The Hidden Dangers of Air Fresheners

The Hidden Dangers of Air Fresheners.

A little slice of relaxation heaven

This is the first weekend my husband and I have been away from our two kids since the birth of our son 8 months ago. We took a road trip to Minneapolis to visit my sister in law and her boyfriend. We went to a baseball game at Target Field and watched our home team Brewers beat the Twins. Good times!
Let me tell you the drive to Minnesota was so relaxing. We actually had a conversation without interruptions every 10 seconds and we could listen to our music instead of Dora. Ahhh, slice of heaven. It truly is the simple things in life that make us happy! We stopped in Hudson for dinner at Pier 500. We both had a delicious salad and a Mojito. A great start to a relaxing kid-free weekend!
It is amazing how you can’t even recall what life was like pre-kids until you get away. Waking up on Sunday without our 3 year old & 9 month old alarm clock at 6am was a special treat. I got to sleep in until 9:00am. I can’t recall the last time I slept until 9:00. Oh wait…it was before the kids came along. I can hardly believe there was one point in my life when I actually slept until 11:00am in college. Now I am a morning person (after my coffee) and can’t imagine wasting my day away like I did in my early 20’s.

It was weird living a pre-kid lifestyle for two nights. We could stay up as late as we wanted knowing we could get up at 9:00am if we wanted. I decided midnight was the latest I could make it. It was my goal to stay up until midnight even though I wanted to crawl into bed at 9:00pm. Totally serious! I am either really old (I am 33) or a parent! Being a parent to two young child is sooo wonderful but exhausting. Most nights I am dozing off at 8:30pm.

On Saturday night, I sat outside listening to the trees rustle and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine on my face. Ahhh…relaxation! I could just sit and not have to worry about who needs what next. My sister in law and her boyfriend made a delicious Italian dinner and we all enjoyed it outside on their deck as we listened to some Frank Sinatra. We even listened to Jeff play his guitar after dinner until about midnight. I felt like I was in my 20’s again!

As much as I enjoy the little slices of heaven being without kids for a weekend; I couldn’t wait to get home to see my babies! Having children really changes your life. Someone once said to me “Having a child changes everything”. YEP, it sure does. My children are my everything. Even when I am not with my kids I am wondering what they are doing….are they OK?…do they miss their mommy? It is true you really do wear your heart outside your body once you have a child.

Relaxing without children for two days was a much needed break but it it also made me realize once again how I wouldn’t change my life for anything. 🙂

Does your child speak WHINE-ESE?

I don’t understand WHINE-ESE. Really, I don’t. It is a language spoken frequently in my house by my 3-year-old daughter. Whining is like nails on a chalkboard for me. I want to offer my fellow moms some advice on how to deal with a child who speaks WHINE-ESE. I am guessing most of you who have little ones have heard this language.

1. Ignore the WHINE-ESE. 
This is a very effective way of decreasing whining in your house.  If you can do this 100% of the time, please share with us how you are able to do this! It is the MOST effective way to eliminate whining but it is also the hardest to do.  It is quite simple to do. When your child whines…walk away and pay no attention to your child. When your child asks you for something in a calm voice…then respond. You have just reinforced the calm voice. Done.

2. I don’t speak WHINE-ESE!
Simply say to your child in the calmest voice “I don’t understand WHINE-ESE. Please use your calm voice.” Don’t respond until your sweet child uses their calm voice. Simple.

3. Reinforce when your child uses their calm voice. In other words, catch your child being good! If your child uses his/her calm voice, say “Oooh, I like how you used your calm voice to ask to go to the park.” When you praise your child for good behaviors, the likelihood of those behaviors happening again increase tenfold. This really works! I have tried it with my 3 year old daughter and it does correct her behavior most of the time unless she is already in meltdown territory.

4. Don’t speak WHINE-ESE yourself.   Be a good role model. In other words, even if you feel like whining some days it isn’t the most productive way of coping with your feelings. When you feel frustrated or upset, calmly say “Mommy is feeling frustrated right now. I need a few minutes to calm down.” After you are calm and collected again, model using appropriate strategies for dealing with your feelings. For example, you could take deep breaths, count to 10, or go to another room to calm down. If you are speaking WHINE-ESE, chances are your child is speaking it to. Be a good model!

5. Practice speaking without using WHINE-ESE. When your child is calm, you can role play some situations using WHINE-ESE and also a calm voice. Ask your child what situations they used a whiny voice instead of their calm voice recently. Model the calm voice and praise the voice you WANT to hear!

6. NEVER give in to WHINE-ESE or you will pay for it later. If you give in even one time for your child’s whining, you have create the WHINE-ESE monster. Be consistent in how you deal with whining and in no time your child will realize that WHINE-ESE isn’t understandable!

These are some helpful tips in decreasing the annoying WHINE-ESE you probably hear often if you are a parent of a toddler or preschooler. Heck, does whining ever stop? These could be useful strategies for some adults we know.

Welcome to Mommy Manual 101!

Hello Mommies! 

This is a blog dedicated to all the hardworking and selfless mommies out there! There is no “mommy manual 101” class to take or book to read that will solve all your parenting dilemmas. This blog is every mother’s blog –let’s all join together to raise great kids! Feel free to ask parenting questions or post article suggestions. Motherhood is a journey. I have learned so much from being a mother and I just started my mommy journey three years ago. I am blessed beyond measure to have two healthy children who challenge me to grow as a person and mother everyday!