How I keep a toddler busy

Well, I need to keep Nicollette busy while I nurse Elijah, so I have a stash of busy box things (lacing beads, flashcards, aquadoodle, color wonder book, pom pom sorting, etc) but I quickly learned that those don't last long. Sometimes if I do something with her, she is more willing to eat a snack or play on her own so I can nurse Elijah. So I did some Googling to find ideas and started liking toddler blogs on Facebook. Then after spending way to long trying to find an idea I had shared on my Facebook  page to save it. I took the plunge into Pinterest and it is as addicting as I had hoped/feared. So much easier to find toddler ideas and locate them later.

Some things we  have tried:

Felt Snowman

Foam sticker gingerbread baby

  

Cloud Dough cookies

Cloud Dough cake

felt tree

paper plate fish

pipe cleaners and a colander

Cream of Wheat sand

foam sticks to window with water

Elijah - The first 3 mos

It has already been 3 months with this mellow little man. It takes some getting time to get used to taking care of 2 kids all day alone. It has also been a busy time with several holidays.We keep teasing that we wonder if he is just naturally this mellow or if it is a product of being the 2nd kid. He really doesn't cry much and sometimes he does just to get cuddles, which being the 2nd,  he just doesn't seem to get enough during they day with busy sister around. 

1 month

2 months

3 months

I started Elijah his own myBump website to track his growth. Our Shutterfly ShareSite is updated with tons of photos including all the holidays.

Happy New Year

new year

View the entire collection of cards.

Winter Fun Ideas

What we did this year with Nicollette:

- Durham Tree Lighting and Ethnic Trees exhibit (went the day after for a much less crowded afternoon of museum time)
- Mormon Gingerbread Festival (was only a little interested in the gingerbread but loved the play house)
- made peppermint bark (helped break the candy canes)
- Advent Calendar - opened a winter or Christmas themed book or DVD counting down to opening the presents under the tree (about half were already owned)
- crafty activities - decorate felt tree, decorate foam gingerbread man with foam sticker, felt snowman, hot chocolate cloud dough, holiday themed coloring books (see post)
- Whole Foods Holiday food tastings - sample Saturday with a holiday theme

Ideas for next year:
- Bass Pro Shop Santa visit (didn't want to actually sit with Santa this year, so we didn't try)
- see Neighborhood lights (too cold this year and too hard to see from rear-facing car seat)
- Laurizten Gardens Poinsettias (thought she might be too little this year)

Nicollette turns 2

Growing up so fast. Our oldest child is now 2 years old. I had started to plan a party but I realized I only had two kids to invite and that is really more of a play-date, and then with all the busy-ness of a newborn never set anything up. 

So even though we ran a few errands I tried to make the day special. We went to Target to get some gifts for the church Angel Tree and we got a soft pretzel. Then went to Bakers to get her a giant cupcake as her cake and got a kids hot chocolate at the Starbucks. Daddy had to work but after he got home we opened presents and had cake and then just a normal dinner since it was too cold and too late to go out to eat. 

Since both my kids are winter babies I am thinking of getting them spring presents on their half-birthday as "unbirthday presents."  I would like to get her a bigger ride-on, like a trike but she can't really use that in winter, except maybe in the basement. 

He has arrived

In case you missed it Elijah Aleksander Warren was born on October 16th, 2013 at 11:03pm. He was 8 lbs 7.7 oz.

The only other photos online are currently on Facebook, but I will update Snapfish and Shutterfly in time.

Decor update

So I finished the toddler room and baby nursery decorating and wanted to share. 

First lets start with Nicollette's toddler room decorated with white furniture and vintage Teddy Beddy Bear bedding. I had two crib sets, so I used the bumpers for a bed skirt and a window valance. I even had some Teddy Beddy Bear wall hangings that I put above the bookcase. We got a bean bag for the nursery and she liked it so much we got her one too, making a nice reading area near her bookcase. I found a twin sheet set in a very close seafoam green color to use for her pillow and for the air mattress I still have in her room. I got a cute cloud accent pillow for her bed. You can't see it but Patrick decorated her walls with glow in the dark stars, he even did some of them in constellations.

Next the baby nursery looks mostly the same. Took all Nicollette's stuff into her new room and finally put the mobile up. Added a bean bag and a new bookcase for infant toys (since the old one went to Nic's room).