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If your almost 3 year old is anything like mine, he’s emotional. He’s adamant. He’s sweet. He’s unexpectedly helpful. He’s obsessed with his little 1 year old sister. He’s a terrible listener. He’s a great listener. It’s a whirlwind of ying, yang, up, down. Every day I feel like I’m navigating the rain forrest of his emotions with no compass, no map, and very few provisions. That’s probably why sometimes SweetPea and I take shelter in her room while he’s raging in his. I’ve written about tantrums before {Three Key Steps to Taming Your Tantruming Toddler}, {Two and a Half Year Old Terror, That’s My Kid}, {Big Boy Battles, Loving Discipline for Your Preschooler}, {Parenting 101: Don’t Borrow Trouble or Ask Leading Questions}, and a…
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It’s true. Moms need more calories. This is not about lactating or gestating–my adoptive mama friends have this too. We just have hearts that are stretching and swaying with our children all the day long, and boy, do we need the calories to keep up with it all! Okay, this may not be medically accurate, but I’m going to roll with it. Here’s what I’ve been baking lately, with fairly good success. And a few tips are thrown in. Just for the heck of it. And a new watermark on my photos. Pretty, right? Thanks to my sissie. 1) Lemon Bars. Farmgirl Susan? Oh yeah, we love her pizza dough recipe, and focaccia bread. Take a peek at her Lemon Bars. I kinda burned the…
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If you are in a relationship and parenting children together, you are inevitably facing parenting differences. Unless you married your clone. And that’s creepy. I have a whole section on parenting. And one on partnering. Some overlap, yes? My husband and I are about as similar as can be on most things that matter–which is probably why we chose to be together. We’re on the same page religiously, spiritually, activities in common, values in common, both lawyers, love of cultivating the earth and our children’s green personhoods, raising and caring for the whole child. He laughs at my dumb jokes, eats my failed meals, and nestles our notoriously awful sleeper, SweetPea at all times of night to help with her post-year-old night weaning. He’s ah-mazing.…
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I remember blogging about 5 things I’d learned in the first year of our son’s life {Five Things in One Year}, and his second year {SuperBoy’s Turned Two} and sharing SweetPea’s birth story with you all–just about a year ago {Our Daughter’s Birth}. And now it’s time to celebrate her life–one whole year outside the womb! She is the happiest child, all love, laughter, and joy. She’s our sunshine kid, that’s for sure. (Thanks to her Godfather for that nickname!) Here goes. My eight lessons to contemplate on her first birthday. 1) Cherish details because it goes fast. How can time fly so quickly? You tell me. The last year is a blur, a blink, one sweet afternoon in our library watching the children crawl…
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Here are my top five baby items. I wrote here about registering tips {The Everything Registry List}. None of these have endorsed me (ha!) but I am planning on working on a few of them for a giveaway deal or a discount to my readership. They are all pricey, to be honest. Either we received them or we splurged on them. Everything averages $80 (or $35 for the diaper covers). You don’t need it all, in fact, I’m sure many of you have long and happy babyhoods without any of them. These are all nice wants, not needs. Despite the sticker shock, I’m going to say these are give things I use every single day and have since SweetPea was born. With SuperBoy, I wasn’t…
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She’s so cute. She’s just adorable. SweetPea makes every day fun, easy, and a joy to watch she and her brother roll through life. We often say if she weren’t so cute, there’s no way she would have made it with night nursing a full year. No. Stinking. Way. Am I crazy for having awakened every 3-4 hours to nurse a baby? Well, obviously when babies are born and the first several months of life it’s vital for their growth and development to nurse 8-12 times in a 24 hour period. That’s science and the standard medical recommendation. Most people probably aren’t still up with their 11 7/8 month old, though. We haven’t night weaned for a number of reasons. I’ll start with those and…
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