Ocean Adventurer Little Boy Room

Since I recently shared our baby girl nursery, I thought it was only fair to share the "big brother's" room, too!

When we were setting up Aidan's nursery, we did an Around the World In 80 Days theme, so we were able to bring some of those elements with us.

When we were moving to Slovenia, we told Aidan that he would be getting a big-boy bed - and not just ANY big-boy bed, but a boat bed!  My mom has a friend in Hungary who is an amazing carpenter, and my parents had him made the most wonderful boat bed!  There is a working ship's wheel, and the front of the boat doubles as a toy chest!  Less clutter makes for a happy mama!

The boat bed is almost exactly the length of the room (that made for an interesting moving day, lol!), which doesn't leave room for much else, but I think we've made a great, and fun room for our big guy!

Here are where we found some of his treasures:

- The shelves, closet, collage frame, art supplies, white bucket and rods are from IKEA

- The striped bedding (which is reversible, and has sharks on the other side) is from Max Studio Kids.

- My mom made the adorable whale stuffed animals!

- The name letters, hooks, and knobs are from Hobby Lobby.

- We bought the crazy cool (but hard to wash - just saying) rug at a little store here in Ljubljana, but I've found it on amazon.com.

- The antique suitcases (for holding the costumes, and such) are from the flea market in Budapest.

- The cute magnets in the "art corner" are from an artist we found in a cute city here, called Piran.

- We found the mounted shark head at H&M Home.

I love that his bed is functional and fun, and I think we've made good use of the smaller, "youth" room.  Our family room doubles as a play room, so it all works all perfectly! :)

My Son Thinks Doing The Laundry Is A "Mommy Job"

My son thinks doing the laundry is a "Mommy job".

He also thinks cooking dinner is a "Daddy job".  Cleaning is a "Daddy job".  Making something we call fancy snacks is a "Mommy job".  Making coffee in the morning is a "Daddy job" - one that he insists on doing when Daddy is out of town.  Cleaning up after dinner is a "Mommy job".  Making the beds alternates - depending on who got up with him in the morning - the other unloads the dishwasher.  Daddy puts up the hooks for mommy to hang things in the apartment.  Mommy chops veggies for Daddy.

My parents got Aidan a kitchen for his birthday - because he wants to be just like Daddy.  While his Daddy is busy making dinner, he's usually "cooking" away in his own kitchen - one that has a microwave, unlike ours.  A fact he is very proud of.  

The child has a favorite vacuum cleaner (we have a real one, and a little hand-held one).  He likes to help me sort the laundry, load the washing machine, and push the buttons.  He likes to put the dishwasher capsule in the dishwasher.

So the other day, when I was folding laundry on the couch, and he said that when he got married his wife would do the laundry, the feminist in me freaked out a bit, and in that calm mommy voice we all learn to speak in, I said, "well, you can do the laundry!  And who is gonna do your laundry when you're not married?"  To which he responded, "Like in college?" I said, "Yes."  To which he answered, "You can do my laundry."  I told him that he would probably live too far from me for me to do his laundry, and again, that he could do his own laundry.  By now I'm ready to organize a march, and wear a "She Persisted" shirt.  Then the other half of the conversation came... and he said, "When I get married, my wife will do the laundry, and I'll cook the dinner.  And I'll make coffee.  And we'll have two Slovenian babies, and I'll have a desk."

And there it is.  My little four-year-old is planning his future, and in that future there are chores, equal responsibilities and a desk.  And do you know why? Because it's what he sees modeled in our home every day.  We frequently tell him that we are a team, and that we all work together in our family.  We tell him that we love each other, and so we like to do things that help one another.

After our conversation, my heart could explode - I love how his mind works.  And I'm crazy thankful for the guy who does all the "Daddy jobs", and teaches our son to value the same things.  You know what they say: "Train up a child..."  And we're doing our best.

Secret Garden Nursery

It would seem that we are just about a month away from the arrival of our little girl!  Since we found out, we have been busy making all the necessary arrangements, most notably - turning Dan's office into a nursery.  The rooms in our apartment are what Europeans call "youth rooms", which means they're on the smaller side.  All that means, is that it forces you to be more creative with how you fill the space - a challenge we readily accepted!

For the nursery theme, we started out with an Anne of Green Gables/Secret Garden idea in mind - which kind of evolved into gray and white, with wood and floral accents.  It's easy get "cluttery", especially in a small room, and especially with kids' stuff.  So with everything, we tried to use things that were multi-functional.  The nursing sofa, for example opens up into a twin sized bed - perfect for fussy nights, or when grandma comes to visit!  The changing table is actually a dresser, the rug is also a play mat, the diaper caddy will also be functional after being a diaper caddy, the shelf is also a closet (of sorts), the baby gym easily folds up, etc.  Okay, enough stalling... here are some pictures!

All we're missing now is the baby!  I have to say, my favorite things in her room are the shelf with the branch, the wreath, her name art, the dolls in the rocking chair, the parasol, baby gym, blankets and play mat.  Okay, all of it, lol!  We're ready for you, baby girl!

Here's a list of where we got some of her treasures:

Crib, sofa, book shelf, diaper caddy, dresser - IKEA
Floral mobile wreath - Alison Michel on Etsy
Ljubljana city scape print - GUD Shop
Beloved pillow - Little Fruit Tree Shop on Etsy
Baby gym - my mom has a friend who is a carpenter, and he built the frame for us.  We specifically asked that it would be collapsable, and that the center rod would come out - this way we could take the toys off to be used in other situations as well.
Baby gym hanging toys - Baby Dreamland Toys on Etsy
Clothes hanging shelf - the white shelf part is from IKEA.  The same carpenter then drilled holes in the shelf.  We found a branch we liked, stained it, drilled holes in that too, and attached it with hemp rope.
Baby Lit Books - Baby Lit
Blonde doll and "Jocelyn Rose" needle work - PjulcsY - she is a Hungarian doll maker, and I just love her dolls' sweet faces!
Blanket, flower-shaped swaddle and play mat - Elodie Details
Three "ladies" sitting in rocking chair, and dolls on bookshelf- made by my mom, based off of Tilda doll patterns.
"Have Courage" sign - I painted it.
Little Bird Wreath - Babushka's Boutique
Sheet and changing pad cover - Burt's Bees

Preschool Fun: World Bee Day (Svetovni Dan Čebel)

Welcome to a new holiday!  May 20th is officially the first World Bee Day - started and promoted by Slovenian beekeepers.

Surprisingly, Slovenia is the bee capital of the world!  They have the largest number of beekeepers/capita!  Here is a link you can go to to find out more about it!  Here is the Facebook page for the World Bee Day, and here is their website.  Slovenia's honey is world-class, there is a long history of beekeeping, and as someone who likes bees, this is great news to me!

Honestly, on actual bee day, pregnancy got the better of me, but I've been making up for it since!  

For starters, here are some "bee" products we love.  These are not all local, Slovenian, but it is all part of supporting bees!

Products

1. Honey - duh.

Or, "med", in Slovene.  The bees in Slovenia are the Carnolian bees.  My personal favorite Slovenian honey is acacia honey.  YUM!  I put honey in my tea, on pork loin, in yogurt, and if you're having a traditional Slovenian breakfast, you have it on butter bread.  Yeah.  It's awesome.  Here's an added tip.  When you use honey, make sure you lick the knife or spoon - apparently that's approximately how much honey ONE bee makes in its life - you wouldn't want to waste a whole life's work!

2. Bee's Wax Candles

There's a stand at our local market that sells bee's wax candles, and we have a couple in our bedroom.  For a fun family activity, you can find "make your own candle" kits on amazon.com.  In school in Hungary, we had a "tradition and heritage" class, and we made bee's wax candles, and it was loads of fun!

3. Bee's Wrap 

This single-use plastic alternative food storage item is cotton fabric, which has been dipped in wax.  You can wrap it around things, or as a lid on a bowl.  It seals because of the warmth of your hands.  It is perfect for fresh produce, cheeses and bread.  Each wrap can be used for about 100 uses - you clean it with cold water and soap.  It's may seem a little expensive up front, but if you're truly cutting out that much plastic wrap and ziplocks, 1) it does end up being cost effective, and 2) obviously it's better for the environment.  I got a set of them for Christmas, and have LOVED using them!

4. Burt's Bees

Dan can't live without his Burt's Bees chapstick.  He's one of those people who has a car chapstick, a bedside table chapstick and a pocket chapstick.  He swears by it!  I've been using their belly butter against stretch marks, and we plan on using their products on our baby.  (On a side-note, their baby clothes, burp cloths and bedding are SO soft.  It's totally one of our favorite baby product brands.)

I showed Aidan each of these products, and we talked about how important bees are.  Without bees, there would be no fruit, no coffee... it would be a sad, sad world!

Activities

1. Plant a Bee friendly garden

When we lived in Florida, we sowed some seeds in the corner of the yard, in the hopes of growing some flowers for bees.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite pan out.  Here in Slovenia, we have a balcony, so we came up with this way to have an herb/flower garden.  There are some specific plants that attract bees, a few are: lavender, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary and parsley.  Of course, there are pretty, colorful flowers you could use too, but we were more interested in a "functional" garden.

2. Recycled Bee Craft

 For this beeeee-autiful craft, you'll need two toilet paper rolls, yellow and black paint, newspaper, scissors and a black marker.  
First, you have your kiddo paint a toilet paper roll yellow (for the record, IKEA has great kids' art supplies).  Then, you have them paint a couple black stripes with black paint (I drew a faint line each time to help him stay straight all the way along).

Then, you help them cut out the wing shapes out of newspaper (watch those fingers!!), cut a strip of toilet paper off, cut it in half, have them paint them black, glue them in for antennae, and draw on a face.  Ta-da!!  So cute!








3. Bee Worksheets

 It can be (really) hard to get Aidan to sit down and color, or write, or do much of anything that wasn't his idea.  But he got a HUGE kick out of writing the B-s, and was super excited at how well it was going!

I found this, and a couple other sheets on pinterest.  I looked at them, and tried to pick the ones that were age-appropriate, and that I thought he would like.  This one had a fun, identify-the-letter section, that we used a stamp on, which of course made it tons more fun!

Snacks

1. Honey Lollipop

 Like I said, Slovenians love their bees and their honey.  There's this great Honey House shop in Ljubljana.  They have honey, honey spreads, candies, lotion, candles, etc.  I bought myself a blueberry money spread, and yes, it is as yummy as it sounds!

 I found this fun honey lollipop for Aidan...

which of course he loved!

2. Honey Comb Snack

For this snack, I used a banana, half a strawberry, some blueberries, and cashews.  Oh, and candy eyes. :)

We talked about how all of these foods (minus the candy eyes) need pollinators, like bees, and how important they are!

Watch

1. Wild Kratts Season 1 Episode 10 - Honey Seekers - this episode is about the honey seekers - lions, honey badger - in Africa, and of course the African killer bee!  So much fun!

2. Wild Kratts Season 1 Episode 32 - Flight of the Pollinators - this episode is all about what different pollinators there are - bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, etc.  I seriously always learn something new when we watch Wild Kratts!

3. More Than Honey - this is a really interesting documentary currently (or at least last time I checked) on Netflix.