My crazy life and how I survived this summer!

The summer of 2015 was a blast, however it had its challenges. Our family has a 4 year old, 2 year old, 9 month and another baby due in February, so needless to say we are busy! This summer I tried to relax with the kids, have some structure to our days and most of all have fun.

Here is what I learned from the summer of 2015

The ice cream truck! The best mid-afternoon treat that has ever existed. In Milford our ice cream truck comes around every other day, I promised the boys whenever he comes around they are welcome to pick out a treat. I made that promise in the early spring time and I kept it! I think we made ice cream truck dudes sales goal for this summer

Picking up after yourself is key to having a semi clean house. I realize with 3 kids, my house will never look like it came from Better Homes and Gardens(look up name) 24/7, but a little work during the day goes a long way. During the day, I kept up on kitchen duty and at the end of the day after dinner, we did one big toy clean up. This method seemed to work best.

(Originally I had planned to add a photo of the toy-tornado that takes over our house, but I am to embarrassed to published that on the internet)

Listening to my children. I like to make plans and stick to them. This summer instead of me planning our activities for the week, I included the boys in the planning. Some weeks they wanted to do nothing but walk downtown and get a cookie from the bakery and other weeks they were content playing with the hose in the backyard. The boys have opinions and I really tried to honor their wishes for summertime activities.

Learning to let go and relax. Sometimes the simplest things are best. I struggle with getting dinner on the table, but decided to let go of my fancy dinner style and go simple for the summer. Hamburgers and other simple dinners are amazing and quick to accomplish. The boys learned that sometimes the best afternoon activity includes a hose and giant dirt pile.

Cell phones. There is a time and a place for technology. I love technology, but when you put your phone down and really watch your children play, you can experience so much more!

This summer was amazing and I am sad to see it come to an end. I learned a lot as a parent and hope to continue watch my children develop more over the next coming seasons

Learning to love my (new) body

*This post has also been run on The Detroit Moms Blog website*

Some days I wake up, stumble to the bathroom, and look in the mirror at my sleep deprived self and cry. I cry like an overly emotional teen age girl. Me! The 32 year old successful woman cries. It is kind of pathetic. I cry because I hate the body that is looking back at me in the mirror. If there was a spokesperson for shitty self-esteem and the person who is uncomfortable with their postpartum body the most, I would be that person! Plaster me all over the city, because I win the contest for hating my body the most!

Almost four and a half years ago I became a mother, left my passion for racing my bicycle behind to grow a child and give birth to him in my own home. Having children was everything I dreamed and wanted so badly, but I was not prepared for the changes my body would go through. I wish someone would have told me, to celebrate my pre-baby body for what it was, physically fit and toned. After giving birth, my views on my breasts and stomach changed. I hate them now. But seriously, how can I feel so negatively about my own self? I grew a child in that stomach and nursed that tiny baby with the milk from my breast! And yet I still hate the body staring back at me.

4th trimester bodies

Last winter the 4^th Trimester Body Project, came to Ann Arbor. I was so excited, I had been following Ashely Wells Jackson’s project since it started and could not believe she was actually coming to Michigan. I signed up so fast! The project is “dedicated to embracing the beauty inherent in the changes brought to our bodies by motherhood, childbirth and breastfeeding”. The week before the photo shoot, I went to Nordstrom to get a black bra and pair of underwear; as the photos are taken of mother and her children in black undergarments. At the time I was 8 weeks pregnant and still nursing my 16 month old Davin. I felt awkward and just plain fat, but excited to have the moment captured.  I arrived at the photo shoot full of amazing emotions and left a little while later in tears.  I was embarrassed that they were going to be online for all of the world to see. I was not prepared to see the images the camera captured. I buried the photos in my email and didn’t do anything with them for many months.

My bio with 4th trimester bodies

The last few weeks of my pregnancy with Ebe, I got the guts and sent the photos out to be printed and framed. I hung my favorite picture in the corner of my bedroom next to black and white silhouettes I had done of the boys during the summer. The photo began to grow on me. Did I really look that bad? Sure I have to some weight to lose, I was newly pregnant in the photo, and my body was far from perfect.

I can’t continue hating my figure for the rest of my life; who does that? It is time to stop the negative attitude, the shaming of myself and teaching my own children that one day their wives no longer have perfect bodies! This ends now.
 My body changed with pregnancy, why does society view me as no longer perfect? Sure, I could probably do a zillion workout vieos, start making better food choices and drop all of the baby weight, but what if I don’t? Am I flawed or should I be celebrated? I grew and fed a child with my own body!

From now on, I am going to celebrate the successes my body has accomplished instead of talking down to myself. I want to teach Ebe that one day, her body will change and it is nothing to be ashamed of. The more important thing is for me to be healthy so that I'm around for years to come to be a parent, not a cover girl.

*As of early June, I have returned to the sport of cycling and hope to compete in my first race post babies in early July 2015*

The shamming

Earlier this week I was outside playing at a neighbor's house. She was telling me how her younger son hates the car and will scream the entire time in the car seat. I empathized, because our middle son D, did the exact same thing, it was horrible and it was awful. She went on to say how she had a doctor's appointment that he had to come with her to because of lack of child care and she had to stop for gas along the way. While at the gas station filling up her mini van(those things have monster size gas tanks) her son screamed. Apparently another woman a few cars away made a comment about her poor parenting and how she should pick up the baby and console him.

I scratch my head and make a odd face, since when did it be alright to shame other mothers for their parenting choices?

I totally get the whole mommy war's thing and feel it is 100% ridiculous! Plus that Similac commercial made it ever worse, because it amplified all of the stereo types their can be. But when did we start telling each other or whispering behind people's backs at the gas station that they are shitty parents?

This type of bashing does not help anyone, and my friend still feels like shit after being confronted. There are lots of things other mothers do that I do not agree with, but I feel there are tactile ways of approaching it.

-Breastfeeding vs formula
Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed a baby, however some mothers do not choose to breastfeed or end the relationship at a very early age. As a leader with La Leche League, my job is support you through the journey, reassure you that the decision you are making are best for your family. Sometimes, the includes weaning newborns or explaining to a new mom how to transition from breast to bottle. Mothers need support, we need to applaud the decisions each one makes and always remember, any amount is better than nothing in the world of breastfeeding.

-Night time parenting
Parenting the child who does not sleep is tough, so tough! Sometimes people give some crazy advice on how to get children to sleep. I usually nod, say thank you and take in the advice they gave and decide if it will work for our family or not. Sometimes when people ask if my kids are sleeping through the night, I say yep and just straight walk away. I know my limits, I don't want to be rude, so for me just not engaging in the conversation is better then regretting what I said later on.

-Toddler food wars
Personally in our house, this is a battle I choose not to engage in. When people ask me about what my children eat and how I encourage them to eat better, I just laugh! Breakfast is food of their choice, within reason, healthy choices are always available like fruit and yogurt. Today the boys wanted sausage and strawberries, I approve. A few hours after they asked for a snack, I suggested grapes, they requested a pop-tart. I agree and explained for lunch we needed to choose something better to fuel our bodies, like a sandwich or a healthy alternative. Meals for us always have 3 choices, something I know you will eat - something they choose, something they might eat and something I am not to sure if they will even touch. We model well balanced meals and talk a lot about how food fuels our bodies to run, jump and play. Feeding toddlers can be a nightmare at times, but we try to strive for a healthy balance and a realize at times we will eat pop-tarts and life will go on.

-Gentle parenting
This does not come easy for anyone, unless you are the most patient person ever. It takes work and lots of critical thinking. My husband and I are constantly talking about what way we think works better to mitigate the fighting between the boys. When other parents do not parent in the way I believe is best, I try to lead by example. At times, the boys become scared by other parents yelling and it is best for us just to remove our selves from the situation.



Remember no one knows your child and family like you, at the end of the day, you are the parent and need to be confident in your decisions. Keep your head up and smile at those other mom's instead of whispering cruel things, because we are all mothers

Why we unplugged our....

One week ago today, spring arrived in Michigan or we all thought for the zillionith time! The boys woke up and charged the patio door as usual, demanded to get dressed and head outside to play, nothing new for us. The day continues, I duck in and out of the house getting chores accomplished. On a whim, I drag the clothes line pole out of the tiny shed on the side of house and hang the laundry out to dry. Play in the sandbox turns into games around the clothes pole and folding clothes turns into various craziness. Over all it was a great day!

The children fall asleep in my bed later that evening, I sneak around and put the slightly crunchy laundry away while bouncing a newborn in my action baby carrier. The smell of the laundry was hypnotic, it was like spring was plastered all of the clothes. As the evening wears on I begin to think, could we live without using our dryer? What would that say us on our electric bill? I was intrigued!

Google helped me discover that our gas dryer costs about $0.12 per,  hour to run. Our family of 5 does about 9 hours dryer running time per week, 4 of those hours are for cloth diapers. It is almost laughable at the tiny amount we would save by switching to using natural sunlight to dry clothes. But is there a bigger reason to switch? What would our impact on the environment be? Could we take something as simple as drying clothes outside and create a learning experience for our children?

I believe we can!

Our family has unplugged themselves from the tv, sure the television is fun to watch, it allows me to stick the boys in front of it and get things done, but does not create a family bond or nurture our relationship as a family. The tv detox period was rough and I think the dryer detox period will feel about the same.

Drying our clothes outside has taken some adjustment to get used to. Each day the boys and I read about the weather for the day. We attempt to plan how many loads we can wash, dry and put away within our given plans for the day. Some days, the weather is bad and we skip laundry that day. Other days like this past weekend, the sun was shining and it was warm and we accomplished 2 loads outside.

Still my big question remains to be answered, what impact on the environment are we doing by using dryers. Yes, its kind of a dumb question, but if every person made a small lifestyle change could we make a our environment better for the next generations?

(Insert really cute pictures of boy playing outside next to laundry drying, my plan to capture those images today, did not happen because of rain, check back soon)


If you are interested in buying a clothes line pole here is a source to buy it from:
http://www.amazon.com/Household-Essentials-12-Line-Outdoor-Umbrella-Style/dp/B000BO96W8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1430843452&sr=8-8&keywords=clothes+line+pole

Welcome!

Welcome to 1000 hours of sunshine! Raising children has changed from when I grew up. Today we have crazy things like smartphones, video entertainment systems, access to tv 24/7 and children no longer learn and play outside. My goal is to expose my children to fresh air, playing in the mud, bugs, weather changes and all the fun stuff you can do outside!

So come along and join us on our adventure to consume 1000 of sunshine.