Cherish the Years You Have With Your Kids

I made this in Photoshop when my older daughter was 1, and I was pregnant with the second daughter. It just struck me looking back on the days I'd had with her - they whizzed by, even when I felt like I "cherished every moment".

Don't ever feel like you did it wrong. You did your best. Every moment is new and exciting, and there's no use living in the past. But be aware of how you spend your short days and try to make the most of them.

"Newborn for a month
Infant for a year
Toddler for two years
Preschooler for two years
Child for five years
Preteen for three years
Teenager for five years
Adult.
And then they're off. Take care what you do with those years. They are few, though they may seem like many."

Halloween! We Scare Because We Care.

We're Monsters, Incorporated!

Our costumes - 
Sully - Husband
Celia - me (wife)
Boo - 2 1/2 yr old Maya
Mike Wazowski - 8mo old Amelia

The Sully costume and Celia's purple bodysuit ordered from Amazon
I sewed the girls' costumes and my (Celia) green dress.  I also cut and velcro'ed the Mike Wazowski costume to fit around the baby carrier!

I successfully birthed a second human!

Pictures!

Hubs' mom took my older daughter Maya for the night while I was in labor, so this was her reaction upon coming home the next morning! She was very happy and seemed to understand pretty well where Mama's tummy baby went.

Block Party! Baby's 1st Birthday Party

Maya and her cousin are a month apart, so for their first birthday, my sister and I threw a joint party! It was alphabet-block themed, so we called it a block party! It was back in May 2012, but I just found the pictures I took! They were hiding on my videocamera.

Block-shaped foods and cakes

The Five Stages of Mommy Hygiene

It's no secret that parents run short on time when kids are involved. Well, I was taking a shower this evening (after three days without one), and I came up with a list I think other moms (or dads) could relate to.

You know you're a parent when. . .

Look at the love there. You can practically touch it.

There are sooooo many perks to being a parent. The love and connection you feel when you hug or kiss your child is the most pleasant, warmey, gooey feeling in the world. The pride you feel when your child accomplishes something you taught them is irreplaceable. And the honorable sense of duty you feel when you realize this moldable mind is in your care, makes other jobs feel negligible.

But there are definitely some moments where you look at your life and go, "Oh lord... This is ridiculous." 

Christmas 2012 - A Toddler Turning Point

My parents got my 20-month-old a twin-sized bed for Christmas today. It's adorable how tiny she looks in that big-girl bed! But tiny she is not...

So cliche, I know... but She's growing up so fast

I've heard these phrases a million bajillion times from my parents, grandparents, church members, strangers at the grocery store... I really thought I was doing my best to 'enjoy every moment,' but alas, the other day, I realized I spend quite a lot of time waiting.

Things I never truly appreciated before kids

There are quite a few things that have come to mind recently that, before the daughter, I never really thought much of. Things that held little to no value to me. Things that I can see now should be treasured. Read on.


1. Baths.
      Not for her, but for me! I never took baths before having kids, now when Nana takes her overnight, the first thing I do is a super hot bubble bath complete with headrest pillow and aromatherapy. Better than sex (almost).

Cue the Enya music and the knowledge that you have hours.

Welp. That's it. Life's over.

How I imagine it goes down.
(Not a picture of our lost keys; I wish I had a bmw...)

My 18mo old daughter has reached the throw-things-away stage. Earlier this week, my husband and I had the realization that his keys weren't lost - that is, we knew exactly where they were... On their way to municipal Waste Management dumping station. Safely tucked into a Hefty cinch sak. 

We retraced our steps around the house, cleaned top and bottom, and suddenly looked at each other and said the same thing, "She must've thrown them away yesterday." I can still hear - in the very back of my memory - the "jinglejingleCLUNK" of the keys going into the garbage bin... I don't know why at the time it didn't set anything off. I guess I'm just used to noises and kerplunks and -unless accompanied by crying or calls of distress- I guess I've been programmed to ignore them...

Counting Items Around the House

Accept it!

I was driving home from ... somewhere... can't remember right now. But anyway, I was driving home with my 18mo old daughter in her carseat behind me. She was extremely tired because it was about an hour past her naptime, but she just would not close her eyes! She rubbed them furiously, whined at me, asked for every toy she could think of, anything to try and distract her from accepting the fact that she needed to nap. All I could tell her was, "Just accept it little one, you're tired and you need sleep. There is nothing I can do or give you that will make you feel better. Ya gotta do this one on your own." 

Then it occurred to me: I should tell myself the same thing in quite a few instances in my life! Parenting would be a lot more rewarding if I stressed out less about things that -ultimately- don't matter! 

• I got peed on? I can shower and clothes can be washed. 
• She dumped her toy bin all over the floor for the 37th time? They'll just have to be picked up. 
• She's asking [nicely] for more food when I just put it all away? [As long as it's healthy food] I shouldn't refuse to get it back out just because I'm being lazy.

But the important parts: she's potty-training, she's having fun using her toys, she's developing manners and a healthy palate etc. are the parts that I need to focus on instead.

Standing on a trash can covered in toothpaste and stickers?
No problem, they're learning how their world works!
(not my kids, used with permission)

So many times I've been out in public, hearing a mom or dad yelling at their kids to quiet down, don't touch that, come back here, don't jump in mud puddles, etc... But...why? If they're not bothering/hurting/stealing from strangers, everything they do is a learning experience. 

Accept that they're full of curiosities, and they need to learn eventually.  They'll learn that your warnings have weight, and if they don't listen, there are unpleasant consequences, but in the mean time: don't stress out about it! Acceptance is key. "This is happening, and I should make the most of it." So grab a camera, hold on to your sense of humor, and post that stuff to YouTube!

for some laughs, check out: http://www.shitmykidsruined.com/ (not my site, sorry for the language)

Babies to teens to adults

I made this a few months ago, just thinking about how quickly it goes. Not that I could ever forget - strangers remind me aaaaallllll the time. But anyway, take a good look at how you're spending your time with your child. Because one day you might look at them and wonder where your time went.

"Newborn for a month
Infant for a year
Toddler for two years
Preschooler for two years
Child for five years
Preteen for three years
Teenager for five years
Adult.
And then they're off. Take care what you do with those years. They are few, though they may seem like many."

Semi-crunchy, Organic, and WIC do not mix.

My family is broke. Not poor - broke. There is a difference. While many welfare families don't have an exit plan, we're simply passing through the land of WIC, EBT, DSHS, and other government-assisted-acronyms.

That said, it is very difficult to be (as I like to call it) semi-crunchy in this patch of our lives. You know what I mean by "crunchy"... The woman who wears clothes made of hemp, she buys cloth-organic-cotton-hemp diapers, never cuts her hair, only uses patchouli and pig-fat shampoo, and heaven forbid she eat a vegetable that wasn't locally and organically harvested! 

^This woman is suuuuper crunchy!

Well, I like to consider myself semi-crunchy. We buy clothes where they're cheap (perhaps a battle for later in life), I used to make my own baby food (now she just eats what we eat), and we bathe regularly with products from the supermarket. But when it comes to food, I check ingredients (nothing I can't pronounce!), I prefer organic food, and sometimes I even ask the deli counter worker where/how the meat was raised (spoiler alert: they don't know.)

The problem is, being on government food programs means adhering to their rules. And their rules, as we all know, can be a bit asinine sometimes...