Pow wow 2017

One of the highlights of our summer is pow wow season!  This is the second year we've done pow wow here in our current state.  We had so much fun!

Just a few pictures of the amazing dancers and the delicious fry bread!  (Which fry bread is very much a pow wow only treat!)

Enjoy!

We did both tacos and sugar and honey fry bread throughout the day!  So so good.

 One of my favorite regalia.  Everyone's was so wonderful and you can tell how much love is put into every outfit worn.  So amazing.

Such time and attention put into regalia.  I am always amazed at what I see on the dancers.

This little girl was so adorable.  And her Minnie Mouse regalia just stole everyone's hearts.

These were my favorite dancers.  So much energy and such beautiful attention to detail in not only their movements but also their regalia.  I love watching them.

This was another of my favorite regalia.  So much attention to detail, it's beautiful.



If you ever get the chance to go to Pow wow, please take the time and go!  You will no regret it one bit!

Keeping kids busy during doctor visits

So one thing baby girl has become an expert at is going to the doctor with me.  She's always gone with me, but when you have complications from surgery, you tend to go more often than just the twice a year.

So this post is all about how to keep kids busy while you are at the doctors.

The first one is to find a child friendly doctor!  I know this is easier said that done sometimes, but I have found that just letting the first person you speak with to make an appointment know that your child will be coming with you, they will tell you if that is okay or not.  If it's not, I say cancel the appointment and find another doctor, if you can.

Second tip is have something they love doing, but aren't generally allowed to do, with you so they can enjoy their time.  For baby girl, that is coloring with pen in a notebook.  She loves it.  I hate when she does it, because she doesn't always keep to the paper at home.  But at the doctor, no problem at all.



Bring books!  Lots and lots of books!  I found that baby girl will sit and read 2 or 3 books over and over while I'm talking to the doctor.  I was amazed the first time it happened.

The tablet.  I know, screen time is controversial, but honestly it works.  Baby girl is learning how to work her own tablet, so she can watch a movie or play a game with little help from me.

Be prepared to ask questions again, and probably bring your own notebook in order to write down answers, just in case you get distracted and forget by the time you get home.

And finally, let the kiddo have a little fun.  We were the only ones in the waiting room this last time, and so I happily let baby girl crawl over chairs.  Sure, maybe not the most hygienic thing to do.  There are germs everywhere in doctor waiting rooms.  But she loved having a little freedom and sat better in the appointment when given that freedom.














I've found doctors here absolutely love when baby girl comes with me.  They love interacting with her and don't mind having to speak around a very talkative 2 year old.

learning tower

We have one.  Mostly because I have the most awesome in laws a man could ask for.  My FIL is a wizard with wood working and agreed to help complete the DIY Ikea hack learning tower (I'll link at the end of the post).

Here she is using it for the first time.  Helping daddy make breakfast while I was still in big recovery mode from surgery.  (Hence the not the best picture and the abundance of junk food on the counter!)

The hack was easy enough to make, and my FIL was even able to easily make a few modifications to make sure there were no sticky outty things for baby girl to hurt herself on.  (Can't you tell I'm just oh so informed on wood working, haha!)

A close up of what my FIL added.  The step stool was pre fab from Ikea, then he did the top work to give her a secure frame to stand in.  Which was really important as the few times we tried to just use the step stool she fell, each time.  The stool just went out from under her.  So that frame is very important!

And baby girl loooooves it!  She uses it every chance she gets!  She is so focused on her work when she's up there.  Or getting into mischief like opening all the drawers, which is still a fun task because it's so new.  But she is able to help in all sorts of ways.

Her banana work.  She's not the best cutter, but it gets the job done.  She was also enjoying the fruits of her labor and she munched on the banana as she cut it.  I'm not sure daddy actually got any of it, but such is life with a toddler!

I highly recommend everyone get some way for their child to help in the kitchen!  The tower was inexpensive because my FIL was able to help, but the instructions are easy enough I think even non wood working wizards would be able to complete the task!

This was the basic instructions he followed! I can't promise how closely they were followed, as he is a wizard so he adapted it when he felt it needed to be adapted.  http://www.lattesandlaughter.com/2014/09/ikea-learning-tower-hack.html

PRIDE BABY!

Of course one of the most exciting times about August is the local Pride celebration.

Now, we are gay... so of course Pride is huge for us.  Pride is a riot that has turned into a celebration that may be needing to turn back into a riot.  Who knows in our currently climate what Pride will hold.

But this year, it held us and our friends!  We had a big group and just had so much fun!  I'm just gonna basically do a photo dump of pictures from everything.

Enjoy!

Day one:

My shirt.  I am super proud of my shirt because it is the perfect description of me.  :-D

My baby is cooler than yours.  Traveling in style with her new pink glasses and multicolor beads. Her wagon was FULL of free goodies vendors were more than happy to throw at her during the entire event!

Traveling in style.  When baby gets tired in her wagon, she just laid down.  She got MORE stuff thrown at her for being so cute laying down!

This picture just melts my heart.  This is another of baby girl's friends, and they were soooo cute riding in this wagon together. They really are holding hands, on purpose.  How cute is that!!



Day 2, The Parade!:

These were our second day Pride shirts!  Oh yes, we were the group that made shirts!  And they were perfect.

The little boy in the tutu is also one of our group.  He's baby girl's bestie and holy fuck isn't he adorable with bat wings and a tutu?!

 The parade was a lot of fun and I think as the kiddos age they will have even more fun watching and participating.  The oldest kid member of our group enjoyed getting a lot of candy and yelling as loud as she could.  It was awesome.

So all in all I count Pride as a win win win!

sad recovery

Sometimes there are parts of recovery that are just sad.  The lack of being able to snuggle was the hardest for baby girl and myself.  

I've been her primary caregiver since birth and suddenly I wasn't.  She was relying on grandparents and her daddy (all very competent people in her life) but it just wasn't the same.  

Then complications set in and things got to the point where she couldn't even touch me because it just hurt too much. 

As we come out on the other end of this surgery experience, it is so hard to look back at some of these photos I have, but this one speaks to me. 

This is the sadness of recovery when you have a parent who is sick.  

While I was away at yet another doctor's appointment, baby girl curls up in my chair.  She couldn't be on my lap, but this was her way of being close to me.  It breaks my heart, but also warms my heart. 

Recovery has been hard but knowing that every day I get closer to being able to snuggle her again makes it worth it.