Friday Round Up 3/4/19 - Technically a Monday Mash Up

Things have been kind of wild & crazy around our house during the month of February. And unfortunately, not in the most fun ways :( Some snow, then rain, then freezing temps, then ice, then do it all over again has left us feeling a bit, shall we say, under the weather. Like the February weather was a horribly wet, icy blanket we all wore around endlessly! I am pleased that this longest shortest month has come to a close & am doing this one mash up to account for the whole month!! Here we go!

1. Article to read/podcasts to check out

5 Ways Lawnmower Parents Hurt More Than They Help

Some takeaways I had from this article - none are rocket science or really even new to me - maybe I appreciated this article because it reaffirmed the way I try to parent?? Struggle is good. Dealing with life's little difficulties & discomforts prepares kids to be high functioning adults. Natural consequences are some of life's best teachers. 

NPR's new series of podcasts called LifeKit

So far they've produced episodes on Health, Money & Parenting  - I listened to all 3 in their "Eat Your Way to a Healthier Life" series in one nap time & loved them. Admittedly, I could think/talk/hear about food all day long - so its not too much of a stretch for me. But it was a lot of good reminder type information. A good reminder that white/refined carbs are processed by our body in the same way as refined/white sugar. A good reminder that 1/2 of my plate should be filled with fruits & veggies every meal (man I have a long way to go on this one :( A good reminder that not every diet is created equal & not everyone should try to follow the same diet. I look very forward to listening to more of what they have to offer!

2. Visiting an old friend

Man, there's nothing like visiting an old college roommate to make you miss your college days. The days that were almost wholly unplanned/unstructured, the days that left hours for chatting over coffees, meals, drinks. The days that melted into late nights without anyone seeming to notice. I miss most of all that time to just "be" with my close friends. Not a girls night out, not a book club, not a coffee date, but just time to be. Literally just hanging out. 

The closest I can come to recreating that feeling is a weekend away visiting my friend Lauren (& her lovely husband - also a Chris & their beautiful daughter Kate - who is near in age to the Bug) on my own. I had a 5.5ish hour drive with nothing to do but listen to music and catch up on podcasts. And eat all the snacks. Whats a long drive without all the snacks??

We enjoyed a lazy weekend together of just hanging out. Lauren & I had the luxury of time alone together (eating out, shopping, getting coffees) to really talk. And, in my case anyway, not have to spell out the bevvy of swear words I use. It was a delightful weekend & I am quite thankful Lauren & Chris did not balk at my inviting myself :) Thanks guys!!

3. Skating on the golf course

Despite the fact that Chris ended up mildly concussed on this adventure (see above re: my overall happiness at February's conclusion!) Lulu & I had fun skating on the glassy ice that covered the public golf course near our house.

See above re: how over this strange weather I am...... but in this case -the cold snap came without any wind & the puddles froze over as smoothly as a freshly Zamboni-ed rink!! 

Our neighborhood has many perks - one of our most favorite is the golf course. I must admit I didn't expect it to ever offer us a nearby place to ice skate!!

4. Bobo & Lulu laughing

This happened the night Lulu & I arrived home from our week in Colorado. Chris got stuck on a delayed train, so wasn't able to come & pick us up from O'Hare at the time we'd planned on. Thank goodness my parents were willing to come for us.........and then let us stay for dinner with them :) Lulu now asks to watch this video by saying "BoBo DuDu ha ha ha" yes, you read that right - Lulu doesn't have her "L" sound nailed down quite yet :)

How was your longest shortest month? Were you hoping it was over as quickly as I was?? Or did you & your family have a better month??

Friday Round Up - 1/25/18 - Change in Plans, Snow!, Cousins Skate, "The Disease of Being Busy"

Happy Friday! 

The Polar Vortex is ripping its way across the Midwest.....

the temperature is expected to be approximately

 -1 with a wind chill of -19 when this post is published! 

Yikes. 

At least we like Old Man Winter around here!!

1. Change in Plans
We have some travel coming up & due to the freezing rain/sleet mixture our area had this week combined with Lulu rocking a fever.....we changed our travel plans! We virtually never do this, but our plans were flexible for once & there were very few downsides! Thankfully we are visiting my flexible sister & her girls - so our lodging didn't need to be tweaked at all!

The notable one is that my parents are taking us to the airport in the 5am hour......and I will miss my Mom's Group Dinner Club. The theme is "Dinner in the Hamptons" and everyone is making one of Ina Garten's recipes. I love the Barefoot Contessa - I love her recipes & her vibe! Sad to miss out on this theme, but it made the best sense for us.

Why punish oneself with the possibility of flight delays or worse, cancellations when your airline offers to change your flight for free??? I'm not a crazy lady - so I went with the change in plans :)

2. Snow!
We have had some good snowfalls this week! We've had enough snow to cross country ski, sled, and romp around happily!!

A few highlights of the snow this week:

I cross country skied up to one of our favorite coffee shops, Backlot to read my book and drink an oat milk latte that is, in my humble opinion, one of the best on the planet.

We met friends to sled with babies & dogs. It was cold, snowy, windy - so we didn't last too long....but we were invited back to their home for a cozy winter dinner. I love that Lulu is getting old enough to be interested in her friends. It makes my heart feel full to watch her play with some of the little people in her life!

Lulu & her friend Lilly rocking the teeter totter in the cold & dark :)

We took Owenn skiing with Lulu in her stroller with the ski attachments! What a great purchase that was - Lulu can be cozy under the cover of the stroller, in a nest of snowsuit & blankets while we get a great workout in hauling her along!

3. Cousins Skate

Despite Lulu's cousins, Aunt Tara & Uncle GR having a bonkers weekend, they invited us to skate on their backyard rink this past Monday! 

Again, cold, windy, sort of polar vortex-y, but Lulu loved it. She had so much fun being pushed around on the ice by her big cousins! She certainly doesn't have the hang of skating yet - but loves to talk about it anyway! BoBo & Bump came out to watch the antics, as did Lulu's cousins' Nana. A very fun afternoon topped off by hot chocolate made by Kane & a fire in their fireplace. Winter perfection!!

4. "The Disease of Being Busy"
I often listen to the program "On Being" on weekend mornings on WBEZ. I appreciate its commentary on faith, spirituality, religion, and all things in between. This post made me realize I should look at the program's website more often than the never that I currently do! A woman who I went to sleep away gymnastics camp with shared this article on Facebook (I'm almost sure I've read it already....can't be sure if I've shared it here.....sorry if this is a repeat!) this week & it struck a chord with me.

It seems to me I've read a hundred articles/posts about the benefits of allowing ourselves (& our kids) to be bored. To allow space for deep/big thoughts, creativity, wondering, imagining. Lots of good things can come from being bored it seems. And yet, it is so hard for us, (in the age of screens everywhere) to give ourselves this time/space.

Do you make space for boredom in your house? For yourself? For your kids? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and the ways that you do it (if you do)! I don't know if I leave enough space for boredom - but it is on my mind, which is probably the first way I'm going to be able to accomplish the goal, right??

Friday Recap 1/18/19- Dad's Birthday, Choo choo to Booked, Snow fun, Oatmeal S'mores Cookie Recipe, "You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note",

Happy Friday! Winter storm warning here this afternoon through 12noon tomorrow! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray for snow!

1. Dad's Birthday

My Dad turned 84 (or 48 if you ask him) last week & we celebrated on Sunday evening. It was a fun, chaotic, loud and delightful party for Dad/Bump! It seems impossible that my Dad is 84, there are so many moments when he seems so much younger to me. I love getting together to celebrate these life events - its fun for me - but also teaches Lulu the importance of celebrating other people's big days!

2. Choo Choo to Booked

Lulu & I rode the CTA to go to one of our favorite book stores, Booked, yesterday to enjoy their kiddo music. The store is just delightful, with a wonderful selection of kiddo books (plus some grown up ones too) and a cozy atmosphere. The owner is warm and welcoming every time we visit & is more than happy to order books we want that she doesn't have in stock.

Lulu enjoyed the music for approximately 5 minutes before she demanded "out" :(

This week I was placing an order for some books for Lulu specifically about birds - she's been really into look for ducks & birds when we walk on a bridge near our house. I would love to know more about birds and thankfully my wonderful friend & college roommate, Amber, is into birding already! She also happens to be a mom to 2 beautiful littles, so I figured she'd have some insight into little kid bird books. Of course she did not disappoint! In case you want to know what I ordered, the books are: "Birds" by Kevin Henkes & Laura Dronzek, "Charley Harper's Count The Birds" by Zoe Burke & Charley Harper and "Mama Built a Little Next" by Jennifer Ward & Steve Jenkins

As I so often do, I got sidetracked by books when I thought I was going to be writing about Lulu's love of trains :) But it is worth noting that for the bargin price of $2.50 you can bring your train loving little on the CTA to geek out!! Double bonus if you only stay at your destination for less than 2 hours.....you can go home for the price of a transfer.......a whopping $0.25! Lulu still talks about seeing Santa on the choo choo (when we rode the CTA Holiday Train back in December) I'm guessing she's a touch disappointed each time I tell her that, no, Santa is unlikely to be on this choo choo :)

3. Snow Fun

Man. I love the snow. It didn't matter that we didn't get a ton last weekend, it mattered that we got some!!

We went sledding with friends (& had pizza delivered here afterward) and went cross country skiing the next day.

We also went sledding with some of Lulu's cousins - so much fun all the way around :)

Pure & simple - wintry bliss!! Have you & yours had any snow lately? What's your favorite snowy day activity? I should mention that after we play in the snow, we typically retreat inside, light a fire, drink hot drinks & read. Lest you think we are outside & active all winter :)

4. Chocolate Oatmeal S'mores Cookies

I will be more careful with the marshmallows next time....these do not look very pretty :)

I don't remember where I came across this recipe.....Pinterest? Instagram? Did one of you lovelies send it to me? I have not a clue - such is life with mom brain ;) Either way - I had some downtime during Lulu's naps this weekend, so I made this cookie dough. I baked some of the cookies & brought them to my parents' house for my Dad's birthday party. They were really good. Sort of scary good. I made them open faced - it seemed honestly like too much to have 2 full sized cookies, nutella & a marshmallow be 1 serving......I am not judging if you would like to have 2 of these - but 1 cookie per serving felt much more reasonable!

What are you baking during this winter season? I love to try out long, lazy recipes on these cold, sometimes dark days. Would love to know what's making your house smell like heaven!!

5. "You Should Actually Send That Thank You Note"

Gratitude is sort of a buzz word at the moment, would you agree? I don't mind - in my most humble opinion we could all benefit from expressing (& receiving) more gratitude. Science seems to bear out the benefits of gratitude - I know I've shared articles to this end in the past - but these things bear repeating! 

This article is not talking about the thank you notes we write for gifts given - the random gift card thank you note that is obligatory is not what was studied here. The researchers studied the "big" thank you notes where the writer expresses big feelings & deep appreciation for the recipient's actions/help. Thank you for supporting me when I was going through a tough time. Thank you for being with me during a time of grief/loss. Thank you for your guidance as I navigated a career or job change. The big things. Sometimes we all feel these big feelings for small things, it is worth writing the big thank you notes anytime you feel the big feels. The researchers found they were not met with the awkward feelings the writers anticipated. Quite the opposite - receiving these big thank you notes made the recipients feel so good they rated the feeling at a 4 out of 5 on the happiness scale they were given in the study. 

If you could, by investing a few minutes & a postage stamp, make a friend or family member feel the 4 out of 5 feels.......wouldn't you do it???? I know I would :) I guess I do already - but I can always write more of these notes. I like to tell my people how important they are to me. Most days I couldn't get through the day without my tribe of family and friends. We are social animals - there is no denying it. We require the closeness of others. Its high time we start acknowledging the great import these people play in our lives. 

Friday Round Up 10/5/18 - Don't Pave 10 Campaign, Simple Ways to Encourage Brain Development in Babies, Bike the Ridge

Happy Friday all! Hope you enjoyed Wednesday's blast of summer weather! 

1. Don't Pave 10 Campaign
We are so lucky to live on a community resource such as Canal Shores Golf Course. I am not a huge golfer by any stretch of the imagination - but I use Canal Shores for its beautiful green space almost daily. Lulu & I walk Owenn, we walk just the 2 of us, Chris will run the course in the early morning, we play in the snow & cross country ski there during the winter, its a fantastic, giant park open to all. Seasonally you must be willing to yield to the golfers........but that is what it is I suppose. 

Unfortunately there is a request for an easement to allow a private entity to pave much of hole #10 on the course. Once this happens, there will be no going back to the green space that was once there. I oppose the paving over of a beautiful natural community resource - I hope you do to. Click the link above to find out ways to speak out and speak up about this issue. I sent an email to all the people listed including this photo  - I hope it helps.

2. Simple Parenting Advice
I read this article on NPR.com "5 Simple Ways to Encourage Brain Development In Your Little One"   - it really resonated with me. What delightfully simple things we can all do to foster healthy brain development in babies, our own & those around us. I figure the more eyeballs that see this piece- the better off our babies are. Win, win, win all the way around.

3. Bike the Ridge

I'm a sucker for community events. I love seeing people come together, often outdoors, to enjoy simple stuff that makes up the fabric of our community. People, food, music, it doesn't take much for folks to have an awesome time! This event, Bike the Ridge (which I assume is modeled after the City of Chicago's Bike the Drive event), happened last Sunday & was our first time participating. 

Lots of people turned out to ride bikes up and down Ridge, which is, on a normal day, off limits to bikes because it is so godforsakenly narrow for the 4 lanes of car traffic. So for one Sunday a year- the road is closed to cars & bikes get to have their run of it! The novelty is really the thing! We biked up & down in the chilly, drizzly weather & stopped to enjoy the students from the School of Rock perform some songs. Grabbed delectable tacos from Amanecer who was out with their food car.....its a tiny little car they peddle tacos from the hatchback :) Looking very forward to next year's event & hope for some sunshine!

I hope you all have a great weekend, despite the rainy/dreary weather forecast :(

Friday Recap 8/3/18 - Kaner's Birthday, Beach Date, Solo Lake Time, Garden Love, "Motherhood in the age of Fear"

Well, it happened again, I should've known it would ;) We started celebrating my Mom's birthday weekend on Thursday last week......so my Friday post isn't happening until.....Wednesday......yikes. This might be my latest one yet!! Oh well, we are on a summer schedule over here! Without further ado:

1. Kaner's Birthday

Kane chose ice cream sandwiches for dessert - my SIL is a great baker & they were tremendous!

 I love being an aunt so much. I've been "aunting" for longer than I've been a mom & it is such a fun role to play. We had a great time celebrating our nephew Kane's birthday last week! Always nice to have a family birthday celebration - makes me think of being a kid myself in a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic kind of way. 

Happy Birthday little man, suddenly you aren't that little anymore! You are growing up by the minute it seems & getting funnier every day. We love you.

2. Beach Baby Date

I had plans to meet up with 3 of my Mom's Group friends at the beach, which is fun in of itself. Then 2 more Mom's Group moms showed up & it became a much bigger group! What fun to get together with so many smiling faces and so many great kiddos. I didn't take enough photos. Oops.

3. Solo Lake Time

Typically speaking, we spend "big" family time up at the lake. We pack as many as 15 humans into our house that felt perfectly sized for 5 of us when we were growing up! So when Lulu & I unexpectedly had a day & an night at the lake by ourselves, it wasn't half bad :) We were there during weekday time when things slow down immeasurably and the shared neighborhood space is totally empty. 

Lulu did a lot of rock throwing and rock playing while I soaked up as much quiet as I could. Funny how nice it can be to just be quiet. This coming from an avowed talkative extrovert ;) A good change indeed.

4. Garden Love

Our tiny harvest was gobbled up by our love bug in a minute flat! She didn't want me to take the picture!

Lulu is becoming my little garden gnome. Despite the fact that we have a total of 6 edible plants (& 4 of those are herbs), Lulu seems to really like our garden & being in it. Well, mostly eating from it. Yes, eating from our garden is the best part for Lulu! I hope in the coming years she wants to learn about how plants grow & help take care of our garden plants!

5. "Motherhood in the Age of Fear"
I shared this opinion piece on Facebook - but it bears sharing again. Here is what I said in my Facebook post: Kids need independence. Kids need the chance to play, explore, live bits of their lives without us watching. I felt sick to my stomach reading this article, but reassured by the practical advice offered. If confronted by the police: ask what law you’ve broken. Clearly & calmly ask if you are under arrest. If not, you are free to go. If a random stranger is confronting you by yelling or saying they will call the police, begin recording them & Clearly and calmly ask that they move away from you & stop harassing you & your child. We do NOT have the right to assume the worst. For goodness sakes; take a minute to watch what’s going on, assess the situation, be rational. Do not assume the worst & call 911 for something that might be perfectly innocuous. Calling 911 is not, in my most humble opinion the best way “just to be safe”. asking the kid if they’re ok, taking a minute to observe to see if things are ok are 2 ways of being safe that don’t have potentially lifelong consequences for the mom & kid in question. 
I would like to add that this was shared by one of my Mom's Group friends which makes me feel so much more comfortable in my style of parenting. I knew that I wasn't an outlier in our community, but man it is reassuring to have a tribe of people who feel the same way I do. The unfortunate reality (for me) is a low grade sense that I am constantly being judged by strangers for the choices I make in how I take care of the Bug on a day to day basis. It is a major bummer. I suppose it is the flip side of the "it takes a village" coin. I can't (we as parents can't) raise kids in a vacuum, by its nature taking care of kids & raising them is undertaken by more than just the kids' parents. Sometimes this backfires in ways outlined in this article and that makes me feel all sorts of negative feels.