Penguin Lesson Plan

Emma loved this unit on Penguins!

Here are some photos of Emma doing some of the activities on the lesson:

Thursday Fine Motor- Tacky the Penguin playdoh mat

Which segued into making penguins, eggs, nests, and learning about the father penguin's brood! 

Penguin snack- cucumber, carrots, and black olives

Penguin books we used and loved

Monday Math- Penguin puzzle

This is the Eat the Alphabet book that we will be using for each letter too!

Here's a link to the lesson plan for Penguins! It is two pages- the weekly lesson plan, and example photos of some lessons. If you click on the photos, there are links to where you can get the materials for the activity if materials need to be printed. Enjoy!

Toddler School themes for the year!

Hi friends!

I’m back to tell you about something we have started doing in the afternoons. Emma isn’t in school right now, and it’s been too cold to go outside, so I wanted to start doing some stuff with her at home.

And so began toddler school. These plans and ideas come from all over the internet- Pinterest mostly lol. The blogs that popped up a bunch when searching for themes and activities for 2 year olds can be found here, here, and here. Some of the pictures I used in the plans were from these sites and will be linked accordingly. They were very helpful for creating these plans to share!

Toddler school in our house always starts with me saying, "Emma, you want to do toddler school?" to which she yells, "YES MAMA!" and runs to her little table in the family room where we do most of her activities. Your experience may vary. (This is the table from Ikea and it's awesome FYI)

I’ll share some things we have done so far in different posts. Here is a general outline of themes I plan of doing through the year!

I’m a teacher turned SAHM...can you tell? 😂

Snow, Penguins, Seasons, Shapes, Holidays, Plants, Dinosaurs, All About Me, Ocean, Transportation, Zoo, Weather, Clouds, Community Helpers, Apples, Pumpkins, Election, Farm, Gingerbread, Nursery Rhymes, and Numbers! Name work, colors, and general school skills (like using glue sticks) will be built into lessons too.

I started sharing plans and projects that have to do with each theme on Instagram, but it was too tough on that platform. I think it'll be easier to do this through a blogpost!

If you search "Toddler School" in the search bar to the left of this blog you'll be able to find posts that I've tagged for these lessons. The lessons will also have links in them to my Pinterest boards where you can see further examples of the lessons and resources to print to complete lessons! 

If I'm missing something or you have questions, feel free to comment on a post and let me know! Or catch me on other social media platforms if I know you IRL haha

This is just something I was doing for Emma and thought- hey, I'll share this with others in case they are looking for things to do....it's like the side gig to my side gig so if there's a mistake or your have suggestions or tips, let me know!

Happy Schooling :)

A Day in the Life of a SAHM

Hello readers!

I wanted to document share what my life is like now that I'm fully mama to a kiddo and at home with her all day.

The thought on this post came a few weeks ago after an argument that I had with my husband. Ha.

It was not your typical stay at home mom kind of fight. You know, the one you see in the movies where the husband come home to a messy house, chaotic children and a frazzled wife and yells about how messy the house is and says, "How is the house not clean? What do you even do at home all day?" (Though I’m sure he has wanted to say that more than a few times!)

This argument came when I was sitting on the couch with my planner organizing the activities for the week. I'll spare you the details, but the gist, according to my husband, was that I do too much. (NEWS TO ME!)

So I sat down and really thought about the day to day activities that my daughter and I do together.
I also thought about my responsibilities as a mom.
And how I spend my "breaks" like nap time and after Emma goes to bed.
Also, what I try to do to keep myself sane in between everything.

Then I started to understand a little bit more about what he was getting at.
We do a lot.

So here’s our typical day  if you care to know :)

7:45 wake up

7:50 Nurse in bed and diaper change. Then I stack up the pillows and comforter and we play the “Jump on the bed and crawl under the covers” game for about 10 minutes while dada showers and mama throws on clothes for the day. Do you play this game to? Great fun.

Then we go downstairs and my husband and I take turns watching Emma and redirecting as needed (so every 30 seconds...ha) as he makes lunch and eats breakfast and I make coffee and empty the dishwasher and/or get breakfast ready for Emma and I.

8:30 breakfast for Emma and I, Tommy leaves for work alllllllll daaaaaaaay loooooong
After breakfast I dress Emma for the day and get her ready to go in the car/fill the diaper bag with snacks and water. More on this later- I have a system :)

Then we head out to whatever activity it is for the morning: M- storytime, T- playgroup W- storytime, Th- mom group with kiddos playing next door and play dates in between meetings, F- music class and open gym at the place music class is held , Sa/Sun- super chill
We normally have a snack while out and about around 10:30

Get home by 11:45ish for lunch

12:30 Up for nursing and nap- she’s normally asleep by 12:45-1:00
While Emma naps, I am: prepping a snack for her when she wakes, sometimes prepping dinner or as much of it as I can, catching up on a book, scrolling social media while I eat lunch, cleaning dishes, doing laundry, generally cleaning up around the house, prepping an activity for Emma when she wakes (color bins, sensory bins, a tower to destroy, things for a walk/picnic/park trip, an art project, etc) and mostly finishing my reheated coffee from the morning.
Emma wakes around 2:30 usually.

When she does, I change her diaper and we nurse or have a snack. Then we do our activity at home. Sometimes we go out again to the library for books or to meet up with other mamas and babies to play with toys and the train table. Sometimes her and I just go to Barbara’s bookstore so mama can get a coffee. When the weather is nice we meet mamas at various parks in town.

4:00 we have a snack while I prep the rest of dinner. Sometimes we watch a show on Netflix (Helllllllo Puffin Rock!) or reruns of Daniel Tiger from the morning. (They play the same show like all day. What is that??)

5:30 is dinnertime (but 5 if she needs a bath after) Sometimes with dada. Sometimes without. Sometimes just Emma eats because I’m still doing all the things and don’t sit with her if Tommy is home. After dinner we play in the family room all together until bedtime stars.

6:45 we get ready for bedtime. It begins with a diaper change, then pjs, sleepsack, nursing (which used to be bottle with dada), then brushing teeth and hair, books, then goodnights around the room with the light being last. We keep the nightlight on and do goodnight to dada. Then shut the door and it’s just Emma and I for a bedtime song that I made up one night about sweet dreams and how much we love her lol. Then we turn off the nightlight and turn on the sound machine. I tell her that we love her and that we are right downstairs. Give her kisses all over her face (which she returns in licks lol) and then down in the crib with her bunny and starry bunny.

She normally falls asleep by 7:00. Then we eat dinner if we haven't already, hang out and try not to fall asleep before Trevor Noah and Colbert. I used to stay up and pump around 9/10, but thank goodness that's over. (Sidenote: I hated pumping)

Then it's off to bed to wake up in the morning and do it all over again the next day!

And that, my friends, is a day in the life of this stay at home mama <3

We're Having a Baby!

That subject line says it all doesn't it?

Here's the story if you care to know:

We started trying in March, which was a bust because I thought I ovulated and in reality we actually missed the window. I started taking my temperature with a a Basal thermometer that month, but didn't start until after I ovulated. Plus my temperatures were all over the place as I was getting into routine of waking up early (even on weekends..EEK!) at the same time everyday and I wasn't always successful!

Then April rolled around, and I added in using an Ovulation Predictor Kit to check levels of luteinizing hormone through out my cycle. For those of you that don't know, LH surges a few hours (it varies by person) before an egg is released. Basal body temperature spikes after ovulation, but luteinizing hormone surges before. With the combination of these two tools, I was able to really find the window of ovluation to maximize our chances of getting pregnant. I didn't want timing to be the reason we didn't conceive- timing I can control to an extent, everything else is out of my hands!
It was a long two weeks waiting to see if we were successful, but ultimately we were not.

"On to May!" I thought- a good month :) My birthday month, and my sister's baby shower that I was hosting at my house. I was excited to see her, and was hoping to have good news to tell her when she came in from LA....and we did!

May was our 3rd cycle trying. I decided to try the Sperm Meets Egg Plan. Sounds weird, I know, but I figured why not? I still used the temperatures and the OPK test strips, in addition to the SMEP. I also cut out caffeine the few weeks before. After an agonizing two week wait of checking temperatures every morning and hoping they didn't dramatically drop to signal that I wasn't pregnant, I got myself to 9 days post ovulation, May 10th, when I was laying in bed. I sleep on my stomach, and that night I noticed that my stomach didn't feel quite right. It almost felt like the covers were bunched up under my stomach, but they weren't. I told Tommy about this feeling, and after talking through it, I figured that I was just hungry or something from not having a real dinner. I ended up going to sleep and not thinking about it until morning.

The next day, May 11th, 10DPO I woke up early and took a cheap pregnancy test in the second bathroom. I thought I saw the faintest of lines on the test and brought it into Tommy. He looked, but didn't see anything, and I thought maybe I wanted to see it so bad that it wasn't really there either. I even texted a picture of it to my friend Liz and asked if she saw it, which she didn't either! My temperatures were still elevated, so I still had hope that maybe it was just too early to test.
The next day, May 12th, 11DPO I tested with the same cheap strip in the morning, got the same faintest of faint lines, and took her advice from yesterday to take a legit test. I ended up using a Clearblue digital test, and after what felt like forever, I got a positive reading- "Pregnant" and OMG! I took a video while sitting there waiting, and I'm glad I did because it took a while for it to sink in!

{You see the line? Crazy right?}

{I said, "Holy Sh*t" directly after taking this picture}

I didn't tell Tommy right away that morning. I wanted to tell him in a cute and surprising way....as surprising as you can get when you and your partner are trying to make a baby! So I went to work with the BIGGEST secret and made it through the day. I left right after dismissing the kiddos and stopped at Jewel to get a 2 pack of pacifiers, and then Lovin' Oven to get two cupcakes and brought them home.

Lovin' Oven has some special meaning to us in our relationship journey, and it's where we got our wedding cake :D

I put the pacifiers on top of the cupcakes, and wrote a little note in the lid of Tommy's cupcake box that said, "You're going to be a dad!" and the other box said, "We're Expecting!" Then I sat at home on the couch and waited for what felt like forever for Tommy to get home! I had my phone ready when he walked in and gave him his cupcake, and tried to discretely start up a video. He totally knew what was going on...he said the phone gave it away!

Then we went out to dinner to celebrate our little nugget! And there ya go!

Currently

Watching/// 90 Day Fiance. Why, Amy, why? This show is dumb, but here I am binge watching the whole season On Demand. Probably because I'm done with all of my other shows #thankyousummer
I'm also watching Game of Thrones {DUH} which is only one episode into the new season. It's glorious as usual. 

Drinking/// So much water. I hate drinking water. Actually, I generally hate drinking. I'm super trying to up my water intake, and it's harrrrrrrrrd. I am learning that the following things make it easier:
- A cute cup
- Crushed ice
- A reusable straw
- Lemon

Feeling/// Great! Not a super eventful day. I woke up early and had breakfast with Tommy, did some stuff around the house, watched a million episodes of (0 Day Fiance <facepalm> and took a nap. Planning on going for a walk tonight when Tommy gets home. Ahhhhh summerlife.

Wishing/// My new school/life planner was here already. LOL I don't want school to start, or life for that matter, but I am super stoked for my new planner and the new pens I'm eyeing at Target :D 

Sharp Objects- A Book Review

This book is the third book written by Gillian Flynn....but not the third book in a series of books written by her...sorry, that was confusing.

I think it's important though to stress that this is the third book she has written, and I'll tell you why. It's her third best book, lol. Which is also her worst book....technically....in my humble opinion ;)

I have read hew two other books, starting with Gone Girl. I first stumbled upon this in my Goodreads circle. (If you don't know what this is, and you're a booklover, please for the love of God, click this link)

I started to read some reviews and decided that I totally wanted to read a book about a guy who kills his psychopathic wife with my same name and says he is innocent and stuff happens. That sounded great! So I asked for it for Christmas, and immediately started reading it and finishing it in like 15 hours. It was fantastic. And also the just right amounts of creepy and infuriating.

So when her next book came out, Dark Places, I thought: YES! ANOTHER CREEPY MUST READ! And I was wrong. It wasn't creepy, it was downright messed up. Like so, so, twisted and f*cked that when I heard it was going to be made into a movie like Gone Girl I immediately decided that I was not going to see it. I don't do that a lot with movies so take that how you will.

|||||||In case you're thinking, "Amy is such a baby, that book couldn't have been that bad! I wonder what it's about..." Here is a summary that doesn't give too much away. Enjoy you weirdo.|||||||||

So then I saw Sharp Objects and was.....hesitant....to say the least. Because do I read a book by an author that is equal parts great and messed up? In the end I decided I couldn't NOT read it so I picked it up cheap at Target and was on my way. I thought it was intriguing for sure.

It's basically about a woman named Camille who comes back to her hometown to write about the murder of two young girls. She is plagued by the death of her sister, from when she was younger, and copes by cutting words into her skin to describe how she is feeling and what she is thinking. WTF.  When she returns to her hometown, she has some issues with her mother that resurface and her small town starts to creep back into her already f*cked up life so that sucks.

It's a pretty psychologically dark book, similar to the other ones Flynn has written soooooo yep. I'd skip it if you can help it {unlike me}

**UPDATE: I also just read Gillian Flynn's The Grown Up and it was also messed up. Just FYI.

New Year |||| New Goals

Happy New Year {five months later}!

This year we went to Joe and Emily's house to ring in the new year. They recently bought their house and are rennovating the entire thing. I loooooove going over and seeing the different stages! When we went over there I got to see the new kitchen! (It's beautiful btw)

We mostly played games, drank, and had the various New Year's Eve tv shows on in the background. Emily and Joe made lasagna for dinner too, and it was nice to sit down and catch up!

We ended up leaving well after midnight. It was a great way to start 2017 :D

{NYE2016}

So this brings me to current time, 2017, and the goals I have for this year.

This year feels like a big one for me, or at least, I have big expectations for it. 

This year I will be turning 29, which feels big, but isn't really. The thing with the number 29 is more about where I pictured my life at this point. I have to say, the dream and the reality are pretty close. What I did not expect is how much involved with the world I would want to become. 2017 is the year for getting involved, just showing up and seeing where it takes me, and doing it if it is something I want to do. I won't lie to you, it's currently on the weekends because work #weekdaysareano

Sometimes I have these grand notions like, "I'ma organize a protest at so and so's office to let him/her know that this topic is important to me!" and then I look at my kitchen table and realize that there's a stack of books that have been there for a month and I think, "Maybe I should just clean off my kitchen table first?" and I settle for calling a senator and hanging a picture I've been meaning to put up for three weeks instead. EDIT: Those books are still on my kitchen table....eek.

I read these blog posts, news articles, and posts in Facebook groups that are all, "Showing up is not enough! You have to do more than just arrive!" and I agree with that. I also think that there's a place for people just beginning this involvement and people who are learning how to navigate it. That's where I am. I've always done the research, and exercised my right to vote. I've talked to people in my bubble about why, and who, but 2017 for me is all about showing up. 

I'm not just talking politically, but in all areas of life.

Showing. Up.