Are you one of those moms? (You know the kind I'm talking about!)

Are you one of those moms who is sweet, understanding and always seems to be overly patient with her children. Do you look like the picture of grace? Was Proverbs 31 written about you? If you are, tell the rest of us how you do it! Just kidding. I tend to think that people that seem that patient and sweet in public are probably hiding their true mommy style. At least, I hope they're not as perfect as they seem.

I try to be sweet, patient and understanding, but I'm not going to lie. My mommy style is being challenged. Kate is in one of those phases that you hope to forget about. One that you hope never repeats itself. She's obstinate, selfish, hard-headed. She's hit Kraig and I both a few times in the last couple weeks. Our sweet little girl is, well, not so sweet. I know she's two. I know it's a phase. I know it won't last forever. But I'm having a very hard time being patient and disciplining in a way that's effective. There are times when the only discipline that comes to mind involves me banging my head into a wall. Not effective for anyone.

Seriously, though, I find myself yelling far too often. I'm working on it. I broke down and cried on the phone with my mom on Tuesday and it helped. She made it through it, and so can I. (I was never like Kate, of course, but my sister...) It made me realize, though, that I haven't prayed about it. So I started. I've prayed many times everyday for God to help me be the mommy that I'm supposed to be. To be gentle and understanding. To discipline with love. And it's helping. Is Kate being any better? Not necessarily, but I'm handling it better. I've also realized that she needs more one on one attention and more structure activities. She's still a great independent player, but she needs some direction. I'm still not perfect, and I don't have things figured out. But asking God for some intervention should have come to mind a little sooner. He's definitely helping!

So, what's your mommy style? I'm not one of those that I earlier described, but I definitely don't want to be the other mom you see out. The one that's harried, frazzled and is constantly screaming and belittling her children for the whole world to see. I hate to see what that mom's like without an audience! God has called us to be better than that for our kids. I can only pray that God will help me be the kind of mom He wants me to be. I definitely can't do it on my own!

And on that note, Happy Birthday to my Mom:) Thanks for leading by example and being a wonderful mom! Love you!

Bye, bye paci!

I've been meaning to blog about the pacifier-free Kate for a while, but I've completely forgotten until now!

Picture this: Three weeks ago. It's bedtime. I'm nursing Jack. Kraig takes Kate up to bed. Suddenly, it becomes quite obvious that Kate can't find her paci. Kraig searched and searched. Jack finished eating, so I searched and searched. Regardless of the efforts, no pacifier was found. Kate was not a happy camper, but eventually she fell asleep. That was the end.

Naps the first few days were difficult, but she's quite used to it now. Since then we've come across two pacifiers. She found one and was overjoyed. It was immediately in her mouth, but I made her give it up. They're both in the landfill. Haven't found anymore.

I thought for sure giving up the pacifier would be the death of me. But she did it. I'm mortified that it took so long. I was the mom-to-be who swore I'd never give my kid one. But that didn't happen. Finally, at nearly 27 months, she gave it up. (Or it gave itself up.)

Next battle: Potty training. Maybe that'll happen by accident, too?

Yeah, baby. We've got it.

The common cold. It's always such a joy when this time of the year comes around, and I get a cold. It's been an entirely different thing, though, since I've been a parent. I think Kate had one cold that lasted the entire winter when she was first born. Last Wednesday, she started getting congested. I knew it was coming. It came and spread quickly. By Saturday, Jackson was sneezing and snotty. Sunday afternoon (thankfully after the morning worship service), I started feeling it, too. Kraig, thus far, has managed to avoid it. Not sure how. Kate seems to be doing better and Jack really only has minor symptoms, thankfully. I think I've got it the worst, but life goes on when you're a Mommy. It's not been terrible, but it definitely impeded my progress on my goals list for last week. Here's last week's list. Red things got done. Yellow things got done most days. Black things are going back on the list for this week!

Last week's goals:
1) Dust the house towards the end of the week
2) Mop the kitchen/bathrooms (Friday or Saturday)
3) Vacuum as needed (and on Sunday)
4) Clean up the kitchen after meals/before bed
5) No computer time until Kate's naptime (yes, I'm breaking this now)
6) Pump breastmilk at least once a day to stock the freezer with
7) Cook chicken for the freezer and make stock to freeze (Wednesday)
8) Prep the menu and grocery list for next week
9) Bake cookies for Sunday night teen life groups (Saturday or Sunday)
10) Do one load of laundry per day, start to finish
11) Sort through the kids clothes, putting away the ones that are out of season or the wrong size
12) Work on Kraig's birthday stuff
13) Read to both kids everyday
14) Do something artsy with Kate everyday
15) Potty training!
16) No more snacks after 8pm
17) Get some exercise at least twice

This week's list is similar.

This week's goals:
1) Dust the house towards the end of the week
2) Mop the kitchen/bathrooms (Friday or Saturday)
3) Vacuum as needed (and on Sunday)
4) Clean up the kitchen after meals/before bed
5) No computer time until Kate's naptime (yes, I'm breaking this now)
6) Pump breast milk at least once a day to stock the freezer with
7) Prep the menu and grocery list for next week
8) Bake cookies for Sunday night teen life groups (Saturday or Sunday)
9) Do one load of laundry per day, start to finish
10) Sort through the kids clothes, putting away the ones that are out of season or the wrong size
11) Finish Kraig's birthday stuff--it's Saturday!
12) Read to both kids everyday
13) Do something artsy with Kate everyday
14) Potty training--once she feels better
15) No more snacks after 8pm
16) Get some exercise at least twice

Hopefully this week's list goes better!! If you made a list last week, how did it go?

New Year's Resolution?

I know I'm a little late, but I've got to make a change. I'll admit it. I hate housework. I hate laundry. Unless I have motivation, like the knowledge that someone is coming over, I don't always make much of an effort. Sure, the clutter in the living room drives me crazy, so we clean up the toys one hundred times a day. Sure, I have to have clean clothes, so eventually I do laundry. But there's not much routine. I follow a blog/website called MoneySavingMom. There's lots of great practical advice for parenting and running a household, etc. One of the things she's been doing is writing out her list of weekly goals. She also shares her top five goals of the day on Facebook. Does she always get them done? No. Makes me feel good, but it also has inspired me to do the same. So here goes:

This week's goals:
1) Dust the house towards the end of the week
2) Mop the kitchen/bathrooms (Friday or Saturday)
3) Vacuum as needed (and on Sunday)
4) Clean up the kitchen after meals/before bed
5) No computer time until Kate's naptime (yes, I'm breaking this now)
6) Pump breastmilk at least once a day to stock the freezer with
7) Cook chicken for the freezer and make stock to freeze (Wednesday)
8) Prep the menu and grocery list for next week
9) Bake cookies for Sunday night teen life groups (Saturday or Sunday)
10) Do one load of laundry per day, start to finish
11) Sort through the kids clothes, putting away the ones that are out of season or the wrong size
12) Work on Kraig's birthday stuff
13) Read to both kids everyday
14) Do something artsy with Kate everyday
15) Potty training!
16) No more snacks after 8pm
17) Get some exercise at least twice

Today's top 5 goals:
1) Potty training
2) Read to the kiddos
3) Art time with Kate
4) Cook chicken and make stock
5) Clean the kitchen

Getting out...

(It's not as easy as it used to be!)

When I was pregnant with #2, I was convinced I would never go anywhere by myself with both kids. While I haven't done much of it, there seems to be a common theme: Jack always needs his entire outfit changed just moments before we leave the house. We've been to church every Sunday since he was born, which is just me and the kids since Kraig is obviously there for both services. Multiple Sundays Jack has needed changed because he's pooped through his clothes. One Sunday there was projectile spit-up which actually came while I was getting him dressed and managed to get his, mine and Kate's clothes dirty. We were late that day. It never fails. Other than going to church, though, I haven't gone anywhere with both of them. I'm a little intimidated. I grocery shop on Kraig's day off so that I don't have to take one or both of them. It's been that way for a long time, but what if I did take them both? Where would the groceries go? Where would the kids go? I don't wanna know. It won't be long and I'll be forced to do it, but until then I'm pretending that it's not an option.

In other news, we've had several good, non-colicky nights in a row. Praise the Lord (and knock on wood?)! I'm very grateful for that. Kate's doing well, too. She went to bed last night and down for her nap tonight without a pacifier. No, I didn't take it away, we just couldn't find any last night. So, if/when they resurface, they're going in the trash. Next week we're going to start the big potty training push again. She's peed in the potty twice in the past week. Hopefully it'll go well!

Cloth diaper update

In the midst of the chaos before Jack was born (falling, car accident, etc) I switched Kate to disposable diapers. I was planning to when he was born so that I'd have a few weeks off laundry duty, but I needed to do it earlier. I wasn't up to doing laundry, that's for sure. I got some good sales and bought a couple boxes. At this point, I still have about a half of a box left, so I decided to put her back in cloth last week and use the leftover disposables for when we were out of the house. That plan failed. Kate's apparently grown in the last two months or so, and the cloth diapers no longer fit. She acted like it was hurting her thighs when I put one on her, so I readjusted it. She still wasn't very comfortable, but she stopped complaining. The next thing I know, however, is that she has very obviously peed through her diaper and her pants are soaking wet. They're definitely too small. Such a bummer! Since I already had a few dirty, I tried one on Jackson. They're obviously a little bulky on him, but they fit and did the job. He's still in disposables at this point, though, because I have more than a whole box of size ones left that aren't going to fit much longer. I had intended to use them for when we were out and about, but he's growing faster than I anticipated. Oh well!

So, that's the scoop. Not much happening!

I'm alive...really!

Jack will be seven weeks old on Monday. In some ways I can't believe it. Wasn't it just yesterday that we left the hospital? And in other ways, it feels like he's been with us forever. We've done a lot in the past six and a half weeks, though.

Jack got to meet his Aunt Karina. She came and spent a weekend. The following weekend, my best friend from college, Emily, came to visit. That was Labor Day weekend. Because of the extra holiday day off, we decided to head to Ohio last minute. We got up Monday morning, loaded up and left. It was a pretty decent trip, in spite of traveling with two kids. At that point, he was still eating quite slowly, so I ended up pumping in the van and then bottle feeding him when we stopped. He's done quite well at taking a bottle. The lactation consultant recommended introducing a bottle between weeks three and four so that he would be willing to take one without having nipple confusion. Thankfully, he's done great! We spent a nice few days with my family, just hanging out. It was very relaxing. I even got to sneak out for a late-night movie with my mom and sister. Jack, of course, tagged along, but it was a fun almost-girls night.

We got back from Ohio on Friday night and spent Saturday getting ready for Sunday. Sunday afternoon, Kraig's oldest sister called to see if there was anyway we could head to Pennsylvania to surprise his dad for his birthday. We didn't think so, but the way Kraig's day off fell, it worked out. We headed to PA on Thursday after work and came back home Saturday evening. It was a short trip, but he was genuinely surprised. Jack also got to meet his Uncle John and Aunt Shelley for the first time. And we made it in time to get Hank's Frozen Custard before they closed for the season!

This week, we've been home and it seems we may be dealing with colic. Ugh. The week prior to this, Jack was sleeping very well. The first stretch of sleep at night was lasting between 5 and almost 7 hours. Nothing to complain about. The last week, we've had more nights of screaming for a solid couple hours before he finally settles down to sleep. He's completely inconsolable. I'm hoping it's short lived, because I feel more tired now than I did when he was a week old.

All in all, though, he's a great baby. He's getting huge. We had his one month (five week) appointment last Monday. I was going to ask the doctor if she thought he was getting enough to eat, but then they weighed him. He weighed in at 11lbs 4oz. A solid four pounds from when we left the hospital. He was 24 inches long, a gain of 4 3/4 inches. Ridiculous! Obviously, the kid is eating well. I'm so pleased that we've made it this far exclusively breastfeeding. I was not so lucky with Kate, but he's a champ. Speaking of Jack, he's waking to eat!!

More updates eventually!