Crafty Goodness!

My friend Caroline is going to have a booth at the Artiquerque Crafters craft fair in March. I went with her to Hobby Lobby to pick up some craft supplies. She's making fridge magnets and hair thingies for adults. While I was there, I got totally sucked in looking at all the neat stuff!

After much oooing and ahhhhing, Caroline talked me into manning the booth together. Now I'm making TONS of kids stuff to sell. I've made a bunch of flowery clips and headbands, and made three tutu's this afternoon! I think I might make some pretty wands, too. I'm ordering some more crocheted headbands to attach the big flowers to, and I think I might make some clippies that match the tutus I made. There might be feathers involved.

If you guys have any other suggestions for pretty things I could make, let me know!

Octobaby!

Tell me about it!

Clover Lane

My cousin turned me on to this blog she recently found called Clover Lane. It's a really cool blog written by this woman with five kids of her own. I specifically love her parenting style, and love one section of her blog she calls Vintage Parenting. It's really all about keeping it simple and doing things for your children that really matter like playing with them, and teaching them by example how to be a good person. She really puts things into perspective, but isn't too serious about it. Here's an excerpt from one of her blog entries called "Whining and Gratitude." Hope you like it as much as I do!

"A favorite part of my daily read of the newspaper is the Reader's Forum and the Pages of Opinion. I skim the rest of the paper but really read these....I love hearing what people write about, and I love to hear other points of view...and you KNOW I love opinions, right? (I always look for the ones that make me laugh...usually authored by people named Mildred or Orville...and I laugh because they tell it like it is, and gosh almighty, it makes sense!)

Lately in our paper, I've been reading about 3 big complaints over and over. Piddly little stuff that makes the complainer seem so self-centered, and petty and ignorant of what is going on in the world. Whining about new city garbage containers, the newpaper not carrying enough TV listings, the dog pound not promoting pet adoptions enough...on and on and on...day after day! I think of what other people in this world who don't have enough to eat, don't have access to health care to save their children, can't even provide their families with clean water to drink...what would they think of us?

So much of what we read, see and hear today, as problems, things to be solved, discussed, debated, really is SO trivial...it's hard to not get sucked in by it all. And the busy-ness of being a mother...and all the duties that it entails (and yes! they are plentiful!) sometimes means that days fly by with me never thinking of all the things I take for granted.

I catch myself...sometimes complaining about the chore of grocery shopping...pushing my cart in a clean store, money in my pocket, throwing food in my cart for my children's stomachs. What is there to complain about? How can this be one bit of an inconvenience to me? How many mothers in this world would give anything to be able to pick and choose what to feed their family?

I hear myself sighing loudly about the laundry...yet we are warm and clothed and have cozy beds to sleep in!

I hear myself looking at my little chores with dread...I have a house to clean, indoor plumbing, fresh water!

The last couple of years I've really tried to make an effort to stop myself when I hear those complaints creeping in, and thinking, "What is the other side of this?" When cleaning the bathroom is on the agenda, I think...what if I only had a muddy unsanitary river to bathe my babies and children in? When I'm tired of fixing meal after meal, I think, what if my children were crying at my feet and I had NOTHING to fix them? When I'm exasperated at picking up school shoes strewn across the floor, packing lunches, checking book bags, what if I had to send my child miles and miles away, barefoot, with no lunch, to a tiny dirt floored schoolhouse?

It's always enough to flip that switch in my mind to one of happiness, gratefulness, total gratitude for how lucky I am."

LOVE!

Explora!

I took the kids to Explora yesterday, and boy was it fun! Miles, his brother, and his Mom Amber met us there, too. She wasn't sure how I was going to handle five kids by myself. I had a plan, though! The two littlest ones went in the double stroller, Austin would be contained on the baby leash (ha!), and the two three-year-olds would hold hands. While this can be challenging when in the open, there are lots of little contained areas in the museum, so it's actually not too difficult. If only I could keep Austin from running in front of the stroller. I need to train that little monkey! ;D

We did lots of fun things like playing in the bubbles, hanging out in the percussion room, and since it's Monday they had a music free play jam session in the theater. All the kids got to choose from a bunch of instruments to play with. Everyone was pretty entertained, and my biggest challenge was getting Austin to stop hitting the bongo drums with other instruments!





Next, we took the big elevator back downstairs and spent the rest of our time in the toddler room. There are lots of puzzles, balls, books, and manipulatives there, and it's all contained so it's easy to keep track of everyone.





We will definitely be doing more trips to Explora so we can get out of the house and have a little fun without freezing our buns off!

One More New Friend

Kieran started today! He's three years old, and is just such a great kid! He's very polite and helpful with the little ones. He's a good eater, a great dancer, and he can paint like it's nobody's business. He informed me today that painting is his favorite thing.


Today we stayed inside because it's just too cold and wet out today. We started the day off by painting some beautiful rainbows. Afterward, we built a nice train track, and played with the firehouse a bit. We watched a movie, had a snack, and then goofed around taking pictures of ourselves on the computer.




Kieran noticed the stereo hooked up to the computer, so we decided we needed to have a dance party! (Don't mock my dance moves! You know you wish you had my groove.)

Fun at the Aquarium

It's been rather chilly lately, so yesterday we went to the aquarium where it's nice and warm inside. We went in the morning so we wouldn't interrupt anyone's nap time, so it was just Sofia, Maya, and Austin. It was pretty empty, so I was very comfortable just letting them check out the fish out of their stroller. They had lots of fun running around looking at all the fish and running around. I had lots of fun keeping Austin wrangled. That little stinker was wandering off every chance he got! I see the purchase of a monkey leash in my near future. ;D









Next week I think we're going to do a trip to Explora on Monday when all the kids can go together. Here's next week's schedule:

Monday - Austin, Miles, Kieran, Sofia
Tuesday - Austin Sofia
Wednesday - Austin, Sofia
Thursday - Austin, Miles, Kieran, Sofia, Kai
Friday - Austin, Sofia

Explora opens at 10am, so we'll be rolling out at around 9:40am on Monday. We'll probably stay for an hour or two, and then head home for lunch. It should be funsies! Especially with Austin properly leashed this time!

Valentine's Day - OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

My husband and I have a tradition of celebrating Valentine's Day one week late so we can avoid the crowds. Knowing how difficult it can be finding a sitter that evening, I thought it would be cool if I opened my doors for everyone so you could have a night out with your significant other!

This year, Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday. I have no desire to be up all night with kids, and then wake up bright and early Monday morning. Soooo, I'm going to be open for business the night before Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 13th from 5:00pm until 1:00am. That gives you plenty of time to have dinner, hit a movie or something, maybe have some romantic time (*wink!), and then get back to my place to pick up your munchkin. I'll be charging $30 for the whole night.

We'll be doing traditional sleep-over fun! Play with toys, bake some Valentine's Day cookies, maybe make a fort in the living room, camp out with blankets and pillows, and watch movies and eat popcorn until we fall asleep! I'll keep them up as late as I can so you can potentially sleep in on Sunday.

Please let me know ASAP if you'd be interested. Shoot me an e-mail, or just let me know next time you see me.

New Kids on the Block!

No, not those ones. Brody and Austin! They both had their first day today, and it went really well.

Brody walked in the door ready to play, and was great! He ate all his lunch, listened, didn't try any shenanigans, and played really well with all the other kids.

Austin started the day a little bumpy (which is understandable since he's just a little squirt!). He spent the morning going between playing with toys and gazing longingly out the window for his Mom. It was pretty cute! All-in-all everyone played together really nicely.




We played with toys in the morning and did a little painting. There is something about art done by kids that is so rad. It's just so pure and unaffected. I love it!




We had lunch, had a nap, and then Maya, Austin and I went to the park (everyone else had gone home). Austin did great, and had lots of fun pretending to drive and scooting his feet in the wood chips.



It was definitely a fun day. Tomorrow should be awesome, too, when we go to the aquarium!

From Last Week

I found this picture on my camera from Thursday. I ran to used the restroom for just a moment, and when I returned this is what I found!


Little stinker!

Building with Lincoln Logs!

Miles and I had some fun today building some pretty awesome buildings with the Lincoln Logs. This is a really fun activity to do with him because he just loves making stuff and "doing projects." It was especially fun since Mom is such an awesome architect!



Miles is very happy-go-lucky, so this was also a good lesson in concentration and thinking ahead. If he wanted to put in a window or a door, we had to figure out how to build around it. He was so proud when he was all done!

Oh, my...

As you may already know, I've been out looking for some new charges since my sweet Andrew left for big-boy school. I found one really great couple who will be dropping their son off 3-5 days per week, depending on Dad's weekly schedule. I'm really excited to get started with him, and have lots of ideas for projects and such.

While that is a success in my book, I'm finding it hard to get that elusive second child. Everyone who is responding to my advertisements is looking for very part-time care. So, this blog entry goes out to you parents who only need me to watch your child for a few hours per week. I feel like I've been writing a lot of e-mail responses to parents needing part-time care, so I thought I'd share one of those responses with everyone so that there are no misunderstandings. Here it is:

"I don't have any minimums listed in the policy handbook, but you have to understand that if I was to accept every child who only needed care one day or a few hours per week I would be in the poor house! The reason drop-in days and hourly care is listed is because some parents have more complicated schedules than others. This allows me to care for someone, say, three days per week, and maybe two hours one day that week as well, without charging a higher rate. It keeps parents from being over-charged, but allows them the freedom to drop their child off only when they actually need care.

"I currently have one child coming 5 days per week, part time; one child coming three days per week, full time; one child coming two days per week, part time; and one child who does random drop-ins as his mother is on-call and works in the medical field.

"If I was to accept another child at one day per week, I'd really be selling myself short. I guess my point is, even though I don't have strict minimums written in my handbook, I'm really looking for someone who will be here more regularly. I'd rather have three kids coming full-time than seven kids dropping in randomly. It really just simplifies things for me, and makes things like field trips far less complicated. Please understand that it's no offense to you or your needs, but if I can make the choice to take on someone who will be here more regularly, I will."

I hope if you are considering using Curious Caterpillar as your daycare that you understand now why I'm looking for that elusive full-time kid. It's no offense to you, personally. Just trying my best to keep my home as care-free and relaxed as I possibly can make it while still earning a living for myself.

It's ON!

Now that I have my new minivan, there is room for more than just a couple kids in the car. Since Maya was born 10 months ago, we could only go if there was just two kids present. It's all we could fit in the car. Not anymore! I also just renewed my Biopark membership, so we can all go to the zoo, the botanical gardens, and the aquarium for free again. That said, I foresee lots of trips to the aquarium and Explora (I'm a member there, too) in the near future, but not so much the zoo or botanical gardens until the weather warms up. I took the girls to the park last week all bundled up. When we got home, they were nice and toasty, but their hands were FREEZING! I'm thinking indoor activities are going to take up most of our time until this cold weather lets up.

I took Maya to the aquarium last weekend for the first time. She loved it, and kept squealing at the fish! We're working on not tapping on the glass, though. I love it when I tell her "no" and she looks at me and shakes her head. Then, later, if we encounter the thing I told her not to do again, she looks at me and shakes her head. Oh, she knows! Little stinker!

Here's a couple pictures from the aquarium:

Maya's First Potrait

...and, believe it or not, my mom didn't do it! This really cool sketch artist from California known online as BayaniArtist saw the video of Maya crying in her swing. He decided to do a sketch of her, and this is the result:


He titled it "do I look like I got the blues?"

The same artist also did a sketch of my grandfather from a picture he saw on my mom's facebook page. It is much more polished, and is also AMAZING.



I realize this isn't really daycare related, but I thought it was really neat!

Lunchtime with the Babes

Yes, I'm talking in my baby voice. I was already in character when the tape started rolling. And, yes, I also almost stuck my hand in Sofia's food! Ooops!

My Pad

This is my house. I think I've got it child-proofed pretty well, if I do say so myself. I just have to remember to pick up my dog Peanut's dishes each morning after she eats breakfast, and I'm all set (what is it with babies' fascination with dog water? Gross!).


I like to keep my main living area relatively toy-free, and the toys that are there are kept in bins nicely organized. Don't get me wrong...the living room looks like a free-for-all in the middle of the day, but in the evenings I like to escape to a more grown-up place. ;D



The majority of the toys and are kept in my daughter Maya's room. There is a shelf full of books, tons of puzzles and toddler board games, and lots of organizing and stacking toys. In her closet I keep three bins FULL of art supplies like markers, paint, glitter, crayons, googlie eyes, pipe cleaners, tissue, beads, a giant rainbow stack of construction paper, old tubes of TP and baby formula containers, coloring books, you name it! I like to get in at least a couple of art projects per week. I can't wait until Maya and Sofia are old enough to really start doing them with the bigger kids!




The toys I have are mostly educational or imagination-inspiring! I have lots of blocks, sorting and stacking toys, a farm house with lots of animals, a train set, Lincoln Logs, big Lego's, a bin full of pretend food, a dinosaur bin, lots of pretend tools that look like the real thing, and tons of puppets. I have lots of Little People because I remember how much fun I had with them when I was little, and how active my imagination would get playing with my Little People. I have the airplane, school bus, boat, and a fire house that isn't Little People brand, but they fit! I also have musical instruments like a drum, a xylophone (just a little one; don't get too excited!), maracas, and jingle bells.

In my back yard we installed a nice big patch of fresh sod last spring! It's so nice to not worry about those dang goat-heads that just seem to be everywhere in Albuquerque! I also have a gazebo that the kids like to play in. I have a small sand box, an art easel, a little ride-in car, a tricycle, and a couple other ride-on toys. I don't have a big play set because, honestly, I don't really need one. I live a block from two different parks, both of which have some great play structures! There is one thing that I think the back yard could use, though. This next summer I'd love to put in a garden that the kids and I can tend together. I was going to do it last summer, but never got around to it because my daughter, Maya, was so little and had to be carried so much. This summer it's on! I have a nice big spot in the back corner that would be the perfect place to plant lots of things to grow and eat. We already have a fruit-bearing mulberry tree, and I think it would be really neat to eat veggies we grow ourselves, too! I'd also love to plant some Russian Sage and Spanish Broom along the back fence for a nice pop of color. This is about half the space in the back yard.


The kitchen is really great because it's open to the living room. I can pretty much see everything that's going on when I'm making lunch. The big kids like to sit at the little eat-in area of my kitchen, and I also have a little table and chairs for little ones to sit and eat at. I have letter magnets on my fridge that the kids are free to play with, and if they want to hang out in the kitchen or help me cook they are always welcome. They all know that step one before we cook is to "wash our grubby little hands"! Ha!


I have two restrooms, but the kids generally use the main bathroom off the hallway. I do not use a little potty, because I think it just makes it hardr to transition to the big toilet. I have a little step-stool so the kids can get up on the potty themselves, and I also use that stool for hand washing. I have a small jar of M&M's in the bathroom that I use as a potty-training tool. If you sit on the toilet you get one M&M, and if you put something in the toilet you get two! Well, something that is supposed to be in the toilet, anyways!



Nap time takes place in the master bedroom. I put the kids back there for a number of reasons. First, there are no toys back there! If someone wakes up they aren't tempted by the toys. Second, it's nice and dark, but not too dark. Third, it's in the back of the house, so they aren't woken up when parents arrive during nap time or someone knocks on the door. I have a monitor set up so that I can hear them, but they can't hear me! I generally read a bedtime story and then pat backs until everyone is asleep. They all know that I'll stay there until they are out, so everyone tends to nod off pretty quickly. The new kids are always a challenge because they are in a new place and like to test to see if they can get out of bed. After a week or so they learn that I'm pretty strict about bedtime. If they say they aren't tired, I tell them that's fine, but they still need to lay down and rest their head and eyes. Eventually, they all fall asleep! Here's the master bedroom. You can see the little stack of nap mats and blankets peeking out behind the bed.


The really little ones are another story. Maya goes down insanely easy, so I just put her in her crib and close the door. She's generally asleep within three or four minutes. For Sofia I like to wait until she starts acting tired, and then I make her a bottle to help her wind down. I hold her and walk around until she's asleep, then put her in the little swing I have that I can fasten her into. If it's really close to time for her to go home I'll put her right in her car seat so we don't have to move her when Mom comes.