Here’s a glimpse into my day on Tuesday, January 31:

 9:00 :: I wake up to two sleeping boys, Paxton snuggled up beside me and Weston in the bassinet. I move Weston onto the bed to snap a picture. Paxton hears me moving around and wakes up. I go get breakfast for Paxton and myself and then come back to bed to nurse Weston. After Weston nurses, I change diapers and dress everybody!

10:00 :: Time to start a load of laundry. I do a load of laundry almost every day to keep up with it! {It should be noted, there’s no fancy sorting, just colors, whites & the occasional delicate load!} After the laundry is going, I head to the kitchen. I start white beans in the crock pot for dinner and to freeze, red beans that will be frozen, cook rice and make bread crumbs. I move the laundry to the dryer and then head to the office to edit my blog post for the day.

11:00 :: I finish editing and publish Tuesday’s post. As soon as it’s published, I nurse Weston. After he’s finished eating, he’s very fussy so I just hold him, after a few minutes, he falls asleep. Paxton is playing in his room and then comes into the office where I am updating finances. He brings his instruments in there so I strum a little on the guitar and then he plays drums.

12:00 :: I have a content, sleeping baby on my chest. Since Paxton is playing happily and not begging to eat, I continue with working on finances, closing out January and updating our budget. I run out to the mailbox to mail a card and am surprised it has already run. I come back inside, fix Paxton’s lunch and make rice milk. Once I finish the rice milk, I fix my lunch.

1:00 :: We’re still at the table! Paxton is still eating and Weston is hungry so I nurse him. When Paxton finishes eating, I wash his face and hands, read him a story and put him down for a nap. I start washing dishes but Weston is fussy so I attempt to console him. I finally put him in the Baby K’Tan.

2:00 :: Once he’s in the Baby K’Tan, he settles down within 2 minutes and then falls asleep. While I’m wearing Weston, I finish washing dishes, make snacks and go dump scraps into the compost barrel.

3:00 :: Paxton’s naptime is over and I take Weston out of the carrier so I can nurse. Weston quickly realizes he’s hungry and starts crying while I grab  a few books to read with Paxton while nursing. We read three stories together and Paxton actually sat still and listened to all three! After Weston finishes eating, I put him in the bassinet and Paxton and I go get a snack. While I’m in the kitchen, I chop up an onion to put in the white beans. I finally go get the laundry out of the dryer and fold it.

4:00 :: I bundled up the boys and we headed outside. It was just slightly cool outside and we all needed some fresh air. Paxton enjoyed running and exploring and Weston seemed to settle down from his fussiness. After 15 minutes of playing, we go back inside. I start a load of diapers and then reply to a few blog comments. Weston is napping and I let Paxton play on the iPad while I finish up my study for Mom’s Group.

5:00 :: Daddy’s home! Paxton eagerly and excitedly greets his daddy! Daddy takes Paxton outside to play and help him work. While they’re outside, I nurse Weston. While I’m nursing, I check my Twitter stream, answer e-mails and just relax.

6:00 :: I get the diaper covers out of the wash and hang them on the drying rack. I start washing the diaper inserts and prefolds. Paxton is asking to eat so we eat dinner. {How nice it was to have dinner ready with little work thanks to the Crock Pot!}

7:00 :: After dinner, I begin cleaning the kitchen. I put away clean dishes and wash the dirty ones. When I’m finished cleaning, I nurse Weston. While I’m nursing, John David is getting Paxton ready for bed. Once his teeth are brushed and he’s in his jammies, they come into our room where I’m nursing and John David reads Paxton’s Bible story to him and we pray together.

8:00 :: Paxton is in bed and Weston’s belly is full and his daddy is holding him so I take a nice, long, hot shower! After my shower, I join hubby in our room and just relax. We chat and play Words with Friends.

9:00 :: Both boys are sleeping! We talk about our budget, Craigslist sales and chickens {we’re seriously considering getting a couple}! I put the inserts and pre-folds into the dryer and begin picking up the house. Weston wakes up and I nurse him. We then head to our room for the night, talking some more while I do a little blog work.

That’s how I spent 9 am to 9 pm on January 31, 2012. A lot of laundry, fussy babies, feeding and time in the kitchen. During this season in my life, I’m focusing primarily on keeping up with the laundry, keeping diapers clean, preparing meals, keeping the kitchen clean and making sure my children are clean, dry and loved! You’ll notice I didn’t note any diaper changes, that’s because they happen all day long, it’s just part of life with 2 babies!

This was somewhat of a typical day, I normally don’t spend quite as much time in the kitchen but on this day, I was prepping a few things for the freezer which meant more kitchen time. My husband is off on Mondays so Tuesdays through Friday are typically very similar, with the exception of attending Mom’s Group on Wednesday morning and a late night for my hubby at church on Thursday night {he typically arrives home around 9 pm on Thursdays.}

My life certainly isn’t glamorous, it’s full of dirty diapers, lots of laundry, an endless sink of dishes and fussy children but I’m honestly living my dream. I’ve always wanted to be a mama and I am so thankful that I’ve been blessed with an amazing husband and 2 beautiful sons and that I am able to stay home with them!

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A few weeks back, I came across How We Montessori. It’s a blog about incorporating the Montessori Method at home. I had heard of the Montessori Method and basically thought of it as allowing children to play by imitating things in real life {like play sweeping, cooking, etc.} However, it’s much more than that!

As I was reading through the blog and learning more about this method of education, I realized that it’s right in line with our parenting philosophy. 

Montessori supports adapting the environment to match children’s interests and needs. When Paxton was very young we noticed that he had a love for music. We decided to purposely foster this love by making sure he had musical instruments as toys, exposing him to real instruments and to different genres of music.

Young children also have a need for order. A Montessori approach is making sure you have a ‘place for everything and everything in its place.’ We’ve always kept Paxton’s room neat and tidy and all of his toys have a specific place that they go. When he turned 1, we started involving him in the process of cleaning his room and putting everything back where it belongs. Now, he definitely knows where each and everything goes and most nights he picks up his toys by himself when we ask him to. {Of course he is a 21-month-old and many nights we deal with his strong will and a few tantrums during clean up!}

We started researching more about Montessori and are convinced it’s an excellent approach, we want to make learning constant, practical and fun for our children!

Here are some ways we’ve started applying the Montessori Method at home:

• We purchased a wooden kitchen for Paxton. {It was $18.99 at our local resale store, purchased with store credit!} We’re storing his dishes in his kitchen and of course he’s playing like he’s cooking and washing dishes!
• We moved his clothes to the bottom two dresser drawers so he can be more involved in picking his clothes out.
• We’re paying more attention to his desire to help. When he drags a stool over the the sink while I’m washing dishes, I’m allowing him to ‘help’ even though it means more time and more work for mama!
• We’re beginning to let him help with some cooking. Right now that’s just been stirring {tea, brownie/cornbread batter, etc.} and washing potatoes.
• We’re trying out the Montessori Floor Bed. Right now we just have his crib mattress on the ground, it’s working wonderfully at night but nap time has been a bit of a struggle.

As of right now, we’re still researching more and finding small ways to incorporate this lifestyle of learning into our lives. We’re making small changes as we find things we want to apply in our home.

Have you heard of Montessori? Do you agree with the philosophy? Have you or your children attended Montessori School? 

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The unseasonably warm weather has us looking forward to spring and our garden! When we purchased our home last March, we were more excited about our yard than we were the house. We have one acre with a fenced in backyard and ample room for gardening.

We spent quite a bit of time planning a garden last spring. We bought supplies for four raised beds and built one. That’s as far as we got. A few weeks later we found out I was pregnant and soon after morning sickness followed and the garden was abandoned.

This year is going to be different. We’re already making plans and looking forward to gardening as a family and fresh vegetables!

Here’s our garden space:

The garden as of yesterday. Nothing much to look at, there’s one raised bed and that’s it.

The one bed that was built last year. We’re going to be getting the weeds and last years dead plants out and adding more soil!

We purchased this barrel via Craigslist for $10. John David has plans for it, I’m not quite sure exactly what he’s going to do with it {he has the mechanical mind!} The plan it to put this out in the garden space, although we’re not sure where exactly it will go.

As we work in the garden, I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

Are you looking forward to spring time and gardening? Do you do raised beds, a traditional garden or use some other method? 

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This post was written by my sister, Rebekah. It was originally published in August 2010. Since Sanctity of Human Life Sunday was this 2 days ago, I thought this was fitting to share! It’s a beautiful story of God’s forgiveness, grace and love. Not every woman is thrilled to learn it’s positive when they take a pregnancy test but each one of those babies are blessings!

Rebekah and 3-day-old Emerson

I was 19 when I found out I was pregnant.  I had just started my sophomore year in college and it was a nightmare.  Not only was I pregnant, but I was not in a relationship with the baby’s father; this was not exactly an ideal situation.  I was so scared about what my parents and friends would think and say.  I think I was even more nervous about going to church pregnant and unmarried.  I told my parents and they were pretty supportive, upset of course, but supportive.  My mother and I did get into a few arguments and she said some things that really hurt my feelings, but I know she was just as upset about everything as I was.

So many people that I talked to acted like it was no problem at all.  “You can take care of it” or “just get it fixed” were common remarks and an abortion seemed to be a simple “solution” to the problem.  Even though my parents already knew I was pregnant it would be so easy for me to just tell them I had a miscarriage.  But I couldn’t do it.  I had never even considered having an abortion if I got in this situation and now that I was in it an abortion was certainly not an option for me.  I knew things would be hard and some people would think badly of me, but I had made the decision to have sex and this baby was not something I could just get rid of like it never existed.

Each month was difficult for me.  Often I felt like no one cared and that I was a loser and a screw up.  I kept wishing that things would go back to normal, but I knew that realistically this was my life.  I was going to be a single mom and I needed to prepare for it whether I wanted to or not.  During my pregnancy my relationship with the Lord actually improved.  I had been a Christian for several years, although I had made poor decisions on many occasions, but I felt like I was closer to the Lord than ever.  Even though I was in a bad situation I knew that everything would be ok and towards the end of my pregnancy I was actually happier than I had been in a long time.

Emerson Alexandria was born on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 9:54 am.  I couldn’t believe that this little bundle was actually my daughter.  It took a few months for me to realize that I was a mommy and the “unconditional love” didn’t set in for a couple months either.  I felt like something was wrong with me and that I wasn’t going to be a good mom.  After a while, however, I continued to fall more and more in love with my little girl.

Today I don’t know what I would do without her.  I love holding her in my arms and my favorite thing to do now is take naps with her lying on my tummy.  She has made me become a better person and has made me realize that I need to enjoy life and what I have and not take things for granted.  Although my situation is certainly not ideal and what God intended, I know that this happened for a reason.  I am so glad I made the decision to keep my baby and not “fix the problem” like I was encouraged to do.  Babies are not choices, they are a life.  We should not have the decision to terminate a life that God has created.  All people are “fearfully and wonderfully made,” and seeing how every person starts off as a baby, this applies to them also.  Emerson is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I know that every other baby can bring just as much joy as she has.

Celebrating Emerson’s First Birthday!

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I found out I was expecting baby number two when Paxton was 12.5 months old and I knew I’d be cloth diapering two babies. I spent several months thinking about diapers and trying to figure out how many I would need, how often should I wash and on and on!

One of the big questions was whether or not to invest in a stash of newborn diapers. Paxton was 8 pounds 8 ounces at birth and was in our one-size cloth diapers within a month {and probably could have been in them a few weeks earlier, this first time mama was just intimidated!} I figured our new baby would weigh about the same as his big brother and newborn diapers would be a waste.

Weston arrived 9 days early, weighing 6 pounds 14 ounces! He was teeny tiny {at least to a mama whose first baby was 8 pounds 8 ounces!} While in the hospital, I began thinking about cloth diapers and how many weeks it probably would be before Weston could fit into our diapers. I was ready to order some newborn diapers then and there! My wise husband asked me to wait and ask one of my friends if I could borrow her newborn pre-folds and covers to see if I liked them before investing in our own stash.

When Weston was 11 days old, I started cloth diapering with the borrowed pre-folds and covers as well as a few of her different brands of one-size diapers. After seeing how bulky they were, I decided to try a bumGenius 4.0 with the newborn insert on Weston and it fit the best! I was so excited since our diaper stash is almost exclusively bumGenius pockets with a few Econobum pre-folds/covers for Paxton.

At Weston’s 2 week check up, he was up from 6 pounds 14 ounces to 8 pounds 3 ounces {which is an amazing weight gain for a breastfed baby!} So, he was right around 8 pounds when the bumGenius One-Size diaper started fitting.

The bumGenius 4.0 fits wonderfully! In fact, snapped on the smallest setting and with the newborn insert it actually fits a little trimmer than our bumGenius Small All-in-One!

These diapers are quite a bit bulkier than newborn disposables but I’ve not had any blowouts in them which actually is saving on laundry since I don’t have to change Weston’s clothes 3 or 4 times a day! At 4 weeks, I’m still able to snap newborn bodysuits and sleepers up with the cloth diapers on him, even with the regular insert in {he’s getting to be a heavier wetter and the newborn insert isn’t cutting it!}

Newborn diapers are precious but think long and hard before investing in them! Pre-folds and covers are very bulky and some of the trimmer fitting ones will probably be quickly outgrown! We saved a ton of money by not purchasing newborn diapers since these bumGenius diapers will fit until he’s potty trained!

{Note: I am a Sweetbottoms Baby Affiliate}

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