A little Christmas Craftiness

 


This really doesn't even qualify as a tutorial, because it literally takes about five minutes to make (even with little people badgering you the whole time).  I thought I would share for those of you, like me, who are trying to keep little hands busy and out of trouble.  I saw these felt Christmas trees on Pinterest a while back and decided to make one for the girls to decorate, since they had such fun "helping" decorate our big tree.  I have massive amounts of felt from various projects, so I grabbed some, cut out a tree from a large green piece, and masking-taped it to the wall.  Then I cut out different shapes from several colors and viola! Ornaments to decorate their tree.  I have to say, although it doesn't keep them out of our real tree, they seem to be enjoying it (Cbear likes to decorate it, Jellybean likes to take all the decorations off and run away with them...).

"Jesus helped me to not be sad"

We had a pretty rough week here.  I had some personal issues that were making me emotional and tired and just plain icky feeling.  I wanted peace and quiet and rest, so of course the girls were clingy and cranky 24/7.  It felt like someone was crying or hanging on my leg all day long the entire week, so I am beyond excited that the weekend is finally here.  Everyone's asleep now, the house is quiet and I was reflecting on how awful this week was and how I epically failed as a mom (I had zero patience...my poor kids) and I remembered the highlight.  So I have to write it down before I forget that something good happened in the midst all of the other crap going on.

Cbear is my little sensitive introvert.  She doesn't generally like being around lots of people, especially if they're loud.  And while she's energetic and talkative at home, she gets very shy when out in public.  Situations that are out of the norm scare her, and she's super sensitive to tones.  For example, if I raise my voice or speak too sternly, she accuses me of "being mean at her."  Also, when Jellybean (who's the total opposite and is all, "hey, let's play, everybody!  I mean, everyone's here to see me, right?") shrieks excitedly because she wants to play, Cbear bursts into tears because she thinks her sister is yelling at her.

Bearing all this in mind, we have particular difficulty on mornings when we go to MOPS.  Since it's only twice a month, she still isn't used to her classroom and she cries every time we go.  This past Monday, it started while we were still at home getting ready and I was talking it up: "We get to go and play with friends at MOPS today, won't that be so much fun?"  Her little face puckered up and she said, "I don't want to go to MOPS!" She sobbed the whole time we were getting dressed, brushing teeth and putting on shoes.  Somewhere in all that she started saying, "I want Jesus to be in my classroom!" over and over again between cries.  I'm not sure where that came from, but a few weeks ago she started saying that whenever we'd go to church, so I'd been trying to explain to her that even though we can't see Jesus right now, he's always with us in our hearts and we can pray and talk to him anytime.  I tried to reinforce this while we were getting ready.  I stopped to pray with her and even though she was still crying, we headed out the door.

I was nervous as to how the day would go.  It's never easy to leave my child in someone else's care when she is crying like her heart will break, but it's especially hard when we're not even there yet and she's already saying she doesn't want to go!  The mommy guilt creeps in and I start second-guessing everything I do.  I tried to stay positive and remind her that Jesus would be with her, and if she got scared or sad she could pray to him and he would help her.  By the time I dropped Cbear off at her classroom, she had stopped crying.

When my meeting was over and I went to pick the girls up, Cbear was actually smiling and having a good time!  Her teacher told me she did exceptionally well that day.  As we were leaving, I asked her if she prayed to Jesus in her classroom, and she said excitedly with a huge grin on her face, "I did! Jesus helped me to not be sad!"

And yeah, I did cry on the way home after hearing that.

Jellybean turns one and life lately

Last Saturday Jellybean turned one year old!  We officially no longer have a little baby...hello toddlerhood!  I'm a little sad, but at the same time feel like fist-bumpin' my husband in celebration of surviving another year of parenthood.  The kids are both still in one piece (each) and we don't appear to be messing them up too badly.

We celebrated Jelly's bday with a family party complete with frito chili pies (hey, Jelly's favorite foods are beef, beans, and cheese, so why not?) and cupcakes/ice cream.  She was very concerned about the frosting on her cupcake and made a yucky face whenever it came near her mouth.  And forget about the ice cream!  Finally she decided the best course of action would be to turn it upside down and eat it from the bottom so as to avoid the strange fluffy stuff on top (which, by the way, was delicious.  My kid is crazy.).  After seeing the mess in and under her highchair, though, I'm not sure she actually ingested any of it.  She had lots of fun playing with new toys and her cousins, though!

Life has been pretty crazy lately (thus my neglect of the blog).  If you thought some of my other posts were a little chaotic, imagine what things must be like if I can't even catch a minute to write about what my wild girls are up to.  I have tried, though, so I thought I'd give you the titles of all the half-finished posts I've started along with a brief summary of what I was writing about:

Sleepless Nights and Busy Days
This was me wondering if I'll ever know what it feels like to be well-rested again.  Jellybean still doesn't sleep through the night, and we've converted Cbear's crib to a toddler bed so she can wander around at all hours of the night now.  Thank goodness we're past the phase where I would find her in the living room with all the lights on at 4 a.m. playing with her toys!  Maybe someday I'll sleep again...I hope...I mean, I do remember about five minutes of wonderful restfulness between the time Cbear started sleeping through the night and getting pregnant with Ellie.  I don't remember life before I had kids.

Body Image Confessions
Something about how I should stop using the excuse "I just had a baby" to justify the elastic-waisted pants and lack of exercise (although I'd like to see someone else carry/chase two 20+ pound kiddos and all their crap around every day and then tell me that's not exercise/weight training).  Between when I started writing this post several months ago and now I actually did start exercising several times a week doing pilates, tabata and walking/running, and was feeling great, but then I hurt my knee running and have had a little setback.  But I've also come to accept that my body will never look the same as it did pre-babies, and that's okay.  I'm a little more mom-ish now...at least I'm a soft place for kiddies to snuggle!

Let's Play Pretend!
Oh, this was a fun one I wish I'd finished!  Cbear has entered a really fun stage of playing pretend and I love it.  One day she had two pet mice named Skippyjonjones and Crocodile, and they kept hiding in the cabinet and we had to get them out to play.  And now there are crocodiles in the living room and hallway we have to battle sometimes to get by.  Recently she's been into playing "doctor" and we have to take care of owies, check out eyes and ears, and give shots and band-aids.  It's so much fun, and I can't wait to see what she'll come up with next!

Look out, kids, Mama's smashing garlic again!
A mini-rant about how Cbear has decided she doesn't need to nap any more (I disagree...although I may need her nap time more than she does) and the majority of our weekdays we have a 2 hour or so battle to get her to sleep.  It's making me slightly cranky, and I kind of felt like the worst mom ever when I was speaking a little harshly and she stuck her hand out at me "Stop, in the name of love" style and said, "Hey.  Stop being mean at me."  My patience is wearing paper-thin, but I'm trying to do better.  I've found smashing fresh garlic cloves helps me cope in some odd way.  So, yes, you do smell garlic, and it's me.

Wal-Mart is the devil.
Do I really need to explain this one?  I try to avoid that store like the plague, but I needed several things there the other day, among them party supplies for Jelly's birthday.  All I wanted were some fall, pumpkin-themed items, which I figured would be easy because it is October, after all.  Nope.  The "holiday shop" is full of Christmas stuff, so I was all over the store looking for fall party supplies, with two whiny, tired kids because it was nearing lunch time and for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-it-wasn't-supposed-to-take-this-long!  I still didn't find what I wanted, but grabbed some plates, napkins, and cups in "fall colors".  Oh, and we had to make two trips to the bathroom (gross!) because Claire announced (loudly) in the dairy aisle "I gotta potty!" (which was true) and then in the Halloween aisle "I gotta poop!" (which was false).  Nobody wants to gamble on the latter one, though, so I took her anyway.

So, there you have it, a snapshot of the things I've wanted to write about the last couple of months.  The trenches of parenting aren't always fun (though it is sometimes!) or glamorous (ever!), but is challenging and making me grow and stretch...and try to see the humor in the ridiculousness.

Cinderella in Boots and Baby Communication

My two-year-old has style.  So don't say I didn't warn you if you see us around town sometime and she's wearing a puffy blue Cinderella princess dress with cowgirl boots.  I'm just letting her express herself...and boy, is it hilarious to see her preferences unfold.

It all started a couple of weeks ago.  See, I sing silly songs all day long because well, what else am I going to do with my time, and sometimes we have dance parties too (in which we may or may not dance to the ending song from High School Musical or the lively tunes of Flogging Molly, which Cbear calls "jumping music"...we have a wide range of tastes in this house).  Somehow with all this dancing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" turned into the twirling song, and of course one must wear a skirt when twirling (according to my daughter, anyway).  So for the next week she refused to wear anything but, as she called it, a "twinkle twinkle little skirt".  Understand that this meant she wore the same two skirts all week, because apparently denim doesn't qualify: twinkle twinkle little skirts must be a floral print.

One day I had a brilliant idea.  A friend had given us some dress-up clothes and I hadn't shown them to Cbear yet.  And you should have seen her face when I showed her the Cinderella dress.  Priceless. We put it on and she exclaimed, "I'm a little princess now!  Let's show daddy!"  So she wears her princess dress quite often now and even though I'm not totally into the whole princess thing, it is pretty adorable.  There was almost a meltdown today when she had to go to the bathroom with it on and I wasn't in the room and she sat down and peed on it, but I reassured her the dress would survive and she could wear it again later.

Fast forward to the boots.  We just got some hand-me-downs from my cousin and there were a couple pairs of cowgirl boots in the box.  Cbear was so excited, because daddy and her papas wear cowboy boots and now she had her very own.  Well, it was good-bye sandals and flip-flops in our house and now it's all boots all the time.  Mostly without pants on.  She went to church tonight in jean shorts and boots.  Yep, I'm that mom.  I love it.  I love my little Cinderella in boots, because it totally captures the essence of her personality.  On one hand, she's a little girl who wants to be a princess and dance and show daddy how pretty she is.  But she's also my little tomboy in cowgirl boots who loves to run and jump and play in the dirt.  It's just so her, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In other news, my Jellybean is becoming quite a cute little monster.  I should probably stop calling her that because Cbear has picked it up, but she bares her teeth and scrunches her nose and snorts and growls, so what would you call her?  She also eats books and stickers.  I don't know why.  She's kind of like Animal from the Muppet Babies, only cuter and more lovable.  I guess that makes me the legs with the striped tights?

Jelly's as full of life as ever, so expressive, happy almost all the time with a major temper streak if she doesn't get her way.  And the most determined person I've ever met.  If she could turn herself inside out to try and get something she's not supposed to have I think she would.  She's a little ham and loves to be silly and make us laugh.  I can't wait until she starts talking to see what she has to say.

For now, she has discovered her own way of communicating with us.  A while back she started nodding or shaking her head, and I finally realized that she knew what she was doing when I asked her questions!  We did a lot of baby sign with Cbear, but I've been more lazy with that this time around and she doesn't seem very interested anyway, so I'm just going with her chosen form of communication.  Now I purposely ask her yes or no questions just to see her response.  "Jellybean, do you want to go to bed now?" Vehemently shakes her head no.  "Are you done eating, do you want to get down and play?" Excitedly nods.  She also points to things she wants and then looks at the nearest person with eyebrows lifted so high they're about to jump off her head and mouth open expectantly, like why aren't you hopping to it now?  Especially if someone's eating cheese and not sharing with her or if there's a phone or remote out of reach.  I love watching all these new discoveries and can't wait to see what she'll tell me next!

Why Two are Easier than One

I've been thinking about this topic for quite some time...every time one of my friends mentions that they are so exhausted with one child and can't imagine adding another one, how do I do it with two, etc.  So this post is for all the moms of one.  Here is a well-kept secret: Sometimes two are actually easier than one!

Occasionally I have days where I wonder what life would be like if we only had one child.  On the surface, it seems like it would be easier...my attention wouldn't be divided and there would be plenty of mommy to go around, perhaps discipline would be more effective (Right now it's like this: "I'd love to continue this chat, dear daughter, about why we ask nicely and don't throw a fit, but your sister has climbed into the fireplace and is eating a candle.  Excuse me while I dig candle wax from her mouth, and feel free to totally forget everything I just said and continue to whine.") and maybe I wouldn't be so frazzled. 

On the other hand, there are times when Cbear goes to spend the day with her grandparents or Jellybean takes a long nap and I only have one child.  And while I cherish that one-on-one time (Cbear is loving "helping" me cook or asking me to read Fox in Socks for the millionth time, and Jellybean is totally delighted by me hiding behind something and jumping out) but by the time Cbear returns or Jellybean wakes up I'm actually relieved.  Shocking, I know.  But it does get very tiresome being the sole entertainment for someone.  And while I do encourage them to play on their own, sometimes they flat-out refuse and it's really not effective to try and put away dishes while a ten month old has a death grip on your legs.  Also, it wasn't so long ago that I only had Cbear and I remember how lonely the days could be with just one baby that couldn't talk.  So here are five reasons why two kids are actually easier than one:

1. They entertain each other and always have a friend to play with.  This one takes a few months, but once the younger one is out of the tiny baby stage they can actually interact a bit and the older one can be enlisted to help keep an eye on the younger one.  Watch out if they're out of sight and quiet, though...I made this mistake a few months ago.  They may be sliding through a pee puddle, playing in the toilet, or have escaped into the back yard (this all happened within a thirty minute time span...I was ready to be committed that day).

2.  Communication.  Jellybean can't talk much, but when she does I'm sure it will be entertaining.  For now, Cbear jabbers to her and Jellybean responds with hand gestures, random sounds, clapping, and others.  It's really funny to watch and listen. 

3.  Sweet sibling moments.  There is nothing better than seeing your kids hugging or happily playing together.  Of course it has the ability to morph into something like this: C patting J's head lovingly, saying, "good night, Jellybean...you're beautiful...I love you!" and J sweetly smiling and then reaching out to pinch C's face, resulting in screaming and C saying angrily, "I just want a hug!"  I know, I shared this story in the last post, but it really was hilarious to watch C try to be so nice and J wouldn't have it.

4.  You are never bored.  There's no time for that, and there's always something that needs done or someone that needs attention.  So when you actually get time to yourself, there's a list a mile long of things you'd like to do and it's much sweeter to get to do them.  Simple things bring me so much joy now...reading a book, going out with the hubs, even exercising because it's something good just for me.

5.  Twice the love!  You'll get double the hugs, kisses, and "I wuv you"s.  Jellybean can't say that yet but I'm assuming the endless mantra of "Mamamamamamamama" kind of means the same thing.

Summarizing Summer (Heat, Olympics, and new stuff the kids are doing)

I'm not sure what I've been doing all summer, but it seems like I haven't had much time to do anything other than, you know, sustain life in our house.  Sometimes I imagine it like treading water while juggling bowling balls...but anyway, I haven't updated the blog as much as I would like.  I'll try to remember (what day is it, again?) some of the highlights and post them here.

So what's been going on in our lives, you ask?  Well, record-high temps (isn't that every summer in OK?) have limited our activities.  I was about to start channeling my dad and use phrases like hotter than the hubs of Hades, but thankfully a cold front that has the temps only in the high nineties saved us from that.  The girls and I frequented the splash pad for a while, but lately haven't even ventured there.  I'm thankful for two things: air conditioning and the fact that I am not pregnant this summer.

Confession: I've become a bit of an NBC Olympics coverage junkie, what with being cooped up inside so much and all.  I've always loved the Olympics, though (in the summer...winter Olympics are kind of lame in my opinion).  I love the camaraderie between the teammates and cheering for USA! USA!  But my favorite events (swimming, and to a lesser extent, gymnastics) are over and I'm a little depressed about it and having withdrawals.  Boo for having to wait another four years!

CBear is now in a toddler bed.  I know.  But potty-training has actually been going well, now that I'm paying her to pee (It's not as bad as it sounds.  There's a chart and stickers involved, and for every three stickers she gets coins for her piggy bank.  Whatever works, right?!) and she did not like having a wet pull-up on in bed.  So she would take it off and end up peeing all over the sheets every. stinking. nap/bed time.  Now she can get up to go to the bathroom/wander around/pull off her wall decals/take all her clothes out of the drawers/flush some wash cloths down the toilet/go into Jellybean's room and wake her/etc.  It was a little rough at first, but it's much better now.  Today she didn't get up at all after she got in bed for a nap.  Miracle!

Jellybean took a few steps the other day!  It's so funny to watch her wobble on her chubby little legs and she gets so excited about it.  She can also climb up onto the fireplace now, so that's awesome.  She has a bit of a little temper when she doesn't get her way...I'm scared for the future!  She's happy most of the time and just slightly ornery.  And she has six teeth now!  Jellybean doesn't look like a baby anymore, which makes me kind of sad.  But she's still a mama's girl and says my name over and over (she also finally said "Dada!" We heard her in bed over the monitor one night, laying in her crib saying it.) and climbs into my lap whenever I'm near.

I love some of the sweet sister moments I get to witness now.  A few nights ago, I told CBear it was time to say good night to Jellybean, and she got right up in her face.  Lovingly stroking her cheek, she said softly, "I love you Jellybean...oh, you're so beautiful...good night, sister!"  In response, Jellybean smiled sweetly, reached out and tried to pinch the skin off CBear's cheek...hard.  It turned violent quickly with CBear trying to free herself and yelling angrily, "I want to give you a hug!"  Like she really wanted to be nice but Jellybean was interfering.  Ah, sisters.

Summertime has been fun, but we sure are ready for fall around here.  Cooler weather, new routines with fall activities picking back up, and everything that makes autumn AWESOME and my favorite season: pumpkins, hayrides, bonfires, apple cinnamon fragrance and flavors, beautiful colors, and all the holidays coming up involving family and food.  The leaves have started to fall off our neighbor's maple trees into our yard...which could be because they're dying in this drought and heat, but I choose to believe fall is coming early.  CBear was standing under them as the breeze blew the leaves down, armed with a plastic shovel from her sand box yelling, "I catch the leaves!  I got one!"  My feelings exactly, sister.  Fall: Bring. It. On.

Recent happenings and making healthy food choices...impossible?!

I've been a little MIA from the blog lately, but let's just say that the last few weeks have been...ehrm...challenging.  C and E (who has the energy to type out full nicknames anymore?) are in cahoots and on a mission to drive me to the nuthouse.  Okay, so it's not that bad, but C is exerting her little *extremely strong* will and decided a few weeks ago she doesn't want to take a nap or go to bed at night.  She cries and cries, "Mommymommymommymommy!" (or Daddy) until one of us goes into her room and then wants to play.  It's like that preview for Family Guy on TBS where Stewie says, "Mom!  Mommy!  Mama!  Mama!" over and over until the mom finally says, "What?!" and he replies, "Hi," and evil giggles.  No bueno.  Thank goodness she's still in a crib.  It's getting better, and although she doesn't happily lay down anymore she only fusses for a minute or two now and then crashes.  And this is just one example...I was hoping the terrible twos were a myth because I have no patience for fit-throwing, but I'm having to learn it as my child tests it daily.

On top of this, E is currently cutting four upper teeth.  Seriously, four AT ONCE?  Yep.  She's been much crankier and clingy than normal.  I really hate that she doesn't feel good and wish I could make it better, but we're just riding it out (along with some Tylenol and cold cloths to chew on).  We've had a breakthrough, though...the past four nights E has slept all night (with no prompting from me, one night she just slept through her normal night feed and it's continued all week)!  This is huge.  Mommy like.  I'm trying not to be too excited in case we have a regression, but so far so good.

I think we've finally turned a corner, because this week's been much better and I feel like I can breathe again and enjoy the girls.  So here's what we've been up to the past month or so...the mundane, dramatic, silly, etc.:

*I earned my "mom of the year" award by letting C and E play on the trampoline together while I sat in a chair to read for a few minutes.  I looked up and C had unzipped the net and E was crawling out.  I couldn't get there in time and she fell right on her head.  Awesome.  A quick trip to the doctor confirmed that she was just fine and there was no damage other than a scrape above her eye...but I think I earned a few gray hairs and maybe developed a heart condition from it.

*C has become really interested in silly songs.  Out of the blue one day when I was singing to her before naptime she requested "Itsy bitsy Ellie".  Once I sang that she followed with "Ellie bitsy spider", "Twinkle, twinkle little mouse" and "Twinkle, twinkle little mommy" for all of which I made up verses on the spot.  I was super proud of my skills.  Her favorite the last few days has been "Twinkle, twinkle little sheep".  I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff, but I love hearing her giggle while I sing.

*We've made trips to the splash pad, water park, and Kiddie Park, which the kids loved!  E thinks she can swim by herself and C always asks for "the blue one" when choosing the car/plane/boat/swing at the park.  She'll settle for purple, but the world will implode if she has to sit in a pink, yellow, orange or green one.  We also go swim at the grandparents' house, and C really likes their "little pool" aka hot tub.

*I hate potty training.  Enough said.

*Took C to her first Drillers baseball game.  She called it faceball and wondered why she didn't get to play.  They have some awesome things for kids to do, though, so we hope to go back again!

*E is a big girl now and eats three meals a day...if you changed her diapers you would understand this significance and why I'm not super stoked about it.

*We have reached the point where C and E can play together, but if they're playing nicely and it gets quiet, you better see what they've gotten into.  My bathroom cabinet is a popular choice.

*Lots of visiting with family, friends, cook-outs, etc.  We don't have hot dogs often, but when we were at the store yesterday C saw the display of them and pointed saying, "I want all dat!"

Not a whole lot else going on except Team Brown (the hubs and myself) working together and tag-teaming trying to not screw up at being parents/spouses.  It's trial and error.  :)

Speaking of hot dogs and on a completely different note, my friend Lindsey introduced me to this great blog about eating "real" food (cutting out the processed stuff, etc.) which led me to do some more research and try to make some changes with our eating habits.  We weren't exactly junk food junkies before, but there's definitely room for improvement.  I mean, I saw Food, Inc. a while back but I guess I lacked the motivation to change anything.  At first I was like, "is this even possible for a family with two little kids and seemingly NO TIME?!"  And for my family, I'm trying to set some realistic goals and do what I can (which is a little different than what I really want to do, but I have a lot on my plate and can only do so much). 

Right now, I've decided to cut out white flour (replaced with whole-wheat) completely except for special occasions/treats and try to buy as little processed/boxed snacky-type foods (not everything, though...I think I would have a mutiny on my hands if I banned Cheerios from the house), which are my weakness, and concentrate more on real fruits and veggies.  I'm having a lot of fun trying new recipes and sharing them with my family, and I feel good that I'm being aware of what goes into my/husband's/kids' bodies.  Obviously I can't control everything and I'm not trying to (I have a huge sweet tooth and plan to indulge it!).  But it's all about moderation and doing the best I can with my time, budget, abilities, etc.  I can't do everything, but even small changes can make a big impact.  If you're interested, check out the blog and even if you're not, I encourage you to find out what you're eating...and don't trust the FDA to decide for you.  What can I say...I have a bit of my dad's conspiracy theory-ish brain! :)