Transition from Cosleeping to Toddler Bed: Night 2

Hey guys. I am late writing this but it's been a busy day. 

Night 2 was not as successful as night 2. The biggest problem was the long day we had. We went to visit his granny and spent the whole day with her. So his nap was in a bed with me instead of in his toddler bed. It is hard to find a week where absolutely nothing is happening. This is the best we could do. So not only did he have a nap with me, we didn't get home until 11. He was a bit too wired to sleep right away. So we tried to calm him down and get him ready for bed. But even still, he would not lay in his bed. He whined and got up about ten times. It was hard but I didn't give up (even knowing that if I did, we both would have been asleep in two minutes.) It wasn't until after midnight before he fell asleep. He was in his own bed and he did fall asleep on his own. So that is a plus. I am hoping that the length of time it takes him to fall asleep shortens. 

He got out of bed three times to come lay with me. Part of the problem is that I stayed up the first night and when he stirred or whined, I was there to get his Paci or milk. But last night I fell asleep. So he came to me. I did the same stuff and put him back in his bed. And once again he slept the last hour with me. 

My plans for night 3 will be to keep him in his bed as long as possible. We have to wake up early again tomorrow so hopefully it will last. This is an exhausting trial. I want to give in and get some normal sleep, but I know in the long run, this is the best choice. 

Pray for us. 

Transitioning from CoSleeping to Toddler Bed Night 1

Hey all I'm back with this week long series. I'll try to get back to my regular posts afterwards but while I was researching sleep training this week, I realized there wasn't much information on transitioning toddlers from cosleeping to toddler beds. A lot of resources have younger infants or older children or cribs or twin beds. For my situation though, I only have a toddler bed and I'm not going to go out and buy a crib or twin bed when his toddler bed is perfectly fine. 

So the purpose of this series is to transition and sleep train an 18 month old toddler from cosleeping to sleeping in a toddler bed in the same room. Hopefully if someone searches those terms, they can find me and get some help. I am going about this is a way that works for us. I don't care about what research says or the books. This is me and my son and what works for us. 

I started by getting the bed ready. We put in an extra soft blanket in addition to his bedding set and gave him some comforting stuffed animals. Nothing crazy but just his favorites. In our case it was a late bubble puppy pillow, a talking Jake doll from Jake and the Neverland Pirate, a stuffed Cubby from the same show, and a soft Mickey Mouse dressed like a bunny (Easter gift from his memaw). This works because it gives him something to cuddle and get comfort from. Normally that role goes to me, but that is what this transition is about. 

At nap time yesterday I layed him in his bed with his drink and put on Frozen. This is the same routine we have for nap time in our bed, just in his. He layed down and watched it for awhile but wasn't interested in actually falling asleep. He stayed there for 20 minutes and then came and layed down with me. After he fell asleep, I put him back in his bed. The reason I did it this was was to get him comfortable with it. I don't want him to hate his bed and associate it with crying and loneliness. So I felt that the length of time he stayed in his bed was sufficient to get used to it and then I made sure the actually process of sleeping would be in the bed. Falling asleep in the bed will come later. 

That night I made sure he was tired and ready for bed. We don't have a specific bed time. I like for him to be asleep by 10 but some nights are better than others. I did our normal routine and got him his cup of milk, his Paci, and some books. I layed him in the bed, surrounded him with his loves, and gave him his milk. We read a couple books with me on the floor and him in the bed. He wasn't a fan of staying in the bed. He grabbed his blanket and took off for the living room many times. I let him explore and them brought him back to bed. At this point I put Frozen on again. It is his favorite movie.

Now I am not condoning TVs in bedrooms and having them on and blah blah blah. I know the studies, I know the tips of having no tv on, but that doesn't work for us. If we didn't have the tv on he would just go to another room where a family member had the tv on. So we have a rule, we watch his movie once and then it goes off or we put on music or the news. Most of the time he is asleep before the movie is over. Do what works for you. 

He did stay in his bed a little but kept getting up. That is the problem with toddler beds and not cribs. If he wants to wander, the only thing you can do to stop him is hold him down. That doesn't turn out well. We struggled like this for 30 minutes. Then he climbed up with me and cuddled for a minute or two. Just enough to relax him and get him sleepy. Then I put him in his bed and gave him his Paci and milk. An hour after we started the process of falling asleep, he finally succumbed to his dreams. On his own. In his own bed. Major stepping stone at that act alone. If he didn't sleep the night in his bed, I would have been happy at that anyways. 

I had trouble sleeping, I was worried he would cry and want me. So I stayed up most of the night. He cried for milk once and his Paci a few times. I did what I do every time while cosleeping and gave him his cup and Paci each time he wanted it. He would turn over and go back to sleep. Two times in the night he got up and climbed up in my bed. I cuddled with him, relished the love of my son, and then took him back to his bed. And he went back to sleep. Both times. And he slept pretty well for being without his momma. At 7 am he climbed into bed with me. I had the alarm. Set for 8 because he has therapy at 9, so I let him sleep with me for that last hour. 

It's been hard in the sleep department with him. It was my fault. He is my first son and for the first 6 months of his life, I was a single mom. So I held him when he wanted it and he slept with me and on me. So I contributed to his dependence of me, but that worked for us. My fiancé doesn't mind him sleeping in the bed. In was my decision to start this transition. We are trying for baby the second and it will be easier to have a baby with Raylan in his own bed. And with a new baby, I will do things differently. But with Ray, I am still learning. I still do it wrong and do it differently. But as long as he is happy and we both get some sleep out of the deal, I am happy with my decision. 

So that was night 1. I will follow this for a week and hopefully by the my little toddler terrorist will love sleeping in his big boy bed. 

Pray for us. 

Target Deal Alert!

Hey guys. Just writing a quick message. I was out at Target today with my mom looking for some things and there were signs up for a coupon deal in the beauty department. If you spent $20 on beauty, then you got $5 off. This included cosmetics, face care, hair care, and fragrances. This was a great opportunity to pick up a couple things I have wanted to try but was waiting for coupons. 

This is what I got with my deal. Nothing special but it was a great deal on them. The Jergens BB Body cost $11.99. The Baby Skin was $5.99. And the hair clips were $2.99. This made my purchase $21. Because of the $5 off, I essentially got $1.66 off each product. This made is so the Jergens was 14% off. The Baby Skin was 28% off. And the clips were 56% off. That is a heck of a deal. 

To get the coupon, go to http://coupons.target.com/weekly-ad-coupons

Or you can text BEAUTY1 to TARGET. 

Go get your shopping on!

Lifestyle product review: Infuser Water Bottle and Recipe Ideas

Hey guys! So I have been on the road to eat better and cleaner. The biggest change in my life is cutting out all sodas and teas. This is to help cut out sugar and caffeine. So I have been exclusively drinking water and sometimes milk (I hate the taste of milk though). One thing that has been helping me is fruit infused water. The basic idea is to soak real fruit in water and letting the flavors and nutrition infuse into the water. A simple way of doing this is just cutting up a fruit and placing it in a pitcher of water. We have a large pitcher here to push my family to drink it too. But there are sometimes when I want to take it with me. That is where fruit infused water bottles come into play. They are very popular and are sold in most stores but they are normally pretty pricey. 

Here is a popular one called the Define Bottle, which for a 17 ounce bottle retails for $29.99. http://www.definebottle.com 

Here is a more affordable version that is 20 ounces for $8.99. But if you look at the reviews, it breaks really easily so be cautious. https://m.bedbathandbeyond.com/m/product/rove-20-ounce-double-wall-deluxe-tumblers-with-infuser-lid/203969?categoryId=12120%204294966331

This one is made by YouTube beauty vlogger AprilAthena7. It is a 20 ounce tumbler for $13.99. http://www.saturdaysunshine.com/products/infuse-tumbler

These will all get the job done and vary in prices. But I found one at Walmart that has a much better price point and is good quality. They don't sell it online so I can't link it. The brand is Cool Gear and is a 28 ounce bottle. This was priced at $5.89. 

This is all plastic (BPA Free) so the bottle doesn't break easily. Ray loves this and he is rough on this bottle, but it still holds up. It is bigger than others I've found and is a better price. I was excited to find this. 

So you cut up your fruit of choice in small pieces and put them in a strainer part that fits into the middle of the bottle. It fits a good amount but not so much that you are using a lot of fruit. The one in the picture is one strawberry and two lemon slices cut up into wedges. It fits perfectly and flavors the water great. 

The Infuser middle fits into the opening of the bottle so that when you drink from it, the water goes through the fruit and spout. 

The opening in the lid is also a strainer like piece, so that the water goes through but you don't get pieces of fruit. 

So overall this product is an a+ product to me. It is big enough to hold enough water and isn't fragile. It isn't expensive and does the job perfectly. If you are looking for an infuser, I recommend these bottles. They also come in blue, green, and pink. 

Raylan also approves. 

If you need some ideas for fruit mixes, I have tested out a few. Stand alone fruit will work perfectly. Strawberries, lemons, watermelon, peaches, oranges, blueberries, pomegranates. Or you can mix it up. My favorite is the one mentioned: strawberries and lemons. I have also tried   Strawberry, pomegranate, and mint; orange and strawberry; watermelon and peach: blueberry and mint; and cucumber. Another that I have tried is one that is supposed to be very detoxifying: cucumber, lemon, and mint. There are so many fruits you can use and combinations that will be great and will make drinking water a more delicious treat. 

Here is a blog that has many different ideas for fruit and fruit combinations. http://www.52kitchenadventures.com/2012/09/17/fifty-awesome-flavored-water-recipes/

And here is an article about why drinking water is important to your health. http://fruitinfusedwaters.com/infused-water-for-weight-loss/

Thanks and I hope you try some of these ideas. I have a haul to write soon but since I just did my birthday haul, I'll try to postpone it. I have other ideas I will write up first. 

Toddler Apps: What is on My IPhone

Hey guys. I know some of you readers don't have kids but I'm sure I have some moms out there who have toddlers and idevices. So this is a post to show what I have on my iPhone and iPad and what Raylan and my niece Kynzee love. This is a good mix because Ray is 18 months and my niece will be 3 this summer. So I have apps that they both love and some that one prefers over the other.

On my ipad, I have three pages to the kids' education folder. The first has their favorites.

The first is Peekaboo Barn. This app has a free trial but it isn't worth it. The real app costs $1.99. It is a barn that shakes and makes knocking sounds until the baby pokes it, then the door opens up and an animal appears. It makes the animal sound and a little girl's voice says the name of the animal. Then the baby pokes it and the barn closed and it starts over again. It is a simple app and goes through about 15 animals. It is really cute and it keeps Raylan occupied for awhile. Now my DF and I agree that we don't want Raylan to depend on electronics. We won't be buying him his own tablet or portable game system for awhile because we want him to focus on reading. But there are times when he wants my phone or ipad and so I let him play one of his games. I try to make sure they are educational. And he loves this one. 

The next is my niece's favorite. It is called Endless Reader. This app is free but only comes with about half the alphabet. You can buy the rest. This game is similar to Endless Alphabet but that one costs money and we have it on our Kindle Fire. This game features a word and has the kid spell it by matching letters to their part in the word chosen. As the kid moves the letter, the letter animates and says the sound the letter makes. Once you're done, it comes up with a sentence using that word and has the kid match the word to the sentence. It sounds advanced but it isn't. The app is fun, cute, and teaches the kid how to spell, what sounds letters make, and how it use them in a sentence. 

I am going to go through a few of these quickly because they aren't favorites but they are still nice. The sorting game is free and has levels to it where the child can sort objects by color or shape or can be more advanced. The game has the first three levels free but then you have to buy them. Kynzee loves it. PBS kids is a free app that has episodes of PBS shows like Caillou or Daniel Tigers Neighborhood. Squiggles is a fun free app that allows kids to draw and animate their drawings. So for example it has one with three cars on a road. Your kid draws something behind the car, like swirly lines or hearts or whatever and then pushes the go button and the cars zoom around the page with the kids drawing attached and moving as well. It is cute and keeps Kynzee occupied. The last three are Lego Duplo play worlds. In this, their is a story being told with lego duplo people or animals and has fun scenes for the kids to play with. Kynzee loves the zoo one. These are all free. 

I skipped Sign and Sing for a reason, this is both of the kids' favorite app. It is free but only comes with one song. You can buy a pack of about 8 songs for $2.99. In this app, animated children sing songs and use simple sign language while they do it. So the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star comes free with the app. A girl sits on a swing and sings the song while doing signs for the song. These signs aren't complete, they dont cover every word/phrase of the song, but it is enough for little kids to understand. This app is weird with the animations but it is a great learning app. It has helped Raylan completely learn the signs for duck and dog, which are ones I have worked on but he never really got them until he played the Old Mcdonald song. He also can do the entire Itsy Bitsy Little Spider song, because it is his favorite song and he watches that one about twenty times a day. There is also an option to watch a real person sing and sign the song, which is a great way for the parents to learn the signs in their true formso they can work on it with the kids. 

The next page of apps is just for Fisher Price apps. The great thing about these apps are that they are free. All of them. And they cover a variety of things. From ABC's and 123's. Shapes and colors. Music. There are ones for smaller babies where they just touch the screen and little giggling characters pop up and move around the screen. There are storytelling ones where they have common nursery rhymes and they tell the story and then sing the songs as well. So these are great for all around play.

There are only two apps on the last page. The first is Wheels on the Bus. This app is free and has many parts to it. You can sing the song with animation, race things, color pictures, or drive the bus. It is pretty entertaining for Kynzee and Raylan loves the song. This is a free app. The last one is the Learning Academy app. This is a companion app to the website ABCMouse.com. The app is free but you have to have an account for the website to make it work. There is a three month free trial available, if you want to try it without paying, and then it is a pay monthly type service. But it has a million different things to do that goes with your child's age. Raylan is too young right now for it, but my neice started the program at 2 1/2 years old. So you don't have to have an older child for this. 

So that is it for my iPad apps for toddlers. I will show you my iPhone apps really quick, but most are the same. 

Phone4Kids is a free app that mimics a phone for kids and lets them talk to voices and rings like a phone. It is good if your kids like the call China on your phone. The Towers game is made by the same people as the sorting game. But it just has them stacking different things. This is good for both ages of babies. Duolingo is a foreign language learning system. It is more for adults but I let the kids look at it so they can get used to other languages. It is a free app and supposed to be good like Rosetta Stone. The Relax Music is like a white noise machine for my phone. It has like 20 different sounds you can choose from and you can even mix some together to make different soothing sounds for kids to sleep to. I love this app and it is free. The last is a sign language dictionary so that when I want to know how to say something in sign language, I don't have to google it. 

And that is it! These are the apps we like, some that we love, and some that you should definitely buy. I will work on getting a list together of these apps with the links so you can get to them easily. 

Make sure you check out my instagram for quick mini reviews that don't make it into a blog. Right now I have a pic up of a new nail polish from Maybelline's new Bleached Neons collection. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Instagram camera. Thanks!!

Birthday haul, Y'all!

Hey guys! So a week ago was my birthday. I am 24! Woah! Time goes by so fast these days. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was turning 21. So much has changed since then and I couldn't be happier. Having kids makes things go by much faster. 

I received most of my presents a few weeks ago. It seemed to be a Disney themed birthday from my family and fiancé now that I think back on my gifts. I got the Disney version of Apples to Apples, which is hilarious board game that my siblings love to play. I also got a 2DS which was special edition to the release of the new Disneg Magical Workd game, so it is pink and comes with a Mickey Mouse case. I also got the Magical World game. No review on that just yet, I have barely opened the box. Last from the Disney inspired birthday gifts was two shirts from TeeFury. They are by an artist whose name I can't find at the moment but I will edit this when I find her info. They are Disneys Frozen mixed with Doctor Who. The first shirt is toddler Anna peeking into the windows of the TARDIS that is parked in her play room. The second one is the TARDIS crashed into ice in Elsa's ice castle with Elsa looking at it. Both are beautiful and geeky. I love them. 

The point to this post isn't the bizarre Disney theme, it is the fashion/makeup/bath items I recieved. 

The day before my actual birthday, I met with my best friend and we spent the day together. It was a dream. No Raylan, no dogs, no worries. Just her and I shopping. First we went to Maurices. If you are a Southern girl, you may have heard of the store. It is a clothes store that has both small size clothing and plus size clothing. It is pretty much the only place around here that has fashionable plus size clothes. I mean Forever 21 has some, but their sizes are soooo off. Useless. And Lane Bryant is cute but expensive. Maurices' is in the middle for price. Great stuff, okish prices. So we went there for some new clothes. I didn't get much because we are saving money, but my BF did buy me a beautiful shirt. I love it and have worn it like four times since then. 

Isn't it adorable. I love the colors. I am a big fan of gray and black but I wanted some more spring colors in my wardrobe. This is the perfect compromise. And it was on clearance, so the shirt cost about $17. Not bad. 

Next we went to the mall and ate some pretzels and tried on some new clothes. She got some pants, I refrained from purchasing. Next was Ulta. Our Ulta store is about 45 minutes away which is both far away and not too far. It takes about 30 minutes to get anywhere good around here so we can manage an extra 15 for some makeup. She got some good products for her mom becasue she is a good daughter. ;) And she also bought me some things. There are a million things I want from Ulta. I have a list going in my head for if I ever win the lottery. Or marry rich. But I didn't want to spend a bunch of her money. So instead I picked out two things from NYX Cosmetics that I really wanted. I got a butter gloss (I have been coveting these for months) and the Jumbo Eye Crayon in Milk. This was specifically gotten because I have a pallete that I love but the colors are a little too dull. So I wanted to see if using Milk as a base would work. 

Next we raced to a mall nearby. It was late and the mall was about to close but we relly wanted to go to Macy's. At our mall, my BF discovered that we dont have an actual Lush store, instead it is inside the Macy's. We have both wanted to try these products forr awhile but we can't make these kinds of trips on a regular basis. We have a birthday exception. 

We made it just in time but discovered that Lish had been taken out of Macy's and is now its own store in the mall! Yay us! It was like heaven and smelled better. I am very lucky for the amazing woman that is my best friend because she said I could pick out whatever I wanted. The choices! We both grabbed a container of Ocean Salt, the much talked about face and body scrub. I have used this almost everyday since I got it and I love it. It smells great, is coarse enough to scrub but is soft enough for your face. And damn does it make my face smooth. I got the small version which is $22. 

We talked to the sales lady about some shampoo because I have oily hair that never stays not oily, so I'm always on the hunt for shampoo that works. She was very helpful but I decided against it because of the price. It was outside my price range. But she was amazing and gave me a sample of the one I wanted and a conditioner. They were small samples but have lasted 5 washes. I got the Rehab shampoo, which is a clarifying shampoo. And the veganese conditioner. I love the shampoo. I would buy it in a heartbeat. The conditioner was just so-so. 

We also both got a lip scrub. I have been on the hunt for one for awhile because my lips have been so bad. We got the mint julips scrub. It is a completely edible scrub that smells amazing and tastes better. Chocolate and mint! Completely worth the $9.95 price tag. 

 

BF also got a soap and then at checkout they asked us if we wanted a lotion called Charity Pot. Each one is labeled with a specific charity and if you buy it, the whole amount goes to that charity. I believe it cost $5.95 for a 1.7 oz container and all that goes to the charity. It is made with cocoa so it smells like chocolate but has a hint of other smells that just smells amazing. I use it every day and I always smell myself because it is delicious. 

 

I can't wait to go back to Lush for more stuff. I want the bath bombs like crazy! 

Last we went to Macy's and looked at their MAC section and perused the Bobbi Brown cosmetics but didn't actually get anything. And we ended the night eating a late dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Talk about delicious. 

And that's it! It was so fun and I wish I could do it every week. Baby free shopping is on my list of perfect days. And the next day was my birthday. So it was even better. 

This post took days to finish. Like 4 days. I barely had time to do this. So I'm working on a better schedule. I have ideas galore. So keep checking back! 

Ipsy Time! Unbagging and First Impressions

Hey everyone! Back again with my ipsy! This is my third month getting this service and I was excited because this is my birth month. (Happy Birthday! To me!) I had been following the reveals and the sneak peaks like a hawk and I was excited for the month. The theme was pretty cute, but I am waiting for a spring theme!! Maybe in May. 

So to start off, the bag is pretty meh. 

It's dark purple, vinyl-y material I guess. And it stinks. Like plastic grossness. I dunno. But I like the shape and size. I'll find a use for it just like last months. 

The first thing I got was the Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Liner in black. I'm pretty sure everyone got it. It is a simple black liner but those are probably my favorite makeup items. It is velvety smooth like the name implies and glides on well. I put it on my waterline and it worked perfectly. So this is a plus! 

Next up was the Starlooks lip liner in Naked. It is a nice nude, with pinky peachy times to it. I love the color and love how it glides on. I lined my lips in it, then filled them in and put my Lorac Coutore Shine liquid lipstick on top. It was beautiful. A+

Next was a single eyeshadow. This is an Elizabeth Mott shadow in the line Pop! Goes the Shadow. It is in the color champagne. It is a simple frosty color, just like the name suggests. It is a bit sheer but goes on well and gives a nice sheen. I'm sure it would be beautiful over another color or in the inner corner. My big complain was the shadow pan. It looked precariously put it. The pan was uneven and had bumps on it because of it. After having it for ten minutes, the pan fell out of the crystal exterior. 

The last two things I got were an eyeshadow brush from Coastal Scents and a microdermebrasion from Dr. Brandt. The brush is a fluffy shader brush. It is very similar to the ELF shader brush for a dollar, which is my go to eye brush. So I was a little unhappy to get another shader brush but I can't really complain. The face product I am excited to use! I love trying new face products. So I will review that when I have had more chance to try it. 

 

Final thoughts! I liked this month better than the others. I got products that I could create almost a full look with instead of things I would have to use separately. I love the lip liner color. 

Here is my link to my ipsy! Feel free to join. Http://www.ipsy.com/r/5sut