Just By Living

The Good Life

2012-02-20T16:09:00.000-08:00

Someone learned how to lounge in the tubby.

Today is my birthday.

2012-02-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

I began to write a post on my birthday last year and left in the draft section. This morning I reread it and was shocked at how much has changed. 26 was a rough year for me and on my 27th birthday I wrote a post that had this awful, sad undertone. The virtual version of that thing where you smile and say "I'm fine" with tears in your eyes. Reading it again, a year later, I could feel the tightness in my throat and the watery tears sting my eyes and cling to my eyelashes. This year, I am a completely different person living a very different life. My life used to be filled with stress and today, we are stress free and headed nowhere but up. What a difference a year can make.

This a quote from last years post...

Today is my birthday. I am 27. I feel so much older. At least today I do. Most days I feel so much younger. Like in those movies when a 13 year old makes a wish and all of a sudden she is in her 30s and totally lost. How did I get here?

I don't feel like that anymore. I feel like I am exactly where I should be. I made a very determined and exact decision last year. I knew what kind of life I wanted and I made that happen. Anything in this world is possible. I am proud of myself. My husband. My family. We were at the lowest point and made the hard climb up. Today feels not like a celebration of my birth but more of a celebration of our rebirth.

Happy Rebirth Day...

2012-02-12T06:54:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to say I am overwhelmed by the amount of love coming from everyone in regards to my last post. The support is exactly what I needed and it was a great reminder of why I started blogging in the first place. I also want to clarify that I in no way dislike or was knocking on the crafty mamas! I was more referencing the pressure and what its done to the internet. I think there are a lot of amazing moms out there with beautiful blogs who have so much talent (cooking, crafting, and what have you) and I read them and love them. (im looking at YOU James and Emily...two of my favs) Its the ones who have it naturally and share their lives from a genuine, real place that I love, not the ones succumbing to pressure.

Anyways....
I wanted to share with you the Bobo Choses S/S 12 line that just went up in Monkey & The Bug's shop. Im obsessed with it. OBSESSSED. I havent loved a kids collection this much in a long, long time. These re just a couple cute pieces but their is more HERE

2012-02-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

Is it me or has the blogging atmosphere changed tremendously in the last few months? I love that people are finding success through their blogs but I miss the days before sponsors and scheduled posts. What happened to just blogging what was currently inspiring you? All these posed photo shoots and contests and delicious recipes that I cant cook and crafting projects I could never come up with, it's too much for me. Everything is so perfect. Perfect instagrams and pinterests and vimeo accounts. I can't keep up.
I'm having a hard time dealing with all these internet pressures.
Truth be told MY LIFE ISNT PRETTY ENOUGH FOR PINTEREST.
and i'm okay with that.
I took Hendrix to the craft store today to buy supplies for homemade Valentines. I wandered the aisles, grabbing doilies and googley eyes. About 20 minutes in I realized I had a cart full of pink crap but I wasn't having fun. I was majorly stressed out. I had no plan. I should have googled or downloaded an app or picked up one of those holiday themed magazines you see at the grocery checkout for crafting ideas. For a minute, I panicked. I felt inferior and incompetent and most of all, I really didn't want to let Hendrix down. He deserves pretty craft projects. He deserves a picture perfect life with home cooked meals and organized playrooms and color coded bookcases and a tidy laundry room with lots of natural light. I was spinning. There I was, Wednesday morning in Joanne Fabrics with tears in my eyes and pipe cleaners in my hands.
Then
I looked down at Hendrix with his big eyes and sugar sweet smile and chubby knuckles and thought
Fuck it.
I took him of of the cart, grabbed some plain cards, and let him run free in the sticker aisle. He picked out five sets. Fish and puppies and ice cream stickers. None of them having anything to do with Valentines day. All of them having something to do with what brings him joy.
He kept saying "Thank you so, so much Mommy, Hendrix so, so happy"
Then we came home and he colored like a mad man and stuck hamsters on top of ice cream trucks and made fishies kiss boston terriers and I thought
Pin THIS.
Life is the little things. The things you cant stick on a virtual pin board. The things that would make Martha Stewart shudder.
I am not that mother. I will always be in awe of those who can and who do and who bake and who organize and who pull it all together. But that's not me.
In this house, in my arms, my boy is loved.
It's messy, and imperfect, and it's ours.
Our unorganized, mismatched, overflowing, never on time, always in love life.

I did good today. Those valentines? They are the most beautiful I have ever seen.

Mama/Baby

2012-02-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

Currently digging....

FOR MAMA:

buy here

FOR BABY:

buy here

Anyone else missing summer?

2012-02-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

I am dying for a day by the pool.

Help A Girl Out?

2012-02-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

It would be mega super awesome if you all could give me a vote on top baby blogs. Just click the banner below and when the page pops up, click the bubble to the left.

THANKS!

dig dig dig

2012-01-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

Hendrix loves to hide under the covers and pretend he is a polar bear in his cave. He likes to "dig,dig,dig" his way out. and i love it.

Coming soon....

2012-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

Check THIS out!!!!

I'm embarrassed by how much i love this

2012-01-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

Pretty Sunlight

2012-01-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

Is there anything better than pretty sunlight pouring through the windows in the kitchen? I'm loving these pictures. Hendrix has blond hair but here it looks so vibrantly red. I have been getting a lot of questions about Henry's hair. We have yet to cut it other than a couple bang trims which I regretted and am now growing his bangs out. Cutting his hair just hasn't been high on our list of priorities. Michael and I have decided that Hendrix will get a shape up soon since he is starting to have a pretty serious mullet. We get two very specific reactions to Henry's hair, some love it and others...not so much. People seem genuinely concerned when seeing that I have a little boy with long hair which is always kind of odd to me. Hair is such a tiny, insignificant part of life. We like his hair long and that's all. There is nothing more to it. I wasn't even going to address it since I just don't really think about it but I have been getting a lot of pressure to cut it. When Henry wants short hair, he will get it, Otherwise? It's a non issue in our house.

Do you have a boy with long hair? How about a girl with short? Ive always loved when little ladies have short little hair do's. What are your thoughts on the subject? If you disagree with me, let me know, I'm always interested in hearing what you all have to say.

.

2012-01-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

Friday Findings: 1/6/11 Edition

2012-01-06T06:57:00.000-08:00

I love this Shel Silverstein poem. We are currently turning it into a piece of art for our house. Thinking it will go in the playroom. Happy Friday everyone!

Im JEALOUS!

THIS company is amazing!!

I really NEED to step up my playroom game!

SO beautiful!!

THIS is one of my absolute favorite stores.

Oh CHLOE!

Yuck. I so do NOT want to live here.

The end of an era...

2011-12-30T20:48:00.000-08:00

So it is official, Hendrix is weaned. After two years and three months of nursing our breast feeding relationship has come to an end. It's a bitter sweet moment in my life. Watching my boy become more independent fills me with an overwhelming sense of pride and I am excited to get my body back. On the other end, it is a very definite end to something I'm incredibly attached to and that has been nothing short of heart breaking.

I figured I would share some of the ways we managed to work through weaning without a ton of tears.Weaning started months ago. I did it gradually so it wouldn't feel like a sudden jolt to either one of us. I think Hendrix asked for milk for three reasons 1. boredom 2.hunger and 3. comfort. If it was 1 or 2 I didn't feel bad about taking it away from him and as far as 3 goes, one of my main goals here was to make him more independent so if he was looking or comfort I wanted him to get it from other ways.

The first step was no longer offering mama milk to Hendrix. I would, often without even realizing, offer milk as a solution to a lot of problems. If H was throwing fits in a restaurant or bumped his head the first thing I would do was offer up some milk. Ending this helped me realize how little he actually wanted it.

After a couple weeks of that I began putting Hendrix off when he would ask for milk. I also made it a point to only nurse at certain times of the day in certain places. I nursed in the morning, nap, and nighttime. That was it. No more nursing in public or when we were out and about. I'd be lying if I said this was easy. This resulted in a lot of temper tantrums at first. He would yell and grab at my shirt but I held firm. I looked at it like this; if we are in the store and Henry asks for water I most likely don't have any. Therefore he doesn't get it. There's no way around it and sometimes he just has to hear "no, you can have some later". The same can go for mama milk. He didn't always like it, but he got used to it real fast. Once he knew when to expect his milk he would roll with it. After a while if I said, "no, you can have mama milk later" he would just move on without protest. I started carrying water and snacks with me at all times to help distract him from wanting mama milk. I think this is probably where a lot of people have trouble, sometimes you have to say no and mean it. Consistency is really important here. Tantrums suck but they are apart of having a toddler and whether its breast milk related or not, as some point you have to stick to your guns. I didn't feel bad for Henry because I wasn't taking the milk away completely, I was just creating some boundaries.

After a month or so I moved on to getting rid of his nighttime feedings. I thought for sure this was going to be the hardest step. It wasn't. I'm still blown away by how easily Hendrix gave it up. I thought it would be tears and screaming and a total nightmare. While it wasn't easy, I was shocked by how quickly he moved on from bedtime nursing. I began by pumping a little bit and putting it in a cup for Hendrix to have right before bed. We did his usual routine of PJs, face washing, teeth brushing, and story reading and right before lights out (when I would normally nurse him) I gave him a cup of mama milk. He was pretty stoked on this until he realized that he wasn't getting any straight from the boob.I assured him that he could nurse in the morning. He whined the words "mama milk" about a thousand times and even worked himself up to tears once or twice but I stayed with him and rubbed his back. Hendrix curled himself up next to me and while playing with my hair, drifted off to sleep. The next night he only whined about half that. The following night, he asked for mama milk five times. The night after that he never mentioned it all.
Once that was over and done with I didn't give him any in the morning. He just let that go. No fuss whatsoever.
That was about a two weeks ago and since then he hasn't had any. I am totally shocked by easy it actually was. I thought we were going to have EPIC fits over it but once we got past the first few days of each "phase" he was fine. I am also shocked by how different bed time is. He is much calmer and falls asleep a lot easier than he ever did with nursing. I actually think the breast feeding was keeping him up towards the end. He is waking well rested and in a better mood since weaning. I believe that may be because while he was still nursing if he awoke in the middle of the night he would always need BFing to fall back asleep but now he just rolls over and drifts off!
I still get a bit sad over the end of this era in my life but overall, I think it was the best decision for Hendrix.

If you breast fed your babe at what age did you wean? Any tips for those who haven't? What about those still BFing? How long do you want to go for?

A Few Of My Favorite Things

2011-12-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Picture of Us

2011-12-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Obsessed: Muffin and Mani Wallpaper

2011-12-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

The cutest wallpaper ever! Check it HERE.

BOOM

2011-12-09T20:56:00.000-08:00

Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got

A Few Of My Favorite Things

2011-12-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Lazy mornings at The Liberty Hotel...

Currently.

2011-11-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

Currently inspired by this song. these pictures. dusk, dawn, the fog, and hazy days.

Clean Getaway by Maria Taylor on Grooveshark

one. two. three. four. five.

I'm Back!

2011-11-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I needed a moment to just live and not worry about blogging every single thing that I do. However, I'M BACK. I will be posting more later but here are a few pics Hendrix's Dada took while playing at the park. Michae also made the cutest video of Henry, you can watch it HERE.

How We Dress Our Big Dude

2011-10-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to follow up with my How I Dress My Little Dude post with a How We dress Our Big Dude post. C, my 9 year old stepson, has always been a bit opinionated about what he wears. This is something we greatly encourage. So mostly we just guide him in his clothing decisions. Here are a few points for dressing older children.

C in Surface To Air and H&M pants

LET THEM EXPRESS THEMSELVES I think this is so important. C pretty much picks out all his own stuff. We do sometimes grab him things when he is not with us but 99.9% of the time he is with us when buy clothing for him. It's fun watching him come up with ways to show off his personality on the outside. One of my favorite stories is when he was about 6 we took him school shopping and he refused to buy anything that wasn't the color black because he was "rock n rolling". So black it was. Everything was black other than one brightly colored monster tee. This phase didn't last that long but most of them don't. Children need to learn how to make their way in this world while holding onto their individuality and experimenting with who they want to be. Clothing is an easy way to give them some freedom and control over their daily life.

SET BOUNDARIES The above suggestion can only work if there are some boundaries. We have a couple small rules when it comes to C dressing himself. 1.It has to be weather appropriate. 2.It has to fit properly. and 3.It has to be event appropriate. For example, no PJ'S to school or play clothing to a formal event. With these rules in place it's pretty easy for C to go into his room and decide for himself what he wants to wear for the day.

At the anime festival last year.

HAVE FUN Children's clothing can be really exciting. I like to look for pieces that get C to take pride in what he is wearing. He has a glow in the dark shirt, one that changes color in the sun, and loads of star wars tee shirts. A huge chunk of what he wears are silly tee shirts and crazy colored sweatshirts.

STOP DRESSING BOYS LIKE CRAP There I said it. I am so sick of seeing people with daughters dressed in adorable little outfits and then their boys are in old, stained, and ill fitting tee shirts and basketball shirts. Why is it parents just throw in the towel with their boys? Teach your young man to take some pride in what he is wearing. I'm not saying he needs to wear a three piece suit to school but there is a time and place for basketball shirts and those are on gym days and at summer camp. I can assure you that a pair of cotton or twill shorts are just as cozy gym clothing.

Imps & Elves hoodie, H&M jeans, thrifted boots, American Apparel socks, and his Mario hat.

BUY GREAT BASICS Invest in comfy undies, socks, and basic tees. I buy all our basics from either American Apparel or Nico Nico at Monkey & The Bug. C has recently discovered ESP no. 1 while he was modeling for Monkey & The Bug (check out his pics HERE) and he has requested I get him a few pieces from their line as well. All three are high quality and will last, which is always important when it comes to basics. They get worn a lot so you don't want them falling apart.

LOOK TO THE WEB I really love going online and looking for great novelty shops. I love Nerdyshirts.com for star wars, Nintendo, and video game themed tees for C. They are quick to delver, have some really unique stuff, and the quality is fantastic.

Obsessed with his blue button up from American Apparel. The last pic is at a rehearsal dinner for his Aunt and Uncles wedding. The bow tie is from Me and Matilda.

LET THEM HAVE THEIR OBSESSIONS Sometimes C falls in love with a particular item and wants to wear it constantly. As long as it is clean (and goes with our three rules) then we let him go to town.

ACCESSORIZES C likes playing with accessories. Sometimes they are bit wacky but it is a great way to express his individuality so we let him. This goes for shoes as well. He has some basic Chuck Taylors, crocs, and black boots but otherwise his sneaker selection is pretty wacky. We don't push him to "match" he can come up with any combos he wants.

DRESS THEM UP Enjoy the times you get to actually dress them up. We had a lot of fun with my brother (and now sister) in laws wedding. The boys wore the cutest bow tie and suspender combo from Divine Domestication. I highly recommend them for custom wedding stuff. Fabulous company! This goes for holidays as well. We always try to be a bit festive during the more special days of the year.

SAVE IT I save all of C's awesome stuff for when H gets older. (only the particularly cute items that are still in good condition) Actually, I did this before I even knew H would ever exist. The result is a good chunk of beautiful clothing for Hendrix someday.

MY FAV SHOPS/BRANDS FOR OLDER BOYS

Nerdyshirts.com
Monkey & The Bug
American Apparel
77 Kids by American Eagle
H&M Kids
Imps & Elves
Nico Nico
ESP no. 1
Surface To Air
Shaun White for Target

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENDRIX!

2011-10-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my boy turned two!
more to come....

this

2011-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

1. 2. 3. 4.

Friday Findings: 10/14/11 Edition

2011-10-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Karen O covering Willie Nelson for a good cause? and it involves chipotle? yea. this video is awesome. more on it HERE.

I LOVE this blog.

A great street STYLE round up.

PRETTY pictures.

THIS is so sweet.

THIS is one of my favorite new clothing lines for Mama.

I can't decide if I wanna buy THIS or THIS for Hendrix. Thoughts?

If THIS doesnt give you baby fever, I dont know what will.

Very sweet POST.