Lately...

It's officially time for another lately post because lately, it's just been a bunch of little stuff and nothing hugely momentous to dictate its own blog post.

So lately...

We've been sick. But are getting better now. Jack is the king of not giving any craps about being sick. Ain't no cold going to keep him down.

Nobody got time for that. 

Except that one time he took a three-hour nap.

But he resumed regularly scheduled toddler activity on Sunday when we took a break from the indoors (rainy weekend) and hit up the McD's play place. The land of processed food, germs and joy for every child.

Then later we had a t-ball lesson. Jack has a pretty powerful swing (I learned the hard way. Plastic hurts, yo.)

I dyed my hair red. Because I'm a color addict and I get bored. SOOO fast.

Processing. Some day, when I have time to do my hair, I'll show you the after shot. :) 

Jack is obsessed with My Neighbor Totoro and asks to watch it at least once per day.

Watching with Daddy. <3

Oh, and my dog is officially with puppy(ies). No clue how many. Jack says 3. I say 2. Daniel is in denial and says zero. Guess we'll find out who is right in approximately 2.5 weeks! eep!!

Furbabies!!

It's only three days until Jack and I head out to my cousin's wedding in Arizona! I'm getting sooo excited for her!!

Other than all of those shenanigans, we've just been keeping on keeping on. Hope everyone out there is having a great week!

Oh, and lately I've had some people ask me about parenting philosophies I employ with Jack in regard to discipline, behavior, etc. I have tons of great blogs/websites I read so I started a Pinterest board dedicated exactly to the articles I find the most helpful in regard to gentle parenting. So far, we're 28 months in and all of the tips I've found to use have worked great in helping me stay connected to Jack in ways that help us battle those difficult moments. Feel free to check it out!

Adventures in Vacationing with a Toddler

When you are pre-baby/kids, going on a trip or vacation is all about sleeping in a massive king-size bed, not worrying about cleaning your hotel room, buying lots of overpriced food/trinkets/souvenirs and doing whatever it is that you want to do - whenever you want to do it.

Going on a trip with kids is WAY not like that. At all. And that's okay. Because seeing cool stuff through the eyes of your toddler, makes the convenience and flexibility you used to have, seem like nothing to lose in comparison. (Except for sleeping in...I kinda miss that...:P)

We had an awesome time this last weekend in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park.

It was my first real time going there, and Daniel hadn't been since he was a kid, so it was really fun for all of us. Plus, the weather...omg perfect. 70s all day everyday. I could get used to that. I told Daniel that if we ever strike it rich, we are SO going to buy a summer home in Jackson.

Before the trip, I loaded up tons of toys, games, cards, coloring supplies and hours of entertainment on the iPad for the car ride and we barely used any of it! Jack apparently loves being in the car for hours! What?! He honestly loved the drive, which we split up into two days of travel there and two days coming back, stopping midway in Salt Lake both times to spend the night at Dan's sister's house. It was the perfect way to go.

Plus, we took silly car selfies so obviously that helped pass the time. ;) 

Since it was a five-day trip, we did lots of cool stuff, but to avoid boring you with every single detail, here are the coolest highlights. :) 

We stopped at the Snake River on the way to Jackson to stretch our legs and Jack loved it!!

But I think he liked jumping on the hotel bed even more. lol. 

We saw some beautiful sights: lakes, rivers, waterfalls and geysers...

(this pic is misleadingly dangerous, but still freaks me out when I look at it! ha!)

My happy little adventurer.

And according to Jack, we saw LOTS of volcanoes with "smoke" coming out of them (aka steam.)

(got some last-time use out of the Tula...*sob*)

And we saw Old Faithful, but we got there in the late evening and didn't see it go off.

He and WE had so much fun.

And despite being in the car lots of hours over the past five days, he was such a champ. He loved the hotel and going to the park and eating fun foods, smoothies and famous raspberry shakes. He rocked the road trip for sure. I am so lucky to have a kiddo who LOVES to travel because most kids don't, from what I hear/know.

The trip was unfortunately a little bit exhausting. Jack got sick near the tail end, which I attributed to allergies until Wednesday morning when I woke up with a doozy of a headache and sore throat. (Just in time to go back to work and work a 10-hour day!!) Luckily Jack is much more of a trooper when he's sick than I am and was more focused on having fun, which we had. Lots of it.

It was an exhausting and relaxing vacation (little bits of both at different times) but it was so fun to have our first real family vacation with all three of us together.

Now it's back to reality. Hope ya'll are having a great week!! TGIF, yo, for REALZ.

On Parenting: Attachment Parenting

To start my On Parenting series I am going to start with a brief intro of Attachment Parenting and how this label fits into my style of parenting. Remember, this series is about me explaining why I parent certain ways because I feel it is important for my own benefit to track my life and why I have decided to do the things I do. I'm only 18 months into this gig, so I guarantee I'll find things that work for me/us/my family and things that don't. I might even *gasp* change my mind later on or with future children.

And I'll repeat this again from my post the other day. I AM NOT JUDGING YOU. So if you are reading this and start to feel judged, don't. If you are a good, loving, caring mother, and your child's welfare is taken care of and their nutritious needs are met, I guarantee you're doing it right. Because there is no ONE way to do it right.

Okay, disclaimer part over. Let's get on to Attachment Parenting and how it relates to my life.

Here is the definition of AP that I copied and pasted from Wikipedia.

Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears,^[1] is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, the child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong consequences.^[2] Sensitive and emotionally available parenting helps the child to form a secure attachment style which fosters a child's socio-emotional development and well-being.

I for one, really don't like the stigma and negative connotation that sometimes comes with Attachment Parenting because I feel like it sometimes makes people take AP-style parents less seriously. And just like there is no ONE way to parent, there is plenty of ways to remain an attached parent without following the text book definition. For example, I choose to vaccinate my child, on schedule, which goes against Dr. Sears' approach to vaccinations. Feel free to Google him to learn more if you so desire.

However, I do really love so much that comes with AP-style parenting including baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, etc. All of those things just work for us. Jack has been a clingy baby since day one. You'll recall my many mentions of his inability to nap without sleeping ON me or in a baby carrier. His needs led me toward this style of parenting and I'm really glad it did. Maybe if my first kid had been one that needed less touching, immediate response, etc. then perhaps I would have not be driven to AP-style parenting.

Being a working mom also tends to go against what AP stands for because I leave him in the care of someone else for a good portion of his day three days a week. But even still, I overall take the AP approach to parenting Jack when I am home with him.

Unfortunately the negative connotation from AP stems from these so-called "Mommy wars" online that occur when someone tells another mom they are doing it wrong. I know many AP moms who feel like it is their way or the highway when it comes to parenting. I don't. Like I said, it really depends on the individual need of the baby. Because Jack is an attached sort of kid, it makes sense for me to be an attached sort of parent.

Overall the biggest reasons I've found AP beneficial for us is that it allows me to get some sleep at night through co-sleeping, I love how gentle discipline has worked for us so far (more on this in my next post), baby wearing simply makes my life so much easier, plus the carriers are so cute :) and cloth diapers have saved me a ton of money, which is always good, eh? ;) And the bond I have with my son is the best part about my life. It's not always easy, but it continually reminds me how blessed I am to be his mama and I will never stop feeling lucky that he is the amazing, special, bright and sweet boy who made me a mom in the first place :)

All of my other thoughts on parenting that I will eventually discuss in my series here on the blog stem from this AP style of parenting. If you have any questions about AP and wish to email them to me or comment here on the blog, feel free! I'd love to start a discussion or answer any questions.