Amber I Am - Humor and Life from a Frazzled Mom and Wife

How to keep your child’s sleep routines on track during the time change

Posted on October 17, 2017October 16, 2017 by amberiam

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a few cents if you purchase anything from these links. It doesn’t add anything extra to your purchase! Need more information? Check out my disclosure policy.

Remember – The Mom Conference starts today! It’s not too late to sign up – register here!

It’s Train Up a Child Tuesday! If you have no idea what that means, go back and read the intro post and learn all about it!

This month, Anna is sharing some tips about how to adjust to the upcoming time change that happens on November 5. Also, let’s give Anna a little extra applause this month because not only is her family in the midst of moving, but she also is pregnant with her second child! I was total mush when we moved, so I’m doubly impressed that she’s able to write coherent thoughts during this time in her life (and with pregnancy and mom brain! Anna is a rock star!!).

Welcome back, Anna!

Time change.png

As far as time changes go I’m not a fan for so many reasons. Number one being… why…? Why change the time at all…? I’m sure there’s some type of scientific explanation but I just can’t understand why we still do this to ourselves and our babies anymore.

Anyway this transition can be really difficult, especially in the fall, because when it comes to babies, they don’t understand that the time has changed. They still want to go to bed at the same time and they want to wake up at the same time that they’ve been waking up. So if they go to bed at 8 pm, it’s really 7 pm, and if they wake up at 7 am, it’s really 6 am. So here are a few tips to make that transition a little easier.

Tip 1 : Transition about 10-15 minutes at a time for naps, meals, and bedtime

So your daily routine will be pushed forward in the fall by about 10-15 minutes throughout the day every day until you are back on your normal schedule.

Tip 2 : Start the transition a few days before we fall back.

If you start to push things forward by about 15 minutes a few days before then by the time it comes you will almost be on track.

Tip 3 : Give it a good week to transition.

It will take time to get them transitioned a full hour forward from where they were, so like most things with parenting, it takes some time and consistency.

Hope these tips are helpful for your sweet babies. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to like my Facebook page Anna Bachelder- Train Up a Child and send me a message.

Thanks, Anna! I’m going to start on these tricks with Charlotte ASAP!

life

Favorite Fall Food and Drinks : A TBB Talks Linkup

Posted on October 16, 2017October 15, 2017 by amberiam

This could potentially be the shortest post ever because all I have to write is pumpkin everything.

The end.

Woman wearing a pumpkin spice addict t-shirt holding an iced pumpkin spice latte. — Pumpkin spice latte and a pumpkin spice shirt. My basic level is off the charts…

Obviously Starbucks has got me right where they want me because after pumpkin spice season, it’s peppermint season (even though you can get peppermint stuff now…).

When I make myself stop eating and drinking pumpkin stuff, I also enjoy salted caramel flavors. That’s not limited to fall, but it seems easier to find that flavor in the fall.

For some reason, I also feel like banana bread is a fall food. I haven’t made any in a few years, but now it will be all I can think about for the next few days until I either make some or something else distracts me.

Unlike my husband who won’t eat soup if it’s above 40 degrees outside, I welcome soup and chili when the calendar says October…even if it is still 85 degrees and we’re all sweating and fighting sinus infections. Yay, Tennessee weather!

Halloween candy is also a fall favorite, but with this whole “I need to lose weight” thing I’ve got going on, I should probably avoid that stuff. Yay for trying to become healthier, right?

Well look at me. I have a lot more to me than just pumpkin spice! 😉 What are your favorite fall foods and drinks? Leave a comment and let me know, then check out the other blogs in the linkup and see what everyone else loves in the fall. If you see any banana bread, send them my way…

life

Seven Sunday Sites

Posted on October 15, 2017October 17, 2017 by amberiam

This post comtains affiliate links, which means I make a few cents if you purchase anything from these links. It doesn’t add anything to your purchase! Need more information? Check out my disclosure policy.

Time for some Sunday reading!

I can’t stop laughing at these food pairings for Taylor Swift’s relationships. I think the one for John Mayer is my favorite!

Offering to pray for someone in his/her time of need is great, but you have to action too. Here are 10 things you can do instead of (or in addition to) just praying for someone.

Know any grad students taking classes completely online? I’m writing a book chapter about how libraries serve this population, and I would be appreciative if they filled out a short survey for me. Shameless plug!

We have a lot of black/dark furniture, and sometimes I feel like they’re huge dust magnets. Here’s an article that gives 7 ways to reduce dust. Less dust = less dustng. Woo hoo!

We all know that getting enough sleep is really important. Now there is a link between sleep deprivation and being overweight.

Tuesday is evidently Pay Back a Friend Day. So if you miss it, you’ll have a whole year to pay people back. Just pretend like you didn’t read that first sentence…

Don’t forget to register for The Mom Conference! Charlotte has her 18 month (!!!) appointment on Tuesday (before I pay back my friends…), so I imagine I’ll need some mom wisdom after she goes to bed that night!

Have a great week!

life

My Week in Review (October 8 – 14)

Posted on October 14, 2017October 14, 2017 by amberiam

Let’s walk down memory lane…

2012 :

I posted a weekly weigh in. Blah.

2013 :

Nothing on the blog this week!

2014 :

Optimistic October continued with entries 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14!

2015 :

Nothing on the blog this week either!

2016 :

Another week of no content. This was not a productive week for me!

2017 :

It’s been another full week here, so check out what I’ve posted this week, including info about a free online conference for moms happening Tuesday through Thursday!

We’ve had a busy week in real life. It was midterm week at work, so we both had a lot going on. We’re looking forward to a couple of days of Fall Break!

motherhood

Using your time online to become a better mom

Posted on October 13, 2017October 16, 2017 by amberiam

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a few cents if you purchase anything from these links. It doesn’t add anything extra to your purchase! Need more information? Check out my disclosure policy.

I don’t think it would surprise anyone to know that I’m a little frazzled and scatterbrained.

(Seriously, just look at the tagline of this website!)

I’m also a sucker for personal development and learning opportunities.

That’s why I’m really excited to share an upcoming online conference called The Mom Conference!

The Mom Conference is a FREE three day online conference that features twenty speakers who will cover a variety of topics, such as…

Setting up routines so you have time for what’s important to you (whether it’s blogging or binge watching Netflix. #NoJudgement)
Keeping up with a busy household (and maybe their Netflix queues too…)
Making sure your kids stay safe online (with the way Charlotte can navigate my phone, I’m going to need this topic next week…haha)
Effectively managing depression and anxiety (come on, is there a mom who hasn’t been anxious at least once?)

These are just a few of the topics the conference will cover!

So how does an online conference work?

This one takes place next week – October 17-19 – which is Tuesday-Thursday. Every morning you’ll get an email with the links to that day’s presentations. There will be 6-7 presentations a day. You’ll then have 24 hours to watch the presentations from that day that interest you.

If there’s a presentation that you really love or you’re just not going to be able to get to all of them in such a short time frame, there is an option to purchase a basic or premium conference package that will give you access to the videos and other bonuses.

I’m the most excited to see Ruth Soukup who founded the Living Well, Spending Less website and the Elite Blog Academy. There are a few speakers who aren’t necessarily relevant to our family (like the one about how to minimize sibling rivalry – great info for some families though!), but most of the sessions look like they are going to be super helpful! You can see the list of presenters here.

The Mom Conference is also offering a free gift when you register – A free Listening Guide for Dr. Laura Markham’s interview on sibling rivalry. Get a sneak peak on the key take aways from her interview.

(I wonder if it covers how to deal with furry and human siblings…).

Make sure to sign up so you can get ready to learn and grow as a mom. Even if you only learn one thing from all of the presentations, it’ll be worth the price of admission!