Blurry milestones

I have a theory regarding time. Time is proportional to the number of children you have distracting you. Now that I'm the mother to three little blessings, time seems to go by THREE times as fast.

Somehow my baby Solomon grew overnight into a 16 1/2 pound bundle of baby chub. He's rolling, laughing, eating cereal, TRYING TO CRAWL (he doesn't yet realize he's not allowed to achieve mobile status for many more months) and blowing spit bubbles. He's knocking down the milestones like a boxing champ.

And instead of waiting expectantly for these precious baby milestones, I'm a spectator watching as they speed past me in a blur.

Solomon isn't the only one blowing past the milestones at lightning speed. My baby girl Chloe is doing it too. This past week she turned 5, lost a tooth, spent a day all by herself with grandma (during which she got to eat at a super fancy restaurant -- subject for another blog post), and has grown into a lovely "big girl".

Thankfully Clive is frozen in super-cute 2 year old mode. My favorite word he says right now is "actually". He uses it correctly too. It just sounds so darling in his little 2 year old voice!

As the milestones blur past me, I'm reminded to slow down the blurring and savor these moments. To let go of petty minor issues and to focus on the big stuff. Like loving God, living in peace, and laughing with the children He's given us.

What fun things are your kids doing in their current phase?

Homeschooling poll

Ok, I realize I'll be opening up the floodgates here when I ask this question but I don't care! I LOVE hearing what curricula others use in homeschooling and I'm desperate for more ideas. I'm also starting to panic a little since I still don't have a solid plan yet for Chloe's kindergarten year.

But then I remember that we're talking kindergarten and not highschool calculus. Actually, I enjoy calculus so that's slightly less intimidating to me. Kindergarten means art projects, reading LOTS of books, learning to tell time, counting money and fun field trips so why am I stressing?!?

SO, what do you currently use for homeschooling curriculum in the major subject areas? I need advice in every area so feel free to give me a detailed report!

How can he sleep like that?!?

We recently upgraded all the kids to bigger beds. Solomon went to the crib, Clive to a twin sized bed, and Chloe to a full sized bed in her OWN room. Her room is pink and girly. She's already possesive of it and trying to keep her brother out. I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until adolescence?

All things considered Clive is doing great with the new set up. He's always been a thrashing moving type of sleeper so the bed rails are a MUST for his safety. Even with the rails, which cover almost the entire length of his bed, he's already fallen out of bed once.

And with his new found freedom we certainly have our staying-in-bed battles. He's a completely different beast than Chloe in this regard.

I knew we had it too easy with Chloe. Oddly enough, Chloe used to stay in bed and then call for me to get her up! It was as though she didn't realize she could get out on her own. Since she was our first child, I assumed that was the norm. (Please don't laugh too hard at my naivete.)

Somehow, I never tire of going in late at night to peek in on the kids while they sleep. Part of me wants to make sure they're safe. But a bigger part of my heart loves to see them peaceful and innocent while they slumber.

And with Clive I enjoy going in and discovering what crazy new sleeping position he's gotten himself into! Ah to be able to sleep that soundly!

Is my wacky boy the only kiddo who sleeps like a contortionist?

Pretty tips?

Today was an insanely productive day for me. I simply can't believe all that I got done in a 12 hour span of time! I won't tell you what I accomplished because

a) you won't believe me,
b) you'll think I'm bragging, and
c) God should get the credit since HE supplied me with the strength and motivation.

Five hours of uninterrupted sleep and several cups of coffee helped too.

Mid-afternoon I raced upstairs to use the bathroom and as I washed my hands I caught a passing glance of myself in the mirror. YUCK! Who was that sweaty messy person looking back at me? My brushed-once-this-morning hair was disheveled and frizzy. The powder I had hurriedly applied was completely gone. Sweat droplets, red cheeks (will I EVER remember to put sunscreen on myself?) and blotchiness covered my skin.

Besides that my clothes were a wreck! After grocery shopping and plastering layer 1 on Chloe's birthday pinata I felt like one huge stain.

I don't expect to look like a fresh dewy supermodel while I'm in the grind of mommyhood but I DID hope I'd look better than the bride of Frankenstein. It's no secret that I don't spend much time on myself. Primping and floofing are NOT high on my priority list right now. Sleep, having fun with my kids, sleep, making meals, sleep, connecting with my husband and keeping the house slightly cleaner than filthy are tops on my agenda. Did I mention I need more sleep?

Today I neglected to take a few minutes to pretty myself up. It doesn't usually take more than 5 minutes to do my normal routine of face powder, mascara, clean clothes, painted toenails, earrings, a spritz of perfume and lip gloss. (And I must confess, I often apply my makeup in the car. It saves precious minutes in the morning and I can apply almost everything without ever taking my eyes off the road. Granted, mascara is a bit tricky but I apply that at red lights.)

Which leads me to ask . . . what quick things do you do to up your daily pretty factor?

Clive the Builder

Clive's little 2 1/2 year old voice is so scrumptiously cute I pretty much kiss and hug him all day long. Scratch that, I try to kiss and hug him all day long. He adeptly avoids my loving attempts by scampering away fast on his short little toothpick legs.

If there's anything cuter than Clive's voice, it's hearing that voice sing. Hear for yourself and prepare to be bombarded with adorableness!

I think Clive is a Bob the Builder's biggest fan. And I really don't mind. I like that Bob (like how I refer to a cartoon character as though I know him?) displays the process involved in construction. Since watching Bob dvds, Chloe often "makes a plan" as she plays. I also appreciate that Bob and his team work hard, work cooperatively and clean up their messes.

Another nice perk to watching Bob the Builder is that Chloe truly enjoys it right alongside Clive but at a different level. Not many dvds cross the gender and age lines that easily. I'm curious . . . does Bob the Builder mania infect your boys and/or girls?

Unbroken bones

Ever feel like you're the worst mommy in the world?

I've succumbed to mommy guilt countless times but this experience takes the cake in terms of guilt-dom. As many of us newbie moms would attest to, many valuable parenting lessons are learned the hard way. Learning-by-making-mistakes is my most frequent, not to mention effective, mode of parenting.

Rewind to last Saturday afternoon. A nearby town was hosting an afternoon sidewalk chalk drawing contest and festival. A perfect mommy-Chloe afternoon outing. The festival was a small affair complete with every 21st century child's favorite activity -- inflatables. Chloe jumped 'til she was red in the face and then proceeded to her designated sidewalk block.

Chloe scribbled and scratched out a typical rainbow and balloons picture complete with the sweet chalky message pictured at left. (No, I did NOT coerce her to write that!) Then some friends joined us and the girls did more bouncing in the inflatables. (Seriously, Chloe NEVER tires of inflatable fun.) After that we all walked together to an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. And that's when the craziness began.

The ice cream parlor has a beautiful old marble counter and spinny bar stools. I, like the oft-times casual mom that I am, let Chloe sit and spin on the stools without thinking twice. I continued visiting with my mom-friend clueless to Chloe's danger. AND my wise friend didn't let her daughter spin on the stools. Let THAT be a lesson to you, Alicia!

Anyhow, the girls were happily licking their ice cream cones when Chloe spun too fast and went flying to the floor. She landed squarely on her elbow. Because was holding her ice cream cone, she didn't try to slow her fall with her hands. Instead all her 60 pounds came crashing down onto her elbow. Her elbow immediately swelled up in a strange place -- just below the joint.

We rushed Chloe outside and at this point I was utterly reliant on my friend, Shannon. She has nursing experience and took charge of the situation. I was like an ameba -- unable to think or move on my own without outside intervention. I was thoroughly scared and emotional realizing that if Chloe had broken her arm it was ALL MY FAULT. Cue mommy guilt and LOTS of mommy tears!

After a long ordeal at the ER, it seemed that Chloe was fine and dandy. Since Chloe as in zero pain the NP on duty diagnosed Chloe's injury as a hematoma in the soft tissue. Kind of like a bruise inside Chloe's arm. We were cheerful and all set to go home when the ER staff delayed our paperwork. We waited and waited and WAITED. Then the NP came in with a new diagnosis. They had found a "disruption" on the bone near the site of the injury on Chloe's xray. So, the NP casually said, "I think we'll splint her just to be safe."

In my mind I imagined a splint as two balsa-wood-type sticks used to hold the arm in place and then taped. Boy was I wrong! The splint turned out to be almost a cast just not quite so heavy. The ER nurse came in and started taping Chloe's arm without so much as a hello or explanation. And try as I might, I could NOT get the nurse to explain the process to us. Hence, I couldn't in turn explain things well to Chloe and she had a major meltdown.

Again, my mommy tears flowed this time in sadness at my utter inability to comfort my girl. She freaked out. Big time. It was almost as though Chloe became a completely different little girl in those moments of trauma and terror. She screamed, kicked (she had to be held down for the taping), and loudly cried her displeasure.

Chloe finally calmed down on when we arrived home. She did super well with her splint and eventually became proud of all the things she was able to do one-handed. (It helped that I often tote Solly around and could show Chloe all the things I do with only one hand.)

3 days later at the orthopedic specialists' office the splint came off and Chloe was proclaimed healthy. No break, fracture or "disruption" to speak of!

Overall the ordeal was a good one. Hopefully we won't have to endure any breaks in the future but if we do now I'll know what to expect! And I'll be much more careful the next time Chloe is lured by spinning stools.

By far the worst part was Chloe's unexpected reaction during the splinting. I've been told this is a common occurrence though.

Have you or your kids ever broken any bones? If so, how did they deal?

Thrift Store Phenomenon

When purchasing shoes at the thrift store, make sure you have two shoes of the same size. And it would be helpful to have a left shoe and not just two righties.

DUH! Good thing my mistake only cost 90 cents.

In my defense I must note that boys' sandals have a deceptive way about them. Don't they look matching from the photos below?

Can you tell I'm trying to justify the wasting of 90 cents?

Seriously though, in all my years of resale shopping this is the first time I've seen this. A pair of shoes exactly the same brand, style and color only a 1/2 size apart. I'm wondering what other customer went home with our matching right sandals!

In general I whole-heartedly LOVE thrift store shopping. It's like a treasure hunt with precious (and cheap) jewels just waiting to be discovered.

Anything like this ever happened to you? Happy thrifting!

Our glorious garden

This year we have a truly glorious garden! Since the natural soil in our backyard is junky, Matt built raised garden beds. I've always dreamed of having a big garden and since this spring I've been busy caring for baby Solomon, I was thrilled Matt volunteered to tackle the garden project.

Little did I know the crazy plans my ingenious husband had. Thanks to Matt's industriousness and vision we now have 9 garden beds, 5 pot stands, and a potted herb garden.

Our jungle garden is thriving and doing well! While most of what Matt planted was an "experiment" almost all of the seedlings have sprouted and taken root. (Spinach and the root veggies didn't take). Thus far we've harvested 3 zucchini, several sugar snap peas and green beans, lots of strawberries, one banana pepper, loads of leaf lettuce, and some herbs.

Having a garden has been incredibly fun and educational. It's exciting to go out every night and check on the progress of our veggies. And it's so amazing to see the intricacy and variety of God's creation expressed in plants! Who knew that sweet potatoes and tomatoes were in the same plant family? Or that squash family plants have male and female flowers? Or that root vegetables needed added phosphorous in order to thrive?

Veggies picked fresh from the garden taste much yummier than those bought from the store. And it's incredibly rewarding to be able to eat what we've actually watered, tended and reaped.

Do you garden? If so, what have you planted this year?

(Warning: Excessive amount of garden photos below.)



My potted herb stand containing basil, mint, oregano, lemon thyme and cilantro






















Zuicchini

Eggplants in pots

Homemade topsy-turvy-like tomato planters

















Pumpkin plants!






















Butternut squash plants





















Our first broccoli!






















Sugar snap peas





















The fuzzy things in the middle are asparagus. Four small blueberry bushes in the corners.

















Our first green bell pepper! Isn't it cute?























Yellow banana pepper






















Brussel sproutlings





















Gigantic tomato plants























Strawberries!

















Leaf lettuce

Family resemblance

My Solomon is SUCH a Horn baby. Countless people comment on how much Solomon looks like Chloe & Clive when they were in baby form. Even the cashiers at our local Drug Mart make a point of stopping me and remarking to the Horn family resemblance.

And I concur.

Looking at some old pictures of Clive and Chloe I was taken aback by the uncanny resemblance between our bambinos. I showed several of the photos below to Matt to see if he could guess who was who. Surprisingly, Matt guessed wrong about 25% of the time. That's how stinking alike these kids look!

Let's see how well you fare. Think you know your Horn babies? Check out the photos below and see if you can tell who's who.





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Happy Independence Day!

This year 4th of July weekend sneaked up on me! The month of June went by way too quickly in my humble estimation.

To kick off the weekend, Chloe and I drove to a nearby town for their annual fireworks display. This is our 3rd year going to Hudson for fireworks and I finally figured out the secret to avoiding post-fireworks gridlock. Bliss.

Chloe always cracks me up with her fireworks watching mentality. She enjoys it for about the first 10 minutes and she's complete with unfettered oohing and aahing. (So much so, that I had to start shooshing her because I was afraid she was disturbing other onlookers.) Then, she gets bored and distracted. Weird, eh? For a kid who can zone out for hours in front of a Bob the Builder dvd, I expected more from her attention span.

At least this year she asked some good questions about fireworks. None of which I was prepared to answer in depth. :) I'll be doing some good ole-fashioned wikipedia research on fireworks today (i.e. how do they work, and when did we as a nation start this whole crazy lighting up the sky tradition).

This year's display was spectacular! Even saw some new beauties this year. The golden waterfall fireworks were my fave.

This morning I'm taking the kids to a local Independence Day parade. This parade is full of firetrucks and people throwing candy. Clive will be in little boy heaven!

How are you celebrating this Independence Day weekend?

Back to blogging

We've been home from vacation now for a week and I have yet to blog! Currently, I have SEVEN posts started but none completed. Ugh. I hate that unfinished feeling.

Lately I sit down to blog and even though I've already envisioned what I'm going to write, I inevitably lose my motivation.

So, in an effort to jump back into blogging and breathe some new life into the horn family chronicles, I'm stealing borrowing a play from my pal Jenny's playbook.

Instead of posting a detailed entry on a single subject, here's a smattering (great word, eh?) of our recent activities and endeavors.

1. Jam making: I've impulsively entered the world of home-canning! Unfortunately, I made a big mistake and left too much head space in the jars. So, now I have to re-can it. Shouldn't be too difficult though (famous last words). Thus far I've made 9 pint sized jars of luscious homemade strawberry jam from fresh-picked locally farmed berries. I simply can not describe how much yummier this jam is compared to store bought stuff. I have visions of canning much more yumminess this season!
   
2. Picking, picking, picking: No, I'm not referring to my children's dirty habits of booger removal. Lately I've been picking local farm fresh produce and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Picking, shelling, cleaning and EATING our food straight from a local farm has been highly addicting. Thus far I've picked strawberries, peas, and two varieties of raspberries. Blueberries are next on the picking agenda.
   
3. Solomon: He's growing fast, folks! Coming up on his 10 week birthday tomorrow already and weighing in at 13 lbs 7 ounces. Solly is quickly transitioning from newborn to a full-throttled infant. He's cooing and smiling up a storm. I'm a sucker for his grins! Not sleeping consistently through the night yet but I'm hopeful that milestone is around the corner. He's had several 5, 6 and 7 hour nighttime sleep stretches but our recent vacation messed him up nicely. Grrrr.
   
4. Gardening mania: We are gardening full-force this year and I couldn't be more excited about it! Since our backyard soil is awful, Matt built 11 raised garden beds. Five big beds and six smaller ones. One of the beds is exclusively Chloe's and she's growing carrots, beets, radishes and peas. The rest of the garden is planted with leaf lettuce, zucchini, squash, cucumber, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, eggplant, blueberry bushes, asparagus and I don't know what else. I was in the throes of post-partum zombieland when the garden needed to be started so Matt was the motivated sower and chooser of seeds. I also have a small potted herb garden which includes basil, oregano, mint, thyme, and cilantro. It is pure delight to pick fresh basil for quiche, pasta sauce, or caprese salad (one of my summer faves). I feel like a moron for not knowing what the plants look like which yield the foods I've eaten for 30+ years. It's educationally liberating and empowering in a weird way to be able to identify the plants, leaves, flowers, and fruits which give way to familiar veggies. How very sad that the process of growing, planting, and cultivating has been so completely removed from food consumption! I'm certain the average American kid thinks food comes from the grocery store and is clueless regarding the steps necessary to produce said food.
   
5. Summer schedule: Matt is a teacher. You know what that means, don't ya? THREE full months off each summer!!! WOO-HOO! Having Matt home most weekdays is an incredible and indescribable blessing. I am so spoiled. And thankful.
6. Potty training: Clive is potty-trained! Mostly. He's still working on going #2 consistently in the right place. Somehow, our vacation to Wisconsin helped rather than hindered our potty-training efforts. Though he had his share of accidents while we were away, Clive did surprisingly well. And now he's in big boy undies all day long and rarely has an accident! Still doing diapers for naptime and bedtime of course. I realize we're still a long way from Clive being fully trained but this is an encouraging and positive step towards that end!
7. Vacation: Had a spectacularly enjoyable time visiting the family matriarchs in Wisconsin. We were away for two full weeks and I am amazed at how well the kiddos adjusted to new routines and settings. Loads of pictures chronicling our visit in FB.

So now we're all caught up! Ah. And now I can retire to bed in peace. :)

What have you been up to in the month of June?

Mommy Hair Salon

Today as I noticed again the heavy mop of hair dampening Chloe's neck with sweat, I was moved to do something drastic. Poor Chloe has inherited my hair to a tee. Thick, slightly wavy, and a dark blond/light brown in color our shared hair color is known as "dishwater blond".

Though I've tried somewhat to keep Chloe's hair off her neck during these sweltering summer days, it's to no avail. Braids, ponytails, and pigtails (with accompanying barrettes) are almost never strong enough to keep her hair away from her face and off her neck. By the end of the day, "scraggly" and "ragamuffin" are apt adjectives for Chloe's appearance.

So, this afternoon we set up an impromptu mommy hair salon on the front porch. I know, I'm impulsive. And you already know I'm cheap. Dishing out $10 for a kid haircut is not even a consideration to me. Sometimes my impulsivity (is that a word?) leads to really stupid decisions and mistakes.

Don't worry, this haircut doesn't fall into the stupid category. :)

Thankfully, the one time I previously cut Chloe's hair was a huge success. Ergo, I went into this haircutting venture with confidence. Ironically, because of Chloe's hair texture, it's very forgiving to the amateur hair cutter. Choppy cuts and slightly jagged lines look good in her hairstyle.

Let me tell you, Chloe LOVED every moment of the home hair salon experience! She set everything up and helped me think of all the tools we needed. We even included the small talk banter typical of a regular hair salon experience.

After much cutting, trimming and fixing the finished product is a hit! I was trying for a nice short bob that would lie above Chloe's neck and keep her cool during our humid midwestern summer.

Whew! Thank the Lord it turned out well! Chloe loves it, I love it and so does Matt. (Before and after pictures posted below).

When Chloe asked if she could have a turn cutting my hair I politely declined. :) Let's hope when she plays hair salon in the future she doesn't do any real cutting. Then I might have to put away my mommy shears and chalk this one up to a "live and learn" mommying moment.

Where do you get your kids' hair cut? Or do you trim their locks at home?