"One is none, but two is a ton"

"One is none, but two is a ton." Twice, someone shared that with me while we were expecting Will. One child seems like nothing once you have two. Wow, is that ever true! I'm currently wondering how parents manage more than two! (And really admire my mother-in-law who had 6 kids!)

Will turned 2 months old last week, and I am slowly but surely figuring out how to manage two kids at home everyday plus other household/life duties that need to be done (ie. take a shower). Actually, I take a shower at night once Brendan is home...that works for me. I also have to laugh at some of the things I thought were difficult when I was first home with Charlotte. Of course, those things really seemed difficult then - I was newly transitioning into being a full-time mommy - but now they kinda seem like a joke!

Obviously, with two children I can't devote all my time and attention to just one of them as I used to. So now I often find myself facing these sort of dilemmas:

• Continue nursing the infant OR change the toddler's dirty diaper?
• Console the crying infant OR stop to discipline the toddler?
• Nurse the infant OR kiss the toddler's boo-boo?

AND that's not even counting taking care of myself...like eating and such!

As I mentioned though, I am slowly getting the hang of taking care of two little ones, and I know they will not be this little and needy for long. My days are full and I truly enjoy it that way.

Will has started to smile and "coo" at us, which we love! Charlotte has already gotten down "Don't kick/hit me!", which normally happens when she invades his baby space (ie. play mat or bouncy chair) and Will touches her with his uncoordinated baby movements. :) Ah, I can only imagine what will happen when he really DOES know how to bother her! Charlotte is actually a wonderful big sister. She enjoys "helping" me change his diaper, burp him, and often runs to get her baby dolls to feed and put down for a nap whenever I'm feeding Will.

So, two is a ton, but totally worth it!

Mommy Makes Toys {Dyed Pasta}

Things have been a little quiet around the blog this month. Sorry about that. I've had blog post ideas bouncing around in my head, but since I haven't organized the Blog Plans section of my Home Planning binder it's hard for me to be purposeful about getting those posts written. My desire is to have this little planning section in my binder so that I will be more consistent in my blog posting; however, we don't have a printer at home or a local FedEx Kinko's so I've got to send Brendan the files to print off at his office...and I'm just lazy and haven't gotten around to doing that.

Anyways...this post is not about my desire to plan blog posts better, but about a fun little activity Charlotte and I did together recently.

One of my goals for this year is to plan more purposeful learning activities for Charlotte since she is now at an age (currently 17 months) where she is much more engaged with the world around her. One blog I follow [Totally Tots] recently posted instructions for making dyed pasta. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would work great for us. I could easily find the needed supplies, and I knew Charlotte would enjoy playing with the little pasta shapes.

Dying the pasta was super easy! I was also pleasantly surprised with how quick the pasta dried even in our crazy humid climate. The finished pasta...




There are really LOTS of different things we could do with the pasta, which I'm really excited about. The first thing we did was to keep the different colors separated in small plastic containers. Then, I just set Charlotte up at the table and let her do whatever she wanted to do. :) Well of course the first thing she wanted to do was eat the pasta (I even did this right after a large snack to avoid that)! So, we established that this pasta was not to be eaten, and then she just had fun playing with it.







Charlotte played with the pasta for 30 minutes and would have kept playing longer if I hadn't decided to move on to something else. This really gave me a great confidence boost as I look to plan more activities for Charlotte in the future. Dyed pasta = Success!

[If you're at all interested in the instructions for dying pasta, here's the website.]

Learning to listen for God's plans

One year ago, Brendan, Charlotte and I boarded a plane headed to Madrid.

My plans for this evening included writing a post reflecting back on our past year of being expatriates.

God's plan was for me to hold my 15-month old daughter when she woke up crying from her sleep because way too many nasty teeth are coming in at one time...and that hurts. :(

So, we held her and brought her all her favorite things to help her calm down - milk, cold grapes, and of course, music. Charlotte just loves listening to music these days (especially this). And she eventually calmed down enough to go back to sleep.

God has been speaking to Brendan and I a lot recently about listening to Him and seeking Him for direction to our days. So, tonight I'll put off writing about living abroad in exchange for being a mommy-always-on-call....because that was God's plan.

I'm so grateful I was listening.

A Year of Firsts

Our baby girl...Sweet Pea...Tooter...CG...Charlotte Grace...whatever you call her, she is no longer much of a baby. October 20th was her 1st birthday!

It is hard for me to believe that her first year of life has passed by, but I thought it would be fun to re-cap some of the highlights of Charlotte's "Year of Firsts".



First Visit to a Pumpkin Patch

 

First Trip to the Beach

First Trip to Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC

First Toe Snack

First Spanish Siesta

First Bath

First Card Game

First Time Crawling

First (and hopefully only :)) Crop-Top

First Madrid Metro Ride



First Plot to Take Over the World



First Picture with the Burro

First Mohawk

In those early days of Charlotte's life when I was exhausted and weary of caring for a newborn, I was not sure that time would ever go by quickly as people told me it would. But they were right...it has flown by! Brendan and I are LOVING being parents. God is using Charlotte to mold and stretch our faith in ways we never thought possible.

We are looking forward to the year to come. Maybe there won't be as many "firsts", but with a full-fledged toddler on our hands it will be anything but boring!

Swimming Pool to Emergency Room - our baby's first swimming experience

Charlotte & Daddy in the big pool

Charlotte has always been a very sweet, happy baby, but there aren't too many things that stick out to me as things that she loves. She's never gotten overly excited when we sing silly songs to her, or give her a bath, or when she plays with a specific toy.

So when we met up with some friends at a Madrid public pool last Saturday, we were so excited to see how much our Sweet Pea loved the water.

We had not been to a public pool in Madrid before, but friends had told us about their experiences. Some were good, some not so good...especially with babies. So, I was kind of prepared for us not to stay long but we quickly found that it was much like public pools that we'd experienced in the States....oh, except for the part where half the women had no swim tops on and children were running around naked! :)

Hortaleza Public Pool - Madrid

I thought it would be a good idea to try the "infantil" area first - aka. kiddie pool. This is where we saw all the naked kids and moms without tops. I guess they don't have to worry about tan lines. Charlotte had fun there; she crawled & splashed around and we were able to get some pictures...although pictures these days are getting rather difficult because she doesn't like to sit still long enough to smile for the camera...oh well, lots of candid shots!

We wear LOTS of sunscreen -
we're a really pale family!

After the kiddie area, we decided to see how Charlotte liked the big pool. This is when she really came alive! Pictures could not capture how much she loved splashing around in the water. She was all smiles! It was so fun to watch her enjoy something so much.

I really wish we had tried the pool earlier in the summer since we're leaving for Hong Kong today, but now that we know she likes the water so much we'll plan plenty of water-related outings in Hong Kong.

You may be wondering...where does the emergency room play into all this? Well, we have been so so so so blessed with how healthy Charlotte has been in her short life - especially since we've been living in Spain and our options for doctors are not the greatest. Please don't hate me when I tell you that she has yet to be sick - she's had some icky days adjusting to travel or teething, but she hasn't even had a cold yet.

So is it really any surprise that she picked up some kind of virus from the public pool? No, not really. I should have been expecting it, but I was totally caught off guard when I thought she was pretty hot on Sunday then checked her temperature to find out it was 103!! That scared me!

Thankfully she didn't really have any other symptoms of being sick, but she did continue running a fever the following day so we called the doctor (who said she spoke English but doesn't :)). She told Brendan she wanted us to take Charlotte to the emergency room, so we did...Charlotte's first ER experience.

I didn't take any pictures, but this was actually one of the best ER visits I've ever had in my life. You wouldn't think that would be the case since it was my own child I was taking and we are in a foreign country and can't communicate that great. But this pediatric emergency room was great! It was a short walk from our flat, so Brendan took a taxi home from work then we walked up there. It was also surprisingly efficient...most things in Spain are "manana". They take their sweet time, so we expected to be there a while. I'm pretty sure we were in and out in an hour! Have you ever experienced that in the U.S.?! I haven't.

I wish you could have heard how they pronounced Charlotte's name. It was so funny! We listened carefully for it and then went back to the room they called us to. The nurse or doctor or some medical person was already in there waiting for us. He checked Charlotte out and everything seemed to be fine besides her temperature, so they gave us some acetiminophen and sent us home. Brendan listened carefully and communicated pretty well with the guy (and we had our Spanish-English dictionary handy...thanks, Bradley!). Not bad for our first Kinne family emergency room experience...not bad at all.

I'm so thankful my daughter loves the pool, but I'm ever more thankful that God protected her little body and helped her fight off an infection without much issue.

AND we are off to Hong Kong this evening! I'm sure we'll have plenty of interesting stories to share with you over the next 6 weeks.

*Check out our Kinne Photos for more pictures of our swimming adventure!

Celebrations that honor the Lord

My Birthday Celebration with Brendan in 2007 -
isn't that an awesome cake he made for me?!

Charlotte was born right before "holiday season" in the U.S. [This isn't the direction this post will be taking, but I actually have no problem with saying "holiday season" because I think of the time from the end of October through the beginning of a new year in January as the holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's).]

Ok, back on track...during the bleary, exhausted months of having a newborn we also got to celebrate many of her "first" holidays. We didn't do a whole lot of thinking about how we were going to celebrate; really, I just wanted to try to start sleeping again and could have cared less what food we were having for Thanksgiving or starting any new family traditions for Christmas. Charlotte actually did give us something to be HUGELY thankful for by sleeping through the night a few days before Thanksgiving...that will always be a special Thanksgiving memory for me. :)

Kinne Family - Halloween 2009
Can't you tell we weren't getting much sleep?

Now that those crazy, sleep-deprived days are past, and we've gone through our own sort of "spring holiday season" - celebrating Easter, Mother's Day, Brendan's birthday, Father's Day, and our anniversary - we've really started doing some thinking about how we celebrate. Especially since we are parents. We've begun talking about Charlotte's 1st birthday and this coming Christmas (since she'll be a more active participant this year). We've been talking about traditions, gift giving, and spending.

Then, I read this passage in Acts 7:

"That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made." (the italics are mine)

Stephen is speaking here of the Israelites after Moses leads them out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.

It really got me to thinking. How often do our celebrations honor us - our plans, our stuff, our culture, our accomplishments - rather than the One who made us, who gave us life? Do we celebrate in a way that honors God?

Now as Brendan and I discuss how we are going to celebrate Charlotte's first birthday - and her future birthdays - we're planning with this question in mind "Does this celebration honor God?". Or is it about us? About stuff? About what our culture tells us we "need" to do to celebrate our child's birthday?

See, we really don't think our daughter needs to receive a crazy amount of gifts to celebrate that God gave her life. And we don't think we need to break the bank spending money on a party. I personally know that I struggle with making lots of plans and comparing my plans to others to see if I'm good enough. That doesn't honor God, so I'm seeking His counsel and wisdom as I plan Charlotte's first birthday in order to plan in a way that does honor him.

Charlotte's First Christmas
getting some snuggle time with her Papa & PoPo

Above all else, we really want God to be glorified in the celebrations we have - whether those are Christian or secular celebrations. And we want how we celebrate to always point back to Jesus. I know this won't always be easy...did I mention I have an issue with planning a little too much?! :) But I look forward to these times of celebration as ways to share God's love with the people we love (and maybe people we don't even know :)).

Adventures in Making Baby Food

Before Charlotte was born I had thought I would try my hand at making baby food for her when the time came. My reasoning was not that Brendan and I are health food nuts or food purists...I simply did not want to spend the money it would cost to buy jarred baby food. Then we found out we were moving to Spain, and I was even more on-board with the idea. Thankfully we moved here before Charlotte needed baby food, so I had time to scope things out and prepare myself for the endeavor.

Actually before we even left the U.S., I picked up this baby food cookbook, Cooking for Baby, at Williams-Sonoma. I also looked into specialty cookware, ie. Beaba Babycook, because I thought that might make the process easier. The price tag is pretty high on those convenient machines ($150) and we didn't want to buy electronics before moving overseas, so we held off on purchasing one. Once we got to Spain, we saw that they were also pricey here, and I just wasn't sold on it being that much more convenient. I decided to go the basic way of cooking the food then blending/mashing/etc.

Being a first time mom and not really all that familiar with babies anyway, I really knew nothing about starting a baby on solids....so I read a lot! I also scouted out my options for baby food from the time we moved to Spain in February until our trip back to the U.S. at the end of March. I knew what I had seen in passing at the grocery store in the U.S., so I checked out what was offered in Spanish mercados (grocery stores) just so I knew what commercial baby food was offered.

Here is a sampling of what you will find for babies in Spain:

{Starter cereal is Cereal without gluten}

{Cereal with honey - note that it's for babies 6 months+}

{Ham & Veggies}

So I found out that in Spain they just jump right in with like 4 meals a day and all types of foods. I might not know much about introducing solids, but I knew enough from my [American] books that that wasn't the way we were going to go with Charlotte. So, that "solid"-ified my decision to make food for her rather than buying jarred food. :)

I've now been making fruit, veggie, and meat purees for her for about 3 months now. It's taken some work but really hasn't been that time consuming. She has been so kind as to eat just about everything we've given her - the exception is avocados, but we also don't do a very good job of picking ripe ones. One of her favorite foods has been butternut squash...I'm just sad that I can't find it anymore here; I'm hoping to find it again in the fall and do some more creative things with it.

I really can't imagine how much it would cost us to buy jarred baby food, but just looking at the prices, I think we're saving a ton! And it is nice to know that Charlotte is eating wholesome food with no preservatives...I know exactly what goes into her food.

Some things I will do differently next time around:

• Plan more - it is just in my natural to plan. (I'm about to start putting together a homekeeping organizer :)) But with Charlotte, I would get in a frenzy making a lot of purees, then get in a slump (often caused by her disinterest in eating). With our next baby, I'll be more consistent with making food on some sort of schedule so that I don't look in the freezer and think, "Whoa! I need to make some food for this kid!"
• Start saving larger glass containers sooner - so far I have just been freezing Charlotte's purees in ice cube trays which has worked out great for us. But I've just recently started holding onto and cleaning small-size glass food containers to use to freeze foods as her portion sizes increase. I wish I had more of these.

Sweet Tea & Watermelon

This post actually has nothing to do with sweet tea or watermelons, although Charlotte is looking quite cute in the watermelon dress she received from her great-grandmother, Mommie Mop! But sweet tea and watermelon have been keeping me cool - and sane - while we endure the hot Madrid summer with no A/C.

I actually haven't written on the blog in a while and just wanted to do a little catching up. I mentioned in my Monday gratitude post that I've been in a sort of "funk". I've just felt down about a lot of things and really felt like if it wasn't one thing that was weighing on my mind then it was something else. I've talked to Brendan about it and mentioned that it was also frustrating because I also feel like I'm closer to the Lord than I ever have been, so shouldn't I be able to shake out of these down times?! He reminded me that spiritual warfare is going to be stronger when I'm closer to the Lord and a greater threat to Satan....huh, thanks sweetie, for that reminder! That definitely helped me put things in perspective and, as the Lord always does, He is bringing peace, contentment, and joy to this time that we are in Spain. I still miss my family and friends and American culture, but I know our time here will not last forever and I don't want to miss out on what the Lord can use me to do while we're here.

On that note, Brendan and I are really excited to be leading/hosting a community group at our church, Oasis Madrid, starting in the fall. God used community groups in a big way in Raleigh to shape and grow our faith, and we love being able to serve others by opening our home and feeding and caring for people. A friend from our previous community group in Madrid who just moved back to the U.S. recently reminded me how awesome and special it is for us to open our home to others; to make it a place of sanctuary and rest for those who enter it - whether that is my family, friends, or strangers. That really started getting me excited about leading and hosting a community group again!

As I'm also now a stay-at-home mommy and homemaker, God has been teaching me a lot about what those roles mean for me. I always dreamed about this time of my life - kind of romantically, not thinking about the hard parts - and then when I found myself here I really didn't know what to do! I found this great blog post recently on Passionate Homemaking that has helped me begin to think through what the purpose of my home is. It's entitled, What is the purpose of the home?, and I would highly recommend reading it. The blog's author, Lindsay, sought scripture to define what God intends our homes to be. I intend to spend time meditating and praying on these purposes in the coming months and use this time in my life to create a vision for my role as a mother and caretaker of my home.

And I know you would all be disappointed if I did not include an update on Charlotte...or as Brendan and I like to call her,

"Little Explorer"

"Pebbles"

and "Sweet Pea"

"Little Explorer" best captures her current stage! She is into everything! Actually, not quite everything, and for that I'm thankful. :) She really just likes to explore "off-limits" areas of our apartment, which are of course interesting because we don't encourage her to play there. She's also pushing the limits of her physical abilities...you know, seeing if she can fly off the bed! Daddy grabs her ankle though, so she doesn't get far. She really has always been a child who likes to see what new thing her body can do...she quickly jumps from one development to another because she just NEVER settles for what she can currently do. I think there were only about 2 weeks between her sitting up completely on her own to then crawling...the girl just doesn't like to sit still!

So she is now pulling herself up to standing in all sorts of places...her crib, on Mommy or Daddy if we are on the floor with her, and objects that move and can't support her attempts to pull up on them! :0 She has thankfully avoided any big tumbles in the past few weeks. Her two bottom front teeth finally popped in a couple weeks ago, so she's not actually putting everything in her mouth like she used to.

Brendan and I are really just amazed at how fast she's grown, and continues to grow. We've been watching the World Cup this summer, which has been fun since we live in a European city and especially since Spain is in the Final! The World Cup is played every four years so the last one we (mainly Brendan) watched was right before our wedding in 2006. I commented to Brendan the other day that the next time we watch the World Cup we'll have a 4 year-old! Crazy!

Vamos Espana!!

Happy First Father's Day, Brendan!

{Brendan with Charlotte soon after she was born}

Eight months ago my incredible husband, Brendan, became a daddy when our daughter, Charlotte Grace, was born. In typical Brendan fashion, he was not a bit worried about becoming a parent whereas I was full of questions and "what ifs". During my pregnancy his calm kept me stable. I was reminded then that God provided me with a wonderful complement to myself.

 

In the first days after Charlotte was born when I felt like I was grasping at straws to remain sane amidst the exhaustion and uncertainity of caring for my first child, Brendan jumped in to do new father things like he had been created for it his whole like - and I absolutely believe that he was! In those days, I saw that God had given Brendan natural instinct and ability to be a father.

My unselfish husband changed diapers (even those first poopy ones!), brought Charlotte to me to nurse (I had a C-section and it was a hard recovery), prayed and encouraged me while I learned how to nurse Charlotte and figure out her new little cries, posted wonderful accounts on our blog about Charlotte's first days, and just showed me how much his heart belonged to the Lord.

I don't think that I could thank God enough for grabbing ahold of my husband's heart and changing his life. Brendan's desire to be a godly father and husband is evident in everything he does. He provides love for us through the time we spend together as a family. He joyfully goes about the work God has given him to provide financially for our family - to put a roof over our heads, food on the table, and far, far more. He challenges me to not let our faith in Christ stay within the walls of our home but to extend to others.

Oh, and how I look forward to the adorable, can't-say-no father he is going to be to our little girl! How I look forward to seeing him develop love and discipline and so many other new attributes as our girl (and family) grows!

Wouldn't you do anything for a girl who falls asleep in your arms like this?!

I'm so excited to be sharing this life with him, sharing in the joys and struggles of raising our daughter, each having our own relationship with Jesus but also having one relationship together as husband and wife. God has richly blessed me and Charlotte!

Happy First Father's Day, Brendan!!

We love you!

One Thousand Gifts - Post #10

Ah, another Monday. It is already a beautiful day here in Madrid. I've got all our windows open and am ready for the heat. Actually, I'm not ready for it but it's coming anyways. :) We'll have to break down and buy an air conditioner soon.

We had a great weekend, and I'm excited about the week ahead. Nothing exciting planned but Brendan has the day off on Thursday, and I'm just really content right now with the time I have to be at home with my daughter and to make our flat a "home"....I'm really just learning how grateful I am to be given time to take care of my family. Thank you, Lord! Also, on Thursday, we hope to make it down to Retiro for a big book fair...oh, I am soooo excited about this! Just hoping to find some books in English. :) Brendan said that he and Charlotte will be taking a nap under a shade tree while I walk around the hundreds of stalls of books. To be fair, I asked him if he wanted to spend his day off at home or going to this book fair, and he said the book fair sounded good.

The gratitude list continues....

220. taco seasoning packets that made it with us to Madrid
221. my little girl rolling over to sleep as soon as I lay her in her crib
222. Brendan calling on Skype to say "good night" to his little girl
223. taking a nap when Charlotte does
224. my husband encouraging me to go to bed by my "bedtime"
225. my wedding band fits again!
226. catching Charlotte sleeping with her legs stuck out of her crib

227. Charlotte's one leg balancing pose - her learning to crawl

228. Little Girl's "bitter baby" face

229. Charlotte is becoming more social - loves the camera now!

230. Charlotte's Skype call during bathtime with her Papa & Popo

231. my husband making wonderful tuna salad baguettes

232. experiencing a Spanish soccer match - sort of :)

233. how sports unifies people in all cultures

234. sitting around a church membership class with people from 5 different countries

235. BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, & sweet tea! Yummy Southern meal!

236. mopping the floors!

237. learning a new housekeeping skill :)

One Thousand Gifts - Post #9

We had a beautiful weekend. The weather is finally warmer here in Madrid, though I'm sure I'll be tired of the heat here in a month (or less). :) We open up all the windows in our flat and enjoyed the noises of the city. And I love when I wake in the middle of the night and realize the noises have stopped and all is still with sleep. Charlotte turned 7 months old last week, and she is growing so fast! This weekend we picked up a new bathtub for her because we don't have a tub in our flat. We got one that also doubles as a pool! Although we don't have any outdoor space to use it in, I'm excited about setting it up in the kitchen some this summer to let her splash around in. Our kitchen is big by Madrid standards and has a great window that opens up and lets in lots of sun & air...in other words, a great place to play in a pool!

So this weekend, we also did a lot of relaxing which right now includes playing Super Mario Bros. on our Wii....a gift Brendan received from Dad & Mom for his birthday. He's finally in world 8...thank goodness that means he's almost done! But he's now convinced me to play with him, so we're Mario & Luigi playing through all the worlds together. Silly, but bringing back some oh-so-fun memories of playing Mario Bros. with my brother and parents when I was a pre-teen...and we're making some wonderful memories ourselves. :) We also went to a picnic at Retiro with our church. It was a nice, relaxing time getting to talk to some new friends.

In addition to Charlotte getting her "big girl" bathtub, we also cleaned up and put away some of her baby stuff that she has outgrown. So crazy to me that our little baby girl is outgrowing things! We put away her bouncy chair which she's been sitting in since Day 1 (well, at least since the first day she was home), her play mat/gym, and her bathing chair. I realized her days in the bouncy chair were over last week when she leaned forward in it and nearly did a front flip! Oh! That would have been bad!

I'm so thankful for the life God has given me now. I don't always embrace where I am but I'm learning to. I think I've finally (after 7 months) realized that I'm not going to be able to do the same things as before Charlotte was born...and that's okay. I want to enjoy this time in my life because I know it won't be here forever. It may be more time at home, going home early from outings because a child needs to get in bed, less time for myself and more time taking care of my child. But I realized yesterday that I don't have to miss our days before Charlotte anymore. God gave us wonderful times then, but we are in a different stage now and there are beautiful things about this stage that I want to fully enjoy! So, I keep counting my blessings....

197. lunch with Brendan outside on the terraza in front of his office

198. Charlotte NOT making a big mess of her carrots during lunch with Brendan

199. playing on the floor with my daughter

200. allegory of the cross in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

201. doing chores in the kitchen together in the evening

202. God releasing the pressures I put on myself...resting in Him and enjoying the life He's given me

203. watching my baby girl sit and play on her own

204. the high-pitched "geeeee" that is Charlotte's giggle

205. a second mother who understands the complications of having a second mother

206. being able to welcome Brendan home with a smile and hug rather than frustation when he was late

207. hearing Brendan go check on Charlotte when he got home from work, just because he wanted to see her :)

208. a grocery store that is literally right downstairs (and across the street) - so cool!

209. storm clouds & rain seen from our flat

210. what an incredibly easy-going baby Charlotte is!

211. Charlotte's blond hair growing in

212. baby girl's new bathtub/"swimming" pool

213. sleeping with the windows open on cool, summer nights

214. taking a shower right before bed and sleeping with wet hair

215. tuna noodle salad - and being brave enough to finally purchase canned tuna at the store

216. the Madrid bus system

217. limon granizado at Retiro

218. writing a journal to my daughter

219. learning teamwork with my husband by playing Mario Bros. with him :)