Tag Archives: life

faith, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, women

Clumsy Girls Need Grace

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus!

Hubby and I always talk about things we hope get passed down to our kids, and things we hope skip right over them. For instance, I had years of braces, but Hubby has naturally straight teeth. Guess which one of those I hope my kids get? Most of those things we talk about won’t manifest until a little later (a couple more years, at least!), but there’s one thing I’ve already seen in my daughter that she got from me…

Her clumsiness.

That actually would be a good royal name for her. More applesauce, Your Clumsiness?

At least once a day, I hear her cry out from across the house. I know nothing major has gone down, because it’s been so frequent that I can pretty much tell you what’s happened. She has stubbed her toe. Almost every single time. Or maybe she dropped something on it, or stumbled off of her plastic, high-heeled princess shoes, or hit her elbow on a doorframe. You know – the usual.

Part of me totally understands. It’s truly frustrating to trip over nothing and have bruises up and down your legs you don’t really remember getting. It’s a pain (ha ha, right?) to bump knees and elbows and toes on everything that sticks out one millimeter. It stinks to be a little less coordinated than the average (already uncoordinated) three-year-old. But the rest of me knows I have one job: teaching her that every little bump or bruise (or thing that doesn’t go her way) can’t be a big deal.

That’s where I’m a fault. Sometimes, I’m the one who makes a giant deal out of a spill, or a crash of something breakable. I’m the one who shouts in pain when I stub my toe – or like this morning, when I hit my knee getting in the car, and exclaimed, “Ouch! I think I broke my leg!” I hit it pretty hard, okay?!

It just isn’t practical to make a huge deal out of a stubbed toe. Or spilled milk. Or a bruised elbow. These things are going to happen, and she and I both need a lesson in patience and shrugging things off. We sometimes bring out the worst in each other, making big deals of things we shouldn’t. But it’s a learning process. I’m hoping to teach her to let it go earlier than I learned – because I’m obviously still working on it even now.

I know that what we need is grace. We need a reminder that we aren’t perfect, we will never be perfect, and it’s okay that way. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need the love and blood of a Savior to redeem our imperfections. Because we screw up, we react poorly, and then we feel guilt about it, we are human. And humans need Jesus to cover their sins and screw ups with amazing grace. A lesson in grace for my clumsy girl is also a lesson in grace for me.

mommyhood, parenting fails

Parenting Fail #2351

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Tonight, we had some friends over for dinner. Hubby had been working on a bolognese all afternoon, and we were all really excited. As usual with tomato-based sauces for dinner, we took the kids clothes off before they got their food. (Anyone else try to save laundry this way?)

When everyone was finishing up, we started taking dishes to the sink, cleaning up a bit, and sipping the last sips of our wine. I look over at J, still in his high chair. His hands are hidden behind him, and he says, “Poop!”

My friend Andrea and I look at each other. Did he just say “poop”? I get up, and realize his hands are behind him, in his diaper. I look at his hands. There’s a questionable substance. In my head, I’m going back and forth: Meat from the sauce? Poop? I can’t tell. Should I smell it? Oh gosh, I don’t want to deal with it if it’s poop. Do I just dump him in the tub? Out loud, I say, “Oh no. Please don’t be poop. Oh God… I think it’s poop! RYAN!”

You guys, praise the Lord for husbands who save the day. Hubby saves mine almost daily, but this takes the cake (at least this week). He scooped J up and took care of the poop problem. What a guy.

Moral of the story: If I hadn’t taken his clothes off, he probably wouldn’t have been able to touch it. Blerg.

Anyone else have a recent poop story to share? I know we all have them sometimes. PLEASE tell me I’m not the only one!

mommyhood, random thoughts

Currently

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This may be my latest Currently yet! Sorry for the delay, but Monday (and apparently Tuesday of this week) just are busy these days. So, here it is… What I’m up to currently, linking up as usual with Becky at Choose Happy!

Drinking || lots of coffee. Partially because I’ve been needing the boost, and partially because fall and coffee go perfectly together! Because I make my coffee one cup at a time in the keurig (I have the little cup you fail with your own grounds) I can adjust the caffeine. Sometimes it’s full caffeine, sometimes it’s half-caff or decaf, so that I don’t give myself the jitters!


Sleeping || not as much as I’d like. D is still only sleeping about three hours at a time at night. Maybe four in the first stretch – which is inevitably the one of the night, that starts around 9:00 usually. So I don’t get those four hours, because sometimes EK hasn’t even gone all the way to sleep yet. So I’m feeling the effects of not having any more than four hours at a time in a whiiiiiiile. Hence the coffee.

Watching || James and the Giant Peach with the kids. I haven’t seen it in forever (read: since it came out) and honestly had forgotten about it. But I found it this morning, messing around on Netflix, trying to find something we hadn’t seen eight times. They are loving it!

Planning || a trip to Georgia in October to see my family! My parents come visit fairly often, but everyone else usually comes twice or three times a year. We are excited to go down there and spend several days!

Well, that’s a little update for y’all! What are you up to currently? I’d love to hear!

mommyhood, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Happy Tuesday, y’all! I hope you had a great weekend and a good Monday! That’s all you can ask for on a Monday, right? Just good. It won’t be great, because it’s Monday.

The weather here in NC is amazing, and I’m drinking copious amounts of coffee in my enjoyment of the morning chill. Here are a few funny things to read while you enjoy the chill near you!!


Reasons my preschooler is crying:
Her bite of cookie wasn’t big enough.
She couldn’t get her underwear right side out.
She wanted to wear tights with her shirt instead of pants.
There was too much toilet paper in the toilet. (She put it there.)

Reasons my toddler is crying:
His (20 minute) shower was too short.
He had to wear a diaper.
He threw his dinner in the floor.
We went out without putting shoes on him.
He wanted to eat an apple, and I said, “Okay, I’ll go cut it up.”

EK to Hubby: Daddy! You’re getting so big! (I’m pretty sure she meant this as a compliment, like when we say it to her or her brothers.)

Heard on the monitor at 4:00am…
J: Wahhhh! I want Mommy, Daddy, Annie, Gon Gon! Wahhhh…. (And then the sound trailed off and he was back asleep.)

New verse to “Wheels on the Bus”
EK: The man on the bus says, “I need to poopy. I need to poopy. I need to poopy.” The man on the bus says, “I need to poopy.” all day long. (Just like a man.)

EK: I’ve got a bug bite.
Hubby: I’ve got one, too.
EK: Aww! Can I scratch it for you?

A sign that we are too big HP nerds…
Me: …and after this we can go to the grocery store. We can just walk down to Harris Teeter.
(A couple minutes later) EK: Necie, will you walk with me to Harry Potter?

Watching the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets…
EK: That man has a frog in his throat. (Talking about Dumbledore.)

EK: Can I have some checkup and French fries? (Obviously she meant ketchup.)

I signed up to donate some Lysol spray to EK’s preschool classroom, and sent it to school with her yesterday. When she was getting out of the car, I said, “Don’t forget to give that to your teacher!” And then she told the teacher (not hers) that was helping her out of the car, “Yeah, this is for when I tee-tee on the couch!”

Well, those are my little funny things from the week! What are your kiddos saying?

faith, My Big Jesus

The Life of a New Mom

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When you have a baby, certain things fall to the wayside for a few weeks (months?) that used to matter a little more. There are the normal things, like sleeping and eating. There are also things like laundry and other chores that you fall behind on. There are still more things that you neglect, often about yourself, that it takes you a while to get back into. I’m finding this out, once again, after the birth of my third child. Here are a few of the things I’ve been neglecting for the past six weeks:

Showers. It seems a little gross that you are neglecting these, but honestly, if you have half an hour to yourself, you’ll probably nap (or let’s be honest: sneak out and get a latte) instead of shower. Just being honest.

Beauty routines. The careful steps you took to put on your make up, the way you’d do your hair before you left the house, and the polish on your nails? Say goodbye. I have chipped nail polish from weeks ago, and I barely slap on the mascara every 5 times I leave the house. My hair gets washed every couple of days, and brushed… after I get out of the shower. Oops.

Haircuts. Speaking of hair, this is one of my biggest bummers about neglecting myself for a few weeks. As a person with short hair, I like to get it done about every six weeks, or else it gets super shaggy and it looks like I’m trying out a new (horrible) hair style. It’s been about 9 weeks since I’ve had a haircut, and I’ve stopped checking the back of my head in the mirror at any point. Ignorance is bliss. Oh, I have a giant cowlick back there? That means I actually slept a little last night!

Food. I don’t mean eating it… I mean making sure you have it. And also making sure it’s not rotten. And I hate being wasteful. We’ve run out of milk a few times (not good for my little napping babes) and eggs and bread once or twice as well. But somehow we recently had so many bananas that I ended up freezing the overripe ones for smoothies (because no one wants to eat a mushy banana) and I just threw out three molding peaches (disgusting) and some would-be-delicious leftovers that had been there since… I just don’t know how long. We have completely lost our balance for grocery shopping and food consumption.

Friends. I’ve been trying to do well here, but I’m sorry if I slipped. I’ve definitely texted a few of you a few times. That’s something, right? And several of you have brought us meals, you blessed souls. It’s nice to see a familiar face around here that isn’t asking me to change its diaper or feed it ice cream.

Knowledge of the outside world. Hey, is there some kind of election coming up? Wasn’t there some sport that just had a tournament or got a new outfit thingy? What season is it, again? I can’t even remember the day of the week…

Prayer life. Where I usually try to be very intentional about reading my Bible and choosing something or someone to pray for, recently my prayers have been all but limited to, “Please God, let the baby stay asleep.” and “Dear Lord, please let us have a few more diapers stashed around here somewhere.” Or my personal favorite: “Thank you, Lord, for my kids! And now, bed time!”

 

home, mommyhood

Preschool Has Started With a Bang!

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This morning, I dropped EK and J off at preschool. Much to my surprise, and chagrin, they were so excited that I didn’t even get a goodbye hug! They just walked right in, threw their stuff down, and got started. I expected that to happen with EK, but I expected some trepidation from J. Well, no way. He waltzed right in there, dropped his bag on the ground (I had to hang it for him) and started playing. The kid knew where he was and what he wanted to do. And even though I’m a little sad he didn’t even want to hug me or anything, I am thrilled we won’t have any sadness. It makes a mama SO happy to know her kids are having fun and not crying.

The only thing that was a little crazy was getting out the door on time. To get to school on time, we should leave around 8:45. I think we pulled out of the driveway at 8:56. While it’s okay to be late the first day, that just isn’t going to fly every single time we go. Especially because I work at church on Thursday mornings, and I need to be getting things ready for the women’s service every Thursday around 8:30. Do the math on that one, folks. That’s leaving the house at 8:15. Can we handle it? Time will tell. 

 Our morning routine went a little like this…

7:15 – I hear J waking up a little on the monitor.
7:20 – My alarm goes off. (Snoozed. Big time.)
7:30 – I get up, because my other alarm (the baby) had gone off.
7:45 – My mom comes up the stairs (she’s leaving this am) and Hubby gets out of the shower, and D is done nursing. Pass the baby to Hubby, my mom starts making breakfast, I go down to get the kids. (An unrealistic view of what will happen most of the time… because Mom won’t be here.)
8:00 – Kids and I are in the shower (we skipped baths last night)
8:30 – Kids and I are clean, dressed, and having breakfast.
8:40 – I start my rush to grab things I didn’t prepare last night (not many, thankfully).
8:50 – Packing the kids in the car. J poops (duh), so he gets back out for a change.
8:56 – Pull out of the driveway.

Not too bad, Hsus. Not too bad. We were only a couple of minutes late; 15 minutes travel time allows for some traffic, which we blessedly didn’t have this morning. Usually, we don’t do showers in the morning, so that’ll take some time out. Also, I’m thinking about packing breakfasts or picking up smoothies on the way on Thursdays, since the kids will have 30 minutes of hanging out while I work before their school starts. That’s plenty of time to have a breakfast smoothie, right? Maybe we can handle it. 

This guy had the most peaceful morning nap he’s ever had.
 Any tips on making school mornings go more smoothly? That don’t happen to include getting up earlier? I’ve got a family of fairly late sleepers (for toddlers, anyway), and I don’t want to have to break that habit just yet.

mommyhood

Currently 

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Hey, Wednesday! I might be a little late for one link up, but I’m just on time for the other! I can’t believe it’s already September and that my kids start preschool tomorrow! The weather is cooling off (thankfully) and life is gearing up to be busy till…. next summer or so. I love it, and fall is my favorite.

I’m linking up (belatedly) with Becky at Choose Happy, and with Anne at In Residence and Jenna at Gold and Bloom for their September link up. Please join us (in both places!) and let us know what you’re up to currently! Here’s a little bit about me, currently…

currently button

Anticipating || The start of preschool tomorrow! My two older kids are attending a new preschool (well, anything would be new for J) so we are excited to get that started! It’s at the church where we attend and I lead worship, so at least it’s a familiar place. We had open house on Monday, and that seemed to go really well! I’m excited to see how these first couple of weeks go!

Reading || Loving the Little Years. Well, I haven’t started it yet, but that’s what my goal is during naptimes and for when I’m up at night. Sometimes I’m too zonked to read when I get up with D, but other times I’m awake enough to take in a little of what I’m looking at, either on my phone or my Kindle. Anyway, I heard that this book was a great one for parents of young children, and I’m definitely in that season.

little years

Loving || the slightly cooler weather! Don’t get me wrong – it’s still getting hot. But the mornings are a little cooler, as are the evenings. Before I know it (I hope, anyway) it’ll be time for boots and scarves. YAY! I’m interested to try some more pumpkin spice things this year, but I’m not one of those people who is completely sold on pumpkin everything. I like apple and spices just as much or more.

Source: www.pghlesbian.com
Source: http://www.pghlesbian.com. Let’s be honest – it’s funny!

Organizing || my kids’ closets. D is already growing out of some things, and EK and J need to have their closets/drawers overhauled for the start of fall. Their pants from last year might be a little short, and probably some shirts too (even though I know I bought a few shirts a little big just for this reason). Both my kids have long limbs, and are long-waisted like I am, so sometimes finding clothes that fit them perfectly is a little difficult.

Making || time in my schedule to write. I’ve got a date with my laptop tomorrow morning to bring y’all some more goodness on the blog. I’m hoping to get back to submitting a few things to several other sites, and really find my groove again. I’ve taken long enough off after D got here. It’s time for me to find a rhythm of life and get back to doing the things I want to do. I’ve gone on a few runs, started back at my church job, and tomorrow starts school. If that’s not enough reason to schedule the last few things in, I don’t know what is!

Well, tell me what’s going on with you! How has school gotten started in your family? Are you back in full swing, or still waiting for another thing or two to get rolling? Is it cooling off where you live?

mommyhood, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Happy Tuesday! We’ve had a fun week, including EK’s weekend trip with her grandparents, who thankfully sent me a few of her one-liners to share with you 🙂

  
First and foremost, J now says his version of EK’s name. He says, “E-Tay”. Adorable.

At some point, we explained to EK that D couldn’t eat food yet because he didn’t have any teeth. That led to lots of discussions about how babies are born without teeth, and how she didn’t have teeth when she was born either. Now when she sees someone – anyone – the first thing she wants to tell them is the D doesn’t have teeth, and how she didn’t either when she was a baby.

We went to the hospital the other day to meet our friend’s new baby girl, and all the way from the “alligator” (elevator) in the parking deck up to her room, EK was singing “We’re going to see our baby! We’re going to see our baby!” to the tune of “na-na-na-na boo-boo”. Awesome.

On the same trip to the hospital, walking in next to another group of people…
EK: Mom! Those people are going to see our baby, too!
Me: I don’t think they’re going to see the same baby we are, but they might be seeing a baby!
Turns out they were, right down the hall!

Meeting our friend Ginna’s baby, Grace…
EK: Aww! She’s so cute! She doesn’t have any teeth, because she’s a baby.
Good thing we’ve really solidified that concept.

J now sings part of the chorus (the oh’s) on Katy Perry’s “California Girls”. That is all. (Disclaimer: This is purely the result of how often it comes on the radio. I do not own the song or play the song or choose the song.)

In one day, J had Mexican for lunch and the. Chips and salsa for a snack at home. He started tossing food in the floor (his M.O.) so I pushed everything away from him. He got really sad, then pointed and said, “I want salsa!” in a sweet little voice. Hubby responded with, “Yes sir! You get what you want when you use the right word!” Encouraging vocabulary, discouraging selflessness.

J, climbing into a barstool-height chair…
J: Hep! Hep! Hep wit dis!
(Update: “Hep wit dis” is now on a permanent rotation for when he needs any sort of help with anything.)

And now for a few gems that my mother-in-law passed on to me from their weekend together at the lake…

Annie: EK, do you need to go poopy?
EK: No, I’ve already done that this week.

Annie: Would you like some goldfish to eat in the car?
EK: No thanks, just some M&Ms.

Being tucked into bed…
EK: This is just so cozy!

Finding a dead centipede…
EK: He’s really sad. He shouldn’t have bit his brother.

And there you have it. My one and a half year old is now making regular appearances and my preschooler is blowing my mind with how she consistently is hilarious. What are your kids talking about these days?

food, home, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, random thoughts

Currently

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Hello, friends! It’s time for another Currently! I’m linking up with Becky at Choose Happy and our other friends to bring this week’s update. Join us!

currently button

Hoping || that EK gets back in a rhythm here at home after her weekend away. I think she was tired and a little off-kilter, because she was tantruming like a champion yesterday afternoon and evening, and wouldn’t nap. That’s a little unusual for her… she likes her sleep typically. Anyway, I’m hoping she’ll figure it back out soon because it was a tough night last night, and this morning was still a little off.

Watching || Lost. I know, I know… I’m years behind on the Lost train, but it’s never too late to watch a good show, right? No spoilers, but tell me what you thought of it if you’ve seen it! I’m about halfway through the first season. I’m loving Jack, I like Claire and Charlie a lot too, and I have really enjoyed learning everyone’s back stories.

 Eating || a snack that for some reason popped into my head after not having it for years. In college, I nannied for a family of four boys, and they and their mom would sometimes have a snack of graham crackers with vanilla icing  – just the stuff from the can. It seems so simple and unremarkable, but it’s actually quite good, and made it into my “comfort food” category. It’s sweet, but not the worst thing I can think of to eat (I don’t like too much icing on mine) so the other day, I finally broke and bought the can of icing and box of graham crackers. I’ve really been enjoying myself! 

 Enjoying || some morning and evening family walks. Before it gets too hot or after the sun starts to set are the only times we can really stand walking with all of us – probably because it’s a heavy stroller with two, and wearing a baby is extra toasty. But we’ve been enjoying the family time, and the exercise… or the glass of wine while we stroll after dinner!

Loving || the new My Big Jesus website! I love writing for the site every week, and I’m glad their site has had an overhaul! It’s faster and looks better now. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I post for them every Monday. If you’ve never gone to visit the real site and check out the rest of the material, make sure you do it! It’s a great, encouraging and entertaining operation.

Well, that’s what’s going on with me right now. What’s going on with you?

faith, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, siblings, Uncategorized

Like I Have Known Him Forever

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus. 

Have you ever had a person in your life that you just met, but you already feel like you’ve known each other forever? Right when you meet them, you realize you’ve got tons in common and your personality complements the other’s, and you immediately have a few inside jokes?

That’s how I feel about our newest baby.

  
I know. That seems crazy. I don’t know if we’ve got much in common besides genes. We don’t have any inside jokes yet. But I already feel like I’ve known him for ages, like I know him well and love him with a older love, an aged love, a love that’s stood the test of time – for more than his month of being out in the world.

You see, I didn’t feel so strongly this way with my other two kids when they were born. With our first, she was new. Everything about her was uncharted territory, from the sound of her cry in the middle of the night to the way we thought about her all the time and planned our lives around her. With our second, he was just a different baby. Not easier or harder than our first, but already our attention was split between the two and it was a huge adjustment. He naturally went with the flow of life that we had going before he arrived. It was his only choice, and he still is that way – a lot like his dad.

But now, having welcomed our third baby into the world and into our family, he feels like he’s always been with us. He snuck in, early one morning, after months of anticipation. His siblings immediately loved him, and are ever so gentle with him (excepting J sometimes… he wants to love him hard). His schedule is flexible, his personality a little mix of all of us. He gets hangry (an affectionate nod to his siblings), he’s strong (I’m looking at you, Hubby) especially for a newborn, and he loves snuggling (just like me) even to the point of preferring to be worn than be laid down. He is alert, like his sister was, and sleeps hard like his brother did. He looks simply like himself, instead of being one of us made over.

Of course there are times that we feel overwhelmed – such as thinking about the sheer amount of laundry a newborn adds. There are nights of way too little sleep, and mornings that packing the kids in the car and driving through Chick-fil-A for biscuits is easier than cooking for them. There are naps I wish I was taking and showers everyone else wishes I was taking. But all in all, we don’t feel like he’s an addition of any sort, not a stranger or an outlaw. He feels like he should be here, like he’s always been here. His one month of life with us has been incredibly fun, surprisingly not difficult, and a blessing indeed. For a kid who we were afraid we’d never meet, he sure is the perfect little fit for our family.