Thrifty Thursday

I haven't been to the thrift store in more than a month, but after encouragement from Shannon, I decided to stop by after work on Thursday. I haven't really gone anywhere except work on Thursdays and my mom's house for weeks and weeks because I am afraid of suddenly throwing up in a public place. Yuck! So I hesitantly went to the thrift store. They really didn't have much, but I did find 4 children's books that I think O will love. One of the books is Harry the Dirty Dog. I had this book as a child and loved it, and we've checked it out from the library and O loved it. I think she especially liked it since one of her grandaddies is named Harry :)
After I left the thrift store, I headed to Wal-Mart for various craft supplies (walmart is the only place to buy craft supplies around here, unfortunately). I found what I needed, and my good deal of the day is a purple ballerina dress for O. It was marked down from 9 dollars to 5 dollars, and I just couldn't resist buying it for my little ballerina :) I haven't decided if I'll go ahead and give it to her or wait until Easter...
While at Walmart I was drawn to the toy aisle where I played with a Viewmaster with sound. I've always liked viewmasters, and I've been thinking of getting one for O for a while. I never considered getting one with sound, but the information that went along with the pictures was interesting and the sound was so clear. I have to admit that I was impressed. I didn't buy it, but I'm seriously considering it. It may make a good Easter present as well :) They had the viewmaster slides on sale for 3 dollars for sets of 3. I didn't think that was a very good price until I came home and looked on Amazon. Now I'm tempted to go back and buy lots of viewmaster slides before I even decide to buy the viewmaster! If anyone has tried the Viewmaster with sound, I'd love to hear what you think about it. Amazon only had 2 reviews, which were both good, but I'd like to hear from more people as to whether it is worth the money. This toy may be my exception to our no plastic, no batteries rule for Easter! So much for a handmade Easter, although there will be handmade components (felt donuts) :)

Did You Keep a Pregnancy Journal?

I've kept a journal since I was around 11 years old, so I was excited to keep a pregnancy journal when I was pregnant with O. This is the journal I chose after much shopping around on Amazon. I really liked the writing prompts, but I wasn't crazy about the graphics. I loved going back and reading the journal after O was born, and I'm looking forward to giving it to her if and when she has her own baby. My only regret is that I didn't start it earlier in my pregnacy (I was at about 16 weeks when I started it).
When I found out I was pregnant in September, one of the first things on my list was to buy a pregnancy journal. This time I chose this one. I liked this journal, but I was very annoyed that it started at week 1. That's really just ridiculous. I kept detailed notes until I lost the baby at 11 weeks.
For my current pregnancy, I wouldn't even think of buying a pregnancy journal for weeks and weeks. I just felt like if I made the assumption that this is a viable pregnancy then it would be doomed for sure. (I'm terribly superstitious, especially lately) For the past week or so, I've felt guilty that I don't have a pregnancy journal for this baby. There are so many things that I don't have for this baby...stories of excitedly telling everyone we were expecting (that never happened), joy at the positive pregnancy test (only fear and grief, although I absolutely don't mean to imply that this isn't a deeply loved and wanted baby...I'm just scared). So, I thought that since I only used the last journal until 11 weeks, and I'm at almost 15 weeks with my current pregnancy that I would just use the journal from the last pregnancy. I found a pen and opened the book, and it just felt so very wrong. I couldn't bring myself to do it. My last baby never had a name, and we never held him or her, but at least he/she has her own book even though it is very brief and filled with pain (but also great joy). So...I decided to just buy a blank journal. I'll write detailed descriptions of my visits with my midwife, etc, and I'll borrow writing prompts from the other journals and write them at the tops of pages. I think I'm happy with this decision, although I've yet to start the journal (I really should be doing that now instead of blogging).
So, I'm wondering...did you/are you keeping a pregnancy journal? Which one did you choose and why? What is your favorite thing about your pregnancy journal? Thanks in advance for any responses! I know this is a long and rambling post without any fun pictures :)

Update: After writing this post, I decided that I'm going to make a pregnancy journal jar for myself. I've made journal jars for gifts, and I've always wanted one for myself, so this seems like the perfect opportunity :) I think I'll put about 20 writing prompts in the jar, and I'll choose one a week to write about. Hopefully, this will motivate me to keep up with this journal. In addition to the writing prompts, I'll write about my visits with my midwife, add ultrasound pics and belly pics, and just write random thoughts and feelings. I'll especially have to include stories of the things that O says about the baby! I'm getting excited about this :) If anyone has any other ideas for the journal, I'd love to hear them. I'm also looking for writing prompts, so if you have any ideas, please share!

Cotton Ball Collage

The idea for this activity came from Young at Art by Susan Striker. I gave the girls a bowl of cotton balls (I cut the cotton from medicine bottles to make the cotton balls since Guh-guh didn't have any) and a bowl of diluted glue. They dipped the cotton into the glue and made cloud collages on their construction paper.

This was a quick and fun art activity. We talked about the contrasting colors of black and white. Although O has known her colors for quite a while, she still sometimes confuses black and white, which I think is somewhat strange :) We also talked about the different textures of the cotton verses the paper. I'm looking forward to doing a texture collage with O soon!

I Spy!

After several false starts, I finally made an I Spy game board for O! Thanks to Cara for this fun idea! It was easy to make...just cut pictures from magazines and glue them to a piece of construction paper. I wanted O to help me cut out the pictures, and she did the first time (last week). Then I left the pictures at home when we went out of town. So I tried to get O and M to help cut out pictures a second time. O lost interest quickly. Finally, I decided to just do the whole thing without stopping while I watched tv at G & G's house (they have cable, so after O goes to sleep I watch TOO much tv!). O and M had fun playing I Spy on Wednesday afternoon, but O was a little sleepy, and I think she would enjoy it more on a day that she's had a nap :) M had lots of fun, and I think this will be an activity we will do again soon. Maybe next time the girls will help make the game board!

Cheerios & Pipe Cleaner Bird Feeders

O, M, Guh-guh, and I made cheerios and pipe cleaner bird feeders this morning. To make the bird feeders you need pipe cleaners and cheerios :) Thread the cheerios onto the pipe cleaners and you're done! Simple and fun! It's also a great activity for strengthening fine motor control. O and I made these feeders last year, too, but she was much more involved this year. She was excited to make her feeder in the shape of an O (of course!).


Guh-guh climbed up in the tree to hang our creations with the other bird feeders.

My 1st Felt Donut

I've wanted to make felt donuts for months, and I decided to make several for O and M for Easter. I'm finally emerging from the fog of constant nausea and got started. I used the pattern and directions from this book. It's a wonderful book, and I am excited to make many more of the sweets!



The donut is smaller than I had hoped. It's a sewn by hand, so it took quite a while. I think I'll use the pattern and tutorial from Skip to My Lou for the rest of the donuts!

Another Science Experiment

Guh-guh and the girls watched Sid the Science Kid this morning (O and I are at Guh-guh and Grandpa's house for the week while Elliott is out of town). After the show, they decided to do a science experiment.
They used carrots in their experiment, and M had the fun idea to make letters using the carrots. The girls took turns making letters while the other one identified the letters. Both girls are really into identifying letters, sounds, and reading words lately.



For their experiment, they discussed the sizes of the carrots and chose the 3 fattest carrots. Guh-guh cut the ends off of the carrots, and showed the girls how to hollow out the carrots to make miniature carrot baskets. Somehow Guh-guh threaded dental floss through the carrots (O insisted on flossing her teeth. She loves dental floss!). They hung the carrots in the window and filled the carrot baskets with water. Leaves should begin to sprout and curl up around the basket (hopefully within a week).




Update: The carrot experiment was a flop :( Guh-guh thinks that our carrots weren't fresh enough, and she's determined to try this experiment again. I'll let you know how it goes!

Valentine's Day Cards

 

This post is a little late, but better late than never! I wasn't planning on posting it, but I'll want to remember what we did one day, and I like to be able to easily look back at the blog to jog my memory :) I painted O's hands, and we made heart shapes using her handprints for cards for her grandparents. We love to make things with O's handprints, and this was easy to do. The idea came from a book of my sister's, and I also saw it on The Crafty Crow. The sad part is that we never actually finished delivering the cards to her grandparents. I hope they won't mind receiving VERY late Valentine's!

A Simple Science Experiment

O's Grandpa sent her this yellow daffodil, so O and Guh-guh decided to try a simple science experiment. They put red food coloring in the water to see if the flower will turn red as it drinks the water.



It didn't actually turn out that well because the flower only turned slightly red around the edges. However, it was fun, and that's the most important thing!

Leapfrog Letter Factory

 

I REALLY don't like for my kiddo to watch tv, but I'm loosening up a little, and we let her watch carefully selected dvds (and Noggin at Guh-guh & Grandpa's house). Guh-guh let us borrow the Letter Factory, since O is really into reading these days. O LOVES it! She'd watch it over and over if we let her. She's learning a lot, too, which makes me feel less guilty about letting her watch tv.
O recieved The Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics and Treasury of 20 Storybook Classics for Christmas. (I found both sets for 47 dollars and couldn't resist the deal since we were planning on starting a weekly family movie night after Christmas). O and I love the dvds, but Elliott thinks they are a little boring :)
We've also been watching Signing Time videos on youtube, and I am amazed by how much BOTH of us have learned. So, I guess tv isn't all bad afterall :) I never thought I'd say this, but I may put a few dvds on her birthday wish list (Signing Time and The Little Travelers).

Chocolate Playdough

I 1st saw a recipe for chocolate playdough on The Crafty Crow (I think) around Christmastime, and I knew it was something we'd have to try! I was glad for the reminder and the recipe on My Montessori Journey recently. I was also VERY glad that Guh-guh was excited to make the playdough with O. They had a great time, and since chocolate is one of O's (and Guh-guh's!) favorite things, this was the perfect activity for her (them)!

Mixing up the playdough





Spreading out the dough to make chocolate cookies. Yummy! Although O told me later that she tasted the playdough, and it REALLY wasn't yummy :)
 

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Playdoh Recipe

Mix together:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

Make sure you combine these ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed together. Then add 1 1/2 T. cooking oil and 1 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a nice smooth ball of dough.

My mom really preferred this method of making playdough over the cooking method. She said it's much easier! Thanks, Laura!

A Block House :)

 

O has had lots of fun playing with Guh-guh over these last few weeks! They built this fantastic block house of which O was VERY proud! She even put in a bookshelf and spent lots of time in her house reading to her babies. She's a good little mama :) She's also been spending a lot of time as Angelina Ballerina. My girl LOVES to dance, and she pretends that she takes dancing lessons. She was talking to me yesterday about what her teacher taught her at "dancing class." She has a very vivid imagination, and I would have believed her if I hadn't known that she doesn't take lessons! I can't wait until she can start dancing lessons in the fall. I hope she'll love it as much as we think she will!

My 1st Clue...

that O was up to no good at her art shelf was when I asked what she was doing, and she said "I don't know." Hmmmm. I was suspicious, but felt too sick to go see. I asked a couple more times, and she kept saying "I don't know." She brought me a picture and said something about "just like Olivia the Pig painted on the wall!" I was worried that she'd colored on the wall, so I got up to see. Nope. The walls were clean. Then she went to the art shelf, pointed to the underside of the shelf above the art shelf, and said "I don't want you to see, Mama." I asked what she was talking about and she repeated (while still pointing to the underside of the shelf), "I don't want you to see, Mama." I walked over and looked at the underside of the shelf and saw that she had scribbled on it with her markers. I gave her a cloth and she cleaned it up. She apologized, and said she was "naughty on purpose", but she didn't want me to see. I put her in time out, and she was upset because she wanted a snack. She really needs to work on her deceptive skills (but don't tell her that!) :) I would have never seen the scribbling if she hadn't pointed to it! Silly girl :)

Thanks, Everyone!

Thank you for all of your kind comments and well wishes. I am still feeling very ill, and Zofran is not the miracle drug that I had hoped for. Although, it does help :) I'll try to have some posts up in the next few days. As for now, I'm just trying to make it through one day at a time. O, my mom, and I have just returned from her house, so we're home for a while. Maybe we'll get back into some sort of routine, but I doubt it :) Right now I'm just hoping I can make it through work tomorrow without throwing up on anybody. I have to lead 2 IEP meetings, so hopefully I can at least make it through the meetings :)

*Update
Thanks for all of the comments and ideas for different rememdies. I'm trying lots of them :) I had a really bad morning yesterday, but I made it through my meetings. I'm lucky to work with such wonderful people (and many of them are pregnant!). I've had an exceptionally bad day today. I haven't been able to get out of the bed at all, and I've thrown everything I've eaten (sorry for the tmi). I'm so hungry, but there's no point in even trying to eat :( I have several things to post (that my mom has done with O), but I don't have the energy to download the pics to my computer, upload them to dropshots, and write a post...maybe tomorrow. I'm about to read another book. I've been reading a lot of novels, which is a nice distraction from the nausea. Last night was my last night taking Prometrium, so I'm hoping that I'll wake up tomorrow morning feeling like a new woman! Thanks again for all of the comments :)

I Love Her Imagination!

 

In this picture O is "fixing the water." She said she was putting in batteries and cleaning out spiderwebs. She was busy "fixing the water" for probably 20 minutes. I'm really enjoying her imagination lately. I love that she'll ask me for something, and I'll pretend to pick it up and hand it to her and she's perfectly fine with that :) This has saved me a lot of trips up and down the stairs!