Baby

Five Favorites

Sharing five recent favorites today!

1. A Wonderful Labor Day Weekend. Highlights of the weekend included church outside, followed by a cookout and fireworks on Sunday night and spending the day with my sister’s family on Monday!

Toddlers in red white and blue dresses playing together

2. A convenient baby or toddler product. My mom actually turned me on to these stick-on disposable placemats. They’re nice to take along to a restaurant or have at home for messy meals or crafts.

3. The book of Proverbs. I started reading a chapter of Proverbs each day at the beginning of September and have been enjoying it. Proverbs is the perfect book of the Bible to do a daily reading from for a month because there are 31 chapters! I’ve done this a handful of times and it’s always so enriching.

4. Starting school with Sadie. I started homeschooling Sadie this week and it has been going well! She’s learning about colors and I’ve had an absolute blast planning out things to go along with the lessons (think: books, fruit loops, and balloons).

Toddler in overalls

5. Vlogging. I’ve been having such a fun time getting creative with filming vlogs lately! I filmed one on Sunday, which gives a peek into our day and I also shared the curriculum I’m using to teach Sadie.

I’m planning on filming how I braid and bake challah soon because I got a special request for that! If you ever have and vlog or blog posts you’d like to see, let me know and I’d be happy to answer any questions or post about whatever it is 🙂

What’s a favorite of your lately?

Six Thoughts on Saturday: A Diagnosis, Books, and Newborn Snuggles

Hello and happy Saturday! What do you have going on today? We’re going to be working on our back patio renovation project with my sister and brother-in-law. Can’t wait to see them!

I’ve got six things on my mind today.

1. Affordable Books. Our library is still closed due to COVID and we’ve been re-reading all our books, going to our neighborhood Little Free Library, and “splurging” on books under $4.

Mouse Paint book by Ellen Still Walsh to teach colors to children

Three we’ve recently been into around the Zottola household are Mouse Paint, Biscuit Loves the Park, and The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Mouse Paint has been perfect for teaching Sadie colors and it’s adorable. What are you currently reading?

2. Gardening. Our sad little cucumber plants gave us another cucumber! Oh, and we’ve been harvesting lots of squash and a few cherry tomatoes.

Squash, cucumber, and tomatoes from vegetable garden

3. Park Days. We attended our church’s weekly Youth Summer Days at a local park on Friday and had a blast with our church family. I brought Niva along and she soaked up all the attention she could get from the kids.

Toddler and Siberian Husky at park

4. Meeting Isaiah. Our friends from church had their second baby on Monday and brought him to the Youth Summer Days on Friday. I soaked in all the newborn snuggles I could get with sweet Isaiah ❤

I totally forgot just how tiny newborns are. It’s wild! I loved studying his little toes, feet, fingers, and eyes when he opened them up for a second!

Newborn baby

5. Cousin Sleepover. My sister offered to take Sadie home with her after the Youth Summer Days so her daughter and Sadie could have a little impromptu cousin sleepover! I didn’t have anything packed, but it was no biggie because Sadie and Caroline are so close in age that they can share clothes and diapers. I absolutely love being in the same stage of life as my sister!

The girls fell asleep on the drive home and Hannah sent me this snapshot once she arrived at her house and it melted my heart.

Toddlers sleeping in carseats

6. Sadie’s Eye. About a month ago, I noticed Sadie’s left eye looked glazed over and teary all the time. It didn’t seem like a big deal because it wasn’t bothering her, but it just didn’t seem right. I called our ophthalmologist and brought her in on Thursday to have it looked at.

I feel like I could write a whole post on getting a toddler to cooperate during an eye exam (LOL), but I digress. She was diagnosed with a nasolacrimal duct obstruction. We have to massage her eye each day and try to put antibiotic drops in her eye to prevent infection. If that doesn’t get rid of the obstruction, we’ll have to do something a bit more invasive, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

In the meantime, does anyone have tips for putting eyedrops in a toddler’s eye?!