7.28.2011

Are You Pinning?

I love Pinterest.  It's waaaaaay cooler than having 200 bookmarked pages on your computer.  The idea is that you create "boards" (for example, some of mine are "eat", "create", and "decorate") and when you find something online that you love, you "pin it" one of your boards.  Now every time I log onto Pinterest, I see my boards full of all kinds of fun stuff saved in one place!  If you click on the photo of your pin, it'll take you to the original webpage where you found the idea or item.  So, so cool. 

Last Sunday, Button and her daddy were napping, so I went to my Pinterest boards to find some ideas I'd saved for the boy and I to do.  Here's what we came up with:



(minus the eyes!)
We did this one on Tuesday night.  It needed time to freeze solid.
We had a few casualties!
And for dessert: Minty Lemon Slushies
Thanks, Pinterest!!

7.27.2011

Button ~ Seven Months Old

She is happy, happy, happy!  She has two tooth buds and loves to eat.  She's had peaches, cucumber, sweet potatoes, beans, avocado, banana, rice, and apple.  Yesterday she made her first sounds, other than coos and screeches; Ba, Ba, Ba!!  She's quite proud of herself.  Mommy's little lamb...



7.20.2011

This Too Shall Pass (via Under the Sycamore)

Button popped a tooth this weekend.  I nearly cried.  It's a pretty significant milestone, going from a delicious toofless grin to one with teefers.  I discovered the little tooth bud at the high school graduation party of my boss's oldest daughter; a young girl whom I met when she was just 9 years old, freckle-faced and infatuated with ponies.  Now she's the drop dead gorgeous "shot girl" at the local canal-side restaurant and leaving for college soon!  Since I was already an adult at the age of 24 when I met her, that really makes me feel old.  And it makes me VERY aware of the (Wait! Stop! Put the breaks on!) passage of time, which is sometimes too much to bear.

I was really struck by Ashley Ann's "This Too Shall Pass" post on Under the Sycamore. Her take on the oft-said phrase is not in the negative overtone that it's typically associated with, but with the understanding that even the precious things in life aren't permanent.  I was in tears reading it.  Man, can I relate!  I'm all mush as I write this now. I hope Ashley doesn't mind if I post a few of my own lovelies:

Bug in yellow monkey rainboots, even in 100 degree heat... this too shall pass.

Button gumming my chin, back and forth like a frisky puppy... this too shall pass.

When a hug is his face pressed against the side of mine... this too shall pass.

"Mommy, hold my hand"... this too shall pass.

Underwear with monsters on the butt... this too shall pass.

Family snuggle pile on Sunday mornings... this too shall pass.

Fairy houses in the woods... this too shall pass.

Laying next to him until he falls asleep... this too shall pass.

Mid-night nursings, tiny hand on my neck... this too shall pass.

7.19.2011

Anywhere Will Do


We helped some friends move to a new apartment in D.C. a couple of weeks ago.  Button was sleepy.  We found an empty drawer in an empty room and filled it with a snuggly baby.  There's something about these images that I absolutely love.  They're simple, peaceful, muted.  I was wishing the drawer was big enough for both of us...

7.18.2011

Button ~ Six Months Old

I really need to get on the ball with my monthly posts!  I take the photos on time, but then I let them stew in my editing folders for far too long.  She turns 7 months old in a week, so without further ado, here are a few from Button's six month shoot. 



 Monthly owl calendar by Gingiber.
Past monthly photos: two, three, four, five.

7.14.2011

Everything's different, yet it's all the same.

With baby #2 I'm surprised at how different things are compared to how we did things with Bug.  Of course there are the typical changes that I feel come naturally with the arrival of a second child: we're more laid back, etc, etc.  But I'm surprised with how differently we've handled the daily care.  Here's what I mean:

Sleeping - with Bug we slept with him in the bassinet at the foot of our bed until he was 4 months old.  At 4 months (my pre-determined age for bassinet eviction because I read somewhere that it should be so), we moved him to his crib in his own room.  Button is coming up on 7 months old (oh dang, I just realized I've yet to post her 6 month photos... sorry) and we still have and use the bassinet, however, her preferred sleeping location is right between her daddy and I.  In the crook of his arm to be exact.  I fretted about it a bit at first.  "Oh, she's going to be sleeping with us until she's seven...."  Then it took me about 10 seconds to not care.  Mostly because it doesn't happen every night.  So what if we occasionally get to sleep next to a deliciously snuggly baby till who knows when.  Daddy loves it.  It makes night nursing super easy.  Button's obviously happy.  Bug loooves to climb up on all of us in the morning and lay next to his sister (usually) gently waking her up.  It's all good.  

Nursing - like I said, night nursing is a breeze with baby right next to me.  I breastfeed on demand, which means when the child's hungry, I feed it.  That said, I'm not a walking milk fountain, either.  Button eats about every 3 hours, as did her brother, and at this point, just once in the middle of the night.  It's very manageable and I don't feel restricted by it at all.  With Bug, I pumped.  In the middle of the night, at the office, whenever possible.  For various reasons, I don't with Button.  Can I just say how liberating it is to not have to pump, refrigerate, wash, repeat?  Freedom, I tell you, freedom.

Foods - Bug received a first foods diet of lovingly homemade, steamed, smashed or pureed organic foods.  I enjoyed making his foods and creating different combos, but it was pretty time consuming and I found the recommended "first foods" lists pretty limiting after a while.  This time around, I decided to (on a whim while in S.C. for the graduation) just offer Button some banana.  She loved it and it was easy.  Then I got to thinking... do I really *need* to puree everything?  Absolutely not.  And then I discovered there's a whole "movement" around just that.  Baby led weaning.  It's totally NOT a new concept and I understand that many 2nd+ time parents naturally gravitated to BLW long before it ever had a title and a book (which I'm reading, yes) purely for the ease and non-fussiness of it all.  It's really quite natural and I love that it doesn't stress the actual "eating" part at the early stages, but rather encourages food exploration, which ultimately (so they say) leads to healthy, happy relationships with food.  We shall see!  Right now, we're still offering soft foods like banana and avocado or foods to gum like cucumbers and apples, but once she has her gum-and-swallow technique nailed, we'll just offer her a bit of whatever we're eating, so long as it's not too sugary or salty.


If there's anything I've learned from #2, it's that easy can never be overrated.  Life has enough challenges.  We're busy and we want time to do the important things.  Following a list of rules (and I can say this because I've followed those lists!) has no place in child-rearing.  That said, I continue to read the parenting books/blogs/whatever and pick and choose what I find useful for our family.  And please let me be clear, what I did when Bug was young worked for us!  After the first few nights of transition (and missing him being near), I LOVED that Bug was in his own room at 4 months and that I didn't have to hear the bassinet creak every time he stirred.  I LOVED making his baby foods.  And pumping, well it was a necessary evil, but I loved knowing that I was doing it for him.  That fact is that it worked for us then and different things work for us now.  That leads me to the second most important thing I've learned as a parent - if it works for your family, it simply works for your family.  It might not work for your friend's or your neighbor's family and as mothers we need not judge each other for how we run our homes and the choices we make in our child-rearing (easier said than done, right?) 

So, there it is.  It really is different the second time around, but in the end it's all the same.  We love them and we do what works.

7.13.2011

I might have a problem.


These are the books I'm reading.  Right now.  All of them.  At the same time.  No wonder my mind spins in a million different directions at any (every) given moment.  Even when I relax, I have ADD. 

Feel free to share - what are you reading right now?

7.07.2011

Big Boy Bike

Yesterday, no really, I mean like just a couple of weeks ago, his feet could barely reach the pedals on his big wheel tricycle.  Now he's cruisin' the streets on his big boy bike.  Tongue sticking out.  Monkey rain boots.  Bell on the handle bar.  Be still my heart... I love these moments.