oops !

Out from under my rock

Well, not technically under a rock, but spending more time in the world, and less time on the world wide web.
The past few months have been jam packed with growing kids, family from out of state, summer sun and exploring with our second year of unschooling/homeschooling :)

Opportunities are on the rise and things are about to getting interesting, so here's to getting back to blogging :p

It was worth the travel

Picture this
Two children
Living on complete opposite sides of the world.
One residing on the Cape Verde Islands, and the other
In Massachusetts.




At the age of 4, the little girl living on the island of Santiago, is being scolded for burning a pot of rice, as she daydreams of playing outside.
About 4,000 miles away the 4 yr old living in Mattapoisette, is snuggled on her fathers lap, in a light blue recliner watching Mary Martin in her leading role in the Peter pan movie.
A year later, at now 5 yrs old, both girls would attend school.
One will be picked up at the top of her street by a yellow school bus, and the other will walk over a mile on dirt roads to her school.
One 5 yr old will play outside during the summer months, spending her days having water fights and playing with her cousins. While the other would walk miles to collect liters of clean drinking water to have for the day, since the water she had access to, was for washing her clothes on the wash board.
One child would sit on her stoop playing with her Polly pocket, while the other child would be cutting cans to make a toy car to share with other neighborhood children.
As the years would go by, the girl from Santiago would travel on to Germany, and then into Mass. The girl from Mattapoisette would travel a little ways up in to the Boston area.
As fragile times would have it, both girls would be in Hyannis Mass,
Meeting face to face.
Forging an unbreakable bond
Here's to the rest of our lives as best friends!

You know you have children when....

Sitting on the toilet, I was inspired to write this blogpost. As I look to the left, I thought.......



You know you have children.....when there's a strainer in your bathroom.



You know you have children......when you begin saving these! ^



You know you have children.....when your bread looks like this! ^



You know you have children when...... YOUR bedroom floor looks like this^



You know you have children when.....YOUR sunglasses look like this ^



You know you have children when....you have these in every crevice of your home



You know you have children when....even you child safety lock looks sad :(

Not enough hours in a day

I know I'm not the only one who thinks this. For some it might be quite the opposite, but i feel, depending on what you do, it's either categorized in 2 boxes. 1.) your doing the same few things you do everyday that are long and time consuming, or box 2.) your day is filled with a bunch of smaller tasks that equal out to be long and time consuming.
Problem? These things are usually necessary for your every day life.
Other problem? There are just not enough hrs in a day!

A working parent's day might look something like this,
Wake up & get kids off to school
Rush to work
Stay at work from 8am-4pm
Pick up children from school/daycare
Go home start dinner
Make sure home works is done
Bathe children & put them to bed at 7:30pm
Stay up and prepare everything for next day

OR

A stay at home parent's day might look like this,
Wake up to children who have already been up!
Go start coffee as your children flock to your legs for food, like pigeons in a McDonalds parking lot
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Feed children ( sprinkle Cheerios on floor) LOL
Remove diaper from fluffy butt
Attempt to make cup of coffee
Leave coffee to attend to child who has pee'd the Nile river
Remove remote from the hands of wrestling children, because the hot debate is if we're going to watch the weather channel (Evelyn) or PBS ( Omri)
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Nurse youngest child who has just injured herself using the oven door as a hang gliding device
Rangel up children to wash and dress in attempts to get them to the park/ or library
Come home to prepare lunch
Pray that ALL children take a nap
Try and relax while 2 children sleep and one runs the house
(phone rings...immediate chaos ensues)
Look at the clock and scream "IT'S ONLY 1:30!"
Check email ?
Kids wake, have a snack read 4 out of the 15 library books
Take pictures of them bouncing off walls
Watch naked child walk past me with one red glove and a slice of raisin bread
Chat on bed with 6 yr old about butterflies
Daddy comes home 3pm
Run to bedroom with iPad chocolates
12 mn later..........smallest child pushed bedroom door open and crawls on bed
Do a load of diaper laundry
Play tea party dr.s office in learning room
Tear up kitchen table with popsicle sticks and water colors
Eat dinner at 7ish ( yeah I know)
2out of 3 kids in bed by 9
Oooh, remember to put laundry in drier
Live the nightlife with Little one till 10 ish.....then head to bed
My last glance at the clock says 1:34 am

NOTE:
(Since I've come from the working world with child and am now a SAHM with children these are from my experiences)

Now I know both these look 3 chocolates short of desirable, but they share similar qualities. They both lack the obvious, housekeeping duties, and 'extras', But I pulled from both, what were necessity.
I think we can all agree to some extent, that after we do such 'duties' we could use an extra 4 to 8hrs a day to complete the other needed tasks in our lives, I.e washing floors, doing laundry, keeping up with dishes, running to the post office, having the time to catch up with phone calls / emails, time for yourself and so on.

There just aren't enough hrs in a day

And Until there are a few extra hrs added, I'm going to continue to put what i feel are important first. Reading, playing, laughing, eating, teaching, hugging, screaming, being creative and taking it slow.
Because my dishes will be just as I left them, but my children won't keep.

And here's a little ditty I mustered up.........

I don't do it because it's easy, I do it because it's worth it!

'My house is spotless', is a lie
My sticky floors make great designs
Clean kitchen table adorned with flowers...er...
My Dirty dishes are stacked like towers
I wish i had time for things of this sort....
But laundry piles make great forts
No t.v room located in basement
My children make for great entertainment
Our laughter is far greater than our cries
If i state, 'I'm a perfect mother' I'd be telling you lies
Join us if you will, or leave us alone
While we demonstrate what it's like to make a house a home :)

How to turn a muslin into a sling

This muslin blanket is an Aden+Anais. If you know about this type of breathable, over size, light weight blanket, you will know it serves as many purposes. It can drape over carseats and strollers as a shade, moms use them as burp rags, they are also what is deemed to be a 'safe' blanket, in bed with babies. As a mom of 3 I have recently discovered that it can also be used as a sling when you're in a pinch. Here's how......


Open muslin completely and bring the right bottom corner to the left top corner.


Taking both ends to that newly made left corner...


And fold it in toward center.



Gather you top and bottom ends and make a knot. ( knot will be tighter depending on size of baby)


When held should look like a mini pouch ;)



:)


Place makeshift sling on, and go find child!


Stuff baby in and tighten or loosen knot as desired.

A year of nursing

Since the day I left my nest and snuggled against my home....



Laying on mums chest, I knew I wasn't alone...


Through, lip tie and tongue tie, high palate and reflux



I would nurse my way through because I knew it was best for us...





Through my first cold.....




And snuggles with my cow.



Through lazy afternoons, I would demand milk now!



dribbling away milk, on family trips.....



And slight confusion on daddy's lips.....



Through face time while mommy chats......



And evening nursing acrobats......




I can't believe the time is here! I have already been nursing just one year!

***

I’m celebrating World Breastfeeding Week with Natural Parents Network!

You can, too — link up your breastfeeding posts from August 1-7 in the linky below, and enjoy reading, commenting on, and sharing the posts collected here and on Natural Parents Network.

(Visit NPN for the code to place on your blog.)