Birthday for the Chicken

Dear Wendy,

Today you are three years old! Three years ago, we got to meet you - our tiny, red, wrinkly, beautiful girl. We knew right away that you were going to change our lives. Just like the song I've sung to you since that day:

God made Wendy, God made Wendy
Yes, He did! Yes, He did!
She is something special
She is something special
Yes, she is! Yes, she is!

You are creative and imaginative and silly. You are full of athleticism and energy, and always ready for an adventure. You are spirited, stubborn, strong, and sensitive. You are funny - you make jokes now, and will giggle until you can't breathe - which makes Mommy, Daddy, and David all laugh, too.


You are beautiful, caring, and kind (usually). You take good care of your brother, making sure that Mommy and Daddy know whenever he is upset. You are such a good big sister! You are my big helper. You love to wash dishes, put clothes in the washer, feed David, and put away groceries. You are very smart, and can remember things that I never thought you would even notice.
You love princesses, kitties, Shrek, soccer, Daisy (your puppy), and cookies. You really enjoy reading books, and your current favorites include "The Gruffalo," "Ten Apples Up On Top," "Snug House, Bug House," and "My Lucky Day." Mommy and Daddy really enjoy hearing you "read" your books out loud, and you like to read to Daisy and David.

I hope you always know, deep down, that Mommy and Daddy love you, and more importantly, that God loves you. To quote Veggie Tales, "God made you special, and He loves you very much!" We are so thankful and blessed to have you in our lives!

Happy Birthday, my Chicken Potato. My Chicken McChicken. My Booger McChicken. My favorite girl.

Love,
Mommy

Things I Love Thursday: Craigslist

I made my first purchase with Craigslist this week! We had been looking for a twin bed for Wendy, since David needs the crib as soon as possible. Wendy has been sleeping in the crib with the front panel removed for quite some time with no problem, so we think she will handle the transition to a twin-sized bed pretty easily.

When looking at different options on the internet, I really wasn't finding anything in our price range. Then I remembered Craigslist, and lo and behold! After a couple of weeks of looking, I came across the perfect deal for us. We got a solid wood twin-sized bed (headboard, footboard, and rails) and a matching nightstand for $50!

Now that's what I'M talking about!!

Sturdy, quality bedroom furniture for my child for $50? Fantastic!! Now I'm going to search Craigslist for a queen-sized headboard for our bed...

WFMW: Train Table

While running errands yesterday, I discovered a new FREE way to reward Wendy for good behavior. We were in the middle of a day of shopping, and one of our stops was at Books-A-Million. Wendy remembered that they have a train table in the Children's Section and she made a beeline for it.

She happily spent about 45 minutes quietly playing with the trains, which gave me a chance to sit down, feed David, and just relax. It was great! I think we may be making Books-A-Million our regular "rest stop" when we're in the area.

Free entertainment works for me! For more great ideas, visit Works-For-Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall Favorites

As I'm sure you know, today is the first day of fall! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons, so today I'll share with you the Top Ten Reasons I Love Fall!

1 - Weather. I do not like heat and humidity. I do not like sweating. Fall weather is just about perfect - brisk, cool mornings, pleasant days, and chilly evenings. The bright blue skies and damp ground after a nice fall rain make me feel renewed & revived.

2 - Changes. I love seeing the progression of the colors of the leaves. I enjoy seeing the things in my flowerbed relax & sigh & settle down to sleep. I love driving through showers of falling leaves, when the yellows & reds flutter down all around me. Love it.

3 - Smells. When the outdoors smells like damp ground, burning leaves, and cut grass, I'm in my happy place. Inside, I love the scents of pumpkin bread baking, apple butter simmering, and a fresh pot of coffee brewing. Yankee Candle has a scent called "Fall Festival" that I really want to try out - from the description, it combines all of my favorite fall scents into a candle!

4 - Apples. Pie, cobbler, apple butter. Shiny apples in a bowl on the table. Crisp sliced apple as a snack. There isn't much better than fresh fall apples!

5 - Pumpkins. I love decorating with pumpkins! We might make our first trip to a pumpkin patch this year, if I can find one nearby.

6 - Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Rolls. My absolute favorite thing to do with pumpkin! I've never liked pumpkin pie - it's jiggly, and that's just too strange. But I love the combination of the pumpkin cake with the cream cheese filling. And my whole family loves it when I make it!

7 - Clothes. I love sweaters and jeans, pretty flats and boots, and the jumpers my daughter wears in the cooler weather.

8 - School. I have always loved the back-to-school season, even as a kid. Now I'm not in school, and I don't have any kids in school, but I still love it! I enjoy perusing the sales on school supplies, and I love seeing those tiny little kindergarteners with their enormous backpacks, all excited to be going to school for the first time. As mentioned in "You've Got Mail", there's just something about a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils!

9 - Wendy's Birthday. How could I not look forward to my favorite girl's birthday? She will be 3 on Saturday, and she is having a Princess Party with family. It will be fun and girly and very pink-and-purple. And she's getting a kitchen playset, which she will LOVE!!

10 - Looking forward to the holidays. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I really enjoy the planning & preparation - shopping, baking, gift-wrapping, decorating. It's all fun!

For more great Top Ten lists, visit Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda!

Where I've Been

I think that pretty much sums it up. Here are some highlights of what I've been up to while taking an unannounced blogging break:

• Took the kids to get their professional pictures done. Finally. Split the difference between David's 3-month and Wendy's 3-year, and called it good. Pictures turned out great, but the day was exhausting.
• Dealt with another (ANOTHER) round of contact allergic dermatitis. Another looong day waiting to be seen at the walk-in clinic, a 2-hour wait at the pharmacy, a desperate need for chocolate. (And seriously, Wal-Mart pharmacy - all you had to do was grab the thing off the shelf & stick a label on it. Didn't even need to count anything. WHY did that take 2 hours?!? Next time I'll go to Walgreens.)
• Drove down to Tallahassee to visit James' family. With a 3 month old. And a 3 year old. It was a LONG trip.
• A few days later, drove to Orlando to visit more family. A not-quite-as-long day.
• In Orlando: stayed up too late talking, played games, went swimming, was bitten by a duck, forcibly removed said duck from the pool, and went to the zoo.
• Back to Tallahassee. More family, some shopping, scattered tantrums here and there (from Wendy, not me), not enough sleep.
• Drove home from Tallahassee. Somehow made it home in time to have the kids in bed around 9 p.m.
• Spent last week cooped up inside because of the rain.
  
• Going a little bit out of my mind with Wendy's most recent phase.
  

And that's pretty much it. I'll try to get back to blogging more regularly, because I've missed it!

WFMW: Laundry Organization

With a toddler, a baby, and a puppy in the house, I do quite a bit of laundry. Attempting to keep up with it has always felt a little overwhelming, until I put a few new things into practice. Using this strategy, I'm able to keep within two loads of being caught up all the time, even now that we're using cloth diapers.

Here's what works for me:

1. Get caught up. This took several hours of work, and James helped me get it done. We got everything washed, dried, folded, and put away, so that we could start fresh.

2. Put two hampers in the bathroom. If we had a real laundry room, the hampers would live there - but we don't. Fortunately, we have enough space in our bathroom for two full-size hampers. One is for light clothes and one is for dark clothes. All of our clothes go into these hampers - adult clothes, Wendy clothes, baby clothes, etc. The only things we keep separate are the cloth diapers, since they have to be washed in a different way. (And they're icky. Dirty cloth diapers mixed with our regular clothes? Yuck.)

3. Make a point to do one load of laundry every day. Even at our messiest, doing one load a day, start to finish, keeps us caught up. I take a glance at the hampers every morning and see which one is the most full, and that's what gets washed that day.

4. Start the laundry early in the day. It only takes a few minutes to throw a load in the washer if it is pre-sorted. I usually do this while my coffee is brewing or while David is playing after having his first bottle of the day. If the washer has been started early, it is easy to find little blocks of time during the day to switch it to the dryer (or hang the clothes on the line) and then fold them & put them away.

Now, with only separating our clothes into "lights" and "darks," the white clothes seem to gradually get a little dingy. When I notice that they aren't very bright, I just set them aside & run a big load of white clothes in hot water with a little bleach, and the problem is solved. I only have to do that about once a month, so it isn't a big deal to me.

This laundry strategy works for me. I stay at home all day; if you work outside the home you would obviously need to tweak things a bit. I think you could still start the washer in the morning, and perhaps put the clothes in the dryer when you first come home from work.

What laundry tips work for you?

For other organizational tips, visit Works-For-Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Sounds

This will be a busy day for us; the kids & I are off this morning to get their pictures taken. We haven't done it with Wendy since her first birthday, and the only professional pictures we have of David are from the hospital. Since his 3-month is close to her 3-year, we're taking them together.

I was thinking the other day about the sounds that I love, that are the sounds of "contentment" to me. Since I don't have much time this morning, I'll share with you a list of my favorite sounds, in no particular order:

1. Wendy giggling

2. David laughing

3. baby sneezes

4. the white-noise of the baby monitor when the kids are asleep

5. the domestic, homey sounds of the dishwasher, washing machine & dryer all running at once

6. purring cats

7. the first frogs every spring

8. any music by Casting Crowns

9. crackling campfire

10. baby hiccups

What sounds like "contentment" to you?