Christmas Ideas for 9 Month Old

I recently did a post for Christmas Ideas for a 5 year old and a 3 year old. I thought I would do another for our little guy. He will be 9 months when Christmas is here.

You can view the Christmas Gift Ideas for 5 year old here.

You can view the Christmas Gift Ideas for 3 year old here.

I have started him a little Amazon wishlist like I do for all the children. The point of them is to give me ideas to buy for them for different holidays or their birthdays. It also reminds of what they have asked for, what they already have, and an idea for other family members to purchase for them.

Here are the top 5 Ideas I have in mind for him!

I remember when Arianna was learning to stand on her own, one of her favorite toys was a Fisher Price Little People van that had the little people. It made a variety of noises. She absolutely loved to push it around the house. She really enjoyed it for a couple of years before she outgrew it and it was old news. For Baby Carl, I came across this super cute Fisher Price Little People Lift n Lower Firetruck.

2. After the girls outgrew their activity tables, we passed them on. We want to get him one, but one that he will enjoy for a bit longer and won’t get as tired with them as the basic ones that we have had with the girls. I have been seeing these wooden activity cubes on a lot. They have great discounts on them. A friend of mine has a couple. She loves them, and so does her children. I have been looking at this KidKraft Deluxe Activity Table.

3. Both of the girls really got a lot of play out of the soft blocks. The ones that were plastic but still squishy and squeaked when you squeezed them. I found these cute Earlyears Squeak n’ Stack Blocks on Amazon!

4. I really love Melissa and Doug products. Baby Carl also loves vehicles. He thinks it’s funny when you push them to roll around. I found these cute Melissa and Doug Pull Back Vehicles Set!! They aren’t like the traditional smaller ones. They are actually fairly large, which is perfect for a 9 month old.

5. Last but not least is an interactive book. My children love to look at photos in books. They love even more to interact and play with the book. We have recently found the Usborne Busy books. They are so fun. We have the car and the bug. The girls get a lot of play out of them. And while they are playing with the toy inside of it, I read the story to them. They came out with this new version that is a Wind Up Book. There is a pirate theme with a pirate boat!

Here are my gift ideas for a 9 month old. The best part is it would be appropriate for both a little girl or a little boy!

What is on your child(ren)’s wishlist?

I Can’t Believe….

I can’t believe my oldest daughter is going to start Kindergarten. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that she is going to be considered a school-age child. I am having a rumble jumble of emotions about it.

Watching all my friends send their children off to school this week has been interesting. It just reminds me that in about a month our daughter will be headed off as well. I’m so incredibly thankful that I get a whole extra month with her.

Most people look at school as a time to have time to themselves. I just hate when I read that. Some I know are being sarcastic, but some I question. Teachers are not babysitters. But that’s not where I am going with this….

I just don’t want my little girl to grow up. I mean I want her to grow. I want her to mature. I want to watch every second of it. But I hate knowing that it is happening. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the glory days where she was a tee-tiny little baby all cuddled up with her Daddy. Because goodness knows that she never snuggled up with me. That little baby of her didn’t want anything to do with me unless it was for the milks.

She’s just getting so big. She reasons with us. She knows and understands consequences. She loves to write and try to spell. She loves to do flashcards so she can show off everything she knows. She loves to sing. And she has a super high interest in music. Maybe that’s something we can consider doing for her…. some type of musical instrument lessons.

She’s her own little person, so pure and innocent. She loves things that sometimes I wonder where she learns it from. It makes me incredibly proud because she is just so sweet and sentimental. She loves everyone, and she wants so badly to be loved by all as well.

You know what, I’ll write her a letter:

Dear Arianna, 

It’s so hard for me to believe that you will be starting Kindergarten this year. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital preparing for your birth. I remember that day and night so well. Guh-guh and Uncle Bull came to be there with us, and we all huddled around the hospital room waiting patiently for you to decide when you were ready to see the world. Your Dad and I were so excited. We were so nervous to become parents, especially your Dad. He was so nervous to be a Dad to a little girl. From the moment you were born, you were so attached to him. I never understood how that happened. You would just lay with him on his little bed or the couch (after we got home). You would just sleep with him. You never would do that for me. Even after your Dad deployed when you were just 5 weeks old, you still wouldn’t just cuddle with me. You always wanted to be snuggled up to your Daddy, and if it wasn’t your Daddy, you didn’t want anyone. I would lay you down, and you go would go just straight to sleep in our own little world. And you were such a great sleeper. But as a Mom the dreams and desires of sitting in a rocking chair cuddling her baby, reading books, and rocking her to sleep just didn’t happen. Not until your Daddy was back and you were about 9 months old. Even though it took such a long time for you to come around to me, I cherished those moments with you. 

Now you are 5 years old. You’ve done 3 years in the Italian Asilo (Italian Preschool), and now you are about to be off to your 1st day of American Kindergarten. I look forward to that day. I can’t wait to see how you react and how excited you are for your new teacher and all the new friends you will make. I can’t wait for you to come home and tell me just how your day went. I’m pretty confident you will love it, and I’m pretty confident I will cry. It will be happy tears. Please know that they are happy tears. Tears of joy, a sense of relief knowing that you are going to succeed, and a flow of happiness as you continue on with who you are. 

Arianna, you are so pure, so innocent, so humble, and so incredible sweet. You are fragile in so many ways, but I know that overtime you will conquer the things that you need to be built upon. And in the other ways, I hope you remain so soft and kind-hearted. 

We love you. Your Dad and I want nothing more than for you to grow into a happy and healthy and inspired little girl. We want you to reach for the stars and never worry about leaving us behind. We want you to you. And we want you to empower those around you. We want you to remain confident and secure in your life and anything that life brings to you. 

We hope for nothing but a fun and exciting new school year, filled with new friends and new milestones! We love you with everything we have and so much more. 

Good luck and may God bless you.

Mommy and Daddy

Weekend in Review: Rakovica, Croatia

We decided last minute to take a fun weekend getaway to Rakovica in Croatia. The town is near the World Heritage Site of the Plitvice National Park. It is one of the oldest national parks in Southeastern Europe and has been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1979. It is famous for its lakes that are arranged in cascades. There are 16 lakes that can be seen and hundreds of waterfalls. Based on the location of the lakes, the waters can be seen in a variety of colors. There are some blue, green, gray, and brown waters. It is absolutely gorgeous.

It is a HUGE park. Huge is actually an understatement. We had planned on walking a 3-4 hour trek, but it ended up being 7 hours because we took two wrong turns. The way the paths are situated, once you start there is no turning back. We walked from one side of the park to the other. Then we took a train back to where we parked the car and had started the adventure.

About halfway through, we stopped for lunch. They also do boat tours that crosses a lake, so we jumped on that to reach the other side of the land to enjoy that side of the park.

The girls did great. They walked by themselves for the entire time. For Baby Carl, I wore him in the baby carrier.

After our walk, we ended having dinner right outside of the park. The day ended up being a great day. We were so proud of how well all the children did. We were so surprised they lasted as long as they did. It seemed they really enjoyed themselves as well!

And now for photo galore….

There were so many different kinds of cascades. They had clusters and single sets. They had some where the steps to walk were right above them and you could feel the pressure from the flowing water.

The girls loved being able to see the fish and ducks. The waters were so clear that you could see straight to the bottom. Some areas were so deep that you couldn’t see the bottom, but you could see several feet down. We also found some crawfish crawling on the bottom of the lakes.

Some of the waterfalls were very tall. The looks over the cliffs were scary and intimidating. But the walkpaths were very well managed and safe. The girls did have areas where they had to hold an adult’s hand, but overall the hike was fantastic and didn’t make me too anxious.

This is a great photo that shows how quickly the water color changes between the lakes.

It was a beautiful site. There are no pictures that could do this place the justice it deserves. It really is a must-see site if you are in the area.

I may do another post on the other days we were in the area, as we spent it doing other small things. It was a great trip and nice little get away for us to help change the pace in our lives right now.

Back to School: Best Literacy Books for PreK

I shared a post about our favorite Lunch Box Must Haves. I thought I would continue on since going back to school has begun for so many. With our move, the girls won’t return until the beginning of October. But technically, it is back to school time.

My girls love books. They love to read. I thought I would share what our favorite books have been for the Preschool age group, roughly ages 3-4 years old.

1. My oldest LOVES Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. We love many Dr. Seuss books. They are all very catchy with their words and to the eye, but the story lines are super cute as well.

2. One of my favorite books that quickly became Arianna’s favorite book, then Eva fell in line is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin, Jr. This book has great illustrations and of course is super catchy. In no time, she was reading it with me. It’s a great way to teach phonics and rhythm in words.

3. Another book that stole the girls’ minds is The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. This book is so cute. It teaches young children about sharing and what happens when you do share. The images in the book are eye catching, and the story is mesmerizing.

4. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a great book for bedtime. The book focuses on telling everything around the environment goodnight. From the clocks to his socks, to the mittens and the kittens, and everything else.

5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a book that I chose for them. Generally when we buy new books, I let them pick them from the store. To my surprise, they never chose this book themselves so I did. They ended up loving it and still do. The caterpillar in the book literally eats his way through it. Such a popular book, and of course I can see why!

There are so many great books out for this age range, and most of these books are enjoyed with even the younger and older children. I will start here since this is our grab and read most of the time. Maybe I will add to these another time once their taste in books start evolving!

Are you enjoying the back to school series? If so, let me know what you would like me to post about next!

 

Christmas Ideas for 5 Year Olds

Every year, we set a budget and we work with that budget for our children. I set aside money every paycheck throughout the year and start buying when July comes around. This year we had to do it a bit differently because of our move. Our things were going to be shipped in August, and of course it can take months before we receive it at our new destination. So we decided against starting to buy in July to avoid from us missing the items by Christmas time. I don’t foresee us not having our items by then, but I didn’t want to chance it either.

I thought since I’m not buying, I would start working on a solid list for each of the girls. I add and edit the list as the year goes on, and I also share the list with family as a guide to their buying. If they buy from it, they let me know and I mark it as purchased.

I love to see what other people buy for their children or what their ideas are, so I though I would share our children’s lists as well. This one is going to be for our 5 year old. She is a girl, and she loves the arts. That’s probably what we will focus on this year.

Each year, they do get clothes, shoes, and books as well. But this is just a small list of the “extras” that we may get for her or that she has requested on her own.

1. An art easel. Arianna has been asking for an easel for about a year now. I kept putting it off because I felt it needed a lot of attention when she played with it, and I couldn’t always supply that. I also wanted to make sure she was better with cleanup and had a better understanding of why we don’t color or paint on anything other than paper. (She has had her fair share of wall and furniture coloring.) I feel she is finally to the point where she can take care of it, but it will also teach her responsibility. I wanted an easel that could hold her chalk, colors, and paint, but was also simple. Wooden was preferred. Here is the one I have found that fits all of this.

2. To go with her easel, I figured I would add her on some supplies for it. The baskets underneath would be a great help to keep her items organized and away from the others that are too young to play unsupervised. I found this set from Melissa and Doug that includes the things I believe she will most use. The set includes 4 bottles of paint, 4 cups for the paint that also are spill-proof, 4 paint brushes, a paper roll, chalk, a chalk eraser, and some dry erase markers. You can find the set here.

3. Arianna is starting to learn to trace and use stencils. She really loves to draw, so I bought her a step-by-step drawing book by Usborne. Unfortunately, she just isn’t there yet with it. She loses her patience too quickly. So after doing some research, I learned about these tracing setups. They are so cute. This one is by Memtes. It inclues the lamp and projection, 8 markers, 6 slide show reels, 1 paintbrush, magnetic letters and numbers, and a painting art book. It says that it is for ages 3+. You can find it here.

4. I found a few new things that are artsy that I never even realized existed. Arianna is really at an awkward stage where she wants so badly to draw, but she still needs some assistance. Or if it doesn’t come out exactly how she imagined, then she gets frustrated with it. I thought (along with the tracing) that this scratch book would be a great addition to her collection. She loves to color and loves to draw, and this looks like it brings both of those into play. The book is a Scratch and Sketch book. There are different themes, but I have saved this mermaid one on her wish list.

5. Last but not least, these Dab and Dot systems seem to be a hit with the young ones. I think this would even be appropriate for Eva (3) at her age and development now. I see them all the time as a popular trending item on Zulily, and they sell so fast. There are a few different brands that do this similar set up – Crayola and Doodle Hog. It’s like markers and stamps in one! I found a cute SuperGirl one that I have saved to her wishlist because we all know she loves Superheroes and Villains!

BONUS ITEM!!

Even though she does love the arts, she also loves to build things. Legos are becoming something she regularly plays with. I also almost always found her playing with gears and the bristle pieces during school playtime. These awesome gears by The Learning Resources is on her wishlist as well!

What’s on your children’s Christmas wish list?

 

Pepperoni… to love or not to love.

Children can be so interesting. What is it that makes their little minds get so creative that it plays tricks on them?!

Both of my girls – Arianna (5) and Eva (3) – love pepperoni. When I say they LOVE pepperoni, I mean they love to eat it straight from the container uncooked. It’s a heaven snack for them. They will get them by themselves, wrap them around cheesesticks, place them on tortilla with cheese and eat as a wrap or pinups… but for whatever reason, they will not eat them cooked.

Not even on PIZZA. Do you  know my kids? My kids go crazy for pizza, as most do. My children beg for pizza. You ask them what they want for dinner and 9 times out of 10 they want pizza.

Pizza is a special treat for us in this house. We may have it once every 2 weeks. We normally make our own or buy them frozen. On the rare occasion, my husband will pick some Italian pizza up on his way home from work. But that’s a serious rare occasion for us.

So what gives with these kids and their pepperoni? I bought a pack of pepperoni for us to use as lunches during the week. I bought some tortillas and some cheesesticks. Guess what didn’t even make it in the house through the evening… the pepperoni. While I was rocking the baby for his nap, they went down and got the pepperoni and split it between the two of them and chowed down. I had physical therapy that evening, so we planned it to be one of our rare occasion pizza nights in the house. I bought supreme pizza for me and my husband and pepperoni pizza for the girls. They seriously sat and pulled all the pepperoni off the pizza and put it off to the side. They ate the whole pizza between the two of them, but then there was all the pepperoni.

How crazy is that? I think it’s pretty darn crazy considering they had eaten a whole package of sliced pepperoni just hours before.

It makes me wonder if it is something in their head, or if they are just crazy little humans. 😉

Back to School: Lunch Box Must Haves

This year Arianna starts Kindergarten. It will be both of the girls’ first year in an American school. Eva is 3 and will go to a part day preschool program.

For Eva, all we have to do is provide a snack for snack time. The parents rotate each week, and it has to be prepackaged things due to allergies and them being able to control what comes into the classroom. I’m slightly bummed, but there are some good healthy prepackaged choices for snack time, like Yogurt, Cheese and Crackers, Dried Fruit, Etc.

For Arianna, we are giving her the choice. As of right now, she wants to try the food at school. But over the years, I have accumulated items that have worked for us when she has had to pack for field trips and our family outings when we pack a lunch.

Here is a list of my lunch box must haves for the younger crowd:

1. Insulated Lunch Box: Both of the girls picked out their lunch boxes this year. I wanted one that was insulated and had the option to connect to their backpacks or fit in their backpacks. They both chose the same one, which is perfect for me because then there’s no fighting!

2. Goodbyn Containers: They need containers that fit within the lunch box, but also have enough space to include a variety of foods. I really enjoy fixing the girls new and fun lunches, so they are excited to eat and will eat a good meal. I have come to love these containers. Even my husband uses them for his work lunches. There are a variety of sizes, shapes, and compartment availability.

3. Food Thermos: This one was hard for me because I feel they are expensive. But I also wanted my children to have the option of having a hot lunch. These thermos help to keep things warm during the day until their lunch time. I soak the thermos in warm water and heat up the food prior to putting it in. It stays warm for a good 5 hours.

4. Stainless Steel Cup: Zak! makes these amazing stainless steel cups that we have had for years. I love them because they are stainless steel, so they keep their drink cold. They are super easy to clean, but you can also replace the straw if you need too. For long days or school lunches, I fill it halfway with water and the other half with ice so it is nice and extra cold for lunch time. Each of the girls have their own. Here is Arianna’s.

5. Fun and new items to make the lunches exciting are great for my children. Neither one of them are picky, but I find they eat better and quicker when there are things that let them have fun while eating. I use these reusable cupcake molds and picks. I find them as cheap as I can because they don’t always make it back home (at least the picks anyway), but they are totally worth the splurge. Of course, not necessary if you want to keep it simple. They girls will eat just about anything that are in these fun little shaped molds and stuck to a pick!

 

If you like to keep lunch packing simple and inexpensive but still a lot of fun, these items would help to achieve that.

If you pack lunches for your children, what do you use? Do you have any fun ideas to putting in their lunches? I would love to hear!

Why I Participated in the Love Your Spouse Challenge and You Should Too!

The “Love Your Spouse” Challenge is a challenge on Facebook where you post a photo with your spouse everyday for 7 days “to keep the celebration of LOVE, and the promotion of a UNION full of love and respect.”

Recently, an article has gone viral about a woman who refused to do the challenge for a few reasons. Even though she has done other challenges on social media, like the motherhood one where you post five photos that make you feel like a beautiful mom. One of her reasons was because she felt it portrayed an unrealistic image of a real marriage – that marriages aren’t all rainbows and unicorns and there was no such thing as fairy tales.

You can read the full article here: http://michiforniagirl.com/i-cannot-in-good-conscience-participate-in-the-love-your-spouse-challenge/

Here I am to share my differeing opinion. I was tagged by a friend to take part in the challenge. I accepted. Here’s why:

The challenge forced me to search for photos that we have had as a couple. Most start off with the “one” that made them husband and wife – their weeding photo. I chose to start off with one of our very first photos together before we were even married. After all, it was a challenge on love. Our first moment when we realized we were in love was the photo I chose to share because it reflected such a valuable time in our life. I continued on with photos of us together. The photos told a story – our story. Maybe one that only we would understand, but also one I wanted to share with our friends, family, and the world.

The photos showed the things we have done in our marriage. My husband and I just recently celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. That’s ten years of growing and changing – evolving into who we are today. Memories of traveling, moving, deployments, adding children, and so much more. They included both the good and teh bad, whether it is visible to others’ eyes. It is visible to ours as we reflected.

Sharing these photos made me realize now that we have added children to the family, we don’t take as many photos of us. Especially with only the two of us. It inspired me to start taking more photos of us together. Not just for us, but for memories, and most importantly for our children to look back on.

We are in our primes years. We are young. Our children are young. We are growing as a family. Even if they weren’t in the picture, my husband and I would still be growing. We would still be creating memories and writing our own story. That’s how I looked at this challenge.

Does the world need to know that my husband drinking straight from a milk jug or juice container annoys the h*ell out me? No. Does the world need to know every little petty argument we have? No. The challenge is to show that despite these hardships, these arguments, these petty little fights – we are still one. Our love is stronger than it has ever been, our union is a commitment to one another thru it all.

She mentioned that there is no such thing as fairytales, as a perfect marriage. But is there? Who is to say no marriage is perfect? Who defines that perfection?

The one within the union, correct? The one living it. The ones making family decisions and creating their story.

I feel both my marriage and our love is perfect for us. We are a fairytale, and our story hasn’t ended. And I don’t see it ending anytime soon.

Even though I have no clue what the future holds or where we will be, I do  know one thing. My marriage stands for love, which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly, all of which we have endured. You can choose to see the challege as Negative Nancy with little confidence in your marriage because of your small and petty arguments, or you can view it as Positive Patricia and make sure you are living your fairytale. Which path do you want to take?

Find your love, your peace, your happiness, your perfection, your fairytale… and OWN it.

And by “your”, I do mean your marriage – your husband and yourself coming together as one and writing your own story.

Carl is going to be 4 months!

Today is a stay home and get things accomplished kind of day. I am sitting here on our balcony watching the girls play outside while the baby is napping.

There is so much going on in life. Carl turns 4 months tomorrow. It’s so hard to believe that he is already that old. He has his baby well check up on Monday, so I will know more details on his growth and development then.

The girls are also growing like bad weeds. They are both getting so tall and being such divas. I can barely keep clothes on them these days, and it’s a constant battle trying to explain to them that they are too big to be running around naked. That will definitely be something I miss about Italy. They are being their own little people, and it’s a blast watching them grow into their own little human.

Wiley and I have been spending all our time cleaning and packing the house. It is a constant must do on our list of every day to-do’s. As a growing family, we have accumulated so much stuff. I swear that I will never have a house this big again. It has been too much. It has been hard to keep clean and organized over the changes we have made as a family during our time here. I do look forward to having a dishwasher again, too. But I doubt I miss having two kitchens.

You know… Italy has been an amazing place to be. I have thoroughly enjoyed living here. I think the battle is leaving the lifestyle, culture, and what we have known for the last 8 years. We will really miss being able to drive a short distance and be in a new country and staying within a new culture.

I have always said that Italy has been the hardest place for me to adapt, but it has also been the most rewarding. I have learned so much about myself, both personally and professionally.  I have learned to work as a team, be flexible with my personality to avoid conflict, and maintain a strong and level headed mind. I have been giving opportunities here that not many can say they have ever been giving. I have been a part of some big deals and some small deals. All of which have given some meaning to life. I plan to write all about my journey and the experiences I have had as a spouse here at Aviano when the dust settles.

Speaking of dust… Right now things just seems to be a whirlwind. We keep staying busy and trying to get things done for our move. We are trying to do this all while maintaining some stype of normality for all of the children. Because we don’t actually move iuntil the end of September, we feel it’s important to do things in a slow but continuing pace. Remain steady and consistent in all that we do.

I am a list maker, so I have been making lists of lists. Things for me to do now, things to do with Wiley, things to sell, things to buy when we arrive, things to junk, things to change, school supply lists and enrollments, everything you could possibly imagine that come with a PCS move.

There are times that I feel I will be a pro by the end of this move. I have done 3 PCS’s now and all have been from country to country, not just state to state.

We look forward to our new journey. We are excited to see what the future holds and where our adventure will begin and end. But boy we will sure miss Europe.

So now I’ll go enjoy watching the girls run around the yard naked while playing in the sprinkler while Baby Carl sleeps.

And yes, I’m well aware I should be cleaning or doing something other than writing… you know, like cleaning and packing. 😉

Weekend in Review: Yardwork

Our weekend this week had a change in plans. Wiley found out he would be leaving for NCOA next week and would be gone for 5 weeks. Our yard needed some attention because it had been raining off and on for a couple of weeks. We just hadn’t had the chance to tend to it, and this weekend was a great time to focus on it.

We woke up on Saturday morning and had a nice breakfast. We kept it simple – waffles, hard boiled eggs, and bacon. Then we got dressed for the day and headed out the door and into our yard.

I stayed inside for a bit because the baby was napping. I did some laundry and more packing for our move this fall. Wiley and the girls started mowing the grass. After it was mowed, Wiley trimmed some trees and the garden bushes. We aren’t doing a garden this year since we will be moving when it is in its prime for picking, so we chose not to put in all that work. Leaves had to be raked and the weeds had to be whacked. It took all day since we are an awesome nice big backyard. It was a great day though.

To reward the girls, he hooked the wagon up to the lawn mower and pulled them around for a bit. Then he rewarded us all with a dinner from the pit. Some steaks with sour cream and chive mash potatoes and baked beans. It was delicious.

We were all pooped. Even Buttons, even Baby Carl.

Our weekend in photos:

Baby Carl spent most of his time outside either in his swing or in the baby carrier on me.

They were so happy to have this ride time!

My husvand found a frog. He caught it for the girks so they could pet it. Then they brought it down to tje river bank to release it.

They found loads of snails. They collected them in a sand bucket and carried them aroubd most of the day.

Arianna loves to take pictures. She also loves her baby brother. This is what haooens when you bring the two together.

She loves taking pictures. She wanted to take a silly one with me.

An acorn managed to root itself into the ground and start growing. My husband is giving them a great lesson on it.

They wanted to go swimming so bad. They went down the road to a little puddle to play in it. They also tried to get Buttons to join in.

Don't worry. This road is not dangerous at all.

It was a great Saturday!