Tag: kids

The Month of Firsts

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I think it’s safe to say that we are on the road to loving kindergarten.

I think.

I was a little surprised by all the stress and how long it has taken to start to feel a sense of settling in our new routine. Two kids at two different schools. New faces, new names. New wake up times, new bed times. New rules. New clothes. Drop offs and pick ups approximately every 3 hours. Hot lunch or cold lunch. It’s been a lot of new and change.

And while we’ve got all year to get used to this, I hate the surprise of it all. I hate not having a routine, a schedule to schedule by and a lack of efficiency. Which is one of my many pet peeves.

Sadly, I’m not the only one feeling the change. Ms. B has had some epic melt downs at drop off. And that coupled with strict visitor policies at her school, has made for some nightmare mornings. Picture her teacher literally hanging onto her as I pry my leg out of her hands while holding Auggie and then making a break for the door. Yeah.

This week, I had a little treat ready for her each afternoon if the morning drop off went well. It seemed to do the trick along with a car drive through drop off and pick ups. Oh and pizza Wednesdays are really doing the trick, too.

Crossing my fingers that the days ahead look more like the first day and not the second day. Or the third. Or the fifth….

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Breakfast Rush

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Peter and I were so conflicted about weather to start Baylor in kindergarten last year or this year. We decided she would only benefit from being a year older in kindergarten so we decided to wait. And boy am I glad we did. Not only have I seen her school skills take off in the last year, I’m now so grateful for that we had one more year of 3 day a week preschool.

Because kindergarten? Is no joke. It’s 5 days a week of early mornings of a slow moving, slightly crabby kiddo.  And bedtime. Sheesh. Trying to convince a six year old that she is indeed tired and in need of an on time bedtime is a struggle in itself.

One of the things that makes our mornings go a lot smoother is prepping the night before. Lunches, uniforms, backpacks, water bottles, dog food, coffee…the list seems never ending. But if the morning starts with simply pushing START on the life line (I mean coffee maker), putting down a bowl of dog food and grabbing eggs from the fridge, it gives us a precious 10 minutes that can save our morning.

The other thing I’ve started to prep is breakfast. It’s a huge time saver for Peter and I, and it keeps us eating healthy too. Here is one of my new favorites:

Breakfast Creme Brulee

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1 tbs chia seeds

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 packet Truvia sweetener

3 tbl greek yogurt

Berries, bananas, and or sliced almonds

Combine all ingredients except fruit and almonds. Let sit in the refrigerator over night and top with fruit and or nuts before serving. Make it in a disposable cup and it’s a quick car breakfast.

I also buy an extra dozen eggs and hard boil them (place all dozen in cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from water and place in the refrigerator. The shell will peel easily and they won’t be hot when you eat them). It’s a quick way to get everyone some protein and there’s no prep time. Lastly, I always keep my favorite green smoothies in disposable cups for easy grab and go.

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Book Nook

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When we were dreaming of what we wanted in a new house, one of the things on my long list was enough space to make a reading nook for each kiddo. A little spot that they could snuggle up and enjoy their books.

In the long list of projects for this house, I had kind of forgotten about it. In our ongoing effort of adding to and then checking off a house to do list, Peter built and put up amazing book shelves in the kids’ room. And then I remembered – book nook! A few Ikea lamps later and relocating the PB Kids chairs and voila!

The best part? B LOVED it. She said over and over as I was hanging their lights “this is so cool. I just love this space!!”. Music to a momma’s ears. A few days later, our house was unusually quiet. I frantically searched for the animals as nothing good is happening when it’s quiet- only to find them snuggled up in Baylor’s chair. She was “reading” (she’s memorized a few of his board books) and he was happily hung on every word.


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The Mac Attack

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We all know I was not such a big fan of getting a dog. I love dogs, don’t get me wrong. But a 4 year old, a 1 year old AND a puppy?? It was a recipe made for a nice little rehab in Tucson.

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Flash forward almost two years and I’ll give you one guess who this dog loves the best (I mean, besides Auggie). That’s right, yours truly. And secretly…I really love him too. I even kicked a kid out of the jogger for him.

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And I’ve learned a lot about Labs. Like the fact that they have iron stomachs and can eat anything. Literally anything. I’ve picked up more poop with remnants of things that should never go into a dog, let alone come out of a dog. I’ve discovered that he’s eaten liquid ant bait, twice. And not so much as a vet visit. BUT. And there’s a big but…Labs have horrible skin. I realized the first summer we had him, he itched all the time. Like ALL THE DAMN TIME. It was loud. It was annoying and it made for extra dog hair everywhere.

After consulting friends, the Wag ‘N Wash and the internet, I found a great blog that recommended a brand of treat/vitamins called Cloud Star. They have a blend that is great for skin, especially Lab skin. After changing his food to totally grain free, adding coconut oil to his meals and trying to get him to drink water with nothing really working on the problem, I was skeptical to try the treats. But much to my surprise, they really worked! His fur was shiny, the scratching and itching was way down and the shedding seemed better too. Mac seems to be happy about it too.

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You know, just having a lazy Saturday, watching the Masters

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Do you have any good dog skin tricks to try? Let me know – there can always be less hair around here!

Stinky and Winky

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A conversation with Baylor in the backseat of the car:

“MOMMY!! Don’t blow [roll] my window up!!”

“Babe, it’s hot. Could you please roll it up?”

“I didn’t blow it down, my toe did. So if you want it blowed up, you’ll have to ask my foot.”

“Ooookkk. Baylor’s foot? Could you please roll…”

“STINKY! His name is Stinky!”

“Stinky, could you please roll the window up?”

“Mommeeeee. He’s a foot. He doesn’t have ears! He can’t hear you ask him to blow up the window!! But I can do it if you ask me nice.”

Que the sound of the wine bottle opening….

Also? Winky? Is her other foot. I asked her why her feet were boys and she just rolled her eyes at me. We’re in trouble.

Lemonade Like Grandma Made

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On a particularly slow Friday afternoon, I had the ingenious idea to set up a lemonade stand with the kids. Our neighbors were having their biannual enormous yard sale (wooo….) so there was lots of foot traffic on our street.

Baylor kills me. She insisted on tongs for the food and asked if we had plastic gloves for “safe food handling”.

We were doing well, until Peter got a look at our stand. “I can build them something better” he said. And build he did.

In one day we went from this:

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To this:

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Complete with a hidden shelf for extra supplies and their money box. Between the foot traffic to the yard sale and the social media outreach, they made about $5! But the fun of decorating and using their new stand was priceless.

I snapped this picture during the building process…

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I always get the credit for the kids. I’ve had parents I don’t know spot Baylor across the playground and know she was mine just by looking at her. But this picture is so perfect because Auggie is a dead ringer for a little PW. Peter’s a little older in this picture, but those cheeks are the giveaway.

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All the Feels

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While eating her dinner, watching me make lunches for the next day, Baylor asked

“could you please cut my cheese into a heart shape?”.

WTF? My first response was an incredulous “whose MOTHER is cutting their cheese into heart shapes in your class??”.  Because clearly someone is making all the other moms look bad. It’s not enough that I A. remembered to pack a lunch B. it was something you liked and C. it was reasonably healthy…now I have to cut shit into hearts too?? Gah! I can’t keep up. Why is just making a nice meal not enough? Why does it have to have fireworks and hearts too?

When I found out who the culprit was, I was knocked back down a bit. I actually really like this mom. So if she was taking the time to cut hearts, I could too. And it turns out, I’m pretty good at free handing hearts in dairy substances with a butter knife.

The next day when I picked up Auggie from class, the first thing his teachers said was “he loved that cheese heart so much!”. All smiles, he ran up for a hug. It was a good reminder – the little things count. They get noticed and they are important. Yes, healthy delicious meals are important too, but that little extra thing makes a big difference.

I got all inspired and found a three pack of cutters that were made for sandwich. Dolphins, dinosaurs and of course, hearts. I surprised the kids with dinosaur shaped grilled cheese that night for dinner. Baylor was thrilled. Auggie, not so much. It turns out he’s not such a big fan of eating dinosaur heads. Or dolphin tails for that matter. So back we go to free handed heart shaped cheese. And peanut butter cups. Nothing says love like a peanut butter cup.

Oh The Irony

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At the beginning of the school year, I cleaned out a bag full of books from the kid’s collection. Some duplicates, a few that we had out grown, some that we didn’t like, etc. I donated a bag of them to Auggie’s class. They love books and the board books are perfect for little hands to explore.

When I picked up Auggie from school after lunch one day, he was sitting on the little couch, totally engrossed in a book. I realized it was Goodnight, Gorilla  or as he calls it “Night Night Monkey”. His teacher told me that it’s his favorite and he gets it every day to look at.

As I pried it from his squishy little hands, I reassured him that we had the very same book at home. We never read it because you can’t read it. It’s essentially a picture book, there’s like 4 words in the whole thing. And because by the end of the day, my ability to cleverly narrate a picture book is lacking so we stick with the books that provide the story for me.

I scoured the shelves at home looking for Night Night Monkey while Augs recited the book, page by page from memory (“den monkey takes keys! den he let out gerrraffe!”). Slowly it dawned on me…the freaking book he was in love with at school was the one I had given away to his class.

Augs then got to learn what it meant to same day deliver from Amazon Prime. Because when a kid loves a book, you buy it. Even if it’s the second time.

Goodnight Gorilla. Thank you for providing sweet, albeit ironic memories for us.

Jump On the Bandwagon

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Phew. It is rough to be a parent these days. It’s always been a tough job, but given the current climate of social media and an invisible force that urges you to define your parenting style  – helicopter mom, baby wearer, breast feeder, anti vaxer, free range parent – the list is endless and yet well defined.

And if I’m being honest, I think it’s amazing that so many moms are talking, sharing, posting. I constantly question my parenting method, look for new skills and sigh with relief when I read that I’m not alone. It’s all good.

Except when it’s not.

That’s right. I’m jumping on the bandwagon of posts about vaccinating your kids.

My bottom line is this: get educated. Ask questions. See more than one doctor. Read articles, posts, journals. Do whatever you have to do to reach the conclusion that vaccinating your healthy child is the right decision. And I emphasize healthy. Because those not healthy kids are the other reason we need to vaccinate our children. Herd immunity is meant to protect those that aren’t healthy enough for vaccinations, those that can’t be vaccinated for health reasons, and those too young. Choosing not to vaccinate your children out of a fear of the vaccination is not an excuse. Fear is not an excuse.

If you’re still conflicted, then think over this scenario in your head. I was sitting with Auggie in the emergency room a few months ago. He had a horrible case of croup and was in severe distress. His sweet little chest caved inward with each gasp for air because he was sucking in so hard. At some point my brain flipped into survival mode. Gone were the emotions and my only focus was to get this kid some help and fast. I realized after the storm had passed how awful it had been. How horrible it is to have the thought his oxygen levels are ok so if they have to, they could do a tracheotomy and then he could breathe.

It is not a fun when the thought of having a hole cut into your child’s throat is comforting.

The one thought that popped into my head over and over was how I could have prevented him getting so sick. And while the answer for his condition was “nothing”, that would not be the case for whooping cough. I cannot imagine the guilt of watching my beautiful little boy not be able to breathe because of my decision not to vaccinate him.

Which is why we do vaccinate our kids. When Baylor was a baby, I talked extensively about vaccinations, vaccination schedules and risk with our pediatrician. And the bottom line for me was when she said “I totally understand your concern. I do constant research about vaccinations and as a mom and a doctor, I fully vaccinate my child and that’s why I require this schedule for my healthy patients”.

That was all I needed to hear to make the decision to prevent the preventable. There’s enough unknown with our kids. Being able to check life threatening illnesses off that list? I’m in.

 

 

 

Little Whispers

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I’m so grateful for little whispers from Heaven. The little messages from Mamie that let me know she’s still here. Still sees her Baylor. And that knows we talk about her, pray for her, think of her, and say her name every day.

From the moment Baylor was born, Mame would tell Baylor when you are a little bigger, you can walk down to my house and we’ll make biscuits with butter and grape jelly. We’ll put chocolate milk in tea cups and we’ll have a party. 

When I got Baylor’s snack schedule for January, I nearly fell over my own feet reading it. Today is Baylor’s snack day and her assigned snack was biscuits, butter, grape jelly and milk. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh, cry or both.

Thanks Mamers. We miss you and love you too.