2011 a New Year

Hope all of you are doing great. This will be a big year of changes for Chloe. This is a photo of Chloe and her last day with her crib. We decided to change her crib to a toddler bed this January. She is almost 22 months and we felt it was time to make this change. I try to only do one big change at a time. We will probably be starting the potty training in a few months after she turns 2 years old, so now would be a good time to switch her to a toddler bed and give her time to get use to it.

Her crib is a 3 in one crib that turns from a crib, to a toddler bed, and then can also change into a twin bed that uses the longer front and back panels as a head and foot board. I changed her crib on a Friday so we could start this on the weekend. The Friday that I changed her bed I think I stood in her doorway and stared at this bed a million times. I think it was harder for me then it was for her. She was totally excited about being able to climb in and out by her self. The first night I kept to her same night time routine and put her to bed. She has always slept with her door closed. So I closed her door and put a kid gate in the doorway so if she did get up she could not wonder around the house at night. After closing her door I ran and hid where I could watch to see what she did. A few minutes later she was up and opened her door and looked around. Then she closed the door. A minute later she was back and opened the door and said “Papa?” I stayed in hiding. She then slammed the door shut and that was it. I checked on her about 2 hours later and she was in her bed with her pillow and blanket fast asleep and slept thru the night. She has been in her new toddler bed for over a week and has had no problems. I was stressing about making this change for the last few months and am so happy that it went as smooth as it did.

New Year Challenge
Can you believe it is another year already? I did not make any New Year resolutions this year. Instead I decided to challenge my self to be more creative. I think when I am creative it makes me feel peaceful. I love to make things with my hands and my mind, and it is a big part of who I am as an individual. I am so many things to other people like being a Mom, Wife, daughter, sister, not to mention my least favorite business owner and employer. Some times I need to be just Tami and to reconnect with myself. So to be more creative this year I am going to do 11 in 2011. I challenge myself to create or make 11 things this year. My rules are that I have the entire year and I can start things from scratch or complete projects that I have already started and the goal is to complete 11 creative things in 2011. I am also adding a side challenge to 2011 to try new recipes. It is real easy for me to get stuck in a rut and make the same dinners week by week because they are comfortable and easy. Now that I have a toddler I feel pressure to expand and become a better cook and bring more variety into our meals. So I challenge myself to try at least 2 new recipes a month for the entire year of 2011. I figure I can try more if I want to but I need to do at least 2 a month and see how it goes.

This is my least favorite month of the year, this is the time I work on the taxes for our dental office from the prior year. YUCK!!! Tax Hell! Anyway I won’t bore you with all that stuff. Hopefully I can get all that wrapped up by the end of the month and can move on to happier days. Chloe is doing great by the way and has some how turned into a kid. Where did my little baby go? I will leave you with some photos of her.