Sneak Peak and He's One!

Spring family photo sneak peak :-)

Something that hit me recently and not for the first time...those somewhat insignificant moments that make up the every day (with kids, more often than not, the days are long where you are just wishing for the day to come to a close and for sleep to come without being woken up right after you fall asleep) - you soon realize that those are all the precious moments that add up to to the eventual change we witness in our lives and it's just bittersweet when you look back and realize this. The other day I was reading my old posts and that's when it hit me. I post mostly about my family and when I look back on the everyday this is what I see and it makes me smile.

Here's the other thing that I've been guilty of and then I saw it reaffirmed on an episode of Scrubs :-) - we all think our experiences are unique sometimes, whatever it may be. For me, it could be with my birth experience, parenting experience for whatever age group, marriage, etc. But then you have to remember that you are one tiny person in a big big world and for the most part, you are just like all of the other humans on this earth trying to figure out life. It makes me laugh and it's calming to remember this :-)

Max turned 1 this month! Oh, my sweet big boy. He looks more like a 2 year old. Around 11 months, I would nurse him in public or carry him in the ergo and I started noticing wierd looks from strangers and I got the feeling they thought I was nursing or carrying around a "too" big of a kid. Someone asked me last week if he was 18 months. Yesterday, he threw a tiny fit on the ground and someone said "terrible two's?" Ha ha.


Another peak...how cute is this?

Max is always happy when he wakes up and pretty good about going down at night without a fuss. He's also suprising us with his somewhat consistent sleep patterns at night. I love looking at him when he is in my arms falling asleep, that's when I still see the baby in him. He has the prettiest hair, brown and glossy and lots of it and he has fairer skin like me. His eyes are just like Maggie's. I love-hate seeing his legs get scratched up from walking and falling. It's a sign of him growing up and just a reminder how fast time is really going by.

As for Maggie, one of the themes I've seen with turning 4 is she is really exercising her right to say no. I want her to feel like she can express her opinion and have a a choice in some things. Most recently, her dance class had to go. After about a month of classes, each week it was a new complaint: too loud, didn't want to change into her dance clothes, etc. When she was actually in class, she appeared to have fun and I really liked her teacher. I fought it for a few weeks trying to get to the bottom of it, which I thought maybe we had but then it became a useless fight again. Seems kind of insignificant, but for me at the time it was a hard thing to let go of. As a parent you want your kids to do well, have fun, and learn and when it doesn't go exactly as planned, it's a little disapointing. We're in the "taking a break" period and it's been nice because life has been so busy elsewhere.

I read cookbooks a lot, like all the way through. The other day I got the idea from one to start using lemon curd more. This past weekend I threw together some great oatmeal by using what I had in the kitchen and  I wanted to share because it tasted amazing and it's a really healthy, long-lasting breakfast.

Old-fashioned oats - the easiest way to cook these is pour dry in a bowl, boil water on the stove, pour water into the oats and let sit and absorb for about 5 minutes. I added in dry-roasted slivered almonds, orange-flavored cranberries (Trader Joe's), milk, 1 mashed banana, and after tasting it, it wasn't quite sweet enough, so then I added a spoonful of lemon curd. So yummy. I loved the different sweetnesses and the crunch of the almonds. Max sat on my lap and ate it with me.

Spring Favorites

Spring weather {green trees and grass with sunshine}

 

Birthday girl!

Almost birthday boy!

Celebrations

Gardening with family and flower blooms

New master bath!

 



 

....and lastly, Greek yogurt and Jason Mraz "I won't give up" on the ipod.

I’m Currently…

Watching…Downton Abbey. It's addicting and quite the English drama. I wasn't sure at first, now I'm hooked. It definitely transports you to another time and place, something that is nice after a long day but the episodes are long and keep me up too late :-)

Eating…breakfast for lunch today? It's another 3 am wake-up morning so looking ahead...

Planning…spring cleaning and wrapping up the new bathroom now that Maggie and Max's party is complete! 


Reading…The Female Brain. Really good book. Found it at a kid's thrift store of all places and I would recommend it to every woman (and man for that matter but not sure that's gonna happen). It's the stuff you wonder about when no one really comes out and tells you specific things about what it's like to be a female during different stages of your life. The author includes fun scenarios to explain her points with scientific evidence to back it all up.

Inspired by…my husband's ability to turn something ugly into something very pleasing in a relatively short amount of time.

Excited about…spring arriving and our new bathroom!

Focused but scattered

You can tell someone has a lot on their mind when:

-they start feeling a little sick
-they loose/misplace things like camera, TV remote, etc.
-they forgot to bring important things to work like pump parts!
-things stop cooperating like cell phone, garage door, etc.
-things fall out of your car and shatter because your car is too full of groceries

Thank the lord that our bathroom is almost finished but I think we have a couple more weeks of touch ups. The timing coincided with taxes and Maggie and Max's birthday bash. I say a little prayer that their party will be a sunny celebration for our friends and family and of course Miss Maggie and our soon-to-be 1 year old (ok, how did that happen so fast now that it's here?) and another prayer that my little camera turns up because I really miss it.

Peace out.

She's 4!

 

My, how my life has morphed and been on fast forward since Maggie made her way into our world. Last night we celebrated her birthday. She was a bundle of energy the day before and truly couldn't believe that she was turning 4. She thinks that turning 4 now allows her to do things on her own that she couldn't imagine a day before at 3 and that she must wear 4T, nothing smaller. LOL. More power to her though. She is full of hilarious sayings these days. People have been asking me all week what to get her. I asked her a few times and the last time I asked she hung her head and said "Ugh. I swear, mom" with a smile. I couldn't stop laughing.

Birthday dinner - "brown chicken", grains (TJ's harvest grains), and corn w/carrots

I was at a loss of what to get our sweet girl up until yesterday. I had ideas...pet fish? Not really something I want to be responsible for. Maybe we will introduce a new low-maintenance pet later this year :-) She would love a turtle or bunny but we have a cat and two little kids in this house and that definitely feels like plenty for now. Yesterday was a whirlwind, the whole week was for that matter, but I persevered even after waking up late most days this week due to daylight savings and running around like a crazy woman. On my list as a potential present were pink cowgirl boots. Then the timing was right and I splurged at the insistence of my dear co-worker and got light up ones to boot (you like that?). To Maggie's delight, she exclaimed that she will be wearing them every day from this point forward. I sure hope so, let's get some use out of these puppies! I also snagged the perfect Rapunzel/Tangled singing card. FYI to all you parents-you really can't go wrong with a singing card for your child. It's about just as good as any other gift you will get them (along the cardboard box theme or wrapping paper-sometimes that's much more exciting than the actual present).

These are all of my early morning thoughts after a 3 am waking with Max where momma can't go back to sleep. Did I say that we are also in the middle of the biggest remodel yet at our house? Our master bath got gutted and is being replaced piece by piece thanks to hubby. Last year we did an update on our hall bath. So you can see why I can't sleep. Today we buy all the expensive stuff, are having a friend take some family photos of us, and are getting some dinner out with said friends that are getting married soon. Good times. And, my friends, day by day.

As she turns 4, Maggie is all about letters and words. I'll post a picture of her work soon. She is constantly pointing out words while driving in the car and writes every chance she gets at home. I often see her writing on kleenex. Sometimes her words are backwards or from bottom to top. She loves to write Max, her own name, mom/dad, or friends names down. Other names she asks me to write down for her to copy. We encourage her on this path of course but it is really cool to see a child discover writing and what it all means. She is very enthusiastic about it and wants to figure it out. I have been having conversations with her that start like this: "Mom, did you know that "e" starts with elephant?" The other thing about 3 going on 4 is that she doesn't make a ton of sense sometimes. Either it's some babble where she is trying out sentences or topics that just don't make sense or one day she likes something, the next day she doesn't and usually it has to do with some specific experience she had that was minor in reality but huge in her world. She seems to work this stuff out but it's just a funny stage.


{Joys of Parenting}
Spontaneous kisses and being told they love you or think you are pretty at random moments (these are the moments where you quickly clear your brain and be in the moment with them because these are the moments to remember 20 years from now)
Watching your child focused on something, like writing or dance
Moms group fun (being involved with other moms and their kids-hubby believes there is always high society chatting and consumption of alcohol that ensues at these events)
Watching shows quiety with your kids and speaking of, another comment from Maggie that made daddy laugh: "Mom, let's watch a show, but not Downton Abbey" (she said DA almost perfectly :-)
Watching your kids play outside together w/o you!

{Challenges of Parenting}
Night wakings and loud crying
Tantrums in a store (where you drop everything and escape)
Dropping baby at daycare when they have seperation anxiety

Of course there are more on both points but I digress...it's not even 6 am.



A Maggie shot-Kwan bear with Disney on Ice hat, Pascal off to the side, and Baby Rose wrapped up

February

First things first. Happy birthday sick husband! He was not the best patient this past weekend and I'm glad we celebrated before it hit, but we still haven't recieved his gift by mail yet (drill for our upcoming bath remodel). It's a delayed birthday of sorts, one that lasts a week. We've hit the season in our house where birthdays and celebrations are taking us by storm. I'm more prepared this year but wow, I'm constantly shopping for gifts and getting cards and meals ready.

My kids are taking over. This is one instance from this morning where Max proceeded to climb up on their little table and start ripping Maggie's art off the wall. I read a friend's post yesterday and felt a little more normal after reading it. She has a little guy that is doing the same. But seriously. Max was with his grandma yesterday and he climbed out of his crib at naptime. She found him at his door banging on it. Not crying, just wanting out. Ay yay yay! Before that happened yesterday, I was going to document other good stuff that's been happening around here. Like, Max had a bang and "over the ears" trim at 9 months. His hair was getting a bit shaggy and I wasn't ready to have him get a full cut. I wasn't even sure what that would be. Cutting boy's hair? Not my forte. The stylist commented that he was a great little client, one of her best. He sat on my lap and would look this way and that in response to new sounds. Then it became time for Maggie to get her hair trimmed so we did him again last week because his grew out really fast. He's quickly becoming the little boy. I thought I would mind more, but it's pretty darn cute. He has transitioned to walking in the past week too. Watch out!

Maggie is a cute little dancer. I think she is quickly becoming the teacher's pet. I overheard her at dance class last week being asked to get in front of her peers and state her name, age, and what she wants to be when she grows up. I heard the first girl say a singer. Then Maggie went up and said in a soft voice that she wants to be a farmer so that she can take care of pigs. I peeked in at that point and gave her teacher a smile and she responded to the class by asking Maggie about pigs and said "that's the first time I've heard that one." My daughter, the lip gloss wearing farmer :-) Her teacher held a Valentine's Day party at her studio a couple weekends ago and we signed Maggie up. She was the youngest and stayed close to the teacher all night. I think she had fun but she told us a few days after that she held her tears in while she was there. I asked her why and she said because we weren't there. Such a cute girl, a growing up moment.

I've read and finished my first book of the year: Hungry Monkey. I found this book in the Friends of the Library stacks. It was a very good read. I'll be going through it again to flag recipes and write down ingredients I want to search out. Not your typical children's "cookbook" but a great spin on how to eat with kids with lots of great tips. If you have little ones and haven't taken them to an asian market yet, do it, it's great fun. We're headed back soon.

We went on a family hike recently and leading up to it, I told Maggie we were going to see our friends and hike and she said back "Mom, you remember that I don't like to hike, right?" Yep Maggie, I know sweet dear, but we're going anyway. If you ask me how the hike went, great! Fresh air, good company, and needed exercise. 1/2 the time I carried Max in the ergo. The other half hubby offered to carry Max and then big sis wanted to be carried. This ended up being hubby also carrying her on his shoulders. It was a sight to see.

Wrapping it up, hubby and I may be in over our heads right now. Having fun of course but tired and trying to keep up with these two little monsters :) Max is currently playing with scizzors and digging through the file cabinet and trash, gotta run...