Tag: postaweek2011

How to sleep in with a toddler

Posted on by Sarah Marshall
Pretty crazy claim, right? Well this is working for us!!
Brooke has gone through all kinds of stages of sleep in her short 2.25 years on this planet.  She was a great sleeper as a newborn, had some struggles around 8-9 month mark, just about the time things got better from that round, we started again with the multiple wake-ups every night.  Finally, we have found something that works but we still had occasional 5-5:30 wake up calls.  So we were super happy when Santa left this under our tree:
American Innovative Teach Me Time! Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight* is a night light, teaching clock, alarm clock and just might be the best thing EVER!!! Basically, we set the night light to come at a certain time (for us, 7:30pm). When it does, it shines yellow. We also set a time for it to change to a green light (6:40am on weekdays, 7:00am on weekends). At bedtime, we remind Brooke that its not time to get up until the light is green. It took about two nights for her to really get it but now we are woken up by the sounds of Brooke calling “It’s Geeen, Mommy!! It’s Geeen!!”
Brooke even asked me to use it at naptime and, while its sometimes annoying to program it at both nap & bedtimes, it works so well it would be silly of to not. Its been a great tool to enforce a two hour quiet/nap time every afternoon.
So if you’ve been frustrated by early morning wake-ups or kiddos who have trouble staying down for their naps, I would highly recommend this clock. No one asked me to write about it – I just feel like it would be wrong of me not to share it!!!
*affiliate link

Menu Plan Monday – Jan 17-23

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

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I won’t lie…my menu plan last week didn’t work out how I, well, planned.  Not letting it bother me though because the reason I menu plan isn’t to make me stress out over whether I’m following the plan exactly but to avoid coming home with no idea what’s for dinner.  So here’s what’s on tap for this week.
Creamy Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pasta
Chili (already made and in the freezer!!)
Chili Mac (using leftover chili)
Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti
Homemade Pizza
Grilled Cheese/Quesadillas
Freebie Night
What do you have planned for the week?

Grownups!!

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

No, not the movie.  Although we rented it last week from redbox and it wasn’t too bad.

We bought a dining room table today!!!

Dining

For the past five and a half years, we’ve been eating on a little card table and folding chairs.  Totally fitting for my basement apartment when I was living by myself after college.  Now that we’re 30 years old and have a kid, it was starting to feel a little pathetic.  When we saw a Groupon deal offering $200 of furniture for $40, we jumped on it.  And today, with rambunctious toddler in tow, we got ourselves a grown up dining room table!!

Something about all 3 of us being able to sit and have dinner comfortably makes me feel like I’ve got things a little more together.  Except for the fact that our first meal on the new table was Taco Bell drive-thru….as Puss in Boots says in the “Shrek the Halls” (which I don’t think we’ll ever stop watching nightly), “I have shamed myself”.

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Have you ever had a defning moment that would seem silly to someone else???