Let's Get Real Thursday

One of my closest friends from seminary, who is also a student minister's wife, texted me her "Let's Get Real Wednesday night" last night and she is letting me share it with ya'll today. :) We were pregnant together with our firsts and she now has two beautiful little girls.

Most Wednesdays I wonder why I even bother going to church. By the time I get the girls there, after a long day of school, I am exhausted. Then Lord help us all for the rage of emotions that follow. B is mad that she has to leave church. She is mad because she doesn't get a bath because... oh it's already 20 minutes past bedtime. J screams from the moment I pick her up in the nursery until the second I start nursing her... which is a good hour after I pick her up. B gets mad because she can't rinse her mouth out after brushing teeth 20 times. She has to wait for the ceiling fan to completely stop so that SHE can turn it on. All while J is screaming. And there is no husband in sight because parents seem to think he lives at the church and they don't need to pick up their student on time.

 

I'm so exhausted by the end of "bedtime" that all I want to do is be alone and be selfish. Forget all the dishes, laundry, clutter... It's nights like tonight that make me want to throw in the towel all together on Wednesday nights. ... I love my girls and I am thankful for every second with them and all their quirky behavior. But Wednesday nights take a toll on us all and our ugliest sides usually come out.
 

 

Oh how I can relate to my sweet friend!! We love our kids, we love ministry and we love being ministers' wives... But some days/nights are hard. So glad for ministry friends around the country that we can text each other and vent and laugh and cry together.

 

Let's get real... You have those days/nights.. right!? Hopefully we are not alone in this. ;)  Mothers unite! :)

Let's Get Real Thursday

Last weekend we had a plan of attack for potty training. It failed. Big time! Friday was a horrible day of mess after mess with not a single potty success. By the end of the day when I was becoming a not nice mommy, I finally asked Grayson if he wanted to go to the potty or put on a diaper. He chose diaper... we are done. So a made a quick decision that he is just not ready and we'll try again in a month or so. No big deal.

But to be honest.... I'm having a hard time with it. Not because he isn't potty trained or out of diapers (it's not that big of a deal and I know it will happen in the right timing). But because my plan failed. You see with each big transition with Grayson I have had a full-proof plan of attack to help us succeed. With the big boy bed transition, we started reading an Elmo book on big kid beds a few weeks before to get him ready and wanting one. We went shopping and let him pick out his own sheets (even if they didn't match) so that he would be excited about getting into his new bed. We basically brainwashed him not to jump on the bed or get out of bed til mom/dad came to get him.... And it worked! It was the smoothest transition and my plan worked!

So I approached potty training the same way. We started reading an Elmo potty book a couple of weeks ago. He already practices "going potty" at school. We went shopping and he picked out a bunch of big boy underwear that he was excited about. He picked out all his reward stickers for when he went potty. Friday morning we watch an Elmo DVD on potty time.... And with each accident and underwear change and not a single sticker... I felt like a failure! This was the first transition that my "plan" failed. (I know now that I am not a failure and there is nothing that I could do/not do.. it just has to be when he is ready.) But the feeling was still there. The core of my type A personality of needing a plan for everything crumbled a little that day.

But amidst that feeling I received so many texts from friends and family full of encouragement and prayers for our weekend and my struggle. God was soo good to me to give me a circle of support and encouragement. And friends have told me now that I was wise to know now not to push him and just wait til he is ready. I'm glad it took just one day to decide to wait. We didn't ruin a weekend with a grumpy momma and too much laundry. We went to a birthday party and swam with friends and enjoyed our relaxing weekend together.

We will try again in a month or so...  Let's get real, he can't go to college in diapers!... though he might be the first! ;)

Let's Get Real Thursday

Sometimes when you've had 2 days straight of tantrums, fits and whining you go to Target to get potty training supplies and let your kid pick out underwear and stickers in an attempt to get him excited about going potty. And in all that exhaustion you give up and eat dinner at Target.


Let's get real... we've all been there. The fun of twos and learning and playing is great, but the bad of twos is really bad... you feel me? We attempt a 4 day weekend of potty training this weekend. Pray for me. :)

This is him saying "cheese"

 

Life Update

I realized that I haven't really posted a real life update since announcing I was pregnant. So I'm skipping this week's Let's Get Real for a little update on life goings on lately. :)

If you seen on Facebook recently we moved Grayson up into a "big boy bed" a couple of weeks ago! We were completely surprised with how smoothly this transition has happened! I'm pretty sure it's not normal, and we'll probably get paid back with something else (like potty training). We got a cool looking (I'm thinking for when he's a tween) day bed from Ikea and put up a bed rail so he doesn't roll out. The day of the transition I took Grayson to Target and let him pick out his own sheets. It was a tough decision between Ninja Turtles and Cars, but he finally decided on Cars sheets. He was soo excited that night to sleep with his new sheets that he picked out. I think that was the best thing we did for the transition. Then right away we told him that there was no jumping on the bed and no getting out til mommy/daddy came to get him... That was it! He's like brainwashed or something... He repeats those two rules and we've never had an issue! It's only been two weeks, but I'm pretty proud! I expected that first night to be a sleepless one for us... but it was completely smooth and I was in shock when I woke up in the morning.

 
 
 

Also, his current obsession has been all things Toy Story. We have been watching 1, 2 &3 on a repeating roll! We even downloaded some of the short toons just so we could watch something different. Last weekend he was soo excited when Nana and Papa sent him a Buzz Lightyear! He keeps holding it up in the air and yelling "Buzz Lightyear!! To infinity and beyond!!" It's adorable. Buzz goes with him everywhere though!! He sits at the dinner table with us, cuddles on the couch with us, has to ride in the car anywhere we go... It's been less than a week and poor Buzz is already looking worn out.

 

 

And finally, a small pregnancy update. I am 16 weeks now and things are soo different this time around. I assumed since I've already done this once that it would be easier and my body already knows what to do so it shouldn't be painful...NOT. My body did know how to pop out a huge belly quicker than last time... but everything else has been different. I'm in all new territory. I had morning (all-day) sickness everyday for 10 weeks, and I still get a little queasy before bed. I'm a lot more achy this time around and cannot seem to find energy or stay awake (could have something to do with my active 2 year old). But baby and me are growing and healthy and we will find out boy/girl next month! We are all super excited! Grayson is just the sweetest! He rubs my belly and lays his head on my belly when we cuddle. He says "sowy (sorry) baby" if he's too rough with me... it's precious! I started feeling little kicks this last week, which remind me of the great things of being pregnant. Now I just can't wait til Tony and Grayson can feel the kicks too!

 

Just for comparison - Here I am at 16 weeks with Grayson...

  And here I am with Baby Bianco 2.0 (as Tony like to call it)... much bigger! ;)

 

 

 

Let's Get Real Thursday

Other parents of littles in public places... For the most part, parents are unified. We all "get it" and are in this "brotherhood" type of bond called parenthood. Most the time a mom and I (total strangers) can look at each other in the store during either of our toddlers' tantrums and sympathize or encourage the other. Most the time, I can rely on other parents/adults to help me to stop my child run into a busy street or out the automatic doors.

But let's get real, there's always one parent that just isn't in this category. I'm always encountering that one parent that just doesn't want to "parent" their kid, and therefore causes me great stress and frustration. You know what I'm talking about? Have you witnessed those few (lovely adults that God loves even though they cause me great frustration) that just don't' really act like parents or don't discipline or just have no concern at all of what their kid is doing at the play place/park, even when it is causing another child harm?

So last night we went to the mall for a couple of things and we always let Grayson play at the play place for a little bit. I took Grayson alone, while Tony went to a couple of stores. As soon as we get there G goes to play on the first slide thingy and there's this little, maybe 3-4 year old that pushes him off and won't let him play on it. So he runs to me scared and I tell him to ignore him and play on something else. Well, this kid follows him and scares/pushes him off every single thing to play on. Just being a big bully to my little 2 year old. G runs back to me scared. I look at the parents who are on their phones and not caring at all about any of this. So I hold G's hand and tell him that mommy will go with him and protect him. So each time the "bully" comes to scare G off of the slide or whatever I give him my meanest "parent face" and he shy's off. Until he suddenly decides to run up and just whack my kid in the face! (If you know me at all you know that I'm already a little defensive and protective in the first place, but then when my momma bear claws come out, it's just bad). So I look at the parents who are ignoring all this and I yell at them (not to be mean, but b/c I'm across the room and there's other people) that they need to keep an eye on their kid b/c he just hit mine. The mom rolls her eyes at me. Awesome parenting mom!

I would have left it at that, but the kid hits G again, and this is after I just saw him hit another kid even littler than mine. So I yell with my sternest parent voice at the kid (since no one else wants to discipline him) that it is not kind to hit and not to do it again.... And he does it again. So I put G's shoes on (who is terrified at this point) and begin walking out to leave as I tell them they need to do something about their kid (in a very Christian-like way of course).

Ugh! So frustrating!! Anyone else experience these things?? I hate when I'm at the park or play place and I'm actively watching my child and I see parents all around just on their phone and paying no attention or not caring what's happening! Ok.. rant over. ;)

Let's Get Real Thursday

The morning drop-off. If you are a working mom/dad, then you know what I'm talking about. Most mornings go great; we skip, hop or run into school, wave hello to the front desk, Grayson happily sits at his seat and waits for breakfast and blows me a kiss goodbye. But then there are those few days that aren't so great... the days that leave my momma heart broken and me bawling in my car after drop off... Those days suck! :(

Tony is off this week from work, so I've been taking G to school alone (usually we go together). Tuesday was G's first day back to school for the week as he got to spend extra time with daddy for a loong weekend. I pulled up to school and got out, he didn't want to jump out of the car like normal, he wanted to "cuddle". So I held him and we prayed in the parking lot and I started walking in with him hugging my neck... He started whimpering before we even got to his classroom. When we walked in it was full blown crying, with big tears. I whispered I loved him and I always come back for him and how much fun he was going to have today. His teacher had to peal him off of me and he was crying so hard with the saddest little face. I blew a kiss and walked out, watching from around the corner. The teacher set him down in his seat so she could serve breakfast, and I all saw was more poor baby sitting at the table crying his eyes out. I lost it! I ran to my car, called Tony and was weeping! Weeping for my child's broken heart in that moment. Weeping  that I have to leave him everyday and go to work. Heck, I'm tearing up just typing and remembering it all.

I called the front desk 10 minutes later to see if he was okay and they told me he had stopped crying and started eating breakfast before I even left the parking lot. :)

Let's get real, we've all been there at one time or another. Either at Sunday school drop off, Mother's Day out drop off or daycare/preschool drop-off... Sometimes it's just hard and it sucks. So let's give ourselves a big hug for the hard days.

... Also, you know you're a mom when you are crying in the car and you have no Kleenexes and have to use a diaper to absorb your tears before your makeup is completely gone before you get to work.

A week with Nana & Papa

While Tony and I went to Rush Week in Florida with our students, Grayson got to hang with Nana and Papa for a whole week! I was soo nervous leaving him for the first time for soo long... I have no idea why - That kid did better than I did! He had soo much fun and got completely spoiled! We are soo blessed that Nana and Papa were able to take over a week off of work to come down to Texas and love on our boy!

He's such a momma's boy, I was nervous for how he would do with me gone so long... But that kid didn't think twice about me all week with how much love and spoils he was getting. :)

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

 Grayson got a new chair while we were gone... I'd say he's got the sweet life :)

 

 

We went to Trader's Village the day before I left for some fun and Grayson went on his first carnival rides!... I think he liked them.

He got a motorized "Mater" car

 

He got a new TMNT sprinkler and ran off energy with Papa every night. 

He played with lots of new bubble makers

He learned to cook...

 

He got a new pool and shade

 

 When we got home we went out to celebrate Tony's birthday with the whole family... Grayson thought it was his bday.

He was really excited for us to come home, but this kid is definitely going to miss his grandparents!