Weaned, and Thoughts on the First Year of Life

As of this week, this little chica is weaned -as in no longer breastfeeding.

Both times around the weaning process has been bittersweet. But this time it was a little less bitter.

In August of 2008 we found out we were expecting Stephen Small. Since then I have been either a) pregnant or b) nursing. That's 3.5 consecutive years (and I know many women have gone longer). There was even a short stent in summer 2010 that I was both nursing (Stephen) and pregnant (with Laurie). These were sweet times. But I eagerly welcome this new phase in which my children are not literally dependent on my anatomy and physiology for their sustenance.

Now that I have lived through both years of my children's little bitty babyhood, I'm concluding that it takes a year, a good full year to sorta feel like yourself and to establish a new normal. That first year of life is demanding. We don't give that fact enough weight these days.

After Stephen was born, I was super eager to jump back into busy life again. And once I did - it did not go well. I had sorely underestimated the amount of attention and care a baby needs.

So when Laurie came along I was better prepared to lay low and to embrace lots of home days. I said no a lot. Now that she's older we get out and do more. I'm not as hesitant to commit to plans.

I think this is going to be a fun and refreshing season.

Bring on the canned tuna and booze.

KIDDING.

Less is More, Year 2

Last year I wrote a series : less is more in which I discussed how we (I) had a major de-cluttering of our home and earthly belongings.

Several things inspired this project.  
1- The birth of our second child. Adding another person to our little family meant more things... another wardrobe, another crib, etc. I felt the need to get rid of old things to make room for new things and to make a space for our daughter.  
2- Our 1950's built home with the tiniest closets. Seriously, where did people put all their junk in the 50's????? We simply have no storage.  
3- A desire for less stuff to manage. As the primary home keeper, I do most of the picking up and cleaning on a daily basis. I was burned out dealing with the overwhelming amount of STUFF to manage.

So one day last February when my mom was here helping me with newborn baby Laurie, she suggested I start de-cluttering by throwing away 50 things. And I was hooked. I threw away/gave away 50, then 100, then 150 things. I marched stuff to my curbside and watched neighbors drive by and load it up in their vehicles. I boxed stuff up and drove it to goodwill. Years worth of stuff - clothes from college, outdated nursing textbooks, garbage bags full of Capt' Steve's old boat-grease stained clothes. I examined each closet, shelf, drawer, and cabinet, trying to make the most of our space. It was so freeing. I literally felt lighter on my feet as I walked through my house that was becoming decreasingly cluttered each day as I went through this process.

Here I am, over a year later, and I plan to have another major clean out in the next couple of weeks. In fact, I have already started a little bit. It's a spiritual experience. This year will be so much easier because I'm starting with less to begin with.

As I reflect on the past year and am about to go through the process of de-junking again, I feel compelled to share the benefits of going slightly against the grain of the "American way" to constantly consume. So for what it's worth, here is what I found to be beneficial from less is more.

1. We saved money. Once I un-cluttered I naturally didn't want to junk the place up again. So I found myself less compelled to buy random un-purposeful stuff.

2. I knew what I had. I knew I had 2 jars of cinnamon, 3 bottles of baby lotion, 4 pairs of exercise shorts. This made buying and replacing items so much more efficient. When I had less, it was easier to stay organized and know what I needed to replace.

3. It freed up my time. There was physically less, which meant I physically had less to deal with.

4. It freed up space. Rolls of wrapping paper did not rain down on my head every time I opened the coat closet. We had space to store things comfortably.

5. It freed up my mind. There were less physical distractions and this enabled me to enjoy life more. I felt more content playing with my children or taking them out in the back yard. It was okay to just be.

7. It was so liberating. And that was exactly what I was hoping to gain from de-junking my house and my life. I was hoping to find time and space to enjoy and appreciate the meaning and depth that life has to offer. I was hoping to feel less burdened by constant projects and closets that needed cleaning out. I wanted to stop buying stupid stuff at Target. I wanted to sit down, read a book, and drink a cup of tea without feeling guilty about it. Un-cluttering set me free to do all this sanely.

I feel almost certain that a big clean out will be an annual event in our home. This year I'm excited and I hope to share some of my progress.

Here are some of my favorite blogs that frequently write about de-cluttering and organization. I visit them often and they keep me motivated!

Simple Mom

Small Notebook

Memories on Cloverlane 

Here is my first project this year. The master closet. This is the after picture. I threw away several frayed and hole-y sweaters. I also said good bye to some really old ties of Capt' Steve's (per his approval, of course).

I feel a little immodest showing you our clothes. But I think it's okay.

Insta-Friday

I love Fridays. They hold the potential of the whole weekend ahead. We have plans to stay close to home. Tonight we're grilling steaks at my sister's. Tomorrow I'm going on a hunt for new jeans. Capt' Steve has a few projects underway. Somewhere in there I'd like to do a little reading and maybe catch a nap.

Hope you all have the best weekend ever!!!

Growing Green Onions

This totally works. You can grow green onions in your window sill. How great is that?!

I have used mine for two different recipes. Just cut off the amount you need with kitchen scissors. Wash the roots occasionally and give them fresh water. Seriously watch them grow before your eyes. I can't tell you how many green onions I've thrown away in my past.

I just think this is so nifty.

Life with Two Toddlers is Insane

Whew... I have had trouble sitting at the computer for any length of time. Life just keeps happening.

You know, the norm....

Laurie empties my basket of notes and books by my bedside. Stephen pokes holes in a bag of flour with a pen at the grocery store. Laurie rummages through the bathroom trash. Stephen soaks a large towel in the sink. Laurie puts a handful of dirt in her mouth - every. single. day. Stephen hacks up a pretzel on my computer screen. Laurie disperses all the Tupperware to the far corners of the house. Stephen picks Laurie up by the neck.

We haven't had toilet paper on the roll in WEEKS. I just keep it in a large pile on the back of the toilet.

And I'll have you know they eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.

It's raining sippy cups galore around here now that Laurie Bird is using one too.

I caught myself sneaking around in the kitchen last week, trying to silently make banana bread because I just wanted to make it without my 2-year old joining me.

Don't get me started on naptime. Or lack there of.

I wouldn't trade any of this for anything in the world. But to be quite honest, I don't know whether I'm coming or going.

That's all I have to say today.

“You have to laugh at yourself, because you'd cry your eyes out if you didn't.”
-Emily Sailers (Indigo Girl)

Insta-Friday!!!

Insta-Friday seems to be popular in the blog world. I'm not sure who started it, but I think it's a good idea - a day devoted to posting your Instagram photos.

For those of you who are thinking "what's Instagram?" all I can tell you is that it's a photo app for your iPhone that enables you to edit photos using artsy, vintage-y filters. You have followers and you can follow people. I love it and I'm slightly obsessed. Also, I lost my camera battery charger for my real camera over Christmas. So I apologize for the overload of Instagram here on Spoonful. I have since replaced the charger and I'm going to attempt to limit phone photos to Fridays from here on out. Maybe. We'll see.


I love Instagram for many reasons.

Because of the convenience of the camera phone you can grab it quickly and capture the everyday. This is my favorite form of photography - plain ol' candid life.

Also, I love stopping and admiring the beauty that is in the simplest things. The color of the peppers I'm cooking on the stove, my children playing, my second or third cup of coffee.

I love life. I love to stop. Instgram melds those two things together for me.

If you are a fellow iPhone user you can follow me at sbspooner. If not, you are welcome here any Friday to check out my Insta-photos.

Collage dimensions 12X12 with 9 photos each.

In closing...here are a few good things from this week...

My mom and brother visiting for 3 days.
New pj's for the babies.
Capt' Steve being home more.
Flowers on Valentine's day.
A day at the park.
Lunch at Moe's. 
Hot tea with honey.
This verse.
Some time to sew.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

My Man-child

Can I just say that I'm crazy about this man-child?!!!!!!!!

 

I'm really thankful for the relationship we have. He teases me a lot. He likes to tickle me and jump on my back. He can't stand to not have a sip (or 20 sips) of my diet coke. He loves to sing, brush his teeth, climb trees, and help me in the kitchen.

Today we sat across the table from each other eating our peanut butter sandwiches and tapping our fingers on the table. He is a person. Not just a baby, but a person. This growing up thing is really happening.

At church this morning I heard a phenomenal talk from a friend and older-than-me mama about raising boys. It was so encouraging and inspiring. She talked Biblical masculinity and how to nurture this in our sons. I'm so excited that this man-child will be a man one day. I have so much work to do. Or rather God has so much work to do - through me and my man-child. By His grace we can raise this little boy up to be a godly man - with a gentle and strong spirit, who loves the Lord, and lives life well.

My Morning Out

This past Saturday Capt' Steve had plans to be gone all afternoon and evening for some much needed and deserved recreation with his man friends. Because I knew I would be hunkering down for the remainder of the day and night, I told him that I would like Saturday morning off . Totally off duty. As in I'm leaving and I will be back around noon.

I NEVER DO THIS.

It was so grand.

I started out with coffee and grocery list making.

Then I leisurely dipped into Home Depot to buy some paint.

Next, I wandered a flea market and told myself that I could take one full hour. And I did take the full hour.

My one find - salt and pepper shakers. $3.

Don't you love a teacup? I'm drawn to them.

I wrapped up my little adventure at Publix, my home away from home.

It was such a treat to just GET OUT. Stephen Grande is always encouraging me to do this more. But I love to be with my family and I find it really hard to pull away...even for a few hours.

I spent the rest of the weekend hunkered down with these two knuckleheads - drinking hot tea, making cookies, wearing over sized sweatshirts, and painting and rearranging furniture.

I hope your weekend left you refreshed and invigorated too.

DDIY (Don't Do It Yourself) Haircut

Stephen Small was in need of a haircut. He was looking a little Jungle Boy-esque. I thought to myself "I'll just do this myself. I've done it before. Let's give it a whirl."

I reviewed how to cut boys hair on a few websites.

Then I gathered my scissors, a comb, and a jar of water. I set him up in the highchair and turned on on a little Curious George. And I started clipping. He was slightly squirmy, but for the most part it was really going well.

And then oops - one snip too short in the front.

So I did what was only natural and continued to chop away.

Yikes!

I'm not a perfectionist and I'm not a very picky person. Those two qualities came in handy in this situation.

It's just hair.

Good thing he's only two because he doesn't give a darn.

Secretly I think he's really proud of it.

I suspect this because his excitement escalated to a significantly high level.

This is what I call a Don't Do IT Yourself haircut.

ABC's of Housework

My mom gave me this idea and I love it. I use it daily. It's the ABC's of housework.

A - Awake, body and mind.

B- Bed, make the bed.

C- Clothes, start a load of clothes in the wash, or fold, or put some away.

D- Dishes, load or empty the dishwasher.
        Dinner, think/plan dinner. Take out anything from freezer that might need defrosting.

E- Exercise. I typically just put on my exercise clothes at this point and plan when/how I'm going to exercise, which is usually naptime.

F- Fun, do something fun.
         Floors, pick up, tidy up, sweep floors.

G- G-mail. Read and respond to a few e-mails.

So G is as far as I get, and most days I don't even get that far. And of course I don't do these things in this exact order everyday. But I do mentally go through these ABC's when I need to gain focus. With two little kids, I am constantly getting distracted and it is difficult to get in the zone and accomplish anything. Having this tool and a flexible plan really helps. And if I only get to B ---- so what? At least I did one thing in the arena of housework that day.

Following Up on My Goals

Throughout my blogging days I have made several resolutions, announced goals, and shared habits I'm trying to change or implement. I think it's about time I reveal how well some of those things have gone - and how I have miserably failed at others.

I will start with the most recent and work backwards.

My 2012 New Year's resolutions were 1- get more sleep and 2- read more to my children. Both are going reasonably well. 

When I set the get more sleep goal, I gave myself permission to not set my alarm. I figured this is the only way it would work. I believe I do some of my best sleeping between the hours of 4:30- 7:00 am. Because of this, it has been ridiculously easy to keep this resolution, one that basically requires me to sleep later. I get up when the children wake me up. We are all fairly early risers. In theory I would love to wake up before kids, exercise, read my Bible, etc. But when I do this I am stupidly exhausted and irritated. Plus I usually hit the snooze button 40 times when I try to wake up early. I think I'm better off (for now, in this specific stage of life) with the sleep.

Reading to kids more. We are doing this!!! I started off by reading to Stephen before nap and bed time. The naptime read eventually fell by the wayside and unfortunately the nap did too. But now he will spend his "rest" time thumbing through books on his own. He really loves reading before bed, and I'm pretty sure he has figured out that the more books we read the longer he can delay actually going to bed. A blog reader sent me some fantastic advice on reading to children - pick books they like with things they recognize, make it a part of nap and bed time routines. Also, another friend told me she will spontaneously start reading in the room where her kids are playing - even if they are not interested. Eventually they will hear a word they recognize and get involved in the story. It works. So yay! We are reading. On average I'd say we read 3-4 books a day. It's not much but it's more than we were doing before. Occasionally, Stephen will initiate reading by bringing me a book. Warms my heart.

Also, in my New Year's resolution post I said I wanted to do project 365 where you take one photo a day for a year and share it on a blog. Big FAIL. I got busy and dropped this like a hot potato. Though it seemed fun and a small task at first, it turned into just one more thing. I'm filing it under the do less category.

Moving on....in this post  I declared that I wanted to regularly start eating breakfast and lose 5 lbs. My pattern was to overeat during the day, feel guilty about it, wake up the next morning and try to (subconsciously) compensate by skipping breakfast. As expected, by mid morning I found myself overly hungry and downing my children's goldfish. Much like the get more sleep goal, the you must eat breakfast turned out to be an easy goal to achieve. Awww shucks, you mean I have to eat another meal??? Aww man, you mean I don't have to get up at 5 am?? See what I mean....easy, realistic goals. I dare say I have not skipped a breakfast since I first posted about this on the web. As far as attributing this goal to help me lose weight - yes, I do think eating breakfast has been a factor in losing a little bit of weight.

In this post I discussed 4 things I was working on...

1. I wanted to make the coffee at night so it would be waiting for me ready in the morning. I'd say we now do this 5 out of 7 mornings a week.

2. I wanted to exercise regularly at home. I have never been an exercise video type of gal, but in this season of life it is the best way for me to get consistent exercise without depending on the weather or getting to the gym. I started out really strong in this area, but man oh man have I been struggling. I have tons of excuses. But really there is no excuse. I definitely need to have pep talk with myself about this one.

3. I set out to spend less time on the computer. This one I have done out of necessity. I have two toddlers. They are constantly on the verge of causing harm or injury to themselves or others. They demand my attention. I can't really take credit for having self control and spending less time on the computer, but it is something I have had to do to keep my children safe. So yeah, by default I have succeeded at this one.

4. Have people over more. FAIL. I have no good excuse except that life is so full.  I anticipate stages changing and I'm going to keep at it because it is something I enjoy. *I did have a friend over last week. We had a lovely time visiting on my back porch.

So I think that's enough following up for now. I hope to post soon about last year's less is more movement. Also, I hope soon to give an update about Stephen's hand injury. Both of these posts are floating around in my mind.

Until then.... have a great week!

I found this list in a pile of old recipes the other day. It's a list I made in nursing school. One of our assignments was to go to an AA meeting. Wow, what a blast from the past. Even then I was into goals. I love goals, small and large.

Wednesday

Early grocery store run. Avocados were BOGO. Saw these pretty wine bottles. Didn't buy any.

 

Stayed outside all morning. Drank second cup of coffee with milk. Watched kids play.

 

 

Had a nice rain. Made chicken noodle soup. Laurie napped. Stephen watched Toy Story 3.

UPS man arrived just in time. Desperate for diapers. Kids wearing our very last ones. Seriously.

Put kids to bed early. Did Pilates for the first time this week. Caught up on blogs. Watched re-runs of the office.

Recieved e-mail from Netflix :How was the Picture Quality of Curious George: Season 3: "Ice Station Monkey / The Perfect Carrot"?

Made me laugh.

Good day.