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Sadly, “wonderful” was not the word I thought of to put in that blank. “Crappy,” “Sick,” “Grumpy,” “Fussy,” yup. It’s a wonder week. Haven’t heard of them? If you’re a parent, you’ve heard of them whether you realize it or not. A “Wonder Week” is one of those periods of brain development when so much is going on in your child that you WONDER where the heck your normal child went. HA! (Seriously, though, if you don’t know, check out this website: http://www.thewonderweeks.com/)

Not only are we in the middle of brain leap number 7, we are directly under the thunder cloud on the chart for this month of craziness. AND, add to that an ear infection, major allergy problems, nasty tasting medicine, daddy home all week because he’s sick too (not that this is a bad thing to have him home, just not normal schedule), oh, and she’s decided that she can’t live without her third nap – a late afternoon catnap that she dropped a few weeks ago and I’ve been calling “rest” time.. where she plays in her crib… except that she can’t live without that rest time now, and has been wanting to go to bed at 6:30 and waking back up between 7:30 and 8 to play for an hour/hour and a half! Sigh. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out… the question changes. Throw a mommy’s hormones in the mix and WHEW! It’s been quite a week. I WONDER how we made it to Friday night! Seriously!

BUT – a few positives – this brain leap month we’re in the middle of has Becca doing so many amazing things, we just can’t believe it. She’s clapping regularly to mimic us, can sit up easily from a crawling position, as well as sit straight up from laying flat on her back, crawls like she’s got a fire in her pants, runs in her walker, walks easily while holding our fingers, plays with Duplos and has figured out how to take them apart and that they make a super fun noise when she hits them together, now successfully signs “eat” (VICTORY!!! Been working on that one FOREVER!), says “duh” for duck and “muh” for monkey, and I’m sure a million other things I just can’t think of at the moment. Her progress even just this week has been crazy, not to mention her progress the last two that we’ve been in this month of major development.

This brain leap has also made her clingy and temperamental. She gets into modes where the only thing she wants is for mommy to hold her. Little Miss Independent suddenly drops her act and HAS to get in my lap. OH! That’s another thing – she crawled into my lap today to look at books! She loves to help turn the pages. Gosh. It’s definitely NOT all negative, but putting it all together helps me justify to myself why at the end of a week when I did VERY little at home and for work I’m absolutely EXHAUSTED. Oh, did I mention, I got hit with the allergy crap, too? At least I didn’t get it as bad as the two of them did, so I could take care of everyone.

WOW. What a week! We lived. We won’t be writing home about this one, though. Altho, since my mom will probably read this, I guess I did! HAHA! LOL. I think something about all the allergy meds I’m taking probably has me a bit loopy and off my rocker. Oh well, after weeks like this, I like to remind myself:

I’m forgiven, not perfect; complete, not finished. 🙂 He’s got a plan, and somehow this week plays into it all and is an exact fit for this place in the puzzle.

 

Lil snugglebug one day this week at playtime – just crawled over to me and decided it was time for a nap after linking arms with me. 
THESE are the moments to remember and treasure forever. 🙂

Yesterday it rained. Big time. All day long. It was wonderful!! Before it started really coming down, though, I realized that Becca had never really experienced rain. It rained back in early January just a little bit, but she was six months old and we just stayed inside.

So yesterday we walked out in it. Just stood in the rain. She turned her face up toward the sky and closed her eyes and just smiled as the water dripped and ran down her face. She felt the cold wind and her hair blew around. She saw the lightning and heard the thunder, and she laughed. She LOVED it. We twirled and danced in the rain and it was the best thing EVER. Then we came inside and changed our weather chart to rain for the first time since it’s creation. We sat in the dining room and watched as the rain got heavier and louder. She loved the whole experience. It was amazing to watch her face as she learned something new.

I think often we see the rain as a problem. But in this drought-parched land, we loved the rain and the chance to dance in it! Yesterday truly was a blessing. We took the opportunity to hang out in our pjs and just relax- something that we never really take the time to do.

I just love how Becca’s April calendar turned out! She finger painted (the red) today and then once it was dry, I cut it out in an umbrella shape. 🙂

I have long struggled to keep all the plates spinning – whether when I was teaching, planning a wedding, working, maintaining two schedules so I knew when my husband was doing what, or now – juggling work, family, pets, and extra activities we each enjoy doing. I am also not one of those people who does well with a calendar on the computer or phone. Which is weird, I know, because I’m SO technology oriented. But there is something about me. I just have to WRITE IT DOWN. And I have to see it in a couple of different places for something to really stick in my head.

SO, a while back I created my calendar peg board. It’s great for combining every schedule I have and making a quick visual reference for anyone in the family to view. You can see pictures and learn more about that project from my previous blog. You’ll find the post here: http://www.christysadventuresinmommyhood.blogspot.com/2012/01/family-calendar.html And yes, that was from January of 2012… and I’m still using it. I update it on the first of every month, and it’s a great way for me to sit down and review what is coming up during the month. Plus, since it has calendars for the next two months upcoming, it’s a great way for me to start thinking about events further down the road. Here’s an updated picture of my calendar taken today:

Recently, however, I got tired of my Office Depot-purchased calendar book, with its tattered pages and multiple paper clips trying to hold everything together.  I wanted something cute and fun, that fit my needs.  So, the search began.  I didn’t want to spend any money, so I looked on Pinterest for ideas… and found LOTS of calendar and organizing ideas.  I decided that I’d use a binder I already had, paper I already had, plastic sleeves I already had, and tab dividers I already had to make the perfect binder for me!  And that’s what I did.  Here are a few shots:

 

I just took a cute paper and printed the binder title on it and slipped it in the front cover!

These beautiful printable monthly calendars are found FREE from this blog that I have now searched over an hour for and can’t find again!!  OH NO!!!  You can download the pdf file here: https://workspaces.acrobat.com/?d=uDNzOZlaXM-fneRMhgwcMQ  This lady created a beautiful calendar file that you can just print on your color printer.  I will continue to search for that blog, and when I find it, will update with the link.

I love this “Peek at the Week” sheet.  It’s fabulous for recording daily “to do” items, as well as weekly.  Plus, it’s a menu planner, a grocery list keeper, and a place to record thoughts, where I like to write a Bible verse.  It starts out fairly blank for the week, and by the end of the week, it is typically quite full and messy!  Best part is, when it’s done, I can just pull it out of the binder and toss it!!!  Talk about feeling successful!  That week is DONE! 🙂  Get it here: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/p/free-printables.html

On the back of each monthly calendar, I have a calendar for recording birthdays and anniversaries!  Perfect because it’s not year-specific and can be kept in the binder even when the years go by.  Perfect for quick reference, and easy to add to when new friends come along!

In the back of the binder, I have a reference section, where I can keep my (ideal) household cleaning schedule, home and auto maintenance schedules as well as auto insurance information, pet care records, and since they are in plastic sleeves, the back is the perfect place to store pet shot records and receipts.  Becca has her own binder, which I’ll share at some point in the future.  If you would like to download these pages that I personally created, you can download them here:

Title Pages
Monthly Birthday and Anniversary Chart
Household Cleaning
Home Maintenance
Auto Maintenance
Auto Insurance Info
Pet Care Records

Please note: In order to maintain some sense of organization to my organizing page, I decided to post my organizing ideas, and then create a link back to the post on the organizing page.  I’m sure right now that makes no sense, but hopefully it will over time as I add more information about organizing! 🙂
Children’s library
While one might think that organizing your toddler or elementary-aged child’s library would be futile, it’s actually one of the earliest ways to begin teaching your child to organize! There are a variety of ways you could chose to sort- with baskets, bins, tubs, or just by lining them up on a shelf.
But I highly recommend starting by making a section of bedtime or naptime comfort stories. For us, that section is right next to the rocking chair.
Then, if you have an older child, have him or her help you think of ways to sort the books. They could be by favorites, by topic, by color of the cover, or of course, by author. You might want a seperate section for magazines and for any audio gift books they might have received.
For younger children, a hodge-podge is easier to manage for the ones who are discovering how fun it is to pull books in and out of the baskets! Ha! However, I still recommend keeping a somewhat organized approach. Our baby Highlights magazines (called “Hello”- if you haven’t seen them for your preschooler, they are FABULOUS!!!), go in one basket, and then we also have a basket specifically for our theme books. The past couple weeks we’ve been learning about pond animals, so all of the books that we own that reference any sort of pond, turtle, duck, fish, or frog, goes in that special basket. The other books just go neatly in whatever basket they’ll fit in.
No matter the age, having a special way you keep your books helps your child to understand they aren’t just toys thrown in a bin- they are special and important. 🙂