Savvy Toddler Mom

This one is for Jasmine… it was so great to see you last night!  Thanks for telling me my pants were too big.

I was thinking that you needed this quote — it was on a sympathy card I received and loved so much, it is still on my fridge. 

“Every flower has to go through a lot of dirt.”  - Lauren Bond

Hang in there.

I’ve been meaning for a while now to mention the very cool and oh-so-personal gift my brother and sister-in-law (of Women & Money and VA fame) sent to my parents and grandparents for Christmas.  The gifts were t-shirts with a printed drawing by my little niece, made possible by the magic of CustomInk.com.

I saved the tag from one, I thought it was so awesome!  You have got to check it out.  The “drawing-printed-on-a-t-shirt” is one of many, many custom products they offer.  They have a variety of clothing and other items you can put your stamp on.  Absolutely perfect for the parents and grandparents in your life.

If that made you laugh outright, you are awesome.  If you don’t get it, say it aloud a couple of times.  If you want to know why it’s hilarious, rent Arrested Development.  MAN, that show is funny.

Great article as an example of Wondertime fare: 3 Skills a Preschooler Really Needs

The concluding paragraph made me snort my Crystal Light.

I’ve been so busy doing things I want to blog about, I haven’t had a chance to blog about them!  This week the toot and I — and the majority of the in-law clan – made it over to the Discovery Gateway.  Very cool, but expensive.  When I have more time, I will give a more complete review, but for now my overall opinion is that you have to go at least once.  The toot LOVED it and keeps asking to go again.

I also went to the new IKEA this morning — first time since it opened in Draper last summer.  Yes, I thought I was the last person to finally go, but then I realized CTM hasn’t been yet either!  I’ve been to IKEA before in Chicago and California, but not our very own here in Salt Lake.  It was nice to go and not have to think, “Will that fit in my luggage?” with everything I considered purchasing.

They have a great kids’ play area — free for an hour! — but… alas, the toot is not potty trained yet.  Only 100% potty trained children allowed!  He did have some awesome mac & cheese in the restaurant, although I prefer their meatballs.  Yum!

So, I think I’ve mentioned Suze Orman’s book Women & Money before, but I think it deserves another, longer mention.  Or, rather, directive: Get this book!  Even if you think (or know) you are very financially savvy, unless you are a financial planner yourself, you will learn something.  I read it last year after my SIL Anne mentioned it (thanks again!). 

One of my favorite things about it (there are several…) is the money market account offer they provide.  Suze Orman worked out a deal with TD Ameritrade… if you open a money market account there and deposit at least $50/month for one year, they will give you an additional $100!  This month I make my 12th deposit and after I get my extra $100, will have $700 in the account.  And honestly, it’s been painless.

On a totally different train of thought, I spent an hour in the doctor’s office last month cracking up over an issue of Wondertime I picked up in there.  I just sent in for a subscription, I liked it so much.  I found it much more down-to-earth than most parenting magazines, but also more sophisticated.  The article that I was laughing about so hard I was crying was from a woman that blogs for them and was relating her funniest/worst moments of parenting.  I was DYING.  Someone who has had four miscarriages (that would be me…) shouldn’t be laughing so hard in a OBGYN’s waiting room surrounded by extremely pregnant women.  Very sweet medicine for me.

Speaking of which… I am going to a second perinatalogist next week for another opinion.  Since all my tests, etc. have come up negative, I have got to keep trying to find an answer.  Along the lines of when you are at the bottom of the barrel, you find another barrel.  My new barrel is at the U of U Hospital and specializes in recurrent miscarriages, preterm births, and stillborns.  I’ll let you know what I find out (if anything).

The toot has been completely off his napping/eating schedule lately and has been SUCH a monster.  I think we will be laying low the next couple of days so that he (and I) can recover.  I actually found a bare spot on my desk today, so I am not as buried as I have been.  Yay!  Hopefully I will be able to blog about the Discovery Gateway, etc. very soon.

That is what I’m doing today — leaping from one place/project to another as fast as I can!  Visiting teaching (YES, on the last day of the month…), Cookie Cutters for the toot’s haircut (LOVE them…), Grandma’s for a quick lunch (thanks again for feeding us hungry people!), home for a nap and now to the “other” grandma’s house to see my sister-in-law and her family that just arrived in town.  Hurrah for cousins!

I will write more later…

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged!  I’ve had a rough couple of weeks… exhausting, frustrating, busy and expensive.  Among everything else, this was my car last Friday afternoon in the Westminster College parking garage.  Shot is from the rear left of my car:

Talk about “stuck in a tight spot.” 

It was not a good day.

The harder I tried to get AWAY from that concrete pole, the CLOSER I got to it, until I was right up against it.  Finally deciding that my driving abilities were beyond being able to get my car out of this precarious position without scratching it all the way down the side, I called SavvyDad.  Poor guy.  He had just gotten a wisdom tooth pulled and was half an hour away.  He had me call his uncle, who was there in under five minutes (hero of the day!!!) and was kind enough to back my car out without further damage.  It is a little scratched, but nothing a little buffing won’t take care of.  UGH.

The next day, my windshield got cracked by a flying rock.

See where the “expensive” bit is coming in?

Well, anyway… amidst the insane schedule I’ve had lately and all the ludicrous set-backs, I do have some good news!  Both my sister-in-law and SavvyDad’s cousin announced on Valentine’s Day that they are pregnant.  I’m so thrilled for both of them!  I’ll admit, though, that both announcements made me sad.  It’s hard for me to see time passing and the people around me having children and yet… I’m… not.  And it’s hard for me to explain — and be convincing — that while I’m sad for me, I’m so happy for them.

I think I’ve convinced CTM that there cannot be weirdness!  She’s six months along now (remember, we were supposed to be due the same day?) and since we see each other every other day, how awkward would it be to ignore the fact that she is having a baby? LOL  I am so grateful to her and her little boy on the way for helping me cope in a comfortable environment: with a close friend.  I’ve told her she’s not allowed to hold back — gotta tell me about the doctor’s appointments and nursery plans and baby kicks — and it’s my job to tell her when I can’t take it that day.  She is the absolute best.

Also good news… (I think…) I was called to the Relief Society presidency last week as the secretary.  I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to do it all.  Isn’t that the biggest question, though?  How do we do all the things we want to do with the time we are given?  I remember someone talking about Michelangelo and how many incredible things he did… but that he had the same amount of time given to him as the rest of us: one lifetime.

I was talking to a dear friend of mine two weeks ago and she said that she had a shift of perspective recently when she realized that life isn’t supposed to be easy.  It just isn’t.  If things were easy, how would we learn?  I get so hung up on the trials that I have… that life isn’t fair, or why me?  But really, that’s why we are here.  We need to learn to cope; to overcome and endure.

So here’s what I am doing: the absolute best coping, overcoming, and enduring that I can.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention… Amazon.com is having a Britax sale (best brand in convertible car seats) now through March 2nd.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  SavvyDad gave me a sweet red track suit this morning.  I’m loving it!

I have chosen today to kick my Diet Coke bucket.  Yes, I am going to have one more Diet Coke and then call it quits.  I’ve given myself a few weeks to adjust and I think I’m doing pretty well.  It’s time to throw the crutch away. 

I’m happy and sad.  Happy because I have been able to exercise enough self control to actually rid myself of an addiction (and yes, I’m afraid it was an addiction), but sad because I LOVE DIET COKE!!  I love the taste, I love the smell, I love the sound it makes when you pour it over ice.  I love the pick-me-up that I get from it. (Hence the need to quit…)  Caffeine-free has never done much for me and after the article that came out last week about diet soda, I think even Fresca won’t be a regular in my fridge anymore.

So, here’s to doing everything I can to have a successful next pregnancy and here’s to doing something else that will make me healthier throughout my life.  Goodbye, Diet Coke.  I will miss you, but it is time for us to go our separate paths.  I know Valentine’s Day is kind of a strange day to do this, but it will help me remember exactly when we broke up.  It’s not an end, it’s a new beginning.

Plus, now have a superstar red track suit.

Hello again… sorry I’ve been AWOL for a bit.  Things have been a bit crazy.  Lots of work, doctors appointments (ugh - I waited TWO HOURS at my OB’s today… just shoot me…), and driving from one end of the valley to the other, I’ve hardly had any time at my computer in the last week.  I’m going into withdrawal!

So, just really quickly, since it’s getting late and I have to get up and going in the morning (to my internist’s… hopefully a shorter wait!), I did want to leave a quick post about Valentine’s Day.

Since I believe most of my readers are women (SavvyDad rarely even reads… and that’s okay!), we are all keenly aware that Valentine’s Day is Thursday.  Putting ourselves aside for a minute, though, I think Valentine’s Day is a great time to bring out the sweetest in our little toddlers.  I had such a good time with the toot tonight having him “write” (scribble with many colors of crayons) valentines to his grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  We just bought a box of Disney (read: “Cars”) valentines at the store and he went to town.  He really got into it, choosing for each person if they would like “Cars,” “Finding Nemo,” or “Toy Story” more.  Then we had to put stickers on!

He’s so excited about helping me take them to the post office tomorrow (early in the morning - straight to the post office, of course, since I procrastinated…) and dropping them in the box.  Oh, how he loves boxes!  He’s so enamoured with the one at the video store too — he has to drop the DVDs in himself now.  It’s so adorable!

Anyway, a really fun, inexpensive thing to do with your kids… not to mention score points with the grandparents!  They love that kind of stuff, you know.

Alright, time for me to be off.  G’night!

Have a headache. Am tired. Miss my diet coke.

Will write tomorrow.

-STM