5 Fabulous Spring Freebies for Moms & Kids

Okay, so I missed my second "Mommy Mondays" post! I had it "saved as draft" before we went away for the weekend, and then I came back to feeling behind in that crazy Momsquawk contest, and, well, here we are ready to say bye-bye to Friday!

By the way, I want to create a theme for Wednesdays, too, so if you haven't voted on what you'd like to see, yet, make sure to vote in the poll at the bottom of the sidebar!

After spending half the day in the ER with my 2yo, Caleb, and the other half trying to finish writing for an already kindly delayed writing deadline, I just couldn't find anyplace in our little home respectable enough to shoot a vlog, so you'll have to wait one more week for that one. I have an idea for next week's, though, so messy house or no, I will do video for next week!

Without further ado, here are this week's Fabulous 5 Mommy Freebies for you and your Kiddos, this spring:

• This "Happy Earth Day" activity book is a little beyond my kiddos' abilities, right now, but I thought some of you would like to use it to help develop environmentally conscious kiddos!

• If you have an Ereader or an iPhone, you can download check out this "The Very First Easter" ebook download from Amazon. My Caleb loves flipping through these!
(Thanks to one of my favorite deal blogger, Heidi, The Frugal Girls!)
• Do you have a hard time getting cards out on time? Somehow, I tend to end up sending out cards late, even when I buy them in plenty of time! They just get stuck in a holding pattern between the store and mail box. Well, you're home free with this FREE Mother's Day Card that Tiny Prints even ships for you!
(Thanks to Sarah Gibbons and her fabulous deal blog, Raining Hot Coupons!)

• On these cold, rainy spring days in Wisconsin, having some indoor play time is a very good thing! Last week, Caleb got to play on rides and do some games at Chuck-E-Cheese with our 60 free tokens! (Jonathan and I each received coupons for Caleb's birthday and Josh's "half birthday," this month, just for being on their e-mail list!) You can also get them for your school-aged kids' grades and any aged kids' filled chore charts!

• If you have older kids, you can make up your own crossword puzzles or other games on this site, powered by Discovery Channel. (I've also used them for bridal showers and baby showers, as well as in the classroom, when I taught high school full time.

Sorry this is a very visually unappealing post, but it kind of goes with the rest of my surroundings right now. (I don't know why the formatting is so hard for me to get right--if any other bloggers who use Blogspot have any tips, I'd be obliged!)

I'll remind you as I remind myself, today, that the days may be very, very loooong, but the years are oh-so-short!

Signing off for the weekend, this is

5 Not-So-Fabulous Ways to Sabatoge Your Children's Sleep

Okay, so my intention with this series of posts is to be helpful and even inspirational, but I just don't have that kind of thing in me right now. This week has been totally overbooked for me; I knew from the start of it that it would hold well-baby visits, a few other appointments, Caleb's birthday, a writing contest (please comment on my piece, if you haven't already!), another writing deadline, and preparing to go out of town this weekend. I did not know it would also bring increased efforts to sleep train Joshua, which would mean having his Pack-n-Play migrate to the living room (for night time) from our room (for naps) and back again each day, and then re-arranging our storage room, only to find a ton of MOLD, meaning we had to empty it out, so boxes and bins are currently crowding our already crowded living spaces. And my first vlog? You'll have to wait until at least next Friday for that!

All that to say, for your entertainment, here are my "5 Not-So-Fabulous Ways to Sabatoge Your Children's Sleep," all of which I have stupidly done:



1. Leave the light on in your child's room.
2. Immediately after putting your child to bed, drop dishes, glasses, pots, or pans in the kitchen, when your kitchen is close to your child's room.
3. Accidentally put your child to bed an hour early, when he or she is not yet tired.
4. Give your child a lot of sugary snacks right before bed.
5. Forget to put a diaper on your child who is not yet potty trained. (I did this just last night.)

Extra Tip: If your baby falls asleep in a Jumperoo, be sure to turn off the sound!

Now that you're feeling like the smartest mommy in the world, I hope you feel energized and empowered enough to be have a super Saturday and Sunday, full of relaxation and memories to last a lifetime.

Signing off, this is

reminding you that "the days may be long, but the years are oh-so-short!"

Sometimes We Need Permission

Okay, so the first "Mommy Moment Mondays" post is actually being written on Tuesday, but it isn't yet 1 a.m. yet, and I have this set at EST, so I say, it still counts! (This tells you how together I am--not!)

In the movie Shadowlands, the love story of C.S. Lewis (one of my all-time favorite authors!), I heard this statement: "We read to know we are not alone." I hope these "Mommy Moment Mondays" help remind you that you're not alone in this mommy journey. (And by reading your comments--hint, hint!--I'll be reminded that I'm not alone in mine.)

Anyhow, today was definitely a Monday, if ya know what I mean. Recovery from the weekend amounted to "blitzing" the house while my hubby (you'll learn to really like him--he's a 'keeper,' to be sure!) took our boys for a walk, pulling them around in his birthday present--our little red Radio Flyer wagon. (He actually asked for that--what a dad!)

The most significant part of our day was taking my kiddos to their well-baby appointments, Caleb to his 24 mo., and Josh to his 6 mo. It went pretty well, but I'm not going to bore you with the details of my sons' developmental milestones. The greatest significance of the visit rested in what I received there: permission. Permission to leave my baby in his crib to cry.

Now, with Caleb I was not a co-sleeper at all, except when he was sick. I followed a "parent-directed feeding approach" to a "T" that basically led to his sleeping 7-8 hours through the night by the time he was 7 weeks old, and without tears! (I did sleep on the couch, while holding him, a time or two when he was sick.) There were a few nights after he was consistently sleeping through the night when he was well that he awakened and I let him cry a bit, but I'd just turn down the monitor. (You think I'm evil, now, don't you?)

Our living situation this year, with Josh, has been so different, though--and, thus, so has our approach. I won't go into all of that, but Josh has been in our room all along. Until last night. For the first time, I let my baby cry (in the living room) while I slept comfortably in my own bed, next to my husband. For the first time in quite some time, I actually got a good night's sleep.

My point is that sense of "needing permission." It wasn't even significant to me that it was someone with a few initials behind her name giving it. Sometimes we moms just need "permission" from someone to do what we know is best for us or our children, even if it feels wrong or selfish or what have you. In case I needed any further "permission" to continue to sleep train my son, I received this encouragement from "The Baby Sleep Site" in my e-mail inbox this morning:

"If your baby is not where he usually sleeps, he might toss and turn until it DOES feel like he is in his bed. This means that the first night or even the first week, there may be some long nights, but it doesn't mean he won't get used to his new bed with time, patience, and consistency. Always give your sleep plan time to work and give him time to adjust. The first response is not always the end of the conversation. Stick with it. He can do it! :)"

Later, my husband gave me a different sort of permission. I had just put both boys down for their afternoon naps (Bliss!), and as he got ready to leave for work, he told me to go out on our little porch and enjoy some alone time and relax. No computer, no phone. And I did.

Maybe you're past the stage where sleep is a struggle, but do you ever feel like you need "permission" as a mom? What for? Who provides it for you? And do you find yourself doing things much differently with other children than you did with your first? I'd love to hear about those, too!

Well, if it's as nice outside wherever you find yourself, I'm giving you the same "permission" today that my hubby gave me: Take some time out for just you today. Reflect and be still. You deserve it and you need it.