Get your thinking hats on!

Ok, I'm assuming I'm not the only one out there who tires of the winters here because it limits the activities you can do with a toddler. So here's a little list of things we've either done or seen other mom's with toddlers do! Disclaimer: I did not think of ANY of these ideas originally! Most of them I either found in a magazine or can attribute to wonderful friends out there who are also wonderful moms, so thank you for your examples! If you have any more ideas of things to do with little ones indoors, I'd LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to hear about them!!

*Set up a card table somewhere half up. You can then set a chair they can climb up and use the table as a slide!! It works better if you have a longer card table. We don't, so we mostly used it to slide cars and other things down.



*Paint the Snow! I just posted a little about this, but you just get an old spray bottle, put water and food coloring in it and then let them spray the snow outside! Miles wants to do it inside too, so we just put plain water in a spray bottle and let him spray the floors.

*Play-Doh- A daily activity here

*Blow Bubbles- Also a daily activity

*Paint! You have to feel semi-ambitious for this one because there is always a mess to clean up. :)

*Sometimes we fill up the ice cube trays with water, then Miles helps me drop food coloring into each little capsule. He thinks it's awesome.

*Spread rice or corn meal on a cookie sheet and trace designs. (Can also tend to get very messy)

*Bake! Miles loves to help me "make" things in the kitchen. A favorite was him helping me make sugar cookies. We got to talk about shapes and then colors while we frosted them.

*Helping with chores. Miles really likes this actually. He can help hand me clothes for laundry, put the silverware in the dishwasher, "make" his bed etc.

*Color! He's starting to like this more, so we do a lot of tracing his hand and practicing shapes. Crayons are off limits for a while however since all he does it tear off the paper and break them.

*We love sidewalk chalk, but obviously can't do it outside. Solution? Get an old cardboard box and you can sidewalk chalk on that! It works great.

*We build forts with all the boxes in the office area

*Make a fruit loop necklace! Just did this the other day at a friends house and Miles loved it SO much, we had to do it again that night at home.

*Something that's been fun lately is flashlight tag! (Hide and seek in the dark) We wait till dad gets home for this one. Super fun!

*Play with bubbles in the sink. I'll just put a chair up to the sink, fill it up with water and bubbles and give him all sorts of utensils to play with. This usually keeps him occupied for about 20 minutes

*Singing and Dancing is really fun lately with Miles because he's starting to really "sing along" with his favorite songs.

*We run lots of errands! I can't stand being in the house all day for more than 2 days in a row, so I frequently take him on errands, even if I just make the errands up. For instance, we'll just go to the DI to look at things and he can play with the toys there. Or you can go to a place with a indoor play area to get some wiggles out. We visit Richie at work and he gets to "ride" the forklift. The library is another good one. They do these awesome story times that usually have a craft to go along with the book. We've never made it past the first 2 minutes. Miles can't sit still long enough, but we sure try!

*Let's face it, we watch a bunch of movies too.


OK! I'm all out of ideas. I need some more! Please!

Am I really ready for this??

If it were up to Richie, the day after finding out we were pregnant with Gwen, she would be here. I, on the other hand, am so relieved there are still 8 weeks left. Even though I had to do a 9 point turn in bed last night just to switch sides, even though I had to ask Richie to buckle my shoes the other day... I am glad there's still some time left. I have had so much more anxiety over having baby number 2 than with baby number 1. Normal??? I've decided it's because I have an accurate idea of what's coming. No sleeping, blow outs, can't-get-her-to-stop crying fits etc. Not to mention the part where it kind of hurts to do the whole labor and delivery thing.

Miles has come down with another case of croup already. If you remember correctly, we are a broken record over here apparently and just did this in early December. It is no where near as bad this time, thank goodness, and hopefully it subsides quickly. Until then we're doing lots of bundling up and going outside in the snow to breathe the cool, strike that, freezing air, especially at all hours of the night. I mention this because while it was hard and not ideal to be up at 2, 3, 4, and then finally 7ish, every time he cried "mommy" from his room, I couldn't get there fast enough. I wanted to be by his side immediately and he would hold my hand or stroke my hair while he tried to fall asleep, or we'd bundle up and head outside to get some cool air and he would snuggle right into me. Oh it was wonderful.

So while there may be lots of "scary" things coming my way with the arrival of a new baby, I just have to keep reminding myself how wonderful it will be!! A full time cuddler, those sweet baby sounds and coos, and watching her learn something new every day.

But just so we're clear...I'm still glad there's 8 weeks. :) Our house is so organized. I've cleaned out
*The cupboard above the computer
*The laundry room
*Taken at least 5 boxes of misc stuff to the DI
*Gone through all recipes and recipe books
*Spruced up the blog
*Completely switched up Miles's room. I'd post pictures, but I want to do a "big reveal" once I get some things sewn and painted.
*I've also washed and organized all of the wonderful little girl clothes we have for Gwen about a million times.

I'll be hiring out for a short time if anyone has any organizing they'd like done. This nesting thing is powerful and I guarantee a clean house. I charge a bazillion dollars an hour. Thanks.

Miles learns to...

Wear pointy toed shoes! Obviously he hasn't learned the rules about black and brown. He found these in the house, put them on, and walked around in them for about 20 minutes straight.


Go to school! We were watching the "Going to School" signing time, and in the middle, he found Richie's old backpack, had me help him put it on, then walked to the door and told me bye bye. I'm glad he hasn't grown up that fast yet!


Paint the snow! Want a cheap activity? We had old spray bottles around, so I put some water and food coloring in them and we "painted" the snow. I promise he really liked it, just not in this picture I guess.





He learned that if you're sharing one bowl of popcorn with 3 other boys in a tent during movie night, you have the best chances of getting the most popcorn if you keep the bowl nearest to you, in your arms if need be.


Go sledding....and like it right off the bat! Last week it took some getting used to. This week, he only screamed during the getting all of the snow gear on part. Actually going down the hill was a hit this week!


"If mom and dad give you a paint brush, paint and then take all your clothes off, they must want me to paint your body right?" Fortunately a lot of paint got on these blocks we scrounged up and I think Miles's blocks actually turned out the coolest. He'd mix some colors, dab it on the block and say "Oh cool!"


Good week.

Bring it on 2011

2010 was a somewhat low key year for us. We didn't have any more children, we didn't change jobs, we didn't start or finish a degree at school etc. We enjoyed just settling into our roles and becoming comfortable in this area. From what we can guess, 2011 isn't going to be anything like 2010. We are going to have a new addition in the family and a major job change, hopefully... So already we feel anxious, but we also feel confident because we are armed with our faith and with determination. I thought about doing a recap of this past year for a post. So in preparation, I browsed through all the posts from this last year. I quickly decided not to pursue such a re-cap post. Why do you guys read this thing anyway? I found myself getting thoroughly bored in some stretches and tiring of my writing. So why would you want to re-read everything I already wrote? huh?? You can thank me later for not putting you through that, and now we're on to a fresh start and a fresh post!

We started off the new year properly by going sledding! It took Miles a while to actually enjoy it, but he did eventually, and I enjoyed staying at the top of the hill as the pregnant cheerleader. :) We came home and had tomato soup, toasted cheesers and hot chocolate, which is exactly what we did and ate the first time I met Richie's family during that Christmas break, minus the pregnant part. Good times.



It's also time for another belly shot. Why you ask? Well, some people may see this picture and think, "Woah! She must be due any day now!" C'mon, I know you're thinking it. Plenty of people already say it to my face in some form or another. I'm over it.



Unfortunately, you'd be wrong if that was your first thought. It's time for another belly shot because today I'm officially 30 weeks along! For those of you at home doing the math, that means I only have 10 weeks left! Which means I'm due practically any day now right? Which means...I need to get the house clean and keep it spotless, and sew a bazilion things and freeze some meals and on and on and on. Nesting and I have a love/hate relationship.

The Christmas Post

Hey all! Here's pictures of our Christmas vacation! We got to spend a bunch of time in SG and a few days here and there in Bluffdale with Richie's side and were lucky enough to see most of our family, even if it was just sporadically. (sp?) We're now back home and getting into the swing of things. Real life is good and all, but I'm ready for another vacation I think. Maybe it has something to do with a puking toddler. Didn't get any pictures of New Years, but it was spent in true Crosby fashion staying up late and playing games. Richie went to bed early :) I'm going to try and have the captions line up with the pictures, very high tech stuff here, so hopefully it makes sense.

Here's Miles on Christmas morning. He crept into the room of presents before we lined up, but all he was interested in was the candy bowl. In fact, it was all he was interested in all morning. So much for presents.


Lining up, youngest to oldest. :)


Kids table


Playing "Minute to Win it" on Christmas eve


Favorite picture of the entire trip


Nativity


Candy making with Grandma Crosby. Still craving that fudge....


Mom helped me make a teepee for Miles


Out to dinner!



We miss everyone already. Thank you for such a wonderful trip and a much needed break from reality!