Hello! No Surprise Here...

BUT OF COURSE i was blessed with the child that sleeps kinda poopy (doing better at this moment though, grateful) And is PICKY PICKY PICKY. I was no easy child... L is his loud, serious, stubborn, determined self. Hmm... sounds like.... me. 
(thank you for the photo, marili!)

we did it! FORWARD on. (i hope.)

joining the line
today was another first for this 1st time mommy. i voted with toddler in tow. 

it began with a 40 minute wait, much of which took place in the sun (p.s. i KNOW 40 minutes is NOTHING compared to many of you that waited as many as seven hours!). i had a piece of banana bread in my ergo pocket in case i needed to bribe L with a snack. 
he was generally awesome while we waited thanks to all the people watching + an airplane and a helicopter in the sky as distractions. 
he got a little restless once inside. flung himself upside in protest for a second there. but then he had a lot sweet elderly ladies to flirt with as i collected my ballot. 
boy did he want my ballot and my pen!!!
a small fit was thrown, sorry voting neighbors. 
in the end we did it though.
and we watched carefully as my ballot was fed through the machine. 
it said something to the effect of "accepted".
and off we went with our super cool "I Voted" stickers!
Hooray! 

right when we stepped into line, i woke him up to vote, thus groggy. 

line moving, L scoping out everyone around us. 

we're inside!

getting restless.

L flings himself upside down out of boredom. whatever works. 

L was by no means the only toddler in tow! 

he looks worried. he should be. we voted in Florida.
i look weird, i know. he's teething and my eyes hurt from allergies.
no matter, we're about to ROCK THE VOTE!

my good boy. 

connect the front of the arrow to the back of the arrow for president!
= weird.

our vote for  FORWARD. 

more snacks in the car for being mostly good.
so cool of the poll worker to give him his own sticker. 

so happy this is behind me. and proud L got to experience with me. 

addendum: we did it.

HOPE. FORWARD. LOVE.

and little L, you were part of that. 

<3

halloweeny crafts with a feisty toddler

I've found so far, when it comes to creating and crafting with L, that wrapped canvas on a wood frame makes for a sturdy surface for us to work with. We paint with nontoxic  tempera. 

The painting on the left entailed me letting him play with yellow, orange and red paint for a bit, then I converted his creation into an autumn tree with black paint. 

The second painting was created by stamping L's feet in orange paint, then quickly stamping his gooey orange foot on the canvas, repeat on the otherside, voila! I painted the words and jack 'o lantern a bit later. 

I like to finish these precious canvas projects with an imperfect painted border to kind of frame them. I found cool halloweeny plaid ribbon to create hangers on each. The german staple gunned the ribbon to the back of each canvas. 

I jokingly asked if Liam might want to hang them in his college dorm someday... A girl can dream. Ha!

Happy Halloweeny Crafting!

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. (Liam is Happy.)

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. And it's fair to say, getting over the worst cough/cold I ever had. I am often sad, because life is not easy and I miss my mom terribly. I continue to struggle with getting L to nap. I also feel like I can't win when it comes to finding foods he'll eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner that will give him a truly balanced and healthy diet (= no end in sight for breastfeeding). 

All this said, the below photos reflect how life looks through Liam's beautiful blue eyes and that is absolutely all that matters. Providing, a happy, safe and nurturing life for him.  Liam is a happy child. He gets everything he needs. He knows not of my struggles and he needn't. 

I am his mommy and my job is to create for him the very best life that I can. 

I feel like we all need to remember this from time to time, try not to be too hard on ourselves and not let ANYone undermine how hard we work to create this fulfilling life for our children.

After all, do you recall your parents' hardships? Most likely no. You probably look back upon your childhood with a warm, nostalgic "life was so simple then" smile. 

Remind yourself of this whenever you feel the slightest bit like you suck. 

Hope this finds you well...

Stay strong, mommies.

Your babies love you!

That little blip on the slide with arms spread is L.

We played in a pumpkin patch.

We color together.

We met pooh and tigger

We sang Wheels on the Bus & played it too!

Sharing his shaker eggs with me at the library.

It's Halloweeny Around Here & L Digs It.

As we approach Liam's second Halloween, it's a lot more fun. He's engaged. We read Halloween books, watch his Halloween Yo Gabba Gabba DVD, draw Halloweeny pictures and go gaga over spooky decorations popping up everywhere, including our home. As the month goes on we'll attend a haunted pirate festival and many costume events. Yep, L's going to be Brobee. 

Happy October!

the kid's gotta eat

being that the german and i are both pretty much food obsessed, it's been strange begging L to eat something other than cheerios. i can insert my foot in mouth once more for judging others that fed their kids chicken nuggets every single d@mn day of their toddlerhood. i get it now. i'm sorry.

L has caused ME to throw tantrums when he refused to eat simple, yummy foods i made for him. WHY do you spit out black beans, child?! They're a perfect food. What do you think you're doing tossing fresh avocado on the floor?! You don't like chunks of cheese!? Who's kid are you??! 

slowly but surely, i'm figuring this boy's taste buds out. and perhaps they're evolving, which would be bad to the bone. just thought i'd share a couple things he'll swallow at the moment. 

mac & cheese with peas (+ tomato)
simply toss frozen peas in your boiling water with the pasta, dice a tomato while peas and pasta cook, toss tomato in just after you drain pasta and peas, then add your cheese. macs & cheese made healthier with a serving of fruit and a serving of veggies! num num num. 

whole wheat pb&j squares
i like using multi-grain flatbread type bread for these. make with your favorite peanut/almond butter and preserves, then cut into tiny toddler bite sized squares with a pizza cutter. a tasty little classic made just the way L digs. 

i'm also getting good at adding chopped veggies to all-natural frozen cheese pizzas, and making L whole wheat cheese and organic salsa quesadillas.  

i'm not trying to be a baby gourmand here. i'm shooting for quick, edible and nutritious-ish. what vegetarian fare will your new toddler devour? please do share!

I'm not a baby, not yet a toddler.

L amidst the big kids and bubbles

today was kind of a big deal. because, as those of you that've followed "we created a monster" know, L turned one on august 5th and that meant something major in the world of library story time.

 p.s. whoa! how the heck is it already september?! he's 13 months tomorrow!!! my head just spun around and popped off. 

here's the deal: he's not a baby, yet not a toddler. amongst baby babies, he's a giant. i saw looks of fear as L crawled like lightning towards immobile wee ones back at "baby" story time. 

but, amongst true toddlers and pre-pre schoolers, he was "the baby". today at "toddler" story time, for example: "look out for the baby!" "watch the baby!" were common refrains amongst mommies talking to their kids whenever L clumsily toddled near. 

so there was that and, craft time instead of play time. play time for L meant a ton of toys being dumped on a blanket that he could chomp and drool on. + the aforementioned exploration of the story time room, towering over all the teeny bundles and their nervous mommies. 

craft time for L = eating crayons, chewing on paper piggy parts, drooling on and trying to take big kids' piggy crafts, ticking them off + a little game of throw-the-glue-stick-in-the-trash time.

i'm kind of losing it today, and well, recently.

goodbye baby story time  and play time on a soft and cozy blanket. as much as we loved you, we're not going back. 

hello, big kid story time and big kid crafts, we're not quite ready for you, but here we are, next chapter. 

L about to eat his paper piggy