Month: November 2016

Potty Training: The Mistakes I Made and How I Did It in Less Than a Week

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Amaura (my eldest) was 2.5 years old when she was potty trained. Since she was my first child, I jumped into potty training with both feet and didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. I just asked my momma what her main tip was to getting my siblings and I potty trained as toddlers and ran with it. Although I was able to potty train Amaura in less than a week, I definitely made some mistakes and now with my second child coming up on potty training, I feel like I have more of an open mind going into it again.

After Amaura was potty trained I was pretty ignorant and thought that since she knew what she was doing that there wouldn’t be any accidents at all.
Since the very first day Amaura started potty training she would wake up in the mornings with a dry diaper, so I thought that after she was  officially potty trained that she would never have an accident and/or wet the bed. Granted she’s only wet the bed twice since being potty trained due to drinking plenty of water before bed, I still for some reason didn’t ever think that would happen.
I also thought that she would never have an accident and did not take into consideration the times when she would REALLY need to go to the restroom and not make it at times, or the times when she was just so excited to be having a play date with her friends that she tries to put off going potty and has an accident. Haha, the joke was on me.
To this day Amaura still has occasional accidents, but now they are if she misses or waits to long to go and ends up peeing on her way to the toilet.

That being said, I want to share my potty training tips in hopes that you momma’s or daddy’s can use some of these tips and have a successful potty training experience with your babies.

Go into potty training with a realistic time frame:
I started potty training Amaura when she was 2.5 and had a goal of her being potty trained by the time she turned 3. So I gave myself a time frame of 6 months to consistently potty train her.
I know of some momma’s who jumped into potty training thinking that their child would be potty trained in a couple of days and gave up soon after.
So go into potty training with a realistic goal of when you want your child to be potty trained.

Know that accidents will happen even after your child is potty trained:
Like I mentioned above, I went into potty training thinking that after Amaura was potty trained that, that was that. No more accidents. Wrong! Amaura will have been potty trained for a year come January 2017 and she still has accidents.
Don’t mistake your child’s accidents for being lazy like I did. Know the difference.

Start preparing your child for potty training NOW:
I started preparing Amaura for potty training around 16-18 months until she was 2.5. I did this by bringing it to her attention when ever her diaper was soiled. I would ask her if she went pee or poopoos and when I would check her diaper. I would then say something along the lines of ‘Ok, you peed your diaper. It’s time to change you.’ After a while Amaura would bring me a clean diaper and the wipes and she would lay down ready to be changed. Or she would come up to me in a squatting position pointing to her diaper letting me know it was soiled.
I’m starting this process now with Ariella and I can definitely see that come November of next year, she will be more than ready to start potty training.

Try and stay home as much as possible:
When I knew that potty training with Amaura was about to start, I made sure that I didn’t schedule anything within the first two weeks. That way she could get the hang of going to the potty consistently without any distractions or inconveniences.

Have your child sit on the potty 30 minutes after he/she goes and make sure they are eating and drinking regularly throughout the day:
I feel like this tip is how Amaura was able to catch on as quickly as she did.
As soon as she woke up in the morning I would have her sit on the toilet straight away, that way if she held anything in her bladder during the night she would let it out on the toilet. After she went to the toilet she would have her breakfast. Her breakfast has always been warm oats with greens juice. I started to notice that after all of that fiber in the morning she would go in her diaper about 10 minutes after eating her breakfast, so I then started to wait 10 minutes after she had her breakfast and on the potty she went. After she went potty I would add 30 minutes from that time and during those 30 minutes I made sure she had plenty of water to drink that way she actually had something to pee out when I sat her on the toilet. This really helped her recognize the sensation of needing to go pee.
It worked the same way with going number 2 with Amaura. I made sure she had an apple, an orange, or a granola bar in between meals that way she had some extra fiber in her diet. She did catch on to peeing first, but the second half didn’t take that much longer for her to catch on.

Praise your child every time they go to the toilet:
I’m pretty sure that this tip is a given. I started rewarding Amaura with one M&M every time she went to the toilet, but I ended that quickly because I wasn’t comfortable with her having refined sugars. 😉 So instead I replaced the M&M’s with Sofia the First stickers and a little bit of fruit and nut mix and she was more than happy with that reward.
I would also tell her what an amazing job she was doing and that I was so proud of her. This really excited her and made her want to go to the toilet without me asking her if she needed to go or taking her every 30 minutes.

Always bring 2 changes of clothes with you:
I pretty sure that this tip is also a given. 😉 But I used to only bring 1 change of clothes around with me, but for the times that there isn’t a bathroom anywhere close when we are on the road, I decided to start packing 2 pairs. Amaura hasn’t needed to change her clothes due to accidents in a long while, but I still do this just to be prepared.

Be patient with your child and make it fun:
I know of some incidents where the parent is really stressing about potty training and so the child doesn’t want to potty train anymore and absolutely dreads it, resulting in a longer potty training process.
I know that potty training can be stressful at times whether that reason being that you get tired of washing undees all day, or that you now have to clean up the puddle of pee in the middle of the grocery store. But it’s ok! It’s a learning process for both you and your child and after your child is potty trained, it’s a huge breath of fresh air and it is so rewarding. Remember, patients is key. 😉

I am not claiming to know it all when it comes to potty training and I know that every child is different. Some children may take 3 days to potty train and others may take 6 months to potty train. I’ve also heard that girls are much easier to potty train and I won’t be experiencing that for myself, due to our 3rd daughter’s arrival in April, until the Lord blesses my husband and I with a son.
These tips are what I used to get Amaura potty trained and she caught on and was potty trained in 5 days. Of course they were learned during the process, but I found these to be very successful tips and I hope you do too! 🙂

Family Traditions

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As I was kneading dough for dinner rolls this early afternoon, I was thinking about family traditions and how they leave us with lasting memories and they always have a story to tell that lasts from generation to generation.

My Lola (grandmother in Tagalog) Norma used to live in the Philippines where there is lots of poverty, homelessness, starvation, and lots of people stealing things and money just so they can have a meal that day. Because of that, when she married my papa John and came to live in the U.S. with him, when she would cook and bake, she would make plenty of food for multiple people eat and there would always be leftovers. My Lola Norma loved to feed people and she loved to hear that you were stuffed so stupid that you had food coming out of your ears.
When my parents first met, after they got back to my grandparents house from a dinner date, my Lola Norma would insist that my dad ate the dinner that she had prepared that night even if he were already incredibly full! She would not let him leave the house until he ate her food.

My mom learned to make lots of delicious Filipino recipes from my Lola Norma and has taught me to make a few of them. Can you believe that I didn’t know that corn beef and cabbage was actually a stew?! I was so used to my Lola Norma’s Filipino version and the way that her and my mama would make it that the first time I had “real” corn beef and cabbage is when my husband and I were dating for nine months and we went to his parents house for Saint Patrick’s Day. I was honestly a little disappointed because I was looking forward to how I was used to it being made that the stew just didn’t cut it or hold a candle to my Lola Norma’s recipe. 😉

I think it is so important to have family traditions and to even start a few of our own because they always hold a special story to tell about someone very close to our hearts or maybe it’s even a tradition one of our ancestors started, and how amazing would it be to start your own tradition and it be passed on?
I still remember cooking in the kitchen with my Lola Norma the mornings after I would spend the night at her house and the evenings when my family and I would go over for supper. I loved to watch her cook and bake and I loved helping her!
It is so amazing to make my Lola Norma’s recipes with my mama in her kitchen and listen to the stories she tells me about my Lola Norma and how she was brought up.

I am going to show Amaura how to make the same Filipino recipes that my Lola Norma taught my mama to make and I am going to share the story that I shared with you all with her. I’m going to tell Amaura how strong, amazing and loving her great grandmother was and I hope that one day Amaura will do the same with her future children.
I not only want to carry on the tradition my Lola Norma started with Amaura, but I also want to teach her how to make the rolls that I just learned to make and will be making every Sunday.
And I hope that I will always be remembered and that my story and new tradition will be passed down from generation to generation. ❤

Joy and Thanksgiving

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“Joy is not based on our circumstances but is based on our ability to be thankful.”

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving day, I thought it would be appropriate to write about how important it is to be thankful and to give thanks to our Sovereign Savior every day and not just one day out of the whole entire year.

While doing a devotion the other day called ‘Finding Joy in the Ordinary’ by Brittany Rust, my eyes were seriously opened by the Holy Spirit.
Lately, I’ve been feeling like my joy was taken right from my grasp and I’ve been finding myself wanting more than what God has already blessed me with. This was due to me always comparing myself to other momma’s, wanting to be where certain people are in life, and not being thankful.
I found myself thinking silly things like “If I didn’t exclusively breastfeed my children I probably would have more by now.”, “She seems like she is super close with Christ, why am I failing so badly in that part of my life?”, “Her children never act up, where in my parenting am I failing so badly? “. Do you see how ridiculously insane it is for me to be thinking like this? I absolutely LOVE that I was able to exclusively breastfeed both of my daughters for 18 months and I would never change a thing. My relationship with my Lord is a work in progress, just like it is for everyone else, even the pastors in our churches. EVERYONE’s children act out, and just like me, some are just not vocal about it.
Not only does comparing myself to others rob me of my joy, but it is questioning where the Lord has me in life and His calling for me. That’s pretty deep…

You may be asking what me sharing this with you has to do about being thankful… Well, it has everything to do about being thankful, and being thankful brings so much joy to life.
So this whole entire month of November I have been putting into practice giving thanks for where I am in life and what I am already so incredibly blessed with, and like David in the book of Psalm, I too want to offer up shouts of joy in my tough spots of life. I will not only be putting this into practice this month, but for the rest of my life. Doing this has not only brought my joy back, but it has also drawn me so much closer to the Lord because my eyes are solely on him, and without Him I wouldn’t be where I am in life today and I wouldn’t have what I have today.

I read somewhere that the devil knows that he cannot take away our salvation or the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus so he tries to take away our joy, and I definitely believe that wholeheartedly. I didn’t use to get my joy taken away from me so easily until I started to really draw closer to God, but with thanksgiving, joy can easily be taken back because your focus is solely on the Lord and how He has blessed you.
Jesus Christ died to give us joy, so I am going to keep my eyes on Christ and find my joy in thanksgiving.

I really hope that all of my rambling made sense and that it has touched your spirit today. In the midst of all of the trials in life, what are you thankful for?

I am thankful that I was able to exclusively breastfeed both my daughters for a year and a half.
I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me with 3 beautiful girls and for the future children we will be blessed with, including the precious ones we will be adopting and calling our very own.
I am thankful that I can continue to grow in Christ and strengthen our relationship.
I am thankful that my children continuously grow in obedience and that the Lord has given me grace and patience to raise these arrows.
I am forever thankful for where the Lord has me in life and that He is guiding me on this life journey.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.

Baby Cruz Number 3

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We are in the 18th week on pregnancy, my sweet darling!

Baby A:
We had an ultrasound appointment today and mommy and your older sister Amaura (your other sister Ariella couldn’t handle all of the excitement, so she took it upon herself to nap in the car with grandma) got to see your sweet little face. You are so beautiful just like your sisters. You are measuring a little bit small, around 17 weeks and you weigh about 5 ounces, but the doctors are not worried at all because it’s apparent that momma just makes babies that are no bigger than 5 pounds.
You move so much and it’s no wonder daddy and your sweet sisters have been able to feel your strong little kicks!
Your sisters are already so incredibly sweet to you! Amaura keeps asking when you’re going to come out because she wants to help feed you and she can’t wait to hold you. Ariella is always lifting up mommy’s shirt so that she can kiss and see the round belly you are creating. I absolutely love seeing how excited they already are for you! Oh sweet baby A, you are so loved.

Mommy:
Mommy is doing so great! I’ve only gained a couple of pounds back since I lost weight, but I feel amazing and the best part is feeling your sweet movements.
I have been working out throughout this pregnancy and I’m pretty sure that the movements from exercise rocks your sweet self to sleep, because I either can’t feel you after or your movements slow down for a little while. Then when I’m cooled off and rested, there you are! Moving and kicking away!
My cravings for this entire pregnancy has been Louisiana hot sauce and I get an occasional sweet tooth. But I’ve definitely been wanting that hot sauce all the time and on everything! If you’re like your older sisters, you’ll love what I crave during pregnancy, so you’ll definitely be enjoying some spicy food with momma when you’re older. But let’s not rush things. 😉
I’m still small enough that I can wear my jeans and not have to live in tights, but this sweet belly your are creating is definitely making it so I have to use the hair tie method hehe.

These weeks are flying by like crazy, especially with the holidays and family birthdays coming up. You will be here before we know it and I can’t wait to snuggle you and kiss your sweet face! In the meantime, keep cooking in there, baby girl, and continue to grow strong.

I love you so much, baby A. ❤

Keeping a Tidy Home

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My dad used to always say that he would rather have a messy house and his family be taken care of than have a clean house and his family not be taken care of (Proverbs 14:4). As I do agree with that 100% it is still very easy to find myself feeling overwhelmed with the clutter that can accumulate overtime with having little’s running around all day.
I also think that as a homemaker it is important to stay clean and organized throughout the day as I believe clutter can be a safety hazard, staying tidy will teach your children responsibility, and let’s be honest… it helps us momma’s keep our sanity. 😉

In the beginning of this pregnancy, I allowed not feeling well and exhaustion get the very best of me, and allowed clutter to accumulate and I just lounged around with my babies all day every day. While I did love and enjoy those extra snuggles and wet kisses, the mess in our little home became very overwhelming for me. After I was able to get a hold of myself, I finally got back into the swing of things and want to share what I do to keep my little home clean on a daily basis, all while enjoying my time with my precious babies!

Keeping the kitchen tidy:
There are a couple of things I like to do to keep the sink empty, the counter top and stove clean, and the floors nice and swept.
If I didn’t get the dishwasher loaded and ran before bed the night prior, we do wake up with a cluttered kitchen and in all honesty, the first thing I want to do when I wake up is definitely NOT to clean. So after me and the little’s have had our breakfast, I’ll put worship music on the Bluetooth to set the mood, put the girls on their blanket time blankets on the kitchen floor, give them books to look at, and I will start cleaning the kitchen. While I’m cleaning the kitchen Ariella is 100% entertained with the books she has chosen and I will talk with Amaura about what she thinks the words in the books are saying and I will ask her what her favorite part of everyday is and what fun activity she would like to do that day. This way I have great company while I’m cleaning the kitchen and both girls are still with me and they are entertained.
While I am making a meal I will make sure to clean as I go and if there is any type of mess in the kitchen, I will clean it while I’m waiting for water to boil or while I’m waiting for something in the microwave to defrost, etc., that way there’s no lost time and the kitchen will stay clean while I am cooking.
When the day is over and the girls are down for the night, I will go into the kitchen, load and run the dishwasher and make sure that the sink, stove, counter tops, floors, and everything else is clean before I go to bed. But as you already read, I don’t do this EVERY night. 😉

Keeping the bedrooms clean:
Right now we only have two bedrooms in our little home, but we are in the process of buying a bigger house for our growing family! In the mean time, we have two bedrooms that need to be kept up with. I used to clean the girl’s room for them and realized that I need to teach responsibility to my children at a young age.
With that being said, Amaura knows that her’s and Ariella’s bedroom is her responsibility,and that it needs to be cleaned before she has any privileges. In the beginning I would sit on her bed and talk her through cleaning her room until it was tidy. I would get put the laundry basket in their bedroom and tell her to put all of the laundry that’s on the floor in the basket, put all of the toys in the toy box, put Ariella’s sheets into her crib (I make Ariella’s bed since she is still sleeping in a crib), pull her sheets up on her bed and make it look nice, and put the shoes in the box that’s in my closet. And walla! The girl’s room is clean and Amaura did an amazing job. After I few times of coaching her through it, I told her that it was now time for her to clean her room by herself and that she could do it. And she does do it! She does an amazing job and it I always make sure to go look and the girl’s room and praise Amaura for the great job she did.
As for the master bedroom it’s pretty simple for me to keep it clean.
I make sure to make the bed before I leave the room in the morning, make sure the shoes stay on the shoe rack, and I put the dirty clothes that get thrown onto the floor in the laundry basket.

Staying on top of laundry:
Now this is a tip that my mother-in-law actually shared with me! Laundry has always been a struggle of mine, even before I was married or had kids. I would let it all pile up until I had absolutely nothing left to wear, then I would wash all of my laundry in one day and get absolutely overwhelmed by all of the laundry that needed to be folded and put away. Needless to say, I allowed that horrible habit follow me into marriage and motherhood and my mother-in-law notice and she shared this WONDERFUL tip with me!
Wash one load of laundry every. single. day. Unless of course you don’t have enough to run a load that day, which more times than not. We do! (Mommy problems hehehe) This tip really has helped me stay on top of our laundry and I don’t feel overwhelmed at all with folding and putting away one load of laundry a day!

Cleaning the bathrooms:
There are multiple ways I am able to keep the bathrooms nice and clean, and stink free!
Every time after I am done using the restroom, before I leave, I make sure that the garbage doesn’t need to be taken out, that the counter tops are cleared off, and that there are no toys or sippy cups (don’t ask lol) on the bathroom floor.
While the girls are taking a bath I let them play so that I can clean the bathroom thoroughly and make sure the toilet is clean.
Before I leave the bathroom after getting ready for the day, I make sure to pick up after myself and that I leave the bathroom clean.

Keeping the living room tidy:
Now I normally clean the living room while the girls are down for their nap. I find that I am able to clean the living room faster that way and it’s very therapeutic for me. I’ll tuck the girls into bed, give them cuddles and kisses, and do my prenatal workout before I clean. After I am done doing my workout I find that I have much more energy so I will clean the living room thoroughly and vacuum the floors.
When I am cleaning the living room while the girls are awake, Ariella is in charge of picking up the garbage and throwing it in the bin, Amaura is in charge of picking up the toys and putting it in their toy box, and I am in charge of the rest. We love to do this while listening to princess Disney songs and dance around that way I can keep it fun for the girls!

These are my cleaning tips and I hope they are able to help out you fellow momma’s! Happy cleaning! 😉