Housebreaking Sophie

We were having some real problems with Sophie, not wanting to go outdoors to go to the restroom and I have been at my wits end, so I called in reinforcements. I asked Mom if she would take her and try to train her for me because I just couldn’t handle this all the time!  It was either break her of this or she would have to have a new home.

So Mom took her and spoiled her rotten for a couple of weeks. She said that she settled in right away, letting the cats at her house know who the new kid on the block was and that she did have a big bark, although not the guts to back it up with!  All the cats had to do was snarl and hiss and extend a claw, not one of friendship mind you, to put her in her place real quickly. 

That was okay with Sophie, that meant she could curl up on Mom’s lap while she was working at the computer or she could snuggle under the bed covers during the cold nights we recently had.

I took Taylor over to visit Sophie several times and there were a few phone calls to Grandma to check on how well she was doing after just the first week. The second week rolled around and I could tell Taylor was getting really anxious about getting her puppy back, so we went over and picked her up.

Mom made sure to give us a progress report, that she was doing very well about letting you know she wants to go out by coming and scratching your leg, whining and jumping around in circles and then heading towards the door, going so fast that she would slide down the hallway!  She did still need to have papers put out for her “accidents” because she had learned how to get off the bed in the middle of the night and go “wondering” to find a spot!  She hadn’t learned how to get back up on the bed so you would have whining and scratching on the side of the bed until you lean over and pick her up. She would immediately burrow her nose under the covers until she could get in next to you, turn upside down and fall asleep.

I had to send this photo to my mom to show her what happened the first night home with Taylor. I pulled back the covers and this is what I found, both of them sound asleep!

Cake Balls Recipe

We had these for desert at Thanksgiving to go along with our traditional apple and pumpkin pies.
This recipe made a three tier cake dish full of Cake Balls and believe me, they went like wildfire!
Since we had a birthday boy who loves Red Velvet Cake, I substituted it for the lemon flavor cake which I really like.  They went faster than the pies did.  Each one is about two bites worth of cake, and you can pick them up in your fingers because the almond bark coating sets up hard.  No sticky fingers.

 Cake Balls Recipe
1 jar cream cheese frosting
3 cake mixes any flavor ( my faves are lemon, carrot, pumpkin)
almond bark about 3 pkgs

make up each cake mix as directed on the box.
After cooling, Set out 3 bowls, one for each flavor.Crumble each  in a bowl and mix 1/3 jar of the frosting in each bowl..
Form each cake ball  into a ball ( I use my Table spoon measuring spoon) but you can use a cookie scoop.
once you get them all formed, melt the almond bark (make sure you add shorting to thin it)
cover each cake ball, and set on wax paper till set.

These are mouthwatering good!  These would make fantastic Christmas gifts.

Puke Buckets and Mop Pails!

As I write this we are going on day four of A.L. being sick! I hate having her so sick and not knowing what it is that is causing her to have a high fever and throwing up.  Needless to say the puke pail has been in constant use along with the mop bucket for missed attempts at hitting the bucket, but that is to be expected with a little 3 yr old, the aim isn’t always so good.

I am beginning to wonder if this is the stomach bug that J.T. and T.A. cycled through that they brought home from school, although I am thinking that with the time lapse between them being sick and now A.L. that they are not connected to one another. With J.T. and T.A. they were sick for around 48 hrs and then they were fit as a fiddle!

Of course one of the main worries with little ones puking and with a high fever is the concern about getting dehydrated. For the first couple of days, she didn’t want to eat or drink anything.  I think it was more the fear of it coming right back up again that caused her not to want anything. Luckily that has been overcome and she is getting plenty of liquids now.

We’ve been to the doctor and started running all the usual tests. Tonsillitis and strep throat have been ruled out and the doctor thinks it is a viral infection. If she isn’t showing improvement, the doctor wants to see her again on Monday.

So of course we have a huge get-together planned for Thanksgiving here at our house! Hopefully this will be gone over the weekend and we can go ahead and look forward to a fun holiday together with all of our family.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday A.G.!

This time a year ago, we were welcoming you into this big old world!  We were mighty worried about you there for awhile. The doctor ended up putting me on “house arrest”, well lets say it felt like that anyways.  I was told I needed to go home and stay in bed when I was 21 weeks along.  NO lifting of anything larger than a glass of water. No vacuuming, doing laundry, making beds…. Nothing …. NADA! I was allowed to get up, move to the sofa and lie down or sit propped up with my legs up. I wasn’t even allowed to stand to cook lunch or dinner! 

Thanks to God, a wonderful husband, who stepped up to the plate, family, and friends, they all kept me down and resting so that you would stay put and survive. Every time I would go into the doctor, she was thankful and then when you actually waited until your due date to be born , she was amazed!  Prayer is truly wonderful and I feel so blessed!

And here you are today, a perfect healthy little girl! 

Happy Birthday darling!

Summertime in the Park

I just had to share this with you all. It is a picture of A.L and her cousin L. playing in the park when her uncle and his family came to visit from Arizona. Alyssa took this picture and then entered it into a photo fair contest and she won first prize in her age group! I absolutely love the concentration of the two of them as they were playing along the hopscotch that was made on the sidewalk.

Looks like a drawing that Norman Rockwell would do doesn't it?

What's Inside Your Lunch Box?

Do you have problems coming up with ideas for sandwiches to put in school lunches?  I now know why my mom fixed so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us when we were growing up!  Of course back then we didn’t have insulated lunch bags either, just the good old customary brown bag that you threw in the trash when you were done. We would get a sandwich, some potato chips, cookies (if we were lucky) or an apple (which I seldom had time to eat) and then milk money to get a carton of milk in the cafeteria. Needless to say our lunches were pretty boring and we looked forward to cafeteria food! 

As I got older, in my teen years, I would tease my mom because she would make out a grocery list and invariably leave it on the kitchen counter. We would get half-way to the store and she would realize she left it at home. One day I said to her,  “Just use the one in your purse from last time, you always buy the same things anyway!”  You can imagine how well that went over! 

At least with my children we use the insulated lunch totes and little thermos bottles that can be filled with either milk or soup and small containers that can be used for hot or cold items.

I do find that making sandwiches is a bit tricky to keep a variety going for both of my older children since they are both allergic to peanut butter, I will make them cheese sandwiches without mayonnaise or put in lunch meat, cheese, lettuce and pickles into the keep cold containers and bread in a lunch bag. That way they can create their sandwiches when they are ready to eat and they are not soggy. You notice I didn’t include tomatoes, trying to get those down them uncooked is impossible!

Both of them like to take macaroni and cheese, beef stew, chili, or spaghetti in one of the insulated containers. Other favorites are cottage cheese, fruit cocktail, peaches or pears. This winter, I am going to include soups and hot chocolate and see how they like that.
  

Making The Switch To Cloth Diapers

A. L. is almost two now and having two little ones in disposable diapers is extremely expensive! Although she is doing very well on the potty training during the day and wears big girl panties, I will switch her over to diapers when we leave the house to avoid any “accidents.” I still have not figured out what the fascination is with little girls and wanting to use public restrooms! It never fails, go to a restaurant, shopping in a store, or church and I hear this little voice saying “mama I gotta go potty!”

Several months ago, in an effort to cut costs on disposable diapers, I decided to try the new style cloth diapers with the waterproof covers.  I started pricing them in the store and they were extremely expensive. I also found websites on the Internet where you can purchase them, both new and used. As luck would have it, we were able to get some off  E-bay really reasonably priced. I was hesitant at first because they were used diapers but figured a good washing with some bleach and the sanitizer cycle on my washing machine, they would be fine. 

The brands that we purchased are called Haute Pocket diapers.
These are the new style where the diaper pad slips inside a pocket in the waterproof cover.  I have a total of four and wish I had more!  If you are considering making the switchover to cloth diapers, I would suggest having at least a dozen covers and inserts to work with. One thing you do need to remember is not to dry the cover part in your dryer.

You can use liners that go over the pocket, between the diaper and baby’s bottom to make it easier to clean up “poopy” messes. It will also help keep the actual diaper pad part from staining so badly. These are sold at various stores like Wal-Mart, Target and even Toys-R-Us or at various sites over the internet.

One thing that I have not tried yet is taking a regular pre-fold cloth diaper and inserting it into the pocket for overnight wear. I need to see if that would be sufficient for handling overnight wetting.

I have not noticed any difference in problems like diaper rash because I use Parent’s Choice disposable diapers. With my first two, I tried several of the well-known brands, but with my children’s allergies and skin sensitivities, I had to keep changing brands until I found one that would not irritate their skin.

I do still use the disposable diapers overnight for both A. L and A. G. Hopefully A.L. will be able to go without diapers at all here shortly. We are in the process of potty training but overnight are still a problem.

During the day, A.G. is cruising in her Haute’s!