Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I never have. Probably because let's face it, they never stick. I could make a resolution to actually make a resolution, and still probably fail.
However, something I am challenging myself with this month is The Orange Rhino Challenge. You can get the details here, but in a nutshell it is all about being aware of the voice we use with our children and in particular, to never yell. While I don't consider myself a "yeller," I am human, I get irritated and snap. I'm doing this with a local Natural Parenting group I am a part of, and so far it's been refreshing. Kind of starts the year off on a positive note.
Now, let's recap how the past few months have been for the Hartman's:
November
flew by; we were crazy busy with my school schedule and of course,
Thanksgiving. This year we traveled and even had some updated family
pictures taken.
It. was. freezing! We got a few good shots in before Liam completely protested and we called it a day.
December
was a nice break from all of the craziness. The semester ended for me,
we decided to stay home for the holidays, and Keegan took a long
vacation from work. Since both of my boys are obsessed with
trains, we tried our hand at building them a train table to go with all
of their trains and track pieces they have. Of course, we procrastinated
and finished putting it together late Christmas Eve. Whoops.
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| The results of Christmas morning. (train table plans are loosely based off of ones I found HERE) |
Neither
of the boys got into the "holiday spirit" of visiting Santa. Both were
freaked out, in fact. However, we did get this picture of the four of us
while looking at Christmas lights:
 | |
| There's a train track to the left. Liam was fascinated! |
Other news this month- Liam got bumped from the "family bed" and into his own "side car"! (details on that HERE)
Or, that was the plan anyway. He decided he still needs to snuggle us
both at night, but the addition of his crib right next to the bed gives
us more room overall so it's nice (and it gives Aldon a place to lay
when he needs to sleep with us for a bit, too). I realize that for many
this is weird, but as a family this is how we do things.
And that brings us to now, January 2014!
Unfortunately,
the crazy is about to start back up again soon with my schedule. It's
hard to find the right balance; though I am home during the day with my
boys, my time and attention is taken up with online classes, homework,
and studying. I leave for classes when Keegan comes home from work, and
come back long after they are in bed. Weekends will be spent at the
hospital for clinical rotations. I'm here, but not always "present."
Winter has officially hit Ohio- we have snow, snow, and more snow. I'm not a fan, at all. But, only 75 more days until Spring!
amy i adore the fact that you have started this blog!!! i love the family photos, you are a very beautiful family! and i would like to say i do not find it the least bit odd that y'all have and do co-sleep. we co-sleep with Henry and love it! he is comfortable this way and 95% of the time we are as well. i do have to ask how do you carry liam the way you do with the wrap. <3 happy new year Rayne
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
DeleteFor Liam now I have been loving ring slings to carry him. When both of my boys were itty bitties we used a Moby wrap. A ring sling can be used with newborns too, and I can still use it for Aldon if I need to. I bought mine from a shop owner on Etsy, but they're available at a lot of online retailers as well! Let me know if you have any more questions :)
And thanks for reading!