Road Trips With Little Ones

Since my husband and I have been married, we've moved 6 times. 4 of those have been with a little one. We're become pretty proficient in keeping sane during a long car ride. Here are some tips that I've found helpful. 

1. Bring Lots of Snacks

Nothing makes man-cub J happier than food. If you feed him something you will be his best friend. I didn't want him to feel yucky because of too much junk food so I packed healthier snacks like fruit cups, small oranges, crackers, and apple sauce. Sitting down for a long car ride can make you constipated, so I wanted to make sure he was eating plenty of fruit. 

2. Dollar-Store Toys are Your Friend

Babies are easily entertained. They don't need expensive toys to make them happy. They just need something new to explore. I went to the dollar store and found some cheap toys that I thought he would enjoy playing with. 

3. Sing Songs

Never underestimate the power of Old McDonald Had a Farm. Man-cub J loves these songs because my full attention is on him. He also loves the hand movements that come with the songs. Sometimes if the song doesn't have hand movements, I'll just make some up. 

We're moving again early next month. Wish us luck!

Man-Cubs Reunited

After ten months apart, we are back to living in the same state!

Matchy-matchy shirts

I love how little kids interact. Man cub D is obsessed touching hair and we've been working on petting instead of pulling. 

"This is MY broom!"

Our Favorite Board Books

We go to the library a lot. Mostly because Man-cub D likes to read the same books over and over and over again and I need some variety. Here are some books that I haven't minded reading 1,784 times in a row:

The Mini Myth Series- these are modern retellings of well-known greek myths. What I like about these books is that they epitomize how a child would act. For example, Midas loves the color yellow, and wishes that everything he wears would be yellow- until he paints his favorite dinosaur yellow and regrets it. These books are easy for toddlers to understand while also alluding to themes from myths that parents would remember.

The Les Petits Fairytale Series- These are renditions of fairytales using only one or two words per page. Since Man-cub D rarely has time for me to read more than that in regular books, I get the satisfaction of knowing I was able to read everything before he turns the page. Though simple, the illustrations contain fun details for kids to notice. Since I love fairytales, these are books I don't mind reading repeatedly.

My First [Sport] Book Series- These also only contain one word per page, describing different equipment and moves common to each sport. Instead of illustrations, there are photos on each page, usually involving children playing the sport, which I think makes these more relatable for kids.

Babylit Primers- These primers take a theme (colors primer, shapes primer, opposites primer, etc) and apply it to a classic book such as Treasure Island or Huckleberry Finn. As someone who has read most of the classic books they do, I've enjoyed seeing how they incorporate different themes and characters even though they won't necessarily detail the plot. Some I like more than others, but overall it's been a fun series.

Who's in the Garden?- We actually own this one. What I love most about this book are the illustrations. They are colorful and extremely detailed. Man-cub D will read this book repeatedly and find new things on every page. He is slowly learning the different animals and plants depicted in the book, and it's fun to see him remember where things are. Our current game with this book is "Where's the bee?" as there are bees on most of the pages.

What toddler book suggestions to you have?

Lessons I've Learned in the First Year of Motherhood

The last half of my pregnancy we wanted to save money so we went without internet in our home. I would buy pregnancy books from the thrift store and read them in my free time. I devoured each one (probably ten total). I thought that I had this "baby" thing figured out. When man-cub J arrived and I held him in my arms for the first time, everything was different. I couldn't remember a single word I read from those books. Eventually the knowledge I gained slowly came back, but I also quickly learned that every baby is different and you need to learn your own unique lessons with each one. 

Here are some of the lessons that we have learned during our first year of motherhood. 

1. Babies really don't need that much.

Honestly all a newborn really needs is you, a bed, and a car seat. Obviously we buy more than that for them but sometimes I think we go overboard. Do they really need that swing that rocks 12 different ways? No, they will sleep without it. Save your money for the necessities, like diapers.

2. Slow down.

A baby's world is much slower than ours. My son just turned one and he is constantly trying to figure out the world around him. He doesn't know what happens when you bang a toy on another toy so he does it again and again to learn. Sometimes I get impatient because I want to do something else or go somewhere else but he's concentrating on something. I've learned that when I pick him up before he's done he gets frustrated. When I wait till he's done (only a few more seconds) he's happy to go somewhere else with me. Sometimes we need to be on their timing instead of our own.

3. Your mood is contagious. 

This is one that I've really been focused on lately. Sometimes I can get crabby (especially in the morning) and I've noticed that when I'm crabby, he's crabby. I've really been trying to work on smiling even when I'm not in a good mood because then at least one of us is happy which makes the day more manageable.

4. Google can either solve or create panic attacks
So you think your baby ate desitin? Based on some forum discussions, my panic attack was solved as most parents said that when they called poison control, they were just told to be braced for some funky poos.
Is your toddler on a nursing strike? There must be something wrong (cold, teething, bad nursing experience, etc) because toddler won't want to wean until they are between the ages of 2-4! This caused a greater panic attack than I needed, because when I talked to a lactation consultant, she said it sounded like my man-cub was going through a completely normal weaning phase.

What lessons did you learn from your first year of motherhood?

   

No Sew Church Quiet Book: Part 4

This is the last installment of the quiet book posts!

1- Moses parting the Red Sea. See template here. I have Moses attached to velcro, so Man-cub D can pull him off and play with him. Other than that, everything is glued down.

2- Ammon gathering the sheep. See template here. Ammon and the sheep all velcro on to the page, so your man-cub can get in touch with their Lamanite side and scatter the sheep for Ammon to gather. I bought a pack of 20 velcro circles for the quiet book, and although they have their own adhesive, I still ended up using hot glue to make sure they were really secure. 

3- Lastly, the Tree of Life! Template here. The fruit has velcro to attach it to the tree. I recommend doing two layers of felt for the fruit so they are more sturdy. 

Overall, this book took me about 20 hours to make. However, I had to design the pages as I went along, so hopefully it will take y'all less time with the templates I've provided. So far this quiet book has been great for Man-cub D. I've really enjoyed teaching him stories from the scriptures through it. 

If you didn't see the video on our facebook pages, here's what the completed quiet book looks like:

No Sew Church Quiet Book: Part 3

For other pages to the quiet book, see Part 1 and Part 2. I'm excited to show y'all the next three pages in the book, which are by far some of Man-cub D's favorites.

1-Creation. For the template, click here. This page might take awhile because there are a lot of small things to cut out, but other than that, it's pretty easy to glue everything together. Man-cub D is obsessed with pointing to the different objects under each flap and having me name them.

2- Noah's Ark. For the template for the ark, click here. The animals are finger puppets, which have been a great bonus entertainment. Just cut out the animal outlines twice and you can glue the second piece onto the first. My only tip with finger puppets is to make sure the glue is really hot, otherwise it will cool off before you can attach the pieces together or it will be more prone to spread and make them a tight fit. 

3- Tithing. Click here for the template. I ended up gluing the lighter orange piece on to the darker orange piece of the envelope, but in retrospect I wish I had made it a flap and a pocket, since Man-cub D is constantly trying to lift the lighter orange piece up. 

Note: I've used hot glue on all of my pages now, and they seem to be holding up well!