Summer is Already Over!

Well, summer vacation has come to an end already.

Leila has learned to sleep in a toddler bed and does wonderful.  She always calls for mom or dad when she wakes up and has never gotten out of bed before we come in her room.

She is also awake potty trained!  She still sleeps in a diaper for nap and bedtime but does great the rest of the day.  We started the process with m&ms but that ended in us going potty every 5 minutes so we made a potty chart.  When Leila pooped she got a sucker and when she filled a row on the potty chart she got to go to the dollar store or the Target dollar bins and pick out a new toy.  Before the chart was even full she lost interest in the suckers and putting up a new sticker.

Leila still has her pacis but we are making a little progress.  Not long ago she dropped one in the potty.  It sat on the counter for a week before I put it in the tinted cup that was on the counter.  Her little eyes spotted it right away but we kept telling her it was icky because it fell in the potty.  A few days later Chad was giving the dog a bath with Leilas help and she wanted to dump water on the dog with the cup that had the paci in it.  Chad told her she had to throw the paci away if she wanted to help because that paci was dirty.  She was hesitant but finally did it.  After the bath she came out of the bathroom and said "Mommy come see."  I went in and she pointed to the trash.  She was proud of herself and has not mentioned it since.  She still has two left and anytime we say we should throw them away or give them away she cries.

Gavin is getting to be such a little man!  He started walking more than crawling by the middle on June.  He says dada, mama, pupu (puppy), ba (ball), all done, all gone, night night, du (duck) and pa (grandpa).  There is a lot of other gibberish in there but nothing that I can make out.  He waves when we ask him to say hi and loves waving to the cars that go by when we take a walk.  He has the most adorable smile!  He turned 1 on August 5th!!!  He finally started sleeping better and only waking once for a paci and goes right back to sleep.  Naps are usually 2.5 - 3 hours long!  He loves Leila.  He loves going outside and gets upset when Daddy takes Leila out after dinner and not him. He loves playing outside but everything goes in his mouth so it's hard to actually take him out.  And best of all...he is a mamas boy :)

Engergizer Smart Charger!

I just found out about a great contest going on right now from JLeighDesignz.com for an Energizer Smart Charger and $15 Target gift card and of course I want to enter!

The Energizer Smart Charger is a battery charger that has a countdown to show you how long it will be until your batteries are charged. It also shows you the batteries charge status.

I would use my Energizer Smart Charger for charging batteries for toys, the camera, the camera flash and the wii remote!  I'm sure my husband would use it too.  He is always using batteries in flashlights and other household items.

Check out the Enerigizer Smart Charger at http://www.energizer.com/PRODUCTS/HIGHTECH-BATTERIES/RECHARGEABLES/Pages/rechargeable-products.aspx

Blogging Vacation

I have little/no internet access at home (unless I steal the neighbors wirelss) so I will be on a blogging vacation over the summer.

Big Girl Bed

Chad called me Friday after work and asked if he could buy Leila a toddler bed at a garage sale.  He said it was only $6 and was white plastics with little sides.  It sounded just like the bed I had contacted 3 people on craiglists for but never heard back from any of them.  I told him to buy it and he called a few minutes later asking if I wanted the mattress too because the guy was going to give it to him if we did.  I said no since we already have 3 crib mattresses and we really don't need another.  Chad set it up as soon as he got home.  I washed it up with bleach water and made the bed for Leila and when she saw it she was so excited.  She had to climb in to try it out.

Before bed we discussed that she could sleep in her big girl bed if she stayed in bed.  We told her if she gets out of bed she would have to sleep in her crib.  She climbed into bed, got her pillow, blankey and baby in the right spot, found all her pacis and asked to be covered up.

We said good night, shut the door and she went right to sleep.  We didn't want her falling down the stairs in the middle of the night so we put the baby gate up in the hallway just incase she decided to get up.  Around 12:30am I heard some noise in her room so I went to check on her and before I opened the door she started calling for daddy.  I went in and had to laugh.  She had her hands on the floor holding herself from falling out of bed.  We are not sure if she was trying to find her pacis (2 were on the floor) or if she was just turning in her sleep and happened to fall out of bed.  I layed her back down, handed her all the pacis and she rolled over and went back to sleep.  She did not get out of bed all night and it the morning she just called for daddy like she did when she slept in her crib. 

Gavin is 10 months old!

Giveaway wins!

I won two giveaways in the last few weeks!  The first was an 11 oz Lemon Pound Cake Candle from Village Candle.  The giveaway was hosted on this wonderful site Jessica Loves To Save Money that is full of freebies, money savings and giveaways.  Thanks Jessica and Village Candle!  I love the candle and it fills the house with a wonderful smell.

My second win was a $20 giftcard and free shipping for Plum Organics or Revolution Foods from EcoMom.

This giveaway was hosted by Me As A Mommy.  I decided to get Plum Organics Variety 6 Pack Fruit Purees for Gavin and Plum Organics Tots Organic Fruity Fingerfuls "I Heart Strawberries", Plum Organics Tots Organic Fruity Fingerfuls "I Heart Apples" and 4 Pack Variety of Organic Mashups for Leila. 

Gavin loved his first taste of his fruit puree.  He tried the Peach, Apricot & Banana flavor and LOVED it!  He sucked it easily out of the little tube and even held onto it himself.  He was kind of upset when it was gone!  We will be saving the rest for our out of town trip Memorial weekend since they are easy to pack up and easy to eat!

Leila tried the I Heart Apples first and soon wanted the I Heart Strawberries open too.  She didn't really want the grain bites but loved the dried fruit.  We ended up with a a pile of grain bites on the floor.  We then had her try one of the Mashups.  She tried the Grape flavor.  She downed that sucker like it was a cup of juice!  She asked for another as soon as it was gone but we said no since we had not had dinner yet. The next day she remembered they were there and asked for one again.  Needless to say her Mashups are gone. 

Thank you EcoMom and Me As A Mommy!  The kids really enjoyed their food!

12 Weeks To Better Photos - Lesson 4

You can find lesson 4 here http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/04-Flash.pdf

I did challenge 2 for this weeks lesson.

Here are my pictures...

 

no flash

flash

And another take...

no flash

flash

12 Weeks To Better Photos - Lesson 3

You can find lesson 3 here http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/03-Thecoloroflight.pdf
My take at lesson 3...

Again I had a hard time.  I took this weeks picture after 9pm on the kitchen floor.  I tried the cutsom white balance but the picture turned out orange and terrible.  I took the picture again with a flash (which is not recommended in this lesson) and the picture turned out better but still not like the lesson wanted.  I will be trying this lesson out again.

Here are my pictures...

Auto white balance

Tungsten white balance

Custom white balance

Custom white blanace with flash

Smiles!

I figured out how to get Leila to smile.  Who knew it was as simple as "don't look at mommy"?

12 Weeks To Better Photos - Lesson 2

You can find lesson 2 here http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/02-ISOShutterSpeed.pdf

My take at lesson 2...
I had a really hard time with the shutter speed and correct lighting.  I tried pictures at the kitchen sink  but it was too dark even with all the lights on and light shining in through the window.  I also tried in the bathroom sink in the middle of the afternoon.  I then tried outside but the pictures were way too dark.  So, this is what I ended up with...

1/200 (lowest setting I could get in my situation)

1/1000

I did not complete the bonus activity since I was already having a hard time with the lighthing.

And here is my photo taken on 3 different M (manual) setting.