First day of 1 year old preschool!

I love being a stay at home mom. However sometimes I struggle with knowing what a good balance between engaging the kids in play and letting them play independently looks like. It can also be hard to know what age appropriate things I should be teaching them throughout the day. So when I saw that my favorite preschool homeschooling site has added a one year old curriculum I knew it was something worth looking into and considering. The curriculum is focused on a lot of things that I was already trying to teach Ilyana. Things like animals, colors, body parts, shapes, and letters. Plus it has a bible story and theme to talk about every week as well. I like how the curriculum already has everything broken down into weeks so we can be focused on a few specific things every week. Most of the activities and "lessons" for the week are easy to integrate into our normal routine. There are activities like pointing out certain shapes, finding items of a specific color, or coloring a fun worksheet. As I look through what we will learn this year I think that it will be the perfect balance of things Ilyana already knows, things that she will easily learn, and things that may challenge her a bit. I also love that it has a specific bible verse and character trait to pray over your child each week! I love being intentional about praying for my children! The suggested schedule for each week is split into 3 days so we are hoping to do school on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday so that Jake can have an active roll in her schooling as well. One of the big perks of homeschooling is the flexibility! We have something on Tuesday this week so we did school today instead! We were easily able to do all of today's activities during Ryker's morning nap. Ilyana had a lot of fun coloring her black train, reading the story of Noah in our favorite children's bible, singing songs, and talking about raccoons. I'm so excited to have a great school year with Ilyana and see just how much she learns!

Cloth diapers - The how and why!

Cloth diapering is something I have been interested in for a long time but never got up the gumption to actually do it. The idea of having to wash dirty diapers and figure out how to put them on was intimidating to say the least. However after receiving a diaper to try in exchange for a review on Amazon (This is the site I use if you're interested in reviewing products) I realized just how easy cloth diapering is and I was hooked!

The two biggest reasons I have been interested in cloth diapering are: 1. Price. For about the same price that I can get a couple months worth of disposable diapers (on sale) I can buy everything that I will ever need for cloth diapering up until Ryker is potty trained. That's a lot of money! 2. At the risk of sounding vane, the other reason I've wanted to cloth diaper is that they are SO CUTE! Seriously, it's so hard to pick which prints to buy, I want them all! My stash definitely includes a Harry Potter and a Pokemon themed diaper, by the way.

So cloth diapering is cost effective and fun, not to mention better for the environment, but surely it can't be easy. False! This is a typical diaper change: Take off diaper, wipe, put on new diaper (just like a disposable, only snaps on the tabs), put dirty diaper in laundry basket, done! Ryker only poops every few days, but if there is poop then there's one extra step of rinsing the poop off the diaper. Washing them is easy too. Every 2-3 days I put all of the dirty diapers into the washing machine and run a heavy rinse cycle with my usual detergent, then add whatever dirty clothes need washed to help bulk up the load and run a regular heavy washing cycle with more detergent,then just throw it all in the dryer. It really is quite simple!

I haven't tried very many kinds of cloth diapers because I really like what I have. Most of mine are Alva pocket diapers. I also have a Mama Koala all-in-one which is probably my least favorite, it's very bulky compared to the others. If you're interested in cloth diapering, the biggest resources I have found have been Fluff Love University and the Cloth Diapering groups on Babycenter and Facebook. You're more than welcome to ask me any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer or at least point you in the right direction!

Photo dump!

Getting ready to delete old pictures off of my camera and I thought I would share a few!

My grandparents wedding day. My brother is my grandpas spitting image!

Sweet sleeping Nala

He's my best friend :)

Cutie pie!

Those eyes :)

Monthly picture outtake

Ilyana and grandpa Phil

We attempted a DIY christmas shoot. It didn't go well ;)

This is why it didn't go well.

Walk at brucemore

It was hot!

Their relationship is the sweetest!

Isn't he a hottie??

"Dog"

My sweet boy!

Being silly!

18 Months - Ilyana

My baby girl is a year and a half. I can't believe it! Ilyana is a walking, talking, hilarious toddler. Seriously, she's a hoot! She can walk, run, climb, and jump, and she loves to explore. She has about 8 words that she consistently and correctly uses as well as a multitude of animal noises and words that she will copy. She also has 11 or 12 signs that she often uses to communicate. Her newest obsessions lately have been light switches and the microwave. Every time we pass either she asks to "see that" (zeee dat! zeeee dat!). She has also recently has figured out how to nod her head yes or no. Usually no. I'm so excited about her developing communication skills, I'd love to know what that little mind of hers is thinking! Over this past month Ilyana has started becoming a bit of a social butterfly. She no longer cries when someone looks at her and even will walk up to strangers and give them a hug. Ilyana's favorite TV show lately has been "Bubble Guppies". She loves dancing and clapping to the theme song and Jake and I love laughing at the ridiculous puns. For the most part, Ilyana is still a great eater. She loves meat and fruit and especially loves anything she can dip in ketchup. Her favorite snack right now is probably yogurt covered raisins or the m&m's that she gets for dessert when she eats well. Ilyana has definitely discovered that she has her own will, however she is still a very obedient, easy child. In fact, a few weeks ago I told her "Ilyana, you need to stop throwing a tantrum or you're going to be spanked.". She then proceeded to spank herself and quit crying. Like I said, she's hilarious. We're very excited for Ilyana to start gymnastics lessons this week! I think this will be a great opportunity for her to try new things and learn new skills while also having an opportunity to be around other kids her age! Ilyana still absolutely adores her little brother. She loves to play peekaboo with him, share her water and (age appropriate) food, and give him toys. She is such a sweet and caring big sister! A big change in Ilyana's life this month has been giving up her pacifiers. We wanted to do it before she turned two and she has started building a connection with a couple of stuffed animals so we decided that it was a good time to go for it. We just did it cold turkey and had her throw them away before a nap. She gave them all one last suck and threw them away. The first couple of days had quite a bit of crying before nap and bedtime but after 3 or 4 days she seems to have forgotten about them. We're so proud of our big girl!

Ilyana likes: Bubble Guppies, baby dolls, animals, her family, any sort of technology, her Pichu and Pikachu stuffed animals, music,

and coloring.

Ilyana dislikes: bubble baths, broccoli, and the church nursery.

Feedback

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5 Months - Ryker

Rykes is now 5 months old! If you thought that Ilyana's first year went fast hold onto your britches because Ryker's is going by about ten times as fast! Ryker is determined to keep up with his sister so he is now rolling everywhere, starting to scoot (mostly backwards), learning to sit by himself, and has even gotten on his hands and knees a few times. May I remind you that Ilyana didn't get up on her hands and knees until almost 10 months old! To be honest though, I find life a lot easier once babies are mobile, they can get to toys by themselves and they seem much more content with their life down on the floor once they can move. Ryker loves pretty much any toy that he can put in his mouth, especially ones that crinkle or feel good to chew on. He's very fascinated by his hands and feet and also LOVES to be tickled. We started some solid foods this month which Ryker has slowly warmed up to. So far he has tried oatmeal, squash, carrots, banana, avocado, and turkey (which he did not like). We are also finally sleeping better. Ryker goes to bed around 7, wakes to eat around 1 or 2 AM, and then sleeps until 7 or 7:30. We are also working on getting into a good nap routine, usually 3-4 naps a day depending on how long he sleeps. We have been enjoying watching Ryker become more and more outgoing and are excited to watch him continue to grow!

Ryker likes: being tickled, watching Nala or Ilyana, crinkly toys, nursing, standing, being talked to.

Ryker dislikes: waiting to eat, waiting to sleep, pretty much anything that takes patience ;)

Weight: 17 pounds

Postpartum Depression - My Story

Over the past four and a half months I have struggled with postpartum depression. I have debated heavily whether or not to share this information in such a public forum, however I feel that this has been a big part of my life and not something to be ashamed of. I would like to explain some of the things PPD has taught me and also answer a few questions you may have about my PPD. So here goes nothing, this is my PPD journey:

The first time I started experiencing noticeable symptoms of PPD was about three weeks after Ryker was born. For me, it looked like moments of uncontrollable crying, lack of energy, higher levels of anxiety, and extreme sadness. By the time my six week postpartum doctor visit rolled around I was on an upswing and feeling better so we chalked it up as just the 'baby blues'. However, not long after I experienced another couple day long bout of depression. Sometimes I would go a week without feeling depressed, other times I would only go a few hours before it set back in. The depression would sometimes only last for a few hours and other times it seemed to go on for days. At this point I am usually doing well. I have small episodes of depression maybe once a week and they are usually fairly mild. I imagine that this will continue to get better with time.

As difficult as this season has been with PPD, I am thankful to have experienced it. Jake has experienced depression for several years now and while I did my best to help him when he was struggling I can now empathize and support him even better. PPD has also forced me to open up to Jake emotionally more than I ever have. Our relationship is so much stronger now than it ever has been! He has been such an amazing support system throughout this journey!

Some questions you may have:

-Are you on medication? I am not. For various reasons we decided to avoid medication if possible. After trying a few different suggestions the thing we have found the most success with has been a B complex vitamin. We are also careful to make time for me to recharge (thanks for babysitting, Raylene!) and to exercise (Thanks Pokemon Go!).

-Did you experience PPD with both pregnancies? No. With Ilyana I had some heightened anxiety for the first couple of weeks, but I would contribute that more to just being a first time parent along with the rise and fall of hormones.

-Are you ok? Yes! Like I said, although this has been hard, it really has been a good thing! The aim of this post is not to make anyone feel that they need to walk on eggshells or to gain pity (in fact, those are some of the biggest reasons I have avoided sharing this!). The aim is to be transparent with this part of my life because it has shaped who I am and I think it is an important season to remember!


Thanks for reading and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!