My Elegant Maia

I have dreams of my daughter growing up to be elegant, well-mannered, prim, and proper. But, at the rate she is going, my dreams are going down the tubes fast. I have managed to snap a photo of her during meal times the past few days and this is what she looks like...a mad woman with food everywhere. She seems to think food should be use as a hair product...hmmm...she may be on to something. It does seem to provide a greasy shimmer and sometimes can even serve as a hair accessory.

Vacation for a Mom

I am heading off to Laughlin this weekend with my family for a river trip. Although I am excited, I realized that I have to adjust my thinking of "vacation" now that I am a mom.
The first thing I noticed is that I really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. We are leaving when I get off of work today and my kids' stuff and my husband's stuff is all packed and ready to go but...what about me? Well, my laundry is piled high and I have no clean clothes to take. I look like a French Hippie who does not believe in shaving and who is sure to scare everyone who gets a glimpse my unsightly under arm hair. My toes have a 2 month old pedicure still lingering and I might as well wear my Frump Girl sign.
Then, as I was pondering our sleeping arrangements, I realized that this vacation means that I will get a total of ZERO sleep. Isn't vacation supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation? Not for a mom. You see the 4 of us will be sleeping in one small hotel room. Since Noah is too big for a pack n play he will be sleeping on the hotel bed which means that each night will contain at least 2 falls off the bed which will result in loud crying which will lead to the startling of Maia which will turn into 2 kids crying hysterically in the middle of the night. Not to mention that they will both be unable to fall asleep when we first put them to bed because mommy and daddy are in the room with them.
As for my third child, my husband Ricky, he is like a little kid on Christmas when it comes to this trip. To be able to wake up early and spend the whole day on the lake wakeboarding is his Heaven. Thus, I must be a good wife and make this trip as enjoyable as possible for him by handling the kids when they wake up at night and during the day when they are whining because of the 113 degree weather.
By the picture I have painted, you must all be asking why I agreed to go on this "vacation." Well, some little part of me thinks it will be fun and hopes that the kids will be so tired they will sleep through the night and be angels during the day... and I know that this will make for some great blog material...what can I say?...I am committed to my craft!

My Little Nemo

Noah loves to be in the pool but he is very cautious. The last few times he has gone swimming we've tried putting floaties on him but he didn't really trust them. He would freak out if I would let him go even though he had the floaties on. However, today he turned over a new leaf! He was swimming with Papi and Uncle Luke and he became a little fish. I told him that he was my Little Nemo (he loves that movie). He was even brave enough to jump into the water off the step and swim by himself to the side of the spa. The best part was the face he made before jumping in. So cute! To get him to swim in the big pool took a bit of bribing, but he did it. I am so proud of him!

I Need A Strong Drink

It is only 1:00 p.m. and I am in serious need of a couple glasses of wine. My friend Korin invited us to a play date at the water park in Corona. I was so excited to spend some time with my friend and let the kids run and play in the water. However, I could tell that my kids were not planning on being pleasant for me the moment I got them in the truck. Noah's whining had begun and Maia was obviously not thrilled about having to skip her morning nap.

Our time at the park consisted of Noah whining, whining, and whining some more, Maia being cranky at not getting her way, Noah wandering off and not coming when I would call him, Noah crying to go home and get his pacifier, and me being completely embarrassed of my children. I really don't think that my friend will ever invite me to another play date again. I felt like the mom who has "those children." You know the ones that drive everyone crazy and no one wants around? As I was packing up to leave, Noah decided to wander off (while crying) and head to the other side of the park by himself. Because, I was so tired of fighting with the whiny kid, I just let him go. I kept my eye on him while I continued to pack. He walked by another family who looked at him and then scanned their surroundings to look for the irresponsible parent who would let their kid wander off like that. She made eye contact with me and asked if he belonged to me. I wanted to say "No," but I reluctantly said yes. Thank God she didn't reprimand me for not keeping him close to me. We finally got to the car and by this point I was ready to scream. Noah needed a spanking and so I parked the stroller containing Maia next to the truck, I administered the much needed spanking after making sure no one was watching so CPS would not be called, and I placed Noah in his car seat. I turn to get Maia and realize that the stroller has rolled right up to the front tire of the truck which means her feet are covered in black messiness. After cleaning her all up and getting everyone buckled in, I start the truck engine and notice a nasty smell. By this time both kids were very ready to go home and were letting me know by their loud cries, but I could not make the drive home without finding out what that nasty smell was. I sniffed both kids' diapers and both sets of shoes. Noah's shoes were the culprit. He had stepped in dog poop. Just my luck.

The shoes are now in the back of my truck, both kids are asleep, and I need a drink.

The Door and the Window

I had a nightmare moment the other day. One of those events that you pray never happens to you.

It was a hot summer day, the boys went out wakeboarding and I decided to take Maia swimming at my mother-in-laws house. My in-laws were both at work so it was a quiet afternoon spent eating lunch, laying out, and swimming with my baby girl. While I was attempting to lay out, Miss Maia Belle was running in and out of the house playing peek-a-boo with me. I was half paying attention to her and half twittering on my phone when I heard a door slam. I look up and see Maia's little face pressed up against the door smiling at me from inside the house. I jump up and think "Oh Lord NO! NO! NO!...Please don't let this be..." I run to the door and push the handle...LOCKED! "Okay stay calm. You don't want her to freak out...it's not the end of the world...you are only in a bathing suit that you would never wear in public, with your daughter locked inside the house with no keys and no way to get in. Don't panic. I frantically jiggle the handle hoping that maybe it will magically open. Maia begins to cry hysterically. I run like a mad woman all around the house checking all the doors...all locked. Maia is crying harder, her face is red and her lips are blue. I kneel on the other side of the door and tell her that mommy's here and she is going to be okay. I point to the door handle and tell her to reach up and turn the little knob...am I crazy or something? She's ONE; she looks at me like I am crazy. I check the windows, there is one open, but the screen is not one of those flimsy ones that I am used to and I cannot figure out how to get it off. I sit down in front of the door and call my sister-in-law who has a key. She is nowhere near and wouldn't be able to get there for at least 30 minutes. I think about calling 911...then I think about them seeing me in my bathing suit and decide that there has to be another way. I call Ricky. He is always calm and collected and will tell me what to do. I explain, he stays cool, then he instructs me to punch in the screen. I tell him that the window looks pretty small, he assures me that I will fit. I hang up, grab a chair to climb onto so that I can reach the window and call on my inner ninja. I karate chop the screen. It pops off. I very ungracefully climb through the small bathroom window acquiring a 12 inch long bruise on the back of my leg, jump onto the toilet and run to get my traumatized daughter. It was like a slow motion hero scene from a movie as I scooped her into my arms and apologized for not thinking to unlock the door before I let her play with it.

Note to self: always take a cover-up outside with you when laying out just in case you have to call 911...oh and make sure the doors are unlocked.

Looooong Weekend

Have you ever just felt done? You know, that feeling where you just need a break like a 2 day break from your children...like at the next sound of their whiny voices you might just snap and jump out the nearest window? Like at their next defiant moment you will give them away to the person in closest proximity? Maybe I am the only one...(now that I think about it, I know quite a few super moms that are probably appalled at these thoughts)...but hey this is my confession blog and so I am confessing that this is me right about now. 

As I sit here writing this, my son is his room whining for me in his bed. He is supposed to be asleep but of course he is whining instead because most of his waking moments these days are spent whining...okay, that's better, I just turned itunes on really loud to drown out his voice. 

This past Friday Ricky and I had made plans to hang out with our friends. We were going to drop the kids off with the grandparents and have them spend the night so that we could have our much needed break, but as usual things did not go according to plan. Noah got sick and so instead I spent the day and evening at home with a whiny kid. This seemed to set the pace for the not-so-pleasant weekend. Saturday, was spent with family and when Noah wasn't sleeping, he was whining about not wanting to eat, or his "owie," or not wanting to swim, or something else. Then this morning I received a call from my husband while I was at work. He was at his wits end and I could hear Noah crying hysterically in the background. Noah was having a melt down and Ricky was ready to run far far away!  I felt helpless as there was really nothing I could do aside from talking to Noah on  the phone and trying to calm him down. Eventually Ricky got him to calm down. The rest of the day again consisted of Noah whining for one reason or another and it seemed that the time outs and spankings only served as a 5 minute remedy. The weekend has now come to an end and Ricky just went on a grocery run and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't return for a week or so just to give himself a break from the little 2 year-old terror we named Noah.  At this point I dread waking up to another full day of spending time with my whiny 2 year-old. How awful is that? 

The good news in all this? I feel like I am on my knees praying for God's wisdom and strength about a million times a day. One of the things that He reminds me of daily is that I am to be an example of Him to my kids always. I can completely taint their view of Jesus at this early stage in their lives. Therefore I cannot blow up at them, or say hurtful things to them, or throw myself out the window! God does not do that to us. Although He is firm and He does make us face consequences, He is always patient, loving, gentle, and slow to anger. So, when I feel like I am going to lose it, I take a deep breath, pray for wisdom and patience, and remember that I am to be Jesus to my kids...oh and I put in an emergency call to the grandparents and ask for them to come to the rescue!

 

Fourth of July

Usually 4th of Julys consist of going to see a firework show done by professionals because my husband is not to be trusted with fire! But, this year we were invited to do our own fireworks with our neighbors and so I prayed for no one to catch on fire and for Ricky to behave and we did our own firework show with the neighborhood. It turned out to be a great time with only 2 illegal bombs made by Ricky and Jeff (neighbor) that harmed no one. 

Although Maia didn't care to hold the sparklers she enjoyed watching all the pretty fireworks as long as I was holding her. 

Noah and Nathan enjoyed the sparklers and next year Noah will be wearing a hat. His unruly curls seemed to attract the sparks and made for quite a few close calls. 



This is definitely my favorite picture of the evening! He was over it by this point. Two hours past his bed time and daddy's bright idea of giving him 5 sparklers at once with way too much smoke blowing in his face was not such a good idea!