3 in 1

So this post will be 3 posts in one. Yep, I have that much to talk about!

First, other mommies out there -- ever realize that something your child is about to embark on makes you worried, stressed, and nervous way more than you should. Yep, pretty much every milestone does that for me. Especially with my oldest as I am not always quite sure how to approach the situation. That is what makes me the most uneasy about the situation. But then your child makes it easier than you could ever imagine. And for that, you are VERY grateful! Thank you dear child. :) This new milestone I have been worrying about, nervous about, stressing how to do it correctly is potty training Jake. He had started on his own a few months back but then stopped having any interest as there was a lot going on our life. Then this week I bought him Diego big boy underwear (he picked them out too) and pretty much, the rest is history. He had used the potty and I didn't give him a choice, he was going to wear his Diego underwear. He had accidents but knew immediately after he needed to go to the potty - big progress! And yesterday, he only had one accident. And he went poopy in the potty and thought it was hilarious! At bedtime we still need something but last night he did not want to wear a diaper or training pants, "Big boy" he told me. So my wonderful husband talked him into wearing the training pants as they are big boy bedtime underwear. :) What a big boy he is! He is growing up way too quickly! (*sigh*)

Next, I must talk about my other perfect son, Scott. He is only 8 months old and such a sweetheart already! He is so loving and caring. And he already shares! I was playing with him earlier this week and I put his paci backwards in my mouth so I did put the same side in my mouth that he puts in his. He laughed and laughed. It was the funniest thing to him because Mommy didn't know how to use the pacifier. He grabbed it out of my mouth, turned it around, and put in my mouth the right way! I thought that was pretty funny and very impressive. He was already trying to help out and take care of others. How sweet is he?! Yep, I have pretty amazing kids! God truly blessed me!

And finally, as I am running out of time, I have found another product I am in love with.... Cloud b Sleep Sheep.

This product is AMAZING! And my life saver! For over a month now Scott will only sleep if he is laying on my chest. Needless to say, Mommy hasn't gotten very much sleep! Thankgoodness for this sheep! It has different sounds, the one we need is heartbeat. I have it playing after I put him in the crib and he is sleeping SO much better! He will sleep in the crib and is only getting up once or twice at night. Thank you Lord for this great invention!!

You just never know.

Yesterday I wanted to do a fun Halloween activity with the boys, particularly Jake as Scott wouldn't be able to participate but he would have fun watching. =) I decided we could make Halloween paper plate masks. Perfect I thought. This would be fun as Jake loves to draw so he could draw on the plate as much as he would like after I cut out goofy faces on the plates. Then we would have lots of fun wearing them and later "scaring" Daddy when he got home from work. Plus, it was a pretty much free activity since we have all items needed on hand, bonus! I was excited. I had these visions of a very fun activity. As all parents must know, you must go with the flow and your expections can easily be smashed to pieces in a matter of seconds. Everything depends on your child. And this activity was just that. I had goofy faces cut out on a couple plates with ribbon tied to them, all ready for Jake to draw on. I put the masks on and Jake loved it. He was laughing and have a lot of fun. And then it ended. No drawing was done, no more fun with these plates were had. Jake was so upset that the plates were not "whole" anymore. "Fix it, fix it" he cried. I tried changing them out with new "whole" plates but that wouldn't do as the masks were not whole. I tried to explain to Jake the pieces could not be put back on the plates that were cut out but "Fix it, fix it" was still be cried out. Eventually, Jake was caught up in playing with his cars and trucks. And the plate masks were in the trash. Just like my vision for this activity was. Oh well, we will try again next year. :)

Perfect.

My oldest, Jake, is absolutely perfect. Okay, no one is perfect and like all 2 year olds, he has his days. But, he is amazing and an incredible blessing to me. He is only 2 1/2 and already knows exactly what to say and do at just the right moment. What an amazing young man he will be and what an amazing husband he will be to one lucky lady some day. And I know that time will come all too quickly. (*tear*) Here are two perfect things he has done the last two weeks:

It was a weekend day and my husband was gone working hard so it was just me and the boys. And it was a very stressful day. Scott was fussy and wouldn't let me take him away from my side. Jake had just had Purple taken away and this was the worst day of that transition (lots and lots of whining for Purple). I have gotten less sleep than usual the last couple months so I am overly tired and when I am overly tired, my patience is a lot less than usual, and I will admit it, I can get grumpy. So I had had enough this day. I was past my limit when we were trying to get out the door to go say HI to Daddy and Jake was very insistent on having a cookie, so I gave him one. Then I was trying to my coat and shoes on and he was very isnsitent again. I tried telling him no but then he said "Mommmmmy", so I gave him one. Then he totally melted my heart and did just want I needed. He gave the second cookie to me. How sweet was it that he wanted to share and have a cookie with his mommy? Then as I have a hold of Scott's car seat walking out the door, Jake is yelling "tiss, tiss, tiss!" I put Scott down, get on my knees, and Jake runs to me and gives me the sweetest little kiss. Awwwww. Yep, perfect.

And that's not it. There's more. =) This past weekend Josh was working for a little bit again so it was me and the boys and we were doing great, having fun, getting the house clean, and so much checked off my "To Do List". Then it was time to clean the wood floor in the dining room and our bedroom. That's when chaos and all hit. Jake was watching TV in the living room and Scott was in his walker in the living room. The carpet keeps Scott walker there pretty well. I told Jake to stay in the living room while I cleaned the floor. He did, for a little while. Then it was run as much as I can on the wood floor. Plus, Scott wasn't happy he wasn't in on this fun so he was fussing. Add to that, the cleaner bottle wasn't working very well so it was a struggle getting cleaner out of the bottle on to the floor. And yep, there's more. My mop broke. Yep, at the beginning of the cleaning. Great. So on top of everything, I had to result in cleaning the floor with a sponge on my hands and knees. I was about to throw the towel in and forget about cleaning the floor when Jake was absolutely perfect once again. He was on the carpet, stopped where it meets the wood floor. Looked down at the wood floor so seriously and carefully and said, "OOhhhh, Shiny!" "Mommy clean it!" He was so happy and loved seeing the shiny floor I cleaned. Thanks sweetie, Mommy needed that. So yes, I finished cleaning the wood floor, with my heart smiling big thanks to Jake.

Yep, he's that amazing!

Goodbye Purple. Goodbye Yellow.

Purple and Yellow are gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone! No those colors aren't removed from my house. Although I don't believe there is much purple in my house. Purple and Yellow are the final names my oldest gave his pacifiers. He first changed their name from paci to Yellow and then changed their name to Purple. And they are gone. Thanks to my husband. He took action and took them away one evening. Yep, just like that. I was not thrilled to be honest with you. But my husband was right, I probably never would have been ready to do it. Good thing he took charge! Jake did surprisingly well too. There were only a couple melt downs, really I can only think of 2 times. Otherwise he would ask for Purple or Yellow and we would tell them it was gone. He's a big boy now and a little baby needed a paci so he now has Purple (or Yellow depending on which name he was calling it). And yes, that actually worked. A couple days into the removal of Purple and Yellow, we took Jake to a store to pick out a new toy. He wanted a new tractor. So he looked and looked and looked and finally picked out his new tractor he got for being a big boy and giving up Purple/Yellow. And the rest is history. He will occasionally say "Purple?...... Nooooo". He knows it's gone and he doesn't need it. He has even surprised me by not trying to use Scott's paci. Instead he will find Scott's paci for me and give it straight to Scott's mouth. He knows baby's need pacifiers and he's not a baby anymore. What a big boy he is. (sigh) He is growing up too fast. The only real struggle with this "milestone" was bedtime. He had a hard time soothing himself to sleep and calming down to go to bed. It has improved but it's not as struggle free as it once was. We'll get there. And also, Jake seems happier without Purple/Yellow. Not sure why but he just does. He is also using my hair less as his security blanket and is talking LOTS and LOTS! He really is growing up way too quickly right before my eyes. I better not blink or I will miss it.

Breath Taking

There are so, so many things I love about being a mother and am going to write about one of them. Being a parent is so wonderful and breath taking in which you get to rediscover everything in life. It's so incredible to view life through a child's eyes. So fresh, new, innocent, amazing. I just love it. I could go on and on every single day about so many things that are incredible that I rediscovered through my babies' eyes. One the other day was when I was outside with my boys. Jake was playing with his cars in his sand boxes and Scott was hanging out on my hip in a baby sling (which are AMAZING!). I was dribbling one of Jake's balls he had out and Scott was laughing hysterically. I love thinking about that moment. A ball going up and down was so funny to my 7 1/2 month old. That's just so incredible and takes my breath away. I know other mothers understand what I mean. I love that a ball going up and down is funny and brings joy to my baby boy. And you know what, it does to me too. Living life through a child's eye is so fun and wonderful! And you know what, it makes you feel so happy because you are enjoying life and the moment instead of worrying about life's stresses and speeding through our precious life. Just another thing I pray each and every night for everyone.

The "Right" Thing vs. The Best Thing

I sometimes wish I could get a hold of every parenting how to book out there to rip apart and have one awesome bonfire as well as somehow shush all the parenting "experts". It honestly drives me insane how we are always being told the "right" way to raise our kids. The "right" way gets told so much it gets drilled into our heads and if we don't parent that way, we feel guilty and like a bad parent, when we shouldn't feel that way. We should feel like an AWESOME parent and very proud of ourselves for doing what's best for our child and family. No child is the same. No parent is the same. No family is the same. No parenting way is right or wrong (of course, to a common sense extent!). I will admit, I read parenting books and search online for what to do in different child raising situation. And I wish I wouldn't. And I do A LOT less of it with my second child. Now I may look at a parenting book just for the list of what my children should be doing at their age to make sure they aren't too far off or to boast on how far advanced they are. :) I have learned to do what's best for my child/children and our family and not care what others think/say. Because doing so is the RIGHT way to parent. I wish our society didn't make this so hard to learn. And so hard to say "I don't care what you think, this is best for my child so this is the RIGHT thing." (If this is choppy and I seem to be rambling, I am sorry, I am just letting it all flow from my head and heart.) For example, if we rock our child to sleep, our society makes us feel like we are doing something wrong because they should be put down drowsy but awake so they learn to fall asleep on their own. However, my opinion is, I will rock my child to sleep or whatever he needs because I love my child unconditionally and he will grow up too quickly so I will savor this time and snuggle with my child as much as he wants. This time with my child will show him he's loved unconditionally and hopefully will increase his self-esteem and confidence because of all the love I give him, he will feel so good about himself. Or my favorite of society's "right" way to parent: you must let them cry it out. Oh how I disagree with this. Now if you go with this method, that's fine, it's your choice but here's my opinion. I am so strongly against this "parenting rule" so it must make me a bad parent, right? Wrong. It makes me a wonderful parent who does what's best for my child and family. My child will cry and get upset over a variety of things as he grows and learns (for example: learning to share, being told no, having to come inside when he doesn't want to.). Letting him cry and be upset because he is scared, lonely, wants Mommy or Daddy, just wants to be held, to me is just wrong and horrible! If my child gets up during the night and just wants to be with someone, I will not let him cry. I will go snuggle with him and love him and enjoy this precious time with him. This to me shows him he is loved and that does oh so much wonderful things to a child. My oldest is just starting to sleep all night more than he gets up and that's because he's mature enough and his body is ready to sleep all night. Sure maybe this would have come sooner if I let him "cry it out" but I feel that's the "cop out" for parents who want to take the easy route and get more sleep. (No offense to those who choose to do this, again this is just my opinion.) (Plus those who have good sleepers, have it way too easy as parents. :)) I follow my child's lead of what he is ready for and what he needs, not society. It's something I have always done but not always done so guilt free. Society used to make me feel so guilty and bad for not parenting the "right" way, but not anymore. I will proudly and happily do what's best for my children and family and that makes me a wonderful parent. I pray for other mother's struggling with this. It's so sad society does this to mothers who already have so much going on and adjusting to.

Toy Test

Has your child ever gotten a toy as a gift that he/she absolutely loves, but you don't know where it came from? What about one that looked awesome in the package, but broke after playing with it for 5 minutes? There are all sorts of toys out there, good and bad, and ebeanstalk likes to make sure they only have the great ones. Head on over to their website and tell them about the best learning toys you've found or the worst baby gifts you've ever received. They need to hear about the best and the worst to provide the best toddler toys around.

I recently got the honor of testing one of their many fantastic products:

It's the Pound A Peg by Melissa & Doug and it is a wonderful toy! The bright colors and durability of it being wood are fantastic. My oldest loves to pound the pegs and turn it over and pound some more! I like that it can help teach him the colors as well as I can ask him to pound the blue pegs for example. And it is a very well made toy as the pegs don't just fall out but my son can still pull them out if he wishes. That's another perk of this toy - it can be so much more than what it's made to be. My 7 month old loved to chew on the pegs and their big enough and safe he can do so. My 2 1/2 year old liked to use his imagination and do more with this toy. He took all the pegs out, put them in a bowl, and used the hammer as a mixing spoon. I love toys that are so versatile! :) As wonderful as this toy is, yes it does have a draw back. But really there's only one draw back that I can find so that's pretty gosh darn good! The draw back is against a perk I already mentioned - that the hammer is wood. It's hard for a 2 1/2 year old to understand he can't hit anything else with the wooden hammer, like he can with his plastic toy hammer. Otherwise, this is a wonderful toy - fun and educational! What every parent wants in the toys they give their children!