Snapshots of Life

Since I got my new phone I've been taking a lot more photos of the kids. Here is a small glimpse into our daily life and routines...

Ready to go pick up Lucas from school, and can't leave without her purse.

Waiting outside for Lucas at his school.

On the way home, Elena takes Lucas' backpack. Getting ready for school herself?

A very common occurrence at our place, Lucas and his cars, all lined up, just so...

My very eager "helper". We had just come in from playing outside, which is why he still has on a hat and jacket. It's starting to get cooler here in the southern hemisphere.

Getting ready for bed. Lucas has transplanted all his pillows, blankets and bed toys from his bed onto the sofa saying, "I'm sleeping over at Dog's House" (from a Word World episode)

Happy kids!

Sharing a snack on the sofa.

They are growing up way too fast.

(and some days not fast enough!)

How to get your kids to eat spinach

I'm sure I'm not the first parent to admit to not liking spinach. In fact, I'm not really a green veggie kinda girl at all. Unfortunately, it's so healthy it needs to be eaten. Given our recent spell of bad health, I'm determined to get more of those "tastes bad but it's good for you" veggies into myself and my kiddos.

With Elena finally getting her appetite back I decided to try a new recipe - ok, it's not really a recipe but something I just threw together. I'm finding it's more fun to do it this way than to have to follow a recipe. (Also easier with two kiddos running around while I'm trying to cook) Of course, it doesn't always work out but thankfully I have a hubby who is willing to eat just about anything I put on the table. 

So, back to lunch - I had some spaghetti noodles left over from the homemade chicken noodle soup I had made the day before and I scrounged through our fridge and pantry and came up with these ingredients:

- cubed bacon

- cream

- parmesan cheese

- frozen spinach

- minced garlic

I fried up the bacon in a big saucepan.  After removing the bacon, I sauteed the garlic and spinach (which I defrosted in the microwave for 30 seconds or so) in the remaining bacon grease. I turned the heat down and slowly added the cream and parmesan cheese. Seasoned with a little salt and pepper - then returned the bacon to the mix and added the spaghetti noodles into the pan. Warmed it all up a bit - served with more parmesan cheese on top and we had one satisfied customer :)

Two day getaway

Last week David and I snuck away for two days......

Ok, who am I kidding? When you have kids you can't really "sneak" anywhere, but we did manage to plan a two day getaway at a cute little beach place that we snagged with a 50% off Groupon-type deal. After almost six weeks of passing around various flu bugs, colds and infections within our family, it was great to get some down time, relax and recharge.

We dropped the kids off at Grandma's house on Tuesday morning and checked in to our little beach chalet that afternoon. It was a great place we'd been to before and we like it because you get your own little apartment with a fully equipped kitchen, a sitting room, two bathrooms and a loft style bedroom upstairs. It was kind of funny when I walked upstairs and saw a single bed and crib in addition to the double bed. It was already set up for our family, so I had a constant reminder of my kiddos. :) 

We didn't have anything planned except to rest and veg. We watched lots of TV shows, read books, played games and slept! I had all the food mostly prepped before hand and we enjoyed leisurely and late meals - something which never happens with kids! Here are a few shots from our trip:

Berty Ocas Apart Hotel - Bertioga, SP
(Only 45 minutes from our house!)

The entrance to our Chalet.

On the way to the beach armed with chairs and a big umbrella

A short walk to the beach.

Almost there...

Aaaaaaah.

Relaxing and reading. Can't remember the last time I had
more than 10 minutes to read a real book! 

Not all fun and games - this is the traffic I had to contend
with after picking up the kids from Grandma's house.

So there you have it - we really enjoyed our time away and the kids had fun at Grandma's house. We are planning one more trip to the beach with the kids next week. Should be fun!

The Magic Sleep Formula

Sleep. Aaaaah, wonderful, glorious sleep. Something we can't live without. Some need more than others - and I am definitely one of the some. My roommates at boarding school always laughed at me for being in bed before "lights out" and my college roommates couldn't believe how much I napped.

So I knew I was in for it when I started having kids. I regularly had naps before I was pregnant and definitely enjoyed more sleep during my first pregnancy. I was thrust into the sleepless nights right from the get-go with Lucas - my labor started at 6:00pm and my little darling was born at 6:45am - 12 hours awake straight through the night. Can you believe I was actually falling asleep in between contractions at the end? 

Now I have two little ones and I can't remember when I got an uninterrupted night of sleep. When Lucas was just about learning to sleep through the night I was so pregnant with Elena that I would have to get up three times at night just to pee.

All moms know all about bedtime routines and nap routines and hope that with a lot of hard work, patience and a dose of luck, the kidlets will learn to sleep through the night sooner rather than later. Of course, that doesn't account for colic, poopy diapers in the middle of the night, teething, sickness, and siblings! 

I had a handy chart that I used for nap/sleep reference and it told me how many naps the average child would take, for how long and how long they would sleep at night. Of course it's not as simple as 2 +2 = 4 and if I shorten one nap, another will be longer, and if I cut out all naps the night time sleep will be longer. If only! 

Some days I wish I had the magical sleep formula that would guarantee me at least 7 hours of sleep. But alas, it evades me and every night I go to sleep thinking, "tonight may be the night" - and it never is. Of course, I know veteran moms will tell me "this too shall pass" and I will long for the nights when my little boy comes crawling into bed to cuddle with me - but couldn't I just get one good night's sleep?

**disclaimer - my kids really are pretty good sleepers - we have just had about 6 weeks worth of sickness in the family and it's thrown them into a loop and mommy's sleep bank is depleted :)

The Start of Something New

In case you read this blog and aren't on Facebook - I've recently been posting about a new venture of mine, an Etsy shop! I had thought about opening one a while ago, and it kind of got put on hold (life and babies you know) and at the beginning of this year the idea began to take root again.

A few snippets of some of my PRINTLine designs

So, without further ado, here's how you can take a look at what I am starting on Etsy. As I've gotten back into graphic design I am seeing inspiration everywhere and have lots of ideas about new product lines to develop. I officially opened my shop on March 9th, 2012 with my first collection - The Bee Collection - featuring a boy and girl line of DIY Printable Party Products. There will be lots more to come! Check it out with the links below. 

My Etsy Shop

My Etsy Facebook Page

My PRINTLine Blog

(If you don't know about Etsy - it is an online store for handmade and vintage items. Since I live in Brazil, graphic design is something I can do that can be "shipped" worldwide.)

Multi-tasking Driver

You hope not to hear these two words in the same sentence.

After all, we did learn that to be a good driver you have to be a focused driver - checking your speed, keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you, using your peripheral vision and the side mirrors, being conscious of your blind spots, and of course, following all the traffic laws. 

So what happens when you have two toddlers safely buckled in the back seat who need attention and you are the only adult in the car?

Here are some things I have accomplished while driving:

- taken off shoes/socks,

- retrieved toys/books/sippy cups/bottles from the floor of the car, 

- adjusted floppy heads of sleeping children,

- fed the kids (and myself) snacks and drinks, 

- removed sunshades from the back windows,

- found, cleaned and replaced missing pacifiers,

- pacified the baby with hand/fingers when there is no pacifier to be found,
- kept children from hitting/pushing/kicking each other, 

- sung endless rounds of "Old MacDonald"
- fished in the glove compartment for a CD to listen to after "Old MacDonald" got really old,
- made phone calls and sent text messages (oops)  

I was thinking of all these things as I was driving into São Paulo this morning with Lucas. I am sure some mothers out there can think of other things they've had to do to keep themselves sane while driving! Since Lucas has started on a round of antibiotics, they have to be given at specific times. So while I was planning to arrive in São Paulo in time for his meds, this morning we got stuck in traffic and I fed him his doctored up yogurt (thankfully I had packed it with a spoon in case this situation arose) while we stopped and started our way down the jam packed highway. 

Of course, we all know the best way to travel with kids...

Why I try to schedule all trips over 1 hour at nap time. 

One Child Home

There is a little ache in my heart and an odd feeling around home that something is just not right. There has been an unusual quietness and just a little less sunshine the past two days.

But let's go back a week or so - Lucas had a persistent fever for five days, and when it was clear it was just not going to go away with ibuprofen we took him to the hospital to get checked out. Due to some travel plans that couldn't be cancelled, we found ourselves packing up in the middle of the night (Elena sleeping and Lucas wailing) to make a one hour drive back to our town and the hospital that is close by. 

The time stamp on our queue slip was 1:00am on the dot. Thankfully Lucas had settled down and he and Elena were content to watch TV and munch on snacks while we waited to see the doctor. After examinations by three doctors, urine and blood tests and an x-ray over the span of 8 hours with two trips back home to try and rest a bit Lucas was diagnosed with an infection and prescribed antibiotics. It was a little scary as one doctor threw around words like "meningitis" and "lumbar puncture" and the sleep-deprived mind is certainly prone to wander towards worry in the early hours of the morning so we were relieved when the blood tests came back positive for a simple infection. 

Unsure of how Lucas would react to the antibiotics and being told to monitor him for continuing fever, my mother-in-law graciously offered to keep Elena at her place for a few nights so Lucas could recuperate at home. So I packed up a bag of clothes and sent her off with her aunt and uncle to be taken to Grandma's house. 

This is where we find ourselves now. Lucas is doing very well on the antibiotics, and has been fever free since his last dose of ibuprofen at the hospital. We are keeping it pretty low-key around here. But it is such a different experience having only one child at home - mostly, it is just so easy to only care for one. Most days with the two of them the majority of my time is observing them together and preventing them from hitting/slapping/pushing/fighting etc. So to have only one is a breeze! It also helps that Lucas is not a fussy sick boy and while tired, is clearly on the mend. This morning Lucas was able to help me make pancakes for breakfast, something that is just not possible with another toddler lurking around (the small size of our kitchen is also a factor). Lucas has enjoyed playing in peace and having mommy around to snuggle and cuddle with him. But there is this little ache, and I find myself wondering just what Elena is up to.

So while it has been nice to spend one-on-one time with Lucas and catch up on a little rest, tomorrow morning as soon as Lucas is up and fed and medicated for the day we'll be heading in to pick up my little angel, and our lives will return to that hectic, crazy, loud, busy, challenging, tiring, happy place - and I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Love you two kiddos!