Daycare Update!

I am overjoyed to announce... I FOUND AN AWESOME DAYCARE FOR MY SUNSHINE!!!! And, it's only 3 minutes from work! This place is better than any daycare I've seen during the last two years that I've been randomly looking, and actually more than I ever could have dreamed of for Audrey!

• high tech security systems with two codes, one to get in the door, and one to log her in and out, and each person has to have their own codes so they have record of who dropped her off and picked her up on any given day.
• Multiple activity rooms: drama/dancing, art, language/literacy, science, and a little library area!
• Separate outdoor play areas for different age groups, the two year old's have their own HUGE play area with two playgrounds! (with grass)
• They DO NOT take the kids on walks outside of the center as MANY places do.
• the place is warm and bright and inviting!
• Awesome curriculum and structure each and every day
• They involve the parents in as much as possible to share anything and everything that they are teaching the kids, example: cd of songs they are currently learning
  
• They put on little shows every few months, and even the staff and teachers will put on their own show to make the kids and parents laugh...
• The staff and teachers were so nice and talkative and knowledgeable!
• They create portfolios for each child, highlighting events, skills, accomplishments, pieces of artwork, and includes photos of the child throughout their different activities. They use these for parent-teacher conferences that they have often, and then they give them to the parents once the child moves on to attend another school or whatever.
• The like involved parents, the ones that pick up their kids and want to know everything that the child did that day... yup, they like those kinds of parents.. YAY!
• They have room to grow there, rooms that aren't even in use yet but ready for when the school/daycare expands and gets more kids.
• Each room has a little fish tank with gold fish, Audrey LOVES "fishies"!
  
• IT'S SO NICE!!!

We are bringing my sweet girl over there next week to check it out and I simply can't wait, she is going to love it! It is absolutely perfect for her! While it is definitely not the cheapest place I've seen, it is cheaper than some that aren't even half as nice as this place is. My baby is growing up... this will be her first little "school"... Discovery Preschool.

Fetish Friday!

I LOVE FLOWERS!

Ok, I must admit, despite the fact that we have had a pretty mild winter here in the mid-west, I AM SO EXCITED FOR SPRING TO COME!!! I am a warm weather, green leafy trees, birds singing, flowers everywhere... kind of person! Winter always looks so gray and depressing, so when Spring comes, and everything starts to turn green again, and flowers are blooming in the trees and on the ground... I literally get giddy, it's really quite ridiculous to tell the truth. It makes me want to jump around squealing like a 13 year old with her first crush! So, in hopes that Spring will come very soon, I'm sharing some gorgeous flower pics!
...Starting with my absolute favorite flower, the Stargazer Lily!

(I wish I could take credit for these photos, but I cannot. Click on any photo to find the original.)

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Daycare Dilemmas

Mommy venting session approaching...

I am a working mom and I REALLY wish I wasn't. Oh, to be able to stay home and do lots of fun things with my sunshine all day, every day, would be a dream. Unfortunately, I must instead leave her with someone else during the day. Since she was about six months old she has been with the same person, in a home environment, with the lady's daughter who is eight months older than Audrey. We are getting ready to move closer to my job so I don't have to deal with the stress of a 45 minute commute full of crazy drivers each way every single seemingly endless day. We are also wanting to get Audrey ready for a more structured, school like setting, with more kids to interact with. But, trying to choose a place near my work is becoming quite a panic inducing experience. Which strangers should I leave my "heart" with? A few of these places will cost almost my entire salary! Others are only a little more than half. Some have more structure and schedules than others. I know it's a bad sign when the thought of leaving my sweet girl at a specific place makes me cry!

In a little over an hour I will be taking a tour at the Daycare with the exact same name as the one that was awful to me as a child. I'm hopeful that all the good things I've heard about this chain are true. The Assistant Director's name is Sunny, and I want to believe that is a sign that this may be the place for my sunshine.

My husband and I went on a tour on Monday and, well, I'll just post what I sent out to the facebook universe:

So, i cant help but lay here thinking about the daycare we saw today compared to others in the past. This one is family owned, with woodchips on the playground, much smaller room for 2yr olds, 8 kids to a teacher, they go on walks around the neighborhood, everything looks a bit more tattered, but they are willing to give us a great rate for fulltime care, its a learning daycare and we witnessed that most of the kids in the 2 room know their letters and numbers, and how to spell their names, they have cameras everywhere so I can, theoretically, watch Audrey all day long if I wanted, and Joe pointed out that every kid we saw looked very happy there... And I did witness Audrey exploring, watching, and really enjoying herself and wanting to join in. But, my mommy mind keeps going to the negatives. Most other daycares will charge us at least $60 more per week, and there are no cameras. UGH!!! I don't want this decision!

I keep thinking about little things, like how Audrey picked up an outlet plug cover that had been in the middle of the floor, open staples hanging from the folder the Director was pulling example menus and daily sheets for me to see, some of the toys were dirty, the room is so small I am still trying to figure out how they manage to fit 16 cots in there for nap time, and minimal structure and schedule.

I have to believe I will find something. She would be at this daycare slightly longer than the time I am at my job every week, and I feel like I practically live there I'm there so much... so the same would basically go for Audrey's daycare for her. With so many things in the news about children being hurt, duct taped to chairs or walls, or even killed, I am really nervous about knowing which one is the right place. I wish I enjoyed taking care of other people's kids, then I could just stay home.

Wish me luck...

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Fetish Friday! - Children's Books

I had quite a lot of favorite books as a child, and it's so much fun having a toddler now so I am able to read them all again... with an audience. I've said for quite a while... it's nice to be able to read kids books and play on the playground without looking like a weirdo or needing a few excuses waiting in my back pocket! Mark another notch on the "Why it's AWESOME to be a Mom" board!

Had to have been one of my all-time favorites... scratch and sniff... strawberry pie was awesome!

I could read this book for hours!

Fetish Friday... PINTEREST!

Well, isn't it convenient that the day I come back to my poor, lonely, forgotten blog... it just happens to be Fetish Friday!!! For today I feel the need to share my fetish over Pinterest! How wonderful is this site... seriously??!!!

DIY fun crafts! Like This

Amazing Recipes like this one!

Wonderful thoughts and messages to share!

And who doesn't love some awesome beauty and hair tips?!?

While this week's fetish friday post is rather short... you really don't want me to start posting ALL of the great things I've pinned... do you? (26 Boards, 718 pins, 141 likes... and growing)

First official product review! Philips SatinPerfect HP6576/50

Don't be fooled by this happy looking woman portrayed in the photo above... using an epilator will not cause this reaction! lol!

Recently I found a site called Bzz Agent where you sign up to try products and services and then talk about your experiences with them. Basically, I signed up and filled out a bunch of short surveys that could pinpoint me as a consumer... the types of things that I buy and use. Then I waited... to get a Bzz Campaign invitation in my email. It's a first come, first serve, type of thing and unfortunately I wasn't quick enough with the first invite I received. The next one though... I was ready and jumped on it! The next step is start talking... and then after you receive your product... report back about it honestly. The more "bzz" you put out... the more campaigns you will be invited to because, lets face it... with the days of facebook and twitter at our fingertips, "word of mouth" is the key! Check it out: http://www.bzzagent.com/pg/How-it-Works

My very first Bzz Campaign was for a Philips SatinPerfect HP6576/50
Let me tell you, when I first heard about it, I had no clue what an epilator was! All I knew was every time I mentioned anything about it to one of my close friends or family, they would say something along the lines of, "good luck, I hope they are better than they use to be, you are excited about this?... do you know what it is?, IT'S GONNA HURT!" I did a bit of research while I was waiting to receive it in the mail and I admit... I was nervous.

When it finally came in the mail, I was so excited... once again. (and slightly clueless) It came with all these nifty little attachments as well as a pair of LED lighted tweezers! HOW COOL IS THAT! I popped my head into my bosses office to show her what I got and she was just as impressed as I was. That feeling quickly faded though after I got home and began to prepare for the inevitable torture I was about to inflict on myself.

The "instructions" that came with the kit were not very informative, and so it took me a few minutes to put the right pieces together. My husband followed me into the bathroom, obviously intrigued and wanting to witness my reaction. I sat down, crossed my left leg over my right leg and turned the Philips SatinPerfect Epilator on... WHOA... it was LOUD! Thankfully anyone within ear shot knew of the product I had received and would not be assuming anything else... but needless to say... neighbors would question the sound if I lived in an apartment! Hmmm... Anyway... the sound and the motion had me rethinking the entire thing and it took a few pep talks to inch my epilator holding hand closer to my hair filled leg. OW OW OW OW OW OW!!!!

Ok, so I didn't get very far during my first attempt... and decided to shave my legs the very next morning and give myself a few days to prepare for my second attempt. I am happy to report that I did build up enough courage to give it another go... at ripping out my leg hairs voluntarily. This time I was in the comfort of my bedroom... watching one of my favorite shows... and forcing myself to use my new "torture device" during commercial breaks (which I normally fastforward through). Well, just as I expected... it hurt this time too. But... through the course of the show, I was able to (somewhat) remove the hairs on both legs... from the knees down. While I need to perfect my epilating skills a bit, it is something I think I could continue to do... especially since the results are supposed to last a few weeks! After my second session I noticed that I still felt some pricklies on my legs, obviously from breaking the hairs off just at the skin by moving a little too fast. But, with the pain that I was causing, I think I did pretty well without having full user instructions.

Pros- design/look, attachments... including an electric shaving head, lighted tweezers, 40min worth of cordless use, overall purpose and results. (supposedly, the pain decreases after extended use as your body gets use to it, and your hair is supposed to come back finer... we'll see)

Cons- IT'S LOUD! the instructions that come with it are very basic, if you have never had your leg hairs yanked out by the roots... this is gonna HURT!

I will be continuing to use the Philips Satin Perfect Epilator and hopefully will be able to report back in a few months with better results.

I'm Back!

I'd like to say that I've been doing a lot of wonderful and exciting things which has caused my absence... but that is unfortunately not the case. I've just been... living... I guess. Lets see... I've been going to school, taking classes online that is, and it's been going pretty well. My sweet sunshine is well into her second year and while she doesn't seem to be suffering much from the terrible two's syndrome, I do expect that she will come down with a bad case of trying three's as many have reported their children suffered from.

Life in general seems to be filled with endless challenging days lately. Although... I just keep reaching for that silver lining and hoping with the coming of Spring... will also be some happier, stress free days. Until then... I am going to try to keep up with this little blog of mine and look for all the shiny things in my world each day until looking for them isn't necessary anymore! :)
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