A 2nd Birthday, Belated

It's been a little while since his birthday, but that's no reason not write about it!

I'm super behind on just about everything these days, so "Better late then never" repeats in my head quite a bit.

My Booboo turned 2!

His birthday was slightly overshadowed by his brothers birth and NICU stay. Plus, there were a few things going on in our family and weather issues so we skipped the big family party and did some little things together.

On his birthday we had dinner at home with cupcakes and presents.

Then, the following Sunday we did a repeat with my parents and brothers.  He was a happy boy despite all the changes going on around him.


One of the things I look forward to so much is to see WHO my children become.

They come out of your womb these helpless, beautiful sweethearts and before you know it they are walking and talking and becoming independent of you.

Seeing each of my kids developed personalities that are so unique even though they came from the same parents and are experiencing life similarly is so amazing!  It truly is a nod to nature in the nature vs. nurture debate.

This little boy has developed a sense of humor, charm and charisma that knocks me for a loop! And just about everyone else, too.

He has shown us an intelligence that is beyond his years since before he was talking, but now he's giving us the "what-for" in full sentences.  I'm blown away every day by what he mentally digests and what comes out of his mouth

On top of all that, he has a smile that is so mischievous and adorable.... and he is so darn kissable with those big smushy cheeks!

His laughter, smiles, hugs, kisses and cuddles bring me back from the darkest of moods.

Happy belated birthday, Baby!

15 Things I Have Learned From Parenting

To be clear.

These are things I have learned and I thought I’d put these thoughts down to share.  I am not telling you I think I know it all or that we should all parent the same way.  This is just what I have realized over the last 7 years.  It may change.  It may not.  

1. Every faze ends.  Really.  One day you realize that the meltdowns over how a sock is to be worn have stopped and you don’t know how, but you are thankful.  “This too shall pass”
2. Sometimes it does take a village.  75% of the time, they just need you.  But sometimes it’s OK to let the village help.
3. Accept help when it is offered (hard for me, too).
4. Your children are all individuals and need one on one time with you.  This does not mean, however, that you need to spend an entire day bending to every whim.  It means that you should use those few moments in the car at the bus stop to have a conversation or be sure to tuck them each in with a kiss and a hug and I love you’s and little prayers and snuggles.  They all need it to know you are willing to do it, even if they don’t really want you to actually do it, lol.
5. Kids will not eat everything you make, but they can try it.  If they still don’t like it, whatever.  Just try to make their daily nutrition balanced.  And then there are times when it won’t be, and they will live.  
6. You can make it all even.  I try and try and try to make everything even and balanced, but somehow, its still “not fair!” Grrr.  
7. Kids are brutally honest sometimes.  It might sting a little, but they aren’t trying to hurt you.  Do not take anything out of their beautiful little mouths to heart unless it’s adorable and sweet and you want it to be the truth <3
8. The laundry will never end.  There is literally no point in time when everything is clean.
9. Kids make messes.  They can clean some of them themselves.  Others will need your attention.  Sometimes it’s ok to leave a mess sit.
10. Every parent in history has felt overwhelmed at some point.  It is an overwhelming job!  I read another blog where the women said she gets through the moments when she is frozen with indecision by telling herself “just do the next thing.”  It’s really helpful.  Yes, there are likely many things that need to done, but you can only do one or two immediately.  Just evaluate, list in order of importance, and then do the next thing.  
11. Nothing stays the same.  
12. They are not little for long.  Cherish it!
13. You will never know everything and it’s ok.
14. Take or leave advice as you see fit.  Nothing is really one size fits all.
15. You can get a lot done in Survival Mode.  Maybe you didn’t shower today or the kids are still in their PJ’s, but the laundry is running, the blog posts are written and the bills are paid.  It’s a pretty good day :)  

My list could go on and on.  I have been writing this in my head for about a week and I keep coming up with new lessons I’ve learned.  Parenting teaches you so much.  Kids teach you so much.  

What lessons have you learned?  Please share!

     

Parent Shopping Hack

I'm assuming that if you are reading this blog, you likely have children or may be heading that direction. Something that I never considered before having baby #2 is how you are supposed to go grocery shopping  with a baby and toddler. Unless you wear your baby in a carrier, the cart is full of kids!

I'm all for wearing baby, but many times they are asleep when I get that the store and I don't want to wake them by taking them out of the seat. Or its super hot out and I sweat 90% of the day in the dead of winter. Or ( and this is the biggest reason) I'm not comfortable with being put in a situation where baby is on me and I have to wrangle a toddler. Bending over and sometimes having to move very quickly leaves the baby too vulnerable for my liking.

Enter my cart/basket combo.

One day at the store I walked by the stack of baskets and thought that if I could fit that underneath the cart, it would add some needed storage.  As luck would have it, it works at some stores. I feel like it's even been a consideration at our local wegmans.

Now, some stores are not as easy (looking at you Target) so I came up with another idea.

Those little hooks that you can buy to hang things from your stroller can be hung from the handle of the cart to support the handle of the basket (Munchkin Stroller Hook).

This is a bit more combersom, but it is way better than the alternarives.

I'm sure you are familiar with the carts with benches, buggies and also, the dreaded "customer in training" carts? Nope, nope and nope.

The big carts with benches and cars on the front are like 18 wheelers and I get dirty looks and comments from people with my regular cart plus kids taking too long or taking up too much space. 

Also, the cars are germ factories. My kids were never sick until just after I let my oldest ride in one for the first time...after sanitizing. Guess what? Strep.

Side rant: 

Where else besides home and work are you going to find people with families? The grocery store, buying food for said families. Doesn't it stand to reason that you are going to encounter parents and children in the store? People need to stop acting like we don't belong there. Again, dirty looks and comments. And my kids are pretty well behaved. End side rant...

So, if you are tired of trying to fit your stuff in around children and carseats, this may be helpful to you. 

If I'm way behind on this, I apologize. Please don't burst my bubble. I feel like a genius everytime I do it ;)




     

Teaching Gratitude This Holiday Season

Gratitude is a word that is often overlooked and taken for granted.  I know I moan a little when I hear it. Yes, I should have a grateful attitude, darn it.  It would make me feel better, you feel better, everyone feel better.  Why do I resist it like I do?  Do you resist gratitude?  What about your family? Your children?  

To read about how to teach gratitude this holiday season, go here...

I write a lot over at ChesterCounty-Pa.com and I wanted to share it with you as well.  I hope you enjoy!

     

Speeding Through the Holidays

We are coming up on the holiday season.  I think Saturday it officially starts the Thanksgiving/Christmas rush.  I can tell that the media is just barely holding back the flood of holiday commercials and sales, with only a few slipping by so far.

Part of me is like "HOLD ON!"  I want to enjoy each holiday for what it is and take my time with each one.

On the other hand, I am a planner and I AM thinking about how what we are doing for Thanksgiving and Gifts and activities for Christmas.

The holiday stress of deciding who to spend time with has gotten easier after nearly 10 years of marriage.  We have a pattern now that seems to work for everyone.  We are very fortunate to have nearly all of our family within driving distance - it's something that we are working hard to keep. However, it makes it a little crazy when you try to be everywhere for every holiday.  I am really glad we have worked  most of that out.

I also don't really cook.  I'm support for anyone who does.  I'm the table setter, table clearer, organizer, etc...  One day, my roll will change and we will probably pay dearly for it, so I am enjoying my time just eating and cleaning at this point ;)

I do bake, but it's only as much as I can handle that given year and how much I can get done with our schedule and kids everywhere.  This year, I think baked goods are going to be one of my main gifts since it can be done inexpensively, so I need to plan my time and budget accordingly.

Having so much family in the area makes Christmas very "big" for the kids.  They tend to get more stuff than we can decide what to do with in the aftermath so we have asked that it be limited some.  Especially since this is the first year that Booboo will really understand what is happening, I don't want another one with grandiose ideas of what Christmas can amount to.  I want the kids to enjoy it, but also focus on what it's really about.

I am kind of happy the Toys R Us wish book came this weekend, ya know? And Kmart's and something from Target...  It felt wrong at first, but I got a really good idea of what the kids are interested in this year and I can start looking out for the best price and selection now.

Did I mention we also have multiple birthdays and our 10th anniversary in there with the holidays?

My husband I don't really exchange gifts for our birthdays or anniversary, we usually combine all three into a date night at a nice restaurant or something.

But it's a biggie for Dude, he's going to be 5!

Every year it's tough to schedule his birthday party because he was born the week before Thanksgiving.  It feels like too much to ask people to travel twice in one week and buy gifts or make food.  We are having something for him, definitely, but it won't be the whole family this year.  I have huge Momma guilt over it, as I do every year.

I knew someone years ago who also happened to share her birthday with Thanksgiving.  She said it always kind of hurt that the holiday overtook her birthday celebration.  One year she was actually presented with a giant turkey shaped cake as her birthday cake and she said it was the worst birthday ever.  She actually cried afterwards.  That story has stayed with me for nearly 20 years and I will not let that ever be Dude's feelings about his importance in our lives.

He has told me, thanks to the catalogs in the mail, exactly what he wants this year.  This is the first time he has had something so specific in mind and I want to be able to come through for him.

I know that most of this was rambling and I actually sat down to write with a whole different purpose.  This is what came out, lol.  Thanks for letting me ramble :)


   

     

Spring 2014 Memories

This is an incredibly Fun, but also busy time of year.  The elementary school is out this week, Preschool was out 3 weeks ago, girl scouts just ended, dance has ended, summer camp has already started, Swimming lessons and Princess's birthday party with her school friends are this weekend.

There have parties galore, gifts to buy and food to make, sitters to schedule, work to rearrange and then all the regular day to day things.  I feel like I have been running, running, running and dropping the boys with someone constantly because their sister has had so many things to attend.  She has quite a social life these days ;)

I am so ready to be done with the school year and all the activities!  By September I will be refreshed and ready to start again, but for now we just have to get past this weekend and life will slow down a bit (I hope!).

 We finally got the swing set just right for all three kiddos.  Booboo discovered that he is one cool dude in sunglasses.  It's so cute because his little nose hardly holds the classes up!  Princess had her very first Girl Scouts Cookie Awards Ceremony.  She received the theme badge and the 200 badge, plus the pencil case, stuffed red panda and a craft tape set.  She was so excited!  Dude graduated from his 3 year old preschool class.  He looks thrilled, right?

This weekend was Princess's Dance Recitals.  She performed 4 times in two days and loved every minute of it.  For her first performance is was just me and Dude attending and we all went for ice cream at a new parlor afterwards.  We don't usually get to sit down at the table and eat ice cream cones :)  And Booboo thinks he's a big kid and has decided that Dude's scooter is his.  He loves riding around on it (with help, of course).

     

Think Like a Scientist: Classes, Camps and Parties!

One of the problems that I run into as my children get older is how to keep them busy over the summer. 

I used to read the posts about how to keep the little ones busy over the summer and thought "what's so hard?" I get it now.  I sooo get it.

They LOVE school and really like getting out of the house, learning and playing with other children.  It also gives them the opportunity to go to their own classrooms and be their own person individually rather than as the "Big Sister or "Little Brother."

When we were kids, we played outside all day with our neighborhood friends.  Sometimes we went swimming, sometimes we had a school friend over or went to the movies on a rainy day, but we weren't entertained by our parents and we didn't need to be.

These days things are a bit different.  The idea of letting my kids wander the neighborhood is terrifying, and it a good neighborhood!  Traffic and not knowing our neighbors makes for a bad combo.  There also aren't very many young families where we live.

They get bored.  And, I am not even the one dealing with it.  The kids spend the weekdays with my Mother and Mother in Law and I feel bad that I am putting it on them to keep them busy.

I don't like the idea of day care or full day summer camp (nor can we afford it - yikes!) so half day or week long summer camps and Bible Schools are good option for us.

One of the camps that I am totally impressed with is Think Like a Scientist.  This is a local organization created by two inspiring teachers that have run a program out of local schools and now have their very own location!

Here's some information from the TLaS ladies:

Think Like a Scientist! llc began as a dream. We, (Coleen and Jodi) began teaching together at a local preschool in 2007. We taught the three year old program and a Pre-K Enrichment class. Our Enrichment class evolved into a Science Enrichment class. 

We wrote curriculum and developed a passion for teaching science to young children. Most importantly, we were excited by the fact that the children loved learning about science!  

Our science enrichment class inspired us to create Camp for a Cure, a science based camp, which funds both of us to walk in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk. We have led Camp for a Cure for the past 6 years. We have walked in 6 different cities, while aiding in the fight against breast cancer. We will continue our tradition and look forward to hosting Camp for a Cure at Think Like a Scientist! llc.

While having fun teaching young children, we continued to dream about beginning our own program and teaching children hands-on science through exploration of all content areas. A local private school was looking for a program for their young students. Think Like a Scientist! began because the school provided us both the space and the opportunity. We taught Think Like a Scientist! at their location for three years before we decided to take a leap of faith and open our own location!

Now Camp for a Cure is running our of their very own location and two more weeks of themed camp will be added.  One in July and one in August.  Camp for a Cure still has a few spots open in June, but do not hesitate because they are going fast!

Camp for a Cure Is a science camp based upon the writings of  Eric Carle. Join us as we explore science through literature! Proceeds from this camp are donated to the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for a Cure.June 9-12

Animal Planet! Join us at TLaS! to classify, create and explore some of our planet’s most amazing creatures! July 21-24

Adventures in Science Join us under the ground, up in space and in our own backyard as we explore some of the astounding features and creatures our earth has to share!  August 18-21

Time: Each camp offers a choice of a morning session (9:00 to 11:30) or afternoon session (12:30 to 3:00)

To Register: Contact Coleen Herbst and Jodi Wooten at  tlascientist@gmail.com or 484.678.1602. We will email you the necessary paper work to enroll your child. Full registration fee is required to hold a spot for your child on one of our camp rosters.

These ladies are in high demand.  Camps are filling up, their classes and parties (yes, science themed parties! I've been to one and it is the most organized, engaging and CALM children's party I have ever been to.) are expanding and preschools in the area are clambering to get them in their schools for the fall.

If you are in the Chester County area, look them up!