The Rainy Day Blues

Uh, I knew there was a reason I loved spring and summer more this year than ever before. The funny thing is I didn't realize it until just now.
I'm sitting here in my sweats, the rain's coming down, and I have my heat on. Oh, yeah and I've broken out the footie pj's for my daughter. You can see how bad it is for her: she's got her winter hat on, reading a picture-free book, and trying to figure this whole toddler thing out, too! Let's just say we have the rainy day blues.

In other words: we're bored out of our minds. Well, I can't speak for her, but I think that's what she's trying to tell me as she bangs on the sliding glass door and whines "ma-ma, ma-ma" over and over again. "Yeah, I know honey, I want to go out there too, but it's raining." She doesn't get it, she just looks at me and says "ba!"
Normally, I'd have a few tricks up my sleeve for a good ol' rainy day: the library, the indoor playground at the mall, the grocery store...knock out a chore at the same time, but the poor thing is sick too. I don't want to risk getting some other poor mom's child sick by selfishly taking her out of the house, just so I can get out of this boredom rut. So we're basically on home confinement for the next few days.
I mean how many times can I try to entice the girl to play with her babies, her bears, her balls? How many forts can you build with a 14 month old? How many Baby Einsteins can she watch (I normally have a limit of 1 per day)? How many times can she chase the dog around the coffee table? How many decks of cards can she play 52 pick up with?
So...it's official, we've got the rainy day blues.
I think I have it worse!
Please share your ideas with me for how I can entertain a runny-nosed 14 month old all day when it's rainy and cold outside!

Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" today!

Help break a world reading record by reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to your child today.
Here's more info on how to participate and get your child excited about reading!

Me and My Sewing Machine: New BFFs

I've spent more time with my sewing machine in the last few days than I have with my husband. It's partly his fault, he bought $12 suit pants and a $30 matching jacket at Target that need to be hemmed. For $12.99, I'll hem anything. But I've also had a date with the new playroom couch and a baby parrot.


A few weeks back while trying to figure out what my daughter would be for Halloween, I had the brilliant idea that we'd dress as a mom-baby duo...we opted to let dad in on the fun, too. I've seen lots of Halloween costume ideas for moms and babies, but when I remembered that my mom had a man and woman's pirate customs I settled on a parrot for my daughter.
If you've ever looked for a baby parrot costume you can stop...they're all pretty much lame-o. Sorry to be so blunt. So, I decided I'd make one. My mom made every single Halloween costume my sister and I ever wore so I thought I'd just follow in her tradition. (We'll see how long this lasts!) I looked online and found a homemade Halloween costume site that actually had about a dozen different versions of a parrot. I got some great ideas and went from there.
At first I started looking for a red fleece one piece to be the body, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. During a quick trip to the dollar store I spotted a red fleece shirt...for $1 that was right up my alley. But, no pants. I went across the street to Goodwill and what did I find but a .50 pair of red sweatpants...the only pair and they happen to be in Olivia's size! Then I went to Joann Fabrics and bought half a yard of half price fleece in red, blue, yellow and green. That's right I paid $7.53 for the entire costume. While I've been busy sewing my parrot, I informed my husband his job was to teach our 13 month old how to flap her wings...to which she picked up in about 5 minutes. (He always gets the easy jobs!) Here are a few pictures from a recent unfinished-costume fitting! The second one, you can see, features "The Flap."


The parrot project actually put a halt on a previous project...which I was happy to abandon, at least for the time being. Being thrifty, we bought a used sleeper couch off Craigslist for the playroom. Every intention was to cover it with a slip cover...it's U.G.L.Y. But silly me I didn't pay close enough attention to the arms and through my search for a slipcover only now realize I'd need a custom cover. Doesn't that defeat the purchase a thrifty purchase? So I went on my way making a cover out of two queen-size flat sheets that I bought for a total of $40...I was able to make three curtains out of extra material too. So while that project is about 80% done, the couch is now only half ugly and must wait for my little parrot!

Gee, I love my sewing machine...at least it's no longer covered with dust!

Where's your toes, your nose, you?

My kid is the smartest. No, seriously she is the smartest. She always turns her books right-side-up. She stabs the food with the fork (ok, so then she takes it off with the other hand and then feeds herself) and she even feeds the dog. She knew her tongue before any other body part. I like to quiz her non-stop just so I can see her stick it out as far as she can. But today she made me proudest for her hilarious answer to one simple question.

Where are your toes? Tickles her feet.
Where are your knees? Pats those chubby knees.
Where is your hair? Scratches her hair right above her ear.
Where is your nose? Points with one finger as if to say "shhh."
Where is Olivia? Turns both palms up, bends her elbows, and looks around the room looking for this Olivia person.

Classic!
And that's why I'm a stay-at-home mom!

Moms: Stop Helping Other Moms

As a SAHM, a once-working mom, and a mom with no family closer than an hour away sometimes I have to rely on a friend to help me out on the babysitting front. Is that so horrible? Am I a bad mom for that? If I lived in Michigan, my babysitting friend might just be breaking the law for the favor!


I posted this on my Baltimore SAHMs Examiner site, but the ridiculousness of it is more than I can take so I'm re-posting it here...to see what you all think. I hope you get a good laugh because it's actually quite comical (and sad all at the same time!)

SAHMs: Stop Helping Other SAHMs

That's the message from Michigan officials to a mom who's helping a neighbor by watching her kids for an hour a day between the time she needs to leave for work and when the school bus picks up her children.

While Baltimore stay-at-home moms obviously don't need to go to work, don't we all need a little babysitting help once in a while? A trip to the grocery store made easier without the toddler tagging along, a quick child-free haircut, a doctor's appointment without kids running around the office.

As stay-at-home moms our children aren't in daycare. Often times, our only source of childcare is other moms or a helpful neighbor. In Michigan, apparently that's against the law. The state recently sent Lisa Snyder a letter telling her she's operating an unlicensed daycare by caring for her neighbor's children - even if it is only 5 hours a week. Under the state's law no one can watch unrelated children for more than four weeks throughout the year. While the law is set up to prevent people, including Ms. Snyder, from acting as a daycare and to protect children, this is going a bit far. Would it be worse if the children's mother got to work late, got fired from her job, and couldn't clothe, feed, or provide shelter for her children? Would it be worse if she left them home alone for an hour until the school bus came to pick them up?

So from a stay at home mom in Baltimore to the hard working moms with office jobs in Michigan (and elsewhere) we're all in this together because if anyone is going to help us out in a time of need, it's another mom. And a message to the Michigan's Department of Human Services: thanks for caring about the children, but don't you have bigger fish to fry?

It should be noted that this case has (finally) prompted Michigan's governor to request the head of the Human Services agency to work with legislators to get the state law changed.

As for now, it's unclear who will watch the children so their mother can get to work on time.

Who do you get to watch your children when you need an hour or so of mommy-time during the day? To weigh, in click here and leave a comment in the comment box.

Read more from the Baltimore SAHM Examiner (yours truly)

Read more from the Celebrity Kids Examiner (also yours truly) and please take note of the nifty new widget on the side of this blog... and finally, if you enjoy celebrity kids news, gossip, and alerts become a fan on Facebook. (PUH-LEAZZZEE I need fans!)