Berlin

one of the many perks of living where we live is that we get to take time to travel to some pretty amazing places. this past weekend was labor day and joel took a little leave, paired with the holiday and we went to berlin for a short 3 day trip.

for the amount of time we were there, we saw a lot, but if we had to do it over, we would have stayed another day or two. it was such an awesome experience.

whoever said, "it's about the journey, not the destination" has never traveled with small people, during a german summer.

what. a. nightmare.

according to google maps, berlin is a short 5 hour car trip from here on the autobahn. now, i don't know what your knowledge is of the autobahn, but it is not a highway of limitless speed. there are sections where you can go as fast as you want. but that means everyone else can too. and when you are driving your volvo at 100 mph, these german made cars will pass you like you are standing still. and then you hit traffic.

our journey was kind of....insane. the girls were actually very good, and we only had one issue with a diaper which was only vaguely reminiscent of the time bella had a blow out. both times, the girls were in disposables..... coincidence?

our journey was full of stuff like this....

people throwing stuff on the road? there is a first time for everything, and this was the first time i have ever seen such an odd message on our gps....

and these were just kind of incredible

windmills were everywhere. they are all over in general, but we passed a stretch where we maybe saw 100 of them in one area. it was kind of amazing and could send me on a tangent, but i won't go there right now...

there are so many pictures and highlights of our trip-berlin has surprisingly been one of my favorites, so far. i say surprisingly because, while i know it is steeped in history, i didn't think it would have such an impact on me.

our hotel on the right, next to a giant climbing gym. 

Berliner Dom

Gates to the city at Pariser platz.

pieces of the wall on display

joel and bella at checkpoint charlie

isn't she cute? just before this picture, she took 7 or 8 steps on her own. of course, i didn't even get a picture of her standing up, but you'll just have to trust me on that. 

words.

"sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

we've all heard this old adage before-from our parents, well meaning teachers and friends, specifically after someone has said something mean. i wish i could say it was true.

the truth is, words hurt. words carry a lot of weight. harsh words can often feel like a punch to the gut, but the scars last a lot longer and cut a lot deeper.

as much as i would like to pretend that i am impervious to insults, when they come from a friend who knows your insecurities, they feel even more biting and callous. 

after a particularly mean thing that a good friend said, i found myself physically shaken and unable to think about anything else. i sat next to the tub while i gave bella a bath and kind of went catatonic for a minute. 

a splash from her brought me back and i asked her, "do we say mean things to our friends bella?" 

she said, "nooooo", as though that were the most ridiculous thing she had heard.

i said, "why not?"

"because it's not nice, mommy. it makes our friends sad."

my 3 year old gets it. 

of course, she later told me a joke that went like this: "bella poops in her pants!!! HAHA!! that's funny!"

so, what does she know......

the bible says a lot about anger and hurt. i wasn't angry, but i was very much hurt. and like an injured animal, sometimes we can say and do things out of hurt that will just cause more strife. 

"let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." 

{ephesians 4:29}

 among other things, i was reminded of all of the people in my life God has graciously gifted me with, who are uplifting and kind. just the day before, i was planning to write a post about all the amazing people i've met. and i started thinking back on that. old friends, new friends, people all around the globe. people who are encouragers-some of them who barely even know me. 

people who use their words to build up and heal. for those people, i am abundantly grateful. from Him, abundantly rich. 

plus, there's this

gratuitous picture of my silly babies

one year

a year ago today, mom dropped us off at the shuttle to the international terminal, and as the bus drove away, bella piped up, "wait!!! we forgot yaya!!!!" i burst into tears, even though i was excitedly anticipating the adventure we were about to embark upon.

it's hard to believe that we have been in germany for an entire year. the time went quickly and was filled with many ups and only a few downs.

i can say, without a doubt, that i love germany. there is so much i love about living here. from the amazing parks, to the amazing pools, to the way germans , generally, are so honest. everything beautiful and clean and old.

there have been some not so great things too-staus (traffic jams), neverending construction and a language barrier have proven to be worthy adversaries at times, but we are getting over the language thing and i can actually pretend for a minute that i know what i am talking about.

i think the homesickness was relatively low and mostly i felt sad for bella more than for myself. but we have all acclimated wonderfully and there are times where i feel like i could stay here forever (don't worry mom and dad, the government won't let us do that!).

things have changed quite a bit for us too! we have added little cora to our brood, bella has become quite the amazing big girl, and i think joel and i have become stronger than ever before. there is something about being completely isolated from all things familiar that will beat you down and build you back up like no other experience. we both love new and different experiences and moving here has definitely fit that bill!

some highlights of our time so far:

• having cora! birthing in germany is so different from back home, and i am so glad i had the experience. i did things that i never thought possible and survived! (yes, i realize women have been having babies since the dawn of time with no pain killers, but i never thought i would be one of them.). it was a pretty incredible experience that, while painful, i would do again. maybe a little differently (note to mothers birthing in germany: just say no to the little white pill.....), but not much. 

• fests! germany sure knowns how to celebrate stuff. and they celebrate ANYTHING. pumpkins, strawberries, apples, sand, beer, wine, beer, beer.....did i say beer? they sure love their beer here, and often times, it's cheaper than water. so, be frugal and have a beer! 

• food! i never thought my pallet was that adventurous, but i am starting to realize that i do not discriminate against food in the slightest. i love all types of food. in hawaii, i really enjoyed filipino food (and i still do!) in georgia, i got on a bbq kick (because how can you not!?) and here i feel like i could eat schnitzel and brats until my eye balls fall out. and don't even get me started on their potato salad (kartoffelsalat). or that homemade garlic sour cream stuff (knoblauchsauce) they put on their fries. mmmm. our and the joghurt dressing!? i die. maybew this is why i have had a little trouble shedding those baby pounds....that i gained AFTER i had cora.....yikes....
• snow! after living the last 8 years in warm climates, the winter here was a welcomed experience. we had one of the coldest, longest winters in the area, and we loved it. i'm sure many of the people here would shoot daggers from their eyes at me because of this statement. so be it. WE LOVE THE COLD! 

thing i love about germany and germans

• they are actually pretty fantastic drivers. people let people in, they merge like a zipper (how it should be done) the pass on the left and slow people (generally) get to the right. even though traffic is a nightmare, they seem to figure it out and it definitely could be worse considering 3 lanes of traffic go down to one. 
• they are very honest people. this is a general statement based on my experience, and i could be off base, but things are very different here than i am used to. people kind of self regulate to an extent, and it works. there is just kind of the belief that people will do the right thing, though i am having a hard time coming up with a good example. it's in little things, like public transportation, where, if you were a seedy person, you could get away with not paying for it, but people follow the rules and do what they should. granted, if you get caught, there are hefty fines, but we have been riding for a year and have never been asked to show proof that we bought tickets, or have traveled in the appropriate zones. 
• most speak at a minimum 2 languages. not all. especially the older crown. but many people speak at a very minimum german and english. and they speak english as though it were their first language (though they will tell you they don't speak it well. and they will say well, not 'good'. which is better grammar than most americans use!). many people speak even more languages. i've met plenty of people who speak, at least in part, 4 languages. 

but not everything is perfect

• they cut lines like nobodies business. if you aren't pushing up against the person in front of you, or if you look distracted, they assume you aren't in line and will cut in front of you. to that note, if you are in line, forget personal space. the person behind you will be breathing down your neck. it is very intimate. and not in a good way.
• especially since they often don't wear deodorant. holy sweat glands, people have a tendency to stink. which is only exacerbated by the fact that.....
• ....they like to bundle up. even in 80 degree weather. in may, we hit 70's and there were people wearing heavy coats, scarves and hats, babies in bunting sacks and the little old ladies would consistently stop me and scold me for not bundling my babies.  70's in my world means i am in a bathing suit. 
• speaking of older ladies, they like to scold you for just about anything and will not hold back. granted, i have no clue what they are saying, but it's generally along the lines of, "put a hat (or coat, shoes, gloves, etc.) on that baby!" one lady even told joel he needed to support cora's head more when we were sitting at a table. she was 4 months old and sitting up by herself. but clearly, she looked like she needed some more support.....
• do not order something to-go, then change your mind and sit down. they will run you off. even in a hospital, the day after you have given birth. in many places, you pay extra to sit, and so ordering to-go and sitting is a no-no. 

we have been to some pretty cool places so far, and have only been slowed down because we had a baby and had to wait for her passport, then joel went TDY for 9 weeks, so we have only just been able to leave the country.

• lots of cities in germany: rothenburg, heidelburg, triberg, munich, and all kinds of little villages along the way. legoland, pools that are more like waterparks and tons of fests all over the place. 

• switzerland: rhine falls and konstanz

• france: strasbourg

our bucket list is long and lengthening, and later this year we have trips to london, scotland, rome and paris planned. 

all in all, it has been a crazy year! not every minute was easy-joel's 9 week TDY, for instance, was challenging to say the least. but every bit of it has been an amazing adventure. 

i can't wait to see what our second year in germany brings!

clean eating: coffee and wrap up

(i wrote this on day 2, then never finished or hit publish because kids. yes, i am aware that is not a proper sentence, but kids. kids. and i kids. )

today i want to talk about coffee.

since becoming an addict a mother, i have developed a dependency  started feeling like i can't get through the day without a cup (or 4) of coffee in the morning. 

i start my mornings off like a champion. the sun starts coming up at 4 am and since that has started happening the babies have been waking up earlier and earlier. it also finally gets dark at 10:30 and since that has started happening the babies have been fighting sleep. bella is in a pretty decent routine, but each night at bedtime, she says, "but momma, it's still light outside!" and i explain to her, each night, about how the sun works. it's all very exciting and no. 

in the wee hours of night, cora decided it was time to partay and we played on the floor for about 2 hours. by that i mean, i sat in the chair crying while she flip flopped around on all the furniture. they say this is a phase because she is learning new tricks and i should enjoy it. they clearly have no children or had them long enough ago that they forgot what a nightmare sleep deprivation can be when your 3 year old wakes up ready to take on the world, right after you get your 7 month old back to sleep. 

enter that glorious bean, slow roasted and ground down to make the most amazing thing since sliced bread. possibly more so. 

on day one of our challenge, i tried to drink my coffee black with just raw sugar. i couldn't do it. i have some grade a coffee but i like it sweet. so i broke down and added creamer. it was a moment of weakness (she said, starting in on her second cup of vanilla nut). but i have started doing some perusing of the internet now that my eyes have been pried open. 

first of all, would this be too much to ask for?? i guess since the sugar is probably of the white, refined variety, this is a no go according to the rules. but i also may see if i can get some at the commissary once we are out of our 10 days.....

photo credit

Carrie at Deliciously Organic has several recipes for natural coffee creamer. they sound pretty yum. i may try the french vanilla one tomorrow morning. 

French Vanilla

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons maple syrup

1 vanilla bean

Whisk together milk, cream and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cut vanilla bean in half, and scrape out seeds. Add seeds and vanilla bean to milk mixture. Turn off heat, cover the pot and steep for 30 minutes. After mixture has steeped, strain through a fine mesh sieve, pour into a glass bottle and store in the refrigerator. (If you don’t have a vanilla bean on hand, simply replace it with 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract)

it sounds pretty high in fat, but i think i may be able to use less of it since it will be pretty sweet. 

here are a few more . looks like i may need to head to the store today to gather some of these ingredients. it also looks like you can make ahead and store in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. 

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clearly, i lack some follow through. i planned to blog every other day or so. i blogged once. so, i will just lump it all together with observations and what i've learned.

i am an addict. sugar, mostly. since having cora, i feel like i *need* it. i never have craved sugar before, except when i was pregnant with bella. i'm pretty sure the hormones from pregnancy make crazy anyway, so let's just add sugar dependency in there as well.

those homemade coffee creamers are for the birds. after whole milk, heavy cream and maple syrup, i feel like i am drinking my daily calorie allotment in the wee moments after waking. and they weren't satisfying. i mean, it tasted like i put milk in my coffee. if i wanted milk in my coffee, i would have put milk in my coffee in the first place and called it a day.

i HATE the way vanilla extract tastes and cocoa powder is just gross. and that should have been my tip off before i started, really. so, homemade creamer = fail in my book.

over all, we didn't really change our diets much. i guess we don't eat as poorly as i thought.

BUT!

one thing i learned was that there are more junk foods out there with less than 5 ingredients that aren't sugar and are recognizable. it was kind of odd and the OPPOSITE of what i thought i would see. the ingredients in bugles are "degermed yellow corn meal, coconut oil, sugar, salt and baking soda." and according to the label, have 1g of sugar per serving. which absolutely astounded me. not that they are healthy, by any means, but strictly going by the "rules" they are almost acceptable.

ruffles original potato chips are made of "potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn and/or canola) and salt" and are gluten free! again, not arguing the health qualities of chips. but the original flavors of these chips don't seem to have the laundry list of ingredients, or chemicals, that i thought they did.

the other thing i found interesting, is how common potassium chloride, an ingredient in lethal injections, is in food processing and also in many "substitutes". before we started, joel was eating a bag of....something.....and we were talking about ingredients. he said, "i'm sure this is fine..." and we looked at the ingredients. the first 5-6 were recognizable, the next was something sciency sounding, and the last was potassium chloride. our conversation went a little something like this--

me: that's bad.

joel: really? what does it do, cause cancer? (because everything does)

me: i don't know. i just know it's bad. (because whatever he was eating was most likely bad.)

::searches google for 'potassium chloride food'::

me: o.O it's used in lethal injections. 

joel: o.O ooookkkaaayyyy..... (slowly puts the bag down) 

now, granted, you would have to eat like 15 bags of whatever he was eating, in like a day. but should we ever consume any amount of it in the first place? then i read an article that said it is only legal to put it in food in the US. it is banned everywhere else.

to wrap it up and cut this short:

we will continue eating the way we eat. mostly fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy that are organic, grass fed, free range, etc. and we will enjoy our coffee creamer bought from the store. we will eat chips at a bar-b-q and enjoy ourselves when we are out with friends.

bella loves her veggies

life is too short to be too restrictive. we ate 90/10 before, and we will eat 90/10 now. i will continue to cook as healthily as possible, and try to make the best choices i can, but ultimately, 

i don't want food to be an obsession for my girls.

 we should eat to sustain life, give ourselves the energy we need to function and eat cleanly in order for our bodies to function properly, but not to the point that it becomes more than that.

 if they can't get through a meal without analyzing every bite-be it for calories, fat, ingredients or if it fits with a certain lifestyle, 

then i have failed them. 

i want to teach them about whole living-not just a means to an end. 

clean eating: our rules and day 1

if you know me in real life, you have probably heard me say, "i'm weird about food" or listened to me talk your ear off about quinoa and steering clear of high fructose corn syrup like your life depends on it.

we have been trying to eat cleanly since we lived in hawaii. really, it was brought on by being exposed to so many fresh, healthy options all the time and trying to really get fit, but spurred on even more when we decided to start a family.

i became very passionate about feeding bella, and now cora, the healthiest way possible. some people gave me a hard time, some joking, others probably not so much, but i stuck to my guns pretty well and now, bella is a pretty good eater who will try almost anything and drinks only water and milk with very little protestations.

i've gotten a tiny bit more lax with her, now that she has a better understanding of what is good for her, and i occasionally let her have juice, but here the juice is a little different anyway-her favorite capri sonne is pure fruit juice mixed with spring water. (40% fruit juice/60% spring water)

when we were living in georgia, we had a pretty good thing going: my local kroger had a "whole foods" section, there was a quaint little farmers market a mile from our house and we had a deep freezer full of grass fed beef in our garage. bella was young enough to not know what she was missing and wasn't given any kind of sugar and very little processed foods unless we were with friends (i never want to be that weird lady who makes her kid feel left out).

but when we moved here, there were all new challenges. don't get me wrong, germany (and europe, in general) are notorious for less fast, less processed, more real food options and generally speaking, their junk food has less junk in it. and the learning curve has been relatively low-figuring out that "bio" meant the same as organic was pretty easy, for instance. but the language barrier and being in a new place have taken a little time to get used to.

i started following lisa leake, of the  "100 days of real food" blog, a few years ago, shortly after they started their challenge. i wanted to do it too, but was a little overwhelmed at the prospect at cutting every single ounce of "unreal" food. see, i like to eat cleanly, but let's be honest-i really like food. and i really like any excuse to eat. and a lot of times, that food is prepared by others and it's really yummy and really unreal, or full of sugar......i didn't want to cut out starbucks or chick-fil a or any of the other eat out places i loved, simply because you couldn't be totally sure. i just couldn't commit.

as bella has gotten older, i have been teaching her about ingredients and what's good for us and what is maybe not so good to eat a lot of times, and what we probably shouldn't eat at all. she has a pretty good grasp on it, and i like her being engaged in her food intake and knowing why i say no to certain things. so i signed out family up for a mini, 10 days of real food pledge.

i plan on documenting at least some of our process here, but along with lisa's rules, i have made some of my own to make eating real less of a challenge and more of a reality.

my rules for successfully eating real:

1-this isn't a diet. you may not lose weight. and you may. for us, losing weight isn't the goal. we want to eliminate any junk and eat cleanly so that our body can function properly. there are so many benefits to eating cleanly, other than weight loss.

2-keep it simple. in my search for real recipes, i find a lot that sound complicated and include ingredients i have never heard of, nor would i even know where to find them. but eating real shouldn't be complicated. if anything, it should be easier, once you wrap your mind around what is real.

3-i like where lisa says, "eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself". she makes a good point, that if there is a lot of work to it, you are less likely to do it as often as you would if it was readily available. i made my own whole wheat crackers and ate them all. bella thought they were cookies and was very disappointed when they weren't sweet, thus refusing to eat them. i only made about 2 dozen crackers, so that kept me from eating my weight in them.

4-it should still taste good! real food should actually taste better, once you have adjusted your mind and gotten used to it. because it's fresher, it should have more flavor. but if you are eating a highly processed diet, it will take some time to get used to.

5-we adopt a 90/10 moderation. meaning, 90% of the time, we follow the "rules" very strictly. but the 10% allows for things like eating out and being in social situations. eating real shouldn't make you a social pariah. we went to a birthday party this weekend and very much enjoyed the birthday cake. i didn't feel the need to ask what the ingredients were (although it was from a german bakery, so it was probably pretty real anyway).

6. planning is key. like my mom always says, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". i plan my meals out a month at a time on a template that i made and then laminated. i do it in dry erase so i can adjust accordingly. i grocery shop once a week and go to the farmers market once or twice a week depending on my get-up-and-go (lately, i settle for store bought produce, much of which is locally grown anyway). we plan eat out occasions so that we don't succumb to whims when we smell really good schnitzel driving home from wherever we are. and i write out the recipes on index cards for the week, pin them to our cork board and if we like them, they go into the recipe box. if not, i toss them.

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DAY 1

breakfast: eggs (dutch eggs), coffee for me (sweetened with raw sugar), almond milk for bella. 

lunch: (here we kind of used our 10%....we had a last second need to run out to meet someone right at lunch time, so we ate at the food court, which gives us tooons of options{blah....}....burger king, charley's, pizza hut, popeye's and sehne-a german bakery) i had a salad from the german bakery with a viniarete dressing and bella ate a panini with salami, mozarella and basil. 

dinner: zuchinni (local grown) boats stuffed with sausage (all natural) and a homemade tomato (local grown) sauce.

snacks (for bella): a squooshi pouch containing plain greek yogurt, almond milk, one whole kiwi a handful of strawberries (local grown, cleaned and frozen at home) and cherries (cascadian farm organic, bought frozen.), pureed. 

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cora: (still nurses for most of her "meals" but she likes to eat with us, too!) 

breakfast: steel cut oats
lunch: whole peas
dinner: steamed bits of zuchinni (used a half of one of the zuchinni from dinner and steamed it on it's own while i prepped/cooked the rest of dinner) 

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notes:

      i didn't like the coffee with just sugar. i need to find an alternative to coffee mate, and this may be my toughest challenge of the whole process. 

     i felt bad about eating out, especially since it was NOT planned, but i think we did alright for such poor choices. 

     dinner was really good and has become one of my favorite recipes to make. bella even ate it! in a sense (she ate the filling over whole grain pasta, since it's a little tricky to eat the "boats")....i will share the recipe soon. 

Weekend getaways, Nelson style.

This weekend was Joel's first real weekend back home and we loaded up the car and headed to Switzerland for a short little getaway. We plan things in a unique way in that we don't plan things. Then we get all miffed when things go wrong. We don't question this process or try to change because that's  how we roll. 

It sounds terrible, but really we have some pretty unique adventures that way. Some of us deal better than others.

Our lack of planning almost didn't pan out for us when we went to the interwebs to find a place to stay. There were no vacancies anywhere over the weekend. Unlike us, the majority of Europeans, it seems, do plan their trips ahead of time. 

We moved our dates forward slightly and found a really cool place. Score! We booked it on Tuesday, to leave on Thursday. 

I packed the car and got everything ready so that when Joel got off work Thursday we could bolt. And bolt we did. We got bout 30 minutes from home when we realized we had forgotten our passports and Joel's wallet. Which would have put a serious damper on some things. We turned around and got back on the road again, just in time to get to the place we were staying around 10pm. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and so we drove around for nearly an hour, until we realized we were at the wrong location.

We finally arrived and our hosts were welcoming, if not half asleep, so we found our hut and went to sleep. We enjoy staying in hostel like places, or generally more unique, non hotel places. This place was no exception. Called "hutnbreakfast", it was quite unusual-a loft apartment, completely renovated into 4 individual huts, a kitchen, dining area and 2 bathrooms. The huts were all individually designed by different artists. The night we got there, it was late and there were no other people so we just went to sleep. 

Our hut-a cabin with a little cabin off of the side for a child. 

The inside of Bella's hut

Another hut

From the kitchen. Our hut is to the right, past the hammock.

From our cabin, another hut and the kitchen (behind the low wall).

Our personal sitting area.

The next morning, we got up early and the hosts were already out, taking their 4 year old to school and heading to work, themselves. We headed out to Lake Constance in Konstanz, Germany. It was beautiful, albeit cold. We hit the hot spots and retreated into the Sea Life Park to get warm and see the fish. The penguins were my favorite and they were so fun, playing with Cora. 

At the end, we came outside and it was actually pretty sunny, so we walked around the water, where a bunch of tents were set up for a regatta that was over the weekend. Both girls were asleep so we sampled some wines and cheeses at a booth and pretty much just enjoyed the scenery. We grabbed some food then headed back for the evening. 

When we got back to our place, there was a guy there who was doing some laundry. He was a polish refuge who came to Switzerland with his family during World War II. We talked to him for a bit before his laundry finished. Several other people came and went while we ate our dinner and hung around. Around 7, our hosts returned and we sat around the table and got to know them while our girls played with each other. This is always my favorite part about traveling-meeting and getting to know people. 

We asked where she was from-her mother was from Argentina and her father was Swiss. She grew up in Switzerland. Her husband was from Mexico, then moved to the states, where they met. Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: so where in the states did you live? 

Fernanda: Charlotte (but with a Spanish/European accent, so I wasn't sure this is what she said.)

Me: where? 

Fernanda: Charlotte. In North Carolina. 

Me: ::deadpan::  No. Way. 

I told her that's where we were from. I asked her what brought her there and she said she had a friend who lived in south Charlotte and she moved in with her to learn English and then go to college. At UNCCharlotte. 

Where she met Ruben, her husband. 

Talk about small world. 

Her daughter was born at Presbyterian and they lived in Charlotte up until recently, when they moved back to Switzerland. 

The next morning, we got up and headed to Rhine Falls and spent most of the day there. While we were there, there was a tour group from India there as well. As we were waiting for Joel to get us some Swiss chocolate from the gift shop, a family walked up to us and were enamored by Cora. The mother and daughter just kept telling me how cute she was. Then she called her husband over. He asked if he could take a picture of us. Then he gathered his family all around us and took several pictures of me and the girls. I could hardly contain how funny I found all this. 

I wish I had a picture of my own. They were sweet and we talked for a few minutes while we waited for Joel. 

The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful, though we did leave a little early because everyone was sick. 

When I was a kid, we used to joke that every trip was like a Griswold vacation. I guess we are just carrying on that tradition. 

Things motherhood has taught me

Motherhood has taught me more than a few things about myself. 

1. I am terrible at laundry.

For instance, Bella hasn't worn her leotard to gymnastics for 3 weeks now because I couldn't find it. (I didn't really look, but that's beside the point) Today I found it in the bottom of her laundry basket. 

Nearly everything she has has a stain on it somewhere. I feel like I should buy stock in a stain remover. I sit at the washing machine, painstakingly spraying, scrubbing and soaking her clothes. I spend more time removing stains from her clothes than I do from Cora's diapers. By the way, dry erase marker? Does. Not. Wash. Out. 

There must be some kind of conspiracy with craft manufacturers and Resolve. 

2. I can function on 3 broken hours of sleep a night. For about 3 nights. At that point I may or may not function like a drunk person. Or a zombie. I appologize to anyone I have made a promise to after a 3 night bender. Or tried to bite. I can not be held responsible for anything I have done when under those kinds of circumstances.

3. I am much less judgey and more understanding with each passing year. When I was pregnant with Bella, I saw a lady in Walmart (this isn't starting out well.....) yelling at her 5ish year old. I thought, "I will never.....oh I just love my baby too much to ever yell!" 

At the ripe old age of 3, Bella has made me eat my words more often than not. "GITYOURBUTTOVERHERE." Is a very common phrase in my day to day. 

I really am pretty laid back as a parent, but when she is running off through the parking lot while I am cleaning poop from behind Cora's ears, I am not messing around. I yell because I love. Seriously. 

4. If I thought Caillou was the most annoying show for kids, Caillou in Spanish is that much more annoying. His voice is awful enough when I can understand him. Netflix needs a "delete this show forever and burn in effigy" option. Caillou, Barney and that stupid show with one eyed monster (hello, inappropriate much?!) would be n the chopping block, for sure. 

5. The most mundane things in life have become so wonderful. Like silence. And slightly warmer than room temperature food. Also, floors that have nothing on them. And rooms I can't smell before I get to them. It's the little things in life. 

And finally, the more children you have, the faster they grow. I'm pretty sure Cora was born yesterday (according to the fluffiness that is still residing around my mid section), yet somehow she is able to terrorize her sister and cause all kinds of grief to little people and train cars.