Summer Bucket List

  What a crazy ride we've been on the past few months. I have been learning how to juggle a toddler and an infant and my husband is getting ready to make the change from Military to Civilian! With this big change this month I have made (for the first time EVER) a printable for our Summer bucket list. My husband will be here and there most of the summer so I wanted to have something fun to occupy our daughter with. I would say daughters, but Isabelle is happy no matter what we're doing at this age! So long as she gets fed and can sleep she's pretty content wherever we are. Feel free to copy and pint one off too. I'd love to hear what some of you have planned for the summer!

Summer Bucket List

The Potty Piggy

  Just when life seems to settle into something you think you can handle, God has a good little chuckle and throws a curve in the path. What is our curve? Potty training. Those two words that every parent loves and loathes at the same time. Thrilled that we're so close to no diapers but so sad that my baby is growing up into a big girl. Everyone out there has their potty training tips and tricks. At the beginning we went with the treat option, which was pretty handy since the Easter Bunny brought loads of little treats! So for those of you who haven't started down this path yet...a new favorite tool for potty training parents is the treat method. Every time your child pees in the potty they get a small treat, think M & M's or Skittles.

The Potty Piggy

  We tried this for a while and it works great, but I wasn't thrilled about giving my toddler candy every 30 minutes. The Easter Bunny had brought my daughter a piggy bank. I decided he was going to become the Potty Piggy. This is working even better than I thought it would! He hangs out on the toilet tank and every time she goes potty she gets to put a coin in the Potty Piggy. She gets the positive reinforcement without all the sugar, how great is that?! What are everyone's favorite potty training tips? I'd love to hear some others. I wish I had something more exciting for you all but this is taking up so much of our lives right now this is the best I've got until next time.

Open up Shop

  For those of you who haven't heard yet, the shop is open again! My husband is home and my maternity time off is up. I have teamed up with Launch Her while I was closed. They are fantastic and I am so grateful for their suggestions and help filing for my trademark. For those of you who saw the shop before I took the time off you'll notice some changes.

 The first major change is that the Big Square Blankets are now listed by service branch and color. So the blanket you see in the photo is the blanket you are ordering. You don't need to specify the branch or the color. The next change to the blankets are that I will keep four colors in stock; pink, blue, white and brown. I think these changes are going to make ordering so much easier for everyone!




Big Butt Baby Pants! Forgive the low quality picture, it was from my cell phone ages ago.

Another change is the addition of Big Butt Baby pants! They are fantastic and both my girls have several pairs. They pattern came from Rae at Made by Rae and is designed for babies and toddlers who wear cloth diapers. No worries if you don't cloth diaper though, they work for all diapered babies and toddlers! They come in size 0-3m, 3-6m, 6-9m, 9-12m, 12-18m, and 2T. I will post them as ready to sell items in the shop, but of course if you would like to request a custom order I'd be happy to accommodate. I'm working hard to get the pants photographed and listed by the end of the week.

 Last, I worked with an amazing graphic designer, Gina Riganati, to create a new logo for Baby Battle Rattle. If you need a graphic designer, she's your girl! What do you think?

A Sad Day

 If you have read the last post you already know that my mother-in-law was diagnosed with late stage cancer in December. When she first called and told me that she was going into the hospital I debated on how to tell my husband since he rarely was able to call and never could check email. I wrestled with what to do for a few hours until it was determined that she was being admitted indefinitely. I made the decision to contact the Battalion Executive Officer. and see for where in the world they were. I knew they had started their turnover processes but I had no idea where they were or how soon they'd be ending their deployment and starting the long journey home. My second question for him was for the Red Cross number to have an emergency message sent.

My mother-in-law with our oldest, July 4th 2011.

 As I dialed the Red Cross I was questioning if it was the right decision or not. I knew they were SO close to being done but was I over reacting? 'Cause we all know that pregnant women NEVER overreact and have the emotional coolness of a Drill Instructor, right? The women who answered my call was very nice and told me that it depends on where he was but that he should get the message to call me in no more than 24 hours. I anxiously awaited the phone call all day, and finally at 2am my phone rang. It was my husband and my Red Cross phone call couldn't have been more perfectly timed. He was out of country and he and his Marines were heading to their next destination. I filled him in on what little information we had been given that day. He asked me if he needed to be on the next flight home and I told him I thought so but it was up to him and that I was going to be at the hospital first thing in the morning.

 I got to the hospital at 11am and my mother-in-law had settled into her room and was waiting for all the tests to begin. My phone rang with the usual funny number that shows up when my husband calls from a foreign country. The first thing he said was, "I don't have much time. My flight is leaving, I'll see you tomorrow morning, can you pick me up?" OF COURSE!!!!

My husband with his mom at our wedding in 2007.

I had less than 24 hours to get the house, myself and baby ready to welcome him home. It was a crazy, whirlwind time to say the least. We picked him up from the airport at 7am, came home so he could shower after 9 months in Afghanistan and let baby get a nap and have my dad come watch her so we could go up to the hospital. That extra 2 weeks home was priceless. Had he not come home just that little bit early, he wouldn't have gotten to spend that little bit of time with his mom.

She lost her battle about a month ago. We are so thankful for the time we had with her, and we know she is in Heaven. She was an amazing mother and teacher and she will be greatly missed.

Homecoming

 What a crazy few weeks it has been for us! I have been having some signs of pre-term labor and been on doctors orders to take it easy. For those of you with a toddler and a deployed husband you know how hard it is to "take it easy". About 2 weeks ago my mother-in-law called me with news that she was being admitted into the hospital. Her doctor had found nodules on both lungs and said she needed to be seen immediately. I contacted the Red Cross to get a message to my husband so I could let him know what was going on.

......Well, what a crazy few weeks it has been! I started to write this (the above part) on December 7th, 2011. It had been a long day at the hospital with my Mother-in-Law. My husband was finally tracked down by the Red Cross and was able to call me at 2am. I filled him in on what little we knew at the time. His Command put him on the first flight out they could and he arrived home on December 9th, just 11 days early from his original Homecoming date. Those 11 days in hindsight are priceless! My mother-in-law was in the hospital until just before Christmas and we were going to host Christmas at our house since I was ready to pop and didn't want to drive anywhere 9+ months pregnant. She had several procedures done and it was determined that she has late stage cancer of an unknown origin. They know it started either in her Pancreas or GI Tract but can't pinpoint it. She did her first round of chemotherapy.....

Back to Christmas:

 My husband and I stayed up until about 1:30am Christmas Eve finishing putting together our daughters play kitchen since Santa's Elves didn't send it assembled. I woke up at 6am on Christmas morning...in labor! I poked my husbands shoulder and told him "Hun, I'm having contractions and they're 2 1/2 minutes apart." In typical fashion he told me to give it a little to make sure and call the doctor. I went down stairs and called my OB/GYN to let her know we'd be on our way to the hospital and then called my best friend (who's more like my sister) to watch our daughter, and then called my brother-in-law to let the family know we would NOT be hosting Christmas this year. We were able to get ready to go and open presents with her before we left for the hospital. Our beautiful baby girl was born on Christmas Day at 2:50pm!

  Just a week later my mother-in-law was readmitted to the hospital. She has remained in the ICU since she was readmitted and last Friday it was decided that only her symptoms will be treated and we will just do pain control. Please keep her in your prayers for peace. We are so thankful that my husband was able to get those last few good days with her while she was out of the hospital and that she was able to hold her newest granddaughter before she went into the ICU. I hope you have all had an amazing end to your 2011 and a very happy and healthy 2012 so far! I'll post about what's going on with Baby Battle Rattle products and changes to the store very soon!

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One Down

With 2012 about to make it's arrival, as well as our little bun in the oven I'm feeling the pressure to accomplish my list of 12 things before the year runs out. If you haven't seen the 12 by 2012 post you can read about it here. I'm happy to say that I have crossed off TWO things on my list! The first thing I finished was my office space. I found a desk at the thrift store that was just the type I was looking for, cheap and ready for some paint! It took a couple of baby's nap times to get it finished but it turned out perfectly. I can't make a decision on how I want to paint or change to drawer pulls so for now I'm going to leave them as bronze. (My apologies for not having a finished photo yet!)



Before (minus the drawers)



After the 1st coat of paint.



The second thing I have crossed off my list is the new nursery....well, for the most part. I'm going to pull the pregnancy card and say I win this one. I have the bedding, the lamps and wall accessories. I have the Pottery Barn rocking chair (thank you Craigslist!). I have her clothes hung in the closet. What's missing? The crib and dresser, but since they are being delivered on Tuesday and set for me I'm going to call this one done. The only thing I'll need to do is move the diapers from the closet to the dresser and make the crib and it's done.

I've even started on the freezer meals, but as I've only made one and would like to have about a week or two's worth in the freezer I won't count this off my list yet. Have you joined in on this challenge? I hope you guys are feeling as accomplished as I am!