Behind the {New} Name.

A few years ago I wrote a guest post on a friend's blog about Ashlyn.

It sparked a little idea in my head to change my blog name.

And then life happened.

And I was overwhelmed at all that would be required to make the switch.

So it remained on the back burner.

And then Russians hacked my blog with questionable ads.

So I took it as a sign from the heavens that it was time.

My grandmother told me it was time, too.

"Honey, thank you for such a sweet story about Holland's birth.  But why are you selling Viagra?"

I'm blaming Putin.

Anyhow.

I'm so excited about this change.

More excited than she is about sweet potato puffs.

And thankful to my friend Katy for understanding my little vision.

And creating this most beautiful new design.

Without me even having to say much.

She is brilliant.

If you subscribed to my old blog and want to continue receiving posts, you'll have to resubscribe.

I'm sorry.

Take it up with Vladamir.

You can click on the "behind the name" tab below the header to read more.

When God is doing one thing, He's doing a million.

   

My Baby Girl and I

I had lunch with a new friend last week.

Who happens to be a photographer.

She snapped these pictures of Holland and I.

And they are such treasures to me.

Had I known she was going to share her skills, I probably would have brushed my hair a little more.

Or at all.

Worn earrings.

And not dressed my baby like a boy.

But such is life right now.

Not much time to primp.

Or worry about what my kids are wearing.

I'm lucky they are dressed.

But, really?

All that doesn't matter.

I just want to remember being with her.

In God's glorious creation.

The way she makes me smile.

A few frozen minutes that seem to float in time.

A tiny part of a season that passes all too quickly.

I am so thankful for these moments captured.

And for friends that take the time to capture them.

Our babies are our best gifts.

Photographs with our babies are a close second.

6 Months.

She laughs when I yawn.

So she's laughing lots lately.

Our baby has decided she's a night owl.

I know it passes fast.

And she nurses and falls right back to sleep.

So I cherish it.

And yawn a lot.

A funny, little personality is starting to emerge.

She makes this silly grin quite often.

Dave says Kayla used to do the same but I don't remember.

Because I'm up at 10 PM, 12 AM, 2 AM and 4 AM.

She is rolling much more quickly now.

And just starting the pre-crawl booty rock.

I think she's going to be fast once she takes off.

I'm hoping that skill takes a few months to perfect.

Because I'm too busy yawning to chase after a baby that moves.

She had her 6 month check up yesterday.

50% in weight and 85% in height.

Tall and lean.

All that power rolling has thinned her out a bit.

And this is my favorite picture of her so far.

I love her smile.

She's such a happy, easy baby.

She's social and friendly and a big, giant flirt.

Taking her new world in.

All day and all night.

Happy 6 months, little girl.

I love you.

Yawn.

Bringing Back the Rainbow Chart. And Are Terrible 6's a Thing?

I know my girls will read this one day.

So I want to be gentle.

But, Ashlyn Grace.

2014 has been a sassy year for you so far.

And it's time to regulate.

Discipline is a tricky thing.

Personal to each family.

No one has all the answers.

But this system worked well for Kayla years ago.

And we started back up again today.

And we've had the smoothest morning in months.

I will speak for my children.

They like structure and organization.

They like goals.

They like clear rules and consequences.

They like reasonable rewards for doing good.

This discipline system incorporates all of these things.

And makes me sane.

So I thought I'd share it.

Right click above image, save as, print and have at it.

It's pretty simple, really.

Kids start on green each morning.

Each child has their name written on a separate magnet.

Break a family rule?

Have child move their magnet to yellow.

Break another family rule?

Move to red.

Choose from consequence jar.

Consequences are written on large popsicle sticks that we keep in a mason jar.

Obviously, these will be different for each family and each child even.

No iPad time for that day.

Early bedtime.

Time out in room for 30 minutes.

Your choice.

The thought of no iPad for a day sends Ashlyn into a frantic tizzy.

So that's her button.

So her jar has about 10 of those.

That's another great thing.

You can choose the amount something appears which will increase the probability it is picked.

Same goes with rewards.

Catch them being kind and nice?

Have them move their button to blue.

Catch them again in the same day?

Move to purple.

Chose a reward.

These are also written on popsicle sticks and kept in a separate mason jar.

Be sure not to mix them up.

Because that's future therapy for sure.

You don't have to go crazy.

Extra book at bedtime.

Extended bedtime.

A movie on Netflix.

Special dessert or treat.

You know what your kids love.

And hear me out.

The goal is not to create greedy, performance-based robots.

The goal is that my girls grow to understand and live out the verse at the top.

I want our home to be one of love.

Joy.

Peace.

Patience.

Kindness.

Goodness.

Gentleness.

Self-control.

And when it's not, I want to take action to fix it.

I recognize that they are little humans.

And have bad days just like adults.

So grace abounds.

Much grace.

For them and for me.

Every day is a fresh start.

And this little bugger was up all night.

So she's on red today.

Thursday.

It's raining.

It's pouring.

Our dog is snoring.

I feel like he can rest a little easier now that his fur has grown back a bit.

He's no longer pink.

And doesn't need sunscreen during walks.

Dave is speaking to me again.

This is all good news.

Kayla is kind of serious about this violin business.

I love that we might have a band geek.

I pray for a band geek.

Band geeks stay out of trouble.

Unrelated.

I'm just wondering if the Superbowl could have been any more boring?

At the last minute Dave put together a friendly survey.

We had a variety of predictions to make.

Over little details of the game.

I've NEVER heard a group of people cheer so loudly over a coin toss.

Or gasp in disgust when the national anthem presenter didn't wear gloves.

Or be so concerned over the Red Hot Chili Peppers attire.

"YES THEY HAVE NO SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!"

Jumping up and down and screaming like we were in Sochi or something.

Anyhow.

Yesterday was a marathon of hectic.

Minimum day.

Speech and debate class for the girls.

We crashed a homeschool class.

Cochlear mapping for Ashlyn up at UCSF.

During commute hour.

With my baby on the floor of the sound booth during testing.

Evening service.

Today I'm choosing to be less crazy.

The girls are off to school.

After Ashlyn's Missing Lion King Umbrella Crisis of 2014.

She settled for a Dry Bar one.

She doesn't know that one day she will love the Dry Bar way more than Mufasa.

I'm getting a haircut this afternoon.

And my mom is cooking dinner for us.

Thanks, mom.

Thursday night family dinners are pretty much the best.

I'm Fitness Palling again.

Which makes me want to murder everyone.

But I went bathing suit shopping yesterday.

And that also made me want to murder everyone.

So.

To prevent deaths.

Egg white breakfast sandwiches and iced green tea for days.

And just in case you were wondering?

She's not interested in making any Fitness Pals.

And don't touch her chips.

Stay dry, folks.

I missed these puddles.

Things I Want to Remember About a January That Felt Like September.

Our winter has been more of a summer.

And I love summer.

So no complaints here.

Hope started a junior high Sunday school class.

And it has my heart.

Dave and I met in junior high youth group.

After he hit me in the face with a dodgeball.

God is good at bringing us full circle.

We watched the Niners win some.

And lose some.

And we're officially Denver fans next week.

Kayla's just happy to root for horses.

We tried pear/mango/papaya.

She agrees with me that papaya tastes like the smell of feet.

We like sweet potatoes with cinnamon better.

And we feed ourselves, I guess?

What four month old does that?

We spent Saturday mornings watching America's Funniest Home Videos.

Also, I felt the need to throw in a "before" pic.

Because we also got an accidental summer cut.

I'm still getting the hang of the goldendoodle fur.

And waited too long to call the groomer.

He had legit dreads.

One Love, Linc.

We've been up to our ears in schoolwork.

Researching.

Writing.

Memorizing.

Ashlyn had a presentation on snow last week.

She was able to read the whole thing.

After we practiced the word "temperature" a few times.

And was upset the snowflake I helped her make did not have six sides.

"But that's fiction, mom!  We said right here it has six sides and this only has four sides."

"It's not supposed to be FICTIONNNNN!"

I'm so proud of her.

And want to run and hide from her all at the same time.

Kayla has a presentation next month on a topic of her choice.

She went to the SPCA with her dad yesterday.

I was a little worried they'd come home with a friend for Rastafari.

But they stayed on task.

Research only.

I'm proud of them, too.

We spent time swimming in Nan and Pop's pool.

Often.

We had play dates in the park. And know how to take selfies, apparently.

We've been practicing our jumping.

Well, or just drooling on our seat.

We found our toes.

And clothing has been pretty optional.

For the baby, obviously.

I still can't believe she's nakie in the middle of winter.

We've spent time on the coast.

Adventures on the Pacifica pier.

We saw a sea lion.

We've witnessed some glorious sunsets.

January, you've been full and fun and different this year.

Thanks for the sunshine.

Four Months.

Our baby girl turned four months on the 9th.

I get that time flies extra fast in motherhood land.

But this is kind of ridiculous.

She's still a peach.

A giant peach.

At her recent check up we learned that she's doubled her birth weight.

16 pounds of chunky monkey.

That's what we call her.

Which will probably have to change before junior high.

Ho Jo is another nickname that's likely to stick.

That's a little cuter, I think.

She's still sleeping in our room but is close to outgrowing her bassinet.

And I don't really have a plan for that yet.

So I'm hoping she takes a little growth break.

Is that such a thing?

We just started solids on Tuesday.

Which probably won't help with the break.

Brown rice cereal?

Not a fan.

We added apples and strawberries.

And a feeding assistant.

Fan.

She spends her days being rotated around various locations in the house.

The activity mat station.

She likes to look at herself in the mirror.

The Rock and Play station.

Where Lincoln steals her toys.

And the Bumbo station.

Although her ever growing thighs are about to make that last one obsolete.

She's just starting to roll.

But gets stuck on her tummy so she doesn't travel very far.

She loves her big sisters and her puppy.

She is smiley and drooly and cooing like crazy.

They are the sweetest sounds in the world.

She's also a Niner fan.

I think it's just the bright colors and fast motion.

But her dad is pretending it's more.

Kayla has zero interest in the old pigskin.

Ashlyn minimal.

She's mainly concerned with the opponent.

And says that Satan likes them.

I'm not making that up.

Anyhow.

Littlest sister may be his golden ticket.

Or we can just pretend.

Also, of note.

It's 72 degrees here today.

Crystal clear, bright shiny skies.

In January.

Happy first third of your first year, Holland Joy.

You bring us sunshine.