the cutest crawling baby ever

the wolf snapped a few photos of our pup crawling around and standing up!

how did we get so lucky?

being 'present'

as a mother of a tween and a baby it is necessary to multi-task. juggling doing the dishes while checking sisters homework and nursing the baby has become the routine in this house. i’ve been multi-tasking since i was a teen; basically when i had my daughter. there were a lot of nights where nursing and doing homework were imperative or i wouldn’t have finished school and my daughter wouldn’t have gotten fed. as my responsibilities grew with work and other activities, it was only natural to take on more tasks while accomplishing other tasks. i’d like to consider myself excellent at multi-tasking…

but recently i have taken a step back and analyzed what i’m missing out when i’m multi-tasking. sadly, it is a lot. though many things are being accomplished {dishes, homework, blogging, tweeting, nursing, etc} i’m not actually ‘present’. it seems as though the attention my children and husband should get from me through out the day has dwindled down to just physically being here. but mentally they need me too! it saddens me deeply to know that i am not fulfilling the needs of my family!

so with this new year i am going to make it a point to approach each task singly. when i do the dishes, i do the dishes and thats it. when i’m helping bry with her homework, i am going to just help her with her homework {not blog, text, IG, etc at the same time}, when i am nursing baby i am going to make it a point to just nurse him, in his nursery, with out distractions. that is one of the things i am most excited about because i miss the mommy and baby connection of just being ‘present’ with him. same with bry! when we hang out and watch a movie, i am putting down the phone and lap top and we are going to snuggle gosh darn it! the multi-tasking will be cut way down and i am going to enjoy my kids, my family, and life! i am going to be more present.

hey, that's your opinion

i’m just going to go right out there and say it. my kids are my kids and i’ll raise them how i see fit. ok? ok! 

i am so sick and tired of other moms telling me how to raise my kids. look, you labored your precious little bean and popped them out all of your own and i labored mine and popped mine out on my own. therefore we each have our own right to raise our own kids. its not like i labored yours and then you popped yours out and visa versa. {but hey, that would be neat, huh?}

we cloth diaper. used to be full time, but now its not at all cause the house is a disaster and i don’t want to add another load of laundry on top of all that i already have to do anyway. but usually its full time. except at night. but some of my mommy friends feel that they need to tell me that cloth diapering is best for baby and do i know how many chemicals there are in disposables and blah blah blah. yes, i know. but look – what may work for you doesn’t work for me. i appreciate your input, but please don’t put me and my parenting choices down. 

we give our baby organic puree pouches. oh my god, call the presses! she doesn’t use table foods. actually, we do that too, thank you. i’m sorry, but i don’t eat super plain, safe for baby’s tummy foods all the time so we give him purees. which, by the way, he doesn’t want real food half the time. oh no! do you think he is going to be too small? >gasp!< you don’t know how much flack i get for feeding my baby organic puree food from a pouch. look, if i can pronounce the ingredients and there are less than 5, i’m good. and if it’s organic, i’m even better. besides; my baby will let me know when he is ready for food – table or from a pouch. 

we co-sleep. oh no, im going to have an insecure mama’s boy. puhhlease! i co-slept with my daughter for almost 4 years! she’s 11 now and half the time she can’t get rid of me enough. and just to let you know, we do put him in his crib the first part of the night anyway now. well how horrible of you to not want to sleep with your baby! goodness gracious mama’s make up your damn minds! my baby is not going to be insecure and have separation problems because he slept in bed with me for a couple years. and he isn’t going to feel abandoned and lonely if i put him to bed in his own crib each night, either. do what you do and i’ll do what i do. 

we practice attachment parenting, but you let your baby cry himself to sleep? uhhhh, yes. if i didn’t he would sleep in my arms all day long and i wouldn’t be able to sit here and bitch about your opinions and how they dont really mean much to me. seriously though; i run an etsy business and until i can figure out how to cut, sew, finish, and package with no arms then i’ll let him sleep in my arms all damn day long. but don’t get me wrong – we get a lot of snuggle time, play time, baby-wearing time in. i just don’t have all the time in the day to not let him cry himself to sleep {which is only in like 3 minutes most times anyway}. 

yes, these are all things i have heard from friends who have told me that what i am doing is wrong, not right, ruining my childs life. look; i would understand if i popped online and was like ‘hey mamas; i need some suggestions or advice about this or that’ and you offered what works for you or whatever. but most of the time i’m not. i post our life and what we do as a family and i am not asking for your opinion. i don’t sit and troll your facebook for posts that i can correct you on and give you my opinion and beat you down, don’t do it to me. 

parenting is about giving your children the best life that you can with what you have and know and loving them with your whole being. it’s not about that organic cotton swaddle blanket or all natural organic fruit snack or the amount of time you ‘wear’ him through out the day. and i know that just because i didn’t give him the hyland’s brand whatever doesn’t mean he is going to grow up screwed up. 

oliver shai

born at 9:06 am

7.1lbs 19.5 inches long

and simply perfect