The Pacifier Chronicles: Day 2 - Captain's Log

For those of you just joining us, I am writing about our "just wing it" strategy to get rid of C's pacifier. This is just a real life look at how we ACTUALLY approached this milestone. 

After she gave up and fell asleep last night, she stayed asleep until 1:39. Very specific, I know. She was pretty upset and asking for her paci. So, I put her in bed with me and after flailing around for about 30 minutes, she fell back asleep until around 6:45 am. Yay! 

The first thing she said to me in the morning? "Paccciiiii."  Yep. Awesome. I stuck with my "it's all gone" strategy. To which she promptly replied "No mama! Nana!" Clearly she was calling in the reinforcements. 

She went to playcare in the morning and was fine all day and through dinner. I think it's because I kept her really busy with playing outside, going to Steak and Shake for a milkshake, and watching more TV. 

Then it came time to settle down for bed. Bad news bears. I'm talking full on screaming and crying. But she never did specifically ask for the paci. It's almost like she wasn't sure what she was missing. She finally fell asleep and is now in her crib. So day two is complete and smoother than yesterday, except bedtime. Hopefully tomorrow will be even better! 

The Pacifier Chronicles: Captains Log - Day 1

So, I should start by saying this is not, I repeat - NOT, the first time we have tried to ditch the "paci" in our house. We have an incredibly adorable and attached kiddo and we are weak, wussy parents. But C's dad is out of town this weekend and since he's the bigger softy, I'm taking the opportunity to nix the paci. 

Day one went like this:

We dropped Dad off at the airport and headed home at around 7:30 am. As soon as we exited the car I confiscated the pacifier. This was okay because we got yogurt and milk. 

Once breakfast was over she immediately asked for her paci. I distracted her by allowing her to watch way too many episodes of Mickey Mouse. "You want your paci huh? How about another half hour of TV instead?" For a kid who never gets to watch TV during the day, this was pretty blatant but EFFECTIVE bribery. 

Once she lost interest, I tried to put her down for a nap. She bounced up and down in her crib and fussed for about 30 minutes. I gave up. We baked cookies instead. Hey, you do what you have to to survive these types of transitions! 

At this point I got on facebook and begged my oil friends for advice. We began diffusing Balance for her mood and Cypress for the transition. I rubbed some lavender on her back to help her relax. Her mood changed immediately. Yay! 

We then made lunch. She ate her lunch in approximately three minutes and wanted down. She then proceeded to wander around the house saying "paaaaacciiii, weahyou??" For those of you that don't speak toddler, "paci, where are you?" I almost quit right then. It was so sad! I told you, weak and wussy. 

Instead we watched some more Mickey. Hey, I didn't say I'm a role model. She fell asleep watching Mickey and I moved her to her crib. She slept for an hour and a half without a pacifier. Win. 

I planned to get us out of the house after her nap because afternoons are usually her fussiest time. Thus, they are also the time we are most likely to resort to pacifier use. We went to target and C's Nana gave her money to spend on a few toys to keep her mind off the paci over the weekend. Yay! Nanas are really great and they can shamelessly spoil their grandkids. So that's awesome. 

We got stuck in traffic on the way home because I'm a moron and thought that I should drive the same direction as every other human being in Dallas at five pm on a Friday. By the way, my kid has about a fifteen minute tolerance for the car. If she's in there longer than that, you WILL BE PUNISHED. And I was. She screamed and boo hoo'd the entire way home. But go mom (me), she did not get the paci! 

We got home, ate dinner, took a bath and then the asking for the paci stared again. She's a persistent little thing. 

"Mama paci?"

"They're all gone."

"No done done..."  And some tears to go with it. 

Be still my heart! I almost gave up again. But we stuck it out and she fell asleep on my arms - with. No. Paci. 

I have no idea how she will sleep tonight, but I am proud of us for making it through one day with no paci! Even if I did bribe her with Mickey, new toys, and cookies. 

I will update the captains log tomorrow night! 

Diy paci weaning by me. Love yall. 

 

Football Wreath

So, the Redskins are in the playoffs! Hail to the redskins, hail victory... etc. Anyway, I undecorated for Christmas and was left with a void on my front door. Thus, the idea of the Redskins wreath was born.

The Finished Product:

  

What You Will Need:

•  Spray paint, spray primer, spray sealer
• Wood paint for the letters
• Wooden letters
• Wooden shapes
• Felt
• Not pictured: glue gun, scissors, and bowls of various sizes to trace

 Let's Get Started:

1. Spray prime, spray paint, and seal your wreath in whatever base color you chose. I hope by now you know how to spray paint, so no picture.
2. Spray prime your wooden letters and let dry for about ten minutes.
3. I used a sponge brush to paint the letters burgundy, but if you want a more even coverage, go with spray paint.
4. Making the felt flowers was all my mama's handiwork. First she traced a large circle onto the felt.

5. Then she drew a spiral onto the circle.

6. She cut out the circle in the spiral

7. Then she rolled the spiral starting from the OUTSIDE to the INSIDE.

It winds up like this:

8. Then we arranged our letters, flowers, and shapes and hot glued them to the wreath.

9. Then we added a ribbon from our stash to hang it with.

10. And voila! We are DONE. The whole project cost approximately $14 and took an hour and a half.

As always, thanks to my mama for her loving patience and execution. I'm really a planner, she's a doer.

Easy Gift Plaque

So, I wanted to be crafty for Christmas. I have made all of the gifts for our family. However, you don't get to see any of them until after Christmas because they all read my blog! All, of course, except my dad. He does not read blogs, so you get to see his gift. Hurray!

The Finished Product:

What You Will Need:

• Wooden plaque - I got mine from Michael's and used my 50% off coupon. SCORE.
• Spray primer
• Any color of spray paint in matte
• Wooden decorations
• Picture stand ($3 from Michael's - I just love that place)
• Not pictured - spray finishing gloss
• Not pictured - wood glue
• 8.5" x 11" Card stock
• Pazzle, Cricut, Sillouette, or Xacto Knife and stencil
• Sponge brush
• Acrylic paint

Let's Get Started:

1. Spray your plaque with primer.
2. Let dry for about 10 minutes, spray with your color. I only did one coat because I did a really good coat of primer and didn't need to. Thank goodness for primer.

3. Leave plaque to dry.
4. Pick your quote and fire up your Pazzle, Cricut, Sillouette, or grab your Xacto knife and stencil. I decided on a font and then cut it out of card stock.

5. I love my mom's Pazzle, but I always have to do some trimming.

 6. Lay your newly created stencil on top of your (now dry) plaque. Mine didn't move, so no worries about tacking it down. Start sponging your paint lightly into the stencil. Be sure to use only a small amount of paint or it will bleed through the stencil (Oops, I did that - oh well, it makes it more homemade-y ...right?)

7. Carefully pick up your stencil.

8. Adhere your wooden decoration using wood glue.

9. Allow to dry for a few hours and VOILA!

As always, thanks to my beautiful mama, who is my loving and faithful assistant/master crafter!

Christmas Flowers

So, we really were NOT going to do a craft today. We just got back from a long vacation (I know, poor us) and we just needed to take a weekend to recover. However, we were walking from Target to the Dollar Tree and we passed Michael's. I saw these shiny flowers and we got sucked in. You can thank the outdoor Michael's display for this one...

The Final Product:

 What you will need:

(the picture won't upload, so use your imagination)

• Colored marbles or stones
• Christmas-y silk flowers
• Ribbon
• A cheap vase (ours is from the Dollar Store!)
• Floral Wire

 

Let's Get Started:

1. First fill your vase all the way up with your marbles.

2. Cut all your silk flowers from their stems.

3. Now, my mom is the pro flower arranger (I take pictures) and she says that you should put the tallest flowers and plants in the center of the arrangement.

4. Go pet your puppy (oh wait... that's just for me)

5. Finish arranging your flowers.

6. Make your bow. (Next week there will be a tutorial on how to make the beautiful holiday bows that my genius mother can create).

7. Add bow to arrangement.

8. VOILA!

Enjoy the Christmas-ness.


All the credit for this project goes to my mama... she's fabulous.

Cutest Burp Cloths EVER

My mom made these for a friend of ours a while back when her beautiful baby was born. About a year later our friend asked her to make some for a friend of hers. It was so fun the first time that she jumped at the opportunity. So, this is a post for my mama and her fabulous craftiness:

The Finished Product:

 What You Will Need:

• Cloth Diapers
• Fabric scraps 
• Ribbons the same length as the width of your diapers
• Sewing machine (hers has and embroidery option - shes spoiled)

Let's Get Started:

1. First you are going to want to unfold your cloth diapers
 and measure the width so you can cut your fabric scraps about one inch wider (to allow for a seam)
2. This step is optional: BEFORE you add extra fabric, do your embroidery.

3. Lay out your diaper and lay fabric scrap on top of it. Cut the desired length of fabric. This is totally up to you!

4. Make sure you leave about a half inch for the seam.

5. Lay out fabric, diaper, and ribbons to decide what combinations you like best.

(I just LOVE the super hero one. Definitely my favorite.)

6. Using a straight stitch sew the fabric and ribbon on to the diapers.

VOILA! Revel in your handiwork! Great beginner's sewing project!


Another look:

Key Hanger

So, I received TWO, count them TWO, gift cards to Michael's for my birthday. WHAT?! I love that place. My friends and family are geniuses (I always suspected)! So I went in search of a craft for my blog. This is what I came up with (you can all thank my sister, Emily and my friend, Christie... you're welcome):

Here's What You Will Need:

• Wooden plaque of some sort
• Wood letter
• Gray spray paint primer
• Whatever color spray paint you want
• Sponge brush
• Small command hooks

Let's Get Started:

1. Spray your plaque with primer (sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this step!) Allow to dry for about ten minutes.
2. Spray your plaque with your spray paint. This may take a couple of coats. Mine took about three coats and still wasn't completely covered, but I am impatient, so I stopped at that point.
3. Paint the outside using your sponge brush. Allow to dry completely.

4. Adhere the letter to the plaque using wood glue.

5. I had to allow the wood glue to cure for several hours, but I am glad I did because it is super strong. I also used the wood glue to stick the command hooks to the back of the plaque.

6. Then I added a picture hanger to the back and hung it up!

VOILA!