Parenting
Living with a toddler is like living with a hurricane. Hanging out with Kelly & crew to tell you how I’m semi-surviving having a tot again. It’s my third time having a two and a half year old, and thank GOD because I know now it’s not permanent. They will, WILL, grow in their prefrontal cortexes and become semi-rational. SEMI. My favorite book for this stage (and all kids, really) is this one. It changed my expectations so I no longer freaked out about the tot not listening. Because they kinda can’t. 1// Hitting. The hitting continues. Now he’ll warn you. I HIT YOU, MAMA. or I NO LIKE YOU SO I BITE YOU! So at least there’s a head’s up. He also throws things with remarkable accuracy. Hard heavy things. At people’s heads. 2// Refusal to get dressed in that outfit. This is a first for us. MonsterTot will not wear certain clothes on certain days. He eschews long sleevers unless they’re proclaimed “hockey jerseys” or “Joe Mauer Power Batting Shirts.” He also is wise to the fact that unless there’s a number on the back, it’s not actually a jersey. I bought this sweater and told him it was a hockey jersey. It’s the only sweater he likes. I should buy a few more. 3// Food. That food is YUCKY. No, it IS YUCKY. he says about his former favorites. All the time. Ellyn Sattler has a great guide on providing options and then letting the kid decide…
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I’m a sister kind of person. I love my three sisters. I love my friends like sisters. I love the sisterhood I’ve found in my community, both in person and online. And I was so thrilled when we found out we were having another girl. SweetPea will be best friends with her sister (I hope!!) and she already talks about all the “girl” things they will do together, like, not play with their brothers and dig in the dirt. When my friend Britt posted about these little girl dresses earlier this summer, I swooned. In large part because I have two nieces whom I was about to visit with my daughter (just her–total girl time!) and one had a birthday coming up, and in larger part because I was determined to buy complementary dresses for my own girls! Even though the baby won’t fit hers for a while. Ele Story is a mama-run company (Hi, Judy!) that makes their beautiful dresses right here in the United States–that’s a big plus to me as a buyer–and their designs are timeless. I bought this one and this one for my nieces. (Both on sale Sunday only.) This isn’t a sponsored post in that I’m not being compensated for sharing it–just wanted to pass along a coupon code for you if you want to support an artisan mama run shop! My own little SweetPea got this cornflower blue one, and the baby girl who will arrive at Christmas got this color one. The…
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Hi! Linking with Kelly & crew for almost 7-ish quick takes. We had an unnaturally unscheduled weekend. It was full of lovely little surprises and lots of rest time for everyone. I didn’t realize how much we needed to just recoup after the Marathon last weekend. Which, by the way, went spectacularly for AA. He ran like the wind! His time was 2:41 and he placed 45th overall. Out of . . . 11,000 people. WOW! Seriously, I have so much respect for him. He trained seven days a week for over six months–all early early morning runs so he’d be back in time to help with any early risers. This year I didn’t have a meltdown except for right before (unlike last year when my continuous marathon-related meltdown was a real downer for everyone), and we got to watch him cross the finish line, sprinting down Summit Avenue like a boss. *** I also realized that Halloween is soon and I’m the least crafty mom ever with the kids so we bought a bunch of felt and plastic eyeballs and went to town making “pumpkins”–not sure you can call them that, but I’ll pretend along with the kids that mine looks remotely like one, just as theirs do. *** My friend Susana runs this amazing creative company where she will produce stock photos for your creative endeavors, teach you how to take decent photos of your life//products, and overall be your creative guru. It’s called Little Flower Studio and I…
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Emily Rumsey Photography I think every mother, womb-grown & heart-grown, has this litany somewhere in their head: those things they wish they’d heard when they were anticipating the arrival of their baby and the thereafter. Those things they wished someone had told them. My list is pretty long. Probably because I was the first in my family to have a baby, and first in my immediate friend group to be pregnant, and had just moved prior to being pregnant so even those new moms I did know now lived far away from us. A few of my cousins who lived close by had young children and that helped! A few neighbors did, too. No one I worked with that I was close enough to ask things like why is this happening to my unmentionables?? I read a lot, and found community online where I could ask questions. Mostly I just plodded through, trial & error style. Some of these may resonate, some may not. Hopefully you’re hearing (or heard) what you needed to during your first transition! It can be physically hard to be pregnant, and that doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. *** Not everyone who you think doesn’t have a baby, doesn’t have a baby. Lots of loss is invisible, from adoptive plans gone awry to miscarriage to fertility struggles. Don’t assume anything about other women’s bodies. *** It’s okay to feel emotionally out of whack, but if you’re having trouble with day-to-day functioning, tell your provider. You’re not whining. You…
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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, I really do! I really do. And it’s on my mind often. What can I do to improve our marriage? Okay, that’s a lie. Somedays all that’s on my mind is the long list of things he can do to improve our marriage. But I married a great guy to begin with, and I bring at least half the problems to the relationship so I really can take credit for needing to improve it and being able to. 1) recognize where we are. Like, without the hormonal influence of pregnancy. Really, truly, I sat down and took stock in where our marriage is. I wrote down what our habits are. How much time we actually spend in actual conversation. How often we bicker or fight. How frequently I’m slaying him with death-emojis in my mind’s emoticon board. I also wrote down what I appreciate about him. I wrote this out before the list of things that are hard for me because it’s easy to get swept up in the negative, at least for me. It’s not social media’s fault. It’s not my iPhone’s fault. It’s my fault for spiraling down a negativity black hole when a simple acknowledgement of an annoyance would do. Let go, bite the inside of your mouth, find ice cream. All better things to do. 2) talk openly about our children and future children. Laura & Nancy & I wrote another Scripture study (Waiting in the Word: A Couple’s Journey) that I know I told you about a few…
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