Parenting stories and tips

Did you ever have a week where you felt like everything you did was wrong?

I know I'm not a perfect parent.
And I know that I could learn a lot from other mommies.

But sometimes I find it so difficult to just smile and nod when yet another mother or nanny gives me unsolicited advice. 

It always comes about the same way.
            First, she asks The question, "How old is he?"
            I respond, "13 months."
            They seem surprised.  "Really?  But he's so small.  He only looks (insert number less than 10) months.  And he still isn't walking?"

Even though I've had this conversation several times, it always hurts like a knife to my chest.  Everyone seems to operate under the assumption that a healthy baby is big and walks around by himself.  

And then the ladies always continue with those two dreadful words, "You should..."

Stab stab.

I'm beginning to dislike those two words.  Yes, their advice comes from a good place, but sometimes I just don't want to hear it.  They don't know me and they don't know my child.

They don't know how we battled terrible eczema during his first year of life.  They don't know about all the allergy testing and sleepless nights that we went through. They don't know how we once had to change his bed crib sheets every night because he would scratch and rub until his face and head bled.  They don't know that we're doing our best to live and eat normally given (what seems like) our every-growing list of allergens:  wheat, soy, barley, nuts, and bass.   

I'm crying as I'm writing this, because it's just so frustrating.  Yes, I am a new mommy.  Yes, I have lots to learn.  Yes, I'm making lots of mistakes along the way.  But I'm sorry, sometimes I just don't want to hear your advice, well meaning or not.

Maybe my kid is small.  Maybe he should eat more.  Maybe I shouldn't carry him so much. But you know what?  Please just back off.  I'm already berating myself enough. I'm just doing the best that I can.


And lately when I've been getting like this, I always try to think back to all the parenting tips and stories that I do appreciate hearing. You know which ones I'm talking about.  They're the ones that make me laugh and remind me that all parents make mistakes, kids do crazy-funny-scary things, and we're all just trying to love our kids the best that we can.
Here's what one mommy confessed to me at the park the other day:

 

And you know what?
Her little girl looked just fine to me.

Thank you, cat food girl's mommy, for reminding me that things will be ok. 

Crapty Fridays- Make a Halloween garland out of an egg carton

Before we talk about today's crapt, let me just begin with this short poem about crapting: 

Crap is destined for the garbage
and therefore it is free.
When I use crap to make my crafts,
a-crapting I will be.

Today's crapting project is a Halloween inspired one.  Our apartment desperately needs Halloween-y decorations.  (We currently only have a pair of Day of the Dead candle holders)  So, I whipped up a super easy Halloween garland out of an egg carton and string.      

Materials:
- egg carton
- string
- craft paint
- paint brushes
- craft knife
- scissors
- newspaper/scrap paper/paper bag
- Sharpie marker


Directions:
1. I cut out all the little egg holders in my egg carton.  (Is there a name for those things?)

2. I painted the little egg holders orange and green.  

This is probably as close as I'll ever get to growing pumpkins

3.   Once my paint dried, I drew faces on my tiny pumpkins.

Doesn't this look like a school photo?  Can you spot the naughty pumpkins in the back row?

4.  I cut two slits on the top of my pumpkins.  Then I strung my pumpkins together.

Right now they're just smiling and dangling away above our table. Seeing their cute faces when I eat cereal in the morning makes me happy.

Happy crapting!

Black beans and chocolate

Yummy or yucky?

Black beans, oatmeal, cocoa powder, sugar, and maple syrup

Last Saturday morning I thought I would change things up.  Instead of making the usual mochi cake, I tried out two new recipes for wheat-free black bean brownies. 

I was super excited to try out the new recipes.  Hubby, on the other hand, was extremely skeptical of the strange black bean and chocolate pairing.  It turns out that he had good reason to be.  My first batch came out shockingly sweet and sludgy.  It was essentially inedible and we had to toss the brownies out.  My second batch turned out tasteless, pasty, and dry.  

After these two failed  attempts, I thought that hubby might be right.  Perhaps black beans and chocolate weren't meant to be friends after all?

Now that my tummy had a couple of days rest, I'm feeling re-energized and determined to tweak my previously used recipes.  Hopefully I'll figure out that perfect combination of ingredients to create a yummy dessert that's chocolatey and high in fiber. 

Then we could eat chocolate all the time and  be healthy too. 

Do you know of a good black bean brownie recipe?    

Central Park

Can I just say how happy I am that it's no longer raining here on the east coast?!?  Can I get a "whoop whoop?"  (Whoop whoop!)  Baby Chuck and I are loving the bright and warm days.  We're doing our best to soak up every last bit of sunny goodness before winter comes. 

I think last Saturday definitely marked a turning point in the weather.  Hubby, Baby Chuck, and I seized the day by meeting up with some friends and walking through Central Park.  I loved seeing the swarms of tourists and natives out enjoying the good weather.

Even though we live just across the river, we really don't visit the city as often as we'd like.  Whenever our car crosses the river, I always begin "oohing" and "ahhing" over all the sights. 

I really love New York City and it's just so beautiful in the fall. 

This must have been wedding photo day because we saw a total of three brides walking around!

I so want to make this bubble man's special wand.

DIY Faux Stained glass

I love stained glass. There's something so beautiful about seeing sunlight shine through all those brightly colored panels.  I think my dream house would have a room filled with tons and tons of stained glass windows. (A girl can dream, right?)  

Since we're still living in a small apartment, I'm putting my dreams for that stained glass room on hold.  But what can I say?  The heart wants what it wants.  So this gal is going to craft some stained glass while she waits. 

Armed with this awesome faux stained glass tutorial, I brought forth my inner glass artisan.

Materials:
- full bottle of glue
- clear glue
- pencil and paper
- Sharpie marker
- thin, blunt paintbrushes
- craft paint in various colors
- mini muffin tin/ mini cups (to hold paint)
- craft knife
- picture frame
- skewer

Steps:
Step 1:  I took the glass panel out of my picture frame and cleaned it. 

Step 2:  I pulled out the white sheet of paper inside of my frame and used that to draw my stained glass design on.  (If you're missing that sheet, you could also just tape several pieces of paper together and draw on those.)

I really wanted a groovy and tasty pattern.

Step 3:  I created the "lead."  To do this, I emptied out a bit of glue from my bottle.  Then, I added several drops of black craft paint into the bottle.  I used my skewer to stir the paint and glue together.  (Note:  It didn't take very much black paint to turn the glue black.  I tried not to put too much paint into the glue bottle because I didn't want my  "lead" to get very watery and not dry nicely.)

Step 4:  I put the lid back onto my glue bottle and did some practice strokes.  When I had a good feeling for how quickly the glue flowed, I started tracing my design onto the glass panel.  (Note:  I still had some problems with the glue spreading.  But I took care of that in step 5...)

See how the seeds on the left ended up black?  It's ok... I fixed that in step 5.

Step 5:  I let the "lead" dry overnight.  Then, I used my craft knife to carve and peel away any the messy bits.

See? The seeds are fixed!

Step 6:  I poured clear glue into my mini muffin tin container.  Then, I put drops of craft paint into each of my containers to create different colored "glass paint." (Again it didn't take very much paint to color my clear glue.)  I used this paint to paint my glass.  (Note:  Make sure your paint fills in every nook and cranny.  Otherwise you'll end up with clear glass bits.)

Step 7:  After my paint dried overnight, I noticed that I had painted over my "lead."  No worries, I used my trusty Sharpie marker to re-color my "lead."   Then, I placed my glass back into my frame.   Tada!

 
Happy crafting!