Category Archives: parenting

Weekend Recap

The whole daylight savings thing can be so hit or miss. This year I kind of forgot about it and kind of just hoped the kids would adjust without too much trouble. I wasn’t sure what to expect considering Saturday morning both kids woke up at 4am ready to play and we knew they would be up later than usual that night, so we crossed our fingers and hoped for a nap. Phoebe napped for a whopping 30 minutes and Enzo didn’t at all. Time would tell how Superman and Wonder Woman do on the walk around the block. (They did great!)

Amazingly, neither kid went to bed too much later than usual. Josh wasn’t feeling well so he and Enzo lay down in our bed to watch a show, but Phoebe climbed down and came to see what I was up to so she and I watched a little TV on the couch. I think she was out by 8:30, and when I went to carry her to bed, both boys were out as well. While I was tempted to stay up a bit later than usual, I was still tired from being up since 4:00, so I was probably in bed by 10-10:30. We’re a bunch of party animals, I tell ya.

Sunday the kids were up a little earlier than we would have liked, but nothing out of the norm. They were, however, a tad feisty and I just hoped they’d cooperate for haircuts later in the day. Note to self – I noticed that Phoebe’s bangs need to be fixed a tad – let’s hope I can handle it myself and not make it worse. I can’t complain too much, though, I mean it takes me half an hour just to try and trim her bangs at home, let along attempt to trim her whole head when she won’t stop moving.

So, there you have it… also my computer has been on the fritz, so I didn’t get any pictures uploaded or anything and haven’t really been taking as many photos in general. Stress? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just living in the moment. Or, maybe it’s both. Over and out!

Prepare… winter is coming.

I can feel winter’s icy hand on the back of my neck and it’s time to prepare. We need to get the house in order and come up with some fun ideas for when it’s too cold to go out or we have zero desire to bundle up because we are not cold weather people. I know… it’s a mystery why we live in Minnesota when none of us really enjoy snow or frigid temperatures.

I think I need to do some Pinterest scouring to find good winter crafts, although apparently even a paper plate can be fun. Who knew that switching one simple artistic medium could do so much? I left out paper plates for about a week and both kids would climb up on the barstools whenever they were hit with artistic genius and color away.

I already know we’ll do plenty of baking, but I want to spend more time this winter crafting and making things and being creative with the kids. We should also actually take them sledding since they’d both enjoy it this year, but there’s that whole cold and wet factor. We’ll see. Maybe we can just watch a movie where there is sledding? I kid. Sort of.

One of my goals is to do some sewing – specifically a quilt. I’m going to start small and go from there, but first we need to do some major winter cleaning. I see many trips to Goodwill in our future. I need to go through old baby clothes as well. I wanted to try and sell them, but it’s getting to a point where the payout doesn’t seem worth the effort and I’m tempted to just donate the lot. Sure, some extra spending money is nice, but I could save myself some time and headache by just packing it all up in garbage bags and giving it away. I can already see the empty bins we’d be left with. I feel lighter already!

We also need to do some deep cleaning and prep our basement windows for their glorious annual plastic wrapping. While the wood floor looks nice downstairs, it’s not the best choice for Minnesota winters. Plus hot air rises and we have 9 foot ceilings which also does not help. Basically our basement is no-man’s land in the winter unless we wear warmer layers and remember to turn on the electric fireplace and space heaters an hour in advance.

First, though, I need to get my body used to the lack of daylight. This year especially it seems to have caught me off guard and the late sunrise and early sunset is taking its toll. By the time we get the kids to bed its already dark and the couch beckons me to curl up in its warm embrace. Sigh. Soon, motivation, soon.

The passing of time…

There is a definite chill in the air lately and I have a feeling we won’t be turning the A/C on again until next year. It’s cool enough that opening the window works just as well, and makes the cats happier. My office, however, is more than chilly and I will be pulling the space heater out sooner than I’d like. It is October, though. How is it October? It seems like just yesterday we were in our pajamas having an impromptu water fight on the deck on a random Saturday morning… but, I guess that was a couple of months ago already.

When you’re a kid, time just crawls and then suddenly it starts passing so quickly you can barely catch your breath. I’m an introvert, so introspection is just par for the course, but I’m uncertain as to whether it’s just the impending winter blues or something else that has me lost in thought and procrastinating so greatly and having anxiety over how little time there is and what I should be doing with this time. Of course worrying about what I should be doing means I get nothing done at all, so it’s not exactly productive. I’m in one of those states where I want to do something, but I’m not sure what exactly and just feel tired and decide it’s not worth it to worry about it now and put it off and then keep putting it off. While taking a break from a schedule was nice, I think I should probably get back into some kind of routine again rather than just winging it every morning/evening. Oh, but that first step is always so hard.

Actually, it would be less hard if I could stop falling asleep when putting the kiddos to bed and if I could get started on more things before 8:30. It’s hard to convince myself to workout at 8:30pm and even if I wanted to in the morning, I have a difficult time prying Phoebe off of me to allow me to do so. Sleep is hard to find lately, and I have to remind myself that it’s all temporary. One day the bed will feel empty without two small bodies snuggling closely together or to whichever parent is nearest. I can’t help but smile when I crawl into bed and see Phoebe draped across her brother and at least one or two cats purring happily.

I’m not sure if it will ever feel like time is slowing down again, though, so I suppose I’ll have to get used to the feeling that I can’t always keep up, or continue to try and simplify our lives more in the hopes that it will give us more time.

Dance like no one is watching

I’ve discovered that parenting is sort of like dancing. You’ve got everything from classical, structured choreography to a more impromptu freestyle. Personally, I’m not much of a dancer, so this metaphor may seem silly to use, but in a way it makes sense to me. With Enzo I read so many books and felt unprepared for children since it was a completely new experience, but there were also so many different ways to do everything and all of the information was downright overwhelming. As time progressed it became obvious that I didn’t fit into a specific mold or type of parent, and the more I stopped looking at parenting sites and just trusted my own judgment, the less stressful it became.

I’ve never been good when it comes to learning dance steps, and while some people might feel more comfortable sticking with a structured way of dancing (or parenting), it just doesn’t work for me. If I am going to dance, I might as well look like a fool and do what makes me feel happy. In turn, I don’t really care anymore what other moms think of how we parent and for a while I cared too much. I wanted to avoid judgment and that’s just silly and impossible. Unfortunately there will always be at least one person who thinks they have a right to make someone else feel bad and the only thing I can control is how I respond to their negativity. No one is perfect and there is no right way or wrong way to parent as long as a child is loved and safe and happy.

I realize this comes out of the blue, but I’ve seen so much negativity lately online and out and about. It’s a frightening prospect that people feel very secure in their anonymity online and give no thought to saying hateful things to complete strangers. What ever happened to “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all?” So what if you don’t like how someone is dressed or a mom is bottle-feeding her baby? How exactly does that hurt anyone? It’s just baffling to me.

Thankfully, I haven’t run into too much of this in my own life, but there have been moments that were thankfully mild compared to what I’ve seen other people deal with. Maybe I just get it out there right now…

I’m Heather. I shop too much and need to lose my baby belly flab. I could exercise and eat healthier, but I love donuts and sitting on my butt in the evenings drinking wine more than a flat tummy. I formula fed my kids, we bed-share, babywear when they want to, and let our kids watch TV. I’m the mom who sometimes lets her kids walk into day care with a sucker because I just needed to get out the door and didn’t have time for a tantrum that would make me late for work again. Sometimes we eat organic and sometimes we order pizza… a lot of pizza. I don’t give my kids soda, but they drink juice and I don’t make them eat their vegetables.

I could go on and on (I won’t), but should you find yourself stumbling upon my blog and feel like I’m not your kind of person, feel free to just stroll on by. I wish you well, and hope you can do the same for me.

Happy Friday everyone!

Flowers and Legos!

It was the perfect day to be outside and to use our discount tickets to the Arboretum… and apparently everyone else thought so as well. It also happened to be the last day of the Lego sculpture displays, so perhaps that combined with fabulous weather is what brought everyone out in droves. As always, we started things off with a picnic lunch and let the kids run around a bit before walking around to view the actual flowers and Lego creations. Sadly, we didn’t see them all, but the ones we did see were fun.

We brought the stroller, which at times was really helpful for two small kids, but can also be a cumbersome beast and makes me long for the days when the kids can manage an entire day walking on their own two feet. Alas, we seem to be nearing the end of baby wearing for good, which makes me sad. If she’s tired enough, Phoebe will give in and allow it, but for the most part she wants to be free to follow her brother, which often feels like following a drunk. She drags her feet, can’t walk a straight line and tends to be incoherent if she refused to take her nuk out. Many people are understanding and smile at her, but you also get the grumps with zero patience who give you the evil eye for allowing your child to have any fun.

Anyhoo, there were a lot of pretty flowers to look at, but the kids were mostly interested in anything with water. It took a lot of convincing to get them to leave the waterfall, and I can’t necessarily blame them since it was shady and somewhat secluded. We walked around a while longer, and I gave Enzo my phone so he could take pictures (I’ll post those later), but it soon became clear that our munchkins needed a nap… Phoebe especially.

To encourage some sleepiness we went on the 3 mile drive for the first time and were kicking ourselves for not taking it sooner. We had no idea there was so much more to see and do! When we move closer, we are without a doubt getting a membership because it’s such a great place to go on walks.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures