Parenting pet peeves #1

This post will probably be the first of many, haha, thus the "#1."

The other day while talking to someone, the subject of me not cooking with plastic in the microwave came up. It's just something I don't do, I try to limit my use of plastic all together, but this is one of my firm rules. The other person's response was that our food is in contact with all sorts of plastic in the process of it getting to our house. I then replied with something along the lines of "yes, there are things I cannot stop from happening, so shouldn't I limit exposure when I can?"

I just don't understand the notion that our kids will be exposed to bad things, so there's no sense in putting up safeguards at home. My girls will certainly be exposed to alcohol at some point in their adolescence, but I'm not going to be the one offering it to them. There will be people out smoking on the streets, exposing them to second hand smoke, but I'm not going to allow people to smoke in my home. I don't get how someone can't see that plastics are the same way for me. It's not really a matter of debating the safety of plastic, but rather a matter of protecting our children from things that we don't think are safe. My children will be exposed to plenty of things that I don't deem okay or safe, so isn't it my job to limit that exposure when I can? Obviously, with the task of also educating them on those dangers. Protection without education won't do that much good in the long run.

So there is one of my big parenging pet peeves. I will continue to protect my children from things that I see as dangerous, even if there's no way to stop them from being exposed to those things outside of our home.

Resolutions for 2011

While looking around for ideas for New Year's resolutions I found an article with the top ten resolutions. Most of them are pretty typical, but I thought I would list them here and then write a little bit from me:).

1. Spending quality time with family and friends

I'm a more family oriented person, I don't really have friends that I hang out with typically. I'm also a stay at home mom, so I'm not sure if I can really spend more time with my family. I would however like to change what I do with my family. Less TV and computer time, more time playing and being active. We have good days and bad days as far as that goes, but this year I'd like to definitely see a lot more good days.

2. Time for fitness

I always feel great when I work out. I love working out. There's something so difficult about finding the time to workout when you have a toddler and baby. I mean, honestly, I could find the time, but it's such a nice excuse, haha. Even when I do technically have time usually someone wants my attention. Still, I'm going to try to workout, at the very least, a few times a month. Ideally, I'll work out a few times a week, but the lower my expectations, the more likely that I will meet them:).

3. The battle of the bulge

Luckily, this one doesn't really apply to me. I still weigh more than I did when I got pregnant with Adelaide, I do however weight less than I did when I got pregnant with McKaleigh(who is my older daughter.) That's right, I weighed less when I got pregnant the second time, haha. I wouldn't mind being that small again, but the number isn't a big deal to me. I would like to get rid of a little bit of belly fat I have left, but muscle tone is what's really important to me, even if that means actually gaining weight.

4. Quit smoking

In January 2008, the day I found out I was pregnant with McKaleigh, I quit smoking. I didn't smoke again until the summer of 2009. It was about a two or three week "relapse" and then I quit again and haven't smoked since. So technically I have already quit smoking, but I honestly feel like I will always be quitting smoking. Just one cigarette makes years of not smoking seem to all go down the drain. I really don't want to ever smoke again, I feel like a slave to the cigarettes when I smoke. So I guess it's still a resolution to continue not smoking.

5. Enjoy life more

I really feel like I do a pretty good job enjoying my life, so can't say that this is one of my resolutions.

6. Quit drinking

Maybe some day if this really becomes a problem it will be one of my resolutions, but I haven't gotten there yet.

7. Get out of debt

We won't be able to get completely out of debt this year, but we are definitely actively working toward that goal. By the end of this year I would like to get out of our current car, buy a cheaper car, pay off a personal loan, and pay off the hubby's credit card. Then all we'll have left is a small student loan, my credit card, and a larger student loan.

8. Higher learning

Nope, I don't really have any intention of doing school this year. Reading the article they talk about more than just actual school, so I guess maybe I could do something along these lines. One of the things listed is learning a new language. Michael and I have been talking about learning German, so maybe this year will be the year.

9. Helping others

This is something that I always want to do. Sort of like exercise, I have trouble finding the time. I honestly don't think that this will happen a whole lot this year, but is definitely something I want to do when the girls get a little older.

10. Getting organized

Organization is something that I am always craving, but I have such a hard to getting there! I want to slowly, room by room, declutter this entire house. I've been making progress lately, so maybe this will happen this year. I don't like chaos and crazy messiness! It's sort of hard to avoid when you have a toddler, but I know I could do a lot to less this if I can just declutter.

Something that isn't on this top ten that is important to me: my impact on the environment. I want to try to lessen my footprint even more. I'd love to stop using paper towels for the most part, maybe even invest in some family cloth. I'd like to get closer to full-time cloth diapers with Adelaide, and get McKaleigh using the potty so we can stop diapering her all together! We already do a pretty awesome job with recycling, but I'd like to try to limit how much ends up going into the garbage. It would be great to send out only one bag of trash a week, or less! I might look into some composting methods, but with renting I'm not sure we'll be allowed.

So overall, I have a lot of high hopes for 2011. I'm sure in some areas I will fail, some places I will excel, but it's all about the journey:).

I can't believe 2010 is almost over!

And what a year it was! It wasn't half bad, considering that my husband was deployed for more than half of the year. We made it through pretty well, I'm so glad to have that behind us.

Adelaide is almost 4 months old, one quarter of a year! I can't believe how quickly she's growing! And McKaleigh is growing into quite the little girl, and boy does she have a mind of her own.

Over the last year, I have made a lot of changes in my life. I really dedicated myself to living a more back to basics lifestyle. I haven't always done well with it, but I do feel that I've made a lot of great changes throughout this last year. I cloth diaper, even if it's just part time, I still feel good about decreasing the number of diapers I'm sending to landfills. I use way fewer one use items, I try to only buy things that are reusable. These last few months, we've really started to eat less processed foods. We still go out to eat on occasion, sometimes more often than I'd like, but we do eat a lot more whole foods than we did a year ago. I really hope to see these things continue into 2011, and would love to go even further with it.

One way I'm taking things a step further is that I'm going to grow dreadlocks. I started a couple on my own, but I'd really like a majority of them to be freeform dreads. Here are pictures of my hair with three twist and rip dreads, and hair that hasn't been combed in two days:).

So excited for Christmas!!!

Christmas is less than two weeks away! I love Christmas so much!

I have all but one of McKaleigh's Christmas presents purchased. This is seriously the most excited I've been for Christmas, since I was a kid! The things I'm getting her are on the pricey side, so we're doing quality over quantity:). We bought her a tableware set and tea set from Green Toys. This company uses 100% recycled plastic, made right here in the USA. I'm going to wrap those up with some playsilks from an Etsy shop (DreamSpunKids.) Also got her a huge stuffed dog from Target, and the last think we have left to get is the wooden fridge from Palumba that matches her play kitchen:). Those two things will be from Santa... because I don't want to figure out how to wrap them! Then for both of the girls we got a bunch of little books and puzzles as stocking stuffers.

I just can't wait to play Santa Claus this year! What are you getting your kid(s) for Christmas?

When you stop trying so hard...

...everything just starts to make sense!

About two weeks ago, I started a blog post about how I didn't know how I was going to manage everything, without my mom here. I never finished the post, but my mom left a week ago, and things have been going better than I ever could have imagined they would!

My mom was doing so much of the housework, when she was here! She did a lion's share of the cooking and cleaning. I really don't know what I would have done without her these past three months, especially since my husband was gone. I think part of the reason things have gone well since she left is that I've gotten really used to the house being tidy and I love having meals prepared from whole foods.

It's like I don't even have to try! Everything just happens. I've started waking up at around 7 everyday (way earlier than normal.) McKaleigh sleeps until at least 8, sometimes until 10! So you can imagine how much I get done in the mornings. I love the quiet:). It's a good time for me to tidy up the house, so we can start the day with a clean slate. I've even vacuumed the living room twice this week, lol.

I've done a pretty good job of making sure I sign into Biggest Loser on our Kinect (which is awesome, by the way! I highly recommend it!) Hopefully that will help get rid of the baby belly I have left. Still a little softer than I'm comfortable with.

Cooking has gone way better than it's ever gone before. I'm really starting to love cooking and I'm excited to start trying out some new things! We've eaten out more than I'd like, but honestly, I knew it would be a difficult transition for me. I really don't know how to cook much, so every so often it's nice to just pick something up. I always feel SO much better when I cook fresh veggies, though. Part of me tends toward perfectionism, so I don't really like trying new things, because I'm afraid of doing things wrong, or having things not turn out. It's getting easier, though, the more I try to make new things!

This is starting to get long, so I'll cut it off here. I'm so excited about life right now!

He's home!

Wow the time has flown! It's been two months since I last blogged! So much has changed! Adelaide is getting bigger everyday, McKaleigh turned two, and Michael is home from Iraq!

I can't believe how big Adelaide has gotten. She's really starting to coo and make other cute baby noises, staying up for longer stretches at a time, and holding her head up pretty well.

McKaleigh turned two a month ago. We had a little get together for her and she had a blast! We got her the cutest little kitchen from Palumba.com.

And then of course the most exciting thing that's happened since the last time I posted was that the hubby is home! He's a month early, and we weren't sure if he'd be back for good or not, but now we're almost positive that he won't have to go back! I feel so blessed to have him home safe and sound.

Adelaide is here!

So I'll start with stats, then get into the story:).

Her full name is Adelaide Elizabeth Jane Koch.

She weighs 6 pounds and 10 ounces and is 20 inches long.

She arrived at 3:00 am on the dot, this morning, September 1st, 2010.

Yesterday (August 31st), I started to have some contractions in the early evening. At first I thought they were just braxton hicks contractions, even though they were sort of patterned. At around 8pm or so, I had my first more painful contraction that I had to actually work through. After that I told my mom, "it's probably nothing, but it's not entirely impossible that I'm in labor right now." I was in denial for quite awhile. My husband is deployed and should be home for his R&R in the very near future, so I was really hoping she'd hang on another week or more.

Around 9pm, I decided to get in the tub at my house. I mean there was no way I was in real labor (haha :P,) and they say that a nice warm bath will usually stop contractions, if it's not the real deal. I stayed in for about half an hour and didn't have any contractions... or at least I didn't feel any contractions. I get out of the tub and a few minutes later have another contraction. At this point I decide it'd be a good idea to start timing them. They all lasted 1-1.5 minutes and for awhile were around 8-10 minutes apart.

I started packing my bag around 11:45, since that was something I hadn't planned on doing until this week (I know, I'm a total procrastinator.) As I was packing my bag they became closer to 5 minutes apart. That's when I decided to call The Birth Center's answering service. They connected me with the midwife on call and we started to talk about what had been going on. While we were on the phone I had two contractions about 3 minutes apart, so we decided that I definitely needed to go in, and agreed to meet at 1:15, since I'm about an hour away.

We finished getting ready, and I went with my mom and McKaleigh in one car, with my brother following us in the Cobalt. The drive was pretty long, but giving my mom directions was a nice distraction and she was very encouraging as I worked through each contraction. They remained about 3 minutes apart for the entire car ride. We arrived to the birth center right on time. I went in and as soon as the midwife checked me, she said "well it's a good thing you came in," which was great to hear. Then she totally surprised me and told me I was already 8 centimeters dilated!

To be honest, I prepared myself for much, much worse than what I experienced as far as pain. I thought for sure that I had so much worse ahead of me, since I was at an 8. I labored the last bit in the tub, so that may have helped, but even when she told me I could push whenever I was ready, I just couldn't believe that I was done dilating and that part was over! I had no pain medication whatsoever, and really never felt like I needed it. It's amazing the difference breathing and moving WITH your contractions instead of against them, can make.

After trying to push a few times in the tub, I decided that delivering in the tub just wasn't going to work for me. Half of my pushing I did leaned over a big ball and on my knees. Eventually my thighs got pretty tired, so I turned over and delivered her in a semi-sitting position.

When I first got set up in the birthing room, my brother set up his computer for me. Michael wasn't online, as I assumed would happen, but luckily I got a hold of someone he works with and they got him for me. Michael then got on skype and got to witness pretty much the entire thing. Well... except for the most important part! He got up to do something, thinking I still had quite a bit of pushing left to do. The second he was gone, the big push came, the one that you can't stop from happening, you just have to give into it. Within a minute or two of him getting up, I had a baby in my lap and he walked back in to a crying baby girl:).

The entire experience was amazing! After she was born she was brought up onto my chest and her cord was left alone until it was done pulsing. My mom cut the cord, which is funny, since I don't think our cord has been cut yet;). After a few minutes, I put Adelaide near the breast and she just knew what to do right away. She nursed so well, it was really great, plus the fact that I'm tandem nursing and already had my colostrum in means no sore boobies for mommy:), at least not yet, lol. Adelaide was never "taken" from me, when I decided that I was ready to get cleaned up, that's when she went to be weighed and measured. Everything was on my time, I love the birth center!

McKaleigh was present for the birth, and was very interested in her new baby sister. I can already tell that she's going to be a great big sister. I can't wait to see her interact with Adelaide more in the days and weeks to come, as she gets used to her.

I'll get to go home today, yet another thing that I love about the birth center:). Just waiting for a while until then.