Bakfiets Cargobike!

Check out this video of three sleeping kids all in one bike!  So, cute!

Here is a picture of a Bakfiets. The one in the video has a kids seat in the back as well.  What a wonderful way to commute!

 If you are suddenly obsessed about Bakfiets here is a blog devoted to them. Enjoy!

Kid Friendly Homes

It's an enigma really.  How do you have a stylish home while also raising and playing with your child?  Here is some inspiration:

www.moomah.com

Finally Asleep

"So, is he sleeping through the night?"  I hear this question all the time.  Whether it is directed at me or someone I'm standing next to it annoys me to the core.  In essence it is just an excuse for new moms to brag about their kids.  "Yes, he's been sleeping through the night since he was two weeks old, and boy does he snore!"  and then the questioner normally comes back with something along the lines of, "That's about when (name here) was sleeping through the night and in her own bed."

I wish I had a real good biblical reason for why such an intercourse is so displeasing to the Lord...but I don't.  The reason such a phrase is so distasteful to me is because I can't join in the bragging.  My 13 month old is still NOT sleeping through the night, in fact the little guy hates to sleep.  Let me say that again HATES to sleep.  Fresh out of the womb he never wanted to take naps or sleep at night very much.  I remember talking on the phone with the parents as teacher rep for the first time.  I can still hear her astonished voice when I said N only slept maybe three or four hours normally during the day and maybe that much at night. He was one month old!

To get him to sleep I've done a number of strange maneuvers and tricks that work for awhile and then once he discovers what my plan is (to get him to sleep) he fights it tooth and nail.   The only thing that has always worked is nursing him to sleep, but in my research I've found that my only tool could be keeping him from sleeping longer (I almost cried).  So, our new strategy is nurse him until he is almost asleep and then put him in his bed and let him naturally fall asleep the rest of the way.   Well, I just got done putting him down for his first nap...it took an hour and forty minutes!      

Truthfully, I don't know why I'm blogging about this shameful parenting flaw.  I guess to release some of the stress of having to hear a screaming baby for an hour and forty minutes.  Am I the only one who has an insomniac for a child?

Munch in the Morning and Other Pics

I've been really wanting to slow down my constant "Get stuff done." attitude and enjoy my son, husband, and life in general.  Plus, I'm not the type of person to pull a camera out and "Capture the moment".   So, I want to start taking pictures of the things and people that I enjoy. 

N has this thing for balls or anything in a sphere like shape...this includes oranges.

N is such a cuddler and hugger.

Flowers

I don't know about you but my sister and I are in love with the flower trends in fashion.  Whether it is flowers in your hair, on your scarf or just making a plain tee not so plain they are always cute and of the moment.   So, for Jessy's Christmas gift I made some.  She got a hairband, a pin, and a clip...and I couldn't help but make some of my own too.  What do you think?

Better picture to come...

A New Day

Are you a list maker? I am.  I love to make lists and then revisit them later on.  Yes, I do check things off but I also like to see what was my top priorities say when I was in college or when N was first born or when Steve and I were first married.  It brings to light how life has changed and how it has stayed the same.  It's that sameness and difference that is most interesting to me.  My overall worries of perfection and not letting people down can be seen in all my lists but as time goes on my definitions of
"perfection" change, and the "people" sometimes change as well.  

Not wanting worry to drive my thoughts or lists anymore I've been thinking more and more about what should drive my lists and life for that matter.  What I've come up with is simple and really hard to do.  Love God, Love others, and Love life. 

It sounds like something you might read on a bumper sticker or maybe someone's t-shirt but if we do those three things then God promises peace, joy, a fulfilled life and even an everlasting life! Things that I've longed more and more for as materials (and worries) have made life empty, and all around harder.  But how do you do those things?  Well, I've discovered that they are in descending order starting first with God, then Others, and finally with life. 

You can get into huge discussions about how you can't love others without loving God first and life if empty without fellowship but really it just comes down to God made us to desire him, others and the life that he has set before us, and he is the only one who can teach us HOW to do such things.  No, step by step program just seek him and allow him to change you and the rest will follow suit.  

So, that all said here is my list for tomorrow (obviously I need to start planning ahead maybe a little bit further, but baby steps).  Do you have a collection of lists?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday! Merry Christmas from our family!