Day 11: Tiny Feet

Critique time! I'm not really thrilled about either of these images. What are your thoughts?

I'll bet there was something I could add to give them a little dimension, a little more feel. But, since I'm days behind on this photo project, I'm excited to have gotten a few toe shots in.
We walked to the park about 3/4 mile away from our house, and now that M is big enough to understand that eating gravel is not okay, I was excited to let her play in it. What made our little adventure interesting to me is we were about a hundred yards away from a couple and their child that appeared to be close in age to M.
As I drew nearer, I could see them stop and debate continuing straight (toward me and M) or turning left to go up the street. The chose to go left, and it appeared fairly obvious that the intention was to avoid crossing paths. It made me sad.
Here was the potential to make a new friend, someone who lives where I do that has a baby near in age to my own, and it didn't happen because of... shyness? Fear of dogs? (Roxy is a big pug...) I'm not sure what drove their decision but I thought it was a missed opportunity. Perhaps I'm a little bored (or lonely, call it what you want) but I definitely would be excited for M to have more interaction with babies her age. Alas, it seems our society is moving farther away from the "social" part of it.
Farther along our walk, we passed two kids with a "chiweiner"—part chihuahua, part weiner dog who were friendly and well-mannered. And when I say well-mannered, they moved out of the way for us to pass, and then when we passed them on the walk home, said "Have a good night!"
That surprised me, because it seems a majority of children lack basic social skills. I wanted to find their mother and say, "Good job!" Too many times I find myself focusing on the things children do wrong or that simply annoy me, and it's refreshing to come across kids like that. Even if it was just a polite moment, I think I'd enjoy hearing that my child is behaving well from a stranger.
Maybe that should be the topic of a 30-day challenge: See the best in the children you interact with. Ready, set, GO POSITIVE!

Parenting TOTD

Parenting TOTD (thought of the day):
I did not realize how serious my aversion to being dirty was until having a child of my own.
This realization occurred as my baby girl crawled all over our backyard, getting grass, cotton (the cottonwood in front is going crazy) and dirt stuck to her since she had been in the pool, then came over to climb onto me.
I let this occur, of course, because her happiness and enjoyment of the great outdoors has so far surpassed my obsessive need to be clean, but that certainly doesn't mean it didn't wig me out a little!
My particularly favorite must-be-clean obsession is feet. I loathe having dirty feet. I try not to let this little piece of dysfunction set me back too much because I love sandals, but once my feet are dirty, it does not take long for me to find the nearest hose, sink or bathtub to remedy the situation.
Luckily today M's wader pool is filled (five days straight of 100+ temperatures) and since it's full of cotton anyway I have no qualms about rinsing dirt and grass off of me. As long as the cotton doesn't stick to me, at which point I retreat indoors to the shower.
I know many days of dirtiness are ahead of me, so it will be interesting to see how well I can cope. Will my OCD be reduced to a shadow of its former self or will I merely have super dry skin from obsessive washing? We shall see.

It's been one week

since you looked at me, no wait. Not where I was going. It's just been one week since I last posted and I can't believe it because I've had so much I could write about. However, all that stuff to write about has been keeping me busy and/or stressed, so that's why I haven't blogged.
I had been planning my husband's surprise 30th birthday party for a while, and it took place on June 23. It actually was a success, which was a huge relief and still quite worrisome when I was waiting for people to show up and Matt was already on his way to the fire station where I was planning on surprising him.
So there were a few tense moments for me but he had no clue so it worked well:

There had even been a call when Matt's buddy Jarrett was helping shuffle people to the station and I though, No!!! Three of the guys went on the call and ended up having to go to the hospital with the dude because he shot himself in the groin. I won't even start on that, but how stupid can you be?!
His dad, uncle and cousin had the task of keeping him occupied all day, and what a challenge that was when he was worried he'd make me mad by not being home when I got off work! Little did he know!
We had a taco bar and party at his parents' house after, complete with firetruck cake!

He also got a baseball cake because Costco has limited choices.

 I even bought a banner that said "Happy 30th Birthday" and we kept it but I told him he couldn't use it for me in 2013 because I'd be celebrating my ninth 21st birthday, ha ha.

Another exciting development from the past week was M's first steps! June 21, 2012 shall forever be remembered as the day she took her first steps, five of them to be exact. I was so excited! And kind of bummed Daddy wasn't around to see but he got to see her walk later in the day. She's not completely comfortable doing it yet, so she's still crawling, but she's getting better every day!!

Hopefully I can somehow get back on track with my photo challenge that I let slip, but here's my crafty up-cycle of today:

I used one of the tins from M's food to create a new pen holder! I have a new L-shaped desk that gives me so much more space in my office (and even scrapbooking space!!) but it has no drawers so I needed to improvise.
Empty container + scrapbook paper + mod podge = pen holder! Awesome. Okay it's not perfect but when the wrinkles start to drive me crazy I'll just make a new one.

Day 10's actual picture!

Well, I'm waaaaaaay behind in this little experiment but I'm trying to play catch up:

Things like this happen when you're busy (babycleaningnetworkingbabycleaningworkingbabycooking) and I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week! It also helps to be home at the same time as my husband.
My mom commented on the situation that's happened to millions of families this past weekend, along the lines of "everyone works so much and so often just to make ends meet, there is no getting together just to enjoy each other." How true?!
Matt works Monday through Friday but my schedule is erratic, and I usually work weekends. I also work evenings so that we don't have to pay a babysitter to watch M at all. It makes for precious little time together as a family, so yesterday we soaked it up!
My dad came down to have lunch with us and he doesn't get to see the baby as often as I'd like, so it was nice to spend time with him (silly baby spent most of the time napping...) And the hubby and I actually got to spend the entire afternoon with each other and M, not needing to go anywhere or do anything. It was awesome!
All of this boils down to one conclusion: Money cannot be the priority. Family must be. To make this a reality in my life (and after reading the inspiring stuff at thepeacefulmom.com—if a 6-person family can make it on less than $30,000/year, we can live well with what we're blessed with!) I've given myself a mental smack and am going back into broke-and-just-married mode.
 That, for us, means every single penny is budgeted with no wiggle room. It seems to be the reverse of what I said, but I believe that by budgeting and conquering our debt, our family will be first. We've already made the decision for me to stay home with M and only work part time (not including my building photography business) and from here out I am determined to make the best of what we're given. I'm so thankful that we are so blessed, and I won't let myself fall in to the "I wish" trap anymore—that's living in the world and I'm called to live outside it!
I know God has great things in store for me and my family. I can't wait to see what's coming up! 

Day 10: Holding hands with someone

Might have to try for Day 10 tomorrow...
Okay, mommas, you want your kids to swim, right? Here's what I think a good instructor should do:

1. Teach kids by showing them. If an instructor is teaching back floats, they should sit the kids out of the pool and show them what a good back float looks like. {Head back, chin up, relax your body, arms out, btw}. They should be very interactive.
2. Be looking at the child when they are with them one-on-one, and there should most definitely be one-on-one time! If an instructor is looking at her buddy on the guard stand while your munchkin is sinking during a back float, she is not paying attention to your child.
3. Make it fun! There's a reason kids love to swim, water is fun! A good instructor teaches by making the basics fun. Think "red light, green light" for kicking while still teaching kids that kicking shouldn't be a "soccer-ball" kick, it should be a "fish kick" or some similar analogy.

A great instructor should notice the details when your child is swimming. If she's teaching a preschooler to back float (apparently my go-to example), she'll probably have the child's head on her shoulder, or what I would do is physically hold their head while teaching them to breath deeply so that their body relaxes and chest rises. She'll notice that arms are stiff or legs are starting to come up. She'll know that head support is crucial when on the back because a scared child does not want water in their face, and it's perfectly possible to back float without getting water on the face. And she'll keep them in the float just long enough that they will either float by themselves (yea!) or learn that they can trust her with their heads and relax.

And here's a final tip for parents: When your baby is taking a bath and you're getting to the end of it, drain it (or if it's like my bathtub, it'll be low enough anyway) enough that you can lie your child on her back, so that her ears are in the water, but not in her face. This has two benefits: the water will completely fill the ears and accustom your baby to water, and she can see your face (which should be excited and encouraging, read this! The third benefit is that she'll be "floating" without ever losing support and still be in the right position for real floating.

If you ever have questions about swimming, please let me know, I'm happy to help. Also, these are simply my suggestions built from 8 years of teaching and going on 24 years of swimming, but they may not work for everyone! (Read: Disclaimer.)

I had a little girl a few years ago who had, the previous summer, achieved swimming the entire length of the pool. Quite an accomplishment, right? It could've been, but when I started teaching her, I quickly realized that she was in no way ready to do the whole pool. In fact, she wasn't even ready to put her face under the water!
The problem was her foundation was shaky. She was afraid to be under the water; she was scared to be on her back. We spent the entire summer in the shallow end of the pool fixing her foundation—how to do a bob, how to go from her back to her belly and back, what arm strokes should look like, etc.—and our summer ended with her triumphantly swimming on her back confidently and able to stay under the water longer than two seconds. She could've gone the 25 meters, but my goal was not distance, it was strength.
The moral of this story is: If you want your children to swim safely and confidently, don't be satisfied with any lifeguard at the local pool who's roped into teaching. Find someone who is good at teaching, because your child is worth it!

Day 9: Having a Meltdown or Crying

Okay this is from a week ago, but she didn't get upset today! It was a great, great day for both of us. Up at 6:40, a nice couple hours playing/cleaning, I read her to sleep for nap #1, she slept for an hour and a half, woke up cheerful and playing in her crib, I was able to shower even though she was awake (shocker!), a trip to Walmart (scored a few photo frames and some photography props on clearance, I don't know why people hate that store so much...), some time in the sun, and another read-to-sleep nap, which then allowed me to barbeque our dinner without any baby worry!
(That is likely the longest sentence I have ever written.)
If only I didn't get more bad news about our house-buying situation when I got home, this day would've been pretty nice. All I can say is, must be nice to live off the government, hope all those people enjoy themselves. :p

Day 6/7/8

Days 6 and 8 were a total flop for me. :( There was just no way to get M to play by herself long enough for Day 6: Crack a Door and Photograph What They're Doing (I tried to set up my tripod and photograph her directly after waking up from a nap but I was caught making too much noise, silly Mom!), and Day 8: Silhouette I just plain gave up on.
Day 7's photograph for Playing in the Bathtub pretty much expresses how I felt:

... but M was quite enjoying herself.
Yesterday while scrolling through Pinterest I saw a pin entitled something along the lines of "10 tips to make your kid a swimmer". It was interesting to me first because I am a swimmer, second because I was a lifeguard and taught swimming lessons for 8 years.
I clicked, and lo, it was also a "mommy blog" and the writer's husband, who also was a lifeguard and taught lessons, had guest written his advice for parents.
I was a lifeguard long before M was around, when this chic would've told you, "No, I don't want kids. Ever," without hesitation. That's the truth, I didn't. (M changed my life, but that's another blog post.) My distaste for kids was well known but I was considered a fabulous actress, because I could get any kid to swim.
Pre-mommyhood, I also had some pretty set opinions on why kids had issues in water, and I am pleased to say that now I am a mom, those opinions were right. Ninety percent of the time, in the kids I've taught, their fear of the water was caused by their parents.
I remember starting many parent-tot classes (parents in the water with their kids, usually age 3 months to 3 years) with this speech: "Welcome to parent-tot. You will be expected to GET WET in this class, so please be prepared. Your whole body, by the time we are done with each class, should be wet." That was just the beginning; my speech covered all the basics and generally a "you don't have to dunk them, but I encourage it" bit.
Typically, the older the child, the worst the fear, and I loved getting babies because (even though parents hated it—maybe I enjoyed making them squirm?) if I had them in my class at 6 months, I knew I could start them in the water right. Putting a child under occurred the first day, not to just get it out of the way but to get the parents familiar with the fact that their child would not drown after a few seconds in the water.
That was always the first mistake I noticed—freaking out if a child fell in inches-deep water face first. A parent's reaction is SO IMPORTANT. Yes, as I know as a mom, it is scary to see your child's face in water. But in the five seconds or so that it takes an adult to grab that child, he/she will not drown! In fact, they'll usually splutter a bit and if they don't look at their parents, they'll keep playing.
The desire to prevent drowning is very strong—I understand that better now—but babies don't drown in five seconds. This is what supervised swimming means—you sit with your child close enough to grab them if they go down but you let them explore!
So my number one piece of advice after my first number one piece of advice (GET IN THE WATER WITH YOUR KIDS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD) for parents: DO NOT LET THEM SEE YOU PANIC. If they fall face first, make your face say "Wow! Wasn't that fun?" while telling them "Blow bubbles next time!"

You, too, can have a baby that loves water!! :) But I make no promises about hats.

Perhaps tomorrow or sometime this week I'll write about what to look for in a good swimming instructor—because there are many, many teenagers teaching swimming lessons who are no good at it. 

Listening to: Nothing, because my iMac is overloaded with huge programs (Adobe!) and is having fits if I run too many apps. I promised it I'll get more ram but I just got a brand new lens and it may be a while...

Day 5: With Their Favorite Stuffed Animal

Meira's favorite stuffed animal is a huge teddy bear. She just loves it, and lounges on it, squeezes it, etc.

Day 4: Running Around Playing

Well, M doesn't run. And today she especially didn't want to run/crawl away from me. Quite the contrary—M would be distracted by a "toy" (not actually baby toys, usually kitchen utensils/gadgets etc.) until the moment I got down on the floor/sat down with my camera.
It was over after that.
So the following is what I got in those split seconds before she realized I was not holding her.

If I could photograph sound, you could hear the whistle that accompanied her discovering this lid with straw. Oddly, that lid and straw goes to one of those awesome insulated cups that they give you at the hospital when you're birthing a child.
And then, it's back outdoors, where M is eternally happy.

Again, it's not her actual toys that I've purchased for her that keeps her entertained. No, it's the rocks. If it works, who am I to argue?!

Day 3: Reading A Favorite Book

First of all, my hubby, bless his heart, does not understand that taking a photo for me is not "turn camera on press shutter release done". But thank you, hubby, for sitting with M anyway for these shots.
M likes to be read to, but Daddy doesn't like to read, so for this she got to look at Daddy's favorite cars! Go Mopar. And I couldn't pick just one to share. She's too cute.

Does it have a Hemi?

I learned over the past few weeks that getting the images you have in your head of your child is not easy. Especially if your child is 10 months old and wanting you to be engaged with her all of the time (I love to engage with her—I just need her to engage with other things so I can take pictures of her!). 

 The "Einstein Hair" (as hubby called it) showed up after her nap this afternoon. Love it!
Genesis 19:26
But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Context: Leaving Sodom and Gomorrah—yikes! Lot tried to save the place he lived, but those who lived in the cities were so wicked, there was no saving them. Lot and his family got out but his wife was disobedient (they were told not to look back).


Thoughts: Boy, can women learn a lot from Lot's wife. Interesting that we never learn her name, yet her role is significant in understanding the consequences of disobeying God's commands. How many warnings do we ladies miss before we finally get burned? And how many times is God whispering gently to us, telling us that the decision we're about to make or some other act is wrong? We can be like children in our persistence to do the wrong thing. It's like an alarm—when it goes off and you hit "sleep", you know you need to wake up but you just want five more minutes. When it goes off again and your sleepy brain turns it off and are then late for work/school/etc., then what? You face the consequences all day.
Lot's wife knew the consequences. We as Christian women know that the consequences of our actions can be serious. What we can aim to do is be obedient, so we don't end up like Lot's salty, unnamed wife.

Prayer: God, help me to be obedient to you. As I expect my own child to be obedient, so I know you expect me to be so. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me grace. Amen.
 
Listening to: What Faith Can Do, Kutless
http://youtu.be/u1JBSQMkQEo

Melted chocolate—AGAIN

Remember that note to self I wrote about? I did it again. Blondie. The worse part is, I don't even remember having bought the chocolate that was in my console, melted into a lump, even though it was another Hershey's Cookies'n'Creme bar.
I guess there are some things a blonde will never learn, and one of them is that chocolate melts in a hot car.

Will post Day 3: Reading their favorite book later tonight.

Day 2: Sleeping

Little Bear (as we lovingly call her) is still fighting off the rash associated with hand, foot and mouth virus. It looks bad but thankfully it doesn't itch so it doesn't bother her at all.

30 day photo challenge

I subscribe to a ridiculous amount of things, which makes my e-mail a disaster, but all of my favorite things come from my photography interests. Click It Up A Notch is doing a 30 Day Challenge that I've decided to take on.
The real challenge here, for me, is that because M is only 10 months old, there are things she doesn't specifically do. Thus, some things will be adjusted (crawling, not walking, for example) and I'm going to have to get creative, which is great.

Day 1: You and your child

 Yes, I employed the bathroom mirror for this shot because I cannot for the life of me find my tripod. I have a horrid feeling it's in our stuffed-to-the-brim storage closet and I'm afraid of opening that door. The bathroom thing is also appropriate because I often sit M in the sink just to occupy her while I'm trying to get ready to go out the door. She grabs toothbrushes and I'm able to get makeup on, because I rarely go out in public without at least foundation, eye liner and mascara on.
Since M has been very insistent on being held lately (she's teething and is recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease, or for her, Nasty Rashes Everywhere But The Bottom virus) so the sink is my compromise. Lucky for me I've been pulling the hair back and up because I get so hot now, so trying to curl or straighten the hair is now a non-issue.
I realize I've skipped my "wife/wives" study a few days and it's on my planner for tomorrow... In the mean time, I'd like to share a few more photos of my beautiful girl.

But why am I fenced in?!

 

Is it edible?

Listening to: Life, Love & Other Mysteries, Point of Grace