Kicking Back

I love my girls more than anything but all of you parents and especially those stay at home parents out there know that every once in a while it's nice to have a little time. When my husband offered to take the kids out for a run a bit ago I jumped at it realizing it would give me the chance to eat my dinner with no little hands reaching on my plate and maybe even polish off a glass or two of wine. Dinner tonight is certainly not fancy but it is mostly fresh. We had deviled chicken which is just a recipe I stumbled upon on another posting http://stolenmomentscooking.com/deviled-chicken/

Very good and most importantly super easy and quick. I of course had to add something to it. Instead of breadcrumbs I used a combo of wheat germ and milled flax seed. We also had creamed spinach made with fresh from the farmer's market spinach and soy milk and finally some sliced home grown tomatoes. Like I said nothing fancy but easy and pretty healthy.

We had a great day today that started off with a La Leche League meeting. No day can be bad when it starts with a La Leche meeting. There is something really special about getting together with likeminded mama's who share the same values in regards to pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I ventured down to Statesville for the meeting and while it is a small group I am impressed with the closeness of them. I do encourage any past, present or future breastfeeding mama's to check out your local La Leche League meetings.

Other than our breastfeeding meeting we spent the day with grandma and just relaxing and of course now the girls are out on a run with Jeff while I finish my first glass of wine and watch crap tv. Sometimes you just need to sit on the couch and watch bad tv it's a right every person should be able to experience occasionally.

YaYa

All of you parents of two kids know that you can't talk about one without talking about the other a bit. In case you are a bit confused we did not name our baby YaYa but YaYa very much fits her. Gwendalyn started calling Lila 'Yaya' and I find myself letting it slip occasionally. Not to mention the fact that you'll often hear a little 'YaYa' coming out of her own mouth.

So some little things about my baby.

-She never sits down, NEVER. This girl goes all the time. Whether it is 4 am or 2 in the afternoon she is wiggling, moving, crawling trying to explore. She has such a desire to see the world and not miss a single thing and she must keep up with big sister.
-Lila is trying so hard to walk. We have seen a few random steps but no steady walking yet. We suspect she is just going to take off one day and never look back.
-Lila is a biter. Not necessarily a good thing but if she is able to get anything in her mouth she will bite it and bite it hard.
-Much like big sister always has been Lila likes being naked. Just last night I was trying to convince a 9 month old to kee her diaper on at 4 am. I lost.

Silly Gwendalyn

I've decided today that I need to write a bit about both my girls. There are so many little moments that are just slipping by me that I am all too soon forgetting. Those little things that make Gwendalyn's personality that will change so quickly.

For those of you who are lucky enough to get to see and play with Gwen on a regular basis you know that she is a ball of energy. I cannot get over what a little lady she is becoming and how the bit of baby she had left is slowly disappearing. I was just looking at some old pictures of her a few weeks ago and could hardly recognize that little baby who used to cuddle up with me on the couch.

So here is a little list of things that make Gwendalyn 'Silly Gwen'.

-She is always wearing a dress. No matter where we go or what we are doing she insists on wearing a little dress.
-Gwendalyn also knows how to accessorize. It's not uncommon to see her wearing a pretty little bracelet and carrying a sparkly pocketbook and pretty little princess hat.
-You may wonder what it is a 2 1/2 year old keeps in a pocketbook. Well for Gwendalyn it's 3 or 4 Little People, a train or two and a couple of hair ties.
-Like most 2 year olds Gwen is also incredibly inquisitive. She wants to know how things work, or what they are, or where something is. I'll be the first to admit that all the questions drive me crazy on occasion but it is also such a blessing to be able to sit down and talk through the answer with her. And it is even more of a blessing when, instead of answering her question, I say 'What do you think?' It's amazing to see those little wheels turning in her head while she tries to come up with an answer which is sometimes right but it is always creative and almost always makes me laugh.
-Silly Gwen is also a great mommy. It isn't uncommon to see her rocking or nursing her babies. She pushes them in the buggy and loves to change their diapers and unfortunately for us she also likes to rub lotion on them and gives them baths. The messy little Cabbage Patch doll in the bathroom sink is proof of that.

and a few random facts about the 2 1/2 year old Silly Gwen.
-Her favorite color is green
-She likes to talk about how stinky her feet are
-She hates having her hair brushed and put up

All things homemade

Like I have said before we are trying to become more aware of the toys and thing our kids have. So Easter was our first attempt at a mostly homemade holiday. In general I believe it went over relatively well. Although, I do admit I was a bit stressed out getting everything done in time. Next time I'll know to start much earlier. But here are some pictures of the girls Easter baskets. The first picture is Gwen's basket. She got a great little homemade bunny from the sweet work at home mom at buttinsky bows, 3 playsilks that I dyed, 2 wool play balls, a crayon roll, a doll sling, a new pair of crocs and a chocolate bunny. Lila also got a bunny from Buttinsky Bows, 3 playsilks, 2 wool balls and a lovey made by me.

I am slowly compiling my list of future crafty things to make. It seems like it's a never ending and always growing list at this point. i suppose I really need to get on the ball.

In addition to all my recent crafts Gwen and I have been growing some of our own veggies and flowers from seeds. Some of the flowers will be repotted and given to the grandmothers for Mother's Day. Others we will keep ourselves and take care of them. We were very excited to see them sprouting and we're looking forward to watching them grow and hopefully later this summer we will be able to eat some of our fresh grown tomatoes, spinach and brussel sprouts.

I am going to be posting my craft list on here and will post some tutorials and pictures as I get things done.

CRAFT LIST

Pink wool child size afghan-On the needle

Variegated wool longies-On the needle

Wool playfood-loaf of sandwich bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, orange slices, pizza, birthday cake, pasta, pasta sauce, fried eggs, bacon

4 Scarves

striped children's afghan

block child's afghan

Several cakes of felted soap

Felt playboard-barn animals, shapes, letters & numbers

I suck at blog world!

I really do, just awful. I forget to update or I run out of time or perhaps my life is just not interesting enough to keep a blog going. The latter is really a huge possibility. Although, we have done many fun things since my last posting.

The girls and I are learning how plants grow. We spent a sunny day a few weeks ago planting seeds and have since been taking care of them and watching them grow. We are planting a small raised bed garden with tomatoes, brussel sprouts, spinach, peppers and squash. We also planted a small raised bed flower garden. In addition to our family garden Gwendalyn planted her own small flowers inside. These flowers she is responsible for checking on and watering when we need to. Once they are mature enough we are going to transfer them over to individual pots and make them into gifts for Mother's Day. A giving heart is always a great thing to nurture!


We also made a trip to the beach two weekends ago. It was Lila's first beach vacation and the first one for Gwendalyn in over a year. A good time was certainly had by all, unfortunately we did not stay very long. We are gearing up for a bit longer trip to Topsail Island at the end of this month for a friend's wedding though so we are looking forward to that.

I am trying to become more devoted to my craft projects. I am the eternal start a project and forget it half way through kind of person. I have lots of half finished projects so I have decided to get better about it. So on my craft shelf right now are a pair of knit shorties for Lila which should be done some time next week. Once the shorties are done I have lots of projects lined up. There will be dyed playsilks for Easter and Christmas gifts, needle felted play food for Christmas, homemade playdoh for Easter, knitted blankets for each girl, crayon and chalk rolls complete with homemade crayons, and a few other small projects I will have in the works soon.

Night Time Cloth Diapering

I have been in search of the perfect cloth diapering system for a while now. It seems everything we tried worked for a while but then leaked all over our sheets. I tried expensive fancy diapers with high tech soakers and doublers and while they were nice and they kept us dry most of the time they just weren't what I was looking for. Finally I have found the perfect system for us overnight. It's so easy and obvious I can't believe I didn't try it sooner.

My cast of characters. 1 Unbleached Premium Prefold. 1 Bamboo infant prefold, 2 pins in a bar of soap to help lubricate them and 1 wool soaker.

Trifold the bamboo prefold inside the premium prefold like this.

Lay baby on there and trifold the front to help make leg gussets and to make the diaper fit through her legs. Then pin one side.

Pull it tight and pin the other side.

Put on your woolie and you're ready to go to bed!

The Simple Things In Life

It seems like it is hard for adults to slow down and look at the small things in life. We focus on big events, material things, mortgage payments and work promotions. While all of those things are great it is also nice to slow down and find small things that you enjoy.

Most of us will not win Nobel prizes or become CEO of a major company. Very few of us will star in a Broadway play or go on an international rock and roll tour. But the big things are not everything. We can still go for a walk on a beautiful sunny winter day or sit down to enjoy a really amazing slice of chocolate cake. Sometimes the small things are the best things in life.

Just watching your children will give you the inspiration you need to enjoy the small things. I watch my 2 year old and realize that life is about the simple things. It's about finding the perfectly shaped rock, watching the clouds float through the sky, seeing a squirrel climbing a tree or hearing a big truck coming up the road.

So take a few minutes tomorrow, look around and find the small things that make you happy and pay extra close attention to the things that make your kids happy. Those are the things you'll look back and smile about when they are 16 years old and begging you for the coolest car on the road.