crazily normal

17 January 2015

Saturday Spotlight: Volume 3

Welcome back to the Saturday Spotlight!

We had some really great posts link up last week.

Featured Posts This Week:

Organizing The Toys by The Adventure Starts Here
Making Room For Baby #2 by The Adventure's of Bug and Boo
5 Resolutions Every Mom Needs by Seven Graces
#Kindnesscan by Shannon Nichole

Thank you to everyone who linked up this week!

For those who were featured feel free to grab some bling for your blog :)

If you're new to the link up and wonder how you can be featured, it's simple;

1. Grab a button and display it in your post or somewhere on your blog, this will bring more participants and give us a better chance at featuring GREAT content and finding new bloggers to follow.

2. Link up any post (or posts) from the past week. All kinds of posts welcome :)

3. Read and comment on at least one other linked up post. We really want for this link up to be a place where you can find and interact with new bloggers alike!

We hope to build community through this link up and look forward to getting to know you.

*Disclaimer: by linking up you give permission for your images to be featured on the Saturday Spotlight. All images will be credited to you of course.

So what are you waiting for? Grab the button and link up your best post(s) below!

An InLinkz Link-up

15 January 2015

Winter Photos

I know these photos are not the best when it comes to technical photography stuff, but I love them.

I love the white on white on white.

I love the pop of red pants.

I love the sweet little girl and her sweet little smile.

13 January 2015

Our Road To Potty Training

I'm hoping I am not jumping the gun here by saying this, but I think we are almost ready to toss the diapers!

Now, I am not going to claim to be any kind of potty training expert here, but seriously, in a matter of just a few days, we got Palmer basically trained at home! I knew it was coming soon and I happened to have a 4 day stretch off from work then Mitch started his 2 weeks off from work over the holidays. I figured this was the ideal time so we thought we would give it a whirl.

We used the old naked-at-home trick and it worked wonderfully. Aside from a couple little dribble accidents on the floor, Palmer rocked it. She hated the fact that I didn't put pants on her while at home for 4 days besides at nap and bed time, but she got use to it, and got use to using the potty.

I didn't anticipate how hard it was going to be for me! Seriously. Emptying the singing duck potty every 2 minutes. No exaggeration here, folks. I'm not sure if she just dribbled out a pee that often so she could get her jellybean or if she legit had to go, but this girl was keeping me busy, for sure! And following her around with a mop every so often... This mama didn't have time for anything but pee over those 4 days, which is fine with me if it means diapers are a soon-to-be distant memory.

Now, Palmer is good about letting us know. We have got a "big girl potty" (a seat that fits onto the toilet) on our main floor bathroom, which is SO. MUCH. EASIER. (for us), and she has no issues using it. We have had very few accidents over the past few weeks and I am confident we are on the right track. As of now, Palmer is only wearing diapers while she sleeps, and I think we will cut out the one at nap time very soon.

We are lucky too that we have a day home who is willing to help train her, considering Palmer spend the majority of her days there while we are working, we truly would not have been able to make it work out if we didn't have that.

So, I'm hoping we can have Palmer all trained before she turns 2 next week and we can be virtually diaper free!

I wanted to share a few tips with you all; ones that we found to be helpful. (Again, I'm obviously no expert here...just my opinions)

1. Don't get upset if your child has an accident. They are learning and it will take time. Getting angry may only make it worse. Instead, say "It's ok. Accidents happen" or something along those lines.

2. We brought the potty into the living room for easy access. When Palmer had to go, it was right now and not having to navigate our way through the house to the potty was so helpful. Every few days we would move it further and further until finally we just had it in the bathroom.

3. I set a timer for 15 minutes. When that timer went off, we tried using the potty. She sat there for a few minutes and if nothing happened, we would try 15 minutes later. Once she had success, we waited about 30-45 minutes and started the timer thing again. I found that 15 minutes was a good enough window to allow her to play and not get frustrated with having to sit on the potty too much.

4. We cheered! We had dance parties. High fives. We celebrated. In the beginning it was every. single. time. Made her know she was doing a good job. Now, I thank her for telling us when she has to use the potty. I think it was helpful. She knows she is doing it right.

Any other tips out there for mama's looking to start potty training?
What worked for you? How did you know the timing was right?

11 January 2015

Currently & Week's End Co-Host

THINKING ABOUT: Palmer turning two. In just ten short days, our sweet little baby girl will be two. Leaves me thinking how fast the time has gone; how quickly the past two years have just zipped by. Its hard to think back, remembering exactly how small she really was. Now, she is this rambunctious, full of energy little girl with a fiery personality. The once dependent little baby is now a learning-to-be independent toddler who fills our lives with so much excitement!

READING: Some really great posts in our Saturday Spotlight. I am so happy with how well it has gone already! I am finding some really great new blogs to read and that is what this link-up is all about; finding new blogger friends and building community. I am already having a hard time choosing a favorite post for next week and the link-up only started yesterday!!!

REFLECTING ON: Our gymnastics experience. Saturday marked the start of Palmer's first session of gymnastics. Let me tell you, it didn't really go as well as I thought. It was a VERY structured program, and at not quite two years old, Palmer following directions for 45 minutes didn't turn out well. She was clearly the youngest one there. Most of the other kids could follow the directions given to them. Palmer just wanted to run around and jump and play. They assured us that it gets easier. The program is very repetitive and said Palmer would likely pick it up very quickly. We will give it a couple more classes and see how she is doing.

BATTLING WITH: The terrible twos. No kidding you guys, Palmer has hit this stage of tantrums. Like, all afternoon. Today she woke from her nap and the moment I picked her up, it began. Kicking her legs, waving her arms, crying and screaming. For what? I truthfully cannot even tell you. I honestly can say, I have absolutely no idea what she was so upset about. I am crossing my fingers that it is just teeth (but I blame everything on teeth.) Hopefully it passes sooner rather than later, because today, I was at the end of my rope.

This week, I am joining Oak + Oats for the Week's End Link-Up! Be sure to join us with your best posts of the week, and when you are done here, head on over to the Saturday Spotlight Link-Up for your chance to be featured!

***If you are wanting to join the co-host line up, you can sign up here and use code: WEEKSEND for 25% off any Oak + Oats packages.

RULES!!!!!

1. Link up ANY POST from last week!

2. Make sure it is a POST and not your BLOG URL. We love your blog but we want you to share a post.

3. Click on one, two, three, or more posts and LEAVE ENCOURAGING COMMENTS. The whole point of this is to find new blogs, make new friends, and all that good stuff! You MUST read the post right before yours and comment.

4. Follow Oak + Oats and Crazily Normal

An InLinkz Link-up

9 January 2015

Saturday Spotlight: Volume 2

You guys, thank you all so much for linking up with us for the first Saturday Spotlight! Tawnya and I am so happy with how many of you linked up! We got over 50 posts linked up!!! I can't wait to read all the great posts again this week!

Participating is simple and there are really only a few guidelines;

1. Grab a button and display it in your post or somewhere on your blog, this will bring more participants and give us a better chance at featuring GREAT content and finding new bloggers to follow.

2. Link up any post (or posts) from the past week. All kinds of posts welcome :)

3. Read and comment on at least one other linked up post. We really want for this link up to be a place where you can find and interact with new bloggers alike!

We look forward to building community with you all through this link up and can't wait to hopefully meet some new bloggers through it!

*Disclaimer: by linking up you give permission for your images to be featured on the Saturday Spotlight. All images will be credited to you of course.

So what are you waiting for? Grab the button and link up your best post(s) below!

An InLinkz Link-up