New Tunes

Since my oldest was born, I have always chosen to listen to "my music" on the radio when we are driving in the car, instead of kid music.  From time to time, I blare my radio when I am cleaning and dance to some catchy tunes in order to make it fun. I also have a number of different ring tones on my phone that are from the latest top radio songs. None of this used to be a problem until recently when I have found my 3 year old asking to listen to, and often randomly singing songs like G6 or Tik Tok.  I'll admit that I don't always pay attention to the lyrics of songs I listen to, but who really notices right?  Wrong!!  Everything that pours into that 3 year old brain is getting absorbed and coming back to haunt me. 

Here's the thing...I find children's music extremely annoying, especially when I only have 1 CD of nursery rhyme songs, that just repeats itself continually.  I want something that is fun for everyone to listen to without being cheesy and annoying.  I would also like to have several options to choose from so I can switch things up from time to time.  So I am asking...no make that begging and pleading, for CD suggestions that have children appropriate but fun music. Anyone have any ideas they want to share?  I think if I have to hear "I'm a little teapot" one more time I'm gonna throw a teapot at someone!!

A New Woman!

Today I feel like a new woman!!! Why, you ask? Well, one reason is because my teething one year old, who had a terrible (with a capitol T) weekend, is much MUCH happier today. Hurray for me and him!!

However, the real reason I feel like a new woman is because my counter went from looking like this:

To this

We are now bottle free in my house!!!!!  I couldn't be happier about the prospect of not washing bottles again for a very long time....or maybe ever.  We'll see.  But still, I am so glad to have my counter back, and have a baby that will now drink from a sippy cup!  Now if we could just get him to gain a little weight...

Happy Monday!

Changes

I've been away for awhile, but I am back and ready to get this blog up and running again!!  A lot has changed since I last posted and I have more questions than ever for all of my friends and fellow mommies out there.  Keep checking back in the next couple of days and help me out on my never ending adventure into The Secret Life of Moms!!

~Katherine

Coming Soon . . .

It's been far too long since I've posted on this blog, and structurally in needs to be redone.  So pardon the dust as this blog gets a face lift and check back in January of 2011 for new posts, stories and giveaways!

Merry Christmas!

Grocery Budget

When my husband lost his job last year our family lost its main source of income. We were forced to budget very tightly and I tried our hardest to make ends meet without having to go into debt. I succeeded but things have remained tight in order to make up for those months without a dual income. In reviewing our finances, I've found that one of the places I spend the most money is on groceries. I'm having a hard time determining a good monthly grocery budget and with a baby on the way, I'd like to start planning for a family of four.

I usually do one large grocery shop every 4-6 weeks. This will include a trip to Costco for a few bulk items like TP, paper towels, meat, diapers/wipes, as well a trip to the grocery store (usually Walmart because its SO cheap) for everything else. Before I do my large shopping trip I plan meals for the month and take with me a list of items that we have run out of since the last shop so I'm not spending money on things I don't need or impulse buys. I feel like I do really well in sticking to a budget for these trips but it's the small trips in between that kill me. I find myself going to the store at least once a week to pick up small items like fresh produce, bread and milk, and somehow end up spending $50-$75.

I really need to try to cut back in this area so answering my questions or giving any advice and suggestions would be great!!

Questions:

~Any ideas on how much a monthly grocery budget should be for a family of four?

~When you budget for groceries, do you count diapers, wipes and formula as part of your monthly allowance?

~Do you include personal items in your budget?

~Do you usually do one or two big shops a month or do you shop weekly?

***Small disclaimer: I don't spend money on the newspaper with ads, clipping coupons isn't really my thing and I don't have time to run from store to store in order to "chase" the best deals so keep that in mind!

Full-time Maid

Even though I only have one toddler and a husband, I feel like I am constantly struggling to keep my house clean. With another baby on the way, the idea of having more to pick up and someone else to clean up after is REALLY overwhelming. I clean my kitchen and living room everyday mostly because it's our only living space however, I find it hard to keep up on the other "deep cleaning" tasks I need to do.

I'm curious as to whether you moms out there clean your house one day a week or do a few things each day in order to keep from being overwhelmed?

Any great ideas (besides hiring a maid) on how you keep your house clean and organized?

Curious

I realize I have neglected this blog the past few months since a few major events have occured in my life and I'm wondering if anyone ever checks or reads this?? Now that things have calmed down, I'd love to get it started up again and turn it into the blog I was originally dreaming of.

Is anyone out there??

Crib vs. Bed

My two year old daughter is still in a crib and we've been debating on the right time to switch her over to a "big girl" bed. We want to move her straight to a twin so we don't have to mess with the whole toddler bed thing. Her pediatrician has told me to keep her in the crib for as long as possible unless she is climbing out which she doesn't. I also have a toddler rail for the front of her crib that we can use to transition her to a bed. Does anyone have any thoughts on when we should move her?

Clingy

My almost 4 year old has all of a sudden become super clingy when it comes to dropping her off to places such as Primary and Preschool. She's NEVER been clingy before, in fact, quite the opposite. I'd describe her personality as: independent, hard-headed, and spirited.

Initially she transisitioned beautifully into Nursery, then Primary, even dance. But just as of late she seems to be testing her boundaries or something, as she won't let me leave her sight!

Primary is difficult because I'm the 2nd counselor and am in there where she can see me and whine for me. So I can't just drop her off and leave it to her teachers to talk to her; I'm standing at the front teaching Sharing Time or running around in the back as she's clung to my leg! Hello! How old are we? Which makes me think she's just testing boundaries. But how do I remedy the situation and let her know where those boundaries are?

Potty Experiment

After breakfast the other morning, I took A's shirt off to wash it. Then she asked to take her pants off, then she asked to take her diaper off. She kept saying poo so I sat her on the toilet for a minute. When nothing happened I took her off & she flushed...which she loves doing.

With great struggle, we put her diaper back on but as I was changing her sheets she took it off. I figured I'd just keep a close eye on her and rush her to the toilet at the slightest sign of an accident.

She came down stairs to help me put her laundry in the washer. The sound of the running water must have done it's job (totally unintentional on my part) because she started to pee. I jumped up, she stopped peeing, I grabbed her & we ran upstairs to the toilet. She sat there for a minute, but nothing.

We got her dressed after that. And thankfully, she kept her clothes on.

How do you know when your child is ready for potty training? A is 18 months and I'm afraid she views the toilet as a toy rather than what it really is.