10 Years and Counting!!!! Married To The Most Wonderful Man!!!

So I know this post is late but I still had to do it! 

On December 31, 2014 Christopher and I Celebrated 10 Years of Marriage and Counting!!! So I thought I would write a 10 year count down to being married to the most wonderful man of my life!!!

Our Drinks From Our 10 Year Annev Date At The Melting Pot: Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

December 31, 2004 we got hitched!!!

Our Wedding 12/31/2004:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Our Wedding 12/31/2004- He Dropped Cake Down My Dress:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

1- Christopher is my one and only! He is so loving and caring even though he is a big strong Marine ;) . He is willing to do anything for his family to include defending our country. He is not only my husband but he is my best friend as well!!! Plus he looks damn good in his uniform.

My Marine:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

2-  We have been through a lot such as deployments and living with my bipolar. We however went through one of the biggest struggles and journey of our lives and that would be to have children. It took us almost 6 years to have children but we were finally blessed with two miracles... Caleb and Caydance and with these two precious miracles we know our family is complete.

Christopher and I pregnant with Caleb but actually did not know it was him we were finding that out the next day:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Caleb and I at Christopher's Homecoming 2012:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Caydance 2013:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

3- We are oddly obsessed with C-names.... All of our fur babies start with C's as well (Charlie, Chloe, Corona, and Casper). Please note Caydance came way before I even met Christopher. Her name was inspired from the movie Shallow Hal. Cadence was the little girl in the burn unit.

4- Christopher and I have celebrated many holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays apart. You got to love the military!!!

One of the Valentines Day we were seperated from due to a deployment:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Homecoming kiss 2012:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

5- Christopher and I did not go on real honeymoon until our 5th year of marriage after he returned home from a deployment. We went to Helen, Georgia and also visited the Cabbage Patch Hospital...Lets just say Christopher was a real trooper and we adopted a soft face cabbage patch baby.

6- My husband and I do not fight. We do bicker from time to time. We also do not get along on the phone because he cannot hear. It is actually a little funny because we met via an online chat room (when chat rooms were cool) and also talked on the phone. We are also given a grace period when he deploys... other than that we hardly talk on the phone.

7- I punched my husband in the face once on accident when we first got married and he has yet to let me live it down. The story goes we were driving to see my parents from Beaufort, SC and we were talking about wrestling and fake punches and my brother practicing those type moves on me when we were little. I proceeded to show him and have no sense of space and punched him right in jaw. He swears his head bounced off the window (I debate this fact). I however not let him live his "night in shining armor moment down". This was also early in our marriage and we were camping with his parents. His brother, mother, and we were all playing in the ocean. Christopher and I were having romantic moment when all of sudden he drops me! When I finally come up I find me running towards the shore and turn around just in time to see a wave about to pummel us!!! So until he lets me live it down I have this...

8- I turned my Georgia boy into Oregon loving man. He is still southern as all get out and eats those nasty grits aka wallpaper paste! No I am not from Oregon it where most of my family is from. I was born in Germany via the United States Army and then lived in multiple areas where my Daddy was stationed.

9- It is amazing what we have learned and what you do for each other. When we first started dating Christopher found out my best friend was a guy. Was he jealous? Nope! In fact they are really good friends an act like brothers from another mother. Our friendship has evolved to show that platonic relationships do exist and his wife is just the same. We also learned new things about each other such as I do like on anime (spelling) series "Bleach" however after that I cannot tell any other ones apart. He however puts up with my mini craft store. He will go antiquing with me as long as I give him a mission to look for something (must be the Marine in him). We cannot be game partners and I refuse to be his spade partner he is a meanie! We will also learned how much we truly enjoy each other company and how much our time is cherished each other!!!

Christopher and I through the years:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Christopher and I through the years:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Christopher and I through the years:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

10-  We knew we were going to make it this far. We however did not know what we were going through to get to this point... so if we could go back of course we do it all over again but we would tell our younger selves to keep holding on  to each other and there is light at the end of tunnel.

The Man Never Smiles But I Promise He Is Happy:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

So this is our first 10 years of marriages <3 . We still have much more to do and learn about each other! We know it will not always be easy and I sure there will be more ups and downs. There will also be more adventures to come and personally I cannot wait to see what the next 10 years has in store for us.

Christopher and I at 10 years:  Property of A Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life

Caleb is Turning 3: Part Two -Family Birthday Party Justice League of Vaughn

Caleb's birthday falls just a few short days of Christmas so I am sure it will make celebrating it very interesting as he gets older but that will be for another time and place. We were originally going to celebrate Caleb's third birthday at my parents so he could run wild with his cousins playing super hero games. However, Christopher was being transferred back to his old unit so his leave and everything that we had planned was thrown up in the air (it is the Military not much we can do) . So we decided to celebrate here throwing a small family super hero party here.

So a couple of days before the 21st we picked a day to celebrate little mans birthday. This day included playing in the park, silly string, balloons, a special cupcake, presents, and make your own pizza!

 I stand by the fact that you do not need spend hundreds of dollars to have a great party! Money does not make the memories.

The day started at the park! Where Caleb and Caydance could start their super hero training. We ended up going to a park that had a little climbing wall where Caleb could practice his Spiderman training. There was also swings where little man tried his hardest to learn to pump his legs like his Daddy, sand to play in, a purple dinosaur ride, and slides to shoot down.

Caleb climbing the wall at the local park: Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

The purple dino: Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Caydance trying her hands at the wall:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

After the park we went home but instead of going inside we took the little ones to the back yard for a silly string fight. I was telling Christopher when I first purchased the silly string this was a waster of money but in reality it was the best $8 spent on junk we ever spent. Caleb and Caydance giggling and laughing as they sprayed each other with color string! Mommy and Daddy laughing just as hard getting the string out of each other hair. So Spiderman training I believe was a huge success.

Silly String:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Mommy teaching Caleb how to use the silly string:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Caydance being covered in the silly string:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

Caleb and Daddy playing with the silly string:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

When we came from the silly string fight. We had had a snacks which included green hulk juice (Green Hawaiian Punch). After snacks were done we decided to turn Caleb into the Hulk! The previous night I blew up twenty balloons and grabbed one of Christopher's work shirt. So Caleb put on his Daddy's shirt and then stuff balloons in the shirt until the Hulk appeared. It made us laugh so much and of course what Caleb did Caydance wanted to do as well so we turned her into the She Hulk (which I guess is a real thing).

After turning the kids into the Hulk we decided little man could open his gifts! As you could imagine paper was flying as he unwrapped his new treasures! So the next hour was mainly opening his new treasures and figuring out what they did and how to operate all the super heroes! I swear toys these days are getting more complicated but to see Caleb having a blast with his new additions. With the new toys and the previous excitement! Caleb's side kick Caydance was ready for her power down nap so we put her down for a nap so Caleb could play with his toys undisturbed without extra hands that we would have to share with that instant.

The Caleb Hulk:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

The Caydance She Hulk:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

So instead of going out to eat and trying to wrangle to kids in a restaurant even a kid friendly/themed place we decided to make our own pizzas! One of Caleb's favorite things to do is help me in the kitchen and making your own pizza was the perfect opportunity for my super hero to help me in the kitchen! I am just upset that there were no pictures taken of this. We topped his dinner off with an ice cream cake and his special Spiderman cupcake! Which I think Caydance may have liked more than Caleb because she basically look like she ate a smurf!

Even his bath time consisted of party fun! We made them shaving cream DIY Bath paints! Where they painted the bath tub in multiple colors! Here is the link to my previous blog post on how to make your own DIY Bath paints... do not worry they will not stain your tub and your kids will love them! DIY: Bath Paints!

The last event of evening was to catch the bad guy! So we took two rolls of crepe paper and trying to wrap Daddy aka the bad guy up! Caleb also though thought he wanted to be the bad guy as well!

Capturing the bad guy:  Property of Bipolar Mom and Her Daily Life 

So all in all I have to say even though it was just the JUSTICE LEAGUE VAUGHN it was a great 3rd birthday for Caleb!

Teaching a Toddler to Brush Their Teeth and How I Do It.. Includes A Fun Music Video From YouTube

Now I usually stay away from parenting advice topics but I thought this is a fun one for me and pretty non conterversial. I mean we all want to have healthy teeth and good oral hygine and this is how I go about it!!! If you go in my children's bathroom there are three child toothbrushes to one toddler. No my kid does not have three mouths but rather learning how to brush his teeth. Now you would think my son would only need one toothbrush like most adults. However, teaching and brushing his teeth became a battle and something needed to change. I had to think...How am I going to ge this cute but very stubborn strong willed toddler to learn and want to brush his teeth? Well th first part of the problem was to make it fun I mean a lot of things become more enjoyable when they become fun...don't you agree?

Say Hello To Caleb

Toothbrush Fun

The first area  I tackled or changed to help my son learn and want to brush his teeth was the toothbrush or should I say toothbrushes. I took Caleb with me to the store with me and the first toothbrush he picked out was a transformer toothbrush. I mean just like picking out big kid undies for potty training I felt like this was an important milestone for my child.  I just made sure the bristles were soft or extra soft like our dentist recommended. It helped a lot because it was his toothbrush and he wanted to brush his teeth with it. However, my husband gets ready for work in that bathroom in wee hours of the morning so his toothbrush is in there as well and he has a spinbrush and Caleb was just fasicnated by it and always wanting to use it. So one day while I was out I came across a child's spin brush on sale it has a smaller head on it and designed for little mouths and hands. I also came across a light up toothbrush in the shape of a lightsaber and the reason I bought this was because it stays lighted for two minutes. Now bare with me I will explain in just a minute why he has three toothbrushes. I also keep a couple toothbrushes on stock for travel for him and just in case something happens to one of this toothbrushes.

The second area I tackled or changed was making brushing his teeth fun or ways to keep him wanting to brush his teeth. So I thought of fun and creative ways. The first thing I let my son do is pick how he will brush his teeth by picking a toothbrush. Each toothbrush has its own game or way of brushing his teeth. If he picks the basic toothbrush it is a copycat game and he must copy cat everything I do. Sometime I clap or raise my hands, sing (badly) and then making brushing movements and brusm my teeth and he copies. I do suggest though if you use this game you do not make the child move like jumping or running because if the child has the toothbrush in their mouth they could trip your fall and really hurt themselves. If he picks the spinbrush he has to act like a big boy because his Daddy is a big boy. This one is not so much as fun but as a lot of positive reinforcement. He moves the stool by himself, puts the toothpaste on the brush, brushes his teeth by himself, rinses his brush, an wipes down the sink all by himself. In the meantime I am telling him what a big boy he is and reminding him of the routine and there to help just incase. I just cannot explain the smile on his face when he has all done!!! Finally if he picks the toothbrush that light sup we brush are teeth in the dark for two minutes. We put his stool up to the sink turn off the lights (the night light comes on and you can see the sink and have visibility if not it could get kind of messy). He has a blast brushing his teeth with a green light!! When I let him pick this toothbrush I stand right behind him on the stool so he cannot fall and I reinforce the importance to him about him not to run or even walk with the tooth brush in his mouth.

I found it amazing that sometimes he wanted nothing to do with light up brush or switches daily but it keeps him engaged which I love. We also engage the frequencey of brushing his teeth. I usually like my son to brush his teeth at least twice a day we sometimes do more depending what he been eating and because he is still learning. Once I am confident that I know he knows how to brush his teeth properly I am sure it will go to about two times but we are still a bit away from that goal. I noticed the more thrilled about making brushing teeth exciting so is he! Often times when I tell him it is time to brush his teeth he makes a bee line to the bathroom!

Other Little Tidbets

I focus on routine and skills with my children i often find tools to aid with that. After Christmas I found this FAST TRACK SMILES HOTWHEELS SET (I think I paid $2 for it in the after Christmas sel at Walmart I even bought my 4-month old daughter at the time a Tinkerbell one and have it stored away for when it is her time to start brushing so hopefully she likes faires). His set comes with a lillte cup, toothbrush holder,cheap toothbrush (which I snagged for a cleaning brush) and has a whotwheels decoration on it. The only thing I do not like about it is the car likes to pop off it so I am going to have to glue it on there! Caleb understands where the toothbrush goes when he is done brushing his teeth as well as other basic routine steps in his brushing teeth routine.

I purchased this at Walmart after Christmas so I am not sure if it is seasonal or if they will bring it back next Christmas season. 

WHAT I AM WORKING ON

Now there are still a couple of things I am working on. With all thins this is a constant learning process and I am sure when he is older I will learn about and try to conquer other dental challenges

One of things that I am working on is teach Caleb how to brush his teeth properly and with him being two and trying to explain it to him about getting the front, back, side, and even the tounge has hit a road block. I mean you can show him or have him copy you show much. Some of the ideas that I have come up with envolve around the concept of mimic. Most children will watch what you do then proceed to mimic what you have done. I have thought about getting two sets of chattering teeth or making something in my crafting mind of fake teeth and sitting down with my son and teaching him how to brush the teeth of these items or even a doll with teet. The only problem is Caleb does not like to sit to sit down very long so I am not sure if it will capture his attention but I am going to have to try.

The second thing I am trying to teach my son is how to spit. I would have never thought it would be this hard to teach a boy how to spit!!! I would think this is something he would want to do but none the less we are still working on this and I can only assume will come with time and practice. With this being said we are using a fluoride-free training tooth paste which is safe to swallow. Now I know there are many opinions on what toothpaste for your children and family to use all I can it is personal choice and research the right tooth paste for your little one.

An example of trainging toothpaste on the market to day. You can find it at most supermarkets, drug stores, and online.

 Once he learns how to spit we are moving on to flossing, rinsing, and swishing (with water and mouth rinse if need be). There are tons of items out there. Please reserach all items and figure out what is best for your family and what may be right for my family may not be right for yours.

The third thing is routine. My son loves routine and does respond to visuals like charts but because we are still working on several milestones I do not want to overwhelm him with charts so that is for a later time. I have included some pictures of examples of routine and brushing charts. If you google or on pinterest you can find tons of printables. If you are crafty there are tons of ideas on making routine charts and so on...

and this is my world of teaching my toddler how to brush his teeth...

THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON HOW I TACKLED TEACHING MY TODDLER BRUSH HIS TEETH I STRESS WHAT HAS WORKED FOR ME MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU. THE METHODS THAT I USE MAY BE SOMETHING THAT YOU DISAGREE WITH BUT ARE IN NO WAY MADE TO OFFEND YOUR PARENTING STYLE. I MAY DISAGREE WITH YOUR PARENTING STYLE OR PARTS YOUR STYLE BUT I RESPECT YOUR CHOICES AND ASK YOU TO EXTEND THE SAME RESPECT TO ME.

HAPPY READING! 

Is Anyone Else Confused On Parenting Labels and Styles?

Okay I know before I start this post.. a lot of parents are going to know a lot about their "parenting styles" but if you are like me I am confused and do not understand the labels. I do understand that as parents we each have are own style but did not realized it gets lumped into these categories of "parenting styles". Now before I go further I am still relatively new to parenting with two little ones a now 5 month old little girl and a very active 2 year-old little boy. So perhaps I will gather better understanding of parenting styles as my children become older. Well anyways I approached this post with a non-bias attitude towards the different styles of parenting.








If you type in your favorite search site "types of parenting" or "parenting style" it is amazing what comes up. Without clicking on any results and just looking at the titles some sites say there are 3 common types of parenting, another says 4, and one even says 12... no wonder why I am confused! So as I continue with this post I will provide links to my findings.










The first type of parenting styles I have come across is text base and psychology based. The direct information can be found herehttp://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/parenting-style.htm










1. Authoritarian Parenting- is a type of parenting where a child is expected to follow strict rules and guidelines set by the parents. The failure to follow the rules set by the parents often results in punishment. The article further explains that this type parenting style the parents tend not to explain the reason behind the rules set in place for their children.








2. Authoritative Parenting- very much like authoritarian parenting the child is expected to follow rules set by the parents but unlike authoritarian parenting this parenting style is more democratic. Parents often in this parenting style are more open to listening to their children and more responsive. When a child fails to meet expectations, the parents are more forgiving then punishing. They want their punishments to be supportive rather punitive.








3. Permissive Parenting- is a type of parenting also sometimes referred to as indulgent parenting and often have very few demands of their children. The parents often do not discipline their children because of the low expectations of "maturity" and "self-control". This type of parenting is more responsive to their children then demanding. Permissive parents often take on the role of a friend to the child that that of a parent.








4. Uninvolved Parenting- is characterized by having few demands, low responsiveness, and little to no communication. The parents in this style often provide for their children with basic needs but in extreme cases may even reject or neglect the needs of their children.










The second article I cam across which can be found here http://www.livestrong.com/article/76463-types-parenting-styles/ talks about the first three parenting styles listed above but talks about how your parenting style may change over time and even day by day. It also talks about how parents fall in general into one of these three groups and often each parent may fall into a different parenting style. That is very common to have different parenting styles in one household.






Then comes the terms of parenting such as "helicopter parent", "crunchy parent", "toxic parenting", "positive parenting", "attachment parenting", "unconditional parenting". I know some of these are funny terms.. well to me to at least. Now some of these terms are the same or similar in nature.




 Now for me the one that stands out the most is "crunchy parenting". By looking it up it encompasses but not limited too eco-friendly concepts, co-sleeping, breast feeding, tv-free, buying local, homeschool, and so on. This parenting style encompasses so much it suggest that all parents may be a little "crunchy". You can find more information at http://www.littlecrunchy.com/2012/08/what-is-crunchy-parenting.html.





Helicopter parent is also known as "overprotective parenting". Now trying to find a non-bias definition or explanation of helicopter parenting was a little difficult. What I can find is largely is that is parents that want to protect their children from harm and are "very" involved with their children's life to the point of extremes. In some extreme cases helicopter parents have called their child's professors about grades to calling their each child morning to wake up. Now this type of parenting style has a lot of articles on why it is not good to be a helicopter parent and when you type it in the search sites that is what you will mostly find in the results. That is your opinion and views on helicopter parenting. I did however find a quiz : Are You a Helicopter Parent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_parent .




So do you want to know what I learned by writing this post? That my parenting style really cannot be lumped into one group and it encompasses many different styles and approaches. My parenting style also changes sometimes even day to day. Myself as a parent cannot be labeled just under one. So if have to give myself a title it would just have to be MOM!

A Bipolar Mom and Daily Life! : DIY Bath Paints

A Bipolar Mom and Daily Life! : DIY Bath Paints: I know I have not written in a bit. I was waiting for my new anti-virus program. Anyways onto my post. Are you addicted to Pinterest an ac...

A Bipolar Mom and Daily Life! : DIY Bath Paints

A Bipolar Mom and Daily Life! : DIY Bath Paints: I know I have not written in a bit. I was waiting for my new anti-virus program. Anyways onto my post. Are you addicted to Pinterest an ac...

DIY Bath Paints

I know I have not written in a bit. I was waiting for my new anti-virus program. Anyways onto my post.

Are you addicted to Pinterest an actually do some of the things you see on it? Well I fell in love with DIY Bath Paints! This idea is so simple and cheap that will make bath time for your little one so much fun!

Here is what you will need for DIY Bath Paints

These are first bath paints I made

Shaving Cream Foam (I bought mine at the dollar store and I bought the sensitive kind).
Container or something for the bath paints (I found these little containers also at the dollar store but I have seen people use paper plates, muffin tins, and so on)
Food Coloring
Paint Brush (Optional)

Alter the recipe any way that you need

I fill up the small container with shaving foam and then add 1-2 drops of food coloring (I strongly recommend no more then that). I then mix it with a chopstick since my son does not use the paint brush yet.

Now my biggest concern was that I was going to stain the tub because it will change the water colors. However, the first time I made them I decided to make all 4 basic colors to test them out. Besides changing the water colors there were no stains no nothing. I was really concerned about the red (I just gave the tub an extra rinse after bath time). Also the first time I made them my son was a little hesitant of what he was suppose to do with them but now I make just two colors at a time (will likely increase when he gets older) and he has a great time painting the bath tub!

Cost to Make Bath Paints

This cost less then a dollar to make (probably less then $.25 per batch). I have seen bath foam retail for about $4.00!!! So this is a great cheap fun thing to do!