Sometimes I feel like I just don't measure up as a mom (see the last picture from the previous post where my son is extremely upset because I am working and can't put him to bed)... especially now that I am trying to meet the needs of two children. Rather than focus on the bad, I'm going to focus on the things I am doing that are worth recognizing and giving myself credit for in this post. :)
Do I get good mom points for having such cute clothes for such a beautiful girl? :) ( ...especially when those clothes are bought at a great discount at a second hand store?!!)
Do I get good mom points for making sure she gets enough food and breast milk to have those chubby cheeks?
(Landen absolutely loves his Emmalyn)
What about for trying a "trick" I saw online for bath time - - put them in a laundry basket and it will keep the toys close to them? (The trick didn't talk about how silly this approach is if they want to just stand up the whole time - we never tried this again. It's just easier to shower and hold her on my lap the whole time rather than lean over the bathtub and keep fighting to get her to sit down.)
Do I get good mom points for bringing the kids grocery shopping with us instead of leaving them at home with Brittany? (note the darling shoes from Aunt Tawny)
Do I get good mom points for making homemade, organic baby food?
At least I can get some points for finding such adorable leggings, right?
Maybe I can get good mom points for staying up late putting in lots of hours creating a photo book for each month of Emmalyn's first year while listening to DMB?
I really do try my best and some days my best might not be good enough but dang-it, I do a lot that many moms don't do. I need to remember that when I am tempted to just focus on the things that they ARE doing and I'm not.
These two silly kids have matching pony tails on the top of their head. Maxwell would have his hair in a pony tail all the time if he could.
They climbed into Emmalyn's bed to make her happy
We had to make "snow boots" for Kindermusik so we decorated some empty wipes bags with snowflake stickers, glitter glue (that didn't dry in time because we did it just a couple hours before Kindermusik - whoops)
wearing his "boots" at kindermusik
Showing off those teeth that are getting so big!
We went to a pet store to play with the puppies. This is how interested Maxwell was in the puppy. At one point he picked up the binder and preferred reading it to paying attention to the puppy. Emmalyn was very excited about the puppy.
We finally got him to touch the puppy
Fun at the park getting in some sunshine
How cute is this girl?!!?
She loves playing with her activity table.
Skyping with Grandma Donna
Emmalyn wanted to just talk to daddy.
Video - Emmalyn giggles sure make me happy
Sleeping beauty -
We are in a good place with her sleeping habits! She went down with no crying for one of her naps and then did it again at bedtime! It's now after midnight and she hasn't fussed once. It's amazing! I think she's got it down. :) We are able to lay her down awake, but tired, and she falls asleep on her own.
Thanks Aunt Tawny for the BYU gear!
I was at work late one night and so I wasn't able to put Maxwell to bed. I facetimed with him and he was so sad that I wasn't there. :( It was awful.
So 2015 started out with a hang-my-head-in-shame, so-glad-things-weren't-worse, parenting fail.
We bring Emmalyn into our bed early in the morning when she wakes up to nurse. We then have her sleep between us. Well, as you can imagine we were up late for New Years Eve so I was super tired when I brought her into bed. We both slept for awhile and Peter had gotten up and was letting us sleep. Then, later in the morning, she was up and moving around and I was trying to stay conscious since she was up. But I dozed off and next thing I know, I hear her screaming and I jolt awake. She had fallen off my bed. My blood was pumping and I moved so fast to grab her and was so worried that I was going to find her seriously hurt - my bed is so far off the ground for a little baby! Luckily, she was absolutely fine, just scared (like her Momma). I felt soooooooo awful about it and still do. I was shaken up for quite awhile.
Making some cool colored goo with Uncle Peter
Mashing all the colors together before making it foam
Perfectly precious. I can't help but love these sweet times with her snuggled up against me.
Ahhhh - - "family time" - everyone on their phones. :) We try to avoid it but at some point it still happens.
The kids were hanging out in Maxwell's room and when they came out, Kaity had dressed them up. :)
These cousins had so much fun being together. One of the benefits of Britt living here was that it was nice having everyone in the same house.
Playing games
Old-man-bitter-beer-face
Movie night
Synchronized eating
Maxwell and Aunt Kimi
Maxwell and his Shelly Belly - we hated seeing her and Kimberly go. We LOVE having them here.
Playdo animals - I think an elephant?
Maxwell really loves playing with playdo
Out for a walk to the park - all bundled up in her pretty pink coat
Maxwell all bundled up too
Pic courtesy of Maxwell
video - Brittany playing boo with Emmalyn
Playing together
Dipping pretzels with dad
My house all lit up and festive
Video - Emmalyn can clap!
We were sad to have Kimberly leave but we soon had more visitors come to town! My Aunt Sue and Aunt Leanne came to town. I really appreciate, from the bottom of my heart, them taking the time to drive all the way here and spend time with me and my family. I feel their efforts to stay close even after my mom's passing. I appreciate the way they keep me and my siblings in their hearts.
Emmalyn's first time in a high chair (I think!)
We went out for yummy Mexican when my aunts were here
Aunt Leanne, Maxwell, and Aunt Sue
Video - Maxwell playing hide n seek with daddy (daddy's way of hiding is pretty funny)
Here's a big update on Emmalyn lately -
As you could see from the video, she's clapping now
She loves her Uncle Joe and will imitate him when he purses his lips and when he moves his hands
I swear that she says "Hi" and has for awhile
She's starting to do more sounds like "muh" and "buh" and instead of talking through her coos it's more babbling
She screams which is not an awesome development
If I set her down and she doesn't want me to she will cry - - WITH TEARS! :(
She's definitely a Momma's girl
She goes everywhere and finds everything on the floor
She gets mad when she's done eating her food
She struggles to stay focused when she's nursing which is not very fun for me and then she wants to nurse to sleep (Not gonna happen - that's one bad habit I don't want forming)
She has been struggling to sleep from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm if we aren't in the room with her or she's not in our bed. We have to keep putting her binky in to get her back to sleep. After she gets past that, she will sleep until 4 or 5 when she wakes up to nurse quickly and then will go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 am.
She loves getting in the shower with Momma and Max and would stay in there forever if we'd let her
Maxwell hugs and kisses her more and talks about trying to calm her down when she's upset and will do things like giving her the binky. I love seeing him be increasingly more brotherly with her
She really wiggly!!
She is teething and incredibly drooly.
Update on Maxwell -
Maxwell amazing me with the things he notices in the world
I'm also amazed with how well Maxwell is reading - he's expanding his ability so fast
He's such a polite boy - - he shares well on his own and will also share when we prompt him to
I am trying to involve him in as many tasks as possible to expand what he gets to do (cooking tasks, cleaning tasks, etc)
We've had a major change in the bedtime routine - - -! MOMMA is now his choice when we ask him who he wants to tuck him in at night. It's forever been daddy (or Peter) so I'm pretty excited. :) When I tuck him in and then go to leave, he tells me "don't let the bed bugs bite" as I walk out
When I went to get him up once this week in the morning, (he still call for us to come get him in the morning and doesn't get out of bed until we do) he wanted me to get into his bed and cuddle with him. He tucked me into his bed and put blankets on me. He then gave me his stuffed animals, patted my back (they pat his back at Montessori if he's struggling to go to sleep during nap time), and turned his sound machine on to the lullaby setting. It was incredible sweet and of course it worked, and I fell asleep. He is so kind and loving. I adore him.
He's been talking a lot lately about his tummy hurting and also his bottom hurting. I'm not quite sure what it going on but we are trying to figure it out. He's had a fever so I know that he's sick somehow but he doesn't have any other symptoms so I'm not sure if anything more serious is going on. It's so hard as a parent to know something is wrong with your child but not know what, or not know if it's something that a visit to the doctor could help with.
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
