Inspiration...

So today I finally saw the movie that got this whole idea going, Julie & Julia. For those of you who happen not to know of it, it's a true story of a girl who cooked her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year and blogged her experience. I was so struck by this idea of blogging about something you love and are passionate about, that I came up with this.

I get excited about lots of things, I have tons of interests and hobbies. But in the end, the only thing I thought of that I really love doing, and that means the world to me (which wasn't her pre-requisite) was my kids, and therefore, parenting.

Instead of doing a blog about how great my kids are (which would be pretty boring for others, and there might be days when all I have to say is: they're so sweet when they're sleeping.) I opted for parenting. I was also inspired by my sweet high school friend who is pregnant with her first child, and I think (being the perfectionist type) is pretty freaked out about the whole idea.  Parenting is pretty daunting, but in the end it becomes your day to day. And that's how we take it, one day at a time.

I still remember when me and the hubs were first thinking of getting pregnant. We had been married for almost 1 year. My sis-in-law had just had a baby and we were watching her for an afternoon. Maybe a few hours. My niece slept on our bed, cuddled in a blanket, while we played Skip-bo next to her. I remember us thinking, "Hey, we can do this."

Now, I know how that this is a very inaccurate portrayal of babies and life with a baby. That's what makes that memory so funny. Our first baby was not that way. AT ALL.  Our second was. She was one of those babies that people say make you want to have another one. And we do. Eventually. (My hubs was worried that if we had another Moose-baby we would be done. Phew, that didn't happen.)

So, now, I blog once a day (although even in this I'm not perfect. Which I attribute to the joys of which I blog. Parenting is not an exact science. Maybe if I had wifi and a laptop, I'd get the gusto to blog in bed on those days when I don't have much left. But since I don't, and it requires me coming out to the living room, and possibly turning the computer back on,which takes at least 5 minutes from start to finish before I can log onto the internet... You see what I mean.)

I don't know who I'm doing this for. If it's for me, and my own voyage of self-discovery. If it's for others, who really don't know what parenting is like (because, honestly, who without kids actually knows what parenting is like.) Or for some other reason yet to be discovered. All I do know is this: I do enjoy the reflecting and extra thought that goes into my parenting when I know I want to share it with others. I do love parenting and my children. It's the toughest job in the world, and anyone who says otherwise isn't a parent. It takes more love out of me than I knew I had. It is the most rewarding job in the world, although I'd say it's can easily break your heart at the same time. My children are very possibly the greatest achievement I have had in my 26 years of living. Granted, I've not done a lot of great things in the perspective of the world, but still.

I haven't been writing this blog for very long, but I do intend to keep doing so. If not for others, than for me. To remind myself of the joys and struggles of parenting, so that I can always remember why I'm doing it, and always, always keep a light heart about it.

I love my family. My husband (the best 6 years and 3 months of my life) and my absolutely adorable, and precocious children. My life has changed in ways I could never have imagined since they came into my life, and I wouldn't change one second of it. Not one.

Family vacations...

Well, as I said, we just got back from an impromptu family vacation. I say impromptu because it was originally just our family going out there, then we added the grandparents, and eventually 2 of my hub's brothers and their 3 kids per family were all coming.

Now, we've never had all 8 of our kids and all together in one place before. This was a small place, too. So we were both kind of prepared for, well, mass chaos.

To my pleasant surprise, it was not complete chaos. At times there was mild confusion mixed with exhaustion, but not chaos.  Had this been my side of the family, it would've been a totally different story (any of you who are part of that family, I'm sure, would totally agree.) But my hub's family is so great. I won't go into detail. Just to say that for so many children (ages 10, 7, 4, 3, 2, almost 1, and twins of 9 months) and 9 adults, it went pretty great.

When you get that many kids, and parents, in one small space, it can often lead to conflicts. (As I've learned in my very few years of parenting.) But since all adults involved were easy going, and tried to be respectful of each other's space, it went great. Phew!

I thought I'd have a lot more to say about the vacation, but thankfully I don't. Yay for a successful family vacation!

Since we've returned, the kids are still getting better (since they actually got worse while we were there.) We took Monkey to the doctor today just to get a check-up, since she's been battling colds for the longest amongst us 4. Turns out she has an ear infection. Who knew? We've never had an ear infection with our kids yet. This is the first. The only thing I've heard about them is that the best symptom is when your kid starts  being really cranky/crabby for no reason. There really aren't any other symptoms (unless they happen to tug at their ears.) Monkey hasn't been really crabby or anything, and doesn't really tug at her ears. So we had no idea. But we're excited to see what happens when she finishes her meds. Maybe she'll become this uber pleasant kid. Who knows?

Today's moment: Fed Monkey some broccoli today. She ate a few unfortunately-over-steamed pieces. I was pleased. On the other hand, Moose had 2 peeps today (yellow covered sugar balls mascarading as baby chicks, which I admit I used to love as a kid, and teenager, and possibly young adult). Granted, he "earned" them, having one after lunch, and the other after dinner. I didn't know he was going to eat 2. He picked them from his easter eggs he got from a hunt Saturday. Next time I'll space out the sugar-overdose.

3 day weekend...

We just got back from a 3 day vacation with my hub's family. I was going to mention it was coming, so the 3 day missing blogs would be explained. We were miraculously without technology pretty much the entire time. We had no internet, amazingly had no cell phone calls, and watched no tv.

I have a few thoughts from this weekend experience (4 separate family units sharing a somewhat small living space.) But seeing as I am so extremely exhausted that I have a perma-headache, I'm going to sign off early and leave a promise for something more substantial tomorrow. 

Kid moment: After we got back home, I put down Monkey and she happily walked through the house, opening all of her favorite cupboards and drawers, and explored the toys. It was so sweet to see her so excited to be home. She's never been gone this long from home since we moved into our place when she was 4 months old. Yay for being home!

You're happy...

This actually happened yesterday, but I forgot about it. With the kiddos sick, coughing and all can disrupt naps and whatnot. Yesterday, Monkey was having a harder time napping (although in the end her nap was nice and lengthy, it just got chopped in 3) The first time she woke up crying, she woke up Moose. (them being in the same room and all.) He had been asleep, but came out shortly after she went back to sleep. As I went to shut their door and meet him out on the couch, I made a very conscious decision to be alright about his being awake and not make him sleep more (even though he probably could have and might've needed it, being slightly sick himself.)

So often, we will tell Moose, it doesn't matter how long you sleep, or what time it is (he used to be obsessed with waking up at 4.) but that you sleep. I knew he had been asleep, so I decided to make sure I practiced what I had been preaching. I went and sat down next to him and talking to him quietly like I always do when he wakes up from a nap.

He was so pleased with me. He made note of how happy I was and touched me gently and seemed to pleased. I reminded him that since he had slept, that was what mattered and that I was happy with him. It was such a small moment, but really made an impact on me. I'm glad that he recognized I was being happy and nice to him. I guess that goes to show how often I'm not happy when he's not napping.

Anyway, it was a nice moment for me.

Kiddo moment: Monkey's been walking quite a bit the last few weeks. So, despite how small she is, I've decided to try and have her walk more when we're out and about. Walk to the car, walk from the car to the library doors, you know, just little things. She's so small we always carry her everywhere. And she's not too fast. With Moose, he was so huge, by the time he was walking at 15 months, we made him walk because he was so heavy for me. Especially when we had to go up or down stairs. Monkey's so much smaller than he was (although she's still just passed 20 lbs.) that we'd probably carry her, for convenience sake, for a good while. But I like how independent it made Moose, and want to give her that opportunity too.

I must say, she really enjoyed walking around the library. I'll have to deal with the regular "don't touch that", "don't put that in your mouth", but for us, we're more willing to put the work into their behavior now, when they're young, versus doing it later. Hopefully, it'll work out in the end!

Rule #1

Yes, there is officially a Rule #1.

1. Do not make Monkey cry.

Of course, I don't want Moose doing this merely because I say, "Don't make her cry!" But, for now it's a more direct approach to the million other conversations we're going to have. "Don't kick/push/hit/shove/ her!" "Don't take things out of her hands!" "Stop dragging her across the floor!" And so on.

I so specifically remember these types of complaints growing up (coming from me, the youngest of 7) "Mom! He hit me!" Brother then says, "I barely touched her!" Mom then says, "*Brother's name*, don't hit your sister."

I would like him to learn why those things aren't okay, and we'll slowly have those conversations, I'm sure. But for now, these encounters are happening so frequently, I'm afraid for now that Rule #1 is just going to have to do.

Parenting moment: This isn't anything really special or funny, just one of those things. Me and the kids are all somewhat sick, all at different levels and symptoms. Anyway, poor little Monkey had the most of it yesterday, so she went to bed at 6:30. She then proceeded to sleep in until 9:30. She took one nap from 1:30 to 5:30. She then went to bed shortly after 7. The lesson I'm reminded of it, look at her signs, her needs, not what we assume she wants. We thought for sure she would be up tonight since she woke up from her nap so late. However, she was fussy and clingy, so we put her down. To our logic, she should've stayed awake a lot more since she had already had so much sleep. But we followed along with what her body needs, and she went down to bed at a little after 7 without a cry. Kids bodies are so amazing, and know what they need, and when you learn the signs, you can tell exactly what they need. (to a certain extent of course.) It reminds me of when I'm pregnant. I'll go through occasions when I crave very specific things. Sometimes it's meat, other times bread, etc. I've learned to listen to my body when I'm pregnant, because if I do, I usually am able to discern what it is my body needs. It's a pretty neat thing. I'm not like this all the time, but it's a neat thing. Anyhow, long paragraph for all that.

Kid's may not be able to express what they need (although they learn quickly to tell you what they want) but their bodies are pretty horrible liars.

Sick, again...

So this morning both kiddos woke up with coughs. They've never gotten sick together before. I can say we were less than thrilled, since we just got everyone healthy. So we took a sick day (not the hubs, just us who are normally at home anyway) and all stayed in our jammies and watched movies. (Except Monkey that is. She could've cared less about the movies.)

The only downer to today, was that since the kids were having a downer day, I followed suit. I'm not sick (although I do feel a bit congested. I can't decide whether it's sympathy-sick or the real deal.) It really got me in a not so productive mode for the day.

So I've decided that from now on, even if my kiddos are sick, I will not act sick, and stay in my jammies, etc. but will get ready for my day and get busy. Don't get me wrong, I love a good jammie day every now and then, but only when I decide I want one, not because my kids are having one so I just decide to be lazy and not get dressed.

Kid moment: My son had his first overflowed toilet today. A momentous thing, right? Except he didn't see it happen, didn't know it happened. I walked in the bathroom some time later and discovered a bathroom floor soaking wet.

A more silly one: Today Monkey (the sicker of the two) had a grand ol' time walking up and down the living room/kitchen wearing Moose's binky (a small yellow blanket with a duck head on it.). I called it a binky hat. I'd put it on her and she'd walk up and down the rooms, give it back to me, then I'd put it back on her head and she'd do it over again. It was so darn cute.

She also clapped for the first time today. She stood infront of the opening song for a veggie tales video and clapped for a good ten seconds. It was awesome. (Too bad I couldn't find my camera until she was done clapping and resumed hitting herself in the head instead.)

Show and Tell

Well, really it's more like "Show, not tell." Something we've had to do lately with Moose. He's such an emotional little guy. Here's a typical exchange, that happens multiple times a day.

Moose: I want to have a cookie.
Us: Then you need to eat your dinner.
M: But I don't want to eat this.
U: Then you don't get a cookie.
M: But I want a cookie!
U: Then eat your dinner!

As you can tell, this sort of circular conversation gets really old, really fast. Bless my hubs' heart, he came up with this new system. He knows he's supposed to eat his food if he wants any dessert. When he starts complaining about eating, we ask him if he wants any dessert. He says yes. We say, "Show me. Don't tell me."

This has worked wonders for him. I don't know why, and I don't know if this is the sort of things any kid would respond to. But it works for him. It gets his emphasis off of talking about it, and showing us with his actions.

I don't always remember to use this strategy, unfortunately, but I'm getting better. Just like the other night, I forget to use a strategy with him when he flipped out at the Pinewood Derby. One of these days, I'll remember all the tricks and tips I'm constantly learning so I can avoid these things that are avoidable.

Mothering Pick-Me-Up: My super sweet sister-in-law read some blogs here and left me the sweetest comment, making me feel pretty great. It just made me stop and think. I don't know if any mother hears often enough that she's doing a good job, and doing her best, and people recognize it and appreciate it. I have a few amazing people in my life (my hubs included), like her, who constantly tell me I'm doing a good job. I don't think I could keep doing a good job without such awesome support. So take a minute sometime this week and think of mothers you know who might need to be reminded that they're great moms and doing a great job. And don't count out those people who look like they have it all together, and you assume they don't need to hear it. Some people have better public faces than others. I'm not one of those, but some people do, and you may not know it, but they need to hear that more than anything. So take some time this week, and tell those other mothers in  your life that they're wonderful, and amazing!

And don't forget to tell your actual mothers too. I know mine is fantastic, and I'm grateful for her everyday! Love you Mom!

I don't like that...

Tonight we had some chicken stir-fry. It's become a more regular meal in our house since we tried making our own Hu-Hot (Mongolian BBQ), and since rice is cheap and veggies are good for you. Anyhow, Moose is never very fond of these nights. Tonight was no different. The first thing he said as he sat down was something along the lines of, "I don't like this dinner."

I've never been the type to make two different dinners, one for us, one for the kids. I think this has served us well in the end, although I'll be the first to admit that Moose has never been very picky about eating and is quite the doll when it comes to food and eating it.

Anyhow, we've stuck with having him eat our food, always having at least one bite of something new. We can always tell when he genuinely doesn't like something, or if we made the stir fry or chili too spicy. But we can likewise tell if he just doesn't want to eat something because, well, he just doesn't want to.

Moose knew that after dinner we were going for a walk, and he wanted to do that, so he got to eating his rice and stir fry (with little crunchy chow-mein noodles on top. That helps to get him excited. Although we stir them in so he can't just pick them out.) We made sure not to give him too much, and told him to get to it. It didn't take too long (a miracle around here. Lately he's been taking like an hour to eat his dinner. A bit tedious.) and his plate was scraped clean.

Afterwards, all I could think was, "My kid just ate rice, chicken, carrots, bell peppers, and celery. He had no problem whatsoever. I must be doing something right." I don't know if it will be this smooth with Monkey. Although we were brave and gave her a small portion of tiny chicken chunks, rice and veggies too. She's been a bit pickier about eating and all.

Although since we've gone through this with Moose, we're not afraid to send a kid to bed without eating much. They'll be hungry in the morning, and soon learn that if they don't like waking up hungry, they eat their dinner.

Anyway, whenever we have a meal (including healthy portions of veggies) where our kids eat their food (without a ton of cajoling and complaining, which doesn't happen as often as I'd like) I can't help but be pleased that we're helping them to be healthy and teaching them good habits. I didn't get good about eating veggies until the last year. It happened after Monkey was born and I can't really explain it. But I had a moment like that tonight that just made me feel good. It's nice to have moments like that every now and then.

Funny kid moment: Monkey's new thing is carrying things around while she walks. She's quite the half-pint. She's pretty tall for her age, but skinny. Nonetheless, today she insisted on dragging around my rolling pin. It was more like a tall walking stick for her, but she dragged it around the kitchen and living room anyway. You've go to admire her spirit. :)

Emotional outings...

So it's still a bit weird to me, but kids change and I suppose I need to adjust. More. We've had this happen a multitude of times now. Sometimes we're able to avert it somehow, but tonight was not one of those nights. We went out to a church event, a pinewood derby dinner and race. It was a nice time. Moose painted a car. (It was completely uncarved, just painted. So it was a really nicely painted rectangle with wheels.) The race was nice. The kids had dinner at home since it started at 6:30. (Practically their bedtime.) The whole thing went great. That is, until it was time to go home.

We've since learned to warn Moose about leaving time, so it's not a great shock. We'll give him 5 minutes, a 3 minute warning, 2 minutes, etc. The entire thing lasts for like 10-20 minutes. But we warn him and adjust him to the idea of leaving anyway. But like tonight, I told him, "It's time to get ready to go." the kid breaks down in tears.

He's inconsolable, and very, very loud.

It's been such a problem. He's so emotional, and he hasn't always been this way, so I suppose I need to learn new ways to deal with it. He gets so darn excited about having other kids to run around with that when it's time to leave, he loses his mind. You'd think we socially starve the kid.

Anyway, we eventually get him calmed down in the hallway, away from everyone. We've tried multiple tactics for avoiding the freak-out, as well as for dealing with it. Some days are easier than others, and some days I have more patience, or on days like today, my hubs does. Anyway, it's such an ordeal. Ugh.

I'm sure we'll learn how to handle his needs someday. Until then, when at first you don't succeed to stop your kid from freaking out, try, try again.

Ordinary days...

Today was a pretty ordinary day. Nothing exceptional happened, that I can think of. We had someone over to play for a while. Fed him lunch. The kids took naps. I engrossed myself in a BBC miniseries (I get so addicted to those things. I'm so shameless.) Then my hubs put the kids to bed alone so I could go and play volleyball.

Some days are just ordinary days. Not bad, not extraordinary. As a parent, I welcome these days. Sometimes it's nice to have a day that's just an ordinary day.

Finding the time...

Today was one of those days for me when I had an undercurrent of grumpiness for reasons unknown to me. But I was aware of it, so I tried to temper myself. This week, ever since daylight savings, I've been taking time in the early evening (either before or after dinner, depending on when the hubs gets home) to go out on a trail near our home. It's such a great opportunity for free, good for you exercise. I love exercising, but a gym membership isn't in our budget, and those can become so time consuming with a drive there and back, making sure you have someone to watch the kids, etc.

Anyhow, so I've been taking to the trail this week in an effort to get myself in shape. Ever since I stopped nursing the Monkey at 7 months, the weight has been a little more than I usually carry, and I'm not too happy about it. I've been trying to eat well, but I'm one of those bodies that needs cardio, or it's just not going to happen.

So after a somewhat frustrating day, I was about to give up on my evening outing. Then I (with the loving support of my hubs, of course) changed my mind and went out for a walk. My whole body has been pretty darn sore this week, so I decided that if I'm feeling really sore or in pain, I'll just take a fast walk instead of jogging/running. Once I got out, I found a song on my mp3 player that got me going, and even ended up jogging for a portion of my time. I only went out for maybe 20-30 minutes. But it was just what I needed to reset myself, as well as take care of myself.

You can't be a good parent if you're not taking care of yourself. If you don't get enough sleep, you'll be grouchy with your kids. If you're not eating right, your body will pay the price, as will your energy.

If you do get enough sleep, take care of your body and try to get some type of regular (that doesn't mean every day, just consistent) exercise, you will reap the rewards. And as a parent, energy is such a major reward, and so necessary.

So, today's lessons relearned: Take care of yourself, so you can better take care of your kids.

What makes a good day...

Today was a good day. Sometimes I'll think about what makes a good day. Here's a few things:

A successful outing: We went to the library and checked out some books and videos. I always feel like a productive mom when I get the kids out.

Do something special for the kids: After the library I took them to the park for lunch and playing. Moose "fished" in the pond for a while with a long stick. They got to pet a little puppy and enjoy some natural sunlight for a while.

Successful naps: That always makes for a good day.

Playing with the kids: As part of school today, me and Moose played games. We played Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light. It just feels good to do games and play specifically with the wants and needs of your child in mind. I guess it makes me feel good because it's more selfless on my part then I usually am with their playing needs.

Successful bedtime: This isn't a huge problem in our house, but it's such a nice cap on any day. Kids get teeth brushed, books read, songs sung, and a kiss goodnight.

So today was a good day. And to put an end cap on the day, here's my favorite quote from today, said by me to Moose at the park. "Don't poke the goose with the stick." *form mental image here.* :)

Make it work...

So, despite the fun of daylight savings, we are making it work. We felt the joy and exuberance of sleeping in til 7 this morning. (Unheard of in our house.) And for whatever reason, Moose was wired! So we had an early nap, and they were both prime for bed at their usual 7 o'clock bedtime. It's 7:35 and the house is silent. Woohoo! We shall prevail. As for tomorrow morning, who knows what'll happen, but I'm glad we will continue to have our evenings to ourselves and keep our early bedtime as well.

Now that Monkey's almost 1, she's basically eating table food. Which is good since she decided she no longer likes to eat anything that's not chunky or can be handled without utensils. I'm okay with this, but it's quite the experiment and transition. So far, her regular repertoire includes dry cereal (which she's tiring of as well) cheese squares, bananas, canned fruit, toast, and she likes three cheese macaroni, and our homemade alfredo. We'll happily give her what we're eating, which the other night was split pea soup, last night it was stroganoff. But so far she's not too into it. So she's not eating as much (I don't think so. I could be wrong, since it's harder to judge pureed food volume to regular food.) as she was before. But I know she's getting what she needs, cuz the kid aint starvin', you know? If she's hungry, we'll gladly feed her. She's just so much pickier than Moose was.

Moose ate everything. Seriously. If it was edible. (Monkey, on the other hand, tries to eat everything, non-edibles included.) He was totally not picky. Monkey on the other hand, uhh. She's so picky and opinionated. We're handling it well. (Well, I'm handling it better than I have in the past. I've had issues with kids who won't eat. Drives me nuts.) I know we'll find a balance with her and she'll get used to what we eat. It's just one of those things that takes time.

One of those moments: We've learned that we now have to keep the bathroom doors closed at all times. We used to do that because Monkey would get at everything in there. Unroll toilet paper, the whole deal. Then for a while (after we moved trash cans on top of the toilet tank and no longer keep the toilet paper on the actual holder.) she could go in there without doing any damage. However, now the little monster has decided that toilets are little splash pools. Oh yes. We have caught her with her hand in the toilet 3 times now. Ew. So now we know. Shut the door.

Ups and Downs...

Well, the hubs is sick, so we're still dealing with that. But today was full of ups and downs. First was daylight savings. Ugh.

We moved the clocks forward last night. Kids went down at the usual time (7.) Moose came in our room at 5:40 (his body should have been thinking it was 4:40, remember.) saying he had to go potty. Ugh. Fortunately, he did go back to sleep for a while, but I didn't really. Ugh.

Me and Moose went to church while the hubs and Monkey stayed home. That worked out pretty well. After we got back, lunch and relaxing done, we all had a really nice, long nap.

Moose's Moments: He got a treat at church today. A lifesaver. He called it a tire.  He was watching a little video later on, and there was a shooting star. He goes "Look. A moving star!"

It's 8 o'clock now (but really 7 o'clock to our bodies) and we're putting the kids down. I wonder how long this weird time/body swap will last. I really enjoyed our 7 o'clock bedtime for the kids. Ugh. Oh well, maybe, just maybe, they'll sleep in.

Then again, maybe I'll just have to take a nap tomorrow too.

Still learning...

So today, I checked out Moose's owie from yesterday. As we thought, he still had a sliver in there. Grr. How annoying. So I went to work on it with a bit less hesitation than yesterday. Unfortunately, since it was such a small slice, my squeeze technique was not working. Fortunately, my hubs was home and decided to try another tactic. So we got the Moose on his bed with our mini-DVD player to occupy his thoughts. I distracted him while singing along to Bob the Builder while the hubs slowly and carefully dug it out with a safety pin. Oh joy. He didn't cry and squirm nearly as much, and all of the sliver is out now. Thank goodness.

Good thing we were both around. Two heads really are better than one, huh?

We've been noticing since Monkey is all better now, that she's really acting independent and grown-up. She was before she got sick, but then it went away for like a week and a half and we forgot how much progress she's made. Since she's gotten better, she' climbing on everything. She can't always get back down, but she doesn't really care.  She's so fiesty. She's starting to understand our sign language, although she's not ready to reciprocate it just yet. She's even starting to jog a little bit. When Moose was this age, he had just started crawling and this little Monkey is jogging around the house. So weird. She's so teeny. (In my head, she's teeny anyway. I know she's quite average sized for her age.)

I feel like she's practically a toddler. She doesn't quite look the part yet, but she will soon enough.

So today was a sick day. Not for me or any of my gems, but for the hubs. Poor guy. He's trying to soak up as much resting as he can before work on Monday. He's not a guy who takes sick days. Like, ever.  Since cleaning and grocery shopping still needed to be done, it involved a lot of computer playing and movie watching for the Moose. Normally we limit him to 1 hour of computer game playing, and one movie a day. Today was an exception. Those happen on occasion. Less often than they used to, before Monkey was born. I'm proud of that. But I'm not ashamed that we had to take a different approach today. When you're a sick parent, number one, aside from feeding and keeping the kids safe, is getting better. So if you can keep them safe and fed, and also get lots of rest, and to do that you happen to have a movie running a large portion of the day, that's O.K.

Making my kid cry...

I had an interesting parenting moment this evening. Moose got a nice sliver in his toe the other day. I'm not entirely sure where he got it from. I have one possibility. Anyway, it went deep and was a good size. I gave it a check squeeze to see if it would slide out easily, and decided to leave it be for a while to see if it naturally pushed out a bit. I didn't want to torture my kid just because I have OCD about these kinds of things.

I went to check it tonight before bed and it hadn't moved at all. I was slightly concerned. I didn't want the skin to regrow over it, you know? So I tried working on it a bit. I could feel the very end and thought I could work it out.

Long story short, I got it out. However, I had to squeeze his little toe really hard. Twice. The second time, I knew he was going to scream and cry. I also knew that if I did it, the sliver would come out and his toe could heal. I chose to squeeze.

It was not an easy decision to make my brave little Moose cry like that. He has a pretty high pain tolerance, we've noticed in his 3 1/2 years. Considering what I did to him, he was extremely brave. He still screamed pretty good, had a small cry, calmed down pretty easily. (Although the entire time he was bribed with some sweetheart candies from V-day, a flashlight to play with, and a movie got put in the TV near the end.)

In the end, I had to stop and take a quick second for a parenting reflection. I did not enjoy making Moose cry. Not one bit. I've got that mothering gene that hates when your kids cry in pain. (I don't care if they cry in anger, boredom, or those sorts of things. But pain, I don't handle well.) But I knew that if I didn't get that sliver out, it could be worse for him in the end. So I made him cry, squeezed that big thing out, and got it over with.

Lesson for today: Sometimes I'm going to have to make my kids cry. But as long as I'm making my decisions with a clear head, not using my emotions to guide me, I think I'll be able to handle it. I hope so, anyway.

Milestones...

Twice over. Every milestone your first kid reaches is picture/phone call worthy. They're all so exciting. Now that I'm doing it the second time, it's still just as exciting, but it's a whole other experience.

First off, Monkey is like half the size Moose was at the same age. He didn't walk til he was 15 months, she walked at 11. It's so hard not to compare your kids. And it's not entirely all bad, I think. As long as you're not weighing one over the other.

As Monkey is almost turning 1, I'm realizing that she's not a baby anymore. She still looks so small to me, and everytime I pick her up I'm amazed at how light she is. (She's not a total lightweight. She weighs 20 lbs. Moose was just like 25-30 by now. I'm not really sure, but I didn't carry him if I could've avoided it back then.) Still, I can see how much she's understanding and how much she's really aware of and sometimes it astounds me.

We're starting to emphasize sign language with her. Moose learned it shortly after he turned 1 and it was really such a great tool. It helped so much. She's being a bit fiesty about it. But the understanding is there, and I'm sure it won't be long before she's signing for more, milk, all done, etc. It's hard to believe she's almost 1.

This year with her has gone by way faster than Moose's first year. I'm sure part of that is that I have Moose here to keep things moving. I'm sure it's also because I know more what I'm doing, so things run a bit smoother around here.

I'm excited for her to turn 1, but at the same time it feels weird that my baby isn't a baby anymore.

I'm exhausted. Tonight was my night out (a real essential for moms to have. However often, you need one!) and I play volleyball. My feet are aching and I have 80's songs running through my head. I hope I can go to sleep. I'll be good and post tomorrow.

She's alive...

So it seems that Monkey is one the mend. Finally! Her hives are almost gone, as are most of her other symptoms. She only coughs occasionally now. It's not like this illness was interrupting her sleeping. That would've been a serious problem. But still, it's nice to see kids perk up when they're finally on the up swing. Today was the first day in over a week she didn't cry when the hubs left for work. Even Moose said, "She didn't cry when Papa went to work!" It was becoming quite the trend.

Not much remarkable happened today. But there were enough small moments to make it a great day. Making a sea anemone with Moose using playdoh and my garlic press, sitting on the kitchen floor, with Monkey in my lap, pretend feeding myself and her with a (clean and sterilized) bubble wand and empty bowl, watching part of Toy Story 2 with Moose while he snacks on carrots before bed. As I was sitting on the floor with Monkey, pretending to eat something with a bubble wand, I couldn't help but just laughing. It was such a sweet, tender moment. As I looked around, I saw all the legos and blocks on the floor. It reminded me of something I've thought before.

Whenever someone asks me, "How do you have time for that?" "How do you do all that with two kids, and a husband?" I always think to myself, my house isn't always clean, I don't always get time to do myself up each day, there are a lot of things that might be daily necessities for other people, that for me get passed over. I don't mind. The things that are "misses" in my daily life, are not nearly as important as the "hits" that I get. I spend tons of quality time with my kids. I try to play with them (sometimes it gets a bit boring for an adult, but I do try.), I keep them as busy as I can. Each day I try to make them laugh, and smile. Meals are not always elaborate (although I do try to keep them healthy and balanced.) and the counters are not always clean. Nor are the toys always put away. But the important things stay important. And we're happy.

My kid's gonna be...

The other day I had a really neat conversation with my sister. She's got two sweet boys, ages 4 and 2. We were chatting about them, getting the updates (we live a few states away) and she had an interesting thing to say. Her two boys are complete opposites. She shared a thought (which I've had before and completely agree with) that she realized she has to embrace the people they are, and not try and get them to do things they don't enjoy. Her oldest is not athletic. At all. He likes to sing and dance. He's kinda shy. Her youngest is a big rough and tumble type, who loves puzzles and solving spatial types of equations. She's learning to encourage their natural tendencies and just embrace who they are. That is so awesome. What a good thing to do.

Like I said, I've had similar thoughts, and think it's such an awesome way to parent. But it really made me stop and think (as she talked to me about this), am I really parenting that way, or am I still forcing my gems (mainly Moose, since Monkey's a bit small for anything really) to do things that they don't really enjoy. I came to the conclusion that I don't think I am. But I think it was still good for me to stop and reflect. It's so easy to get into a routine, or habit, or flow with your kids that you might not really be paying attention to what you're doing. Not in a really introspective sort of way. It was good for me to stop and think, "Am I forcing Moose into activities he doesn't like, or am I not encouraging him in things he really enjoys?"

For now, he just likes to crash, run, tumble, wrestle, play the computer, and watch movies. But I'm sure as he gets a bit older (and as it gets warmer) he will let it be known that he has preferences for certain activities, games, sports, social encounters, etc. I always want to be aware of what he really enjoys so I can encourage him in that, know what he's not comfortable with so I can gently urge him to experience things slowly, in a way that he can handle, without forcing him into things that make him uncomfortable. Overall, it's just good to be aware of what you're doing with your kids, and to make sure you are looking at them as people, with likes, dislikes, etc.

Funny parenting moment for the day: Little monkey is still recovering from whatever cold/cough she's had for over a week now. The last few days she's had red, splotchy bumps that have been coming and going. We've not really been able to figure it out. So finally, today, my hubs went to google and looked it all up. We determined she most likely has hives. We think it's most likely related to the illness she's been battling with, and since they're not bothering her in any way, expect them to go away with the rest of her symptoms. (While always being mindful and cautious, of course.) The funny part of all of this was, my hubs says, "What did parents do before google?" All I could think was, "They bugged their parents." I'm sure that's true. We still do bug ours from time to time, but it sure is nice to have some instant information available. (Taken into account that you have to sift through it for what's actually valuable and pertinent. Nonetheless, a wonderful cache of information at your fingertips.)

While the cat's away...

I thought that mice would play, but apparently they put themselves to bed.

This weekend, the hubs has been home as usual. Monkey has continued to be overly attached to him, grimacing if I even offer to hold her. (Sorry hubs, you get to make your breakfast with her in your arms. I tried.) Today, usually fantastic when the ingredients of Sunday and Sunshine combine has been a bit rough since yours truly is still sick. Even worse today than I have been all week, if that's possible. So after our Sunday church meetings, we came home and had lunch. Then I went to bed. This is what I awoke to.

Moose put himself to bed. (What?!? You say. I know. Me too.)

The hubs was holding Monkey who was promptly falling asleep on him. (I know. Whatever.) So he told Moose, go put yourself to bed. He heard him read a book to himself and then not a sound after that. I couldn't help but go peak in. He was tucked in under his sheets, sleeping with his "babies". (a small bean bag dog from JoAnns that a stranger bought him. A nice gesture from an older lady. And his binky, a small yellow blanket with a duck head on it.)

So apparently, I'm not the cat I supposed I was. Or maybe my hubs is really the pied piper.

Change, change, change...

That is one thing that will always be certain in parenting. Expect changes. It's always when you start thinking, "Man, we're going so good. The kids are napping great, we've got such a great flow. Things are all working great." And the next day, things start changing.

That's what I'm going through with the gems, I think. Monkey is almost 1. That's when Moose changed from 2 naps to 1. Moose is 3 1/2. If he doesn't get enough energy out, he has a really hard time napping. Especially if Monkey isn't very quiet. (which happens quite frequently. Today she babbled and played for 1 hour before falling asleep. Although that is unheard of, it happened. You never know.)

So then we approach the, what-do-we-do-different-what-do-we-dare-change, game. Oh, if you haven't played it, it's a fun game. (can you feel the sarcasm there?) I think we're getting a bit better at it. We know now to only implement one new thing at a time. That way, we know what is making the difference. Like babies and new foods. You only introduce one at a time so if they have an allergic reaction, you know which one to blame. If you implement too many changes to a structure or routine, you never really know which change actually helped, if not all.

So we're contemplating changing the routines, changing our habits. First off, is letting Monkey go to bed when she's ready (about 7) and letting Moose stay up a little bit later. Not much, an hour at most. (Today's a Friday too, so that helps us feel flexible.) Next will be to help him get his energy out. This week wasn't very helpful since I was sick most of the week and trying to take it easy. Then with some rainy weather, hubs took the car to work. (He normally bikes, bless his healthy heart.) So we were house bound. But weather and health permitting, we'll try and use up more energy. Then maybe nap-time and bed-time will be a bit less stressful around here. Tune in to find out!

Silly kid stuff: Kids are pretty funny when they're around Monkey's age (1 year). She changes her parent-preference more than we change her diaper. (And we do change it very regularly.)  In the morning, she will want the hubs, and only him. Then later on, she'll be only too happy with me. Then around dinner, it's back to the hubs. But when it's time for bed, if he does it she'll scream for 30 minutes. They are so fickle. I learned from my sister when she had her first baby (7 years ago) that you can't take it personally. It's just one of those things they do. Today, Monkey was doing her usual back and forth. She cries when hubs leaves for work, is so giddy when he gets back. Shortly after he came home today, he was holding her, and was standing near me. She looked at me, and put her arms as far around him as she could, and grabbed his shirt with her little fists, pulling herself as close as she could. It was the cutest thing I think I've ever seen.

I suppose we should enjoy it while we can, because when she's a teenager, she'll most likely be pushing us both away more often than not. Ahh, parenting.

Why I love my husband...

To pre-empt this post, I again give a huge cookie (the ultimate reward) to anyone who parents alone.

Today was a decent day with me and kids. I tried my bestest to not be sick (although I still allowed myself to take a nap with Monkey in the morning to stave off the coughs.) Moose and I did "school" and had a decent day. However, then naptime came. Moose has now gone two days without a nap. Today was a no-compromise day. Nap was happening. However, to my utter surprise and dismay, Moose's nap DID NOT happen. I know some kids his age already go without. However, my kid does. I've recently thought about toning them down. Maybe letting him stay up once or twice a week. But I know my kid and know that he can't handle that many days in a row without one. He gets to be one grouchy piece of work. Anyway, by the time the hubs came home, I was one semi-unhappy camper. (I made him sit on the couch for like 1 hour until he came home. He was not happy about being stuck on the couch. But it was that or bed. He told me he didn't like either. Oh well.)

Now, the hubs was already going to run a grocery run tonight because we were in dire need and I'm the sickie in the house. But did he stop there? No. Not only did he do the grocery run, with the new WIC checks (that are great since they now include things like fresh fruit, and don't overload you on milk, but they do take significantly more time), but he took not one, but two kids! He strapped Monkey to his chest with the Baby Bjorn, and made Moose sit in the grocery cart (no, not in the big part, but in the little seat. I wish I could've seen it. Moose is not a dainty 3 1/2 year old.) I was able to take a relaxing shower, make dinner in a quiet house with music playing, do dishes, clean and set the table, as well as peruse facebook. It was awesome. I love my hubs!

I know that everyone thinks their spouse is the best in the world. I don't doubt that it's true. I guess what I can say is that mine is the best in the world for me. I am grateful every single day for him and couldn't imagine each one without him.

So today's parenting tip is: Be grateful for the support you have. If it's a spouse, parent, in-law, sibling, partner, significant other, neighbor, grandparent, adopted family member, whatever. Tell them thank you. Tell them how much you appreciate them.

And then the next time you really need help: Ask for it. (People are so much more willing to help when they feel appreciated and recognized.) There's so much wisdom in the saying "It takes a village to raise a child." It's a tough job. Sure, people do it alone all the time, but I don't think a single one of those people wants to do it alone. Don't ever be ashamed or afraid to ask for help. Ever. Parenting is hard, kids are unrational and somewhat selfish little beings (it's only nature. They'll learn as they get older.) Asking for help might be hard, but it might be the best thing you can do. For you and your kids.

Here's to you hubs. <3

Sick Days...

I was recently talking with some other women about sick days. They all work at an Elementary School and have "sick days" to take off work. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I said "Moms need sick days." I knew I was coming down with something at the time, but it really hit me like a ton of bricks the next two days. Today was my sick day. At first I thought, although I don't get sick days, at least I can keep my pajamas on if I want to. However, after just finishing my first real sick day in a while, I have decided I hate being sick. I've never been one of those people who gets sick of being sick. My hubs totally is. However, after today I have officially changed sides. Today was one of those days you don't picture when you first plan having kids.

When the kids are up, you have to be up, whether or not you're ready. You then have to stay awake while they are, or if you're lucky like me, you take a nap with the little one, while the older one watches Blues Clues episodes in succession on Netflix Instant Watch. Then you continue to plunk your way through the day, avoiding as much playing as possible, wanting desperately to veg on the couch. (Which I might have done, but we only get 2 tv channels. And neither of them have anything worth watching during the morning or afternoon anyway.) So what you end up doing is putting half your effort into taking care of your kids and half your effort into vegging out because your sick. It's so frustrating to not put your full effort into one or the other. Fortunately, after my hubs came home and we had dinner, he let me veg out on the bed with our portable DVD player and the one chicky-flic we own. (A decent one, but pretty old. Although I do enjoy a young Jude Law. However, if we had a laptop with wifi, I would've been watching "Penelope" on Netflix instant watch.)

So I've determined to not be sick anyway. If I can't put all my efforts into vegging out and being sick, I'm just not going to be sick anymore. We'll see how that goes.

A little effort...

In the past few weeks, I've started doing "school" with Moose every morning (although we've started taking a day off once a week.) Anyhow, I started doing it because he was always spinning his wheels and bugging me to do things with him, and not entertaining himself at all. So now we have some structured time and he enjoys his non-structured time a little bit better.

The past two days I've gotten a bit sick. But I am so afraid to skip a day because I don't want to ruin the good thing we have going. I woke up the worst so far this morning, but was still determined to do school. Before we started school, if I needed it for whatever reason, I would nap with Monkey during her morning nap and let Moose watch a movie. It's great that I can do that if I need to, but I didn't want to today. That's a pretty big deal for me. I'm a pretty much a lazy gal. Self-interested, looking out for number 1. Not completely, but when it comes to sleep and avoiding wrestling with Moose, I'm pretty lazy.

So today I was determined. I managed to get a shower in with both kids awake and playing in the living room (a first!). Then we did school, got Monkey to bed, and activities were done with her still sleeping. So I let Moose have some computer time (He amazes me. He works the favorites bar where he has his own folder of child-appropriate game sites. He completely surfs Playhouse Disney, and PBS Kids all by himself. So neat.) and went to lay down on my bed with the baby monitor until Monkey woke up. I didn't expect much, since she had been in bed for just over an hour. I didn't even think I'd fall asleep. Amazingly, I did. It felt like a nice nap. It was only 30 minutes at most. But I felt so refreshed. It was great.

The rest of the day remained slightly stressful as the hubs had to stay late to prepare for a observation at work, and we had to run to the store since our food is running extremely low (and you just can't run out of milk. It's wrong.) However, I am extremely pleased with what I accomplished even though I feel kinda icky.

Glory: Playing with Monkey on my bed. It was really precious. She's been pretty sicky lately and has a nasty cough. But she's still perky and a trooper most of the time. She's been a bit clingy to me today (somewhat unusual) and wanted to be wherever I was. So we played on my bed a bit. It was really sweet.

Silly Kid Moment: Moose loves the song "You are my Sunshine". He occasionally changes the lyrics to express his mood. I believe I mentioned one last week or so. Anyhow, he did it again today. We're driving home from Hubs' work and Monkey had pretty much lost it. She wanted cuddling and wanted it now. So we start singing. It always calmed her down when she was little, and actually still works if she's not gone off the deep end yet. So they started singing you are my sunshine. Here's what Moose sang: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please stop crying, cause I'm getting a little bit mad."

Give and take...

So, I'm a big believer in napping. Moose naps and he's 3 1/2. And when he does nap, it's always 2 hours minimum, frequently 3 hours. That's how we know he still needs it. Granted, he wakes up at 6, but he also goes to bed at 7. So we give and take. Me and hubs go to bed pretty early ourselves, so it fits our lifestyle.  Despite all this, Moose sometimes doesn't want to nap. Or Monkey coughs so much during the beginning naptime that he can't fall asleep. Today was one of these days.

After a short while of hearing Monkey cough and hoping Moose was asleep before it started (the kid could sleep through a tornado), Moose did come out of his room. Instead of fighting him about his nap (when I do make him nap, he will eventually sleep, but at a major emotional cost to both of us. I'm deciding it's just not worth that much emotional energy) I decided to compromise. Kind of. I let him stay awake. But he was not allowed to play on the computer, watch shows (which for us means movies or dvd episodes), be loud, ask me to play with him, or bother me in any way since it was my ME time to get things done. I must say that it went quite well. He eventually wanted to hang around me and constantly ask me what I was doing, etc. But it ended up working out really well. I've hesitated to do this because he's not very good at playing independently anymore. He's to this weird stage where he doesn't like playing with his toys very much. He only likes to crash things. Crash his cars, crash his train tracks, crash his blocks. That gets old pretty fast. So his playtime has become a bit frustrating. But for a good hour (I might be overestimating) he played with his cars. Something he used to do easily for hours on end when he was younger, but hasn't done since his sister was born last April and we took it upon ourselves to travel, move, and move again.

Good lesson today: the occasional compromise might end up being not-so-bad.

Glory moment: We went on a walk with my mother-in-law this afternoon. On the way back, we were talking about some of the things I do with Moose in "school" each morning. Last month we memorized a scripture from John (3:16). He usually repeated after me, but the last week we said it together. I'd heard him randomly (often on the toilet) say a line all on his own. I asked him if he could say it for her, and he said the entire thing. (a decent sized sentence.) I was so excited. I know Moose is a smart little guy, but it was so exciting to hear him recite something like that.

Not so glory moment: Moose doing something behind my back to make his sister cry, and then staring at me while she cries and not saying he's sorry, or asking her if she's okay, or offering to make it better. It seems like such a little thing, a little complaint from the mother. But it's so annoying. And becoming a somewhat regular problem. One day it was him pushing/knocking her over and then turning around and walking away as she cried (that one I saw). So our new talk is: "No, it's not okay to make someone cry and walk away." It's the little lessons in life...