I Love You Day 2014

Oh this year Valentines day was a good one.  1. McKay had the day off work.  2. We actually got to go on a date ON Valentines night.  3. It was a free fun date (except the babysitting wasn't free, but you can't win everything)

So usually we do a fancy family dinner on the night of Valentines.  We all dress up and the menu usually includes something red.  But this year we had a date planned since it was a Friday night so we did a not so fancy family breakfast.  We had crepes in our pjs and opened presents.  We don't always do gifts, but this year we all ended up with something.  McKay got Enders Game the movie, Jensen got new shoes, Adalyn got some princess dolls from Frozen the movie (we wanted to get her the actual movie, but it wasn't out yet), and I got new sun glasses picked out by McKay (he even surprised me which does not normally happen). 

 

After breakfast we headed out to the rec center for some "open gym" time for the kids.  Adalyn loves going to the "gym" and I love having them get some energy out.  This time was special because Daddy came too. 

 

Daddy pulling Adalyn on the scooters

 

 

Crazy hair twinners :)

 

That evening we headed out to our ward Adult Valentines dinner.  Good food, great company, and no crowds.  I love dressing up and going on a date, but sadly I forgot to take a picture (I even curled my hair).  bummer.  But it was a fantastic night and I got to try Italian sodas for the first time.  Might have to make them at a party sometime soon because they were delicious. 

 

We loved spending Valentines day together and I sure love my family. 

 

A special thanks to everyone who sent us cards this year.  Made us feel very blessed to have such great people in our lives.  Happy Valentines day!

 

Grandpa's Basketball Game

Much of my childhood Friday nights were spent in a high school gym watching my dad coach a basketball game.  So much fun was had and we loved going. 

I have been excited to take my kids to watch a game for a long time, but due to my dad switching schools, not coaching as much the last few years, and us living so far away we had not been to his games in quite a while.  But last weekend we finally got to introduce the kids to the fun of a high school basketball game.  They loved it and thanks to the track around the court we were able to let the kids run around while we watched the game. 

The team (Corner Canyon Chargers) didn't win, but I really enjoyed the company and atmosphere.  Adalyn's favorite parts were the dancers at half time, she danced along the whole time, and getting to ride the bus home with grandpa and the players. 

And lucky us we get to go to another one of his basketball games this weekend.  Oh I really hope one of my kids wants to play basketball someday, so fun! 

I didn't get very many great pictures, hopefully we will get more at the next game. 

 

Watching the game with Grandma (Jensen's favorite part was grandma's attention)



 

 

 

Snacks with grandpa

 

 

  

Good Bye January!

Blah!  January is a boring month, full of nothing! I am happy to see that month go and move on with new adventures.... like my birthday and valentines day! 

So what did the last half of our January look like? 

Lots of not so great parenting moments. 

Adalyn still isn't fully potty trained (after 4 weeks).  She is still having 2-3 accidents a day. 

Jensen is teething and he is making us all miserable.  Every morning when I get him out of bed I just pray that they have popped through.  Today I think one has finally come through and hopefully the other one is right behind it. 

We have been watching A LOT of TV.  Oh the winter is hard!

Not keeping up with all of our New Years Resolutions.  darn sugar!

We love Chocolate cake...and eating it with no fork

A few sick days thrown in for good measure. 

 

 

But since we were sick daddy got to stay home for a few days and help us.  Him and Adalyn shoveled all of the neighbors drive ways since is snowed a ton. 

On a more positive note :)  We have had some pretty fun dance parties and we have spent some quality time together at home.

"Pooping in the toilet" reward trip to Mcdonalds for an ice cream cone

 We also got to hear from Elder L. Tom Perry from the quorum of the 12 apostles in our own stake center.  He talked about family/ extended family and the great joy it is to get to know our family members.   

So good bye boring January we wont miss you this year. 
But we sure love being a family of four and spending time together (p.s. we may be becoming a family of 5 sooner then later.... ;)

Acting Out

Adalyn's new thing these days is "pway wif me mommy" (play with me mommy).  All day I debate, get things done, or play with the kids.  Lately I have tried to really make more time to play with them.  They play so well when I sit on the floor with them, I just get bored easily.  I have a friend who plays with her little girl on the floor all the time.  I shouldn't compare myself to her, but I do.  I wish I was better at playing with the kids, it just doesn't come naturally to me. 

Anyways, yesterday Adalyn and I played with her doll house people she loved it and I am so glad that I get to spend time with her. (p.s. we play a lot more than this one time, I just happened to take pictures of it) 

While playing she acted out a boy and girl hugging and kissing and then the girl peed her pants.  She even smelled the girls bum to see if she pooped!  Can you tell what she sees a lot around our house?!   Mommy and daddy kissing and potty training!  haha!

 

She is getting so big!

Learning New Things

This week at our house has been full of learning and developing.  Both kids are each learning to master a new task. 

Adalyn has been potty training

 Jensen has been learning to walk. 

Both are doing great. 

Both have had their ups and downs. 

And both mommy and daddy are pretty darn proud.

 

 

With Adalyn we started with the 3 day potty training method last weekend and made some good progress and then we have just been sticking with it since then.  We spent that whole weekend in the kitchen because I was so worried about her having an accident on the carpet.  She had a couple, but luckily the carpet was spared for the most part.  I have been dreading potty training for a LONG time and for good reason.  It is not fun!  My patience has definitely been tested.  We have cleaned up a lot of accidents this week and she definitely has had moments where she is just not interested in it and in turn HAS lots of accidents.  The "fun" of potty training wore of on the 2nd day!  But she is doing good and has not had one accident at night or nap time yet.  Just need to get the day time down.  Also I am still scared to take her somewhere public without a diaper.  When will I start trusting her?  Maybe in a week or two.  She does not LIKE having accidents, but she also hates wasting time to go to the bathroom.  blah! 

Boots and Underwear... we have been seeing this look a lot lately :)

 

Here she is on day one loving her singing potty and underwear

 

Jensen almost always walks now. In fact that is all he has been doing.  Walking, walking, walking.  Isn't really interested in anything else while he is mastering this skill.  He also discovered  balls and really enjoyed playing with them... while he was walking. 

 

 

 

Here is a video of him walking from a few weeks ago.  He is so much better now, amazing how fast they pick things up. 

While both of them have been mastering these new skills they have been VERY cranky. I think both of their brains were on over drive and so focused on their skills that they had no patience for anything else.  This made for long days for mommy and daddy, but by the end of this week they seem almost back to their old happy selves and schedules.  We have long naps to thank for the return the smiles.  Both of them slept tons on Thursday afternoon and woke up SO happy!  So grateful for two happy and healthy toddlers.  :)

Babysitting

Today I would like to share some details about my experience of babysitting.  I know there are a lot of stay at home moms that use babysitting as a way to bring in some extra money.  I also know lots of people might have questions about the exact details of it all and I am here to answer some of those questions and share a little bit of advice. 

First off, a little background info.  I have been babysitting out of my home for a year and a half.  I have been involved in the child care a.k.a. daycares/preschools for 8 years.  I have had some REALLY great experiences with child care and I have had some really ugly experiences that have left me soured to the whole idea.  Child care is not easy and every situation is different because every child is different.

Here is my situation that works well for my family. 

Currently, along with taking care of my 2 children,  I babysit one child 4 days a week for 7.5-8.5 hours a day.  I also babysit 2 other children (they are siblings)  once a week for 9 hours.  I have Fridays off completely.  I did not go out looking for either of these opportunities, they both presented themselves and I accepted them.  I consider myself "full" at the moment, not because I feel like I couldn't handle more children, but my house size is at its max until the basement is finished.  I have had a couple other opportunities to babysit more children but I declined because of space. 

How much money do I make?  (not much) :)

Babysitting is a very low paying job, but I figure it is better than nothing, and I enjoy being a stay at home mom and believe that it is where I need to be at the moment.

Each family that I baby sit for decided how much they were going to pay me and I agreed to the terms.  The first child I began watching was a newborn when they started coming to my house.  I started off watching the baby 2 days a week for $25 a day.  I soon realized that $25 was probably not enough to make worth my time so after about 8 months when I began watching the baby full time (4 days a week) I asked for a raise.  They gladly accepted and I now make $32 a day.  Not tons, but better for my family. 

In general for children under 2 years old I highly recommend no less than $3.50 an hour.  Once a child is potty trained I think the price can go down.

The family provides the baby's food, diapers, milk, wipes, clothes, carseat, etc.  I had a pack and play that I set up in a room for nap time.  So there is no out of pocket expenses for me.  They bring everything that the baby needs.  This family has chosen to pay me at the end of each week. 

The other family that I babysit for once a week has two children that are both potty trained.  One is Adalyn's age and the other is in preschool.  They pay me $5.00 an hour.  I keep track of the hours and then give them a "bill" at the end of the month.  They come once a week, and on that day I have 5 kids 4 and under.  It is a busy day, but goes fairly smoothly since the kids enjoy just playing together.  Sometimes more kids= more entertainment (other times it just means craziness!)

This family also provides all food and anything else that the kids might need while at my house.

So over all I make $550-$750 a month depending on how many weeks are in a month.  Not terrible, but still a lot of work!  I just have to not compare my salary to McKay's because then I just get depressed... 

   
How I do it

I don't/didn't have a really set schedule that I followed except when the baby was really little.  We just do what works for each day.  The parents and I work together and we talk openly about any changes that need to be made on either side.  On the day that the older kids come we do a lot more activities such as make play dough, art, sensory time, water table, games, forts, etc.  The parents I work for came to me to babysit their kids because they wanted a mom watching their kids not a teacher, so I don't force the kids to do a lot, just lots of free play, story time, and attention.  Just like they would get at home.   

As far as getting out of the house we don't leave much.  Only about 1-2 times a week and when the baby was younger and Jensen was a newborn we never went anywhere.  I always just stayed home until after the baby left at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and then would do my errands.  Not going anywhere would not be ideal for most, but I was actually ok with it most of the time.  The summers were nice because we could still go outside and for walks.  The older the kids get the more we get out and go places like the library, the gym, or the park.  We now have a van that can fit all of the carseats and the kids are almost all capable of walking on their own (Jensen is so close). 

Nap time is crazy, and only about 30% of the time do they all sleep at the same time.  We use fans and music to drown out the noise and I trained my kids to fall asleep on their own so that I did not have to rock them every time but they still don't all fall asleep at the same time since some take two naps and others take one. 

Fridays off.  Best thing ever!  I didn't plan this part it just happened, but it is a must in my world now.  So nice, especially since McKay has some Fridays off too.  Fridays usually become our catch up days or Utah vacation days.  :)


Future Plans

For the longest time I promised that I would never have a daycare in my home.  Too much stress and too much pressure, but as I have more good days than bad in the babysitting world I find myself dreaming of possibly opening a daycare in the basement.  I think I could do it, if I set some good ground rules and found families that I enjoy working with.  So I may expand things when the basement gets finished.  But we may not do it too.  Babysitting will only get harder as my kids get older so most likely we will just do it for a few more years and then stop once we get busier with our kids lives. 


Advice

If you are wanting to babysit here are a few things that I have learned. 

Babysit kids near your child's age or at least younger than your children.  The oldest child I babysit is 4 and that is the oldest I can go right now.  Adalyn is only 2 and so our toys/house is set up for 2 and younger.  The 4 year old occasionally gets bored with the toys, but still enjoys reading books and doing projects. 

Get a few certifications.  If you are going to advertise your services I would take a few classes such as Food Handlers permit, or CPR.  This gives the parents the idea that you are serious about this and you care about the safety of their kids. 

Don't over do it.  Start out small and work up.  In the beginning I never thought that I would be able to babysit full time, but we started part time and then went full time and now waking up at 6:30 everyday and babysitting is no big deal. 

Have a back up plan.  Have someone that you can call at the last minute to babysit for you in case you or your kids get sick. 

Your kids come first.  I can tell when Adalyn has had enough "fun" and we back off for a little bit, maybe even take a day off from babysitting if it is really bad.  For the most part she loves the social aspect of having others over, but sometimes we have to do special things over the weekends to give her some extra attention that she felt like she missed out on over the week. 



Well there you have it!  More then you ever wanted to know about babysitting.  Let me know if you have anymore questions or advice.  :)





 
        

   

 

What are they up to

It has been awhile since I posted about what the kids are doing and how they are developing and since this is the beginning of a new year I thought I would do a quick update on Jensen and Adalyn.  We will start with the oldest.  :)

Adalyn is 2 1/2.  She is talking lots!  She now says 3-4 word sentences on her own and will repeat a lot of words that she hears for the first time.  She sings Jingle Bells and I am a Child of God (although she doesn't know all the words to either one).  She remembers names and things really well and loves being with friends and family.  Neither of our kids are shy, like not at all.  They almost prefer strangers and friends over being with McKay and I. :)

Addie still loves her babies and her Jensen boy (that is what we call Jensen).  She is fairly good at playing with him, but loves to bug him too. 

Adalyn LOVES her mommy.  She wants to be right by my side all day long.  She wants my undivided attention and she is constantly asking "play with me mommy".  I used to think that she just wanted somebody to play with, but I think she would always ask me to play even if Jensen was old enough to play.  I think she is more of a follower than a leader.  She likes having me or an older child make up games for her to play. 

She is so bright and loves to learn new things!  She especially loves saying the pray at dinner time and will often "say" it even if she wasn't called to say it. 

Potty Training starts tomorrow (hope it all goes well)

Adalyn wears 3T shirts and 2T pants right now and is in size 7 shoes. 

Jensen boy is 12 months old

Jensen is walking.  Just today he learned how to stand up without holding on to anything so he has been "walking" all day today.  He also knows how to say and wave bye bye.  He plays peek a boo, claps his hands, says mama and dada, and smiles a lot. 

He only has  teeth right now on the bottom and I really hope he gets more soon!  The last few weeks he has been fussy fussy fussy.  Basically has wanted me to hold him anytime that he is not sleeping or in his high chair.  He had a cold, was learning to walk, and probably teething so those are the reasons for the fussiness, but I hope he returns to his happy self soon. 

Jensen is quiet and curious about the world around him.  He reminds me so much of McKay's personality.  I love it!

The boy eats TONS.  He is always up for food and is a fairly good eater.  He has stopped nursing (as of a week ago) and started just having milk in a sippy.  So glad that I was able to nurse him so long, but one day he just decided that he was done nursing and hasn't looked back since. 

He also sleeps through the night fairly well now (took him 11 months to figure it out).  We are so proud of how he is growing and developing. 

Jensen wears size 12 month clothes and size 4 shoes. 

We love both kids so much and love watching them grow into their own little personalities!