Lucky Stars

This is how this mommy is able to get ready for the day:

As I was skimming through my Facebook feed this morning, I came across a couple of things that reminded me to thank my lucky stars for my current set up in life.

One was a status update that said, "I wish I could have just one day where I was a mommy and nothing else." This mother's baby is a few months old and the mother herself has been back to work for a while now. Down in the comments she went on to say that her daughter goes down for the night at 6pm and sleeps all night. She feels like she never gets to see her own daughter. I feel for her and her situation but it all reminds me that
1) I am so fortunate to have a husband who can/will support my desire to be a stay at home mom. I know that it isn't for everyone and I definitely do not do it because it is *easy.* But I could not imagine how it would feel to want to stay home and not be able to. Heart. Breaking. I am so fortunate to have all the days of "just being a mommy and nothing else" that I could ever want. I do plenty of chores and tasks but everything I fill my time with is by choice and if Ayden needs me more on any particular day, I'm there.
2) Bed sharing has it's pros and cons but I can say that I don't hear David saying, "I miss Ayden" nearly as much as I did while we had him in his crib all night. Having your baby in your bed gives a working parent time to reconnect after a long day apart. It is just one more reassurance (not that we needed one) that it is the right arrangement for our little family.

The other post I saw was for a page called "Bringing Home the Browns." I usually don't go past expanding the comment section on a post in my news feed because we all know that a "quick scroll" on Facebook can easily become a time sucking, profile stalk fest at the innocent click of a button. This particular post peaked my curiosity, though, so I stalked a little to learn more. I suppose there is a family in Texas that is going through a hard time. The father, Sean, was in Afghanistan and at 34 weeks pregnant, the mother, Heather, went into the hospital with a head/back ache. While there they discovered she had quick onset preeclampsia (very serious, pregnancy induced, super-high blood pressure), she began having seizures which resulted in severe bleeding in her brain. She slipped into a coma and they had to take Baby John by emergency C-section. Sean was notified and was sent home. He did not have any updates during his long journey back to Texas. After being awake for 72 hours straight, he met his son, who was in a NICU at a neighboring hospital and then went to his wife's side. This all happened in mid-September. Here we are in mid-October and Daddy Brown and Baby John are home and doing well. They started this page "Bringing Home The Browns" to spread the word so that as many people would be sending thoughts, prayers and positive energy their way because there is still one Brown that needs to come home. Heather is still in a coma but recently had surgery and is responding to some pain stimuli.

I am sharing this for 2 reasons. The first is so I can help spread the word because a family can just never have too much support in a situation like this. The more likes they get on their page the more support they will sense which will keep them strong. Also, it just makes me so grateful that my little family is strong, happy, healthy and living our lives all together.

I am so glad that Sean was able to be discharged as a "single parent" because that baby needs him so much right now and I am glad that he and John are home together. On the other hand, my heart aches for the daddy who has to go through this alone. It aches for the baby who has had to go through his first couple months + of his life without his mother. And it aches the most for that mother who sadly may not wake up but if she does, I'm sure she will be so happy to have survived yet there will always be something missing. To be pregnant and then wake up to learn that your baby has gone through so much without you would be very difficult to wrap your head around. This family is definitly in my thoughts today. I truly hope that Mommy Brown will wake up and be able to be in her baby's life because every baby needs their mother.

I always hold Ayden close but today I'll be hugging him even tighter. I am so grateful that my life is right where it is as we all should be. Happiness is not having what you want, it's wanting what you have.

~Sarah

Documentationaholic

Hello,  my name is Sarah and I am a documentationaholic.  I have an uncontrollable *need* to document all of the small, precious moments in life as they are happening so that they will never be forgotten.  I take pictures or video of everything.  I'll even snap a picture before "rescuing" my child...

"Who says I need rescuing?!?"

I have posted a few pictures such as these in the past:

Apparently the dishwasher brings out our little dare devil...

"Is his neck okay like that?" - a concerned bystander

These pictures were posted on here and on my personal Facebook.  Most people see the humor in the photos but there are always a few people who are "concerned" for the well being of our child.  The thing is...  We KNOW Ayden.  We know how strong he is, how steady he is, how he reacts if/when he falls or bumps his head.  We know his limits and because of that, we have been able to scaffold his development; which means not being helicopter parents but stepping back to give him space to explore so he can know his limits too.  Our house is not really "baby-proofed".  We make sure cords are tucked away, we use one gate at the top of the stairs and have another waiting for *when* he takes a crazy interest in climbing them.  We are always supervising him and almost always catch him before a bad fall but lets face it.  How is a child to learn if they never experience a consequence?  We also adjust our distance according to the activity, surface, etc. that he is working with.  If he is on straight up cement, we hold on tight.  If he is on carpet with padding underneath, we let him fall.  Ayden will be 9 months old on Friday and we are pretty confident that he will be walking before the 10 month mark.  Some of his strength and coordination could be genetics but I have always believed that nurture always wins in the nature vs nurture debate.  We let him nap on his tummy as soon as he was able to move his head from one side to the other, giving him early head control; and now we let him learn that if he looks too far up at the fan while trying to stand, it makes him loose his balance and fall.

My motivation for this post is not to claim that I think we know everything there is to know about helping a child develop, physically, to his/her fullest potential but to 1) remind folks that parents know their children and chances are there's no need for you to worry about them and 2) children can not meet new goals without a challenge.  Every time we let Ayden climb up on the dishwasher door or actually make contact with the ground when he looks too far up at that fan, he learns.  The same goes for gagging and Baby-Led Weaning.  He quickly learned how much was too much/how far was too far and after finding that limit 2 or 3 times, it never happened again.

REAL food eating champ!

And now when he decides to multi-task while standing, he quickly uprights his head and grabs onto whatever is in front of him and maintains his balance.

Babies are very quick learners and if you give them a chance they will learn lessons and limitations very efficiently making them ready to tackle whatever comes next.

This kid will never be able to complain that there weren't enough pictures and videos taken of him as a baby, that's for sure!  And now, for your viewing pleasure, here is a clip of Ayden's dance party this evening.  He must have had a song stuck in his head because there was no music :).

We love this kid SO MUCH (if you couldn't already tell).  So much love, challenge, and entertainment all wrapped up in a tiny wonder package named Ayden.

~Sarah

Dancing Baby

Remember this little guy?

Well we now have one of our very own!

There was more dancing before and after my filming this but it should give you an idea of his moves these days.  So funny and cute!

Though today was an awesome day there's not a whole lot to report. We started the day with our usual morning routine (make bed, fresh diaper/clothes for Ayden, read a couple books, get myself ready, put in a load of laundry, feed pets, breakfast, walk, clean kitchen),

Playing hard!  Love how this photo captures the motion.

Then we played until Ayden was ready for his morning nap. I have been a little behind on some emails and digital file management; so today I set up my lap top next to the glider and let Ayden take his nap on me like in the early days. I'd be lying if I said I didn't love every second of it.

He slept for almost 2 hours and when he woke it was time to get dinner in the crockpot and get us ready to go teach dance.

Styling!  This was his rehearsal dinner outfit.

Wednesdays are crazy for us schedule-wise. These days Ayden takes naps around 11:30(ish) and 4:30(ish). On Wednesdays, though, he sometimes skips his afternoon nap and then falls asleep on the way home (around 7) and then doesn't get to bed until 9 or so. A late bedtime was good tonight though because David didn't get to see him awake at all yesterday and was really missing him. David helped with bath time and read a couple of books before bed.

One of Ayden's current favorite books: Snappy Little Farmyard

Sleep has been much better for us all lately and David and I plan to go to bed early so we can get as much as we can tonight!

~Sarah

Go With The Flow

Good morning!

I had an orthodontic consultation at 10:00 this morning.  Long story short, I have a couple of missing molars that I need *dental* implants for and the spaces need to be opened before I can get said implants.  Since we are working toward debt freedom, the consultation was just to give us a ballpark idea of how much we need to save.  Which is a lot...

After my appointment we came straight home for Ayden's morning nap but his naps have been all over the place lately.  I have been torn between letting his needs guide his nap schedule and fighting the fight to keep things consistent.  In the end I feel like if he is happy I'm okay with not forcing anything on him.  When he is tired he falls asleep easily and willingly so we just go with the flow.  This is the exact opposite of how I thought things would be while I was a daydreaming pregnant woman...  Funny how that happens.

I had a couple of errands to run so I gave myself an hour to eat lunch and tackle a couple of chores.

Freshly stuffed and stocked!  

I am so productive when I set "deadlines" for myself.  In that hour I stuffed/stocked Ayden's diapers, put away some of our clothes, vacuumed our upstairs and fed us lunch.  Then we were out.  I returned a couple of the items I had purchased at the consignment store last week.  Ayden was napping in the Ergo while I was there before so I wasn't able to try on the shirts that I purchased.  When I got them home I didn't like them as much as I thought I would.  Next stop was the mall for a new garlic press and a small visit to Forever21.  I used the cash that I got back from the consignment store to buy some black, $10 skinny jeans and this headband:

So delicate and feminine!

I had pinned this inspiration hairstyle recently

source

and thought that this headband would be perfect for replicating it myself:

Love it!

It seriously took 30 seconds and looked elegant. The headband was only $3.80 and I just might have to go back for a couple more!  I have fine, thin hair (postpartum hair loss is no joke) so it is hard to find hairstyles that actually are easy and look nice.

We ran our last couple of errands and then returned home for an evening alone.  David was out for his second hunting trip of the season and wasn't coming home until after Ayden's bedtime so we had leftovers for dinner and spent some time outside.

Enjoying the fresh, Fall air!

 Then it was bath and bedtime.  Bedtime has changed a little.  It has been interesting to step back and observe what happens as we let Ayden's needs lead the way.  Now that he is filling his tummy at dinner and we have a super consistent bedtime routine, Ayden has been sleeping longer stretches in his crib where he sleeps from around 8:00 - 10:30 or so, until David and I are ready for bed.  I nurse him to sleep and stay with him until he unlatches and rolls over which seems to be the key.  When I would *think* he was asleep and unlatch him myself to sneak away, he would always wake up after 30-40 minutes and he wouldn't sleep well until we were all in bed together.  Over the past few nights, he now he seems to be doing better with sleeping on his own.  It makes you wonder...  What did mothers do before societal pressures and baby trainers?  I'll bet they just observed their babies and let their own instincts and their babies' needs lead the way.  In our house we are all happier when we just go with the flow.

~Sarah

Playing Chase

Morning snuggles!

One of Ayden's new favorite games is playing chase.  He has always liked it when we held him and chased Maverick or each other around, but now he'll "run" away from us if we are coming after him.  We all actually crawl when we play these games.  For some reason, Ayden thinks it's hilarious when we crawl around with him.  I suppose he just loves that we are all on the same level, doing the same thing.  Here is a little clip of him "running" from me this morning:

It is so fun and adorable.  Our office is not baby-proofed by any means.  Most of the rooms in our house are set up to where he can play while we go about some sort of business in them whithout Ayden getting into too much trouble.  The office is another story.  We have to have 100% focus because there are computer cords, all kinds of buttons, trash cans, David's music gear, books, magazines, etc.  The funny part is that Ayden has made the connection between going after certain spots and us playfully stopping him.  Now he just starts crawling in the direction of said spots (ie. computer power strip) while looking over his shoulder at us and giggling.  It has turned into a game and we play right along. 

There are so many wonderful, snuggly things about the earlier days that I loved and sometimes miss but we are totally getting into two-way relationship territory and we love it!  He is saying, "Mama" and "Dada" a lot (still not purposfully but we have noticed a shift recently).  He will stand up, hold our legs and look up at us, wanting us to pick him up.  He does what I call "wallering" around in my lap while I take care of sitting chores like folding laundry or stuffing diapers.  He'll have a sock or cloth wipe in his hand and just use my lap like a jungle gym.  I love it because he could be anywhere in the room but he chooses to be right with me.  Today I was lying on the floor and he kept putting his entire mouth on various places on my face while giggling.  Not sure if they were kiss attempts or what but I do know that he was thouroughly enjoying whatever little game he was playing.  He also initiates peek-a-boo and gets so excited when David gets home from work.  We are still looking forward to the day when he wraps his little arms around our necks for a real hug but we are definitley feeling reciprocated love these days and it sure is sweet.

Our cuddly little man :)

~Sarah

Mommy's Little Monster

Our big stander!

 We did not even leave our house today and it was wonderful! Ayden also had two solid naps (I joined him for the first one) so that was pretty wonderful too. Such a difference from yesterday.

During our stay home day we tackled a few projects that have been on the back burner. We cleaned our kitchen floor. A crawling baby's knees and toes are like a daily white glove test. The tough part is that mopping a floor, thus making it slippery, is not a chore you can do with a baby at your feet. I didn't realize how much I really wanted to clean the floor until it was all done. We also got our garage cleared out and organized enough to park both cars in it again which was something that had been weighing heavily on David. I'm glad we both got to feel a little lighter by the end of the day.

One of the tasks in the garage was trading some of David's old text books in on Amazon. I had no idea you could get so much money doing it that way. You ship them for free and get an Amazon gift card in exchange. Can we say Christmas money?

After Ayden's afternoon nap he was in a snuggly mood (aka he didn't want to be put down).  So I strapped him into our pocket sling and got to work on making kale chips, roasted pumpkin seeds and our Paleo crunch cereal. 

We used this recipe (with a couple of Paleo substitutions).

David jumped in to help too and it was so much more enjoyable.  We were playing the 90's pop station on Pandora and were having fun singing along to all of the songs that are like a time machine straight back to middle and high school.  Around our bon-fire last night we were talking about how most people tend to stay attached to music from their teens because it was the sound track during such a fun time in your life.  Ayden just quietly watched everything I did and listend to me explaining all the steps for whatever I was doing.  He was right where he wanted to be and I loved that he wanted to be there. 

There are some people who believe that you will spoil a baby if you hold them too much and I say there is no way you could ever hold, hug, kiss, touch a baby too much.  It makes them feel warm, secure, loved, etc. and there could never be anything wrong with any of that.  There will be a time in his life when he will want his independence and I am not about to rush it. 

His babbling has gone up a notch.  He is getting his little tongue involved and is making all kinds of sound combinations.  The funniest new develoment is that he says, "Dadadada" all day long while he's happy and playing.  Then, as soon as he is upset, it's all "Mamamama!!"  We aren't positive he's saying either purposful yet but it's funny that they seem to understand the roll of each parent pretty early.  Dad is for fun and Mom is for when some serious needs are to be met. 

After we got all of our weekly snacks prepped we got started on pizza stir fry for dinner.  It was loaded with veggies and we used some of the venison David has provided for us already this season. It was so good!  By the time we finished dinner it was pretty late, already 7:30, so it was bath and bed time for the little man.

My little monster, ready for bed.

We are hoping that his good naps today will mean some good sleep tonight!

~Sarah 

Attitude Is Everything

I was in a total funk this morning. We stayed up too late and I didn't have enough water throughout the day yesterday so I woke exhausted with a pounding headache. I just wanted to find a dark, quiet place where I could sleep undisturbed until I woke up on my own. But, as all parents know, that was not in the cards and won't be for a while. I usually feel better once I'm actually up and moving but before we could even get out of bed, Ayden let us know that it was going to be a bad spit up day. He spit up on David's pillow, my chest and our sheets.  It was not fun...

The spitting up has greatly decreased over the past few weeks and apparently we have become quiet spoiled. I had also become spoiled by letting Ayden hang out in only a diaper all summer. When he'd spit up, it would wipe right off of his skin and diaper which made things much more tolerable. Now that it is cooler, we have obviously been dressing him and today I had to change him 3 times before 10am. To make things worse, Ayden had enjoyed a green smoothie for breakfast so his spit up was far from the usual clear/white that it usually is. Needless to say, after having to change Ayden (who now hates being changed) so much on top of already being exhausted before our day had even started, my mood was not where we are all used to it being.

I was well aware that I needed an attitude adjustment, and could tell that my mood was rubbing off on David as well, so I tried to stay quiet while I got over "it" (whatever "it" exactly was...) We decided to go to a near by park to take a walk and let Ayden swing. Breathing in the crisp, Fall morning air, seeing Ayden have fun swinging, and talking on our walk was just the ticket. I still felt super tired (this should have been a nap day) but from that point on we all had a great day.

Ayden's nap routine was a little off which made his mood grumpy and clingy later in the day but that was understandable. David conquered some yard work while I straightened up inside and then went to the grocery. David played with Ayden while I took a long, hot shower and got ready (which was also a pick me up) and then our friends Whitney and Kellen joined us for dinner and a bon fire.

I am so glad I was able to turn my attitude around and salvage the day! Wasting energy on negativity and constantly focusing on what is going wrong is so exhausting. Life is too short! It is hard sometimes but it is so important to choose positivity and happiness.  And do you want to know the best part? The choice really is yours!

I didn't take any photos or video today (crazy!) so I shall leave you with this happy clip from a few nights ago.

I hope we could make you smile!

~Sarah