THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rosie’s new obsession this month is “last one down is a rotten egg” when going down the stairs. Then she changes her mind frequently and decides that “last is best”.
She has been singing the thanksgiving songs she learned at school, and she performed them with her class when we had a potluck thanksgiving dinner with her school. We made scalloped potatoes, that Rosie called “skeleton” potatoes.

She has been playing a lot with her brother - playing hide and seek, tag, duck duck goose, house, and doggie (with Sammy as the doggie of course). This morning they were pretending their bowls of oatmeal were birthday cakes and sticking the spoons straight up like candles and singing Happy Birthday to each other.
She is so excited to be learning to read and spell. She is always trying to read words and signs and asking what things say or how things are spelled. She is reading stop signs, no parking signs, the open signs on buildings, telling Sammy how to spell his name, how to spell MOM, telling Sammy he needs to take an N-A-P. She loves school, though sometimes she comes home on her full day exhausted and tells me “I had a hard day”….

We had our first parent-teacher conference at Rosie’s school at the beginning of the month and it was everything a parent could hope to hear. The teachers love her and say she is a joy to have in the classroom. The other kids look up to her, they said she is the leader of the other kids. They are impressed with her reading skills and can tell she loves to learn. Joe and I were both in tears during the conference hearing the glowing praises of our little girl. Now the big decision is whether to continue with the Montessori way of learning. Rosie really seems to be able to be self-directed and thrive in this learning environment where she gets to choose what she is interested in, and I would hate to squash her love of learning in a more controlled environment. There is a public Montessori school in the area (ie - FREE) - but it would be a 30-45 minute drive each way. It is definitely something we will be seriously researching in the next few months. I just took a few books out of the library on the Montessori philosophy and how it works in grade school to see if it is something we want to commit to for Rosie.

Sammy still worships his big sister (most of the time) and tries to copy whatever she is doing. He can easily count to 10 when they are playing tag - and he knows the way to play games, saying “ready or not here I come” and chasing her around the house. He also loves playing chase with the doggie. He has a lot of cute sayings he took from Rosie:
“oh my gosh!” “it’s my favorite” “he’s so adorable!” (said when watching Aristocats) - and my new favorite, at dinnertime - telling me about the dinner I made “it’s delicious!”
He is still mumbling quite a bit, especially when he is tired, and sometimes even I can’t understand him. He is such an active boy, always jumping on the trampoline, running through the house, kicking a ball or throwing a ball, making mountains of pillows and jumping or climbing on them. This morning he was playing basketball and saying “oh man” when he missed and “all right!” or “high five” when he makes it.

We had a great thanksgiving at Uncle Jack and Aunt Arlene’s house today. We are all home in bed now with full bellies and are thankful for spending time with family. We plan on decorating the house for the holidays and getting a Christmas tree this weekend.

Good night from the Greenwalds

OK - so technically it is already October, but I was so busy in September, and then we spent a week in Florida near the end of the month - and I just realized I never finished last month’s update… so here it is….

AAH, the cool fall air is starting here in Michigan, I love these days…..clear blue skies, with bright sunshine, and colorful fall leaves starting to turn..

Rosie started Preschool again at English Oaks Montessori school, and she loves it! This year she is going 2 half days and one full day (to prepare for her full-day kindergarden next year). She was very excited to stay at school for the whole long day and eat lunch with her friends. We bought her a small rug for at home so she can play “school” and get out her mat and her work and have space to do her own thing, and then she is getting very good about cleaning up afterwards. I am going to try to clear out the clutter in the playroom and put toys and activities on the shelves so they are easier to get out and clean up. This past week, Rosie’s school had a field trip to a local farm, and Sammy and I went along and it was a great time! We went on a hayride, and the kids got to ride horses, feed pigs and sheep and goats, and bottle feed some baby pigs and goats, and then the coolest thing was that they got to milk a cow!

It brought back memories of my own childhood on a farm and I am so glad that my kids got to interact with the animals so much.

We have been having a few issues with Rosie’s neighborhood friends that started over the past month. Rosie, being the youngest of the group, unfortunately has been the target of some bullying, leaving out of playing, name-calling, and a lot of things that I didn’t expect to have to deal with until junior high. It has resulted in a lot of tears and hurt feelings and conversations with the neighbors. On the positive side, Rosie is learning the golden rule (how to treat people as you want to be treated) and how to stand up for herself, and we have had lots of conversations about jealousy, and knowing right from wrong and not doing something just because your friend tells you to. Since school started and everyone is busy with school and other activities, there is not so much interaction with the neighbors and it seems to have cooled off a bit….

Rosie has been reading a lot more, she is getting pretty good and can read some books on her own (mostly because she memorized them I think). She has been practicing writing her whole full name and numbers too. She still loves to color and draw and is getting a bit neater with her coloring, staying mostly within the lines now… Her vocabulary is amazing, she knows so many words and expressions and she is constantly amazing me with the things she says and knows. She has been very good about cleaning up after meals, and she clears her dishes and Sammy’s too and she helps me wipe off the table. We are going to start experimenting with an allowance for her, probably just getting a quarter for every time she helps me with something around the house.

Sammy - OH MY is 2 a challenging age. I must have forgotten how Rosie was at this age, because I just do not have the patience to deal with him like I want to. He is hot or cold, either screaming NO and being extremely whiny and difficult, or he is giggling and cuddling and being the cutest boy ever. He drives me crazy most days, but his cuteness more than makes up for it. We are still working on his transition to the “big bed” in his room. He has not been very agreeable about staying in bed or in his room at bedtime, so I put a baby gate up outside his door and he is now climbing over the gate as well… Bedtime has been taking forever to finally get him down, and then he has been waking up in the middle of the night and I have been going and sleeping in his room, or bringing him in bed with us, as he wants to cuddle or “cull” as it sounds when he says it. He also requests “Mommy seep me” or ” mommy seep my bed”.
I am not getting nearly enough sleep, but it is almost worth it when he keeps me up climbing over me and lying on top of me and saying “I love you mommy” every 20 min.

He is really trying to be a big boy, insisting on climbing into the car and into his car seat by himself, and buckle top buckle of car seat by himself - things that add an extra 10 min into our leaving the house routine. He started doing a front roll, learning all by himself by watching Rosie. He is constantly repeating every word and action and move his sister says/does, and driving her crazy.
Our conversation from the other day:
Rosie: Mommy, is it still fall?
Me: yep, it’s still fall
Sammy: mama, still fall?
Me: yes Sammy, it’s still fall
Rosie: When will it be winter?
Me: After fall, in December, around Christmastime is when it will turn to winter
Sammy: Mama, when winter?
Me: In December it will be winter, at Christmastime
Sammy: oh, in ‘cember, kimas time
Rosie: Then it is Spring? After Winter?
Me: Yep, spring is after winter
Sammy: Mama, sping after winter?
Me: (sigh) Yes Sammy, spring is after winter
Sammy - oh, sping after winter.

And that is pretty much how every conversation goes, all day long… You can see how that can wear on your patience pretty quickly…

He is starting to show more interest in the potty and actually pooped on the potty the other day for the first time. He will start to go poop and tell me we will go and he will go in and finish on the potty. He loves to flush and is good about washing hands, etc.

Along with repeating everything, he just generally talks non-stop and needs 100% of my attention all the time or he will incessantly repeat
Mommy? Mom? Mommy? Mom? MOMMY! MAMA! MOM! MOM!
and I finally give in and say (in an irritated voice) YES! WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT? - and he sighs and says “I love you too” and he knows those are magic words that take my anger and frustration away…

He also always says:
Why mom? but why?
Daddy - you’re a goofball!
Excuse me mommy, I need to tell you something
Whispering, telling secrets at dinner (copying his sister)
Whew (wiping the back of his hand on his forehead) that was a close one! (when almost spilling/dropping something)
No MY do it!
Mmmm - it’s delicious!

and he really loves to love things - he tells us he loves us several times a day. He is so enthusiastic about everything:
I love it! I love daddy car! I love your shoes!

We spent a lovely end of summer week in FL.

I got to spend some quality time with my mom and sisters and the kids had a great time getting spoiled by Gigi and playing with cousins Ella and Stephen and Bailey. We also had a memorial ceremony for Grandma on the beach.

We got balloons and wrote little messages to Grandma on them, and read some of her poetry (really quite amazing stuff from when she was 17 and a new mother). Some dolphins came and were frolicking in the water as we were remembering Grandma. Then as soon as we released the balloons, a storm rolled in and it was pouring down rain, as if the universe was crying with us, it was amazing.

Joe and I took our first kid-free vacation for our 5th anniversary present to ourselves, we left the kids with GiGi and took the Ferry down to Key West for 2 days. We slept in and took naps and drank a lot of alcohol in the day and watched some gorgeous sunsets.


It was such a nice break for me to not have to be worrying about naptimes, and meals, and generally managing every detail of our family life for a couple days. I definitely missed the kids, and they actually did great without me. I kind of expected them to miss me a little more, since it was the first time I was ever away from them for more than a couple hours at a time - but the fact that they weren’t whining and missing me made me enjoy my time away a little more too… I am looking forward to some more vacation time for me in the future, now that Sammy is finally weaned and I know they will be OK.

So, goodbye to the summer, and goodbye for now - I’ll have more next month…

I just read an excellent post about the “controversial” doll that breastfeeds - Bebe Gloton…

I am too lazy to put together such a well-thought out post right now - so please read THIS - courtesy of Crunchy Domestic Goddess…

Enjoy!

How can my little girl be 4 years old already? The baby who presented me with the gift of motherhood.

The quick and (dare I say) easy labor and delivery - 4.5 hours of “what the hell is happening oh my god I think I’m in labor” to “hi baby” (the first words I uttered as I looked into my little girl’s eyes).

The last few months her personality can be summed up as: me first, that’s mine, I get the bigger one, I get to pick, I get the first one.
She is head strong, independent, wanting to do things herself, and her own way - the quintessential first born attitude. She is demanding, frustrating, defiant - frequently crossing her arms and scowling “NO - I don’t want to!” when I ask her to do something. It has been a true test of patience for me and I am not proud to admit there has been a lot of yelling on my part lately. She fights bedtime every night - she just doesn’t want to go to sleep. We have found her kneeling under her open window, talking to her neighbor friends at 10 at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. The other night she told me that she was going to stay awake all night, she was never going to close her eyes. She said her room was boring. Then she took all her clothes out of her closet, and threw them in a pile in the middle of her room and said she was going to sleep on the pile of clothes. She has been REALLY difficult lately, but she does still have her cute and sweet moments too….

90% of the time, she is really good at sharing and being a good helper and big sister to Sammy. In fact, he is the one who refuses her attempts at “help” more often than not, and that is what makes her upset and angry. She loves speed, and excitement and action. She loves to go for walks in the stroller and have me run down the hills so she can feel like she is on a roller coaster. She loves to be pushed on the swing, and always wants to go higher and faster. The other day she said she wanted to go “two zero two fast” She also loves when Joe or I give her an “underdog” push, though she has adopted Joe’s backwards/opposite way of talking and calls it an “over cat”. She still loves learning and doing new things and knows when she is doing something new or saying something smart and she will comment - “isn’t that clever of me?” She loves dressing up as a princess, and playing house, playing with dolls and barbies, and playing pretend. She was playing “doctor” with her cousin Ari the other day, using the stethoscope I bought when I was pregnant with Sammy. Joe walked in the playroom and Rosie told him he had to leave, because they were playing doctor and “having a moment” as she put it. Yikes! I don’t think I am ready to deal with that yet…

She is such a smartie and always amazes me with the things she says. Just today she said that something would “certainly be a whole lot of fun”. She is still practicing reading and loves to spell and sound out words. She is working on adding and subtracting and can do pretty much any number plus or minus one…

She has been eating a ton lately, I think she is going through a growth spurt. She has been snacking all day long, luckily they are usually healthy snacks, fruit, craisins, carrots and hommous, granola bars, dry cereal, and her favorite foods are still beans and rice and mac and cheese. I was so tickled to see her picking up the individual macaroni pieces and threading them onto the tines of the fork before eating them, just like I remember doing in my youth (and up until not too long ago, to be honest).

We have been talking about her birthday non-stop, counting down the days, and basically celebrating it all month long already. She got presents at the beginning of the month from Aunt Judy and Aunt Elaine, she got presents on Sammy’s birthday, she got a ton of presents at the party we had with friends and neighbors over the weekend, and her big present she asked for from mommy and daddy is “a princess bike, one that won’t fall down”. As luck would have it, one of our awesome neighbors was cleaning out their garage a few weeks ago, and gave us a princess bike with training wheels that their daughter had outgrown - score! I spruced it up, touched up the paint, ordered a basket for the front and some new streamers for the handlebars and I am sure Rosie will love it! This birthday isn’t even over yet, and she is already planning her “five birthday” and has told me the cake she wants and started to come up with presents she wants already for the next year…

Oh my sweet baby girl. I don’t even have the words for the love I feel for you, nor do I have the words for the frustrations and anger I feel some days. I know she is still testing her boundaries and exploring her independence, but MAN I wish she would just go back to the sweet girl who would actually listen to me on occasion.

WOW - I can’t believe it was 2 years ago that my little boy was born.

The last 2 years have gone by in the blink of an eye. Sammy has grown so quickly from the chubby, cooing, smiling, sleeping all the time baby into a walking, talking, laughing, running, jumping, cuddling boy, who actually still sleeps pretty great (aside from a few off nights)!

I can still vividly recall the late night/early morning birth adventure that brought my sweet boy to this world. Sam’s birth was truly a lesson in trust. Trust in my body. Trust in the universe. Trust in my awesome midwife. Trust in my baby. The knowledge that he was stuck and needed some additional maneuvering to fully enter this world could have and probably should have brought panic into my mind and thoughts, yet I was strangely calm throughout. I somehow just knew that everything would be alright. Moving out of the bathtub, getting on my hands and knees, putting my head down on the cold tile floor and PUSHING and GRUNTING with all my might, and still needing the midwife to grab onto his torso and pull him from my womb. He didn’t seem to want to leave my body, and he still is such a mama’s boy, needing me to hold him, carry him, cuddle him, and lately, wanting to sit on my lap at mealtimes.

We are becoming accustomed to dealing with the fierce independent streak he is showing. He is still a great (and loud) tantrum thrower, lying on the ground, kicking and screaming, throwing things, the usual tantrum stuff. Tantrums that crop up at the mere mention of “no” - he HATES being told that he can’t do or have something. He is such a sensitive little man, as I can usually thwart the tantrum by asking “do you want to cuddle with mommy?” and he will say “yeah, cull mommy” and climb up on my lap, bury his head in my shoulder, and dry his tears and calm down. He has also been fighting sleep at naptime and bedtime a bit lately, maybe because I am limiting nursing, trying to move to just rocking before bed.

In the last month, he has had a true language explosion, he repeats everything, he speaks in 4-5 word sentences, he tries to sing. He loves pointing out things, I think just to prove to me (and himself) that he knows the words. He says things like “mama, excuse me, open please”. He tries to do everything his sister does. He will get a cup out of the lower cabinet where we keep all the kids cups and plates and etc. and he tries to get water out of the dispenser on the front of the fridge. He can’t quite reach the water lever, but he can reach the ice one, so several times a day we have ice cubes melting on the kitchen floor from his attempts. He loves cars, and trains, and trucks, typical boy stuff. When we are driving in the car, he loves to point out every truck we pass - “mama, big truck”. Even when eating watermelon the other day, he took a rectangular chunk of watermelon, took a bite out, and he decided it looked like a train engine - and so he said “choo choo” and pushed his watermelon chunk around on the table.

He tries to count, but it usually sounds like “1, 2, 3, 10!” He tries to sing the ABC’s and it usually sounds like “ABD, FD, H, KOP, Q, S, T, W, Y, Z”. He loves to jump in the pool, and can spend hours saying “1, 2, 3 jump” and jumping into my arms and then kicking over (with my help) to the stairs and climbing up and doing it all over again. He loves playing in the play kitchen, and pretending to make food and eat it or give it to me to eat. He is getting good at doing a few puzzles we have, putting the letters in place where they go on top of the pictures, he knows W goes on the whale, and etc. and he is starting to know his shapes and colors. He still loves to imitate his big sister, and will do or say anything she does or says.

He is such a joy, his laugh can light up a room. He loves to tickle and be tickled. Every night after his bath he runs away, naked and wet and climbs up on my bed and waits to be tickled. He is silly, and smart, and sweet, and stubborn all at the same time. He is my boy, and he is two years old, and I am so lucky.

and today…

So, yesterday was one of those idyllic days where I was, once again, thinking how awesome my new neighborhood is.

After running some errands in the morning, we came home and had lunch and I put Sammy down for a nap. Rosie and I went out to get the mail and noticed that one of our neighbors across the street had set up a giant bouncey house and there were about 10 kids inside. The neighbor saw us, pointed at Rosie, pointed at the bounce house and waved us over to play. There were a handful of parents around with plastic cups, and I was informed that it was the “last day of school” celebration - a ritual every year. The kids had just gotten off the bus from their 1/2 day and last day of school, and everyone was in a great mood. I was given an adult drink made with vodka, limeade and beer - named the “strip and go naked” and I was given a chair as I sat and talked to the other parents and watched the kids play. Throughout the hour, several other kids and parents stopped by - someone brought pizza, someone brought drinks, another mom walked up from down the street and brought chips and popsicles. There were about 30 kids total accumulated at this point (ranging in ages from 4-12), teams were made and a rousing game of “capture the flag” was played.

After a couple hours of fun, I came inside to wait for Sammy to wake up from his nap. While I was waiting, my sister in law, Pauline called and invited us to join her down at the neighborhood pool. I promised we would walk down after Sammy woke up. About 1/2 hour later, we were all in bathing suits, in the double stroller, heading to the pool. I spent the next 2 hours sitting in the sun, catching up on neighborhood gossip, and watching the kids have a great time playing and splashing in the pool with their cousins and other neighborhood kids.

It was a fun and awesome summer day, and the summer has only just begun. The kids slept great last night and the only casualty is a slight sunburn on my arms.
*Note to self, buy tons of sunscreen for the summer…

I am still in awe of the extended-family like atmosphere in the neighborhood. There are definitely little cliques on each street, but as a whole - everyone pretty much knows each other and gets along great.

Oh, and there is a huge neighborhood party at the pool this weekend, games, food, movies, etc. - I can’t wait!

I am looking forward to having a fabulous summer!

Happy MAY!

We have had a fun and busy month as usual. We’ve had some hot summer weather, and some cold thunderstorms. We had a power outage that lasted for 2 days, and we had a trip to Florida to visit Gigi and the rest of our FL family members. We’ve done a lot of playing outside and blowing bubbles, and visiting parks and sliding and swinging. We are looking forward to a fun summer and hope that the weather stays nice from now on…

Rosie has still been trying to assert her independence - which has been really difficult for me to deal with. She has been defiant just because she wants to be the one making the decisions. If I ask her to do something, sometimes she will cross her arms and say “No, I don’t WANT to do that!” She started saying “too bad” occasionally too - I told her she couldn’t have another snack before dinner - and she went to the pantry and said “Too bad because I already got out the craisins”. I have tried to explain to her that is not a nice or acceptable way to talk to your mom. We have had a lot of cuddle time and talking about words and attitude and I am trying to be patient and I know this is just a phase and hopefully it will pass soon. But, I have had several moments of screaming at her that I am not too proud of.

Most of the time, she is sweet and remembers to say please and thank you, and she frequently comes up to me randomly throughout the day and says “I love you mommy” and will give me a big kiss and hug - but then she will have a defiant moment out of the blue that will just take the wind out of my sails. I have been sending her to her room a lot - just telling her that I don’t appreciate her attitude and she can go to her room until she decides to be a big girl and be nice to me. She usually spends 5 min in her room and then comes down and says “I am ready to come down now” - or I will go into her room, we will talk about her behavior, I try to explain why I got angry and why she can’t act that way - we kiss and make up and then come downstairs.

One particular conversation - when she was running around naked and I wanted her to at least put underwear on and she was running away from me and screaming:
Rosie: “NO, I don’t WANT to put panties on”
Me: “You can put your panties on, or you can go to your room for a time out”
Rosie: (buries her head in her hands and cries) “I just don’t know what to choose!”

Bedtime has also been a bit of a battle, she usually requests one more book, one more cuddle, one more song, and then she needs a specific toy or doll, and if I can’t find it - she declares that she just can’t go to sleep without that thing. If I do fulfill all her requests, sometimes she just says “I don’t WANT to go to bed”. This is when I sometimes resort to yelling and threatening her. Then I always feel guilty about it - especially since she has recently started saying “I’m afraid that you’re mad at me”

Oh, but her cuteness is of such an extreme level and her sweetness the majority of the time makes the hard times so worth it. She was extra sweet around Mothers day this year and told me at least 20 times “Happy Mudder’s day”. We have taken a lot of pictures over the last couple weeks. We had a photo shoot when we lost power for a long weekend after a big storm, and she was so cute with her posing. We walked to the little playground in our neighborhood and she kept begging me “take my picture mommy”, “take a picture of me dancing”, and “take a picture of me swinging”.

We had a Mother’s Day tea at Rosie’s school on the Friday before Mother’s day, and we got dressed up in fancy dresses and had a great time eating little sandwiches and treats and drinking tea with lots of milk and a little sugar. I found a small teapot set at Salvation Army for Rosie later that week and we have been having our own tea parties at home while Sammy naps.

She is so cute with all her playing and ideas and things she says and knows. She sings me songs she learns at school, in her quiet, breathy, slightly off-key voice. She surprised me by knowing the days of the week (I guess she learned at school) and she has been talking a lot about using her ‘magination. She has a wooden giraffe pull toy that she recently named “princess” and she told me the other day “princess would like some more craisins please mommy”. I said, “oh, really - princess wants the craisins?” and she said “oh yeah, princess just LOVES craisins”.

She saw the neighbor’s lawn getting mowed the other day and she asked me:
“mommy, what’s that guy doing”
“he’s mowing the lawn”
“oh, he’s getting the grass all smalled up?”

Sammy is still an active 22 month old. He is seemingly in constant motion - jumping, running, climbing, etc. Every time he goes outside, he makes a bee-line for one of the neighbor’s playstructures. He could spend hours climbing up, sliding down and running around until I usually have to chase him down (giggling) and bring him inside. He is pretty coordinated and sports minded for a not-yet-two-year-old. He can run and kick a soccer ball with pretty good precision. He will see a basketball, and pick it up and carry it over to the neighbor’s basketball hoop and jump and try to throw it up towards the hoop towering over him. He is pretty good at throwing and even catching balls now when we play catch.

He is even looking more like a big boy lately. I just trimmed his hair a little bit, and he doesn’t have that babyish look about him anymore. He is still getting new words every day, and is talking more in 2 and 3 word sentences. Every night when I put him to bed I say “night night, love you” and he always repeats back to me “ni- nite” and waves with his hand, and he has started to say “love-oo” occasionally too. There are still things I don’t understand that he says, and I have to usually say “show me” and he will ask for my “hand” and take my hand and pull me over to whatever it is that he is requesting or talking about.

He usually asks to hold my “hand” and wants to “walk” when we go places. He will chant “ME ME ME” or “TOO TOO TOO” when he wants something. He has been trying to put shoes and socks on himself, and he will bring my shoes to me and say “shoe on” and try to put my shoes on me as well. He has been taking his diaper off occasionally, so I need to make sure I keep pants or shorts on him so he doesn’t have access to the velcro closures on his diapers. He is getting really good at eating with utensils and drinking from regular cups. He is starting to say “Peeese” and ” tayk too” pretty regularly.

He is constantly copying his sister and wanting to do whatever she says or does. Recently, she was dancing for me and holding her dress out and twirling and jumping and spinning around, and Sammy got up and pulled up the bottom of his t-shirt and was spinning around and saying “too, too, too”. He still is jealous and thinks he owns my body. Anytime Rosie sits on my lap or cuddles me he comes over and whines and tries to push her away. We went back to nursing a ton because the kids were both a little sick at the beginning of the month, and then when we traveled, our schedules were all out of whack, so now we are trying to get back on track..

We had a fun trip to Florida at the beginning of the month, and got to rest and relax and go to the beach and spend some time with family (Gigi, Auntie Em, cousin Ella, Aunt Jackie, Aunt Rochelle, and cousins Stephen and Bailey.) The last day we were there, a little parking lot carnival opened up right near Gigi’s house and Rosie and Ella got to go on a bunch of rides together and it was so fun.

Have a great month! Here’s a little video of the kids blowing bubbles outside on a nice (but windy) day…

Happy Earth Day 2009! Rosie and I have several natural crafts planned for today. We are going to make a bird feeder out of a milk jug, and take some rocks and paint them like ladybugs, and I think we might plant some lettuce seeds in the garden too…

In honor of Earth Day today, I wanted to write a post about my mainstream hippie lifestyle. In the last few years, as I got older and especially as I became a mother, I noticed that I really started to embrace my old hippie past. In the wake of global warming, and as we start to realize how harmful plastic and household chemicals are for our health and for the planet, and now with the financial crisis, the old-school “hippie” movement seems more critical and necessary as ever. In the spirit of all the “how crunchy are you” quizzes, I wanted to come up with a list of the ways I have fit the old hippie way of doing things into my new modern life. Especially with this economy, a lot of these things are HUGE cost savers along with being better for the environment and everyone as a whole.

Those who know me from WAY back, know that I grew up on 33 acres in Northern California and my parents owned a “bug farm” where we raised biological pest control. We primarily raised fly parasites, the natural enemy of the fly. We would sell these parasites to cattle ranchers, and they could get rid of their fly problem without using chemicals or pesticides. Along with the fly parasites, we had a bunch of animals (a rotating group consisting of pigs, chickens, 2 horses, some sheep, several rabbits, and a cow named Maynard for a while), and we also had a huge garden. It was the 1970’s - early 80’s and we were, for lack of a better word, hippies. We didn’t wear exclusively tie-dye and follow the Grateful Dead around, but we did try to live consciously and sustainably, growing and raising a lot of our own food. My sister and I didn’t really eat any sugar until we were old enough to go to our friends houses and get it from them. I remember a period where my mom actually would grind her own wheat to make bread.

So, considering my childhood - a lot of the old school “hippie” things just seemed familiar and natural to me…

1. Home Birth
When we first found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have a home birth. This idea was completely natural for me, as my mom had a homebirth with my sister and I was present for the event when I was just 2 years old (we have the whole birth on audio tape, but that’s a story for another day). The thought of me giving birth at our house was a little “out there” for Joe, because he just assumed everyone had their babies at the hospital. After finding an awesome midwife, and coming to a compromise on a Birth Center, Joe actually started to get really comfortable with the idea of a home birth, and he was the one who decided to have the midwife come to us, instead of vice versa, when the time came. Rosemary was born peacefully at home in our bathtub on a July afternoon after only 4.5 hours of labor. We crawled in bed afterwards and just rested for the remainder of the afternoon and evening while the midwives cleaned everything up. It was the best thing ever. Sammy followed almost exactly 2 years later, and even with a minor hitch at the end, he was born after only 5.5 hours of labor. I know homebirth isn’t for everyone, but it was definitely the best decision for us. Aside from the comfort and safety of a home birth (for an average, healthy, low-risk mother, home birth has been deemed as safe or safer than delivering at a hospital) the cost of a home birth is way less. Even with insurance paying most hospital costs, many new parents find themselves with a hospital bill in the thousands of dollars. My midwife costs were around $3000 each time, and we were able to submit our claims to our insurance company and were re-imbursed 80% of those costs (after our deductible) as it was considered an out-of-network provider.

2. Cloth Diapers
It is estimated that 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are tossed in landfills every day! These diapers can take up to 500 years to decompose. Disposable diaper manufacturers use over 1 million metric tons of wood pulp and 75,000 metric tons of plastic every year. source Along with being a contributor to huge amounts of waste, they have harsh chemicals in them - dyes, perfumes and other things that I don’t want up against my baby’s most sensitive areas.

Most people associate cloth diapers with touching poop and dunking in toilets and messy, stinky gross stuff all over, and poking babies with diaper pins, and that is SO not the cloth diapers of today. Cloth diapers can be so cute and easy and stylish. I experimented with a lot of different diapers at first. I thought Kissaluvs fitteds with Bummis covers worked best for newborn messy poos - then we switched to All-In-One’s (AIO’s) - because they were easiest and worked just like disposables, with velcro closures, and then you just throw them in the wash. We went with Bumkins and Kushies for our AIO’s mostly. Then, when I got pregnant with Sammy, I experimented with BumGenius One Size pockets, so Rosie could wear them for a while, and then they would work for a newborn too. Now, we use a mix of AIO’s, pockets and a few old school cloth diapers (chinese pre-folds - or CPF’s) with covers. I mean, come on - did you see how cute some of these diapers are?? I bought a lot of my initial diaper stash used from other mommies (until I knew what I really liked) and I would estimate I spent probably about $500-600 total on cloth diapers and wipes for both kids. That’s as much as some parents spend on a month or two of disposable diapers for a couple kids. For wipes, I just use cheap washcloths and I make my own wipe solution with a few drops of lavender and tea tree essential oils in water and keep it in a wipes warmer. It works WAY better than those cold, thin, disposable wipes. All the cloth diapers and wipes go in a huge garbage can I use as a diaper pail and I have a few re-usable, washable liners I use with that. I don’t soak, I sometimes do scrape or wipe off the more solid poos into the toilet before tossing them in the diaper pail. Then, about 2x a week, I take the liner out of the pail, with all diapers and wipes inside, and empty it out in the washer, throw the liner in too - and wash in my sanitary cycle with a pre-wash and extra rinse. Then I dry in the dryer, or sometimes dry in the sun outside to remove stains. It’s really pretty easy.

this article does a great job of explaining the financial, chemical, and environmental benefits of cloth diapering

Now, I do use disposables occasionally, Rosie would always wear Seventh Generation disposables at night (un-bleached, no dyes or fragrances) and when we are traveling or out of the house - we use disposables occasionally for convenience. Everytime I would put my kids in Huggies or Pampers, I found they leaked, and they gave my kids bad diaper rashes, and I just hate that fake baby powder smell that most disposables have.

I think a lot of moms would totally use cloth diapers if they knew how easy (and cute!) they really are. If you are really grossed out by washing them yourself, you can use a diaper service (with CPF’s and covers). Also, in addition to the numerous advantages above, kids that are cloth diapered usually potty-train earlier (they are more aware of the wetness sensation). Yay for cloth diapers!

3. Breastfeeding
Duh! It’s what breasts are for. There is really no argument that it is the best and healthiest for baby and mama, not to mention it is easier (most of the time) and cheaper than formula. I also believe in child-led weaning, but had to gently encourage Rosie to stop nursing when I was pregnant with Sam because it was SOOO painful, and I had to set limits recently with Sammy because he was just wanting unlimited access and I was starting to resent our nursing relationship. If he is still going strong after his 2nd birthday, I might have to re-evaluate my stance on CLW - but I would really like it to be his decision to stop, so it is not something I am taking away from him. The AAP recommends “Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.” and the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or beyond for optimum health of mothers and babies. I think one of the hugest hurdles to breastfeeding is the lack of support for mothers and adequate maternity leave and childcare options. Why is the US one of the only industrialized nations that doesn’t provide at least 6 months of PAID maternity leave? But again, that’s a topic for another day… There has been a lot of press and discussion recently because of a badly researched article that stirred up a lot of controversy - here is a great response to that article and says a lot of the things that I think….

4. Babywearing
I used slings and wraps and various other carriers with Rosie, but didn’t really see the full benefits until I had Sammy. I think babywearing is an absolute necessity for anyone with more than one child. I don’t think I could have gone grocery shopping, or run any errands, or done much of anything with a new baby and a toddler to chase around, had I not been able to wear Sammy. I have several different pouches, ring-slings, wraps, mei-tei style carriers, and my ergo, and I make and sell my own stylish stretchy Sea-Green Baby Wraps now. I still wear Sammy occasionally, but he gets antsy and wants to get down and run around a lot more now. Babywearing is especially handy when traveling, I always bring a sling with me when getting on a plane, and I wore Rosie and Sammy both all through Europe, so much easier than toting a stroller up and down stairs. Babywearing allows you to stay connected to your baby, holding them close to you (which is where they want to be anyway), they stay happier, your arms and back get a break when the weight of the baby is spread out, and babies learn more when they are up at eye level and can experience and see the world better.

5. Wooden toys
We tried to do a lot of wood and natural toys for the kids, but we definitely weren’t purists about it. We have a LOT of plastic stuff. Plastic stuff is fun and colorful, but I have noticed (in addition to the negative environmental impact) that plastic toys break easier and don’t last as long as the wooden stuff.

6. Natural health/beauty products and cleaning products
We try to use exclusively natural stuff on the kids. Burts Bee’s diaper cream, California Baby body wash and shampoo, Rainbow kids bubble bath and other similar products. I just think that there are so many new chemicals out there, and we don’t know what kind of lasting effect they will have on us in the future. Plus, I have sensitive skin and I know I prefer natural stuff for me (I use Dr. Bronner’s peppermint castile soap) and I try to use natural deodorants too, sometimes just a little rubbing alcohol works, sometimes I use a liquid rock type thing, but I do have some heavy duty Secret for those really stinky days….

And I try to not buy any household cleaners with harsh chemicals. I use baking soda a lot for scouring sinks and toilets, I use seventh generation dishwashing liquid and carpet cleaner, biokleen multi-purpose cleaner and ecos laundry detergent.

7. Gardening and composting
I have had a small garden in my backyard for the last few years. I love growing my own food. There is something so satisfying about picking food out of your yard, making a meal out of it, and eating what you grew just minutes after plucking it off the vine. Plus, there is no tomato in the world that tastes as good as one picked fresh off the vine, warm from the sun, and popped right into your mouth. This year is my first attempt at composting. I am hoping to keep the neighborhood dogs out of the pile of coffee grounds, apple cores, eggshells and etc. I love the idea of turning my food waste into nutrients that will go right back into the garden, and into our food.

8. Farm co-op, raw milk, farmers markets, eating locally, etc.
We belonged to a CSA a couple years ago, but found that too much of the food we received each week went to waste (we didn’t eat a lot of radishes) so we have not joined another, and instead I want to make a commitment to the local farmers and farmers markets around me. Trying to get my fresh veggies and produce exclusively from them this summer (aside from what we grow) and only rely on the supermarket for the staples and pantry goods. We get our meat and eggs and milk from a farm co-op that delivers near us every 2 weeks. The eggs are free-range, the meat is grass-fed and the milk is raw. I think it is really important to know exactly where our food is coming from, especially as the whole “organic” movement has now gone mainstream (and now many so called “organic” things are made by Kraft and mass produced and marketed with no real adherence to the true spirit of the organic movement). Supporting local farmers is good for our community, good for our health, and good for the environment.

9. Recycling
On top of putting our glass, plastic and cardboard in the recycle bin for trash day every week (sometimes we are not so good about the cardboard) I try to recycle other things. I recycle clothes by selling gently used things at consignment or resale shops. I buy a lot of the kids stuff at these same consignment stores, or mom to mom sales, or the salvation army. I give away a lot of things we don’t use anymore to the salvation army, or other charities. I have been known to occasionally re-purpose somebody else’s trash as something new for me (aka dumpster diving). And most recently, I used some discarded old realtor sign posts to build my raised beds in the backyard for gardening.

10. I rarely shave my legs and/or underarms
I think this is a laziness thing more than a “save the planet” move - but it definitely qualifies me as a “hippie”. I usually let my leg and underarm hair grow all during the winter - maybe shaving on New Year’s Eve or another special occasion - and I shave only occasionally in the summer. I prefer to wax, but that can be costly too, so I end up with a kind of combination of waxing a couple of times, and shaving a few times so it doesn’t look too unkempt. Luckily, my leg hair is mostly blonde, so I can get away with longer leg hair without looking like a gorilla.

11. I don’t use shampoo
I have been using the “curly girl” method for several years, which basically eliminates shampoo and has you scrub your scalp with conditioner instead. I would only use shampoo once every few months, when my scalp was feeling especially oily or dirty. Lately, I have been washing my hair with baking soda mixed with a little water and I rinse it with apple cider vinegar. I still occasionally use a little organic or chemical-free conditioner on the ends to help get the tangles out. But, for the most part, I am happy with my new routine, chemical-free, and only costs pennies per wash. Speaking of hair, I am pretty much as low maintenance as you can get, I let my hair air dry after the shower, occasionally with some leave-in conditioner. I don’t remember the last time I used a blow dryer.

12. Diva cup
For my monthly feminine needs, I have found the Diva Cup. I have only had a couple occasions to use this since Sammy was born (yay for lactational amenorrhea), but I am really loving it so far. It is easy and I have had no leaks. I never liked the way pads or tampons felt - and after having children and being so much more in touch with my cycles and female parts, and the miracle of creating human life, I feel that menstrual blood is really kind of sacred. It seemed wrong to have it soaking up in disposable paper products to then throw away. In fact, I have a hard time even dumping it in the toilet - I really wish there was a way to put it to use or dispose if it in a more sacred way.

13. We don’t vaccinate
I know I am really opening myself up for harassment and debate with this one. To vaccinate or not vaccinate is another one of the really sensitive parenting issues (along with breastfeeding) that incites the “mommy wars” the media is so fond of reporting. Joe and I did a lot of research on this subject before coming to a decision, and we consulted with our doctor, whom we respect and respects us in turn. For me, it basically comes down to this: If my kids get the measles, or chicken pox, or whooping cough or anything we routinely vaccinate for, yes - it will suck - but if we know what it is, and know how to treat it, there is only a very minuscule chance that it could result in any lasting effects or (god-forbid) death. On the other hand, there are a lot of adverse effects reported from vaccinations every day, including autism and death (often mis-reported as SIDS). IF (I know it is a big if) my kids were to react badly to a vaccine - we wouldn’t know what it was, how long it would last, or what do to about it. So, I am more comfortable with the evil that is known, than the evil that is unknown - so to speak. I don’t believe vaccines *cause* autism, per se - but I DO believe that it can trigger the onset of autism for some kids. I am not against the actual vaccine and I understand the benefits of using a vaccine for building immunity to a disease, and if I could separate the vaccine from the chemicals and preservatives in the shots, I might give that to our kids - but if you look at the ingredients list of the vaccines - it is astonishing the amount of harmful chemicals and formaldehyde and other nonsense that we feel comfortable injecting into our small children repeatedly. Our kids have immune systems that are not fully developed yet, and it is reasonable to assume that interfering with that development (via the vaccines and chemicals) could do damage to the kids in the future. How many kids had to get vaccinated before they (the govt. and pharma companies) finally admitted that Thimerasol was harmful? What’s to say that there won’t be another study next year that says “oh, yeah - sorry about that, the stuff we have been injecting into your kids is really bad for them and will cause numerous problems later in life”. And on top of all this, the fact that vaccines (like Gardasil) are rushed onto the market and big Pharma is reporting HUGE profits - I don’t think they are necessarily acting on our best interest. Doesn’t it seem crazy that there were only about 7 doses of vaccines required when I was a child, and now the current schedule has (by my count) 27 shots before they are 2 years old? With as many as 5 shots given at once (several times)! And on top of all that, kids are - in general - way LESS healthy than they were 20 or 30 years ago. Childhood diabetes, asthma, life-threatening allergies (nobody could die from smelling a peanut when I was a kid) autism and ADHD are at record levels. There is something (or a lot of somethings) going on here that is harming our kids. Unless someone can guarantee me that the vaccines won’t harm my kids - I just don’t feel comfortable doing it. I am not saying I am never going to do it, we might selectively vaccinate in a few years, once I feel comfortable that my kids immune systems are fully developed and the chance of harm goes way down… It is obviously a very emotional and personal decision, and I think moms just have to go with their gut and instinct and do what they feel is best.

*edited to add - just saw this post by Jim Carrey that has a very well thought out viewpoint on the whole vaccine safety thing - it’s a good read.

There are a lot of things I am doing - but I need to be better about it - such as:
*We have re-usable grocery bags, but I frequently forget to bring them to the grocery store, or forget to bring them in the store until we are getting ready to check out - so I have to use the paper or plastic ones and then I feel bad.
*I lost my Sigg bottle, and need to get a new one so that I can make sure to have water with me so I don’t have to buy bottled water when we are out and about. The kids have a couple different kinds of non-plastic re-usable drinking vessels, and I am usually pretty good about at least bringing water for them when we go places.
*We still use a lot more plastic than I would like - We have plastic for the kids cups, bowls, plates and tupperware and plastic bags for bringing snacks with us places. I am going to try to get more glass food storage containers, and more eco-friendly kids dishes and re-usable snack containers for when we are out and about.

Then, there are the things I would like to, maybe in the future:
*family cloth - since we are cloth diapering, it seems like a natural transition/addition, but I don’t see me convincing Joe to wipe with a washcloth and then throw it in the laundry and wash it. He is pretty accepting of most of my hippie stuff and ideas, but I am pretty sure this is where he would draw the line. We do go through an awful lot of toilet paper though….
*solar power - not sure how financially feasible this is - but I would love to eventually get our house powered by an alternate energy source.
*have chickens - I would LOVE to have a few chickens in my backyard, and a little chicken coop. I have such fond memories of going out to collect eggs when I was a child. I would love for our kids to get to experience that. I don’t see the neighbors being too cool with this idea though. Maybe in the future if I can get a little more land, maybe an acre or so, and have more space for it.
*have a hybrid car - we are actually in the market for a new car as our Escape has 260,000 miles and is on its last leg. We will probably get another Escape, as it fits our life and I like having one 4 wheel drive car in the family for the winter. I would LOVE the Escape Hybrid - but it is around $10,000 more than the standard Escape, and it probably just isn’t in our budget right now, even if it is better for the environment.
*walk or bike more places - we almost bought a new house in a downtown area, that would have allowed me to walk to the grocery store, and the library and park with the kids, but we couldn’t get an answer from the bank in the time we needed. Our new house is great, and I do love it, but I wish it was in an area that would have a made it easier to walk or bike more places.

Some of the above things I do primarily because I believe they are better for my family, some things are done because they are better for us financially, some things I do because it is easier, and some things I do even if they take more time and money. A lot of the reasoning is a combination of things. I think everyone has to come to a balance and do whatever they can to help preserve our natural resources and keep the earth healthy for our kids and all the kids to come. Hopefully - my list might inspire someone to try something new or encourage others to come up with their own ideas of ways they can fit the “hippie” stuff into their lifestyle.

Today is national Blog for Choice day, and I am still in the midst of unpacking and really finishing moving into a new house - so I don’t really have a lot of time to think and coherently blog my thoughts on the pro-choice movement and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The question/topic this year is: What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress ? My short answer is - more sex education and continuing to keep abortions safe and legal, while stressing that they are to only be considered as the last option, and ensuring we keep Justices on the Supreme court who support the Roe v. Wade decision and the right of all women to have access to abortions.
Here is my post from last year’s Blog for Choice day, and you can go the link above or to NARAL to read some more eloquent thoughts on the subject.

Aaah, it’s that time of year again….

That’s our front door yesterday afternoon, after shoveling for the second time. Rosie came out to play with me while Sammy napped, though she wasn’t really digging the cold weather and the huge snow drifts on the side of the house…

We will definitely be having a white Christmas this year….

What a huge change from last week when we were in Florida at the beach, enjoying the sunshine and 80 degree weather…

We had a great time in Florida, just visiting and relaxing and not doing much. I really enjoyed catching up and spending time with my sisters. Jackie, Em and I had a girls night out at a local wine bar, (careful you don’t get dizzy viewing our crazy patterned shirts)

and we all had fun taking some yoga photos on the beach too.

As Christmas draws near, we made the inevitable trip to visit Santa (this time planning ahead instead of waiting until X-mas eve as we did the last couple years). Santa’s helpers were having camera trouble, so we took one quick shot with Joe’s i-phone, and this was the best we could do, as Sammy wasn’t too happy about sitting on Santa’s lap…

Rosie told Santa she had been a very good girl this year (and she has, for the most part) and she asked for a tea set from Santa, and a train set for her brother. Good thing mommy Santa already planned ahead and got gifts on sale (waiting in the garage for X-mas morning)

Sammy has been such a cutie pie lately, which is the only thing that keeps me from throwing him out the window due to all his screaming (enough with the screaming already!) He is constantly adding words to his vocabulary, but still is not talking consistently, and prefers screaming as his primary mode of communication.
Words he uses lately:
mama, dada, sis-a, mo, nurse, ni-ni, uh oh, all done, up, open, out, hi, bye, apple, ball, fish, bubby, gigi, egg, doggie, eye, teeth, hat, baby, wa-wa, bath, phone, wow wow wubbzy, Dora, Elmo, no, toes, diaper, book, bubbles, peek-boo…
and to a lesser extent:
teddy bear, slide, banana, go blue!
He also does animal sounds for a cow, duck, dog, cat, frog and monkey and he makes car “vroom vroom” sounds, gives kisses, waves hi and bye and gives high fives.

So, he is definitely progressing, just not as quickly as I would like, for communication to be really possible instead of the god-awful screaming.

He is still a great napper, thank god! I can usually count on around 3 hours a day, or 2 at the very least. And he can go down as early as 10:30/11am, or as late as 2:30-3, depending on when he wakes up and what our schedule for the day is. That’s pretty much the only easygoing thing about him at this age though. We are still battling his burgeoning independence, he does not ever want to be restrained, in a car seat or high chair, and was especially defiant when having to sit on my lap on the plane for take off and landing. Yes, I was that mom with the kid kicking and SCREAMING at the top of his lungs during take off and landing on both flights to Florida. It was really not fun.

At night, he goes down to bed pretty easily after nursing. Though lately when nursing he has been changing sides about every 30 seconds or so, which just gets irritating after a while. And, he is also still waking 2-3 times a night to nurse (usually 12, 3 and 6am), and I know at 17 months old, he doesn’t need the nutrition, he just is used to the comfort. Joe and I are going to try to work on his frequent night waking during the holiday break and hopefully I can start getting some decent sleep. Speaking of nursing, he has been very aggressive, yanking and pulling my shirt collar down whenever he gets the whim, all day long. He has been thinking it is a game lately too, blowing raspberries, poking me, biting and laughing, and really making me re-consider my commitment to child-led weaning.

He is such an active toddler, he climbs everything, and is constantly in motion. His favorite activity is dumping out the bucket of blocks (or any container of toys) about 10 seconds after I just picked them all up, and also completely emptying and demolishing the play kitchen after I put away all the play food and dishes for the 20th time.

Rosie melts my heart when she is being a sweet, cooperative, three and a half year old. She can be so complimentary, telling me “you are the best mommy in the world” or “you make the best eggs ever” and I have to remember those little moments when she makes me want to rip my hair out with her whiny, defiant tantrums. She is no longer quite as fixated on being “first” at everything, so that’s great, but she still loves to be in control and dictate everything.

She loves doing crafts - drawing, painting, cutting, gluing, writing. She can write her name pretty legibly now, though she usually has trouble with the “s” and I have to help her and remind her which way it goes.

She loves to learn new things and is always asking questions and making statements of facts and things she knows. We were watching the old school “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” the other night before bed, and she turned to me about halfway through and said
“That’s silly, reindeers can’t talk! But they sure can walk….and fly!” I love how, in her mind - reindeer talking is crazy - but flying is perfectly logical!
She also loves to talk about things we have done “Remember when we watched Dora and the Snow Princess?” “Remember when we went to Target?” “Remember when we ate pizza?” “Remember when we made banana cupcakes?” We have fallen into a routine of doing some craft or baking activity almost every day during Sammy’s nap. It’s our special time to bond without Sammy constantly getting in the way and climbing all over and spilling things.

She does love her brother, most of the time. And, when she is not taking toys away from him, she is usually kissing him or tickling him, or encouraging him to play something with her. She uses him to get what she wants a lot. She will come up and tell me “Sammy wants to watch “Wow wow Wubbzy”, or “Sammy wants to have a snack”. Along with her brother, she loves climbing and jumping. Their new game is throwing all the cushions off the couch onto the floor and then jumping off the couch onto the cushions.

She got her very first pair of tap shoes and ballet slippers from GiGi for an early X-mas present this year, and she loves to dance and make up dances and say “watch me do ballet mommy!” as she spins and jumps and twirls. So we will be looking into getting her into her first real dance lessons at the beginning of the year.

She is going through the phase again where she wakes up screaming several times a night. This most recent time I think it was related to the cold we had that stuck around for a few weeks. I think her stuffy/runny nose was waking her up, and then she gets frustrated and scared when she is awake in the middle of the night and she doesn’t know why. She doesn’t transition well between sleeping/dreaming world, and waking up. I just realized she grinds her teeth in her sleep also, so maybe that is what wakes her up occasionally too. Whatever it is, it usually results in her ending up in bed with Joe and I at some point during the night, and that usually helps her sleep soundly. Maybe it is just the comfort of mommy and daddy that helps her sleep through the small things that would otherwise wake her - I don’t know, but I don’t mind her in bed with us. The only problem is when I bring Sammy in bed to nurse, he sees his sister and gets excited and wants to wake up and play instead of nurse and go back to sleep.

We tried to take some family photos before Thanksgiving to use for our holiday cards, but they didn’t turn out as good as we had hoped. Everyone was laughing and squirming and nobody would sit still and look at the camera.

Here is a little snowy moment with both kids from earlier this month…

I imagine we’ll have a lot of these wintery photos come March….

And here is Sammy doing his best Randy impersonation (from “A Christmas Story”)

“I can’t put my arms down!” “I can’t get up!”

I’ll leave you with my favorite photo from Florida that Emily took of me and the kids. I love how it captures the loving, nurturing moments of being a mama.

Have a Festive Winter Solstice, Happy Hanukah, and Merry Christmas to all!