Making it Last

In honor of Valentines Day I wanted to post some articles that I ran across recently that explore the qualities and strategies for making a relationship last. (Of course, I wanted to post it BEFORE Valentine's Day, but you know how it goes, right?) You can find them here:

Wall Street Journal

Real Simple Magazine

I think we all know it takes work to maintain positive relationships and this is just about the most important work we do. As the first article says, it is really easy to understand why relationships fail, but harder to understand why they could ever work.
What do you think is a valuable quality or strategy for cultivating a long-lasting positive relationship? It doesn't have to be specific to marriage. Many of the same qualities and strategies are required for any kind of loving relationship.
Of course, the list is long, but one thing I think is important is to keep your cool when you are upset and to never deliberately say anything hurtful.
What do you think is important? Let's see if we can make a good list and then I'm going to pick one that I know I could improve upon and then work on it over the next little while. Will you join me?

Blog Design How-To's

I have been experimenting with blogs for a while and have learned a bunch of things I thought I would share. As I learned how to do something new, I kept track of it in a word document. Very handy. That was Derek's idea. He is the brains of the bunch.
So without further delay-Here are all the links to find all the directions for pretty much everything I know about blogs.

How to make your blog have 3 columns:

http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/07/create-three-column-blogger-template.html

How to add a button to your blog:

http://jenieshell.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-blog-button.html

How to design your own background:

http://jessicabills.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-make-cute-background.html

How to make it so a link opens in a new tab:

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/05/links-labels-open-in-new-window.html

How to add a "Recent Posts" widget:

http://www.madtomatoe.com/?s=recent+post+widget

How to remove the navbar:

http://www.geckoandfly.com/2008/07/27/how-to-hide-disable-or-remove-blogger-blogspot-navbar/

How to use a fun font for your post titles

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-cute-font-for-your-blogger-post-titles.html

How to add a scroll box (So people can grab your button)
http://jenieshell.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-scroll-box.html

Ok, honestly a couple of these are a bit tricky (the font one especially) but you just have to follow the directions step by step. I know you can do it! If you know where we can find directions for other cool things you can do with blogs, let us know and I'll add it to the list.

Recipes Link List

I think a Recipes Link List is long overdue on this blog! I am going to be compiling one over the next few days. Leave a comment and tell me your favorite place to go for yummy recipes and your favorite cooking blogs so I can add it to the list. Thanks!

Baby's Behind

My good friend and neighbor needs some serious help! Her little boy has very sensitive skin and is always suffering from diaper rash. She has tried many things and can't seem to find something that works really well. She has tried the usuals plus Butt Paste to no avail. Anyone who has dealt with this found something that works? Her little boy will thank you!

...Love...It

Ok-So I have run across so many fun Valentines day projects recently that I thought I would put them all in one place for everyone to see...Until I ran across this blog...

http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/

...and decided to stop because she has done it all already! Tons of great Valentines day ideas.

 Here are the one's that I found and loved before I decided to stop.

From Just Another Day in Paradise

How cute are these? (And the tutorials are great too)

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-craft-1-how-to-polka-dot.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-2-love-banner.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-3-xoxo-pillow-and_28.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-easy-weekend-project.html

From Everyday Celebrations

http://everydaycelebrate.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-valentine-countdown-calendar.html

From Twig and Thistle

http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2010/01/diy-valentine’s-day-goodie-bags/

From How About Orange

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/01/paper-heart-garland.html

From Our Scoop

http://www.ourscoop.blogspot.com/

Please share your Valentines Day ideas!!! I'd like to know if anyone does anything cute for their kids Valentines day parties besides Transformer and Cinderella cards from a box.

Delivering Dinners

Does anyone out there have some ideas for great meals to take to people when they are sick or they just had a baby? Whenever I have to bring dinner to someone, I can't think of what I should bring. It should be something that is generally liked, transfers well, and not too difficult to make (Its already very likely I will mess up something easy to make, so its gotta be pretty simple for my kitchen skills.)

You will be superbly awesome in my book if you take the time to type out a recipe or give me a link to a recipe, but you will still be my hero if you just pass along some good ideas. Thanks (mostly from the recovering individuals that are subject to my cooking!)

Pulling their Weight

My great friend Amber (fabulous name, huh?) has a question I'm hoping we can all help her with. 

 

"Both of my girls help out around the house, but I need to implement a plan that has more structure. What works? Allowance? Chore charts? Letting them get 9-5 jobs so I can sit around blogging and eating Milk Duds? (I mean they are 3 and 5. High time they start pulling their weight around here!)"

Any ideas out there? What works for you?

Baby Bib with Waterproof Layer

Here is another great tutorial from my sister Abbie. Thanks Abbie!!!!!

"My son Ryan had reflux and spit up constantly until he was 10 months old. He wore a bib almost all of his waking hours. I wanted to make him some bibs, so I started looking around online. There are a lot of great online tutorials already, but I couldn't find one for a bib with a waterproof layer, so I decided to make my own.

Find your favorite baby bib and trace it onto a paper. Add a quarter of an inch around the entire perimeter and cut out for your pattern.

For each bib you would like to make, cut out one layer of fabric right side up for the top and one layer of fabric right side down for the bottom. If you are making more than one bib, you could cut out several at a time.

For the waterproof liner, I found an old nylon bag we didn't use anymore and cut out one for each bib I was making. Any waterproof nylon fabric would work for this as long as it is not too thick. If you use thick fabric on these bibs they will be really stiff. Other nylon things you might find to use is old jackets, tents, waterproof mattress covers, etc. If you don't have any old nylon laying around the house, you could try a second hand store. But please make sure the nylon you use is non-toxic.

Stack your layers. I also cut out a layer of flannel for each bib for extra spit-up absorption. Put the nylon layer on the bottom, then put a layer of flannel next (if you are using it), then add the top layer right side up, and the bottom layer right side down. Pin together.

Sew around the edge of the bib with a quarter-inch seam. Leave several inches not sewn in order to be able to flip the bib right side out.

Trim the perimeter of the bib and clip the corners..

Turn inside out. You may want to use a pencil to help. Fold the unsewn area under and press. Press the entire bib.

Sew around the entire perimeter of the bib.

To finish, I added a snap for closure. Velcro would work as well."

All you Cougars...

So my little sister is a freshman at BYU and is starting to look for housing for next year. I know its been a while for some of us :) but does anyone have a place that they would recommend? Something super close to campus (she doesn't have a car) and, of course, clean and affordable. Or do you have any tips for her on how to find good housing? What to look for? What to avoid? Even telling her where NOT to live would be useful!
We would appreciate any help!

Done with Diapers?

It was only a matter of time until we had a potty training post! Besides getting children to sleep, it can be one of the most frustrating parts of parenting small children.
I have a cousin that is having a hard time potty training one of her kids, and I'm sure there are more of you going through this right now. What's hard about potty training is there are a thousand different opinions on the matter and everyone usually thinks their way is the best. Honestly, I think the best approach is probably a little different for each child.
That being said, here's what I think about potty training: (Please don't be offended if it is different than what you think. Its just my opinion and its just what worked for us.)
I am totally in the "earlier-the-better" camp. I think waiting and waiting until your child "shows interest" will just result in you wiping poopy behinds for much longer than is needed. (And all the diapers you can save from the landfill, the better!) From The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, "In 1957, studies found that 92 percent of children were toilet trained by eighteen months." This tells me that it is possible to train early.
So let me now tell you how I potty trained both of my kids. (Tyson was fully trained by 2 1/2 and Eliza by 2. Both were pooping in the toilet by age 2). I got the basic idea from the Baby Whisperer. Just start talking to them about it at a very young age, 9 months to a year. When they poop say, "You are going poop. When you are older, you will go poop in the toilet just like mommy and daddy." Its as simple as letting them know what they are even doing. If you do this they will recognize it very early and learn to associate it with the toilet. When my kids got closer to age two, I would run and put them on the toilet whenever I thought they were going to poop. At first, we didn't make it in time very much and I would just change their diaper, but I would never just let them poop in their diaper without running to make it to the toilet first. Then whenever we did make it to the toilet in time, I praised them like I never had done before. I told them how proud I was and gave them a treat. It is a pain but they get it after a short while and then YOU DON"T HAVE TO CHANGE POOP ANYMORE! I think poop training should be done early because this is the age when they crave your praise. If you wait until they are older they don't care as much what you think and they can become very stubborn.
I gotta be honest though. Training them to pee in the toilet was not as easy and I don't feel like I am expert enough to offer much advice in that arena except just be patient and consistent and take them to the toilet pretty much all the time until they get it. Oh and get some training underwear (the kind that is super padded) and have them wear multiple pairs at first. That way, if there is an accident, most of it is absorbed by the unders.
Ok-that is my training regimen but what have you done???? I'd like to hear what has worked for you and see if we can help my cousin out. She has tried many things already so hopefully we have some new ideas for her.