Joining the lovely Jen (Pre-order her book right now!
), for seven of the randomest, 'tis the season!
), for seven of the randomest, 'tis the season!{one}
At least someone has their act together and is dressed for the day!
Does it never cease to amaze you too that you can be up early, have everyone else up early, breakfasted, somewhat cleaned, and think to yourself, "Wow, I'm going to get so much done today-look at me go!", only to realize its now 11 am, dishes are still piled everywhere, the house has only gotten messier, and you've spent all of your time breaking up toddler aggressions, changing bomb diapers, and trying to get the baby to nap??
ANYWAYS - nuts to all that mess and getting crap done, I might as well blog!
{two}
It's Friday everyday when you're 9 months old and sleep/wakeup whenever you want!
If there wasn't Seven Quick Take posts popping up everywhere I could have sworn it was Thursday, so that's a pleasant surprise. This week has been a flurry of Christmas around here, the kids are brimming with excitement. I feel the noise levels are rising in ratio with the excitement too. If I make it to Christmas I'll be thrilled.
I feel ready for Christmas. Oh, not in the I've-got-all-my-presents-wrapped/bought, house-is-clean, cookies-are-baked kinda way, but in an excited anticipatory way. I'm going to chalk this feeling up as an Advent success. I feel as if somehow I'm not even thinking about stressing out about stuff. I have no idea if gifts will be successful, or wrapped for that matter, or if every child will be perfectly happy, or if I got everything I wanted done or not, or if every obligatory Christmas activity has happened or not. I'm just leaving room for wonder and feel ready to celebrate and feast.
{three}
We ventured out last weekend for our yearly Christmas tree hunt. Living out in the wilderness has the one advantage that finding a Christmas tree takes about five minutes. Perfect length for toddlers and small children!
I won't tell you that we just picked a tree from the side of the road that runs through my dad's property. It's a beauty this year though, nice a full, because it grew in a nice open ditch.
{four}
Then the decorating commenced! The kids have somehow developed the idea that they decorate the tree every year. I don't know where they got this idea though, because I'm pretty sure I actively discourage it every year. And it usually ends in a flurry of tears and sap-covered fingers. But we did let them decorate if only for the nice photo ops, there were four very decorated branches.
{five}
I have a big tub of unbreakable ornaments that I store at the top of the Christmas box so I just hand it to the kids and tell them to go nuts. So far this theory has worked well and they cover the bottom half of the tree with the cheap ornaments which saves some time for me. Then they go to bed and I carefully unpack the breakables and momentos and hang them, then my OCD kicks in and I completely redistribute the ornaments the kids had previously hung. And which they'll rehang as soon as the wake up the next morning. And every morning after that.
I realized again I need to stop buying ornaments. But I cannot stop. I love all the ornaments!
I need a better picture of the finished tree but heres one shot for ya -
{six}
Also, I started feeding the baby child her first solids the last couple weeks. I'm on the baby led feeding train and let me tell you, if you learn one thing in having five babies in six years is that feeding babies younger than 8 months is just. not. worth. it. Seriously, just wait until they actually care. Don't bother feeding them the baby crap at six months. It really doesn't matter, they make a giant mess, its a huge waste of your time and energy.
I only break down and feed baby food when the baby figures out that they could have a little variety in their diet and begin to demand it with tantrums and grumpiness. Nora's almost 9 months old, and she's starting to eat chunks of banana, pear, and apple in the mesh-teether thing which makes feeding the baby completely hands-free, which is my goal. But sometimes I still have to break down and spoon feed her.
I think I have issues with how much I detest this aspect of babyhood. I need to get over it.
{seven}
Here's a confession for you-I don't have anything for my parents yet. They're so hard to shop for and I'm coming up completely blank. It's my biggest gift fail. I'm praying for a miracle that somehow lands me at least an idea of what I should give them by Christmas Eve...cmon miracle idea!
Another New Year's resolution for 2014, which has been a resolution since 2012, learn how to use my ding-dong camera. I want to so badly!
I'm dying for Christmas chocolates that I'm saving for Christmas day...I know they're in the house though...
Ok, I'm leaving now, someone stop the rambling!
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I hate spoon feeding too. I hate, hate, hate it. My mom thinks I'm nuts. She thinks it's so fun! We avoid it too.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are SO lovely.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with you on the feeding, and I've only gone through it once. But I ended up with the: strip him to a diaper, put food on tray, wish him luck routine.
For your parents, what about photos of the children? And totally agree re feeding infants
ReplyDeleteWe've been doing baby lead weaning this go round too and I love using that phrase to explain myself...it feels so much fancier than the truth which is more along the lines of, "I give my baby table scraps....." :)
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are awesome. Nora has the prettiest eyes!
ReplyDeleteI will see your "baby-led weaning" and raise you an "if baby can't get it into her own mouth it's not happening." I canNOT do the sit there spoon feeding a baby who spits/smears most of it anyway. Once you can feed yourself you get food. And mine have all lived.
There are not Christmas trees in ditches around here before Christmas. After Christmas, yes. Sometimes still decorated. But not before Christmas.
Your tree is breathtakingly gorgeous. And every time you post a picture of Nora I have to pause scrolling for a minute while I get lost in her eyes. Every single time.
ReplyDeleteAlso, can we please talk about how much I love your coat? Tres chic!
DeleteI'm staring at that (gorgeous!) picture of you and the five littles and trying to calculate how long it takes you to get them dressed to go outdoors. And oy. I'm tired.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I remembered you complaining some previous Advent on your blog about not being able to have hot buttered rum at Christmas, which I had never heard of, but intrigued me. And I mentally stashed that away... and will be attempting to make that this year because it sounds ridiculously yummy.
I totally need to take that approach to Christmas tree decorating - I'm gonna try to make a bunch of felt ornaments so that they're not chokable either, but I think we're still going to have to gate off the tree :/
ReplyDeleteAlso, we're going to a Christmas tree farm and paying WAY too much to cut down our own tree tomorrow. You win, wilderness girl!
I'm with your on #6. I've never introduced solids until almost 7 months, but the period between then and10-11 months or so is the worst! Plus they're still getting most of their calories from breast milk so it's just more work and lots more frustration. Maybe this time around (#3 is 7 weeks) I'll wait even longer.
ReplyDelete6. Every since baby #3, I skip the mashed food and go straight to table food around 7-9 months. Changed my life forever! Why didn't someone tell me this with baby #1?! Baby #5 is 7 months and I just sat him at the table to try out some food and he wasn't interested so I will try again in a week or so. It makes life so much easier. Of course, when I tell people my 7 month old isn't eat mashed food yet, they think I am crazy.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous tree, beautiful baby, and great picture of you and your kids in the snow!! just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on t he feeding issue. With my first I began dutifully attempting to spoon baby cereal into his unwilling mouth at 4 months, as per the pediatrician's recommendations. It was a nightmare for everyone. With my second we just stayed letting her have tastes of whatever we were eating if she seemed interested. Much better system!
ReplyDeleteI'm usually stumped When it comes to gifts for my parents but this year I stole am idea from a friend and I got all my siblings and their kids together and had a group portrait taken. We were trying to keep it a secret from my parents but we'll see how surprised they are...