R.I.P.

After months of trying to take Blake's beloved raggedy "nie-night" away from him, we finally succeeded.

Even though his lovey was falling apart so much that I could barely wash it anymore without half of the batting falling out, I have to admit that I became a little sentimental when we officially put it to the grave. I mean, the nie-night has practically been my third child over the last three years. 

It has traveled across the country with us. It has been the constant sleeping cue that Blake holds while sucking his thumb, luring him off to sleep. It has all of the original love marks; the shredded corners where he ground his teeth along the fabric, the remains of strings that were ripped off from being jammed in the crevices of his crib, the rows and rows of stitching in attempt to fix the ripping seams before they became unsalvageable, and the worn out, hole-filled fabric that resulted from Blake lifting up his pajama top and laying his bare belly on top of his nie-night while he slept.

Blake thinks that we left his nie-night at his grandparents' house in Arizona last month, but I keep the original article safely hidden on the top shelf of my closet for sentimental reasons. 

However, there was no way he could have given up his comfort item altogether. 

The thing about using a section of a bumper pad for a lovey is that when one piece gets completely worn out, there is still plenty more mint condition fabric available for replacement. Blake now has a sub-par lovey that fills him with almost as much joy. He calls it his "new nasty nie-night" (we may have called his old nie-night "nasty" a time or two). Maybe we'll be able to yank this one from existence before it shreds into a million pieces.

I think I'm with Blake though. The replacement isn't quite as great as the original. Even though the genuine article was beyond functionality and I cringed when others saw it, somehow it symbolized his babyhood. The new nie-night just means that he is one step closer to growing up.

Moments

I love moments. Maybe not so much in the moments of trying to get a three-year-old to skip one little step in his nightly routine without a meltdown, or reasoning with a baby to keep one morsel of food on his highchair tray, but more in the moments of finding Blake and Nash giggling their heads off at each other. Moments where Nash picks up on the sign language for "more" and knows exactly what it means. Moments where Blake proudly recites the letters on the cereal box. Moments where the boys think they have died and gone to heaven when I take a few cushions off the couch for them to crawl around on:

In between the dishes and the meals and the laundry and the monotony of daily tasks that will be undone within a few hours, those sweet moments are certain to push to the surface every single day. The moments are what make this whole mothering journey worth it.

I'm so grateful that this is my family.

Ice Ice Baby

I love holidays such as President's Day where you don't have the pressure to do anything festive (apparently we aren't very patriotic), but Troy has the bonus of a day off work. To celebrate, we went with our friends to see the ice castles. Last year, we went at night, so it was fun to see them during the day. They are made entirely out of ice, with no supporting substructure.

Nash was only three weeks old when we saw the ice castles last year. He slept through the entire outing. You can see that he was absolutely thrilled to be strapped in his stroller out in the cold this time around.

Thankfully, Blake, my trusty boy, cheered him right up.

 

Our friends have twin girls. I forgot how when you are in public with twins, you get a lot of comments sent your way. They are so used to it that they barely noticed, but I found it funny when almost every passing group whispered to each other (as if we couldn't hear them), "Look at those twins!" 

Blake did not mind the twin factor one bit. He was really sweet to look out for the little ones all day.

But nothing turns my heart to mush more than the genuine love and concern these two have for each other. Blake came right up to Nash and threw his protective arms around him without any coaxing from us.

There are not a whole lot of family outings that can be done outside in February. Seeing the ice castles was a perfect way to spend a no-work Monday.

Map

We like to travel. Troy and I want so much for our children to be aware of the world and to instill in them a love of traveling and exploring it like we have.

Last year for Christmas, we gave Troy's dad a map of the world to mark all the places he has traveled to. He is the most well-traveled man we know of, so his map has pins poking out in every continent (yes, even Antarctica).

We aren't nearly as well traveled as my in-laws, but we liked the map so much that we decided to buy our own.

We put pins in all of the places that at least one of us has been. Troy's travels represent probably 90% of the marks. Growing up in Boston, it was cheaper for his family to fly to Europe than across the US, so they did a lot of foreign traveling throughout his childhood. I had a few places to contribute, and am slowing adding in my pins as well.

I know, a laminated map on the wall isn't the peak of beautiful home decor, but we just feel like it's so important for our family to know about the world. I have visions of us discussing world events and referencing the map for travel plans while we are deep in dinner conversation as our children grow up. And for that reason, I didn't want the mapped tucked away in a location we would never see. I wanted it to be prominent. So, what better place to hang it than right by our dining room table where it could be at our fingertips all the time?

It has been hanging there for almost a year, and I have already loved the conversations we have had about places in the world.

What I haven't loved is the frame. For such a large item, the frame seemed much too small. The map was so huge and odd-shaped to begin with that the price of framing was quite hefty. So, I built my own frame, adding on to the current one.

Since it has been well over a year since I've given a tutorial, I thought I'd share how I did it:

1. I bought some thick molding ($15).

2. I used a very scientific method to draw 45 degree angles (aka ruler and pencil). 

3. I cut the wood using my saw. I'm sure there are much more appropriate power tools for this operation, but my trusty jig saw worked just fine.

4. Note to self: If you do this in your kitchen because it is too cold outside, you will produce a large amount of saw dust that must be swept immediately to avoid inhalation by household crawlers.

5. Does it fit? Yes. Whew. Do you ever do that?

6. I grabbed my favorite construction item; tack cloth. I love this stuff. It picks up all of the dust before sanding and painting.

7. I used liquid nails to adhere the pieces and held the frame tight with some masking tape while it dried.

8. I added putty to the corners to fill in those imperfections from sawing. Ours is bright pink and it turns white when it dries to let you know that it is time to sand.

Finally, I did a lot of sanding and added a few coats of semi-gloss black paint I had on hand.

The finished product:

Now, I want to go build frames around all of the builder grade mirrors in our house. It was easier than I thought it would be. The chunkier frame fills up our dining room wall much better, and we have the constant reminder of how much of the world we have yet to see.

V-day Celebrations

I completely spaced on celebrating Valentine's Day this year. We never do anything elaborate, but at 10pm on the night before the big day, I figured that I should plan something somewhat festive for my boys. Thankfully, my friend Amber came to the rescue with the idea of having a home scavenger hunt. I hid hearts all over the house with pictures of where to find the next clue.

The clues led to Valentine presents. And by "presents," I mean that I did my own little scavenger hunt through the house and gathered items to give to the boys. When they are three and one, they don't know the difference between store-bought and home-scrounged.

Blake and I made heart shaped jello jigglers.

And my Valentine made pink heart-shaped pancakes.

We topped the night off with festive smoothies.

I think those flowers from my sweetheart will arrive any day now. We always wait until after Valentine's Day for the flower purchase. It's much more economical, and I don't need them on Valentine's Day in order to feel loved. I am just lucky to have three strapping Valentines.