As mentioned in my last blog, Tori doesn't like reading. She'll say she "can't read" when she actually can but is too easily distracted and discouraged. The mere suggestion that she should read a book really changed her mood fast.
I used a simple rewards program. 10 books = 1 toy But... they can't be the same books twice, and there's a $7 cap on the toy. She also has to record the book titles in her journal to ensure we don't do repeats. She's collecting monster high dolls. You're probably thinking you'll have to buy a shit ton of toys in a week but it doesn't go quite that way. The first ten books were in her comfort zone books, took one day. Then she started running out of books that were easy, the second round took about 3-4 days. That's 20 books in 5 days. Her confidence and general reading flow improved so fast. Now we are on round 4 and she needs me to sit with her through these more advanced books, which is broadening her reading vocabulary so much! Plus, there's no tears, no resistance, she's actually really motivated . The further in you get, the more out of their comfort zone they get, the more they learn! I'm happy with it.
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This is a great, easy, and fool proof way to get rid of damaged hair, lighten thick hair, and still maintain length.
1. Start by straightening the hair. Tori's hair is naturally straight so I didn't have to straighten hers but mine is super wavy so I straightened mine. 2. Tie the straightened hair in a very tight and smooth pony tail. The higher it is the shorter the front layers are. Don't go too high or you'll have a mullet. 3. Smooth the pony tail forward over the forehead then secure the ends with another elastic. 4. Cut the ends. This will leave a blunt cut 5. Vertically trim the blunt ends until it looks more jagged and not blunt. Release the pony tail and admire the new long layers. Easy peasy! Tori doesn't like to write, in fact she also doesn't like to read. She's going to be 7 this week and I was feeling some pressure from who-knows-where to get her writing better and neater. I feel like homeschool worksheets/ curriculum are just like regular school in the sense that my child is trying to complete the task, and not absorbing a lot. The words and sentences are preselected and not individually selected content, which we obviously have to do to expand her horizons, but we are talking about self-driven writing today... I want her to want to write, even enjoy it, not just know how to build sentences. I'm a big writer. I'm not saying I'm a good writer but I like to write. I have always kept a journal and planner. I LOVE washi tape, stickers, multicolored pens, and all that. I like putting ink on paper in a tech-crazed world. I think journaling helps with everything from dealing with and naming emotions to overall success in life. Journaling is a tangible way to set goals and monitor progress, and progress is success right? I write my to-do lists and goals, all of which helps me manifest what I want in myself and my life. It's self-care. I noticed she was intrigued by all my supplies and my decorative pages and had long considered buying her a journal. However I kindly reminded myself that she hates writing and doesn't have a huge bank of words to draw much content from.
Recently we were Christmas shopping in TJ Maxx and in the checkout line she spotted an elaborate, bejeweled diary. $6. I got it. Between then and Christmas I put together a glittering pencil bag with an assortment of pens, clips, stickers, and some of my duplicate washi tapes. It was was a HUGE success. I don't know specifically why it went so well, perhaps because she sees it as a hobby and not as work? Maybe because it's not direct curriculum? Maybe because she's picking the content and there isn't any critique on penmanship or correctness. Her writing is neat, she's motivated, she asks for help. We think of a few sentences using *mostly* easy and familiar words and when she comes to the new words I sound and spell it out casually and she writes it in. On the front page I wrote several typical journaling phrases for her to reference. "I feel happy/sad/mad/sleepy/sick" "Today I went to...." "I really hope to...." I suggested pasting in things that arise, pen pal cards (another no pressure, easy writing tactic), Christmas card pics of her friends, brochures from museums. Then we elaborate on the subject with some supportive sentences, which she reads back to me once we jointly input them. Everytime I sit down with my planner and travelers notebook, she says "oh it's time to work on our books!? Let me get mine!!". I'm so proud, this is a healthy habit that'll last a lifetime. I bought her (and I) some @glitterchai goodies for her birthday next week and I know it'll spark the urge to write. I'm going to periodically gift her new journaling things to restimulate her desire to write. She can also earn extra stuff if she chooses to. Next we'll start on goals and to-do lists. Can't wait! No matter where we live, either Florida or Maine, we always track massive quantities of dirt inside. Well atleast we did at the first house we lived in up here, because I wasn't in control of the removal of shoes in that house. However in my new house, we've gotten ahold of the dirt situation. We exclusively use the back door now because the steps to the front door are icy and also because there would be a double door (porch and interior), so it's easier. Because we sand the walkway to avoid slipping, there's an obscene amount of mud and dirt. I avoid it tracking in by: •I started enforcing a shoes-off policy for the kids, Air, and I. As soon as we come in, the clunky, mud laden boots come off before we leave the rug area. •I have three rugs. One heavy duty one and two dollar tree cheapos to extend the dirt and snow catching area. This absorbs the snow and catches the dirt. • I have two boot trays, one within the little room that we take shoes off within, and another outside that area that has slippers. •All hats and mittens are caught by a wicker basket that can be moved towards the heater for drying. Dry mittens and hats go in the green baskets at the top of the coat rack. •All coats are hung from the rack so that they dry and don't touch the floor. Also to cut down on clutter. By the back door I also keep a paper bag for donations, so I can't forget to remove the stuff we are done with from the house! I have to sweep 2-3x a day to maintain the clean floors because the kids crumbs, paper scraps, and what not accumulate fast. I am down to only having to mop 2x a week though! I use Murphy Oil Soap on the floors. Note: I do not have my guests remove their shoes, or my senior Dad. I feel like people's comfort trumps my clean floors, however I'm sure if someone's shoes were muddy they'd remove them gladly! I had contractions all day yesterday (9/10/2014) but it never quite picked up, just 5-6min apart, 30 second blips of contractions which stalled out around 6pm. The Midwife checked me at our 330 39-week appt yesterday and despite lots of decent little contractions, I was only a 2. Went to sleep discouraged, didn't understand why it fizzled out, but had a feeling this little chub wanted to be born on 9/11... Lol. Sure enough, woke up at midnight, had a few small contractions like the day time ones. Decided to get up at 1ish, lit candles, laid on the couch and started to track them. Really didn't feel confident calling her because it was so similar to my day time ones and I really didn't want to wake everyone up for no reason, plus I was only 39 weeks even and wasn't sure if it was prodromal. They started to get a little more painful and but still not super close together. I woke up Air at 2ish and figured we'd better walk. At 230ish I felt like though they weren't exactly "close" and "long", I felt like I was gonna effin' die so I should call her because I had an urge to be in the tub. Air was a little concerned considering things had so recently already fizzled out once but I was finding myself holding my crotch while walking and started violently throwing up, both my signs of nearing transition.
By the time she got there at 330 things were getting LOUD. Maddox had woken up crying and refused everyone but me which sent me into a panic because I was in no condition to care for him. Laying beside him I was dying from the discomfort. Finally I said I couldn't do it and my dad got him and plugged in Netflix and closed themselves in the room. Which is about the time the screaming started. I got on all 4's and everything just hurt so bad. Air offered me his hand and I squeezed away like a madwoman and it helped. I started to sweat from the hormone rush and the midwife offered me a wet towel and that felt good too. The tub wasn't even fully inflated. I moved to a chair and my screams started to end with a push, involuntarily. She asked me if I wanted to give birth on my living room chair. I told the midwife I was pushing and she said to feel inside for his head so I did. I felt something but my water hadn't broken yet anyways. The tub had only a few inches of water in it, which still felt good on my feet and bottom but I was far, far from being submerged. She checked me and said I just had a tiny lip left and it was ok to push. I started pushing involuntarily again and I thought I peed or something was expelled and Air mentioned he thought my water broke because the water color changed. I realized after, I chose not to do the hibaclens douche (GBS+). She wasn't worried though because my sac was intact until the very end. I kept feeling myself with my fingers trying to see why he would just come out so I could be done. The head finally crowned and popped out, such relief. But he just stayed there for a few mins and I was begging her to pull him out, "pull him out Katrina, pull him out!" She said she couldn't. So I told Air to pull him out. 2 mins later I gave a huge push and out he came and Air caught him. Tori had just come out too to see what the theatrics were all about. Air put our baby on my chest, I looked down at him to make sure he was ok and he was so quiet. I scooped warm water onto him. I always hear women saying that as soon as they saw their baby all the pain went away, hmm-nope. I was still in shock from the pain and could barely process him being on me. I finally looked down at his face and his little lips were swollen from delivery. I was overcome with happiness and a major adrenaline rush too. My dad said that shortly after my screams stopped Maddox said "I think we can come out now" and so they did. . I was checked for tears and they were all minor. She drew me up a boiling pot of herbs for my peri bottle and served me arnica. I called my mom and told her "I just had the baby and everything's ok, you can come over" . She showed up at about 5am. The midwife encouraged me to get up and try to pee but sure enough, I couldn't , so her assistant and her went out back with a flash light and picked fresh peppermint to use as an aromatic stimulant to help me pee. Meanwhile Tori cut the baby's umbilical cord, so cool. 9 lbs 3 oz, 21.5 inches long, head was 14.5. Chubby and fat!!!
This is a two part mask, the first is a turmeric blend mask, which I detail below. The second part is a baking soda under-eye treatment.
I mashed up some oats into a powder, you can use a food processor for this. I used about 2tbsp of this mixture and saved the rest. Then I added:
1tbsp turmeric. 1tbsp honey. 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice Mix.
Hot right? I let it stay on 15 mins then washed several times in the kitchen sink so that the strainer would catch the oatmeal pieces.
Turmeric is not safe in your eyes so use caution. This ended part one. NEXT I made paste of baking soda and water and applied it very carefully to my upper and lower eyelid using extreme caution. I also used some on my nose and chin for a little extra blackhead reduction
You can see my face is still a little yellow but it rinsed off with the baking soda.
This drastically helped my under eye circles. These ingredients are not approved to be used near your eyes so use at your own discretion . You know when you see a really moving meme or quote regarding parenting and it triggers you? You feel it deeply within and think to yourself "tomorrow I'll put this into practice, tomorrow I'll do better". Then you save it and implement it for a few days and eventually forget about it? I know the best way to practice these things long term is to keep revisiting them and seeing them over and over until the practice becomes second nature, forming a new habit. The following quotes will be written here, in my journal, and as affirmations on cards around the house. I'm going to turn these quotes into habits, join me! 1. If you have told a child a thousand times and he still doesn't understand, it is not the child who is the slow learner. -Walter B. Barbe 2. If you manipulate, coerce, and bully your children, you will have no power at all. If you lead with humility, gentleness, and by example, you will need no power at all. -William Martin 3. I honor the divinity, spirit, God within my child. 4. You must first teach a child she is loved, only then is she ready to learn everything else . - L.R. Knost 5. Respecting a child teaches them that even the smallest, most powerless, most vulnerable person is worthy of respect, and that is a lesson our world most desperately needs to learn. -L.R. Knost 6. This moment is more precious than you think. - de la Vega 7. The sign of great parenting is not the child's behavior, the sign of truly great parenting is the parents behavior. - Andy Smithson 8. Little eyes watch what we do more than little ears hear what we say. It is how we live our lives, not how we demand they live theirs, that has the most impact on who they will become. -L. R. Knost 9. You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. -James D. Miles Below is a downloadable file you can print and paste around your house or in your journal.
Blogging is a great way to increase your contribution to the home. There's no childcare required, it's self-paced, there's typically no boss, and most importantly you can help to inspire people to make changes or improvements to their own lives.
Its really quite simple, start a blog if you haven't already. I used to use google blogger but I've switched to Weebly now. Weebly has easier navigation, better formats, and a great app. Next, open an Google Adsense account here: www.google.com/adsense/ Adsense will give you a code to imbed in your blog, essentially you copy the link and paste it in a blog page window. The link will encrypt ads into your blog. Those ads are run through Adsense, and Adsense tracks them. You can follow your progress on Adsense and once you hit $100 you can get paid. Now, getting to $100 takes a while when you first start, unless you have a lot of followers/ readers, or some awesome viral content.
I have always wanted to be a mom. When Air and I first decided to TTC I waited until I started my own pet sitting business in Saint Pete. I could never see myself as a daycare mom with a daycare baby. The pet sitting business was a happy inbetween that allowed me to earn, schedule prenatal appointments, work when I wanted, and eventually bring baby with me. Fast forward 5 years, 3 kids, 150+ clients, and up to 20 visits a day to clients homes, I was overwhelmed. It was too much to have the kids in tow, I used what help I had but the times I didn't have any were stressful times. Million dollar houses with a newborn, 2.5 year old and 5 year old with wandering hands, fragile decor and jumpy pets.... it sucked. I had to cut back. So I let go of a boat load of customers, kept my faves. That worked much better.
When the opportunity arose to sell the house and move to Maine and be sans mortgage, I saw a grand possibility for me to exclusively stay at home. We wanted seasons. We wanted safety. We wanted to get ahead and not be check-to-check. So we sold the Saint Pete house and high tailed it. We definitely had had much more spending money but the trade off of being in a multigenerational home quickly proved to.... also suck. We shopped loan products and decided to buy again. Peaking my anxiety- another mortgage, heat, wifi, trash, electric, repairs. However, we were lucky that we got more house for the money here in Maine and our mortgage is literally half what it was in Florida. There goes the discretionary income. There's guilt in seeing your husband break his back to pay a ton of bills and not really have money to have fun with. I try to earn money to contribute where ever I can, but I end up feeling guilty and like dead weight. The other day I had a very productive morning, I went and got sand to sand the driveway with after I shovel. Next to the grocery store and then to the food pantry. None of which is my favorite stuff to do but when you add it up, it's one hell of a contribution. 4 plows a month is $120. 4 trips to the food pantry is $600 worth of free produce and food. If that was income it would be a lot! $720 that I save my husband a month. My kids are learning budgeting, self-sustenance, sacrifice, and independence. My goal this week (besides the things I listed above) is to complete potty training. Emerson got underwear for Christmas today so it's on! That's another -$30. I'm also going to line dry downstairs. Go me. Tell me how you contribute ? All you need is: •Dollar Tree clipboard •Dollar Tree wrapping paper •Modge Podge (you can make your own) •Paint Brush •Razor Then trim the corners and allow to dry, voilà!
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AuthorI am wife and mama to 3 beautiful kiddos. We live in Maine on a bunch of land where we homeschool. |