Swaddle Blankets

aden + anais muslin swaddle blankets-

These blankets are amazing.  I choose to swim against the tide and mostly don't swaddle.  I know, how crazy of me ;)  That said, I use these blankets for so much more.  I use them almost every day in some fashion for my 5 month old.  As a newborn, I did swaddle Caleb in them for a month or two.  I use them to block the sun out in the car.  I drape them over half of his car seat because I still want him to be able to look out the back window.  I also use them as a nursing cover.  I prefer them over my actual nursing covers.  Unfortunately, Caleb is starting to learn he can pull them down so I might have to switch to the covers that have a neck thing so he can't expose me ;)  They are also perfect as a light blanket.  They are so very breathable but still provide some warmth.  Love them!  I have been known to use them as a "changing pad" if I'm out in a random place changing a diaper.  They are much easier to tote along than a real changing pad (but obviously less comfortable for baby's back).  If I ever have or adopt a girl, I'm going to splurge and get the girl pack just because new babies need new things too!  I received the boy pack (not the ones pictured...I couldn't find the ones I have) as a gift.  I'm so glad I did because I would never have dropped $50 for them myself.  Now, if I can afford it, it is one of my standard shower gifts for new mothers.  You can get them online in smaller packs or a 4-pack at Target. 

Real-life photo:

The Zoo with Uncle Brian

My brother came to visit.  My daughter loves her Uncle Brian and her Aunt Kelly (my siblings).  My sister came to visit awhile back and I hardly got any pictures of her :(  I used to be really good at taking lots of pics, but now it seems like there is always a baby or toddler in my arms!  With Brian here, we went to the zoo so I was very intentional about taking pictures while we there and we got some good ones.

Soooo cute!!

Caleb didn't love the zoo, but he did eventually fall asleep ;)

Watching the prairie dogs

Ok, I really don't get why people take pictures of the animals at the zoo and/or aquarium.  I mean, what do they do with them?  I get why  kids take pictures as it's all new and exciting for them, but I will probably take my kids to the zoo at least 10 times (or many more!) before they grow up.  I guess taking pictures of the animals just isn't for me.  That being said, I love this one of the elephant! ;)

Now, taking pictures of animals with people standing in front of them makes perfect sense to me!  By the way, I love this one!   

Cute picture, but you can't tell what we're riding!  

Surprise! It was a camel :)

One of the many creative attempts I made to get Caleb to sleep...he finally fell asleep when I walked away from him and left him with my parents! Of course he did! Crazy kid.

Buddies

My dad took a bunch of pictures of us on the carousel, but this was my favorite.   It wasn't posed at all and she looks so grown up! Riding all by herself, gosh.  Plus, if you squint it does kind of look like a real giraffe!

It was a very fun day and I am so glad we went.  Autumn had a BLAST.  Seeing her interact with my brother did make me miss Chris quite a bit.  The good news is we are off to Germany in 2 weeks and he will  join us there shortly after.  The bad news is that to get there we have to travel by car and plane for 15 hours.  Oi, my head aches just thinking about it.  We have not had the easiest journeys transatlantic thus far.  See The Move Across The Pond and The Long Trip Over Part One  and Part Two to see why I'm so scared! 

That Fickle Feeling of Failure

We all struggle with it, don't we?   With our spouses, our children, our friends, our church, our pets, our families, our health, and so many more areas.  When I say we "all" struggle with it, that is, of course, an assumption.  I know I struggle with it all the time and I tend to think I am pretty normal, but it's not something that normally comes up in conversation.

I hate that feeling.  That feeling that you have "ruined" something for someone else or for yourself.  Like, for example, I wanted to make Caleb's birth extra special since his daddy wasn't here.  I wanted to take pictures of him with his daddy's dog tags or sitting in an army boot (although I'm pretty sure he was too chubby to do this one!) or and laying in camo or  something. I wanted to mesh his birth with his daddy being in Afghanistan somehow.  And you know what?  I totally, absolutely did not do that.  Nothing!  And, now he is almost 6 months old, that precious newborn stage is GONE and I've failed.  I can never go back and do that.  And, if feels bad.

I beat myself up all the time over things like that.  "I don't write my husband enough emails"  "I'm not patient enough with my 2 year old" "I never pay attention to the dogs" "I should volunteer more" "I am so unhealthy...I should eat more veggies" and so on and so on!

Why do we beat ourselves up like that?

For me, I have this imaginary perfect day/attitude/relationship and if something doesn't match up with my perfect ideal, then I feel like I've FAILED.  And, of course, it's always my fault!  But, I don't think that's right.  I don't think that failure is the correct word.  I don't know what the correct word would be, however.

I wonder where I learned to view life this way??  What part of my journey has taught me that if I'm not perfect, I must be an awful wife, mother, friend, etc.?  The thing is I'm not perfect and I have no doubts about that.  My house is never spotless and my hair is almost always a mess and I bite my nails and I don't exercise.  I am not in denial about those things and actually I accept most of them about myself...but still, I have this idea of "perfection".  I guess it's my own personal Meg-version of perfection.  Some kind of world where it's ok not to mop your floors, but not ok to miss out on the perfect picture opportunity!?

Well.  I'm just rambling now so I'll stop.  I'll just say that this is an area I am seriously going to start dealing with, thinking about, and try to start giving myself some GRACE.  Lovely glorious grace.

SUSHI

Love it.  Don't get to eat it very often because A.) Kids, duh. B.) Not Chris's favorite. C.) Expensive, duh.

However, seeing as we have sushi-loving company in town, I sushi-d out last night.  And, seeing how my mom and dad don't like sushi, I had built in baby sitters! Weeeeee!!

Seaweed Salad.  This was a delicious first for me.

My brother and my Aunt

My uncle and myself

Sushi!!!! Yum Yum Yum

It was fun.  Unfortunately, Caleb did not do so good without his mommy.  He actually did really well until bedtime and then he cried quite a bit.  So when I got home I nursed him and he cried some more.  So I decided hey, since he's up anyway, let's give him a bath. The kiddos got a joint bath and then I fed him  again and he still cried, but not for long!  So both of the kids were finally in bed around 9pm...which is not normal for them or ideal, but, hey, it happens :)

Tea for Two

Tea shops are fun, no?  I have been to three and they are so girly and dainty and I just love them.  I guess I just like to pretend I'm Eliza Bennet sometimes...I've been known to do that more than once ;)

The first time I went to a tea shop was in Slovakia, Eastern Europe.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures.  That shop was so cool.  It had hundreds of tea flavors and they were organized by country.  It also had little trinkets and artifacts on these shelves that lined the walls.  It wasn't an open floor plan, but had all these little rooms where you felt like you were in an old house.  My favorite (can't remember the name....it was 6 years ago!) was a creamy, sweet tea from Africa...I think ;)

The next tea shop I went to was with my mother-in-law and my husband's godmother. 

This shop was quite fancy.

I was 38 weeks preggo!

The tea I drank was called "Cranberry Autumn"...how appropriate since I was pregnant with "Autumn Grace"!

Just the other day my  mom and I visited my third tea shop.  We got my dad to baby-sit Caleb!  It actually went pretty well.  Autumn was in her last day of preschool that day so we wanted to take advantage of the toddler-free time.  

Mom got Rooibos African tea

I got Cranberry Apple.  Apparently, I like Cranberry Tea.  And, I really hate how totally posed this picture looks! I mean, it was totally posed, but I wish I looked more natural like my mom in the above picture. 

Lunch.  Soup, fruit, little tea sandwiches (which were amazing), and 5 little baby desserts.  Yummo!

My mom hates this picture

The lady said this tea (the Africa Rooibos my mom drank) is good for milk supply and as that is an area I consistently struggle with, I thought I might as well try it!

If my husband and I ever have thousands of dollars to burn, I would love to open up my own tea shop!  I think that sounds so magical.  I think "Tea for Two" would be a really cute name :)