I used to think that these type of blog posts were the lazy way out. A cure for all those ideas spinning in my head but no clear way to concisely type them on a screen. But then I started reading Seven Quick Takes over at a blog I frequent and realized that they were the posts I most looked forward to reading.
See if you like my version.
1. This weekend I watched Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area on the news in awe. Two feet of snow?! Then I looked in my own backyard and realized that I, myself, along with every other Minnesotan is living snowmageddon every. single. day. Well, November through March, anyway.
True, we don't tend to get two feet all at once. But what we do get stays with us. Two to four, five to eight; it all adds up and it all stays with us for five long months. Not like D.C. where it all melts off after a week or two.
2. Speaking of snow, we woke up to a fresh batch on the ground. William and I went out to play in it and do a little shoveling during Lucy's morning nap. I taught him how to swing on the tree swing really high and then jump off and land his little buttsy on that soft, fluffy snow.
Is there any beautiful music that can rival a child's laughter during outside play? If so, I have yet to find it.
Plus it's totally contributing to the killer nap he's taking as we speak.
3. Lucy's sleeping habits (or lack thereof) hit an all-time low this weekend when neither Brian nor I could get her to stop crying at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night. This is a first for me. Even when William had raging ear infections as a baby I could always get him distracted until the Motrin kicked in. Lucy didn't even want to nurse. That's like crazy talk!
We determined that we had no other option except to bundle her up in her carseat and take her for a ride in the car. Brian played chauffeur. Seconds into the ride he told me she started giggling. And then babbling. About what? We're not sure. But it's my assumption that these late-night wakings are a sign that our Lucy is going to be a total party girl. She knew it was bar time.
4. William has been taking swimming lessons for the past few weeks. Have I mentioned this already? I can't remember. It's the first swim class he has taken without a parent and he's doing fantastic. While other students are shrinking into the fetal position on the pool deck and refusing to get into the water, William is jumping in the water and dunking his head with glee.
Until the past Saturday. I wasn't there but, as told to me by Brian, he pulled out all the hysterics and absolutely refused to get in the water. They were back in the car and on their way home without so much as his big toe getting wet.
What gives? Do you think he's copying the other children and trying to get attention?
I promised him that next week both Lucy and I would come to watch and that Lucy is very excited for her big brother to show her how to swim. That seemed to put a twinkle back in his eye.
5. I've been thinking a lot about food lately thanks to some recent Oprah episodes. Organic versus not. Our sugar intake. The amount we spend on food. Things like that.
Some ideas of mine have changed slightly. For one, I now think the health benefits of eating organic meat outweigh the increased cost. You couldn't have convinced me otherwise a few weeks ago. But I've been doing research.
Did you know that in the 1960s households spent 9% of their income on food compared to today where we spend only 4%? Factor in the rising cost of health care and the number of obesity, diabetes and heart disease cases and the savings don't seem to be worth it.
But here's a question for organic eaters. Do you also buy organic milk? If we switched to organic milk that would cost us more than $200 extra a year in milk consumption. I just did the math and we currently spend about $166 a year in milk. We drink a lot of milk at the Nash household. I've thought about feeding organic milk only to the kiddos. Or maybe using nonorganic for cereal and organic for everything else. What do you think?
6. Lucy is super close to crawling. Until now her development has spiked in her verbal and fine motor skills. You should see this kid pick up the tiniest morsel of food with utmost precision. No one's going to care if she can crawl or not when she's a heart surgeon.
7. Finally, we bought a new rug. This doesn't seem huge but before this we had hardwoods throughout. That floor gets pretty cold in these winter months. This large, plush rug has changed the entire ambiance of our living room.
At least one person is excited about it.
See if you like my version.
1. This weekend I watched Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area on the news in awe. Two feet of snow?! Then I looked in my own backyard and realized that I, myself, along with every other Minnesotan is living snowmageddon every. single. day. Well, November through March, anyway.
True, we don't tend to get two feet all at once. But what we do get stays with us. Two to four, five to eight; it all adds up and it all stays with us for five long months. Not like D.C. where it all melts off after a week or two.
2. Speaking of snow, we woke up to a fresh batch on the ground. William and I went out to play in it and do a little shoveling during Lucy's morning nap. I taught him how to swing on the tree swing really high and then jump off and land his little buttsy on that soft, fluffy snow.
Is there any beautiful music that can rival a child's laughter during outside play? If so, I have yet to find it.
Plus it's totally contributing to the killer nap he's taking as we speak.
3. Lucy's sleeping habits (or lack thereof) hit an all-time low this weekend when neither Brian nor I could get her to stop crying at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night. This is a first for me. Even when William had raging ear infections as a baby I could always get him distracted until the Motrin kicked in. Lucy didn't even want to nurse. That's like crazy talk!
We determined that we had no other option except to bundle her up in her carseat and take her for a ride in the car. Brian played chauffeur. Seconds into the ride he told me she started giggling. And then babbling. About what? We're not sure. But it's my assumption that these late-night wakings are a sign that our Lucy is going to be a total party girl. She knew it was bar time.
4. William has been taking swimming lessons for the past few weeks. Have I mentioned this already? I can't remember. It's the first swim class he has taken without a parent and he's doing fantastic. While other students are shrinking into the fetal position on the pool deck and refusing to get into the water, William is jumping in the water and dunking his head with glee.
Until the past Saturday. I wasn't there but, as told to me by Brian, he pulled out all the hysterics and absolutely refused to get in the water. They were back in the car and on their way home without so much as his big toe getting wet.
What gives? Do you think he's copying the other children and trying to get attention?
I promised him that next week both Lucy and I would come to watch and that Lucy is very excited for her big brother to show her how to swim. That seemed to put a twinkle back in his eye.
5. I've been thinking a lot about food lately thanks to some recent Oprah episodes. Organic versus not. Our sugar intake. The amount we spend on food. Things like that.
Some ideas of mine have changed slightly. For one, I now think the health benefits of eating organic meat outweigh the increased cost. You couldn't have convinced me otherwise a few weeks ago. But I've been doing research.
Did you know that in the 1960s households spent 9% of their income on food compared to today where we spend only 4%? Factor in the rising cost of health care and the number of obesity, diabetes and heart disease cases and the savings don't seem to be worth it.
But here's a question for organic eaters. Do you also buy organic milk? If we switched to organic milk that would cost us more than $200 extra a year in milk consumption. I just did the math and we currently spend about $166 a year in milk. We drink a lot of milk at the Nash household. I've thought about feeding organic milk only to the kiddos. Or maybe using nonorganic for cereal and organic for everything else. What do you think?
6. Lucy is super close to crawling. Until now her development has spiked in her verbal and fine motor skills. You should see this kid pick up the tiniest morsel of food with utmost precision. No one's going to care if she can crawl or not when she's a heart surgeon.
7. Finally, we bought a new rug. This doesn't seem huge but before this we had hardwoods throughout. That floor gets pretty cold in these winter months. This large, plush rug has changed the entire ambiance of our living room.
At least one person is excited about it.
A. Lucy is adorable.
ReplyDeleteB. We only buy organic whole milk. My husband and 3-year-old drink a lot of it. I don't drink milk at all (weird, I know). And our 11-month-old only drinks "mama's milk" at this point...
We also just started buying organic meat and - yikes! - it's definitely on the pricey side. But I think it's worth it.
The whole organic versus non-organic thing is pretty confusing though. We're still trying to decide what to do...
stephanie@metropolitanmama.net
I have to echo Stephanie on the organic thing. We only buy whole organic milk as well. AND I don't drink it either. It is definitely hard to swallow the price tag, but we (as a family) have been drinking less of it, which helps to negate the increased cost. I'm going to start looking into buying grass fed meat and poultry as well.
ReplyDelete