September 28, 2011

What He Wore On Wednesday

Apparently I was on a picture taking frenzy today! 
So hold onto your hats...

We start with our daily romp outside and some eyebrow raising.
"Hold up, woman," you might be thinking to yourself.
"You let your child crawl on hard pavement in thin jammies and barefoot??"
Look. 
This is the same kid that pulled our heavy vacuum on top of himself and cried,
not because it hurt or scared him
but because I took it away.
He's also the kid that wrestles his dog at least twice a day.
After a morning of manly outdoor romping, it was time to get dressed and look like a prepster.
Killing. Me.
Let's not stop here with the heart melting.


Let's pause while I scrape my heart off the floor and turn to more serious matters.
Like biscuit eating.

Ok, it's not that serious.

Cruz has been choosing to look at his books a lot, which is so cute!

Happiest of Wednesdays to you!
xoxo





September 23, 2011

Confessions Of A Mama Who Is Now One Year Into This Whole Thing

We're inching toward Cruz's first birthday, and I am realizing that I am no longer a rookie mama. 
I am pretty good at bouncing babies
changing diapers
I have figured out what to feed him
I have gotten him through two colds

But I still have some things to confess.

1. WHAT IS A PERSON TO DO WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO THE BATHROOM??!!
The choices seem to be:
a) Let Cruz play in the trashcan
b) Let Cruz play in the toilet
c) Let Cruz bang a wooden block on the glass shower door

Somehow the pile of toys I keep in the bathroom just for times like these has not been noticed by my son.

2. Is anyone else completely confused about solid food feeding?
It has been my most puzzling part of parenthood so far.
No dairy? No wheat? When can he eat honey?
Puree or not to puree?
Fruit or no fruit?
Sometimes I am so careful about what he eats 
("he only eats organic kale lovingly grown by organic nuns")
and other times he eats Greek yogurt off my spoon. 
It is not organic.

3. I was so tired today that I forgot to tell Tovi that Cruz said his first word until I started typing this post. 
(He dropped a book and said clear as day, "uh-oh!")
(Also, I made sure to tell Tovi before I hit 'publish')

4. When Cruz was a newborn, people would congratulate me on taking a shower each day. 
Friends, the newborn stage is the easy shower stage.
You could literally lay that baby on the bathroom mat and he would not move for hours.
You should know that I have not taken a shower in two days.

5. A small child may have asked me what I had in my tummy. 
Pasta, dude. About to be joined by some cookies.

6. I told my Homegroup that I needed to "fix [my] thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." {Philippains 4:8}
I told them that, accordingly, I needed to watch less reality tv.
The next day, Tovi caught me comfortably settled in for a Dance Moms marathon. Oops!

7. I love having a boy. LOVE IT. And I love having a Cruz. Check out this awesomeness. 
Doesn't he look so at home with these big trucks?

photos courtesy of Ashley Olsen

9. I love working at ParentClick and for ParentClick. And I love the other gals I work with!
We, and our husbands, went to a benefit the other night and had a hoot!

Wine, food, local who's-who. 
The event staff literally had to kick us out at the end.
Tovi and I got in the car feeling very proud of ourselves for staying out so late.
It was 8:30.

10. Cruz eats a lot of Cheerios, and probably drops an equal number of them on the ground. I clean up 500 Cheerios a day. Abby, for the love, why are you the only dog in existence that won't eat Cheerios?!?


Uh, yup. That's it. 



September 21, 2011

What He Wore on Wednesday

Sometimes...
we can't find the camera
so we have Insta-Wednesday!
Sometimes...
we love to play with lions
Sometimes...
we practice making choices.
Do you want this comb or this comb?
Sometimes...
we choose both
Sometimes...
we don't take a nap
and get rumply hair during the protest
Sometimes...
we make the baby match the house
or the diaper bag
Sometimes...
we are finally ready for bed.

Sometimes...
we love you all!







September 19, 2011

While You Are Sleeping

Dear Cruz,

Thank you for going to bed at the charmingly early hour of seven. Since your daddy works until 8 on most nights, this is great. I lay you in your crib, pour myself a glass of wine, and cook while I wait for your dad to come home. 

Cruz, you may never know this, but your mom and dad have a whole life while you are sleeping. 
We eat.
We talk.
We do our Bible study.
We don't always talk about you, but when we do, it is full of love and dreams for your future. 
We laugh. Oh man, do we laugh.
We also might watch a lot of Jersey Shore. What can we say, we're not perfect.

There's so much you don't know about us yet. 
You don't know about Brazil. Or London.

You don't know how much I love to read, but you suspect how much daddy loves sports.

You don't know how special our friends and family are to us or just how much they love you.

Hey, guess what? We eat a lot of ice cream while you're sleeping! Ice cream that you won't have for, like, years. Sorry bud. 

While you are sleeping, you don't know that we speak our own language and finish each other's sentences. Actually, we can start each other's sentences. 

And I don't know if you'll ever know these things. 

And maybe we'll keep it that way (because we're going to be your super lame parents, you future surly teenager, you).
But know this, small son... there sure is a lot of love in this family. Even while you are sleeping. 

September 17, 2011

Around Here

Around here, we don't really play with a lot of toys.
Not when there are hangers
dogs
shoes
vacuum cleaners
stale cheerios
and best of all
DADDIES
Oh, I think I'll just climb on you now. Carry on with what you were doing.
Oh? We're doing pushups? That will be fine.
Didn't I tell you I needed a nap?
Give me twenty! Make 'em count, bro!
You call yourself a ride? Again!



September 14, 2011

What He Wore on Wednesday

It's Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday!
And darlings, it's starting to feel like fall. 
Yessssssss.
I was trying to do a little baking this morning, when this wrestling match erupted in my kitchen.

Okay, I get the hint. Time to head outside!
Every morning we have a mad romp outside in the yard. 
I keep Cruz in his jammies and let him get as dirty as he wants.
But then...
It's Wednesday...
And, remember? it was little bit cooler today...
Fall outfits!!
... ladies...


Oh, did you want to see his shoes?

Oh yeah, this is happening.

We are trying to ease Cruz off his paci addiction. 
The "rule" is that he can only have a paci while he's in his crib.
But somehow he has squirreled away pacis all over his room.
He knows where they all are, and when I'm not looking, he's pops them in.
Totally cheating, Cruz. Totally cheating. 


I guess we'll start and end the day with baseball jammies!

xoxox

September 12, 2011

Anything I Can Do, You Can Do Better

I get a lot of questions about cloth diapering. 
I am not a cloth diaper expert.
But, I do love sharing what I love, and I love cloth diapering!

So does Cruz.

A caveat: A wise professor at Westmont once told me, "pull out of the system where you can." What she meant was, you just can't do everything and you can't beat yourself up for it. Do what you can. For us, cloth diapering has been a place where we can "pull out of the system." It might not be that place for you. So please don't worry that if you use disposables you're being judged. You most certainly aren't. But, Martha, if you want to know more about cloth diapering, here we go!

1. Why Did You Decide To Do This?
While I have appreciated the economic, environmental and cuteness factors that have come along with cloth diapering, I really made the switch because I was so freakin' tired of diaper blowouts. It seemed that no matter which brand or size disposable I used, Cruz would find a way to bust out of them (so to speak). Since switching to cloth, he's had one blowout. My wardrobe thanks you.

Who me? Yes, you!

2. Friends Don't Let Friends Cloth Diaper Alone
I probably wouldn't be CDing if I didn't have women in my life who had paved the way first. So thank you to Heidi, Krista, and Emily who thoroughly answered my endless questions. Hopefully I've paid it forward! There are a lot of CD resources out there in the ol' internets, but it can seem very overwhelming. It was so helpful to have friends to go to with questions. If you are thinking of CDing, find other families that are as well. And obviously, I am more than happy to talk with you about it, too!

3. I Am Not Interested In Adding That Much More Work To My Day
Before Cruz was born, CDing intrigued me, but it seemed like sooooooo much work (I added a few more 'ooooo's because it really seemed like a lot of work). Back then, I was planning on working full time after he arrived, and hated the idea of coming home to piles of stinky diapers. Fortunately, this has not turned out to be the case. Guys, I am kind of lazy and in no way interested in doing mounds of laundry. Cloth diapering is actually not that hard. Honestly, if I can do it, you can do it. Here is my routine:
Cruz really, really likes to help.
  • Change diaper. 
  • Put diaper in wet bag which hangs next to the changing table.
  • When I'm down to two diapers, I wash the dirty ones.
  • Wash cold (no detergent), wash hot (teeney bit of detergent), wash cold (no detergent)
  • Dry on delicates, low heat. Line dry in the sun when possible.
  • Stuff diapers and put them back on the shelf. (If you're really good, you'll time diaper stuffing time with Bachelor Pad watching time!)

This is only to give you an idea of what a washing routine can look like. What you do will depend on your washer, diapers, water type, etc. Over the months we've had to tweak this, but I'm pretty happy with where we're at now.


3. Isn't It Gross?
My love, being a mom is gross. Just the other day I used a pool of Cruz's drool to clean up the yogurt he had smeared on the ottoman. Or another way to think about it: would you ever not get a dog because of cleaning up its poop? Of course not. Cloth diapering is less gross than cleaning up after a dog. True story. But here's something else gross: it takes 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose, meaning that Every Single disposable diaper ever used is still sitting in a landfill in pristine condition. So, yeah...

4. So... Which Diaper Should I Get?
If you decide to CD, you'll be faced with the first world problem of which cloth diapers to choose! I found that discerning why we were cloth diapering helped me chose which diapers to buy. 
  • Budget. Are you CDing to save money? That's a yes for us. I wanted diapers that were backed by a warranty (in case something went wrong, we wouldn't be out the money). I wanted diapers that would last a long time. I didn't want to build up a big "stash." We have 16 diapers, which lasts us about 2.5 days (if we had started when Cruz was a newborn, we would have a lot more). Even factoring in the extra laundry, we have already paid those off. I needed a diaper that walked the line between inexpensive and durable. 
  • Environment. If environmental impact is your largest concern, you can select diapers made of organic fabrics or environmentally friendly materials like bamboo or hemp. Budget may not be as big of a concern, so you can afford more expensive diapers.
  • Convenience. If you (or your partner) are unsure about this whole thing but want to give it a try, you may be looking for a diaper that's easy to manage. Look for a brand that has fewer parts to snap or stuff.
  • Cuteness. There are a ton of cute diapers out there! Look for prints and ruffles, which are often sold on etsy.com.

5. Which Diapers Do You Use?
We exclusively use FuzziBunz diapers and really love them. Here was my thought process in selecting these:

  • We know other families who use them. 
  • They are one-size-fits-all (with lots of ways to adjust the fit). We won't need to buy any other diapers for Cruz or any other babies that come our way.
  • They have fantastic customer service and have been incredibly helpful in answering all my questions. A snap fell off of one diaper; FuzziBunz immediately exchanged it and threw in some freebies for us!
  • These diapers have snaps rather than velcro, which makes washing/drying a little bit easier.
  • They are "pocket diapers" which means I "stuff" an insert into the diaper. Cruz is a heavy wetter, so I can "double stuff" his diapers at night or on long car trips.
Anything I didn't answer for you? Ask away!
xoxo

September 8, 2011

You Had Me at "Put On My Pajamas"-- a book review

Dominique Browning’s Slow Love is the recession’s version of Eat, Pray, Love. Eat, Eat, Love, I suppose. Browning was the editor of House & Garden, which suddenly ceases production. She is unemployed, underloved, and faced with an overabundance of homemade muffins. Browning wallows for awhile, making it through each hour, each day, until finally compelled to get moving, slow down, and start loving life for its own sake.

In some moments, her story is very relatable. Girl loses job, girl wallows in pjs, girl makes bad relationship decisions, girl moves to beach house... okay, not always relatable. While these days people can sympathize with job loss, less people understand downsizing to just the beach house. But Ms. Browning is forgiven; her prose is witty, beautiful, full of emotion. I laughed out loud reading her descriptions of walking through Manhattan in her pajamas... to buy more pajamas. She is self-deprecating to a fault. While I appreciate that she never plays the victim describing her on-again-off-again relationship with so-named Stroller (he out Bigs Mr. Big), but her self-deprecating attitude carried over too far into the relationship at the cost of her worth and happiness. Stroller will definitely inspire a strong reaction as you read.



Slow Love is certainly a worthy read. Can’t say that it’s inspired me to live a slower life (it’s pretty slow around here already), but Browning tackles universal issues with wit and style. And she already convinced me to bake cookies this week. That’s a Love I relate to.


Want to chime in? Join the BlogHer Book Club Discussion of Slow Love.

September 7, 2011

What He Wore On Wednesday

Hi sweet friends!
Welcome to our warm, warm Wednesday.
These two are finally making peace and becoming friends.
They sat by the back door this morning begging to go outside for our morning romp.
How cute is that? And how cute are those starship jammers?
As Cruz crawled toward the soccer ball, a beam of light fell on him.
Destiny?
This is absolutely one of my most favorite shirts!
It's actually from a set of pjs, but it's way too cute not to wear out. 
Oh, by the way, when did my little guy turn into a toddler?
He looks so old!
A little relaxin' before bedtime... Cruz loves nothing better than just hanging out in his diaper. As soon as he gets his clothes off, he goes nuts! 
Trying to settle down for bed in his soccer jammies.

Night-night!

September 5, 2011

Our Day Out

Tovi was away on Saturday, nerding out over fantasy football
so Cruz and I had a play day all to ourselves!
"Cruz-man," I mused as we drove down the 101,
"What would it be like to live in a town with a Target?"
Delightful, that's what it would be like. De. Light. Ful.

We were Target bound and ready for a good time!

I am often amazed at the power my boy has over other people.
{And don't go around thinking that I think this is exclusive to Cruz; he's simply my own personal case study.}
A family in front of us in line was fighting, as families are known to do. 
(No judgement here!)
They noticed Cruz behind them and stopped their argument to be able to chat with him. 
The mom and I talked about baby clothes while the dad and kids crowded around the stroller.
Cruz kicked and babbled and even gave them a goodbye wave.

"Job well done, little man!" I patted him on the head and went in search of a treat for my little peacemaker.

Here's a tip from one thrifty mom to another:
Babies can't tell the difference between pet stores and zoos.
We looked at frogs...
at snakes...
This was my favorite snake.
A young couple brought their puppy into the store, which essentially made this trip the best day of Cruz's life.
He kept shrieking, "Dah! Dah!" 
Does this mean "dog" will be his first word?

Cruz also says "mamamama" when he wants more of something.
This is not a good precedent.

Then home again, to play with our own "dah."

{We got some great baby clothes at Target! Can't wait to show you on some future Wednesday. Preppy boys clothes just make me love the fall that much more!}

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