School, yo.

A reader recently asked how we came to the decision to put Cub in a pre-3 program this year. The question comes in light of past posts that discuss education options, like homeschooling. I used homeschooling curriculum with Cub when he turned two and I loved it, so now the question comes as to why I chose to not continue in that route.

This is our approach: We take each year one year at a time. If something works one year, it doesn't necessarily mean it will work the next, and our ultimate goal is to continually reassess our options and make sure that our kids' needs are being met in what we feel is the best way possible. Rather than swearing to one type of educational method or another, we're going more with the belief that our kids grow and change and therefore their needs grow and change. Maybe they'll stick with one way and it will work great. What's most important to us is that we are plugged into their education and proactive in their learning.

I never thought that I would put my kids in preschool, especially a pre-3 program. My intention was to keep them home with me until they absolutely had to be in school (if we were not homeschooling), which would be kindergarten. I love having them with me. Then as spring rolled around last year, I began to get a feeling about Cub being in school.

Yes, a feeling. Super scientific, right?

I can't really explain it. I love having Cub home with me. And yet I felt this growing desire for him to have this experience. It was hard for me to recognize that my desire for him to be home and my desire for him to get the opportunity to go to an early preschool program didn't have to conflict with each other. Sending him to school didn't mean I didn't want him home. It meant that I wanted him to have this experience and that I felt that he was ready. Simple as that. There is a private Christian school in our town that offers pre-3 two days a week. For us, the school had to be a Christian school. In these early years especially, we are not comfortable having Cub in a school that does not adhere to Biblical teaching and, thankfully, we have been blessed with the option of sending him to a really great school. After reading the curriculum and having discussions with parents who have sent their kids there, my husband and I felt that this would be the best option for Cub.

We love that he will get to make new friends his age (most of his friends are younger or older). We love that he will be exposed to new kinds of learning. We love the order and constant movement of his day. We love that he will go to chapel. His teacher is kind, assertive, and communicative. Best of all, Cub loves it, too (so far).

Does this mean we'll never homeschool? No. The co-op I would want to join begins taking students after they turn four, so if by next year we feel that this is what we are being called to, we'll start taking steps in that direction. If not, we'll keep him where he is, if he loves it. One year at a time. For now, we're excited about this school year for Cub.

And there you have it!

Have a lovely day.

The Quick Fix.

First of all, thank you for all of the travel recommendations! I pooled your ideas together and came up with some things that will hopefully aid in our journey. I went to Target this morning and attempted to snatch up some goodies from their dollar aisle ... can I just say, running around with the three tots is a bit of a challenge. It was hilarious to see me literally throwing stickers, sketch pads, magnets and Slinkies into my cart while zooming through the aisles. Speed is key, in my opinion, and wow, we were fast today!

So. Thank you. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Secondly.

Cub walked up to me today with my husband's broken helicopter and asked what happened to it. Before I proceed--does anyone else have a husband who owns a similar toy? The kind you see in the mall? Anyway. My husband is a gadget guy and hence, the helicopter. I've gone to friends' houses and laughed when I see a similar helicopter on the shelf ... there must be some kind of mini-helicopter movement afoot. Anyway. So, when Cub asked how it had been broken, I told him it had crashed and the blade fell off. He then sighed and muttered, "Well, I guess we need a new one."

I cocked my head and told him that no, we just needed to fix the old one.

And he looked at me kind of funny and asked, "Why don't we just get a new one?"

I saw a Pinterest picture the other day that showed an old man and a woman (probably a stock photo) and it wrote that their marriage had lasted so long because they were married in a time that when something was broken, you fixed it, you didn't throw it away. And as I looked in my son's blue eyes, I couldn't help but wonder if we've done a good job showing him that truth.

This day of technology is a tricky one because it is often true that when a phone, tablet, or computer breaks, it's usually only slightly more expensive to completely replace it with a nicer, newer model than to fix the broken older model. There isn't anything wrong with that, per se, if the device is something useful to you. But I'm realizing more that the speed of technology is causing most of us to embrace an "I need it now" mentality. My diapers.com orders come the day after I order them. I can transfer money into my bank account with my phone while sitting in the drive-thru at Starbucks. Netflix gives us instant movies and shows, and Pandora gives us whatever music we want based on the genre we like. Now, now, now.

And yet we kneel in front of our kids, gently grasp their shoulders, look in their eyes and tell them they need to be patient. To wait for the things they want.

It is blatantly contrary to the world we live in. The world of NOW. How do we stand firm when the culture of immediate satisfaction pushes against us?

It's something I struggle with. Teaching our children to wait. It means we have to show that we can wait ourselves, which, for me anyway, can be hard. "I want it NOW!" screams Veruca on Willy Wonka. I hear you, girlfriend.

But maybe it's as simple as fixing a broken helicopter...even if it's tempting to replace it. That when those opportunities arise, we should take them. Because really, easy-to-replace technology is one of the few things in life that's easy to replace. Friendships and relationships cannot be replaced. They have to be fixed in order to work. And what a weighty responsibility it is to show our kids how to do that.

My husband and I celebrated our seven year anniversary today. Every year I understand more how awesome it is to celebrate marriage.

Because it gets harder.

The kids take time. The job takes time. The balancing act of mother and wife gets tricky as the kids multiply and our time is compromised. It takes work, and by that, I mean it takes WORK. We really have to work at it to make it work. I love my husband more with each year, but it's because we work to make it happen and I love him all the more for it--it's really amazing. The best things in life, in one way or another, require constant work. Or, so to say, constant fixing.

I hope I can figure out how to show that to my kids.

Have a lovely day, friends.

Squishy.

My Dad has always done private contracting and when I was a kid, one particular house he built was fairly close to our own. After school, my Mom and brother and I would drive over to the work site to hang out for a bit. My very favorite thing on the site was a massive mountain of dirt that was leftover when they dug out the foundation. My brother and I would climb that mound every evening and get completely filthy, digging and burrowing through the soft, freshly dug dirt. One of those really great childhood memories.

So, when the storms from last weekend left an impromptu shallow pond in our backyard and the kids ended up in it fully-clothed, I acquiesced.

What had started out as an innocent game of throwing rocks in the water soon turned into a mud-slinging free-for-all. And all I could think about was that dirt mound as a kid--the soft, squishy mud between my toes and how absolutely glorious it felt.

Needless to say, I was thrilled that my kids were feeling the same thing.

Naomi's white tutu is now brown, but, it was worth it. Kids being kids--it doesn't get much better than that.

Have a lovely day.

Big Love.

Since adding Lydia to our little family, the Cub and the Mouse have grown closer, something wonderful that I was not expecting. Watching siblings turn into friends is about as sweet as it gets.

: My (not so) big kids on a lazy morning. Love. :

Have a lovely day.

The Best Kind Of Mess.

: Having a two year-old is like having a blender that you don't have the top for. :

-Jerry Seinfeld

Fruits of Labor.

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

Happy Labor Day, friends.

Puddle Jumper.

(Look! I put a random stock photo of a child that is not mine on my blog!)

Our house came with a circular above-ground pool. It wasn't anything I was necessarily wanting, but my husband, ohhhhh my husband, he saw it and fell in love. As long as he was cool with the maintenance, then I was cool with using it! :)

Having the pool has turned out to be an amazingly wonderful thing. The kids and I can swim during the day and every night after dinner, we all go for a family swim. It's kind of like being on vacation every night. So fun! Now, the random stock photo image above is to give a shameless plug for these amazing floaties known as Puddle Jumpers. These awesome floaties have revolutionized the swimming experience for our little man. Our little Cub has always been a bit of a fish, firstly with a little inflatable boat before he was a year old, then with holding on and swimming around with us last summer, and now these things. When the hot weather arrived, I first bought Cub a pair of arm floaties. He didn't like them one bit and was afraid of going underwater. Some friends of ours had a Puddle Jumper for their daughter, so I went to our local Wally World to get one for Cub (I found it in the life jacket section, but I do not think it technically qualifies as one ... at least we wouldn't use it as one on the boat!).

Oh my.

Within a few minutes, he was swimming by himself around the pool. The floaties are made of the same material as a life jacket (not inflatable, but foam) and the section across the front gives them extra support to stay above the water. Oh my goodness, it has been so amazing to see Cub flourish and swim on his own when he wears his Puddle Jumper. He also feels safer about going underwater and will jump in by himself. How fun!

Sadly, I don't have any really great pictures of him wearing his Puddle Jumper, so the stock photo will have to do. But trust me, the smile is the same!

Have a lovely day, friends!

To Sleep, Perchance To Dream ...

What was your philosophy when it came to babies and sleeping? Did you do a sleep training program (Babywise, Ferber, etc.)? If so, when did you start? Did you soothe your babies to sleep?

This is a great question--one that I think every Mom faces at some point during their child's infancy. If you had asked me this with my first child, I would have had an absolute, no-questions-asked response. However, now that I've had two, I've become aware of my fantastical ability to stick my foot in my mouth.

Based on extensive research (aka having two children), I can say, with confidence, that every child is different. However, there are some general principles in which I believe that provide a sort of rough outline as to how I approach parenting at this stage: Consistency and routine. Not scheduling, but not winging it, either (well, not winging it every day, at least ... ha ha). When Cub was a baby, he put himself on an easy routine, simply because he was breastfed. Every three hours, my milk let down on its own (how crazy is that) and I knew it was time for him to eat. Badda-bing, badda-boom! Very easy. With Naomi, she was more of a hard case to crack. She was fussier and wouldn't stay on a routine, but then would suddenly fall asleep while playing on the floor. Totally random. When she was around seven months old, a routine finally stuck and she's done great with it ever since.

I am a huge advocate of the consistent pattern of "Feed Wake Sleep" or "Eat Activity Sleep". I think it's important for babies to learn to fall asleep on their own, without needing a bottle. Sometimes this happens from Day One, sometimes it doesn't happen until a few months down the road. I do think "crying it out" is okay to some degree. I think it's good for babies to feel confident falling asleep on their own. However, I do believe there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. I don't believe in shutting the door and letting your baby scream for two hours. I do believe in shutting the door and letting your baby cry for ten minutes, and then you go and check on them, and maybe they cry for ten more minutes, then you check on them. Again, every baby is different. I think rocking and snuggling is immensely important and should be done, no matter what your philosophy. But when it comes to actually falling asleep, in our family, we advocate falling asleep on your own (after lots of rocking and snuggling).

I think it's just important to look down the road and envision how you want things to be. We let Cub fuss himself to sleep at an early age and it paid off as time went on. I always rocked him before bed, but would lay him down just before he fell asleep. Sometimes he hated it, but eventually he started drifting off on his own with no problem. But, it was a battle I chose to contend with early on rather than later. Having a five month old fuss before bed is way easier than having a one year old scream from their crib. Or a two year old, for that matter. Again, this is just what my experience has shown me--maybe another Mom's experience has shown her something else.

As far as when to start, that's something you as the Mom need to decide. Get to know your baby and know his/her needs. Cub was a super-chill baby and did great fussing it out at around two months old. Naomi dealt with stomach troubles and just seemed a little more fragile to me, and we didn't officially let her fuss it out until she was several months old. Maybe we could have started sooner, but my intuition told me otherwise. Both babies fall asleep great on their own (although they both can still be rocked to sleep, which the grandparents especially appreciate!). There just needs to be a good balance of "What are your needs?" and "Welcome to our family, this is how we operate!"

One book I loved was Secrets of a Baby Whisperer. I read BabyWise and used some of its principles when Naomi was an older infant, but I do not agree with their somewhat heart-less approach to scheduling. But, that's just my opinion! I think it's immensely important to get to know your baby--to read their cues and learn their mannerisms to make sure you're laying them down when they're actually tired, and so on. Baby Whisperer encourages this and I love it.

Oh, one more thing! As far as soothing goes, Cub spit out his pacifier at one month and chose his thumb. He still sucks his thumb, but only when he has his sleep toy, Nigh-Nigh (a very loved and well-worn stuffed lion). We made it a point to teach Cub to put Nigh-Nigh back in his crib after he woke up, so he knew Nigh-Nigh was only for sleeping. I think this helped to keep him from sucking his thumb any other time, since Nigh-Nigh was always out of reach. With Naomi, she loves her pacifier, so that's how she soothes. When she's two, the paci goes (that's the plan, anyway!).

I hope that answered your questions! Sorry for the very long response. :)

Have a lovely day!

A Few More Questions ... :)

I received these questions via a Facebook message, because the comments weren't posting. Weird. I'm sorry! Here you go:

What is a typical day like now with 2 kiddos?

I usually wake up before the kids and start a pot of coffee. If I'm on the ball, I read my devotion and post what I'm thankful for on Facebook. Then I start breakfast and the kiddos wake up. We eat breakfast together which is all kinds of a hilarious mess, and then we sing a song or two at the table. The kids play while I load the dishwasher, and then Caleb gets dressed (Naomi takes a morning nap still, so I keep her in her pj's). We go outside to feed the chickens and then Naomi goes down for her morning nap.

While she's sleeping, Caleb and I do "school" together using this curriculum. I know, the website looks a little cheesy, but trust me, the curriculum is great. We choose a few of the activities and work on our letter and number of the week, read the Bible story for the week, and do a craft or dramatic play. It all takes about twenty minutes. Then we read books and play puzzles, and I try to sneak in a shower while Caleb plays in his room.

When Naomi wakes up, we either eat a quick lunch or head out to run errands. This is my "window" between Naomi's two naps and before Cub's afternoon nap. We run errands and sometimes grab lunch. Once we make it home, we eat lunch and the kids go down for their naps. During this time I give myself thirty minutes to nap and then I try to be productive the rest of the time (this doesn't always happen ... but I try!). When the kids wake up, we go outside and play and I'll leave the door open when I come in to make dinner while the kids stay outside. Then Dadda comes home, we eat, play more, and then it's bath and bed! Then my husband and I hang out and have our time.

Having two little ones is a lot of fun, but it does take a little extra planning. Remember the "window" of time? I know that's the prime time to get things done because both kids are awake and happy. If I cut it too close to nap time, then YIKES. Two cranky little ones out running errands can go downhill quickly. It's all in the timing and it took me about seven months to figure out how to do it with both! We're pretty consistent every day so the kids know what to expect, which really helps. But, don't get me wrong--sometimes the days seem to be destined disasters from the moment we wake up, and nothing goes as planned. Sometimes Naomi doesn't want to take her first nap. Sometimes Cub is extra cranky. But, that's why I write what I'm thankful for every morning on Facebook--it's hard to have a bad attitude when you realize how you are blessed. I'm thankful for my children, no matter what. Even if our days look a little more like a hodge-podge of randomness rather than a seamless stream of productivity, I'm still thankful for them. These days are precious and go by way too quickly!

I know several people have asked, but your loyal readers are dying to get a peek of your new home.... or better yet a vlog post :)

Ha ha, a vlog post! :) Thank you for wanting to see our house! I haven't really shown any pictures because the decorating process has been slow-going. We're busy here at Footy Pajamas! I guess it doesn't matter if there are things on the wall or not. I have my decorating budget, but actually going out and finding what I want takes time. I don't want to fill the house simply to fill it--I'm not personally a fan of decor for the sake of decor--so I want the money to be spent intentionally and thoughtfully. Unfortunately, finding that kind of time can be tricky! I will happily do a post once things are a bit more to my liking--but they will probably come one at a time.

For now, here is our playroom/schoolroom/reading room/etc. room. This was the formal dining room, but we knew we wouldn't use it as such at this point in our lives, so it sat empty for a bit. It has columns and is open to the entryway, so I was worried about making it a play room since it is the first room people see when they walk in the house. Then I realized ... who cares? The people that walk into our house are either our friends or family, both of whom wouldn't mind one bit how we chose to utilize the room! Now it's the coziest room in the house and I love piling the kids in the chair and reading together.

More pictures will come, when I get to it, I promise!

Have a lovely day.

Melting Boogers.

Gross title, yes?

We finally caught the sicky bugs that have been going around, and this week we've been up to our elbows in fussiness, poopy diapers, Boogie Wipes, and laundry. While we've seen everything from fevers to puke, one thing that has remained consistent is the always-ambitious RUNNY NOSE.

With a two year old who doesn't exactly blow his nose with amazing efficiency, a little trick my cousin taught me has come in quite handy: Melting boogers.

I'm sure many of you know this and employ it, but it was news to me when she told me about it and it's made our snotty situations much more bearable.

Firstly, you soak a washcloth in hot hot hot water. Then you tell your squirmy toddler that you're going to "Melt boogers! And if you're good ... you get to SEE THEM!" Press the washcloth against their nose (as though you were wiping it) for a few moments and if there is snot or boogers in there, they will come out on the washcloth. Cub hates having his nose wiped, but seeing the huge boogers that come out of his nose is pretty much the coolest thing ever, so he complies. I use the nasal aspirator if there are some pesky ones still stuck in there, but, for the most part, the washcloth does the trick. At the end of it all, his nose is clean and he's happy because he's seen some awesomely cool snot. A little shot of Little Noses before commencing is helpful as well.

Then, of course, throw the washcloth in the washing machine!

Boogie Wipes are good to use in the interim, too.

And yes, I totally wrote a post about boogers. That's how I roll these days.

Have a lovely day.

Snow Buddy.

"Lookie at ALL THAT SNOW!"

(Lookie at that yummy Cub in a monkey hat, too)