Oh, I’m so excited and happy. The fact is that my brother and his family are living abroad. I haven’t seen the little cutie pie nice of mine yet, she is about 70 minutes old now that I’m writing about her.

It is an amazing feeling. I have to say I wasn’t that exciting until now, I had delivered two babies so this wasn’t something new. All of a sudden every thing is so different, I haven’t seen her, I haven’t feel her, all I know is that she is 3.46 Kg and 51cm long; but I feel like she is a part of me.

I actually cried talking to my brother; I can’t wait to see her pictures and then herself soon.

I’m a proud aunt of my lovely nice.

OK it looks like finally after 3 years, we are establishing a bedtime and a bedtime routine.

I tell you, no bath is involved, I bathe them in the faternoon or early evening, they really get extra energy after their bath!

For my Son,3years old, is like this. Dinner, family time, milk before bed, brushing and then to the bedroom, one or two books, if we can get away from the consistent requests, and then he is on hisown.  He keeps talking out laud, telling and explaining what he did and what  happened during the day.

My daughter though is younger and her sleeping is a bit different. It’s something like this, dinner, family time, milk, we went to her bedroom she starts crying, then I put her in her crib, she keeps crying for I don’t know 15 minutes to half an hour. Sometimes I just stay in her bedroom until she settels down, sometimes if I see she is not too unhappy I leave the room.

I’m supposed to document my daughter’s improvment on her sleeping problem, it will happen soon

Happy belated Valentine’s Day everyone. This year I decided I didn’t want my kids to be watched by a babysitter while I’m having dinner nervously in a restaurant and then have to rush home to my kids. Instead, I agreed with my husband that we stay home and I make a romantic dinner for all of us and we celebrate Valentine’s Day together. I still can’t believe how joyful and perfect it turned out. I can say it was our best Valentine except for our very first one together, when we were newly engaged.

 The kids and I spend most of the day cutting colorful paper hearts and attaching them to a ribbon, making Valentine cards for dad. I told them we are planning to surprise daddy, and we really did surprised him.  We had a simple Lamb shank and fries with spinach Salad for dinner and I made chocolate mouse for dessert. The kids were participating in all of the preparation. We even made (as I call it), a scrap-board with our family pictures in it.

Of course, they drove me crazy doing all of that, but it was worth seeing them all exited when later in the evening I put on some soft music and lit some candles. Even my one year old daughter was clapping and dancing the whole evening.

Dad came with chocolates and yes, he was surprised by the romantic look of the house. We had a lovely evening.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day too, and remember it takes just a little imagination and effort to make the best of any event or situation.

This is something I’m still working on. I am so busy juggling between house work, my lovely kids, and my home business, that I’m not sure if I’m on the right track or not. Yes, we have couple of play dates every other week, and our social life is getting busier as the kids are getting older. My friends keep telling me we will find more friends and more play dates when my son starts preschool. I guess I’m just worried that I don’t take them to play groups with my work and all. Howmany hours of play time with other kids are enough? and how many times a week? Frankly I can’t take them to play groups everyday, but they play together very well. My son loves staying home and play with his little sister, I have to drag him out, but when he is out he doesn’t want to come back home. They are happy and playful and I think they interact with other kids good enough. I would appreciate your comments on this subject.

I hear some mothers complaining that their toddler or infant is not eating right, or is a fussy eater.

It makes me wonder, if it’s the kids problem or the mothers method. It makes me think of the differences of my brothers and I and our cousins. It was very funny my aunt was always complaining of them not eating right and we could see that her kids were extremely fussy eaters, but when they were eating at our house, they would eat almost anything my mom made for them. I think the difference was that my mother was very flexible and firm with us, and my aunt was always pushing her kids to eat more.

With my children, I didn’t forced them to eat anything they didn’t like or more than they wanted from the beginning. I would stop feeding them when they started making faces and turning their heads. I offered them all kinds of food and would try the ones they didn’t like in a different time. My son is almost 3 years old now, he is a happy eater, and he eats almost anything. I let him feed himself as soon as he showed interest, he was a year old when he picked up his spoon and started feeding himself. I let both of them to play with their food; this is part of their development. They start a relationship with their food and the way they feed themselves when they get to play with their food. Yes it is very messy, but it worth the try. They also get the chance to learn how they can eat in good manners. You won’t believe how my 3 year old eats in restaurants or parties I get so many complements and I even see him with pride and wow factor that this is my son who makes all that mess at home.

The other thing is that the kids always eat with us on the same table, so they learn that eating is a family time too, and they always have what we are having or a version of what we are having.

My point is if you have a fussy eater, leave them alone for a while, don’t bug them to much about eating. Believe me when they are hungry they come for food. My one year old was a very bad eater comparing to my 3 year old, I thought she was a fussy eater, but as soon as she turned one it’s a different story, she eats all kind of food and sometimes fights for some thing that the older one is eating

So far, I’m very happy with the way my children eat, and they love healthy food as they eat with us. I hope this helps all other mothers who have a bit of trouble with eating habits of their precious toddlers.