September 30, 2011

• Etc.

  I’ve been having these random things I keep meaning to post about, so here’s a random post.  :)

  1.  Has everyone discovered Pinterest??  If not, they should.  I. Love. It.

  2.  I just read that Mexico is considering an option for two year marriages, after which the marriage is automatically dissolved.  Say whhhaaaaaaatttt???

  3.  

  I discovered this website www.carbonite.com, which was referenced after a Facebook friend lost everything on her computer, including pictures when her computer crashed.  With Carbonite, you pay $59 a year, and it automatically regularly backs up your computer.  ”Once you install Carbonite, you’ll never have to remember to back up again. The automatic backup runs continually in the background, backing up new and changed files whenever your computer is connected to the internet. Carbonite is designed to go to sleep when you’re using your computer so that it doesn’t slow you down.”  This is great peace of mind for me, because I would rarely remember to back up my pictures, and would sometimes feel the cold sweat of horror at the thought of something happening to them.  Just so you know, it will not automatically back up your videos – you have to tell it to do that.  Also, during the initial backup, make sure you turn off the “sleep” mode on your computer (ours goes on every 15 minutes if no one is on the computer), or otherwise it will only be backing up when you are actively using the computer.  

  4.  One of my favorite baby items I have had since Layla was born is this:

  

  It is a baby movement monitor that attaches to the baby’s waist band.  With each baby, during those first six months or so, I have jerked awake to make sure that the baby is still breathing.  But with this monitor, I have had such a peace of mind that if something should happen with the baby while I am laying there with my eyes closed, I am going to know about it right away.  ”Snuza Halo detects even the slightest movement and will alert you if your baby’s movements are very weak or fall to less than 8 movements per minute. If no movement at all is detected for a period of 15 seconds, Halo will vibrate gently. Often this vibration is enough to rouse the baby, and Halo will revert to monitoring mode. After three vibration/rouse incidents, the Rouse Warning will alert you to the fact that your baby’s movements have stopped for 15 seconds on three occasions. If no further movement is detected for another 5 seconds, an alarm will sound to alert you.”  It has had just a few false alarms when the monitor wasn’t positioned correctly or when the baby’s waistband was too loose, but overall it has been my single FAVORITE thing.  It just feels like I have somebody sitting beside the baby while I sleep, watching her to make sure everything is ok, ready to let me know if anything is wrong.

  Go figure, it actually went up $50 since I bought mine.  :)  But I still think it’s worth it.

  5.  I recently read this quote that I am currently finding really helpful for child rearing:  

  

  Feels like parenting with gracious affirmation.  

  6.  Also, I stumbled across this book a few days ago at the thrift store, and am EATING IT UP.  

  

  It is SO helpful for the stage we are in right now, and describes the HOW of teaching your child responsibility.  

  7.  Right now I am finding very helpful this resource while I am often operating in a tired fog from children keeping me from going to sleep at night, waking me up from my sleep, and requiring me to get up early.  :)  

  

  (image from Simplemom.net)

  That tired fog can make all of the tasks that await me when I wake up feel somewhat confusedly overwhelming.  The two sheets that I am finding most helpful at this current moment are the Daily Checklist and the Weekly Checklist – Household Chores.  It tells me to make my bed, I gratefully make my bed.  It tells me to empty the trash, I empty the trash.  As long as somebody knows what is going on around here.  

  • 9:24 am
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