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• Mommy Moments – Blue
• Mommy Moments – Red
• Mommy Moments – Yellow
• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day

This mommy moment is dedicated to Little T and his favorite color blue. Last week’s mommy moment was all about Drama King so make sure you check it out.

Little T was diagnosed with Apraxia (speech disorder) which in laymen terms means his brain knows what he wants to say but the muscles in his mouth don’t cooperate. We understand about 30% (and it’s growing every year) of what he says so we worked hard to get him an AAC device to assist with the 70% we don’t understand.

This is Little T’s device. Since his favorite color is blue; he naturally chose the berry blue color option. It is encased in a black carrying case to help protect it from the elements. The device gets used every day to talk about everything from how he’s feeling to what he wants to do or eat. He is still learning to use it and the icon tutor has been our friend because you can type in a word and it will tell you where to find it. I am so thrilled that we kept fighting to get him a communication device. It is a great help.

Little T is an avid wrestling fan and wants to be a wrestler when he grows up. For now, Little T has settled for collecting wrestling action figures. And he has amassed quite a collection. He has mini figures, small figures and standard size figures. He has a mini wrestling ring for the mini guys and a standard ring for the standard size figures. He loves watching wrestling and then reenacting the match although sometimes the match has a different outcome. Some of his figures came with accessories like championship belts, ladders, microphones, and knee or elbow pads. He also has quite a few doubles (to share with Drama King) and a few triples (for bath time). And if you give him the time, he will teach you more than you ever wanted to know about wrestling.

When Little T was 3, he received a Leapster L-Max for his Christmas. He loves to play the games but his favorite right now is Pet Pals. Thankfully, we got a backpack to carry the device and games with us. The front zipper pocket allows us to carry the rechargeable battery pack and extra batteries in case the rechargeable battery dies.

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• Mommy Moments – Red
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• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day
• Mommy Moments – Summer Days

Drama King’s favorite color is red so this post is dedicated to the wonderful ball of drama that is Drama King.

Drama King got his nickname from how he reacts when things go wrong. He can cry at the drop of a hat, or wrap you around his finger with his smile. He absorbs everything even when you think he’s not listening. He has a tremendous vocabulary that surprises us at times.

Every morning, he wakes up and looks through his closet for the best red outfit he can find. Red tops, red bottoms, red socks, red hair ties, red sweatbands, or something that has red on it. I cannot think of one day that he has not wore something red in the last few months.

Drama King with Clifford. Now, if only the little boy hadn’t jumped in front of the camera at the last second.

Drama King hanging out in Grandma Deb’s backyard.

Next week…Little T’s favorite color, blue!

You might also like:

• Mommy Moments – Blue
• Mommy Moments – Yellow
• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day
• Mommy Moments – Summer Days

I’ve had a hard time with today’s theme – Yellow. It’s just not a color that we seem to buy anymore. But after some searching I found these wonderful gems.

This was Little T’s first birthday. He is an only child at this time. He is about to have his world turned upside down. Well in two months anyway.

These were taken when Drama King was only a few weeks old. What a great big brother Little T was becoming.
And we’ll end with Drama King on his first birthday. This photo was taken at and by his daycare provider at the time who everyone called Nana. She went all out for every childs birthday and even sent them home with a gift or two.

I know the next few weeks color themes will be much easier. Red, Drama King favorite color and Blue, Little T’s favorite color.

You might also like:

• Mommy Moments – Blue
• Mommy Moments – Red
• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day
• Mommy Moments – Summer Days

Shoes how I loathe you. I have never been one for shoes. As a kid, I only wore shoes when absolutely necessary. I checked the mail barefoot, ran around the yard barefoot, and never wore shoes in the house. Now as an adult, I still rarely wear shoes. My feet just do not like being enclosed in shoes.

Little T inherited the ‘no shoe’ gene and has it worse than me. If his shoes are on to long, he will take them off regardless of where we are. I’ve lost count how many time I’ve put his shoes back on when we’re running errands. He always says his feet hurt or itch or are ‘icky’ and I can relate. Little T keeps his shoes and sandals in the closet in their bedroom.

Drama King on the other hand inherited the ‘normal shoe’ gene from Tim and as no issue wearing shoes. Although he rarely wears shoes in the house, he does have an old pair of Little T’s shoes sitting by the back door that are easy to slip on and off so he can go play outside at anytime. He, also, has a pair of sandals by the front door so he can check the mail with Tim.

Shoes how I loathe you. But they do their job.

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• Mommy Moments – Blue
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• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day
• Mommy Moments – Summer Days

Sometimes small achievements can be the biggest achievements of all. In our case, Little T’s sleep issues were causing chaos in other parts of our lives. We are proud to say that we have resolved the sleep issues and are beginning to get back to normalcy.

Little T has has sleep issues since birth. Some days, he would sleep for 12-14 hours and some days he’d sleep for 4-5 hours. This, obviously, was causing Tim and I do share the responsibility of being up with Little T when he had one of the short episode and it would cause us to be tired and stressed.

We have tried a variety of solutions like bedtime routines, baths with sleepy scents, quiet time, watching TV, listening to the radio, and a few herbal sleep remedies and none have worked for more than a few days.

That is until we stumbled upon Sleep Assure. We have been faithfully using Sleep Assure for almost a month and have a perfect record of regular sleep nights. We have also been able to maintain a bedtime routine and it has helped Drama King be able to sleep in their bedroom all night, almost every night. Prior to trying Sleep Assure, Drama King had trouble sleeping because Little T would wake him up directly or indirectly.

Along with getting sleep under control, we also moved the boys clothes from our closet to their own closet. Now, they can get themselves ready for the day or night at their own pace and in their own time. The first few days Drama King went through half his wardrobe showing us how he could get dressed but he’s gotten into a routine. He wakes up, goes potty, gets dressed and then comes to find us. Occasionally, he decides to lounge all day in his jammies but who wouldn’t? Little T spends most of his day in an over sized shirt and underwear which doubles as jammies.

Now that we have a sleep schedule under control, we’re working on getting the correct timing so that we get up at a decent hour but not too early because we’re not exactly a morning family.

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• Mommy Moments – Blue
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Living in Arizona, we have summer days most of the year. Our boys love to play outside and thankfully, we now have a back yard for them to run wild. One of the boys favorite summer time activities is walking to the neighborhood park about a half mile away with our two dogs.

When it’s not too hot, we love to go to the local attractions like the zoo, the desert museum, and many others. We, also, do a lot of indoor activities since we can easily be over 100 degrees during the summer. Reading, painting, playing games are just some of the things we do to pass time on those hotter than hot days.

How do you spend your summer days?

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• Mommy Moments – Blue
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Drama King

When the boys were still in diapers, I always had a small backpack stocked with essentials for each child. The contents included 2 diapers for each child, a travel size container of baby wipes, a change of clothes for each child and a handful of plastic grocery bags to hold soiled clothing items. I also had a spare bottle or sippy cup for each child and a few things to entertain them. Oh, and a spare pacifier for Drama King in the event we ever lost one of his while out. When the boys started walking, I added a first aid kit and copies of their insurance cards. This backpack stayed in the car and was in addition to the diaper bag I carried. The backpack was for emergencies only and primarily used for those spontaneous outings we took as a family.

Little T

Once the boys were potty trained, I separated the combined ‘baby’ backpack into two big boy backpacks. Their big boy backpacks have a change of clothing, flush-able moist wipes, a drink container, a book or two, a small first aid kit and copies of their insurance card. They have a 3 ring binder with printed activities, blank paper, lined paper, pens, pencils, washable markers and dry erase washable markers. Along with those essentials is a mini bag (Spider-man for one and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the other) that contains a tic-tac-toe travel game ($1 at Walmart), a small pad of paper, a set of mini colored pens and an emergency/medical ID card. The mini bags are perfect size for taking into a restaurant or putting into my purse for quick shopping trips. The backpacks hangs by the garage door and when it’s time to leave I give them a few minutes to put in a couple traveling toys.

The backpacks have provided comfort that we’ll always have what we need in the event of an emergency plus keeps the boys entertained whenever we’re away from home. They have definitely come in handy many times and I’d never be without them for young kids.

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• Mommy Moments – Blue
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This weeks Mommy Moment is brought to you by the letter B.

Boo Boos are the hardest part of being a mom. Especially for moms of highly active kids. They can be a minor bump to a bloody mess.

Here’s a typical boo boo conversation with my boys.
Child: (typically crying like they’re going to die)
Me: What’s wrong?
Child: (explanation of what got hurt, by who and how)
Me: Are you bleeding?
Child: No.
Me: Would a kiss and a band-aid make it better?
Child: Yes.
Me: Let’s get a band-aid.

It’s usually followed by me putting a band-aid on whatever they say they hurt and giving the boo boo a kiss. Then they are happy and off to play again.

The biggest boo boo that we faced was when Little T fell and hit his nose on the dining room table. We couldn’t get it to stop bleeding and he would scream if you touch it. With an ice pack and a towel on his nose, we raced off to the emergency room because it was after hours. Thankfully, he did not break or cause any permanent damage but it was swollen for a couple days.

We have also used cold packs, ice bags, pillows, triple antibiotic ointment, and other common first aid. The best tip I have for anyone who has children on a regular basis is to be prepared. We have a first aid kit with band-aids, triple antibiotic ointment, and gauze pads in my purse, in the glove box and in each of the boys traveling backpacks. Inside each of the kits is a small piece of card stock with common first aid procedures such as burn care, splinting, mouth to mouth and the Heimlich maneuver.

You might also like:

• Mommy Moments – Blue
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• Mommy Moments – Shoes
• Mommy Moments – Moving Up Day