She makes me cry.

Dear Bean,

You make me cry every day.  Yeah, I think I’ve cried in some fashion every single day since you were born. 

Sometimes I cry because I think you love the nannies more than me.  Sometimes I cry because you are away from me.  Sometimes I cry because I’m afraid I’m not doing the best job I can by you.  Lately I’ve cried because you are growing up so very fast.  You change every day.  Most of the time, it’s for the better.  Those days you sneak in a tantrum, well, those aren’t good crying days.

But most of the time I cry because you are my dream come true, and I am so very thankful that you are in our lives.  (Yep, I’m crying again.) 

I'm sure there will be days that you make me cry that aren't so good.  But remember this...I am thankful that I have you in my life to cry over.

Love,
Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - Two Bears and a Bean

What do you think?

Pinkie got a new outfit! 

What do you guys think about the new design?  There are still some things to install but I love it so far!  If you don't, that's okay.  I still love you.  Yes!  Really!

Thanks to April at April Showers Blog Design for all the hard work.  I'm sure she'll be happy when it's all done.  :)

Book Review: The Well-Behaved Child

Since the Hubz and I are "first-timers", we are finding ourselves a little shell-shocked sometimes with Bean's behavior.  She'll act out and we catch ourselves standing there staring at her thinking “who is this kid?”.  And we are also finding out that our disciplining styles are different.  I like to use the countdown and the corner.  If Bean is doing something that I don’t approve of, then I usually start out by telling her "no", and then if we have to, we go onto “One”, “Two..."  Ninety percent of the time, by one and a half, the behavior has stopped.

I really didn’t think I’d be one of those moms.  When I was in high school I worked at a department store and I would see these horrible, evil heathens running around causing chaos, i.e., normal every day kids.  I would see parents do a countdown, plead, threaten, bribe, all that jazz and it hardly ever worked.  Usually I would think...just do what my mom did...give them a smack on the rear end and be done with it.  Hey, if it’s good enough for Mom...

But I decided to take the softer approach and try the countdown and it does work most of the time.  If it fails, Bean has to spend time in the awful, dreaded CORNER.  Bean does not like this one bit.  But it works.  There have been those special days where there have been several trips to the corner for the same behavior but those times are rare.  Now Hubz,...he’s not so patient.  Hubz likes to raise his voice.  It’s definitely not his inside voice he’s using.  And there have also been times where a spanked hand or bottom has occurred but that usually makes both Bean and me cry so I hate to do it. 

And of course, when you’re first-timers, you get a lot of advice.  Let me say that again...you get a lot of advice.  And it’s never the same advice.  So I have started looking around for ways to improve my means of discipline.  I am a book reviewer for Book Sneeze (formerly Thomas Nelson), and while searching their available titles, I found The Well-Behaved Child by John Rosemond.

In this book, Rosemond brings back a straightforward, almost hard-nosed approach to parenting.  It was like reading a book on the way my mother disciplined.  This is a no-nonsense, bare basics approach.  Granted, most of the book dealt with issues that are further on down the road for us since Bean is only two.  I will definitely incorporate some of these techniques as Bean gets older but more because this is the way I was raised myself and it’s what I know.  The Well-Behaved Child is a good reminder for those of us that grew up with parents that were stricter than most.  If your parenting style is less structured and you are not seeing the results that you’d like, then I would recommend reading this book so that you can understand and know that it is okay to set those boundaries and follow through with those consequences.  I have friends that think if they are too strict, their children won’t like them.  I think it’s not a popularity contest.  It’s parenting.  You’re not always going to be the good guy.  And if you are afraid to do the work, or don’t know how, maybe you should spend time with Mr. Rosemond and his book.

*I am a reviewer for Book Sneeze.  A copy of this book was provided to me free of charge in return for this review. 

Happy Valentine's Day

 just want to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.  I thought today would be a good day to share one of my favorite songs with you.  I think this song says it all.

Love Song by Pink

I've never written a love song

That didn't end in tears

Maybe you'll rewrite my love song
If you can replace my fears

I need your patience and guidance
And all your lovin' and more
When thunder rolls through my life

Will you be able to weather the storm?

There's so much I would give ya, baby
If I'd only let myself
There's this well of emotions
I feel I must protect

But what's the point of this armor
If it keeps the love away, too?
I'd rather bleed with cuts of love
Than live without any scars

Baby, can I trust this?
Or do all things end?
I need to hear that you'd die for me
Again and again and again

So tell me when you look in my eyes
Can you share all the pain and happy times
'Cause I will love you for the rest of my life

This is my very first love song
That didn't end in tears
I think you re-wrote my love song
For the rest of my years

I wil love you for the rest of my Life

Look what I made!

I made these cute Valentine's for family and co-workers.  Of course, now that it is supposed to snow tomorrow, they might not get them before the holiday.  I learned how to make these treat cards when I attended a Stampin' Up class.  Stamping and card making is something that I've recently started doing but I really enjoy it.  If you ever get the chance to try it yourself, I think you'd love it.

Wordless Wednesday - Ready for my closeup

The First Photo

I don't think I've ever shared this before but I want to add it to the blog history so...

Here is the very first picture ever taken of The Bean.

 

Photogenic from the very first moment if I do say so myself.  But I'm biased, too, right?!

This picture was taken by the hospital staff and they gave it to us when they deemed Hubz and I capable enough of bringing her home with us.  They had way more faith in us than we did, I can tell you that.

The 2nd Birthday Bash!

The Bean was so excited it was finally time for her birthday party.  She must have thought we had forgotten it was her birthday because she told us about 15,000 times that morning, "It's my birthday!"  Yep, we know.  Trust me, we know.

I started off decorating for the party the night before.  I put up the garland I made and Hubz hung some ribbon for us.  I knew that last year I hadn't planned well and was running around going crazy at the last minute.  I didn't want to do that again.

I had found cupcake toppers online and wanted to have some for the party.  I didn't have any of the tools to make them and I wasn’t sure how to really get the images so that I could print it all out.  I emailed my friend Leeanna, who is a Stampin' Up distributor, and within a couple of hours she emailed me back a list of the items I would need and she had made a computer file for me to use in printing the images. (Quick ad - If you are in need of any stamping supplies or would like more info on Stampin’ Up, I highly recommend Leeanna.  She also has her own blog, That’s So Cute, where she shows how to make all of her cute cards and projects.)

So anyways, at first my idea was to make these cupcake toppers but then I started thinking that the theme for Bean's first birthday party was cupcakes.  Cupcakes everywhere!  I couldn’t repeat myself, could I?  I’d never be able to show my face in proper preschool society ever again!  So I scratched the cupcakes and decided to use these toppers as decorations around the house.

I glued the toppers to some ribbon and made a garland to go around my MIL’s mantel.  I also used some of the toppers as name tags for the goody bags.  Yes, I caved and made goody bags.  I swore I wouldn’t ever try and bribe someone to come to a party but I did.  I mean, it was fun making them and they turned out really cute.  I’m still against the whole idea but I had fun making them.  Don’t tell anybody, okay?

 

Here I took my MIL’s lazy susan and wrapped it with tissue paper.  I took mason jars and added some ribbon and used them to hold the utensils.  I added more toppers as decorations, too.

I thought it all turned out pretty.  I didn’t go overboard.  Hubz kept telling me not to and I actually listened.  Well, actually, I got tired and ran out of time but if Hubz thinks he won the battle...okay, fine.  Then it was time to get dressed for the party.

I found this dress back in the spring at a consignment sale.  It says “Birthday Girl” and Bean loved it.  She twirled herself all around in it.

Once all the guests got there we served pizza.  I know it's not real "fairy" food.  Abby Cadabby probably doesn't eat a lot of pizza but after all the fuss and craziness I got into last year in making all the food, I wanted something easy.  So salad, breadsticks, pizza and some boneless wings is the way we went.  

Then it was time for presents.  I'm not sure what Bean enjoyed more - the gift wrap and tissue paper or the actual presents.  She got some really cute outfits, books, a purse, food for her kitchen, all kinds of wonderful goodies.  But she also got her very first Playdoh.  I was pretty excited cause I love playing with Playdoh.  I'm probably strange (okay, I'm definitely strange) but I really like the smell of it.  So the first time we took it out and started playing with it, I put it up to my nose and told Hubz "Ah, it smells so good."  Now every time Bean takes some out of its container the first thing she does is hold it up to her nose and says "So good".  Cracks me up every time.

 

After the presents,  I could tell we were entering "Nap Zone".  There was a point when Bean secluded herself from everyone else and sat in a chair with her back to everyone.  Big clue.  So I rushed to the cake.

 

Bean had already had some practice the week before when she and I decorated a birthday cake at home for her.  She is an expert candle-blower-outer.  But when it was showtime this day, she decided she didn't want to perform.  Hubz kept trying to get her to blow out the Abby candle.  I'm sure Abby was sitting there saying "Hey little girl!  My head's on fire here!  Could you help me out?"  But Bean didn't care about Abby's do.  She just sat there.  Hubz even picked up the candle and brought it closer to her.  Still nothing.  So Hubz blew the candle out.  He said he made a wish for lots of toys but I hope he meant toys for Bean, not him.  I'm not so sure though.

 

We had a great time and I hope that fun was had by all that attended.  We'll do it all again next year and maybe, just maybe there will be an appearance by a sock monkey or two.  

Happy Birthday Bean!!!!

I'm still here!

Hi everybody!  I am still here.  I have been feeling poorly lately and now I think I am coming down with an ear infection to boot. 

I have a post almost ready to go about Bean's 2nd Birthday Bash but for some reason I can't get my pictures to load up from my iPhone.  They won't send.  So as soon as I get all of the pics ready, you'll see them all. 

I hope everyone is enjoying February so far.  I am getting ready for Valentine's Day.  I'll be working on my cards this weekend.  I love this holiday because everything is pink and red.  I'd love to make our house all pink and red but for some reason Hubz thinks he has a say in some of the decorating just cause he lives there, too.  I say "Ah phooey"!

 

*From Wikimedia Commons