Spooky days are around the corner, and you’re still looking for baby’s first outfit? He or she likes dragons? Well, looks like you found something. This Dinky Dragon infant costume was Lyons Cub’s first disguise, and he wasn’t bothered by the dragon head at all. The set contains a jumpsuit, a hood, detachable wings, and…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Winter will come; even we in Tennessee get our usual two days of snow per year 😉 Most of the time, we…
Toot-toot, here we come!!! This is the Step2 Whisper Ride II Ride On Push Car, and Lyons Cub got the blue one. A feature I like is the seat belt; it prevents him from getting out while we’re on the road and is a great safety feature. Didn’t have that yet back in my time…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. The Little Tikes Turtle Round Sandbox must not be missing from any yard in summer. It has just the right size for…
How nice for moms to have this bath support, because at some point, the newborn bathtub with a net or sling becomes too small and baby too big and heavy. However, as long as the little one cannot sit yet, if you don’t want to hold him in your arms or place him in one…
First musical experience here! Alas, Lyons Cub was so tiny that his little tootsies didn’t quite fill the shoes of his jumpers, so treading the keyboard was a bit difficult for him. However, his face clearly shows his pleasure at reaching the keys and producing sound. This activity mat was less pricey than comparable ones…
Some babies just love, love, love the blue whale (Lyons Cub used it for teething), and others are fascinated by the battery-operated submarine that’s connected to a red sprinkler. Soon, the littles have figured out that they just need to press a button, and the water comes shooting out. And if you hold the sprinkler…
Which kid doesn’t like trains? The Brilliant Beginnings – Ride On Learning Train is a fun toy for boys and girls alike. Lyons Cub was so happy to get it for his first birthday! He drove through the whole house with it, tried out all the windows, and listened to the letters, numbers, and colors….
The Summer My Bath Seat (Aqua) has three extendable arms that fasten to the bathtub with suction cups. It doesn’t budge when kiddo is in there, but it’s a little bit hard to remove. This is a great thing to have when you plan to have more than one child, because kiddo will grow out…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. This is Lyons Cub’s first activity center, which helped him greatly to coordinate his movements during his Early Intervention sessions for his…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. “Knock, knock, knock!” – “Who’s there?” Your guests have arrived; just look out of the windows of your Little Tikes Playhouse! Is…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. Here comes the very hungry caterpillar, but in purple and so popular that even the pets love it! It’s very sturdy and…
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase. You won’t regret getting this awesome climber. Lyons Cub had it for years, and both he and his friends enjoyed it. Sometimes,…
Do you have allergies and need to forego furry friends? Then, scaly friends might be just the right pets for you! There are no known allergies to geckos, as far as I know. Leopard geckos, just like crested geckos and gargoyle geckos, are a great entry-level pet for collectors and future breeders alike. When I…
Well…. Let’s just say it this way, as nice as it is to be a landlord or landlady, if you do the bureaucracy and paperwork involved yourself, it is a LOT of work and hassle! And if you get a realtor to do the renting out, evicting, repairs, and advertising, it will cost you. My…
He was supposed to be snake food. This is the story of how I set out to vend geckos as “LZRDGRL” at a Kentucky reptile show and came home not with a new gecko, but with a tiny kitten: Frankie! We had quite an adventurous trip from Carbondale, IL to Shepherdsville, KY. First, we drove…
Berni was an adventurer, a globetrotter, a fun-loving flea-market enthusiast and patriarchal family father. What he said had to be done. He needed action, and wherever he was, there was plenty of it. I remember that in my childhood and youth, we used to make weekend trips called, “Reise ins Blaue,” and these trips into…
Never did I think I would end up as a widow after having been married for only two years. And never did I think I would find so many hidden treasures in the estate of my beloved husband. One was an unfinished horn piece he had scribbled in pencil on staff paper, which I unearthed…
You are spouses-to-be or have already married and are pondering where to spend your honeymoon? Been there, done that. My tip: Go to Hawaii for a one-in-a-lifetime experience. David and I actually had three possible targets in mind: the Grand Canyon, the Niagara Falls, and Hawaii. My husband, an American born in Massachusetts, had already…
I loved her more than Sally. I know you should love all your children equally, but Honey was special. She had eyes the color of caramel that looked right into your soul. She came from difficult circumstances; she had lived on the streets before we got her from the shelter. Who knows what she had…
It was May 8th, 2009, around 11 a.m. I sat at the computer in my office in the English department in Faner Hall of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, from time to time glancing out of the window at the bending trees and the pouring rain. It was finals week, the final exams and essays had…
The four most important questions first, in case you are currently considering IVF: Will it hurt? Yes. Will it be emotionally draining? Yes. Will it cost a lot? Yes. Will it be totally worth it? Yes, if it works in the end. Any guarantee? No. My husband and I wished so much for a baby,…
After I had become a lecturer of English at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 2007, I purchased my first home, and to offset the mortgage, I had taken in a student tenant, Jielei. She was an athlete and a life-guard in the Rec Center. We had nothing in common, except for one thing: we…
Building the Aeronca took us four years. Four years of sweat and heavy lifting, designing, drilling, cutting, screwing, sewing, welding, ironing, painting – the most exciting, wonderful experiences I made during my summer-off time from the university, when I helped John Williams, or “John the Mason,” as I used to call him, because he was…
In the fifth chapter of From Childhood to Adolescence, Maria Montessori talks about how children need to see real things; she mentions that in the course of the history of education, children first were just presented with illustrations, and later were allowed to see things in museums. However, “enclosed objects” watched by “confined children” (From…
“Is he your grandson?” asked a guy at the Christmas market when I was pushing my son’s stroller along the booths. “Have you never seen a mom over 40?” I thought, dismayed. Not every girl finds her true love in her twenties. I met the love of my life at 38, through my job at…
It was 11 p.m. on January 29th. I was 34+5 weeks pregnant. I had come home from teaching night class from 4-7:30 p.m., had made dinner, jumped into the bathtub, and was drying myself off when I noticed I lost my water. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was from the bath, but it…
What gets to you most is the sound. The beeping of the machines, the alarms when babies have bradycardia (the so-called “bradys”) and when the monitors recording their heart rate and breathing go off, or even worse, when a baby codes. The constant crying and wailing of suffering little human beings, mixed in with the…