After 5 years of being a stay-at-home mom, I found the wonder of mothering slowly starting to get crowded out by the mundane feeling. I realized our world seems to surround people with the negative, and complaining about blessings seems totally acceptable. So I decided to fight against that "normalcy" and focus only on the positive. I look back to my first year as a mom when everything was new and keeping house was fun and I aim to have that attitude again. This blog is my outlet to showcase the daily miracles that surround me in my blessed life as a stay-at-home mom so that I will never forget the wonder of it all.



Friday, July 23, 2010

Denver's Bath

Denver got a bath today.  He was so ashamed to have been bathed that he wouldn't look at me to get his picture taken.  When I called his name he dropped his head and barely glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.  This is the dog who, when dogsat by Grammy, will swim in Grammy's pool ALL day for as many days as he's there.  He swims in the lake we live on every chance we give him.  He will even cram his 100 lbs into the wash basin at the dog park.  He swims so much, we think he may be losing his hearing, at only 5 years old, to having so much water get in his ears.  But make him sit still for a rub down with shampoo and you would think the guy HATED water!


I love this dog!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Cute Kiddo Lunches

Before Zac and I had kids we loved when we went out to sushi or Thai food and saw families there with their kids who were totally enjoying the food.  We said that when we had kids, they were going to enjoy lots of different food like that.  Well, God blessed us with two kids with constipation issues and sensitive stomachs.  : )  I wouldn't really call them picky eaters, but they are poky eaters.  They eat SMALL servings and take forever to do it.  So needless to say, we haven't wasted much of our single income money on testing out sushi and Thai on them.  They did however inhale Dim Sum while on Summer vacation in NY, which made us both very proud.  I have to admit that they are suckers for the good old PB&J.  I swear my daughter would eat PB&J 3 meals a day, 365 days a year if it was left up to her.  Needless to say, PB&J making gets pretty mundane day after day so I've learned to spice it up by making funny lunches.  When I have the time, I turn Ritz crackers or bread fourths into animal faces using anything I have on hand; PB, cream cheese, raisins, craisins, fruit slices, vegi slices, and chocolate chips for a little treat.  Who knew a kid would eat twice their normal amount of lunch just because their food looked like a puppy? 

Here was their lunch the other day.  Bread fourths smeared with PB.  Apple slices for ears, craisens for eyes, banana slices for noses, and plum smiles.  We called them "funny bunnies" because I told them that they hopped in the dirt and got it on their plates and in their milk.  I used cinnamon for dirt.  Logan, thought the dirt was GREAT, of course, and it was the highlight of lunch.  Oh, and since we were eating "funny bunnies", we just had to watch an episode of Max and Ruby to go along with it.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Lessons In Cloth Diapering......coming soon...........

We have been cloth diapering since our middle child, Felicity, was 2.  A few weeks later, her little brother was born and he has been in nothing but cloth his whole little life (unless Grammy is babysitting).  He is now 9 months old and for the first 6 months of his life, we were cloth diapering both him and Felicity until she was potty trained at 2 1/2.  Quite a good handful of FaceBook friends have asked me for cloth diapering info during the last few months.  We LOVE cloth diapering and I LOVE passing on info and tips we've learned along our journey so far but it sure does take some time to link and explain all the info to their FaceBook page each time someone new asks.  I joked about making a FaceBook photo album tutorial so that the next time someone asked, I could, in one click, send them all the info I've learned so far.  That's when my Pastor's wife told me that's what a blog is for.  : )  So, coming soon will be tips and links from all I've learned so far in this adventure of cloth diapering...including LOTS of pics.  So if you're looking for info, check back soon and in the mean time, if you are curious one bit about it, I'd really suggest joining http://www.diaperswappers.com/ .  Its an online community of cloth diapering moms (and a handful of dads and grandmas).  I really like it but that may be because they have subforums of other things I'm interested in as well, such as homeschooling, living green, simple/thrifty living ideas, and crafting.  Anyways, I'm off to grab my camera and start gathering info for you.  Oh, and it'll take a few posts to get all the info on here so I'll be posting this in segments.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Bedtime Smiles

I just love when I put the baby to bed and he looks up at me and smiles his huge beautiful smile.  Its as if he's saying, "Thanks for nursing me down Mama.  And thanks for making sure I have my Tickity and for turning my mobile on." Such pure happiness at the end of the day.  A baby who feels comfortable enough in his surroundings to be left alone in his crib with a big smile on his face makes me feel like I'm doing something right.....today at least. 

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

One man's trash, my little boy's treasure

We were in NY visiting family for 3 weeks.  When we left, my baby boy was just starting to scoot around.  When we came home, he was crawling....FAST....and pulling up on EVERYTHING, AND furniture surfing!  Now I'm trying to babyproof faster than he can crawl.  I'm losing.  Today while searching the playroom for crayons that might be consumed, I found these in Logan's car collection box. As Kian learned to say today, "Uh-oh."


So, needless to say, Logan now has a treasure jar.





Blogging?

I was told I'd make a good blogger.  I don't really know why.  ?  Here I sit in my robe and crazy morning hair and a cup of coffee in my extra large mug and I'm drawing a blank.  I think I've FINALLY figured out how to do this all, but now I look at this blank screen and don't know where to start.  Well, I guess I'll start where I really need to....in the kitchen.  A sink full of dishes awaits me, baby needs a nap, laundry to put away....I don't know if I'll ever find the time to blog but we'll see.