S'mores Life

...as the parent of two girls. Sometimes I think that parents of boys think that parents of (only) girls got out of some of the gross and weird stuff that comes along with having kids. Maybe it's just my kids, but girls are gross and weird, too. It's probably their genetics and heritage (hi, yeah, the other day I burped while discussing poop consistency with someone I haven't known very long) but my "girly girls" gross me out all the time. Things I Never Expected to Hear, Say, See, or Do as a Parent of Two Girls: I didn't expect to clean pee off of my daughter's face. Her own pee. There's a story there that later in life I'm sure she'd kill me for putting on the internet. I never expected to be discussing private parts this much. Yeah, I get from an anatomy and safety perspective, parents and kids talk about this stuff (or should.) However, I did not expect my then 3 year old to name about 20 people in our life and ask if each one had a p...

I'm guilty of it to some extent. You're probably guilty of it too. Our families, church folk, teachers, friends, and Lord knows the ladies at the grocery store are guilty of it too. Everyone means well, but can we just stop and think about the load of crap  parenting advice that we dole out? It starts the moment you announce your pregnancy and ends...well, probably never. If you find out the sex of the baby you'll be able to plan, prepare any older siblings, and it's still a surprise no matter what! There's nothing like that moment when you've given birth and the doctor or your partner announces the sex! Don't find out! (Side note: Totally guilty of this advice. There really isn't anything like that moment!!) Get the 1st tri screening done. It will help prepare you emotionally if there's something wrong, and if not, then you'll be able to relax some. Are you going to terminate the pregnancy if something's wrong? Then what's the poi...

There is a blogger that I follow (Birth Without Fear)   who posts different women's "I Am Strong..." stories. The stories are inspiring and heart wrenching and beautiful. Tonight she posted that we could email ours to her, so I will be doing that, but I also wanted to share mine here. I am strong. You are strong. I am strong because... I am strong because I was told that I may not be able to have children and I would certainly need fertility treatment in order to get pregnant. I am strong because I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) at 18 after suffering for five years. I am strong because I gained and lost 50 pounds before deciding to try to get pregnant. I am strong because I started Metformin to help with my PCOS symptoms and even though it did help, it came at a price. I am strong because I was told by my well-meaning family members I would get pregnant easily "because I came from a big family" even though I knew they were wr...

1. Sort through your children's baby gear and clothes. Weep as you choose to remember the precious memories of cuddling, milk drunk little newborns and block out the sleepless nights and ear piercing screams. 2. Second guess yourself as you sort through everything. Place the nicest clothes in the pile for your baby niece, mostly because you love her but partially because you know you can ask for the clothes back, if...needed. 3. It's 10 a.m. You have to be somewhere with both kids at 11 a.m. The location is 2 minutes away from your house, and about 30 seconds from the post office, so you decide you have time to pack up the kids and the previously bagged clothes and head to the post office. 4. 10:35 a.m. You're finally in the car. 5. In an effort to make every life experience a learning experience, discuss boxes and sizes of boxes and placement of boxes with your 3.5 year old. Finally pick the perfect box, perfect spot to pack the box, and you realize this box doesn'...

Since Clara changes so much so quickly, I have decided to continue to do "A Day in the Life Of..." posts every few months. It's interesting for me to look back and see how much life has changed from even three or four months ago. It's interesting for you to...well, I'm not so sure any of this is interesting to you. It's never stopped me before, though. A Thursday in February 2013 6:00 a.m.  Clara wakes up. Every time she wakes up before 7:30 (which is basically like 95% of our days), I get false hope that maybe she'll fall back asleep if I bring her into my bed. So I pick her up, and bring her in to my bed. She proceeds to semi-cuddle, do gymnastics, head butt me and laugh at her pacifiers for the next hour. But hey, at least I got to lay down that whole time. 7:00 a.m.  Breakfast. Clara eats half a banana, applesauce, some cheese (yes, for breakfast - trying to make sure she gets her dairy intake!), milk, and then proceeds to eat half of my breakfas...

I caved. You know those Gymboree/My Gym/Rollie Pollies type places? I was all, I'm a SAHM. We're on a limited income. I don't need that for my toddler - we're Alaskans, I take her to the park in 20 degree weather and get death stares from other moms in parkas. Oh wait, no other moms are there - it's too cold, and the parkas come out at 45 degrees. Or, I thought - I can come up with ideas to do at home from pinterest or facebook or something. I was lying to myself. Do you know what toddlers do? Toddlers RUN. A lot. Do I look like I run, a lot? Don't answer that. The point is, C NEEDS Gymboree like I need chocolate chip cookies, which is obviously a lot. My elastic waist pants agree. Because after five seconds of painting the sidewalk with water and tearing all the books off the bookshelf (not found on pinterest, that was a self-discovered activity = gold star) and forty-seven thousand hours of pinning toddler activities on pinterest that made me feel...

Title is pretty self-explanatory, right? ;) Here is a link to the first part of this "series" - The First Six Months: Baby Gear I Could Not Have Lived Without . I am not doing to do a "gear I COULD have live without" for 6-12 months, because I think parents are a lot more likely to buy gear they may not use the first six months (at least I was.) The Ergo Carrier - Yes, again. This is so carrier is so fabulous that it makes both lists. It's good for newborns (needs a newborn insert or do the cheap solution I wish I had done, roll up a blanket until they are big enough to go without it) and older babies. It's good for hiking. Traveling. Chores around the house. Comfortable  for the adult and safe and comfortable  for the baby, unlike a lot of the crotch danglers you see around. I have the ergo sport because I am really athletic, if you haven't already gotten that vibe from my blog. Jokes, I have the ergo sport because it's made of a lighter weight...

This is how I looked after 12 hours of traveling - including at 4:00 a.m. wake up, an hour drive, two flights totaling over eight hours and taking care of an almost toddler: What you can't really see in the picture are two additional bags - a duffel and a diaper bag. We don't travel light (anymore). But you know what? Despite how attractive I look in the picture, ;) it honestly wasn't that bad. This wasn't Clara's first time on a plane. We flew to Pensacola, Fl about two months prior. That was that bad. But there were a few things that contributed to that... 1) We made it a weekend trip. This is my first piece of advice - the second that baby comes outta ya, there are no more weekend trips. Weekend trips are for hip, young, childless couples who are able to be spontaneous and cool and what not. We weren't even like that before we had a baby, so how we thought we could make it work after a baby is beyond me. By the time we had recovered from our flights...

A few months back, my August moms group did a "day in the life of ___" theme for all of the mom bloggers out there to try. I enjoyed reading about their days and seeing how ours were the same and differed. But that post was written nearly five months ago and Clara has changed significantly and so has our routine! I decided to do this again mostly because I know all of my loyal fans are fascinated by the minute details of our day (ha) but also because I enjoy looking back and seeing how much Clara has grown and changed. It helps me appreciate the day to day. I chose today as the day to follow for two reasons - Ian has been working 12 hour shifts so he hasn't been seeing Clara at all M-F (read: mommy gets no break) and also because we have been having a lot more play dates in the past few months but did not today. I love our play dates and they have become a regular part of our week, but sometimes it does alter Clara's routine so I thought it'd be better to choose ...

Clara turned nine months old on May 14th. It is hard to believe that she has now been "out" longer than she was "in". I learned a lot while pregnant with her but I think I have learned even more since having her... What I learned from being 9 months pregnant:            - You can't imagine worse sleep than nights involving sleeping on one side only, peeing 48 times, elevating           your ankles, being kicked from the inside and indigestion (ok, ok, I can't say that I got indigestion often but I bet it would suck.)                                                                       -The worse thing someone can say to you is "You look huge and miserable." And the biggest  compliment you can receive is "You look...