Another Look at Lunch

Here is another look at our lunches. Most of the time I throw together bits and pieces of whatever is around.

Today's lunch is:

Yogurt
String cheese
Some leftover fruit that we had with dinner last night
Cinnamon muffin (small homemade kind, not big store kind)
Celery sticks
Glob of PB for celery sticks

Again, maybe not the "best" I could do if I tried harder but they enjoy these foods and all the food groups are represented so we go with it. I think we might have pizza for tomorrows lunch, oh the horrors!

Day 30 + A Moms Reality.

I spent most of Friday cleaning. I did three loads of laundry, dishes, swept and steam mopped all the floors downstairs, fixed up the kids playroom, cleaned up the kitchen etc. All added to the normal parenting things like breaking up fights and gathering meals.

Imagine my (lack of) surprise to find that the kitchen needed, desperately, to be swept again.

This s what has gathered just since Friday afternoon (it is Sunday afternoon now) in JUST the kitchen. It is like a constant state of deja vu. I have done dishes again today as well as two loads of laundry.

*sigh*

Day 27 + A Few Other Things

So we have pets. I love pets. We had 2 cats and a dog.

I haven't seen my black and white cat, M, since we got the dog in July. She has been on my bed upstairs or in her "room" with the litterbox/food as far away from the dog as possible. If the dog had been in its crate for a lengthy time the cat would eventually make her way downstairs, but she was extremely unhappy.

Then last weekend the dog decided it would try to bite Mr. A. Now, she didn't do much damage, just a scratch from her teeth, but she was NOT happy with Aaron and he was only doing something he had done 100 times before with zero issues, she had even enjoyed it. The "damage" wasn't serious.

I gotta say, that spooked me and totally knocked my trust in her. I was not happy about it. I was also really unhappy that there was no warning. There was no growl first, there was no lip raising, there was no shifty eyes, it was GROWLbite. Scared the shit out of Mr. A.

I am sure it was probably just a case of her knowing that she wasn't top of the pack over myself, my husband, or my daughter, but because my son played with her etc she saw him more on his level and decided she would try to assert herself, maybe coupled with feeling "trapped" in some form. However, I also know that had she been a big dog like a shepherd or a husky or something she would have been in a new home lickety split.

Now, I love the dog. She has always been a great animal. I hmm'ed and hawww'ed for several days but ended up placing her in another home. After considering not only the actions with my son but how extremely unhappy my cat of 5 years was I opted to find her a new home. She now lives with a retired couple in the country. She will go everywhere with the man (he is disabled) and she has another dog in the house that is her size to play with, and they are getting along wonderfully.

I talked with the kids before she went to her new home. Ms.I didn't care at all (not that I expected her to) and Mr. A was mostly upset because he thought maybe I was going to find *him* a new home. I explained to him that he was with Mama and Mama would never, ever find him a new home. I had them both give the dog hugs and kisses and tell her goodbye before she left.

The whole situation has been very difficult for me. I worked for an animal shelter before I had kids. I know that when you adopt a pet it is suppose to be "forever". The guilt that I felt while considering finding her a new home was all consuming. It went against everything I have thought for years. However, I knew in my heart, in my gut, that it would be better for all (including the dog) if she went to a new home.

I am very glad she found as good a home as she did though. She will be the center of attention and get to go on lots of car rides and play all day with the other dog. We miss her but it helps to know she is probably happier where she is now.

You remember that cat I mentioned at the start? As *soon* as the dog left, not 10 minutes later, not 5 minutes later, as SOON as it was gone....down came the cat.

Here is said gloating cat from this afternoon. She is quite happy to have "her" house back and to be part of the family again.

Day 26

So my Grandma isn't getting any younger. She is just about in her mid-80's. A few years ago she gave me a paint by number bird scene that she had painted and it was nice but I didn't have a whole lot of places to put it.

This summer I painted our bathroom downstairs so, I sent the picture to my mother in law because she does framing and got that painting my Grandma made me framed up real nice.

Now it hangs in my house and makes the walls look pretty. The kids love it and talk about the "birds" in the bathroom and I get to have a great keepsake from my Grandma that I know she made just for me.

Day 25 + A Proud Mama

So normally I am not a person that brags. I try to be humble about this. However I am so proud of my little man that I simply can't contain it anymore so here it comes.

He starts Kindergarten this September, in less than 8 months. We haven't really been "schooling" him here but when letters/numbers/colors come up we go with it and work on it a little just like we have done since he was a baby (and do with his sister as well).

He not only knows all his letters and the sounds they make, he also knows a few "special" combination of letters like "th" and "ph" and "sh". He can sound out words and read whole sentences this way on his own.

He has been working on writing his letters as well. He has a few that are tricky but today he figured out the "up down, up down" of the M and was SO excited. This is a picture of this mornings letters on his magna doodle. M was a favorite but there are T, B, H, A, and a few others in there as well.



He also knows all his numbers, up to at least 40 (probably 50 in reality). He can read a digital clock and has a basic understand of analog clocks.

He of course knows all his colors. He knows several dinosaurs and knows what brand of cars a lot of his cars are.

The child is just a sponge that wants to know everything and anything. Always full of questions and always listening to the reasons for things. He really enjoys nature shows (like Planet Earth etc) and has learned a lot about nature through asking questions.

I am so proud of this little guy. Always on the quest for knowledge and soaking it right up into his (rather large) head.

Voices

So, I am looking for some input here.

In my quest to understand thing from someone else's point of view I have started watching this play list on youtube. It is about a man that grew up a Christian and eventually became an atheist. He goes in depth with a lot of what he felt when he was a Christian and it helped me to understand things a little better.

As an example, he explained the feeling he got from church and feeling as though the Holy Spirit was in him as being a feeling that others get when something makes them extremely happy and makes tears well up in their eyes etc. At first this was a little lost on me but my husband explained it to me more in a way I understand, as apparently I am slightly emotionally stunted or something.

My husband explained that it was like the feeling I get when I watch the Christian the Lion Story on youtube. It is a feeling where my heart swells and feels as though it might burst. I get a little teary eyed and it makes me feel a connection to these people and this lion that I have never known.

Suddenly that all made sense. For this man (the gentleman on youtube), got that same feeling when he thought about God and felt like God was with him. I understood if people "felt" God in this way then it seemed completely reasonable that they would keep looking for that, it is a great feeling.

I kept watching through this playlist and got to a section last night when he was talking about how he felt when God was "talking to him." He was speaking as if this was a totally normal occurrence and there was nothing odd about it. As if this was something that every person, regardless of religion, experienced. This wasn't suppose to be just a feeling, or a thought, but an actual voice speaking to him.

I turned to my husband and said, "Am I the only one that *doesn't* hear voices?" He seemed to think I wasn't, as he doesn't either, but I was genuinely confused by this.

I then told my husband, "If I ever heard a voice in my head, I would be extremely frightened and probably check myself in somewhere that I could get good medication." I was (and still am) completely baffled by this. Now don't get me wrong, I hear my inner thoughts sometimes, like as I type I am forming this in my head and I can "hear" it, but I am never joined by any other voice other than my own thoughts, if that makes any sense.

Now, admittedly I haven't finish all 19 parts (and growing I think) parts of his playlist. I am 11 or 12 parts in, so maybe there is more coming up that will help me understand. I do however highly recommend what I have seen so far as it give an insight I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

This isn't meant to make light of other people that do hear voices (of God or otherwise). I am just trying to see if maybe someone has more information out there, or another way to explain it that doesn't make it seem so foreign to me, much in the way my husband helped me understand the feeling some people get from God.

Cold and Day 24

So here in New England today, everyone knows it has been chilly.

This is a picture of frost on the *inside* of the windows in my sons bedroom. It was a balmy -14*F when I got up this AM. I know it isn't the coldest out there, I know there are others that are even colder, however, its still pretty chilly!

Tomorrow is suppose to get all the way up to 27 and I get the idea that will feel quite warm.

Couch to 5K Update

Well people.

I am afraid I have to say...I stopped the C25K plan.

My knees weren't tolerating it at all. It got to the point where my knees were giving out going up the stairs, not to mention the pain.

I know I was running "correctly" on my feet. I tried a couple of different shoes. I tried an ace bandage on the worst knee (my left, the one that is always evil).

I was getting nowhere. My husband said I had to "push through" the pain but the reality is a knee that decides to give out whenever it pleases isn't so great when you carry (heavy) children up and downstairs on a daily basis.

So, I am not sure where this leaves me. I can walk. I can do yoga. I can even manage to do 30 Day Shred. For whatever reason my knees don't like running (at least on the treadmill). I might try again this spring when I can run outdoors, maybe it won't be as hard on the knees.

*Sigh*

Project 365 Day 19 + Movies

Here is a screencap of my current Netflix queue.



I like a wide array of movies. I do have a special place in my heart for "bad" horror movies. I love the Halloween movies in a way I can't explain. I have seen Halloween more times than I can count and can't wait until it comes out in Blu-Ray as a box set.

I also like the occasional laugh. I find that I have a different sense of humor than the masses so the normal funny movies just don't do it for me.

I do like thrillers quite a bit. I enjoy trying to figure out what is going to happen with each part of the movie.

I like dramas sometimes. I find that a lot of them don't do much for me. I am not bothered by movies lime Armageddon, I find that movie stupid. Normal people cry during that movie (so I am told)...I laugh instead.

So there is my little insight to the movies I watch.

Project 365 Day 17 + Brightening

So winter in the North is not easy. At it's worst, the sun sets at 4:12pm, what sun you get is extremely weak, and November/December have the lowest amount of sun hours per month because it is constantly cloudy.

I like things to try and keep touches of "life" in my house since we can't have the windows open when it is 0 degrees out. This is an amaryllis that I was given for Christmas coming to the end of its first bloom, with another few to go before it hibernates.

I need to get a few more plants of some sort, but for now, this pretty, vibrant, colorful plant is my friend.

Project 365 Day 15 + Motherhood

I love being a mom. Nothing makes me happier than a brilliant smile from one of my kids.

I am also a stay at home mom so I am dealing with my children all day by myself. I love them to pieces but Monday morning at 8am is pretty hard around here. Both my kids are at stages where they want to talk constantly and being young, they don't need coffee in the least. Indoor voices aren't something they seem to be capable of at 8am and both always try to talk over each other.

Then they look at me and say "Mama I yuv you and yike you a yot." None of the noise matters anymore after I hear that. I have done my job.

Being a stay at home mom also means I am in charge of all the housework. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, catboxes, garbage, meal planning, and grocery shopping are all on my "to do" lists just about everyday.

Then I sit and snuggle on the couch with my kids while reading a book and I forget about the 4 loads of laundry waiting upstairs to be folded and I forget about unloading the dishwasher. Those can wait, we can only read books for so long. No doubt before I know it they will be spending all their time in their rooms or with friends, not wanting to sit and snuggle with mom.

So, I will enjoy the responsibility and handle the noise, because in the blink of an eye it will be all but silent in my home.

Project 365 Day 14 + Biology

So, this post might be a little too strong for some readers. Not in a "bad" sort of way, but in a "too much information" kind of way. It is a subject near and dear to my heart and something that I am quite passionate about, for many reasons.

I read a lot on the internet. I read several message boards some geared towards women, some geared towards me, and some geared towards mothers. One thing that I found astounding is how few people have even the slightest clue about fertility or how the female reproductive system works.

I am not quite sure why so little seems to be known about it but I can say, until I became pregnant, I didn't really have much of a clue either. I had never really been taught how babies were made aside from the normal "sperm +egg = baby".

When I got pregnant I stumbled upon information. I became curious not only about HOW I got pregnant but how birth control was suppose to work. It had never occurred to me to find out how hormonal birth control was suppose to work. What I found was interesting and caused me to look deeper into fertility as a whole.

Both of my children were surprises and what struck me, especially with my son, was how people can try for years and be unable to become pregnant but I could be taking measures to prevent pregnancy and have it fail on me.

What I learned, not until 21 years old, was that birth control works by convincing your body that you are already pregnant so there is no need for it to release another egg. In the simplest terms, hormonal birth control works, primarily, by preventing ovulation.

For some women, it seems, these hormones aren't strong enough and the body doesn't believe that it is pregnant, so it releases an egg anyway. The secondary ways hormonal birth control are by thickening the mucous at the cervix (entrance to the reproductive tract) to make it hostile to sperm and by causing the lining of the uterus to thin so that it is hostile to a fertilized egg. Sometimes, again, the hormones aren't high enough to prevent these things either and a woman becomes pregnant despite the all of these ways that the hormones try to prevent it. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

From here I started to wonder how the female reproductive system actually works, so I started doing some research and I found some things that I thought to be shocking. I learned that in an entire cycle, there are only about seven or eight days that a woman is capable of becoming pregnant. Seven or eight. It makes all those unplanned pregnancies even more crazy doesn't it? Sperm can only really live in a woman for five days, some sources say up to six but that is stretching it. The egg only lives for 24 hours. So the seven or eight days a woman can get pregnant are the six days before ovulation, ovulation day, and the one day after ovulation.

The problem of course is that nature is nature. The purpose of existing, from a biological standpoint, is to reproduce and spread your genetics to another generation. This is something that happens beyond a conscious level, even people don't want children, but aren't on birth control, will usually see an increase in sex drive in the days leading up to ovulation, sometimes to a level that it can cause them to forget precautions they would otherwise normally take.

I read this book, Taking Charge of You Fertility. This book was a total eye opener and banished many of the myths that seem to surround female cycles. Not every woman has a 28 day cycle. Not every woman ovulates on day 14 of her cycle. This is what a perfectly normal cycle can look like.




Ovulation here didn't even happen until day 22 of the cycle. It is obvious by the thermal shift that happens after that day. The only normal "constant" from cycle to cycle is how many days between ovulation and the start of the menses, the day of ovulation can (and often does) change from one cycle to the next. This is why birth control like the "rhythm method" can be so ineffective.

I can't advocate reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility enough, I have a copy if anyone local wants to borrow it as well. It covers so much more than I could ever talk about in a blog post. The long and short of it, is that knowing your body and how it works can be incredibly empowering.

Women that track their fertility can know exactly when they can and can't get pregnant. This can work for both birth control (if strictly following the rules in the book) or as a way to become pregnant if trying. A woman that tracks her fertility is also not usually surprised by when her period shows up as noted above, there is usually a drop in temperature before the menses for that cycle begins.

Even if you continue to stay on hormonal birth control, which works wonderfully for some women (but as I learned twice, not for me), it is helpful to know how the reproductive cycle works, for both men and women.

If you have any questions or want to know more feel free to ask and I can either point you in the direction to gain that knowledge or share with you what I have learned in my journey.

Project 365 Day 12 + Snow Storm

So I live in Vermont. Most people would associate Vermont + January with snow. I always had before I moved to the town in which I live now. For some reason, we seem to miss nearly all the storms, summer and winter. If it snows the town 10 miles away gets 3 feet and we get 3 inches. In the summer we can hear thunderstorms and see them, but they break on either side of us. I am not quite sure why, I know there must be some reason, but we never get the same brunt of the storm that the rest of the state does.

Example, that big storm that is hitting Boston/ NYC today, it is making its way up here. Right now the view out my front window looks like this...notice the total lack of fresh snow.



This is a screen shot taken from the highway near where my mom lives about 70/80 miles away. Taken maybe 2 minutes after I took the photo above.



Now, admittedly the storm is moving south to north, however, we are expected to get MAYBE 3-6 inches from the same storm. I would put my money on maybe 2 inches where I live. A large amount of the state is predicted to get 6-12+ inches of snow and I am sure we will come out nearly unscathed.

Project 365 Day 11

This is my friend.

Anytime I sit down/ lay down on the couch when the kids are away he *knows* and joins me in whatever I am doing. He is welcome all the time except for when I am knitting...he doesn't help me knit very much....

Project 365 Day 10

Meet my friends. They hang out an awful lot. They come and go causing terror wherever they are. I also get to pronounce their names several times a day.

Project 365 Day 7 + Religion

This book came in the mail today. It came for my children and it came for myself. I admit to knowing very little about how others think the world was created. Growing up I had only ever been exposed to the Christian/ Jewish/ Muslim idea that God created everything.

As I grew older I learned about the Big Bang Theory and saw specials on National Geographic about how the universe might have been formed. However, I still had no real idea of what other countries/ religions/ groups of people thought happened to create the Earth.

Then around Christmas I got the question I wasn't yet ready to answer in depth from my 4.5 year old. He said to me, "Mama, who is Jesus?" I am guessing he had heard it on television or in passing from someone at a store, but I am not really sure where he heard this name or why he wanted to know who it was, but he asked.

I have answered questions about how he came out of my belly and why girls have different organs than boys, but this was a question I wasn't prepared for quite so young.

Anyone who knows me with my guard down, my closest friends, know that I am an atheist (For anyone that is confused that means LACK of belief in all religions/gods. Nothing more or less. It doesn't mean I worship the devil, since I don't believe in a devil.). Anyone that knows me on facebook has probably had suspicions but it has never really been stated outright. I had planned on a little more time to go over the story of the Bible with him and I hadn't really planned on having to gear it towards a 4.5 year old child, I had planned on maybe 6 or 7 years before this came up.

In any event, I gave him the basic rundown about how some people thought Jesus was the son of God, then of course had to explain who God was and how some people thought he created the Earth etc. I stressed that there were other people that believed other things, because I wanted him to have a rounded view of what is out there, as that is something I never really had. However I realized, when he asked what other people thought, that I only had one thing in my tool belt other than God/Jesus and that was science. I told him about (a 4.5 year olds version) of the Big Bang Theory and told him I would look for more. So I went to Amazon to order this book with other creation myths, and the book came today with beautiful pictures and a great number of stories. Now the book seems to be geared more towards older children, maybe around the age of 10, but if I have learned anything from my kids, it is that curiosity knows no age. One morning early this winter, first thing in the morning, my 2.5 year old asked me how frost was made, so I should know by now that I have kids that want to know everything they can about anything around them.

This of course all brings to light my own thoughts on religion. For some reason, a lot of people seem to think that being an atheist is a bad thing. I am sure it relates to worry that I am going to burn in Hell or something of that nature.

Now, I have had a few conversations with various Christians before and there is one question that seems to be asked the most, what do I think will happen to me when I die?

Now of course, unless I turn into a vampire, I am going to die, as is everyone and everything else on Earth. It is the only real certainty in life, so I can see why this question would come up especially since a great many of the world religions focus on some sort of life after one dies.

The answer to that question, for myself, is that when I die that is it, I die. My wishes are to be cremated etc. but I don't expect to find myself face to face with God to have him banish me to Hell because I didn't believe in him. I expect to return to what I was before I was born. I don't remember anything from before I was born, because I didn't exist. I figure it will be much the same when I die. I know this isn't glamorous or exciting, but with any luck the memories I made with others will live on through those that knew me.

The other thing I see questioned a lot with atheism is morals. Now, I have been lucky enough that no one that knows me has asked me where my morals come from, but it seems to happen a lot in the internet world. If someone that knew me asked this, I would be slightly horrified because that would lead me to believe they thought I had done something morally reprehensible.

I get my morals from the same place others get theirs, from general society. Society is people working together and as a society ages, it learns what does and what doesn't help the society as a whole. Killing someone in cold blood obviously doesn't help society. I don't need a legal system to tell me that, neither do most people. This is where the golden rule, that I learned in grade school, comes into play. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

It seems pretty simple when you break it down. I don't want someone to steal from me, so I don't steal from other people. I don't want someone raping me, so I don't rape other people. I don't like when other people lie to me, so I don't lie to them and so on down the line. These are the important parts of a functioning and healthy society.

Now, none of this is to say I have any real problem with religion, because in general I don't. I understand (at least to an extent) why different people believe different things. In general it makes these people feel good about themselves, it helps them feel secure, it comforts them, and it offers an answer to both the creation of the universe and to what happens when you die.

I only have three issues with just about all religions, and they really aren't about the religion in question, they are about the person that is supposed to be practicing said religion.

The first is praying to the chosen deity for help with something extremely trivial. Example: "Please God/Allah/Buddha/whomever let me find a parking spot at the mall today." This drives me crazy. Why not tack on "...and please end world suffering" to the end of that? Just about everyone knows there are children starving all over the globe. There are people dying of cancer everyday. If your biggest worry is something trivial like getting a parking spot or what football/baseball/basketball team wins the next game...well, that is extremely disappointing. It also doesn't help the global society.

The second issue I have is a "give credit where credit is due" situation. I had this talk on facebook recently and the example I used was the recent Chilean miner rescue. I saw things all over the news and on facebook and from people on the streets thanking God for rescuing these people. I saw only a handful thanking the rescuers that spent days on end digging these miners out, or the engineers at NASA that built the capsule that got them out, or to the people that sent money to help fund all of this. I see this a lot in weight loss as well, for whatever reason, I see people thanking God for them having lost 50 pounds. Why not thank yourself? *You* did all the work. God may have been what motivated you or what you thought of while exercising but it was still YOU that put in that effort. I also know that people from many religions think that thanking God/ etc. is like thanking the people because he "works through" these people. What about the people that don't believe in whichever deity? Does God still "use" them in these situations? If he does, doesn't that bring up issues of free will? I can promise you that some of those engineers from NASA that helped save the miners didn't believe in God. I am sure some of them believed in the Jewish God or the Muslim God or just in karma.

The third and final issue I have with religion is when people force it upon my children in one form or another. This is where my Mama Bear instincts kick in and I will get fierce. People that know me, know that in general I am a very "go with the flow" sort of person but once in awhile someone will step on toes and I will roar. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. This can happen in the street, from family, from friends, from school, or from my kids' friends parents.

At this point I hope the readers would know that I do plan on teaching my children about religion, about ALL religions, or at least as many as I can get information on. In an ideal world I had wanted this all to wait until my kids were a bit older but as I have learned from the both of them, I need to be ready now for a talk that might come later, or it might come after nap, I will leave that up to them.

Someday there will probably be more on religion from me, but at this point I am running out of typing time.

Project 365 Day 6

This is what happens in my house. Everyone has a place in their house that gathers junk, here it is our kitchen counter. This is one days worth of accumulation. It is insane and I have to clean it all.the.time.

Project 365 Day 5 + C25K End of Week One

What you see here is my least favorite part of everyday.



Seems harmless enough right? Bananas, spring cheese, odwalla bar, and a pile of veggies. However, figuring out what we are all going to eat everyday drives me insane. I am not by nature a creative person and I totally lost my love of food while pregnant with my son. I had to eat constantly when I was pregnant with him or my sugar would drop and I felt horrible, I got so tired of what to eat next.

However, I know food and nutrition is important so I do my best to make it as round a meal as possible, as evidenced here in today's lunch for the kids, all the food groups are represented. I long for the day when it doesn't seem like such a chore to pick out meals for the week (then do the shopping required so that we can eat them). Maybe someday.

And now, for the end of week one of C25K.

I was sick last night and into this morning. It sucked, hard. However I was able to get an hour and a half nap in this afternoon and I was able to eat dinner. I also knew that if I didn't do day 3 (the last day) of week one I was likely to slack off. So I knew I had to at least TRY to do today's, I could always try again tomorrow if I couldn't do it.

Well, I am proud to say that Friday will bring week two as I was able to complete today's.

It is interesting because I don't really think of three days a week being much for exercise but I could feel in today's session, that even with being sick and not quite up to par, I was just about ready to run for a little bit longer at a time.

The only real issue I have with it so far is that I am running on a treadmill because I am a pansy and running outside in New England winter is not my thing. Now ordinarily this wouldn't be a big deal, but I get the WORST vertigo when I run on the treadmill, well not while one it, but when its time to go back to walking like a normal person.

I did a little googleing and found out it is normal and affects the same part of of the ear that causes motion sickness, and considering how motion sick I get, I am not surprised. It calms down pretty quickly once I am off the treadmill, I just need to make sure to hold the railing while going up the stairs out of the basement.

So onward and upward I go.

Project 365 Day 3 + The End of an Era

I have been working on little projects around the house in order to not go insane. I don't handle clutter well and it accumulated in copious amounts while I was doing Spring 2010 Semester (15 credits) then summer time (who wants to be indoors??) then Fall 2010 semester (9 credits). Now that school and summer are over, I have a chance to take care of the clutter that has gathered.

Today's project was cleaning out cloth diapers. This was the resulting pile.




I posted all those diapers on craigslist today to go to new homes (as a lot).

What that means, is the end of an era has come to my home. It is time to transition from having babies to having a kindergartener and a preschooler. This is probably one of the most bittersweet feelings I have ever had. I love babies, however I also know I am ready to be done with that stage.

Both of my kids are extremely independent and don't need me there ALL the time and this is a huge plus in my daily life. If I need to go upstairs to fold laundry, not a problem in the least. I can hear them but they don't need me there with them. It is the same thing for going outside. Ms. I is not a fan of the cold at all, Mr. A on the other hand LOVES the cold and will spend hours outside if need be. He is at the age now where he can play outside alone safely. The idea of starting from scratch with a baby that needs me there 100% of the time just isn't appealing.

So, away goes the baby gear, starting with these diapers.

Time to start a new page in our lives, parenting big kids.

Project 365 Day 2 + Our Parenting

Today my kids ate soup for lunch while Rammstein was playing.

Now of course, this brings up some interesting parenting ideas. My children, age 4.5 and 2.5, listen to Rammstein and this is not everyone's parenting choice. It seems strange to some parents (a lot as I am finding) to let the kids listen to things like this.

In general, as parents, my husband and I go about our lives as normal with the kids here. I didn't stop listening to the radio when I had kids, or switch to country or something more "family friendly". We listen to what we would otherwise listen to.

The same goes for movies. My children have seen all three Jurassic Park movies. They love dinosaurs, both of them, and like to know all about them. My husband and I are big fans of Jurassic Park just as good mindless stuff to have on the television plus, for its time, the special effects are pretty impressive.

I sat with them during all the movies and answered questions they had. I also watched faces during times that might be "scary" for them. Most of the violence, especially in the first movie, is implied, so they didn't really "get" a lot of the stuff that was suppose to be scary. One of the movies though (I can't remember if it is the 2nd or 3rd) has a giant T-rex eating a person. Now it isn't gory or bloody, but it clearly eats the man.

My son asked me why the dinosaur ate the man. So, I explained to him that scientists thought that when dinosaurs were alive, they ate meat (which has since some have thought to be bunk) just like the lions on the nature shows we watch. I asked him if he remembered how lions ate other animals, and he said he did, so I explained that if a T-rex was dropped in a city that people would just be like other animals to the dinosaur, so if it were hungry, it might eat people.

I then reminded him that dinosaurs aren't alive anymore and that the movie was all pretend.

He as fine with that, as was my daughter who was also watching.

It is all about knowing your kids and knowing what might upset them. It is also important to answer all the questions they have about what is going on. If I don't know the answer offhand, which sometimes I don't, I use the internet and find my answer. This applies to all things, not just material that may be "questionable" to other parents.

Now, this isn't to say that I will play Full Metal Jacket in front of my kids (or myself for that matter). We do have limits of course, but the reality is they are going to see and hear things out in the world that may not be entirely age appropriate and it is important to us to already have those lines of communication open so they know they can come to us and ask any question they want/ need an answer to.