I never thought it would end!

As a mom, there are stages my kids go through that make me think, "O.M.G(oodness)!! Will this EVER END?!?" It seems like some of the most frustrating parenting moments happen on a daily basis and while you're in the midst of it, it feels like it's been happening for years and like it will never end. Well today, I'm here to encourage you and remind you that eventually.......it WILL end! Here are some of the stages I thought my kids would be stuck in for-EV-er!

*not sleeping through the night--although it lasted a looooooong time for Tommy and made me feel like at times that I was going to absolutely lose. My. SHIT, I'm happy to report that both of my children now sleep from 9pm to 7:30am WITHOUT WAKING UP! Hang in there, mama! It WILL end!

*being scared of spiders/bugs--Tessa had a very real fear of spiders for several months and at the mere mention of the word or if she saw a fuzzball that she thought looked spiderish, it would lead to a severe melt down that took us talking her off the ledge for an hour before she stopped crying. I cringed every time we saw a moving creature because I knew what would come. A few days ago, I saw a spider and she walked over to it, stomped on it and said, "I get it, Mommy!" Hang in there, mama! It WILL end!

*temper tantrums--for a few weeks, I truly thought Tommy was possessed by a demon. Okay, not really, but an angry three year old takes on a VERY demon-like attitude when they don't get what they want. We had several days a week where he would hit, scratch, yell, cry for 15 minutes......okay, we're not COMPLETELY out of this stage yet, but it's MUCH less often! Hang in there, mama! It WILL end!

*being a cling-on--for about a year, I felt like I constantly had a growth of some sort on my body. A Tommy tumor on my leg, a Tessa tumor on my hip. You know, where your kid has to be CONSTANTLY held and you feel like you might as well glue them to you so you don't trip over them every time you turn around or break your arms trying to hold them for hours because they want to be ON you all. The. TIME. Lately, my kids have started playing together in the other room or finding things to do on their own. Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

*changing dirty pee-pants--Although it only took about a week for Tommy to be potty trained completely, those were the longest 7 days of my life (and a few accidents after that week added to it). There were moments where I thought, "If I have to clean up his dirty pee-pants ONE MORE TIME........." I never finished the sentence out loud :) He now very rarely has an accident! Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

*picking their noses--Tommy and Tessa went through a phase where their fingers were CONSTANTLY in their noses. Disgusting. SO gross. I told them they were yucky, they wouldn't have any friends and even stooped so low to say that if they picked their nose in my bed one more time, I would lay in their bed and wipe my boogers all over it. Now, Tommy usually asks for a tissue and Tessa.......well, we're working on it. Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

*the crying--Oh, the crying. Sometimes it seems like that's all kids do. Especially before they can talk and can't just tell you what they want. Instead they CRY. About everything! Now that both of my kids can talk, the crying has been cut to a minimum. You know...it's just whenever they don't get what they want! Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

*the transportation issue--When children are small, it seems like you need a 12 passenger van and an entourage to fit all their junk in and to get anywhere. You have to take the huge car seat, a stroller, the big diaper bag with diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, toys, bottles, formula, etc. I am LOVING the stage of grabbing one diaper for Tess and running out the door. We keep both car seats installed and an umbrella stroller in the trunk and we're set! Both kids can buckle themselves in their car seats and we're out the door in two minutes or less! Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

*worrying about EVERYTHING--Although as a mom, we will always worry about our kids (ALWAYS), I no longer sweat the small stuff. For the first year of Tommy's life, I worried about every bump, bruise, cough, runny nose, watery eye, cold, red gum, rash, wheezy breath, etc. By his first birthday, I had diagnosed him with cancer, bronchitis, asthma, scabies, hand/foot/mouth, anemia and a few other things. Luckily, all he ACTUALLY had were asthma and an allergy to amoxicillin. Let's just say since his first year, I've relaxed a bit and Tessa hasn't been diagnosed with NEAR as many diseases as Tommy was ;) Hang in there, mama! It WILL end.

I just wanted to write this to encourage moms (and to remind myself) that EVERY stage our kids go through, no matter what age or what they're doing, is temporary. They have to test their boundaries and learn new things. They go through it, figure life out along the way and then move on to something new. It's hard and challenging and sometimes annoying and disgusting, but the stages they go through are what mold them into the wonderful, crazy, hilarious, sweet, ornery, awesome little human beings they are. Good luck!! Hang in there, mama!!

1st day of preschool

So I'm a little behind all the other cool moms that had their kids pose with a chalkboard and post it the second they walk out the door! Mom fail on my part!

Let's start with the lead up to the first day of preschool....

We've been talking up preschool for a year now. Tommy is super shy and gets nervous in new situations, so I've been trying to talk it about it for a long time and prepare him for the fact that soon, we would be leaving him at school by himself. We've made it sound like the best thing EVER, so he was VERY excited to get this postcard from his sweet teachers:

We went to enroll him the week before school started.

As you can see, he was very excited and INSISTED on taking his bookbag with him! It's half the size of his body, but he wore that thing all over that night!

We met his teachers and paid for his first month of tuition and bought a t-shirt for him to wear on field trips. He wore it alllllllll night, even though it was 2 sizes too big. So cute!

I had failed to realize he needed a physical before starting school, so in the three days after enrolling him and school starting, we managed to make it to the doctor.

 

He was not too thrilled about that but managed to have fun pretending to be "Dr. Tommy" as he called himself. We got the all clear for him, got our form signed and we were FINALLY ready for preschool!

In all honesty, I think I was more nervous then him. He's so very shy and it's almost painful for him to let loose and play with kids he doesn't know. It happens eventually, but takes quite awhile for him to warm up and have fun. He already knew one little girl that would be in his class (she's the daughter of a good friend of mine from MY school days!), so I was holding onto the hope that at least he'd have her to play with!

I woke him up that morning and he was SO excited! Tessa had stayed the night at my mom's the night before so it would just be me and him that morning. He had a bowl of cereal and talked the WHOLE time we were getting ready. We got him dressed and I walked out the door with my little man to take him to his FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. 

It seemed totally unreal. 

I was nervous and excited and upset and.....oh wait. This post is about him. Okay.......He was nervous and excited, too! He had a huge smile on his face......

.....until we walked into the school and then he got very quiet. He refused to let me take a picture by the sign and I didn't insist because I didn't want any meltdowns. We walked in and after I signed him in, his teacher took his book bag. He wouldn't look at her or say hi. My heart was so sad! He grabbed my hand and held tight and we walked around the classroom looking at toys and books and cubbies. 

Oh, his scared face....it kills me!!

There were two little boys playing trains and I asked Tommy if he wanted to play. He said, "Yes......but not with them!" He got some trains and separated himself from them just a little bit.

I tried to encourage him to play with the boys, but he wasn't having it. I kept reminding myself that I was the world's most shy child and still managed to grow up being only mildly socially awkward and to have lots of friends. So I knew he'd be okay. I watched him play trains for a bit and kissed him no less then one thousand times. And then after a little more weeping and gnashing of the teeth, I managed to tear myself away from my first born and leave him with complete strangers for 2 1/2 hours.

I made it within five feet of the car before I lost it. Like, LOST. IT. I was ugly crying while trying to drive. I kept thinking, "What if he's scared? What if nobody will play with him? What if he gets hurt? What if he has a meltdown? What if he picks his nose and wipes it on the desk? What if he wants me and I'm not there? What if he NEEDS me?" Truly, it was a solid 30 minutes of crying. I would stop crying and then somebody would call me to see how it went and it would start up again. 

Let's just say those were the LONGEST 2 1/2 hours of my life. I got to the school right at 11am and walked to the classroom door. I'm not gonna lie--seeing him standing in the circle with a SMILE on his face, playing a game with the teacher and his friends was the BEST moment. My heart was SO happy to see him so happy. He saw me and yelled, "Mama!!" and did one of those running-tackle-hugs that kids are infamous for. Oh, I died. It was awesome. 

And that was it. He loved it! He let me take more pictures........

........and then we went out for a mommy/son date. We had lunch at Applebee's. He had chicken fingers, strawberries and yogurt and chocolate milk.

Then we went to Braum's for dessert and had some delicious ice cream. We were sitting towards the back of Braum's in a booth that I thought would be nice and quiet. But it wasn't. There were a lot of people there that day and they were all talking loudly and being so distracting. I was trying to talk to Tommy about school and what all he had done, but I couldn't hear him very well. He was talking and then all of the sudden he stopped, put his hands up and said in a hushed, awed voice.... "Mommy, wait! I hear the most beautiful song!" It caught me off guard because I hadn't heard any music. But as I struggled to listen, I realized he was right. In the midst of the chaos and noise, there was a beautiful song playing in the background. 

It amazes me the things kids see that adults don't. I was SO worried about his first day of preschool and SO nervous about all the things that might or might not happen. But all Tommy heard was the song--the excitement, the adventure, the newness. And I'm so thankful for that. 

I'm so proud of you, buddy! You're such a big boy now!!

Twilight Tuesday

During the month of July, the local zoo offers Twilight Tuesdays. You get free admission to the zoo from 6:00pm to 8:00pm.

We've been meaning to go to the zoo all summer, but it seemed like we just never had time or when we did, it was 900 degrees outside. The last time we took Tommy to the zoo, he puked because he was so hot (NOT something I want to relive!).

So when I heard about Twilight Tuesdays, I jumped on it! Evening time is SO much cooler and it was free, which made it even better!

My mom brought the kids to Wichita so Nick and I could just meet them at the zoo as soon as we were done with work.

It was so much fun! The kids are at such a great age to enjoy that kind of stuff. They had a blast looking at all the animals.

I was glad the animals were still out and moving around. We were afraid it would be boring and they'd all be tucking in for the night (do animals do that?!?), but they were still very active!

Even though it was later in the evening, it was still super hot. Luckily, they had misters going all over the zoo, so we stayed semi-cool. Tessa was drenched the whole time :)

They weren't too sure about the petting zoo. It was a little too up close and personal for their taste!

Tessa was SO not into having her picture taken. I kept getting the "no" hand.......

Tommy was really into the penguins and snakes. I HATE the building with all the frogs and snakes, but him and Nick stopped at each little station to find the snakes in their cages. Yuck.

We had a great time! I love that the zoo has a night that's free and will definitely remember it for next year!

Purple Princess Party

I somehow missed writing about Tessa's birthday party! For about 3 months before her birthday, she had her mind set on a purple princess party. So that's what she got!

 

We had lots of good food and I made "princess wands" for favors (chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles).


 This was her purple cupcake cake that was supposed to be in the shape of a princess dress! It was kind of last minute, but I think people got the gist of what it was supposed to be :) Tessa loved it, so that's all that really matters! I for some reason ALWAYS procrastinate on their cakes, so I was trying to turn the white frosting purple shortly before all the guests arrived. It ended up more grayish, but that was the best I could get it! At least it still tasted yummy!

Tessa turns into a total solemn faced little girl whenever she's the center of attention in a crowd. It's hilarious. At events that are supposed to be SO fun (like a 2 year old birthday party), she gets very serious and won't talk to anyone or smile. Which is SO unlike her! So at her party, she hardly cracked a smile during presents (or any other part of it, for that matter). This was her birthday wish list:

NO idea where some of that came from!

This was as close as we got..............

She got TONS of fun presents! Purses, dolls, legos, art supplies.....you name it, she got it! She's one blessed little girl. We got her what we thought was going to be an EPIC present........

....Instead, it was an epic fail! This picture was the first and last time she's gotten on it! But I'm hoping at some point, she'll warm up to it. It took Tommy a year to ride his (what is it with my kids not wanting these awesome toys?!? I would've killed for some Hot Wheels when I was younger!). So maybe by her 3rd birthday, she'll be all over it!

This was Tessa AFTER everybody left and she was no longer the center of attention--

It's truly crazy how different of a kid she is when nobody else is around! She LOVED all her presents (except the one we got her)!! Especially her purses!

For her actual birthday, she woke up to a roomful of balloons (a tradition I started with Tommy). She takes awhile to wake up in the mornings, so she didn't really know how to act!

Then it was time to blow out some candles.....

\

I had to work for a half day, so I got the birthday girl ready and then headed to work.

That's her "cheese" face. Too cute :)

 I got off in time for lunch and we met Brooke, Tommy, Alex and Essie to eat at Ciao's. It was delicious! After that, we brought all the kids back to my house and let them play in the sprinkler and eat popsicles.

And of course, there were more cupcakes involved....

After they played, it was NAP time! They napped until Daddy came home. Then we all went to dinner and did a little shopping. Then we came home and opened some presents.

She was WORN OUT by the end of the day and so ready for bed. We got our sweet 2 year old girl all tucked in and she was out in no time! 

Overall, we had a great time celebrating our precious girl! We love you so much, Tessa Grace!

The stats...

Tessa, at 2 years old, you are:

*right around 26 lbs and 36 inches.


*wearing size 24 month and 2t clothes.

*in a size SEVEN shoe, quickly moving to a size 8. What?!? You completely skipped size 6!

*saying all your colors pretty well. You get them wrong occasionally, but do pretty good overall! You say purple is your favorite, but until recently, I don't think you even knew for sure what color purple was.

*obsessed with popsicles! You want them all. The. TIME. You say, "A pah-seeckle, mommy? Me have one?" When I say no, you say, "Please!!! Pitty, pitty please!" You think adding the "pitty, pitty" will make me say yes :)

*singing a lot! It's so funny! You can't really match the words, but you try hard!

*getting a little pickier about what you eat. You have definitely entered the toddler eating stage--you don't eat much and when you do, it's things like mac and cheese or crackers.

*learning what time out is. It seems like since you hit the two year old mark, you've spent a majority of your two year old life in timeout. Sigh. It HAS to get better, right?

*talking up a storm! You say tons and TONS of sentences and words and can pretty much repeat anything we say (which has backfired a few times).

*sporting some CRAZY bedhead! Your hair is getting so long and curly and is often out of control! And it's so blond now!

*interested in going potty on the big girl potty. You get bothered when you're wet and ask me to change your diaper, so I think we'll start that adventure pretty quickly!

*obsessed with the kitty. Like, to the point it scares me that you're going to accidentally squish him to death one day.

You're getting so big, Tess! 

The Day Black Betty Betrayed Me

It was a dark day. A dark day, indeed. Black Betty betrayed me.....turned her back on me in my time of need.

A few Saturdays ago (when it was hotter than hades outside--like 100+ degrees), my niece had a birthday party at noon at a park. It was super fun, but SUPER hot. Nick had just sold his car the day before (he had a junker that he drove back on forth so he didn't have to put miles and hundreds of dollars in gas in his truck) and we decided to go look at a slightly newer/nicer car to replace his junker right after my niece's party. My mom volunteered to take the kids to our house so she could put them down for a nap (and I didn't realize until later what a Godsend that was!). We left the party, hot and sweaty, and went to the south side of Wichita.

The guy we were buying from lived in a nice, clean neighborhood. Nick drove the car for about 20 minutes and really liked it. It drove great, the air conditioner was cold and it got decent gas mileage. He decided to buy it, so we drove to get the title (which was straight into the middle of ghetto Wichita) and then went our separate ways to head home.

Now....Black Betty is only ONE YEAR OLD. But that day.......that hot, sweaty, horrible day.....she died on me. We had a code blue. On Broadway. In the middle of a stoplight. "BETTY!!!," I yelled! "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?" I cussed a little and spanked her on her dashboard. Then I prayed that God would bring her back to life--at least long enough to get me out of the intersection. I turned the key and she started back up. I screamed for joy and then drove another block.......and she died again. I full on beat the crap out of her this time. I was slamming her on the steering wheel, spitting on her dashboard, cursing the day she was manufactured conceived. How could a one year old car (that I paid a LOT of money for in order to avoid getting a car that left me STRANDED on the side of the road) do this to me?

I got her to start one more time and sputtered my way into a parking lot, where she died one last time. I called Nick and begged him to come rescue me. He was almost to the turnpike already, so I had to wait about 20 minutes for him to come. Now, Black Betty is.......black. And a black car in a barren parking lot with no shade is FREAKIN hot. I sat in my car-turned-sauna and sweated off 20 pounds until my hero showed up to rescue me in his sort-of-new car. He called Ford for me and they said they would send a tow truck that would be there quickly. They gave us the option of leaving the key under the mat for them or waiting for them to show up. Given the neighborhood we were in, we decided to wait. And wait........and wait. For 45 minutes. And they still weren't there. So we finally put a key under the mat (after I had a meltdown or two) and got in Nick's car to leave. "F-you, Black Betty." I said in my mind as I crawled into Nick's silverish, cool new car. I shut the door and Nick started the car.

Or tried to. It didn't start. The new one. That he had JUST bought. Ohhhhhh, man. I cried a LOT. To the point where I think Nick was ready to shove me in the Black Betty sauna and let the towing guys deal with me. He finally got it to start and we got on the highway so we could get on the turnpike. We made it all the way to within about 1 foot of the turnpike exit and it died again. So there we were--betrayed by Black Betty, betrayed by the Silver Bullet and sitting with our tail end sticking out into the Kellogg traffic at 5pm on a Saturday evening. Awesome.

Within 30 seconds of our car dying, a random stranger pulls up in a huge white pick up, yells at us in a mix of Spanish and English and we get the hint that he wants to push our car with his truck until it's out of the intersection. Nick put the car in neutral, the guy gives us a gentle nudge and we slide forward enough to get the car completely out of the way. Whew! At least THAT went right for us. Nick put the car in park and turned it off, thinking our little Mexican angel was done. But nooooooo, that guy wanted to keep pushing us. I yelled at Nick that he was still pushing us and Nick hurridly put the car back in neutral so our gears wouldn't get screwed up. But since he had turned the car off (since there was NO point in us being pushed any further than we were), the steering wheel was locked in position. So the guy was pushing us and we had no way to steer the car. This proceeded in us rolling up on a curve on the right side of the road, the car rolling down the curb and veering to the left and us rolling across 4 lanes of rush hour traffic. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to do anything but scream out for God's help and wave my hands at oncoming traffic to stop. I'm sure they thought we were crazy because it looked like we were just flipping a big u-turn. By the grace of God, we didn't get hit and bounced off the curb on the other side of the highway. The guy that pushed us drove up in the lane behind us and blocked traffic with his truck. He helped us push the car until it was facing the right direction and then somehow, the car started and ran long enough for us to get it off the highway and into another deserted parking lot (anyone seeing a theme in this story?).

I called my mom (and I MIGHT have been sobbing hysterically because we now had TWO broken down cars, had just spent a small chunk of money on one of them and had almost had a legit near death experience). She came and got me (while my cousin watched the kids) to take me to Ford so I could get a loaner car while my POS Black Betty was being worked on. Nick's friend came and helped him tow home POS Silver Bullet.When I got to Ford to pick up my loaner, some douche bag in a bright pink shirt sauntered his way over to me and my mom.

"Hi, ladies! How are you today?" he said.

Fool. Um, could his eyes SEE me?!? I'm sure I was the exact picture of a pissed off customer who had spent FOUR HOURS in the blinding heat waiting for her TWO CRAPPY CARS to get her where she needed to be. I smelled like death, my shirt was damp and my hair was a huge friz-ball. My eyes were bloodshot and I had makeup smeared across my face from all the crying. And he wanted to ask me how I was?! Ha!

I stared at him with my resting-bitch face and then turned around and walked away. He pursued me (who IS this idiot?!) and said, "What's the matter, ma'am?"

"What's the matter? The MATTER is that my brand new 2013 Ford Focus that I spent a LOT of money on just broke down and left me stranded in the middle of Wichita and now I have to come to YOUR facility to get it fixed and Ford is the LAST place I want to be right now seeing as how YOUR company is the one that made my car........that left me STRANDED! THAT'S what's the matter, sir!"

He said,"I'm sorry to hear that! But why are you mad at me?"

I just rolled my eyes and walked away again. Then my mom said the most epic thing ever--

"She's probably mad at you because you're wearing that PINK shirt."

Ha!

Four days later, Ford called me to let me know that they couldn't find anything wrong with Black Betty--she must have just gotten overheated. Yeah. Because that makes for a really reliable car. I'm giving Black Betty one more chance to prove herself to me and then we're breaking up if she does it again.

You hear that, Black Betty?! Don't fail me, little lady.

My 2 year old daughter

Tessa Grace--

You are two!! How is that possible?! I still remember the day I found out we were having a girl. It seems like just yesterday. And now, here you are, my sweet little blond haired, gray eyed girl that walks and talks and has turned into such a little adult!

You are absolutely cracking us up every day with the things you do and say. Your sense of humor is so quirky! You'll say, "Mommy! Mommy--look at me!" And when I look, you're doing something totally random, like standing on one foot. YOU think it's hilarious! And so do I, but just because you get so tickled pink with the things you do! You "tickle" us by scratching us to death and saying, "Teeckle, teeckle, TEECKLE!!"

You are so determined and focused to do things for yourself. Some days it's funny and some days, it drives me absolutely batty. Your favorite thing to say is, "Me do it!" If you wanted to do something yourself, but we're already done it for you, you go back and do it again. Like if you want to put away a book, but we already have, you get the book out again and put it back up yourself. SO stubborn!

You are SO sassy. You've really gotten into purses and lipstick and perfume and sunglasses lately. It's SO fun to watch! Every time I turn around, you're taking your chapstic out of your purse and putting it all over your face. We've had to hide it from you because it seems to go everywhere EXCEPT your lips. You put change in your purse and try to pay for everything when we go shopping! It's pretty stinkin cute!

You seem to be a bit of a leader and I don't think you know it yet. Granted, you don't always take the best route to get people to follow your lead (let's just say you've pulled some hair, pushed a few kids around and gotten more than one time out in the process!). But especially with your brother......he very much follows your lead and looks to you to see how you react in situations. I'm hoping you learn this is a gift and use the appropriate means in the future!

You have a tough girl exterior--when you fall and get hurt, you don't want anybody to touch your or comfort you for a few minutes. When you're in trouble, you cross your arms and when you're asked to apologize, you say, "Uh-uh!" and choose to stay in time out for a few extra minutes until you soften up a bit. But on the inside...........you're a totally mushy momma's girl. As soon as you're done crying over your boo-boos, you run to me and ask me to kiss it. After you give up on being stubborn in time out, you come give the biggest hugs and kisses and say, "Sowwy, Mommy." You cry when your feelings are hurt and are very passionate about EVERY feeling you have--good or bad!

You are VERY shy. Whenever we're in a new situation or around a lot of people, you get super quiet and SUPER unfriendly. You won't talk to anyone (even the people you know) and either stay off the the side by yourself or hang on for dear life to a familiar face! I hope you grow out of it, because I remember being painfully shy and I feel like it held me back from so many things! And you have such a fun personality that I want people to get to know the little girl I get to know! It's funny because people spend a lot of time trying to get you to talk and you absolutely refuse. But the second they leave, you start jabbering away about that person and saying their name and talking about them! You are SO ornery!

 My sweet girl---You are everything I didn't know our family needed. I love everything about you--your sweet and your spice, your naughty and nice, your happy and sad, your good and your bad. All of it. You challenge me in a way your brother never did with your attitude and sensitivity. I feel like I learn something new about you every day! You constantly keep us on our toes and fill our hearts with love (and anxiety!). I've enjoyed watching you grow up so much, but am really sad that you're moving out of the cuddly, sweet, calm phase and into the active, independent TWO YEAR old phase! It's hard, but awesome at the same time!

We love you, Gracie girl! Happy 2nd birthday!