My experiences and hopes thus far

I won't post this on Facebook - Frankly, I'm afraid to. Too many people I know might be offended by it, even though it's not really meant to be offensive to anyone.

My boy has been a blessing. Honestly, I'm not sure how I didn't do this sooner, but also glad that we waited. People make it out to be REALLY hard to be a parent. It's always something, and I am always get some sort of passive aggressive comments about how I should raise my child. Things like "He should be sleeping 6-7 hours between feeds, at least at night." "You shouldn't co-sleep." "don't spoil him by attending to every cry he makes." "You're over feeding him." and the list could probably go on another 15 quotes, but I'll stop it there.

I just want to make this known:

I don't care what your parenting methods are. That is: what works for you, works for you and your baby and what works for me works for me and my baby.

I don't agree with "crying it out" at all. For us. It's just something my partner and I agree on. Actually, funny enough we agree on almost everything parenting-wise... I thought it was gonna be a bit more of a struggle. I (we) agree almost 100 % with attachment parenting methods and that's what I've been doing. (and so far it's working wonders... We have a really happy and healthy baby!!) Which could be attributed to something else, but whatever. If you don't know what the "attachment parenting" approach is, look it up. It's definitely not for everyone and I understand this.  I also don't believe in sleep training, or anything of the sort. I also always hear "things change when they start sleep regression... etc" Well, again, what works for you isn't what works for me. And what's best for my child may not always be convenient for myself. I am a firm believer that you cannot spoil a kid with love. Love is love. (Material things are another thing all together.)

I've seen the effects of uninvolved parenting methods, and that's not for me. I gave up being selfish when I had Felix. It's not about me anymore, it's about little Feely and our little family in general. I get that self care isn't selfish (cuz it really isn't) but it's a little bit more special of a time to me now, not just an everyday thing. I also view our time with Feely as good and productive time. I don't feel bothered, annoyed or anything. I feel happy. I read to him, I respond to his cues, and I am happy to be involved with him.

It's our goal to home-school and teach at home, etc. I am a stay at home mom anyways, so why not? I will love to be more involved in my child's life. He will get enrolled in extracurricular activities to be social of course!

Again, I don't want to be "offensive" to anyone, it's just how I see things panning out for us. It's working and it's lovely so why fix the method if nothing bad is happening. Granted, I realize things change and we will have to adapt to him of course, but it will come and no sense in worrying about it now.

We take it one day at a time. (for the most part!)

I just love this little turd and can't wait to spend my days watching him grow and nourish!!

Behind Giggle and Stink

Hey there! My name is Erika. (for those of you who don't know me!) I've tried a few blogs in the past and had an Etsy shop in the past, too. That Etsy shop can be found here. After an illness, many other stressors, buying a house and then moving into said house, training two dogs, focusing on house repairs/decorating/renovations... AND THEN I got pregnant. Now here I am with 3 cats, 2 dogs and a newborn.

I had plans to POSSIBLY start a small in home child care service, but because of plans to home-school, etc I would love to focus more solely on that for little Felix. So, I will be re-opening my Etsy shop at some point. Felix was born April 14, 2017 so I am a bit preoccupied at the moment. I am surprised I am even able to get this blog post going. To be fair I wanted to have it posted around noon today and now it's almost 9 PM.

I want to focus more on knitting/crocheting and sewing. I will offer cross stitched/embroidered projects occasionally, but mostly offered as commission pieces. I want to hone in on my sewing skills, so I might focus on that for the first while. Still working out some kinks, but the plans are in the works. Mostly gonna focus on children's items.

I want to mention a little bit about what this blog will focus on. As I've mentioned - there is a newborn baby boy addition to our beautiful family. I want to focus on DIY's/crafts, (for kids and adults!) self sustainability, adventures and the all around joys of being a mom and the innocent nature of a child.

About the name - As a kid (age ten or under) my best friend and I hung out all the time. I assure you every time we hung out we were pretty dumb and always laughing at the silliest things. One time her dad said that all we did was "giggle and stink." It's been a sort of running joke all these years I thought it was an appropriate title for this blog, my Etsy shop, and my IG.

Some things are still being worked through, so I will make another blog post soon! I really wanted to get this ball rolling though!!


About the babe:

Felix Dwayne was born April 14th, 2017 weighing 6 lbs and 15 oz and was 19 inches in length!! He is (as of today) 8 lbs and 1.8 oz.