Lucy is a hipster vegan.

I'm a total hippie when it comes to raising my kids. I have a "find your true self" ideal about my parenting.  I give Lucy a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing things she likes, even dressing herself. I even let her pick some clothes out when we went shopping the other day. The only thing she really cared to pick out was a giant pink tulle skirt (got it.) and overpriced Dora pajamas (did not get it). It's been fun to see what kind of kid emerges.

My kid is a total hipster. She loves birds and owls on everything, The Avett Brothers, She and Him and wearing thick rimmed glasses.

Seriously, this was all her. From the owl shirt to the glasses and hat. 

Ok, Ok, so I probably influenced this a LITTLE.  I'm the one constantly playing Avett Brother's, and I did totally buy that hat. But she is definitely learning what she likes and doesn't. I try to play a bit of pop and hip hop, you know, to give her musical diet balance. Won't have it. You'd think I was trying to feed her battery acid or something. She does sing along to "Lover like You". And Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues" is quote "My favorite song!".  Don't worry, she also knows Twinkle Star, ABC's, and the Winnie the Pooh theme song.

What has totally caught me by surprise, is her apparent vegetarianism. She's definitely not a vegan, because she'll consume abnormally large amounts of cheese if you let her. But she does NOT like meat. In fact, (don't judge) the only meat I can get her to eat is chicken nuggets. I try to be conscious of the nuggets I buy, organic baked nuggets are my ideal, but she has consumed her fair share of Micky D's.

I let her pick her food most of the day, giving her acceptable options and letting her pick. We eat a lot of Cocoa Wheats (which are probably terrible, but have a fair amount of protein and not a ton of sugar). And cheese, in all forms, cheese sandwich, cheese on a tortilla , straight shredded cheese. But for dinner, I make her sit with us at the table, and give her a sampling of lots of different foods we are eating. I know some things are pointless, but I put them on her plate anyway.

Last night I look over, and the girl is mixing her corn in her shredded cheese, and eating it with a spinach leaf. Oh my little vegetarian hipster.

Also, despite the love of pink tutus, and the desperate desire to wear my make up, she's a definite tom boy in the making. Her new favorite thing? Spider Man. I don't even know how it happened. She just saw him around, and decided he was the coolest thing. She wants to watch the Spider Man movie, but settles for the old cartoons, but only when I'm watching too. They get a little scary, creepy even, but she will NOT let me turn them off. "No!! Spider Man coming!!" "RUN SPIDER MAN!" "HAHAHA! A big Big BIG IGUANA!" She seems to be handling it well, and we don't watch them often. She's fearless really, and will be just fine, it's more me afraid I'll be flogged by other moms for letting my two year old girl watch Spider Man.

I'm loving this part of being a mom, getting to know my kid. So much of the first few years are spent in survival mode, just trying to make sure everyone is fed and not covered in poop by the end of the day. Its been lovely just hanging out with her, having crazy conversations (today she decided that Santa is at school with presents...she'll be so disappointed one day). It makes me think twice about bringing more babies in the mix. Until I catch her talking to herself. Then I know, she needs a friend.

Embracing the Pacing.

This random, nonsensical post is dedicated to Rachel Jones. My friend, dedicated reader, and fellow slacker blogger. (I'm waiting on exciting updates Rach...make it happen)

Today I met my friend Christy at Main Street Coffee House in Nappanee, IN.

Confession: I often wish I lived closer to the hustle and bustle of South Bend/Mishawaka. Because there is so much more to do out there, and so many people I heart live out there.

(Really, despite the upbeat tone of this post, I spent most of the day wishing Carrie still lived down the road from me, and was with me on this little adventure.) 

However, today I was loving this little Amish, "embrace the pace" corner of the world.

I love that Lucy can meander around while I order a coffee. I like that there are bible story books in baskets by the big couches and fireplace to entertain Lucy while I sit and chat.  I like that we crossed the street with an Amish mom and her kids, and we both said "Ok!"to our kids, in the same happy, motherly voice when the light turned green.  I loved walking around the antique store with Lucy saying "Ooohhh! So pretty!".  I like that everyone smiles and waves at you, that there is actually a corner cafe where old people meet for breakfast.

Then we drove to Wakarusa. Which I also love. So much.

I love that we can play at the park, while moms meet other moms, and people sit and eat their lunch. I love that moms are actually playing with their kids, or talking with other moms, and not playing on their phones. (except me...who is obsessively taking pictures)

I love that as I loaded Lucy in the car, I saw my favorite Wakarusa resident, Jon Andrews playing with his kids at the park. 

 After the park, we went to the new Grandma's Pantry store. Which was AWESOME. It's like a mini Shipshewana, and I loved it. Lucy and I stocked up on dinner supplies and cherry salsa. We drove home with the sunroof open and the tunes blaring, just in time for lunch and nap time.

Nap time was a bit of a fight today. What age do kids stop taking naps? I hope it's 13. Because nap time is my favorite. 

We fired up the grill and made grilled chicken sandwiches, with melted swiss and mozzarella cheese on a pretzel bun. Roasted red potatoes, spinach salad, and corn made this a rather satisfying meal. (Compared to the chicken nuggets and french fries I've been living on most of the week...don't judge).

All in all, it's been a great day in our little corner of the world. The sun is shining, the trees are budding,  and I've got a magnificent pot of coffee brewing and some bananas ripe for banana bread. 

The Blessing of Boring

I feel like I have been so blessed in my life to have the opportunity to see people around me suffer.

Yup. I know. That's sounds crazy bad. I have a lot of random thoughts tumbling around. I'll explain.

Somehow, God has blessed me with a fairly easy life. Almost everything I've planned has happened, exactly the way I planned it. One of the biggest things was Lucy. I had a very specific time table of when I wanted to be pregnant, and give birth, so I could work at camp all summer, but also work as much as I could at school. I knew I was pregnant right away, and calculated my due date at August 20th. The doctors told me August 13th, but I knew I was right. And I was, and Lucy was right on time.
Now, she has had some trouble, she was a frog baby for a long time

For the first few months of life she lived  in that crazy harness. I'm sure it's why she's crazy flexible now. But, once you got used to cuddling a frog, it wasn't bad, and it didn't last long. And she wasn't in pain, and it's not something she'll probably have to worry about later in life.

All that to say, my life has been pretty chill. But people around me, close to me, have gone through some of the hardest things in this life. I consider this all a great blessing. Not only because God has seriously sheltered my life from terribly traumatic events (so far at least), but because he has shown me that things do happen. And he's shown me close enough to my own life, that it makes my heart break for these things, and makes me so thankful for the blessing of boring in my own life.

I've been thinking of this so much since Tuesday night.

Lucy fell off the couch. Every kid does this right? Climbs all over the couch like a monkey? Well, she lost her balance when she was sitting on the arm, and fell maybe 2 feet. Almost immediately I knew something was wrong. It was more than just a bumped head kind of cry. When she started to complain about her shoulder hurting, I knew we needed to go to the doctor NOW. As is always the way with kids, she got hurt right after our normal doctor's closing time. So it was either the ER, or MedPoint. We decided to drive a little farther to the MedPoint on Main in Granger, because we had been there before, and knew it was a little cheaper than the ER. After about 2 hours, we were on our way home with a 2 year old with a fractured collarbone, and new "little purse" (arm sling) and a shirt full of stickers.

 I felt a little frazzled on the way to the doctor, and the X-Rays were something I would like to never repeat. BUT it really was no big deal.

Even when she was in pain, I was never worried that she wouldn't make it. She could breath normally the whole time, and that in itself is a blessing many people don't get.

When I got to the doctor, no one questioned if she was my child. I didn't have to bring her birth certificate or SS Card to prove that she was a Kreider. I knew I could walk into MedPoint, with my hurt baby, my fairly decent health insurance card, and they would get us right in, and take care of us. This is a blessing a lot of people take for granted. Not me. Never again.

I'm thankful that God has blessed me with boring. Even my "crazy" is mild, and easy compared to some people's "normal".  I hope I can spread my boring blessing around a little bit. That because I've been blessed with "boring" and easy, I can easily support others that God has called into the trenches. And when my crazy comes, as I know, and kinda hope it will, I will be prepared because I've had a lot of "boring" time to prepare.

Random Thought: I wonder if some people who THINK their life is "crazy" just need to be around a something a little crazier, so they see how easy their life really is?

How about you? How would you classify your life? Boring? Crazy? Super-Ultimate-Too-Crazy-For-Real-Life?