oh man is my head swirling with all things birthday. i got our mother's day presents in the mail today, so now i can focus on june &  july which happens to hold 3 of our 4 birthdays. finn is june 11th, i'm june 24th & maya is july 22.

i've got maya's all planned out in my head. it's going to be awesome!

still working on finn's. what i'd hoped to do might not work because it'll be so warm & get dark so late. so, i'm still churning the ideas for that party.

i've been thinking a lot about gifts instead. we always say no gifts please. & we'll continue to say that because we have WAY too much stuff as it is. i've put into effect a new rule: if i can't clean the toys up in 10 minutes or less we have too many. we're at 9 minutes now.

but, i know saying that to my mom for instance is wasted breath.  nana's & dee dee's got to spoil their babies. i get it. so i thought i'd share the cool things we've found. finn gives his approval!

**i forgot books!!!!!!  we can always make room for more books. we are loving the ladybug girl series. so far we have one... ladybug girl & bumble bee boy. we've checked a couple others from the library & it's the one constant he requests every night!

we love plan toys & green toys.

& here are a few in particular that we've had our eye on:  (all the wood toys are plan toys & all the plastic are recycled milk jugs at green toys!)

switching tracks

boys parts

eco home... i love this!!

vegetable garden... 

we're all about this right now so i think he would love it! 

rescue workers. 

other useful things that i think would be awesome:

toms!

finn has worn his adorable gray ones almost every day for the past month. he loves them & can almost put them on by himself! 

i like these styles for maya: size 6 or 7

pink butterflies or cruz tiny

for finn, size 9 or 10

bryan & i are getting finn a bike with pedals. we think he's ready because he's killing it on the skute. i highly recommend this as a first bike. 

we've already picked up:

finn loves playing in our tools, much to our chagrin. so we thought this would be perfect. 

he also loves drinking "coffee or tea" & everytime we're at emma's he plays with her set. 

i'd love to know what your kiddo's love to play with!
hope you have a great weekend :)

emma's 3rd birthday party

melissa always does parties up! girl knows how to celebrate her baby girl :)

this year they hired a balloon guy. we saw him at the halloween festival tina & rob had invited us to. at first i think the kids were a bit shy & maybe even scared, but they quickly figured out that this was really cool.

hmmm. don't know if i'm impressed....

squeezing real hard.

this huge weight fell on him & he was shouting for finn to help him!!

maya & daddy watching the show.

ms. sophie.

giant duck race.

i think this was the farmer in the dell. finn was the flea. it was hilarious watching him chase the flea dangling at the end of his balloon hat.

conked out. parties are rough man.

finn painted the wrapping paper for emma. he painted that heart all by himself!!!!!!

nom nom nom.

playground fun.

finn & myra kicking it in their car.

my heart smiles.

:)

oh matt. you're so funny!

after the party we decided to go for a walk around tempe town lake. it was a beautiful sunset.

maya & i. shadows are cool. 

you've seen this before ;)

i have a picture of me in almost the exact same spot preggers with finn. my girl loves her ergo.

lovely day. happy birthday emma! we love you.

terrific two's. new perspective.

the two's are hard. that's why we call them the terrible two's. i've been warned that the three's are just as bad, if not worse.

yesterday i about lost my mind. it'd been a long day & finn was screaming in his bed that he didn't want to take a nap or rest. (he naps about every other day now.) i was going to let myself off the hook & he was going to cry himself to sleep.  i was trying to prepare myself for his cries waking maya up. i called my mom to help me off the ledge. she said, ya know meg, you're always talking about how maya is such a great baby & how wild finn is. maybe he's hearing you.

time paused. all the conversations i've had in the past two months that were about finn flashed through my brain.

he's such a good kid.  i adore him. even underneath all of the annoyance i might feel.

but he whines. lord, does he whine. he's obsessed with complaining about something hurting. my tummy hurts. my back hurts, etc. he adores his sister, but now that she can crawl & it's usually straight to him & his cool lego fort or newly built train track he's learning to deal with that frustration & occasionally it ends with her crying.

he doesn't eat... & it's downright difficult to get him to try anything new or even remotely in the veggie category. (i know these are not unique situations. we all face this with our toddlers.)

my patience with him is short. has been for several weeks (err maybe longer) now. i think it is escalated by the fact that maya is an incredibly easy child. she just wants to suck on her passy & laugh. she's a mama's girl through & through. he's a mama's boy & so there are some obvious issues.

yesterday i dropped maya off at my dear friend melissa's. finn & i needed a date. just the two of us. he's been especially whinny & clingy since i was in new york for 5 days with maya. totally understandable & even sweet. (on day 3 i talked to him on the phone & he said 'mommy i miss you. you get on a plane & come home!'

we went to our favorite bookstore changing hands & built a really cool train track. we had the place all to ourselves for maybe 25 minutes. i let him play uninterrupted & was there to play with when he wanted & watched when he wanted to do his own thing. then we walked down the street to share an ice cream cone. rainbow sherbert. it was delicious & he was awesome- i'd ask is it my turn yet? & he'd say sure!

i'm going to have to do this more often. for sure. it's nice to go back to that life... with my attention solely focused on my first born. my wild child.

i just read this article in bamboo family magazine & it made me reflect a little on our relationship. i want him to be able to come to me about anything. i don't want him to feel that i'm annoyed with him or frustrated with him.  (even if i am.) i need to find a way to be more patient & understanding. these days are going too quickly & i'm missing it because i'm trying to cram in too many errands, too many projects.

i think one of my biggest issues that i can work on to help our lives be more relaxed & fun, is slow down & prioritize. don't send one more email before i leave for bootcamp. we're going to be late & i'm going to rush finn & he likes to take his time. i need to be careful about squishing his sweet demeanor. 

i'm also going to turn the computer off. that way there are no temptations. i can turn it on twice a day to check work emails. and once for facebook (lord give me the strength :).

this parenting thing isn't easy. most days it's a job i enjoy. most days it feels like a pleasure to raise these little people. some days it feels down right impossible to keep a calm voice & be rational. i'll keep trying though. & hopefully i'll get better at it.

happy week to you.