Catch up

As I continue to tiptoe out of the abyss, I realize that although I've changed a couple of things (ie: I'm working out again, which I won't officially go into yet because I jinx myself every time I do that on here...I will give a huge shout-out to my sister Rachel and her Crossfit workout suggestions, though--thanks Rach!!), my every day life really isn't that different.  Funny how that is true but that I can also be feeling so much better!  I credit myself first because shouldn't we all do that more often, honestly?  It's hard to find the strength to pull your feet out of that sticky mud and start walking again and I'm proud of myself for doing that instead of sitting my butt down and getting even more stuck.  I'm also grateful for all of you who had so many supportive and sympathetic things to say.  Although I always know deep down that I'm nowhere near the only one who feels the way I get to feeling at my worst, it's easy to convince myself otherwise when I bottle it all up...ever since writing about it all a couple of weeks ago, it's been so much easier for me to focus on all of the positive things going on...so anyway, THANK YOU THANK YOU!  XOXO

One of the things that hasn't changed, but in staying the same has actually become a source of happiness lately, is what Zoe and I are doing with our time together during Owen's naps.  I had been down on myself because I haven't been motivated to plan projects for us.  I love doing cool stuff with her and then sharing it with you guys but we seem to be experiencing a lull here and I was blaming myself.  I realized though that although it does partly have to do with lack of motivation, it's also that she is in a phase where her interests are changing...she seems so much older all of the sudden..the way she plays and the way we relate to each other are shifting.  I think part of me wants to just focus on that...I want to make sure we take our time for a little while and get to know each other in this particular season of our lives.  I don't want to just keep my head down and keep doing the same thing all of the time because I'm afraid I'll miss something.  Not that we can't do all of that while doing cool projects together, but she and I really only have a couple of pockets of time during the day together.  We have a great time with our smiley, fun loving, little Owen but my attention is pretty scattered when he's awake and she goes to school 4 afternoons a week so those times when Owen is asleep and she and I are both home, we've lately felt like either doing chores together (it's crazy how much she enjoys helping around the house and how GOOD she's getting at all of it), reading or quietly playing Sorry or something.  I'm embracing this phase for what we are both getting out of it because I know that soon things will change again.  Soon it will be summer and we will have more time together...soon Owen will sleep less and become more capable of participating in stuff instead of demolishing whatever we're working on (well, I guess it could be a while for that one but you know what I mean)....everything is changing all of the time and I finally feel like I'm learning to go with it instead of drown in it.

Anyway, I did want to share these few fun things we've done over the last month or so...

Homemade Superballs! 
I found this on Pinterest a while ago and we made them at least a month ago...I don't even remember when, it's been so long!  I guess I didn't put it on here because it wasn't as successful as I'd hoped it would be but it was pretty fun and interesting, especially for a non-science-minded adult like me and a 4 year old.  

Materials

Mixing glue and food coloring (Zoe's)

Mine

Mixing Borax, cornstarch and water

Combining the two mixtures.  Ewwww weird!!!

Making it into a ball

For some reason mine just wouldn't stick together in a ball shape.  I'm sure it had something to do with how long I mixed the Borax mixture or the temperature of the water or something but honestly I have no clue what happened...like I said, it was still fun even though I didn't end up with a bouncy ball!

Zoe's was perfect though!  It wasn't all that bouncy but she loved tossing it around for a while and she eventually had fun ripping it apart.

Glow Stick Bath Time!
I feel quite sure I didn't come up with this...I probably saw it on Pinterest at some point but even if I did think of it on my own, I know I wouldn't be the first person to have done it so...anyway, forgive the missing link....

It's as simple as going to the dollar store to get glow sticks, filling the bathtub, putting the kids in the tub with the illuminated glow sticks and turning off the lights.  The fun didn't last as long as I thought it was going to because they LOVED IT, but hey--the experience cost me $1 so who cares?

Zoe's New Dress!
I found a bunch of fun little girl patterns on Ravelry a while ago and let Zoe choose which one she wanted me to knit for her.  She chose this dress and I set about making it about....a month ago?  Again I have no clue...anyway, I finished it last night and she wore it happily all day today!  She kept saying "Mommy, I LOVE my dress!!" which helped me partially overlook the too-short sleeves.  Hooray!  I'm so thankful that my sister Emily taught me to knit so long ago and generously passed down part of her stash of needles she'd inherited from our grandmother....thanks Ess!!