Uncategorized Archives – The Pinterested Parent

Sunday’s Best Link-up Week #90

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Welcome to Week 90 of Mother 2 Mother’s Sunday’s Best Linkup. This is the first week of our Boo, Scary Nights theme. Halloween is around the corner. Everyone will be in search of the perfect costume for a night of spooky characters and delicious treats. We’re looking for crafts, recipes, DIY, mantel makeovers, porch decorating tips and more.
We also welcome other recipes, crafts, DIY, home makeover, gardening tips, SEO & blogging information, sewing projects, patio and deck makeovers, front porch makeover ideas, organization tips, ideas for backyard hot dog roasts, and more. Blow the dust off your old posts and share those on our linky too. They’re great for inspiration.
Anything goes, as long as it’s family friendly and you may linkup as many posts as you would like. Be sure to tell your friends, they will want to join the festivities too.
Each week your hosts will select their favorite post and it will be featured the following week. An image from your post will be used on our linkup post the following week with a link back to your blog. Be sure to check back to see if you’re a Sunday’s Best Featured Blogger. All Featured Bloggers will have their posts pinned to Rhonda’s Sunday’s Best Pinterest Board and Kim M. pins the weekly featured bloggers to her Sunday’s Best Linkup Pinterest Board too!
The Reader’s Choice post(s) will be determined by the post(s) with the most clicks. We will be adding the winner to our Sunday’s Best featured bloggers.

All posts linking to Sunday’s Best will be promoted on Twitter.

In addition to the Reader’s Choice and Host selections, a post for our monthly themes will be selected and featured each week as well.

If you are interested in becoming a Sunday’s Best host, please contact me for details at rhonda@mother2motherblog.com or email one of our other hosts.

Your Sunday’s Best Hosts Are:

Rhonda at Mother 2 Mother ~•~ Kim U. at Pinterested Parent ~•~ Kim M. at Life in a House of Testosterone
Here are the rules, please connect with us on social media before you leave or subscribe to/follow our blogs:
Mother 2 Mother: Please like Rhonda’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, BlogLovin, or subscribe/join her blog on the right sidebar before you leave.
The Pinterested Parent: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin before you leave.
Life In A House of Testosterone: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin, or Instagram before you leave.

Snag a Button!

Last, please help us grow by placing our button on your sidebar. If you are selected as a Featured Blogger please let your readers and followers know by placing the Featured Blogger banner on your site.

Your readers may want to join the party too! For those who have a Link Party list/directory, please add us. We appreciate your help in promoting the linkup with Re-tweets and shares. Now, let’s party!

Sunday’s Best Featured Posts Are:

Kim U. selected Witch Marshmallows from Embellish Mints

Rhonda selected She Shed Turned Play House from Lolly Jane

Kim M. selected The Changing Seasons from Agent 54

The Post with the Most Clicks

Fall Doily Leaf Napkin Ring from Oh My Creative

Our Favorite Theme Post(s): A Season of Colors:

20 Leaf Crafts from There’s Just One Mommy

and

Fall Mantel and Painted Pumpkin Crate from Scrap Shoppe Blog

Congratulations to our featured bloggers! All of the posts were great, and we deeply appreciate each of you linking up. We have so many great posts that it gets difficult to choose a featured blogger. Finally, your hosts would like to invite all of you back to link up your post(s) again … you could be selected next week! While you’re here, take a minute to visit these great blogs. It’s a great way to meet and connect with new bloggers. Be sure to PIN or share any posts that you like, we all appreciate a little love and be sure to connect with others on social media!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thu
19 ^th

Craft Stick Fences

Posted by Pinparent — 1 Comment

*This post contains affiliate links*

This week we have been playing with a box of jumbo craft sticks. We have made craft after craft with our craft sticks. We glued them together in a number of different designs. We made a few craft stick fences, which is not a new idea by any means, but we decided to dress up our fences with a little paint & a little touch of nature.

My daughter & I enjoyed picking flowers for our project. We gathered a variety of flowers & leaves.

We used tacky glue to glue our craft sticks together as shown.

We both painted our glued fences with acrylic paints & then let them dry. I went with a simple white fence,while my daughter opted for a little more color.

Once dry, we used the tacky glue to glue pieces of flowers & leaves to the fence.

My daughter’s came out so beautiful. She even made sure to tell me that she liked hers better than mine. I think I would have to agree.

Thank you as always for reading. Please visit us on our Facebook page as well.

Sat
19 ^th

Sunday’s Best Link-up Week 64

Posted by Pinparent — 6 Comments

Welcome to Week 64 of Mother 2 Mother’s Sunday’s Best Linkup. This will be the last week of our Bunny Trail theme. We’re looking for crafts, recipes, party ideas, decorating inspiration, gift ideas, love stories and anything else you would like to post relating to Easter.

We also welcome other recipes, crafts, DIY, home makeover, gardening tips, SEO & blogging information, sewing projects, patio and deck makeovers, front porch makeover ideas, organization tips, ideas for backyard parties and makeovers and more. Blow the dust off your old posts and link those too. They’re great for inspiration.

Don’t have posts that fit into the theme, link up whatever post you would like to share. We would love to have parenting tips, DIY projects, homesteading, homeschooling, makeovers, cocktails, and your posts on family and life. Your linkups and giveaways are welcome here too. Anything goes, as long as it’s family friendly and you may linkup as many posts as you would like. Be sure to tell your friends they will want to join the festivities too. Next week we will be starting our Spring Has Arrived theme.

Each week your hosts will select their favorite post and it will be featured the following week. An image from your post will be used on my blog the following week with a link back to your blog. Be sure to check back to see if you’re a Sunday’s Best featured blogger. All Featured Bloggers will have their posts Pinned to the Sunday’s Best Pinterest Board.

The Reader’s Choice post(s) will be determined by the post(s) with the most clicks. We will be adding the winner to our Sunday’s Best featured bloggers.
All posts linking to Sunday’s Best will be promoted on Twitter.

In addition to the reader’s and hosts selections, a post for our monthly themes will be selected and featured each week as well.

If you are interested in becoming a Sunday’s Best host, please contact me for details at rhonda@mother2motherblog.com or email one of our other hosts.

Your Hosts Are:

Rhonda – Mother 2 Mother Kim U. – Pinterested Parent Kim M. – Life In A House of Testosterone

Here’s the rules, please connect with us on social media before you leave or subscribe to/follow our blogs:

Mother 2 Mother: Please subscribe to my blog on the right, like my Facebook Page, follow me on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, BlogLovin or before you leave.

The Pinterested Parent: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin before you leave.

Life In A House of Testosterone: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin, or Instagram before you leave.

Last, please help us grow by placing our button on your sidebar. If you are selected as a Featured Blogger please let your readers and followers know. They may want to join the party too! For those who have a Link Party list/directory, please add us. I appreciate your help in promoting the linkup with Re-tweets and shares. Now lets party!

The Sunday’s Best Posts are:

I selected Chocolate Pistachio Cake from The Silver Foodie

and

Easter Paper Birds Nest from Viral Upcycle

Kim U selected Stand Up Paper Eggs from Little Miss Celebration

Easter decorations, paper Easter eggs, kids crafts

The Post With The Most Clicks:
10 Easy Easter Cakes from Mommy’s Not Perfect

The Favorite Theme Posts

The Bunny Trail

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Dip from Oh My Creative

Easter Chicks Lemon Cookies from The Gold Lining Girl

Bunny Craft from Our Whimsical Days

Congratulations to our featured bloggers! All of the posts were great, and I appreciate each of you linking up. We have so many great posts that it gets difficult to choose a featured blogger. I would like to invite all of you back to linkup your post(s) again, it could be selected next week. While you’re here take a minute to visit these great blogs. It’s a great way to meet and connect with new bloggers. Be sure to PIN or share any posts that you like, we all appreciate a little love. Be sure to connect on social media.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Sat
12 ^th

Sunday’s Best Link-up Week #63

Posted by Pinparent — 7 Comments

Welcome to Week 63 of Mother 2 Mother’s Sunday’s Best Linkup. We’re continuing our Bunny Trail theme this week. This week we’re looking for crafts, recipes, party ideas, decorating inspiration, gift ideas, love stories and anything else you would like to post relating to Easter.

Don’t have posts that fit into the theme, link up whatever post you would like to share. We would love to have parenting tips, DIY projects, homesteading, homeschooling, makeovers, cocktails, and your posts on family and life. Your linkups and giveaways are welcome here too. Anything goes, as long as it’s family friendly and you may linkup as many posts as you would like. Be sure to tell your friends they will want to join the festivities too.

The Sunday’s Best Posts are:

I selected Girly Glam Nightstand from Redo It Yourself Inspirations

Kim M. selected Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage from Marilyn’s Treats
crockpot recipes, Irish meals, corned beef recipes, cabbage recipes

Kim U selected 15 Starbucks Warm Winter Drinks from The Jenny Evolution

The Post With The Most Clicks:
Rainbow Sprinkle-fetti Cookies from Frugal Foodie Mama

Stained Glass Butterfly Pancakes from The Pinterested Parent

The Favorite Theme Posts

The Bunny Trail

Easter Rolo Pretzels from Nepa Mom

Roly Poly Fabric Easter Bunnies from Flamingo Toes

An InLinkz Link-up

Tue
19 ^th

Yarn Wrapped Hearts

Posted by Pinparent — 6 Comments

The Pinterested Parent is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. In addition, text and image links in this post may be affiliate/referral links, which means we may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through these particular links See full disclosure policy.

My daughter is slightly obsessed with yarn. We have a big bin filled with yarn & ribbon and she pulls it out all the time. She likes to cut it, tie it to things & make obstacle courses throughout the house with it.

Wed
30 ^th

What Puzzles Have Taught My Toddler & Me

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I think most mothers can agree that they feel a sense of pride when someone compliments them on their child, whether it is how cute they are, or well behaved, sweet or intelligent. It is nice to hear. I have been told for a long time how smart our daughter is. I have even had a few friends of ours with children ask for our secrets. I would like to take all the credit for it, but I do think much of it she was just born with. Of course we want to help our little one’s mind along & we do so by reading to her often, answering her never ending list of questions and by doing puzzles.

Kids learn to love puzzles from an early age. What’s not to love? They are bright & colorful with lots of pieces to play with and fun pictures. Puzzles aid in developing their fine motor skills, hand eye coordination and cognitive thinking. One thing that they taught me was I should not underestimate my child’s ability to learn based on her age.

At only two years of age my daughter knows all of her U.S states. She knows them by shape, location & name. She learned all of this from doing a puzzle. When we received the foam puzzle as a gift, I never imagined that she would actually be able to do it, but I would take it apart and rebuild it with her daily, pointing out and naming the states as I went. So sufficed to say we were shocked the day that she corrected her uncle as he was trying to place Idaho in the wrong spot. “No Uncle Pete, Idaho goes next to Washington.” From that day on she did her puzzle on her own without mommy’s help.

Don’t mind the fact that Massachusetts is missing.

From there we continued with the geography lessons. We introduced a new puzzle with all of the countries. The countries were all represented by animals indigenous to their region. “Look mama, the Panda bear lives in China.” Yes it does, baby. Yes it does. We now try to teach her everything regardless of how advanced it might seem. I will never underestimate my child again.

Sun
27 ^th

A Very Public Meltdown

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Since the terrible twos have hit, I have felt pretty good about my ability in diffusing tantrums and meltdowns. While I sometimes complain or joke about how awful it is, inside I felt as if I had a good handle on it. I even kind of found a few of her fits humorous, although I would never laugh. I thought to myself the two aren’t so terrible. She was such a challenging infant that this is a breeze. As usual in life as soon as you think something like this, there will be a moment to prove you wrong. Today, was a very bad day. It started off innocently enough. In the morning, we read books in bed, we painted pictures & did a little house cleaning.

I tried putting Mai down for an early nap, but she was not sleepy. I was taking her to story time at a local museum today. A children’s author and illustrator was going to read some of his favorite stories and then show the kids how he did some of his illustrations. I thought this was right up my daughter’s alley as she loved books and has always enjoyed watching me draw, plus I try to let her interact with other children as often as possible. When we arrived at the museum, we were greeted with Hawaiin leis, sunglasses and juice boxes for the kids. There were rows of stools for all the children to sit on while they listened to an amusing tale about a jelly fish and his fish friend Peanut butter. Mai interacted with the other children and happily listened to the story and clapped at the colorful illustrations.

After the stories, the author pulled out an easel and engaged the children, asking them to give him a sea creature and an emotion to draw. The older children shouted out answers “happy trout”, hungry salmon”,”burping shark”. Mai pushed through the crowd to get closer to the action.

As she got to the front where all of the kids were sitting Indian style, she kept going. “Mai Mai wants to draw”. Uh Oh! Mommy jumped up and ran to get her. “No honey, he is drawing. You can sit with the other kids and watch.” “Mai Mai wants to draw too.”. “Mai, come on and sit down with mommy.” But, she kept pushing forward. I scooped her up and brought her to the front of the pack, where we sat down. She fought to get up and go to the easel. “Mai we will have to go home if you don’t sit down.” I whispered. She arched her back & wriggled out my arms, screaming. It was definitely time to go. As I gathered up her backpack and our spring jackets, she continued her frustrated display. We walked out of the room leaving a trail of yells and cries echoing over the voice of the author. Stares & glares were directed our way as I struggled to hold my frantic daughter in my arms as she yelled the words “Don’t take me”. I quickly left the building before the desk attendant had the opportunity to dial 911 and report a child abduction.

The scene in the parking lot was not much better. She continued to scream “don’t take me “while kicking her feet & trying to thrust herself out of my arms. It is amazing how freakishly strong your child is when they want to get away. While trying to load her in the car, her tiny little hands grabbed the edge of the door and she spread her body out wide to make it nearly impossible for me to get her into the car. I tried to calm her down with some toys that were in the backseat. I tried to calm her with soft words and then a few loud ones. The screaming and resistance would not end. I could not get her in the car seat. I sat in the backseat with my daughter writhing on my lap and closed the door. I let the tantrum run it’s course as I took long deep breaths in order to keep my composure. After a short while that felt rather long, she flipped the switch. She picked up the toy I presented her earlier and said “Mama look.” It was finally over.

When something like this happens, it makes you question your parenting. What am I doing wrong? Why did this happen? How should I have handled this? When all eyes are on you, you can’t help but feel judged. You are even judging yourself.

We both went down for a nap when we got home. When she woke up both our batteries were recharged and my lovely girl was back again. The rest of the evening was filled with living room picnics, more books and sheet forts. The horrors of the afternoon almost seemed a distant memory. Besides, how can I stay mad at this face?

Coping With Life While Struggling With Anxiety

Posted by Pinparent — 17 Comments

Have you ever started out your day normally, woke up, made breakfast, kissed your husband and child, felt all the happiness in the world and then BAM!… are over taken by a wave of indescribable fear? Your heart starts pounding, heat rushes quickly across your face, your extremities start tingling. You get dizzy, can’t form a single rational thought and no one around you understands. I have. Many of you might not know this about me, but I suffer from chronic anxiety.

It has been something that I have struggled with since childhood. As a child, I had a specific disorder called Trichotillomania, where I would pull hair from by body. I would yank out my eyelashes, eyebrows, the hair from my head & tweeze hair from my legs. These actions were soothing to me.

Throughout my life, my anxiety has changed and taken on many different forms. Some days are manageable, other days it is debilitating. I have been through, therapy & medication. Therapy did not help. Medication worked, but I found that I could not function without it. When we decided we were going to try for a baby, I weaned myself off & never looked back. I refused to live my life dependent on pills. This was a very painful time for me. The pain that your body can feel because of your mind is frightening. I learned to meditate during this period. I learned how to slow down my breathing and my mind. This helped me through my pregnancy, but after the birth of my daughter I found that it was becoming unmanageable again.

I never know when an episode or an attack might occur. Some come on sudden & hard. They may enter in a flash and hit the unbearable and then fizzle out within an hour’s time. Some present themselves more subtlely, leaving me feeling emotionally drained, lightheaded and scared. This can last for days or for weeks. This is a difficult reality for me. It makes it even more difficult when trying to take care of a toddler. I am not always able to be the kind of wife and mother that I would like to be, but I try my best.

Today was my daughter’s weekly gymnastics. It is always a challenge getting through a 45 minute class with my rambunctious child. Today was worse. During her class, Mai was her usual self. She was running around the mats instead of waiting in line to go through the obstacle course. She was being a toddler. As I was chasing her, an all too familiar feeling came over me. I suddenly became uncomfortably hot. The tightness in my chest triggered a series of burps brought on by stress-induced acid reflux. A million dizzying thoughts started jumping around in my head, making me feel as if I was out of my body looking in. My movements became more sluggish and it was a struggle to propel my body forward to retrieve my running daughter. In a panic, I told her “We need to go home.” She cried and said “Nooooo, mama.” I told her that she needed to stay still, that “Mama doesn’t feel good”. She settled down just long enough to get me through the end of her class. I felt a pang of guilt. My daughter doesn’t understand. She is just enjoying being a happy kid.

When we returned home, I set my daughter down for a nap in her crib. I meditated and prayed in her bedroom as I watched her sleep. Her soft breaths and sweet face brought some peace back to my tense spirit.

The truth is my family is the best therapy that I can ask for.

Tue
18 ^th

The First “I Love You”

Posted by Pinparent — 18 Comments

The last couple of days have been rough ones for this mama. Mai had an epic melt down a couple of nights ago over the content on her dinner plate. Apparently everything mommy makes these days is “too spicy”. FYI, I made macaroni and cheese. She went to bed extra late & woke up far too early. She was “the naughty child” at gymnastics yesterday morning & threw herself on the floor at the grocery store & made a little bit of a scene. A kind passer by took pity on me & actually stopped and asked if she could help me. Like I said, it has been a tough couple of days.
Some days being a mother is just too hard. It leaves you mentally and physically exhausted.
That was how I was feeling last night. After returning home from the grocery store I was beat down. I was getting ready to start supper, but Mai was ultra cranky and clingy. I pushed my preparations aside and sat on the couch with my cranky daughter and snuggled with her for a few minutes. As she sank in to my arms, I could feel the stress releasing from both of our bodies. I lie there relaxed for a few moments, drinking in the smell of my daughter’s hair and the feel of the smooth skin on her soft little cheek.
As much as I was enjoying this tender moment, I did have to start making dinner. I stood up and excused myself from my daughter & headed to the kitchen.While, I stood at the island, cubing up some ham, Mai came to me and wrapped her arms around my legs. “Mama, I love you.” I quickly scooped up my child and gave her a kiss with a tear in my eye & a smile on my face. It is just further proof that even the bad days in parenting are still pretty good.