Thankful Thursdays

I am so thankful for:
81.  The AMAZING weather we've been having...sunshine, warmth...I just love it.
82.  The sweetness of guy smiley
83.  The Pilot's hilarious sense of humor
84.  Summer!
85.  Our newly started garden...grow veggies, grow!
86.  The princesses love of all things girlie.
87.  Amazing friendships
88.  Great neighbors
89.  The breeze to cool our house
90.  My kids' love of being outdoors

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My journey into Babywearing

Babywearing...wearing your baby...carrying your baby, hands free. 

My journey into babywearing...
Well, when the princess was born the Baby Bjorn had just started to really gain popularity in the US so of course that is what I had.  It worked well...especially since I didn't know about any other carriers...but I could only carry her in it until she weighed about 15 or so pounds because it started to hurt my back and shoulders.  After she was too big for it I just stopped wearing her.

Then comes the pilot...I found out about the Moby wrap from a forum I was on. I was getting ready to fly south(12-14 hour total trip time) with two young kids on my own(a 2 year old and a 2 month old) and wanted to know the best way to fly without taking my stroller.  The Moby wrap was wonderful!  It saved me on this trip.  The pilot was wrapped up snug as a bug in a rug the entire trip!  I only took him out to nurse him and change his diaper.  Being totally hands free left me able to keep the princess entertained and happy and kept the pilot happy since he was snuggled in so close to mama.

Here is the pilot in the Moby at around 4 months:

I loved the Moby but then the pilot grew and the Moby was just too stretchy to be comfortable so I started looking around at what else I could use.  I soon found an Ergo.  I bought it from a local retailer who was very helpful in showing me exactly how it can be used. It is incredibly versatile in that you can wear your baby on your front, back or hip. It was great!  Made for quick and easy shopping trips since I could put him on so quickly and he stayed more content on my back(or my front) then he did in the cart(it doesn't help to have a big sister that picks on you).

Then when the pilot was almost 18 months I bought a wrap, an Earthy Rainbow by Girasol...and fell in love with wrapping.  The pilot was at an age where he didn't want to be worn much but I knew I would use it again since not long after that I found out I was pregnant with guy smiley.

Here is the pilot in Earthy Rainbow and the princess in our Ergo

Guy smiley was wrapped from the start and I loved how much closeness and freedom it gave me. He would be snuggled up close and I was hands free to do what I needed.

The first time he was wrapped:

One of the first time I wrapped in on my back:

I now own a few wraps and am using them less and less these days as guy smiley gets more mobile.  We still use them on occasion along with our Ergo.  I love babywearing and can't say enough good things about it.

Oh and wraps make great dresses too...

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*Please no harsh words about not buying another seat for our babies and taking on their carseats.  It is just not feasible for us to afford an extra seat on the plane as it is quite expensive to fly from Alaska to the lower 48.  
*Baby Bjorn, Moby, Girasol, Didymos and Ergo have no idea who I am and are not compensating me for talking about their products.

10:07pm

Thankful Thursdays + a few pictures

I'm thankful for...
71. The joy of my kids over their new bikes.
72. Lessons of life they are learning...even though they are sad.
73. The love my kids have for each other (when riding bikes today the pilot fell over on his and the princess helped him up, when we asked what happened the princess said "I helped him up because that's what brothers and sisters do".)
74. The honesty of the princess.
75. How much my dh plays with my kids.
76. Guy smiley's squinty smiles.
77. A wonderful group of girl friends.
78. The fresh green leaves on the trees...oh spring how I love thee.
79. The calm after 2 days of high winds.
80. Quiet, peaceful evenings.

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And now for pictures...here they are enjoying their new bikes today(Wed).  The bikes that neither will be able to ride tomorrow(Thurs) because one was caught with her thumb in her mouth and the other decided he didn't like his bike and would rather have his bobby.  

The princess is incredibly sad over the loss of her bike privileges for tomorrow.  She broke into tears when I told her no bike since her thumb was in her mouth.  She cried for a good 20 minutes and then when having prayer time with dh said "Jesus, I pray I have a good day tomorrow even though I can't ride my bike." Pause, sniffling and some tears.  "That makes me sad just saying it." 

It makes me so sad for her since I know how much she was enjoying her bike today.  But I'm hoping this serves as a helpful reminder for her to stop sucking her thumb.

The pilot on the other hand was gung ho about not using his bobby.  Then he got in bed.  Then he got out of bed.  He came out of his room and said "I don't like my bike." "I want my bobby."  And both dh and I asked him multiple times if he was sure as once he had bobby back there would be no bike tomorrow.  But he was adamant that he didn't want his bike.

Let's just say I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and how he will feel about tonight's decision then. 

But back to the pictures...at least they were able to enjoy them today for a while. (And one of guy smiley just because it's cute.)

New bikes!

I'm so excited!  Last night I was perusing Craigslist and found 2 bikes for sale, a 12" and a 16".

EXACTLY what I've been looking for and they looked practically new...and the price $30 per bike!

Now some of you may think that's steep and yes, free would've been even better.  But I was stoked as I've been looking at bikes for the kids for the past few months...brand new the cheapest I found was around $60. 

So when these popped up on Craigslist I replied as quick as I could, which was last night.  I received an email back this morning stating that the seller had had 10 replies and when I could I come see them!  So as of 1:30pm today our kids now have their own bikes. 

In return the kids are giving up their bobby's(pacifier) and thumb:-)  [Bobby for the pilot and thumb(just don't ask...it's a long story as to why she even started sucking her thumb in the first place...at 4 1/2) for the princess.]  We have a verbal agreement...any thumb or bobby sucking and no bike the next day.  So we'll see how it goes, so far the pilot is napping sans bobby.  (And yes, it's called a bobby in our house...the princess started calling it that around age 1 and it has stuck.)

So after the bargaining session we revealed their presents...they were SO excited.  They hopped right on for a ride(though the princess had to have help until we can purchase her some training wheels).  The pilot kept saying things like "my bike is like my cousins" and "my bike is a transformer bike"(it's not...it's just blue and plain) and "look, I can ride fast" with a huge grin on his face.   And the princess was excited even though in reality she had really wanted a princess bike(we told her this wasn't going to happen since we want to be able to pass them down).  She just wishes hers had training wheels so she wouldn't need help riding it...that will be solved this afternoon.

Pictures will be following soon.

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New phones

So dh and I are looking into getting new phones...our plan is up for renewal and our current phones are a hand-me-down and a cheapo old phone.  (My new phone is partly a Mother's Day present as well.)

I find that I'm being sucked into wanting an iPhone.

Wait...sucked in is not quite the right term...I just flat out think they are cool and want one. (Yes, I admit to being a sucker.)

What I find is a battle going on in my mind between what I want and what is practical.  An iPhone...not practical...at least not necessary in the least for me.  Plain, boring, somewhat cheap feeling flip phone...practical, smarter option.

Now to preface, we are not big gadget people...we do not have a HD TV or blu-ray or Tivo or even cable for that matter...we don't even have bunny ears.  Our TV is probably 5 or 6 years old and huge.  As for current cell phones we have an older Samsung flip phone and a Nokia brick phone.  As for other gadgets...we don't own a laptop or any game players besides the original XBox which is almost never played.  We do have iPods, original and Nano....and that's about the extent of our gadgets.  Oh and a Canon Rebel XTi because we wanted to be able to take really great pictures of our kids.

So the fight still rages...fun vs practical.

And I laugh, because in the larger scheme of things this is a small, minute, insignificant decision.  Doesn't matter in the long run at all.

Any other perspectives or advice?

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guy smiley...he's just so darn cute!

Haha

I just have to laugh as my lack of sticking to it shines through...it's something I have to work hard on improving.  So one small way is my blog.  I get bogged down by trying to figure out what I should blog about and so I just do nothing.  I don't think this is the way to go about blogging is it?  So I hope from now on to post at least 3 times a week even if it is in pictures.  Summer is a busy time of year up here as we have learned to enjoy every sunny and warm day since "summer" is entirely too short. 
For instance...we are just now getting leaves on our trees...the buds just came out this week and by the end of next week the trees will be full of green leaves.  It's amazing to me how I never really paid any attention to this fact before moving north, but now it's a game for my dh and I  to guess what day in May that we will be able to officially see the "green hue" of leaves.
Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying our first days of spring...

Yes, I classify the snowman as spring as it was taken on April 22nd!  And melted the next day.

Here we are playing with some friends...

Rocks and a runny nose...

Playing together...

Storytelling on a sunny day...