Sweet baby

It's 1:23pm and I'm sitting here watching you sleep

Yes, you are still napping in your swing.  It works, so that's what we do.  But today Ben has a doctors appointment and we need to pick him up in seven minutes.  

I shut off your noisemaker, and the swing five minutes ago, and still you slumber on.  It breaks my heart to have to wake you from such a drowsy place, but it has to be done.

I think I may just sit here for another minute though, and listen to your rhythmic breathing and watch your sweet face, as I'm sure mothers have done with their babies since the dawn of time.

It was all my fault

I never should have put the boots as snow pants away on April 10th.

Or hung the forsythia wreath on the front door on April 12th.

Or put the nail in the coffin when I opted for a no-chip pedicure on April 14th.

Because I should have KNOWN, Murphy's Law being what it is, that all that tempting date would force Mother Nature to show her might once again...

With 3 plump, sticky, totally not melting inches of SNOW on April 17th!!!!

I'd wave the white flag of defeat, but I'm afraid she'd mistake it for a request for more snow!!

School Lunches and Bag No. 16

Into this bag is going roughly $75 with of Laptop Lunch containers.  

They have served us well for three years and are still in tip top shape.

I'm having a hard time letting go!

I'm a huge proponent of waste free lunches, not to mention that with just 15 minutes to eat lunch each day, sending the kids with 6 different baggies to fuss with is not smart time management!

I truly adore these lunch boxes; they are customizable with different sized inserts for anything you can imagine, they  keep contents safe and secure, yet allow a child to open just one lid to access an entire meal, they fit easily into a regular lunch box for easy portability, they are BPA free, and they are just plain cute!

 When I just had Molly to make lunch for (Jack buys hot lunch at school each day) I had so much fun coming up with creative and fun bento-style lunches for her.  That was my life until this past September. 

But not anymore!

Today, Ben is in kindergarten and I have to pack 10 lunches a week.  I also have a busy toddler at home who won't stand for Mommy spending an hour every morning making 5 breakfasts and two lunches, two snacks and two water bottles..

What works for my life today is to make all (or nearly all) of the week's lunches and snacks all at once ahead of time.  But that isn't possible with laptop containers that require daily washing and re-packing.

A simpler system, that doesn't take up much space, or require as much upkeep, was necessary for our collective sanity.  I've moved on to using Ziploc's divided containers, which I can pack and stack in the fridge for easy grabbing each morning.  They are BPA free, easy to dunk in soapy water and rinse, and last at least six months.  They fit in a lunchbox, don't leak, and are easy for the kids to open and get down to the business of eating lunch.

  So it's time to pass our Laptops along to someone else who can get use out if them.

And I'll be glad to get my kitchen island's center cabinet back!

Bag No. 7...and 8...and 9...and

10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15!  

All totaled, it was a full carload of STUFF that I drove to Goodwill this weekend.

Maternity clothes, baby clothes, kids clothes, seasonal decor, small appliances, toys, games, DVDs, and more!

I'm trying on a new perspective when it comes to the accumulation of  things we own.  It all started when I read an article that despite searching for hours, I have not been able to find again.  But the gist of it is this...

YES, 

it is true that a penny saved is a penny earned.  I could continue to save these things for the day I may

Need them

Refurbish them

Use them in a project

Sell them in a garage sale

Post them on Craigslist

Gift them to a friend in need

HOWEVER,

the amount of time I spend focused on these things, trying to 

House them

Organize them

Catalog them

Keep track of them

Take them out

Put them back

Shuffle them around

Reorganize them

Worry about them

LEADS ME TO BE

Consumed by the space they take up

Overwhelmed by the sheer mess it all makes

Aware of how upset this makes my partner

THIS

is time and energy that I might otherwise use to

Love my family

Love myself

Love others

Love our home

Love the freedom the unoccupied physical space provides

Love the peace that the unoccupied EMOTIONAL space provides

So, the car got filled up.  

And it will be again, and maybe again after that.  

Lent is only half over...and I've got lots of work to do!

52 Weeks of Maeve

Of COURSE it was a no brainer that I'd make a photo album of Maeve's 52 weekly pictures.  I did a test run a month ago when Shutterfly had a great promotion (figuring I could gift that copy to someone who's a Maeve-fan.  Anyone interested?) and then once I saw all the things I wanted to change, I made a final copy and waited for another great promo code.  Today I got it!

I had a 50% off promo code, but it wouldn't load during the checkout process.  So I contacted Shutterfly's crackerjack customer service and not only did they give me a promo code that worked, it was a promo code for a FREE PHOTO BOOK!!!  Wahoo!!  It's my lucky day!

And hey, it could be yours too, because I think it may work for anyone.  The code is STORYTIME.  It works through March 25th (today) and is for a free 8x8 album.  

Here is Maeve's book.  It's not her official baby book, just a special addendum to it (you know, once I get around to making it...hopefully before she starts college?)  The last 2 page spread is my favorite.

ENJOY!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Visit Shutterfly.com to create your own personalized photobook.

A HOLI Lot of Fun!

Our Indian friends, the Kaushals invited us to help celebrate one of their most important Hindu holidays this week.  It's called Holi and it is a harvest celebration held in February or March.  One of the most fun parts of Holi in modern times is the celebration of human unity in which participants decorate each other in colorful powders so that everyone ends up looking like a rainbow, and race/caste/sex/status are erased for the moment.  This is a big deal for a country like India where a rigid caste system normally separates people from each other based on their level of social status.

Holi is also a big festival of colorful FUN!

A Holi Celebration at OSU

Powder in every color of the rainbow is sprinkled, smeared, splattered, smacked and tossed in every direction!  Here is how the powder looks in markets in India...

Source

And this is how it's packaged in the US...

A little goes a LONG way, let me tell you.  We were told to dress in clothes that we didn't mind getting ruined, but I figured I'd be taking pictures so I didn't dress Maeve or I for the fun.  Boy was I wrong!  Once the color-throwing starts, no one is safe!  In India they even try to trick neighbors out of their houses so they can color them!  We didn't need to trick the kids though - they were more than happy to join in.

Though Neeti (pronounced NEE-thee) did have to stage a sneak attack on one of her friends who had snuck off so as not to be caught in the colorful melee.  She recruited Jack as her accomplice.

He gave as good as he got.

But the "Most Colorful" award went to Neeti's daughter Ananya.

She had her own stash of powder but was nice enough to share with the boys.

Here are some of the results of all the Holi fun...

Our neighbor Jack D.

Ben, none too pleased that his dominant color was PINK!

Jack, who took the world's longest shower shortly after this picture was snapped.

Anita and Samir, our next-door neighbors.

  

Molly and her best friend Makala

Maeve...I told you, no one was safe!  She was not too thrilled at looking like a rainbow colored baby Clingon.

Yours Truly

Rohan

Keegan, Rohan, Maeve and Jack....the middle school boys are so adorable with the way they love Maeve.
She's like their little mascot, and they wait turns to hold her!

  

Jack, Shivam and Samir

The whole gang!

 We are so blessed to live in such a diverse city and have friends 

who are willing to share their culture with us!  

Now I just have to get Neeti to teach me how to make samosas 

and authentic curry and life will be complete!

HAPPY HOLI!

14 Months!

Oh Maeve, you are so stinking adorable! 

I've wanted to take your picture with this setup since you were born, and like many ideas that get shelved due to lack of time, it finally came back around and got accomplished!

Here are a few tidbits about you at 14 months old...

You give the most amazing, arms-thrown-around-the-neck-hugs

and smack on the mouth kisses

You walk, run, tumble, climb and crawl like a champion.  We have found you on top of play tables and climbing the outside of the staircase, in the bathtub and on top of chairs, benches and the fireplace hearth, just to name a few of the predicaments you've gotten into this month. We are now a completely gated community, and nothing is safe!

Your teeth are just KILLING you.  I can see the lump where your right, top eye tooth is coming down, and it's a beast.  If it weren't for Motrin, we wouldn't get any sleep at all.  As it is, you're awake and screaming the second it wears off.

Whenever you are teething, you get a wicked stuffy nose.  Whenever you get a wicked stuffy nose, you are prone to gagging.  Whenever you gag, you vomit.  Therefore, whenever you get upset in your crib and start to cry, you gag and vomit.  Luckily, you usually stand at the crib railing and vomit on the same place on the rug each time.  So we now own a new Bissell Spot Bot and have learned to put a towel on the floor when we put you to bed each night.

You still loathe your crib and refuse to go in it for naps.  So you nap in your swing from 11-2 every day, and will likely be in it until your feet drag on the floor.

You're not a huge fan of food.  Frankly, we don't know how you are growing with what little makes it into your mouth.  You refuse to let us feed you 95% of the time, you eschew purees in pouches, and throw most solids on the floor or hide them under your bottom in the highchair.  Your 'favorite' foods, if only the ones you refuse the least are string cheese cut into bits and yogurt.

Youre not a huge fan of drinks either.  It's taken us until now to get you to drink a 4oz bottle of milk, only because I started lacing it with vanilla instant breakfast.  Any other beverage gets thrown on the floor after two sips.  We've got quite the collection of sippy cups!

You say BABY perfectly and repeatedly.  Other words that have snuck out when you weren't paying attention and that haven't been repeated are Benny, shoes, Jack, wash, and all done.

You can hum the tune to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is amazing because your brother Ben did the very same thing at the very same age!  

You love "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and know the sounds that all these animals make;

Dog (ah ah ah)

Elephant (brrrrrrr)

Monkey (ee ee ee)

Cat (ooow, oooow)

You LOVE books and would be content if someone would read to you all day long.  Lift the flap books (rip the flap books?) are your favorite.

You love your babies and rock them and feed them, and give them their Motrin after you've had yours and sneak off with the dispenser.  You put them in their carriage and take them on walks.

Two things that never fail to calm you when you're fussy; playing with water and getting dragged around in a laundry basket.  Every time you see a laundry basket, you want a ride!

You are really starting to understand us!  When you were fussing this week I asked you "Do you want a tubby", and you ran across the room and threw yourself into my arms!  

When we forget to lock the trash can you love stealing trash out to play with, and putting toys in.  

When you fall and hit your head, you repeat the incident in slow motion to show us and then rub your head and pretend to fuss.  Sometimes you do this when you didn't actually hit your head, but you just thought you might!

You LOVE playing with Jack, Molly and Ben.  Your favorite 'game' is "I'm gonna get you!" when someone pretends to chase you and you run away and laugh like crazy.

You're still nursing, but only before bed and during middle-of-the-night wakeups.
(I don't think it will be long before we are done, and though I'll miss it, I sure will be glad to have my hormones chill out for the first time in two years.)

The most important thing to know about you at
14 months is that we all still love you to pieces!