Friday, September 28, 2012

9.28.12 This week in pictures

Chompin on some cereal
Using Daisy's frock as leverage, getting mushed cereal all over it in the process. Oh my. What a boy.
Daisy's all, umm hello, excuse me sir
I didn't bean to- part 1
The story of the spilled pinto beans, now turned into our accidental bean garden...
I had a big container full of pintos that i would use to hide little toys for Liam to find and dig out. The container ended up outside, because it got too messy to play with inside. Liam decided to pour the entire container into his water table. I didn't notice until a few days later and by that time it was a water beany yuck mess. so i just poured it all out right there and then. I thought it would all just disintegrate after a while.Fast forward like, a few days later and we have plants! Now there is seemingly hundreds of them! I refused to let Jason mow over them because i want to see how big they get before it gets cold :)

All together now
My point of view
Scary spider made a web from a branch on my big tree out front all the way down  to a bush
Someone tell this spider its not Halloween yet.
Messy eater much?


Cracked me up. No pun intended ;)


 Lets pause for a moment of Liam and Daisy bonding moment cuteness:
:)


Deciding


His favorite birthday gift by far, an etch a sketch from Mimi and Pawpaw.
This was a fairly quiet week, mostly because of my long gone double stroller which was replaced thanks to grandma and grandpa today :) Got a steal of a deal off Craigslist, found by the one and only "MacGary" (If you know Gary you understand my MacGyver reference, and of course i say it with only the nicest intent ) who was also very sweet and kind enough to make the long drive up to acworth to get it for us! Thank you OHSOVERYMUCH Grandpa McGary!

I am looking froward to the arrival of Nicole aka ColieOlieOlie-O, and her daughter Kayla, who will be spending the weekend with us! Super siked! I love being able to spend time with old friends, who i haven't seen in forever and ever. Technically over 15 years. Holy shiz we're getting old.

Tomorrow we are having a little get together here at the Parch compound in lieu of my birthday week. Super excited to hang out, sip on some cocktails, warm my tootsies by the fire pit and have some always and much needed adult time with some good peoples.

On that note- cheers everyone and have a great weekend!

Love and light,

A

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

9.26.12 On turning 33, and other life things (Also- This Weeks Recipe)


I woke up this morning feeling refreshed. Samuel slept from 8 pm to 6 am, was given a bottle in his crib and promptly fell back to sleep again until 730am...which is heavenly. Sleep in general is heavenly. Glorious glorious sleep. Amazing and lovely and glorious.
Haha, OK I think you get the point.

I also awoke feeling very grateful. Blessed to have had these 33 years thus far, full of many adventures.
A lot of people often wonder their entire lives, why they were put on this earth. Why am I here? What its my purpose? I think we are given not one, but many purposes in life.
For me, all it takes is looking at my babies beautiful faces, to know why. To know my purpose. At least the most important one anyway. :)
And that's a good feeling.

Liam got up shortly after me, and I wasn't ready to get out of bed yet, so i let him crawl under the covers with me to snuggle for a bit. A few minutes later we heard Sam chirping over the monitor, then Daisy. Rise and shine little birds!
After breakfast we had our morning music time aka get your groove on. This mornings music choices were Violent Femmes and Simon and Garfunkel. As soon as the first song starts playing, regardless of the song- Liam always reaches up for me to pick him up so we can dance together. Always. Its one of my favorite little life things. If Daisy is standing up while the music is on, she bounces up and down, shaking her stuff and smiles with her whole face. Sammy likes to stare at me, his crazy, dancing in her pjs mama, and when i catch his eye, he gives me a coy little grin. I think he loves me. ;)

 

 


I'll be making moussaka for dinner tonight, one of my favorite dishes. Its Jason's moms recipe. I don't use eggplants. It is a delicious concoction of sliced potatoes, ground meat ( i am going to use chicken and pork since we don't eat beef) diced tomatoes, sauteed onions and topped with shredded chedder. The secret ingredient is cinnamon. yes cinnamon.  Home cooked, carb/cheese/yummy-ness. 
You can find my recipe here .

I have the babes taking their afternoon bottles now, and they should be asleep soon. Liam is eating his snack and i am gettting ready to start up one of his shows. Quiet time.
For me, i am thinking yoga, and a shower.
Namaste!

P.s - Does someone want to come over and mop for me? Cause that would make a rad birthday gift. Ha!
P.p.s- Have to post this video of  the VF's. One of my favs by them :) In fact this entire cd rocks.



Love and light, 
A

Friday, September 21, 2012

9.21.12 I have faith, and that is all I need.


Enjoying a walk through Historical downtown Newnan with Sam and Daisy
More of Liam's schoolwork- just too cute not to share
Being silly
Do you know I'd do anything for you?
And you....and you!
And of course, you :)
The chillier nights have Morriskitty snuggling in our bed. Most mornings I wake up to a ball of fur purring next my head.
Loving Daisy's curly faux-hawk. Rocking that hair-do girlfriend!
Mine! No, Mine! No, Mine!
Playtime at the park for the birds, Parch fam taking over this place ;)
Having fun in Liams doggy tent

Helping mommy keep those tile floors clean, one crumb at a time...
We're out-doorsy kinda people
Nuss
Liam reaching for Miko, who's off to the side...I could write a caption saying something about aww how cute, Liam petting Miko...but in reality, he was trying to push her off the play set. Lol.
Oh, Chrissss.....

Scratch courtesy of Miko.  Liam loves chasing the animals around the house, this time Miko was not having it... Angel face none the less....besides- chicks dig scars ;)
We're taking over your computer

*
We had a pretty laid back weekend. Went to the park,did a bunch of cooking for the babies, and Liam for the week. I am learning to make big batches of stuff and freeze the rest for later. This is especially good for making Liams GFCF foods, since they can be a bit pricey. Dont want to waste any of that gluten free, Organic, GMO free, Dairy free, Soy free goodness! Roasted a big pan of chopped up sweet potatoes, and it made me crave fall even more. the smells of brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg always do.
*
Ok, so what do you do, when its been 10 MONTHS,and your little one is still taking bottles through the night and waking up 2, sometimes even 4 times a night?
LET HIM CRY IT OUT.
But, there's something about a baby crying that just gets down to your very core. Your first instinct is to stop the crying. STOP THE MADNESS!
There are even studies done on the adult response to an infant crying. For real.
I can only take so much sleep deprivation. I promise, i am not superhuman regardless of what you've heard.
We got lucky with Daisy, she has been sleeping trough the night on her own since she was about 4 months old. I practically have to wake her up most mornings and nap times since sam is always the first to rise (i try to keep them somewhat in sync).  At 6 months we let Liam start crying it out. It took almost 2 weeks but then he began to FINALLY start sleeping through the night.
I have waited almost 10 months to try this method with Sam. My reason for waiting this long? He was so tiny at birth and he's still a slender little lad. My mommy instinct is to fatten him up even if it meant feeding him through the night for the past forever months.
But. OK now. Its been almost 10 months. So yeah. I'm done.
We began last week. Bed time is pretty much always at 8pm for all 3. It was pretty rough the first few nights, letting him cry when he would wake up between 1am and 3 am. I would go in and try to tuck him back in, and if he would not be soothed i would just walk away. As rough as the first week can be, it is so worth it. It works. Its been about a week now and after those first few nights, he is no longer taking any bottles, and for the past few days he has only woken up once during the night. i go in and rock him for a few minutes and then hes back down, no problem until 7 or 8 am. Now we just need to get him to stop that one time wake up and get him on a continuous sleep pattern, and if he wakes he self soothes back to sleep.
Good thing is, even through all this "ferberize-ing" he wakes up happy. He doesn't even remember it.
We're almost there.
*
Liam's first two days riding the bus and at school were great. Then i think he realized that this is going to be a permanent thing, and he bucked. Its been challenging. He began crying getting on the bus, getting off the bus, randomly crying while at school....just on and off the whole time (as reported by his teacher and bus driver). After talking to his teacher on Tuesday (rough day for Liam), i just couldn't stop thinking about the whole situation. As a mommy, i hate knowing that Liam is struggling, unhappy. I want him to thrive, enjoy school, enjoy being a kid. What if he doesn't adjust? I could pull him out and home school him, i know moms who have. (just some of the momentary panic stricken thoughts that zap through brain) But hell to the no. Because, 1- its really only been a month. 2. what would that teach him, ultimately? I mean, the reality is, he needs this. and life is not easy all the time. We will be facing challenges our whole lives. The key to growing , learning and thriving is to always try our best and forge ahead, even when it something seems impossible to achieve. I know Liam can do this. I know he can. I know it may be tough for a little while but so be it. We will only continue onward and upward.
Yesterday I was determined to make it a better day for him. I did a lot of praying (A LOT) and knew that ultimately its in the hands of God. That was the first step. But, as i believe with most things, you cant leave things up to just hope and a prayer. That's why God gave us free will. So, the second step was my method of preparing, right before the bus came. Long story short- it worked! He did not cry getting on the bus, not once and at school, his fussing was less. I look forward to the day that Liam gets excited to ride the bus to school,  go to school, etc. May take a hot minute but i have faith.
And that's all i need.

*
I will be turning 33 in 5 days. I don't get freaked out about getting older, like some people do. I think its funny actually, when people lie about their age or act as if one more birthday is just oh so horrible. Ridiculous.Be grateful for your years my dears!
I welcome each year spent living, and learning. Time always has something new to teach me, about myself and life! Every year that passes I am understanding and embracing more of what makes me truly happy, learning to decipher what doesn't and doing my best to reject the bullshit off the bat. I think that's worth a few wrinkles and grey hairs :)
I feel like the older I get, the more FREE I become. There is still so much more to do :)

Love and Light, 
A

Friday, September 14, 2012

9.14.12 This week in pictures

Loving the mornings lately, and taking advantage of my nice big front porch. Fall is near....breathing it in....
Woodrow, also loving the weather...
Morriskitty, sunbathing...
Its true.
Doing homework :)
While Liam and I were doing his homework, the babies took the opportunity to take off through the house. Moejoe joined them. Little explorers.
Chillaxing. Getting their drink on. You know how we roll..
1. Samuel the spider monkey eyes his prey
2. Samuel the Spider Monkey takes his stance.
3. He makes his move. Daisy Mazy, realizing the attempt being made on her bottle, grips it tightly and looks up at me to make sure i am aware of the situation at hand.
4. Daisy- What the what!?!?!
5. Daisy was not amused. Samuel was all, what the problem?