Author: A Mama's Blog

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Activities Cole Current Events Family & Friends Mothering Parenting Ryan Work

Take Your Sons to Work & Weekend Activities

We have had a pretty busy weekend around here.  On Friday morning we had our Music Together class.  After that I took the boys to my office, because Ryan has been asking where I work, and all kinds of questions about my office.  Plus, my boss has been wanting to meet the boys since started, and it has just never worked out before.

We got to my office about 11:15, and discovered my boss, “Jane” (not her real name) was the only person in the office.  One of the ladies had called in sick, and the other person was a client’s office.  So Ryan and Cole had the place to themselves.  Ryan walked right up to Jane, stuck his hand out to shaker her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Ryan.  Nice to meet you.”  He was so cute and not shy at all! 

Jane got stamps out for the boys and let them stamp their hearts out.  Cole progressed from paper, to stamping his shirt.  Of course, I dressed them up in nicer than normal clothes, so I have yet to see if the red ink will come out of the shirt. 

I finished up a tiny bit of work, while Ryan and Cole “worked” too.  They were very busy three-hole punching paper, highlighting accounts, and of course stamping.  Then Jane was trying to fax a really long document and Ryan was very interested in the fax machine.  I tried to move him away from the fax, while Jane was trying to use it, and Jane told me it was OK- he wasn’t in the way.  Then Ryan said, “Yea Mom, I’m working with Jane.”  He proceeded to follow her around the rest of the visit, and ask her about all of her pictures of her family on her desk in her office. 

The favorite part of the day was the shredder.  We have a closed and locked bin where all documents go, and then once a month a company comes and shreds the entire bag.  We can open it if we need to, but there is a slot where we slide the papers down.  Ryan and Cole were just enthralled with that.  I guess for little boys, that was just way too cool. 

Another funny thing was about half way through the visit Ryan told me he had to go pee.  I took him to the bathroom, and after he was done, he asked, “Is this where Jane goes poopie?”  I had to laugh at that one.

As we were leaving Jane told Ryan and Cole that they had both been very good boys, and they were welcome back anytime.  Ryan smiled at her and said, “OK, we’ll come back then and finish our work.”  Then he hugged her.  I would have to say that I think Ryan has a little crush on Jane, which is very sweet.

Then I treated the boys to lunch at our favorite noodle place, just up the street.  We had an awesome view of the mountains, and just had a fun lunch talking about the office.

On Saturday I took Ryan to his friends fourth birthday party, where he of course, had a ball.  He got to dress up as a fireman, make a train placemat, play grocery store, play with all kinds of trucks, trains, and toys, and play outside.  The party was in a city-operated preschool, where they have birthday parties on the weekends.  The best part for him was the birthday cake-of course. 

It was fun for me too, because Cole stayed home with Joe, so he could have his nap, so I got to visit with my friends more than I normally do at parties like this.  It was a nice afternoon.

Then the reason Cole needed his nap was we went to my dad’s house for dinner, to see my grandmother, Mimi, who is in town for a few weeks.  She comes to “the big city” to get away from the cold winters where she lives.  Mimi is the only great-grandmother that Ryan and Cole have, so it is very important they visit with her when they can.  Ryan gave her lots of hugs, and Cole did too, once he got used to her.  We had a yummy dinner, and got to visit.

Today Joe, Cole, and I made a Costco run, while Ryan was at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Then Joe took Cole out there, and I found myself alone- with no kids.  How often does that happen?  I went for a really, really, long walk and it was great, despite it being windy.  Now I am off to fold some laundry and get some dinner ready.

I am also excited about the Academy Awards tonight.  I LOVE to see all the fashions, and will write my “Mama’s Blog Second Annual Academy Awards Fashion Reveiew” tonight, hopefully.  So check in later to see who made my best dressed, and worst dressed list, as well as the overall winner in my book for best and worst dressed.  Enjoy the show dah’lings.  🙂

Categories
Cole Family & Friends Mothering

Cole Speaks!

Cole has been saying lots of single words just in the last week.  His favorite is “no.”  The other day I asked him if he could say “big bird,” and he tried, and it kind of sort of sounded like it, but probably only to me.  He is talking so much earlier than Ryan- I don’t think we got a word out of Ryan until he was almost two.  I am sure having a constant chatterbox around him, better known as big brother Ryan, doesn’t hurt.

On Wednesday night, we were having dinner at Joe’s parents house and we were discussing the eclipse.  We wanted to take the boys out to see it, but it was too cloudy.  We started talking about the moon.  On the drive home, when Cole looked out his window, he exclaimed, “Moon Mama!”  He was so happy to see the moon, and be able to communicate to us that he too, knew what the moon was, and what we had been discussing.

I’m not sure if I am ready to start hearing Cole talk so much.  He is so sweet with the little smiles and head shakes he gives.  On the other hand, his voice is just so cute, I smile everytime I hear it.  Guess we are moving into another stage, whether I am ready or not.

Categories
Breastfeeding Mothering

How Much Milk Does a Breastfed Baby Need?

That question is one almost every breastfeeding mother asks at some point.  Their baby could be a newborn, and they are worried they aren’t getting enough milk, or the baby could be older-over six months and eating some solids, but still needs breastmilk.  How much is enough?

 I had this really neat page bookmarked and came across it again today.  It is from Kellymom.com, the wonderful evidence based breastfeeding website.  It is a milk calculator, which will give you a nice guideline on how much milk your baby needs.  You simply put in the number of feedings per day, and hit calculate. It gives you about how much milk your baby needs in ounces on the high end and the low end of the scale.  If you scroll down after the calculator, there are some paragraphs of information on how much milk an older baby needs as well.

The article points out that most doctors base the amount needed on formula intake, “which research has shown after the early weeks, these methods overestimate the amount of milk baby actually needs.”  (quote from the article).

I realized I had this bookmarked for my use, and thought it was too neat of a tool not to share. 

Categories
Current Events Mothering Parenting

Is It Just Me?

I have been looking around for some cute baby clothes as a birthday present for my niece who will be one in April.  A few nights ago, I was looking on Old Navy’s website, and got to the section where they have swimwear.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when there was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie (striped) bikini for a baby girl,  starting at age 6 -12 MONTHS!  The bikini top was tiny, and so were the bottoms.  I know babies this age can get by without a swimsuit- lots of parents just put them in a diaper and that is it.  That isn’t what bothered me.  What bothered me was that they actually make bikinis like this for babies.  It looked liked they were trying to make the bikini overly sexy, and alluring.

Having two boys, I have never run into this.  Swimming suits for boys are trunks. I don’t know if they make Speedos for baby boys, but I have never seen a swimming suit / pair of swimming trunks for a baby boy that looked like they were trying to be sexy.  This just seems so wrong.  It seems like our society pushes kids to grow up so fast anyway, but making overly revealing bikinis for baby girls just seems like it is crossing a major line.

I wanted to post a picture of the bikini in question, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was not on Old Navy’s website as of today.  I can only hope they got complaints and decided to remove it.  The other option is that they sold out of it.  That would be scary.  However, there were still bikinis for babies that I thought were questionable. 

I wondered if it was only Old Navy who is trying to sell these.  I looked at Gap (same parent company as Old Navy) and saw their bikinis were better than Old Navy, but the tops still bothered me, AND their sizes started at 0-3 months.   Children’s Place was better, and they had one bikini which covered way more than the previous two stores, and one which looks like a tankini, which I don’t have a problem with.  Then I looked at Target- they have bikinis starting at size extra small, which I would assume would be about age 4 or 5.  They were much more age appropriate in my opinion.  There was one toddler Dora bikini starting at age two, which seemed age appropriate.  I wonder why Old Navy and Gap are trying to push  skimpy bikinis off on baby girls and newborns? 

It is times like this, when I am glad that I don’t have a daughter.  Who wants to think about having to deal with these types of swimming suits when she isn’t even one yet?  If stores are marketing swimming suits like this for babies, it makes me cringe to think what is down the road for girls in our society.  Let them be babies for pete’s sakes!  You be the judge: here are some pictures of the bikinis I mentioned- what do you think?  Is it just me, or would you let your baby daughter wear these?

From Old Navy

                            

 

From Gap

                                 

          

From Children’s Place  

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From Target

                  Girls' Xhilaration® Preppy Stripe 2-pc. Swimsuit                     Toddler Girls' Dora the Explorer 2-pc. Swimsuit - Pink

The suits from Chidren’s Place and Target, I thought were ones I might let an older daughter wear, but still not a baby who wasn’t even one yet!

Categories
Cole Family & Friends Holidays Mothering Parenting Ryan

Happy Valentine’s Day

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I got my first Valentine’s Day card from my eldest son on Sunday actually.  While I was out shopping, Ryan and Dad made my card.  Ryan was so excited to give it to me and couldn’t wait, so I got it that evening.  It is a beautiful, big, heart, with stickers on it.  Dad wrote out the words, but Ryan traced over them.  It said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Mom- Love Ryan and Cole.”  It is the best card I have ever received. 

Then at preschool on Tuesday, the teachers helped Ryan make another card, which he wanted to give to me right away too.  It is has been like a homemade card bonanza around here this week, which is really nice. 

After work today, we had dinner at Joe’s parent’s house.  Grandpa took Ryan out for some chocolate shopping today for Grandma and myself, and Ryan and Cole were so pleased with themselves when they pulled out the boxes of chocolate for us.  I have to say I was quite surprised!

After the boys were asleep, Joe went out the to car and brought in not one, but TWO dozen roses for me- the picture at the top of the post.  I used to be a florist and was thoroughly sick and tired of roses this time of year, so Joe just never bought them.  However, that was many years ago, and I miss them now.  Since I can usually arrange them ( I did all the flowers for my wedding) he doesn’t bother having them arranged.  I arranged them, and it was really fun.  I didn’t have my floral arranging secrets (foam or tape to keep the roses in place, or even stockier greenery), so the roses flopped around a bit, and didn’t stay quite where I wanted them too, but I still love them.  The entire kitchen smells like roses!

Tonight Ryan kissed me goodnight and told me I was his special and best Valentine.  He gave me a hug and said, “Goodnight Valentine.”  It was so sweet, I got tears in my eyes.  I know people always talk about Daddy’s little girl, but you don’t hear too much about Mommy’s little boy.  My little boy is just the apple of my eye, and such a sweetheart.  He can melt my heart in an instant.  Since Sunday, he has been showering me with hugs and kisses for Valentine’s.  I think it is a tiny glimpse into his heart, and it makes me stop and realize how much he loves me. 

As a mother, you do so much for your kids, you lose track.  You don’t remember all the nights you are up with them, all the tears you dry, all the scratches, bumps, and bruises you kiss, all the messes you clean up.  You never realize all these things are registering somewhere in their brains.  One day, if you are lucky, and I certainly am, they are old enough to express their thanks and love for you, for doing all these things.  I think that is where Ryan is right now.  It is just the best thing ever. 

This has certainly been the best Valentine’s Day I have ever had.  I am very fortunate to be surrounded by so much love- love that I don’t always think about, and take for granted.  It has been a great reminder for me, how much a simple gesture can mean, and how it can show your love.

I hope everyone has a great Valentine’s Day too, and you are surrounded with your sweethearts as well.  🙂