Even pirates need a nap sometimes....

He usually doesn't take a nap, but apparently me reading Ralph S. Mouse was sleep- inducing

The Power of Music

I was in the car the other evening, my CD player clicked to change CDs and I heard this song (just click play and listen, you don't have to watch the video):



And all of a sudden, it was May of 2000 again. When Joe and I first started dating we listened to Enya's Watermark a ton. Whenever I hear it it makes me think of a simpler time- before college, before my Mom got sick. Just two silly kids on the edge of adulthood, dreaming dreams and making plans. We'd talk about getting married and having babies. Here we are now-and that song still makes me remember the feeling of being 18 and newly in love.

It's amazing, isn't it? How music can just transport you back to a time? That isn't the only song. The song Boys by Jars of Clay makes me think of right after Adelle was born, driving the kids to the park, mountains on three sides and the smell of pine on the air, that kind of vulnerable feeling that comes with venturing out right after you have added another child to your family.

And there are many others. What about you? Any special songs or albums that make you think of a certain day or time period in your life- good or bad?

We bake bread. And learn. And look cute.

The kiddos watching the yeast foam up in the warm water. I didn't pose this, they just find yeast very interesting.

And here is the fruits of our (my) labor.

We like to share. Issy was giving some to Adelle here.

Liam really likes "doing school" like the big kids. I got him a couple of little workbooks at the dollar store. He is tracing letters here- he has a pretty steady hand already!

The big kids building with the Math U See manipulatives . I had been very by the book, only letting them use them at math time, but I figured that building with them (knowing that it takes a 9 block and a 1 block to fit on a 10 block) would be a fun learning activity.

Watching Liam trace his letters, so serious:

But not really :)

It's birthday time!

...but not for the humans- for Marmot and Raccoon, Bunny and Puppy, Ruthie and Kit. Issy told me the other day that it was Kit and Ruthie's birthday, made up a party invitation and asked if we could make a treat for them. Of course, the boys decided their toys needed a birthday party, too.

Watching the cupcakes bake:

Isaac wanted blue frosting

Liam wanted green

Cupcakes all decorated and ready to eat. Happy birthday, Toys!

For those interested, I made the Joy of Baking Vanilla Cupcake recipe and it was delicious! I made a half recipe of the frosting and it was just the right amount for 12 cupcakes.

One Small Change

Friends and siblings have been blogging about their gardening efforts lately and I have been inspired to make some positive changes around here. It isn't really practical to garden given our circumstances right now, but I came across the One Small Change blog and decided to try it.

I like the idea of recycling, but have felt really daunted by the prospect, so I am going to try to take it one step at a time. This month, I am going to start recycling glass and then in subsequent months add other things (paper, etc.)

If you would like to participate, too, just click the button on the left column of my blog and it will take you to the site.

Ahhh, parenting

A recent discussion caused me to revisit a couple of my old posts:
A random post
Expanding on yesterday's post

It prompted further reflection on my parenting as of late, what is working, what isn't. This is a good thing. I think sometimes it is easy to get stuck in what was working, even though the kids have taken it to the next level. And boy, do they sometimes take it to the next level :p

I was recalling the book I mentioned in those posts (How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk) and thinking about how I would like to reread it and try to put into practice some of the techniques that were a little mature for Issy and Isaac (who were 5 and 3) at the time. Liam was only 1 at the time, so most of it wasn't really applicable to him. It is funny, I have tried to use some of the techniques with him that were most successful with Issy and Isaac (like saying, "you are feeling frustrated that we have to leave the park and you wanted to stay" while he is throwing a big, screaming fit) and they have fallen flat most of the time. Which reminds me (again! I should remember this!) that Liam is not Issy and he is not Isaac and therefore discipline strategies (or learning strategies or ways of loving him) must be tailored to fit Liam.

Every mother with more than one child (or even one that has been around another child than her own) knows that they all have their own personality. Even babies. But most parenting books tout their way as "The Way" to get your child to sleep, behave, grow up to be a productive citizen. It is an alluring promise isn't it? If you do X your child will do Y. But as most mothers also know, it is rarely as simple in reality as it is in a parenting book. Or you learn, like I did, that what might work with one child may need some tweaking to suit the needs of another one.

I think is is good thing to have a parenting philosophy or find something that resonates with you. Just remember you are not a slave to your parenting philosophy. It is there to help you to deal most effectively to your children. At some point I realized I am the expert on my children. I often lamented when baby Isaac was such a poor sleeper and I had read all the baby sleep books out there, "No one has written the Book of Isaac yet!" Well, I am. My children and I are the authors of their books (really, more them than me). Every day is a new page, every day I learn something about them and try to figure them out and guide them the best way possible. Almost every day they are changing the game, making me dig deeper in myself as a mother and in a relationship with them.

I'll never forget that first night with Isabelle. I was tired but I just could not sleep- kissing her little soft head, staring at her and just feeling so full of a love I didn't know existed before her. It made me remember my mother. It made her make sense. Things that she had said or did that I thought were unfair or restrictive or old-fashioned- came from a deep love and feeling of protectiveness. I hope my children can someday come to the same understanding of me.

Lake Afton

A couple of weeks ago, in search of some nature, we went out to Lake Afton on a Sunday afternoon. Sweet baby girls:

Gathering sticks (for the fire he wanted to build that we said no to?):

Yes, Liam was not as into this time as his Papa, as the picture suggests. He was being grumpy about something, though we never did ascertain why.

Hand over the camera, Mama!

Alternate post title: Fake it till you make it.

You know that old saying: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Well, that would explain the absence of blogging. I am just struggling with Kansas. Oh, Kansas. How I love the people you hold and yet how you taunt me with your flatness and suburban sprawl and your lack of woods to wonder through.

She is so beautiful

It's May already?

I was nursing the baby girl this morning and I realized she is coming up on being 11 months old pretty soon (in 9 days). Wow! This time last year, we were settling into our Victor house, I was nesting something fierce, Adelle was growing quietly in the womb. Who knew how life would change in the last year?

I am really enjoying my midwifery studies. Right now I am in the organizational stage of it- setting up notebooks of resources, taking an inventory of what I have, deciding what I want to accumulate. I used to be an organized person once upon a time. And then I got married and had babies and organizing got put on the back burner. The waaaaaay back burner. The back burner on the grill on the deck. So it has been nice to get my feet wet in organizing again. Having a piece of life that is in order that only I have control over.

Alas, I was going to type more, but the troops are in need of breakfast. Mmmmm, maybe some pancakes today.