brotherly love hurts

Our oldest son, LA, is 3 1/2 now. His younger brother, Boatboy, is 19 months. The past 5 months have been my hardest yet as a Mom. I think it all really started when LA turned 3 and we gave his paci away and Boatboy started becoming very mobile. Those two world-wrecking things happened to him within a period of a month or so. He turned into a child we didn't even recognize. He was so unkind to his brother. He would push and say, "I don't like you brother!" So sad. I wanted to cry almost every time he said it! We had already introduced spanking into his life, but it was so seldom used. It turned into part of the daily routine when timeouts just didn't work. I thought I would never have a child that I would have to spank. I thought, "I am too good of a Mom to have a disobedient child." Oh, how wrong I was! I have been very humbled the last few months with not being in complete control. I have dug very deep for extreme patience and the ability to be very consistent. One thing that really kept me going when the boys were not getting along was knowing that relationships take time to form. God gifted me with these two boys to help form a relationship and to mold me more into the woman He created me to be...I am learning.

LA and Boatboy are very different and it is exciting for me to figure how they each need to be loved differently. LA and I could sit and read 20 (no exaggeration) books together, do crafts and just hang out. Boatboy sits through maybe 2 pages of a book. He loves to dance, sing very loud, do puzzles, chase, talk to complete strangers and be super goofy! They are such beautiful and unique gifts to me. I want to be a Mom that embraces the differences and supports them. The thing is, sometimes I have no idea what I'm doing! I pray every day that God would show me how each of my children need to be loved. I am also very thankful each day I am still able to receive such selfless love from parents. I hope to love my children the way they have always loved me!

Just prior to Christmas-time, a light came on for LA and he started enjoying his brother. At first I was thinking, "Wow! We are having a great day!" Then, the next day was good. And, the next day. After a lot of work, prayer, a VERY supportive and involved hubby and a 5'o clock glass of wine or beer a few days a week - I have finally seen the fruits of brotherly love! LA loves to teach and include Boatboy in almost everything he does these days. And, Boatboy loves to laugh and bother his older brother with everything. I love watching them grow and learn together.

It is a reminder to me of how much God loves me.

And believe me when I say we still have our bad days...but those bad days are nothing compared to the recent valley we muttled through. I would love to hear any of your fun boy stories!

Embedded below is a video that reminds me that the fun we have together will sometimes have its pains. :)

there's just something magical about bounceparks

...isn't there? And, yes, Mrs. Blonde took the boys down the slide too. re: All the BPM boys photo here.

LA sees his new room (pics and video)

NOTE: The payoff for this post involves a 2min video which means you should be using broadband while reading this for the full effect.

We have been wanting to paint LA's room for years. Literally. We just never did because we were moving. Now..we're not moving. At least for now. So, the first order of business on Mr. Blonde's Christmas vacation was getting LA a proper toddler room aesthetic.



his old room was the inherited guest bedroom turned playroom



two coats of hi-end primer and the red wall was covered



the first blue wall done



Mrs. Blonde working the orange stripe at 1am this morning

While the room still isn't done, Mr. Blonde captured video of LA seeing it for the first time earlier this afternoon. His reaction was well worth the work and wait...



...his favorite color is orange in case you couldn't tell.

Boatboy and Momma on the carnival slide

If LA is the calculated risktaker of our two boys, Boatboy is the daredevil. He tends to dive in first then see if the water's hot so to speak. So, we thought we would take him on the big carnival slide last weekend. Check out the video embedded below. The look on his face right before he starts laughing is outstanding! As is LA's expression at the very end of the video.

stuff

Stumbled across a fantastic little video and website called The Story of Stuff that speaks to our stuff and its effects in our lives. Not only do the facts seem pretty accurate, but the video is produced and scripted in a very clean very organized manner.
The piece is twenty minutes in length so don't get started watching it unless you have time to watch it all the way through. It's best when viewed in all its intended context.
Lastly, the video doesn't leave you with a "Things are jacked up (PERIOD)." notion. There are several leave behinds for activism called Another Way.''
Here's a short teaser video for the full video...

There's what in my hamburger?!

We saw our first movie at a theatre in about a year and a half on Friday night with a group of friends. With all that time having passed since we last saw a film, we no doubt held out for a really good bigscreen adaptation, right? Something that just could NOT wait until it made its way to Redbox (the only way we really ever watch movies...which is about twice a month).

"Hey, look over there! A neat shiny new action adventure romantic comedy dramatic documentary everybody!"

That's right. It might have been since 2008 that we'd seen a movie together, but it's the first time in either of our lives that we went to see a documentary on the bigscreen.

Food, Inc.

It was worth it. Why?

Because it was awakening. We at Blondes, Poop & Mascara like to be in the know. And, when it comes to food, we really weren't. The basics, yeah...caloric intake, clean your veggies before you eat them, stuff out of cans isn't as fresh, balanced food pyramid, candy is bad, etc, etc. But, we find ourselves three days later left in this wake of knowledge inspiring us to take control of the food in our lives. The American consumer often feels weak. "My choices are only the ones available at the grocer." When, that's not the case at all. Money drives business. And, consumers have the money. Even Wal-Mart was in Food, Inc. as an example of a massive buyer of food who has shifted the way they do business (for the better) because their customers said to do so.

We don't blame you if you don't go pay to see the flick at the theatre, but please watch it once it comes out on DVD / makes its way to Hulu / becomes downloadable on iTunes, etc.

Watch the trailer here and check out the website. It's fantastic!



10 Easy Tips to healthier eating from the Food, Inc. website...

* Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

* Eat at home instead of eating out. Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

* Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. Half of the leading chain restaurants provide no nutritional information to their customers.

* Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks. Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.

* Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week. An estimated 70% of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to farm animals.

* Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides. According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

* Protect family farms; visit your local farmer's market. Farmer's markets allow farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the consumer.

* Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

* Tell Congress that food safety is important to you. Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the U.S.

* Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections. Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.

Be informed. Be healthy. Act.