More $!&%(#@ snow?!

Here in the DC area we are swimming in about 30 inches of snow (what we got in Frederick). There is more snow on the ground then I have ever thought possible. The last big storm we got I was so excited, but now I'm totally ready to pour huge buckets of steaming hot water to melt all of this white powder and move on with my life!

At this very moment yet another storm of this year is falling. Friday we went to the mountain, today we decided to stay home and get some packing done. March will be here before I know it!

Yikes!

Now what is it they say again about Global Warming?

The Boy

UPDATED- LINK HAS BEEN FIXED.


For the past like 6 months (but maybe more) I have been completely envious of all the fabtastic crafters in the blogoverse. I have my eyes on getting a sewing machine and have been planning to since my birthday in October....But I'll admit it. I'm a bit apprehensive because I'm scared. 


I start a lot of things and never finish them, but I really, really, really want to learn to sew...maybe I'll get the courage in a few weeks.


Anyhow all of the fantastic crafters always have great project tutorials and ideas for girls. But nothing for boys.


Until today...


I stumbled on to MADE and she has taken the entire month and dedicated it to crafting for boys!


Stop by if you've got a little guy in your life. I've already bookmarked uhm...everything for Phoenix!

Potty Training Tips

I promised last week that I would post some of my mom’s tips for potty training on Monday. But sometimes things like announcing the winners of the giveaway or making melting avalanche cakes get in the way.

I've probably mentioned before that I am the oldest of 8 so instead of wasting time reading 50 different parenting books for advice I just pick up the nearest cell phone and shoot my mom a message for the best advice.

She's been on me since his birthday to get on the potty training thing. She believes (and I agree) once a kid is eating real food their poop goes from that strange sweet smell it has when they are breast fed (Are my husband and I the only weird ones that thought breast milk poop smelled good?) and goes to absolute grown man smells when they're eating ice cream and nuggets that they need to be on the potty ASAP!

So we've tended to potty train way before two (and even a year and half) in our house.


So here are her tips.


• Set an egg timer to go off every 10 minutes to remind you to put your tot on the pot.

• Keep on the potty for 5 minutes when there is no accident.

• After an accident put on potty for 2 minutes.

• Take a week and watch your tots "poop schedule" to determine when you should expect them to need to poop.

• Keep them naked during the day. Cuts down on the laundry. But now realize when you do this you may have yourself a little naked chef in the kitchen.

• During nap and night time put a diaper on.

• As soon as your toddler wakes from nap or wakes in the morning put them straight on the potty.

• When your toddler sits on the potty (even if they don't do anything) give them a treat (we use M&M's which are his favorite). The idea is to get them excited about sitting on the potty. And when they do final go on the potty make a huge deal about it!

• During the week you watch for poop times, use the potty as his chair to watch TV and read.

• If your toddler has an accident take her to the potty to show her where she is supposed to go.

• If your toddler seems to be extra cranky or sleepy or your getting close to dinner time end potty training for the day.

• Read to him while he's on the potty.

• Puppy smell remover works best for cleaning up accidents

• Be consistent!

We are now working on our first full week and it's going pretty good but I'm still interested in hearing some of your tried and true potty tips!

Just a bit of housekeeping

I completely forgot to thank everyone who voted for me in The Shrimp Salad Top in 09 Awards








Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!

I totally won and I never win anything actually I just remembered (I had completely forgotten until this moment. Shows how your priorities change huh?) that almost 4 years ago (wow that's forever) I won tickets to see Nick Lachey perform and got tickets to the meet and great.

Up until I met my husband and met my Phoenix baby that was probably the single greatest moment.

But now Nick Lachey moments and new shoe moments are dashed by things like this and this.

But any thank you so much for voting for me!

And hello to all the new followers!

Also I haven't featured a bloggerazzi interview in awhile (because I'm lazy) but I want to start that up again so if you are interested please email me.

And the winner is.....

The following are the 8 winners of the giveaways! Please email me at beforethebabywakes@gmail.com to claim your prize! Please put in the subject what day you won for.

Day 1 Giveaway- olliegraphic

The winner for the fantastic custom valentines is comment:

16. polly said...

very cute valentine's! i would choose the little boy design.
 polly
pkeintz@gmail.com

Day 2 Giveaway-JuJuBee Designs Jewelry

The winner of the beautiful custom Swaroski crystal earrings is comment:

 41. mframe said...

new blog follower
mframe00@yahoo.com

Day 3 Giveaway-Joey & Aleethea

The winner of the adorable monster t-shirt is comment:

18. Kylie said...

How cute are these - thanks for the chance to win one:)

Day 4 Giveaway-Lil PeeWee's

The winner of this cute crochet hat is comment:

12. Donna said...

I like the Orange and Camo Cap Crochet Hat Newsboy Brim.

donna444444@yahoo.com

Day 5 Giveaway-Violet Bella

The winner of the a beautiful photograph is comment:

22. debbiejackson said...

love the "love's lock necklace"

Day 6 Giveaway-Snapdragon Art

The winner of the cute little onesie is comment:

1. Marlena U. said...

I'm expecting #2 and this would be so cute to have!!
m_huston(at)hotmail(dot)com

Day 7 Giveaway-Gosling Gray

The winner of yummy looking photo is comment:

6. penny threads. said...

http://twitter.com/pennythreads/status/8249446441
TWEETED! :)
Renea Hanna
pennythreads {at} gmail {dot} com

Day 8 Giveaway-Sweet Tater & Co.

The winner of the cozy baby blankey is comment:

3. sibabe64 said...

Very nice embroidery work
sibabe64 at ptd dot net

Potty Success Story #2 (but not that kind of #2)

I have potty success training story #2, #3 and #4 or I could just condese it and say potty training success DAY #3 with 3 seperate pee times. Ok but does it really matter?

Yesterday we got back on the wagon uh, I mean potty after taking the weekend off. Friday was our last day attempting and it was bad. Nothing came out and landed in the pot...it just landed everywhere else.

But yesterday morning I popped on up showered all early (which is a first for me) and started our day. By days end we had successfully elimanted in the potty three times!

My biggest failure was after the 2nd elmination I set the timer and when it dinged I didn't get up right away which promotly resulted in him pooping pretty much all over the playroom. Seriously it looked like he squatted on the playmat elminated got up moved a few inches squatted again, moved a few inches and did it again! It lead all the way to his kitchen area. It was like having a dog again!

But nevertheless I press on. At one time while I was baking my disaster of a cake he peed in the kitchen and then slipped in his own pee!

Later today look for the tips I got from my own Mom to make potty training success.

The slow sliding death of cake

Today was Phoenix's birthday...his 1/2 birthday this is. And now I have a kid running around my house who is almost 2. When did this happen? I mean I knew 2 was coming because he's gotten the eye roll down AND the folding of the arms whenever I tell him no or he gets pissed (and boy he gets pissed a lot!). If I ever wonder if he's mine I can just check the attitude.

But I really wanted to do something special for his birthday. For the last couple weeks he has become obsessed with Nemo. I mean I put it on in the AM turn the sound down and let it loop all day. Now before I get a bunch of comments about letting him watch TV all day. Rest assured it's not 12 hours of straight TV watching. 

I like background noise and would rather have a kid show on while he's up then a bunch of loud commercials, talk shows, or my soaps. So we put movies in and he'll take a few 5 minute breaks here and there to watch it. Now that we're potty training this helps even more.

But nevertheless this one is his favorite to watch. He also loves dogs, but we've been down that path before so I decided to get him a fish. I really want a big goldfish or lots of little tiny ones but the people at Pet Smart said that we need a big heated tank to make that happen. And really I'm not sure If I'm going to invest in something he might not like.

So we got a simple Beta fish that we named Nemo, but we call him Mo because thats all Phoenix can say. He's pretty cute with "Mo" he'll go up and kiss the glass and wave buh-bye to him. And will call "Mo! Mo!" when's he looking for him.

Anyhow I decided to just do a cake for today since Mo seemed like a good enough present. And then I stumbled upon Remodelaholic's blog and she just so happened to have just celebrated her little girls 1/2 birthday as well.

She made her a half a cake in celebration and I thought the idea was adorable....

So I set out to make it and this is what I ended up with....

We put one candle and cut on in half.

As soon as I put the icing on it started spilling off and the top part started sliding off. Shawn's first instinct was to use bamboo skewers to stick in it to hold it up...didn't work. I then immediately popped it in the freezer because I thought it needed to harden. But after opening the freezer less then 5 minutes later I realized I had just made it in time to stop it from sliding again!

Once I sliced it, it looked slightly better...but not much.

I've always tried to remain completely transparent in my blogging and I really debated about sharing this with you because I was totally humiliated!

I don't know why but I decided I wanted to make the cake from scratch. Why I continue to torture myself with baking recipes I'll never know. I'm not a baker, never have been. Baking is scientific and mathematical and that is not me. But I continue to press on. I guess I figure if I can get this down it will justify this purchase.

But I just can't get it. Why I didn't just get a Betty Crocker box and icing I'll never know. Maybe it's all the blog envy I have from the super talented and crafty bloggers out there...but I tried....

I'm not sure if the icing wasn't stiff enough, cake wasn't cool enough or that you can't cut a cake in half and sit it on top of the other.No idea but it was a big fail in the presentation department. 

Loved the taste (used this for the cake and this one for the icing), but when it comes to looks I think I've let my Martha down.

Midnight is the very last moment to enter into the giveaways so please do so! The winners will be announced Wednesday morning!