1. In my quest to wean Caroline, I actually counted the number of times a day she was nursing and realized it was only 5ish during the day and 2 or 3ish at night. (I know that SOUNDS like a lot but in my head she was still nursing every 2 hours so it was a nice surprise.) The first thing I did was cut her down to one night feeding, which amazingly only took one night of rocking instead of immediately shoving a boob in her mouth in my attempt to get back to bed ASAP. The next thing I’ve done is cut down the rest of our nursing sessions to one in the morning, one before nap and one before bed. I figure even if she doesn’t drop all of those before I leave they can easily be replaced with a cuddle and a cup or bottle of milk. My next goal is to drop the morning feeding this weekend, which means I’ll need to stay in bed until at least 11 am. The suffering I go through for my children.

2. The WORST part about trying to discipline my almost-3-year-old is how much it affects my 1-year-old.Yesterday we had to leave the mall right after Stroller Strides because Evan ran off into a store and wouldn’t come back. I had to be that mom I hate being, the one who shout-whispers and threatens and drags her kid around by his arm. And because I had told him he would lose his chance to play on the playground if he ran away I had to follow through and take them BOTH home. Caroline is still too little to be mad for long but I am upset she is missing out on something fun because her brother has forgotten how to understand English. It happens at home too, when I have to put Evan in time out and she loses her playmate or when I have to take away toys because he won’t share.

3. I am actually looking forward to my weigh in this week. I just need to avoid any carb-related binges between now and Thursday night. Sidenote – If you ever join Weight Watchers, DON’T weigh in at NIGHT. It’s like the total opposite of the first thing in the morning, right after you pee, totally naked weigh in 99% of America does. I swear if I was weighing in at 9 am instead I’d already be down another 5 lbs.

4. I am still obsessing over what tattoo I should get for Caroline. My Pinterest board is filling up with birds and lace but I still haven’t figured out how to make those relate to her. Denae’s idea of a “C” as a bracelet is awesome, although another wrist tattoo is kind of boring. Maybe I need 2 new ones. Or 3. Or a zillion.

5. One of the things I promised E I would do this year is look for a sponsor or sponsors for BlogHer. I am definitely going – New York is really close and I already bought a discounted ticket – but it would be nice if hanging out with my interweb friends didn’t end up costing $1000+ this time. I have absolutely no idea how to go about it and am intimidated by literally every aspect of trying to find one. On the OTHER HAND, if I can get a sponsor for BlogHer I might be able to convince E I should also go to The Blathering, which would be the most fantastic thing ever.

6. I saw a preview for a new show on Fox last night that had Keifer Sutherland on a cell phone talking about how they were RUNNING OUT OF TIME in his raspy voice and I cried a little – both because I miss 24 a crazy-pants amount and because JACK IS BACK Y’ALL. Ok, so he’s playing someone named Martin but whatevs. He will always be Jack. OHPLUSALSO, IMDB has a 24 movie listed in his credits. I have died and gone to man-bag heaven.

My favorite feature on Pinterest is the “also from…” option you see when you click on a pin. For example, if you click on a picture of a delicious looking recipe from Tasty Kitchen, in the bottom left hand corner of your screen you’ll see “also from tastykitchen.com”. It’s a great way to instantly get more from a site you’ve just discovered.

One of the things I’ve noticed about my traffic is readers often click on the suggested similar posts at the end of each new post. I use the LinkWithin widget to display thumbnails of posts with similar key words and topics. I find myself doing the same thing on other people’s sites and spending hours reading archives and links. I thought it would be great if I could combine those two ideas with a button right in my sidebar . Now you (and I) can see what people have pinned from my blog instantly, plus it’s a quick way to see the best of my crafts and party stuff with direct links back to their original posts without having to search.

And because I’d like to see the same thing on YOUR blog, here’s a quick and easy tutorial on how to make a button of your own.

How To Make A “Stuff Pinned From Your Blog On Pinterest” Button

1. Create a button sized blank graphic in your favorite graphics editor. I used Photoshop Elements, but you could use any program that lets you size the document to 175×175 pixels. Some sidebars are a little smaller (150×150) and some are a little bigger (200×200) so use whatever works best.

2. Add your blog name. I used the color and font from my blog design to keep it recognizable. I also spent WAY too much time choosing a font/size for the word “on”.

3. Download the Pinterest logo graphic from their “Goodies” page (it’s at the bottom) and insert it in your graphic. They have two options available, so you can make yours look like mine or use the “P” logo.

4. Add a graphic. I went to my “stuff pinned from bebehblog” page, took a screenshot and cropped it in Picasa. That way the images in the button are actual pins from my blog.

5. Tweak it – resize your text and graphic, center everything, make sure you like the screen shot you used. I ended up adding a border to mine because it was too white against my background. You want it to be clean and eye catching but not too busy. Save your image as a JPG.

6. Upload the image to a free photo-sharing site. I like imgur but Flikr and Photobucket are also popular. Find the sharing option that gives you the direct link to the photo – it will start with “http://” and end with “.jpg”.

7. Insert this code into a widget in your sidebar where you want the button to go:

<center><a href=”http://pinterest.com/source/bebehblog.com/”><img src=”http://i.imgur.com/x1xlL.jpg“></a></center>

Replace the RED text with your blog address.com and the BLUE text with the direct link to your image.

8. Save the changes to the widget. Refresh your site and you should see your new button!

Because the link will update as people pin more things from your blog, you should only have to make one button and the most recent stuff will always show up on top when people click through.

Any questions? Feel free to leave a comment or email me at bebehblog@gmail.com and I can try to help.

Pin It

So long, 2011. You were cool and all, but I have PLANS in 2012 and they cannot get here fast enough.

In January I adjusted to being a mother of 2 by almost falling apart and dispensing tons of helpful advice, but I also discovered how much I LOVED having another kid. I shared pictures of Caroline’s nursery, posted my tutu tutorial (one of my top posts ever!) and failed at cloth diapers.

In February I made some muffins, which might have contributed to my slightly ranty post about my feelings on dieting.  I had a huge realization about why doing the dishes wasn’t such a chore after all – although honestly, I should reread that once a week, since I’ve pretty much forgotten it again. Because I like embarrassing myself, I shared my high school poetry anthology and I talked about headbands. A lot.

In March I failed at parenting not once, but twice. I tried to decide if the kids looked alike or not. And I bemoaned how even good advice isn’t always good.

In April, Evan turned 2 and we gave him a room makeover and an awesome birthday party. I embraced my inner hippie and joined a CSA (which turned out to be a GREAT decision). I knit some cute stuff while avoiding knitting the sweaters I’ve had started for more than a year. I had totally forgotten I made these scones until just now but I’m definitely making some this weekend.

In May I discovered Pinterest and my life was never the same. I tried to explain how hard it is to get things done when you ALSO have two kids to watch. I dressed Caroline up for a baby fashion show. To battle the evils months I reorganized my pantry and made it prettier. And then my toddler drove me to drink by asking WHY a zillion times.

In June I made a list of ways I might be crazy, but it turns out a lot of you are crazy too. We took on the hugest house project to date and built ourselves a gorgeous patio. Caroline had her half birthday – and it’s so crazy to look back at my just-barely-sitting-up and not-yet-crawling baby compared to the second half of the year! I wrote about the evils of Pull-Ups  and the joys of my amazing stroller.  And I complained for the zillionth time how parenting feels unequal.

In July I joined Weight Watchers (something I see to have forgotten recently) and  shared some of the amazing handmade shops I’ve found. I took a lot of adorable pictures at Lake Compounce and the Sunflower Festival.

In August I went to BlogHer, posted my 1000th post, and celebrated my 7th wedding anniversary. I dorked out with my kid’s dinosaurs and Caroline took her first step. I also baked a galette and redecorated my living room. And we all survived Hurricane Irene with minimal fuss.

In September I made a lot of stuff, like sriracha and cupcakes and shit with pinecones, which is one of my top visited posts ever. We went to the beach, which was epic. I decided having two kids wasn’t so bad after all.

In October we went to the fair and I met one of my long time interwebs friends IRL. We had a Halloween party where Caroline was her sunshiney self. Evan turned two and a half. I did that stupid accent meme vlog and I told the story about how I was once almost in a movie.

In November I posted every frickin day, which is too exhausting to recap.

In December I tried and failed at twinkle pics of the kids. I declared potty training a success but not necessarily a happy one but having a two year old is still kinda awesome.  I made super delicious cookies and the internet agreed. Caroline turned one and I threw her a pretty nice party. Then we tortured the kids with the all important Santa picture and had a very nice Christmas.

Whoa, I sort of can’t believe all the stuff happened – and that I wrote about all of it. I think I liked 2011 better than 2010, mostly because I was less sick, not pregnant and really let myself blog for the love of blogging (mostly). I am going to KEEP enjoying myself in 2012 and I’d be honored if you decided to keep reading.

You better go put on your Thanksgiving bib, cause I’m about to spew rainbows and sunshine all over you. This post is the literary equivalent of a unicorn frolicking with sugar-dipped kittens while eating an ice cream sundae topped with rock candy. Your teeth might actually rot from your head before you can even eat your pie. Better have the pie first. I can’t handle that on my conscience.

Today I am thankful for you. YOU. Reading this right now. You are my thankful today and every day. I am thankful for every single person who has ever read my silly words here on my silly blog. I am thankful for the amazing advice I’ve gotten, the friends I’ve made or reconnected with, the support, the encouragement, the happy thoughts, the prayers, and the nudges back from the edge on the days I don’t think I can take it anymore. I am thankful for the people who read every day and the ones who have only read one post. I am so luck to have found a village – even if it’s a virtual village – in my journey as a mother.You have supported causes important to my heart with your time and your wallet. Because you read I get to call myself a blogger (when I’m feeling brave) and a writer (when I’m feeling REALLY brave). There truly are not enough words for me to express how much I love my corner of the internet and it is ONE BAZILLION PERCENT because of you.

I am not the best blogger or the funniest or the coolest or the most generous or the kindest or the most fashionable or the healthiest or the most creative or any sort of superlative at all. But I would like to try to be better at being a friend. If there is anything I can ever do for you – YOU – please let me know.

I hope you’re having a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with as much food, football and family as you can possibly stand.

There’s a thing in the month of November called “National Novel Writing Month” where people who are writing novels all get together to motivate each other and write 50,000 words during the month. It sounds impossible to me (especially because my first and only attempt at a novel was 200 words about a fictional version of myself sitting on a plane. I was wearing a scarf. The stranger next to me was mysterious. AREN’T YOU JUST DYING TO READ IT NOW?) so I won’t be participating. But some genius came up with the idea to also make November “National Blog Posting Month” which is something I CAN get on board with, although for me that’s not much of a challenge. I post an average of 27 times a month, and have for almost the entire time I’ve been blogging. And yet I STILL WON’T SHUT UP.

Instead of JUST planning to post something every single day, I am going to combine NaBloPoMo with being thankful which is an idea I got from Nick Jr I really love. I lean towards whininess in my online life (and my real life) and it’s about time I shake some of that negativity off. So for November I’ll be posting about something I am thankful for every day. Sunshine! Rainbows! Unicorns! Oh God the energy it’s taking to be that positive is making me exhausted already – especially since it is 8:55 on November 1st and I haven’t yet published this post. It is DAY ONE and I am already behind. Best blogger ever???

Don’t worry, I have all sorts of excuses. My computer is broken, the kids won’t let me use the iPad when either of them is awake (what is WITH that?! is there a sticky-finger-magnet in the screen or something?!), and I’ve been up since 5 am without a single adult conversation besides “cash or credit?” while running errands. There’s also a 55 lb bag of dog food in the back of my car I really need to get into the house but OMG 55 POUNDS IS A LOT OF POUNDS. Maybe I can just lock the dog in the van every time he needs to eat for the next couple weeks until it gets lighter? That’s either a totally genius idea or just about the laziest bullshit I’ve ever come up with.

But right now both kids are sleeping, I’m wearing my comfy pants and I have a whole bag of Milky Ways left over from trick-or-treaters to keep me company and help sooth the rough edges from a stressful day.

So today I am thankful for candy.