Charlie Chicken

Sunday I roasted my first chicken! And he was mmm mmm good. :) I was intimidated for sure, but I just did it. I absolutely killed the vegetables though! We had 2 lbs of leftover chicken meat. Last night we made "White Chicken Chili". It was amazing! White beans, 2/3 chopped onion, seeded jalapeno, green chilis, chicken, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder and italian seasoning. It was amazing. I topped mine with sour cream and Monterrey Jack cheese. We had some leftover chili so we will have "Chili Stretcher" which is where you put chili in the bottom of a muffin tin, then cheese, then corn bread batter. Bake the corn bread, serve upside down. Stretches the chili right out! That'll be leftover leftovers, huh? :) Tonight is chicken picadillo or chicken quesadillas. Probably quesadillas. Mmm.

Family Fun Fair

There was a family fun fair on post today so we had to go! We had a lot of fun and got a lot of stuff! Corbin painted, created, bounced and learned. We watched a skateboard demo, petted animals and he even went on a pony ride! They gave away a ton of free stuff. We got 3 Golden Books: Cars, Firetrucks and Miracles of Jesus. Yeah I was pleasantly surprised to see that last one! We also got 2 books for kids of deployed soldiers. One is for when Daddy leaves and one is for when he comes home. :) He decorated a bug box, won some bubbles. Yeah. It was fun.
Now it's nap time, then we're going to work on the bedroom until we go to our new friend's house for dinner.

The Flylady

Things I have learned from The Flylady

Getting dressed to the shoes: Every morning get dressed, put on shoes, do your hair and face. You will feel more motivated to get stuff done! True story!

The swish and swipe: put soap (handsoap, shampoo, whatever) into the reservoir of your toilet brush. Every morning after you get ready for the day, swish the toilet with your already-soapy brush. Then use a rag or a clorox wipe to wipe down the toilet and a separate one to wipe down the counter/sink. Voila. Clean bathroom in 2 minutes. Bathroom is always clean and always smells great.

Shiny sink: if you keep your sink shiny and clean you will be less likely to leave dirty dishes in it. Also, shining it before bed lets you wake up and walk into a clean kitchen. Lovely!

15 minute cleans: I can clean the whole kitchen in 15 minutes. I can also clean the whole living room in 15 minutes. If I do just 2 15 minute cleans a day my house stays clean all the time. Yesterday my kitchen only took 10 minutes. The living room took 5! Just set the timer, it really helps. :)

27 boogie flings: whenever you feel up to, run around the house finding stuff to get rid of! Anything you don't love! Clutter included. Find 27 things around the house and watch your house transform. :)

It's been awhile!

I've decided to start blogging again! Yay!

Ok so news..

Corbin:
Has a relatively large vocabulary.
Signs bath, more, ball, all done, eat and story.
Knows animal sounds like cow, horse, elephant and pig.
Runs everywhere and can kick/dribble a soccer ball!

Pregnancy:
I'm 13 weeks 1 day pregnant and I think I'm feeling movement!
Last ultrasound was at about 11 weeks..Bean was a little small but healthy. Heartrate was 168.

Brandon:
Got promoted to Sergeant recently!

Me:
I have started a new "thing" called Flylady that I'm involved with. That site will change your life! Our house is always clean now and under control!
I've been ultra tired lately, chasing a toddler while pregnant will do that to you. :)

And that's about it for now!

Random Cuteness

Rawr!

Aw!

What is AP?

I get asked this a lot, so I thought I would post something up here. :) AP is a parenting phrase coined by Dr. Sears. It's not a set of rules, it's a set of tools. It's not an all or nothing thing. :) I will just outline the basic cocepts and how we use them in our family.

7 ATTACHMENT TOOLS: THE BABY B'S

1. Birth bonding
I had a water birth. The lights were off. I was the one who caught him and I brought him directly onto my chest. We stayed there for a while before he was handed off to daddy. We stayed skin-to-skin for a long while! The earliest pictures of him were when we (me, Brandon and Corbin) were all in bed snuggling.

2. Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding promotes the right chemistry between mother and baby by stimulating your body to produce prolactin and oxytocin, hormones that give your mothering a boost. Oxytocin is known as the "love chemical". It is released with an unmedicated birth, breastfeeding and, oddly enough, during sex as well.
We breastfeed on demand and practice child-led weaning. We will continue to nurse until Corbin wants to stop (most toddlers wean themselves between 2 and 3).

3. Babywearing

Carried babies fuss less and spend more time in the state of quiet alertness, the behavior state in which babies learn most about their environment. Babywearing improves the sensitivity of the parents. Because your baby is so close to you, you get to know baby better. Closeness promotes familiarity.
I wear Corbin everywhere. :) We love it and I love it when he sleeps on me.

4. Bedding close to baby

We personally cosleep. we all snuggle together every night and I wake up to a smiling little one patting my face every morning. :) Co-sleeping adds a nighttime touch that helps busy daytime parents reconnect with their infant at night. Since nighttime is scary time for little people, sleeping within close touching and nursing distance minimizes nighttime separation anxiety and helps baby learn that sleep is a pleasant state to enter and a fearless state to remain in.

5. Belief in the language value of your baby's cry

A baby's cry is a signal designed for the survival of the baby and the development of the parents. Responding sensitively to your baby's cries builds trust. Babies trust that their caregivers will be responsive to their needs. Parents gradually learn to trust in their ability to appropriately meet their baby's needs. This raises the parent-child communication level up a notch. Tiny babies cry to communicate, not to manipulate. We have never, and will never, let him cry it out.

6. Beware of baby trainers

Attachment parenting teaches you how to be discerning of advice, especially those rigid and extreme parenting styles that teach you to watch a clock or a schedule instead of your baby; you know, the cry-it-out crowd. This "convenience" parenting is a short-term gain, but a long-term loss, and is not a wise investment. These more restrained styles of parenting create a distance between you and your baby and keep you from becoming an expert in your child.

7. Balance

In your zeal to give so much to your baby, it's easy to neglect the needs of yourself and your marriage. As you will learn the key to putting balance in your parenting is being appropriately responsive to your baby – knowing when to say "yes" and when to say "no," and having the wisdom to say "yes" to yourself when you need help.


What AP Parenting is NOT


Love y'all!

Baby Corbin

Hmmmm, well I haven't made a post without pics in a while. :)

The baby is getting big! He's 6.5 months now, about 19 lbs and 29.5 in long. :) He's staying above the 95th percentile in height and around the 75th percentile in weight.

His favorite word is "mmmmmm". :) He can sit up and roll over both ways. He has been hiking, he's been to Gettysburg and he's seen the Lurray Caverns.

His hair is turning either blonde or light brown, haven't decided yet. :) His eyes are still blue and he doesn't have any teeth, yet...

He likes swinging in the infant swing at the park and sliding (with help).

He is enjoying some stage 1 and 2 foods, his favorite so far is carrots!

He's wearing 6-9 month clothing and still in his cute cloth diapers!