Why I don't Make My Kids Clean Up

The title of this is slightly misleading, I do ask my kids to clean up after themselves... when it matters. It drives me absolutely bonkers when people jump all over their kids to pick up after themselves the minute they finish whatever they were doing. For example, say my kids have been working together building blocks. It's a nice quiet morning, I'm enjoying my coffee and smiling about how well the girls are playing together these days as I sneakily listen in on their conversation. They chatter back and forth while they create a zoo out of our vast wooden block collection. Echo takes the role of project manager, directing Clover as only a big sister can. Clover runs back and forth fetching animals for the zoo. Her face will suddenly light up before she runs off, trotting down the hall, and brings back a giraffe and you can tell that is exactly what she had in mind by the satisfied look on her face. When they are finished building do I immediately jump in and say "time to clean up!"? All that hard work they put in building and working together, do I insist they knock it all down and put it away before they go outside to play? Personally I don't have the heart to do that. I would much rather deal with a messy house than rob them of their accomplishment by dismantling it the instant it is "complete". How would I even be able to tell when it's complete anyway? Of course the blocks can't stay their forever but in my mind there is nothing wrong with leaving them there for an afternoon, or even a day or two if they are still using them. Usually the blocks don't get put away until we need to floor space for something else or when things just get so cluttered that I feel like we need a refresh.

Another scenario that often happens at our house is that my kids while abruptly change course in the middle of a project (anyone with toddlers has experienced this I'm sure). So if we are sticking with the zoo building scenario, talking about zoos may lead to talking about animals we like or have seen at the zoo. This may give Echo the idea that she wants to paint some of the animals she has seen at the zoo and she rushes off, brimming with enthusiasm, to gather her painting supplies and begin work. That enthusiasm for her work, for her projects and for learning is so precious. The last thing I want to do is kill it by stopping her in her tracks and making put away her her blocks and toy animals before she can get out her paints.

As I said at the beginning of this post I do ask them to help me clean up sometimes. If we need a clear space to work on a puzzle, a large painting, or another project I will get them to help me put things away to make room. If the clutter is just starting to drive me nuts I will ask them to help me out. Just like any other member of our household, I expect them to be there for me when I tell them I need help. On the other hand I don't really mind picking up after them most of the time. I love to see them rushing off to the next activity, filled with excitement, and it's not a huge deal to pick up a few toys while they are busy doing that. The way I see it is that they are kids, it's their job to play, learn and grow. My job as their mom is to help them do their job and sometimes that means I do more than my fair share of cleaning. More often than not I am off joining them on their adventures and leaving the cleaning for another time anyway. Like my mom always says, there will be plenty of time to have a clean house when the kids are grown! In the mean time it makes me smile to see their creations, their projects, the evidence of their work, scattered all over the house. To me this is evidence of the rich lives they are leading.

Parenting: Trust, Doubt and Respect.

My amazing girl

As I lay awake last night holding my little girl and listening to the rain I was overwhelmed by my love for her. Even though she had just gotten me up from a deep sleep at 1:30 am (as she does most nights) I took a moment to savor her warm head resting on my shoulder and her small sleepy sounds as I snuggled her back to sleep. This is the good stuff, this is what it's all about.

While I waited for her to drift back off I thought about the kind of parent I want to be and the lifestyle I want my family to have. I had been reading some parenting and unschooling articles earlier that day and and came across this really excellent one from Life Learning Magazine (which is a really amazing resource for anyone interested in unschooling). This article reaffirms so much of what I believe about raising children and education and it made me feel so relieved to hear it from someone else.

I tend to be the kind of person that doesn't have a lot of strong opinions. I try to see both sides of any argument and will always admit that I could easily be in the wrong. However, parenting and education are probably about the only things in life that I have VERY strong opinions about. In spite of the fact that I am convinced that this style of parenting is for us, in spite of the fact that I know unschooling works from personal experience and in spite of the fact that I have faith that if we trust and respect our children they will surpass our wildest expectations for them, I have a hard time not doubting myself every so often.

Why is it so hard for parents to trust themselves and their instincts? Why is it so hard to keep the doubt at bay? For me I think it is that I am so passionate about my children and their education and lifestyle that I think about it constantly. I read tons of parenting and child related articles and I feel like I am usually barraged with information that is totally counter to how I want to raise my kids. I knew going in to this that I would be in the minority but it is still sometimes difficult to stand by what you believe when it feels like everyone else is telling you something different.

It seems to me that the majority of parenting articles I run across are aimed at trying to trick your child in to being a particular way. They tell you how you can "win the bedtime battle", or "make your kid good at science". All too often they pit parents and children against one another and encourage you to manipulate your children. The people who write these articles depict children as wily little devils who are trying to manipulate and outwit their parents while the parents are trying to beat them at their own game. Why do people want to mold their children to be a certain way? Why can't we celebrate who our children are rather than coerce them in to being what we want them to be? Why can't a family all be on one team instead of it being parents against kids?

The core of my parenting philosophy revolves around trust and respect for all family members including ourselves. I believe that children should be given respect equal to any other household member and this means no arbitrary rules, no power struggles and no "because I'm the parent and I said so". My children will be given the freedom to do what they want, when they want. Just as if they were adults in the house they will be allowed to use it's contents as they see fit (provided they are respectful of the communal living spaces and don't damage property). Just as I would never tell my husband that he can't have a snack right now or can't watch any television, I don't want to do these things to my children either. I want to afford them the same freedom that any family member deserves. This is really not easy to do for me even though I raised this way. It's hard to go against the societal norm and let your children have freedom to do what they wish even if it's not something you like. For example it's easy to let your kid paint or read all day but a lot harder to sit by while they play video games for 8 hours straight. The thing is, and I truly believe this, if you leave them alone they won't want to play video games for 8 hours straight. At least not for more than a week or so. Once the novelty wears off they are going to get bored and want to try something else. Kids are naturally bright and inquisitive, if you leave them alone they will want to do interesting and amazing things!

This doesn't mean that my kids will always do things I agree with and it doesn't mean I can't have concerns and talk to my children about them, but basically there should be a good reason behind it if I am going to ask them not to do something. If I feel like the kids are watching too much TV I can talk to them about and explain why I feel that way. Conflicts will be resolved with family meetings rather than top down authority. Since my daughter is still a toddler there are plenty of times I have to tell her no, but I try to think very hard before I tell her she can't do something. Is there really a good reason she can't do it or am I just instinctively saying no because I don't want to deal with it right then? As long as she isn't hurting herself or someone else than I think she should be aloud to do pretty much whatever she wants.

It's really hard to keep all this in mind on  a daily basis and consistently put it in to practice but communicating with others helps me remember to be the kind of parent I want to be. That is why I want to not only continue to read stories from others that have a similar parenting philosophy but to write down in my own words what I believe, to reinforce and remind myself that I can trust my own parenting instincts and I can trust my daughter to be the amazing person she is.

I know that my time and temper will be a little shorter when our next baby arrives so it will be even more important to make the effort to trust and respect Echo at that time. I look at how strong and smart and happy she is now and I want her to stay that way. I want her to know how truly valued and respected and loved she is. I never want her to feel like a second class citizen in her own home, I want her to know that she is a full fledged family member who's opinions and needs are valued.

Our Life Without TV

As a young married couple Eric and I would routinely curl up on the couch while we ate dinner and catch up on our favorite shows. I knew this wasn't a habit I wanted to continue after we had kids but when we were both tired from work and needed some down time it was a nice way to spend the evening snuggled up together. After Echo was born my TV watching actually increased quite a bit. Let's face it, I was exhausted! I didn't feel up to much of anything other than lying on the couch. I also watched Netflix on the Ipad in the middle of the night while I rocked and nursed Echo, it distracted me from how little sleep I was getting and helped me save my sanity. The whole time I felt vaguely guilty about it, I never wanted to be spending this much time in front of the TV after I had kids.

When I was growing up we didn't watch much television. We always had a family dinner around the table and talked about our days. After that my mom would usually read out loud to us while we drew or played with blocks or just listened. Occasionally we would watch a show as a family, no way would we have been aloud to have TVs in our rooms or all go off to watch separate shows. In addition to this my brother and I were allowed to pick a few cartoons to watch before my dad got home from work, usually not more than 30 or 45 minutes worth and always something we would watch together.

I had envisioned my new family's TV schedule going something like the way it did for me when I was a kid. I definitely didn't imagine we would eat in front of the TV like we had gotten in the habit of doing. However, as Echo grew older and more aware of her surroundings our TV watching gradually tapered off. It was magical, we didn't have to make a conscious choice to cut out TV, it just went away on it's own. When Echo started eating solids it wasn't practical to eat in front of the television so we started having family meals around the dinner table. Even if we had wanted to watch TV Echo had no interest in it and certainly wasn't going to sit through a half hour show.

We started to find that the less TV we watched the less we wanted to watch. Eric started reading out loud to us in the evenings after dinner. If the weather was nice we might take a walk or sit out on our back deck. After over a month of not going near the TV we tried turning it on for Eric's mom when she was visiting and discovered that it no longer worked. Apparently it had been damaged in a thunder storm we had a month earlier and we never even noticed it was broken. I would guess that it's been about 6 months since we really watched any TV (although it could be more, I really can't remember). On the rare occasion that we get Echo to bed early Eric and I might watch some Sherlock on his Ipad but it doesn't happen often. I used to sometimes watch a show on Youtube when Echo was napping but I ended up feeling like it was a waste of my precious free time, there are so many other things I'd rather be doing!

I couldn't be happier with our new life without TV. We did eventually get a new television set (a hand me down from one of Eric's coworkers) but it has been sitting on a table near our entry way since Eric brought it home, we've never even bothered to set it up. We canceled our Netflix and we never had  cable. Eventually I want to set up the TV so that we can have the occasional family movie night but I don't see us going back to watching TV on a daily basis the way we were. This is just another way that having Echo has been the best things that's ever happened to us, she helped us kick our bad TV habit :-)

Hello Toddlerhood

Eating veggies and rice, she is getting really good at using spoons and forks.

Echo has been growing by leaps and bounds and has reached quite a few significant milestones lately. I still sometimes feel a little shock when I look at her and realize she isn't a baby anymore, she is a full blown toddler.

The most notable change that has happened over the past few weeks is that Echo is now completely weaned. I have to admit, this makes me sigh a big sigh of relief. I worried (especially after getting pregnant again) that weaning would be difficult, that it would result in lots of stress for both of us and that she wouldn't be weaned by the time the next baby came. Silly me, I should know better! as a product of unschooling I know better than anyone that if you wait until a child is ready to do something it will be easy.

I had planned to do the "don't offer don't refuse" method of weaning but for a long time I kept forgetting and offering automatically. It wasn't until I noticed Echo's decreased interest in nursing that I really decided to try not offering and see how it went. It had gotten to the point where when we did try to nurse she would only stay on for about a minute and then either pop off or start chewing on me (no fun, let me tell you) so I knew it was time. It turns out that once I stopped offering she didn't even really seem to notice. She never asked to nurse again and so we haven't. It's nice to have this hurdle crossed before the next baby arrives but the down side is now I have to worry more about what she eats! Breast milk is such an easy, perfect food and I never had to worry about her getting all the nutrients she needed while she was nursing. So it will be a little more work for me but worth it in the end. It's also nice to reclaim my body a little bit before I have to give it over to the new baby this Summer.

We have also been seeing big changes in echo's sleeping habits that are encouraging. I used to think I would never get her to sleep without nursing and now I mostly use a pacifier to help sooth her to bed. However we have seen more and more of her being able to go to sleep on her own lately. If she is really tired I can lay her in her bed and as long as I stay with her for a while she will drift off on her own. We also decided it was time to remove the side of her crib so she is now in a toddler bed that she can get in and out of on her own. For some reason this has seemed to help with her being able to go back to sleep on her own during the night and nap times. I have no idea why but we have definitely noticed a difference since we switched to the toddler bed. When we move her to her new room she will have a nice big floor bed and will be able to get in and out on her own easily but we are wanting to replace the floor in that room before we move her over and finding the time to do that has been tricky!

Anyway, she is still not sleeping through the night but now that we know she can go back to sleep on her own we are feeling encouraged. Hopefully we will make some real progress with this before the next baby comes and we have to start the sleepless night cycle all over again. Echo has also been exhibiting many other toddler like behaviors like eating with a fork and spoon, stacking blocks, painting and drawing and yes, even trowing tantrums. I still can't believe how big an d beautiful she has gotten, she makes my hear do a little flutter whenever I look at her.

I'm kind of in awe at how easy weaning was and it gives me great hopes for potty training days which will be here before we know it. I feel like it just goes to show that you don't have to battle with your children or have a power struggle, you just have to notice them, listen to them and follow theirs cues. If you follow your instincts and theirs you can have a much easier time of things. When they are ready to reach a certain milestone they will let you know.

Fun, Free and Easy Things To Do With Your baby

Time was that Echo was totally happy just to chill at home with me while I worked on a sewing project, made bread or did housework. We still have days like this but more and more Echo wants to get out and do stuff!  I've been making a mental list of things Echo enjoys doing out of the house that can be done for cheap or free. Here are some of our favorite activities.

Go to the Pet Store-
On days when we are searching for something to do visiting Petsmart is always a hit. Like most babies, Echo loves animals and enjoys watching the birds, fish and small rodents at the store. It's like going to the zoo for her, only free! It's also a nice inside activity for when it's rainy or super hot or cold.

Library Programs-
I've been taking Echo to the baby story time at the library since she was about 4 months old. She loves it and it gives her a chance to play with other babies. The program itself isn't anything stellar but she still enjoys and it it's fun to do something different. It's nice for parents as well since we all get to chat about our babies.

Play Place at the Mall-
A friend recently told me that our local mall has a soft, indoor playground for little ones. How awesome! We have now been several times and it is the perfect place for Echo to run and play without me having to worry about her getting hurt. Like the library it is also a great place for her to interact with other babies and young children.

Plant an Herb Garden-
This isn't really free but it is cheap and Echo absolutely loves it! She could seriously spend all day out on my back deck picking herbs. They smell nice and she can eat them without me having to worry. This is probably her favorite activity to do at home.

Feeding the Ducks-
We did this for the first time last week. She didn't really get the concept of throwing bread but she loved watching the ducks and chewing on some bread herself. She is fascinated by all kinds of animals and having bread was a good way to get them to come close to us.

Parks-
This one is pretty obvious but it's a classic for a reason. Try exploring some different parks in your area, seek out some that you haven't tried before.

Your own Yard-
If you are stumped for ideas or just don't have the energy to get your baby in a car seat play in your own front or back yard. Being in nature is so important to kids and they love to feel the breeze blow and watch the leaves in the sunlight. Even if your yard is old hat to you it is still exciting for your baby.


If anyone has other great ideas for cheap baby dates I'd love to hear them! How do you keep your baby entertained?

Establishing A Read Aloud Tradition Early

Echo flipping the pages of her current favorite book, 100 First Words. It won't be long before she is reading out load to us!

My memories of my early childhood are almost entirely made up of 3 things. Cooking, doing crafts and being read to. I guess it's no wonder that cooking, art and reading are three of my favorite grown up activities as well. I can recall countless days where my mom spent hours reading out loud to my brother and I. If it was nice out we would read on a blanket under the trees. If it was cold we would read in the living room and I would draw the characters from the story while I listened. We had certain books we would read while my dad was at work and certain books we would read all together when he got home. I remember waiting anxiously for him to arrive so we could find out what happened next in the story.

I always knew that I wanted to give my kids that same special gift of reading together as a family. Eric and I are both big readers but he didn't start reading out loud to me until I was pregnant. I loved listening to him read so much, it took me back to my childhood. After Echo was born he would read to me while I nursed her to keep me entertained. We now continue to read as a family every night. Usually Echo just crawls around and plays while we read and I'm sure she's not really listening (she also tries to steal Eric's glasses, steal the book, or turn the lights out on us) but I like to think it's good for her to be read to in any case. As she gets older we will keep reading to her every night (and day) and while it doesn't matter too much what we read right now we will have to pay more attention to our book selection as she gets old enough to listen. Right now we try to stick to things that are somewhat kid friendly (meaning no foul language mostly) but soon we will need to find things that are engaging to her that we also will enjoy.

Here is a list of suggestions for those of you who are interested in reading as a family. Most of these are better for older kids but they are all great because they appeal to kids and adults at the same time. They are also (mostly) gender neutral and would be great for boys or girls to read. Some are ones that I remember from my childhood and some are new discoveries that I have made in more recent years.

Coraline - Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling 

Odd and the Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman 

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Redwall - Brian Jacques

East - Edith Pattou

The Golden Compass - Phillip Pullman

The Book of Three - Lloyd Alexander

Dealing With Dragons - Patricia C. Wrede

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 

Fantastic Mr. Fox - Roald Dahl 

Matilda - Roald Dahl 

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl 

Peter Pan and Wendy - J. M. Barrie

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

The Magical Monarch of Mo - L. Frank Baum

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 

The Princess Bride - William Goldman

The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket and Bret Helquist

I'm sure there are so many more that I am just not remembering but this should get you started. All of theses are fantastic to read aloud and will keep the whole family glued to their seats. If you have any favorite read aloud books I would love to hear about them and file them away for future reference  Please feel free to leave comments with your favorites!

Our Experience With Baby Led Weaning

Echo gleefully eating Cheerios

When Echo turn 4 months our pediatrician said it was ok to start trying solid foods with her. I was so excited, I saw it as a new way to bond with my baby. I even got a cute baby food cookbook, feeding and preparing special foods for her was a fun new experience we could share, or so I thought..

Feeding Echo her first solid foods was a disaster, she hated everything! We tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes  avocados, everything I was sure she would love before we started this whole thing. At around five months I finally got her to eat peas, I was so happy to find something she would eat! This only lasted a few weeks however and then she stopped eating those as well. Eventually I gave up on trying to force new foods on her and I had to admit that she just wasn't ready to eat solid food.

At Echo's 6 month pediatrician appointent our doctor told me she could now eat pretty much anything she wanted aside from whole milk and honey, as long as she could chew it and it wasn't a choking hazard it was fine. We then tried solid food again and the difference was amazing! She was much more open to eating different things and seemed to like almost everything. Of course by then I was sick of preparing special food for her only to have to throw it out. I started just giving her bites of whatever we were having and my life got a whole lot simpler. It was around this time that I started to read some articles about baby led weaning. The basic idea behind baby led weaning is that you feed your child bite sized pieces of food that they can pick up and feed themselves, it also means they can eat what mom and dad eat with no need for special foods. With baby led weaning there are no baby purees and spoon feeding. It was kind of what I had started doing on my own out sheer laziness (my mom did this with me and my brother as kids too but they didn't have a name for it back then).

There are so many great things about using this approach. Your baby learns to feed themselves and be independent while learning to love a variety of tastes and textures. I'm told that baby led weaning can be difficult for anxious parents because they are always worried about the baby choking but if you are easy going parents like us you'll love it.

Echo is almost 9 months now and absolutely loves to eat. I'm so happy about this, at first I thought she would never want anything besides breast milk! She really likes to eat just about anything but her favorites are any kind of fruit, Cheerios, bread, lentils, rice, beans, potatoes, avocados and sweet potatoes. As parents we love cheerios, bread and rice because they are mess free and easy for her to eat on her own. It's been so exciting to get introduce Echo to new foods and watch her tastes grow and expand. For our next baby I know we will use baby led weaning again, it just make life so much easier and happier for everyone.

Our Decision To Unschool

Eric and I spend a lot of time talking about how we want to raise our children. It's been one of our favorite pastimes since before we were even married. I'm lucky to be married to a man who is openminded enough to embrace a radically different form of education than what most people are used to and he is kind enough to listen to me ramble on about it on a regular basis. Even though Echo is nowhere near school age we discuss her education at great lengths and have a pretty cear idea of how we want things to go. I was raised with an educational philosophy known as unschooling, a form of home schooling that most people aren't familiar with. I had such a positive experience with unschooling and after my experiences with the public school system when I was student teaching, I am positive this is how I want to raise our daughter.

This is such a huge topic and one I don't often go in to detail with people about. Of course once you get me going I won't shut up about it :-) The heart of the unschooling movement is centered around the idea that children are natural learners. They love to build, explore, create and learn, in fact they are positively joyful about it. When I tell people I was home schooled I'm pretty sure than many of you picture me sitting at a desk in front of a blackboard while my mom spouts off facts about history and math. This image could not be further from the truth. With unschooling there are no scheduled lessons, no memorization, no drills, no tests and no grades. There are no "school days" because every day and every hour are opportunities for learning. We don't take Summers off and we don't take attendance. Basically we embrace the idea that we are all learning, all the time, and by following our natural curiosity and interests we eliminate the need for structured schooling.

This idea sounds pretty radical to most, can you really do that? I'm sure I would be skeptical too if it weren't for the fact that I lived this way until my college years. I have to give my mother credit for her tremendous courage in choosing to unschool my brother and I at a time when even the legality of homeschooling was questionable. She had no way to know that this crazy idea would work other than her own conviction that this was the right choice for her family. I used to worry that I wouldn't measure up with my traditionally schooled peers but my mother had never ending faith in my intelligence and ability to learn. Now both my brother and I hold advanced degrees and and are happy and successful members of society. Clearly our unschooling didn't put us at a disadvantage. In fact I feel that it was quite the opposite. Through unschooling we became intrinsically motivated, enthusiastic learners and we still love to learn to this day. We also didn't have to waste any of our precious childhood cramming for pointless tests that we would forget as soon as they were over. We were allowed to be children and explore, read and experiment with vigor and gusto. We pursued things that mattered to us and delved deep in to the subjects that interested us most.

I wouldn't presume to say that this is the right choice for everyone and I respect others feelings and choices about their own children's education. However I hope this will give some of you a better understand of where I am coming from and maybe open your eyes to a new way of thinking about education. I'm so grateful that I was raised this way and that I will be able to give my children the benefits of an unschooled education.

The Best Job In The World

Echo is going through what's known as a 4 month sleep regression or wakeful period lately. That means that my formerly perfect sleeper is waking up every 2 hours all night long and I am getting no rest. We went to the pediatrician last week and Echo is growing and maturing beautifully. The doctor was very impressed by how well she could stand (with our support) and that she could pass a toy from one hand to the other. Basically this no sleeping thing just has to be ridden out, ugh! Coffee is my best friend these days and an absolute necessity. I'm a zombie a lot of the time and I'm grumpy and snapping at everyone around me, very fun for Eric I'm sure ;-)

The good news?  Just look at that face! I keep telling people that she is sleeping like she did as a newborn but it is infinitely better because she interacts with me. When I lug myself in to her room for the 5th time in the middle of the night, totally exhausted, I can't help but giggle in delight as her perfect little face lights up when she sees me. Getting that all important smile is worth all the sleepless nights in the world.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, being a mom is tough! Am I exhausted? Yes. Is it frustrating? Yes. Does it demand every second of my time? Pretty much. I still have nap time to work my own projects, clean the house and cook dinner but much of my day is devoted to my little one's amusement. Is it worth it? Absolutely, without question yes. I love her like I've never loved anything in my life.

New and expectant moms take heart. Raising a baby is the best experience of your life and the most important thing you'll ever do.

Here's to my darling girl at 4 months. Being your mom is the best job in the whole world and I wouldn't trade a second of it!

5 Surprising Things About Motherhood

Here we go, more pearls of wisdom from my first month of being a parent ;-P

Seriously though, as much as I thought I was prepared for this whole parenting this there were still a number of things that turned out differently than I expected. Here are my top 5.

1. Breastfeeding in public. I really thought this would be an issue for me, I worried about how to do it discreetly and thought it would make me uncomfortable. I don't know if it's just the lack of sleep but I've found that I could really care less about making other people uncomfortable by breast feeding in public. If other people have a problem with it, then it's, well, their problem. I'll feed my baby when and where I like thank you, there's nothing wrong with it.

2. I know I said this before (and that I am terrifying all my pregnant friends) but it is sooo hard at first! The first two weeks were rough for me. No amount of people telling you how hard it is can prepare you for the long, sleepless nights, it just can't. The other surprise was how quickly things started to improve though, now that Echo is sleeping for up to 6 hours in a row at night I am much better able to handle things that get thrown my way.

3. My body image. I kind of expected pregnancy to ruin my body, but, aside from the odd stretch mark here and there, I really love my post pregnancy figure! I now have amazing curves and I've actually never felt better about how I look. The glow of a new mommy who is completely in love with her little one probably helps too.

4. Money matters. I've always heard how expensive having a baby is. Well, at least so far, having a baby is saving us money. We don't go out to eat as often and also find that we aren't spending money on frivolous things or just because we are bored because we are so busy taking care of our little one. I know she will be more expensive latter on once we start signing her up for ballett and and art classes (or soccer, or whatever) but for now we are enjoying the financial benefits. There are also a ton of free activities to do with kids in our area, Marietta is about as family friendly as it gets so I'm not anticipating a huge financial impact any time soon. September and October have been our lowest spending monthes to date!

5. How the loves grows. This is sooo cheesy sounding but i am amazed at how much more I love her every day. It wasn't instantaneous for me, it took me a while to bond in fact. But the more I spend time with her and get to know her the more head over heels I fall. Just when you think you can't love them any more than you already do they smile at you and you absolutely melt. I am loving my life right now getting to spend so much time with my sweet little girl and it's getting better every day :-)