whole parenting
My poor sainted husband. This man. He has to listen to me talk all about my online life, my online friends ((waving)), and now take photos of me in the backyard at 8pm while I’m fake laughing. Bear with me here. {{was I supposed to lighten my teeth? they’re a little yellow. #sorrynotsorry}} It all started when I met the wonderful ladies from Joules at The 100 Event this summer. Joules is a British company, accent included, that offers lovely high end clothing & accessories for your whole family. And boots. Cannot forget the boots. They sent me this beautiful dress (I’m wearing a slightly different version), this handsome men’s polo shirt, and these stellar vests for SuperBoy & SweetPea. At the conference, we were gifted an amazing bag (see more of their selection here), and will be mailed a pair of their famous boots! Remember that if you’re on a budget, they have a fabulous and affordable outlet section too! Scroll down . . . \\\\ for giveaway! \\\ So we set out to photograph them. The dress, the vests, the whole kit & caboodle. I had an impulse to shower after dinner, and then blow dry my hair, apply two layers of lipstick, my face oils, no eye make because HELLO large glasses!, and then make my husband photograph me. Maybe it wasn’t the best timing? The kids wanted so desperately to help. And then so desperately not to go to sleep after. First I leaned up against the…
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And . . . news! Apartment Therapy featured our playroom!!!! Which led me to ponder as of late, will I ever have a really clean house? The answer? No. I won’t. Because that would mean my children weren’t here. At all. That’s not (ironically) because they’re all that dirty. That’s also not because they create that much of a mess. It’s because my time spent with them means I’m not cleaning our big big old house. When they’re sleeping (all three at once? pppshaaaa yah right), okay, when the bigs are sleeping and the baby just woke up, I might clean the kitchen, or prep for dinner, or design a new blanket for my etsy shop, or do laundry. But dust? Vacuum? Catch up on all my sewing projects? Probably not. When Design Mom featured our home, I dusted around the frame of the lens of my camera. And with Apartment Therapy, I may have run a vacuum before these pics were snapped. But the day-to-day? It’s a little dirty and filled with cobwebs. But the kids still romp around, oblivious to the dust. They still play chess. They still run up the front stairs shouting “last one’s a rotten egg” before nap time. They still love me, despite my poor housekeeping abilities. I don’t want to look back at this time and think wow my house was so clean. I want to look back and think wow my time was so full. Whether it’s spent volunteering in our local awesome birth& parenting world as an associate…
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I couldn’t have ordered up an easier sleeper. *dodging shoes & old tomatoes now* Please, take pity on me as SweetPea never slept through the night til after we night weaned her (that’s fancy crunchy talk for stopped nursing her when she cried and woke up at night) at 12 months and then my poor sainted husband spent 4-6 weeks rocking her back to sleep most nights. Now you can think, oh, you should have let her cry it out; it’s your own fault she was a bad sleeper. Had that thought or similar? Fair enough. But she was a real peanut size wise and breastmilk was her best caloric intake. And I didn’t intend for it to keep going. Every night we’d stare at the ceiling and murmur out of exhaustion to each other should we go get her? should i go in there and nurse? should we come up with an actual plan here? So when this fat baby–sorry, but when you start out at an ounce shy of 10 pounds and you’re already clear up near 15–I mean adorably big baby latched on happily, nursed himself asleep, and has been an amazingly sound sleeper ever since the get-go, we have been relieved and delighted. I’ve written a ton about sleep and lack thereof. So search sleep on the homepage if you need tips or help or commiserating. My most read post on it is this little ditty here. I have a new sleeping helper to tell you about, too. I…
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I went to Texas. Again. With BabyLoves. In the sling. This time it was for another conference. Last time was all about being women together. And supporting each other. And rap karaoke. This time Megan, Bridget, Lauren, and Grace hosted us. Such sweet hostesses. They went so above and beyond. Every meal was sponsored. The drinks (no alcohol for this paranoid nursing mama) were DELICIOUS {hand squeezed lemonade, anyone?}. All the restaurants we went to were interesting and good, darned good food. The sponsors were generous with their swag and very generous with their insights. Every time I turned around, we were doing something fun and interesting. The ladies even played a little pass-the-baby so I could be bebe free for a few minutes to take notes when he wanted to a-gooop on me. Support these ladies. Follow them. They’re doing great things. I want Bridget’s lipstick. Bloggers of the world: come together for delicious food, amazing gifts, spurring conferences, and the opportunity to have an intimate luxurious weekend to learn, laugh, and love. {love? yes, love. we loved the freedom to wear heels. yes, I wore heels. and yes we had lots of girly moments wherein we said “i just LOVE you!”} My sweet roommate Kelly and her beautiful shop with wood wall hangings, Britt of the infamous cattle ranching in New Mexico {infamous for her beautiful photos and fabulous style}, Olivia of her lifestyle blog & handsome son who is my son’s best friend. They drooled on each other. Can’t…
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What I really want to write about was our epic family vacation. Epic. Staycation for our immediate family, ca-y-cation for those out of towners who traveled with their wee ones to join in the party. 6 kids under 4. 11 adults in the house. We all fit, somehow. And no one died. But while I’m editing the photos and weeding out all the ones where no one is looking at the camera, or my mom cut off the heads of some, find me on other places on the internet. Do you follow I Believe in Love? Well, you should. It’s an awesome project. I wrote for them about coping with being the at-home parent, but that it’s not a competition for who suffers more between AA&me. Read it here. And I partook (partaked?) in a baby gift guide with a couple of things from my etsy shop. See the gift guide here. Scroll. Keep scrolling. I’m number 5, the chenille wipes. Love those wipes. Most importantly, know that I haven’t put away my clean clothes for a month so they’re in a big pile on the floor of my closet and I can’t find a thing to wear. I rummage and rummage but only encounter AA’s work socks and my hoodie sweatshirts. Where are my nursing tanks? Where’s something that doesn’t smell like cottage cheese / baby spit up?? In closing, I’m going to this amazing conference/cocktail party in Texas next weekend. I’ve been planning for it for . .…
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SuperDad AA with our Godson and SweetPea back in February. So it must be that I’m on some kind of a roll! Another humbling opportunity to guest post, this time for Verily Magazine, a new magazine for the modern woman. Let’s just say everything on there is beautiful, real, and makes me want to abandon my wardrobe and poor culinary skillz and only follow their advice. On everything. Speaking of advice, I wrote an advice column on relationships for them: 5 signs your boyfriend will be a great dad. How do I know what the signs are and if they’re valid? Well, I did marry Mr. Perfect and he is Mr. Dad of the Millenium, but more importantly I dated a bit and I talk A LOT with my friends on this topic. Isn’t that the only thing girls talk about? Aside from world peace, chocolate, and Downton Abbey? My five signs are he listens, he is patient, he is sacrificial, he has a sense of humor, and he is a hard worker. My sister Molly says the fourth (humor) should be number 1, but really they’re all number 1. Five number 1 traits! Come over to Verily Magazine and plan to hunker down and stay for a while. It’s a glamorous glorious experience. Read it . . . here.
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