Today I woke up ready to tackle things. 

I love when I wake up like that cause it isn't as often these days. 

Honestly this last week has been very draining and discouraging. We just aren't seeing progress with our daughter's healing and these past few days were particularly bad. Her hiccups were relentless for days and her poor tummy was so tired. Is there anything worse than watching your kid suffer and being helpless to stop it. ARG!

But they went away praise God around midnight so this morning I wanted to finally refill our fridge (it was sadllllly empty haha, I caught my poor hubby trying to make a pb and j on a corn tortilla today!) Plus I thought it would be fun to Christmas shop at Walmart with the kiddos. I forgot Walmart and Fun hardly ever go together, right? Why is it! I always go in there all ready to conquer my list and almost always leave feeling frazzled. I think it's because I realize I forgot something but don't want to walk another mile across the store! 

But this morning I blasted the Christmas music with my kids and was ready! I even put my ugly tennis shoes on ---- not a window shopping trip !!!! 

Walmart went almost seamlessly, of course I forgot several things (why do I even make a list?!) but my kids were awesome rock stars! Since we were right next to Chick Fil A I figured we could grab lunch and I would let the kids run on the play structure. Of course functioning with Juliana's new food restrictions has really been challenging. I have to always have something with me she can have - which usually means I need to have made it from 10 different kinds of flours -- but I looked online ahead of time and saw that they have this cool allergy chart for Chick fil A and it said the grilled chicken was soy, wheat, etc free. So I definitely hyped it up and she was excited (obviously I learned not to do that again lol), because when I got there and saw ALL the ingredients for them soy was definitely in there. This really frustrated me but lets not go into that lol. She happily enjoyed her fries and fruit cup. 

William decided to have an explosive diaper in the play structure. Let me first say I NEVER.....NEVER go anywhere without complete sets of clothes for both my kids. They are always in the bag and usually more in my car because it's a mess. I do not know what happened but I had nothing at all. Obviously we cleaned up and rushed off the structure (don't forget the crying 3 year old cause we now have to leave right away) to change him. I will spare you non-parents the details. But just imagine flowing poop everywhere and on everything. YEP! This girl pulled up next to my car where I was cleaning him up and clothes and wipes are falling out of the car and she gave me a great pity look :/ 

Then comes the fun part where I realize there is nothing in that whole care for him to wear and we still have 2 places to go. We live 30 minutes from all these stores so there is no going home. So he ended up in a pair of his sisters mud covered polka dot tights that I found in the car pocket. And off we went to costco haha!

(my son's awesome attire)

Costco. is. a. zoo. Do not got there unless it's 10 am! I felt super on it as I checked ingredients on everything and then forgot to grab half of them (again....yep!) A few people also laughed at his tights but who cares LOL!

(you can sense the exasperation in this one:) 

We got to hold up the entire food line while they got the box for their "fruit" smoothie so I could see the ingredients.........just because I want to make 20 angry Christmas shoppers behind me hate me even more than they already do cause my kids are freaking out :)

(This is line to LEAVE Costco!)

Moral of the story, take clothes everywhere with you and maybe don't go to 4 places in one morning. 

But look at this full fridge! Beauty!!

Honestly even though crazy, I loved this day. It was normal. I have been learning to appreciate the normal parent struggles of having kids instead of the isolating ones we have been facing lately where we are always at some kind of test or doctors office. Today was great :) Kids are awesome :)  

I usually wait to blog until late at night when all kids are asleep  in bed and duties are done, but some scenarios are so funny and challenging I just have to stop and write them out so that I will hopefully one day look back and at least snicker?

Or at least to give you a good laugh if you don't have kids.

When I worked my first job at the coffee shop/deli I used to get excited when I could make someone's sandwich order super fast..........like really fast! At the bank I found pride in working quickly and dealing out cash cleanly and swiftly. 

Today I found pride in wrapping a present. Seriously. Somehow these menial daily tasks come to be huge accomplishments when you have two kids (you out there with 4 or more, you win!) I decided we should wrap this present really quickly (haha) since it's not really a valid thing to put off until my husband is home to help.....I mean really! 

So I sit down on the ground to let Juliana "help" me wrap a present for a little friend's birthday party tomorrow. She loves to cut and use tape -- obviously, she's almost 3. As I attempt to fold each piece over the box William is also right there to help tear anything I literally don't have my body blocking him from (imagine that game "protect the president" yep that was me with the present). At the same time Jules' decides it's time to cut right down the middle as well as the sides. Awesome. Yay for learning and using scissors. My kids were somehow not fooled with the little pieces of wrapping paper I gave them each to play with...HA! There's nothing quite like trying to block a crafty one year old from climbing on top of the box every second while you have tape on each finger and a hand over the scissors the 3 year old is using. Magically we somehow got paper around all sides of this large box. Lots of words were exchanged like "please stop screaming William" and "Ok put the tape right.......that spot works too." I think I'll happily find pride in looking at that sadly wrapped present haha! I know fellow moms can relate. These kinds of circumstances happen ALLLLLL day long and sometimes all you can do is laugh. Some day you will go to the bathroom and not have an audience shredding toilet paper or overflowing the sink with water. 

What fun with that be right? :) 

Have a great day!!! 

P.S. 

This video shows why I don't usually blog during the day. Annnnnnnd they got the markers out and decided to TOGETHER color this awesome present. 

STAYcation. It is what is sounds like

The last few days my little family have been on staycation. Stay huh huh ? 

Let me explain...

My husband had a weekend where he also had Thursday and Monday off so months ago we planned on going to the coast this weekend for a nice relaxing vacation. 

Then I went to the dentist. 

If you are a normal individual with dedicated dental cleanings every 6 months that shouldn't mean much. If you are like me however, and it's been........ 6 a few years then it means bad news is coming.

 I would like to say that time got away from me. That we lived out of the country, that had two babies and I just, oh somehow forgot? But lets be honest, I decided not to call and make those appointments. 

I had lots of dental work done as a kid; more than the average for sure. While both my sisters would go to their dental cleanings and have perfect results my brother and I dreaded those cleanings because at the end of the appointment, in came the dentist to check around for cavities and I would just sit there and wait to hear how many. We all 4 of us kids ate the same way, my mom limited our sugar, we didn't drink real soda, we brushed, we flossed (kinda) and we swished. But my teeth seemed to be out to get me. By age 15, I'd had 3 teeth pulled (because they wouldn't fall out........seriously who does that happen too!?) One tooth anchored down surgically (because it failed to come in after the previous tooth was pulled.....again, what?!), braces, retainer and countless fillings in those baby teeth -- $orry mom ! So apparently there was some subconscious reasoning in as to why I didn't want to go back as an adult. But oh, what a mistake :( Last weekend I finished getting my crown on (unfortunately not on my head) after 3 attempts to do a root canal which they finally finished. ouch ouch ouch. I have several (ahem) cavities and need my wisdom teeth out.

Now that I have given you my entire dental history (which I am sure was a thrilling read for you right?) this should explain why we ended up on staycation this weekend instead of napping on the beach. The impending dental bills unfortunately changed all those plans but my hubby is the best and rolled with it without any complaining! 

We already had days set aside so we made it a really fun vacation from home. We saved a ton of money and honestly, had a great time. I think we are/were surprised it was so much fun. 

The key was preparing for staycation the same way you would to leave on vacation. Get yard work done, clean the house, have groceries stocked and finish laundry, that way nothing can be tempting you while you are on staycation. 

We also planned out each day (even with naps and reading periods!) so that we would not get side tracked on doing a project really quick. THAT will be your biggest hurdle if you venture on a staycation. NOT allowing yourself to do projects or even the things you enjoy doing but do in your everyday life. We tried to do things out of our routine to make it feel that much more like a vacation. 

And it worked! 

We made extravagant meals, we read, we lounged, we napped, we went to museums and flea markets we had never been to, we got coffee, we ate pastries, we played in the sun, we swam, we window-shopped, we went to whole foods (yes this is uncharted territory and wow, fun), we got cupcakes, we had SO much fun. 

I am so sad it has come to a close but I am inspired to do this more often in the future. Maybe not for our actual planned vacation but to plan ahead for certain weekend to be simply REST weekends. Even just one day resting and recharging--you would be amazed. 

So if you are tight on money and feel curious to try a staycation; I say go for it!  

 
 

It's just ONE day :)

I know everyday can't be like this, but ahhhhhh I love these kinds of days. After an incredibly busy weekend and even busier Monday, I decided as I crawled into bed at 1130 last night that today would be a complete rest day with my babes. (I wish baby boy had gotten the memo and not woken up over 6 times to nurse.....yes he is 8 months not 8 weeks)

So I got to do something today that I don't normally get to do and that was literally play with my kiddos all day long! I know this can't be an everyday reality, we have things we need to do and although we do our best as mama's to juggle it, I end up usually feeling drained one way or the other from needing to be 5 different places at once. I always wish I could not worry about the dishes, dinner, laundry, cleaning, lists, etc and just sit and play for a whole day. I have read a lot of posts lately urging women to put down their lists and just sit with their kids and I wholeheartedly agree! But I think even if you set out to do just that, the reality is that your kids and husband get hungry -- so you need to unload the dishwasher so that you can get the cutting board to chop stuff for dinner, oh but then you need that pan that you left in the sink so that you could, ya know, be a good mom and spend time with your kids instead of always cleaning, so you wash that one and soon need something else so end up just washing the whole sink full, and before you know it kids are pulling on you asking to play trains and you feel again that struggle in your heart! How do I do both! I also recently enjoyed this article about it not being your job as a mom to entertain your kids all day and I love that. I can remember countless times my mom telling me to go play outside cause she needed to cook or lesson plan or whatever and I DIDN'T DIE!

So obviously it is all about balance. 

As is everything in life, but this means that I can't sit and scroll facebook or instagram all day while ignoring my kids, but I also need to be ok with telling my girly to go play so that I can clean up the messy kitchen from our forts made that morning. 

I enjoyed today SO much. I loved being able to take time and watch my 2 year old build her block towers and see her little mind working. I loved being able to enjoy playing with them instead of thinking "oh! They are both entertained happily I should DO something really fast!" 

We played trains and cars, we painted and used a whole sheet of stickers, we filled the kiddy pool and layed in the sun, we had smoothies and made bread together (paleo of course lol), we napped and went for a walk and it was a great day! 

 I think I'll make it something I do once a month :) 

Have you ever done this? 

Less is More

I know I am not the first mommy to jump on the "less toys!!!" bandwagon but last week I felt like I had finally had it tripping over a gazillion toys in my toddler's room. But it wasn't only the toys everywhere that was bothering me, she was seeming to play in her room less often because there were simply too many toys in there. It was impossible to keep clean. This is a disgusting first world problem I know, but yikes..........it's reality. She has a little room and I have to work against my urge to throw EVERYTHING out. I don't like clutter and I have more than once regretted my ability to be very detached from items that have been tossed out/given away (my husband is the opposite, isn't that funny how that works!)

So we have created a system that keeps both of our slightly extreme tendencies in check. 

Things that are simply TRASH (i.e. used stickers, that random string of beads, PAPERS from church/preschool, etc) get tossed out. 

We then have large plastic bins that are marked "Toys for Later" that we rotate out. So I fill it with the toys that she hasn't played with in a week or two and sometimes bring one or two things out that she hasn't seen in a few months. It's like new toys all over again!

The room is left with a more simple set up toys wise. I have found that she is SO much more content playing in her room because she has less to choose from and can actually see her toys! She has her books, train set, and several things in her toy chest instead of barely being able to close the toy chest!!!  If any of you mommies are considering clearing out the clutter I say GO for it! Pass on the items your little one is done with and simple put away the ones you aren't sure about :) 

Happy Spring Clearing !