Abraham's Offering by Danielle Rose

Have you heard this song before? It is AWESOME! A sweet friend of mine emailed me the link earlier this week and I can not stop listening to it. I hope you have a great day!

Nanny 911

So... when I was preggo with AG everyone said "Oh you are going to be so sleepy!" "a newborn is so demanding" "it's hard but you'll get the hang of it"

Well folks - Let.Me.Tell.You. - taking care of a newborn is NO PROBLEM compared to PARENTING a toddler. Seriously. For the past week everything that comes out of Ava Grace's mouth is NO and she wants to do the opposite of everything that we tell her. Now - in her defense she is not like that all of the time. She is such a sweet and fun loving little girl. Her personality is like none other and she will CRACK you up!! She will have you laughing so hard you won't be able to stop!!

I know it's just a "phase" - or I think it is. But, I still can't let her constantly get her way and think she rules this house. So... who did I turn to??

NANNY 911 OF COURSE!! I mean that woman KNOWS HER STUFF ABOUT PARENTING!!

I watched several episodes online today and this is what I learned. It really is common sense but it's kinda hard to stick with it when the going gets tough.

1.)STAY CALM - this is super hard for me and the hubby. But we talked about it and we are going to try really hard to just keep an even tone with her when we she misbehaves.

2.)TIMEOUT - we are already doing this but I found some new techniques with the timer and everything.

3.)BE CONSISTENT - this is SUPER IMPORTANT. I think we just couldn't find something that immediately worked with her so we jumped around from incentive charts and stickers, to timeout, to the sad spoon. So we decided that we were going to strictly do TIMEOUT for an entire month and then evaluate how it is working.

4.)BEDTIME - she needs to go to bed on her own in her own bed. She does sleep in her own bed but gets up at 3 and comes to our room like clockwork every night. And I have to lay down with her until she falls asleep and half the time I end of falling asleep at 8 with her and I never get to spend time with the hubby.

So... do you wanna hear my success for tonight?!?!?!

She got put in timeout twice. Once for backtalking and the other for refusing to wash her hands before dinner. She sat there for 3 minutes each time letting me know that she did "not like the timeout chair!" - which was perfect with me. I stayed calm and set the timer. Then when the timer went off I explained why she had to do timeout and if she was quiet then she could get up. She got up and went straight to the sink, washed her hands, then came to the table and ate 2 plate fulls of food! Yes - 2 plate fulls!! I praised her for her good eating and she got her 4th sticker on her Good Eating chart! (Only a few more and she gets a trip to ChuckeCheese and she is SUPER EXCITED about that!!)

So... How did bedtime go?? Well let me tell you I AM STILL SHOCKED AT THIS MOMENT!!

Nanny 911 said to just put the child in their bed over and over again whenever they get out and eventually they will get the point that you are the boss. Well, that's EXACTLY what I did and it only took 30 minutes and she is ASLEEP in her bed by herself!! She got up about 4 or 5 times and turned her lights on. I just kept turning them out and put her back in the bed. I did find her nightlight and turn it on just in case she was afraid of the dark. Now - she might get up at 3 tonight but I feel like we are on the right track. She really didn't have a tantrum about going to bed. She just kept getting up and standing at her door saying "Mommy will you come back?" Talk about BREAKING your heart! She's such a sweet girl! The last time I put her in the bed I think she was finally just giving up and she said "Night Night I lub you!" and that was it. Now she is snuggling with her Dora Pillow and her blanket! :-)

The hardest thing is being consistent!! But me and the hubby are both on the same page and that is really our main goal right now! :-)

And Ava Grace is not the only one comfy in her bed. Look at this sweet baby! She played hard outside with us this afternoon and is one tired puppy!

I feel the need...

Right now I am feeling the need to have a better schedule. My laundry, dinners, routine, house cleaning, etc... It is all going downhill. So - that is my goal for this week! To get caught up on laundry first and foremost and then plan a better schedule and routine for the South family. What kind of cleaning schedule do you have? What kind of schedule are your kids on? How often do you cook?

And here is a pic of Ava Grace and her B.F.F. Dora! This was at her birthday party a few weeks ago! I love that sweet smile! :-)

Sassy Girl!

I am BACK!! I can't believe it has been more than 6 months since I have posted. Thanks to Leslie at Lamberts Lately I have a new blog design! YAY!! Thank you Leslie!

So, I thought I would start back with some recent pics of Ava Grace. I took these yesterday evening. She was outside playing with her Barbie jeep and I managed to get her to stop for pics... with a little bribery of course :-) M&Ms do the trick every time... and they have to be "lellow" to work!

Fun Fun Weekend!

WOW! We had such a fantastic weekend! Aunt Caroline was here to visit and Saturday Ava Grace had 2 friends over to play. Her cousin, Colin and her best buddy, Parker. They had a blast!! We were outside from 10:30 am until 4:30 pm. We had a picnic lunch, played with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, bounced in the Sesame Street Jumpy, played with the Barbie Jeep, Parker brought over his tractor, and they played and played and played! We also dyed eggs for Easter Time and they had a blast!

Sunday we went to church and then to a wedding shower for a friend. Then we met up with Daddy and ate dinner with Pop Up.

Here are some pictures from this weekend! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!

I LOVE SPRING!!

It is starting to get warm outside and that makes me really HAPPY! I have played outside with Little Bit for the last 2 afternoons and she is loving it! This morning she woke up at 6:30 and said "I want to go outside!"

I have a feeling that we will be spending a lot of days outside this spring and summer. So, I think we need some more outside toys to play with. I know what you are thinking... "That child does not NEED any toys!" - well, guess what? I am about to justify that...

Right now this is what we have to play with...

Sesame Street Bounce House: It did have a tear in it but we found the patch kit and I fixed it up yesterday.

Barbie Jeep: Maybe when she is a little older she will drive this. She will not push the pedal. She gets in it and puts her 'baby for the day' in it and then gets out. She is afraid to push the pedal. :-(

little Swing Set - and when I say Little I mean l-i-t-t-l-e. It is for ages 1-3. She can not fit in the swing anymore and she is taller than the slide. But it is great for her 'baby for the day'

Tricyle: She had a tricyle but it is made so strange. It is a retro looking tricycle so it looks really cute but she is too short for it and I think when she is tall enough to use it she will be riding a regular bike.

That's it right now. I know what you are thinking... "THAT'S IT!" - I know it is a lot of things but she can only really use a couple of them and I would much rather her be outside playing nonstop instead of sitting in front of the tv... So here are some things I am thinking about!!

What favorite outdoor toys do your kids/grandkids love?!?!

Dora's #1 Fan!!

It's official! Ava Grace is Dora's #1 Fan! We stood in line to see Dora yesterday - not once... but TWICE! The first time we waited in line for about 30 minutes. The 2nd it was only for about 10 minutes - and IT WAS WORTH IT to see the SMILE on little bit's face!!

The first time we got to see Dora - they were only allowing you to take 1 picture and were rushing you to take it and go... well, that didn't really work for us. When Ava Grace had to leave Dora she was SO SAD! :-(

So I thought maybe I could take her to another section and play - WRONG ANSWER! Just when she thought I was not looking she took off in a SPRINT towards Dora. I caught her just as we got to the door where Dora was sitting and Ava Grace let out a "I WANT DORA! MY DORA!" So - that is why we decided to go thru the line again. And by the way it is REALLY HARD trying to explain to a 2 year old that she has to wait in line AGAIN to see Dora. The first time standing in line she was extremely patient. The 2nd time - notsomuch but she tried really hard!!

Then at lunch I realized where Ava Grace gets some of her impatience... ME! The line was SO LONG for pizza and it was taking forever and I caught myself getting so frustrated and impatient. Then I remembered that I had been telling Ava Grace to be patient for the last hour... So, God gave me a little lesson on patience standing in the Pizza Hut line. Being patient really is hard - so I guess AG and me can just work on that together.

Here are some pictures from our fun day! If we didn't live so far away I would take her every day this week - THAT IS HOW MUCH FUN SHE HAD!! The only time she stopped smiling is when she had to sit down to eat lunch... and when Dora went night night.


On our way to see Dora. She had to take 2 Dora's and Super Why came along for the ride too!


She was a little star struck in this picture! But this was our 1 picture. She has a look on her face like "this is MY Dora!"


This was our 2nd time thru. She first ran up to Dora and gave her a big hug and said "I LOVE YOU DORA!" - It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. And then she was trying to show boots her little Dora that she brought from home.



Having fun playing on the Butterfly Wall!


My nephew Roman on the NEWS! This was so cute!


My other newphew, Gavin - loving on Dora too!


Me and my sweet girl! I love taking her to do fun things like this!


After playing hard all day - she passed out with her new Diego and Dora doll.