Less is MORE Parenting Style

I was reading a Boston Moms Blog article recently - which I do often. The Boston Moms Blog group posts various articles to facebook, and they tend to repost blogs from other cities, not just Boston specific. This one below happens to be from Austin and it quickly resonated with me. I don't know much about this Mom, but I feel like she took the words right out of my mouth.

"I want their childhood to be slower-paced. Why do we have to participate in so many activities and birthday parties and errands and programs and meetings? My children are happy just staying home and playing with a cardboard box...I want their childhood to be spent enjoying life, boldly, without a nervous, anxious, worrisome mama on the sidelines, holding them back. Climb as high as you want in the trees. Eat the damn popsicle with the artificial color and flavoring, the very thought of which has stressed me out for the last six years. Just live large, and I will quit reading articles online that tell me why everything I do is hazardous."

Like here - the boys were watching an inch worm for about 10 minutes. They kept talking to "him" and I thought it was adorable.

ALSO - another blog post hit home for me, too. There was a huge photo of Daniel Tiger on the article, which obviously captured my attention. It was a post about children and television. This blurb about TV stood out to me. I altered it a bit to fit my kids (i.e. changed 'girls' to 'boys').

"Occasionally turning on a TV with appropriate and curated programming does not make me a bad mom. I am creative, I am inventive, I am playful and fun, and I love being a mom. But I am also a human being. If a television show gives me a chance to go to the bathroom, wipe the counters, and take a breath, I am choosing to turn on the TV. Of course, I want my boys’ lives to be full of reading books, exploring, painting, cooking, building, imagining, and playing. That’s the stuff of childhood, and it should be! I’m not saying TV needs to be part of every day or never again, but there’s a need for balance in this world. So I’m letting my kids watch “Daniel Tiger” sometimes, and I’m not saying I’m sorry."

I love these pictures from daycare. They are just so simple, so innocent and so how childhood should be. :)  Caden first two pics, Conor the last two pics.

In other simple life news, I reorganized my closet. I never really "unpacked" my closet from last August when we moved in to our house. Rather, I threw some things up on the racks, used these shelves as a dumping ground, and when I found out I was pregnant, I piled up all my maternity clothes on one shelf. Sadly, I have been choosing my clothes from that pile daily. It hasn't been the most efficient process, so I put my foot down and decided to revamp things. I took an hour or two the other night to go through the closet. Not only did I have my clothes in there, but I also had backup pillows, sheets, blankets, jewelry, etc. I also had all our luggage, and even some of Jim's hats. Jim helped eliminate some of the clutter, then I went through my clothes and hung up my work shirts, dresses and pants on the right side (below) and folded up some other work clothes on the shelves.

I hung up all these maxi skirts and pretty much live in them right now. This is still an easy grab to get ready in the morning - but it looks better than a massive disorganized pile.

I feel like this chevron nursing cover and bathrobes will be ALL I will wear in July/Aug when the baby arrives - so I put those front and center. To the left of them, I have a couple beach cover-ups, cardigans, and casual dresses.

And my suits are all matched up and hung properly in the main part of the closet. All in all, feeling great about it!

We also hung up this cheap mirror that was leaning against two suitcases (full of the boys 9-12 month clothes) for the past almost-year. I wanted to hang it up so I can finally use a full length mirror in the house. There is a small box of clothes donations. :)

The next morning, the boys found the mirror immediately - and started driving their cars all over it.

I also love these sleeping pics - non footie PJs means it's almost summer! :)

All for now...

xo,

Shaz

PS Flashback pic to 2 years ago! Auntie Chrissy was a trooper and watched TWO three week old babies all by herself so Jim and I could celebrate a huge milestone for Jimbo.