Top Ten Baby Products

Now that I’m an experienced mom (not really... I never know what I’m doing) I thought I would put together a list of my top ten baby products. Warning- I never said my baby was low maintenance.

1. Baby Brezza Formula Pro (We have the older version but they no longer sell it)

Hands down the top item. It’s basically a baby Keurig that makes bottles in SECONDS. Fill up the tank (every night) have the container full of formula (refilling every 2-3 days), and all you have to do is push a button. Amazing for those late-night feedings when your eyes aren’t even open. We literally drove straight to Best Buy to buy this after our newborn doctor appointment. And remember, Judgy Judy: Fed. Is. Best. (Stepping off my soap box)

2. Video Monitor
Do you enjoy sleep? Do you have stalker-like tendencies? If so, go ahead and get yourself a video monitor. I’m not ashamed to say I have spent many nights low-key creeping on my child. This one doesn’t need WiFi and it has a monitor so no need to use up all of your phone battery life.

3. Baby Brezza Bottle Sterilizer
You’re not really a parent until you have fought with your spouse over who last washed the bottles. Let me save your marriage- go get this. (On the topic of bottles- Phillips Avent are the only ones worth your money. Signed- a mom who bought every bottle that Target sells.)

4.  4Moms Pack and Play
Rookie mistake- we trusted the AirBnb people when they said they had a pack and play for us to use. It was basically a cot created during the Revolutionary War. We didn’t know how to use it. 4Moms has really spoiled us. You push down on one part and the thing magically sets itself up. Never traveling without it.

5. Skip Hop Activity Center
100% my favorite “toy.” I should have bought stock in Skip Hop. The amount of money I have given that company is absurd, but I cannot resist a hedgehog themed toy. This activity center turns into a table for later use. Hello craft station! Is it too young to teach him how to use the heat press?

6. 4Moms Bath Tub Thermometer (I can’t find this for sale anywhere!)
I absolutely cannot be bothered to test the water out myself and must have a contraption do it for me. Anyways, it tells you the exact temp of the water so your baby can have the perfect 98.6 degree bath water. Meanwhile you will not shower for five days at a time, but it’s so fun being a mom.

7. Travel Highchair
Another must-have travel item. We bought this because we love camping staying in hotel rooms. Used at the beach, on the boat, relatives houses, basically everywhere except the woods.

8. Owlet
This one is slowly making its way down the list. If you would have asked me in February this would have been top five. But the truth is I think we are outgrowing it and I’m just not ready to give it up. It tracks oxygen and heart rate. Perfect for when you move baby to his own room. It’s randomly been going off at 5 am on Saturday mornings and that makes me want to sue the company.

9. Greer’s Goo
I have no idea if this is well known or not. But the angels in heaven get together once a month to create a batch of Greer’s Goo. You can only get it from the pharmacy in town with bars on the window. You have to knock twice and wink three times but they know what to do. I’m sure it’s probably illegal in some states because the stuff is too good... it will  clear up diaper rash in 2.5 seconds.

10. 4Moms High Chair
If I had a dollar for every time we had a throw up mess on our high chair, I would probably be able to buy out a part of the 4Moms company. I’m so glad we went with an easy-to- clean highchair because reflux is NO JOKE. The tray is magnetic so my little ninja can’t knock over his bowl. It’s a splurge but it’s modern and the colors will look good in any dining room.

Clothing- Cloud Island from Target has the softest clothing and the sizing lasts longer than Carters. We love Old Navy but their sizing is off so be careful before ordering online. Real big Carters fan over here and appreciate their rewards program.

To sum it up- you can’t go wrong with Baby Brezza, 4Moms, and Skip Hop.

Not an item- just a tip... ask for help. I couldn’t have made it this year without the daily help from Mikel and my parents. Set ya up a DoorDash account and let someone else make the dinner.

Laundry Room Makeover

“Hey Mr. R we should redo the laundry room” was something I muttered around 10 weeks of pregnancy. He was all for it when I showed him the Alexa-enabled washer and dryer I wanted. Our machines were on the fritz and seriously about thirty years old, so it was time to be grown ups and buy a new set anyways.

Here’s what our laundry room looked like before:

We had a little bit of everything in here. Once we got the new appliances we started storing the dog food in our pantry. All of the other mess is now nicely organized where it belongs.

Once school started back, I just didn’t have any time to plan what I was wanting to do in this space. Then nesting happened and I decided that it wasn’t enough to just remodel a spare room into a nursery. Nope I decided to go ahead and remodel the laundry room... at 36 weeks pregnant. 

Many trips to Home Depot were made for this project. I used Behr White Lie for the paint (don’t worry, I used a paint mask and took frequent breaks.) The cabinet is Hampton Bay and that was Mr. R’s job to install. I really wanted floating shelves but couldn’t find a design that fit the space and didn’t require a Kref Jig. Then I found the plans for adding the little support on the sides and putting the shelves on top. Gives the illusion of a floating shelf, but was an easy install! Home Depot cut the shelves for me. After some caulking, the project was all finished! We love how it turned out: 

I’ll post nursery pictures soon! I still have a couple of little things to do in there. I’m just so darn happy the laundry room is done that I had to share it!

A Letter to all First Year Teachers

I can’t believe I’m about to start my ninth year of teaching. I feel like each year goes faster than the one before. This summer has flown by even faster and as I'm working on items to get ready for the school year, I realize how far I have come. My classroom has changed, my planning has evolved, and my confidence in teaching has increased.

I wanted to take this time to write a letter to my former “first year teacher” self. Including things I wish I would have known or done during that school year. Thankfully you’re only a first-year teacher once and then the rest of the years go by much easier.

Dear me during the first year,

You’ve just spent at least four years learning what it looks like to be a good teacher. You took classes on child psychology, method courses for math, and how to incorporate literacy into lessons. But what they don’t tell you (even in student teaching) is how to handle all of the unique things you will witness as a first-year teacher. Students going through tough times at home, students who have not received the differentiated instruction they need and are now three grades behind, and the list goes on. That’s one of the best parts of being a teacher- you are the one that gets to make a difference in their life. Here’s my advice for gracefully surviving that first year:

1. Ask for help. This is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that you want to learn everything you can about being a good teacher for your students. Go to your mentor, go to the teacher next door, just please don’t suffer in silence.

2. Have a trusted colleague (or administrator) proofread e-mails when dealing with a hard situation. We’re human and sometimes people can forget that. You will get a not-very-nice email at some point in your career. It’s easy to type a response and hit send, but always take a moment to cool down before doing so. Find a colleague you trust to read your response to make sure it is appropriate. Just remember not to forward emails to others without the sender’s permission. Dear Aunt FERPA is always watching and you don’t want to get in trouble for sharing confidential information. 

3. The work you need to complete will still be there tomorrow. Now don’t get me wrong- it’s never cool to miss deadlines or just flat out not be prepared for the day. But as teachers we tend to be perfectionists and therefore are very self-driven to complete everything ahead of time. I can’t tell you how many nights I was the last to leave school that first year. I would even come in on Sunday afternoons to try to get ahead. You’re only in your early-twenties for a few short years. Enjoy them (safely of course).

4. With that said- block your social media. Back in my day all we had was Facebook. Now I'm filtering what I post/like on all sorts of accounts. Be careful of what you share and who you share it with. That picture you posted your sophomore year of college may not be as cool when your new set of parents are googling you. ;) We all know the story of Roseanne's negative tweet, and the recent let go of James Gunn for something he posted ten years ago.

5. Find your tribe. Hopefully your new team will welcome you with open arms, but unfortunately it’s not always like that at schools. Find people that you can trust at your school, other schools, or even through Instagram and the blogging world. Use these people to share ideas with. The idea is never to try to outdo each other but to find ways to thrive in this crazy world we call teaching. I met some of my BEST friends my first year of teaching. I really don’t think I could have survived without them.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, just remember "this too shall pass." Before you know it, it'll be winter break and you'll find yourself recharging and ready to return in January.

Enjoy this adventure.

Monthly Book Raffles

I'm addicted to children's books. There I said it. I'm even more addicted to Scholastic Book Orders. The amount of personal money I spend on Scholastic books each year is not going to be disclosed here because my husband reads this and well... there's just some secrets you need to keep.

Last year I shifted the focus on parent-driven reading logs to student-centered ones. Meaning that I stopped the whole "your mom must sign your reading log each night" to a "you're learning independence" approach. Students are asked to read 20 minutes each night and quickly jot down "20" on their agenda's reading log.

For the first month I check it weekly, just to give feedback on how they are doing with remembering to fill it out. I give reminders before the end of the month to make sure that each night is completed (Honestly I only check for Monday- Thursday and if a few nights are missing, that is fine... they are only seven).

Then on the last day of the month I check to see who has completed their monthly reading and it's time for the Mrs. Rider Book Raffle. I pass out my raffle tickets and they write their name on it.

Then  I show off the five books up for grabs. These were the choices for October:

This is also a great way to teach probability... if there are ten tickets for one book and none for another book, which book are you more likely to win?

I keep a list of who wins each month to ensure that each student has a fair chance. I also will start to give out tickets for other reading incentives (finishing a series, finishing a long book, etc.) just so everyone is able to win a book at some point.

The idea behind this is to increase their love for reading. And who doesn't love a new, free book?

Classroom Updates

I can't believe we have already had THREE days of school. Technically 2 1/2 days because of the eclipse, but I'm totally okay with an 11 o'clock dismissal. Especially if it means I get to watch the eclipse with the hubby! I might have sorta taken a nap during the first part (beginning of the year teacher struggles) but I saw it when it mattered! We also had to drive through it to an appointment. The streets were so clear! But the drivers on the road may have still been wearing their eclipse glasses because they were driving like maniacs. Luckily we survived #eclipse2017

I didn't make too many changes to my classroom this year. I'm still loving the cupcake theme (although considering a pineapple theme for future years), but I updated my bulletin board to hold the CUTEST reading concepts posters. I'll post about those once I've finished the board. I also did some organizing, completed some things I've been meaning to do for a while, and rearranged some of my desk area items. I also have a goal to set as much stuff up for the beginning of the next school year so I'm not running around like a crazy person (which is how you could have described me this year).

BUT! I redid two classroom items that hold a special place in my heart. My nanny and pawpaw always had the best furniture. I loved everything in their house. When they passed away I received some very special items to me- a director's chair that I would always sit in and a table with chairs that I loved to play with. I wanted to incorporate them into my classroom so I fixed them up a few years back but they were in need of some TLC.

I painted the director's chair and got new canvas seating for it. I want to start by saying that I am the worst spray painter EVER. But when I get a bottle of the Rustoleum Satin (Paint and Primer), I can make miracles happen. This white was sprayed over black paint. It only took a couple of coats (which was really just for evening out). Then I used my Sillhouette Cameo (and my trusty iron) to make a personalized decal for it. This is my chair I use for read alouds, so it gets a lot of use! I picked the color to match my classroom rug and the carpet.

The little table and chairs I have are originally yellow with some scratches. I had covered it a few years ago, but lots of kiddos have used these chairs, so they needed a little redoing. I picked a light blue quatrefoil pattern to use. *love* The best thing is that I didn't have to SEW (by the way... I can't sew). All I had to do was iron, cut to fit, pull it tight and hot glue.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the school year! I can't wait to really get working with my new class of students. It's going to be a terrific year!

Patio Redo

It seems as though my teacher blog has turned into a little home renovation blog for the summer. I guess that's what happens when HGTV and the DIY channel are constantly on in your house. I promise I'll get back to school stuff sooner than I would like (in fact I have some district training tomorrow that has got me wondering how in the world it's already July 10th.)

Our newest project was redoing our back patio. We've known that we wanted to change it since we first moved in. We thought about building a low deck over the patio, and we also found some faux deck pieces at IKEA that we liked, but this summer we finally decided: let's just add on to the existing patio. After a couple of estimates for concrete that made our jaws hit the floor (sorry- we're not paying thousands of dollars for a few feet of concrete), we decided to do DIY patio pavers.


Here's how it originally looked:

Our previous set up involved a lot of "oh hey that's on sale let's get it now" which is why there is a random gazebo for the grill in the grass. We had lots of trips to Home Depot, a long conversation with an employee, and watched quite a few videos to finally get the steps down.

We started with shoveling out all of the grass and digging down 2 1/2 inches to include room for all of the materials in order for it to be level with our existing patio:

Then we put down a weed barrier to prevent any weed growth from getting to the pavers.

(Forgot pictures for the next two steps)
We put down about a half inch of paver base sand and tampered it down to make it flat and slope away from the house. Then we found these awesome paver bases that would take the place of having to use a lot of gravel. You just slap them down and lay the paver right on top. You can find out more about these miracle bases here!

After the setup, we finally laid down seventy 17.5 pound pavers. Y'all this was hard work. We don't have a truck so we loaded down my SUV and Mr. R's clown car with hundreds of pounds of material. We made over 10 trips to Home Depot and met a nice couple along the way who were doing the same project as us. I have to give it to Mr. R for this project. I can't tell you how tiring it was to do this work in 91 degree heat. When I would throw in the towel and go in for a rest, he stayed out there working so we could finish in our two day goal. You da real MVP, Mr. R.

After laying the pavers, we filled in the gaps with permasand, sprayed it with water to harden and then had to wait 72 hours for it to cure. Today was the day to move the furniture on it and I am IN LOVE!

(Yes that is a pet cot and canopy because basically our pups are real children.)


We have space for our furniture, space for our grill gazebo, and a little extra space for just moving around... basically:

Shopping List:

Home Depot:
-Transfer shovel
-Hand Tamper
-Weed Barrier with pegs
-Paver sand (9 bags)
-Paver bases (16 rectangles)
-Pavers (70)
-Edging (3 pieces with yard nails)
-Black and white outdoor rug
-Lanterns

Amazon:
-Patio furniture
-Dog cot

Lowe's:
-Grill Gazebo

Home South:
-Outdoor pillows

IKEA:
-Patio umbrella


The lesson I've learned is that I'm not made to be outdoors unless I'm sitting on my patio furniture, under the umbrella, with a lemonade in one hand.

My next project is redoing the foyer: storm door and light pennant coming soon.
Mr. R's next project is an ongoing one of making our yard actually grow grass. May the force be with you on that one.

HGTV... Where Is My Show?

So basically my HGTV show would be called "How To Make The Junk in Your House Actually Worth Using." I think it's safe to say that we all have a little bit of junk... and if you're reading this and thinking "well I don't" then I'm here to say nobody likes a liar. ;)

But seriously... everyone I know has a junk drawer full of random items... we have one now filled with batteries, wax melt refills, and chip clips. But we may also have had a little bit of a junk closet. When we moved into our three bedroom house we knew that we wanted our master (of course), a guest room, and an office. The guest bedroom closet just sorta became filled with junk. I'm not talking about junk yard items, I mean things like holiday decor, the vacuum, bags for trips, and other random items. I always knew I wanted to redo the closets... just wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

Then one day Pinterest sparked my idea- instead of having a whole bedroom to host our two separate desks, when I really don't even sit at mine because I'm a laptop-on-the-couch kind of girl... I decided I would turn the guest room closet into a closet office.

Here's what I started with... just remember... it was our junk closet... A lot of my teacher friends say that I'm organized, and I'm here to say that nobody is perfect:

I had a goal to finish it by June 30. Of course life happens and things get in the way... but a July 2 end date isn't too late. Remember- nobody is perfect.

Here's the final product:

Just because I stalked other blogs to find how to make it... I'll give a little overview of how I built this:

Desk and top shelf area: This is from a large white melamine panel from Home Depot. They cut it according to my measurements. And then when I realized I measured it incorrectly, Mr. R ran to purchase a Zigsaw for us while I stayed at home and practiced using a measuring tape (nobody's perfect). I loved the melamine because I DIDN'T HAVE TO PAINT! I just laid it on top of the wire racks and secured it so it wouldn't move.

I brought in some storage to hold my many craft supplies and (remember I'm a teacher) so I have 40 times the amount of office supplies that a normal person would have. #buyallofthecutepens

I also needed a place to store my wrapping paper/gift tag/bow obsession and I found an amazing door holder from a certain store that would cost 150 dollars. That's just not how I roll so I made this one out of a Closetmaid organizer for 30 bucks.

The best thing is that THE DOORS CLOSE! When we're not using the office, we can close the doors and no one has to know. So what did I do with all of the stuff that was in there? Finally organized it. I took advantage of extra space in our laundry room and hall closet. I bought containers for our holiday decor. I feel a sense of zen over my new organization.

Another bonus is that this is totally removable. Meaning if we ever move, we can take everything down and there is no damage (besides the diplomas being hung up and let's just say I'm a pro at covering up oopsies.

Here's my shopping list:

Home Depot:
Melamine panel
Long white wooden piece on top shelf
Iron On Tape to cover melamine edge
Closetmaid Door Organizer

Wal-Mart:
Lamp (I had to have it because it comes with a built in USB port... perfect for dorm rooms!!)
Pen Hoder
Right Storage Drawer

IKEA:
Desk Chair
Chair cushion
Left filing cabinet
Blue storage bins

Michaels:
White vase

Amazon:
Silhouette Machine (on top shelf)
Surge Protector that very sneakily blends in with the room

Trader Joes:
Pink peonies *swoon*

What's next for the Riders? This month is full of house upgrades: custom made storm door installation, fence for the flat part of our backyard, and DIY patio pavers. I'll update you soon!

I love summer.