Stuff my kid says #26

A few of the latest:

Our dog and I were playing with a dog toy and he tried to nip me. Logan looked at him and said, "Teddy! Don't bite Mommy! Mommies never hurt, they just love."


"Mommy, I think I'm falling in love with you."

Summer Bucket List: Visit a Rose Garden

The Secret Garden was my very favorite book. I read and reread my copy until it was falling apart. I would spend hours in my back yard with my middle sister setting up our very own pretend version of a secret garden. Some of those hours involved me bossing her around since she had never read the book, but I still have many happy, vivid memories from playing outside among the flowers and plants. 

When we arrived at this rose garden, I couldn't help but think about those days in my childhood. There was even a gate to go through to get into a completely enclosed area full of roses. This garden was in the middle of the woods, and we were almost the only people there. It felt just like a secret garden should, private, peaceful, and beautiful. 

There had to have been thousands of roses of all colors and varieties. Logan visited each and every one ohh-ing and ahh-ing over the scents and colors. 

He is definitely a lover of all things involving flowers. He knows more types of flowers than I do. 

Here, he would raced around for a while and then would pause to appreciate nature. 

Of course, he requested lots of pictures. He loves to pose. His poses generally are copied from the characters he saw at Disney in October, but occasionally, he tries something new. 

Or just plain silly.

Since the rose season is not over, I think we will visit again soon. Logan loved it there and combined with our butterfly visit, he said it was "the best day ever." 

Follow me on Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Summer Bucket List: Visit a butterfly house

Butterflies are L's favorite animal EVER. At least, that is what he always says. Well.... butterflies, seahorses, and horses (including: land ponies, Alicorns, Pegasi, and unicorn versions). Since we see lots of seahorses at the aquarium, and lots of horses on episodes of My Little Pony, we decided to go visit some butterflies. Actually, a couple of weeks ago, I saw that a little greenhouse in a couple of towns over hosts an annual butterfly pavilion for a weekend, and made a mental note that we absolutely had to go visit. 

The second that we went entered the greenhouse, butterflies flocked to us. There were probably hundreds of butterflies. Typically, they said they have a thousand, but two of the types had difficulty surviving the cold temperatures of the past year. So, we were able to walk among painted ladies and monarchs. 

The owners provided us with sugar water and instructions about how to approach the butterflies. They said you could not squash them or try to grab them. "I'm very kind to nature," Logan reassured them. And he was telling the truth. He was very patient and gentle. The painted ladies were much more friendly than the monarchs, but Logan loved every one that he encountered.

We stood at the butterfly pavilion for about an hour and a half. They also had some other activities for the kids to do, like planting seeds and wandering around the other greenhouse, but playing with the butterflies was by far the best part of his day. 

His smile made it all worth it. 

Summer Bucket List 2013

I just love summer. The past couple of years we have been creating a summer bucket list full of family activities to do together. By all  means this is not the only stuff we have planned, but it gives us a good start. Here is some of what I hope to do with the kiddo this summer: 

1.  Feed ducks -Completed-
2. Visit a splash park -Completed-
3. Jump around in an indoor trampoline park
4. Make popsicles -Completed-
5. Dig for dinosaur fossils in the sand table
6. Play with the kid wash we created last year
7. Make a water blob
8. Sparklers -Completed-
9. Have a barbecue -Completed-
10. Make smores -Completed-
11. Paint with mud
12. Ant experiment
13. Slide painting
14. Squeeze sidewalk chalk 
15. Have a messy play date
16. Make our own ice cream
17. Draw on a sheet with fabric markers
18. Have a themed movie night
19. Host an ice cream party
20. Eat a tomato from the vine -Completed-
21. Visit lots of tall ships
22. Zoo play date -Completed-
23. Paint with rocks
24. Pick strawberries -Completed-
25. Pick blueberries -Completed-
26. Practice riding bikes
27. Learn to swim
28. Run through the sprinkler -Completed-
29. Revise our fairy garden -Completed-
30. Create nature bracelets
31. Great playground hunt
32. Jump rope
33. Play hopscotch
34. Glowstick dance party
35. Blanket fort
36. Make a mud pie kitchen
37. Tie dye shirts, pillowcases, everything
38. Shaving cream slide
39. Search for seashells -Completed-
40. Make paper airplanes -Completed-
41. Mentos and soda experiment
42. Watch fireworks -Completed- 
43. Go to an outdoor concert -Completed-
44. Go to a movie on the beach
45. Make rainbow oobleck
46. Go fishing -Completed-
47. Get a library card
48. Have a breakfast picnic
49. Make sun prints
50. Make a solar oven
51. Pop painting
52. Try a new fruit
53. Visit a rose garden -Completed-
54. Create a lava lamp
55. Camp out in the yard
56. Blanket fort -Completed-
57. Go to the movies- kid's choice -Completed-
58. Visit a new botanical garden
59. Go to a butterfly house -Completed-
60. Glow in the dark hide and seek
61. Farmer's market -Completed-
62. Our annual trip to the sunflower fields -Completed-
63. Give the kiddo a camera and let him take pictures
64. Make a volcano
65. Play with frozen jello

I'm very excited to start crossing things off! I am hoping to spend much of the summer enjoying the outdoors and nature. We love exploring new places, and I'm hoping that this list will help motivate us to try new things. What is on your bucket list this summer? 

So when are YOU going to have another?

Can I get all personal for a moment? It is no secret my little is not so little anymore. He turned four in November. It seems impossible to turn four the day after you are born, but he managed it somehow.

Logan goes to a lot of activities: tumbling, a nature preschool, story times, and play dates. You name it, this kid usually loves to do it. I've made lots of mommy and daddy friends through these classes. Most of my friends, who I met when Logan was a baby, are now parents of two or even three. There are a couple of friends who have decided to stop at just one. They seem sure that their families are complete. Most of them know that I would like more children. So needless to say, I often get asked by family, friends, even complete strangers, "So when are you going to have another one?" 

I am completely in love with my child. He was the very best gift I have ever been given. I adore being a mother, his mother. I am truly blessed. I know this. And I want another baby. I want Logan to have siblings and experience that special relationship. I love seeing all my friends with their new babies. New babies whom I love so very much. I am happy for them, AND I want that too. 

After I had Logan, I went through a very serious bout of postpartum anxiety. One which I really never recovered fully from. I am much better now than I was, but it has never completely gone away. At first, I just sought out therapy, but it wasn't working. All the visualizations and thought stopping in the world was not effective. I finally gave in when I thought I was having a heart attack. It was actually severe anxiety, and I knew despite my ability to keep up happy appearances while my son was awake, I had to do something. I decided to try medication, and since that decision  I have tried lots of different kinds. Some had serious side effects for me; some did not work. I am currently on one that kind of works most days. This combined with therapy has been a very positive change in my life. However, all of this stress and medication changes have left me heavier than I have ever been, and my hormones completely out of whack. Therefore, as you can imagine, after many many visits to my ob, it has been determined that having a little one will not be as easy as I wish it could be.

I am hopeful that I will have another child. It might just be a longer journey to get there. So the answer to the question is hopefully soon. In the meantime, I have been soaking in every single moment I have as a family of three. I am cherishing the moments when it is just my special little kiddo and me. I am appreciative. I am grateful. And I am so very much in love. 

Giving the Kids the Camera

I know that I have been quiet lately. It isn't because we haven't been having fun or playing. We have. Lots. The kind where  you look at your kid at the end of the day and see their faces smudged with dirt, and paint on their clothes, and that you kind of look the same way, kind of fun. 

While we are out there doing all of this, I occasionally take pictures. But every once in a while, I let Logan have the camera. I love to see what he finds picture-worthy. Here are just some of the pictures that he took one sunny spring morning. 

His sensory bin of shredded paper, bugs, and bug catching supplies. 

Scout, one of our indoor cats enjoying the sunshine. 

His fairy garden from last year was the perfect spot to release his insects. 

Smudge, our other indoor kitty. He adores his pets. 

I was in there too, unfortunately I was moving at the time when he took it and I look like a scary blurry object. He looked at the picture and shrieked with laughter, "What happened to you?" See? Fun was had by all.