The Creative Salad – Page 18 – Crafty fun and homeschool adventures in Sonoma County, California.

Checking In

Goodness, I have so much to share with you and so little time to sit down and write.

I find that each day, nurturing and feeding our two growing kids, flies by.

Covering them in kisses, cooking nourishing foods, creating enriching activities, spending quality time together; this is the rhythm of our day-to-day life.

Our son has fit seamlessly into the fabric of our family.

Much to my surprise, I’ve discovered over the past month that taking care of a newborn is ever so much easier the second time around. I’ve done this before. I can do this. Things that overwhelmed me five years ago are now a piece of cake.

In so many ways babies are easy: feed, burp, change, snuggle, repeat. The challenges are to come. Raising a five year old takes ever so much more effort than caring for a newborn. Not in a bad way; just a different challenge. She keeps me on my toes.

And so I spend hours each day breastfeeding, fattening up and bonding with this beautiful baby boy, gearing up for the chaos to come, while supporting and loving our little girl.

Life is full.

I Think We’re in Trouble

Our five year old has discovered the infinite joy that is Calvin and Hobbes.

She even found my all-time favorite comic strip (shown in the middle):

When David and I were preparing for the arrival of our firstborn, I read a dozen pregnancy and baby development books, while he read Calvin and Hobbes. Looking back, we joke that he was better prepared than I.

That being said, we already had The Talk with our daughter: she is to resist the temptation to mimic any of Calvin’s antics. We’ll see how it goes.

One Month Old

Oh boy, did the past month go by fast. Here are some shots of the Little Man from the past four (!!!) weeks.

Our son can hold his head up, he’s trying to roll over on the changing table, and finds his big sister endlessly fascinating. Oh, and when he wants mama he makes rooting faces regardless of whether he wants to eat or not. Smart cookie.

Family Resemblance

I keep getting confused in the middle of the night. I look down at this beautiful baby thinking it’s our daughter (five years ago) instead of our son. What can I say?! They look alike. Especially at 2 in the morning when I’m rather bleary eyed.

Can you tell them apart?

(The top photo is of our son; the bottom one is of our daughter in 2008.)

One thing that’s different: their eye colors.

We’re pretty sure the Little Man is going to have darker eyes. Will they be brown like Daddy’s eyes, green like Mommy’s or some other shade?! We’ll post an update in about a year when they settle for good.

DIY Redwood Brass Hook Coat Rack

In our new house we desperately needed a coat rack. I scoured the internet for coat racks, found several that we loved that were outside our budget. $90 for a place to hang our coat?! No, thank you.

Instead David decided to make one for us. And “by David” I mean, of course, the Father-Daughter Leyba Team of Awesomeness (since our eldest wants to be involved in EVERYTHING):