15 Months (should have been posted Monday, but, hey, i was busy)

Oh my dear sweet Luke,

You have changed so much in the last month.  You are running and pretty fast.  You like to chase Pickle around the house.  You like to run after me or have me run after you. 


You are saying so many words now and signing them too.  I'm am amazed at all the things you understand now.  You see birds and say 'bird' and sign it, same with dog, hat, outside, and many more.  You just recently started saying 'Usa', my friend that used to live with us.  It sounds like 'Awwsa'.  One morning after hanging out with her the day before, you said 'Awwsa' when you were waking up in hopes that she would be there.

Playing with Usa

 

 

 

At night before you go to bed you and Daddy watch 'dees' (videos) on youtube.  You love this pirate one. 

'Dat' (Dad) is basically your best friend.  If he tries to run to the store or anything while he's home, you demand that you go with him.  Even if it means leaving Mama behind.

You still love cleaning.  I hope you never stop loving it.  It's such a novelty right now.  You can operate the vacuum by yourself, you like to wipe down tables, even do the 'dish' (dishes). 

Vacuuming at Usa's

Wiping down the table after dinner. (Don't worry, it's water and vinegar in an old bottle)

 

 

We've also enjoyed some TCBY experiences too.  You like the frozen yogurt more and more each time.  I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's cute when you lick the cone and you hardly share anymore.

All the sudden you felt like eating a lot of food one week.  You ate eggs for breakfast which I never thought you liked.  And you had a lot of a bunch of other stuff.  I think you went on a growth spurt.  You also love eating butter still along with coconut oil and bacon.  Maybe you're craving more fat?  You don't like chocolate but like to hold it hostage from me.  You keep it in your little hand tempting me and then finally after awhile you'll let go.

So much has changed this month as you begin to start looking like a toddler and less like a baby.  I miss you as a baby but these times right now are the best ever.  You're so fun to hang out with.  I love being your mom and I love you so much.

Wordless Wednesday- Luke Loves Pasta

For more pictures on this Wordless Wednesday, visit Hobo Mama.

Self Portrait: Shadows

Think, I love me just the way I am

Elements of Self at Shakti Mama

I don't have anything special to say this time.  But I did have fun taking the shadow pics...

This one is me and my sweet baby in our house.  I used the lights inside to take these and have a little fun.  Can you see Luke's curlies in the back of his head?

 This is me drinking a glass of wine (that I actually only had one drink of because by the time I got to the rest of it I didn't feel like it) and I usually have beer but we were out...

 This is me kissing my husband :D  awww so sweet.

This is me, outside at these food cart things by my friend Usa's house.  I think her head is the one that is lower.  It looks like I'm wearing a dress, but in fact, it's basketball shorts.

This is our shadows.  Me and my little nursling. 

Relaxing and doing nothing

Yeah, I wish I was relaxing and doing nothing.  Unfortunately that's not the case.  I've been busy lately.  But I always wonder to myself, am I capable of doing nothing?

I've been reading the book Eat, Pray, Love and the woman is on a journey for a year.  Part of the year she is spending in Italy for pleasure.  Just to relax and enjoy herself.  She talks about how she has a hard time just doing nothing.  She always has to have something to accomplish or do.  She also talks about how that is an American culture thing.

I am just like that.  Sometimes I measure days in 'how much I got done'.  Sometimes I think the day is worthless unless I accomplished certain things.  I know as a stay at home mom, I often hear of people saying, 'I can't wait till they go to sleep so I can get something done'.  I say it too, maybe I can get something done when Luke naps.  Or when my husband gets home maybe I can finally do something.  But I hate that.  Why am I always trying to do something.  When my son naps, why can't I just feel like napping, resting, reading or praying is 'accomplishing something'.

I even noticed this when I was working as an electrical engineer at my job.  People work lots of hours, try to do lots of things, just to show that they are good at what they do.  Its the American Way to always want to do more, get more done, be busy.  And that is how we see people, those who can do so many things and many things at once are better employees.

Of course, there are times when you have to do get something done or your house will explode with messiness.  But maybe getting things done shouldn't be the measurement of greatness of the day.  When will playing with a ball outside or laying down on a bed and staring at the wall equal millions of house chores and tasks?

I hope I can take some advice from the book and stop having the idea that life is measure upon getting things done.  Take some time today to just enjoy life.

Wordless Wednesday- He's Getting So Big!

Car Seats

I don't like when people keep their babies in car seats like it's a portable bed. I see people have the baby in the car seat in the shopping cart, in the doctors office, at parties, in the weirdest strangest places.

I did it before. Before I knew any better.  But, not that often.  Not to places I see people having their kids in car seats now.  When I have my next baby,  I hope to always have him be close to me or Dad in a sling.

I think babies need to be held more.  From my experience with Luke, they are always happier in arms, close with his mother.  Close to where he was the nine months before.  The soothing sound of my heart beat and the warm touch of my skin.

What makes it so difficult to put a baby in a sling when you arrive at a store?  And, if you are leaving your baby in a car seat and when they start to fuss or cry, why do you do everything you can to keep them in that car seat.  Just take them out and hold your baby!  (ok ok, I know sometimes if they are napping, it's hard to take them out and I'm sure it's ok... but I'm talking about the people who over do it.)

I feel sad when babies are lugged around in the car seat.  I wonder what it's like to be nuzzled against plastic instead of your Mommy.

Praise and Manipulation... again

I wrote about this before but I wanted to touch on it again.

I hate praise.  But I think I understand it a little better.  I don't hate praise so much as I hate manipulation.  There's a difference, here it is.

Luke puts a dish away in the dish washer after I asked him by saying 'lets put our breakfast plates in the dishwasher'.  He does it.  I say 'thank you for putting your dish away'.

That is praise.  Everyone deserves it.

I say to my husband after dinner when he ever so kindly cleans up the kitchen while I nurse Luke to sleep... 'thanks for cleaning up the rest of the dishes'.  That is normal.  That is the kind way to treat someone after they have helped you do something.  Or just to acknowledge that they work hard for you.  So that the feel appreciated.  Maybe some don't need that to do things that they see need to be done.  And, it isn't exactly needed.  But isn't it nice when someone recongizes that you spent a little extra time doing something, especially your family?


Manipulation.  *In a high pitch baby voice* 'Luke, thanks for putting the dishes away!  You're so helpful!  Thanks for being such a good helper.  You're so good!!'  Manipulating him into thinking that he's really going to get this special attention every time he does something of my approval.  Something that he's going to expect every time.  It's over done.  It's so over done that he's going to seek that huge approval for everything.  And when he's older and actually treated like another human, he's going to realize that we don't do that any more.  That adults don't talk like that.  That he's going to have to find other ways to seek that kind of attention from me.  I don't want that kind of attention to be used to teach him to what I want him to do. I don't want that used to manipulate him.  

I want him to see a need that the dishes need to be off the table and put away.  Not just doing it for love from his mother.  He can get the love and attention when he needs it.   And most of all I want to treat my son like he's a person, not my slave or a lesser than me.  He's as equally valuable as me.  As my lovely neighbor, Lisa_C, said once, parents aren't the dictators, they are more like leaders.   My goal isn't to have my son put dishes away.  My goal is to enable him to be the person he is meant to be and to help him along the way.

I'm sure I'm going to learn more about this as he grows.  But for now this is what I've learned. 

Wordless Wednesday- Luke's New Kitchen

(this one is my favorite, his baby butt is so cute)

(the kitchen is from ikea.  we had a gift card with some money left on it, so I used it to buy this.  He loves it) 

Diapers pt2

Ok so I called the company, it turns out I need to lanolize the diaper cover first.  Oops.  Stay tuned.

Diapers

I just bought this diaper.   Except the one I bought had more snaps for growth.  The goal of this exensive wool diaper was so it wouldn't leek at night.  Well, our first night with it, it leeked.

Let me fill you in a little more.  Luke wears training pants (or nothing around the house) during the day.  So our diaper covers are for night time.  There are nights where Luke doesn't pee at all.  But there are still nights when he pees.  We usually use gdiapers, but they leek a lot. 

And I change him right after he pees, I don't need a cover that can hold a lot.  I just need one that can not leek that one pee.  I'm just tired of waking up and then having to put a towel on our bed.  Maybe a wool blanket is the way to go?

Any ideas?  Is anyone reading this? lol

Through the Keyhole #8 - Night Stand

This series is hosted by Holistic Mama.  She asked each of us to share a little about our homes since most of us live so far away.  I'm loving this so far.  It's really fun to see other people's homes and just the different things inside.

My night stand is literally the window sill above my bed. 

I always have my water bottle up there because I get thirsty right before I go to bed.  I don't know why but I always have to have a sip of water after I brush my teeth.  Otherwise I feel like my mouth is dry and weird. 
Then, my glasses, for when I wake up and need to see in the morning.  Sometimes my husband and I watch a movie or TV show on the computer before we go to sleep so I have to take my contacts out when I get into bed otherwise I risk sleeping in them.. and that never feels good.  So I wear my specks just before bed too.
I usually have my phone up there too but since I used my phone to take the picture, it wasn't there.

A while ago, after Luke got to be bigger, we decided to move the guest bed in to our room next to our bed. (hence no room for a night stand)  I know it seems crazy to non cosleepers that we have two huge beds in our room.  But, oh, is it lovely. 

There's another window on the other side of the blue bed, so if I happened to go to sleep on that bed, the other sill becomes my night stand.  Maybe someday we'll think about an actual table, but for now the sill is all I need!

Thanks Mon for hosting this series, it's really been fun.

Self Portrait: Eyes

Think, I love me just the way I am

Elements of Self at Shakti Mama

I love my eyes.  I know that sounds vein.   But it's always been a feature of myself that I have liked.  I like my brown eyes.

Eyes are so intriguing.  As my husband says 'you can see your soul when you look into your eyes'.  I think that's true.  Eyes tell everything.  Just even the slightest flinch and it can convey an emotion that is deep inside.  Eyes really are the soul sees the world, or how the world sees a soul.

Here are my eyes.  

I haven't really felt self concious at all during this series.  I kind of like taking fun pictures of myself.  However, I do feel a little weird about my nose up this close.  Not to mention my pores.  Oh well.  This is me.  And if you look close enough, you can see my contact lenses... and maybe even a glimpse into my soul. 

Bachelorette

I haven't been blogging too much lately.  I've been busy and just trying to make sure I'm not blogging if I really need a nap.  So basically I've been resting and relaxing more.  But, hey, that's what summer is all about.

Last night was the finally of the bachelorette.  I'm really don't consider myself to be the one hooked on a show like this, but I am.  And I really loved watching this season.  I even ended up liking Ali a LOT more than I liked her in the bachelor.  She's pretty cool.  I also liked both of the last two guys a lot.  Hopefully now, her and Roberto stay together... anyway... I can't wait for the next bachelor LOL.
Oh yeah, and I got to watch it with my hubby, Usa AND Lisa_C. Aren't I lucky?

Well, hopefully I'll have more time to write after my grand parents come visit for a few days.