This is not a shaming post. I feel like I have to say that. It seems that we mommies get offended or offend others so easily, and that's not my intention. It's not a "We do this parenting thing better than you" post. This is simply how we've chosen to do life around here. We have three kids.  A 4-year-old son, a 3-year-old daughter, and an 8-month-old baby boy. And, not one of them has had access to either of our phones. And by access , I mean that they have never been allowed to hold our phones and play games or look at videos either with us sitting near them or in a separate room or at the store to keep them occupied or sitting in the pew at church to keep them quiet. Ever. They have watched Netflix on the iPad propped on the table a handful of times when our TV wasn't working, and they have sat next to us when we've taken silly pictures or watched an occasional youtube video on our phones together, but their little hands do not have our permis...

1. So our baby got his first gift yesterday --  two new, adorable Woombies to keep him snug as a bug this winter and help prevent that awful startle reflex from disturbing his sweet, sweet slumber! Thank you, Nana and Grandpa! 2.  These two can be fighting and hollering about a toy one minute and then incredibly sweet to one another the next. I usually have them sit in chairs a distance away from one another for their 30 minutes of TV time in the mornings, but today they plopped down on the rug when we came inside from playing outside , and I thought I'd test out how well they'd do sitting that closely to one another.  And, 20 minutes in they were still sitting like that.  Ella actually did much better sitting right next to Jack than she normally does sitting on her own. She typically likes to roam around, and I have to tell her repeatedly to sit down and enjoy her show. Not today :) Not even once!