valentine's day.

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happy valentine's day, all!

<3

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3.

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The other day I had a revelation that 3 is the absolute, perfect age. Then, I kind of freaked out because I realized that Asher will be 4 this summer. I mean I will have a 4 and 7 year old. I can't believe that I will be a mom of two little boys. Where did my babies go?

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I settled down after realizing that Asher's 3rd year is only halfway up. He is still very much my baby. He is still so little and sweet and cuddly.  He plays with my hair ( his hair, he says, it's his ) and needs me in the most baby of ways. He is learning so much and doing all the hilarious wonderful 3 year old things. He loves when I tell him how awesome and wonderful he is - he lights up. He brings me a pillow and says, "I wanted to do something nice for you Mommy!" He runs around the playground but stops to yell out, "Mommy..... I love you!"

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I still have half a year of 3 and I might need to have more babies one day, so that I can get a chance to do 3 again.

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mountain drive.

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     I snapped these photos the other day when we took a little drive through the foothills behind our house. One thing that I love about taking photography classes is that since I am a horrible procrastinator, it forces me to have these, "crap I need photos for tomorrow," moments where I do things that I wouldn't normally do such as take quick photos of the mountains through a dirty windshield or of the sunset through blinds in my bedroom. Then later I'm like oh wow, I like those! I love the feeling I get looking at these photos, it's the feeling I truly get when I'm in the mountains as well - peace and freedom and happiness, a breath of fresh air and a reminder of true everlasting beauty. <3

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cord blood banking / lifebankUSA.

( Asher, a few days old )

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     I'm partnering with LifeBankUSA on my blog again today to share a little bit about cord blood banking and to tell you about another great giveaway they are hosting!

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     The right to make choices as a parent is an issue that is heavy on my heart lately with all the talk about vaccination in the media. We are lucky to live in a world where as parents we have the freedom to make many choices. One thing I have learned though is that this freedom of choice doesn't come without an uphill battle. I will tell you from experience that whatever choice you make as a parent, someone will have a problem with it and someone will tell you all about it - especially if you go against what society is comfortable with. At the end of the day, no parent is perfect and we all have to make the choices that are best for us and for our family.

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Cord blood banking is a relatively new choice that we have the option of at the birth of our children. LifeBankUSA is a private cord blood banking company and they are also one of few companies that offers placental tissue banking as well. Collecting and storing stem cells from a newborn's umbilical cord and from the placenta at birth could one day be used to treat serious illness in your child or a family member!

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     Private stem cell banking is a little pricy but LifeBankUSA offers a lot of payment plans to help out. Financially, cord blood banking was not feasible for us when our babies were born. With Asher, I planned to not cut his umbilical cord immediately following his birth which would have additionally cut out cord blood banking as an option for us. However, his cord did end up being cut fairly quickly because of complications that required a NICU stay so looking back I wish I would have at least donated both of my babies cord blood. The science of using stem cells from birth to treat illness later in life is absolutely fascinating to me. I definitely recommend doing a little research into cord blood and placental tissue banking if you are expecting!

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LifeBankUSA is currently giving away 3 Uniden Lullaboo Video Baby Moniters (valued at $105 each!) on Facebook! So seriously, go check it out and while you're at it head over to their website and educate yourself a little bit on the latest in cord blood and placenta tissue banking!

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Did you chose cord blood banking for your children? Have you received any negative feedback because of choices you've made as a parent? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments below!

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Also, when Asher was born our midwife noticed that he had his toes wrapped around his umbilical cord and encouraged Aaron to take a photo - such a sweet and special moment! <3
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I was compensated for this post; thanks for supporting my family by reading!

raising boys.

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     i must say that having boys has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. i grew up as one of 3 girls and really had no idea what little boys were like. having the opportunity to raise two boys has opened my eyes to this secret little world that i knew nothing about and it has been so rewarding and so, so much fun. my boys are sweet and tender and loving and they are also filled with a crazy rambunctious energy that can be incredibly entertaining and of course majorly tiring as well.
     we have tried our best to raise these little boys without over-powering them with gender stereotypes. it has always been a huge aggravation to me that boys are labeled as little men and wear khaki pants and play with trucks from birth and that's that. our little boys have been raised with dolls and kitchen toys. they've worn leggings from the girl's section of target and my blog has received hits from google searches for "boys wearing nail polish". they have tea parties and have fallen in love with cute little stuffed animals babies.
    having said that, it has equally been a joy to see the gender differences that i do believe exist in my sons emerge and i love embracing those qualities as well. these boys bounce of the walls like nobody's business. they jump off the dressers and do complete flips onto the bed like they've been studying gymnastics for years. i don't ever remember a kind of high energy like that growing up with sisters. it's hard on one hand because i'm a grown up and my natural disposition is not to want to run around like a crazy person all day. but man when these boys pull it out of me, we have so much fun together. we have dance parties on the bed and i chase them around the house being "kissy monster." and gosh, that joy on their faces and their fit of erupting giggles when i (literally i do this) pile them up under couch cushions and then fall with all of my weight on top... it reminds me that i'm raising boys and i couldn't be happier.
     it's a tricky world we live in right now, sorting through stereotypes and differences and figuring out what is and isn't okay to say and think. we're evolving as a culture and as with each evolution there is good and there is bad. of course i do not believe that as a whole girls are one way and boys are another. everyone is different and unique and there are exceptions to every "rule". i also feel strongly about not wanting to completely lose sight of embracing the uniqueness of gender differences and the beauty of being able to appreciate them for what they are.
     so one one hand i'll continue to teach my boys that no matter what the other kids at school say, it's ok to have a monster high notebook and watch my little pony - but on the other hand i'll spend an evening lying on my back flinging them off my legs as far as i can and i might think to myself, "they are such boys," because they are, and it's absolutely wonderful. :)

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mondays with mom.

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our schedule has changed significantly for the second half of the school year and so far it's working out well, we'll see. now on mondays i am at home with asher while aaron is at work and roman is at school. i don't often get to spend time with just asher and it really has been nice. when roman was little it was always him and i spending the days together while aaron worked. these mondays with asher have reminded me a little of those days and of the simple things that i love to do with my babies: take a trip to target to browse, see wooden trains scattered across the floor and take a few pictures in the morning light. :)

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( asher shirt: old navy clearance - similar here )

random friday things.

happy friday, world!
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so, the classes that i'm taking this semester started this week which was nice. i'm overanalyzing things but also a little excited for what i'll be working on and to be back to school. i'm kind of just wasting time right now while i try to figure out where i want to transfer. ugh. living in the moment, right? who cares, right?? right? ;)
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i started watching the bachelor.... i used to watch this show way back in high school when it first came out and i got a wild idea to watch this season. and then i may have gone to amazon and bought a couple seasons to binge watch. i know, i know, not my proudest moments here people. is anyone else fascinated by the bachelor? like so many thoughts, so many thoughts!!
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it's been kind of  warm the past couple of weeks which was pretty lovely i must say. i've definitely taken advantage of all the end-of-winter sales to stock up on a few winter things that i need... okay want. seriously, there are some good clearance deals out there right now! even though i consider myself a warm weather kind of person, i kind of hated how the day after Christmas we started putting swimsuits and spring clothes out at work. it depresses me how our culture is always pushing and pushing for the next thing. it makes life extra exhausting.
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that photo up there? i was the photographer for my brother in law's wedding which was over a month ago and i haven't even started culling through the images. oh lord. also, i need a new external hard drive because i left mine on the train. ( true story ) does anyone have any good quality / low price suggestions for me??
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have a great weekend everyone! <3
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