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Winning the New Mommy Game
I’ll never forget in the first days after bringing Brogan home from the hospital, wondering how you manage to do anything other than care for your baby. And secondarily, how in the world does anyone ever do this with two?!? It was completely overwhelming; my entire day was wholly consumed with this new little being. I found it hard to do anything for myself – eat, pee, shower, you know, the basics. But eventually I was able to care for myself again. As time went on, I’d get in the groove feeling in control, routine down pat, and then guess what? The damn routine would change. But I found that…
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The Calm After the Storm
I had a couple of rough days this week. The boys were crazy (and ornery and screaming and biting and destructive), Blake worked late every night and my baby sitter has been sick (necessitating the use of my backup plan, and then my backup, backup plan). But then there are nights like tonight where everything magically goes smooth. They were content while I cooked dinner, they ate well, we played outside on the swing set, bath time was uneventful, they played nicely together and they were both in bed by 8:08. I was actually able to enjoy my boys. Unfortunately sometimes it gets so stressful that it’s hard to take…
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Wiped Out
I got to play stay-at-home mom today and boy, am I wiped out. I’m not sure what was different about today than some weekends when I have the boys solo, but it was exhausting! I think some days the kids decide they want to be amicable and sweet. And then there are some days that they strategize about how to push every one of your buttons. Today would be the latter. Sometimes kids can just wear you down and knock you off your game. Today would be that day too. Apparently I was a little loose with my language, because when Blake got home Brogan told him, “Look Daddy, I…
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Do my kids have a lot to say? Yeah.
I spent the last two days traveling for work in Nashville, which meant that Blake was running a 24-hour Daddy Daycare. I came home to the boys fed, the dishes done and the house in a pretty reasonable state – very, happy mommy! When I walked through the door tonight, I was greeted by a very concerned 3-year-old who said, “Mommy, I was worried about you!” He gave me a hug. “Mommy, I was so worried about you,” he said again. He couldn’t quite articulate what he was “worried” about, but I’ll equate it to that he missed me. It makes me smile when Brogan, and now even Beckett, says…
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Play Guns and a Loss of Innocence
So I like to think that I’m pretty easy going with things. My parenting style is pretty moderate and at least to this point, I haven’t gone overboard with censorship. But the other day I took Brogan to the doctors and I was deeply disturbed. We were in the waiting room and my attention turned out the window to a child, probably 8 or 9, with a play handgun. While this gun did have one of those bright orange tips, it was very realistic in every other regard. I’m not sure what this kid had been watching, but he held the gun correctly, pointed it at just about everything and…
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How to Be a Happy Parent
Parenting is hard and it’s easy to find yourself stuck in a rut with all the damn dailies. But I believe that happiness is relative to your expectations. We all have this romanticized idea of what parenting will be like before we have kids… and then we have them and realize some if it’s not so glamorous. Managing your expectations and keeping perspective is key to finding all the joy that parenting has to offer. Juggling your children, your marriage, a job (perhaps), and the stresses from the outside world (strangers, other parents, the media, the “experts”) can be downright stressful. Hey, no pressure, you’re only doing the most important…
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Battle Wounds and a Mom’s Intuition
Ever get that feeling that things have been a little too easy, like it’s the calm before the storm and any second things are about to go crazy? Yep, I had that feeling yesterday. We went to Chattanooga for the weekend to visit my cousin and her two little boys who were just adopted from Uganda. After church we decided to go to the Chattanooga Market to check out the car show and eat at the food trucks. There were a lot of people, it was nearly 90 degrees and what had to be nearly 90% humidity (aka way too hot) and it was a bit chaotic. Totally my scene…
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Never Lead with Fries and Other Lessons from the Day
Every day as a parent is a day of learning – the subject is typically a surprise, but you can always count on a lesson. Today my boys taught me… 1.) Never lead with fries – No matter how good of an eater you’ve got, don’t lead with the fries. It will be hard to near impossible to get them to eat anything with any greater nutritional value once they’ve got a yummy, greasy, salty fry in those chompers. You want some chicken? [shakes his head no] You want some broccoli? [shakes his head no] You want a fry? Yeah! Well crap. 2.) Sometimes you have to break the rules…
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From the Mouth of My 3-year-old
It is true, kids say the darndest things. My 3-year-old continuously amazes me with his remarks. Especially when he says something which lets me know that he knows more than we give him credit for… or when he demonstrates a brazen act of talking back, but said with such innocence, that he has you questioning whether he was really just talking back. The answer to that question is almost always yes – he’s smart and he’s a charmer, so he’s already mastered the art of manipulation. So here are a couple of his one-liners from the last couple of days. I really need to keep a pen and paper more…
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Dining Out with Kids is Rarely a Good Idea
It’s the same question every time… why, oh why, did I think it was a good idea to go out to eat with the kids? It’s like I periodically develop amnesia when I suggest we go out to eat, forgetting what little monsters they were last time. They each have their vices – Brogan can’t sit still to save his life and he needs to be the center of attention. Beckett screams at the top of his lungs any time he doesn’t get his way. Looking back on my childhood, there was probably a 5-year stretch where my mom rarely took my two brothers and me to a restaurant. She…
