Stay....

One of Caleb's favorite activities during the day is watching the school bus pick up/drop off children in our neighborhood.  He hears the bus screech to a halt, and immediately runs to the window to watch with amazement.  He loves everything about it, and he always has a million questions to ask me about it.  The other morning he made me stop dead in my tracks while watching the bus pass when he asked..

"Mom Mom can I be a big kid now and ride the school bus please"?

Oh sweet buddy, it has started.  I was hoping that I could keep you innocent and young for a few more years, but you have already started wishing your little life away.  Unfortunately, this is a process that will continue throughout life, and you will only realize what you wished away after it has already passed.  Sweet boy...stay young.....

You see once you are a big kid on the school bus it will no longer be so magical.  Gone will be the days of running through the house playing dinosaur, and fishing for alligators under the couch.  Gone will be the days of thinking that mama kisses and band aids heal even the most painful boo boo.  Gone will be the days of playing with trains, bikes, and water during the day.  Gone will be the days of your toddler hood.  Your sweet, innocent, perfect toddler hood.  Sweet boy this time is a blessing.  I know you do not realize it, but you bring so much joy to my life.  I love seeing the world through your innocent eyes.  I love spending every precious day with you.  I dread the day you are a big kid and board a school bus....then my "baby" will drive away with it, and I will be left wishing for those days to return.  Let's take in each day as it comes little man.  Let's run through the sprinkler one more time, lets pretend to be the biggest T-Rex and chase Mckinlee until we can no longer breathe, let's wrestle the alligators until they do not bother us anymore.  Stay young, stay innocent just a little longer my little man...please just stay my baby. 

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY

Today has been one of those days.  You know the Ugly ones.  I hate days like today.  I hate days where I literally feel as though everything is going wrong.  I especially hate them when I feel the need to complain because I know how blessed I am. However, it is hard sometimes to carpe diem every moment, and not have a little pitty party every once in a while...especially when your good ole aunt Flow is visiting. 

I read this article this morning and it made me laugh, cringe, and relate in more ways than one.  It is a must read http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/this-is-what-a-stay-at-home-mom-does-all-day-2522745.html?fb_action_ids=3233616810898%2C546448277815%2C10150764393385873%2C323340191053259%2C546407873785&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline

I took a moment and reflected after this article.  It really made me think about my day to day life.  In my opinion mothers are super heros.  We are the biggest, baddest most amazing super heros to every live!! I swear we mothers could conquer the world by 10 am, but some how we more often than not end up feeling as though we have not accomplished anything by the end of the day. Especially on the ugly days.  You know the days that start out the roughest.  The days that begin at 6 am when your 13 month old decides it is time to play, you nurse her, and just when you get her to close her eyes and your breathe a sigh of relief your toddler enters the room.  Instead of cuddling like usual your toddler decides to bounce on the bed and yell catch me...only you cant catch him because you have a baby in your arms...her then falls off the bed and cries for FOREVER even though nothing is hurt.  At this point it is only 7:30.  You then have no time to shower even though you feel disgusting because of your aunt, and its off to make breakfast and work (nannying).  You then have 3 little kids to take care for, no patience, have not had time to feed yourself, and are praying for morning nap time.  Throw in a few diaper changes, tantrums, and short temper snaps on your part.  You look around your house and try to tackle the "cleaning", but begin to realize how much more you need to do.  You have still not eaten, you put the 2 younger ones down for nap, fix breakfast start to eat, and then your 13 month old starts crying.  You know the crying that means "I'm not gonna take a morning nap today mom", so you grab her and what was once your breakfast soon becomes a playground for a 13 month old to practice her self feeding skills.  In an effort to save the day you plan a play date to the park, but rain spoils that. Instead you have a friend and her daughter over to play, but you are in such a blah mood that you wonder if they will ever want to hang out again.......oh the ugly days.

However, as mothers we do need to give ourselves more credit.  We are amazing.  We have hard days.  We have nights where we go to bed feeling guilty because we were not the "best mom" that day.  We have nights where we go to bed with a clean house feeling wonderful, only to have to start the entire "cleaning" process over again by 7 am.  Our job is a never ending one, filled with bumps, moutain tops and valleys.  I love the good the bad and the ugly days of motherhood....they are all worth it when I see faces like this looking up at me.

Our Trip to the Mountains

This past week the kiddos and I traveled to my hometown.  It was an adventure to say the least flying solo with two small children, but it was great to visit with everyone from home.  All I can say is thank God for the amazing weather, and parks...I don't know how we would have survived without them.

The first night back home I met up with some old high school friends to attend Legally Blonde the musical.  Brit's sister did an amazing job!!! While I was at the play papaw took Caleb to see The Lorax in 3D and out for ice cream.  He was in heaven.  Little Miss however, had a time to say the least.  Mckinlee as I have mentioned before is a mama's girl.  I mean a MAMA's girl. Especially when she is in an unfamiliar place.  I was really hoping I could get by with leaving her with my grandmother that night, but the poor thing was so upset. My grammy said she cried on and off for about 3 hours. They were finally able to get her to stop crying and play, but I felt horrible.  I should have just taken her with me to the play. I was greeted with this poor face after 11 pm...usual bedtime 8 pm.

She decided that sleep was not going to happen that night, and she and I were up all night long.  The next day she fought her nap for over 2 hours, and I was about to pack up and head home...I don't do well if my children do not sleep.  However, after that nap she went down without fussing and slept like a champ.  Praise the Lord.

Once the sleeping nightmare was over we were able to enjoy our time. We went out to dinner, visited with friends, and spent a lot of time playing in the park with Paw and Grammy.  Somehow I did not get any good pictures of the kids with Grammy....we will have to fix that next time.  We cooked out one night at the park, and spent one night eating at Paw's house. The kids had a blast, and Caleb loved every minute of it.

Grammy and Paw came to our house this weekend so the kids got to enjoy them more.  We also went out to eat for Grandpa G's birthday Saturday night and Caleb was able to build his own pizza.  He loved it, but was very distraught when the waitress took the pizza to cook it.  Miss Mckinlee had fun throwing her food and saying "No!....No!"....she is such a stinker!! It was a great week/weekend, and

tomorrow we are back to reality. 

 

Life This Week

I'm not sure if I missed something, but I thought it was March and not July?? The weather this week has been AAAAmazing to say the least, and we have spent most of our time outdoors.  I mean seriously 80 degrees in March?  I could really get used to this "new winter".  I think my kiddos could as well. 

We have spent loads of time doing this

They have totally enjoyed having lunch outside

Playing in the water table has also been a huge hit

The biggest hit of all however, has been the popsicles!!

I love these summer winter days!!!

My Life with a 13 Month Old...The 2nd Time

When Caleb was 13 months old he literally threw me for a loop.  He went from being the easiest baby on the planet to a wild, independent, walking toddler.  Tantrums occurred every few minutes, and I was literally at a loss most days.  I wrote this post about it, and it is so funny to look back on.  It is crazy to me to think that he was Mckinlee's age at this point.  He was so much bigger!!

 Mckinlee as of this point is a completely different "toddler" than Caleb was. I know her days are coming when I will be once again at a loss, but as for now she is still so "babyish" to me.  She is my sweet, dramatic, tiny girl, and she is a ham!!

Since Mckinlee has not yet figured out the freedom of walking she is a little easier than Caleb was at this point.  She went from being my complicated baby to a pretty funny toddler basically over night.  She does throw her share of tantrums, but they are still "cute"....you should see them and you would agree.  She throws her head down on her arm, and peeks up at you with those big blue eyes just to make sure you are paying attention :).  Sooo adorable as of now. I know the day is coming when they will drive me crazy.  As of now she is still a easy, sweet girl who is currently cutting 4 teeth and still looks like this....

Nick and I were talking about her personality last night.  We both agreed that she is going to be hilarious.  She does things just to get a laugh from you, and it is so adorable.  I just love that little stinker face.  She thinks she is so big, but as for now she is still my sweet tiny!

"Me Go on Date and Dance"

Sunday afternoon we informed Caleb that he was going to go on a special date with mama and dada that night.  His immediate reaction was "Me go on a date with you and daddy and dance....Yay".  Nick and I had previously gone to a ballroom dancing class for a date night, so obviously thats what our 2 year old thought he was going to do as well :).  He is so stinking cute might I add. We told him that we were going on a special date with him to watch a movie on a big TV, and that Kinlee was going to go stay with meemaw.  He was running around the house saying "Me go on a date and watch boovie, Kinlee go Beebow's (meemaw?) house!".  I have never seen my child more thrilled to get dressed and get out of the house. 

After we dropped little miss off we arrived at the movies.  We allowed Caleb to pick out his very own candy and after a few minutes of looking he chose Twizzlers.  Once we arrived in the theatre he sat in awe of the screen.  He was so cute throughout the entire movie, The Lorax, eating his popcorn, candy, and watching the screen.  He would laugh, clap, and smile.  He sat through the entire movie, and really only talked once.  We were so proud of him!

Once the movie was over we headed to the Dairy Queen next door for ice cream.  Caleb was not able to finish all of his after his big meal at the movies, but we had some cute conversation with him.  Nick and I decided that date night with our kids need to become a regular thing :).