Things

I have to realize these things are never going to have their own posts. So here we go…
1. new swimsuit for Tuesday. My mother in law scored this fabric at the fashion district in L.A. And I should have had her get me boatloads more, because it is so awesome!

2. I’m selling our newborn diaper stash, but I kept two because I’m sentimental like that (and they are so so tiny!!!). I was going to keep one, and Bj said, “keep one for each girl” because he’s a genius like that.
3. Tuesday is sleeping and Bennet is playing with some rainbow rice right now. Do babies hate anything more than a finger sweep when they put tiny things in their mouths? Oh maybe night time diaper changes.
4. I’m listening to Laura Mvula, anyone else? So beautiful.

5. The recital is tomorrow, TOMORROW. And someone couldn’t be more excited:

(she’s a gingerbread girl, there is one gingerbread boy and it is just a whole bunch of adorableness)
6. French doors getting installed today!
7. I got carded last night. At the movies for rated R show. At 32.5… is that a record?!?!
8. Bennet can climb stairs… gotta go.

Montessori Homeschool… current obsession

So what the heck have I been up to? Well not sleeping, which cuts into the time I can write greatly; seeing as how I’m so tired I wouldn’t make sense! Bennet is all better, but things continue to be rough in the sleep department… and it seems she’s given up that second nap so no fun there. I can’t even believe now that Tuesday didn’t nap AT ALL her first year. How did I even survive?!?! Anyway we have been trying to find a new rhythm around here.
One of the things taking up most of my time is homeschooling. I swing wildly from we should do nothing, and unschool completely to we should be structured and have a curriculum. I think I first stumbled upon Montessori via someone recommending the book How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way, which I love. There are so many things about Montessori that I love, mostly I love the self directed nature of the activities, and the fact that kids can choose what they want to do. Of course that is in a perfect world and Tuesday was not wanting to spend much time at all in the nice school type environment I set up for her in March in our basement.

Even after removing the play kitchen to her room (the basement used to look like this) the basement was just too distracting for Tuesday. I mean there are way too many things to do, and it was hard to focus on school time. Plus it wasn’t a place she would want to just pop in and work because it is so separate from the front of the house. So we took over a small section of Bj’s home office and have been trying that set up for a week.

(Sorting sounds). It’s working pretty well, but I’m limited by what I can have up there, as we just had room for one shelf under his window. It is more visible and I think will be more a part of everyday this way.

(I put out the sandpaper letters – from this awesome shop – and she re-arranged them to spell her name).
So why haven’t I been blogging about this, when I’m usually all about every detail of everything? Well besides the above and being so tired… I’m still not sure if I’m any good at being a homeschooling parent. I certainly don’t feel like I have it all figured out. I wish I could go back in time and take Montessori training before I had kids. I am taking an online class right now, but it’s difficult to study, prepare activities and of course corral Bennet. I feel like I don’t know enough to even write about it, like I’m for sure getting it all wrong. And the above little learning session happened after a meltdown because I would not let her go get her scissors to make notes because OH MY GOD THE NOTES. Could we please have something in the house we do not turn into a note? I know, I’ll probably be nostalgic for it in a few years…
Parenting is so freaking hard. And how hard is two kids?!?! Like, everyone knows it’s hard right? I feel like it’s kicking my ass. I don’t believe I was told how difficult this would be so I thought I’d put that out there in case you were wondering. I need sleep! I need more time! I want to spend more time with each girl alone! Ahh!! Apparently I need a mental health day :).
I’ll leave you with something Montessori and adorable. Bennet with her Object Permanence box (this was last month):

Ten Months


The pictures almost didn’t happen (and were three days late as it was) because Bennet has been sick!

Sometimes it’s hard for an outsider to tell Bennet is not feeling well because not much gets her down (see adorable smile above). She actually had a day of no smiles, that made us all very sad.

Only being able to breath out of your mouth is hard on a baby (and their parents… and sibling!).

And then to go and get a temperature. Well, none of us were sleeping very well/AT ALL. Oh man on man am I tired.

The funny thing is, I thought I was tired before! But I was wrong. Just when I thought I couldn’t get any more tired…. you got sick! Oh Bennie Boo Boo.

But she is definitely on the mend now. And we’re crossing our fingers we don’t spend the rest of this long weekend passing the sickness along. But back to being ten months. She’s still not walking. Of course it’s no big deal that she’s not walking at 10 months, I’m just super surprised because it seems so eminent. It might be because she started doing this extreme crawling thing, an example of which you see above – the kick out. She crawls along and then kicks one leg out to the side. I believe she thinks it gets her a little extra speed. Whatever it does it is pretty cute. She will walk along just barely holding one hand, and is so confident in herself it can sometimes lead to spills and slips.
She’s eating lots. Only fruits and veggies so far, I can’t really figure out what to give her next and she said, “NO THANKS” to rice cereal, just like Tuesday. Really I don’t blame them. And toasting and grinding rice is not so fun, so I don’t care. I’ve given her nibbles of a teething biscuit, and bites of my couscous.
I don’t feel like I have much to say besides she’s awesome. It could be because I am so tired. Maybe I’ll think of things to add in a few days. OH, at the doctors she weighed in at 14 lbs 8 ounces. She gained half a pound in a month! What?!?! The doctor was very impressed. Also impressive the urine sample she willingly gave vs. the catheter option (to check for a UTI). I was told it was a ten month old first at the office. Way to go Bennet, love to show off my kids 🙂
9 months, 8 months, 7 months, 6 months, 5 months, 4 months, 3 months, 2 months, 1 month.

Some Layouts

“Are you going to post those layouts you made?” Sarah asked me. We had a scrap day a while back and I went nuts doing regular 12×12 layouts. I mean regular because I did Project Life last year, and because of it did few traditional type layouts. Totally fine, but I did miss it. Also I have a few months to complete on my 2012 Project Life, but I didn’t want to do it. I just had a few stories I wanted to get down and I wanted to play with paper, so I did!

I don’t know if I ever shared these pictures of Tuesday or talked about the awesome older woman I found to knit for me. Yes, I am getting help using up my stash. She’s awesome, she knits all the things I love but don’t have the time/patience for. This turtleneck dress from a vintage pattern is the perfect example.

I won Elle’s Studio’s You and Me Collection when they had a giveaway and oh my I love her stuff. The faux chalkboard is so awesome. I also love the little stamp. I’ve bought many of her tags; her stuff works great for Project Life too.

I should mention that I used sketches as a start to all of these. So easy to get back in the scrapbooking game for me when I have a sketch as a jumping off point. I didn’t keep track of which sketch I used for which layouts (and some went way off course), but I did start a pin board of my favorite sketches here.

And if I could find the layouts I lifted you’d see this is almost an exact copy. I love the simplicity of it.

Had to bust out my Silhouette SD to cut the love box. The Silhouette might be my favorite crafting tool of all time.

More of Elle’s Studio goodness.

I love that I scrapped this picture. It’s suck a great moment, when she joined us at the table.

Using little bits of an old gift bag (the sparkle). This is why I can never seem to get rid of anything paper related.
Very, very fun to have a day with Sarah to scrapbook. I love taking over the dining room table and eating candy while we steal from each other’s stashes. We were talking about when we first scrapped together at a now defunct local scrapbook store in Albany. I’m so glad she said yes to meeting me there (we had only been friends online up until then). I really doubt I’d scrapbook as much if I didn’t have Sarah to share the hobby with. That was six (I think?) years ago. She’s my only “real life” (I should say nearby, that sounds nicer) friend that scrapbooks. Long live paper and glue, right Sarah?

Before the incident… making baby food

So before the incident with Bennet I was making baby food and things were going really well in the house. Our kitchen is not that big, and honestly I don’t spend much time in it day to day. I like to make things like baby food though, and can, make granola, etc. Cooking meals however, not my favorite. I needed to keep the girls busy so I set up a super easy sensory play (from this most excellent blog) of ice + water.

I love the big cube shaped ice that these molds make (ooohhh finding that link I saw that they make even bigger ones!). They take a lot longer to melt. Tuesday requested a couple of limes so she could make some juice. Bennet is chewing on our juicer here, another find I love.

(carrots, beets, sweet potato – red because I didn’t clean out the blender in between foods)
So I do make my own baby food for Bennie. I did for Tuesday too, I talked about it here. Like I said in that post, I can really do this easily because I am home all day. So I can let things cook while I’m doing other stuff. Then I pop them in the blender (with a little water if I need it). Before we got our great blender I used a thrifted food mill, like this. I do like using that, it reminds me of fun times making pear butter with my mom, but the blender is just so quick and easy. I use the above mentioned molds since I have a limited supply of the containers made for baby food. I still like those, they are easy to travel with. I bought the honeycomb one you see at TJ Maxx on a whim and didn’t need it. But I love it! The cubes are smaller, but they pop out so easily, and besides, it’s super cute.
I do love the idea of baby led weaning, where you feed the baby straight from the table. I think I’m just too into everything being tidy for that. I like to spoon feed babies so they don’t get stuff everywhere. It’s just a sanity thing for me. Also I’d have to eat a little better… but that’s a whole other post! I didn’t buy baby food for Tuesday until she was three. Ya three; I got talked into a few of those squeezy pouch things. Who ever made them is a genius, because Tuesday was all over them when she went through a brief vegetable strike. I have fun making these things up, and Bennie has only been eating for a month (we delayed solids until she was 8.5 months), so I’ll probably be at it for a bit.

OH MY GOD BENNET NOOOO!!!!

You can laugh at this, I think maybe in a few months I’ll be able to….
So I was making a bunch of baby food in the kitchen. Cooking older carrots on the stove, had beets and sweet potatoes in the oven. The girls were playing awesome together with a tray of ice and water on the floor. Then Tuesday wanted some limes, she had me cut them in half, found all the parts to the juicer and got to work, Bennet was happy with her left overs. Of course icy cold water was everywhere and Bennet peed so I took off her diaper. I was just wrapping stuff up, getting labels on the food when I hear Bennet start to crawl back in the kitchen crying. She was playing super nicely by the orange shelves (very close by). I look down and I can’t believe it.
At first I thought; how did she get baby food? But no. It was poop. AND SHE TRIED TO EAT IT!!! I do realize this makes me seem very negligent but this all happened in under a minute. So she’s screaming because she has poop all over her face, up her nose, in her eyes… You get the idea. I grab her and yell at Tuesday to help me. She pulls back the shower curtain and I plop a totally hysterical Bennet in. Get the water going. Bennet gets up, slips in the poo (also over her whole body), and falls back on her bottom. I send Tuesday running for soap while I get all the chunks off. Luckily Tuesday had the forethought to grab a towel. She was pretty cool about everything until I was cleaning the floor (while poor Bennet wailed from the playpen) and came across a pair of sunglasses with a blob of poop. Thank goodness they were Bennie’s because Tuesday just started chanting, “I don’t want her poop on my sunglasses, I don’t want her poop on my sunglasses.”
And end scene.
Amber “mother of the year” Garrison

Yes, our baby uses a potty

I’ve touched on this before, and have been meaning to do a post on Elimination Communication, but when my favorite EC shop sent out a newsletter that this was Diaper Free Week I decided now was the time!

Awe look at cute little Bennie! She just turned three months old in these pictures.
Because of my experience with Tuesday I knew I wanted to try and start EC right at the beginning. And when she was a few days old I got a little bowl and tried to get her to go on it. I tried to sit on the potty with her and go at the same time. I tried lots of newborn EC tricks. And it was not happening for us. At all. Ugh, so frustrating! Wait, I was frustrated that I couldn’t get my week old baby to use the potty? Well… yes. I had read lots of EC stuff, and had friends who were doing EC with newborns no problem. But it was just too much for me, I really didn’t like how floppy she was for one. Also newborns go all the time. Like All. Of. The. Time. So I felt like I was trying way too many times. I backed off.
The first three months are hazy, at best, but I do think I tried her on the potty every once in a while, and when I noticed her going I would cue her (make sounds like peeing/pooping). Then later I’d stick her on the potty and make those same sounds so she would associate it with going and go. I think mostly it was her strength that made it so much easier at three months, and everything just clicked. For sure I had to really support her on the potty, but she was not so tippy. I was surprised a few days after this that we went on a long, long walk and I went to change her and she was dry. We were at a little shop so I took her diaper off, put her on the potty and she went! Yay!
With Tuesday she really liked her potty seat, so much so I carried a travel one with me everywhere. I think because we started so much younger with Bennet she’s a lot more flexible.

Carmen took this of us when we stayed in a hotel in Portland last winter (she’s almost five months). I do have a little potty in my car for out and about.
We are not out of diapers, not even close. In fact I’m sure I change diapers more than most because I always change a diaper as soon as it is wet or dirty. So why EC at all then? I think it is all in the title, it’s all about communication. I feel that I’m honoring her by not making her sit in her urine or poo when ever possible. And yes, I do expect her to be out of diapers by 1.5 like her big sis, and that is a big motivation for me. Even if she were to stay in diapers for years I still feel like I’ve done the right thing for us. And I never plan on “potty training” her. Just making sure she is always aware of what she is doing and letting her know where we go potty (on the toilet).

My friend Angela took some wonderful family pictures for us and I asked her to snap a few when Bennet had to go potty. I know this phase is fleeting but sometimes it feels like I take Bennie to the potty about 20 times a day (and I might!). It can be very frustrating to take a baby you know has to go potty to the toilet, where she won’t go, only to have her pee in a diaper (or on the floor!) five minutes later. But what might be the most important part of EC is that you never shame your child, or blame them. I feel that if Bennet does not go on the potty it is our fault for not getting her there, not hers.
I feel very strongly that babies and young toddlers should be given the opportunity to use the potty. I do not think it damages them in any way. There is a line of thought that forcing a child to use the potty before they are ready will damage them in some way, and I have to say I agree. Forcing a kid to do anything pretty much never ends well. However having an open line of communication with your baby or toddler and helping them use the potty in no way forces them.
I think there are two main reasons parents wait so long to “train” their children: disposable diapers and working outside the home. So obviously this is not for everyone, and I consider myself extraordinarily lucky that I get to stay home with my girls and take my baby to the potty twenty times a day! There are still things you can do if you are not able to do this, or doing want to try EC a little. Here are some of my tips:
-Use cloth diapers. Even part time. I use a fitted cloth diaper that is the absorbent layer, and a cover that is plastic coated so her clothes stay dry. Keeping the cover off whenever possible helps me know exactly when she goes so I can change her as soon as possible.
-Change your baby as soon as they go potty. Teach them that pee and poo go in the toilet, and don’t get them used to sitting in a wet diaper.
-Make going potty a normal thing. Tell them what you are doing on the potty. Tell them when they are going potty if you notice.
-Naked time for babies. We call it baby air out time. Now that Bennet is all over the place this is less, but especially for tiny babies this is easy to do (disclaimer: I have no experience with boys!).
-If you go to change baby and she is dry, why not try the toilet?
-Try the toilet first thing in the morning, and after naps. This is why I rarely change a poopy diaper (yay!).
-Try the toilet after wearing your baby. Bennie will not go unless absolutely necessary when I am wearing or carrying her. So if I’ve had her in the Baby Hawk for a while I know she’ll use the toilet after (or she’ll start arching to let me know she needs to get out and go!).
-Baby hates sitting on a big toilet? Maybe a seat reducer would help (Tuesday loved this one), or a little potty.
-Take accidents in stride. In EC we call those misses, and they are no big deal!
-Never shame a child about missing the toilet.
-Never praise a child for going on the toilet. Going on the toilet is just a normal thing. I say things like, “I bet that felt nice” or “Doesn’t that feel better to poop in the toilet?”
I have to say people are surprised to learn I gave birth at home. But nothing turns heads like taking a three month old to the potty! People think I’m crazy. And you know what? I would have thought that too a few years ago. But now I know it is no big deal. It doesn’t mean your kid can’t/doesn’t wear diapers. It means what ever you want it to mean. For us it meant diaper free by 18 months with Tuesday and super cute XXXS undies. Read more about it and let me know what you think! I’m mostly posting this as a resource for when people ask me what the heck I’m doing. And because I don’t think accurate info is in the mainstream media about this. Maybe you don’t have a kid yet and see this and remember it in a few years. Or your baby fusses and you know they have to go potty, now you know you can try something (the toilet!). I hope I’ve helped someone. And if you still think I’m crazy, well that’s ok too. 🙂

Nine Months


9 months in, 9 months out, it always seems like such a big milestone.

Another big milestone? Teeth! Look what popped through! And we are all much happier for it!

Who am I kidding? She’s pretty much always happy all the time.

At about 8.5 months we started her on solids. So far avocado, green bean, broccoli, applesauce, banana, carrot, and of course beet. All made by me and Bj. Easy, what ever we’re eating blended (Blendtec for the win. Fine you were right Bj, there I said it.). She likes it all A LOT. If that could be double caps I’d do it because she is a fan of the food. I was giving her solids with dinner, but I switched it to morning because it takes her a long time to process it. And she eats so so much I feel like she was getting too stuffed full before bed.

She started doing this adorable, “ba, ba, ba” thing. We can’t get enough. Bj, Tuesday and I spend half the time she’s awake saying ba, ba or other b words in the hopes she starts back up again. She’s napping most days, sometimes twice. She’s sleeping ok. It’s not great, it’s not terrible. I can’t move her into the girls’ room because Tuesday will wake her up at night. You read that right. We realized on a night away last week when we all spent the night in the same room together that Tuesday is a LOUD sleeper. She woke Bennet up with her dreaming mumbling speech. So not sure what to do about that… for now the crib is in the corner of our room and we don’t hang out in there a lot. I miss reading in bed.
I don’t know her stats, we go in tomorrow. I’m guessing based on the two similarly aged babies we played with today that she’s a 1%er. I’ll come back and update this part.
Basically we’re totally in love with her. But we’re tired and I’m selling the baby stuff. So as soon as she grows out of/stops using stuff I want it gone, gone, gone. Apparently sleep outweighs my desire for more children 🙂
8 months, 7 months, 6 months, 5 months, 4 months, 3 months, 2 months, 1 month.