Halloween Photo Shoot: Saunders Photography

I had the pleasure of photographing 2 year old twin girls all dressed up for Halloween :) 

Enjoy... 

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Citrus Lane: October Box Review

For your enjoyment, or information gathering minds...here is the October Citrus Lane Box Review...

1. Taxi Story City Set from Janod:
             These are little wood play sets (this one had a little guy on a scooter and a taxi). Adorable! This and the Police car set my son has been playing with since I took out of the box. At 19 months he LOVES cars, trains, planes and all that good stuff so this was a perfect addition to his fast growing collection. He has even started trying to say "taxi" and will hold up the taxi and just start going on and on (toddler babble that is). Needless to say it is a really cute play set. I am a little cautious of the wheels since my son still finds his mouth the best toy testing grounds, but we keep a pretty good eye on him so I'm not too worried, but worth noting for smaller toddlers.



2.  Police Story City Set from Janod:
             Uhm, do I need to detail this one? kidding, kind of! It is just like the taxi one only it came with a police car and police man. The taxi and the police car have been carried around my house since they were opened :) Safe to say, these toys were a huge hit!





3. Maracitos from Hohner Kids:
           These adorable little maracas are so cute. As soon as my son realized they made noise he lit up. He has a drum and several musical toys, but didn't have maracas so this was a nice addition. We have another musical toy from this company (a dog flute we got in a mystery box a few months back) and the toys are very good quality. On a side note, they are also not overly loud when played with, and I think all parents can agree that is a good thing!




4. Dinosaur Board Book from Chronicle Books:
           Finally! It has been a few months since we have seen a citrus lane box with a book in it and I was super happy to see one this month!!! This board book is so cute and teaches shapes using dinosaurs. My son quickly points at each dinosaur every turn of the page, and we have to point out each dinosaur and I try and point out the shapes (he can flip pages pretty fast). Overall, a very cute book and quick story (a plus at times) that teaches young children shapes. I believe there is a alphabet book as well in this series.

5. Citrus Lane's Friends and Family Sale:
            This month's box came with a 15% off your entire purchase on the Citrus Lane website. Not sure if I will use it or not, but it came at a great time with Christmas just around the corner.




Overall, I am pleased with this box. No, it wasn't as good as others we have gotten but each and every item is getting played with daily and that says something alone. It is about my son and if he likes it, so based on that, this box was a home run! If you are interested in joining the Citrus Lane subscription service please visit their website.... here!


* As always I was in NO way paid or asked to do this review by Citrus Lane. My reviews are my own and in no way influenced by the company I am reviewing.

Lady Family Photo Shoot- Saunders Photography

Here is the latest photo shoot from my photography business, Saunders Photography


The Lady Family

No photo shoot is complete without a funny shot :) 

If you enjoyed these photos please follow Saunders Photography, here. If you live in my area and would like to schedule a photo shoot please message me on Facebook to set up your next photo shoot!

Toddler Transitions: From Crib to Toddler Bed

Recently we  (my husband and I) decided to take the plunge and transition our little guy from his crib to a "big boy" bed. Luckily we purchased a crib that transforms into a toddler day bed, so there was no extra purchases needed (I'll also share an added plus to that in a minute). I wanted to share some tips and tricks that we found helpful in making this transition.

Let me provide some small background to this choice first. Our son is 16 months old. On a recent trip he got VERY close to climbing out of his pack and play and thus the conversation of when to make this change began. Personally I wasn't sure if he was ready or not but we figured it was worth a shot and if it went horribly wrong all we had to do was put the front of the crib back on. So here are some things we considered and did during this transition.


1. Make sure YOU are ready, and your little one.
            Most blog posts about this will start off by saying something like "make sure your toddler is ready for this change, don't rush into it". And while that is completely correct, it's a lot more making sure the parents are ready than the toddler. I'm betting my son would have slept in his crib until he was 2 if we didn't bother. He never tries to climb out of the crib, just the pack 'n' play. However, in order to make going on vacations work without that bulky thing, he had to be use to sleeping in a bed, with accessibility to get in and out.

           About a month ago J (little man) figured out how to get on and off the couches by himself, so at this point he is a master at knowing how to get on and off of things without falling face forward. To me, that is when a toddler is really "ready". Make sure they know well how to get on and off of furniture before exposing them to a bed without a rail.


2. Toddler Proof the room!
          This is a big one, not only because of safety but, well okay it is all about safety. Make sure the room your toddler is in is toddler proof. That nothing is in the room they could get hurt on, or could fall on them. We had a small bookshelf and moved things around to make it fit in his closet. All that he has access to are his dresser drawers (with nothing in them) and a small toy box with only stuffed animals in it. We do have a full size bed and recliner in the room but both are taller and he can't reach to get on them at this point. We decided to leave stuffed animals in the room since they are not "overly stimulating" toys and he sleeps with several anyway, not like they are some big fun toy to play with.


3. Have a plan, and stick to it!
           We decided to take the crib front off and make it a day bed the afternoon we got home from a trip to san diego, a 9 hour drive. The nice part of that was that J was tired from traveling so when bed time rolled around, he was ready to crash. We also picked a night where we had no plans the next day, just in case he decided to wake up and play all night long. To our surprise he didn't, and still hasn't. But make sure you decided when to do it and are prepared, what is that saying again? "prepare for the worst and hope for the best"...yeah, do that!


4. Keep your routine!
         Stick to your normal bed time routine. just because the bed has changed doesn't mean the whole routine needs to as well. I still walk around the room for a couple minutes holding J and then lay him in bed. I don't let him climb into bed. That way it's not this production of "hey look, you can get in and out now!" (we did show him he could when we first set it up, but that was several hours before bedtime). Whatever the routine is, stick to it and act like nothing changed.


5. The extras (that are just as important)
       some other things to consider are...

                  -Lay them down when they are tired, not before. If they are ready for bed that means less times you have to put them back in bed when they get out.

                 - If you do have to go back into their room to place them back in bed, don't make it a big thing. Pick them up, put them back in bed, say a VERY quick goodnight and leave! (Super Nanny suggests the same)

                 - Placing a pool noodle under the sheet at the edge works much better than a guard. those guards are made for big (twin and up) beds. A pool noodle is just high enough so they do not roll out but low enough that they can still get in and out of the bed with ease.


**Update after several months in a toddler bed:

Around night 5 or 6 J got down on the floor and slept and winded up under his bed some how, after that we took the bed apart and left the toddler mattress on the floor. After several nights J started sleeping on the floor...we debated constantly going in and putting him back in bed and after a while just decided he will eventually get back in bed. He slept on the floor for a good while (few weeks) but now he alternates and sleeps all over the room it seems. He still gets a good night sleep and we don't need to constantly go in and reset him in bed (we don't go back in his room unless he is really crying). He normally plays for a few minutes and then finds his pillow and blanket and goes to sleep. Overall the transition has gone very well and I am pleased that he now is able to sleep in a bed with no issues.

Until Next Time...