How much is too much?

Do you ever find yourself struggling to take it all in? Striving to remember it all? Cherish every moment? I do. Everyday. I want to be this awesome record keeper, who remembers every single thing that happens to her family. When someone asks me, when did {one of your children} start teething? Or start crawling? What did you and Hector do on your {third} anniversary? I want to be able to answer those questions.

Or how about, those cute things your kids say? What was going through their minds when they were 3 years old? These are the things, guys! I don't want to get out of this sweet, child-like phase of life, and not remember all the golden moments.

But the truth is, I can't. I have a terrible memory. Like, the worst. I think this speaks poorly for my future memory-keeping skills.. I know what runs in my family.. This is why I have to keep a very detailed planner on my person at all times. So I can stare at it for hours a week, hoping to grasp what's going on in my life. If our pediatrician didn't call 2 days before appointments, my children would probably never go. Is this normal?? I don't know. But I know how I'm combatting it.

And this is what I mean by, How much is too much?

Every day, I try to keep up with all this:

This is my favorite. I write five little lines a day. It can be what we did that day, something cute Cohen said or Liam did, the way I felt a certain day, rough times we faced, or something special that happened to us. Whatever it is, I write it down. And for every day, it gives you lines for 5 years worth of recordings. I've just started my second year, and it is so sweet to go back and read last years writing. Things I had already forgotten, but that come back as soon as I read them. 

From Barnes and Noble

This is a new one I just started this January. Mostly because Cohen wasn't old enough before. Like the above journal, it gives space to write for three years. Differently, though, this one gives a question for each day for you to ask your child. To engage them in conversation. To show them that you care what they think, that you're listening when they ramble. It's a sweet time for Cohen, I'm finding. When he sees me get it out, he smiles. He knows I'm about to ask him a personal question, that only he can answer. It has nothing to do with baby brother, unless he answers that way. It's questions like, "What are you excited about?" or "Describe a time when you were mad." or "What do you see out your window?" And he's still a tad bit young for it. But I just help him on questions he doesn't quite understand, or I re-word it into something easier. I'm so excited to see how his answers change as he gets older.

From Anthropologie

And Liam's baby book. I don't necessarily get this one out every day, but I should. That's how often this baby boy is changing. :) I try very hard to keep it updated. I love to look at Cohen's, so I know I will cherish these records. And call me crazy, but I think my boys will want to look at these when they are old enough. :)

From Hallmark

And this doesn't even cover daily devotionals!! I use (and LOVE, and recommend) Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I've never come across a more relevant devotional. Each day, it's as if the devo was written just for you. 

And our friend Leslie gave Cohen the Jesus Storybook Bible for Christmas. He really likes it. He asks to read it before bed. I've even caught him referencing it, since starting it. I drew him a rainbow the other day and he said, "Mom! Like God showed us!" I said, "Yes! It was a symbol of his promise that he would rescue us!" And he mentioned something the other day, about a tower. I said, "You mean like the tower of Babel?" He said, "Yea!!" :) Brings me joy to see him remembering Bible stories. 

So.. It may be too much, but it's exactly what I need to help me through the fleeting, yet rough months and years. 

AND, like I lightly mentioned.. I keep an Erin Condren life planner with me at all times. And I print our family pictures each year in a Blurb photo book. Keeps your pictures from being trapped on your hard drive and brings them out for all to see and enjoy--their original purpose, anyways!

I'll appreciate this paper trail one day. :)

Toddler on the Road

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we're road trippin' to Branson, MO. I believe it's my parent's official "Home away from home." It's easy to get to, only a half a day's driving. My parents have time shares and I can't count the number of times we've booked our trips to Branson. I like it, too... guilty!

The last time we took a long road trip with Cohen, he was one year younger. (1 and a half years old) And it was like 16 hours or some other huge number. Tomorrow's journey will take 5-7 hours, I think. But because of this year we've tacked on to his age, he is much more headstrong. He can tell you "no", he can say, "I don't like it." He'll negotiate, "No supper today, supper tomorrow!" He'll try to weasel his way out of nap time, "I had a good nap, mama! No Thomas bed!" (He sleeps in a Thomas the train bed at Granna and Pop's house.)

Well, I decided to be proactive and plan some things for him along the way. I went through a bunch of posts on pinterest regarding 'traveling with kids,' and found these ideas somewhere. It's basically to make up activity bags that will last 2-3 hours each. I made two of these bags. That's 4-6 hours (hopefully!) and I'm guessing there will be nap time and eating time sprinkled in there. I didn't want this to cost too much, so I'll include costs, too.

Bag number one!

Contents:
The Lorax blu ray (already owned)
Jolly rancher gummies (<$1 at Wal-Mart)
Monster's University play cell phone ($3 Wal-Mart)
4 colors of play dough ($.50 from Dollar Tree, from a pack of 8)
Funny faces robot sticker book ($1 at Dollar Tree)
Color wonder drawing pad with 1/2 a pack of color wonder markers (pad: $5, 1/2 markers: $2.50 at Wal-Mart)
Total: $13

I plan on bringing the movie out last, so he can exhaust himself with the other activities. We've never played with these "Color Wonder" products, but sounds like a dream for a car trip. Supposedly the ink in the markers won't write on anything but the special Color Wonder paper.

Bag number two!

Contents:
Cars sticker pad ($1 at Wal-Mart)
more Cars stickers ($2 at Wal-Mart)
Cars blu ray (already owned)
Color Wonder pad and the other 5 markers (pad, purchased for other bag, 1/2 pack markers: $2.50 at Wal-Mart)
Cars cup ($1 at Wal-Mart)
4 colors of play dough (the rest of the pack $.50 from Dollar Tree)
"Sarge" toy car ($4 at Wal-Mart)
Total: $11

Bag number two obviously had a Cars theme... Which is why it's number two. I see cars and play cars and watch Cars all day long. I want the kid to wait a little minute before unloading the cars theme on our car. Again, the movie will be held until he tires of the other activities.

I found a few books to add to the mix, and a set of farm animals. I'll just pull these out as necessary.

All from Dollar Tree, except Caillou.

These animals were like $2 at Wal-Mart.

So, anyways, we leave in the morning. I'll let you all know how these go over and whether or not it helps or hurts the trip! ;) We're hitting the hay, now.. good night!

Coco's new pad

One bonus of our new apartment is that he gets his very own play space. His own place to sleep, his own place to retreat to. (our own place to throw all his toys!)

I wanted his room to be fun, colorful and most of all, affordable. We found a couple things at Ikea and went from there.

Here is his room.

This is the hallway to Cohen's room. To the right is our bathroom and the double doors on the left hide our laundry room. This is "Phase II" of our apartment complex, so it's built all 'lofty'. Lofty is a fancy term "no doors". Yea... It's all that was available and we needed to move. Anyways, we hung two noise canceling, black out curtains at his entrance. It's worked out nicely so far. 

Here's the view walking in. The wall color isn't really that powdery, but the light coming in the window is toying with it. 

Ikea table and chairs, Ikea rug and abacus. The soft ABC flash cards were made by our friend Chelsea! Cohen loves to tote these around!

I loved this whimsical canopy when I saw it and it inspired the room. I got the wall color from one of the pennants. I want to make it into a reading corner when he gets a little bigger.

These were the aqua colored, glittery letters we used at Coco's birthday party. We sanded off the glitter and painted them red! I think they turned out great! I got them at Hobby Lobby originally.

This is his book shelf, with bunches of fun books and random items. That's the growth chart Ashley gave Cohen! Goes perfect in his new room.

That cross-stitch was hand made by my cousin Roland. Isn't it the sweetest thing? Those cute letter blocks are from my sweet friend Suzanne at work. And Aunt Myra is to thank for the Very Hungry Caterpillar. :)

I got this idea from pinterest.. (where else?) I found these alphabet flash cards at Barnes and Noble for around 10 dollars. And I already had the twine and clothespins. 

Here's a close up. I just love this wall. Cohen loves for us to sing the ABC's to him, so I know he's going to love learning what each letter looks and sounds like with these flash cards! And they're super fun and cute!

We put his trucks and legos in his closet and what does he play with? The swiffer duster. :) Never fails! But seriously, he likes to go in there and play. 

Our big boy! Almost 30 inches tall! 

So, while we purchased a few new items, most of these things were pieces we already had! And we just finally got to use them in his bigger space. We're so happy with the outcome, we can't wait to watch him play and grow in there.