed on it and fidgets with the corners and edges of it before falling back to sleep.  This became her go to self soother item!  My son is still young so the time frame I give him to fall back asleep if he wakes up mid nap is a little shorter than my daughter.  She gets about 10-15 min (as long as she’s not crying) whereas I give him about 5-7 min.  He’s getting better at self soothing though, I can tell so it’s definitely something that is learned over time.

I know nap time can be difficult because some children just plain are not a fan of sleeping. I do think if you press through about a week or so of consistently putting them down at the same time each day and following a pattern, they will adapt to it and begin to look for it each day. Best of luck!! I know all you mommies could use a good solid daily “nap time!

Little You Cake Toppers

My new endeavor along with starting this new blog is my Etsy shop. My family members have been on my case about selling these ever since I made one for myself to use as my wedding cake topper 4 years ago. (And over the years they’ve gotten better and better!) My dream is for this to be something I can do as a part time or even full time job because crafting is what I love. They are really adorable in person, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you order one! Also, I want to just say that they don’t have to be specifically used as your wedding cake topper, they’re such a cute memento from your special day. So even if your wedding was ten years ago, I could always make one based off your wedding photo as a keepsake.

Haha so that’s my sales pitch! At the very least, I hope you enjoy the photos and thank you for checking them out!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleYouCakeToppers