June 5, 2012

IPhone Photo Dump!

Hi guys!

I have a couple of random pictures from my phone that I realized I never posted
- so here you go-
 my first ever photo dump! 
Enjoy! 

 Reagan has been really getting into the Wii!
He and Nick like to race on Mario Kart and the Cars 2 Racing game.
Now if only I could convince them to let me get the Michael Jackson dancing game.
I really want it!


Future rock-star?



Water baby


Much of our days lately- spent on the froggy potty!


Week 1 of his responsibility chart.


Success! He got frozen yogurt as his reward!

June 3, 2012

Big News....

Happy Sunday friends!!

It still blows me away to see how many of you all follow my blog and are a great friends and supporters! 
Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I've been contacted by a few people to do blog giveaways and reviews (yay!), so I decided to create a TickledPinkMandy Facebook page to help spread the word.

All I need is for you to head on over to Facebook and "like" me! 


And while you're there, would you mind helping me?

Lakeshore Learning is my absolute favorite teaching/educational store.  My classroom is always stocked with decor, teaching supplies, and learning games from there. And would you believe my home is any different? Nope. Reagan's playroom is full of art and learning supplies from there as well. Anyways, Lakeshore Learning is doing a photo contest during the month of June.  They have asked parents to submit a photo of their child doing their favorite summer learning activity.  The photo with the most "likes" wins a wonderful gift card to the store! Whoo hoo! I want this gift card! Imagine all the trouble  ... err.... fun Reagan, the babies, and I could get into with this!

So all you need to do is head on over to Facebook and "like" Reagan's photo on the Lakeshore Learning Page. I really appreciate your support! 

June 2, 2012

21 Weeks Pregnancy Update



How far along are you? 
I am 21 weeks.

Total weight gain? 
I've gained 3 pounds since my last update- so now I'm just down 7 since the start of pregnancy.

How big are the babies? 
2 weeks ago at my ultrasound, my little baby girl weighed 8 ounces and my little baby boy weighed 9 ounces.  BabyCenter.com says they are probably weighing around 12 oz. Who knows! BabyCenter.com also says they are about as long as carrot now.

Maternity clothes? 
It depends really. If I'm going in public I always wear maternity bottoms now. There is no way this belly is squeezing into a regular- button pair of shorts! Since I've been on summer vacation this past week I've been in old tee-shirts and sofie (sp?) shorts a lot- which are obviously not maternity , just super comfy!

Stretch marks?
 Not yet. 

Sleep?
I'm getting around 8 hours a night (with a couple of bathroom breaks) and I nap in the afternoons when Reagan naps. So I'm definitely getting a lot of sleep! I continue to rely on my pregnancy pillow a lot and toss and turn sides throughout the night.

Best moment of this week?
When Reagan succeeds at potty training! I love seeing how proud he gets.
It was also pretty fun to do some baby registering this morning. I feel like I clicked that machine on anything pink! Can you tell I'm excited for a girl?!

Movement?
Yes! I feel them all throughout the day but especially at night.  It's funny how they each move me in a different way. My baby girl moves all the time and I feel like constant motion on the left side of my body.  My little boy is not so constant but when he moves, its a hard punch or kick on my right side. Reagan sat on my lap for a little bit of the movie yesterday and he kept turning around and staring at my belly- they were going bonkers and he could feel it. It was pretty cute!

Food cravings?
Not really. I think my eating is back to normal- no cravings and no aversions!

Food aversions?
Not really. I think my eating is back to normal- no cravings and no aversions!

Labor signs?
No

Belly button in or out?
It's really stretching out. So I have a feeling it may be popping out soon!

What I miss?
I'm not really missing anything right now. I'm enjoying the moment! 

What I'm looking forward to?
This week Reagan starts swim classes. He is turning into such a water baby. I still need to find an appropriate swim suit for me to wear with him at lessons.... When he and I go swimming I wear an old bikini, but not sure I will be able to swing that in a pool full of strangers!



Here are a couple of ultra sounds pictures of the babies from 2 weeks ago.  They were not being very cooperative, but at least you get a look!


 Babies side by side.
 Kinda creepy looking spines but it's neat to see just how close they are!


I like this one of my little girl. See how her hand is up on her head? 
They were both laying in the same position like that.


Both babies facing down.
 Pretty much the whole appointment they both stayed this way.


My two healthy blessings!

June 1, 2012

Potty Training - Days 2, 3, and 4

Well friends.
This potty training is no joke!
 It is hard work but hopefully in a few months we will be looking back and laughing. 
Right?!?!

I'm glad my little blog/journal is helping some of you with your future potty training adventures and I truly do appreciate your comments, advice, and support! Truly!!


Let me look back to my notes.
Yes, I keep my notepad and pen next to me at all times to track times/success/failures.
You can't take the teacher out of the girl.

Wednesday, Day 2
We started the training at 7:00 am and Reagan was getting into the groove of "feeling" like he had to go and would go sit on the froggy potty. Yay! I needed to run to the library real quick at 9:00 am so I put him into his first pull-up.  At the library he said he needed to try, so in we went to the public bathroom.  It was a no go, but I was proud of him for trying.  My quick trip turned into 40 minutes looking at videos and books (my bad) . As we were walking out to the car he froze, grabbed his pull-up, and said "No! Me get a sad face!" I felt so bad. But at least he was registering.  I told him I was proud of him and that this time it was kind of my fault. 

We headed back home and took off the pull-up. Back to our naked party. At 10:50 he started hurrying to the frog potty and started to pee on the floor. He did continue in the potty though- yay! 

Lunch, one more pee pee in the potty and then nap (diaper).

He went a couple of more times in the potty that night before bed. 
All in all, a good day 2 (I think at least!)

Thursday, Day 3
Reagan slept in a little later this morning and we didn't get started until 8:00. I kept asking him if he needed to go and the answer was always "no". My phone timer went off every 45 minutes and I would have him try to use the frog toilet and / or the big toilet and every time it was with no success. It was finally 11:15 and he still had not gone. No accident but no potty. I thought this was very weird. I had already gone 6 times by now. Ha ha. Not joking.

So I decided he and I needed a distraction from all this potty training. So we got in our suits and went swimming. The second we put our feet in the water he peed in his swim diaper. Figures! After swimming we had lunch and took a nap.  After the nap he did go pee pee in the frog potty one time.  And nothing more until bed.  Does this mean he is just getting better at holding it? I was so worried he was getting a bladder infection or something!

Thursday night I went to a wine bar with friends and it was a nice distraction for me. I'm not going to lie- we did talk about potty training a little bit, but mostly gossiped and talked reality TV. Just what this mama needed. The most random part of the night was meeting two "matchmakers". We grilled them about their business. I think that would be the coolest job.

Friday, Day 4
Today we got up and went to the movies.  I bought the kids summer movie package and I am pretty excited about it.  We go once a week to the a special kids showing. It was 7 dollars a ticket (total) for like 12 movies or something! Anyways. Today was Happy Feet 2. Neither Reagan or I had seen it and we really liked it.


I put Reagan in a pull-up and we talked about how we don't want Lightening McQueen to get wet. Reagan told me 4 times during the movie that he needed to go potty. (Sorry to everyone around us! I've never been up and down in a movie so much! Oh well, the place was full of kids so I hope the parents understood.) Each time was a no-go and I think he thought going into the big potty was a fun game.  I suppose I should be happy he was trying, but come on kid- just let it out! 

After the movie we were driving home and he yelled "Oh no- me go pee!" When we got home I immediately had him sit on the potty and he peed. I do think he started in the car but he was able to cut himself off. 
The rest of the day was pretty standard- lunch, pool, nap, pee pee in potty.

Tonight we went to our friend Sarah's house and he started to poo in his pull-up.  Mid poo we sat on the toilet and he finished there. 

Long story short.... we're getting there.  
These intensive 3 days have not completely potty trained him but I think it has set a good foundation. He is going less frequently and is able to hold it until a potty.  I anticipate more accidents but hopefully less than now that we had potty boot-camp. We are not even going to try with naps/bedtime until he and I are more confident during the day. While he is around the house we will do big boy underwear but will probably do pull-ups when we leave the house for awhile. I'm not going to journal his daily progress anymore but I will keep you posted on how it is going! Thanks for reading!! 

May 29, 2012

Potty Training Day 1

FYI if you aren't a family member or a mommy, this might be TMI! 

Since the time I was pregnant with Reagan, I have been terrified of the thought of potty training. I'm not joking. Probably more scared of this than I was of labor/birth.

Reagan is 3 years old and 2 months. I know I have been putting it off. I mean- I did have some pretty legit reasons (teaching schedule limits my time, he wasn't recognizing signs, etc.) But I think he is finally ready.

I found a couple of potty training blogs through Pinterest that show an intensive 3 day method for potty training.  Basically you stay home for 3 days and Reagan is naked for most of it. You set the timer and try throughout the day. Since this is my first week of summer vacay, and surprisingly a free week, I decided this would be a good week to start. So you know me. I dove right in, head first.

Preparations:

This weekend I ran to Target and spent a pretty penny on our potty training supplies. Nick was a little annoyed, but I told him it would be worth it when Reagan was out of diapers. Please Lord don't prove me wrong!


I made two buckets. Our "Poo Poo Bucket" is full of new books, DVDs, and toys.  Our "Pee Pee Bucket" is full of candy and stickers. Pretty self-explanatory, but when Reagan goes poo in the potty he chooses and item , etc.


I also stocked up on little boy underwear covered in his favorite characters.


I got 2 potty DVDs which we have watched multiple times today.


And I stocked up on salty snacks and sugary drinks. The blogs suggested the salty snacks because they make you thirsty, thus you drink more, thus you pee more. Makes sense to me.  

You can also see the cleaning stuff was out and ready as were the Cars Pull-Ups (Probably will save these for outings after our 3rd day home).

 I made this little potty chart.

And a call list to have people help celebrate with us.


The Day:

We started the potty training at 8:00 am. We read some potty books

and then got naked. I started by setting the timer for ever 15 minutes, then moved it to 20 and later 30. We would "try" to go on the big toilet in his bathroom every time the timer went off. I was pretty frustrated because he pretty much just sat there with no pee/poo. Reagan snacked, drank, and watched movies until 10:00.  

Then came accident #1. We were pulling out art supplies and all of a sudden there was pee everywhere.  I don't think he realized he had peed. He said, "Oops. Me spilled". I was thanking my lucky stars we have tile/wood and not an inch of carpet in our house. It made clean up a breeze.

The accident did make him a little scared though.  He insisted on sitting on his small frog toilet in the living room for an hour. He wanted to read on it, eat on it, play on it, etc.  He kept saying "Me sit here so no pee or poo on floor". I felt so bad. 

But the good news was he peed a little and pooed a little while sitting there. Hallelujah! 

During nap time I put him back in a diaper. The blogs I read discouraged this but I am sooo not dealing with wet sheets/mattresses etc. right now. Reagan slept for 3 hours and when he woke up his diaper was full of pee/poo. Poor guy had probably been holding it in.

After nap things really started to get moving. 
He peed 2x in the little froggy toilet and we celebrated big time!
He was so excited to make his phone calls and choose his prizes.

As we sat down for dinner, he had accident #2.
So then we were back to sitting on the toilet non stop. Yep. He has been sitting on his frog toilet eating. No big deal.

As I write this- another pee pee. Success.
So today's total- 4 pees, 1 poo, and 2 accidents.

This is exhausting and boring all at the same time.
Any tips or words of wisdom out there?
XXOO

May 27, 2012

Last Week of School in Review!

This past week was our last week of school.
It was a serious blur!

I was busy filing cum folders, organizing paperwork, packing up boxes, and writing sub plans all while keeping my 25 excited and wild kids under control.  We had many fun events lined up at school as well.



Tuesday we had Junior Achievement day.  Junior Achievement is an awesome program you can read more about here. 


Wednesday we had the school Talent Show. It was really fun this year because the teachers surprised the   kids at the end of the talent show by having a flash mob/dance.  We had practiced every day after school for a couple of weeks on this dance and it was so much fun.  My team mates posted it on Facebook but I can't figure out how to get it over to the blog! So pictures will have to do!




My mom brought Reagan to school this morning to watch the Talent Show and Teacher Dance.
He also stayed to play with my kids at recess. He was worn out!

(Here he is at the talent show with my my friend Lisa's son.)

Thursday was the all-school Water Day. Kinder and First Grade were out there from 8:45-10:45 am and the kids had an absolute blast! I didn't go down the slides this year because of the babies but my teammates were rock stars and got soaked with the kids!

There were 3 water slides, slip and slides, popcorn, and snow cones!



Friday was the last day! We did our First Grade song performance at 10:00 am in the cafeteria and then my students' families joined me back in the classroom.  I showed a 30 min. slideshow I made of pictures throughout the year and gave out awards.  It was so emotional. It was probably a combination of pregnancy hormones, my emotional families and students, and know that this was my 7th and last year of teaching at this school- but I was a hot mess. I mean- full on sobbing, snot, etc. Good Lord!

I was so proud of my kids and their growth this year.
(Red - Falls Far Below Grade Level
Yellow- Approaching Grade Level
Green- At Grade Level
Blue- Above Grade Level)
NWEA Reading Test

DIBELS Reading Test
(No Blue on this test)

NWEA Math Test

I'm not the only one leaving our school this year. There are 17 of my team mates and friends leaving this year too. So we were all super emotional! 




After school, my mom and I dropped of my teacher stuff at a storage unit.
It's pretty crazy how much stuff you accumulate over the years!

(My mom made one more trip after this one-- so imagine more buckets/boxes.)

I'm not going to lie. It was an exhausting week and I'm happy to be done!

May 22, 2012

Gender Reveal in my Classroom

I knew I wanted to do a "gender reveal party" for my first graders on Monday after my family's gender reveal Sunday. (Click here to read about that party!)  And then I stumbled across a creative blogger who already had done one for her class!  She had made and posted printables for free-score! ( Thank you!)  If you are a teacher and haven't checked out her blog, make sure and do so! 

Sunday night I made two little cakes for my first graders.
I dyed Baby A's cake blue and baby B's cake pink.

We started the morning by taking "team pictures".





We then voted for baby A and made our own graphs.


We then voted for baby B and made our own graphs.



Then it was the big moment.
We cut the cakes and there was a lot of cheering going on!
The kids were pretty spot on- just reversed the babies! 



After we enjoyed the cake and celebrations, 
the kids made a list of names I should consider for the babies.



Last, they wrote me mommy advice.



It was a special morning and I am glad I could share the excitement with my class!