Favorite Natural Solutions

Ok, you are probably going to think I am crazy after this post, but I thought I'd share about my "green" progress and what has worked for me. Don't worry, I am not doing these things for the sake of saving the world, although I know that is a worthy cause. I feel the need to admit to you that we don't even recycle (yes, I can hear the screams of horror and it's ok :) No, I simply have two main reasons:

First, I am a stay-at-home Mama (a wonderful dream come true!!!!) and the only money I can make right now is the money that I save. Someday I'd love to be a holistic family care provider and help my husband make money, but for now, I hardly ever get the dishes done so I figure I'd better not add anything to my plate :) So I've taken it upon myself to search high and low for cheap ways of doing things.

Secondly, once I became a Mama, I became super protective of the things that my children (and myself, since I always seem to be either breastfeeding or pregnant :) come in contact with. If my 409 kills a fly with just a squirt, (yes, that used to be my very favorite way of killing a fly :) is it really that safe for my toddler if I use it to wipe off my table? And my toddler wants to "help" Mama do EVERYTHING! So when she begs to scrub the tub with me, do I want her inhaling 409 fumes? Absolutely not! So I've changed my ways a bit and thought I'd share with you.

But first, I have to mention how I change my ways. Because I'm lazy. There, I've said it. Even if I have all the ingredients to make my own wipes for my baby, and I know it will save me money and be better for my baby's bum, I'm not going to take the 2 minutes to mix them together if I have some store-bought wipes staring at my face. Because I'm lazy. Same thing with baby food -- if I have a jar that my MIL gave me, I give my baby that instead of taking the extra seconds to smash up a banana. It's ridiculous. And I can't tell you how long I had the gallon of vinegar in my cupboard before I finally put some in a spray bottle and tried it out :) So I have to force myself to try out my natural solutions by refusing to buy the store bought kind. Because then I don't have any other option! And guess what? I'm always so glad that I did!

So here are my favorites in no particular order:

1. I brush my teeth with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide -- I wet my toothbrush, dip it in the baking soda (which I keep in a shallow Tupperware), and squirt a little hydrogen peroxide on it. No, it doesn't taste as good as that minty toothpaste, but it isn't horrible, either. And get this -- I used to get sores in my mouth all the time when I was stressed out or bit my lip. But I haven't gotten a single one since I started this brushing technique! I've definitely bitten my lip several times and I've probably been stressed some, too, but I think the hydrogen peroxide helps heal my mouth. I actually started this method to avoid the fluoride in most toothpaste and the big price tag on the "natural" ones that don't contain fluoride. You won't find much cheaper than a couple drops of hydrogen peroxide and a dip of baking soda :) I stopped this method for a short time when my morning sickness was so bad and the mint flavor of the store-bought kind seemed to help. But guess what? I started getting sores in my mouth again if I bit my lip! So now I'm pretty set in my hydrogen peroxide/ baking soda ways :)

2. I cleanse my face with olive oil and moisturize with coconut oil. I know you might think that the oil would make my face break out, but it doesn't. I have always had dry skin and had to use tons of lotion after washing with even a super gentle soap. But now I just rub olive oil on my skin, wipe with a warm, moist cloth, and then moisturize with a little bit of coconut oil. And my face has felt so much better! I have saved so much money since I don't have to buy all that expensive face wash and moisturizer! I've read that a lot of people add in a little bit of castor oil to the olive oil for more help with acne, but I haven't tried it myself. Another one of my friends adds some plain, white sugar to the olive oil for a natural facial scrub in the morning. And I've read that if you have oily skin, you should use a mixture of oats and honey as a cleanser, but it sounds a little too messy for me. I can only vouch for the olive oil :)

3. I clean everything with a spray bottle of half vinegar- half water or a water solution with several drops of tea tree oil in it. If I REALLY want a deep clean, I will spray hydrogen peroxide on top of the vinegar before wiping, but most of the time, I just use the vinegar. No, I do not like the smell of vinegar, but it goes away in about 15 minutes. And I alsoflavor my vinegar by letting orange peels soak in it for a couple of months, so it doesn't smell quite as badly :) You can also put drops of your favorite essential oil in the solution to help it smell better. Commercial all-purpose cleaners are about 20-30 cents per ounce. My vinegar solution costs about 2 cents an ounce and is perfectly safe for my kids! For scrubbing my tub or anything that needs a little more "oomph," I will sprinkle some baking soda down first and then spray the vinegar.

4. Washing clothes -- I used to use this recipe for my own laundry detergent and I still highly recommend it. It is very inexpensive and easy. However, although it is far better for your skin than commercial laundry detergent, I'm not a huge fan of the borax. So when I heard about Soap Nuts, I decided to give them a try because they are every bit as cheap but a lot more natural. I've used them for the past year and have been very pleased. They work great for cloth diapers, as well. If you are interested in comparing natural laundry detergents, Lindsay wrote THIS fabulous post on the topic that I highly recommend.

5. Drying clothes -- I don't use dryer sheets anymore. Instead, I use dryer balls that I found at the dollar store. Yep, I only paid one buckaroo for the pair and I've saved tons of money. You might not be lucky enough to find them for a dollar, but even a $5 pair will have paid for itself in a month or two! Better yet, MAKE YOUR OWN wool dryer balls, which are even better for your clothes!

6. My favorite panacea: Coconut Oil! I use it for almost everything! I absolutely love to cook with it, but it is good for so much more! It is naturally anti-viral and antibacterial and works for just about anything having to do with your skin. Awesome stuff and I love the way it smells! I use it instead of face lotion, baby lotion, diaper rash ointment, hair gel, neosporin, chapstick, Lanolin, and so much more! You might think that it is expensive, but in reality, you need such a little bit at a time that it ends up being a much better deal. And it is ever so much better for you than those lotions and medicines with a ton of chemicals in them! Honestly, my skin has never been healthier. You just have to make sure you get the high quality, extra virgin, cold pressed kind.

7. Home-made wipes solution: Since I use cloth diapers, it really isn't any trouble to throw in some wipes with my dirty load. I use a bunch of extra baby washcloths because we received more than we needed at our showers with my first baby. I don't really measure my solution any more, but this is what I estimate that I do: Pour about a cup of water in a tupperware; add about a drop of tee tree oil and a few drops of olive oil. Shake well. Then I just dip my washcloth in it before I wipe her bum. So easy! You could also use disposable paper towels if you don't do cloth diapers. It is still a lot cheaper and so much better for your baby than all the chemicals in wipes! And a lot of people just use plain water to wipe with, which would obviously be the very least expensive :)

8. I use Everyday Minerals make-up -- They only use natural minerals and essential ingredients -- no chemicals! It has worked fine for me and isn't too expensive, either.

9. I make my own shampoo -- 1 part coconut milk to 2 parts castile soup -- my review and description can be foundHERE

10. I make my own lotion -- While I still use coconut oil for EVERYTHING, I found that it wasn't quite enough to moisturize my dry skin during the winter. So I came up with my own home-made lotion. Now I use it for my face, to keep stretch marks off my humongous preggo belly, and everywhere else. And I can't wait for Abbi Grace to get here because I'm going to smear it all over her tiny body as well. I love it because the ingredients are natural enough to eat. (And I did (by mistake); I licked the spoon out of habit after stirring it in my pot :)

There are a number of oils you can choose from in making your own lotion; these just happened to be the ones I had on hand: coconut oil, almond oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter. You definitely want to use coconut oil because of all the antibacterial, healing properties, and the shea butter is very important as well, because it makes the lotion more thick, rather than just a thin coating of oil. Cocoa butter is a pain because it is so hard, but I wanted to use it since I had it and I do think it helped the consistency of the lotion.

I have no recipe; I just dropped spoonfuls of each of them into my pot on the stove and left it on low for a while till I could stir it up together. (You definitely want to keep the temperature on low so that you don't destroy all the healing and nourishing qualities of the ingredients!) Then I set it out on the counter to cool and finished by putting it in the fridge for a while to solidify. I've done it a several times now without measuring and it always turns out a little differently, but it always works. And my skin has never been happier! I clean my face with olive oil and then put this concoction on it and it just feels so good!

*If you are one who likes to measure and prefers a more precise recipe, you could try out THIS one orTHIS one.

11. I started making home-made deodorant. This is probably one of my biggest money-savers because I made just a small amount about 6 months ago and I still have a ton!! I used Lindsay's recipe and it works fine for me. I do believe your body goes through a little change as it gets used to not having the chemicals of store-bought deodorant because I needed a lot when I first started but now only a tiny bit will work just fine.

Ingredients:

6-8 Tbsp Coconut oil (solid state)
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder or cornstarch (arrowroot is preferred)

Directions:

1. Combine equal portions of baking soda & arrowroot powder.
2. Slowly add coconut oil and work it in with a spoon or hand blender until it maintains a firm but pliable texture. It should be about the same texture as commercial deodorant, solid but able to be applied easily. If it is too wet, add further arrowroot powder/cornstarch to thicken.
3. You can either scoop this recipe into your old deodorant dispensers or place in a small container with lid and apply with fingers with each use. Makes about 1 cup. This recipe lasts about 3 months for two people with regular daily use.

For a picture tutorial placing this recipe in an old deodorant container, visit here.

12. Lastly, I invested in a Norwex enviro cloth and window cloth to simplify my cleaning. I still use my tea tree oil or vinegar solutions for some things, but I am loving the simplicity of these two cloths for everything else! I chose it because it is made out of microfiber cloth with an innovative design that uses anti-bacterial silver particles integrated into the synthetic microfiber, ensure (according to their website):

• Single-celled micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, and viruses cannot survive or adapt in silver exposure

• Surface-to-surface cross-contamination is eliminated

• Rapidly drying cloths prevent bacteria growth in the cloth itself

(Read THIS review to learn more about it)

Practically , it has worked really well for me! I have seriously never had such clean, streak-free windows before and I love the fact that I didn't have to use any chemicals at all! I love wiping my sinks down with it and knowing that there will be no gross mold or bacteria growing in my towel. I simply rinse it out and hang it out to dry after each use

How I plan meals for our family

I was asked to share about planning meals for my family on the POH blog. And Kelly is doing a "Show us Your life" -- Organization blog fest. So I thought I might as well post about how I organize our meals.

For breakfast, we usually have some kind of eggs and fruit and often some kind of grain (pancakes, waffles, toast, muffins, quinoa, oatmeal, etc.) I know you might think breakfast takes forever if I'm always cooking eggs, but it really only takes a minute to fry or scramble some eggs. And they are just so good for us! Eggs contain every nutrient your body needs except Vitamin C! Needless to say, my little family goes through 3 dozen eggs a week :) We have recently started grinding our own grain so I've been trying to make it all from scratch since its so much healthier. But I always make extra pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc, and freeze them so I really only cook such things once or twice a week. We do not usually does not eat store-bought cereal for breakfast because its processed and not really that good for us. Instead, I make my own cereal and granolato have on hand for quick breakfasts. HERE is a list of our favorite breakfasts.

I don't plan lunches because we usually just eat leftovers or a simple sandwich. We LOVEcoconut oil and it is sooooo incredibly good for us! We use it instead of mayonnaise or Ranch or other spreads on our sandwiches. It is sweet, so I've found that we no longer even need jam with our peanut butter sandwiches or syrup on our pancakes. And it makes the best greasy, healthy grilled cheese sandwich ever :)

Snacks are pretty consistent. We usually has plain, unsweetened, home-made yogurt or unsweetened applesauce with homemade granola, or we eat some fruit and cheese and almonds or pecans. And I make healthy homemade butter crackers and graham crackers that my girls ask for throughout the day when they want to munch. I'm still working on getting my husband to give up his chips and Kudos bars for snacks, but he's slowly giving in to more healthy snacks :) HERE is a list of some of our favorite snacks.

I plan my weekly dinners from an excel spreadsheet that I've made of all our favorite meals. We have over 70 options so that I'm not making the same thing in the same month. However, I usually double the recipe whenever possible and freeze a meal for a busy day, so my family definitely receives some repetition. I also LOVE to try new recipes, so I deviate from my list every so often. But its worth it, because I'm constantly finding new favorites. My goal is to have the following each week: two dinners from the freezer that I made previously, two simple, healthy meals with fresh ingredients, try out one new recipe, CORN night (clean out the refrigerator night) and cook at least one recipe that doubles and freezes well to keep my freezer stocked. Some weeks I manage this and some weeks are crazy :) I have an ongoing list on my fridge that shows what meals I have already made in the freezer so that I don't forget about them. I also have an ongoing word document on my laptop filled with recipes that I want to try. When I am planning my menu for the week, I have all three of my lists before me so its quite simple to make a plan. HERE is a list of my recipes that freeze well.

Some of these meals are more expensive than others, so we definitely don't have them as often as the others. Not all of these meals are super healthy, but I am trying to gradually change them to use more whole foods and natural ingredients. This has been a gradual process for me due to lack of funds and time and most of these recipes haven't been converted to the healthy version yet :) We do try to have fruit with every meal and veggies at least at dinner.

Weekly outings with my girls

The topic this week is about outings with our kids and things we do to make them go more smoothly. I figured that the easiest way for me to write about it would be to tell you where we go each day in a normal week. But first, let me just say that although I love to take my girls on fun outings, my favorite days are when we can stay at home and keep to our normal schedule. Things just go so much easier and more smoothly when we are home and the girls know what is going to happen next. So I try to plan all my errands for the same day or two and stay at home the rest of the week. However, we do have several activities that we do on a weekly basis that we all enjoy, and even more so during the summer time.

Mondays: Usually a catch-up day for us because I try to just relax and spend time with my family on Sundays. I don't do a lot of housework or cooking, so on Mondays we stay home and catch up!

Tuesdays: Possible Early Grocery Morning and then a normal day at home: We usually stay at home on Tuesdays, but if we have to go to the grocery store that week, we will go early right before my husband heads off to work. (I try to make a monthly meal plan and do most of my shopping at the Farmer's market, farm, or during our monthly trip to Trader Joes, so we don't have to go to the grocery store every week.) I like to go when my husband is available to help because Karis is currently in the "learning how to push a little buggy" stage. She listens very well, but often gets carried away and will run into things. So I usually put Karlie in the Ergo and push the big buggy while Mark helps Karis manage the little grocery cart. If I go without Mark, then Karis just walks beside the buggy instead of pushing her own cart. There are two things that help us get through the grocery store trip more smoothly:

1. Laughter. Karis is absolutely hilarious pushing that cart around. It is very easy to get all stressed out because it is inevitable that she will run into something or someone, but we just choose to laugh at her. She gets so excited and tries so hard to help. Almost everyone that she runs into laughs at her, so why shouldn't we all just have fun as she learns? :)
2. The "one-finger" rule -- Karis knows that she is allowed to touch things with one finger, but she cannot pick up anything unless we tell her to put it in her cart. This satisfies her unending curiosity and gives her a little freedom, but keeps her in check as well. I will warn that the rule is not so great if there happens to be glass bottles or other things that are easily broken, but she is always under our careful watch so we just warn her ahead of time that those things cannot be touched.

Wednesdays: Daddy date and toddler pool time: Wednesday is my husband's day off and he has gotten into the habit of taking Karis out to do whatever errands he needs to do. She absolutely loves it and looks forward to and talks about her "Daddy and Karis" time all week long. This week she went with him to the dentist, last week he took her to the local Seminary Student Center to watch the soccer game, and the week before that, they took the dog to her check-up at the vet. It just sounds like boring errands to me, but to Karis, it is very special and exciting! I usually pack snacks for her and a coloring book and markers to keep her busy if there is any waiting involved.

Toddler Time at the Pool: Last year, Karis was scared of the pool and we decided that we needed to go more often so that she would get used to it. A pool in our area offers "toddler time" from noon to 1:00 every day and it is only open to parents and children ages 4 and under. This was absolutely perfect for Karis because there were just a handful of Moms and little ones and she grew to love the pool. An hour is plenty of time to wear out a toddler and it was perfect for meeting Mark on his lunch break. I never had the nerve to go all by myself since neither of my girls could swim and I probably won't this year, either :) We haven't actually gone to the pool yet this year because I have been really sick from morning sickness, but I'm hoping to start next week. We always pack lots of snacks and a handful of pool toys.

Thursdays: Soccer class and the Library: My husband runs an awesome sports facility that offers classes in soccer, basketball, T-ball, and tennis to little ones. The soccer classes actually start at 18 months, so Karis has been going to soccer class with her Daddy since she was just a little thing! She loves it! It got a little more difficult once Karlie was born, because the younger ages are parent-child classes and I still had to be able to chase her around while carrying Karlie so Daddy could focus on coaching. I used a hotslingwith Karlie as a newborn and the Ergo from 6 months to a year. Once she turned one and started walking, however, she didn't want to stay in the carrier one bit! So now I just let her run around and chase balls and the other kids and it has worked out fine. It is definitely a work-out for me as well as the girls!

Library: My girls LOVE books and they LOVE the library! We don't go to story-time, although I think they would really enjoy it, simply because it doesn't fit our schedule as well. (Like I mentioned before, I try to stay home when I can, so we go to the library when we are already out and about :) Karis is really easy at the library. She loves choosing books and sitting on the fun carpet and looking at them. Karlie used to be easy at the library as well, when she would stay nicely in the Ergo while I picked through and found the best kids books. Now that she is mobile, however, she is obsessed with the books and really wants to get down and pick them out. I usually first set her down by the board books, because they are just in a big table and she can't really mess them up. I usually have about 5 minutes to myself to pick out a handful of good kids books while she is engrossed in the board books. After that, she is a crazy girl, grabbing books off the shelf left and right! Yes, I am working very hard to train her to have good library manners, but she doesn't quite have the hang of it yet :) I cannot describe to you how incredibly excited she gets when she sees all those books! After about 10 minutes of following Karlie around and teaching her to sit down and read the books she chooses (instead of throwing books around left and right :),I put her back in the Ergo so we can check out. Since I no longer have twenty minutes to leisurely browse through the books, my biggest tip is this: Utilize the online reserve function of your library!!! I usually reserve between 15 and 20 books each week so that I know that we will get home with plenty of good ones. If you run out of good books to reserve, check out some of these reading lists: 
Websites:
Early Years Read-alouds -- Simply Charlotte Mason
Classical Christian EducationSupport Loop: 1000 Good Books List 
The Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education booklist
Five in a Row booklist
Our Library's book list

Books:
The Read-Aloud Handbook: 6th edition by Jim Trelease
Honey For a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt

Friday: Stay at home and keep a normal schedule!

Saturday: Farmer's Market or our CSA Farm: My girls LOVE the farm! I buy most of our meat and eggs at the Farmer's Market, so I go there at least one Saturday a month. This spring, my family purchased a market share CSA from a local farm. We paid a sum of money ahead of time and can go every week to pick out fresh fruits and veggies at a discounted rate. During spring strawberry season, we went every single week with the girls to pick strawberries! It was so much fun and I love the fact that my girls know exactly where their food comes from. Now that it is so hot and I am so sick with morning sickness, we just go to the farm and buy what they have already picked almost every week. We also go to a different farm to get fresh milk, but I only do that once a month because I am part of a group with 5 other ladies and we take turns picking up milk for each other.

Sunday: Church: We attend a very small church and the children stay in the service. This is both wonderful and very exhausting, but we are blessed to have a very understanding church family. Rather than viewing the children as a distraction (which mine definitely are, ha,ha), they view them as an opportunity to minister to our family. They have told me so many times how much they enjoy it when I turn Karlie loose and let her come sit with them. I really appreciate this because it is an extremely loving environment in which to teach my girls obedience and the art of sitting still. So here is how we manage: Karis is three and is old enough to sit still for the entire service (usually a little more than an hour). We bring lots of snacks and a coloring book and markers (I LOVE the Color Wonder Markers and books!). She has learned to be quiet and sit with us, although sometimes if Karlie gets attention for being loud, Karis will start to act up and we have to take her out and discipline her. Karlie, on the other hand, is definitely still in the training period! For the first 9 months of her life, she slept in the Ergo while at church. But now she is very excited about being there and seeing all our friends and doesn't really want to sit still. So we are taking it slow. I figure that at 17 months, a half hour of sitting still is a reasonable expectation. So she sings, eats her snacks, looks at books and colors on my lap for 30 minutes. She is not always quiet and usually gets mad at some point and has to be disciplined a couple of times. But she is definitely getting the hang of it and I am really grateful to have such a safe place to teach her to sit still. After about a half hour, I let her walk around and visit with other members of our church family for the duration of the service. Fairly soon I plan to bump it up to 45 minutes, but she is not quite ready for it :)

So that is a summary of our weekly outings! Hope it was helpful and I would love to hear about places you like to take your kids and your tips for success!

Our Potty Training Journey: A Matter of the Will

I have only potty trained one child, so I am by no means an expert! But I definitely had my share of frustrating days and learned a lot from it, so I wanted to share with you how it went. Let me start by saying that I have an amazing dear friend who decided to try early potty training with her absolutely adorable baby. She started started getting her baby used to the potty when she was only a month old. I know, it sounds crazy, but she had amazing success with it and her baby was pretty much potty-trained by 13 months! I just think she is awesome! Click HERE if you want to see the book that inspired her to try it. I was personally not brave enough to do such a thing, but when I found out that we were pregnant again and would have a new baby when Karis was just 20 months old, I decided to try to get Karis out of diapers before the new baby came... 

Attempt #1 -- Karis was 17 months -- I had read The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers and was planning to use her method for potty training at a younger age. I tried to get her to just sit on the potty but she was deathly afraid of it and screamed bloody murder. In retrospect, I should have bought a bjorn pottythat is recommended for early potty training because it has great support and younger babies feel comfortable and secure in it. But I just decided that 2 in diapers wasn't the end of the world and we would try later :)

Attempt #2 -- Karis was 22.5 months and very excited about her little pink potty this time. I decided to use the method in Gary Ezzo's book because my sis-in-law had great success with it. Basically, you praise the child for staying dry rather than for using the potty. So we checked her diaper every 20 minutes, but it was always damp. I moved the timer down to 10 minutes, then to 5. It seemed that Karis was always a little damp so it was hard to reward her for staying dry. I think she just didn't have very good control yet. We had a very messy first two days, great success the 3rd day, and then on the 4th day Karis went ballistic and ran screaming away from me every time I even mentioned the word potty. I didn't want the potty to be a power-struggle, so I decided to follow everyone else's advice and wait til she was at least 2 before trying again. I still think the premise of the book is great and would work well if your child is ready, but Karis just couldn't seem to stay dry for any length of time. She just wasn't ready yet.

Final and Successful attempt -- Shortly after Karis turned 2, I started noticing that she was often dry in the morning when she woke up and after naps as well. And a lot of times I would go to change her diaper and it had been completely dry for several hours. I knew she was ready for potty training, but we had a lot of fun summer traveling ahead of us and I really didn't want to worry about finding a potty at the beach :)

When we finished our travels, we had 2 difficult weeks getting Karlie to sleep well again because all the traveling had really messed up her schedule. After we got her all straightened out, I told Mark that I ought to take the plunge and potty train Karis . He begged me to wait because we needed to have just one "normal" week after all the craziness of the summer.

Apparently, Karis did not want to wait because on Wednesday, she randomly asked to use the potty and stayed dry all day! I was utterly amazed at her perfect potty day but figured it was because we had just been reading this book and this book that we had checked out of the library. Needless to say, I highly recommend them :)

So with her leading, we took the plunge. Karis had her ups and downs for a couple of days and was very excited about her new underwear, going potty, and then getting her treat (some frozen smoothie, healthy chocolate candy, or power balls ). But then she simply stopped wanting to go potty at all. She would sit on her potty just fine while I read her books, but she never filled it up. One morning she started looking very uncomfortable around 10:30. So we sat on the potty for about ten minutes. Nothing happened, so I let her get up. But then she looked like she needed to go again, so we sat and read some more. (I put her potty in the living room so I didn't have to drag Karlie in the bathroom every time :) This went on until noon and we had to go eat lunch before naps. The minute I reached in the fridge, she went used the bathroom all over my floor. I was sooooo frustrated! I had wasted my whole morning trying to help her go potty and we still ended up with a mess!

Once I put the girls down for a nap, I called my Mom for advice. She recommended that if I was certain that Karis needed to use the potty, to tell her she had to sit by herself in the bathroom until she could see it in the potty. This would help her to focus on the job at hand. As soon as Karis woke up, I told her the new plan. She wasn't happy about it, because she had really enjoyed my attention when I read to her on the potty all day long :) It became a discipline issue immediately, which I had hoped to avoid. But it worked instantly! As soon as she knew she would get a spanking for leaving the bathroom early, she did her business immediately. I only had to discipline her the first 3 times, and from then on she happily did her thing. And the excitement on her face when she realized she could do it was enough reward to cover all the spankings :) For the next 2 months, she would run out of the bathroom with her undies around her toes, carrying her little potty seat to show me her success, yelling "Yay Karis!!!!" at the top of her lungs. It was hilarious and I was just so proud of her! Karis never looked back after that day and pretty much never had an accident again.

Summary: I know that all children are different, but for my sweet, stubborn 2-year old, discipline was definitely the key to teaching her one of the most basic skills of life. Potty training was fun for her at first, but when she grew tired of it, she needed to know that she could do it and that it was important to Mommy and Daddy. After that realization, she never looked back and has used the potty cheerfully without any accidents ever since!

Traveling with Little Ones...

I've found that traveling with little ones is utterly exhausting, but very rewarding. I love all the fun memories we make and hearing my 3-year old talk about a trip for months afterwards. I am constantly amazed by all that she remembers!

Our amount of travel varies in correlation to the stages of our kids. For example, Karlie (now 16 months) absolutely HATED the car until she was a year old. She never fell asleep, even as a newborn, and I would spend the duration of our car rides turned around in an illegal manner, trying to soothe her. So her first year we traveled as little as possible. Karis (now 3), on the other hand, was an easy baby and we went on many trips throughout her first year.

Our current normal travel consists of a 3 1/2 hour trip every few months to see the grandparents and a few trips to the beach during the summer. Since our girls are at pleasant traveling stages right now and we know that next year will be more difficult with a new baby, we have decided that this is our summer/fall to travel a lot! We just recently made a huge (for us :) 7 hour trip to Seabrook Island and although the car ride was very taxing, it was well worth it! (I blogged about what I learned that particular trip HERE.) Visiting the grandparents is usually fairly easy, because once we arrive, they take care of everything! But beach trips take a lot more planning and that is currently what is going on in my head right now. Here are my thoughts/tips in no particular order:

I totally agree with Leah that snacks are a huge help! Bring lots of snacks and save them for when the kids get fussy. Here is a list of my favorite healthy snacks that I now reference when planning for trips.

Consider having the kids split a "normal" meal instead of buying them each a kids meal when eating out.My family doesn't do fast food. I'm kind of a health nut, and I'm actually starting to rub off on my husband (finally!). So on car trips, we usually stop at someplace like Cracker Barrel. (We figure it is the closest to real food we can get on the road). We love it because it gives the girls a decent break so they can stretch their legs and it helps to get some energy out. Last time, we raced them up and down the porch and danced for about 20 minutes before getting back in the car. I'm sure that people must have thought we were crazy, but it really helped the girls. Cracker Barrel is more expensive, but splitting the meal saves money. Last time, the girls and I all split a grilled chicken tender meal. Because of all the sides and bread, and it was plenty for all 3 of us.

Buy a new CD or "hide" a favorite one for about a month before a big trip. Save it for when the ride gets too long and the tempers get short. We stumbled upon an old favorite on our last trip and I was amazed at how excited the girls were to hear it again and how they instantly calmed down and stayed peaceful for the duration of the CD.

Stickers can be entertaining for quite a while! I randomly bought a pack of those neon circle label stickers at the grocery store as we were leaving town and they turned out to be the best distraction for my 16 month old. They were really easy for her to get off and she was quite happy decorating a notebook (and her car seat :) for a good 30 minutes! My 3-year old LOVES sticker books (a book with a bunch of stickers in the middle of the book and she has to figure out which page they go on).

Take lots of pictures and put them in some kind of a book as soon as possible. My daughter LOVES looking at pictures of past trips, and it helps her to remember even more. She still talks about a beach trip we took when she was just a year old because she looks at the pictures so often.

My main job when preparing for a long trip is meal planning. Our family usually tries to save money by using our kitchen instead of eating out. We might have one special night for eating out, but the rest of the meals are up to me. As much as I enjoy cooking, however, I don't want to spend my vacation slaving away. Instead, I make ahead several of these meals that freeze well and have them all ready to go in the oven when we need them.

My husband prefers duffle bags over suitcases because he says they compress easily for packing and only take up as much space as we pack. We bought THESE inexpensive bags at Target in different colors for all of us and we have been really pleased with them. Every time he packs the car, my husband mentions how glad he is that we switched to duffle bags :)

A wagon is helpful for almost every trip! We just recently got a van and have been able to bring our wagon on trips for the first time. We have taken it on a camping trip and a beach trip and have been incredibly thankful for it both times! On our last trip, we packed all the beach toys right inside it and it was all ready for us when we arrived. Our particular beach had a LONG trail to get to the shore and the girls were always grateful for a ride home after playing all morning in the hot sun.

Go with grandparents or friends whenever possible so that you can relax more and maybe even get a date with your husband!