Unfolding Dreams

Feelings Potty Books

Books By Cornelia Maude Spelman Books by Trace Moroney

When I'm Feeling Happy When I'm Feeling Kind When I'm Feeling Lonely When I'm Feeling Scared When I'm Feeling Angry When I'm Feeling Sad When I'm Feeling Jealous

When I feel Good about Myself When I Feel Angry When I Feel Sad When I Feel Scared When I Miss You When I Care About Others

Home School Preschool Curriculum Resource Sites Books in my home school library

Free Jump Start Pre-School Activities (jumpstart.com) All in One Pre-School's Getting Ready Part 1 and 2 (allinonehomeschool.com) Costs Money ABC Mouse's Online Curriculum Program (abcmouse.com)

Here is the supplies you need to make this project: Hot Glue Gun  Glue Gun Glue Sticks Quilter's Batting A Marker  Scissors A few of these items will vary in how much you need, depending on what size you are making. A Piece of Card Board (As large or small as you want to make the size of your dress top) Fabric (You need enough to cover the entire front and sides of your dress top) Ribbon Below are the parts and their steps to making this project: Part I.  Making the Bodice of Your Bow Dress Organizer

Part I.  Making the Bodice (Top of your Dress) Step 1:  You need your cardboard and a marker.  On you cardboard, draw out the shape of the top of your dress. I chose to use an old box, in case I made any mistakes, I had more cardboard I could use. Step 2: Once you have drawn the top of your dress on your piece of cardboard, it's time to cut the top of the dress out. Step 3: Place your cardboard dress top on your quilter's batting. Step 4: Cut your batting into a large square around your dress top.   You want to have enough to cover all the sides. Step 5:  Apply a generous amount of glue on the front of your cardboard dress top. Place the side with the glue centered on your quilter's batting. Although you see a glue stick in this picture, I advise using you hot glue gun for the entire project. It took me 2 glue sticks to really stick the cardboard and batting together. Step 6: Glue the batting to...

1st Attempt at making my own hair bow organizer  \

Hair Bow Dress Organizer Tutorial With Pictures Hair Bow Dress Organizer Results

Some Natural Hair Videos on YouTube I found Helpful. The links go to my YouTube Playlists. Keratin Treatments Ultra Black Hair - Are Keratin Treatments Safe? Chemical Relaxers Ultra Black Hair - Chemical Relaxers Hair Vitamins Ultra Black Hair - Hair Vitamins Wash and Go Tutorials Naptural85's Easy Technique Wash and Go Detangling Natural Hair Afro Story's How To Detangle Natural Hair Straightening  

I tried the original Clear Blue Digital ovulation tests when trying to conceive # 2 as a way to confirm if my testing strips were positive. Ovulation testing strips or cassette style can be difficult to read the results. The digital I originally used gave a circle for negative or a smiley face for positive. Youtube Link:   Clear Blue Digital Ovulation Test . When trying for a third child, I got the chance to try the clear blue advance digital ovulation test. It tells you your fertility days rather than negative or positive, it says low, high or peak - similar to the clear blue fertility monitors. What was so great about this, is since I didn't have a chance to buy sticks for my clear blue fertility monitor when my first postpartum menstrual cycle started post baby 2, I was able to put the findings from my clear blue digital ovulation tests into my fertility friend chart in the monitor section. Usually I put the findings of my clear blue fertility monitor in the monitor sect...

Internet Cheapie Ovulation Testing Strips Have you heard of an OPK? That is short for an ovulation prediction kit. When you take these test strips, they help you determine how close you are to ovulating. When the control line is dark and the test line is light or undetected it means negative. However, if you notice that each day, your test line is getting darker and almost the same as the control, this means you are getting closer to ovulating. When the test line is the same or as dark as the control, this means you have a positive ovulation test.  However, an individual can sometimes get more than one OPK that looks positive in the cycle. It can be common to have 2. Just because the test is positive does not mean you should just be trying to get pregnant during that time. You could ovulate 12-24 hours of getting that positive test. Not to mention sometimes we can mistake what we think is a positive test for a test that is almost positive. So you want to be intimat...

  I don't find it to be too messy after trying to use this the first few times after intimacy. I usually left it in place anywhere from 4-8 hours before removing it. Since we had a breastfeeding toddler, intimacy would often be around midnight or later, then I would put in place the Soft cups, lay down from a few minutes to 30 minutes before getting up and going to bed. Then when I would wake up in the morning I would remove it. It is normal to also have sperm left over in the cup. No matter how long  I left it in place, there always seemed to be a little left over. When trying to conceive my second child, I used this for 4 out of the 6 cycles, since I wasn't introduced to the product during my first two cycles. What are they? The soft cups are one-time use menstrual cups, that women have started using for trying to conceive. How does it work? The purpose of this product is to keep sperm closer to the cervix. You insert it after inti...

You can use a regular thermometer, but the BBT ones give you an extra decimal place. So a regular thermometer may say 97.1 F (read as 97.1 degrees Fahrenheit), but a BBT one will say, 97.12 F. How much you need this is debatable. A midwife once told me to round up numbers, for example, instead of leaving them 97.29 F, round to 97.3 F. Amazon Link (To Purchase):  BBT Thermometers

I discovered charting when I was trying to conceive my second child while breastfeeding my first. One of the benefits to charting is that I learned my luteal phase was short while breastfeeding. It also allowed me to know when my full fertility returned and estimated dates for my menstrual cycles. I can print out the basics of my chart and take it with me to my OB/GYN appointments. Thanks to  this feature my OB/GYN was able to look over my charts and said I needed to be ovulating sooner than I was. That's when I started to learn  more about short luteal phases, what that means for a trying to conceive, and natural options to help lengthen them. Where To Get Your Fertility Chart Charting on Fertility Friend

I have had my first postpartum menstrual post baby # 2. Here is my OPK progression during that first cycle. * Prior to this first postpartum cycle, I took 15 vitex pills between 8.5 months to 10.5 months postpartum, which I believe may have started my postpartum menstrual cycle.   During this first postpartum cycle (11 months postpartum), I took 6 more vitex pills,  thus taking a total of 21 vitex pills taken so far. The first OPK in this photo is cycle day 11 to cycle day 15. All of the OPKs as seen on this photo are negative. The first OPK is cycle day 11  to cycle day 17. Cycle day 17 seems to be my positive OPK. A closer look of my progression. This photo starts on cycle day 15 going to cycle day 17. Side Note:  At the end of this cycle, it was determined I most likely did not ovulate  according to my Fertility Friend Chart. My chart is posted below.  I decided to not take any vitex pills for my 2nd postpartum cyc...

I feel the more you are intimate when trying to conceive, the higher your chances of catching your egg and becoming pregnant are. Despite the fact that for some couples who are not trying or just one time they are able to become pregnant.  However, frequent intimacy is not for every couple. Especially if the male partner has low sperm count.  It is said a men with low sperm count can still father a child, while men with higher than normal sperm count can also take longer to father a child. So many factors affect sperm, poor diet, stress, lack of sleep and so forth. But what about intimacy? My research found the following: A man is said to need to ejaculate often to produce fresh and high quality sperm.  Sex can temporarily impact a men's sperm. It is said if he does ejaculate too often he will not replenish a full amount of sperm. There is said to actually be no best time to wait between ejaculations, but some experts believe 36 to 48 hours...

Sometimes I will show you how my chart differs on different settings.  The setting I use and recommend is FAM (Fertility Awareness). Pre- Postpartum Menstrual Trying To Conceive Baby 3 Temping before Postpartum Menstrual Came Fertility Friend did not give me cross hairs to confirm ovulation I had multiple close to positive and positive ovulation tests Notes: Took 15 Vitex Pills Additional  Notes: Midwife does not believe postpartum menstrual returned due to vitex,  because it takes at least 3 months to be effective  and I took those pills inconsistently from  8 months - 10.5 months postpartum. 1. Postpartum Menstrual  Trying To Conceive Baby 3 Postpartum Menstrual # 1 - August 2014 Started at 3 days shy of 11 months postpartum Luteal Phase: None (on FAM setting) Notes: Took 4 Vitex pills Trying to Conceive Baby 3 Postpartum Menstrual # 1 - August 2014 Luteal Phase: 5 (on FAM, Advance & Research...

Gender Reveal Cake You could say different was our theme this time around. With our first we found out via 20 week ultrasound, but with our second we decided to do a gender reveal cake. We went to an  ultrasound studio and had an early ultrasound at 16ish weeks. However, I was not properly hydrated enough for the umbilical cord to float above the baby's gender, and the ultrasound tech wanted to be sure of the gender, so we came back a week later at 17 weeks for another ultrasound. Adequate hydration was the key to the second ultrasound being successful. The ultrasound tech was told that we were going to do a gender reveal cake at the first appointment and placed the results in an envelope at the second appointment. During both ultrasounds, the tech interchanged he and she so much, we walked out feeling confused on how many times she said she and how many times she said he. She also showed us on the big screen our baby's face, hands, the body at different angles tha...

Avoid Chemicals

Avoid Chemicals 1. Avoid Using Antibacterial Soaps There are said to be chemicals in antibacterial soaps accused of being found in newborn babies' blood and umbilical cord blood, also that it may cause babies to be resistant to vaccines and affect growth. I even heard one person accuse antibacterial soaps to be the cause of "Super Bugs".  The news story I first heard this on said for expecting moms to wash hands with regular soap. Links:  Pregnant women warned not to use antibacterial soap ' 2.  Painting Products Latex Paint or Oil based paints Paint Strippers 3. Cleaning Products Oven cleaner Spot removers

How Long My Children Used Cloth Diapers Child # Age Amount of Time Used 1 14 – 40 months 26 months 2 Newborn - Present 26 months + 3

I have a few non cloth diapering mommy friends that wanted to know more about why I switched to cloth diapers. Join me as I blog about my adventures of cloth diapering. I did not want to overload them with so much information at once. Thus my idea of making a cloth diaper blog was formed. I am not being paid to feature or promote any products. Everything written is my honest opinions and my personal experiences using them. This blog contains my personal experiences and opinions. However, I am not responsible for any decisions made with the following information provided in this blog. Always use your best judgment before following any advice given when it comes to your family and yourself. I am a married stay at home mom. I used disposable diapers for the first 14 months of my first child's life before switching to cloth diapers. I was introduced to cloth diapers, when I saw a link on a mommy friend's Face Book that promoted the benefits of using cloth diapers. At the time,...

Clear Blue Plus Pregnancy Test  with Blue Dye (+ / - ) This is what a negative looks like: Side Note: Blue dyes are often said to more frequently give false positives than pink dye. Some online boards that will tweak (alter) a pregnancy test photo to help individuals identify if the test is a faint positive or indeed negative, often will not do blue dyes.

Not Using Time Out & Changing Perspective on Discipline I heard this from natural and attached parenting moms, even from my early childhood education professors. It took a while of hearing this and learning from experience how ineffective time out was (we did child in time out 1 min per age). We used this method often from 2-3 years old with our 1st child, but always felt that she was in time out too much and not feeling like the behavior was getting better. By 3.5 years old, we were sure that time out was being over used, no improvement in our toddler's behavior and we were finding ourselves easily becoming frustrated with every misbehavior, warning and attempts at failed discipline. We all of a sudden knew why some joke, terrible two's and three's. Our solution was to attempt to use time out less and save it for severe things like hitting or pushing the baby, but even less time out didn't work, because we still said, stop x and y or I'll ...