when did this happen?!!

Ivar is changing before my very eyes into the beginnings of a very little boy. I see it in his face and it catches me off guard. His teeth, his parroting words, his personal will, his happy dancing, his conversational babble, his joy...little signs of all that is to come, living life with this little guy.

I read two great pieces on motherhood recently and wanted to pass them along for a bit of weekend reading. The first went viral on facebook and you may very well have read it already.

It's called Don't Carpe Diem. It's got some good, honest stuff to say and I really appreciated what it had to say about kairos time versus chronos time. I think about this often now.

The second blog post I wanted to share is called This Big Sister's Advice. And it's sweet and tender and a good reminder of what this whole mamahood gig is all about.

Along those lines, on Tuesday I joined a mom's group at my church for Bible study. It was the best thing ever. I told Rory it felt like empowerment therapy. We shared a lot, but it wasn't a commiseration fest either. I left inspired, ready to live out my call as a mom with a second wind.

If you are a young mom and not a part of a mom's group of any sort, I beg you to start looking for something similar in your area. I know MOPS has a great reputation (your children don't have to be in preschool!). And I would hope most churches have something similar. It is so necessary. I am building friendships with ladies who are so easily able to relate, and there could be nothing better. So check out a local church, the MOPS website, community centers in your area...just find a group of girls and walk this road together.

clean house

I like to keep a tidy house. But Ivar and his many toys seem to have taken over. Some days I can handle this, but after days of feeling too sick to clean up after the boy, our house went to pot.

(What does that saying mean? Like pot the drug? Or a pot for plants? Why does the word pot looks so weird right now?)

Anyway. I read a super inspiring blog post about putting all the toys and books together and making three piles, one to keep out, one for short term storage and one for long term storage. (I'd like to say there was a pile for good will, but the kid is one and it's hard to throw anything knowing another is on its way.) The part of this plan I loved the most was the short term storage. I got a huge rubbermaid and filled it up with great toys, but toys that have many pieces, toys that seem to spread all over the house.

And now, the plan is to swap out a new toy each day. (Though so far, he is totally entertained by the few toys I left out.) He has one train set in the living room and his bedroom cleans up in a jiffy.

(What is a jiffy?)

Here's the crazy part that I want to share. Ivar plays for longer stretches of time now, with fewer toys. He found a tennis ball tube that he fills with trains and then dumps out and then fills again and dumps out. This was all out before, but now it's the only stuff out. And he stays focused longer.

I'd say I put away 60% of his stuff. And we now have a less cluttered home. And our son occupies himself for longer stretches of time.

That is a win win.

the nuts and bolts of my Kitchen Table

Within the last week, I have had a meal on the table six out of the seven nights. One of those nights Rory put the food on, and another night I was too sick to make anything and getting myself to the table wasn’t really an option.

I’d say a really solid start.

After a week I have a few plans that I hope to stick by:
1. Meal is on the table by 5. This is so early, I know. And yet we eat lunch around 11 at this house and by five there are three hungry bellies to be filled. We started out at 5:30, but Ivar wouldn’t have it. So we moved up our suppertime.

2. I keep my laptop off of the table now. The kitchen table is no longer able to be the catch-all place. I try to keep it relatively clear throughout the day. This helps when it's time to set it and fill it with food.

3. The meal doesn’t have to be homemade. Hopefully one thing on the table is, but there just needs to be a meal on the plate. That’s the goal. The night Rory cooked we had sausage, eggos and strawberry's. It was very nice.

4. Coborn’s Delivers. More on this another time, but let me tell you, I adore this service. After a terrible experience involving me and Cub and a gagging spell and hitting a wall of exhaustion so hard I thought I’d curl up under my cart in the cereal aisle, I decided to look into this grocery delivery service. We’ve had four deliveries so far and all I can say is that it still feels too good to be true.

5. My four week meal menu. I have had so many people contact me with great meal planning ideas, great recipe websites, even their own excel spreadsheets (thanks Marie!). I find much comfort knowing that lots of others need a system for meal prep too. I listed out all of the meals our family enjoys and set up a weekly calendar with a food-type for each day the week. So far, week one was a complete success. We're now on to week two. I'm not strict about what we eat each day, but this calendar is so helpful as a place to start! (On a few days I use the slash to list two different options, one that might take more time along with an easier option.)

So that’s the plan. I’m sure I’ll modify it as we go along, but until then, I’m so happy to be feeding my family!

our little israelite

Ivar has learned two new words this week: more and banana, which he pronounces, "nana"

But today he morphed the two words together and now, when he wants more food, he yells from his high chair, "Manna! Manna!"

And you know, food always shows up on his tray. Like it just rained down from the sky.

creative juices are flowing again!

I have been blog browsing lately. A dangerous pastime that usually ends up in a lot of time passing me by. But I have been feeling a little burst of creativity lately, and that feels really, really good. At this point I'm just taking in a lot of ideas, not sure where I'll begin. But in the process of surfing I found one new site that I ADORE. Can't get enough.

Check out Modern Parents, Messy Kids. The pictures above are from that site. The page I am linking to is all sorts of fun projects to do with kids. Makes me want to get crafty again so badly. It has been so long!

Second, this site called Organic Families was up on my computer when I sat down tonight. I think Rory must have been looking something up for his garden, but I love this post I'm linking too. A system for teaching your kids how to pick up after themselves. It's pretty brilliant.

And finally, I stumbled upon Cluck, Cluck, Sew and have been bitten by the quilt bug. Actually, it bit really hard this time. I've already been to two speciality fabric stores and am cleaning the table in the basement so I can set up shop down there. Can't wait to try my hand at a little wall quilt.

And you? Have you been inspired lately?