Adventuring

It's a goal this summer to try to find all the parks in our city and figure out which ones are best for 3 year olds. I drive by this park all the time and we've never stopped before. It's a great park. 

Especially to bike to since it's fairly close and we have a few options for biking here - we can bike on a major road OR we can go the back way if I want a longer ride and get in an extra mile or two. 

But then he shit his pull-up and I didn't have enough wipes so we had to come home. He was so sad, but so exhausted that he napped for 2.5 hours. AMAZING, that hasn't happened since before he was two. So I was able to get plants into pots, get all the tomatoes and peppers into the ground and even  get some perennials into the front beds before he woke up. Unfortunately I didn't get the laundry folded, which is too bad because now the bags have been sitting in our living room for 3 days so I'm just ignoring them. Also, hindsight is 20/20, he naps way better on the living room couch than in his room, had I figured this out years ago, I think we might still have a napper. 

I'm super excited to bring The MOnkey with us on adventures this summer. She's old enough to bike herself so we're going to have to find her limits this year and maybe push her a little bit so we can go further and find more fun places to go!

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Book Review: The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande was a very traumatic book to read. To note here, I read the Young Readers Edition, not the original memoir which I'm sure was filled with much more detailed information about her life.

Let's get a few things out of the way before I delve into my thoughts. This is going to be filled with spoilers. There is a lot of physical abuse in this book. There is a lot of emotional abuse in this book. This is not a book to read lightly. It will make you angry, upset, and the amount of emotions you have might be a little overwhelming. This also makes you want to scream BIRTH CONTROL. 

This book makes me so angry at the current Presidential administration. It also makes me realize how ignorant and narcissistic Americans are. I have so many thoughts and so many of them just race through my head before I can finish and then move on to the next thought. 

So, I guess I'll just jump in head first - Reyna's father first leaves the family and illegally immigrates to the US on the pretense that he makes enough money to build a house for the family and move back to Mexico, eventually he sends money for the mother to join him. The children see physical evidence (the building of the house) to know the parents are sending money. Then the parents have an American baby. The parents separate, the father gets a new wife. 

In the meantime, Reyna and her two other siblings stay with their extremely abusive paternal grandmother along with a cousin whose mother left her to go to America too.

As a mother, I can't imagine leaving my children for YEARS at a time. The mother pretty much only uses the children to get money from the father and uses the children to say mean things to the father. I am absolutely appalled at the way the parents mistreat these children and abandon them. Reading the Young Readers Edition I think upsets me even more because there aren't as many details that as adults we can handle, process, and understand better. I want more information that this edition doesn't have. The kids get tapeworms, cavities, they're malnourished.

This book makes me so angry with governments that don't want to help their people - by making birth control free and readily accessible (along with abortions), by making sure healthcare is accessible and free or low cost. Jesus Fucking Christ, no wonder why immigrants want to throw themselves across the border at any cost, it's because the opportunities are HERE.

So that's my take. READ IT.

Mom OOTD

Gray sweater - Gap, found on ThredUp

Gray/White striped tank top - Duluth Trading Company

Polka Dot pants - Madewell, found on ThredUp

Baby Chewie:

Red striped top: Burt's Bees organic pajamas from Target Winter 2019

Yellow striped pants - Hanna Andersson Wiggle Pants

Right now I just told Baby Chewie not to chew on a cord that is connected to an electrical outlet. That's right, when you're a parent of a toddler you're always on what I call "Suicide Watch." These kids will straight up electrocute themselves, drown themselves, or throw themselves off of very high platforms at parks just for the fun of it. I feel as though I'm always screaming no or stop. Unfortunately I don't think that will ever end with Baby Chewie. So be it. 

I re-pierced my nose after being hit in the face with a toy. Now my left eye won't stop twitching. I'm having a week where it seems not much is going right except for my meal planning and I AM WORKING OUT, though to be quite honest my heart isn't quite in it this week and I'm feeling a little fluffy (though the whole point of me working out is really to show my kids how to be healthy and to WANT to exercise). I bought a few new plain T-shirts at Gap last week because I realized I don't own many plain T-shirts and the plain ones that I do have are exercise and fast-dry tops. Meh. Whatevs.

Bimmer Man was out of town last week and I barely got by. By the end of every night I was ready to PEACE THE FUCK OUT. Baby Chewie only woke up during the night once, which was fantastic because I really needed the sleep. This week the weather is nice which means I can run him like a dog outside and seriously tire this kid out. TODAY my plan is to bring him to two different parks. 

I can't wait for summer to start. It will be so nice not having to be somewhere daily, though I'm pretty sure I can pat myself on the back because The Monkey hasn't been late to school yet this year!

Happy Wednesday!

He Found A Whistle

My life is ruined. 

He found a coach's whistle. 

My workouts last week included Baby Chewie blowing the fucking whistle with every new move/new weights/new pose. I mean really, he could have been Autumn. A little more cray cray, more words that I couldn't understand, but really happy to whistle.

2019 Student Showcase Fair

Horses. She chose horses. She must be mine.

Happy Friday!

DIY Hair Accessory Storage

Why do kids have a problem with hoarding and organization? I guess I never really did learn to let go of things until I was an adult (although growing up I'm pretty sure my mom threw away and tossed everything possible while my dad was the hoarder). As a parent it's part of my responsibility to teach my kids HOW to organize and how to KEEP it organized. But sometimes it takes 12,735 different ways of organizing stuff to find a solution that actually works. 

Right now I'm having trouble with hair crap. It's all in a bin, it's not organized, hair ties are everywhere and The Monkey can't seem to keep the bows in her room (I resorted to throwing them away when I found one on the floor because I AM SO FRUSTRATED FINDING CRAP WHERE IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE). 

I'm trying something new. We'll see if it works. 

I looked on Pinterest for ideas for hair bow storage - not all of it was exactly what I wanted and I didn't have a random picture frame lying around (who has random photo frames lying around????). I needed an idea for something that stores the bows/clips/headbands with stuff I already have.

You'll need 3M hooks, I used the clear extremely small hooks. I used 4, but you can use more or less. Hang those suckers on the wall where you want them to go. 

Next, find some ribbon (I used 4 foot long ribbon that is 1/4 inch wide. I would have used wider ribbon, but I couldn't find anything else in the basement). USE WHAT YOU HAVE. Don't make some special trip for this. If I had to, I totally would have used the holiday wrapping ribbon and The Monkey would have to live with blue snowflake ribbon. WHATEVER.

You'll also need something that's a ring - I used key rings, but I also had old shower curtain hooks and then book rings. Anything will work. These are used to tie the ribbon to, then hang from the 3M hook, so honestly, if need be, just hang the ribbon straight from the hook. No big deal. 

After gathering your materials, tie one end of a ribbon onto a ring. Hang ring from hook. Put hair bows onto ribbon.

For the headband holder - tie two pieces of ribbon together. Tie one end of the double ribbon to a ring. NEXT, every few inches, make a knot until you get to the end. The headband then goes between the ribbons in the spaces between the knots.

I had a helper who wanted to wear some hair clips, in BMW colors according to Baby Chewie. 

I'm hoping this small organization for hair stuff will help in the long run. She's really wanted to have her hair done in the mornings but then it doesn't end up happening because she can't find what she wants or needs. It drives me insane!

Happy Thursday!

Mom OOTD

3/4 sweater, found and purchased on ThredUp - Madewell

Short sleeve plaid button up, purchased last summer on clearance - Target's Universal Thread

Pants - Jeggings from Old Navy

At the end of this day I felt defeated, rumpled, and frankly, like I needed a drink. It was a long day. Everything went wrong, nothing went right, and I could barely get the dishes done. Bimmer Man was out of town, the kids were a hot mess, the weather wasn't all that great. Thankfully I had a good book to read at the end of the night (and a glass of wine, ok, two). 

I'm happy those days are becoming less and less but when they do happen, I feel like I've failed at something that I can't quite put my finger on. The kids are getting older and we're coming into new stages, which means more freedom and at the same time, less time for doing the simple things together. I think that's what has me rattled these days. 

Wacky Wednesday

You CAN use your children for entertainment, especially if they like being the center of attention.

Mom OOTD

Duluth Trading Company. All of it.

I don't even need to link to it, just go there. Everything washes really well. Everything wears really wear. It's all super comfy and especially easy to move it. Their leggings are amazing. Their fleece-lined leggings are even more awesome in the winter.

Dance Class For Baby Chewie

The Monkey has been in dance class for 4 years now and it's been amazing for her to learn how her body works and how she can move her body. I decided to sign Baby Chewie up for dance class too. It's just through the community center, no dance studio yet. Parents do have to stay but they do not have to participate (these are the classes that I LOVE! I learned my lesson with The Monkey, do not sign up for parent participation classes because they are SO MUCH WORK AND SO MUCH BEGGING YOUR CHILD NOT TO MELTDOWN).

They don't really do too much "dancing," it's mostly running around like wild creatures and getting their wiggles out while loosely following along with the teacher.

They get to use scarves and run wild. 

And tape spots. Did you know that toddlers absolutely freaking love their tape spots? These kids are enamored with their tape spots. And they stay on their spots!

Plus watching kids learn how to flex and point their feet is hilarious. I'm really happy there's other boys in the class, though Baby Chewie doesn't care because he's been one of few boys in every ECFE class or whatever class he's been in. There's quite a few more classes plus a very small recital in June, I need to get Baby Chewie a button up white shirt and black pants. Supposedly they're going to put ties on the boys, I don't think Baby Chewie would let me put one on him but he'll definitely let his teacher! I'll share photos of that in June.

Happy MOnday!