Want to see the baby love?
I told you how the big boys are adapting to a little brother,
and here you can see it in action,
at one month old (plus 7 and 3 years).

I thought I'd give a little update on how the big boys are handling a new little brother. In general, Mikko and Alrik (7 and 3 years old) can't stop swooning over baby Karsten.








Now, it's not all fun and games. Mikko's adapting really well. Alrik's much more prone to meltdowns and seems to need a ton of attention from both Sam and me (which is fair).

We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in December 2014! (Check out November, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January, and a summary of all our 2013 posts, 2012 posts, and 2011 posts if you missed any.)

Your co-hosts are Lauren at Hobo Mama and Dionna at Code Name: Mama.

Here are the submission details for December 2014:

Theme: Greatest Gifts: We're talking materialism! What have relatives or friends bought your family or kids that were hits out of the park? What gifts have tanked? What recommendations would you have for gift givers, and what's on your wish list this year? What gifts have you given that showed what an awesome gifter you are? Let's talk presents this holiday season!

Deadline: Tuesday, December 2. Fill out the webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com

Carnival date: Tuesday, December 9. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on December 9 and email us the link if you haven't done so already. Once everyone's posts are published by noon Eastern time, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants' links to generate lots of link love for your site! We'll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.

A little look at what we've been (not) doing
for the past month
with little Karsten around.

(Hint: It's mostly looking at Karsten.)

Welcome to the November 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Indoor Play

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared ideas and inspiration to keep families happy and healthy while cooped up indoors.

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Seattle has about nine months of drizzly gray skies to contend with — but I have three (count 'em!) little kids who need to run off some energy each day, and a small home in which to do any of that. We have to rely on getting out of the house regularly — so, in particularly grim weather, that means having indoor spaces we can fly to that allow for boisterous movement and loud voices.

I wrote, when Mikko was two, a top 10 list of my favorite places to amuse kids during wintry weather, but since Mikko (now seven) has aged out of many of those excursions, I've added to and expanded my list here to include options for elementary-age kids as well. I've found, unfortunately, that many kid-centric locations cater solely to the five-and-under crowd, which has made life challenging when I want to take more than one kiddo with me (which is to say, most of the time!). I know it's just that most places assume kids over the age of five will be in school all day, so we've had to source some homeschooling-friendly (or at least -tolerant) options. I hope this list can help you, too, if you're in the same boat!

Friends' houses

We live in a building with quiet-loving adult neighbors who don't always understand children's needs to be total hooligans all day long. Getting away from the grown-up grouchiness to friends' houses where kids are allowed to stomp around, jump off furniture, slam doors, and yell at the top of their lungs is so dang freeing. Plus, great for all ages!

Play cafés & indoor playgrounds

We have various coffeehouses & cafés around that offer play spaces for the kids along with hot beverages, wifi, and snacks for the parents. Admission prices vary, as do age limits. There's a nice, big indoor play structure downtown that allows a high range of ages, just giving young tots a small safe place blocked off within the larger area and otherwise allowing the older goobers free rein. And, um, don't shoot the messenger, but fast food joints also sometimes have some sweet climbing structures.

We successfully went out for Sam's birthday a couple days before Halloween,
so the baby & I were emboldened to join in on a short
trick-or-treating jaunt at our local business district.

Sam and I had different, themed costumes planned,
but Karsten's somewhat tardy arrival meant mine
didn't fit my postpartum mummy tummy. (Nerts!)
So I'm the ocean, and Karsten's a shark. Bam.


Alrik will not take off this Power Rangers hoodie.
It's the best.


Mikko's super into dragons
and wanted me to design an even fiercer costume
or ratchet this one up a notch,
but…um…I had a baby. So that's my excuse.


This baby.
That's a no-sew fleece mei tai I made, by the way,
that just happened to be oceanic in color. Score!


My sweet niece bought this "I love my mummy" outfit
for Mikko when he was born. We've taken Halloween pics
for each kid in it since.