Bean Leaf Craft

So lately (well for quite some time now) I have been totally addicted to Pinterest.  I sit on my laptop and pin things I want to make and do with Addie and fool myself into believing that it will be a magical experience and that we will laugh and joke around and look back fondly at the items we created together.  In real life, however, things do not go very smoothly most of the time.

My latest attempt was a pin that led me to this site and project idea. I was a bit rushed so I grabbed some construction paper, glue and beans that I picked up at Dollar Tree.  I drizzled glue on a piece of construction paper and let Addie have at it.  I traced a leaf cut-out onto mine and glued beans in the shape so Addie could watch how mommy took 1 bean at a time and placed it onto the glue...she was not hearing it!

The top pic is what Addison's project looked like when she was "done" and the bottom pic is what it looked like when I emptied the extra beans that weren't attached with a single drop of glue.  She did have a lot of fun making this and maybe that's what I have to take away from our projects.  I get so frustrated with the mess and that she's not following any instructions.  I have an idea in my mind as to what we're doing and as I try to show her how to use certain mediums (i.e. glue, paint, clay, etc) I get so frustrated when she goes off track.  I can look back and say she's experimenting and learning how to use these different items and I'm lucky enough to be the one who teaches her and share in these memories that we're building together.  I will try to focus on these positive points and not the ruined project and wasted materials...maybe if I repeat that to myself 5 times in a row during future crafts I will be more likely to enjoy the time we spend doing these things.

Things I did to push potty training along

With the beautiful weather and the knowledge that Addison will most likely outgrow diapers physically before she's mentally set for the potty I made the executive decision to push things along.  I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of things she could use to make art projects with and little toys.  I put them in a bin and told her each time she went pee-pee on the potty she got to pick a toy out of the "Potty Box".  She would also receive some change for her banks that she could use to buy anything she wanted and I listed a few things she may want to purchase with her earnings. And for going poop on the potty I bought a few DVDs and that's in a separate bin.  We went to the store and she got to pick 1 DVD to buy and we put that into the "Poop Bin"

After a few days with no luck Addison put her Dollie on the potty on her own.  This happened right before nap time so I decided to roll with it...



 Dollie sitting upon her throne


When Addison woke up from her nap I asked her if she thought Dollie went potty while she was in sleeping.  She told me "Nooooo" and I told her to go check.  I wish I had my video running to capture the look of absolute amazement on her face when she discovered that Dollie actually did go potty!

Thanks to a bit of water and a few creatively placed raisins this is what she saw...

Never underestimate the creativity of desperate mommy!


After 2-3 days of no progress we stepped things up a bit using a pool in the backyard.  After swimming for a bit, we got out and had a snack and a drink while sitting on the potty.





Nothing doing so we went back in to the pool for a bit.  After a short time, we went for round 2 on the potty.  Nothing yet so I pulled up her bathing suit and turned my back for 1 minute only to turn back and see that she's peeing all over herself!  I scooped her up and put her on the potty, bathing suit and all....success (sort of)!!!

She was so proud of herself for going into the potty, I didn't have the heart to explain that it wasn't really what we were hoping for since she still had her bathing suit on.

She inspected her accomplishment and got to flush it down the big potty.  She got her change and toy as promised and we were off and rolling!


Since things were going quite well for a few days I thought we had this potty thing down pat!  Silly mommy!!!  We've had a few incidents were we've gotten pee-pee on the carpet and a few pull-ups wet the instant they were put on! Most of the time she's rocking a t-shirt and nothing else.  Addie is still trying to master the are of pulling up and down of her "big girl underwear" so I let her roam around freely so she can just run and sit as needed.

I am running out of prizes in the "Potty Box" and we've only earned 1 poop DVD. Some friends suggested stepping down the prizes (since I'm not made of money) and institute a sticker chart.  Each time she goes pee-pee on the potty she can put a sticker on the chart, after 5 stickers she can pick a toy. When she hits 20 stickers she can pick a toy from the store.  She's already used the potty twice today on her own without asking for a toy so I may not even need the sticker chart...rest assured I am going to create it tonight just in case!

So that is how I was able to give a big push for using the potty.  I know she wouldn't use the potty if she wasn't ready and since she will not fit into diapers soon (can a 2 1/2 year old wear Depends?) I felt it was the perfect time to get down to business.

And once all of these struggles are a thing of the past, Addison gets to take swimming lessons!  When I looked into signing her up at the local pool I saw that they insist on kids being potty trained before you can sign them up.  Since Addie loves the pool I have used this as a huge end-goal!



We've made it!

After quite a few days and an insane amount of unpacking, moving, etc. that goes along with moving I have finally found a few moments to enter a quick update.  The house was, initially, everything we wanted in a starter home.  As time has ticked by we've noticed a few things with the home (and homeowner) that leaves a bit to be desired.  After a moment of consideration, mom and I have decided that we will definitely not be staying on after the year's lease is up.

Addison could not possibly be happier here.

Although it's only been a little over a month that we've been here quite a bit has happened. We've had visitors (Grandpa and Uncle Matt), been to Disneyland already and have gotten a small blow up pool for the backyard.

Still looking for work and STILL trying to potty train!

Mother's Day- On the road...AGAIN

Back in NY for one last fling. Spent about 2 1/2 hrs. on the road yesterday driving from NJ to Queens and that was like the universe giving a slow-mo send off.  Auntie em and Uncle Tommy came by Aunt Alice's house for lunch and a car wash.  Addison had a ton of fun helping them wash their car and playing ball with them she ran right past nap time and took a quick snooze in the car which created a ticking time-bomb later in the evening. 

Went to Aunt Mary-Beth's house last night for dinner and cake to celebrate Mother's Day.  There was a surreal moment when mommy and Aunt Mary-Beth were sitting at the table with our tea chatting and the kids were in the next room playing when I heard Devereux (Addie's 7 year old cousin) correcting Addison for doing something and I yelled in to them "What's going on in there?". I was instantly transported back in time when I was on the receiving end of that question, very strange to be on this other side now.

Tonight Papa is picking us up for dinner and tomorrow we head out to our new home!  Addison is so excited every day for this new adventure, she doesn't even know what California is all about but she wouldn't let you know that.  I only hope this level of excitement doesn't end in a huge let down in her eyes.  I dread her arriving in the new house only to look around and give me the "Is this what all the hype was about?" look. She'll have her uncles and aunts around her that she hasn't really gotten to know just yet and they are all so excited to be with her that she has no idea what awesome new playmates and sitters she has waiting for her arrival.

Off I go to finish packing all of our stuff in order to get it under the max 50 lb. limit...I'm not paying one penny extra to check these bags!

"Treasured" Moments

The weather has finally broken here in NJ and we NEEDED to get out of the house.  After a nice nap and a pathetic lunch mommy had a good idea- go outside for a treasure hunt!  We emptied her Vera Bradley (incredibly old hand-me-down from Grandma) and put on our shades and headed out.  We had a mental list of what we were hunting for- a good leaf, pretty flower, a stick and a good rock.  There were a few that we thought may be good but upon closer inspection we discovered they were not that good and had to be put back.  We were half way through our trek when mommy discovered a caterpillar hanging down from a tree and it gave me the opportunity to show Addison about caterpillars again.  Although she recalled how I used a stick last time we spotted one, I told her he would prefer a leaf...which she excitedly grabbed from our treasure bag and shared with him!

We came home and went online to view pictures of caterpillars and stages of their metamorphosis into butterflies and Addie just ate up all the new knowledge. I've decided to order a grow at home butterfly kit so she can see it first hand...Grandma will INSIST on that staying outside!

Today was day 1 of trying to use Pull-Ups during the day since size 7 diapers have only been spotted at BJ's and there are no BJ's around here. I resorted to ordering them online and having them sent directly to the new house in Cali. We did pretty well with the Pull-Ups and she seemed pretty excited to have some "big girl underwear" on so we'll see how that goes- 1 step in the potty trained direction.  We're down to a handful of actual diapers so I'm using them for nap time and bedtime since they should have better coverage with her lying horizontally.  The website I used advertised a code for Pampers with a purchase over $50 and I did not get that code but did take a few screen shots to email off to customer service.  They told me technically the promotion ended April 30th (hello, it's May 11th!) "but a deal is a deal" and hit me up with a 500 point code! WOOHOO!!!  Now I have enough to redeem to get something that would normally cost me $15-$20 and I've only been at this for 2 years!  I remember my mom telling me about the cool stuff she got with her codes when my brothers and I were growing up...times have changed!  By the time I have the points off the damned packaging my daughter has outgrown whatever crappy item they're trying to pawn off on me. Oh well, at least it's free.

Tomorrow we get the rental car and I can finalize the packing up prior to leaving for QV on Sunday.  I also noticed tonight that there are 2 fee seats I can assign for 3 people on the American Airlines website for our flight so I may be fighting with them tomorrow.

"Bad Mommy" moment of the day

Just back from dinner with Addie, grandma and Aunt Alice.  Auntie Em couldn't join us tonight because she started getting a sore throat and didn't want to spread whatever she may have. While we appreciate her thoughtfulness, we are still sad we didn't get to say goodbye. We had a nice dinner at a comfy local spot and while we were waiting for our food to arrive mommy was telling a story and thinking Addison was paying no mind to what was going on, I dropped an F-Bomb to which my angel of a daughter chose to repeat at that very moment where everyone gets super quiet by yelling "FUCKING"! Yup, mommy almost died and I had 3 drinks at dinner!

                              My Dinner Companions

After posting this info on my Facebook page it took only minutes before I had a ton of comments and likes.  This made me question why people liked this...were they liking it because it wasn't their kid that yelled an obscenity at a restaurant?  Did they like it because they secretly thought I was a bad parent and this was proof or did they simply like it because it made them laugh?  Curious.

On a lighter note, my eye feels totally normal thanks to the Prednisone but oh my stomach! The optician I had to see here in NJ after leaving the ER told me the diagnosis is most likely "Orbital Pseudo tumor" and then when I get to Cali and obtain a new doctor he needs to speak to said doctor.  There is no known reason for what happened to my eye last week but they want to rule out any autoimmune disease and sarcoidosis.  I had to look up a lot about all of this online and basically no one know what caused it and it may or may not come back...whatever it was- fantastic!

Welcome to our adventures!!!

Let me bring you up to speed with what has transpired so far and what we see ahead of us in our journey from New York to California:

Aunt Claire has sold her house (4/27/2012) and the movers have packed us up (4/28/2012) and delivered the items to the house in Cali that Aunt Claire has found for us all!  There are a few pics that we have seen but they don't give us a good feel of the new place.  Uncle Brian tried to send us a video on Facebook but it's a quick run through the house and since the video was taken with his phone the lighting was not good and it was very tough to see at times...not mentioning the fact that it posted sideways for some reason :) But it's what we have to go on for now and we are happy to have it. I'm finding it nearly impossible to upload the video so here's the screenshot from Google Maps:

Our New Home!

In the meantime...
Addison, grandma and I are still in NJ at Aunt Alice's house, we've been here since 4/30/12 after a short stop at Cathy's (Grandma's friend) house for a few days.  The car is supposed to be picked up by the transport company today and we will be sans car for a day or so before the rental car is picked up.  The flight has been booked and mommy has a HUGE stash of activities set aside for the upcoming flight but I'm still so nervous about how this will all go down!  I have to finish getting the stack of treats together before we head back to NY on Sunday.

Auntie Em is coming tonight and Addison is so darn excited to see her.  I've logged WAAAAY too many hours on Pinterest and am getting antsy to get to the new house in Cali and start getting back to normal!  Addison has lost her need to eat and mommy doesn't like that.  This is how "breakfast" was served this morning-

Allowing my child to suck down 3-4 "squeezie fruits" while lounging in a chair with Nick Jr. entertaining her is NOT my idea of breakfast.  She refused to eat a thing at the table with us and didn't even want to sit there.  She wants to have NOTHING to do food right about now....PERIOD!  So I take what I can get and am stocking up on Pediasure in the meantime.  I do go back and forth between the ideas of "Well she needs SOMETHING" and "She'll eat when she's hungry enough" so it's all on a meal-by-meal basis of what mommy deems appropriate :)


Since the weather has been awful since our arrival to NJ, we have been stuck in the house and I want to get Addie out for some walking and chalking :)  Pics to follow. 

**** Just a small side note about the President supporting same sex marriage yesterday...about time!!!  Hopefully this silliness will be a thing of the past and Jim and Andy can have an actual wedding and their little girl Grace can witness her daddies making history...again! ****