Light, when suddenly let in, dazzles and hurts and almost blinds us: but this soon passes away, and it seems to become the only element we can exist in. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Monday
Home again, Home again, jiggity jig…. What a great Thanksgiving Holliday with my parents, my brother and his family. We had a wonderful time; however, it is nice to be back home and sleeping in my own bed. It was an especially long drive home. We only stopped once during the 5 hour journey. But here we are successfully completing ‘Recovery Monday’. We did absolutely nothing today and it felt great.
Some needed more recovery than most. As you can see, poor Mags didn’t feel too bueno today. Grandma was pretty liberal with the table scraps and milk bones so I can imagine his detox today was pretty harsh. He spent the whole day on the couch, or in the bed.
Fat and Full Friday
So you want me to eat all day on Thursday and THEN shop all night and the next day!? Are you crazy?!
Here are my two cents on the ridiculousness that is Black Friday. It is a farce invented by greedy capitalistic machines that are hell bent on destroying simple family values. I will fight this super, world dominating machine by taking naps, eating pie and recreating the ultimate Thanksgiving meal on leftover dinner rolls. I will call these beauties “turkeyressing’a’mitchez”. I will subsequently ‘Ooh and awe’ over your super-awesome EvilFriday savings, but in reality I will sigh with inner peace knowing that I would rather pay full price than sell my soul to consumerism. (plus I know that I’ll catch any much needed items in the next Woot-Off and get it cheaper).
So my word of the day is RELAX-Friday, and my goal is to hand off the baby to the Grandparents as much as possible. I need at least a few days of peace before I have to figure out how to put all my Christmas decorations up and away from the way-to-mobile-for-my-peace’o’mind Jude.
Hmmmmm…. But maybe a quick peek at what Amazon has to offer today couldn’t hurt…. Right???…
Thankful Tidings
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. We are full, fat, and happy out in West Texas today. The food has been baked, smoked, boiled and cooked, and we devoured it all joyously. Now, while the babies and grandparents nap, there is nothing left to do but sit at the table and drink really bad wine! Take note of the bottle in the picture above. Never pay money for this wine!
Even still, my beautiful family is blessed to have such warmth and love on this very fine day! Many blessings to you and yours! Be thankful.
Wordless Wednesday…. Cousins
Eureka!
So I have been reading about attachment parenting lately. Without having to go into a great amount of detail, it is a style of parenting based on Attachment Theory that involves 8 general principles.
(via http://www.attachmentparenting.org)
- Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting
- Feed with Love and Respect
- Respond with Sensitivity
- Use Nurturing Touch
- Ensure Safe Sleep, Physically and Emotionally
- Provide Consistent and Loving Care
- Practice Positive Discipline
- Strive for Balance in Your Personal and Family Life
I remember learning all about all the parenting styles and theories during undergrad and grad but mostly now I am just living it. It is very easy to see that Attachment Parenting is exactly the parenting style I use. It seems to come naturally to me I suppose. We are also a nurturing household that does not believe in violence no-way-no-how; so it isn’t surprising to me. I will go into more detail another time as I find it absolutely fascinating, but I am way to tired from all the active parenting I did today. So for now, follow the links if you are interested. OK…so a point to all of this…..
In this type of parenting, one of the main ways parents can bond and form attachments with their children is through baby wearing. I’ve decided to give this a go since picking up and putting baby down wherever I may be at the moment is frustrating for the both of us. Most of the time he fusses and cries if I walk away or stop paying attention but sometimes he plays contently. This can be very vexing when there is a household to run on top of playing with baby all day. I was beginning to feel he was a prop that if I situated in the easiest place possible I could quickly do whatever needed to be done. The really difficult parts of my day have been nap time and bed time. Sweet Jude is an extremely light sleeper….that is, unless I am holding him, then a rocket ship could fly through the house and he would never hear it. If I wanted him to sleep then all systems were at a stand still until he woke. Now, I realize all these thing are very normal for an almost 9 month old so I’m not sweating that. It is, however frustrating at times because these behaviors demand tons of attention and I can’t get ANYTHING done….. That is until……
This is Jude hanging out in his Moby Wrap playing with my frizzy hair. I’ve had this wrap since his birth and have recently been using it more and more, especially when out and about. Yet, I was always a little afraid of the back carry. But this weekend I had a great epiphany. Eureka! I shall tie him on my back so I can mop the dang dirty floor…so…. I watched enough videos on YouTube to consider myself an expert…..That was until the first time I tried to wrap a wiggly squirming baby onto my back and I started having serious second thoughts. However, I got used to it, and eventually went around doing chores and much neglected housework with Jude safely strapped on. I was wearing my baby and it was awesome.
Jude absolutely loved it too and the only time he cried today was when I took him out of the wrap to let him play for a while and walked away. He really enjoyed being close to me while I went about doing the things I normally had to rush through or just plain not do. He napped on my back while I talked to my mom on the phone and did dishes…..at the same time! Crazy, I know! Normally if he is napping, washing dishes is the one thing I absolutely cannot do. It would wake him up no mater how many doors were between us. While sleeping on me he didn’t budge. I even nursed him while rearranging book shelves. At the end of the day, I definitely noticed a happy baby (ok he is always happy) who had great naps and so far is sleeping soundly in his crib.
I will definitely be exploring the world of baby wearing further. …yeah…the term baby wearing does invoke strange visual images of baby sweaters and hats… but I swear this is the proper term!
I am almost giddy with excitement that I might even be able to paint again AND I can share the experience with my son.
OK that is all I have for now. We have a fun adventure planned for tomorrow, hopefully I may have a few pictures to share sometime this century.
‘Till 2075 then,
Love Wenders
Happy Saturday
I have a feeling that this might be the last “do nothing” weekend for a while. O.K. I KNOW it will be. We stay pretty busy from Halloween to the New Year. I am really getting excited about the upcoming holidays and family time. Even the weather knows it is time. FINALLY! A cold front blew in yesterday and hopefully we can look forward to more crisp chilly weather.
So this weekend we are all going to spend time getting the house a little more organized and just hanging out. We also have several seasons of Eureka to catch up on which is definitely a priority issue. Sooooo…..
Happy Saturday Everyone!
(photo above taken at the Dallas Farmers Market a few weeks ago. What a good day!)
Hey WordPress iphone app, are you still broken?
Maybe if I can get this durn ol’ app to work right I can up the blogyness.
The best part of waking up
Wow, I’ve really forgotten how time consuming the tiny ones are! I’m also convinced that Jude is way more high maintenance than Parker ever was. However, it’s been a billion years since the mighty teenage one was a baby, and I may have thoroughly repressed any memories of poor sleeping habits and separation anxiety issues since then. There isn’t much time for anything else but baby these days. Don’t get me wrong, these are amazingly enjoyable times and I am loving every new milestone and quirk. I know I am more blessed than can expressed to be able to stay home with my nonsleeping, spitfire, and watch him grow and develop. BUT a little more sleep and me time would not be turned away. Creative productivity is currently at a complete stand still. Mainly because if I do get any time to myself, painting or blogging has to be shared with the plethora of interests and activities I have. There either should be more time in the day or more of me to go around.
While i contemplate how i can split myself in two, I shall share with you my favorite time of the day.
Every morning, I love plopping myself down on the mushy couch with my cuppa coffee and watch the not-sleepy-one play in his poopie chair. Appropriately named because a diaper change will be necessary every time he visits it. Ahhh, life is good.
Time for a refill.
Peace and Love,
Wenders
Get with the busyness
This is the time of year that I get the itch to get super organized. Cooler weather means less reluctance to do things. The summer heat no longer represses me with an iron fist of swelteringness. Also, October starts the months of busyness, and if I don’t clean out the hall closet now there will be chaos supreme by Thanksgiving. I am positive of it. Coming up we have birthdays galore, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. And for some reason, I am especially excited about all these things this year. I am feeling down-right festive. Why, I even decorated the porch for Halloween…by me I mean I went to Target and bought the stuff for Parkers to decorate with. I hope to post some outstanding pics once we get it spooky enough. With the purchase of a fog machine and a black light we just may have done it! There are so so many things going on this week and next that I must must must stay on top of the photo thing! I am so behind! Wish me luck.
OK, now to get right on top of that. I have full confidence in myself that I wont just lie down and cuddle with the dogs and just read a trashy novel……
Mainly because that spot is already taken.
Love,
Wenders