Chelsea Salomone

• Easter eggs with different objects that made noise inside
• Balloons- some were just blown up, others had things that made noise inside (very clever!)
• Water bottles with the lids hot glued on, with different objects inside. Some had water, some didn't. The ones with water had things like glitter, foil, pom poms, etc floating around. The ones without water had pennies or corn kernels or other things that rattled.
• Instead of water bottles Heather brought travel sized shampoo bottles with objects inside. Lighter weight and perfect to throw in a diaper bag!
• Sabrina got super fancy and sewed cloth together and put celophane inside and ribbon around the edge, almost like those Taggie blankets
• A new package of cat toys- this was genius! They loved the rattling balls.
• Squishy, rubbery balls 
• Bags (double zipped) with dry beans and rice

 It was soooo cute!!! The babies were having the best time.


If you're ever trying to think of an idea for a fun play date, or even something to do with your own baby at home, this was great! I want to put a basket with some of these objects in my bathroom for Logan to play with while I'm getting ready in the mornings.

I made a decision today. I guess if I'm honest, it's one I should have made a long time ago. I'm pretty sure it takes the wisdom that comes from almost turning thirty before you can figure things like this out though.

I was getting ready in front of the mirror, wondering if these jeans make my hips look wide and whether or not my tummy pouched out in this shirt when somewhere deep inside of me a voice rumbled, "ENOUGH!"

Enough with the criticism. Enough contending with the hope that one day, I'll lose about five more pounds. Enough wishing for a flatter tummy. Enough thinking that someday, maybe I might get brave and go on an extreme diet or lose myself completely in an exercise regimen. Enough feeling guilty when I don't work out as much as I meant to. ENOUGH.

I take good care of myself, and the body I have is not perfect but it is enough.

I have great health, and I generally feel good in my clothes. I don't love how I look in a swimsuit, but it's not so bad that I hesitate to wear one in front of other people. (Except for my one friend who basically had a six pack weeks after having a baby, and she knows who she is. That is another matter altogether.)

The thing is, I've weighed the same thing, give or take a couple of pounds (and ten months of being pregnant), and been pretty much the same size for the better part of my adult life. So ENOUGH squirreling away all these good "young" years and chasing something I am not.

I'm not one to obsess about how I look or really beat myself up about it. I don't often bother to weigh myself so long as my clothes are still fitting well. But like most people, some negative thoughts are always there floating around, should I choose to indulge.

So today I thought, no more of that. This is me, and this is good enough. What a novel idea.

There is a picture floating around on Pinterest that I like, it says something like, "Being skinny feels better than this cookie tastes." But as of twenty minutes ago, do you know what I decided? Being content with who you are feels best of all. I need to stop seeing myself as a work in progress, and just see myself as me.

One of the major eye rolling life lessons my dad was always trying to get across to us was: There's always going to be somebody who has more than you, and there's always going to be someone who has less. 

 That can refer to money, to talent, to say.... asking for a new car when you turn 16, just about anything.

I am 5'3" tall. I weigh 121 pounds. I buy a size 27 (short) jeans and a size 3-4 most anything else. My stomach is a little squishy and a little more pokey outtie than I would like. I'm sure I have friends who would kill to be my size and other friends who would kill themselves if they were my size. But this is who I am.

From now on I am going to work on retraining my thoughts. It does not mean what I see is perfect. It means, this is me and that is good enough.

Tonight I went to something that was very confusing.

A friend of mine, who I absolutely love and have gotten to know through my book club, invited me to go to a class on essential oils with her. I love learning new things and over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in finding little ways here and there to incorporate the holistic into my daily life. I don't do a lot of it, but I am very curious about it.

Well it just so happened that the essential oils class was a party, one of those pyramid type parties, for a company called Young Living. I should have asked more questions before agreeing to go. Maybe you've heard of Young Living?

For starters, I noticed the girl who hosted the party had a schedule taped to her refrigerator. The schedule was a break down- in 30 minute increments- of everyone in her family, including her husband's, entire day. She had things like, "husband time" and "sibling time" and "blanket play" and "outside play" and "sweep the floors and wipe the counter tops" penned in and planned out down to the half hour.

She also had a handy flow chart of misbehaviors her kids might commit, followed by the consequence, followed by the corresponding bible verse. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I've just never seen anything quite like all that. Those charts told me, this girl doesn't mess around.

So anyway, this Young Living company sell oils and books and all kinds of different holistic products, but the company has a Christian twist. Like there is this one book they sell, I can't remember the exact title, but it's huge and it is all about the different oils referenced in the bible. And then there was another book they were passing around and it had specific bible verses that you would pray as you used each oil, basically to ward off different illnesses in conjunction with the oils.

And somehow, that felt very strange to me. Because how can I be a Christian, and they be a Christian- and yet all of those things are so foreign to me?

The girls hosting the party told different stories, back and forth, about success people have had curing different ailments with the oils and they kept calling these stories "testimonies." There were stories of nasty rashes cured from home and 103.5 degree fevers squelched without so much as a phone call to the doctor and Swine Flu that was put to rest. And yet, something about using the word testimonies for all of those stories had me shifting in my chair just a little.

Now like them, I use a chiropractor, and buy organic meat, but from there- I was kind of an island. I don't have a Naturopath, I don't buy raw milk, and I haven't totally renounced vaccines.

The whole concept of GRANOLA isn't new, but I'm writing this because I'm just so very confused. I don't understand how I fit in. It seems like for most people this area is so black and white. Nick, for example, has very little interest in it. He just shakes it off and says, "If you want to do it that's great, but that stuff's not for me."

I read the Mommypotamus blog on a regular basis and I subscribe to an email called Mama Natural, and I'm even a member of a Facebook group called DFW Crunchy Mamas. So I'm in the groups but I'm really not IN the groups if that makes any sense. The thing I'm wondering is, can you be into that kind of thing without being all in?

Tonight at the party the thing they were really pushing us to buy was a kit of oils that costs $150. I think everyone at the party bought the kit except for me. And it surprised me, because what was I missing that I was the only person at that party who was skeptical about the whole deal? Curious, unlike Nick, but skeptical unlike them. Why am I the only one in the gray area?

When I said I wasn't going to buy the kit, but wanted to know more about just two of the oils, the girl hosting the party smiled sweetly at me and said, "This is really the kind of thing where, you just have to take the plunge. What kinds of things is your family suffering from?"

"Suffering from?" I asked.

"Suffering from," she said again. "What things do you go to the doctor and have to use nasty chemicals for?"

She actually used the words nasty chemicals. So I sat there for a minute, and I thought about it- and I couldn't come up with one single thing we "suffer" from.

"Well, you just had a baby didn't you? So probably you've got a hormonal imbalance. Headaches?"

I shook my head.

"Bad cramps?"

I shook my head again.

"Back aches? Insomnia? Night sweats?"

No. No. No.

"Residual bloating or weight gain?"

Well, yes I suppose I do have that, but my other friend who sells Advocare was just telling me the other day that she's got a miracle cure for that, as does another girl I know who's selling Shakeology. When all along I'm pretty sure the cure is just stop eating pizza and Sour Patch Kids.

It's all just too confusing. And I don't know where I stand. Can I not just dip my toe in the pond and try some peppermint oil or theives on my chest when I'm congested, but also go to the doctor and get a prescription if I'm really sick?

Am I doing my family wrong by not being 100% on the holistic/organic/whatever you want to call it bandwagon? And, if I want to cross the holistic threshold does it mean I have to renounce vaccines altogether and cross my heart, hope to die that I'll never ever take another drop of Sudafed ever again? I just don't get it. I don't know where my place is. It's a strange feeling when you look around and say, "I know I'm not this, but I'm also not that- so what am I?" I guess that's what happens when you're close to turning 30.

Extremes, be it religious extremes, political extremes, health extremes, are such a turn off to me. I hate to be the lame one sitting on the fence dipping my toe in the water, but in most situations I can always see both sides.

Anyway.

Today I got to baby-sit my friend Bethany's little boy Tripp for a couple of hours.

• I see quite a little temper starting to flair up. He gets MAD when we all sit down at the table and I try and feed him baby food instead of what we're eating. He will scrunch up his fists and straighten his legs and cry and reach for our food. Sadly, I think the days of baby food are numbered... Right now he's eating about half & half baby food and table food. I love to take him to Souper Salad for lunch- there are so many things I can feed him there.
• Meats he eats: chicken, turkey, ham & teeny tiny bits of hot dog (I've seen Field of Dreams enough times to be leery of hot dogs!)
• Dairy: Yo Baby yogurt & a little bit of cheese- today he had cheese toast for breakfast for the first time
• Fruits: Loves mandarin oranges, banana, watermelon, blueberries, avocado, applesauce and most any fruit
• Vegetables: Sweet peas, beets, sweet potato, green beans... 
• Snacks: Mum mums (favorite) and yogurt melts
• Pro at the sippy cup, but prefers to drink out of a water bottle like mom and dad
• Tricks: BIG opened mouth kisses (sometimes awkwardly long kisses), high fives and every once in a blue moon will wave back at someone
• Stands, pulls up and crawls. And as of this morning:

• To get places he mostly rolls and army crawls. He will crawl a few steps and then fall, although he's crawling further every day it seems like
• Says dada and babbles mamama for me, mostly when he's fussy or wanting to nurse, definitely makes his preferences known by whining and grabbing for things

• Not shy with strangers, still lets anyone hold him but suddenly doesn't like to be left alone in a room, whines and tries to follow me wherever I go
• Always grabs peoples' faces and mouths
• Loves splashing in the swimming pool & tub
• Wearing size 4 diapers, 9-12 month clothes
• I would guess he weighs right around 20 lbs.

• Loves to bang and throw his toys. Favorites are books, balls, anything electronic and recently, his trucks. 
• Naps well (3 naps) and sleeps 11 hours at night
• Still nursing 5 times a day & eating 3 meals of solids

• Now riding in a big boy car seat
• Spent the night at Mimi's house by himself for the first time this month
• In the last week he went to his first hibatchi grill (was fascinated!), first water park, took a shower for the first time (skeptical), went to his first Rangers game... at eight months old he's practically a man! Ha!