The Love Dare - Day 1

I got the idea to do The Love Dare from Valerie on diaperswappers.com; she sent me her own version. I found out about this by accidentally seeing the movie 'Fireproof'. I didn't particularly like some of the acting (Kirk Cameron was fine, some of the others were a bit iffy), but I did like the story and the whole idea of a love dare and keeping a journal about it. The Love Dare is basically a 40-day (mine is less with Valerie's edited version) journey of different tasks to complete each day, in order to perform acts of love for your spouse.


So here it is, my day 1:

1 - Patience - The first part of this dare is fairly simple. Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the condition of our heart. For the next day, resolve to demonstrate patience and to say nothing negative.

When Danny got home from work today, I felt like I didn't have to try too hard to be pleasant and patient. Before dinner, though, we went on a family walk/bike ride. I figured we would just go around the block, but Danny wanted to go to the park (which is far), and we ended up zig-zagging every which way. Normally I would have mentioned right away that I didn't think it was a good idea going so far, but I kept quiet. He should be able to make the call sometimes too, lol.

To me, this dare also meant not complaining. As well as being patient, I did not complain today, and even if something was difficult, I tried to change my focus to something else to ease my mind.

Outcome: A-okay

Sleeping Beauties

I'm sorry, but I just had to share this picture! These are my kids while they are asleep at night (we co-sleep). William likes to touch my face, and when they are asleep for the night, I will usually sit in a chair in our bedroom, using the computer or reading. Very often, William will touch Violet's face like this in his sleep, or hold her hand. It's very cute.

Everyone that sees this picture seems sort of surprised, "Are they really sleeping?" I know my family is probably wondering why we are co-sleeping, but it's cuteness like this that makes me glad that we do.

Wearing underwear...a little bit sad!

William is 2-1/2 now, and has been wearing underwear for 4 days straight now. I have to say, I am very proud of him and love seeing his successes, but I am a bit sad that his days of wearing diapers are over. Violet is still in diapers, and although I have to wash diapers half as often now, it makes me a little bit sad every time I go in to change her and grab a diaper.

Am I crazy or what?

Backyard Waterpark

Well, William finally decided he liked going in the pool. We set up a little waterpark in our back yard (slides, pool, water balloons). So far this summer and all last summer, he would not set foot in the water. Now he loves it! I am still trying to get Violet to go in the water. Her pinky toe barely touches the water and she starts crying. It's funny because they both love taking a bath. I can't wait to take them to a real pool!

Baby Wearing

This is our best investment besides our cloth diapers! It's a quick, comfy Butterfly Beco "Alice" baby carrier. It's a snap to put on, and it also wears like a backpack (but Violet prefers riding in the front). You can see her satisfied grin in the picture. I use this carrier several times a day (stroller? What stroller?), when we go for walks, shopping, and to William's mom-tot classes (siblings are allowed if they are in a carrier). I purchased it from Jillian (wonderful and so helpful!) at paxbaby.com. This carrier replaced my Mei Tai, and I love it!

Santa Came Early This Year

Santa Claus visited our house early this year. Perhaps you can see why...where would we ever hide this huge thing?!? Danny has been looking on Craig's List forever for a Power Wheels for William. But not just any Power Wheels...it had to be something big, a two-seater (so his sister could ride too!), and of course it had to have a radio. William loves to play with the radio in the car. Finally, he found this Escalade on Craig's List, not too far from our house.

We went to go look at it, and quickly realized why the guy was selling it...he lived in a second floor apartment and it had to be carried down the stairs by himself and his wife, for his young son to use. The thing probably weighs 100lb. While we were there, 3 other potential buyers called, all fighting for it and offering to pay more money. Needless to say, we quickly said yes.

William is so happy about his new truck. When he calls his grandma or his great-grandma (Oma), all he can talk about is his 'big truck'. He gets in and out a million times, plays the radio, and even loads 'groceries' into the truck (canned goods from the pantry).

Doesn't he look small? :-)

Reusable Gift Wrap

For the first time, we will have reusable gift wrap under our Christmas tree! My mother has been doing this for years (I can't even remember a time when we had paper gift wrap!), and I decided I wanted to do it for my own family, so I made my own gift bags. These are all made from Christmas-themed cotton fabric. I started with 6 yards of cute printed cotton fabric, and cute each yard in half. I sewed the bags using a french seam, and they have a drawstring closure (sewed with a button hole and seams on each side of the button hole). To finish, the ties were made using sparkly silver and gold cording. So simple!

Now I will be able to cut the time I would normally spend wrapping Christmas presents by a fraction! Using these bags (and handmade gift tags that I made and will be able to use year after year as well), I could probably get all the Christmas wrapping done in about a half hour. And another great feature of the reusable bags is that odd-shaped presents are no longer a problem. You just stuff the bags, tie, and go!