Favorite Baby Words

I wish I had written down a few more of my son's early versions of words. They are so cute and funny and you think you'll remember them all, but they do slip away. I miss him saying "um-blah-blah" for "umbrella" and "stah-baby" for "strawberry." Now he says "waterlemon" instead of "watermelon" and I want to make sure I get that written down so that I can remember it later.

What are some of the mispronunciations your kids came up with?

Meal Plan

I hate the weeks when I don't take the time to figure out what we are going to eat.  Those weeks I come home from work tired and uninspired.  Having a meal plan is so much easier.  Today, I took it up a notch and made a 4 week rotation.   Maybe I will switch that up a little every quarter or something.  In 2010, I also did a resolution where I tried 52 new recipes, it was so much fun. I have felt uninspired and uncreative with my meals this year... I think I am going to do a resolution for 25 in 2012.

I hate to admit it but....

When I see another mom break down in public 95% of me feels empathetic and 5% of me feels like breathing a sigh of relief because even though I know other moms must have those kind of days there's no better proof than seeing it with my own eyes.

What are your favorite books to read to your little ones?

We have a lot of books around here and since many of the readers and contributors to this blog are librarians I'm assuming you have quite the stock pile at your house too. Here is a short list of the ones I never get sick of reading to my girls:
Big Momma Makes the World I found this one at the library and love it so much because I get to read it in a fun southern drawl that my husband finds very annoying which for me makes it all the more fun. All the World We have read this one so many times that now when I read it I'll skip every other 2 or 3 worlds and have my daughter fill them in. Flotsam I have to admit I was a little annoyed when I first opened this book and there were no words but my mind was quickly changed by the awesome story the pictures told and the upside of no words is you can make the story as quick or as long as you like.The Pout Pout Fish This is a cute story with lots of potential for using different voices with a fun ending that is the perfect excuse to shower your kid with kisses. Snuggle Puppy My 3 year old has cut me off from reading this because she doesn't like the jazzy voice I use to sing the song but at least I have a few more years before my littlest will be old enough to protest my singing.
What are your family's favorites?

Halloween Candy

It is our duty as parents to do our part to prevent childhood obesity by eating most of our kids Halloween candy right?

Babies grow fast, babies grow slow

Everyone tells you to enjoy your children while they are young because it goes by fast. I had and elderly woman stop me in the grocery store a while back to look at my 2 girls. She sighed and said "I remember those days. Its a shame they go by so fast." then she laughed and said "on the other hand we wouldn't be able to handle it if they didn't."

What I didn't know before having two is that time speeds up with each one you have. If we were to have 5 I feel like I would go to sleep the age I am now and wake up a 50 year old woman with grown children and how I got there would all be a big blurr.

And yet even with time rushing ahead of us I still feel that perhaps I push my 3 year old daughter to act older than she should. I recently took her to the emergency room for a cough and found out she had croup. I told the nurse that I thought only babies got croup and she looked at me and said firmly "she is a baby!" She is right. Yes she grows fast, yes she has learned so much, and yes she is still a baby. I am trying to remind myself to treat her like one more often with cuddles and snuggles and moments with no expectations other than to show her I love her.

You know you are a woman and a mom when...

TMI WARNING!!!

You know you are a woman when you have explosive diarrhea and think "Oooh this is an unexpected calorie free day."

You know you are a mom when you have explosive diarrhea and look at being stuck on the throne as an opportunity to wipe down the things you can reach in the bathroom with a baby wipe all the while talking to a nurse about your baby's cough. Normally you would (like most non-disgusting people) hang up the phone and call back but your child is sick and you've already waited on hold for 30 minutes.

Does gender factor into your reproduction plan?

We have two small children. Many of the moms I know also have two and inevitably when we are in groups the conversations turns to the question who is brave/crazy/coping well enough to try for a third? Usually the discussion includes questions like would we have enough time, money, & space? Then of course there is the question of are we willing to play landlord to a teeny tiny being in our uterus for the better part of a year again? Some think about the work and sleepless nights while others think about the squishy baby chub and sweet baby smell.

Whatever you and your partner have decided the outside world seems to have its own set of rules and while gender is usually only a minute part of the conversation among new moms its seems to be the main question from outsiders. We have two girls and we have gotten the “are you going to try for a boy?” question many times. Still that question is a lot less frustrating than the “Was your husband disappointed when you found out it was another girl?” question.

As I am told parents with one of each gender are not immune. I had one friend who was annoyed because after she found out her second was a girl people kept saying things like oh you must be so happy/relieved to have one of each. She said she loved her son and would have been just as happy to have another boy. Many of my friends with one of each get the exact opposite question we get which is “Are you done having kids since you already have one of each?”

So should families that have one of each be limited to two if they desire more and should people who only wanted to have two keep reproducing until they get the opposite gender?

Honestly, at this point if we were to try for a third it would be easier to have another girl. For me gender doesn’t play a role anymore. I will admit it did when I planned my family in my head I had the genders and the birth orders picked out. Of course my real family is nothing like I planned and I am so thankful for that.

I do however have a few slightly crazy reasons for wanting more children. 1) I sometimes dream of twenty years down the road and giant thanksgiving feasts where I am surrounded by my 10 well adjusted and productive children and even further down the road excessive amount of grandchildren. Of course this dream does not include giving birth to 10 children or paying for 10 college educations 2) I do worry that something might happen to one of our children and then our other child will be left to navigate the world without a sibling but my husband has firmly put his foot down against reproducing just to have a “backup.”

What are your sane or slightly crazy reasons for staying on the baby train or calling it quits?

Now that we've all been through the baby stage what are the things you wish you had known about toddlers?

I'm making my own list. Can't wait to hear yours.