Dancing Josie Bonanza!

Fueled by way too many starbursts (or "starbirds" according to Josie), what started as a ballet show (in her 3rd birthday clothes that she dug out) quickly morphed into a pirate - snail - snake - treadmill - windmill - penguin dance show. My favorite line: "No, the audience doesn't get to do it!" Enjoy!

Baby Naming News!

According to multiple reports from Josie's teachers at school, her darling little sister's name has grown.  Drumroll please...

"Roly Poly Hamburger Helicopter"

Oh and when her teacher was telling me the big news - she said, "Did you know Roly Poly has a middle name now? It's Roly Poly Hamburger Helicopter." Josie added: "Actually, it's Roly Poly Hamburger Helicopter Schneider."  :)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

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Peaceful Parenting & Positive Discipline

Ask and you shall receive my friends! After posting on Facebook this morning that Louie & I attended a seminar on Peaceful Parenting last night at Cintas, I received about a dozen comments or emails asking to share the resources from the talk.  I thought this would be the easiest way to get them all in one place.  So - here you go. (We've been following these philosophies since Josie was a wee little thing, with great success and we highly recommend checking this stuff out!) Enjoy!

POSITIVE DISCIPLINE & PEACEFUL PARENTING RESOURCES

BOOKS:

Positive Discipline for Pre-schoolers by  Jane Nelson http://www.amazon.com/Positive-Discipline-Preschoolers-Years--Raising-Responsible/dp/0307341607/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291388555&sr=1-1

The Discipline Book by Dr. Sears http://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Book-Better-Behaved-Child-Birth/dp/0316779032/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291388481&sr=8-1

The No-Cry Discipline Solution by Elizabeth Pantley http://www.amazon.com/No-Cry-Discipline-Solution-Encourage-Behavior/dp/0071471596/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291388481&sr=8-2

Everyday Blessings:   The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Jon Kabat-Zinn http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786883146/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn http://www.amazon.com/Unconditional-Parenting-Moving-Rewards-Punishments/dp/0743487486/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291389308&sr=8-1  (Note: there’s a DVD of this too that’s available on Amazon – or check the library.)

The Parents’ Tao Te Ching by William Martin http://www.amazon.com/Parents-Tao-Te-Ching-Ancient/dp/1569246629/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291389974&sr=8-1

WEBSITES & BLOGS:

Positive Discipline Overview http://www.positivediscipline.com/what-is-positive-discipline.html

Jane Nelson’s Positive Discipline Products Website: http://www.positivediscipline.com/

Peaceful Parenting Blog:  http://www.peacefulparenting.com/blog/

Peaceful Parent Institute: http://www.peaceful-parent.com/

Beech Acres, Strength-Based Practical Parenting: http://www.beechacres.org/Strength-based-Practical-Parenting.aspx

Mindfulness (and Parenting): http://mindful.org/at-home/parenting

Youtube VIDEOS:

Positive Discipline Video on YouTube (by Jane Nelson) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-e4H2rsEww

Alfie Kohn on Time-outs & Punishment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRE2gqjQx5Q

Alfie Kohn of Reward & Over-Praise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQesSzkZW4s

Ten Ways Attachment Parenting Makes Discipline Easier (Dr. Bill Sears & Martha Sears) – audio only http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x70rqAv1r-c&feature=related

FACEBOOK GROUPS:

·         http://www.facebook.com/positivediscipline

·         http://www.facebook.com/peacefulparenting

·         http://www.facebook.com/AttachmentParenting

One Fine, Fall Day

Now that it's feeling a lot more like winter than fall here in Cincy (first snow, no leaves, gray skies, icy windshields, etc, etc)... I'm quickly coming to the realization that the end of 2010 is approaching. That means a lot of catching up to do here on the blog to clear out the 2010 photo files and get them published here by January.  (Sidebar: We print hard copy books of our blog every year, hence the goal to get all the 2010 stuff where it belongs - in the 2010 book.) 
There are lots of future posts ruminating, but as I was scanning the "still needs blogged" file on Picasa, these quickly jumped out at me.  I think it's that first snow from earlier this week that has me mourning how quickly autumn came to pass this year.
So - with that - here are some snapshots from my camera that I took one day at Owl's Nest Park when the leaves had just started to change. It was pre-bedrest so Josie and I had spent a good amount of time playing "bus driver" on the playset and traveled to all sorts of faraway places (in case you're interested, all you have to do is steer the bus from the top, tell it where you want to go, then slide down the slide & you're instantly there).  While we were swimming around with the jellyfish under the coral, Josie noticed this really bright red tree all the way on the other side of the park.  We both ran over there & these are the pictures that followed. Enjoy - one last glimpse of fall 2010.

 

Thanksgiving 2010

Here are a few photos from Thanksgiving weekend.  The first Thanksgiving at the new house was a success!

DD & Jack

Tickle Time!

Grandma & Josie reading the coolest book ever - "Frosty the Snowman" (from Hallmark I believe) that Grandma & DD recorded themselves reading. SOOOO Cute!

Our new dining room - complete with the paint & wallpaper that was finished two days before guests arrived and a (sweet antique score) dining room set from Craiglist that we got the night before!

Josie in the jumperoo! (I know you remember all those early videos of "Jumpin' Josie" in this thing. She was so excited to get right back in it & spent a pretty decent amount of time bouncing around the whole weekend. And yes - it's still sitting in my living room even though Jack is back in Chicago.)

And now for the heartwarmers...
So many things about this next one make me smile - the hug, Lyla's pearls, their striped tights...

The way Lyla is holding Josie's knee...

Trying for a full family picture. My sister has the final one because we couldn't figure out the timer on mine.  Lou's on the other side of the lens trying to figure it all out...

All told - mission accomplished!  Some highlights: Josie & Lyla sleeping together in Josie's bed; Josie's comment when Tia was changing Jack's diaper;  the sound of Josie & Lyla chasing each other through the house; Lyla playing "Where's Lou-Lou?"; two "nudey booties" going up the stairs; Oh - not to mention -  green bean casserole, chocolate pie and my sister's blue cheese dip that changed my life. :)

first snow

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Sprint & Marathon

We're busy, busy, busy getting everything ready for Thanksgiving.  As of 11:07 on Tuesday, we still have a houseful of painters and quite a mess on our hands.  We have no clue where we put our extra silverware and we just realized we only have dishes for 8 but 15 people eating.  Oh and that tree we had cut down is still in pieces in the front yard. But - the good news is - we're just fine with all of it.  Put simply, we will make it work. And it will be absolutely perfect. 

Quick Quotes

Josie to me in bed the other night:
"Awww mommy. You are so cute. You are my best friend. I'm going to keep you forever."

Josie to Louie and I the other night over dinner:
"I can't eat anymore of my dinner. My tummy is all full. I think I need some more of that Halloween candy."
Me: "If your belly is all full and you can't fit in anymore dinner, then you can't fit in any candy either."
Josie (looking at her belly): "Actually, my belly is loose. Can I have some candy now?"
(And do you think we could actually tell her no?!)

Josie, still insisting that the baby will be fine sleeping in her bed despite the fact that we told her babies wake up very often to get milk in the middle of the night:
"I have plenty of milk in my boo-boos mom so Roly Poly will be just fine!"

Ch-ch-ch-ch changes

Big changes are coming to the Schneider house. I think I'm starting to get used to the idea that I'm actually having a baby. (Just yesterday a woman asked me when my baby was due & my first thought was - "Oh, you can tell I'm pregnant? This early?" And then I remembered I was 25 weeks.)

In typical Schneider-family fashion, we've taken on way too much at once. So, we have a house full of painters, a piece of furniture being built for the entry, our dining room table on Craigslist, oh and and we're actively hunting for a full dining room set to replace said table since we're hosting Thanksgiving next week.

Add to that the big deadline I have for tomorrow at work, the fact that Josie and I are still coughing two weeks after initially getting sick, oh - and bedrest - and needless to say, things are bananas around here. Oddly enough, it's an exciting and not stressful kind of bananas so we're holding up just fine.

Goodness gracious - I forgot to mention we're having some trees removed this weekend.

I will definitely post before & after pics of the paint job. So far, it's an unbelievably improvement!!!!!

Losing a friend and gaining some perspective

This weekend started off like any other. Lou graciously gave me Saturday morning to sleep in since I was (still!) sick and we had plans to get things done around the house, spend some family time together, etc. Friday afternoon we had another ultrasound and doctor's appointment and saw our little lady busily dancing around in my tummy - now 25 weeks in utero. Scott put me on two more weeks of modified bedrest as a precaution and things are moving right along. Josie has adapted to a mama that's horizontal way more than she's used to and all is well in the grand scheme of things. Truth told, I was getting a little grumpy about a week lost to both Josie & I being sick and I was starting to stress big time about facing this week (and a big work deadline on Friday). Let's just put it like this - I was *thrilled* to sleep in on Saturday morning - and made it all the way to 9am!
Little did I know, that while I was sleeping, the unthinkable happened!!! Later Saturday afternoon, while Josie was napping curled up with me on the couch, I checked my cell phone and discovered horrible news!
Lori Morris was gone - "Super Mom" by all accounts, mother to four incredible kids, the rare kind of friend who is equally dependable for trust-worthy advice and a really fun night out, and the kind of parent every teacher begs to see on the classlist each year, (I had her daughter Nicole who is now in high school as a second grader & Lori was certainly room-mom extraordinaire!). Lori's van was hit on 275 Saturday morning when a 25 year-old girl crossed the highway and hit her head-on. Lori, two of her daughters & another mother/daughter were on their way to a cheerleading competition, like so many other Saturday mornings. And, in an instant, Lori was taken from her family and friends and everything changed.
Like so many people, I was lucky to have known Lori. She was so filled with love & light and one of the most generous spirits you can imagine. She always stood out as one of those "I wanna be like that" kind of moms when I was teaching. And, when I became a mother myself, she always had the best advice. (Usually some brand of "Carri, chill out" that reminded me it was all going to be alright - whether it was potty training, starting school, etc.) And, pure and simple, Lori was just downright FUN! She brought just as much humor & silliness to everything from a parent-teacher conference to a Bachelorette party. She just loved life, and that's why this is all the more tragic.
Fortunately, the kids are healing. So many people loved Lori and I have no doubt that a huge community will step up to protect her four children. (There are already 2000 people on her memorial page on facebook!) She touched so many lives through all the volunteering in schools, cheerleading, etc that this has just sent shockwaves through so many people.
All told, it's just horrible that something so tragic has to happen to remind us all about what really is important. Suddenly, a lot of things that mattered on Friday didn't matter at all on Saturday. And every minute seems that much more precious. And fleeting. Nothing is promised. Nothing is guaranteed and we all need to move through life with more gratitude.
For me, it's about letting people know just how much I appreciate them. These last couple of years have produced some unbelievable challenges for us, and I am truly blessed to have such amazing people in my life. And this was a tragic reminder to me to let people know how much I care about them. You just never know which conversation with someone is going to be your last. The last conversation I had with Lori was about cell phone companies. I wish instead that the last thing I said to Lori was about how much I respected & valued her. So, with that, I'm facing my work week with a little less anxiety. And I'm hugging my family extra tight. I'm not worrying about the details of Thanksgiving or the two-page long to-do list because none of it really matters. I just hope I can hold on to these lessons for awhile, because it shouldn't take something so tragic and so severe to create this perspective.
Love you all. Thanks for sharing our lives with us.

xavier montessori pride

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Iman...Tyra...Heidi...Josie

Over the weekend, I was doing my "side-lying" bedrest time on the couch. Lou (um - best dad ever) helped Josie organize a fashion show of all the winter gear they found. Sprinkle in the club music station on the TV and we had quite an event on our hands. Here are my three favorite passes down the runway.


Take One:


Take Two:


Take Three:

mentos to the rescue

josie scratched her cornea (how? no idea) and has to wear this patch today & tonight. she was so brave in the doctor's office; sweet little thing.

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40,000 reasons to smile

Just noticed that we passed the 40,000 visits mark sometime recently. Thanks everyone for being such an incredible part of our "extended" family. Love you all!

24 week update

I'm now 24 weeks pregnant - maybe not a huge milestone to all of you - but a big one for us. 24 weeks is the age where a premature baby actually has a decent chance of survival.  So, for us, that's a big deal.

My doctor's appt on Friday went very well. My cervix is measuring much better and it appears that the bedrest is certainly working! The "downside" of this is that I have to stay on bedrest for another week or so since it's obvious it is making a difference.  I will be re-evaluated at the end of this week to determine what the next week will look like. So, for now, I'm still on 16-18 hours a day of bedrest.  (Oh - the other update is he said those 16-18 hours are supposed to all be on my side. Not gonna lie - can't be religious about that one after the soreness of two days of sticking to that strictly last week - but I am otherwise following doctor's orders like a good little patient.)

Bedrest Update

First things first, here's a HUGE thanks to all of you who have called and emailed to offer help while I'm on bedrest. We really really appreciate all the kind words, calls and texts just to check in, offers to run errands, watch Josie, etc.  As I've shared with some of you, this "diagnosis" has been a pretty complicated thing - emotionally, physically, psychologically, financially and more. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends who have made this so much easier. Tomorrow afternoon we will return to the doctor for a repeat ultrasound and appointment to determine the course of action for the next week. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts! I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
In exciting news - little Bunny (or Roly Poly as Josie regularly calls her) is moving around like a little jumping bean. She's very active and both Louie & Josie are now able to feel her kick.

To Josie from Liz

Last night we received the most special email. It was a wonderfully, perfect surprise from Elizabeth Mitchell about the blog posts that my sister and I both did about her the ways in which her family's music has touched our lives.  I decided to email her the links. I guess I just thought that if I were the coming off of a long (and likely exhausting) tour with my family that it would be nice to have a little extra reminder of why I decided to be a children's folksinger in the first place.

Here is her email (that Josie had me read aloud three times):

dear carri

thank you so much for writing!!! i am sorry i have not responded sooner-
we just got home from our tour late friday night, and i am finally
catching up!

the blog entries that you share are precious and really moved me! it's
incredibly meaningful to me to know that our music is part of your
families life. please tell josie (jojo!) and lyla that storey and i say
hello :)

thank you again for reaching out and sharing your writing...

take care!
liz

home office

and lunch specially-delivered by the best husband ever!

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Halloween Take Four - the real deal

After a full month of celebrating the arrival of Autumn and Halloween fun, the actual big day finally arrived. We had been warned for weeks by our neighbors to stock-up and be-prepared and they certainly weren't kidding.  All told, we had over 700 trick-or-treaters in less than 2 hours!!!! (And - we made it all the way to 7:57 before running out of candy, even if that meant one pixie stick per kid.)  It was a blast! Luckily we had the help (and Halloween spirit) of my parents, a very eager three-year-old, fun costumes and a Schneider Family Night to Remember.

The Cat in the Hat with her Things 1 & 2! 

 Grandma & DD (Ming-Ming that is) to the rescue!

 A mouthful of candy

 Swinging in the dark (which was probably the highlight of her night, to be honest)

Since I rested most of the day on Sunday, I was able to justify being up for a trip half way down the street and back with Josie and some time in a chair to pass out candy. 

 Truth told, Josie was a little overwhelmed by the trick-or-treating process itself. About ten houses in, she looked at us and said "I should really get back home."  She was more excited to pass out the candy than to go get it for herself. And at the end of the night, we took what candy she did have and left it out for the Halloween Fairy. I told Josie we should hang it on the doorknob, but she insisted that we had to leave a trail of candy so the Fairy could smell it.  She worked pretty hard on laying this all out just right.

 And even drew a picture for the Halloween Fairy to take with her as well - which she taped to the front door earlier that day so the Fairy could see it while it was still light outside. The next morning she woke up to find a thank you present from the Halloween Fairy sitting on the front porch - a new book and a game! The Halloween Fairy was so excited that Josie donated her candy to Fairyland where all the fairies could turn the candy into pixie dust!

Oh & I should also mention that the peanut allergy thing wasn't as big as a concern as we feared - mostly because Josie really has gotten so good about it.  Sure Louie and I cringed every time we saw someone toss a Butterfinger, Reese Cup, or bag of peanut M&Ms into her bag - but Josie gladly asked us to pull out all the peanut stuff so she could choose from what was safe. And we just passed the peanutty-stuff back out to other kids (or gave it to DD).

It was a GREAT Halloween!