Toddler wearing....

Yesterday, I did a Quilt Shop hop with my mom and 19 month old son. We drove to South Bend, Wakarusa, and Goshen. I have been baby wearing since I brought Max home from the Hospital. I would have never been able to do what we did yesterday trying to use a stroller. It would have never worked. Max slept though the whole first store in a Maya Wrap ring sling. Maya again in the next over stuffed store. By the time we made it to Wakarusa he was awake and onto my back he went in the Babyhawk OhSnap. At the final store for the day there was a toy area surrounded by a 4 foot gate. At first Max was interested in playing but not alone. So after my mom checked out she played with him so I could wrap up my purchase.

Fabric stores are wonderful magical places where imaginations can run wild. So much to see, touch, and explore. I can explore that with my little guy. Only with baby wearing can I let my child explore with me.

Babywearing is normal. Natural. Safe. A daily way of life. I would never change any part of it.

Viva la Babywearing!

more time

I wish there was more hours in the day. More time to spend with my family all together before the sun sets at night. I am sure someday in the not too distant future, when Max is old enough to be in school, I will wonder how to fill my day.

the day in the life of my 18 month old.

Wake up around 8 a.m.

nurse.

demand to watch plowing/steam traction engine videos.

eat a ton for breakfast. usually fruit and rice chex.

play.

hang out with mom.

nurse, eat lunch.

play.

fall sleep at some point.

nurse.

nap some more.

play with everything in the house that is NOT a baby toy.

have some dinner.

play.

nurse.

sleep around 10 p.m.

Fair time 2010

Mom, Max, and I. It was unbelievably hot. Hopefully next summer will not be as bad. :-) But as you can see it is still easy with a sling.

Baby carrier conundrum

I love my Maya Wraps. I own 3. One in the house, and two in the car. I also have a Sleepy Wrap and a hand made Mai Tei. We also have 3 strollers. One umbrella stroller from my cousin (also lives in my car), one graco stroller that matches Max's original car seat (although I never used them together), and one very expensive Burley Bike trailer (that can hold up to 2 kids or 100 lbs). Max being 16 months old now I need to carry him safely and securely, but out of my way sometimes, as in on my back.

My husband thinks I am crazy. Especially in wanting another type of carrier. I wish money was not a concern.

I will find a way. It will be mine. I end carrying Max everyday. I will make it easier on me. :-)

Long time gone...

Sorry, I have been busy chasing a 15 month around and it is hard to type more than a sentence when he is awake.

So I have had some observations recently on eating out with a toddler.

Kids meals vary wildly from place to place! It is crazy!

Ok so most restaurants base kids menus for 12 years old and younger but how much will a 15 month old toddler eat? And how much should that cost?

If anything hopefully less than $3 or so, although I think many places realize how much mac and cheese costs.

So far for the best or healthiest options are usually at chain restaurants that do not hate having kids there in the first place.

Our best choices are Steak N Shake (reasonably priced and meal comes with fries or apple sauce and Kids eat free on weekends), Bob Evans (good variety and all priced under $3 or so), & Round the Clock (same as Bobs).

Pricier and therefore non toddler friendly places: Chili's & T.G.I. Fridays ($1.99 for a half a cup of Mandarin oranges or $4.50 for mac and cheese!).

Fast food choices are some times alright as long as they are not the norm.

If anyone else has any other places that are toddler friendly let me know!

ebay

Oh how I love and hate thee-

I love buy it now prices especially if I am buying, otherwise I want people to buy my stuff at the buy it now price so I can get some things out of my house and the $ into my account. I just hope my stuff sells by auction end date.

Mommy time has no clock

So a week ago I tried writing this post and somehow it didn't save and I was too tired to care to try writing it all over again. So here it goes-

Being a Mom, or even a Dad has no clock. Your baby does not care if you have to work the next day or not. If you took a nap or not. If you had a great or awful day at work. The baby just knows if something is wrong, or upset, or they can not sleep. Max doesn't know what 2 a.m. means. He just knows his head might be stuffy and he can't breathe so he is not comfortable sleeping.

And since I am the parent who does not work in a steel mill I am the one who takes care of the tried, grumpy, seasonally sick little guy most everyday.

And this walking thing is not getting us any more sleep yet. Maybe soon I hope. I envy those who can get their children who are younger than kindergarten in bed before 8 p.m. Although if I comes with rising with the sun, I will stick with going to be by 10:30ish and getting up at 8:00 a.m.

Spring...

has spring! Now I am just waiting for the last great snow of the year.

Yesterday we went swimming as a family, since I had to work on Tuesday and missed his swim class. I love indoor pools!

Adventures in Babywearing

2010 Chicago Auto Show, 2009 Taste of Chicago, & Max first in his Maya Wrap April 2009.

Daddy on vacation

So Andy is on vacation this week and it could not come too soon. I need to clean the carpet from the back sliding door to the living room. But alas tomorrow we are going to Chicago and who knows what Tuesday holds. Wednesday is a holiday and we are going out on a "date". I am looking forward to trying to capture Emma nursing Alister later this week as well. Maybe a trip to IKEA in Bolingbrook, and throw in LLL Thursday night at Uptown Cafe. Whew we have a busy week!

I end up thinking of all kinds of things to write about when I finally get down time right before I fall asleep at night but come morning I never get the chance to type it all out. I just need to try a little harder on keeping up with my thoughts.

Such a geek!

I love this place!

http://blog.michellekaufmann.com/?cat=23

We have visited the Green House at the Museum of Science and Industry each year since it opened. Andy and I both wish more things were operational and you could go on a longer extended time tour. I would love if they offered a overnight or even a chance to stay there for a few hours after regular closing. But alas since there is no working toilet at all in the house I don't think many people would make it a very long time. We will be going back in the spring to tour it again. I hope when the house loses it's newness it is not torn down but maybe moved to somewhere locally and is turned into a real residence. Hopefully it will be at the MSI for at least a few years to come. I appreciate that each year that it is open they have changed up the furniture and colors. Makes me want to go back again and again.

Since we bought a Burley Bike trailer I need to get out our bikes we bought last summer. Max was too little to take last year using any type of bike support gear until late in the fall. He seems to like when I push around the Burley like a stroller. I am hoping we do get up to the lakefront in Chicago and go biking. When my mother in law moves down to Streeterville this summer, she will be very close to Navy Pier and the downtown parks. Now to be able to bike a few miles in Valpo before then to train. Please weather get warmer soon!

Nursing...One year and going strong.

It has been a interesting year since Max's birth. I wish we might have had a better birth experience so to get off to the best start we could but, we did the best we could given the circumstances. I ended up using a silicone nipple shield for over 6 months and pumped every morning for almost 10 months. I was able to pump on vacation last summer to keep feeding the Max as we drove to PA. I had a painful issue right around Halloween that lasted a few weeks. Sometimes I feel like I have been through it all now, even though Max is only just over 1 year old. I carry Max almost everywhere in my Maya Wrap. Sometimes we use the strollers we have. We just bought a Burley bike trailer so Max can enjoy going for bike rides this summer. I am finally letting Max sleep in his own room. Alright, tonight is the real first attempt. We will see how it goes. Usually he is in the pack n play in our room.

I regularly attend our La Leche League meetings. I just love to listen to the other mothers issues with their children. Some days I know exactly where there are and other days I will have to find out in a year or so or more. I look forward to having Max get bigger even though it is such a short time in his life that he is a baby. I hope we are able to have another baby some time in the future. I hope Max is a good big brother.

I look to enjoy doing everything that we can together as a family.

Daddy time

So after 12 months of it being all mommy almost all of the time it is finally getting to be daddy time. What I mean by it is, whenever the Max woke up in the night is has almost always (99 %) been me getting him back to sleep. This past weekend when I was sooooo sick, Andy was able to get Max back to sleep when he awoke to me yucking in the bathroom. Most nights Andy is so out when Max might awake I have been the primary soother. Even when that means I did or didn't nurse him back to sleep. We have been lucky though, Max is a pretty decent night sleeper. He might not sleep a ton during the day but we have never had too hard of a time getting him to sleep a good amount at night. Although he has a sleep time of his own. Which is really our time. Asleep by 10 p.m. awake at maybe 8 a.m. if I am lucky. I would love to figure out how to try to shift that to go to bed a bit earlier, but I am not going to try to force it upon him. So, finally, a torch is being passed not from me to Andy, but to Max for beginning to grow up. Whew that year went by fast!

Being Sick & Gerber

I hate being sick. I have not been sick in well over a year since before Max was born so it is really hard being down for a few days. Luckily, Andy was able to stay home from work on Friday and gave me a good break. But I was the one today to get to carpet clean in our bedroom. Oh well. It is now the cleanest area of carpet in our house. Sometimes I do not know what is worse, being sick or getting over being sick. You don't want to eat anything that might adversely affect your healing intestines but you finally start being hungary enough to want more than Gatorade and apple sauce.

On to a better topic, Gerber. I might as well buy stock in their parent corporation since I seem to buy so much of their stuff. It is sad that I remember when you could buy turkey sticks for $0.68 and now they are almost $1.50 a jar. Well at least they still have the same number of pieces in a jar and have not downsized like ice cream or sugar. I am just glad Max likes turkey and chicken sticks even if they gross out Andy. :-)

YMCA

Alright, so we are new members to the Y in Valpo. The building is nice, staff are pleasant, parking is plentiful. That being said the place is a zoo after 2:30 p.m. There is not enough room in the cardio area and the Family locker room is absolutely nuts. We signed up to do the parent / child swim class which was fun. Justin, the instructor, was very nice and fun with the kids. The family locker room is made up of a bunch of individual bathrooms with showers, all tiled floors, and lockers for stuff in the hallway. The doors have locks but no outer sign that a room is in use. Very frustrating! Either you are walking in on someone because they didn't lock the door or once you are in one, other people keep knocking or trying the door. It would have made way more sense for someone to look at the lock on a port a potty and take notes. I have tried to get Max used to being around other babies and kids so putting him in the child watch area has not been too bad. He seems to enjoy playing with toys as long as no other kid bonks him on the head. Anyway, I hope to enjoy going to the Y as long as it is before all of the little middle and high schoolers get there.

Pretzels, Oh how I miss thee!

I can not wait until this summer vacation!

We will be traveling back to the East coast to visit family. And, eat everything good: Fresh baked pretzels, water ice, Tastykakes, cheese steak sandwiches, and crab legs. I know there are many more east coast specialties but these are my favorite. We even brought home two dozen pretzels last summer. They are so good I crave them all year long and get super excited when someone sends us some. I currently have a few in storage in the freezer from my cousin Vince. I have to ration them. Sad, but true.

In short, I am so looking forward to visiting PA this summer and everything it entails.

Max will get to see the shore and play in the sand.

I just hope he doesn't make Cape May diamonds like his uncle did when he was little. :-)