A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Welcome to the July 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Creations
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared crafts, recipes, and philosophies of creativity. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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As the mom of two little boys, I own a lot of cars.  Big cars, little cars, cars that go on tracks, cars that make noise, cars with remotes. My oldest loves them. And as a mom who tries to parent intentionally, I like to get on the floor at least once a day to just play. This play time more often than not (OK, always) revolves around those cars.

I'm embarrassed to say, I'm getting a little burnt out on cars. 

Naturally, since I am tired of playing with them I want to think that he is too. So we made a trip to our local craft store armed with some Pinterest ideas. Side note: that never makes for a cheap trip!

This week I brought out the poster paint and a fresh sheet of poster board. I thought we could make a picture that we could hang proudly in his room (since I have yet to find a suitable piece of artwork for the big boy room).

As it turns out, 25 months is a bit too young to use these paints. Or at least with my little man it is. Squeezing the bottle, which seemed to produce MUCH joy for him, let an excess amount of paint out. Trying to explain that little tidbit to a 2 year-old didn't go over well.

I enjoyed watching him mix the colors until I realized that by mixing the colors we were taking away the possiblilty of future use. See the black paint on all of the bottles?

At one point the red bottle was thrown to the floor with a squeal of glee. 

As I told my MIL of our painting fiasco she reminded me of the important part: he enjoyed it.

Which reminded me who I should be intentional about spending time with.  This time isn't for me, it's for him.

So here the picture sits, in our living room which he chose. You can imagine us sitting there today, playing with cars. :)

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Garden Soup — Bailey finds a way to help momma Katy (from Muse of a Daffodil) in the garden.
• This One Time, I Tried To Make a Car — Ashley at Domestic Chaos tries once again to make something crafty from stuff around the house.
• Pin-tastic creative ideas — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud shares how Pinterest is inspiring creativity in her family this summer.
• Baby Hiccups In The Womb — Alinka at Baby Web shares one of the ways she bonds with her unborn baby.
• Turtle Mosaics — Lyndsay at ourfeminist{play}school and her little family spend a quiet hour making a turtle mosaic inspired by the work of Melanie Mikecz.
• Edible Art Plus 8 Art Supply Recipes — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares some natural, chemical-free art supply alternatives, which are gauranteed to be tons of fun for children of all ages. They taste great too!
• A surprise art lesson — Tat at Mum in search has been taking art lessons from her 5-year-old son.
• Memory Creation — Laura from Pug in the Kitchen talks about how her family aims to create as many memories as they can as a family.
• A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words — Melissa at Momma Beer tries to replace cars with crafts.
• My Creative Family: Sometimes Messy, Always Fun — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM embraces the messes that sometimes accompany creative play but admits you don't always have to get dirty to have fun.
• Fun Family Learning: Constellation Cave Tutorial — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter gives step-by-step instructions for building a fun new twist on a cardboard box playhouse.
• Cooking... Kind Of — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings makes pizza with her daughter, hoping to inspire a love of cooking and encourage a bigger interest in food. As well as making mess and having lots of fun, of course!
• Crockpot Refried Beans — That Mama Gretchen's family loves to experiment with new recipes, and today she's sharing a kitchen success!
• Creating Memories — Andrea at Tales of Goodness reflects on how the best creations can emerge from just letting kids be kids.
• Making Beautiful Things ... And Sometimes Just Average-Looking Ones — Tamara at Tea for Three looks for ways to add more craft and creativity into every day family life.
• Making Fruit Leather Together — When Amy Willa at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work took some time to involve her children in the process of finally trying a fruit leather recipe stored on her Pinterest food board, she got more than just a scrumptious homemade snack as a result!
• Making Glasses from Children's Art — Mandy at Living Peacefuly with Children used her children's artwork to make some very special glasses for her husband for Father's Day.
• Preparing Family Meals Together — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares how she started the tradition of creating meals together with her children, which makes family gatherings more fun.
• It's a trap! — Lauren at Hobo Mama shares the innovative snares her son and husband have set for her.
• How To Make The Most Of A Very Wet Summer — Luschka at Diary of a First Child shows us the first few weeks of the Summer Camp At Home project for keeping boredom at bay.
• Creating with... well, what do we have? — If necessity is the mother of invention, Momma Jorje thinks perhaps boredom is (or at least can be) the mother of creativity. In a pinch, she got creative with a household item to entertain herself and her toddler.
• Creating Joy! Felt Counting Fish and other Fun — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle started creating Felt Counting Fish and then fell down the rabbit hole of fun with a number of other games.
• I Am Going! (A Code Name: Mama Homemade Theater Production of Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie book) — This might be the finest example of child and baby acting ever recorded. Enjoy this Mo Willems treasure via video from Dionna at Code Name: Mama.
• DIY Summer Sleep Sack for Baby Tutorial — Shannon at GrowingSlower made an organic summer sleep sack for baby, and you can too with her easy tutorial.
• Chalk It Up! — Amy at Anktangle recounts how an impulse buy has turned into a fun collaborative activity that she hopes will continue to foster creativity in the whole family.
• The Family Garden — Excited that her son has been a big help in the garden this year, Ana at Pandamoly shares how her garden grows and offers up some secrets on how a toddler can be a great assistant in the garden.
• Getting my craft on — In a guest post at Natural Parents Network, Jona at Life, Intertwined takes a trip down memory lane — and finds it in stitches.
• Easy DIY Sandpit for Toddler Play — Christine at African Babies Don't Cry shares her easy DIY toddler sandpit tutorial.
• Building Without Nails — Laura at Laura's Blog builds a swinging bar using just sticks and twine.
• Family Talent Show — Erika at Cinco de Mommy holds an after-dinner family talent show.
• Ar matey! Fun and Learning with Pirate Play. — Positive Parenting Connection is sharing lots of really fun Pirate-themed learning activities for the whole family.

Road Trip

My hubby is in a wonderful men's choir that travels through different churches usually in the summer and fall. He loves it, I love it.

Ready to go

So last weekend we traveled to Syracuse, NY with two boys. (you didn't think I was going to announce it that I was leaving ahead of time so you could come break in and steal things did you? you know - cloth diapers, strawberry jam, those things get quite a pretty penny on the streets...)



Me too!

We broke up the trip by taking an extra day on Friday and visiting Niagra Falls. What fun to see Asher making a waterfall in the bathtub the night before we left and the look on his face when he saw the real thing. He was amazed!

Overlooking the rapids 

 We drove to Syracuse first thing Saturday morning and I took the boys to the hotel while Brad was at practice.  It's hard work keeping a two-year old happy in a small hotel room, but we enjoyed dinner at church and making new friends during the program. 

He spotted the camera

One day, I will be able to attend the program again and not spend it holding a baby or playing with cars in the playroom. For now, this is the norm, and that's OK! 

Daddy took this shot, it freaks me out!

Asher had not had great sleep the days leading up to the trip overnight or at naptime so we had prepared ourselves for a meltdown.  Afterall, we were asking a lot of car time and unfamiliar places from a two year-old.



We were so pleased however with how both of them did in the car with frequent stops to as Asher says "get my wiggles out". It helped that there was a lot of construction going on and therefore lots of construction vehicles to see.

Me and the boys

Sadly, we learned a lesson about pushing a toddler too far when he woke up Saturday night inconsolable. It went on for two hours in a thin-walled hotel room before we decided the best thing to do would be to call it quits. We left at 3 AM and drove straight home. He finally fell asleep on the road and crashed that night, barely making it through dinner awake!

Enjoying his first hotel stay


Honestly, the story is a bit more dramatic than that, but let's just leave this as more of a pleasant memory than not.  Also, we can't blame him for how he reacted to the whole thing. He did so well with what we gave him.

Showing his doggy what was outside

Overall we learned that we should still travel at night as long as we have Littles for longer trips and that breaking it up to include lugging everything into and out of hotel rooms might not be the best solution.

Good morning!

Road trips have a way of making you appreciate home a little more.  We have been basking in the joys of our all week. I have enjoyed fresh foods, being able to be as loud as we want, and of course sleeping in our own comfy beds. Wea re looking forward to a couple more trips this year, although at least one of them we will be leaving the Littles with Nana. :)

1 Month - MBB

Oh little Micah, we are so glad you are here!

Or should I call you big Micah? You came into this world a heavy (for me) 7 pounds 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long.  You are now at a very large 10 pounds 14.5 ounces and 23 inches.  I have been calling you my big boy this entire month, and apparently for good reason!

Micah is/has been that lesson that every child is different.  Asher was gassy, Micah is so uncomfortable that I broke down and gave him gas drops (it helps!).  Asher put himself on a schedule I thought by this time at almost 5 weeks, Micah has no hint of a schedule whatsoever. None.  Asher smiled at 6 weeks, we are already getting purposeful grins out of Micah!

I keep telling myself that Micah will come around to his own schedule ANY DAY now.  I also promised myself that I would write down that he HAS NOT so that if there is another Beer Baby, I will remember this time.  All I wrote in Asher's baby book was a bunch of mushy-we-love-you-and-you-are-awesome stuff that sleep deprived parents like to write. Also, he grunts constantly.  Well, anytime he is awake, or waking up, or falling asleep.  You get the idea.

Micah is a calm baby and by that I mean when you hold him he just has a calming presence.  He does however has a temper.  A bad one.  And he is LOUD, but only when hungry so I'll take it! He is our sweet boy and is seemingly so patient with Asher, and us for that matter.  I love kissing his little (or chunky) cheeks!

I also forgot how intoxicating it is to have a little baby asleep on your chest.  And I will admit that although sometimes when I've been holding him for hours and he won't let me put him down and I need someone to take over for a bit, I do like having a momma's boy again, even though I know it will only last until he realizes how fun daddy is!

24 Months - AJB

Oh dear.  This post is LATE.  Asher has been getting up as early as 6 and Micah is feeding at 545 ish an not going back to sleep.  So my normal 630 mom-time was pushed back to 6, then disappeared completely.  Looking forward to the return of my "mom-time" before I go any more batty.

Now on to the reason for this post.

Our little boy is TWO!!! I can hardly believe it.  Although having a new little one around makes him seem much more like the big boy he is.  I was rocking him this week when I realized that he was half the length of my body!

We had a small birthday party at home with grandparents and Aunt Jessica, Olivia, and Danica.  We had Asher's favorite- everything bagels with cream cheese!

Some other favorites right now - NANA - in fact, he is starting to make me wonder if he likes Nana's house more than home as he asks constantly to go to Nana's house, RUNNING - "Asher go fast!", OUTSIDE - not a day goes by that he doesn't ask to go, DIRT & WORMS, MOVIES - we limit TV time and don't have cable so this is always a special treat right now the favorite is "Horton Hears a Who", CARS/TRUCKS/TRAINS - we are trying to set up a ride on a real choo choo train.

Asher is such a light in our lives, so full of energy and always ready to go somewhere and help someone.  The only time he will cuddle is when watching movies so we treasure that quiet time but he is so loving in other ways.  He has become protective about Micah and we are still learning to be gentle around his little brother. 

Some things I have been praying for with him- that we would have wisdom to know how to deal with his defiant streak/terrible twos, that he would sleep through all night - no crying spells, that he would be shown his passion in life early, that he would be lead to a christian wife, that God would use us to bring  Asher to know God, that I be used daily to raise a leader.

And speaking of praying, we have begun to pray together at bedtime.  He is able to tell me something he wants to pray for, sometimes it's Nana or Emma, sometimes it's for his cars or the trees he sees out the window. 

A new word we are loving around here? "Yes"  I wish I could type out how it sounds because it's so full of enthusiasm!

And even though it happened a few days AFTER his birthday he received his first stitches.  He fell at Nana's house and hit the corner of the wall.  5 stitches in the middle of his forehead.  He was a champ and we were so thankful to the awesome ER staff at Riverside.  SO thankful.  (It was awesome how God was present the entire time)

That's all for now.  We love this little boy with all of our hearts, even when the "no's" out number the "yes"!

Birth Pictures #2

My favorites: Daddy and Micah.

Birth Photos #1

Here are some of our birth photos.  It is a little scary putting these out there, but I find them beautiful and some of you may like to see them.  Thanks, Annie!!