Preschool Decision

My Girls: My Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago my hubby and I took on the big preschool debate. I got a ton of responses both on the blog and FB from all of my dear readers. And I first wanted to say a big thank you! I really appreciated all the input everyone gave.

One friend's observation proved true with every comment I received--the people who send their kids to preschool love it; the people who keep their kids at home love it. It just reiterated to me the truth of how individual a decision this is for everyone.

After much prayer and contemplation (and lots of talking to other moms), hubby and I sat down and discussed. It came down to one factor--God's leading. We both felt we are supposed to keep the girls at home . . . we don't argue with God, especially when we both felt the same direction. After that, nothing else really matters.

The pros I see to our decision:

1. My husband and I will remain the primary influences in our daughters lives during these formative years.

2. I get to spend more time with my daughters.

3. We are always up for a play date!

4. No extra bills for the month.

5. I don't miss any firsts.

6. This will force me to flex my crafty muscle and coordinate more hands-on projects.

7. I am living out my dreams (SAHM whose first priority is raising her children)

This has also helped me prioritize other aspects of my life:

1. My girls are my priority, not my job. I need to limit the number of projects I take on because my time to work will only be when they are sleeping or out with friends or family.

2. I will start lesson planning in the fall and work on preparing my eldest for kindergarten.

3. I need to cherish each moment and relish this time together. Dishes and household chores can always be done later. When my babies want me to play with them, I am available. I've made it a personal goal to make sure I'm not saying, "In a little bit" or "Just a minute" or "Let me finish this first" too often.

4. My habits, rituals, and daily chores are a living example to my daughters--they're always there watching and observing. I need to be constantly modeling a lifestyle that sends the message that life is good, it's okay to laugh, and serving God is my choice--and He honors that choice with blessings.

A Short Gripe

It's a new year, which means taxes will be due soon. How's that for a bummer beginning ;-)

I've also invested money in my fancy new logo, so I'm using the beginning of this year to reinvent my business and my business's look. Once I got my logo, I've been pasting it everywhere possible, and I even ordered fancy business cards today.

BUT when I went to put my logo on my invoices, it wouldn't work. Turns out it's not user error, it's the software. Mac Freelance, while sporting a lot of spiffy options for a very reasonable price, has turned out to be more trouble than help. I've resorted in the last couple of years to using as little as possible and just doing a lot of extra number stuff on Excel instead. I record my jobs in Mac Freelance, print an invoice, and record the check number when I get paid. There are a lot of other options, but before now I didn't care to learn them.

Well, today was a new day. I tried to learn the new options. I tried to customize my invoice to sport my cute little logo. And I got nowhere--and wasted a valuable hour of my time in the process.

So, Mac Freelance = Fail. I'm shopping for new software to make my taxes easier and my invoices customizable. Any suggestions?

Goodbye, Paci!

I apologize for my absence last week. We got hit hard with the blizzard, and things just didn't go as planned. You'd think with my hubby home I'd be able to get more done, but such was not the case. I plan to blog about our preschool decision soon. I really appreciated all of your insight! Until then . . . my victory over the paci!

This is my second baby sporting her paci on day two of her life . . . she has since lost interest, and I have no desire to introduce it to her again. I'll let you know if that changes ;-)

When I found out I was pregnant and my second child would be twenty-eight months younger than my first, I immediately began a list of milestones I wanted my eldest to accomplish before this baby came along.

1. Get rid of the paci.

2. Change to a toddler bed.

3. Potty train. (Read about my attempts here, here, here, here, and when I decided to stop here.) (I'll blog about my actual success soon.)

When the baby came, I had attempted 2 & 3, but only accomplished to change to a toddler bed. Having been so unsuccessful in accomplishing my list, I gave up trying and just waited for baby #2 to come.

Baby #2 came, and many things changed with my eldest. She had spectacular public meltdowns. She couldn't seem to keep her finger out of the newborn's eye. And she started owning the term "big sister."

Lesson 1: Talk is not cheap--it's invaluable. Both getting rid of the paci and potty training were possible because of incessant talk. Any opportunity my hubby and I had, we talked about getting rid of the paci. We told her babies use pacis, not big girls. We encouraged her to throw her paci away. We called it yucky and made a big deal of every time it fell on the floor. We went overboard stressing that Baby M used a paci because she was a baby, and now it was time for A to be a big girl and throw hers away.

Lesson 2: Sugar works. I swore I would never be that mom. You know, the one who uses candy and treats laden with the evil HFCS to motivate my children to do anything. But (and I'll talk about this more with potty training), when my daughter expressed an interest in chewing gum, we added it on to the growing list of incentives of things she could do after she threw away her paci (for a while we could put off any and every thing by just saying, "If you throw away your paci, you can do that . . . and for a long time, the paci was more important). So we told her only big girls who throw away their pacis can chew gum, and that's the one that made the difference. Every time she saw gum she'd say, "I can chew that when I throw away my paci?" And, one night she said she wanted gum. We told her she'd have to throw away her paci first.

So, she went to her bed, grabbed the paci, and threw it in the bathroom trash. I made sure we made a big deal of it and said goodbye to the paci. Then I had her watch as my hubby bagged the trash and took it outside (no dumpster diving for my toddler). Then we celebrated, rejoiced, made a huge deal out of it, and let her chew a piece of gum, which she promptly chewed twice and swallowed.

She asked for it a few times after that, but since she had seen us take the trash out, we'd just ask her, "Where's your paci?" and she'd answer,

"In the trash."

And we'd explain that we couldn't get it back after it was in the trash. There was little resistance after that.

Lesson 3: Maturity is a factor. For my daughter, she needed to be able to comprehend a few key points:

1. The difference (and importance) of a big girl versus a baby

2. The concept of throwing something away

3. The concept of a reward she's never had

If she didn't understand these points, reasoning with her afterward would've been impossible.

So, goodbye, paci. I will not miss searching for you in a sea of blankets and stuffed animals. I will not miss midnight searches for you because you bounced out of bed and were hiding camoflauged on my dark concrete floors. I will not miss the shame I felt when my two year old still needed you to go to sleep. And I will not miss your high price tag (since we opted for the natural rubber kind).

My Preschool Debate

I was homeschooled from first through sixth grade. I loved it, and I believe it gave me a lot of advantages for when I did enter public school. So I've always thought I'd homeschool as well, at least during the younger years. I know I'm in the minority, so I've been bracing myself for the lash back from educators and parents who would question my decision. I figured kindergarten age is either 5 or 6, so I had a good half of a decade after having my first child before I had to be ready for this debate.

I had no idea preschool would even be an issue. I guess I thought it was optional, and really, not necessary. Kindergarten is when school starts--I mean, real school, right?

So here I am with a two year old and an infant and everyone around me is putting their kids in a preschool or mother's-day-out program of some sort. And, I hate to admit this, but I panicked. I had never thought of preschool. I didn't think I had to. Since I was a stay-at-home mom, I thought I didn't need a mother's-day-out program, right? Why would I need to pay for preschool? I was staying home so I didn't have to pay someone else to raise my child.

All of the sudden the line got fuzzy, and I didn't know right from wrong (for my family). So, I told my husband all of the sides of the debate and what everyone else was saying, and I asked him to pray. I told him I'd be praying and would figure out where God's leading us, then come to him and see where he felt God was leading us (big decisions like this work best when we figure out God's direction on our own, then come together to find that we're both hearing the same thing from God--we come to a decision in very different ways: my hubby spends very little time on the issue, takes a little time to pray and listen, and comes back with his answer. I, on the other hand, have to hash everything out logically, consult with people I admire, pray, listen, make pro/con lists, etc., etc., until I come to my final decision. I find it rather amusing that we both always come to the same decision but in completely opposite ways).

Needless to say, when my friends (WAHMs, SAHMs, former elementary teachers, etc.) all started enrolling their children, I thought, "Uh oh. I've been missing something." So, for a little while now I've been researching and hashing out the pros and cons of preschool and trying to determine what's best for my children (Please note, I strongly believe this is a personal choice and something that needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis. I am in no way trying to determine if preschool is right for everyone. It's a personal decision just for my family).

Anyway, as I'm hashing it out in my mind, I thought I'd give you a peek into my own thought process and invite you to weigh in with your own experiences/thoughts.

Reasons I'd Send My Daughter to Preschool:

1. It'd give me more time to work (which is a little trickier to find this year because A is napping for half as long as she used to--so my work time has been cut in half).

2. It'd give me more quality time with my infant who's had to share me from day one.

3. It'd introduce my daughter to structure and teach her how to operate within structure.

4. It'd provide more opportunities for her to interact with other children and socialize.

5. It'd prepare her for kindergarten.

6. Everyone else is doing it.

Reasons I Wouldn't Send My Daughter to Preschool:

1. I want to raise my daughter--I don't want to pay someone else to do it.

2. She's got the rest of her life to be in school.

3. I can teach/train her at home so she's not missing out on any opportunities educationally or socially (we've got plenty of options to keep her around other kids and involved in extra curriculars).

4. I don't want to miss anything.

5. Children are influenced by the people they're around, and a big chunk of that influence would now be coming from outside sources.

6. I can always make my schedule work so that I can still work at home. It'd just be different, and different is okay.

7. I'd be doing it because everyone else is doing it.

There's my pro/con list so far. I've talked to quite a few people from all sides about the subject. And I've done a bit of praying. Now it's time for sorting. I need to sort all my thoughts, sift, stir, and sift some more and figure out where God's direction is in all of this. Why do I have to make this such a process all the time? If only I could be at peace with a decision I make after a few minutes of listening to God (like my husband). Well, I know why. I feel the need to have myself completely prepared to quiet the voices in my head when doubt, worry or fear start to come up after I've made the decision.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. What's most important for you? I'd say my number-one reasons on both lists are really the root of my problem. When I can figure which one is more important, I'll have my answer. I'll keep you posted.

**Be sure to "like" Editor Joy on FB (use the link in the righthand column) if you haven't already done so!

Skip Hop Backpack Review

I blinked and my baby is a toddler. I blinked again and realized all our friends have their toddlers enrolled in a mother's-day-out or preschool program. Since I've been considering homeschooling, I hadn't even contemplated a preschool program, but then my teacher friends told me the material covered in kindergarten is material I learned in first or second grade as a child. Whoa! Then I got overwhelmed and started calling preschools.

After some more consulations with friends and teachers, I'm not as overwhelmed. And even though I probably won't consider any type of program until this fall at the earliest (even though enrollment is in just a couple of short weeks), I've started to change my mindset about life at home. Every moment is a learning moment. I'm not talking about draining the fun from playing, but I am talking about maximizing on teaching moments when I'm spending quality time with my daughter.

And I've started to contemplate how I can incorporate more structure into our daily routine.

Baby step 1: Buy a backpack.

It's a small step, and it will be used for infinite possibilities, but it opens the discussion about school. Plus, it's just so stinkin' cute.

Skip Hop Backpack: Owl

When I found out I had an opportunity to review this product, I was ecstatic. Not only do I love the animal designs Skip Hop offers, but I also am a huge fan of Skip Hop products in general. My Skip Hop diaper bag is my favorite bag by far. It's like a Mary Poppins bag: you can get so much inside, and everything is easy to find and readily accessible. Needless to say, I had great expectations for the backpack.

Skip Hop offers a variety of backpack designs (dog, monkey, owl, mouse, bee and penguin)--all of them are adorable. And, bonus, matching lunchies are available too. When my backpack arrived in the mail, I was just as excited as when I ordered it online--it looks exactly like the picture. (I got the dog for my nephew too).

My daughter opened the backpack for Christmas, and she was excited to use it. Immediately she decided that she needed to pack food in it, so for the first week without fail, a cutie (mandarin orange) could be found in the main compartment.

Since then we've used it for various outings--mostly when she goes out for the day with my mom. After a month of wear, it still looks brand new. Quality construction and excellent material (just like my diaper bag) have proven valuable. The padded straps are a great fit for my toddler, not too big or small--just right to fit on her back or carry at her side. The zippers have large decorations that make it easy for tiny toddler hands to grasp and navigate on their own.

Unlike my diaper bag, it's not as roomy as I had hoped. Granted, it's made for a toddler to carry, so ten pounds of "necessary" clothing changes, snacks, pull-ups, wipes, hand sanitizer, etc., do not all fit. BUT I can easily get a change of clothes, wipes, blankie, and small cuddly toy inside. The front insulated pocket is a safe place for snacks, and the side mesh pocket for a sippy cup is also handy (it's a little small for one of our sippy cups but our Kleen Kanteen fits well). The lining is easy to wipe clean, and a good soak in the sun will keep the outside just as sanitary (but not too much sun--don't want to fade the bright colors).

Not only will this backpack stand out in a pile of bags, but it comes at a reasonable price. Compared to a lot of popular backpacks available online, Skip Hop's $20 price tag undercuts a lot of the competition without sacrificing quality.

And, as a mom who takes great care as to what toxins are present in my children's lives, knowing this bag is BPA, Phthalate and PVC free makes me want to hug this bag just a little tighter.

**Remember, if you haven't "liked" Editor Joy on FB yet, use the button on the righthand margin to "like" it right now--and tell your friends about it too. Thanks.

What I Learned This Christmas: Weight Management

It's not rocket science. In fact, it's pretty logical. I first heard it on Dr. Oz, and I scoffed at the idea. But when I followed it, I found I didn't feel bloated and bulky after the Christmas season. I felt great.

What is this great weight management tip for the holidays? Don't cook anything at home. Of course, I didn't follow this 100 percent, but for the most part, I did well. I didn't bake cookies, treats, or other snacky items to take to parties. Why? Because the leftovers would've been lying around the house begging me to eat them. If they weren't stacked in the fridge, they weren't tempting me.

We made two exceptions for this rule: tiger butter and cinnamon rolls. The tiger butter was my hubby's project. It's wonderful but oh-so-not-healthy (so unhealthy I won't even admit on here what the ingredients are). Of course, none of those pieces of tiger butter went to waste, just to my waist. I also made cinnamon rolls. Holy mother of butter. Those were so worth it. And, believe you me, not a single one missed my waist either. I can't imagine if there had been more sweet treats lying around my home. Well, yes, I can imagine it, and I can imagine myself snacking on them during all hours of the day.

So, wanna feel amazing after the Christmas holidays? Keep the food in someone else's house. It's that simple. And, be willing to buy something pre-made, so you don't have to deal with the dozens of leftovers you couldn't cram on the cute Christmas plate you took to your mother-in-law's.

All of these cookies were assembled at my mom's. We took a small plate home and left her to battle the dozens of leftovers =)

What I Learned This Christmas: KISS

I'm not a big crafter by any stretch of the imagination. Yes, my mom made me take sewing and cooking lessons when I was young. Yes, I appreciate them now. Yes, I'm making way more use of my sewing skills than I'd ever imagined I would. But that doesn't make me crafty.

I am a big copycat. Original craft ideas don't bloom in my head. But I can copy other people's ideas with the best of them. So, with a world of craftiness at my fingertips (i.e. the Internet), I can make almost anything.

Here's the problem with being a copycat--there's so much to copy. So, this year I decided to follow the old acronym KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For my friends' boys, I wanted to sew matchbox car play mats complete with roads, trees, pools of water, etc., but it would've taken me FOR-EV-ER. So, I didn't let myself start the project. Instead I looked for great toy deals online, and I picked crafts that wouldn't take a long time.

My stocking stuffers came from Babble, my new favorite source for craft, decoration, and new recipe ideas. I found it through a suggestion on FB, and it has changed my life. Here's the post that inspired my stocking stuffers: Favorite DIY Christmas Ornaments. I made the Felt Monogram Ornaments which turned out exactly like the pictures! THEN I found this:

Look familiar? They were available at West Elm, but they're already gone. =(

I also made hair bobbies for my girl friends. I unashamedly copied a clip I had seen in one of my favorite stores. Basically, I made a small fabric yo-yo, sewed a bead in the center, and sewed it onto a hair pin. Voila! I should've taken pictures for a tutorial, but I didn't. Sorry.

My friends and family loved the presents--everyone got a little something handmade. And I pumped them all out in the time it took to watch a couple of Christmas movies after my family went to bed.

Next year, it's only simple projects for me. Past that, I can find great inexpensive deals online--and those are delivered right to my door step.

KISS-ing works for me. In fact, I think it's one of my favorite things to do =)

**Remember to "like" Editor Joy on FB too (see the right column). Thanks!