Make Ya Smile Tuesday!

Oh my goodness, I am SO far behind on my blogging... I still have Christmas, New Years, and plenty of other stuff to update on. Alas, I have another very busy week again at work, so it probably won't be happening.

So, here's a quick photo dump of our weekend together (Andrew was hunting with his dad and I opted to stay home)...

Finally wearing his shades...







Post Hobby Lobby treat at Chick-Fil-A (he tore it up!)


Looking cool headed to church


Love this handsome little man!


Out on the way to meet Wannie in Winnie at Al T's


Loving his new Elmo book from Wannie


Wannie graciously volunteered to babysit Sunday night so I could have the house to myself and get stuff done.

Remember the "Box 'O Papers" from the Operating Just Chunk It post, yeah, here it is...


Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone enjoys their short week!

Don't You Make a Liar Out of Me!!!

Yep, Carson TOTALLY made a liar out of me today.

If you recall, our sweet angel HATES {with a SERIOUS passion} when I brush his teeth. Talk about a tantrum...

So, today when I took him to the dentist for the first time, what did he do...

Oh, he nicely took the toothbrush from the sweet lady and pretended to brush his teeth. Then, when she asked for it, he gave it to her. When she asked him to open his mouth, he did. Then, he 'oh-so-politely' let her brush his sweet little teeth.

ARE.YOU.FREAKING.KIDDING.ME.

This was RIGHT after I told her how much he HATES to have his teeth brushed.

Really, Kid. Thanks a lot for making a liar out of me!

Anyways, on a happy note, I was glad that he did really good. He loved playing in the big toy ship in the waiting area and had fun with all the toys back in the exam area. Pediatric dentists are definitely the way to go.




The dentist still thinks there is about a 50/50 chance his chipped front tooth will die and need to be capped. He said that chip was a good one and pretty close to the nerve, so only time will tell. As for the teeth grinding, he said there wasn't any wear yet and more than likely he's either growing or it's just a temporary (we hope) temperament thing. I'm still convinced it has to do with his ears since that's when it seemed to start, after his tubes. I've asked the ENT's office twice and they didn't think there would be any correlation. I'm going to keep asking though. Anyone else had a kid that was a compulsive teeth grinder (during the day, not necessarily just at night)?

What is the Dealio???

Pretty sure our kid is only 17 months, but he sure has been acting like he's already in his "Terrible Two's."

Out of nowhere, he's decided to have a tantrum the last few days when I go to change his diaper after he wakes up. He's in a great mood when he wakes up and when you get in out of the crib, but the second you go to lay him on that table, a little hellion comes out. This same drill goes down when it's time to get dressed. Seriously, it's not that bad, Kid.

Oh, and the teeth brushing sessions have turned downright UGLY. I feel like the meanest mom EVER and if someone was outside the door they'd be calling CPS because of the screaming that's going down. It's bad. I'm clearly not hurting him, and he is clearly throwing a fit for the sake of throwing a fit. The second we're done, he's fine. As miserable as this 30 seconds is, I'm not about to pass on his oral health. He already has a broken tooth, I don't want them rotting too! I've already given in a little and on most days have forgone the morning brushing. That's terrible, I know. I need to just do it, but it's SO miserable {okay, it's probably more because we're already running late}. We have tried all the "fun" ways to encourage teeth brushing and he is having NONE OF IT.

He really does have this internal switch and will be the sweetest boy in the world and then the next second put on the most pitiful sad, crying face you've ever seen. He's definitely had his fair share of 'tantrums out of nowhere' moments lately. The good moments are more numerous than the bad, but he certainly has tested both of our patience lately.

As with many other things, I'm sure this is just a phase. We're just taking it one day {or minute} at a time. As much as those moments are not so pleasant... okay, let's be honest, they suck, there is always a moment that will occur at some other point in the day that makes it worth it. Sometimes that moment is just looking at him on the monitor while he's sleeping and thinking he is the most beautiful and precious little boy I've ever seen.

On that note, my friend Kelsey posted this blog post from Glennon @ Momastery. If you are a mommy {or daddy}, this is a MUST READ.

Every time I’m out with my kids – this seems to happen:
An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, “Oh- Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast.”
Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But as 2011 closes, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn’t work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life – while I’m raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I’m not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I’m doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I’ve heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they’ve heard there’s magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it’s hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers – “ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU’LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN’T!” TRUST US!! IT’LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!” - those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I’m not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: “Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast.”

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feather stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn’t find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, “Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you.”

That’s not exactly what I wanted to say, though.

There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, “No. but I love having written.” What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, “Are you sure? Are you sure you don’t mean you love having parented?”
I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I’m being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times – G, if you can’t handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don’t think it’s quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it’s hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she’s not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn’t add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it’s so hard means she IS doing it right…in her own way…and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It’s a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don’t ever feel the need to suggest that he’s not doing it right, or that he’s negative for noticing that it’s hard, or that maybe he shouldn’t even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he’s ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: “This career stuff…it goes by so fast…ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!”

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn’t enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn’t in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn’t MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I’d wake up and the kids would be gone, and I’d be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here’s what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

“It’s helluva hard, isn’t it? You’re a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She’s my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime.” And hopefully, every once in a while, I’ll add- “Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up- I’ll have them bring your groceries out.”

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn’t work for me. I can’t even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here’s what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It’s regular time, it’s one minute at a time, it’s staring down the clock till bedtime time, it’s ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it’s four screaming minutes in time out time, it’s two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there’s Kairos time. Kairos is God’s time. It’s time outside of time. It’s metaphysical time. It’s those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I’m doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can’t hear her because all I can think is – This is the first time I’ve really seen Tish all day, and my God – she is so beautiful. Kairos.

Like when I’m stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I’m haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I’m transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I’ll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world’s mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don’t remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.
Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.
Good enough for me.

Operation "Just Chunk It"

Operation "Just Chunk It" has officially commenced. I guess one of my New Year's resolutions is to simplify. I don't really ever make resolutions, but I figured this was a good one and hopefully something that is realistic.

Our house isn't tiny, but it certainly isn't huge. It is too small though for all our current stuff. It shouldn't be though. It's a 3/2 with an average amount of closet space, decent size attic, big garage, and "man-cave." However, I feel like it's a 2/1 with no closets. Why? Simply put, we have too much CRAP.

I'll be the first to admit I'm a pack rat and hate throwing things away. I'm nowhere near those hoarder people though. Oh.My.Gosh. I was SO disgusted watching one of those "Buried Alive" shows last night that it really motivated me to get rid of the clutter. Clutter is why my house never feels clean. Hardly anything has a place. It seems when I move something out of the way, it just becomes in the way somewhere else.

I started with magazines. I have tons of Real Simple, Parenting, Marie Claire, Texas Monthly, etc. Not to mention Cabelas catalogs, Bass Pro, B.A.S.S. mags, and a ton of other in that genre. I pretty much decided I'm not renewing any either. That's why I have Pinterest. All those "ideas" that were my reason for hanging on to the old copies are on Pinterest. Same goes for the Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel catalogs that I hold on to. For real. I have NEVER bought ANYTHING from either of those places that wasn't a wedding present.

So, that was Step 1.

Step 2 is just IMMEDIATELY dealing with mail. The amount of junk mail we get is ridiculous. I'm getting a shredder and sending 95% of our mail straight to it. I love regular mail, so please feel free to send me some! Along with this, we need a place for Andrew's mail. I handle all the bills and stuff, but Andrew gets stuff and doesn't have a place to store it, so after I give it to him, it usually just sits on the counter or gets lost in his magazine/catalog basket under his night stand.

Step 3 is to come up with some system for bills paid and other paper things I need to hold on to. I have a box by my desk that everything gets dumped into after it's paid and once in a while when Andrew is out of town or I'm really bored (which is rare), I get out my real filing cabinets and file it all away. I know I should just do that as they come in, but it's much easier just to toss it in the box. There has to be a better system. I bet I can find one on Pinterest. :-) It's about to be tax time, which I dread, just because I know I HAVE to got through that 'ole box 'o papers.

Step 4 is to QUIT HOLDING ON to things for an IMAGINARY garage sale. I have yet to convince Andrew to have one, so if he's not on board, I'll just take it to the United Board of Missions. NO MATTER WHAT IT IS. It is SO hard for me to donate some things that I know have value (or that I paid a lot for) or could be sent to a more specific user charity. Fact is though. I won't take the time to do it, so just give it away. I REALLY want to have a garage sale though, and I think the way I could make it happen is if everything was stored in an organized fashion in the ATTIC until then. Although we do have a big garage, it is pretty well occupied with two boats, two kayaks, a grill, a million decoys, all that lawn/garden stuff, tools, an old TV, an old coffee table... you get it. I have a TON of throw pillows in excellent used condition that SOMEONE could use. They are taking up a lot of space in the attic. I also have a couple old printers, luggage, baby clothes (I'll discuss that more below), home decor, lamps, books, costume jewelry, etc., just to name a few. The problem with our attic though is that in the summer it is JUST TOO HOT. I've already discovered that anything with elastic was pretty much ruined. I really need to figure out what can be stored there and what needs to be in the A/C. What about the basket 'o phone chargers and chargers to things we don't know what they are. I don't want to throw them away JUST IN CASE one of those chargers is the magic one.

Step 5 is to REALLY narrow down the baby stuff. Yes, we want another child and no, we don't know what his/her gender will be, BUT... fact is, no matter what, we have WAY too many baby clothes and other stuff. I think I put about 10 diaper boxes (the big ones) full of clothes that he has already out grown up there. Seriously, if #2 is a boy, he would probably use 1/2 (or less) of the clothes up there. Someone gave us a car seat before Carson was born that we initially were going to use but then discovered it was a 2001 (which is more than 6-years old, which they don't recommend using). Secondly, it wasn't compatible with any strollers, because of it's age. So, we got our own car seat. So now, I have two car seats and FOUR bases in the attic. Pretty sure I can chunk the old one. I think it's actually supposed to be "DESTROYED" so that no one uses it. I already gave away an umbrella stroller that was entirely too short for me. I had to hunch over to push it, so adios! Toys, don't even get me started on toys... I really need to ROTATE the toys he plays with on a daily basis because there are WAY too many in the house. I know there are a bunch in the attic too from when he was little. Honestly, if they weren't a big hit with Carson, I should probably just let them go. Another HUGE item is the big swing. I know I will need a swing again, but I really didn't care for the one I bought with gift cards, even though we did use it a lot. Surely someone will have one I can either borrow or I can buy a new one when the time comes. Is it worth hanging on to it just so I can hate it again later? Okay, I'm rambling now, but you certainly get my point about the baby stuff...

Step 6 is to get my desk in order. I'm one of those with "organized" piles of stuff on my desk. It just looks messy which is starting to bug me.

Step 7 is to QUIT SAVING EVERY BOX. I have this fear of needing to return things and not being able to, so I pretty much hold on to all the boxes of big purchases/gifts, i.e. car seats, strollers, pack 'n plays, Roomba, steam mop, cameras, GPS, nice sunglasses, etc. etc. Seriously, it's ridiculous. The whole upper shelf of one of our kitchen closets is little boxes from stuff we've bought. For a while there, I was also saving just about every box from Amazon. I do break them down, but still. I think we used about 4 bags this Christmas, EVERY gift was wrapped in a box from Amazon, Zulily, baby food, etc. It was nice to have those on hand, but I need to seriously cut back.

Step 8 is to make a PLACE for EVERYTHING. Andrew always complains that I "hide" his stuff. I don't do it intentionally, but when it doesn't have a place, I just make one and sometimes it's different each time. It drives me crazy too because I can't find things because I put them somewhere other than they were the time before.

Okay, I need to stop. There are LOTS more steps to this process, but I need to focus on getting some of the above steps checked off first. Wish me luck!

Christmas 2011 - Part 1

We had the best Christmas this year!!! WHY?? Mostly because we were AT HOME!!! Because none of our family is here, it seems like we are always traveling on holidays which automatically makes it less fun. It's not that we don't like going to visit family, it's just a lot of extra work with a kid and two dogs...ya feel me?!

My parents and brother came down on Friday the 23rd. David went hunting with Andrew on Saturday morning and the rest of us just hung out at the house. The grandparents certainly enjoyed some one-on-one time with the little man.

Christmas Eve we went to the 4:00pm service...yeah, apparently leaving the house at 3:30pm when it's less than 10 minutes away wasn't enough. It was PACKED, so we had to stand. Fun stuff. Carson certainly didn't want to sit still, so it was probably better that we were standing. Uncle Dave and Pops took turns entertaining him in the back of the church.

Pre-church Christmas Eve pics







Post-church Christmas Eve pics






Pre-Santa


Andrew cooked his famous gumbo for dinner... we like to have a Cajun Christmas!




Christmas Day to come in Part 2!

A little late - Thanksgiving and the Big 3-0

Yes, I realize this is over a month late, but we've been busy. Better late than never, right!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, three of the little cousins were baptized, so since {almost} everybody was in town, Wanda graciously opened her home for a little birthday shindig for me on Friday night. We had about 40 family/friends come over and enjoy Andrew's fabulous gumbo. Nick and Sarah were even in town and we FINALLY got to meet little Grady! What a doll!!!






Grady and Carson had a little play date on Sunday and quickly found themselves making a big 'ole mess in Lisa's fountain.




They ended up soaked, so then they got stripped down to diapers, then just went naked. I think I'll hang on to those for the wedding slide show some day!

*****

As it just about always does, my birthday fell on Thanksgiving weekend. For the first time since Andrew and I have been together, I was back at home for Thanksgiving weekend. We're usually at the farm, but it wasn't our weekend and Vivi was getting married that Saturday, SO... we went up to Dallas. I was so happy to finally be home for Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. Okay, I love food and that is a huge part of Thanksgiving.

Anyways, we got up to Dallas on Wednesday night and then planned on running the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning. C wasn't feeling so hot, so we skipped taking him and he stayed home with my mom. The rest of the crew ran it, just like old times. Post about that here.


Meme & Dede and exchange student friend of theirs from China, Aunt Julie and her crew, the Betz's, and our family ate a lovely lunch and then my family prepared to watch what I will only describe as an utter embarrassment (i.e. the LAST A&M vs. t.u. {scheduled} football game).

Reading with Dede


I'm glad WE don't have stairs at our house...


Everything pretty much went down hill from this point. I THOUGHT I had just eaten too much {which I have done before}; however, it turned out to be something much more. I ended spending the rest of the afternoon and evening in the restroom with stuff coming out both ends {sorry, TMI}. It was horrible. Thank you 24-hour stomach bug... this was NOT the way I wanted to spend my Thanksgiving and 30th birthday. Friday morning (my b-day), my mom woke up with the same problem. Then David and Andrew. I think one of my cousin's got it too. Within 24 hours, 4 of us had thrown up. Whoo hoo. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankfully, I was feeling a little better on my actual birthday. Certainly far from 100%, especially in the morning. I felt good enough to eat my Mickey Mouse pancake my dad made me.


Looks like the blueberries shifted a little... Mickey looks a little rough, just like everybody else did (see Carson below).


Carson and his 30 YEAR OLD Mommy!



Carson's photography skills...



Matching PJ's (almost)



Daredevil skills...


One of the best parts of the whole weekend was my SURPRISE birthday dinner! Andrew had planned (with a little coordination help from my mom) for some of my besties to surprise me at dinner! He knows I love me some Snuffers cheese fries and spicy battered chicken strips, so that's where he planned the surprise. The WORST part was though that he was too sick to even come, so was my brother. So, Erin and I went by ourselves to Snuffers. I knew nothing. We were walking up and I can't remember whose husband I saw first, but then I saw another husband and thought how weird it was that they were dining together. Then it all clicked, and I saw everyone's faces!!! Greta and Russell, Meghan and Ken, and Lindsay and John were all there!!! I was hoping that Andrew and David were hiding around the corner or something, but no, they really were too sick to come. It was SO sweet of Andrew to plan this and SO sweet of all my friends to give up the Friday night of their Thanksgiving weekend to come hang out with me! Of course, I forgot to take pictures...boo.

I feel so blessed to be where I am at this point in my life. I have my husband, sweet baby boy, a couple pups, a good job, a house, all my family, including all 4 grandparents, a wonderful church family, amazing in-laws/extended family, great friends, and so much more. THIRTY will definitely be a great year!!! On a sidenote, it makes me laugh because most people still think I look like I'm in my early 20's... I even got told I looked 19 by the HEB checkout girl. I'll take it because I know when I'm 40, I'll be happy to have people think I look 30!