Category Archives: mommyhood

I Love You, But…

I noticed this phrase I’ve been using recently – and I even caught Hubby saying it today. sometimes, when I’m telling EK to do something, she gets frustrated or even cries. So the next time I tell her, I often begin my sentence with “I love you, but…” Here are a few examples:

I love you, but you have to go to bed now.

I love you, but you can’t hit your brother.

I love you, but you have to eat your breakfast.

I love you, but you can’t wear your too-big, plastic, high-heeled princess shoes to school.

See what I mean? I don’t know if I do it because my parents did it, or if I made it up all on my own. But when she starts the tears, or stomps her feet and slams doors in frustration (definitely my daughter – sorry to pass that on) I want to head her off by declaring my love for her, reminding that I have her best interest in mind, and that I’m not telling her to do something she doesn’t want to do just for kicks. But I’m using my love for her like a disclaimer. I’m saying it just before I deliver the final blow of bad news: I love you, but we aren’t watching any more Bubble Guppies today.

My love for my kids shouldn’t be a disclaimer, or even a reason that I can tell them what to do. My love should be the viewpoint from which I act, speak, and parent in general. My love should be what chooses my words and lifts my hands. My love is the reasoning behind wanting to help my kids be healthy, responsible, kind, and happy – not the thing I say before I force them into those things. So I’m going to challenge myself: I won’t follow my “I love yous” with a “but”. I won’t discount my love by saying it with an ulterior motive. I love my kids. I love them regardless of any and every situation they could possibly be in, which is why I will choose to parent without excuses, even if the excuse was “I love you”. There is no “I love you, but…” There is only an internal “I love you, so…” I will help you make the best choices now, so that when you’re older, you’ll make the best choices on your own.

Some Sweet Friends and a Little Partying

Earlier tonight, Hubby, the kids and I went to a party that happens almost every year at my dear friend Shawn’s house. I regret that I didn’t get a picture of her on my phone… she got it on hers. If I get it, I’ll post it!

Anyway, she has had a hard year or two, and the fact that she stills throws this amazing (sometimes-annual) tree-trimming party makes me so happy. She is an incredible woman of God and I value any amount of time I can spend with her… which sometimes isn’t a lot, sadly. I lived with her for three months in college, and stayed with her here and there after that, and her family has taken me in as one of their own. I Coincidentally (not really haha), it’s her husband’s company that’s doing our basement reno! But tonight it was wonderful to see her and share a few moments with her and some other friends we love to see. So for your enjoyment, here are a few Christmas party pictures…

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A photo with the bestie is always necessary.
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College roomies, hanging out twice in one week! THAT is a Christmas miracle, friends.

 

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Just your regular attempt to get a four-person selfie. At least the “crazy face” memo wasn’t forgotten by anyone.

 

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EK had so many cookies. So. Many. Cookies.

 

 

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Even though you can only see half of EK’s face, everyone is smiling. #totalwin

Hubby busted out a tacky sweatshirt, so I ran over to Goodwill and scored that amazing vest. $3, thank you very much! And the kiddos were all decked out in festive attire, so we decided to get a family photo! You see how well it worked out…

OH! I forgot to ask… how do y’all like the sassy new hair? I had mixed feelings about it – still do, truly. It’s shorter on the one side than it’s ever been, but I like that if I don’t want to go sassy, I just curl the longer side under like I did before, and it’s a little more tame. But I like the sass; who am I kidding?

 

December Is Here!

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It seems crazy that December is already here. There are already a million things I need and want to do in these next few weeks before the new year arrives.

Our basement renovation has become really real… pardon that weird grammar there, but that’s exactly how I feel! Measurements have been taken, and plans are in the works. We are housing family over Christmas, so things won’t really start till January, but we’re ordering a Unit (one of those storage containers that you can have at your home instead of storing elsewhere) for the next week or so to go ahead and start packing/weeding out/moving things out of the basement. It’s happening!

We’re also gearing up for musical performances, family Christmas parties, and sweet traditions with our kids. I want to take EK to the Old Salem Candle Tea this year, because I think she’s old enough to like it now. I’ve been almost every year with at least a few of my college girlfriends, so I think it’ll be sweet to take my daughter this year. She loves sweets and Christmas music, so I’m hoping it’ll be a win! We’re going to the Tanglewood Festival of Lights on the 12th, on the hayride, just like two years ago! EK loved it then, so I bet she will really love it this year. And our cousins are going, as well as a few other friends, so it’ll be freezing but fun. It’ll be like a birthday celebration for me, since my birthday is the 13th!

I’m almost done Christmas shopping (winning SO MUCH) so that’s a load off my shoulders already… and I’ve got mixed feelings to say that I did a lot of online shopping. I did it before Black Friday and Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and blah blah… so I can safely say that I avoided crowds in every manner possible. My Christmas cards are ordered and have arrived (make sure I have your address if you want one!) so I’m in the midst of addressing and stuffing those. All that’s left there is to go spend an obscene amount of money on stamps (blegh).

We’ve also got the Advent calendar I painted last year full of the tiny ornaments and Scriptures. I found the wooden calendar at A.C. Moore and just painted it myself. Cute, if I can give myself some credit!

 

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I went to a Salem alumnae holiday party with Lauren and Anne last night, and it was lovely to be out in high heels with the girls for a couple of hours. Yay Salem!

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This blurry picture is the only one I got, but I love my college roomies!

On Monday night, my sister-in-law Hannah hosted a cookie swap. Best idea ever, by the way, coming from me, a woman who loves cookies! I baked three batches, haha! But the spread was glorious!

 

 

 

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I’ve also started to plan J’s first birthday party! I can’t believe he’s almost one year old. It literally blows my mind that it’s true. I mean, I know he’s big, I know he’s smart, I know he’s developmentally a one year old. But it seems like just weeks ago that we were worried about him not gaining weight (hilarious to me now…) or re-babyproofing because he was starting to crawl. And now he thinks he can walk! Slow down, time!

Anyway, I just wanted to have a “welcome December” or “oh my gosh, it’s already December!” post. What are you plans for the month? Fun holiday traditions? Finishing your shopping? Cleaning and cooking and baking for the masses?

 

 

When He Misses Me

*This post also appeared on MyBigJesus.com *

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The other night, Hubby and I went out to his high school reunion. We got in late, were very tired, and looking forward to being able to sleep in a little bit (my early-rising family is in town and they tend to take the kids when they wake up, allowing for a few minutes of extra sleep in the mornings). However, I wake to cries from my son at 5:22 (yes, exactly that time) and trudge sleepily into his room to see what was the matter.

He was very upset, that much I could tell, but at 11 months, how much can he communicate with me? I just rubbed his back, hummed, and rocked in the chair, hoping he’d calm down and I could lay him down soon. He dozed off a few minutes later, but my attempt to lay him down was futile. Immediately his head popped up and his eyes searched the room for me. Resigned to a little while longer in the rocker instead of my bed, I grabbed my pillow and a few of his little blankets, snuggled down and covered us up as best I could.

As I rocked and hummed and rocked some more, it occurred to me that maybe he just missed me. That probably wasn’t what woke him up initially, but that’s why he wanted to snuggle (he’s usually way too busy for that) and that’s why he wouldn’t let me put him down.

You see, my family (my parents, siblings, grandmother, aunt, uncle and cousin) have all been in town for Thanksgiving. They’ve thrown off the groove (in a good way, I might add!) by changing diapers and giving snuggles and playing and babysitting, instead of the normal routine of just Hubby and me being around. J just felt like he wasn’t getting his normal amount of Mama Time and needed me to himself for a few minutes.

After we had dozed in that chair till about 8:00, my mom came in to make sure we were alright. She hadn’t wanted to disturb what she knew would be the sweetest snuggles I’d get for a while. 11-month-old boys are… indefatigable… and too busy getting into messes to snuggle their moms. Except when they know it’s been too long.

New Shelves for Joseph!

A few months ago, I bought two old wooden filing cabinets on the cheap from one of my favorite consignment stores here in town. They had been painted white – seemingly a long time ago – and were distressed from use, and I loved that. I pictured some adorable icons or patterns painted on them in bold colors, and cute drawers pulls, and voila! Better, cuter and more unique storage in my son’s room.

((Before I go tooting my own horn here about how great I think they look now that they’re finished, I will say that I brought them home, cleaned them up, and then they sat in my garage for a month. Then I sketched the pictures/patterns, and they sat in the garage for a month. Then I painted a few drawers. Then… you get the idea.))

The first thing that was super helpful was my tip from my friend Lauren about using chalk paint. No sanding or primer necessary. What a time saver! I used Annie Sloan brand, and it was fabulous. Went on like a dream, and two coats later, I had the bold color I wanted.

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Whoever had painted the cabinets white did a very eh job, so when I took off the industrial-looking handles, I had to have Hubby sand around the area to make it smooth. Then I just kept a-painting…

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A little Annie Sloan wax coat on the outside, a little bit of buffing, and the drawers were all finished!

The insides of the drawers were a little rough, so I wanted to line them. Don’t want those baby clothes and swaddles to get snagged! When I went to Wal-Mart there was nothing really whimsical, so I went with… wood grain? I know. Terrible. But it won’t really be seen.

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One sad point about the Contact drawer liner… it didn’t stick very well to the unfinished wood, so I ended up gluing a little bit underneath it. Extra work, but ah well. Such is to be expected when you start a project like this, right?

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You can see the outer space theme… and I think they fit well! I actually want to reorder the drawers – Hubby put them in out of order. And we still need to attach the drawer pulls. But I couldn’t wait to put them in there, and couldn’t wait to share the project! However, once I got them on either side of the changing table, it seemed like there was too much extra space. So I swapped the changing table and crib!

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Much better, right? I like the scale a lot more. And it made the whole room feel bigger right when you walked in. I’m pretty pleased with the effect, and now I’m all ready to finish organizing!

**A big thanks to Hubby for the heavy lifting, to Lauren for helping wax, and to my mom, who helped with the sketching and painting!**

What DIY projects have you done recently? Have you ever refinished or upcycled some old furniture?

Currently: The Thanksgiving Edition

Today’s Currently isn’t a link up. But I just haven’t posted anything in what feels like AGES, so here I am, telling you what I’m Currently up to, in the style of the link up!!

Thinking about || Thanksgiving and all that that entails. For me, it has entailed rearranging my basement for guest space, two (so far) extremely expensive grocery store trips in preparation for cooking and baking, ordering a Honeybaked Ham (we could give or take a turkey, haha!) and making copious amounts of phone calls and emails planning, preparing, and getting excited. My parents, my brother and his girlfriend, my grandmother, my aunt, uncle and cousin are all coming up here from GA for the holiday. It may be a little hectic, but wonderful. And I haven’t even gotten to things I am thankful for!

Thankful for || family, friends, food to eat and a roof over my head. Here in North Carolina, we’ve had a couple of weeks of drastically changing weather, and I’m thankful for warm boots, rain boots, coats, scarves, and heat in my house. I’m also thankful that I have wonderful family and friends to spend my holiday with. It’s nice to not dread the family coming into town and the hours and days that we will spend together. I know many who are not this fortunate.

Cooking || some of my family’s favorite Thanksgiving staples to take them to Hubby’s family’s T-Giving meal. This will include my family’s dressing recipe and our well-loved cranberry salad. Today I also worked on one of my favorite holiday snacks to have around the house: ranch oyster crackers (basically a package of oyster crackers baked with olive oil, ranch mix, dill, lemon pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper) – yum! I’m also baking some cookies (the cherry shortbreads I talked about a few weeks ago and a gluten/dairy/sugar free sugar plum recipe that is SO GOOD. I’m basically excited about it.

Anticipating || some renovations around our home! Hubby and I have decided we’re staying put, and hiring a friend’s company to renovate the basement. The idea is that we will get two more bedrooms, a bathroom spruce up and a laundry room out of the project and we are PUMPED. Hubby and I also have a few projects on the main level that we’re going to be working on during the times that EK is at preschool and J is napping, such as repainting baseboards, touch up painting on walls, etc. I’m excited about this process, and loving my (already well-loved) home even more.

Hoping || I’ve been praying and hoping for more patience with EK. Confession: I don’t know how much better I’ve been getting. She’s amazing – communicating, behaving, potty training, being sweeter to her brother… but still there are attitude issues sometimes (I mean, she’s 2!) and some things she does (to her brother, mostly) that I feel like trigger me losing my cool. I’m working on it. Prayers for that, if you’re the praying type.

Loving || two new pairs of leggings and two new chunky, tunic-length sweaters, all from Crown & Ivy. They are comfy, the leggings are thick (think can’t see through them when you bend your knees, and no panty lines, because they aren’t painted on, either!) and therefore warm, and the sweaters are cozy. Basically, I’m living in them.

Alright. There’s my long-overdue update. What are you up to? What are your Thanksgiving plans and recipes?

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Crumbled biscuits and cornbread that I made this morning in preparation for the dressing I’ll put together tomorrow!

 

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Ranch Oyster Crackers, straight from the oven. The ones that I haven’t already eaten, at least.

 

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Cranberry Salad – a little complicated, but always a hit. My great-grandmother’s recipe (one of EK’s namesakes!)

 

Raising a Daughter in a World of Mean Dudes

This post also appeared on MyBigJesus.com!

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This week, I came across an article about that guy – Julien Blanc – who teaches men how to be sexual predators. It scared the mess outta me. I’m talking terrified. Not because I think that one of those men is going to be messing with me. No. It scared me because I have a daughter. I’ve written about how tough I think it is to raise a daughter before, and unfortunately, it’s not getting any easier.

I have a laundry list of things I want my daughter to be. It does not include doctor, lawyer, CEO, president, or even famous humanitarian. The list does include, however, things like loves Jesus, is happy in her profession, does kind things for others, and knows that she’s beautiful in the eyes of the Father who created her.

You see, I want her to know her worth in her Creator. Everyone else’s opinions matter not. She is called perfect and beautiful by the One who created her as such. She doesn’t need any certain clothes, tons of makeup, and the approval of a boyfriend or best friend to make it so. Her unique qualities and abilities are gifts. It’s Hubby’s and my job to raise her to know that. In a world of plastic surgery, eating disorders, cyber bullying and domestic violence, I want to raise a woman confident in herself because she knows who she is.

There’s only one starting point – the Gospel.

I can’t do everything. I can’t force her to internalize every single characteristic and ideal I might nudge her way. But I can teach her the Truth. I can tell her about God and his amazing sacrificial love. I can model the Father’s love for us by loving her with unconditional love. I can provide opportunities for other like-minded souls to help reinforce these bits of Truth in her life. I can help her understand that knowing Jesus is the best and only thing she can do to truly know her worth and potential. I can start now – at two and a half years old.

My little girl is beautiful and smart. She’s as witty as a two year old can be, and already a ham for the camera. For real y’all – she basically only wears tutus (see above photo) and won’t leave the house without her fanciest shoes. I just want to make sure she knows she’s awesome and doesn’t need anyone’s approval for that piece of information to be true. She just needs to know Who created her, how He feels about her, and where He wants her to go. It’s like the cheesy song goes: she’s gonna do great things; I already know.

Parenting Fail #87621: The Public Poopers

Yep, it’s that time again. Time for another parenting fail. Although it may not be as much of a fail as a “Oh my gosh did that actually happen?!”

I’ll set up the week for you – normally, my kids have (for months) pooped once a day, right when they get up in the morning. One morning this week, they had BOTH, within sheer minutes of each other, had the sort of poop where you throw away the pajamas and put them straight into the bathtub. Yes, I literally threw away both sets of pajamas that same morning because it was easier than cleaning it out. But after that day, it seemed that they were pooping – imagine me saying this out loud in my best accent – ALL. DAY. E’RY. DAY. My best friend suggested maybe they’re eating too much fruit and getting too much fiber. I say, eh, they’ve always eaten a ton of fruit. Who knows.

So anyway, both kids are basically to the point in their lives that I don’t keep extra changes of clothes for them. When they’re newborns and spitting up and pooping that liquid poop, you sorta have to. But at this point, EK isn’t wearing panties yet, still in Pull-Ups, so no worries there, and J’s biggest problem is his knees are always dirty. Who cares about that, right? So that being said, by some freak (beautiful) accident, I had an extra pair of pants in the diaper bag when we went out to dinner last night with a couple of friends.

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Blurry and devious J and Lauren. He’s thinking about what’s gonna happen in a minute…

 

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Blurry but adorable EK and Aida! This was pre-potty problems.

 

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What a yummy – and needed – margarita!

The kids, y’all, were angels. This place is pretty casual (it’s called The Porch Kitchen and Cantina… Tex-Mex, order at the counter, loud and bustling. We love it.) so the kids could make a little noise and no one was bothered. They ate really well, and were patient while we ate (which rarely happens, am I right?) so I’m thinking we’ve just had the perfect evening. Well, EK asks to go potty, so my friend Aida volunteers to take her. A few minutes after they left, J is squirming pretty awfully so I pull him out of the highchair and notice that he is stinky. So naturally I grab a diaper and wipes, and head to the bathroom. When I get there, Aida says, “Oh thank you! I didn’t know how to get help!” EK is on the changing table, no diaper, with poop on her legs. (Let’s all say a nice, “Poor Aida!”) Apparently, she had pooped a little in the potty – accidentally, of course – and it startled her, so she asked to get off the potty, and then did the rest in her Pull-Up. Then Aida didn’t have a new diaper or wipes to clean her up with. So I hand J to A, clean EK up and put her in the new diaper (the only diaper I had brought).

I take off J’s pants and realize the amount of poop he had was no joke. It’s on his clothes, shirt and pants. I send Aida for new clothes and a fresh diaper, and try to attack his mess. I literally think that I used most of the wipes cleaning up either J or the diaper station. (Yes I cleaned it up. No, you don’t have to worry about there being poop all over and it getting on your kid the next time you eat lunch there.) Aida comes back with the pants that were magically still in my bag, and his coat. Sorry, J, no shirt.

So he’s clean. EK is clean. I get back to the table, and the Hubby of the year looks at me and says, “Do you want me to take the kids home, and you girls can stay out and have a drink?”

Yes, Hubby. A thousand times yes.

 

Currently

New edition of Currently, linking up with Hannah at Joyful Life and other stupendous bloggers that I love. It’s all about sharing life and building community. Check it out and join us!

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T H I N K I N G  A B O U T || My weekend. Hubby was out of town in NYC this past weekend, and I was a temporarily single mom. I survived and thrived a little better than I expected. Honestly, I figured I’d drown in the household chores and baby stuff and only barely keep my kids alive. Hubby and I often have a good cop/bad cop thing going on (if you’re wondering who the bad cop is, you’re looking at her) and I was afraid I would be too much bad cop. But I was alright playing both roles for the weekend!

L O V I N G || Great conversations I’ve been having with friends from church. There are so many inspiring people that I get to be with on a weekly (and more often than that) basis. One of these great times was yesterday… I blogged about it here.

T H A N K F U L  F O R || Sweet friends and family. While Hubby was gone this weekend, we had a couple of friends who helped feed us and in-laws who pitched in to keep the kids while I was at church for my normal Sunday marathon, and it was the biggest help. J is usually napping during church time, and so he’s in a phase of hating the nursery. It’s too loud for him to sleep, but he’s super cranky when he doesn’t get to. Thankfully he sleeps just fine at his grandparents’!

L E A R N I N G || I’m constantly learning this, and I’ve written about it before (here and here, for example), but each day it’s more true… I’m learning patience. It’s one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever learned, which must be why it’s taking so long. Breaking generational curses and trying to be slow to anger, quick to love can sometimes be difficult and exhausting. It can also be extremely rewarding. That must be why I’m still doing it!

H O P I N G || I am truly hoping that the next two months are filled with joy and family and fun, and not stressful and too busy. I like being busy with fun things during the holidays, but I also know that sometimes busy can be a curse, too.  So here’s hoping that we aren’t overly committed, but that we have just the right amount of cooking and shopping and partying and giving.

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Beauty and a Mess

Sometimes, I feel like the beauty. I’ve got some mascara on, I’m wearing cute shoes, there’s no food smeared anywhere on me, and maybe, just maybe, I could be wearing… perfume!

But more than likely, I’m without makeup, in my exercise clothes (whether or not I’ve managed to get that workout in), hair pinned back messily, someone’s snot on my sleeve, and I’ll tell ya – I ain’t wearing perfume.

I am a mess.

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But there is beauty in my mess. I am created for awesome things. I’m created to shine a light that comes not from me, but from a magnificent God who can overcome my messes and failures. They don’t disappear, but they become a more beautiful part of who I am in Him. My weaknesses fade to the background as I become, more and more each day, the woman He created me to be. He has already blessed me with a purpose, with an identity in Him. He has already given me the tools to be that person. I just have to take Him at His Word.