Looking for some great, inexpensive Princess Party ideas? Lucky you! I’ve got some really great ideas to share:

The Invitations:

Be creative in making your party announcement. You could purchase one like the Princess Party Invitation shown above, and add a little pop to it with glitter puffy paint, or by gluing on small rhinestones. Or you could make your own from scratch! For a princess party, you can make it in the shape of Cinderella’s shoe, a castle, like a rolled up scroll, anything like that! I thought it would be cute to send out the invitation like I was inviting each child to a royal ball. Here is what my invitations read:

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Princesses of all the land… Her Royal Highness, Princess Jada, is turning four years old! In celebration of this joyous occasion, the Princess requests the honor of your presence at a royal gala marking her fourth year.

Come One, Come All, in your finest princess attire, to insert place on insert date from insert time. Princess Jada and her royal Court will eagerly be awaiting your arrival! Please ring Queen Kendra to announce if you will be in attendance…

For some printable invitations, see the links at the bottom of this post. I’ve listed several good sites to visit for more Princess Party ideas.

(Me and Princess Jada)

Playing The Part:

Princess parties are so exciting for little girls, because they get a chance to dress up and have fun! Make sure that your little princess has a beautiful dress to wear. Also ask your guests to wear their own princess dress if they have one. Make sure that you have extra dresses and accessories on hand in case one of your guests doesn’t have their own. I had a dress up “station” where there was a little dress up trunk full of outfits, shoes, and jewelry for the girls to play with. What I didn’t have, I borrowed! If you have friends or family with little girls, see if they might have dress up stuff that you can borrow for the party and save yourself some money!

Don’t be afraid to play along too. Any little girl would love to have Mommy dress up along with her. I bought a Cinderella dress to wear as the host of the party. (It was like $30 at Party City, and I actually got my money back out of it by selling it close to Halloween time on ebay!) All of the girls loved that I was dressed up too! And I have to admit, I enjoyed it as well! Jada especially was in awe. She said, “Mommy, you really are Cinderella!” She was so excited!

Make A Cardboard Castle:

Last year I came across this site which showed how to make an awesome castle out of boxes, for under $10! We decided to make one for our daughter’s 4th birthday. She was having a princess party, and we thought this would be an awesome addition to the decor. And since we are all about frugal parties, this came within budget.

It requires several refrigerator boxes, which actually took a little while to track down. We went to Home Depot and spoke with a man in the appliances. We asked him if he had any big boxes like these that we could have. He told us that they break them down and get rid of them as soon as they come in. But, he would hold some for us from the next shipment. We had to keep checking back, but after a couple of days he had some ready for us. We ended up getting several refrigerator boxes, along with stove boxes, which worked out fine.

We didn’t follow the directions exactly. I thought it would be more frugal to just use duct tape instead of the rivets that they suggest you buy from the website. I was wrong. Buy the rivets, seriously. They aren’t that expensive, and after trying the duct tape, and several tubes of liquid nails, and using a staple gun, it FINALLY held together. Next time, I will definitely just buy the rivets. So, anyways, it came out really cute. I happened to have a can of gray paint leftover from a project, so I used it to paint the castle. Really you could paint it whatever color though. It took quite a few hours putting this thing together (doing it the hard way), but when it was finished we were very pleased. (Though I could have spent days detail painting it to look like real bricks!)

The kids LOVED the castle! They were in it for most of the party. We filled it with balloons, and they had a blast throwing them, kicking them around, and peaking out of the tower windows. The castle was the hit of the party!

A Throne For The Birthday Princess:

All I did was decorate one of our dining room chairs. I went to Walmart and bought a big sheet of stiff foam board. I also bought an inexpensive decorative stencil, and some glittery gold acrylic paint. I went home and cut the board to be the right size to make the back of the throne. Before I attached it, I used the stencil and the paint to create a really nice decorative scroll-like boarder. I also added a sparkly gold monogram by simply creating the lettering I wanted in Word on the computer, then printing it onto cardstock (thicker paper is better). I then cut it out to create a stencil, then traced it onto my board and filled in the lines with paint.

For the seat of the throne, I used a flower girl dress that my daughter had outgrown. I first cut the skirt away from the bodice of the dress. Since the seats of my dining room chairs are removable, I unscrewed the seat and removed it. I then duct taped the skirt onto the chair, on the inside of the frame where it wouldn’t be seen. I used the sash that came with the dress to cover the seat and then placed it back onto the chair frame.

Voila! A throne fit for a princess! And it cost me under $10. If you don’t have a pretty dress to destroy on hand, I’d suggest hitting up a Goodwill. They always have stuff like that for cheap!

Jada sat on her throne as each of her guest presented her with her gifts to open. This really made her feel extra special on her day!

Music:

You really do need to have some music playing to make your party lively and fun for the children. A great CD that we enjoyed for Jada’s party was Disney Princess Tea Party. We hooked up the stereo to play it continuously throughout the party. The girls loved dancing along with the fun tunes! The whole CD cost me $12, but you can also purchase individual songs and download only the ones you want, for $.99 each! If you Go Here and scroll down, you can listen to samples of each song, and purchase only those which you like.

Activities & Games:

Dress Up: As each girl arrived, I’d lead her to the dress up station, where she would get a dress (if she didn’t have one) and accessories. Then I would sit her down at a vanity to apply a little eye shadow, lip stick, blush, and stick on earrings if her ears weren’t pierced.

I really lucked up when I found an old vanity on the side of the road a week before the party. I had been wanting to use one, but didn’t want to buy one. I grabbed it up, took it home, and painted it, adding the same gold and glitter stenciling as was on the throne. What a blessing that was to find, it was perfect! (And I actually was able to sell it at a yard sale after the party after it was all painted and pretty!)

Kiss The Frog: It’s like Pin The Tail On The Donkey, but with a frog and lips. Draw a picture of a Frog Prince on a large piece of paper. Next create paper lips for the children to stick onto the frog. Blind fold each child, spin the around a few times, then let them see who can get their kiss closest to the frog’s mouth.

As a prize I let each child chose a Disney Princess Lip gloss.

Princess & The Pea: I like to precede this game by telling a short, paraphrased version of the story The Princess and The Pea, using a book mainly for visual interest. If you read it word for word, you’ll probably lose the attention of the kids pretty quickly, depending on their age of course, so try to keep it fairly short.

Now, you’ll need three or four small pillows and a marble or small rubber ball (for younger kids) to hide underneath one of the pillows. Have the girls line up sitting on the floor in front of the pillows. Let each girl have a turn to sit on each pillow and try to figure out which one has the “pea” under it. Once they have determined the correct pillow, announce to that girl, “You’re right! You must be a real princess!” And as their reward I gave each of our princesses a crown of her own (each was only $1.00 at Target!).

Karaoke: Having an open mike is so much fun for the little ones! Not to mention a crack up for the parents to watch! If you have access to a music player and a microphone or a karaoke machine, this is a wonderful, and inexpensive activity for your party goers to enjoy! My husband happened to have a PA system for his business, so we were fortunate to have that to use!

Decorations:

As if the huge castle wasn’t enough, right?

Besides the usual streamers and balloons, something that I got and loved was a Palace Scene Setter. It’s that faux palace backdrop that you see in the pictures. It was super easy to tack up, and really made a huge difference in creating a magical place for the kids. For $18, it’s so worth it!

(Not quite as perfect as the picture I was trying to replicate, but oh well, it was still a hit!)

The Cake:

Want to save some money, and still have an awesome birthday cake for your little princess? You don’t have to have any cake decorating skills to make this adorable castle cake! Believe me, if I can do it, I’m sure you can too! There’s even an instructional video that you can watch. Not only will it save you money by doing it yourself, it will be much cuter than a store bought cake and tastier too!

(*Notice the flags are missing from the tops of the cones? Here’s a little tip: don’t refrigerate the cake with the cones on it before you put the flags in the top! The cones get hard, and the toothpicks will cause the tips of the cones to break when inserted. Keep them room temp.)

After hours of searching for more Princess Party ideas, here is a list of the BEST places that I have found for some great ideas online!

Familyfun.com- Invitation idea, games, craft

Princess Paper Dolls- Printable Activity

Princess Castle Maze- Printable Activity

A Ton of Great Princess Party Ideas

Total Guide to Princess Party- Printable Invitations, printable crafts (including crowns to decorate), lots more!

Hope this has been helpful for you! If anybody has any other neat and frugal ideas for a Princess Party, or if you’d like to share how you did yours, I’d love to hear from you!

In my first post, we discussed the importance of our own prayer life, and how it is to be an example to our children as we try to lead them in learning to speak with the Lord themselves. In this post I’d like to discuss a good time to teach your children to pray: When in need.

We all have needs, and we all get into sticky situations where we really could use a “hand”. Even our children experience times when they feel like they need to ask for help. And as our children observe what we do in a “bad” situation, they will subconsciously learn from our example as to how they should react in similar circumstances. If we freak out and panic, this is what they will learn to do. They will grow up, and when life throws them a curve ball they will become fretful and full of anxiety, wondering how they will ever get through such a crisis in their life. But if we teach them to lean on a Higher Power, and to put their trust in the Lord (where it rightfully belongs), then they will learn to give their burdens to the Lord and trust whole-heartedly that they will be taken care of. Imagine the relief and stress-free minds of those who have no worry for the future. Isn’t this the peace that we want for our children? Shouldn’t we want this for ourselves as well?

When things aren’t going your way in life, how do your children see you react? Do you get angry and yell or say ugly things? Do you wallow in self pity, wondering why things always go so badly for you? Or do you lift your voice toward heaven and call upon the Lord for help? You may think that your children are sitting obliviously in the backseat, but believe me, they are watching, they are listening, and they are learning.

I’d like to share a story with you:

We had just moved into a new condo in town. Me and Jada, then three years old, were home alone while my husband was away at work. I was about 6 months pregnant with baby Titus. It was a beautiful, sunny day so I decided to take Jada out on the back deck to play for a little while. There was an ugly sticker on the outside of the kitchen window that I thought I’d work on scraping off while Jada played, so I grabbed a chair and a razor blade to work with and we made our way out the sliding glass door.

As soon as I closed the door behind us I heard a horrible sound… “Click”; it was the lock, sliding into the locked position! I immediately tried to open the door up again, but just as I had feared, it was not budging. We were locked out. Now, it wouldn’t have been so terrible, but this wasn’t just any sunny day, it was sweltering! The deck was in full sun, and we were absolutely baking in it’s fury. My cell phone was inside on the kitchen counter, and hubby wasn’t due to come back home for another 5 hours!

Instantly my mind began to race as I brainstormed my possible options. Jada, who had heard my nervous “Uh-Oh”, was watching, wondering what Mommy was going to do. I wasn’t freaking out, not yet at least. I’m not one to panic very easily. I calmly told little Jada, “Well, we’re locked out. Let’s see, what can we do…”.

I looked around, hoping to see somebody who might be able to help us. Nobody, not a single person in sight. The decks being on the backside of the condos, facing woods, nobody would see us unless they were behind the building. I thought about using something to reach across the gap to the next condo’s window to see if I could tap on it and get somebody’s attention, but I noticed that the neighbor’s car was gone, and I knew no one was home.

My next thought was that maybe I could climb down and go for help. I looked over the railing down the 10 ft. drop, trying to find something that might help. I seriously considered climbing over the side, and shimmying down the posts. I really didn’t want to do that though, being so far along in the pregnancy. It would have been really dangerous. And besides, I wasn’t sure what I would do about little Jada being up there all by herself, and I didn’t want to leave her to go find somebody. So that idea I saved as a last resort.

I paced, racking my brain. I felt out of options. I could not think of anything else that I could do. I told Jada that we needed to pray. I told her that we needed help, and that I wasn’t sure what to do. So, we prayed. As Jada listened, I begged the Lord to help us get back to safety. I prayed that He would show me the way to get us back inside. After I prayed, I felt calmed, and renewed.

Then, I had an idea.

The small kitchen window, several feet up, was facing just over the deck. I looked up at it, and prayed once again out loud, “Please Lord, please let this window be open!” I did not think it was. Being new in the neighborhood, and not being used to living in a busy town, I was extremely paranoid. The first night we moved in, I had gone around and made sure that all of the doors and windows were locked before going to bed. I was sure that I had locked this window as well. But I had to try. I pulled that chair that I had so conveniently brought out with me up to the house, just below the window. I got out the razor blade that I also happened to have grabbed and as I stood on the chair, used it to pry the screen off the window. Then, with pleading prayers that the window would open, I tried to slide the sash…

It moved. It opened! I could not believe it. The window slid open! I was overcome with relief! Okay, that was good. But the next trick was getting in through it. I considered raising Jada up and through the window so that she could let me in. But being so small still, it would have been hard for her to get down off the tall counter top, and the sliding door was heavy, and would have been difficult for her to pull open. I wasn’t sure she would be able to do it. I thought about having her call her Daddy once she got in, to have him come and open the door for me. But I didn’t want to bother him at work, and I didn’t want her to be inside by herself for so long. I decided I had to try to squeeze in myself.

Now, I’m pretty short. Just barely over 5′ tall. And even with me standing on the chair, the window was still above me. And it was a very small, sliding window. I wasn’t sure I could fit my big pregnant belly through it. But I decided that I must fit. The Lord would not have let this window be open for nothing. So, I pulled myself up and squeezed through the narrow opening. I made it! Once inside, I climbed down off the counter top, and opened the door to let my poor little, red cheeked, sweaty daughter inside into the cool air conditioning once again.

I was elated! As I opened the door to let Jada in I yelled “Thank you Lord! Thank you! Thank you!” And I exclaimed to Jada how thankful we were that the Lord had helped us. She was very excited as well, and joined in my praising. I immediately saw the opportunity to teach, and explained the whole situation to her:

“Baby, do you know what happened? We were stuck, weren’t we? That door locked us out, and we were really stuck outside! But what did we do? We prayed, didn’t we?! And the Lord heard our prayers! He helped us, didn’t he?! He made that window be open, and we had the chair that we needed to climb in, and he answered our prayers! Isn’t He wonderful? Thank you Lord! Thank you for helping us!”

I went on to explain that any time we are in trouble, any time that we need help with something and don’t know what to do, we should pray, because God always hears our prayers, and is faithful to answer them.

I know she understood. And she learned a very valuable lesson. I know the Lord allowed that situation to happen to give me an incredible tool for my child. I was so glad that she was able to learn something about prayer that day. And I know she understood because for the next week, every time we had trouble with something, she would stop and pray right there that God would help us. When my car wouldn’t crank I heard her little voice in the backseat say, “God, please help Mommy’s car to start. Amen.” How precious that was! And you know, when the car did finally start, we were able to give Him the praises He deserves.

So, my hopes in telling you all about this is to challenge you and your reactions to hard times. The next time a crisis occurs, or a troubling situation arises, stop and think for a moment that maybe the Lord is opening a door for you to use this as a teaching opportunity for your child. Instead of freaking out, blaming God, or crying in self pity, use this chance to show your child the power of prayer.

I am sure He won’t disappoint you!

And then, teach them to give Him the praises He so richly deserves.

Here is a good little memory verse to teach your child:

“If one of you is having troubles, he should pray!” James 5:13.

As parents, we all make mistakes. Even from infancy a seemingly innocent practice can lead to a really hard habit to break in a very short time. Fortunately, if we start early we can avoid a few common mistakes that parents make which can easily create bad habits in our children. Now, these are not behavioral problems that would warrant discipline. I’m simply talking about kids doing things that aren’t so cute after a while. Here are a few things that I have tried to avoid in my own journey as a Mother, things that reinforce bad habits in children. Some I have had to learn the hard way!

1. Letting your child sleep in the bed with you.

Now, before I get a bunch of comments from all of you who co-sleep, let me explain myself. I don’t see anything wrong with responsibly sleeping with baby. I did it with both of mine for the first three months, and it was wonderful. It becomes a problem, however, when you allow baby to sleep with you for much longer than this. The longer baby sleeps with you, the harder it is for him/her to learn to sleep independently. I’ve seen it lots of times. And, sorry to say it, most of the time the co-sleeping continues because for Mom it’s easier, or it just feels good. This is selfish. You are developing insecurity in your child. And believe me, the longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be to stop the habit.

I had a single-mom friend who had her little girl in the bed with her from the time she was born. By the time her child was 3 years old, Mom was ready to have her bed back. But by then, the habit had been long nurtured, and wasn’t going to go away so easily. For many nights she tried laying her daughter down in her own bed, but by the middle of the night, the little girl had wandered back into Mommy’s bed where she stayed until morning. If Mom tried to put the girl back in her own bed, she cried and screamed and fought until her exhausted mother gave in. The frustrated Mom didn’t know what to do, and the poor little girl didn’t understand why all of a sudden she wasn’t allowed to sleep in the comforts of Mommy’s bed as she always had. Sleeping in a whole different room, in a cold and lonely bed (in her mind), was too intimidating for the toddler.

It is so unfair for you to do this to your child. So, start off right by forming good sleeping habits early. Co-sleeping for breastfeeding or whatever early on is great. But by 3 months a baby can sleep 8 hours through the night. Don’t make it harder for your child then it has to be. Teach them to be able to comfortably go to sleep on their own, in their own bed. Believe me, you’ll all get a better night’s sleep!

2. Using “White Noise” to help your child go to sleep.

When you put your baby to sleep, don’t debilitate him/her by creating a sleep crutch. Insisting that you turn on a fan, white noise machine, music, or some other sound in order to help your child go to sleep faster is only creating a bad habit. I’m not saying that you should NEVER do it. There are times, like when you have noisy guests over, or are at somebody else’s house, when using a pleasant sound is good for helping to drown out the background noise that would otherwise keep baby awake. But you should put your child to bed without a noise for the majority of the time, so that he learns to put himself to sleep in the silence of his own room.

My husband is a prime example of this. He simply cannot go to sleep without a fan or something creating a low humming sound. If we sleep somewhere away from home, where there is nothing to make a white noise, he tosses and turns and goes crazy in the silence.

My dad also told me of a man on his softball team who has this same problem. Every time they have a game out of town, this man brings a small fan with him, just so he can go to sleep. There is no reason to create this stumbling block in your own child’s life.

3. Using a baby wipes warmer.

Sure it sounds like a pleasant thing to wipe your new little baby’s soft tushy with a soft, warm baby wipe. And I’m sure that baby loves the feeling of it. But what happens when you are out to eat and you have to change baby in the bathroom using a little pack of room temperature travel wipes. I’ll tell you what happens. Baby is suddenly shocked at the cold thing wiping her bottom, and cries in protest wishing for the cozy warm wipes that she’s so used to.

I’ve never had a baby cry about being wiped with baby wipes right out of the box when that was all they had ever known. There is no need to create this habit of needing to have warmed up wipes. In my mind, it’s simply overindulgence, and when reality hits baby is confused and upset.

4. Allowing your child to carry around a special blanket or stuffed animal everywhere you go.

Limit it to bedtime only. If you allow your child to carry his special thing around with him everywhere you go, you create several problems: If you forget to bring it in the car with you, you will have to deal with your child being upset about not having it. If you accidentally leave it out wherever you were, your child will be devastated to have lost it. And, your child will become dependent on this thing to bring him comfort throughout the day. You want to teach your child to depend on the Lord, not on material things.

** Let me say it again; some of you seem to be misunderstanding, or just not completely reading what I’ve written. I’m not against a child having a comfort item. My own little one has a special blanket that he would carry everywhere if I let him. My suggestion is merely not to allow them to form the habit of carrying it around with him every single place he goes.

5. Feeing your child off your plate.

Seems innocent enough, right? But I promise you, if you begin feeding your child off of your own plate every now and then, you will soon create a little beggar. You will not be able to sit down for one little snack without your little one toddling over, climbing up in your lap, and begging for a bite of whatever you have. You will never be able to eat in peace again if you start this habit! If you think your child is hungry, sit him down at the table with his own plate of food to eat from.

6. Never making your child drink plain water.

For whatever reason, when we would run out of juice I would always find myself apologizing to my daughter as I handed her a cup of water saying, “I’m sorry baby. We don’t have any juice. We only have water.” When one day it dawned on me… what a terrible message I was sending her! I should never be apologizing for giving her such a wonderful drink as the one that the Lord intended to quench our thirst. After that revelation, I decided I was not going to buy juice any more. I started giving my children cups of ice water instead, and now they love it, and even ask for it! Drinking water is a wonderful habit to instill in your child, so don’t feel bad about it!

7. Cutting the crust off the bread; always peeling apple slices.

Just because you didn’t like eating the crust when you were a kid doesn’t mean that you should start this habit in your own kids! You are only creating picky eaters. If they don’t like it, they can eat around it. You have too much to do in a day, you don’t need to waste your time slicing the crust off a sandwich! The same goes for peeling apples. Unless it’s for your baby who can’t chew up the peeling yet, let them eat around it it they don’t like it.

These are just a few innocent mistakes that we all easily make with our children. I’m sure there are a billion more that I haven’t mentioned. But just keep in mind that it’s easier to create bad habits then to break them. The point of this post is to encourage you to avoid these problems, and fix them if they have already begun, before they get out of hand and become a nuisance.

If you want to share any tips or stories that you may have about creating bad habits in our children, I’d love to hear from you! I’m sure there is a lot that I can learn from you as well!

You may remember, my first attempt at weaning Titus was total failure. Well, it’s been a whole month since I’ve nursed him, and I’m happy in saying that he is finally weaned at almost 18 months. This was long enough for me, it was time to let go. Plus, I’ve had some health issues that I need to take care of that had to wait till he was weaned.

For those of you who are thinking about weaning your baby, or who are wondering how it’s done, I am by no means an expert, but I’ll tell you how I did it. This is the same method that I used with my daughter, who I nursed for 14 months, so I can say that it has worked well for me!

By the time Titus was a year old I had him down to 3 nursings per day. Once when he first woke up, once in the after noon, and once before bed. He was eating table food by then, so I decided it was time to start slowly cutting down on his breastfeedings. Since he had been drinking water/juice from a sippy cup for quite some time, I decided to introduce him to cow’s milk in the cup. That didn’t go over so well. After trying it numerous times (warm, cold, and even with a little sugar in it to sweeten it), I decided to try Soy milk. After a few times tasting the Vanilla Soy milk, Titus decided he’d sip on it a little. I just left his cup sitting around and occasionally he would toddle over and take a sip. Before too long, he was used to the flavor, and was drinking a full cup.

When he started drinking a cup of Soy milk I decided to let that take the place of a nursing. Since he wasn’t really asking to nurse at night I decided to drop that feeding first. I’d feed him dinner, then give him a cup of Soy milk. I didn’t offer to nurse him, and he never asked. That was easy! I went with this plan for a couple of months. I wanted to be slow about it, and gradually stop the nursing sessions, since I wasn’t really in any kind of a rush.

Next I replaced his lunch time nursing with a bigger “real food” meal, and water/juice or milk in a cup. I made sure that he was getting plenty to eat and wasn’t still hungry. Sometimes he would ask to nurse, but I would distract him and he would forget all about it. If he was persistent with wanting to nurse I would give in and breastfeed. After a few months of mid-day nursing only when he asked for it he soon lost interest in the whole process. He would nurse for like 2 minutes, then be done. When that started happening I knew he was only nursing out of habit and I dropped that feeding completely. So, I was down to one.

The morning nursing was the hardest to stop. Every morning when I’d go to get baby Titus out of the bed the first thing he would say was, “milk! milk!” and his little hand would be signing milk as fast as it could. Due to some medical issues I’ve been having, I decided that it was time to stop this final feeding. My first attempt was failure. I gave in. But, I didn’t stop there. I tried again. In the mornings instead of sitting down on the couch first thing to nurse him, instead I would take him straight to the high chair and chop up a banana for his breakfast. Bananas are his absolute FAVORITE thing to eat, so that made him totally happy, and he quickly forgot the routine of immediately having milk.

Four days went by, and with that same distraction of bananas for breakfast, Titus was doing wonderfully with the weaning process. When he did ask me for milk, I would hand him his cup, and soon he learned to drink happily from it instead, which made it much easier for me. I, on the other hand, was quite uncomfortable with the whole engorgement deal! And since he had only been nursing on one side for the last two months, my upper half was pretty lopsided to top it off! I’m talking noticeably lopsided… like a big ‘ol “C” on one side, just about to burst, and a poor “A(-)” on the other side, pitifully dragging along! I did my best to hide my embarrassing chest problems.

Then on day five, I caved. I don’t even remember why I gave in. I think Titus might have been feeling badly, or something, but he asked to nurse, and he kept asking to nurse. At first I told him “no”, that the milk was all gone. But he was crying, and I knew that he would feel better if I just nursed him, so… I did. Ah well, what are you gonna do? BUT, what a relief to me! Phew, finally no more engorgement. Titus was soon happy again, and I was a whole lot more comfortable. And do you want to know the best part? The milk never came back! Titus never asked to nurse again, and the milk didn’t come back in. No more engorgement to deal with at all! So, it actually worked out perfectly.

I wondered to myself if the milk that he was drinking (that had been sitting there for going on 5 days), could be soured, and make him sick. Honestly, I wondered that. But, I guess it can’t go bad while it’s still at your body’s temperature. So, it worked out well, and now I’m happy to say that he is drinking milk from a cup no problem, and has completely forgotten about nursing. 18 months was long enough for the both of us.

That’s my story, now what about yours? Do you have a weaning success or failure to share? I’d love to hear your stories, tips and advice! Or if you have any questions or concerns about weaning baby, I’d love to hear from you as well.

Oh, my poor babies! Though in good spirits, their little eyes look terrible! Titus woke up yesterday with pink eye in one eye. I just knew that’s what it was as soon as I saw it. Then this morning when Jada came into my room both of her eyes were red and goopy. I’m doing my best to keep them clean by dabbing with a warm washcloth. I called Adelia yesterday for advice, and she had me come over and gave me some Eye Bright herbs and told me to make a tea with it and put drops in Titus’s eye a few time a day. Now I’m doing it with Jada too. I read that breast milk is the best thing for pink eye, but of course I learn this a week after I’ve weaned Titus (that’s another post!). Bummer!

So, I was wondering if anybody had any advice, or knew of any other natural treatments that might work well. Titus’s eye does look better today. Hopefully it won’t last long! Poor things!!

This morning when I woke up I decided that today would be the day that I completely wean 17 month old Titus. I haven’t been planning it; I didn’t tell myself before I went to bed that today would be the day; before I heard his calls from the crib, I just decided it. I’ve been thinking for a while now that I’d like to wean him, and I think he’s ready. I don’t even feel like he’s getting anything most of the time when he does try to nurse.

When he woke up and I heard his calls for me, “Mama! Mama!”, I went into his bedroom to cheerfully get him up. As soon as he saw me come through the door he sat up and immediately started signing and saying “milk”, like usual. Normally I would take him straight to the couch where I would sit and nurse him. Not today. Instead I sat down with him and a warm sippy cup of milk and said, “Here, this is milk.” He angrily pushed the cup away, whined, and signed and said “milk!” I said, “Here buddy, this is milk.” He wanted nothing to do with that cup. He kept pushing it away. Finally, I sat it down and said, “That’s your milk, baby.” And I went about making breakfast. He whined for just a second, then decided he’d play. About 30 min. later he crawled up on the couch and again, whining, asked for milk. I fed him some breakfast and he quickly forgot all about it. He went the whole day without nursing… until 5:00 came.

When he woke up from his afternoon nap, he was signing “milk” again. I tried another cup of warm milk. It was a no-go. Again he just angrily pushed the cup away, and could not understand why I wouldn’t nurse him. I started to feel bad and rationalized with myself, “He’s still young. I can wean him in another month or so.” And I gave in.

What am I to do? I weaned my daughter at 14 mos no problem. I guess all baby’s are different. I’ve heard that boys are harder to wean. Is that true? I even added a tiny pinch of sugar to the milk, but it didn’t help. He just won’t ever drink cow’s milk. Now, I have found that he will drink vanilla soy milk. Is that okay for him to have every day? I need to ask his doc. So, I guess I’ll try again in a few more weeks and see how that goes.

Any advice for me??

*I thought I’d add a little note: I’ve gotten the nursings mostly down to just once a day; first thing in the morning. Sometimes he asks for milk mid-day, but when I nurse him it’s only for like 1-2 min. and then he stops. I don’t think he’s getting anything during those second feedings. So, I’m just trying to stop this final feeding in the mornings. But you know, if he isn’t ready then I can wait

My son’s 1st birthday is in a couple weeks so I’ve been looking for cake recipes. I was looking for something that did not have a lot of sugar or eggs in it, and found these recipes at Wholesome Baby Food . Perhaps they will be helpful to you too!

Apple Spice Cake

As with any "non traditional" cake, the batter for this cake will not seem "right".

1/2 cup molasses
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-3/4 cup flour
1 tsp ginger

Mix the molasses and applesauce in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake in a nonstick 8 x 8-inch baking pan or one sprayed with a non-stick spray, in a 350° F for 30 to 45 minutes, or until it tests done. **The batter may be a bit dry and you may need to add more applesauce or a bit of water. Try adding 1/4 cup of applesauce first then gradually add a bit of water by tablespoon**

We have added a bit of pure cocoa (2 tablespoons) to make a chocolate flavor.

Applesauce Spice Cake

3 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (optional)
2 Macintosh apples – peeled, cored and finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 inch square baking pan.

Beat the eggs until they drop like ribbons from the beaters. Continue beating and add the oil in a thin stream. Beat in the 1 cup applesauce and the 1 cup unsweetened apple juice concentrate then mix in the flour gradually until well blended. Add the baking soda, ground ginger, ground almonds and apples. Fold together until well mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F about 40 minutes or until the cake tests clean with a knife or toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.

Four year old Jada was typing on the computer yesterday and surprised me with a sweet little message:

iluvyoowmomy

How smart is that? She also typed one out for her Pappy:

iluvuwpappey

I printed them out, to keep forever!

Thanks to all of you who chimed in and gave ideas on how I can read to my wiggly son who has a hard time sitting in my lap anymore while I read to him.

It seemed like the main consensus among all of you was to continue reading to him, even if he’s playing while I read, because he’s listening and picking up more than I think he is!

It’s funny that you all said this, because only a few days after you all pitched in with your advice, I was reading Amy Carmichael’s biography "A Chance to Die" (by Elizabeth Elliot), and came across this while reading.

The children in Amy’s family were called to daily prayers each day by a bell. During that time, her father would also read the Scripture to them. Here is the quote that hit me:

"Amy remembered the sound of her father’s voice reading the Scripture, a "solemn sound, like the rise an fall of the waves on the shore." Her ear was trained in this way, from those earliest years when a child’s powers of memorization by hearing are nearly miraculous. For the rest of her life the majestic cadences of the Authorized Version of the Bible shaped her thinking and every phrase she wrote.

A child, even when apparently distracted, learns far more than adults dream he can learn. Amy did not by any means always attend perfectly to the reading. Once she found a mouse drowning in a pail of water just at the moment when the prayer bell rang. She fished it out, hid it in her pinafore, took her place at prayers, and hoped it would not squeak. It did."

How’s that to wrap up thoughts on the subject!?

Thanks everyone for your input!