Kidding
A while back, we switched our two eldest out of sharing a room and plopped the toddler in with his big brother. In part, it was because our daughter (newly minted four year old) kept asking for “privaseee” when changing her clothes, and in part it was because they fought about who got to shut the door and play in the room {clue: neither of you}. She seemed to be elbowing for her own space, her own place to get away from her brothers and be creative without having them rip down her art from the wall as soon as she taped it up. Of course, this still happens in the new room, but it’s with less frequency. Bed || Bookshelf || Dresser || Desk & chair: all vintage refurbished Lamps || Shades || Nightstand || Chair: all around the house Desk knobs: Anthropology Rug: Pottery Barn Kids Art cart: Ikea Bulletin board || Wall shelves : Target here & here Tent: similar Chandelier: similar Valances: made in Birch Organic Fabric Art walls: brown paper & tape Bedspread: me myself and I in Cotton & Steel fabric Radio: the garage We have two good-sized kids bedrooms, so to make one less “nursery” and more “girl power” made sense. And lots of icons, because, of course you need them. Here’s a lil look at how we did her room. And by we, I mean my amazing dad who spent hours skim-coating the old plaster walls that needed smoothing, painting, and more painting. My amazing husband helped with the light fixture & polishing the…
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Yes, already, don’t tell me it’s autumn (my favorite season because of apples, not pumpkins) because in Minnesota it is a quick downward spiral to below zero temps. So yes, while I’m trying to soak up the beautiful leaves changing and the puffy vests, I know what’s coming. Combine that knowledge with the fact that it gets increasingly difficult for my big belly to crawl into the attic to get winter stuff out (and baby girl–did I tell you we found out it’s a girl! And we named her so the kids will definitely blurt it out if they see you in person), and I’m prepping for winter. First, I did my least favorite chore: sorted the kids summerish-don’t-fit-anymore clothing and made a stack of things to store upstairs. SuperBoy is only six but he’s a seven in length and a five in waist so that makes clothing . . . interesting. Thank goodness for those internal elastic button things and for uniform pants. SweetPea is still very petite but now tall-ish so we have the waist of 2-3T and the length of 4T. Again, grateful that I can and have made a ton of leggings for her lanky skinny bum. MonsterTot is a typical 2T so his sizing is easier. Second, I took stock in what I have for the toddler–many of my favorite winter items were used by both kids and therefore pretty demolished (wool sweaters, wool socks, etc) and the state of hand-me-downs for the older two.…
Read MoreIt’s not the screaming. It’s not the tantruming. It’s not even the incessant stream of fights that break out only when I’m in the bathroom. Or the sticky mashup of oats & bananas that turns to concrete under their chairs. It’s the household. Instead of having a job with measured successes and failures, my experience as an at-home mom is that now my measurable success or failure is my house. How clean is it? How tidy? How organized? How decorated? How cluttered? How beautiful? Now I’m not even talking about what other people think. I’m sure people come into our home and think beautiful 100 year old architecture with 100 year old cobwebs, too? It’s never super clean unless we’re having an actual party (sorry friends who come by! I will not dust most likely. I may run a vacuum.). It’s usually semi-tidy with great efforts on everyone’s behalf. But the reason why it feels like a mirror to my internal success as an at-home parent is because it is where I am and what I do all day long. To me, it feels cluttered even if I just purged and cleaned. To me, it feels like the kitchen floor is goopy again even if I just mopped yesterday. To me, the inability to stay on top of every load of laundry feels like epic failure, akin to not turning in a legal brief before the court’s deadline. To me, the stack of dishes in the sink that may not get…
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Last year we did this for the very first time: we took a family vacation staycation at my folks’ home in Wisconsin just us. Not to travel for a baptism or a wedding or another family to-do–just for us to bond, be quiet, have temper tantrums in nature, and eat lots and lots of good food. Being pregnant makes everything harder for my poor kids because I’m limited in my energy and capabilities, but they were troopers and played lots and lots of games with each other and made lots of messes and kinda even cleaned them up! I actually let our oldest play with a sling shot. Rules and boundaries set in stone ahead of time, but yes, I let him just have wild fun with it. I must be relaxing as a mom. I’m learning to sit back and watch them. Watch their relationships unfold. It helps that they’re older and not just screaming at each other when frustrated, though that happens too. I can guide them through talking it out, addressing each other, and teach basic empathy skills. And their little minds are developed enough to get it. To get why we are kind and loving. Why we don’t hit and say hurtful things. Why mama is always right—okay, let’s not go too far 😉 And this little 2+ year old really held his own this year. Yes, you may have more oatmeal. Yes, you may cut with your sister’s scissors. Yes, you may that hammer. Yes, you may splash…
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I’ve been talking about my favorite audio stories for years, but I always get asked which ones for which ages? My kids are 6, 4, 2, and 21 weeks in utero and we have been Jim Weiss fans for about 3-4 years. We use them for quiet time for the oldest during the two smaller ones’ naps. We use them for car rides (long ones, too). We listen to them at breakfast to break up the fighting. We use them to augment our faux homeschoolering. I didn’t include the history ones that we love because I’ll do that in a different faux- homeschooling post this fall. We one a few dozen so this is not all of them, but a good place to start. Your library should be able to get them for you but amazon links here (disclaimer that the blog gets $.02 for any purchases you make through me) make for click click easily. Without further ado: Audio Stories birth to 2: Good Night Animal Tales First Stories to Last a Lifetime Fairytale Favorites Audio Stories 2-4 years old: Uncle Wiggly’s Storybook Just So Stories Tales from the Old Testament American Tall Tales Audio Stories 4-6 years old: Greek Myths Egyptian Treasures Mystery! Mystery! Shakespeare for Children I Said I Could and I Did 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and lots lots more. But these are always an arm’s length away from my little stinkers. Keeping me sane, one CD at a time!
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It feels weird to be home and normal because it feels so home and normal. I was on the road for two weeks–first the Finding Your Fiat conference in Illinois, then a partial day home, then packed up the kids with my mom & sister and flew to New York to stay with my other sister and her family, then AA joined us and we all drove down to Virginia to see more family, joined by my dad, and other sister & spouse. That’s the last few weeks in a nutshell. A very run-on sentence one. I posted a lot on instagram–things like how karaoke with Marie Miller is fabulous (especially when you’re singing uptown funk with Laura), NYC cousins make birthdays so much better, and that wearing a swimsuit at Coney Island when you feel body-ugh is fine. In Virginia we not only had a mini-family reunion but got to see close family friends perform (SweetPea’s first time seeing her Godfather play a live show!). Now that we’re back home, and my life-bending hyperemesis appears *hold your breath* appears to be abated somewhat, we can actually go places! And do things! And I can cook! And eat a little! Mostly we spend our mornings playing around the house, listening to Story of the World, playing with hieroglyphic stamps, and occasionally enduring screams of shock and awe that someone disrupted their masterpiece of toilet paper carefully shredded to “feed” their dollies. AA is marathon training again but this time I’m not only…
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