My baby essentials, revisited at 4 months

Back in February, obviously before Tindra was born I wrote about my baby essentials with Jasper and what I was expecting to need/use this time around. I had no idea if that would differ with baby number 2. 

I said I thought I would need....

1. Good bottles. I bought Tommee Tippee bottles because supposedly they are the best especially for breast fed babies. 

What I actually think now: The first 6 weeks or so T just did Not like them. The milk came out too fast in them. We ended up just using the medela bottles that came with our breast pump kit- and bought a few extra bottles and nipples from Target. Since we usually only use 2 bottles a day, only having 5-6 has been just fine for us. Now at 4 months we are able to use the Tommee Tippee ones as well.

2.Swaddle blankets- bought a bunch of Aden and Anais swaddle blankets because with Jasper we swaddled him every night till 5-6 months

What I actually think now: still think they are amazing. We have 9-10 and honestly I wish we had more! I use them for everything, light cool blanket for in the car with the AC blasting, to lay on the floor during tummy time, as a car seat cover when out on a sunny walk, burp cloth, you name it we use it for. Oh except for swaddling. T is basically a baby Houdini and has been since about a week old. NO swaddling blanket or technique kept her in. So we ordered the woombie. This is the ONLY thing that keeps her swaddled up  nice and tight. And she doesn't mind it at all because she can still move her arms around, they aren't pinned to her sides like a straight jacket. She is teething so she loves to chew on her first- which she can actually still do in the woombie, she just sticks her first, in her mouth woombie and all and sucks away. 

3. Swing, for a safe place to set baby to sleep in.

What I actually think now: The first 3 months we used the swing a lot more than now, now she is in it maybe 10-15 min a day just for some entertainment. There is a bar I can put in that has little toys attached and a mirror- she loves that mirror! But I don't actually use it as a swing anymore. The first 10 weeks especially it was a god send though as I could always get her to nap in there for more than 30 min. It took us being in Iowa for two weeks with out it to figure out how to get her to start napping with out it. So I still love it, but I'd look into buying one cheaper or used because at $200 it's a bit pricey for just a few weeks use, but still ours was amazing!

4. Crib

What I actually think now: We haven't started to use the crib yet (we got a white Ikea one) but will soon so it definitely still stays on the baby essentials list. But if you are trying to space out your spending, if you are like us you wouldn't need it for the first 5-6 months.

5. Changing Table

What I actually think now: I didn't use a changing table with jasper so it's definitely not 'necessary' but I do like having one this time around. I do all the changing on it because it's the perfect place to organize and store our cloth diapers. So it makes the essential list this time around.

6.Car seat

What I actually think now: Still obviously a necessity, and we love our chicco.

7 Good stroller

What I actually think now: A GOOD stroller if you do a lot of walking is such a necessity. Love love our bugaboo. 

8. Baby Carrier

What I actually think now: When Tindra was a week old we picked up the K'taan. I like it. A lot. I don't use it a ton- we are more stroller people and T is such an awesome baby and doesn't need to be held all day like some babies, but it is convenient to have for situations where the stroller isn't the best option. 

9. Bassinet 

What I actually think now: We use the bassinet more than any other baby product right now. Have since birth. She still sleeps at night and naps in her bassinet, but she is almost too long so we will probably switch her to her crib in the next few weeks. But definitely worth it for those who want to co-sleep but now bed share. 

I would also like to add breast pump and some sort of baby gym (one of the million names they go by) to the list. T lays on her mat and kicks up at her toys at least twice a day for about 15-20 minutes total. She absolutely LOVES it. She giggles and shrieks at her toys shes trying to grab. And I use my breast pump twice a day, one in the morning and once at night. It's been a major life saver for me. I used to have to supplement some with formula at night but now she hasn't had any formula in about 1.5 months and I have almost 1000 oz in the freezer. 

So that's our list for baby must haves for the first 4.5 months. I'm sure those needs will change in the coming months? Anything you would add to the list? Or anything on this list you didn't use/need?

My Jasper,
I just dropped you off for your first day of Kindergarten. That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. I sit here now with your sister napping and can't stop the tears. I'm not even trying anymore. You hopped out of the car, ran over to your future classmates and didn't even look back. You aren't scared at all, only excited. So brave.

I on the other hand, am terrified. What if you don't make friends? What if you feel left out? What if you miss your mamma? What if you need help carrying your lunch tray? Or if you spill your milk, will you be upset? If you fall on the playground, nobody is there to sing the "Jasper has an owie" song I made up 4 years ago.

For the past five years, we have spent pretty much all day every day together. Just us. You're my little buddy. The boy that changed my world. You Are my world. My heart hurts thinking about not spending all day with you. I have a very hard time wrapping my head around that.

I selfishly want to keep you home. Just one more year? But I know you need this. You, my boy are excited to learn. And make friends. And be independent. So I let you go. And letting go, is hard, so incredibly painful.

I can't wait for you to get home and tell me about your day. Counting the minutes.

Love Mamma (which, just because you start Kindergarten you are not allowed to stop calling me!)

Anonymous Asked:

"How's the weight loss going"

Ugh, I'll be honest. It's at a complete stand still. The first 6 weeks I lost about 25 lbs- all due to breast feeding since I was (and still am) eating a TON. I'm seriously way hungrier than my entire pregnancy and there are days I never feel full. Especially from about 3PM to bed time (midnight) I eat at least 3 meals. Seriously. So yeah I guess it's no WONDER I'm not losing weight anymore. But I'm not gaining either, which with the way I'm eating I probably should be gaining weight. 

I started the couch to 5K 4-5 weeks ago, and after that I lost 1, yes ONE pound after a few days. Not much obviously but I hadn't seen the scale move in two months so I was happy with that! But now I still have 5-7 lbs to lose to be at my pre pregnancy weight and 10-12 to be where ideally I would like to be. I've been told by many that those last 5 lbs will stay on till I'm done BFing, so it might be a while before I'm at my ideal weight, but in the mean time- I would like to get toned, and more importantly, in shape! 

Today I joined the YMCA down the street and I'll switch my runs to there (it was getting boring running around a baseball field and I get shinsplints if I do sidewalks or roads) and I'm going to try some zumba, yoga and pilates classes. My goal is to make it there 3-4 times a week. This might sound like an easy goal, but I won't be able to go till Drew gets off work, which isn't till 6:30 usually. I hate to miss bed time with the kiddos (as in I pretty much never do it) so I won't leave the house till 7:30-8. I have no problem working out at night- but I feel like I don't see Drew a whole lot as it is, so I don't want to leave every night! So hopefully I can do it 2 maybe three week nights and then at least once on the weekend can make it to a class. They do have a daycare at the Y starting at 6 weeks, but I just don't feel comfortable leaving T there yet even with me in the building. Maybe in a few months I'll feel more comfortable. 

And I NEED to start eating better. I'm not going to stop eating when I'm hungry, I've heard that really can mess with your supply, but maybe I don't need to send Drew to the corner gas station every night to get me an ice cream sandwich. Healthier options would probably help with the hunger just as well. 

Eating Plan: smoothies for breakfast, salads or lean cuisine meals for lunch (now that J will be in kindergarten for lunch starting on Thursday (SOB) I won't be cooking for anyone but myself so that should be doable) and whatever I want for dinner. Plus healthy snacks like veggies and hummus in between meals and as my 10PM pumping snack. 

Hopefully I'll have some weight loss to post about in the near (ish) future!

4 Months!

Oh little lad,y you are becoming more and more fun. You are seriously The most easy going baby I have ever met. You smile at everyone and everything. You have such a great schedule when we are home, with 2 three hour naps, but if we are out and you miss a nap or it gets cut to 45 min, you are still just as happy as can be.

This month you discovered your TOES- something so simple, but so sweet.

We started rice cereal a week ago, and you can't get enough! I can't wait to start making you baby food and watch as you explore new tastes. You love eating so much that I just know this next step will thrill us both!

You eat about every 3 hrs during the day- sometimes more sometimes less. I let YOU decide when you are hungry and let me know, it works out really well for us.

You have been rolling from tummy to back for a while but now you roll from back to tummy as well! Usually you get mad when you do it though so it's definitely not intentional yet!

You TALK. Lots of babbling and cooing. And you listen! My favorite thing is just holding you in my arms and listenening to you talk. Then you pause and wait for me to talk. After I say something you start talking more. I love our little conversations.

You are falling HARD for your brother. You adore him and your face lights up the second he walks in the door. I have no idea what we will do all day when he starts K next week and it's just the two of us.

Your hair. Your beautiful hair is starting to fall out. I literally started crying when I kissed the top of your head and got a mouth full of your gorgeous locks. I know it's just hair. And it will grow back. But it's a part of YOU, and I'm going to miss it.

Yesterday we had your 4 month shots (half of them, we are doing a delayed schedule with never more than two at a time) and you did so good. You only cried for about 2 minutes, then you wanted to cuddle, which of course I Loved.


STATS
Length 25.5 inches 91% (!!!)
Weight 12 lbs 7 oz. 16% (!!!)
Head 16 1/4 in 73%

SO basically, tall skinny girl with a large head.

Fish

Jasper goes swimming at Least twice a day. He's seriously a little fish. After I fed T we went to head outside for Jasper's morning dip. 2 seconds in it started raining. Did that stop him? Not a chance.

Rocky Mountain Camping

Last year we went camping with friends up in Grand Lake, CO and had so much fun we decided to do it again this year. The husbands coordinated weekends and made the plans, and then I realized we were going the exact same weekend as last year! Kinda crazy :)  

The weather forecast was for 73 during the day and a cool 45 degrees at night. Perfect fall weather, right? 

Well it would have been perfect if it would have stayed at 45 degrees..instead it dipped lower and lower..till it was 27 degrees!! Did I mention we were sleeping OUTSIDE? In a flimsy little tent? It. Was. Cold. But surprisingly, bearable? We had about a dozen blankets and sleeping bags- and T had on 4 layers and all of us were smooshed together onto a queen size air mattress, so we survived the night! Two words: Body Heat. 

Drew forgot to turn his work alarm off though so when that blasted at 5:45 we decided to go warm up in the car with some coffee and a mountain drive. And the beauty of the Rockies as the sun is coming up on a cool foggy morning was totally worth the teeth shattering cold of the night before. 

It was the perfect 30ish hr getaway with river swimming (this kid will swim in ice water if allowed, which is basically what this river was) Moose!! and elk Sighting, horse back riding, small town exploring, park playing, S'more making, and campire relaxing. 

Our friends kept remarking about what an Amazing baby T is. And it's True. She seriously whined twice for 45 seconds total. Other wise she was the picture perfect happy happy. She is so easy going! She was going on a lot less sleep than normal, but this girl was MADE for our family. So happy when out doors and on the go. 

Your Questions Asked

AnonymousMay 31, 2012 3:28 PM

so now that you have one of each and had to have a c section- are you done or do you want more?

I Definitely want more! I grew up the middle of five and I used to think I wanted five children as well. I absolutely LOVED growing up with such a big family. Three brothers. One sister. There was always something to do and someone to play with. And now we are all having babies of our own and it's so amazing getting all the littles together! 

After I had Jasper I wasn't 100 percent positive I wanted more. I think that was just because I had such a long, horrible labor and I felt dreadful for months. Plus, we were 21, broke and had no idea what we were doing! But by the time he was one I knew I was positive I wanted a large family again.

After I found out we were having a girl I was SHOCKED but obviously thrilled. But just one tiny part of me was sad I wouldn't be having another cuddly mamma's boy. So I knew before I even had her I wanted at least one more so I could have another boy. But now after having her, I want another girl as well! I guess I just love babies/kids! So ideally maybe one more of each? 

Any sewers out there?

I'd love to be pointed in the right direction to some Easy sewing tutorials, have any?

So far I've made a few burp cloths and dresses. Each one I made gets a little bit better but still. Not so good. And damn this is hard! Any tips/tutorials I can actually read and understand would be Great!! 

And T would love it also so mamma can make her a cute fall wardrobe! 

I'm so excited to introduce you guys to the lovely Sarah Ann from The Reverie Blog she's another Denver mamma that I WILL meet up with soon :) Her blog is pretty awesome so go over and introduce yourself!

I was really excited when I "met" (blog style--we have yet to meet in person, Darlene!) Darlene because I hadn't found many other Denver mommies in the blogosphere. Networking and getting to know other mommies around the world is so incredible; but there is something special about stumbling on to the space of someone who really knows where you're coming from.

I think Darlene and I are on the same page, loving our city and still longing for a bigger one or another overseas adventure. But there is so much to love about being a Denver mommy. Here are a few of the reasons why I love raising my daughter here--feel free to chime in!

1. The weather! It's always so amazing here. Even when it's hot or it's cold, we so rarely see those unbearable extremes. It makes it easy to get your kids outside, to be active, and to plan fun things about the day without worrying about an all day storm.

2. Parks! When you have a 17-month-old, little holds her attention as long as a park can. And while City Park is our go-to and near and dear to my heart, I love all the options we have. It's an easy and free way to explore new parts of the city, get out and enjoy the weather, and do something I know my little girl loves.

3. Food! Denver is such a healthy city. I love being on the go and knowing that, yes, I can stop at Liks for a delicious ice cream cone; but if we need lunch, there's no need to drag my kid through the McDonald's drive through. The healthy, fresh options for eating in this city are endless.

4. Neighborhoods! I love how this town is set up like an old-school big city. We can walk out the door of our house and just head south, and we're passing through the friendliest, most stunning old neighborhoods. But if I feel like a change of pace, I can head to a different section of town, walk the residential area, and we get a totally different vibe without ever leaving the city. Downtown Denver offers the conveniences  a suburban mommy needs; but there's always some good city grit to be had too!

5. Bikes! And because Denver is set up this way, biking is so easy! We throw Iris on to the back of our bikes--which she loves!--and we can get anywhere easily and quickly. It's a really fun way to spend a weekend, biking through the old neighborhood, swinging through the park, and then hitting some trendy cupcake shop on Colfax before dinner. 

What do you love about being a Denver mommy?

Sarah Ann Noel

Aren't they an adorable family?!!? Go check them out to hear more about Denver living with their adorable daughter and another on the way!

Exhausted ramblings

*I'm SO glad I discovered THISiced coffee. I love my iced coffee but I've never had a 'home made' version I can tolerate. So $4 starbucks drinks were the way to go, but then I found this for $4 for a whole container! It easily lasts me 3-4 days.

*I've been doing the single mamma thing since Thursday while Drew was in DC for his brothers wedding and he finally comes home today. I'm used to doing it all during the week with some help at bed time but weekends are OUR time, so having him gone was unusual. I hate when he has to randomly work a half day or something on a weekend but we made the most of it. AND it made me realized he does help when he's here. Sometimes I throw myself a little mental pity party and think I just do it ALL 100% on my own, having him gone 5 days/nights made me thankful for the little things he does at night to help such as: unload the dishwasher, take out the trash (which is piling up, I think I've taken out the trash ONCE since we moved in but walking down the dark alley at night to the dumpster/recycling bin is so not my thing) get Jasper ready for bed time while I feed and get some T snuggles in, help with dinner IF he's here in time- all that those things do help me at night so thankful he's back tonight! 

*Besides the hour before bed time, it was actually kind of nice to have some alone time at night. I borrowed my friends sewing machine and am attempting to learn how to sew. I've found some 'how to' blogs but I think they were written for people who actually already know how to sew...so it's been interesting to say the least.

*We made the most of our days alone and stayed BUSY- trips to target, whole foods, the library, two parks, Ikea (Can't decide if I was brave or insane for taking two to Ikea alone on a Saturday) and endless time hanging out in our pool since it's finally cooled down to a much more tolerable high 80's 

*I'm sort of glad the Olympics are over. But sort of sad too. Mostly just glad because I can start going to sleep before 1AM.

*Which brings me to the main reason I'm so tired. Not crawling into bed till 1:30, waking up every time your baby grunts (she's a loud sleeper) then up to feed her at 5 and up for the day an hr later makes you just a wee bit tired. Considering letting her start to sleep in her own room? But Not sure I can  handle that yet! 

*Wondering how much sleep I'm Really going to get since now SHARK WEEK is here. Let's face it, probably best week all year of TV (minus years with summer Olympics)

*Jasper and I have playing Kindergarten every day for an hour or so during Tindra's morning nap. Playing Kindergarten entails him sitting at his desk (a gift from my sis a few years ago) with me next to him making work sheets for him and practicing his sight words. He's getting So good!!

*Just discovered a blog/forum that's dedicated to hating on blogs. What the? Is this for real?

*And lastly, this picture sums up why sweden is so awesome. This is the King (and queen) of Sweden cheering during the Olympics. Awesome right?

*PS. Speaking of Sweden and Olympics- so since my kids have duel citizenship does this increase their odds of being in the Olympics some day since they could probably compete for either team? Jasper's got some moves in the pool. And in Gymnastics..Just saying. 

Le Pause

Are babies/toddlers/kids born good sleepers or do we help guide them into being great or horrible sleepers?  I don't have the answer to that, but I do have a theory. 

With Jasper, I thought we got pretty lucky. He was a good sleeper from the start. We didn't do anything special, we just got lucky and he was sleeping for 4-5 hr stretches by the time we got home from the hospital, and by 4 months was sleeping 12 hrs at night. He just turned 5 and he's still sleeping 11-12 hrs at night (with a daily 1.5-2 hr nap- don't hate me!!) 

Pure luck I thought. 

In February I bought and read Bringing up Bebe and read it over a weekend. I found myself really identifying a lot with the way the french parent. Maybe it's because I grew up in Sweden and I think they do a lot of things quite similar. 

There's a chapter about sleeping, and how the American (author) living in France can't believe how all the babies are sleeping through the night so early on and her baby definitely isn't. She does a lot of research to figure out what it is the French are doing differently because obviously it can't be a coincidence that all these French babies are amazing sleepers so early on. 

What they do differently is pausing. When a baby wakes up in the middle of the night, instead of reaching for baby immediately, just take a pause. Give her a minute to see if she's going to fully wake up.  Often babies will half way wake up in between sleep cycles, but just because they are grunting and whining/fussing doesn't mean they are fully awake. But you rushing over, turning on a light and picking her up will obviously wake her up completely. 

As I was reading this chapter a light bulb when off in my head. That's what I had done with Jasper. Except I didn't even realize I did it because to me it just made so much sense. I paused, listened to him and let him tell ME if he really was ready to wake up and eat. If his fussiness turned to full on cries, then he would be immediately fed. 

This time around, I did the same thing. At about a month or so. The first few weeks I fed her basically the first time she made a peep. Mainly because I had completely forgotten about the book and 'the pause.'   

Our middle of the night routine was that T would fuss, actually she would grunt. She would GRUNT and I would wake up (such a light sleeper) and wake up Drew to go get her a bottle. I was pumping before bed and giving her bottles during her late night feedings, mainly because of my c section it was such an ordeal to get out of bed. It was just easier to feed her a bottle of breast milk while laying down then putting myself through even more pain by getting myself up sitting fully up and propped up and trying to get a babe to latch on at 2 AM. 

By the time her bottle was warmed up (took a few minutes because we just put the cold bottle in a glass of hot water) half the time she would already be back asleep just by me holding and rocking her waiting for her milk to be ready. Would I put her back down in her bassinet and let her sleep till she woke up again? Nope. I was fully awake with a bottle that was ready, so I would wake her up and feed her. 

After a few weeks of that that little light bulb went off in my fuzzy, over tired mind. If she's able to fall asleep in just 5 min. of me rocking her, she probably doesn't need that bottle too badly.

So, from then on, when Tindra would wake up around 2 AM (after falling asleep around 10) I would wait a few minutes. Wait and see if the grunting turned into fully waking up. That grunting lasted over an hour till 3 when she would finally wake up and want to eat. The grunting she was doing was not her awake, it was just being a loud sleeper in the process of waking up. 

So that's how we eliminated  the 2 AM feeding and moved it to three. Before this she was waking up at 2 and 4 and 7. After this she was only waking up at 3 and 7. 

I let this go on for a few weeks, then decided to do what I had done with Jasper when I was trying to get him to sleep through the night. 

When She would wake up, usually at 3 on the DOT(, seriously how does that happen?!? ) I would pick her up, put the pacifier in (she refuses to sleep with one) and rock her for a few minutes. She would fall asleep and I would lay her back down in her bassinet (okay sometimes she would fall asleep on my arm and would stay there.) She would then usually wake up 20-30 min. later to eat. And I would feed her.

But just delaying it a tiny bit each night, 10, 15, 20 min, within a week or two she wasn't waking up to eat till 4:30-5. And now at 15 weeks she wakes up to eat around 5 or 6. Sometimes not till 6:30! (Just to point out, it's just a myth that formula fed babies sleep through the night earlier because T was sleeping through the night earlier than Jasper who was on formula full time by 6 weeks and T will randomly get 2 oz mixed in with formula but will go 2 weeks with out a drop of formula and it doesn't make a difference in how she sleeps.)  

Was it more work to work with her a little bit and rock her and soothe her instead of just quickly feeding her? Yes it was. Those weeks I got a lot less sleep than if I was just feeding her and going back to bed instead of listening to her grunt (while asleep) for an hour or rocking her just to have her wake up 20 min later, but it was So worth it! Not only for myself to get that extra sleep at night, but for Tindra to get such awesome sleep at night. 

She is seriously THE happiest baby I've ever met in my life, and I do think getting the sleep she NEEDS has played a huge part in that. 

So I obviously still don't know for sure if awesome sleeping babies are born or if with the right techniques and tools all babies can be taught and learn to become great sleepers. But my theory is that with the right tools, knowledge and some work, babies and toddlers (and apparently kindergartners!!) can learn how to get the sleep their bodies and minds so desperately need. 

Thoughts? Do you think some babies are just naturally born great sleepers and others aren't?

*I'm almost afraid to post this and have T start sleeping really horribly from now on and have my theory go completely up in smoke. 

Just to blog?

I love blogging. I started when we were studying abroad as a family in Sweden in the beginning of 2009. It  was a good way to keep everyone updated about what was going on thousands of miles away. Even before my blog were my journals. I filled dozens over the years. I recently found my very first diary. It was in Swedish and I was 7 I think.

 I still love blogging. It's something I do for myself. And to show Jasper and Tindra some day. But really it's just a way for me to document our lives.

I also love finding and reading blogs that I connect to. Some of them are the 'big blogs' but many are small blogs that I love even more than those bigger blogs.

But lately, a lot of blogs have started to bug me. I feel like so many bloggers are doing things just to blog. Instead of doing things because they WANT to, I feel like some think 'oh we should go to this so I can blog about it.' And I could very well be wrong and just reading it that way. Totally possible. But it does turn me off to certain blogs. 

If I ever become one of those bloggers, I hope I realize that's whats happening or someone cues me in. That will be the day my blog goes private or I stop blogging all together. I want to live and experience life with my family. And some of those moments get blogged about but so many don't. It doesn't make those memories or moments any less significant. 

Am I the only one that feels this way? Do you ever get that feeling that some bloggers aren't experiencing life as much as they are writing about it? 

Watch for him in summer Olympics 2024

Look how I've grown!

One Day 

One Year

Two Years

Three Years

 Four Years

Five Years

Birthday Boy

This little man is FIVE. I'm still in shock and denial. He is growing into the sweetest, smartest little man and I couldn't possibly be more proud of him.

We woke him up friday (the one day a year we break the no waking up sleeping babies/kids rule) with a big cupcake and a few presents. We have started the swedish tradition of waking him (and later T!) up with presents and breakfast in bed, except for now we do it a little different with cake and presents but maybe next year we will start doing the actual breakfast in bed!

 After he opened a couple of presents in his room we brought him out to the kitchen for the rest of his presents and his favorite breakfast, swedish pancakes with nutella and a side of strawberries. 

 We (Tindra, Jasper and I) then spent the morning at the Children's Museum- though he had a tough time leaving all of his new toys behind! We met Drew for lunch and once again, Jasper was allowed to pick anywhere he wanted to go and he chose Mad Greens for a chicken ceasar salad. How awesome is this kid? 

After nap we played in the pool and Drew made it home early to head to the park to practice riding his bike and pizza for dinner. I think he had a great 5th birthday!

On Saturday we had a little BBQ-Pool party, but of course I was too busy to take pictures. Who has time to host 20 people at their house AND take pictures of it? Not this mamma. But he had a great time then as well and we couldn't have lucked out more with the weather. It finally cooled down (for 1 day only) to mid 80's, so it really was a perfect day! 

Jasper is going to be starting a fantastic school in just a few weeks. It's a top rated school that scored in the high 90's in reading, math and English. Obviously I'm excited that he will be getting such a great education, but I'm also a bit worried he won't be prepared for that. The cutoff here for K is Oct. 1st. He just turned 5 on the August 3rd, so he will be one of the youngest in his class. AND he only went to preschool one year. Which for around here is kind of rare. Here a majority of the kids go to preschool two years, sometimes even 3 years if they start at 2. And many of them went to preschool 3-4 days a week where he only went two mornings a week. 

I was debating on whether or not I would send him to K this year and have him be one of the youngest or wait a year and have him be one of the oldest. Two things helped me make the decision. Having Tindra and his preschool teachers. If I didn't have T I probably would have kept him home another year. And his teachers during his mid year evaluation convinced me that he was more than ready. So he's going.

I don't want him falling behind in anyway or being 'behind' the other kids, so we have been doing a lot of work this summer to keep up everything he learned in preschool and working on some new things as well. Right now I'm very thankful for the early childhood education college classes I have taken (20 credits worth) because it's definitely helped me a lot in working with him!

All day we incorporate fun learning, where he doesn't even realize he's learning. But we also spent about 30-45 min each morning during Tindra's nap 'playing school.' He loves calling me his teacher as we sit at his desk and work on the workbook he has and with his flash cards. He totally just thinks it's a game we do, but it's helping a lot!

Another favorite learning game we do is go to the nearby park, grab a stick and work on writing letters and spelling out different words in the mulch. He LOVES this, but does get upset if someone runs across  his 'work' destroying his words.

Do you have any fun ways you like to incorporate learning with your preschool/kindergarten aged child? 

Mama Mio bootcamp for tummies

My 30 day mama mio bootcamp for tummies is over.  I started when I was just 6 weeks post c section but sadly my stomach hurt too badly to continue. So I waited a couple of weeks and started it again. THIS time I stuck with it. 

All you have to do is apply skin tight ( a toning serum) and Get Waisted ( a body shaper) once a day and do a few minutes of an ab work out. The kit it came with gave me tips for seeing if my abs had separated. Which they had! The first time I checked to see if they had separated they were at least an inch apart. Apparently this is pretty common during pregnancy, especially if it's a second or third pregnancy. I never checked after I had Jasper so I have no idea if they separated last time around or not. But this time? Big time separation. After I felt that huge gap I assumed they would never be the same. 

I'm very pleased, and if I'm being honest, surprised, that after doing these simple excersizes for just a month I can tell a MAJOR difference! If I hadn't had Drew feel it the first time and then again the other night to confirm it I'm not sure I would have believed the difference, but even he could feel a huge difference. 

So not only are my abs tighter and reattaching themselves(!!) I'm starting to have a waist again! I can tell you that 3 months after having Jasper I still looked about 5-6 months pregnant. True, and sat story. This time around, maybe I'm being generous, but 3 months out I honestly don't feel like I look pregnant. Flabby, yes, but pregnant? I don't feel like I do.

And my SKIN, lets talk skin. I was missing how great my skin felt during my pregnancy when I was using my mama mio tummy oil. Using it made my skin look and feel great, but for the 8 weeks after pregnancy I wasn't using anything anymore. I missed taking those few moments at night before bed to rub my belly and make my skin feel amazing. And once I started doing it again with these products, my skin hasn't looked or felt better in a LONG time.

Mama Mio was kind enough to send me the boot camp for tummies, but I was already a huge fan from using their tummy rub oil. I can officially say I'm a mama mio fan for LIFE! Now I just need to try their bootcamp for boobs and bootcamp for butts because let's face it, after two pregnancies and breastfeeding- the ladies AND my butt need all the help they can get, and if I see results like this? Definitely worth the money!

Okay now for the dreaded BEFORE PICTURES

and AFTER PICTURES 

I still have a long ways to go obviously, but I have to say that for giving birth 3 months ago (via c-section no less) I'm OKAY with how my body is and I definitely have Mama Mio to thank for jump starting it for me! Seeing results so quickly by doing so little is giving me the motivation to do MORE so I can see even bigger results. 

Summer fun

We made up a family bucket list a while ago of things we wanted to do this summer. This summer is FLYING by and sadly we haven't crossed off as many things as I would have liked, but we still have a few weeks left for school starts. 

On Wednesday we finally crossed one off of the list, movie in the park. Denver has some great parks that show movies randomly. Last Wednesday they were showing Dolphin Tale and even though Jasper had seen it (as had I) we thought it would be a fun one to go to for the whole family. It was the first cool night so it was perfect! We made home made popcorn, stopped for slushies and brought chairs and blankets. The people next to us had just picked up a pizza and it smelled So good, we are definitely doing that next time!

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