What I'm reading

I always love to hear what people are reading and which books they recommend. So, I thought I'd share what's on my bookshelf right now. And lest you get the idea that I'm some sort of speed reader, know that it takes me weeks or months to finish a book. I just like to have a selection. :)

On Motherhood:

Gift from the Sea, Ann Morrow (non-fiction)
I loved this mother's reflective take on life as a mother and wife and how it changes you. There were some real pearls of wisdom in this and I recommend it to every mom and wife (any age).

Becoming a Calm Mom, Deborah Roth Ledley
I saw this book mentioned in a parenting magazine and it grabbed my attention. I mean, who doesn't want to be a more calm mom? It's written by a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety disorders, and she's also a mom. She gave some great insight into and solutions to baby blues, postpartum depression and a whole slew of other mental and emotional challenges that can be augmented after the birth of children while remaining positive and upbeat.

The New Mom's Survival Guide: How to Reclaim Your Body, Your Health, Your Sanity, and Your Sex Life After Having a Baby, Jennifer Wider, M.D.
This was a gem I found at a library book sale. For only 50 cents, it has proved to be a great reminder of things I need to be prepared for when baby boy comes and offers practical advice on everything mom-related.

On Nutrition:

Super Immunity, Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
This book is pretty fascinating. It shows the science behind nutrition and how it affects our health, and gives tips on how to prevent minor and major illnesses by eating the right foods. It has a bunch of recipes in the back and charts that show comparative nutrition of different foods. It's one of those books (like "In Defense of Food") that changes your outlook on what you put in your mouth and really motivates you to eat healthier.

Religious:

God Wants a Powerful People, Sheri Dew
I love Sheri Dew and the direct, non-nonsense way she speaks. She just makes gospel topics so clear and practical. This is a great book for learning how to harness the power of faith in your life.

Increase in Learning: Spiritual Patterns for Obtaining Your Own Answers, David A. Bednar

For Fun:

Emma, Jane Austen (fiction)
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Beth Hoffman (fiction)
In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson (non-fiction)
The Violets of March, Sarah Jio (fiction)
Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis (fiction)

Of the "for fun" books, I have only started "Emma" but will let you know how I like the others.
In case you're wondering, Ellie's current favorite reads include, "Do You Want a Hug, Honey Bunny," "Daddy, Can You?" and "Barnyard Dance," which prompted this conversation:

Ellie: (pointing to a cow's udder) What's that?
Me: That's the cow's udder so she can feed milk to her babies.
Ellie: (after a thoughtful pause) I like udders. I'm going to get an udder when I get older.

Happy reading! What are you reading right now? Or what's on your to-read list? I am always wanting more recommendations.

When daddy comes home

After a week-long business trip in Texas, Clay came home late one night after Ellie and I were asleep. The next morning was a happy one. Ellie had no idea Clay was back, so I got her from her crib and brought her in to snuggle with him. She was so excited. 

Every day since he's been home, Ellie strikes up this conversation with her dad multiple times: "How's it goin'? How did your meetings go? How was your Texas?" 

I love the bond between this dad and his daughter. 

Mommy-daughter date

{A night vision shot with my mediocre phone was all I could manage, but I love my movie theatre nerd!}

While Clay was out of town last week, I took Ellie on a little date. She had been looking forward to her first time at the movie theatre all week, so when the day finally came, she couldn't have been more excited. We brought some popcorn (nothing beats stovetop popcorn with salt), got our 3D glasses on and watched "Beauty and the Beast."

The 3D thing was a little jolting to Ellie at first -- I had to laugh when she jumped every time something looked like it was coming at her from the screen. But once I explained it was just pretend, she was fine. She kept repeating, "It's just pretend! Nothing can hurt me."

During the movie she also said a couple of other cute things like, "I like movie theatres." and looking over at me from her seat and casually asking, "Hey mom, how's it goin?"

The beast (she called him a bear) scared her a little but for the most part she was enthralled with what she saw. Did you hear Nemo is coming back to theatres this summer? We can't wait.

On our way to the movie theatre, Ellie demanded that she hold the popcorn. Her smile doesn't look forced, does it? :)

After the movie, we picked up Ellie's creation from Color Me Mine. She hugged it and said, "I love this kitty."

Bathroom Theatre

Speaking of potty, Ellie's favorite pastime on it is reading books. She has memorized a few of her favorite ones and reads them to me if I get lucky. Here are a couple quick nursery rhymes for your enjoyment.

Potty Training — our style

When Ellie first starting wearing these babies around instead of diapers, it was weird. I couldn't really believe her diaper days were over. But now that the once intimidating potty training process is over, looking back, it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

In an effort to help anyone out there who will be potty training a toddler soon, I thought I'd share a few lots of tips that worked for us. Let me just stress the "worked for us" part. Every child's learning style is so different and as a parent, you will know what method will work best for your little one. This is just the way that worked well for our family.

I have heard a lot of people use and like the one or three-day potty training method, but I knew we needed to ease Ellie into the idea rather than go cold turkey and that with her, we would have more success in the long run if we let her take the time she needed. Also, I feel like not having a deadline took the pressure off us as parents and helped it be a less stressful situation for us.

First, I checked out a bunch of books from the library, knowing I would take bits and pieces from them but for the most part I'd use my judgement and Ellie's cues to guide us. My favorite books were "The No-Cry Potty Training Solution" and "Toilet Training the Brazelton Way." 

Once I read those, here are some tips that helped us:

• First and foremost, we made sure Ellie was ready for potty training and that we were ready to commit to it too. Online quizzes, pediatricians and the books I mentioned that can help with that.

• Next, we introduced her to the potty idea (which we had actually been doing for months prior) by: 

-Teaching her about the using the toilet process (we've never been shy about keeping the door open when we go)

-Ordering her potty seat online with her. This one has been perfect for us. You can get cheaper ones, but it's worth it to get a good quality one that stays securely on the seat. We talked up the fact that Ellie's very own potty seat was on it's way and that she could sit on it to go potty. It's also good to have a stool that your kid's feet can rest on so he/she doesn't have to strain, and so they feel more secure. Ours is a wooden 2-step one.

-Getting board books from the library about going potty. This helped her a lot to see that going potty was a normal next step and that she could do it. Her favorite book was My Big Girl Potty, but there are tons of good ones out there.

• We never forced her to sit on the potty — talking it up and being really positive about the whole idea was enough to motivate her to try it herself. We incentivized her with reading books every time she sat on the potty and giving her a jelly bean when she went. (We've since switched to Cookie Crisp to scale down on the sugar a little.)

• When she started going in the potty regularly, I took her to buy underwear and let her choose them. The winners? Tangled and Dora.

• When she had an accident, we didn't make a big deal out of it and stayed upbeat. We just had her help us clean it up and encouraged her to tell us next time when she felt it coming.

• We always keep a spare outfit and undies (including shoes and socks!) in the diaper bag and one in the car just in case.  

• We have a foldable potty seat that is super small, light and portable. I highly recommend something like this to make pottying on the go much more doable.

• Even though it was a little scary, once we stopped asking her every 5 minutes if she needed to go and let her tell us, potty training became "her" thing rather than something we were making her do. I decided we had to ease up once I saw it's potential to become a power struggle. I still ask her once in awhile and have to be sneaky sometimes by saying things like, "Mommy needs to go potty and I get a potty treat! Wanna come too?"
• If your toddler is sensitive to loud noises, be aware of the automatic flush public toilets. Once, one went off while Ellie was still sitting on it and it traumatized her and made her scared to go on toilets outside of the home for awhile. She's OK now, but I wish I had avoided that whole situation by covering the sensor with my hand until she got off.

Hopefully something here will be helpful to you.

Good luck!

{Sometimes, when Ellie puts her undies on unsupervised, they end up looking something like this.}

Pics from our Easter Sunday

26 weeks



Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt Mayhem

Being the holiday-lovers we are, Clay and I were all excited to take Ellie to every Easter activity our community offered.

We went to the Easter egg hunt at a local shopping center and were glad when we hardly saw any cars there. But once we turned the corner, we saw thousands of people. We were late, so we quickly got Ellie to her age group (0-4) and the whistle blew. We pointed out some eggs to her, but in less than two minutes, little hands had grabbed them all and Ellie was left empty-basketed. While we were waiting in line to see the Easter Bunny, a couple of parents noticed her basket was empty and had their kids share with her, which was so sweet.


Despite the girl ahead of her bursting into tears when she saw the Easter Bunny, Ellie seemed to love making the acquaintance. Next year, we'll skip the egg hunt and go for the bunny.

Next was an Easter egg hunt at the football stadium. The field was covered with prizes and treats and the stands were filled with about 5,000 eager parents (and their kids). We were a little skeptical about the chaos that would ensue when they gave everyone the go-ahead. It was kind of crazy. My friend and I decided that next year we would have our own low-key Easter egg hunt in my backyard. Sounds much more appealing. 

After a much-needed nap, we took Ellie to Color Me Mine. Ellie loved it but we wish we had prepared her better for the fact that we'd have to leave her creation there for a few days to be fired in the kiln. She almost couldn't bear to leave her kitty behind.

We ended the night with a movie night because our rental of "We Bought a Zoo" was going to expire. The movie was kind of cute, but more cute was Ellie munching on her little bowl of popcorn and turning to me and saying things like, "This is our movie night! I'm a big girl." After seeing a (PG) movie screen kiss, I explained "They are kissing, like mommy and daddy, because they're married!" The next morning, she laid one on me and said, "We got married!" This girl kills me.