Goodbye Blogger

This will be the last time I post on blogger. I am now switching everything over to my new WordPress blog, Kricket's Korner.

There's a couple reasons why I'm doing this.

1. Technical difficulties. A few months ago I got this Surface which has Windows 8 RT on it, not realizing the difference between RT and regular Windows. I thought the Surface would just be a touch screen laptop, but it's more of an inflated tablet and thus has some limitations. One of those is that it does not play nicely with Google. I can't download Chrome and things such a Blogger just don't work without a dozen error messages. So, since I can't use Blogger easily on my main computer, it was time for a change.

2. Consolidation. I've been running two separate blogs for a while now and it's just become a hassle. I've been wanting to put them together but I wasn't sure how I could do it. It just seems easier to start over.

3. Everybody's doing it! Well, a lot of people I know use WordPress and it doesn't have the Google connection like Blogger. So it seems like a good way to go. Anyway, I have managed to import all my post from Konfessions and Kricket Writes, so everything will be there, but we're going to be starting fresh now. So please, come find me over at Kricket's Korner! The place might have changed and the format might change, but it's still me and that why we're here, right?

Mommy Konfessions: First Child Mistakes

When I first became a mom I read all the books and blogs about babies and toddlers and I thought I had it all figured out. I was still scared to death, but I really thought I had it all under control.

Well, there's nothing like some time and a second child to realize how wrong I was.

My boys

I've made so many stupid little mistakes with William that I am now trying to rectify with Jacob. Just to list a few:

• Allowing him to watch too much TV
• Letting him have a binkie for so long
• Letting him have a bottle in bed
• Not enforcing table manners
• Not taking care of his teeth from the beginning
• Letting him graze all day long

You know, stuff like that.

And at the time that I did, or did not, do these things with Will, it all made sense. He loved his binkie from day one. It kept him happy and calm. As he got older and could hold his own bottle, and then sippy cup, he wouldn't sleep without it. Letting him graze all day, in front of the TV and not really forcing him to sit and eat meals with the family made him happy.

But the bottom line here is, I was being partially lazy and just willing to keep him happy so that he wouldn't scream and cry all the time. This stuff starts so innocently. I worked during the first year of Will's life and hated it. So by the time he was a year and a half and I became a stay at home mom, I spoiled him out of guilt.

It just became easy to give him what he wanted. It wasn't until we were around other people that I realized that William was the person in control in our relationship. And then I had Jacob and I realized that my kids needed more discipline. And so I tried.

But it's still so hard during the first year of any baby's life. You can't really spoil an infant and they are so demanding, I just got used to giving Jacob, and Will, anything they wanted. It felt easy, at the time. Until I realized I was pretty much their slave, and I did not like that feeling.

Now that William is four and Jacob almost two, I see more and more the mistakes I made. It is so hard to try to fix those things, but it is absolutely necessary. So now, the TV is turned off at 3 pm everyday, no matter what. I've begun regulating their meal and snack times. We already broke Will of his binkie and then bottle-in-bed habits, but we still need to break Jacob of having milk in bed.

Damage has already been done to William's teeth, but we now brush everyday and so does Jacob. And I'm sure as time goes on, I'll find more stuff that I wish I had tackled earlier in their lives.

So to all my fellow parents out there, know this: You will make mistakes with the first, maybe even second, child. Those mistakes are fixable. It'll be a lot of work, but worth it. So just keeping working on doing what you think is best for your child.

What are some things you realize now that you could have done better when first became a parent? Leave a comment! Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Book Review: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

By: Neil Gaiman

5 STARS

A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys.

This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival, and memory and magic, makes the impossible all too real...

This was a very interesting and imaginative book. It's told from the point of view of an older man looking back on events that happened to him as a child. So it blends the initial thoughts of the child and the realizations of the adult man.

As is typical for Gaiman, the images his writing invokes are pretty amazing. Some pretty and light while others are dark and dangerous. It was a really enjoyable and short read and you leave it thinking. I like books that make me think.

If you're already a Gaiman fan, I highly suggest this. Also, if you're a fan of very imagery driven stories.

In other, blog related, news, since I have a huge back log of posts I want to do, I'm going to start posting twice a week. On Mondays and Fridays. Otherwise it will take me months do write about all the things on my mind and that are relevant to me.

So what book will you be reading this weekend? Tell em in the comments! Thank you for reading and have a great day!

It's been a while...

Wow, um, yeah, I totally skipped January. My bad. The beginning of the new year has been kind of crazy. I have all these goals for this year and things I want to improve. My resolutions list is pretty long, maybe too long. But it's doable.

Looking back over last year, I realized that I didn't do much. Nothing major happened and I just kind of floated along in life and didn't accomplish much of anything. But this year will be different. The key will be to not get overwhelmed.

I'll just briefly go over some of my goals:

1. Improve my spirituality. This includes going to church every week (I get lazy, a lot) and doing the daily stuff of reading my scriptures and saying prayer. I've struggled with that one for a while.
2. Make and keep to a budget. Another thing we've been meaning to do for a while, but just keep skipping over. But this year we're going to start knocking out some debt.
3. More discipline and structure for the kids. Jacob is totally passed the do whatever he wants all day stage and I need to get William ready for preschool.
4. Health stuff. Daniel and I are going to start working out regularly and I'm trying to do more good home cooked meals and less fast food.
5. And finally, my writing goals. Which include, finishing my current project (which might happen this weekend), start a new project and to update my blogs once a week.

It's a lot, but I've got a year, so I think I can do it. Just have to adjust the daily schedule a bit and stop being so lazy. I'm insanely lazy.

Anyway, as I said in #5, I'm going to keep up with my blogs this year *pause for laughter* yeah, yeah, I know. :) But I've got a lot of ideas and stuff.

So what do you have to look forward to? Well, I plan on updating this blog every Friday and the Writing blog on Wednesdays. Some topics we'll cover here are, Kricket Krafts, Kricket Kooks, more Mommy Konfessions, more book reviews and just whatever else I do in my life.

So please, stick around, I want to do more with this blog and I can't do that without your help and support. :)

Happy Valentines Day and have a great weekend!

P.S. I'm going to be doing some adjustments to the blog today, so it might look weird for a bit.