Small Style Take 2

We've been doing multiple outfit changes lately because Wesley is really into feeding himself and the food ends up EVERYWHERE! I had him all decked out in cute little vest ensemble this morning but it was a right-off after lunch... so here he is in his not-so-fancy, but perhaps more play-appropriate wear, enjoying the trains at Play to Learn. I guess I'll learn for next time to get the camera out right away!

Bodysuit: Carter's

Cords: Children's Place

Shoes: Tip Toey Joey

Little Moments

Wesley is going through a bit of a seperation anxiety phase right now. Some days are worse than others. Yesterday was a leg-clinging, can't-be-out-of-his-sight day - and since I had things I needed/wanted to get done, I found this annoying. And today when I woke up, I felt really convicted for my annoyance with my 10 month old son and his desire to be with me. Because some days, for whatever reason, we just need what Wesley did yesterday - comfort, reassurance, encouragement. I have days like this; I think we all do.

Obviously I can't spend all day, every day with a baby on my hip. Things DO need to get done, but today, I decided to just be whatever my son needed. After breakfast we went downstairs and my little shadow followed me into the laundry room, over to the computer... He was only content to play if I  was sitting right there with him. He didn't need me to engage in the play, but just to be there.

So I sat and watched him play for 45 minutes and I was amazed and awed and overcome by him, and the One who created him, all over again. What a perfect design! His soft, oh-so-kissable skin, the precision of his tiny fingers picking up a cheerio, the beginnings of language in his babbles and coos, the growing awareness of cause and effect (if I clap my hands together, they make a sound!)... and the security he feels in looking over his shoulder to see that mommy is still there.

I'm grateful for my son everyday, and so humbled by the gift I've been entrusted with, but sometimes I need to slow down and take time to savour him. And not let the things I "need" to get done take precedence over his need for me to be fully present.

Here's my little marvel after waking up from his nap this afternoon... LOVE!

A very crafty Christmas

I've been 'decking the halls' the last couple of days - which has proven to be a bit of a challenge with an almost-walking 10 month old, ensuring that everything is out of reach!

I love decorating for the holidays but really dislike spending lots of money doing it, so I'm always thinking of and looking for easy, DIY decorating ideas. I made something yesterday that was super simple and that turned out really well (I thought!).

I just clipped some red twig dogwood from out backyard, put some pebbles in a glass vase, added a few glass balls and... volia! Easy, attractive Christmas centrepiece!

Cooking up some creativity!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I started doing some Christmas baking this week.Yum! When I have some free time (aka naptime, bedtime) I turn on the Christmas tunes, make a cup of tea and measure, mix and bake away. I love to cook. I find it very relaxing. It's right up there with reading and a hot bath for me. There's something about busying the hands that allows your mind to relax and let go of stress.  It can be cathartic to let your mind go on autopilot and just follow the steps laid out for you. And as long as you follow those steps, you (usually!) end up with a great result.

There's a quote by Julia Child in one of my favourite movies Julie & Julia... "Some people like to paint pictures, or do gardening, or build a boat in the basement. Other people get a tremendous pleasure out of the kitchen, because cooking is just as creative or imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music."As I've become more comfortable in the kitchen though, I've found myself straying from the recipe a bit and becoming more creative. Cooking for Wesley has also spurred this creativity as well. Thinking about what flavours to combine or how to make certain foods appealing to him. 

A recipe is safe, but there's the potential for something amazing when you launch out on your own! I didn't mean for this to be a cheesy analogy for life, but that really does extend beyond the kitchen as well. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut of the same-old, same-old and to stay in our comfort zone. Life is busy, it's complicated, it's so much easier to just stick with what's safe and comfortable - our friends, our routines and habits etc. Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, I think the potential for living in that comfort zone is even greater (for me anyway!) so I've been challenging myself to do one new thing every week. Whether it's checking out a new play group, or starting up a conversation with another mom at the mall. You never know what might come out of it - it could be something delicous like the sweet potato soup we had for dinner last night!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

Only... 39 days, 1 hour, 52 min until Christmas!!

I L-O-V-E the holidays. There's just nothing better than Christmas music playing, lights twinkling, fire roaring, cider sipping, gift wrapping... it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Today I went through all my cookbooks and made a list of all the Christmas baking I want to do this year. I  started tonight with gingerbread. I'm trying some new recipes this year (spiced coconut balls, salted caramel nut brittle) but the gingerbread is one of my holidays classics that I always make because it's sooo yummy and so fun. Brian and I will spend an evening decorating (we do traditional gingerbread men, stars, trees etc)... although don't tell him I said that! I found this recipe a few years ago and I always go back to it. So simple and tasty; moist with a bit of crunch and the perfect amount of spice.

Here it is...

Gingerbread

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 butter, softened

3/4 brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 molasses

Combine the flour, spices and salt in a bowl. Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and beat well. Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Shape dough into a thick flat disc and wrap with plastic wrap. Refridgerate for 4 hours or overnight. Unwrap dough and roll on floured board to about 1/4 thick. Use cookie cutters to make shapes and place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min or until edges just start to brown. Allow to cool and decorate!

 

A little dose of perspective

My husband works with someone who - when you tell him about a problem you're having at work, or in life - will say in his well-meaning, jovial way, "Well, I guess there are worse things!" Not exactly the sympathetic, supportive response you're looking for; rather annoying actually... but I've been thinking about this comment a lot lately as I've struggled to gain some perspective in certain areas of my life.

It's very, very easy to be consumed by your own life; the busy-ness, the worries, the planning. You can end up spending most of your time looking inward. That's why perspective is so important. The things that I get hung up on sometimes and that I waste time and energy thinking or worrying about are often so silly and petty. That's not to say that our concerns and problems are insignificant or that they don't matter (to God, or others) but just that we can spend too much time dwelling on them and lose sight of all the goodness and blessing in our lives. I know I definitely have a tendancy to fixate on an issue. Case in point: Before my son was sleeping through the night I would spend all this energy thinking and reading and researching what I could do to get him to sleep better. I drove my husband crazy talking about it. Yah, I was tired and it sucked sometimes getting up at 4am, but I wish I'd had the perspective to see that it was just a season, and that eventually he and I would both be sleeping better. And there were, as I'm sure my husband's co-worker would have told me, worse things. I have a beautiful, healthy son and if my only "problem" was getting up for a 4am feeding, than man, I'm pretty blessed!

All you have to do is turn on the news or open the newspaper and you're confronted by all the really big problems the world is facing - drought in Africa, political instability in Libya, solidiers and civilians being killed in Afghanistan. The mother of a good friend of ours is dying of cancer right now. I don't say that to be depressing or to make anyone feel guilty because the things we struggle with are certainly valid, but I think we really do need to gain some perspective at times and instead of focusing on the negative, be reminded of the many blessings we have that we so often take for granted. Clean water to drink, democracy, health, safety and security...

So my husband and I have started borrowing that oh-so-true phrase. When Wesley gets up too early for our tastes - "I guess there are worse things." Or when someone cuts us off in traffic - "I guess there are worse things." Because there are bigger issues that people are facing all over the world  and that little dose of perspective is enough to make you count your blessings and thank the Lord for the richness in your life.

Leaf-tastic Small Style

Yesterday we did some much overdue leaf-raking. I think I must have said some variation of "Wesley, don't eat that!" about a trillion times in the span of half an hour! How is it that I can't get him to pick up a piece of banana and put it in his mouth (he loves the taste but hates the 'slimy' texture), but he'll happily shove a dirty, dry leaf in there??

Anyway, here he is in all his leaf-munchin' glory!

Hoodie: Roots

Overalls: Children's Place

Hat: Winners, no label

shoes: Tip Toey Joey

Got milk?

I've been doing lots of reading lately on milk. Wesley is quickly approaching 12 months; I won't be returning to work fulltime so I plan to continue breastfeeding for a while... but, that said, I would like to perhaps drop one nursing session or at least be able to leave a cup of milk for him if I go out. I've been trying to decide whether we want to go straight to cow's milk once he reaches a year, or start him on goat's milk first. Cow's milk is hard to digest, which is why it's not recommended for babies under a year. And apparently the longer you wait to introduce it, the less likely children are to develop sensitivities/allergies to it. My family has a history of lactose intolerance - myself, my brother and my sister have all suffered from it - so I would like to do whatever I can to help Wesley avoid this.

I've never given goat's milk much thought before - North America is definitely a "cow culture" - but I've been finding out lots of interesting things!

Did you know...

• more people consume goat's milk worldwide than cow's milk
• goat's milk contains 13% more calcium and 134% more potassium than cow's milk
• goat's milk protein contains a softer curd which makes it more easily and rapidly digestible
• goat's milk contains only slightly lower amounts of lactose than cow's milk (4.1% vs 4.7%) but this still might be advantageous for those with a lactose intolerance

• goat's milk contains less than 10% of the folic acid found in cow's milk so it must be supplemented with folic acid for babies/toddlers (or some brands of goat's milk offer folic acid fortified varieties)

You can read the full article here.

I checked out the price of a 4L bag of goat's milk at my local grocery store and it is more pricey than cow's milk which is something to consider. However, I have heard that you can get fresh goat's milk at the farmer's market which is reasonably priced.  

For Wesley, with the family history of lactose intolerance, I think goat's milk might be a good choice for us. He already eats yogurt and cheese made from cow's milk and hasn't experienced any problem, but once he moves to actually drinking milk a few times a day, it may become an issue.

So... we may be putting the poor cow out to pasture for awhile!

The Parenting Pursuit

I had a dry-mouth, heart-stopping, breath-taking moment of panic yesterday as Wesley crept over to the fireplace for about the zillionth time in an hour, glanced over his shoulder at me, heard my "ah ah ah", grinned and proceeded to reach out for the hot glass... I thought, "This is where the actual parenting starts!"... PANIC!

Of course, I became a parent 10 months ago (10 months ago this very day actually!) but up until now my duties have been mostly feeding machine, diaper changer, lullaby singer, entertainer... I feel like now we're getting down to the nitty-gritty of being a parent... the teaching right from wrong part, the discipline part, the "I'm-shaping-the-person-you-will-become" part... gulp!

I don't mean to say Wesley has any real concept of right and wrong at this point, or safety, or even has the long term memory capactity to remember I just told him 5 minutes ago not to touch the fireplace... but he's becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler and all these issues are going to be become very real, very soon. It's forcing Brian and I to think about what kind of discipline we want to practice in our home, how we'll handle temper tantrums and disobedience, and how we can steer this small, impressionable life in the right direction. Thankfully, and so wonderfully, we are not alone in this journey of parenthood... and all the parenting books in the world, while they have their place, will do very little if we're not going to the Lord for his direction in raising our kids. I'm always amazed by the fact that God loves my baby even more than I do (it seems impossible because I love him sooo much!) and he wants nothing but the best for him... so he's on my side, he wants me get this right. And when I make mistakes He'll be there to help me work them out and do better next time. The responsibility is daunting, and overwhelming at times, but I'm so honoured it's one I have been entrusted with!

Stay tuned...

Small Style Heartbreaker

This morning we went to the Play to Learn drop-in in our neighbourhood so Wesley is dressed mostly for comfort (with a little bit of style too of course!).

Play to Learn is an awesome program run by the Ontario Early Years Centre which operates out of different "hubs" around the city. Pretty much on any given day you can stop by one of the hubs for as little or as much time as you like and your kids can play, interact with other children, do crafts, participate in 'circle time' (stories, sing-a-longs etc). We've been a few times and Wesley loves crawling around and checking out the new toys, the singing and watching the other kids. It's also a great way to connect with other moms.

I had a real "mommy moment" today, my heart aching for my son as he experienced his first feelings of rejection. At 10 months I know he didn't really understand what was going on, but I could tell by the look on his sweet little face that it didn't feel good. He was so interested in what the other kids were doing and he kept crawling up to see what was going on, smiling and reaching out to them, but of course, when you're 3, who wants a pesky baby interrupting your fun? The bigger kids would turn their backs to him, push him away, grab their toys back and poor Wesley just kept trying until finally he headed back for mommy to have a good little cry. I wanted to cry too! I know it will be the first of many rejections he experiences in his life, but you wish you could just protect them from hurt forever. I just pray in 5, 10, or 20 years, he still comes back to mom for a cry whenever he needs it!

So here's Wesley's rather dejected small style for today...

Vintage Mickey Mouse t-shirt: Old Navy

Grey bodysuit: Carter's

Pants: Roots