Of all the bedtime rituals out there, the most helpful to me has been the bedtime song. When my children are little more than newborns I start singing the same song to them every time I put them to bed. For both of them it has been "God is so Good." This simple song quickly becomes the signal that it is time to sleep. We can skip baths, read three book or no book, be in a plane, car, someone else's house, in the daytime or the dead of night, but if that song is sung, they know it is time to sleep. It has allowed me great flexibility and has helped both my children transition to "big" beds with barely a hiccup. (About the age of 1.5 - 2 I ended up not needing to sing the song anymore to signal bed time). My husband says some day it will be sung at church and our kids will fall asleep in the pew.
8:09 PM |
Category:
Mama's Tips
|
Blogging is not at the forefront of life at the moment. These things are:
AND....
I'm blessed and busy.
7:14 AM |
Category:
For the Family
|
I had been hankering to do some more "discovering" of Britain when a friend gave us a timely tip. It was English Heritage Open Day, and stately homes that would normally cost us £20+ ($30+) to get into were FREE this weekend. With one eye on the weather, we headed an hour's drive away to
Belton House - a 17th century country home, made more familiar by BBC's filming of Pride and Prejudice.
Before long, the sun came out and we were surrounded by floral beauty.
Not-so-native, not-so-wild life.
Recently, De Sheng has been obsessed about whether or not various animals are going to eat him. He was keeping his distance from the fish - just in case.
Running through a maze.
My son went in circles a couple of times before figuring his way out.
We brought along a picnic lunch, but the most memorable moment was De Sheng experiencing his first wasp bite - poor kid. This might not bode well for reassuring him against animals eating people.
I don't have any pictures of the lavishly decorated interior of the house, but there was a games room that the children enjoyed.
Daddy, dressed as..... A Gentleman.
We always knew he was!
After admiring the beautifully restored house, we headed to another part of the grounds that was much more appealing to the children.
They have one of the best adventure playgrounds that we have seen in the country.
The kids had a blast.
All that fun and excitement gave us a quiet ride home again.
For the cost of a quarter tank of gas, a cup of coffee and a miniature-train ride, it was certainly a nigh-perfect adventure.
A beautiful, "summer's end" day with the family in Britain.
10:29 PM |
Category:
Discover Britain
|
Here's a good trick I learned from another mom. She wanted her daughter to stay in her bed until 7:00 AM before she asked to get up. Since her daughter knew her numbers, but was too young to tell time, she gave her an analog alarm clock with the last two digits covered in black paper. The little girl only had one number to look at to know when she was allowed to call for mom.
10:05 AM |
Category:
Mama's Tips
|
Since he's started eating, I've had trouble serving tacos to my son because they were always coming unrolled for one reason or another. Every time he went to get a drink of water, his taco would need to be pieced back together. Today, however, I got inspired. After preparing his taco, I slipped on a rubber band to keep it together. It worked! Just keep moving the rubber band down as needed and much frustration is averted.
Now to keep working with him on not eating the taco like it's corn on the cob.
8:25 PM |
Category:
Mama's Tips
|
I've been on a bit of a sewing kick this summer. Thankfully, I'm getting over the bug in time for "normal" life and routine to start up. Here's what I've been doing:
I made a "moby" wrap (baby carrier) for my sister from this fabric.
And, because I'm super-excited about becoming an aunt, I made a quilt for my future nephew, too. I refer to this as my first "grown up" quilt. The tutorial can be found
here.
A good friend is also expecting her first baby (a boy!), so with extra quilt fabric I made a diaper stacker for her, loosely following the guidelines of
this tutorial.
Lastly, we will be heading in to a birthday party in an hour to give a little girl this apron that my son helped me to make and begrudgingly models for you. There are many tutorials online, but I liked
this style.
That's what has been keeping me busy and away from blogging (in part) this summer. I still have to make another apron for a birthday next week (it's going to be my standard gift, I think), but after that it is just random projects to get done when I feel in the mood.
1:59 PM |
Category:
Projects,
Sewing
|
Of all the bedtime rituals out there, the most helpful to me has been the bedtime song. When my children are little more than newborns I start singing the same song to them every time I put them to bed. For both of them it has been "God is so Good." This simple song quickly becomes the signal that it is time to sleep. We can skip baths, read three book or no book, be in a plane, car, someone else's house, in the daytime or the dead of night, but if that song is sung, they know it is time to sleep. It has allowed me great flexibility and has helped both my children transition to "big" beds with barely a hiccup. (About the age of 1.5 - 2 I ended up not needing to sing the song anymore to signal bed time). My husband says some day it will be sung at church and our kids will fall asleep in the pew.
