I take that back!

Well, seems as if today was the day for walking!  He's been everywhere today.  I took a video!

Monkey Walks

Birthday Madness

Monkey has started walking here and there.  He takes a few steps, waits a week, then repeats!  I think it will be some time before he actually takes off and keeps it up. 

It's feeling December-y today!  I went to Walmart to do some much needed grocery shopping.  When I left it was nice out, way too nice for December.  I had on a Tshirt and a light sweater.  Of course, when I come out it is freezing cold and pouring rain.  My sweater went on the baby's head and I got a shower!  Sooo cold.  Soooo wet.  Note to self: watch weather report before leaving house next time.

In six days it will be Monkey's 1st birthday!!!!  I'm way too excited for a child's birthday party!  We are having a Winter One-derland theme!  I have tons of snowflakes to hang and balloons and fake snow.  I put all his month photos on sparkling snowflakes to hang on a tiny Christmas tree we have.  Today I bought cake mix and frosting for his birthday cake!  I'm going to make a penguin cake!  We have hot chocolate and blue koolaid and marshmallows and candy canes and cookies, oh my!  And as a party favor, I got all the kids mittens, which I'm also using as a decoration.  I even got snowflake wrapping paper for his gift so it would match!  I'm such a dork!  I'm even taking off work Friday so I can decorate the entire living room area with winter galore!  It.will.be.awesome.

Fall Fun

I'm looking forward to Halloween because a) I LOVE Autumn and all its holidays  b) We get to carve pumpkins (even though I have a severe pumpkin allergy and past mishaps with knives and carving that involve visits to the E.R., it's still my favorite thing to do this time of year!) c) It's Monkey's first Halloween and I'm dressing him up.  I bought a Tiger costume, but Husband is less than thrilled about it, so we might be doing something else.  Maybe wrapping him in gauze and going as a mummy?  d) Maybe it will finally be jacket weather by then

Here are last year's fun pumpkins!  It's time to start thinking about what we will carve this year!



I knew I wouldn't keep up!

I knew it would be hard to keep up a blog!  It's been months since I last posted something.  So, for your viewing pleasure, my little Monkey asleep in his exersaucer this morning!  I even managed to move him to his crib without waking him up - a real feat!

School, Monkey, and

School- School has started!  I'm officially teaching first grade (for now.)  It's subject to change at any moment depending on enrollment.  They are such cute little things who bounce all day long.  I wish they had an off switch sometimes, but I love listening to their stories.  We are beginning our reading series tomorrow - oh the fun!  Hopefully, they won't forget where the classroom is over the weekend!

Monkey - he's getting sooo big!  He's mastered walking around the furniture and between the furniture now.  After a week of rash, snotty nose, and pink eye - both of us (that's right - I caught it too!) are feeling much better.  There's nothing better than spending your first week of work and daycare rubbing your goopy eyes!  Mine is pretty much completely cleared, but he's having a hard time fighting off this virus.  On day 8, his eyes are still goopy.  Hope next week is less chaotic!!  Another issue is daycare napping.  Friday's paper included NO nap!  An eight month old needs at least two hours while he is there...sigh.  I hope he adjusts and sleeps on Monday.  Be saying a prayer for his sleeping issues!  He's currently napping at home and is taking his usual two hour nap!  Mama is having a guilty day wishing she was home with him all the time. :(

Food -   I'm hungry.  All.the.time.  Weight watchers is great for losing weight, but not so great for eating whatever you want.  I want cake and cookies and great big glasses of milk and slices of pizza!  I gave up and ate a Braum's buger and fries for dinner last night!  I wish I liked vegetables!  What's your favorite healthy recipe?  I need ideas!

Eight Months Has Flown By

Wow, eight months already?  We visited the lactation consultant at the hospital today on the labor and delivery floor.  It was strange to walk in there and think that exactly eight months ago I was down the hall whimpering on a bed and wanting to kill my husband because he had FOOD.  Then, after many, many hours of labor and a one csection, a tiny little person entered my life.  He's such a cutie and makes every day worth getting up!  Here's a picture of our big eight month old.  He's now cruising between furniture, pulling up on flat walls (!), and saying mama, ba (which is anything he's looking at), and hi.  *sniff*  They get big so quickly.  What do you remember about the day your baby(ies) was born?

Argh to Google.

If you leave a comment, know that I really wanted to reply.  To Jamie - I read your blog and I have replies galore!  Google won't let me post a comment for some reason.  It just sends me back to the login page over and over and over and over...  Any ideas?

First Grade Worksheet

I had an older version of this worksheet and I'm not sure what I did with it, so I made a new one! You can use it with spelling words, high frequency words, vocabulary, etc.  You have students read the words, then write them neatly, then cut and paste the letter tiles to form the words.  As an extension, you could have them rainbow write or trace the shape outlines also. 

Here is the worksheet in PDF format.

Read it, Write it, Make it Worksheet  (PDF)

New Etsy Items!

Check out my Etsy shop for new items! These baby gift baskets are a perfect gift for a new little one!

Click on the picture to follow a link to my shop!

Sharing

My child is starting to "share" things with me!  Today he was sooo cute.  He was on my lap and decided to share his pacifier with me.  He kept trying to shove it into my mouth and was sooo excited when I bit the plastic edge to take it from him.  What a sweetie!

He's also giving raspberries back to us now.  If we blow on his tummy or neck, he'll do it back to our arms and legs!  Ha!  Every once in awhile it goes awry though and he bites, which isn't all that pleasant with those two sharp little teeth.

Pulling Up and Walking!!

Monkey is officially BIG!  He's pulling up on everything he can and walking around the coffee table!  Oh my!

Fun story:  I put him in his crib for a nap the other day and I heard all this racket on the baby monitor. We keep the monitor on the toy shelf next to the bed. I went in to see what was up and found him standing in his crib, leaning way over the side of it. He was holding the cord to the monitor in his hand (the monitor part inside the crib already) and he was throwing toys off the shelf onto the floor.  He was sooo happy with himself and secretly, I was a little happy for him too.  I mean, that's impressive!  However, today the crib was lowered yet another notch, which happens to be as low as it goes.  If he climbs out now, then there's just nothing I can do!

Crawling

Monkey is officially crawling - quickly I might add.  He's into everything.  A favorite is cords, second only to my shoe laces!  One is an 'Oh no!  You'll electrocute yourself!' and the other is 'Oh, how gross!', so I spend my time untangling objects from his vice-like grip.  Then he looks at me and starts screaming tantrum style.  Let the fun begin!

He turned seven months too!  My tiny baby is quickly growing and that makes me both happy and sad.  Here are his seven month pictures.

New page!

If you look to the right, you will see a brand spankin' new page!  It contains links to some talented artists' websites and Etsy stores!  I encourage you to check them out!

New Pictures That I LOVE

Sleeping training = FAIL

It’s 2:30 a.m.  The baby monitor erupts in blasts of red light, indicating an unhappy infant in the other room.  I sigh, trudge across the hall, where I find Monkey rocking on his hands and knees and screaming.  I pick him up and he goes limp, sound asleep in my arms.  Smiling, I place him in the crib.  Upon his butt touching the mattress, he wakes up – WIDE awake – and screams.   Repeat process four more times.  Leave baby screaming in crib.  Flop on bed and say, “I’m done , your turn,” to husband, who groans and mumbles something about work in the morning.   Before I can bite his head off lovingly reassure him that I don’t give a rat’s ass his child needs him, he gets up.  Strangely, all is quiet for a minute.  Daddy comes back to bed.  Then, wailing.  Screaming.  Shrieking.  Choking.  Almost vomiting.  The crying is getting worse.  I decide to try “cry it out”, the crying and choking escalate.  The baby is upset.  30 minutes later I can’t take it anymore.  I go in and try to comfort Monkey.  He’s not having it.  He wriggles in my arms, screaming, refusing to be comforted.  I’ve left him to cry and he’s holding a grudge.  Eventually, the crying makes way to sad little hiccups.  Then he’s asleep in my arms.  I place him lovingly in the crib and… yep.  Butt hits mattress and crying commences.  I pick him up, scream, “FINE, YOU WIN!!”, and put him in bed with me.  We both fall asleep immediately.  It’s 4:00.  Sleep training = FAIL. 

Check out Monkey News for exciting tooth development details...

New Etsy Product!

New and improved thirsty bibs!  They have a layer of terry cloth in the middle and are sooo cute! 

Get 'em while they're hot!

Sleep, sleep, sleep already!

After a week of Monkey fighting sleep, he was down today at 8:20 (exactly 8:20.)  This miracle did not come without a fight.  I physically had to hold him down on my lap and rock him until he gave up, but he is asleep!  Thank the good Lord for this!  I feel so bad for him because I can tell he is exhausted, but he just thinks he'll miss something I guess.  There were tears and there was wailing, but eventually, he curled up in my arms, smiled at me, and zonked out.  Now, if only this would repeat every night for the next 18 years (minus the tears!)  We had a good streak, almost 6 months without sleep issues.  Then he learned to move, almost crawl, and started teething and I.Am.So.Tired!  If he wakes up, I'll cry.

December Mom Coupon Code

DecemberMoms

The Great Debate

So, I mixed plums and bananas for Monkey's dinner yesterday.  He hates bananas, but seemed to love the plums.  This mixture brought smiles and an open mouth, so I say it was a hit.  This sparked The Great Debate of 2011 between my husband and I...

You tell me -    plananas or bananums? 

So, I guess I'm writing a blog...

Blogging...something I might not be able to keep up with! :) 

I guess the first blog entry should be a quick intro.  For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm a mommy to a 6 month old that I will refer to on here as "Monkey" and a public school teacher.  Right now I'm a stay-at-home mommy for a few months, which is going swimmingly well I must say.  I love my Monkey and enjoy spending some quality time with him over the summer.  The past few days he's gone from a calm child to one who is about to crawl, refuses to nurse due to an abundance of distractions, and has decided he doesn't require sleep.  Mommy is tired.  Happy to be home, but tired.

As for my free time, I do have an etsy shop and I love to sew.  I encourage you to check it out! Here's the link. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PitterPatterStitches?ref=si_shop