Perusing the shelves of the library while holding my daughter’s arm [if I don't hang on, she zings away and the chase is on] I noticed a group of white hardcover picture books that seemed to stand out on the vast shelves. This one was titled BooBoo and featured a little duck-like creature on

Well, I backed off last week from the potty because Hannah was not feeling well and she just out right refused to be on the potty. While we were gone, she told my mom and my grandmother she had to go “pee pee” and she went. She did this Sunday and yesterday. She told me

I have now a growing admiration for kiddie and baby photographers in photo studios.

Welcome to GEM Parenting. We just finished Teenager Month. But don’t worry, if you missed the month just go to http://www.GEMParenting.com to find everything you missed. Thanks to those of you who answered the survey.  I learned some practical and useful things from you.  And will be implementing your ideas in the near future. “What is Positive Intervention

Joy in life can be so fulfilling.  And joy in parenting can change the whole thing from a chore, an overwhelming confusion, an energy depleting life style to one with confidence, ease of making decisions, and feeling energized day in and day out. Each morning I have a special routine to wake up my children.  I

We started off as a family of three, then overnight five, and now Jazmine, my 21-month-old niece, makes six. Jazmine is my middle brother’s daughter.  Her mom is incarcerated in the same prison as Eliza, believe it or not.  My brother was doing the best he could with her but I knew that I could do better. 

My kids haven’t been too hard to potty train, but maybe that’s because I’ve been relaxed about the process, figuring it would happen when it happened. Both of my kids were trained to pee in the toilet for months before they pooped there, but they always showed signs of needing to poop, and I eventually

So this morning I decided on the whim to take my son to the library - partly because today’s post theme is “Thank God For Books Thursday” and partly because I was craving something new to dive into after I finish Jane Austen in Scarsdale ( hopefully soon ::crosses fingers:: ). This post isn’t really

So when dh and I decided not to vacation this year the biggest surrounding reason was due to “certain things” we were saving money for. Well, house aside, we aren’t saving for “those things” anymore, and the more I looked at our upcoming savings budget, the more I realized there was no reason we couldn’t

This weekend I got to hold a new baby (weeks old people, weeks old!) and finally had my son’s first hair cut finished (so it took us over a month, we got there). So right now I am gazing at my son and his cute little lack of hair and marveling at how much older