whole parenting family
Step 1: do not go out of town for Thanksgiving. Lap up the days & days of your spouse being home, roasting fires, knitting in front of said fires, and making sure the crawling standing six month old doesn’t hurl himself into said fire. Step 2: decorate for Christmas (or whatever you’re celebrating) right after you’ve consumed more freshly whipped cream than your postpartum jeans thought were humanly possible. Step 3: bust out your Holy Heroes paraphernalia and go to town catechizing your kids via CD and coloring books. But seriously. Jenny from Holy Heroes is a superwoman I met at the Edel Gathering. I LOVED the Holy Heroes cd my friend Cynthia (check out her etsy skillz, for seriously) gave SuperBoy for his birthday but we needed something fresh. We were maxing out on Curious George books on tape (I mean CD, I mean digital file, I mean beam me to the next galaxy and back) and when I saw her booth I practically trotted up to her shouting My four year old wants to be an altar boy so badly and is obsessed with all things Catholic–I need loot. She obliged! She sent over the Joyful Rosary CD and accompanying coloring book AND the Best Loved Prayers of the Mass CD and coloring book. Stop. … Hang on. … Yup. He’s listening to it right now. He repeats the Mass prayers and not-so-gently instructs his sister and cousin on them. Complete with practicing the EF in Latin, he now can…
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A friend confided in me: I sleep in bed with the baby and my husband sleeps with our toddler. I know–I know–it’s so weird. He’s a bad sleeper. I responded: that sounds like so many parents I know. Not weird at all. Almost all of us are dealing with baby and children sleep. Meaning: crappy interrupted adult sleep. We’ve embraced “bad” sleeping. So now it just feels like “sleeping.” I wrote a lot about sleep with my first two kids. I read a lot about sleep. I think I thought I could out-think the sleeping problems of babies. I viewed them as problems. I viewed myself as a sleep deprived zombie. I was convinced there was a sleep answer. Toddler Sleep Issues: reasons why they might wake up. Sleep Sampler: 0-12 months: my overview from my kiddos Ousting a co-sleeper: we’re not here with BabyLoves, but why did I kick SweetPea out of bed at 6 months? IT DID NOT WORK. I kept getting up to nurse and soothe her for another 6 months til we night weaned. Nightweaning: when & how we did it with our second born. Now on baby number three, I’ve embraced that babies sleep differently than children and adults. Well, at least I’ve given up that I can teach my baby to sleep differently than he is inclined to. Babies do not go week after week with uninterrupted REM cycles. They just don’t. If your baby magically has never awakened between the hours of 7pm and 7am, ever,…
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Shannon of Organic Mama’s Shop is a lovely artisan and I so love her work I went back to her again for another gift for you all because now that I have a teether–oh, boy, I treasure and hoard her teething stone necklaces! Here’s the skinny: two winners: one for a $25 gift certificate toward her shoppe and one teething necklace that I got for you because I love you. I love her work. Her organic stone teething necklaces are saving my life right now. And clavicles because Mr. BabyLoves wants something to grab on to–while nursing, or while hopping around in the sling. Or while being worn & carried by my dad. Or AA. Or while laying around planning his next bold move of PULLING HIMSELF UP. You heard it here first. Just turned 6 months. Yikes. I LOVE her necklaces. I have this one and the one pictured. Go buy one or win the $25 toward her shoppe. You seriously need it. The cotton cording is organic (love that) and also easily adjusted for being longer ((playing on his own)) or shorter ((he’s captive in the sling)). The stone is cold and ready for gums // teeth // playing with while you’re feeding. I also purchased from her this one. I really like it for the additional wooden ring component. Kept BabyLoves happy for a two hour mass the other day. Because my church is awesome and sometimes the orchestra really goes on and on in a good way. And look…
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Oh hello lovelies! It’s me, again. I’ve been so underwater these past few weeks. I miss you! I feel like I’ve written a dozen blog posts in my head and then cannot get to my computer for uninterrupted time to actually share them with you. Earlier this week I wrote about re-centering for the holidays and I’ve been working on that not-freaking-out part all week long. I hope you’re not eyeballing Thanksgiving with a hint of the freak-out in your stomach. Be like me: procrastinate!! Actually, I’ll be sharing my Thanksgiving meal plan tomorrow for our weekly chat about meal planning: Week Eats! And early next week I’ll have all my holiday gift options for the etsy shoppe ready & raring to go. So brace yourself for fabric overload. But in the meanwhile, I’d like to gift you three things: Rebecca’s book, Cari’s book, and the Blessed is She devotional advent journal. /// Rebecca’s book. Teaching in Your Tiara: a homeschooling book for the rest of us. She blogs at Shoved to Them. I met Rebecca briefly at the Edel Gathering last summer. We chatted in the lobby. She was so down to earth and funny. HECK very funny. When I realized she was an author of a homeschooling guide, I was all can i read and review your book and give one away?? She was all: yes. You see when we first started thinking about schooling options, as all first time parents do, I was probably pregnant with our first…
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My sweet little SweetPea. She’s two and a half now. Fierce & firey and always ready to slay you with a glare or a smile. AA likes to call her our honey bunzzzzzz. Or hunky. Or big sweets. The irony being that she’s quite petite. In addition to her pretty petite size she has been suffering from eczema the past year or so. Heredity, sorry to say, from me & my hay fever allergies. Her older brother had it too and outgrew it. We’re hopeful she will as well. We’ve tried everything. The diet changes. The elimination of everything. The skin treatments. The heavy hitters. The organic balms. The bleach baths. The oatmeal baths. The lotion twice or three times a day. Our allergist has been quite supportive even when our treatments fell outside the “norm” in kind. We’ve come to the conclusion that it cannot be healed, contrary to every natural foodie article I’ve read on the topic, but it can be managed. We wash with no soap unless necessary, and then use my sister’s mild baby soap. We oil immediately after bathing with this rosehip seed oil, and cover patches of broken skin with a honey bumble balm. When necessary, we’ll use the steroid creams, but given our new methodology, we haven’t had to use it in a long time. The new methodology includes . . . Really really soft washcloths & towels for bathing. I mean, like really, really soft. Enter: Peacock Alley and their bamboo bath…
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I am not a bracelet person. I’m not even really a necklace person. I’m kinda into earrings but usually wear the same ones all the times. I do love rings, but only wear my wedding ring set. I became a bracelet person when I saw what Mary had to offer over at Christian Bling. Really truly OOOOH loooooove this one and this one and especially this one. So when she sent it to me, I squealed. I let out a little piggie sound from my mouth to the surprise of my attending children. Mary and I chatted a few months back at the Edel Gathering and her unique jewelry company is a blog sponsor! Read our interview here. She’s so kind and loves affording ladies the opportunity to do home sales of quality christian jewelry pieces. My morning starts with nursing the baby in bed as he falls in & out of sleep, followed by having SuperBoy bound into our room with great enthusiasm at 7:01am, and watching the two of them love it up. SweetPea generally joins the mix closer to 8 and when the hunger pangs start, it’s oatmeal hot off the stove. I may get dressed before breakfast and not slum it in my bathrobe. When I do get dressed (don’t get too excited, it’s a nursing tank) and throw up my hair (just freshly colored::oh!myvanity!), I have tried putting on a little jewelry. It makes me feel like a lady. Nay, when I pop on this bracelet that…
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