Just added some new sizes - now available - Size 18 months, Size 2 and Size 4
Get them while they last!
Click here
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Daybook Entry
 |
| My favorite picture from last week - Bryson helped his brothers get dressed for church. |
Outside my window...Sunshine! Another gorgeous winter day...my favorite kind of weather - sunny and comfortable in the day and chilly/perfect for a fire at night!
I am thinking...about how to be a better listener. I struggle in this area and its something I want to spend more time cultivating this year.
I am thankful...for good friends. for life-long friends. for friends who know all your good and all your bad and there is no pretense.
In the kitchen...lots of leftovers from Superbowl Sunday - good grief..did we have to do ribs AND salmon AND sausages? meat overload...but so good...
I am wearing...my lululemon sweats...i tell myself its kind of like dressing...
I am creating...a plan for this year to keep our family and business on track...not my most fun job...and definitely not a part of my skill set, but still excited about sticking to something.
I am going...nowhere today. sick kids. blech. we just got better - no fair!
I am wondering...when this sickness will pass and the best way to treat it. Always the struggle of balancing natural remedies and knowing when to take them in.
I am reading...Beautiful Creatures - my niece and I share a love of books and this was next up for our little book club.
I am hoping...to get away with only 2 days in the office this week.
I am looking forward to...a sunday afternoon spent with beautiful ladies.
I am learning...to adapt my expectations with my children. i believe this will be a life long pursuit.
Around the house...sick boys and piles and piles. already planning a big spring cleaning session
I am pondering...minimalism (see above)
Monday, February 4, 2013
A tooth tale
(I had to share this story...it was just too perfect of an example of my daily struggles in parenting. )
So Bryson has had a loose tooth on the bottom for a while now - since Sept I think we first noticed it being a little wriggly. Then his mature teeth popped out behind...in fact they are like halfway out. He really wanted his tooth to be out. He asked him brothers to smack him in the face with a pillow (because he did the same to his friend Asher and ended up knocking one of Asher's loose teeth out) and so this weekend his dad and dad's friend obliged and helped him yank his tooth out. (then they also yanked out the neighbor tooth that had also recently come loose...but that is neither here nor there)
So i told Bryson - hey! lets make a tooth pillow together to make it easier for the tooth fairy! and he was down - so he picked the fabric, he cut the fabric - he designed the pocket and placement - i stitched it up - he stuffed it...voila! he put his teeth in it and that was that...
So - here is the thing. As a parent you have all kinds of expectations...even if you aren't aware that you do. I think I expected that when my child lost their first tooth I would become this magical tooth fairy and it would be this magic moment and him running into our room exclaiming, "Look!! I got a gold coin from the tooth fairy! My childhood is magical!!!" something like that...instead this morning at 4:00a.m. i have a 7 year old Bryson crying in my room hysterically that the tooth fairy took his teeth and that he wanted his teeth more than a couple gold coins because they mean more to him than money since they are his first teeth.
So...here is the other thing. I shouldn't be surprised. I think Bryson has challenged every notion or expectation I have had about mothering or what type of mother I was going to be, etc. I had visions of rocking my sweet baby to sleep in my rocking chair and singing lullabies...uh...nope...this kid, turns out, doesn't like to be touched. nevermind rocked, cradled, cuddled, co-sleep, NOPE...none of it. cuddling bryson is like cuddling a shark...never stops moving, can't be comfortable - prefers none of it. so - fine - i steal my cuddles and sneak in their room every night when he can't stop me.
I don't know...that is just one tiny example of about a million different ways in which my ideas, expectations, fantasies were not my reality. And, as a part of maturity and growing older, I am trying to roll with the punches, so to speak- because sometimes let down expectations do feel a rather lot like a punch...I am trying to be honest about them - trying to re-work my brain and sort out the "why" underneath that expectation. I think the hardest thing I have had to do is look at that honestly and evaluate my own motivations. Its hard. This past week there was a big blow out between him and I on a school project. I will spare you the details...but it ended up in me realizing that Bryson does best when Bryson is given a chance to do his best...on his own.
So...I tell Bryson - hey - lets write the tooth fairy a note. Telling her you would like your teeth back and see what happens. He became in a better mood instantly. Maybe making their childhood magical isn't about tooth fairies and santa claus...maybe its being the right parent for your particular child. Maybe its as simple as that.
So Bryson has had a loose tooth on the bottom for a while now - since Sept I think we first noticed it being a little wriggly. Then his mature teeth popped out behind...in fact they are like halfway out. He really wanted his tooth to be out. He asked him brothers to smack him in the face with a pillow (because he did the same to his friend Asher and ended up knocking one of Asher's loose teeth out) and so this weekend his dad and dad's friend obliged and helped him yank his tooth out. (then they also yanked out the neighbor tooth that had also recently come loose...but that is neither here nor there)
So i told Bryson - hey! lets make a tooth pillow together to make it easier for the tooth fairy! and he was down - so he picked the fabric, he cut the fabric - he designed the pocket and placement - i stitched it up - he stuffed it...voila! he put his teeth in it and that was that...
So - here is the thing. As a parent you have all kinds of expectations...even if you aren't aware that you do. I think I expected that when my child lost their first tooth I would become this magical tooth fairy and it would be this magic moment and him running into our room exclaiming, "Look!! I got a gold coin from the tooth fairy! My childhood is magical!!!" something like that...instead this morning at 4:00a.m. i have a 7 year old Bryson crying in my room hysterically that the tooth fairy took his teeth and that he wanted his teeth more than a couple gold coins because they mean more to him than money since they are his first teeth.
So...here is the other thing. I shouldn't be surprised. I think Bryson has challenged every notion or expectation I have had about mothering or what type of mother I was going to be, etc. I had visions of rocking my sweet baby to sleep in my rocking chair and singing lullabies...uh...nope...this kid, turns out, doesn't like to be touched. nevermind rocked, cradled, cuddled, co-sleep, NOPE...none of it. cuddling bryson is like cuddling a shark...never stops moving, can't be comfortable - prefers none of it. so - fine - i steal my cuddles and sneak in their room every night when he can't stop me.
I don't know...that is just one tiny example of about a million different ways in which my ideas, expectations, fantasies were not my reality. And, as a part of maturity and growing older, I am trying to roll with the punches, so to speak- because sometimes let down expectations do feel a rather lot like a punch...I am trying to be honest about them - trying to re-work my brain and sort out the "why" underneath that expectation. I think the hardest thing I have had to do is look at that honestly and evaluate my own motivations. Its hard. This past week there was a big blow out between him and I on a school project. I will spare you the details...but it ended up in me realizing that Bryson does best when Bryson is given a chance to do his best...on his own.
So...I tell Bryson - hey - lets write the tooth fairy a note. Telling her you would like your teeth back and see what happens. He became in a better mood instantly. Maybe making their childhood magical isn't about tooth fairies and santa claus...maybe its being the right parent for your particular child. Maybe its as simple as that.
2012 Book Review
I did this last year and thought it would be fun to go back and look at some of the books I read this past year - I was so shocked that I read as much as I did...I swear - its because of the Nook...I know there are some of you "purists" out there who still are anti-e-readers...but man - the convenience of buying a book from my couch...of being able to read the #2 book in a series the next day...its awesome! Here are some of my favorites - and the list of the books read and the order and my complicated rating system and coding system :) I really tried to make an effort last year to mix things up with non-fictions. I had wanted to read a biography or auto-biography and didn't get around to it, but want to continue having a good balance between "just for fun" books and more "mature" books...so please comment away if you have any good recommendations!
**** 2. Sleepwalk with Me by Mike Birbiglia - NSS
***** 3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling - NSS
**** 4. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt - F
*** 5. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - YA
** 6. Uglies by Rodrigo Corral - YA
***** 7. The Name of the Wind (Book #1 Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss - FAN
***** 8. The Wise Man's Fear (Book #2 Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss - FAN
** 9. For Better or For Work by Meg Hirshberg - SH
** 10. Love Does by Bob Goff - NSS
*** 11. Wildwood by Carson Ellis - YA
**** 12. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares - F
*** 13. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - F
**** 14. Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler - YA
**** 15. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - C
*** 16. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare - C
**** 17. Chime by Franny Billingsley - YA
* = why did i even finish it?
** = would not recommend, even to someone I didnt like.
*** = okay - still would not recommend
**** = a fun read and want you to read it too!
***** = probably finished it in 2 days and ignored my kids because it was so good
F = Fiction
NSS = Non-Fiction Short Stories
YA = Young Adult
FAN = Fantasy
SH = Self Help/Informative
C = Classic
Currently Reading: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia (LOVING it so far!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)