Digital Scrapbooking

I love digital scrapbooking. It's a fun way for me to be creative with all the gazillion pictures we have of Scarlett. I never did get into regular paper scrapbooking. That takes too much effort and time. Digital scrapbooking is quicker, cheaper, your pictures can't get ruined, and there's never any mistakes!  I am definitely still learning. People out there can do some amazing stuff! Here's what I do:

Step One:
Buy a scrapbook kit online. *I also use these kits to create my own blog designs. I make my own blog headers and backgrounds. You can also use the kits to make cards, invitations, calendars...the possibilities are really endless!

I like:
The Shabby Shoppe
Scrap Orchard
Sweet Shoppe Designs
Two Peas in a Bucket
Scrap Artist

Step Two:
Design a scrapbook page in Photoshop (I use Photoshop Elements 8) using the elements from the kit. This is the part that takes some learning, but it gets easier.

Step Three:
Send off the pages to be printed! M PIX, Shutterfly and even Walgreens print scrapbook pages. I've also heard that Costco prints them very nicely, but I don't go there. Basically, in order to fit in scrapbook albums, scrapbook book pages are sized 8 x8, 10x10, or 12x12 so you just have to find a place that prints that size..

I've been working on albums for my mom and mother-in-law. Here's some of the pages that I've made for them. I'm pretty proud of these! They were so much fun to make, but Photoshop isn't always that easy to figure out. I think the finished albums will make really nice gifts for them.

I'm also working on a birthday album for Scarlett. My plan is to add about 5 pages each year after her birthday parties then I'll have one big album just of her birthday celebrations. I've only got some done from her first birthday so far...

I hope I've inspired someone to give this little hobby a try! If you ever have any questions, I'd love to try to help you!

Splish Splash

Little Gardener

Scarlett loves to do almost anything outside. She's really into bugs right now. She notices ants, rolly-polly bugs, crickets, spiders, and wasps. I've been teaching her all of their names. Most of them she wants to touch. The other day, I was telling her to watch out for a wasp that was flying around, and she said, "No, that's a dragonfly Momma!"  Seriously, the kid is so smart with the things she says!

She also likes dirt. When we were at my parents' she enjoyed digging around in their garden and "helping" plant some too. She LOVES to think she's helping. She says, "Look! I'm helping!"

Helping Pa prepare the tomato plants

Showing GG and G Pa she knows how to water the garden

She also loves the tacky yard art cute little garden animals my mom has; she kept kissing, hugging, and petting them.

Bike Buddy

Chris and I have always liked riding bikes. We recently put a bike seat on my bike for Scarlett, and we're loving it. She pats me on the back as I ride and says things like, "Go Mommy Go!" We can ride down to several different parks very easily, and we also have some fun bike trails in our neighborhood. One is heavily wooded, and Scarlett said, "Hey! We're in the jungle!" She really likes going for a ride. It's a fun thing for all three of us to do together, and I'm getting some good exercise toting her around!

4th of July

How is it possible that my baby has now seen THREE 4th of July holidays?

2008

2009

2010

This year we spent the weekend with my parents and my sister's family. Chris's dad also came down and brought a big surprise for Scarlett, a Kawasaki Barbie Four Wheeler! Luckily London was here to help show her how to ride. For now Scarlett just wants to sit on it; she's not too sure about it when it actually goes. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

 

Progress

The toddler bed saga continues…

The night after I posted our toddler bed issues, I knew something had to change, but I still wasn't sure what to do. After her bath and after we read, I turned off the lights as usual, and as usual, she started getting all worked up. Then she said, “It’s too dark!”  I knew then it was going to be another long night if I didn't try something new.  So I said, “Ok, I’ll leave the bathroom light on, and I won’t shut your door, but you cannot get out of bed, ok?” She said, “OK,” but I doubted it would work. I tucked her in, and walked out. Cringing, I waited for the wailing to begin, but lo and behold, nothing! She didn’t cry! She didn’t call out for me! She didn’t get out of bed! Not one time! I didn’t hear a peep!  

Now, mind you, I’ve been trapped in her room with her every night for almost a week (and yes, I realize I’m choosing to do that, but still…) so I was ecstatic. I got so much done! I happily worked on laundry, loaded the dishwasher, and straightened the house. I watched Bethenny Getting Married in real time! Man, was I happy. My prayers had been answered! The stand-off was over!

Around 11:30, I checked on her, found her to be sleeping soundly, shut her door, and turned off the bathroom light.

I fell into bed as all mothers with babies and toddlers and 16 year olds must do, and feel right to sleep.

The next thing I knew, I was jolted awake from a ruckus blaring over the monitor. She was screaming, crying, and her little fists were just pounding away on her door. I looked over at the clock. 12:30. Lovely.

I was too exhausted to help her fall back to sleep so we slept on the guest bed together. 

The next morning I realized maybe it’s the door being closed that’s bothering her. 

So last night, I left the door open again along with bathroom light and she was happy with that. She went right to sleep with no drama and no getting out of bed again.  A MIRACLE I tell you!  

Then I left and went to the movies with my mom, sister and DAD (yes we dragged him to Eclipse!!) Chris stayed home with Scarlett and reported that she never got out of bed or cried.  At midnight when we got home, we shut her door so we wouldn’t wake her since my parents are staying with us for the weekend.

And no kidding, not 20 minutes after shutting the door, she woke up and started banging on it.  I opened her door, and she walked right back over to her bed, got back in, and went back to sleep. It’s the craziest thing!  So we left her door open all night, and she was fine. 

The only problem is that she woke up at 6 am and came into my room wide awake and ready for the day.  At least we’re making HUGE progress.  I am a much happier mommy after a really good two nights! Thank you to all the supportive comments and advice!

Toddler Bed Woes

We converted Scarlett's crib last weekend to a toddler bed, and I'm regretting it quite a bit! But there's no going back now. We probably could have waited longer because she never tried to get out of her crib; I just thought she would enjoy a big girl bed now that she's two. She also loves big beds so I thought it would be a fun transition for her. Um, not so much. 

She's doing great at nap time. I put her down, she doesn't make a peep, and she doesn't get out of bed. I've been bribing her some though, and she gets a Starburst when she wakes up if she doesn't cry and doesn't get out, but hey it works, and if it weren't for naptime I might have lost my mind by now.

But these last few nights have been full of drama. She likes the bed; she gets right in and snuggles up. But she wants us to stay in her room with her. She pats the floor by her bed and directs us to "Sit here!" and "Mommy, go get your pillow!" When I put her down and leave, she freaks out, gets out of bed, and pounds on the door in hysterics.

We've been giving in and have sat in her room until she falls asleep. One problem with this is that sometimes we're in there for 20 minutes and sometimes it takes over an hour. My hope is that after a week or so, she'll get used to the bed, and we won't have to sit with her anymore, but this could also become a big problem.

We have one of those saftey knobs on the inside of her door so she can't get out. I'm thinking we may have to try putting a gate up and leave her door open instead; maybe then she won't feel so alone. But we've always shut her door when she sleeps, and it doesn't bother her at naptime so I'm not sure what the deal is. I don't think I'll feel so bad making her cry it out if she's crying at a gate instead of a closed door though. We're also still letting her have her paci when she sleeps so it's not that. 

Right before bedtime at night she's all smiles. She takes her bath, and then we read. She likes to get a chair for herself and then one for T Boone, her zebra.

What makes me crazy is the DRASTIC difference between naptime and nighttime. Because of how well she does for her nap, I know she can do the same at night, but she just will not give in.

I am thankful that I had an easy time with potty training. Dealing with both of those right now would just be too much! Thank you Lord for the free potty training pass! Much appreciated!