Our New Double (!) Stroller – The Britax B-Ready

 I received the 2017 Britax B-Ready to try as a part of a sponsored campaign for Britax. Spoiler alert: we love it.

A few weeks ago, Wesley and I got to attend a launch picnic for the 2017 Britax B-Ready stroller with the Boston Moms Blog team. Our food was generously provided by Cuisine en Locale (a Somerville favorite!) and Treat Cupcake Bar (Chestnut Hill). You won’t be surprised to hear that Wesley loved the cupcakes more than the braised chard (ha!), but I thought both were excellent.

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The star of the day was definitely the stroller however. If you’ve ever discussed strollers with me, you know I’m a huge snob. I have a list of stroller requirements that I am unwavering on and I assumed (wrongly!) that there was no way a double stroller would fulfill these requirements. I had limited experience with doubles and they all seemed bulky, heavy and hard to maneuver with fixed seating arrangements. However, I was quite wrong. Here’s a list of things we LOVE so far about the B-Ready:

1. Parent-facing seat option. This is HUGE for me. Research shows that parent-facing strollers impact verbal development pretty significantly and emerging research shows that all babies should face their parents as much as possible before six months (in carriers too!) to avoid too much visual stimulation. Basically, babies want to watch how their parents react to the world to learn how they too should react and looking at your baby means you will chat with them instead of both of you walking in silence. The B-Ready has twelve different configurations so that you can use a carseat to parent-face with very young children or flip the top seat around for older babies. Fun bonus: when using the second seat the two children can face each other. So cute!
2. The stroller folds even with two seats! Most doubles I’ve seen with variable seating configurations only allow for folding the stroller with the second seat detached, but the B-Ready allows for folding the stroller with both seats attached. You know why this is awesome? Because you’re already juggling two kiddos – you don’t have time to pop off and store a seat to fold up your stroller too.
3. Maneuverability. As I’ve told multiple people the past few months, the hardest thing about being pregnant this time is pushing a stroller. My abs are in hiding and some days it’s actually painful to walk long distances with Wesley. Needless to say, I was DREADING pushing a double stroller. However, the B-Ready (even with an added toddler in it – I borrowed Wesley’s friend for a morning to give it a good test drive!) was easier to push than our existing single stroller. I’m guessing this is because it has GIANT tires and a good suspension system. Seriously, I bet the snow is no match for those tires.

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So far, I’m not 100% in love with the buckles (though I’m sure I’ll be faster attaching them with time) and, unfortunately, you lose a good bit of the GIANT storage basket when you add the second seat, but, all in all, we love this stroller so far and can’t wait to push our two (!!) kiddos around town in it. We walk more than almost any other family I know (a holdover from our NYC days) and so a good stroller is as essential to us as a car and car seats. This one is awesome. I’m so thankful.

Life Lately – August 2016

Well, well, it’s been months since I’ve written here. Lots of very good, very full months. And now, here we are on the cusp of September, and I’m so excited to get back into the swing of things. September has always really felt like the new year to me. Anyone else? I suppose it’s that old school mentality that I still can’t shake (even at 30), but also that the weather starts to turn and new routines start up in the fall. Summer is my JAM, but I really, really love fall. There is nothing like crunchy leaves and not being hot OR cold and crisp air. Of course, then comes winter, but I’m choosing not to think about that right now. Ha! This was truly the summer of adventures and rest and we perfected the weekend day trip. I’m hoping for more of the same as we go into the fall followed by a bit of a quieter season as we adjust to being a family of four.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you all the things I’m digging right now. I’m nesting pretty hard at the start of this third trimester and our house and bellies are thankful for it. However, I keep adding projects to our weekend list, so let’s see if it all gets done. We’ve lived here now 18 months and I’m finally realizing how to maximize the space we have. When we first moved in, I was just so overwhelmed by ALL THE SPACE and now I see how we can give even more things away and make even more space for living. I haven’t read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I love a quote someone posted from it: “Do you want your home to be a place of rest or a storage unit?” So good. Place of rest and comfort and learning all the way, so I’m clearing out even more to make space for those good things.

Of course, saying that, I have made a major purchase recently of new Corelle dishes, though, for me, this goes along with our house being a place of hospitality and learning, because we were down to less than eight plates from our wedding dishes and I want Wesley to be able to more confidently help around the kitchen with chores and Corelle is light and virtually unbreakable. So, lots of new dishes coming our way.

I also REALLY want an InstaPot. It’s absurd how much I think and talk about this one little kitchen appliance. I had immediate FOMO that I didn’t buy one on Prime Day so now I’m hoping for a great deal in November for a little birthday gift to myself. It just seems like maybe it will be the only way we get food on the table consistently with two small children. I also really want to get better about making my own broths and the slow cooker function seems great for that. I don’t have any of the appliances it replaces (slow cooker, yogurt maker, pressure cooker, rice cooker) so why not get the all-in-one model?

Speaking of broths, I took the plunge and I started drinking collagen in my tea in the mornings. I kept reading about all the amazing benefits and, honestly, my nutrition needs all the help it can get during this pregnancy. It was so much easier to be very intentional about what I ate before children, so I’ll take the protein boost in my tea. Hopefully it will also do great things for my gut health because we all need that.

On the clearing out front, I am really striving to get rid of A LOT of my clothes. I did this after Wesley was born as well, but now it seems even more important. I truly am that person who wears the same 20% of my wardrobe 80% of the time, so why have all those clothes sitting in my closet? I’ll tell you: it’s emotional to give them all away! It’s giving away a whole past chunk of my life it feels, but I’m going to soldier on and do it. Goodbye, beautiful blue patent leather flats – you served me well.

So, that’s us. Lots of trains and imaginative play and nonstop books and Tegu block building and trying to make even more space in our lives. What’s new with you?

 

 

Thoughts on #2

Here we go again with Baby #2! We are all very excited about welcoming him even though he’s been documented way less than Wesley had been at this point. Haha!

To be honest, I doubt that changes much as time marches on. I do want to try to take at least some bump shots as this pregnancy progresses but I doubt I’m on top of it the way I was before. Our preparation list is so much shorter this time around too – having two boys exactly three years apart means we don’t need a stitch of clothing. We are probably going to replace one or two of our carriers that we wore out and maybe borrow a baby holder of some type from friends, but that’s it. The hardest part will be finding where we’ve squirreled away all of the baby items as Wesley outgrew them.

I’m feeling really great so far at (almost) 20 weeks. I was pretty anxious in the beginning (you can read more thoughts on that here), but thankfully once my hormones evened out from weaning Wesley (a necessity, it turns out, to get pregnant for me), everything leveled out in my brain too. I’m just now starting to show, but the bump is still small enough that no one has asked me yet if I’m pregnant. That came around 25 weeks with Wesley, so I expect I have some time.

If the building blocks of Wesley were black beans and blueberries, this baby is built almost entirely out of sandwiches. Sandwiches have never tasted SO good to me in my entire life. In the beginning, I could only really tolerate tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwiches and then I discovered the wonder and beauty of the Greek Pita Wrap at Dave’s Fresh Pasta. I’ve been rounding that out lately with goat brie, loads of lettuce and tomatoes with dijon on whole wheat. So, so, so good.

So far, Wesley seems pretty excited too. When Nathan asked him this weekend what he wanted to teach his little brother, he said “to read Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site” which seems like a good and worthy goal. We’ve had a few big sibling books recommended to us that are pretty in line with how we parent (Baby on the Way and What Babies Need both from the Sears Children’s Library) and Wesley asks to read them over and over and over again. He hasn’t realized yet that the baby will play with his toys, share his parents and live in his house, so we’ll see how he handles it when that comes.

I can’t believe we are already halfway to the finish line on this pregnancy. Time is flying and while I’m so glad it’s finally summer around here, I know the cold will come soon enough (and bring a baby with it!).

Update: Motherhood, Lately

Last month, I wrote about how I was at my wits’ end with dealing with toddler logistics. The tantrums seemed never-ending at our house. Everyone was frustrated and I was questioning almost everything.

And then, BAM, suddenly overnight it’s all changed. We dropped naps and Wesley fully weaned and now everything just seems so much easier. Tantrums come every few days. Bedtime is a breeze (because he’s tired!). He eats so much more all of a sudden and sleeps almost every night all the way through in his own bed for twelve hours. He tells me when he needs a diaper change! Seriously – it’s like I’m parenting a brand new person.

Imaginative play has also exploded – “Mama, I’m Toad and you’re Frog.” Every bit of dirt, mud or play dough gets made into some type of food (normally frosting or pizza or, oddly, butter beans). Ours days are just so much more easy-going and delightful.

This is the part of parenting I often forget about the most – it always changes. When Wesley was a baby, we had a new baby every 10 days. Now that’s he’s older, the rough patches last for way longer, but are, thankfully, further apart. I suppose this is how it goes even as they are older (with some year(s)-long rough patches on the horizon during adolescence).

So, for now, I’m savoring it and looking forward to a very, very fun summer of adventures (and early bedtimes). And I’m becoming the type of mother who packs snacks because suddenly  he eats all.the.time. And I’m hoping we have a nice long time before the next rough patch.

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Motherhood, Lately

We’ve had a lot of tantrums in our house lately. Lots and lots. Daily (and some days, let’s be honest, hourly). Parenting a highly verbal toddler is no joke. Wesley can throw some epic tantrums and I always try to repeat back to him what I heard to acknowledge his feelings (like, “you are upset because I took you out of the bath”). Here’s an unexpected consequence of that: I think it makes him even angrier to know that I understand him but still won’t give him what he wants. Yesterday he said “I don’t want you to talk about my feelings” and I asked if he wanted me to leave him for a while and he said yes.  So I left the room and let him release his emotions for a bit longer before he calmed down and came to find me. Now, let’s be clear. I think being upset, and throwing tantrums even, is a-okay but, man, if it doesn’t wear on you a bit after a while. But what to do but wait calmly while he rides it out? The fact of the matter is he has to change his diaper (even though, as he says, he only likes the diapers that already have pee-pee in them) and sometimes we have to stop what we are doing and leave before he’s all the way done.

I think one of the most difficult parts of parenting is parenting the child you have (particularly when that child is so often very much like your husband). Nathan and I have spent YEARS figuring out and working on and sometimes just giving up on the things that we do that drive each other crazy (a short list for me is his inability to leave the house to get places on time and his love of staying up late and sleeping in) and now, all of a sudden, I’m back at square one figuring out these SAME EXACT ISSUES with a tiny toddler who also has a developmental need to defy me. I’ve been frustrated and I’ve lost my cool more than a few times in the past few months.

And, just like with Nathan, I’m being forced to consider and weigh my own desires and selfishness versus Wesley’s needs. Have I over scheduled us (we have plans every weekday morning)? He loves being at home whereas I go stir crazy about four hours after I wake up if we still haven’t left. Should I let him keep taking naps even though that means he won’t go to sleep until 9:30 pm and will wake up at 8:30 am? (Meaning I won’t ever get to watch TV or relax in the evenings and mornings are then a rush to get out the door – see above for daily morning activities). I just don’t know.

So I’ve been throwing a few tantrums myself lately (although mine are quieter and mostly internal). As Wesley gets older, his placement and priority in our family is naturally leveling out to be more in line with the adults (as in, most of your energy goes to maintaining a baby, but as a child ages they become a more equal family member) and it’s a struggle to settle into our new roles and new routine. I waffle between feeling selfish and knowing that it’s okay for him to do things he wouldn’t necessarily choose, BUT that I also have to bend some too. The point of parenting is not easy comfort and being able to do what you want, but where’s the line between “mama is going to LOSE HER MIND” and sacrificial love?  And that’s my motherhood lately.

 

 

 

 

Toddler Cooking

It’s no secret that I love to cook and bake. So does Nathan (in fact, we often argue over who gets to cook when we have people over because we both want our time in the kitchen AND we don’t cook together well at all). So, it was a big priority for us that Wesley also really enjoy time in the kitchen. The “experts” also say that children are more likely to eat the food they help prepare. That has definitely not been our experience (haha!), but it is fun cooking with him.

One of the best things we’ve done to include him is to make the same recipes over and over again. He now knows exactly what ingredients we need for pancakes, smoothies, etc. We let him measure everything he can (I’ve found smaller measuring cups and spoons work best so I subdivide the measurements – i.e. I’ll give him a 1/4 cup measuring cup and tell him we need 12 scoops of flour instead of three with a 1-cup measure). Our measuring cups and spoons are different colors, so we also specify how many scoops of each color (instead of using the numbers). We always let him add the spices.

He can even make black bean quesadillas (his favorite!) and coffee (a daily ritual with Daddy) almost entirely by himself now. We are just around to turn on the grinder or use the stove.

 

Do you have any favorite toddler recipes? One that is always a hit in our house is Banana Blender Muffins (but we cook them like pancakes).

CULTIVATE

We have almost arrived at the end of January and I’m just now settling in to reflect on the last year and set my intentions for 2016 (thanks, flu). 2105 was mostly a really great year for us and I do feel quite rooted in our new home. 2015 will also be remembered as the year I regained time for myself, read (and re-read) the complete Outlander series (and, yes, I DO still miss Jamie and Claire), went to the beach every chance I got and fell in love with Maine. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though – 2015 will also be remembered as the year we really had to recognize that Nathan’s job it what it is and moving didn’t really help improve it much, Wesley learned to throw some epic tantrums and I found out just how (mentally) exhausting constant limit setting and testing really feels and, most regrettably, I had two long-term friendships end this year and I’m still processing that (almost daily). It also brought a lot of upheaval and turmoil for many of our friends as even more couples in our circles were divorced or separated in 2015. It feels like our early twenties were spent attending multiple weddings and, now, our early thirties are marked by the dissolution of those marriages. It’s hard and we’ve been talking a lot about how to better support marriage across all of our relationships. In fact, just last week I got to talk to some trusted friends for almost an hour about our marriage as they helped counsel us.

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Looking toward 2016, one word kept coming back to me – CULTIVATE. I have even bigger and better plans for our garden this year, I am excited about fermenting even more foods and I’m trying to cultivate healthier and more intentional consumption of sugar.

In our home life, I’m hoping to cultivate more lightness and joy in our home by having people over for more meals and slowing down some to play more with Wesley. Lately we’ve been listening to music and sitting on the floor to play Tegu for hours (he was gifted lots of Tegu from his grandparents this Christmas). Nathan and I are still striving for once a month at-home date nights (meaning a treat of some kind, a pot of coffee and NO TV). We’re also hoping to go on more proper dates this year. It’s always so fun to get away for a few hours and our friends are so generous to watch Wesley now and again.

I’m also hoping to cultivate a bit more creativity in my life by (finally!) releasing my podcast, blogging more regularly and taking at least one photo with my DSLR each week.

I mention this every year, but the beauty of #onelittleword is not knowing where the word will take you this year. You don’t have to set hard and fast resolutions which I love (because they stress me out). But my intention this year is to cultivate growth and flourish building on the big changes in the past years.

 

 

Previous #onelittleword resolutions:

2012: DO

2013: NOURISH

2014: RADIANT

2015: ROOT

Around Here – December 2015

How it is already December? This year has FLOWN by and, I’ll admit, it doesn’t quite feel like the Christmas season yet around here. We are (very) slowly decorating our house and listening to lots of Christmas music on repeat (Pentatonix and Lady Antebellum are getting lots of play these days) so I’m hoping I start feeling it soon. November was a very, very full month for us and I’m excited to slow down a bit in December. Here are a few things I’ve been digging lately:

Melissa and Doug Nativity Set: We just got this for Wesley in the hopes that he will leave our (breakable) nativity set alone. So far, he loves it. He is all about rearranging the various characters and finds it pretty hilarious to put Baby Jesus on the roof of the stable.

Jesse Tree ornaments: I think Wesley is probably still a bit too young to totally “get” a daily reading along with an ornament, but we are going to start the Jesse Tree tradition this year anyway (with low expectations). 🙂 We are using this book and I ordered the felt ornaments from Etsy.

Candy Cane Lane tea: Another fun Christmas find! Every year I buy a box of this tea and this year Wesley is joining me in drinking it. So fun!

Framebridge: I have been waffling on framing some art for our house and I finally took the plunge to use Framebridge. I just ordered my frames, so I’ll report back on how they look. I’m really excited to get the art that’s been on the floor leaning against the wall finally hung up (10 months after moving in….)

Flytrap Clothing: Flytrap is one of my favorite brands that I first discovered in a small shop back home in NC. Now I order their stuff online and I treated myself to a new pullover and tunic with some birthday money I received.

That’s what I’ve been into lately. What about you? Reading anything good? Discovered some new Christmas albums?

Hygge

Just like the rest of the internet, I am newly obsessed with hygge. Normally I like to make a winter bucket list to rival my summer list, but this year while there are a few things that are must-dos for me (driving around to see Christmas lights and snowshoeing) I am mostly trying to be very intentional about LIKING winter this year and embracing hygge whenever I can.

To that end, I’ve been making lots and lots of new cozy playlists, developing a nightly herbal tea on the couch ritual and making a plan with Nathan that we will only watch TV one night a week while we’re together. (Full disclosure: I still watch TV by myself because how else can a girl fit in the shows her husband disdains). The other nights we are together, we are planning to listen to music, play board games or maybe even – gasp! – talk to each other.

We’re planning a waffle party and a chili cook-off and looking forward to lots of cozy time spent inside with friends. Hoorah for hygge!

 

 

 

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More hygge practice. Cinnamon-chocolate swirl paleo brand bread recipe via my cousin, @nikkilambsoph .

A photo posted by Rachel Ann (@ohohitsrab) on Nov 19, 2015 at 3:50am PST

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Wesley is Two!

Oh my stars – we have a two year old! I can’t believe it’s been two whole years since he was born and I also can’t believe it’s only been two years. How about that fun parenting paradox?

Over the last year (when I stopped his monthly updates) Wesley has grown into the coolest little guy. We are so blessed to be his parents.

Man oh man. Wesley never, ever stops talking it seems. I love hearing what he is thinking about (even at night when it means he’s not asleep). He has memorized the words to 20 or so of his favorite books and recites them all the time. He learns song lyrics in a snap and sings whenever he’s not talking. He’s started writing his own songs to tunes he knows which is mighty adorable. He can count 1-20, knows all of his letters and colors and is newly very into phonics. Some great Wesley-isms:

On Sunday, I got sick at our church retreat. When we made it home I fell asleep upstairs for a few hours. When I finally descended Sunday evening, Wesley ran up to me, gave me and hug and said “Hello, Mama! I missed you today.”

Every morning, Wesley says good morning to each part of Miss Marple individually. “Hello, Miss Marple head. Hello, Miss Marple eyes. Hello, Miss Marple ears. Hello, Miss Marple tail.”

Recently a friend of mine and I were chatting at the park while our children played. Wesley asked what we were talking about and she replied “the weather.” Later on, Wesley sat down next to me on the bench and said “What are we talking about? We’re talking about the weather. It’s sunny!”

A few weeks back, Nathan taught Wesley how to play I Spy. When walking at sunset recently Wesley said “I see blue! I see purple! I see pink! I see yellow! I see orange! SUNSET!”

Wesley’s favorite toys to play with right now are play dough, crayons and his notebook, Tegu blocks and always, always, always books. He likes reading books to us now and loves Richard Scarry, Robert McCloskey and Eric Carle books the best. At co-op, he wears a hard hat all day, every day and really likes the train table and puzzles.

Wesley eats a lot less variety than he did a year ago (sigh….) but will try new foods if someone other than me offers them to him. His go-to foods remain fruit, beans, quesadillas and chicken-apple sausages. He recently learned to eat cheerios with milk (inspired by Daddy) and now declines most dry cereal. He still turns up his nose at most bread products, but loves a good pancake or croissant. He also still really, really loves coffee and tea. Oops.

About nine months ago, Wesley started sleeping at least a portion of the night in his own room. It’s pretty great. Recently we’ve had a harder time getting him to go to sleep because he wants to talk more about his day and he’s getting his two year molars (poor dude told me last night all about how his teeth hurt). Hopefully his good sleep habits will be back soon. For now, we’re just muddling through this phase.

We cannot wait to see how he continues to learn and grow in the coming years. He is starting to have very strong opinions (only brown aka whole wheat quesadillas! only drinking from the blue cup!) and is still getting his sea legs with sharing and interpersonal relationships (aka he likes to lay on top of his toys to prevent friends from playing with them and he has been known to smack his friends across the face). He has learned to say he’s sorry and we are trying hard to make sure to always ask if he wants to (instead of it being a compulsory thing we force on him). We shall see how all of this continues to play out as he gets older. I pray often we will be the parents he needs us to be. I’m so thankful he’s the child we needed.