Thursday, January 27, 2011

Happy birthday, Daddy!

Today is Geeky Entrepreneur's birthday. As is typical with us, we did something simple and low key. I baked a blueberry cake and made lasagna for dinner.

I was feeling like I could have planned better, like I could have made his birthday more fun. It turns out I was wrong!

When Ari and I came home from school, she ran in Daddy's home office to say, more like scream, happy birthday! Unfortunately, Daddy was on the phone.

When we were getting ready to sing happy birthday, I asked Ari if she would like to bring the dessert plates to the table. She said yes. She not only brought them to the table. She walked around and gave everyone a plate, Daddy, grandma, Mommy, and herself!

She then did the same with spoons.

I asked her if she would like to bring the cake to the table. She was ecstatic! She very cautiously and carefully carried the cake!

We sang happy birthday together. Ari was beaming the entire time!

Daddy got many "happy birthday, Daddy" and many family hugs today!

At the end of the day, he said this was the best birthday he ever had! He enjoyed the meal and the cake, but I know that isn't what made it the best birthday ever! It was all about the fact that his 3-year-old was aware of the whole birthday celebration for the first time ever. Last year, as far as she was concerned, it was a chance to eat cake! This year, she was talking about it and looking forward to it for days. She made her Daddy feel very special!

It's the little things... I am so happy and so grateful. I love my little family!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Surprising Daddy, 3-year-old style!

Yesterday, my mother told Ari her cousin's birthday is coming up in February. Ari happily informed her grandma that her Daddy's birthday comes first. Brilliant me joined the conversation and told Ari we could bake Daddy a cake together and that it would be a surprise. She asked what type of cake it would be, what we would put in it, etc.

Fast-forward about half an hour... Ari and I come home.

Ari: Daddy, we have surprise for you. We make blueberry cake for you with milk and flour!"

I ended up baking the cake today so Ari could be part of the process, as opposed to baking it tomorrow morning, when everyone is gone. Tomorrow I'll prepare one of his favorite meals and I will not tell Ari ahead of time what that meal will be!

Silly kid! So darn cute!

Article: Breaking the Silence

This is a must-read article, me thinks! Talks about how being a new mother is very hard and people tend to avoid talking about it.

http://birthfaith.org/postpartum-helps/breaking-the-silence

Monday, January 24, 2011

Article: Facts About Motherhood

A list of the things that are just a bit different once one becomes a parent! I say parent, not mother, because I happen to know a fair number of dads out there who are just as actively engaged and involved as mom.
http://www.authenticparenting.info/2011/01/facts-about-motherhood.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AuthenticParenting+%28Authentic+Parenting%29

Only a little different... Right?!

Somehow, I'm signing up for this again! Yikes!

And, yes, it's true. I've been known to have a little someone go in the bathroom with me and say things like "Mommy, did you wipe? Don't forget to wipe."

Long showers... Pre-motherhood, they were showers. Now, they are "luxurious showers"! Oh how I love them!

Room-temperature food... My poor husband... When we go out to eat, often, it seems like Ari needs to go pee when the food is about to come out or it just did. We take turns, but he ends up taking her more often. If she has not seen him all day, she wants her daddy to help her. Also, if we go to a new restaurant with poor lighting, it's easiest for the parent with the better eyes to go find the bathroom.

Sleep... Yes, I agree wholeheartedly! This is, by far, what I miss the most! Can someone tell me just why the heck kids need to wake up so freaking early?! Why is it that on weekend days she wakes up before 7am and on school days, sometimes, it's 7:40 and I can't get her out of bed? Fascinating stuff!

So, yes, having a child turns your life upside-down, in a way, but it is also very rewarding. It is difficult to put that rewarding feeling into words.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I have some news!

So, after lots of talking and tons of thinking...

We are officially trying to conceive #2!!!

Wow, I can't believe I just typed that!

I am hoping for a fall/winter baby. Let's see if we can manage to have me come back from our cruise with child and I'm not talking about our adorable existing child!

I am very excited, and, frankly, somewhat scared! On most days, having a preschooler feels very manageable. But then there are those crazy nights, those very sucky nights. We have had a number of those recently. Thank you, germs; I so hate you! Germs are the one thing I hate about preschool.

Anyways, here is to a new journey, a new chapter in our lives!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Leapfrog Scribble and Write it is!

The other day I posted about how I was looking at the Leapster. Thank you for leaving comments. They were very helpful!

I decided to get the Leapfrog Scribble and Write for a number of reasons.

She can work on learning to write, which she is very interested in.

It is small, so it looks just right for traveling. We will be in a plane for three hours next weekend, so just in time!

To be perfectly honest, this is the biggest reason! It is much cheaper than the other options I was considering! The Leapster 2 and the Leapster Explorer sound super cool, but they are each over $50 and each game generally costs around $25. So it was either spend at least $75 or $25! Should I mention that Christmas just happened and that I had a blast shopping for my child?! Know what I mean?!

My thought is let's see how she likes it and does with it. If she likes it, we can consider the Leapster 2 or the Leapster Explorer when her birthday is coming up.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Leapster, anyone?

So, apparently my 'crunchiness' has affected the way I shop! I am a big fan of getting Ari toys that are fun, educational and interactive as opposed to electronic toys where the child ends up playing by herself for extended periods of times if we don't set some boundaries. I don't think they are evil or anything, don't get me wrong. I think they are great, so long as we don't get so used to them that we stop spending a reasonable amount of time interacting with our kids.

So, all that being said, I have been hearing about the Leapster recently. I looked it up last night and it sounds super cool! One of the new games/attachments for it turns it into a camera. My Ari would so love that thing! Lately, she is borrowing our camera because she loves to take pictures. There are also Dora and Go Diego Go games that have to do with rescuing animals. You have no idea how many times in one day we pretend to save animals with ropes and other tools!

So... I am thinking about it. Do you know kids that have them? Do your kids have one? What do you think about them?

For those who are not familiar with the Leapster, but are curious, here it is:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3104361

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Article: Five Benefits to Cosleeping Past Infancy

So, cosleeping and bedsharing... A controversial topic...

As I have mentioned before, I believe in doing whatever works best for your family. Currently, this is what is working for us: Ari starts out on a mattress next to our bed. Sometime in the middle of the night, her and her elephant come over. We tried transitioning her to her room. It was not the right time. I could have forced the issue, made her miserable, and given up on tons of sleep. No thank you! There are times when nothing is working and you have to do something, try something different. But sharing our bedroom works for us, so we went back to that.

Yes, she is three. Yes, before she was born, I would have never imagined that she would still be in our bedroom. Furthermore, I never thought I would be ok with this.

Life as parents has taught me over and over again that I ought to do what is right for my family, regardless of what others think. I follow my gut. I do whatever keeps my family happy and healthy. That includes both my child and my husband. Finding a balance can be difficult at times. I am not saying it's always easy! Keeping everyone happy and healthy requires lots of adjusting and lots of communication. But it is definitely worth it. Right now, we wake up to a happy child telling us stories about pretend games or her plans for the day.

So, now that I have told you all about our sleep arangements, which is not what I set out to do, here is the article I wanted to share!

http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/five-benefits-cosleeping/

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Update on us...

I realized I have been neglecting my blog again. Here is an update...

My silly child continues to pretend she is different animals! For a few weeks she was an elephant. Then she was a kitty cat. Last Friday she came home saying she is now a butterfly, a blue butterfly!

She is enjoying singing, dancing, and pretending all sorts of different things. Today she pretended that my mother's bedroom was a school and that my mom's yoga ball was the school's gate!

When we tell her it's time to go, she puts up pretend gates so we can't get to her!

She is still enjoying and loving school and so are we. In fact, we just re-enrolled her for the next academic year. She will be in the same classroom.

Geeky Entrepreneur had surgery on 12/23. His gallbladder was removed. Turnes out it was very inflamed. He still has a few stitches, but is mostly back to normal and can now eat whatever the heck he wants!

We just went on a little trip to see some friends last weekend. Ari got to play with my friend's 3-year-old. They got along very well and they are so cute together! Us grownups got to play Pandemic! So much fun! It is a cooperative board game. Check it out!

We just got tons of snow, maybe two feet? To be honest, I am horrible at checking the weather reports!

We are going on vacation in just over two weeks! Cruise of the Western Caribbean this time (Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman; and Ocho Rios, Jamaica). Seven days away from this super cold place! I can't wait! Ari is excited and has asked if we can get another "boat that we put air into"!

I think that is about it for us. Let's see if I can get into some sort of schedule!

Monday, January 10, 2011

"Practice babies," are you serious?

Wow, I am in shock. I can't believe people would do this. I know people who did not study psychology may not know much about attachment theory. But, it's instinctual, is it not?

Why the heck would you have a child receive care from a group of mothers for a few weeks, then another group, then another...? You get the point. Wow. Unbelievable.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/practice-babies-cornell-unveils-dark-history-adoption-world/story?id=12548705

K, done. I'm going to bed. I am very tired and this really made me angry!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Article: Sighing

A short article. A nice reminder.
http://www.authenticparenting.info/2011/01/sighing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AuthenticParenting+%28Authentic+Parenting%29

Our kids are people with feelings. Let's remember to be aware about how we respond to them.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Article: Are you your child's friend?

I have been discovering several very interesting and informative parenting websites recently.

Check out this article:
http://www.enjoyparenting.com/daily-groove/friend

Growing up, I remember my mom feeling happy that her and I were 'friends.' As a grownup, I began thinking the idea of parents and kids being friends was a bad one. To be honest, I have not thought about it a whole heck of a lot recently, perhaps because Ari is still little? This article raises an interesting point. What is a friend? Given the article's definition of what a friend is, I think being your child's friend can be a beautiful and powerful thing for all involved. Thoughts?