Lazy Sunday and Father's Day

 

The Bell Kiddos Circa 86 or 87?

Happy Father's Day! Caleb, Amelia, and I had a relaxing day of doing a whole lot of nothing.  I did make breakfast this morning, later MJ and I took naps, Caleb actually got to sit down and play a video game... a real rarity.  Then in the evening, we had an "A Few of Caleb's Favorite Things" feast: stuffed mushrooms with cayenne peppers, stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon, some Kerrygold Dubliner, and a Father's Day fave, STEAK.

Caleb and MJ reading a bedtime math story.

During our lazy day I found some time to style the coffee table and the bookcases, which is probably functionally pointless with a two year old, but makes me smile, nevertheless.  It is part of "Project Take Back My Home", the goal: to break up a little bit of Mili's monopoly on the shared spaces in our house.  She's two now, knows the ropes (mostly) when it comes to her things vs. the grown ups things, and understands "No" (although she still listens selectively).  I feel like putting breakable things within reach is no longer setting her up for failure, but letting her practice with boundaries.  We've lost one milk glass vase to PTBMH so far, but nothing irreplaceable.

Going to add some pretty flowers... really anything that isn't playdough looks "styled" to me.
P.S.  Thanks for the tray, Momma!

I'm also working to make our house feel like a home.  We've been here over a year and as of this morning, we still had a pile of artwork leaning against a wall in our bedroom, with no real plan of what to do with it.  Today I came up with a plan (hoorah!) and while planning, MJ found one painting and declared it was "Mia's horsey painting".  So I hung it at (toddler) eye level in her bedroom.  It looks completely out of place sandwiched between finger painted construction paper ticky tacked to the wall and a tower of primary colored jumbo cardboard blocks, but it makes Little Bit happy.  And that makes me happy too.

So I feel like our other project, "Make our house a home" is underway too.  Next on the docket, making curtains using a Fabric.com gift card I've had since my birthday (since my birthday! I just can't decide what to get).  Also, reorganizing, decluttering... maybe I'll get really crazy and actually hang up some art or throw down an area rug, who knows?  Oh and plants!  There will be plants!  MJ and I started growing lavender in the windowsill (Thank you to Caleb and Laura).

How about you?  How long does it take you to make your house a feel like a home? Anyone else with experience taking back your living room from a toddler?  Advice? Wisdom?

Much love,

Growing: Letter Recognition

Mili seems to be recognizing new letters everyday lately when we read. 

She recognizes her name when she sees it and she likes practicing writing it (squiggle, line, line, line for M-I-L-I... but the line-line-line is her favorite part).   She also likes to write her name anytime she can find a forgotten crayon left out, or a pencil or pen that Mommy or Daddy left on the table  Her name and her artwork end up everywhere, on the walls, the coffee table, her chair, the washer, the front and back doors, the tile floor, even inside the gas cover on her Cozy Coupe.  Sometimes I think she has a secret stash of writing utensils she has been collecting... saving them for any moment she knows Mom and Dad aren't looking.  =) 

She also recognizes, M, B, P, O, K, J, Y and W pretty consistently as well as I and L (though she switches these up fairly often). "F" was a new letter just today.   

It is really amazing watching her grow and learn!  I'm finishing finals this week, and trying to make sure I still make time to read with her and play with her... Time is flying by lately and she is getting "big" so fast, I can't believe she'll be two next month!  She is an amazing little human being and Caleb and I love her so much.

Reflecting

Stumbled upon this awesome post by The Hippie Housewife on, in a sense, the means and ends of parenting.  It's a question I've been wrestling with this week, particularly since I've had "Friday patience" since Wednesday.  I've been struggling with losing my patience, my perspective, my sense of fairness when I'm exhausted and she's exhausted and everyone is just not getting along.  ...And neither one of us is doing the best we can. 

I guess, in these times, it's important to be reflective.  To take a breather.  To remind myself that I am capable of better.  To remember what I ultimately feel to be right or wrong for me, as MJ's parent. To think about my most deeply held values.  To think about what values I am expressing and teaching my child through my actions, and what kind of love.

 When I'm frustrated and I equate "what works" with what is also right, this is a good reminder:
 
"Parenting for results [is] focusing on the wrong questions... 'How can I make her listen to me?  'How can I get him to do what I want?'  'How can I make her stop doing that?' ... We focus on our desires and lose sight of what we believe to be true.  ...Whatever our desires, however noble our purposes, there is one question that must accompany them all: Are my actions the right actions?
Not will it work, but is it right? In so many other words,

Is this the right choice in this moment?
Does this decision line up with my values?

Many things will achieve my goals, but far fewer things are Good and Right.

Putting on her angelic face. =)

Goals are good. They give us direction for the journey. But when the question of how to achieve them becomes the ultimate question, we too easily lose perspective. Those questions must always be balanced by that one question, is this right?".

Here's to each miraculous chance to do a little better tomorrow.  Much love baby girl.

 

 

Conversations

Why hallo thar!

Mili's language is becoming a lot more conversational, e.g. "Ok Mama! " "Ok Dada!" in response to requests and such.  And then there was this recent little gem which she may one day hate that I posted on this blog, but it was truly hilarious. 


While Caleb was changing Mili's diaper...

Caleb:  "Shooooo wee, Mili!"
Mili:  "Shooo wee Dada!"
Caleb:  (Laughing) "No, I didn't do this, it's shooo wee Mili."
Mili:  "No!  Shoo wee Dada!"

And then when I changed her diaper this morning, she once again insisted it was Dada who made the stink.

Me:  "Shoo wee Mili!"
Mili:  "Shoo wee Dada!"
Me:  (Laughing) "Daddy's not even here.  You did this."
Mili:  "No!  Shoo wee Dada!"
Me:  "Wow.  I didn't realize Daddy was so stinky."
Mili:  "Shoo wee.  Shoo wee Dada."

She has also started putting words together to describe things from words she already knows.  For example, she was very excited to wake up to find ornaments on the Christmas tree, which she decided were "Christmas Balls!".

She also gave a toy a name all on her own this week.  A Rise of the Guardians' McDonalds Happy Meal toy character (I know, I know) she has named "Bee Bop."  It's the little elf guy. 

He lives on a shelf in the kitchen.  Because apparently elves live on shelves during the holidays.  I'm not really sure why... But I keep catching bits of commercials that seem to imply we're supposed to have one. 

In other news, I saw Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 tonight.

And a random Mili picture.

The force is strong with this one.

The End.

Before and After

A quick try at ombre in a very non-committal quantity for Mili's room.  I found this letter M in my parent's garage the last time I visited Dallas and my mother was all too happy to get something of the "kid's" (even something this small) out of her garage.  I'm pretty sure it was one of a set of teal letters "O" "M" "G" that lived in my apartment during college.  <Cringe>.  

Was I trying to be ironic?  I don't remember.  I think I just thought it was funny. Anyway, drum roll please:

Ta Da! It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. And now for some context.  

Print Source

And someone playing peekaboo.

Where's Mili?

There she is!

Random cuteness.

 

DIY Doily Sun Catcher

Some changes in Mili's room.  TA-DA!

What's that you say?  It looks like a whole new room?  Why thank you!  That could be because it is a whole new room, seeing as we moved to this house in April and I'm pretty sure I never posted a picture of it.  Mili's room has been completely rearranged since then, but seeing as there are no "before pictures" you'll just have to assume it was lame then and is totally AMAZING now. 

Anyway, I've been adding some color to her room lately.  I've decided that while I'm still anti-Princess, I'm not anti-pink, red, purple, colorful, etc.  In that spirit, I whipped up this awesome doily sun catcher-mobile.  

Oooh.  Ahhhh.

And by whipped up, I mean worked on haphazardly for weeks until Caleb's sideways, slightly annoyed glances at the counter space the project was taking up morphed into audible polite inquiry.  I.E. "So... do you think you'll be finished with this thing soon?" and "So... could you maybe clear off the counter of this uh... stuff... before dinner time?", etc. 
...I know.  The nerve. 

Anyway, you too are now probably itching to have your own doily sun catcher-mobile-garland doohickey, so I made you this sweet tutorial.

Step One:  Gather Yo Supplies

Supplies:

• Crocheted doilies
• Fabric Stiffener
• Foam Brush
• Wax Paper
• Illusion Jewelry Cord 
• Wooden dowel rod
• Scissors
• Glue gun or super glue

Then head on over to Urban Scarlet for a real blog tutorial.  I basically followed her tutorial, substituting fishing line for the illusion cord.  You can find this in the jewelry section of any hobby/craft supply store.  I bought mine at Hobby Lobby for around $3.  You can find dowel rods in the wood crafting section.  I used a dowel rod from Wilton that I had laying around for stabilizing multi tier cakes, because I make those all the time occasionally one time like 6 years ago.  If you want to dye your doilies, Easy Makes Me Happy has a simple tutorial using Rit Dye.  Or if you're like me, buy them ready made from Rachael's Scraps on Etsy.  She has beautiful colors, reasonable prices, and quick delivery.  For instance:  

Love Love Love.

Step Two: Lay your doilies out on wax paper ala Urban Scarlet's tutorial and "paint" your doilies with fabric stiffener using a foam brush.  Let dry overnight.  

Note: Rinse your doilies before "painting" to avoid color changes.

Step Three:  Arrange your doilies. I took pictures to test various arrangements.  

Ah... The One.

Step Four:  Tie on each doily. Say "Frack", "Blurgh" and "Shark Farts" as appropriate (anytime you accidentally untie, tie, drop, or otherwise mishandle the tiny invisible string that is illusion cord).
   

Step Five:  Stop for a snack.
  

Step Six:  Stop again whenever your kid looks like this.

Resume when your kid looks like this.

About 17 naps later (or 2 if you're are a person with a decent attention span), use some illusion cord to make a "hanger" for your sun catcher-mobile and tack it up!

Yayyyyy! The end!

MIA

I've been MIA recently because I left my camera in Dallas a few weekends ago and blogging without a camera seems so early 2000s.  Anyway, I read an awesome article on finding rest, instead of hurry, in your life and thought I'd share it (through a "hurried" medium, because irony is fun).  The article  inspired me to take five minutes to sit outside and watch the sunset, which in turn inspired me to sit down and write about other places of rest in my life as of late.

Caleb and I have managed to find time to ourselves two weekends in a row after seven months of lots of family togetherness.  That is, not a night to ourselves sans baby since New Years Eve.  Except for our anniversary, which we celebrated by having food poisoning, as a couple. SO MUCH FUN! It was also marked by our air conditioner breaking...  For some reason it didn't seem as if that should count as alone time.   

Side Note: {I remember before we had a kid hearing stories from other couples about not having been out since the baby was born and thinking they were just not trying hard enough.  HA!  HA HA!  BWA HA HA HA HA HA.} 

Anyway, it's been really lovely to have some time to focus on each other lately.  And a nice latent effect of that is that when we've gone back to being parents, it's been so much easier to be a genuinely happy parent.  It's a lot easier to appreciate the humor in the things my child does [when I'm not feeling like Jordan in the "My Changing Ways" episode of Scrubs (start at 2:15).]  I can see the humor in the unfolding of all the freshly folded laundry, or her occasional emptying of the diaper pail, making sure to hide one or two diapers around the room.  Or washing her hands in the toilet while wearing a Tupperware bowl as a hat.  Or climbing into the dog kennel for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Or just screaming at every single thing I do wrong... I've been informed it is all wrong.

You're always hearing, with parenting or other struggles, that you will "look back and laugh about this one day."  But I think having some time away from your child every once in a while allows you to laugh right now, in the moment.  And that's a pretty amazing gift.  It's like laughter sent backwards through time.  Yes.  That awesome.

Another benefit? Appreciating the humor in the things my child does also gives me cause to use this maddeningly contradictory phrase from my own childhood "Just because I'm laughing, does not make it funny" and thus get a little bit closer to [inevitably?] becoming my own parents.  But that's a rambling for another day. 

-Sarah-Jean