The road not taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth 

-Robert Frost

One of my favorite poems. And at the moment, feels like my life. We are at a major life cross roads right now, and I (we) don't know the right path to take. I sometimes wish someone would just make major decisions for me. Say THIS, this, is the way to go. And that would be it. But choices and change is hard. I love change. But the decisions leading up to change, I don't do so well with. There isn't one clear answer, or just one path to take. Options is great, but having options is also HARD. 

I know this seems cryptic, but it's all I can do at the moment. And just rambling about hard choices makes me feel a little better. 

Hope everyone is having a Fabulous weekend!

Mamma/Tindra photo shoot

Just a few pictures of me and my favorite little lady snapped with my phone the other day.

And then yesterday I realized after like 7 hrs after getting dressed that we were both wearing stripes! So, another mini photo session.

And look who else was wearing stripes!! He picks his own clothes every day and this was Definitely not planned! WE are just a stripe loving family!

Too cool for school

This is how jasper came out of his room today, dressed for school.

They reset top baby blogs (which I love when they do, Love finding new blogs!) so if you could pretty please click on the link, twice, and vote for us we would be super grateful!!

Five, FIVE months. Almost 1/2 a year. Cue the tears. 

You have changed SO much this month. 

For starters, teeth. You are getting them. You have been teething for a couple of months, but finally I can see them. They aren't all the way through yet, but it looks like you have 3 teeth coming in. I can feel them through your gums, bulging out the front, but they have yet to pop all the way through. 

Food. You love to eat. You get that from your mamma. You usually nurse 4-6 times a day, anywhere from 15-40 min at a time, and end the day with one pumped bottle. During the day you eat about 5 oz at a time, but right before bed you go into hibernating bear mode and eat about 10 oz in an hr. (This is why you nurse first then need a bottle about 20-30 min later. I don't mind though because it helps you sleep AWESOME! Your ped wanted you to start on some food because you dropped to 16th% in weight (from 21st) and we did cereal a few times, but after doing my own research and just using my opinions on food, we decided to skip the organic brown rice cereal and go straight to fruits and veggies. Everyone thinks you need to start with rice cereal, but I just don't see how process cereal powder is going to be better for you than organic fruits and veggies. So your first food was avacado! You were a little hesitant the first few days, but now love it! Then we moved on to carrots, then bananas and apple sauce. So far you love it all! We usually do two feedings a day, but if you skip a meal or only want a bite or two thats fine also. We are letting you call the shots on this! 

Which leads us to SLEEP. You have had a rough couple of weeks nap wise. You were napping so amazing, 2 2-3 hrs a day. Then you started waking up at 45 min. exactly, fussing for a few min. and going back to sleep so your morning nap is usually 1.5 hrs and your afternoon 2 or a little more. Still good sleep, just having to wake up halfway through your nap. We decided to switch you from your bassinet to your crib, and stop swaddling you in your woombie (after we had just gotten the new size, darn!) and you do amazing! The first night there was some whining/crying but I think thats just because you were so over tired from not having been napping very good that day, but you slept 10 hrs your first time in your crib! Now for the last 3 nights you have been sleeping 7:30PM to 6ish, eating, then going back to sleep for another hour. And naps are going great also! I guess you just wanted to be able to flip onto your belly, which you couldn't do in your bassinet. So proud of how you handled the transition! We also added the mobile to your crib, and you will lay there for about 15 minutes before you fall asleep shouting/squealing/giggling at your mobile friends. We are convinced you are shouting at them to come down and play with you. 

Hair.  Oh your beautiful hair. It's about 80 percent gone. You still have more hair than a Lot of babies your age, in fact I still get comments from strangers about your hair (you have patches of SUPER long, like 3ish inches worth) so it's kind of funny to think how long your hair would have been if it would have stayed in. The good news is I think it's done falling out! And I can already see it growing back. Regardless, you are still just as gorgeous, if not even more so than you were with your full head of hair. 

Play. You are so interactive now! You love playing with your toys, and flipping all over on your mat. It's amazing to watch you interact with yourself in the mirror, with Jasper, and little H. 

This month you had a lot of firsts! We went to book baby story time on Monday which you loved and we will be back for sure! You went to your first, second and third soccer game! You sat on the sidelines cheering Jasper on with your sweet smiles and squeals. A couple of nights ago we went out for a late dinner downtown (past Jasper and your bedtimes) and as someone was leaving they stopped by our table when they saw you to ask if you had been sleeping the whole time (you didn't sleep a second) because they just couldn't believe there was a baby 5 feet from them for an hour without hearing you fuss for even a second. That's just who you are. Even on little sleep and you were getting hungry you were still just the happiest most content baby you could possibly be. You are amazing baby girl and I'm so incredibly lucky to be your mamma. 

Looks like Tindra is following in her mamma's foot steps, her first crush is a Swede.

Oh just watching my big brother play soccer

Till a few weeks ago Tindra was sleeping in our room. I had planned to keep her in there till about 6 months, but drew snores and I think it was waking her up. Plus his early alarm clock was waking her as well. I was super nervous about it but the transition was as smooth as can be. Then a few nights ago I decided to switch T to her crib. She was outgrowing her bassinet and hasn't been sleeping as well during her naps the last two weeks. She has been sleeping in her woombie but knew it was time to stop since shes been rolling back and forth forever (but never in her bassinet- not enough room!! First night in her crib she slept 10 hrs- and the last three nights 11 hrs!! Are been flipping to her stomach and sleeping comfortable on her belly so it is working great! One more milestone little girl, you are growing way too quickly!

Before and After

I've been in Majorly need of a hair cut for about 3 months. At least. It's been almost 8 months! Gross. I'm not one to cut may hair that often, but I do try to get a trim every 3-4 months. But by the time it was time for a trim last time I had a 2 week old baby. So that wasn't happening. And by the time I was ready to leave T for an hr to go get my hair done, about 1.5-2 months ago it just never worked out. I'm the type to never make an appointment in advance (bad I know) I just get to the point where I decided I've had enough and I NEED a hair cut that day. But that obviously doesn't always work out my stylist. 

So yesterday when I finally had time to get a haircut (not taking two kids to the salon) I found out my girl who I have been going to for the past year and a half had left! Boo. So I sucked up it up and decided to try someone new. If I can get over the fact that the girl is 21 and SUPER duper bubbly (which I think I can) I'll def. go back to her. 

Before ( a couple of weeks ago) 

After

She took about 4 inches off and it Really needed it. It feels and looks super healthy so I'm happy! 

And just when I think I couldn't possibly love him more...

'skidda marinki dinki dink, skidda marinki doo I love youuuuu' I catch jasper singing to his sister

Yesterday was back to school night and I got to go check out Jasper's classroom. They all had colored a self portrait that the teacher has laminated and hung on the wall. Jasper's had me in tears laughing so hard. I hope he realizes he's about 7 billion times cuter in real life.

Frozen Pears, Take 1

What Is this?

Its cold and slimy

It's interesting.

I think I like it! 

What WE wore Wednesday

Today we had the second dose of Tindra's last shot- Drew was able to go with for like the first time since Jasper was 2 months, so we made an afternoon out of it and grabbed lunch as well! 

I've been craving some cold weather, and this morning when I woke up to feed Tindra at 4:30 I realize it was raining!! This is a big deal, it hasn't rained more than 20 min the entire summer I'm pretty sure so I opened up some windows, and when we got up for the day at 6:45 it was nice and cool in here!

 On our way to drop Jasper off at school, sans make up. 

 My first hot drink of the season!! Salted Carmel Mocha- Just as good as I remember. (now with make up on- aka mascara and hair brushed) 

 Cutie Patootie 

 Tindra's first time in the rain! She loved it just like her mamma

Our delicious lunch- went to my favorite, Mod Market and shared a 3 cheese pizza and steak sandwich. 

On Mamma

Jeans: Gap

Boots Hunters 

Tank Top: H&M

Cardigan Sweater: H&M

On Tindra

Pants/Shirt combo Harajuki Mini

Shoes: Gift from my mamma

House divided

That's what we are over. And with elections coming up I have gotten comments from a few friends about how hard that must be, so I thought I would talk about it here. 90 percent of the time it's not any sort of issue at all. I know where he stands and he knows where I stand. Neither of us (for the most part!) try to sway the other one. I see nothing wrong with having different opinions than your spouse, in fact I tend to find it a little creepy when it seems that a couple have no own opinions and say things like 'we believe' any time an issue comes up. We are our own separate people, we were raised very differently, it only makes sense that we have our own opinions. He was raised very conservatively (hello, his grandfather is a baptist minister) and I grew up in Sweden (hello, socialism?) but with parents who almost never voted the same. He was a business/finance major and I was a political science/ education major with a passion for green living. See where this is heading? We fell in love in high school before we were even eligible to vote, so naturally that didn't influence us. Over the years I have become slightly more conservative than I was, and he has become more liberal than he ever was. We both consider us more moderate than anything, so we are able to meet in the middle on a lot of issues (especially social issues) so it works for us. And when all else fails, and we find ourselves getting into a a heated debate, we just agree to disagree. Good thing we both love a good debate! As long as we both keep it civil, and know when to stop if it's getting too heated, it works well for us. Plus how boring would it be if we just agreed on everything? I have never (and doubt I ever will) agreed with every single thing a presidential candidate (or any politician) has said or done. Nor do i expect to. How crazy would that be? So why would I expect to agree politically with everything my husband believes? What about you guys? Do you side along with your husband/ significant other on all issues? And if not, how do you handle it?

I was looking at the sales ad for Sprouts while watching Netflix the other night. I always flip through it when I get it just to get ideas of what to buy- I've never actually used it for sale purposes. But why?? When I was looking through it the other night I saw a whole bunch of items that said 'buy 1 get 1 free'- FREE! Who doesn't want free? I decided to actually make a list and go shopping there- I am a horrible shopper and never make lists. I think I end up spending a lot of unnecessary money, so I'm going to try to start doing a better job and do some list/meal planning. So yesterday I made my list, cut a $5 off coupon- free money!!!- and went shopping. I got all of this for $37! And everything except for the ice cream and tortillas are organic. And $11 of that is the chicken!! Pretty sweet deal I think! Do you guys shop sales? Any tips?

Is there Anything sweeter than a sleeping baby? I think not.

Three day weekends are the best! I think we can all agree on that. But this one was even more special/needed than most. I had been missing Jasper something fierce since he started kindergarten on Tuesday, so to have 3 fun filled days with him was magical. 

We decided ahead of time to make NO plans! Starting next weekend Jasper has soccer on Saturdays and Swedish school every other Sunday, so this was really our last weekend with nothing going on for the next two months at least. 

Saturday we to Cherry Creek Reservoir- the closest thing we have to a beach here in the Denver area. 

I can't wait till next summer when T is old enough to wear sunscreen, we get her in the shade 98% of the time, but she did get a dip in the water for a few minutes twice. 

When she wasn't napping in her stroller mamma made her a little tent using towels/sheet two chairs and a stroller. She was happy as can be roller around naked on the towel in the sand.

Sunday we had a more low key day because Drew had to get a few hrs of work in in the morning. We did go to two different parks and got caught in a little 10 min rain and had to get shelter under the play structure and then had a cozy pizza movie night.

Monday was my favorite. We asked Jasper Sunday night if he could pick anything to do Monday what it would be, and he picked the zoo. The two of us used to go at least once a month, even in the winter but haven't gone since 2 weeks before Tindra came. It's just been such a HOT summer and they finally opened up a huge new zoo exhibit that's been years in the making and I've heard it's been super busy. But since he requested we decided it was the perfect time to go. 

One of the new elephants, Groucho but on such a good show! I could really tell he was happy in his new environment. He even went swimming! 

On Mamma

Dress: H&M

Shirt:Gap

Shoes:Conver, Target

Hat: gift from friend

On Baby: Vintage, Etsy

On Big Brother: Shirt, Target
 Shorts, no clue?
Sun Glasses: H&M (from adult section but he loved and wanted them)