Do I get good mom points?

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.

Max and his Works of Art

Spring is starting...the new leaves are growing and so is Max!!!

He's been reaching in his pants lately.  I'm not sure why, I think he's scratching.  I have made more efforts to keep a onesie on him to keep him reaching in there after he'd done his business... 

Mischievous eyes

One of the regions on my team sent me flowers to thank me for a great team meeting - it was extremely thoughtful and appreciated.

Buddies

Video - Max loves looking at the photobook his awesome Aunt Tawny gave him with pictures of their family.  He's becoming familiar with their names and pictures.

I had to build a fence for an object lesson at work.  Sometimes you still get to do arts and crafts as an adult!  I made the fence and then as my finishing touch, I painted Max's hands and put his hand prints on the fence.  It was a way to have a part of Max with me at work.

The finished product - can you tell where his hand prints are?  You have to look closely.  He had a lot of fun doing it.

I was goofing around with Max one day during my lunch visit.

Max is thinking, "my mom is bonkers".

He's cracking up at me.  Isn't it great when you can make your kids laugh?

The gate project for work inspired me to have Max do more painting.  We had bought paints for a project during Christmas to keep all the kids busy but we hadn't used them yet.  So I got them out on and let him paint for the first time.  He had fun!

Video - My little Picasso

He tried a little finger painting too...

...but as I have said, he doesn't like his hands to be dirty.

Finished work of art #1

Finished work of art #2

I displayed these works of art just like a good mom (they weren't on my fridge but I did put them up in the kitchen).

March 8th update on what Max has learned lately...

• He recognizes (and can say) the letters m, a, x, w, and o
• Sometimes he knows j, s, d, n, and f
• He recognizes (and says) the numbers 2-10 (he can't seem to get 1 yet)
• On one of the children's apps on the ipad, Max can pick the item that matches most of the colors the program says out loud
• He knows the shape diamond
• He says new words every day that we had no idea that he knew!
• For example, he said "stop it" this morning