A Little Mommy Wisdom

We're getting ready to have (extended) family over for Honeybee's 3rd birthday. I've been stressing over cleaning and cooking while being interrupted by a toddler and an infant every few minutes. So I found this article just in time to Bring me back to some sanity and stop trying to be supermom. http://kateelizabethconner.com/motherhood-101-the-first-year/ I recommend it for all moms with little ones.

Send Good Thoughts to Mommy L

Mommy L (and Baby 3!) are recovering and resting up after a long day of Baby 3's arrival! Send her some speedy recovery vibes!   We'll give her a few days off before we crack the blogpost whip...

Just kidding...

Maybe...

Heeheehee...

(Love you Sis!)

Mommy J's a child lock escaping ninja!

So here's you laugh for the day.  At about 4 weeks I finally dared to venture out into the world with 2 kids.  It has been going quite well if I do say so myself!  So the other day, we were at the supermarket and Honeybee is starting to get antsy. We get to the car and she just doesn't want to stay still or in the car at all let alone get in her carseat.     Since I have a cart full of groceries as well as an infant still in the carriage I toss (not literally) Honeybee in the back seat and get Monkey and the groceries loaded in the car. Then I go back around to Honeybee's side to get her in her carseat and realize she is crying.   Dont worry, she wasn't hurt. At least not from anything I did. Let me back up here and give you a big of background info (someday Honeybee will hate me for this). So we've had some "digestive issue" with Honeybee pretty much since I stopped nursing her. So for a little over a year, pooping has often been an ordeal due to somewhat chronic constipation. Anyway, At this point, Honeybee is bracing herself against the carseat and getting more and more upset. The only thing I can do is hug her until she's done.  After about 20 minutes, she's done and finally agrees to let me change her diaper. (potty training her is a whole other story for another blogpost!) So I grab the door handle, pull and nothing happens. Grab keys, press the unlock button several times and try again- and nothing. Then I realize I have child-locked myself in the back seat!    Monkey begins his shriekfest and Honeybee continues to whimper as  I review my options for escape: 1. Climb over both carseats to the other door which is not child-locked. 2. Attempt to attract the attention of the little old lady who has pulled into the parking space next to me and have her open the door for me. 3. Climb into the front seat and open the front door. Option 1 wasn't an option as I would have had to step on Monkey's face to climb over him. I attempted option 2, but I think the little old lady though I was trying to abduct her or something. She just clutched her purse to her and scurried away. Which left me with option 3. While this seems like the easiest option, it really was not.  Honeybee's carseat is in the middle seat, the seat I was in was behind the passenger seat. I removed the headrest And tried to put a leg over the seat. Maybe I was hoping I had lost half my body weight and gained the flexibility of Elastigirl post baby #2.  There was no way I was squeezing through there any other way but in one layer and seeing as I couldn't get a leg up it was going to have to be head first! So (after a brief moment of completely over thinking this entire predicament) I concluded that I would have to climb head first on a diagonal towards the drivers seat so as not to get stuck yet again with my head on the floor of the front passenger seat.  And that's exactly what started to do except I slipped and ended up somersaulting into the drivers seat! Ninja-style! Score: Mommy J- 1, child lock - 0!  

Child Lock Recall!

About 900,000 Push N' Snap Cabinet Locks by Safety 1st are being recalled due to children being able to open them.

You can go here to find out the details and model numbers for those being recalled:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml12/12136.html

Potty Training - Success or Disaster? Or maybe both!

Hello dear readers! Here is a post that I wrote a while back and apparently forgot to post. Blame it on the preggo brain. Anyway, I'm back to a more clear brain (as much as that is possible for me) and will hopefully get back on track to posting more often. Happy reading!


I have a taken a laid back approach to many things in raising Honeybee. Yes, I can already hear the laughing from people who know me! There are also many things I am quite neurotic about but that is another post for another day. One of the laid back topics is potty training. Honeybee has proven to be a very independent and stubborn girl. She like to accomplish things on her terms. Crawling, walking, talking, eating new foods are all things that have been futile to try to influence her to do.

Potty training has now been added to this list. I had originally tried infant potty training (also known as Elimination Communication). While I was not so good at "reading" Honeybee's cues, I think it did help her to not be afraid of the potty.

Fast forward to this past summer, Everything I had read said that if you start potty training before 29 months, you will likely be potty training that much longer. So when Honeybee was almost 29 months we started really talking about using a potty. We got books and "big girl underwear" and stickers and charts.

And then we sat,

and sat,

and sat.

And nothing.

I tried letting her run around without a diaper on as it was an unusually warm fall this year, but this led to a lot of "Mommy! I Pee!" and mommy mopping the floor again. (Fortunately we have hard floors so cleaning up was easy.)

Then someone decided that she wanted her diapers back. There was no point in fighting her as past experience had proven. I would not win. So I kept asking her if she wanted to use the potty and backing off if she said no. Some days she wanted to wear her underwear but most days she wanted "just diaper".


So to get to the point of this story: we are now at 33 months and Baby 2 is on the way in less than a month so I'd love to NOT have 2 in diapers for too long. Honeybee, fortunately, has now started to like the idea of being a "big girl" and decided that she wants to use the potty. For the last week I've been really trying to "encourage" using the potty. Honeybee has been quite receptive and only refusing about 1 out of 10 times I suggest going. I've made a big deal over the process - get potty seat for the toilet, get step stool, pants, sit, wipe, flush, wash hands - you get the idea. And she has really been all about that list. If I do anything out of order she has corrected me.

Anyway, yesterday we had gone out to by pull ups. I had only one from a sample and she was so excited about these "special pants". I also thought it would be the best thing for when we needed to go out. Of course she pees in the pull up almost as soon as we put it on. So we take it off and put a diaper on so that we can go out. Let me tell you, that did not go over well! She wanted her "Special pants!"

So we finally get out, run our errands and get home. So as I am putting the groceries away and then dealing with some emails, she informs me that she has pooped. "Really, already or do you NEED to use the potty?" (Sometimes she has told me she pooped or peed when in fact she wanted to use the potty.). "Go use potty!" she says, but the smell tells me otherwise.

"Did you poop already?"
"Yes"
"OK. Hold on Sweetie, Mommy needs to finish sending this email."

Famous last words.

So, minutes later, she has disappeared. I find her in the bathroom, sitting on the potty seat with her diaper and pants pulled to her ankles. She has followed all the directions I've been drilling all week! "I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!" I exclaim!

And then it hits me!

That was a full diaper.

I lift her up and find there is poop all over the potty seat, the toilet, and all the way down her legs as well as still in her diaper and on her pants, leggies and socks!

AWESOME!!!

Just what a 8 month pregnant - weak stomached mommy wants to deal with!

So after cleaning her and the seat off - amazingly without puking - I realize that my knee in my just laundered favorite maternity jeans is kneeling in more poop!

UGH!!!!

But I suppose, on the up side, Honeybee is capable of getting herself set up on the potty herself. Now we just need to work on the order of events!

Do you take your baby to the Movies?

After I had Munchkin some of my mommy friends introduced me to the "baby pictures" at a local cinema. They played grown up movies but kept the sound low and the lights on but dimmed. While the babies are in that non-mobile stage it is a great time out for new mothers. Whenever my little guy fussed I just fed him. It looks like Showcase cinemas are playing the Hunger Games on March 29th and Mirror Mirror on April 5th.  Check out the link to see if there is one near you.


There are several other theaters that show infant friendly movies.  The Hingham Shipyard cinema has Monday Morning Mommy Movies and Capitol Theater in Arlington also has a showing on Mondays and Coolidge Corner has a Friday showing.

If you can't find one near you, or one with times that work for you, going to the first showing of the day often works. Go on a weekday at 11am and chances are you'll either have the theater to yourself or there will be only one or 2 others there. If you do go to a regular show, keep in mind that it could be quite loud, you'll probably want to cover your baby's ear with a blanket or something. I found this to be a good way to see movies that nobody else in my family wanted to see (meaning any Twilight movie) and get some much needed ME time.

Word of caution: as soon as My little ones were mobile, this luxury was over for me. So enjoy it while you can!