The Changing Blues

Today has been all about change...why?? Because I left with a baby and came home with a ONE year old!! Well, technically, I think by age one you are still considered a baby, but certainly not the baby I left with!!  The baby I left with cuddled with me while he drank formula from a bottle three times a day, and the baby I left with wore 9mon clothes still, and the baby I left with still enjoyed playing with all the baby rattles because he hadn't been introduced to big boy toys yet, like ride-on diggers or Little People airplanes...

<Insert big face with smile upside down>  

I've got the blues...the changing blues.

I'm not very good with change, apparently.

And it's not like it's necessarily a sad kinna blues, it's more of a very nostalgic type of blues.

That's what I am, nostalgic.

I've shed all kinds of tears today, they just spring up unannounced while I sort and organize new clothes and put away old ones, or while I clean baby bottles for the last time before Daniel stores them away in the attic, or while putting away the baby toys he's going to ignore (did I mention he has this new super cool ride-on digger from his Uncle Adam?!?! no wonder the little green plastic dinosaur that squeaks with colorful rubber keys attached has gotten zero attention today!).

Having to tackle all these sudden changes all at once has done me in! These feelings just sort of crept up on me today.  On Owen's actual birthday I just felt happy and glad to have survived this sometimes difficult year.  But then today happened, and I really realized that my baby boy isn't such a baby any more, he's changing, and that's a good thing really, and I'm excited about what's to come, but it still makes me, well, nostalgic (I wonder how many times I can write that word today?).  

I remember while working at the day care during college, a mom had come to pick up her adorable little girl, probably 9-10 months at the time, and I replayed an event for her that occurred during the day where the little girl tried over and over to get her head on the right spot in the Bobby to lay down and drink her bottle (instead of allowing us to lay her down like usual).  The mom's reaction was nothing like I had expected.  She just glanced at her daughter with a sort of sad smile on her face and just said, "Oh, she's sure growing up huh?"  I had expected more of an excited response, one that started with laughter at her daughter's goofy antics and then something like this, "She did! O wow, she's getting so big! I'm so proud she knows how to move her body like that, she sure is smart and creative!"  Maybe those are thoughts that occurred later to this mom, but her initial response was one of sadness.  Sad that time is too gosh darn consistent.  There is no rewind button, or fast forward button, or pause button, just time, that methodically changes at a constant rate, and simultaneously changing our babies into toddlers and our toddlers into kids and our kids into *GASP* teenagers and our teenagers into adults! Whoa, whoa!

breath...

I am looking forward to what all those future stages bring, and I am glad I get to fondly look back to remember the good times during Owen's first year (and during Selah's 4th year...she turns 4 in three weeks!! Ahh!), so I'll end the night with all those nostalgic (last time!) feelings behind me, and fall asleep in anticipation of what tomorrow will bring!    

  

We're Back!!!

HOME SWEET HOME...after exactly three weeks we are finally HOME!!  I'm so happy, ecstatic really, to finally be back to our place of residence, in an area I can easily navigate and with family and friends I haven't connected with in forever...but there is still this longing to be back with those I have left behind.  It's so hard to be so far from people I love to be around so very much.  I wish there was a way to fix this dilemma, spending time with such special people only every couple years is just not cutting it.  Maybe I need to get my flying license and buy a plane??? Hmmmm... something to think about!   

I want to write about all the adventures we experienced and all that I have learned and how I have grown during our road trip, but it is just going to have to wait.  

I'm tired, so very, very tired, in a -we did a ton of really fun stuff with a lot of amazing people we love dearly- type of tired, the type of tired that makes it all worth it...but extremely tired nonetheless.  There are way too many things to process and reflect upon, not to mention all the pictures to organize, before trying to write a decent post about it, which I'll probably break into two or three different parts... three weeks people, THREE weeks, on the road, living out of a suitcase, sleeping in all sorts of different situations, trying new things and trying to adapt to all the different places we ventured to, it was TRIP (in both senses of that word!).  

I'll just end by saying this, we came home with so much more than when we left, not just physical stuff (although, that is true also), but so much more understanding and appreciation and love and memories, soooo many wonderful memories! Ahh! I just can't wait to share it all and get it written down! But I will be patient...because my (MY) bed is calling my name very loudly, and I'm going to listen, good night ya'll!! Looking forward to filling you in! 

To all those whom we have left behind...we miss you terribly and you are deeply loved!!! Our time with you and the memories we made will be cherished forever!! Much love to you all along with big, cross country hugs!!!

Road Trip Prep

      As I sit to write this blog post I am in Manawa, WI at Daniel’s Aunt Kelly and Uncle Dave’s house, tucked away amongst tall, green trees where chirping yellow canaries feast from the feeder and woodpeckers knock away on the mighty trunk.  The serene water of Bear Lake is within view, and the gentle breeze coming in from the open windows is heavenly.  It’s peaceful.  It’s beautiful.  It’s perfect.  I’m in my happy place and the company couldn’t be better.

I will tell you all about our drive up here and more about our stay in Wisconsin, but before I get there I just want to devote this post to the preparation part of this trip.   The two weeks prior to this trip, my life was consumed with making lists upon lists of things to pack, and scrounging around for ideas of activities to buy/make to keeps kids occupied on a three-week road trip…where a large part of the time all four of us would be in the confined quarters of a vehicle…daunting.  So far though, all the hard work and late nights has been totally worth it!!!  Let me share with you all what my plan for surviving a long road trip with a 4-year-old (almost) and one-year-old (almost) was/is…

Thinking of activities to keep Selah busy was really easy and fun, so I’ll start with that:

I cut up three different colors of pool noodles,
about 1 inch chunks, with a bread knife.

Then I printed off and laminated strips of paper with
 circles in those same colors in different patterns
(for example: blue, blue, green, blue blue, green...),
and then gave Selah a piece of rope so she could string the noodles
on the rope following a pattern...so far, this has been her favorite.
I have the inside of the folder covered in packing tape
and then the strips stuck on with rolled up tape so that whichever pattern strip
she picks I can tape it on the back of the headrest
in front of her as an easy access reference.
The inspiration for this idea came from here.

We also brought along a portable CD player so she
 could listen to/look at books on tape...
sadly, our brand new CD player doesn't work :(,
fail.

We packed a clipboard to serve multiple purposes.  In this picture I have
an activity for Selah to practice writing her name, I found the template
for this here and it is titled "Name Stamping".
Since I didn't want Selah to have access to stamps and an ink pad in the car
I brought ABC stickers instead.  I also have pages with Mom, Dad, and Owen
written on them so she can practice writing those as well.
She also uses this clipboard for coloring and working on a little booklet I made
with a picture of each state we go through in the order we go through it.

The clipboard is also used to hold these laminated Bingo cards.
I printed off two different kinds, one for the trip up and one for the trip down.
When she finds one of the objects she places a sticker over the picture.
I found the templates for these cards here and here.

This is a cookie sheet with magnet pieces cut from a magnet roll
stuck on the back of each puzzle piece.

This is an I Spy bottle.  Don't you just love my duck tape addition?? Sure makes
it look cute huh?! These projects were all about functionality and getting
as much done as possible, not about cuteness...clearly :)

I found 60ish odds and ends around our house
(bracelet, plastic spoon, paper clip, plastic butterfly, etc, etc.)
and poured some rice into a 2 liter bottle, added a few items, poured a bit more rice,
added some more items, so on and so forth until I filled the bottle up to the top.
Before putting the items in the bottle I took a picture of each item so that
I could print each picture, laminate it, hole punch it, and put it on a binder ring.
This activity hasn't been introduced yet so that I have something to whip out
later on, so I'll tell ya if it is successful or not in a future post.

I also brought along a coloring book, BrainQuest activity book, spiralgraph and magnetic draw pad thing (I don't know the technical term for either of those??) both found at the Dollar Tree, and lots and lots of books.

Now for Owen, who was a little bit trickier to plan for because his idea of fun is moving and shaking, not sitting in one place doing a quiet activity...

Here is a mess-free art activity, however, thus far, Selah has enjoyed the art
part of it and Owen has enjoyed destroying the packaging...whatever works!!

I got this fabric from my mother-in-law who had saved it from years ago,
when her boys were little.  I had no idea what to use it for until I saw THIS.

I found an empty Puff container and cut a hole on the top of the lid.
Then I cut strips of that fabric, tied them together, and stuffed it inside.
So far, this has been Owen's favorite activity and
 has kept him busy up to 10 minutes at a time!
Again with the duck tape...it may not be
super cute, but it gets the job done!
Selah loved this activity too, and she was super
helpful at stuffing the fabric back in the container.

My puppets!  Found clipart on google, printed them, laminated them, taped them on popcicle sticks

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Cast for Old McDonald Had a Farm

Cast for Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
or
Five Little Monkey Swinging in a T

Owen's view.
I sewed these curtains with some of
that above pictured fabric too.  I just
sewed some velcro on the very top and then
about half way down so that I could
loop it over the car seat handle.

The puppeteer, ready for duty!
Sadly, Owen doesn't care too much for the curtains,
he plays with them a bit since it's hanging in front of him, but when I sing
he just stares at me.  O well, still fun to put on a "show".

I took a piece of felt and sewed on ten pieces of ribbon.

And then I added beads, and then sewed the top piece of ribbon.
This proved to be super fun for both kids!
Got this idea from here.

Here's a picture of all the STUFF...we brought a tub of toys that Owen hadn't played with in awhile as well as some bigger toys he hasn't ever seen, like the shape sorter, hammer thing with shapes, and pop up thingy (again, don't know the technical terms), but they were great to bring along and had him busy for awhile.  Selah also watched two movies on the iPad during the trip.

That was helpful too. But I'm glad we were able to really limit it, I didn't want that to be our only form of entertainment.  We also enjoyed just looking out the window at the beautiful scenery!!

Like I said, I hope to be able to post in more detail about our trip later, but fore now, this was our preparation process.  And so far I'd say it has been very successful! Stay tuned! 

Sweet Summertime

Last Thursday, we had ourselves a fabulous, spur-of-the-moment, get-soaked-with-clothes-on, summer afternoon.

Like most of our spontaneous, messy, who-cares-about-the-aftermath activities, this one occurred due to the fact that we just could no longer remain in our house...there were tears and attitudes in abundance...

So, I, as patiently as I could, declared our need to get on shoes and head on outside! We gathered chalk, bubbles, squirt bottle with water, and loads of just stuff, anything I thought would be fun to play with outside with water, without getting our sprinkler/pool out because it was almost time to get dinner started.  Our :( afternoon, quickly turned into a :D afternoon for all!!

Playing with paintbrushes and bubbles.

Practicing pouring...hopefully sooner rather than later
this will transfer over to other
liquids being poured into other containers
(i.e. milk into cup, milk into cereal bowl),
that could be helpful.

The setup.

He's so cute... especially when outside concentrating
on how to make the biggest splash in a mixing bowl
with a paintbrush,
as opposed to indoors,
concentrating on the most successful whine
for mommy to hold him... 

My sister is awesome, I love her...

And now it gets really fun, and really wet!

More pouring...

with toy sorting.

Squirting water into penguin shaped ice cube trays.

Getting messy and creative is one of the few, tried and true, solutions to grumpy, cranky, whiny kids (if they aren't sick, hungry, or tired that is), so I'll continue to share with you all the future, I-am-going-to-go-insane-so-we-need-to-do-something-drastic activities, because I'm sure there's bound to be a couple (100) of these days left ahead of me! I LOVE this time in my life, and I LOVE them!! Yay summer...yay water!! 

Do you think I may have a small obsession with hyphens today?!?! Geesh, where did those come from??