Please, No More Stuffies!

It amazes me that Ana is a scant 5 months old and she already has two OVERFLOWING toy bins! She has only been playing with toys for about 2 months now, so most of those toys sat untouched for 4-5 months between my showers and her developing curiosity. I was wary of getting rid of them before she started playing because who am I to predict what my baby will want to play with??

Now that she has been playing for a little while and I have a better idea of what she is interested in, I plan on whittling down her pile of toys to something much more managable. I don't want her to have a pile of toys that she has never touched, and I don't want her to be overwhelmed by the amount of toys she has to play with, so this seems like the best choice. 

Some high-quality toys Ana is currently crazy about!

My criteria for Ana's toys has always been creativity. I want everything she plays with to spark curiosity and encourage imagination.The very first toy Gary and I bought for Ana was Discovery Kids "Build and Play" construction set, so she can build her own forts! (She's getting that for Christmas.) I don't want her to have toys for funs sake, I want her to have toys for educations sake. There is no reason she can't link learning and fun! (Duh, it's called homeschool!!) I'm also a firm believer in letting them play without toys.


Right now, her #1 toy is an activity center that my in-laws gave her. It plays music when she touches different parts of it and she is so curious about all the different knobs and buttons. I plan to steer away from plastic toys as she gets older, but for this age it is perfect. She plays with it and rolls around under it and sits up to touch things, it has really improved her balance because she wants to sit up so she can play! Ax

With Christmas less than 6 months away (Shoot me, I'm a planner.), I've already started making a Christmas list for Ana that I am very excited about! Wooden blocks are definitely at the top, along with a tin tea set, a trip to Disney, and Sophie the Giraffe. (Sophie is a teether made of natural rubber, if you didn't know!) I plan on asking each person or family to limit themselves to giving ONE toy to Ana for Christmas for a couple reasons. The first reason is that the toys on her list are high quality and thus on the pricey end of things. The second reason is that I don't want her to end up with a bazillion toys that I'm going to donate (and feel guilty about it!) because she doesn't need that many.

Meaningful stuffies we bought for some dear kids in our life!

I also employ this mindset when I buy toys for the kids I know! I buy toys that I know they will love and that are high quality and I also limit myself to one toy and one stocking stuffer (see the stuffies on your right!) per kid because Lord knows I want to buy them a million things! I just remind myself that I don't want a bazillion toys and their mommies probably don't either! (Of course, you can never have too many good books!)

What to do with your baby, part 2

As Anastasia gets older, we're discovering there is a lot more we can do together and it's so much fun! 

 Yesterday, we finger painted! Anastasia is 19 weeks old this week and is great at grabbing for things that interest her, so I was really hoping this would go well. I started off by making some "edible" paint out of cornstarch, water, salt, and coloring. (I use the term edible to mean you can eat it and you won't DIE. It was probably gross!)

I taped out the word "DAD" and then plopped a couple blobs on this canvas and let her smear!  And of course my phone died at this point, so there are no more smearing pictures. 

How about some messy pictures??

I finally wiped off her hands and face here because I really didn't want her ingesting TOO much of the paint. It was a lot of salt!

 Okay, enough baby spam! Here's the finished piece. 

For her first time, I think she did a great job!! Gary was totally thrilled with his new piece if art :)

Food Waste Friday

I think this week was better than last week. 

This week I let a cucumber mold (okay, it's been about 3 weeks honestly...), we lost a half package of Greek yogurt (I think Gary started it and didnt finish it), about 1/4 of a bottle of orange juice, and (heartbreakingly) about 2 cups of husband-made hummus. 

$0.75 - 1/4 bottle OJ 

$1.00 - Greek yogurt

$0.50 - Cucumber 

$2.00 - hummus (that's a guess...)

+____

$4.25 - grand total of waste. Added to last week's total, that puts me at about $25 of wasted food this month. 

The orange juice separated. Two reasons: 1. I let it sit out for a day. 2. It's about 5 weeks old. Gross! The hummus (clearly) molded. I let this happen because the only thing I eat hummus with is chips. I've got to work on that! Come to think of it, that cucumber would have been really yummy with the hummus. Rats!

I focused this week on using up perishable things in my fridge and purposely planned my meals around them. We had chicken and pasta  with sautéed mushrooms and onions one day and I knew I still had half an onion sitting in the fridge, so the next day we had fajitas (and added mushrooms, which are very unfajita-ey) so that I could use up the rest of my produce! I also found an almost gone lime lurking in the fridge so I tossed that into the fajitas while they cooked to add some delicious flavor. Yum! And then I used up all my lemons on lemonade to go with the meal, but some of that is still in the fridge. I'm gonna get on it fast so I don't have to report it to you next week!

I took another anti food waste measure this week..... Bone broth!

After lunch Sunday I had a chicken carcass and some leftover snap peas. I put all of that into my crockpot, along with some vinegar, peppercorns, and a gallon of water and let it sit for over two days on low and now I have some rich delicious bone broth! 

I'm not sure if I should count the leftover cooked bones as food waste. What do you think? How did you do this week?

What I've Learned From My Daddy

When I was growing up, my dad was a little harsh at times. As a kid, I thought he didn't know anything and that his actions were always globally unfair. And, like almost every kid, I grew up and realized my dad is a genius and has so much life experience that I can't help but ask "What would dad do?" for many situations. Like most kids, I spent more time with my mom than my dad, so he spent less time directly teaching me things. This list is going to be shorter than the one I made for mom, but there will be more explanation behind the ideas. So, here is a brief summary of the things my dad taught me.

1. "Why do you want to fill your head with garbage?" <--This has been my dad's classic answer when we wanted to see a movie or show that he didn't approve of. It drove me CRAZY as a teenager and now suddenly I'm realizing that I filled my head with a lot of garbage that I can't get out of it.
2. Math is possible, if you sit at the table long enough.
3. You don't want dad to be the one to spank you!
4. People who only do what benefits themselves are communists.
   
5.  "Don't be a communist." <-- This was often said in respect to stepping over a sock instead of picking up the sock. My response was usually "But, daddy, it's not my sock!"
6. Men support their families.
7. It's okay to ask people weird questions! For example, "How do you convince the bees to only take honey from wildflowers?"
8. The best time to read your Bible is early in the morning with a cup of coffee. If your family joins you, even better, read aloud!
9. You don't need every light in the house on! Or every light in a room, for that matter.
10. If you're hot, open a window or take a layer of clothing off. The AC is a LAST resort!
11. You don't have to GO places to have a good time as a family. Dinner and conversation is a very dear memory of mine.
12. Coffee is stinkin' expensive! Don't waste it, reheat it the next day!
13. There is no reason to date until you're old enough to get married. <-- I wasn't allowed to date until I was 18 and I HATED it. Now, I realize that my parents protected me from a whole world of horrible things that teens can easily get into when they're dating. Seriously, if you meet a guy in 6th grade, are you seriously going to stay together for 6-7 years until you can get married? And if you do, are you seriously NOT going to have sex that entire time?? Not likely.
14. You don't need makeup and jewelry to be pretty.
15. Long hair is beautiful. <--It was really hard for me to readjust my thinking here when I married Gary because he prefers short hair.
    
16. There is absolutely NO need for a kid to have screen time. TV, iPhone, video games, internet, honestly. Okay, that's not true. We took typing lessons at dad's request and learned a lifelong skill.
17. "If you cared about it, it wouldn't be on the floor." <-- This lesson was hard for me to learn, and honestly I'm still working on it sometimes! This was usually said after I stepped on my glasses or..... well, read the next one.
18. It's okay to take a kids toys away because "If you cared about it, it wouldn't be on the floor." I cannot tell you how many times my dad offered to clean our bedrooms for us by taking a shovel and a garbage bag to the situation. I think it would have done me some good!
19. Authoritative does not mean authoritarian. My dad was authoritative and that's okay! Men should be in control of their families!
20. Being mischievous is a good thing.
21. Curiosity is a very good thing!
22. If you sit on the floor long enough, you can find out where the ants are coming in and block every darn hole.
23. "You can wash off." <-- The most memorable time I learned this was when my class ring fell down the bathtub drain. We then learned that there was a hole in the pipe that led to our sewage tank that bubbled up just outside our house. At this point, my dad made me dig around to see if I could find my class ring. GROSS! But, he was right, I washed off. And now I'm a lot more willing to do disgusting things with the knowledge, I CAN WASH OFF!
24. Girls can do boy stuff. Fishing, tracking deer, driving trucks, shooting guns, climbing trees, changing tires, working on engines, plumbing (that's Sophie's story), MATH AND SCIENCE, there's nothing wrong with girls doing boy stuff!
25. It's okay to question the government.

Thanks, Daddy! This stuff has had an impact on me. Even if you thought we didn't learn the stuff, we did!

BONUS ROUND!  

Two more things daddy taught me

1. Tool names. THIS is invaluable. When someone asks me for a ratchet and a 3/16 socket, I can actually give it to them. When someone asks me if I have an adjustable wrench, I KNOW! (and for the record, no, I don't have one.)
2. Real men drink their coffee black. <--I once dated a guy merely because he drank his coffee black. It didn't last long.

Food Waste Friday

In order to get my food waste under control, I'm going to start posting pictures of it here for you all to see and give me a hard time about. I got this idea from my very favorite blogger "The Frugal Girl" so here goes. 

This is breast milk (I know, I hate me too), Moravian chicken pie, and formerly frozen yogurt that I made. 

This is a totally untouched bag of lettuce, a half eaten container of baby spinach, and the two peaches actual symbolize, like... 6 peaches. I already threw the others away before I decided to do this. Also, I wasted a tomato which isn't pictured. 

1 oz. breast milk - $5 (if I were buying it. No lie.)

1/4 chicken pie - $3.25

Frozen Yogurt - $1.50

Spring Mix - $2.88

1/2 container of spinach - $2.50

Peaches - $4

Tomato - $1.50

+_______________

$20.63 in the trash.

Just. This. Week.

What To Do With Your Baby*

*not an exhaustive list, hehe.

In case you have been wondering what Ana and I do all day long, here it is! This is our typical schedule on a day that Gary works.

Ana = Rooster and thus wakes up at 6:30 every morning. Luckily, Emily = Old Rooster and thus wakes up at 7 every morning, so 6:30 isn't much of a sacrifice for me. We get up and play in her room on the floor and read books for about 60-90 minutes, or until she starts falling apart. This is when I get my COFFEEE. Usually around 8, she goes back to sleep for her first nap. If it's going to be a great day, she sleeps until 10 ish and during this time mommy gets delicious breakfast and usually finishes her up of cold coffee. I'm also starting a new Bible study and this is when I'll be doing that!

After my Gummy Bear wakes up, she usually spends some time playing by herself on the floor. This is a relatively new phase of life for us, she has generally required my attention EVERY DARN SECOND so I'm enjoying her 4-month-old independence. (Until she asks me for the car keys, at least!) This is chore time for me! Dishes, kitchen cleaning, and lunch prep are right here. Ana still isn't super independent so she will lay on the floor in the hall and play and we can see each other most of the time. Her favorite toy right now is her "magic wand". Its a baton I found at Target that is filled with water and glitter and she is crazy about it!


After lunch, usually around 12:30-1, Ana starts falling apart again so she decides its time for a nap again. On a normal day, Gary is getting ready for work around this time so Ana and I will take a nap together once he leaves. I do this for three reasons. A) I love baby cuddles :) B) Ana sleeps longer when I'm next to her and I'm trying to train her to take a long afternoon nap and C) I'm tired from waking up at 6:30!! This is almost always a 3-4 hour nap for Ana. This leaves about 2 hours between nap and bedtime for us to hang out with Sophie! That could be going for a walk, stopping into Target, having dinner, going swimming, or just playing at the house.

At 7, Ana goes back to bed and sleeps until 6:30 and then we start all over again!

So, in summary, what to do with you baby: Life! When Ana was first born I thought I had do do specific stuff with her and entertain her and I was totally sure that I was boring her to death because I didn't know what to do. FINALLY, at 4 months, I realized that you just do life! Sure, life now includes more playtime than it used to, but that's fun too :)

Contentment

“Life is made up of moments, small pieces of glittering mica in a long stretch of gray cement. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won’t happen. We have to teach ourselves how to make room for them, to love them, and to live, really live.”

― Anna Quindlen, A Short Guide to a Happy Life

Being content has never been my strong point. I'm a planner and a doer and "enjoying the moment" is often ruined by planning the next moment. I am working hard to become better at living each moment as it happens and part of that is laying down my iPhone, shutting off the computer, and getting out of the house. 

There is one place where this isn't a problem for me. 

On my parents front porch. 

So many dear memories have happened here. Few of them are specific, most are just the knowledge that we sat out here as a family and listened to the swamp at night and talked. Or that I listened toy dad read the bible aloud while we drank coffee and enjoyed the sunrise. 

Life is made up of moments, ones we have to teach ourselves to enjoy. This weekend, make a point to unplug yourself from distraction and acknowledge your moments.