For some reason I think this picture is so cute! It was first thing in the morning, everyone had just rolled out of bed. I think I like it so much because everyone is smiling genuine smiles, even though Avery is the only one looking at the camera. Its always nice to see their happy, smiling faces first thing in the morning. :)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Good Morning!
Friday, April 16, 2010
I'm done
I've gotten to a point where i'm just tired of constantly comparing myself, as a mother, to other mothers.
I've never been a very confident person, never had a high self esteem, i've always compared myself to others.... I compare my flaws to others strengths.... which is totally unfair to do to myself because my flaws will never measure up to someone elses strengths. So, its only obvious that i'd compare myself as a mother as well.
I'm always worried that the things I do/don't do for my children are going to "damage" them. Wondering if i'm failing because my daughter, at 6 months, is not sleeping through the night. Or that my 3 year old is not potty trained yet. Or that we spend the majority of our time at home instead of out doing classes and activities.
After some deep and careful thought, here is my conclusion: Parents (or guardians) are the only ones who know what is best for their children. Just because other peoples kids are sleeping through the night peacefully from day 1 doesnt mean that my kids will too. It also doesnt mean that I am doing something wrong. And just because I dont have my kids enrolled in 20 different classes, doesnt mean that they are going to fail in life.
Hopefully i'll be able to convince myself of this everytime I feel inadequate as a mom.
I'm also done stressing and obsessing about my daughters sleeping habits. The only problem that her nighttime wakings has is that it disrupts mine and Derek's sleep, so its really just an inconvenience. I dont know why so much emphasis is placed on getting babies to sleep through the night anyways. Jadon was a horrible sleeper, and shortly after his first birthday, he figured it all out, so I know that Avery will too someday. She doesnt seem to fit the mold when it comes to sleeping.
It sure is hard being a stay at home mom sometimes, and its not completely what I imagined it would be. My whole life I always dreamed of being a stay at home mom and wife, but in my dreams, I always imagined having a lot more time, a house that never needed cleaning, well behaved kids who never acted out, and the sun was always shining and the temperature was always 72 degrees. I also imagined weekly playdates with friends and their kids who were the same ages as my kids. Unfortunately, we live in Oregon where the weather is rarely sunny and 72, my house wont clean itself, and its just unheard of to think of children that dont act out sometimes... time is something that I feel i'm always short on, and I dont have any friends, let alone friends who have kids the same age as mine.
Life doesnt always turn out the way we plan, but I keep reminding myself that its all God's plan. I am very fortunate to be able to be home with my kids, and i'm so grateful for that. I'm glad I get to be there for all their "firsts", and be there for them everyday. I'm thankful that I get to be here to (try) to make the house clean and get a warm meal on the table for my husband when he gets home from work every evening. I'm thankful that I have such a wonderful husband, and two amazing kids that I get to spend my time with.
I've never been a very confident person, never had a high self esteem, i've always compared myself to others.... I compare my flaws to others strengths.... which is totally unfair to do to myself because my flaws will never measure up to someone elses strengths. So, its only obvious that i'd compare myself as a mother as well.
I'm always worried that the things I do/don't do for my children are going to "damage" them. Wondering if i'm failing because my daughter, at 6 months, is not sleeping through the night. Or that my 3 year old is not potty trained yet. Or that we spend the majority of our time at home instead of out doing classes and activities.
After some deep and careful thought, here is my conclusion: Parents (or guardians) are the only ones who know what is best for their children. Just because other peoples kids are sleeping through the night peacefully from day 1 doesnt mean that my kids will too. It also doesnt mean that I am doing something wrong. And just because I dont have my kids enrolled in 20 different classes, doesnt mean that they are going to fail in life.
Hopefully i'll be able to convince myself of this everytime I feel inadequate as a mom.
I'm also done stressing and obsessing about my daughters sleeping habits. The only problem that her nighttime wakings has is that it disrupts mine and Derek's sleep, so its really just an inconvenience. I dont know why so much emphasis is placed on getting babies to sleep through the night anyways. Jadon was a horrible sleeper, and shortly after his first birthday, he figured it all out, so I know that Avery will too someday. She doesnt seem to fit the mold when it comes to sleeping.
It sure is hard being a stay at home mom sometimes, and its not completely what I imagined it would be. My whole life I always dreamed of being a stay at home mom and wife, but in my dreams, I always imagined having a lot more time, a house that never needed cleaning, well behaved kids who never acted out, and the sun was always shining and the temperature was always 72 degrees. I also imagined weekly playdates with friends and their kids who were the same ages as my kids. Unfortunately, we live in Oregon where the weather is rarely sunny and 72, my house wont clean itself, and its just unheard of to think of children that dont act out sometimes... time is something that I feel i'm always short on, and I dont have any friends, let alone friends who have kids the same age as mine.
Life doesnt always turn out the way we plan, but I keep reminding myself that its all God's plan. I am very fortunate to be able to be home with my kids, and i'm so grateful for that. I'm glad I get to be there for all their "firsts", and be there for them everyday. I'm thankful that I get to be here to (try) to make the house clean and get a warm meal on the table for my husband when he gets home from work every evening. I'm thankful that I have such a wonderful husband, and two amazing kids that I get to spend my time with.
The many faces of Avery
Avery makes some pretty goofy faces, and lately she's been making this new face where she has her mouth open and her tongue hanging part of the way out... really goofy looking, but as her mom, I think she's adorable still. :)
Most of these pictures are of her making that face, although its hard to see her tongue sticking out much in the pictures for some reason. Anyways, there's also other faces as well as normal smiles...
The second picture from the bottom cracks me up... she looks like shes a little.... um, retarded? ;)
Most of these pictures are of her making that face, although its hard to see her tongue sticking out much in the pictures for some reason. Anyways, there's also other faces as well as normal smiles...
The second picture from the bottom cracks me up... she looks like shes a little.... um, retarded? ;)
I love my little girl :)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
I can't keep up
I can't keep up with blogging more than once a week, i'm sorry! As i'm typing this, i'm making dinner. The kids are just keeping me busy, and they seem to be getting more and more demanding of everything!
Derek and I have been busily going through all our junk and stuff and sorting from stuff we will keep, stuff we will sell, and stuff going to Goodwill. We brought all the boxes and stuff down from the attic and went through it all. Feels good to spring clean, but now we've got boxes of stuff sitting around the office (the office that we were almost done cleaning and organizing.) I keep thinking that someday, maybe, the office will be just an office, and not an office/storage/junk room. Someday....
I am happy to report that I am down 2.2 more pounds! Of course, thats over the course of almost a month, but still! I've lost 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, and i'm thrilled!
Avery had her 6 month check up today, and her height and weight gain slowed down quite a bit. I was expecting that... i've been weighing her at home and noticed it wasnt going up much. The doctor isnt concerned yet, as her weight did go up, and she said it could be starting a new curve, rather than continuing to gain so rapidly. She's now back into the 50th percentile or so, where she started out at when she was born.
Jadon had a traumatic event this weekend. Saturday night, he woke up an hour after going to bed, and threw up all over himself and the bed. It scared him into hysterics, and we felt so bad for him. Still dont know what caused this incident... I dont think it was a bug or food poisoning because after that one incident he was fine. Pretty sure the entire contents of his stomach was on his comforter though, and I had to wash everything several times to get the smell and excess chunks off. Anyways, it was pretty traumatizing for him. And of course for me too... you know how much I love vomit!!
Potty training has been going good, and since we've backed off on pressing the poop issue, he has gone back to his normal self. I'm so glad! Peeing has been going well, and he is getting better at holding it.
I cant remember if I mentioned in my last post or not, but Jadon got into the preschool!
Time to go, dinners almost done!
Derek and I have been busily going through all our junk and stuff and sorting from stuff we will keep, stuff we will sell, and stuff going to Goodwill. We brought all the boxes and stuff down from the attic and went through it all. Feels good to spring clean, but now we've got boxes of stuff sitting around the office (the office that we were almost done cleaning and organizing.) I keep thinking that someday, maybe, the office will be just an office, and not an office/storage/junk room. Someday....
I am happy to report that I am down 2.2 more pounds! Of course, thats over the course of almost a month, but still! I've lost 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, and i'm thrilled!
Avery had her 6 month check up today, and her height and weight gain slowed down quite a bit. I was expecting that... i've been weighing her at home and noticed it wasnt going up much. The doctor isnt concerned yet, as her weight did go up, and she said it could be starting a new curve, rather than continuing to gain so rapidly. She's now back into the 50th percentile or so, where she started out at when she was born.
Jadon had a traumatic event this weekend. Saturday night, he woke up an hour after going to bed, and threw up all over himself and the bed. It scared him into hysterics, and we felt so bad for him. Still dont know what caused this incident... I dont think it was a bug or food poisoning because after that one incident he was fine. Pretty sure the entire contents of his stomach was on his comforter though, and I had to wash everything several times to get the smell and excess chunks off. Anyways, it was pretty traumatizing for him. And of course for me too... you know how much I love vomit!!
Potty training has been going good, and since we've backed off on pressing the poop issue, he has gone back to his normal self. I'm so glad! Peeing has been going well, and he is getting better at holding it.
I cant remember if I mentioned in my last post or not, but Jadon got into the preschool!
Time to go, dinners almost done!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
???
I never know what to post as titles for my posts. I'm just not very creative.
Anyways, we got our beautiful new desk set up, i'll take pictures eventually! Believe it or not, we are actually having a hard time filling up all the extra space, which is a GREAT thing!
We've been potty training for a little over a week now, and its going okay. Yes, just okay. He's getting pretty good about going pee in the potty, however he will not do it on his own will, we have to make him go on it and constantly ask if he has to go. But, he seems to prefer wearing his underwear now! We have accidents every day, but most of them are just little leaks that dont make it out of his underwear.
Pooping is not going well though. After holding it for several days (several days doesnt seem like much, but for a kid who usually poops 2-3 times a day, going several days without pooping is a BIG issue!) Finally one day he was so horribly horribly miserable, so we put a pull-up on and told him to go in the pull-up.... (we had to assure him we wouldnt be mad if he went in it.) After a couple hours, he finally went.
In the last week, I noticed a huge difference in his demeanor and his mood.... he was being moody, bored, zero interest in his toys and playing, and he was always laying around, sometimes we'd find him laying in his bed and he'd tell us "i just need to get some rest." I was starting to get really worried about him and so I did a little research, and I figured that we were stressing him out with the whole potty training thing, and I suggested we back way off on the pooping thing. We have done that for the last few days, and he is back to his normal self now. (and yes, it is possible to stress a child out, especially from potty training.) So, for now we are sticking with the peeing part, which seems to be going in the right direction, but when he needs to poo, he's been asking us for a pullup to poop in, and we've been allowing that. My hope is that he'll adjust to the idea of using the potty and peeing in it, and then one day decide he wants to poop in it too. OR, a month or so down the road, we'll try pooping again and see if he's ready, but clearly, he is not ready for that yet. And in my opinion, preschool is not SO important right now that we cause him so much stress to get him potty trained. If he's not potty trained by fall, we'll try getting him into a preschool when he's 4. (surely he'll be potty trained by then!) :)
Averys the same still. She can now eat all her #1 veggies: peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and squash, and I tried prunes again on monday and so far so good, no diarrhea this time. She will be 6 months old in 2 days, and i cant believe it.
She rolled over again from tummy to back yesterday, but I dont think she'll ever roll from back to tummy. She's far too content just laying on her back, and as soon as she's on her belly, she screams, and if she was in a good mood before putting her on her belly, its completely gone. She's getting to be quite the little fireball. First she charms you with her sweet side, smiling at you all the time, making cute noises, but beware, a beast is in there just waiting to come out! And if you dont immediately tame the beast, it will continue to scream at you to the point where you have to wear earplugs. I'm not joking, she screams so loudly that your eardrums rattle in your head.
I'm not complaining though, I love my children more than anything in this world, but at this point in time, with Jadon in his terribly-awful 3's, and Avery's firey temper, its not a good combination... its an exhausting combination. I'm really having to pick my battles carefully with Jadon these days, because otherwise the entire day would be a battle with him.
On the other hand, he is to the point where he says some of the CUTEST things! I always mean to write them down, but forget to. I'm so blessed to have 2 great kids, and I know this difficult age will pass, and someday i'll be able to look back at it with fondness. :)
Switching gears. Every year in the spring/summer(i cant remember)our neighborhood has a big garage sale. This year Derek and I are going to participate in it. We have been going through all of our stuff (as i'm pretty sure i've mentioned before), trying to get rid of junk, and things we dont use anymore. The house is getting tight, and we dont need the extra clutter. So anyways, alot of the kids outgrown clothes i'm going to sell, as well as my maternity clothes. I know alot of the clothes from the kids were gifts to us, and I hate to make a profit off of gifts, so if theres anything that you want for any reason, let me know and i'll give it back.
Anyways, we got our beautiful new desk set up, i'll take pictures eventually! Believe it or not, we are actually having a hard time filling up all the extra space, which is a GREAT thing!
We've been potty training for a little over a week now, and its going okay. Yes, just okay. He's getting pretty good about going pee in the potty, however he will not do it on his own will, we have to make him go on it and constantly ask if he has to go. But, he seems to prefer wearing his underwear now! We have accidents every day, but most of them are just little leaks that dont make it out of his underwear.
Pooping is not going well though. After holding it for several days (several days doesnt seem like much, but for a kid who usually poops 2-3 times a day, going several days without pooping is a BIG issue!) Finally one day he was so horribly horribly miserable, so we put a pull-up on and told him to go in the pull-up.... (we had to assure him we wouldnt be mad if he went in it.) After a couple hours, he finally went.
In the last week, I noticed a huge difference in his demeanor and his mood.... he was being moody, bored, zero interest in his toys and playing, and he was always laying around, sometimes we'd find him laying in his bed and he'd tell us "i just need to get some rest." I was starting to get really worried about him and so I did a little research, and I figured that we were stressing him out with the whole potty training thing, and I suggested we back way off on the pooping thing. We have done that for the last few days, and he is back to his normal self now. (and yes, it is possible to stress a child out, especially from potty training.) So, for now we are sticking with the peeing part, which seems to be going in the right direction, but when he needs to poo, he's been asking us for a pullup to poop in, and we've been allowing that. My hope is that he'll adjust to the idea of using the potty and peeing in it, and then one day decide he wants to poop in it too. OR, a month or so down the road, we'll try pooping again and see if he's ready, but clearly, he is not ready for that yet. And in my opinion, preschool is not SO important right now that we cause him so much stress to get him potty trained. If he's not potty trained by fall, we'll try getting him into a preschool when he's 4. (surely he'll be potty trained by then!) :)
Averys the same still. She can now eat all her #1 veggies: peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and squash, and I tried prunes again on monday and so far so good, no diarrhea this time. She will be 6 months old in 2 days, and i cant believe it.
She rolled over again from tummy to back yesterday, but I dont think she'll ever roll from back to tummy. She's far too content just laying on her back, and as soon as she's on her belly, she screams, and if she was in a good mood before putting her on her belly, its completely gone. She's getting to be quite the little fireball. First she charms you with her sweet side, smiling at you all the time, making cute noises, but beware, a beast is in there just waiting to come out! And if you dont immediately tame the beast, it will continue to scream at you to the point where you have to wear earplugs. I'm not joking, she screams so loudly that your eardrums rattle in your head.
I'm not complaining though, I love my children more than anything in this world, but at this point in time, with Jadon in his terribly-awful 3's, and Avery's firey temper, its not a good combination... its an exhausting combination. I'm really having to pick my battles carefully with Jadon these days, because otherwise the entire day would be a battle with him.
On the other hand, he is to the point where he says some of the CUTEST things! I always mean to write them down, but forget to. I'm so blessed to have 2 great kids, and I know this difficult age will pass, and someday i'll be able to look back at it with fondness. :)
Switching gears. Every year in the spring/summer(i cant remember)our neighborhood has a big garage sale. This year Derek and I are going to participate in it. We have been going through all of our stuff (as i'm pretty sure i've mentioned before), trying to get rid of junk, and things we dont use anymore. The house is getting tight, and we dont need the extra clutter. So anyways, alot of the kids outgrown clothes i'm going to sell, as well as my maternity clothes. I know alot of the clothes from the kids were gifts to us, and I hate to make a profit off of gifts, so if theres anything that you want for any reason, let me know and i'll give it back.
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