INSPIRATION THURSDAY: Getting Back in Shape

I’ve been inspired lately to get back in shape. I wish I could say that I love what babies have done to my body, and I’m in awe of what my body could do. I mean, I do, and I am. But I don’t so much have extra pregnancy weight as extra weight. My pregnancies caused me to become a super sugarholic, and that has not boded well for my body. My boobs are giant not because of breastfeeding, but because of the extra layer of fat underneath. When I curl up on the couch, there is some skin oozing up over my muffin top that I can feel with my hand and convince myself is not mine. My body doesn’t feel like my own anymore and I need to do something about it.

I have always exercised somewhat throughout my life. In high school, I would come home after school and do workout videos. Sometimes I would run. In college, I walked everywhere and ate very little, so I stayed thin. I remember weighing 99 pounds my freshman year of high school and being upset when I hit triple digits. Then, in my senior year of college, I “ballooned” from weighing 115 to 128. I felt huge. Ha! If only.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Learning to Share

Baby T is learning to share his toys with his brother. Note all Baby T's recycling bottles next to and around Little M, as well as a lemon to our left and some fake chicken nuggets to our right. He has also been telling me daily, "Mommy, I love Mason." I think they are going to be best buds.

 

This post is linked up at Hobomama and I Thought I Knew Mama. Check out those blogs for more family fun.

INSPIRATION THURSDAY: QUESTIONS FOR THE VILLAGE

It takes a village. Here are some questions for my village people.

Raising a toddler is insane. I thought I was insecure about my abilities to raise an infant, but raising a toddler takes things to a whole new level. Now that he can talk, listen, and remember what I tell him, I feel myself wavering with everything I do. I’m an admittedly inconsistent parent. That worked for us when he was a baby, though. It helped me listen to him and respond appropriately to how my baby needed me at the time. I didn’t have any rules, really. I just did what felt right.

Now that Baby T is a toddler, I’m not sure that inconsistency is the best policy. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not organizing his chaotic mind enough. Other times I feel like all I do is talk and redirect him: “Let’s get out of the fridge now. Please use gentle hands on your brother. Feet on the floor, please. Take that out of your mouth. Sit properly on that chair.” It seems like everything he does lately is dangerous or hurtful, and I’m constantly redirecting. Sometimes I get tired of hearing my own voice.

So I wanted to ask the inspirational mamas who posted about their parenting philosophies for the Carnival of Natural Parenting this month: What would you do? That’s right—I’m blatantly begging for advice.

Dear Natural Mamas: My son is a toddler. And I have no idea how to lovingly guide him and nurture his spirit while setting boundaries and keeping him out of danger and out of the fridge.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: THE TEETHING CHAIR

We thought it was funny when Baby T used the bouncy chair as a teether. We took this picture when he was 5 months, 22 days old:

Well, Little M likes to chew on the chair too. We took this picture when he was 5 months, 19 days old. Weird.

Check out other Wordless Wednesday posts with linkies at Hobo Mama and I Thought I Knew Mama.

WHAT IS ATTACHMENT PARENTING ANYWAY?

Welcome to the July Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Philosophy
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared their parenting practices and how they fit in with their parenting purpose. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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Before I had kids, I had a slight idea of what my parenting philosophy was: I basically knew that I wanted an open, respectful relationship with my kids. But that was it. I was never much of a babysitter; I had never been around kids before. I had no idea how to breastfeed and deal with sleep issues, much less discipline and deal with the teenage years. I started to become addicted to the forums on mothering.com. I scoured the Gentle Discipline forum and the one about sleep. I was forming an idea of how I wanted to parent.

I read a lot about attachment parenting and natural parenting. A lot of it resonated with me. I decided I wanted to be an AP mama. The idea that being there for your baby whenever he needs you made sense to me. If baby feels secure with mama and at home, he’s more likely to venture out and explore the world at his own pace.

Then Baby T was born. The one parenting issue that I knew my indecisive self would never waver on was breastfeeding. It was my only option. Luckily, there were no challenges in that department. I say luckily because there were challenges in every other department.

SUNDAY SURF: My Favorite Reading This Week

I've had a crazy week. Actually, every week has been crazy since I quit my job. I'm busier than I was when I was working outside the home, but half of it is errands and stuff around the house that I wouldn't be able to do if I was still working. So I'm saner. A little bit, at least. And I do have more time to read. A little bit, at least.

Here are some posts and articles that I've been into this week:

INSPIRATION THURSDAY: A MOMENT OF CALM

I first met Liz at an Earth Day celebration where she had a booth. I brought my wool soakers to show her, because we had talked on the phone, and she had expressed an interest in consigning them at the shop. When we started chatting, she was so welcoming. We chitchatted about babies, diapers, and cool art (the booth next to her was selling some awesome jewelry). I was struck by how calm and collected she was on that hot, busy day. She had recently had a baby, and didn’t seem frazzled at all, the way I would be in her position.

We kept in touch. I would stop by the shop periodically. We would talk about baby sleep, breastfeeding, and diapering tips. Every time I hung out with her, I noticed how she was just so calm. She always had a smile on her face, never had a bad thing to say about anyone, and just seemed so put together.

She was trying hard to run a business, take care of her family, and raise her son gently and naturally. During one of our first conversations, she mentioned how she was struggling with breastfeeding and hoped to make it to six months. (She’s still nursing her toddler now). She was struggling with letting her son cry it out for naps, because she wasn’t getting much sleep. Again, she had just opened her business. She brought her son to work with her every day and still managed to brush her hair and look cute every morning.