happy thoughts.

some happy thoughts of late:

the sweet things about this little boy:

when he plays "baby",

when he acts all dramatically adorable during the times when he actually lets me photograph him,

early mornings when he is all sticky sweet and rolls all over me squeaking, "hi mama"s at me.

when he is sad in his car seat and all he wants is to "cuggle" (cuddle) and kiss and hug.
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finding old mama/baby photos like these.

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photo shoots that turn out all dreamy and wonderful.

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freshly washed baby hair and finally fitting into a thrifted treasure that i bought for him when i still couldn't imagine him ever growing this big.

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many mountain adventures with these guys. :)
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an early morning starbucks and cloudy park date with my littles.
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soft skin, natural light, his favorite shirt.
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roman taking to heart and showing off to us after i keep telling him how adventurous he is.
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and these brothers, of course. always trying to make me grow as a person, even when i don't feel up for it. :)

portraits of roman.

roman, august 2013.

twenty-five months.

our asher michael, 

almost twenty-five months :)
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life right now / july update.

wow, i can't believe that we are already halfway through august! sheesh.

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just a little recap on life right now for us since my last little update of our roadtrip here!

we found a condo super quickly and were miraculously able to move in right away since the property was vacant and the previous owner let us rent from her until the closing.

so basically, we left ohio on the 4th of july and we were in our new home on july 15th!

i actually really did not expect, obviously, to find something so fast. the plan was to stay with my grandparents while we looked for a place which i figured would at least take a month. however, we were very thankful and relieved to find a place of our own so quickly and start settling down!

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here are some photos to share a little bit of what happened around here to finish up our crazy-fun-getting rid of most of our belongings-moving across the country-and finding a new home july!

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aaron + roman on the rock climbing structure at the park near our house. ( i know, i know you thought it was a real mountain, right? ) we love this park and have spent a lot of time there! // love this guy who i met 13 years ago in july at church camp! // the boys at the trail near the foothills by our house // asher sleeping after a fun time swimming at my grandparents' country club

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i adore this photo of asher.
i'm also loving all the sunflowers around here.

my view of the mountains + lake on a drive near our house // foothill hikes // more playground fun // asher loves carrying his own backpack now, and it's simply adorable of course

little ash on his birthday morning. what a darling little sunshine he is // coffee everyday in my "new" thrifted mug // clothes drying from the splash park ( also at the park near our house! ) // new wonderful colorful pottery barn mugs - FREE from craigslist!

and while i'm on the topic of criagslist... let me just profess my love.

have you checked out the free section? it is amazing! we used to check the free section on craigslist in our old town but there was hardly anything ever posted. here however, the free section is crazy full of all kinds of things! who knew so many people were getting rid of so much stuff and are willing to give it away to anyone who might be able to use it? we pretty much outfitted our kitchen as you can see. we also got a really nice, perfectly clean toaster oven. a printer. a bike.

and... a mattress and boxspring! i am seriously totally into thrifting and buying second hand but have claimed that i would never get a second hand mattress or couch. however, i now own both. and it feels great. we bought a really fantastic brand new looking microfiber loveseat from a thrift store and we got a twin mattress/boxspring from craigslist. the thing is with mattresses is that you of course have to be careful and very picky. the mattress we got came from a very clean house and the man we met was super nice! it is seriously such a thrill for aaron and i to find creative ways to find things for our life + home. it is such a good feeling to put things to good use while also saving landfills and not adding to consumerism.
also, we found our condo on craigslist! so, i'm just saying - it's awesome.

so handsome with his new haircut // playing at the library

more hiking at the foothills!

i have seen SO many rainbows here since we moved // my littlest + me :)

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also, thanks for your votes on top baby blogs! happy wednesday!

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happy thoughts.

well, it's a new week!

things are changing slowly around here... we've still been busy doing a whole lot of nothing, but also hiking a ton in the mountains which has been absolutely won.der.ful. in every way. :)

we're getting ready to head to my grandparents' house for another couple days of yard work. aaron will probably be starting his new job this week or next. i have a photo shoot coming up this weekend. i have been busy scouring homeschool curriculums and trying to put some plans in place for roman's kindergarten this fall.

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 amidst all of that, i wanted to stop in and share some miscellaneous photos from recently and some of the little "happy thoughts" in our lives right now :)

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two little faces and four little hands with chubby fingers to adore.

also, it kills me that roman love to wear my t-shirts to bed right now. ;)

 ( yes, i know they have mullets. this was pre-haircuts! )

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these crazy curls, and this soft, smooth, cuddly little baby boy of mine.

i always hate to trim his hair, but as you can see it gets a little out of control. ;)

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asher's spider obsession. 

he literally LOVES this little collection of "piders" as he calls them. he has all these little games he plays with them and i love when he says, "where pider?" or "he nice!" while petting the big tarantula. it kills me that asher is getting big enough for these things. i still think of him as the little baby padding around, but here is now-  packing up roman's hand-me-down backpack with his favorite toys.
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summer beauty.
now that i really think about it, i am definitely not ready for fall.. and surely not winter. how will i be able to survive without all the sunflowers and sunshine?

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asher eating a quesadilla on the counter,

colorful bowls + great natural light.

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that's it for now ;) what are your happy things?

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would you take a minute and vote for me?

a peek into summers past.

oh my goodness, i cannot believe that these photos were taken only a year ago!

hanging out in the backyard, in the peaceful countryside, soybean fields + purple flowers.

asher - just a year old, romping around in his cloth diaper, little peachy-pie hair curling in the wind,

roman - four, flying paper airplanes and always running commentary in his own little imaginative world...

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we have moved two times since then. to our little cabin house in town and now to our condo in colorado. it is just crazy to think what all can happen in a year. and yet, everything feels comfortably still the same. although they look a little younger + chubbier, the faces and personalities you see here, are just the same as the ones i am loving on today. 

asher, tearing about, arms always flailed out to the side, stopping here and there to notice nature's treasures.

and roman, leaving behind a fury of tape + paper, his mind spinning with thoughts and ideas.

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so here we are, another summer passing by, only to become another sweet long ago memory. i can already feel fall in the air, and slowly but surely we will need to start  hunkering down at home, busing ourselves with schoolwork and jobs, kindergarten at home for rome, and the never ending task of trying to entertain asher while he is climbing all over us reminding us to slow down 

because babies indeed do not keep. ;)

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p.s. thank you to those who left comments on my breastfeeding post. breastfeeding is something that i am so passionate about and i absolutely loved hearing the different takes on what breastfeeding has meant for you and your little lovely ones!

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world breastfeeding week + why i don't find judgement "natural"

( just a couple recent favorite photos of me + my current and former nurslings )

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i’m having a lot of conflicting feelings this year during world breastfeeding week. i feel like it might be safe to say that i am as or more passionate about breastfeeding as anyone. i have been breastfeeding for the past 5 years of my life which isn’t much to some people but to most people i’d say it is. that’s a lot of breastfeeding.

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breastfeeding is something that has become such a way of life for me. personally, i always knew i would breastfeed. and now, i  feel like maybe i have a million different breastfeeding topics that i could expand upon such as the many benefits of breastfeeding, my journey and struggles breastfeeding a tongue tied baby, my experience with extended breastfeeding, breastfeeding a second time around, breastfeeding + the nicu, breastfeeding + co-sleeping… and so-on and so-forth.

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breastfeeding is something that i am passionate about. that i love. that is part of me. that is part of my children. but, this year breastfeeding is bringing up a lot of of other feelings for me and one of those is the feeling of exclusion.

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in my life, i have definitely felt a lot of “exclusion” from other people when it comes to my beliefs and parenting practices. and heck, also my lifestyle in general. the list includes: getting married young, having babies young, breastfeeding, breastfeeding (albeit modestly) in public (GASP), breastfeeding my toddlers (FAINT),  sleeping with my babies, sleeping with my toddlers, delayed vaccinations/opting out of vaccinations, homeschooling, etc. sometimes this bothers me a lot. it bothers me that people feel that they can say whatever they want to say to me about my choices when i haven't said anything to them. this really bothers me in any situation. i cannot imagine opening my mouth and judging someone so openly. so harshly. i’m sure all mothers can relate to me here.  there is just something about becoming a mother that opens you up to this world of everyone telling you what to do and most importantly what you are doing wrong. I will never understand this. never, never  - never.

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and then there is the exclusion on the other side. i attended a breastfeeding event recently in my new town which is where this observation really stood out to me. one part of me was very happy to be attending this event. it was something special that i had planned to do with my littlest son. it was fun to be around a lot of people who shared in my beliefs and to be in a place where i did not have to feel excluded. however, it also made me feel uneasy. it made me feel uneasy to be in a place where women who don’t breastfeed or can’t breastfeed wouldn’t feel welcome.  a place where you would feel guilty if you planned a natural childbirth but ended up with a c-section. a place where you might want to run and hide before whipping out the disposable diapers from your bag when all the other babies were wearing cloth.

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i know that we “hippie” moms like to think of ourselves as being so “natural”. i am pretty obsessed with the word natural come to think of it. but i never want judgement to come "naturally" to me either. that's when i know something is wrong with the way i'm viewing motherhood.

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obviously,  i am passionate about breastfeeding and i believe that “breast milk is best". i would love to inspire other women and help them to be able to feel that they too can choose breastfeeding for their families. however, i do not believe it is the end all. i do not believe that i am the best mother. not at all. i have so many limitations and weaknesses as a mother.
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i guess what i'm trying to say, is that even though people have definitely made me feel excluded because of my parenting choices, i never want to make someone else feel that way. i’m so thankful that i have been able to connect with mothers out there who are doing things all different ways and i’m thankful that they have felt that they could connect with me as well. each one of these mothers i admire for different reasons. i am thankful for their kind comments to me, and i am thankful that they have never made me feel excluded. let’s all please continue to be friends and build each other up. that is what i want most of all.

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i have a lot of work to do to become more of the person that i want to be and of course i'm not sure what the answer is. i'm not saying that the event i attended was a "bad thing" or that i will never attend an event like that again. these are just the thoughts that are accompanying my mind as i celebrating nursing and what it has meant for my babies and myself.

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we all have a different story as it relates to feeding our babies. for me, it has been exclusive breastfeeding at birth and extended breastfeeding against societal norms for both of my boys. there have been great joys and also struggles. this year, during world breastfeeding week,  i would love to hear what role breastfeeding has played in your life, if any, and what it has meant for you :)
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(asher, breastfeeding, november 2012)