Just stop

I am compelled to take pictures of my babies while they sleep.

My soft, snuggly one year old, who sleeps, as he does everything else, with total abandon. Who does not stop until he curls up on his tummy at the end of the day, arms and legs tucked up under him, and sighs heavily as you scratch his back. And then his mouth hangs open, his eyes roll back in his head, and his heavy lids close. And as I lay next to him, I want to remember.

And my tall, quirky four year old. She still naps during the day and desperately needs it. She also needs to fall asleep surrounded by 15 studded animals, a pike of books, and 1-3 shining lights. But she's just as snuggly and often times,  deep in the night, she cheerfully pads down the hall, pillow and blanket in hand. And then what do you say? Because for the same reason I take pictures of them sleeping, I let them search us our in the night. I want to remember.

No matter how far away it seems now, I know that one day they won't want to share our bed, won't want me to snuggle "just one more minute," and eventually,  won't even fall asleep in my house. During the day, they live fast and hard and I get caught up in all the day to day mom things. Before I know it, night has fallen and their breathing is once again soft and steady. So I pause, and take a picture.

Open House 2014

Today we got the opportunity to leave Bug behind (with his grandpa, not in the parking lot) and visit Little Bear’s school. She goes to Montessori school which means that generally, parents are encouraged to stay out of the classroom space and let the children take ownership of school and their work. Or something like that. There hasn’t been a ton of communication home from school, either, so the entire thing has been a bit of a mystery to us. But Little Bear seems happy and engaged so we don’t have any complaints. Anyway, Papa and I were both so excited to go visit this evening. I don’t know about him, but it was on my mind all day. Does she have friends? Will she behave herself? Is she learning anything?

We got there and Little Bear introduced us by our first names to her teacher. We were given a card that the teacher had written earlier. The three things that Little Bear had apparently indicated to the teacher that she wanted to show us were painting, geometric solids, and “The Adoration of Jesus.”

Little Bear walked straight in and got out a mat. She unrolled it and went to get her first set of work materials. After laying them all out, she realized the story book was missing, looked for it for a bit, and then put all the materials away. She then got out a second, similar set, and set everything out in a very specific order. Papa read the story to her but obviously didn’t have to. She hid the angel until it was time for him to appear, lined all the sheep up to pay their respects, and didn’t take Jesus out of the basket until it was time. It didn’t surprise either of us because doll and pretend play is a big part of what she loves doing at home, but it was fun to see her level of concentration and the very deliberate order in which she played out the story.

And then (and here was the coolest part for me) she folded up her blanket. The whole putting away process was a long one and, despite the adults and students crowding the carpet, everything was set back in its original spot before we moved on.

Next we went to one of the small tables, where she pulled out a basket of flat cloth napkins. Little Bear knew she needed a stool for this activity and went to seek one out. She also grabbed chairs for papa and I and invited us to sit next to her. This activity involved folding the napkins on sewn in lines so that the resulting figures were different shapes. She only struggled with one and then, without being prompted, returned everything to its place on the shelf.

After that, Little Bear worked on “Open and Close” and a few puzzles. Some of the activities she spent longer on, some she breezed through and put away. The puzzle was neat to watch because it was just wooden blocks that form a square shape. She didn’t piece them together right but worked through her problem until she solved it.

Little Bear moved briefly from there to the following activity, which would have made her Boppa proud. That didn’t hold her interest long and we went briefly to the reading corner.

Finally, she landed on magnets, where she probably spent 15 minutes building. She kept asking Papa and I to guess what her creation was. Despite our valiant efforts, we never figured it out. As she started putting everything away, I finally asked her what it was she had been making. “Something from my imagination, mama.” she said. Right. Well, I could have guessed that.

Big boy bed!

Bug Bug has been a nightmare to put to bed. That is, if I don’t nurse him to sleep. The other night, it took me 2 1/2 hours trying to get him down before Papa finally came in and took over. 1 minute later, literally, Bug was asleep. Long story short, we took the side off his crib tonight in hopes that it would help me some. I sat on the floor next to him, he wedged his chubby hand in under my chin, and dozed off. He stayed in bed all night, too, aside from falling out once at about 11. At about 5:30 this morning, I watched on his monitor as he climbed down and toddled out into the hall. What a big boy!

Baby’s first car seat ride!

Did you know that you can use rolled up receiving blankets in a car seat to make the fit better for baby? Aftermarket products (those not actually sold WITH the car seat) are a BIG NO NO and should NEVER be used. But handy dandy receiving blankets can be and here’s how. Remember: Blankets should not be between the baby and the car seat, or between baby and the shoulder straps at any time.

Next to the baby’s head, like this (image courtesy CarSeatSite.com):























Next to the baby’s body, like this (image courtesy Car Seats For the Littles): Note that the picture on the left is a MISUSE picture.



Or between crotch strap and baby, like this (Image courtesy Louisiana Car Seat Mom):



For more on infant (bucket) seats, check out this article “Where does the handle go?” from CSFTL or this article, called “The picture guide to car seat safety” from the Daily Momtra.

Mom's Camping Kit

We have done a lot of camping this summer. Bear and Bug just love it and they’re at the age where they’re both reasonably fun to take out into the wilderness. I saw a great idea on Pinterest and knew that with all these trips, I’d have to try it.

The idea: Mom’s Camping Kit (seriously, this woman is BRILLIANT)

The verdict: I like the idea so much, I just might duplicate it at home!

My packing list is here. Obviously, this is just one year's accumulation. Emily, at Abide with Me (where I got the idea, linked above) has a much more extensive kit. Also, what you have would obviously depend on your family, the length of the trip, specific medical needs, etc. For example, we don't really have ticks or poisonous snakes here. If you did, you might want something in case of a tick/snake emergency. But this is a starting point.

Oh, and I forgot my last rule. No one touches it but me! Happy Camping!

Extra absorbency?

A friend asked me recently if I could use a g diaper insert inside a prefold for extra absorbency at night. I didn't have a cloth gdipe insert so I used a microfiber BG one instead. It's the same size and shape but you should NOT use it against baby's skin in real life because microfiber can irritate.

In any case, the idea had honestly never occurred to me so I tried it out. It worked great! It was a little extra bulky but might save you from nighttime leakage!

(Shown here: GMD prefold, Snappi fastener, BG 4.0 insert, Thirsties Duo Snap Wrap in Ocean blue)

Panther Creek

We went camping this last weekend with Mama’s family at Panther Creek Campground. We drove in and reserved a site that ended up being perfect, but that was not available to reserve online.

Perhaps in the future we can reserve it by phone. In any case, the kids both did amazingly well with the fluid schedule and lack of toys and Papa and I even got a few relaxing minutes to ourselves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Bear spent hours playing with her princesses and faeries in a tiny village that Papa and I built…

…while Bug Bug just LOVED crawling around the campsite and exploring everything. With his mouth.