Miles New Room

Here are some pictures of Miles' new room. We decided to make the office into a toddler room for Miles and keep the nursery the same. With the baby coming in 2 months the plan is to slowly transfer him. So far all his clothes, toys and a new mattress are in the toddler room. So we do everything there but sleep. Next we plan on moving the crib into the room. Then once he is comfortable sleeping in the new room we will move him to the mattress. We'll let you know how it goes!

Playing on his bean bag. We decided to get a bead bag

instead of chair hoping he'll play with it longer.

Playing with his toys & shoe box. The armoire holds most of his clothes.

This is one kid who loves soft things so the new bed and pillows were a hit.

There is a walk-in closet to the right of the bed.

Latest Books Read

I got the reading bug lately so have finished some great books in the last month. I actually went to the library and got 17 books between Miles and I! (Seven of them were kid board books.) Here is a list of my most recent favorite reads. I found all of them engaging, thoughtful and insightful. I hope to post some some reviews and/or notes I took from the books in future posts.

• "Born to Run" by McDougall
• "Siblings Without Rivalry" by Faber & Mazlish
• "Experiencing the Spirit" by Blackaby
• "Whining - 3 Steps to Stopping It Before the Tears and Tantrums Start" by Ricker & Crowder

If anyone has some favorite reads I'd love to hear about them. Post a comment on the blog or email me directly.

Home Pre-Preschool Idea

I've been giving it some thought, I don't think Geoff or I are ready to send Miles off to (pre) preschool. I am surprised how many people in this area send their 2 year old off to pre-preschool. Others are already checking out preschools and they are only 1 1/2 years old.

A few questions to weight: Is there such a thing as spending too much time with your own kid? Would it be good for a 2 year old to get a break from mom and other siblings (Baby 2)? How much time do you want others to spend with your kids? How much can we afford to spend on childcare/preschool at this point in time? Would I want to go back to work more? Would I want to be responsible for teaching him all the pre-preschool lessons and values?

So I am tossing some ideas around in my head. My latest thought is starting up some type of home pre-preschool. Maybe if I can get a group of 5-6 kids together around the same age. The idea would be to rotate homes each week. It would be a mix of crafts, lessons, games, and playtime. First week I would teach, second week I would assist then the rest of the weeks I would drop-off until the rotate starts over again. I think it would work out and I am sure others are already doing something similar.

We'll see what I come up with, I have half a year to figure it out. :)

Tornado of Chaos

Coming into the kitchen where Miles was playing this is what I found. Total chaos over the previously cleaned kitchen floor. Never did I realized how much chaos and disorganization could be caused by a 1 1/2 year old. Goodbye organized and orderly house for many years to come!

Going Thru unread messages in Gmail

So I've had over 300 unread messages in my gmail account. Gets old seeing that many unread messages. They are messages I either want to keep but don't need to read now or I want to delete. So I found the easiest way to go through them. If you type the following in the search mail text box it will bring back only your unread messages. Then you can easily delete or use the 'Mark as read' button from there.

is:unread

That's it!

Snow Pics

Here are some snow pictures. The weekend before Christmas we had a snowfall around 22 inches! We all headed out to do some shoveling and playtime.