January

In my head I blog several times a day about all sorts of interesting things. Somehow though I never make it to the computer long enough to actually do it. It is one of my goals to be better about this in 2012 but as you can see I am only just catching up.

Here is a review of January 

Beck: We could never ask for a sweeter baby. Even with a 2 month long ear infection he is a constant joy and light in all of our lives. (except at 3am) I love watching him when I pick up the kids from school. He practically throws himself out of my arms to reach them and loves their hugs and kisses. He is pulling himself up on everything and has just discovered that he can 'play' the piano when it is open. He kind reminds me of a puppy, sometimes he gets going so fast that his body can't keep up and he does a face plant. He also howls along when Tully is practicing piano or Matt is playing guitar or Tessa is dancing to music. He has learned how to respond to "How big is Beck?" and it is just the cutest! We are working on waving and signing "more" and "all done" but whenever I ask him to do any of those he just does "so big." Love. it. 

On Wednesday he got tubes in his ears and his adenoids out. Poor little guy was not happy coming out of anesthesia but was his happy self again soon. Um, and that night? He slept. the. whole. night. Thank you tylenol with codeine. 

Tessa: Can you say Hip To The Hop? Tessa has discovered her love for hip hop dancing and can often be found practicing in the garage. She is usually game to preform for you once she feels comfortable and it is pretty cute. She has started a hip hop dance class and loved it. She's a little.... stiff, but that kind of makes it even more adorable. 

She is thriving at school and it seems like she has finally really hit her stride. She is doing much better on her numbers and letters and loves being in Kindergarten! We are so thankful for her teacher and her unending patience with these little people. I know I couldn't teach kindergarten! 

Tessa and I have a little game we play lately called "All of the reasons I love Tessa," I start listing off all of the great things about Tessa and sit back and watch as her smile gets bigger and bigger. The little girl who used to get mad if you paid her a compliment is no longer. 

She still thinks she is Beck's Mom and Daddy is still the best person in the world. 

Tully: Speaking of Hip Hop, someone else has discovered that he likes Hip Hop too. It is hailarous to watch as T & T stiffly dance together in the garage. You can see that they are feeling all of this energy when the music comes on and they just want to get it out but can't quite figure it out. I have some good video. 

Tully is loving to read, is always wanting to work on his math book (groan, how do I have a child that loves math?) and can't get enough time with his friends. 

He has started golf and looks forward to every Thursday when he gets to go to golf with Jack and Spencer. He is still in constant movement, always playing soccer, basketball, kickball or just running. Constant running. through our house. all of the time.

We had a lot of sickness in January and are hoping that were done for the year! We ended a great weekend with the McCraws with most of us getting the flu after we had just recovered from a round of strep. Come on Elderberry, do your work. 

In the kitchen, January has held an addiction for Kale that I never knew was possible. A ridiculous love of sweet potato smoothies and a desire to make a healthy dessert hummus that Matt will actually eat. I've read several good articles this month on health, reversing autoimmune disease,  vegan eating  Evidence for a Vegan Diet (which I don't do but am fascinated by), and weight loss. 

MOPS also started up again and as we start what is going to be my last semester as coordinator I find myself feeling both extremely nostalgic and strangely grateful. 

I've read a couple of great articles on parenting this month also. Ann Voskamp's article on  What a parent want to say before a child leaves is amazing. I would of read it out loud at MOPS but there is no way I could have gotten through it!

My goals in February are to continue to eat well, and continue to try to send myself into a 'recovery state' where I don't experience any symptoms of my disease. To try to get Tully to actually eat his lunch. To put something other than yoga pants on at least twice a week. 

I was also encouraged when hanging out with my friend Jill (Joy in the small things) today to say a blessing over my kids when I drop them off at school. Numbers 6:24-26, I plan to get to know you well. 

I also want a tattoo but I think I'll wait on that one. 

It's been a fun week at school. The kids each had a trip to the pumpkin patch with their big buddies, a costume parade and fall carnival. Yeah October!

Tully's Lego Party

Somehow I blinked and Tully turned seven. I'm really not quite sure how this happened.
I like parties, and I like throwing birthday parties for my kids, and I like them to have themes.  This year though, Tully's Birthday kind of snuck up on me. We had a crazy couple of weeks, and had been out of town for Gigi's memorial service last weekend followed by the flu making it's way through our entire family (besides Beck, thank goodness). I had been planning on just taking Tully and a few friends bowling but when I looked into how much it would cost, I couldn't pay so much for so little. So, on Wednesday before his Saturday Birthday, the Lego party was born. I put aside my fears that I couldn't pull off something fun in 4 days and got to planning. I quickly dropped off invitations to some friends, spent the night printing out decorations and making lists. I went to bed Wednesday night prepared to get up and shop  on Thursday for everything we would need. Instead I woke up with the flu. Fast forward to Friday, I was up early, preparing for MOPS, baking and frosting cupcakes to take to Tully's school and trying not to panic about how much I had to do. All the while in heels of course. After MOPS, Beck and I headed out to run a hundred errands, Beck was a trooper! He finally had a meltdown at 5:00 in Trader Joes, and I must admit that so did I. Trader Joes on a Friday night with 3 kids while still in heels was just a little to much for me! But we got everything done and Tully said it was his best party ever! :)
We had a lego relay race, lego treasure hunt, lot's of junk food and a few impromptu games that Matt created.

Tully

This captures Tully perfectly. Love that crazy kid.

Well it's finally happened. I now have two kids officially in school. I have been looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time all summer. I have been so excited that Tessa would have Mrs. Ball, the same teacher that Tully had, whom I absolutely adore. I knew that would help her to feel confident and secure. I also knew that she was SO ready for kindergarten and it's challenges. I am thrilled that Tully has Mrs. "M" his teacher of choice and even more thrilled that he will be challenged, have structure and hopeful that his love of learning will continue to grow.
So why was I up at 4:30am the morning that school was to start, tossing and turning? Because they're gone!! I'm not in control! The house was quiet and I didn't know what to do with myself. Nobody was fighting, trying to sneaking sugar cereal or yelling "Mommy!?" at me. I'm not with them to help them make good decisions, tell them to eat all of their lunch, to wash their hands or to be a good friend.
I have to trust that the things I have tried to instill in them these last 5 and 6 years will be enough to carry them through while they are away from me for 5 - 6 hours each day. I want to be there to tell them not to make that mistake, or to be nice to that person, and don't even get me started about my fear of what Tully might hear on the big kid playground! I have to trust that God is taking care of them and continue to teach them the values that are important to our family at home. Phew, feels like a big task!
Oh, and all of the things I thought that I would accomplish at home while they were at school? Um, yeah that hasn't happened yet.

I do have to mention that as a kid I did not like school at all. I am so happy that both kids love school so far! Last year Tully used to be sad that it was the weekend because he just wanted to go to school (we'll see how long that lasts :)

Perfect Mom Syndrome

I like to look like I have it all together. In my dreams as a young adult before I was married I had a specific idea of what my life would look like. Yes, it included the white picket fence and the well-behaved kids, that always looked cute.  I envisioned girls in sundresses with bows in their hair, boys with sandals, hair combed and sly little grins. And me? I was going to be fit, fashionable and a creative mom. Well, 3 kids later, I am far from fit and the things that I think are "fashionable" are things that are comfortable. Workout clothes. And not because I'm working out. Forever 21 doesn't seem to carry my size and I'm finally starting to except that I look better in what I once considered "old lady shorts." I realize now that my kids like to dress themselves, my daughter doesn't want bows in her hair; she wants baseball caps. My son would like to wear the same clothes every day, couldn't care less if they match and has to be reminded constantly to wear underwear. As for the creative mom thing? Well, sometimes I buy them new crayons and throw scraps of paper at them.
All of this is to say that when we arrived in Tahoe for our week of vacation I was working hard to have my act together but our first day at the beach almost sent me into a tailspin. I had already given myself a pep talk about bringing a newborn to the beach. I had told myself I was going to be ok breastfeeding in a baithing suit, the baby would be happy to hang out under the umbrella and he would survive if he got sand in his ears, eyes and mouth. Well, we got to the beach and quickly realized that we had forgotten the umbrella, beach chairs and sand toys. I was down by the water holding our spot while the Clarks, Matt and Susan carried stuff over from the car. The sand was scalding, the kids were begging for rafts, goggles, and buckets. The baby was crying because he wanted to eat, and I was standing there a little stunned. I finally got Beck out of his car seat and covered him with a blanket just as the lady next to us came over and asked if I wanted to borrow one of their towels to make shade for the baby. I must have looked really desperate trying to deal with 5 kids. Most of the stuff made it down to the beach and I took a chair onto the walkway in the shade to feed Beck. I was feeling pretty fragile at that point, wondering how I was going to get through the day when I started to look around the beach. I swear that every Mom there had it all together! Kids in matching bathing suits, bags of perfectly folded towels, UMBRELLAS, adorable sand toys and not to mention perfect bathing suits and cover ups that made them look as though they had never bore a child. The tears started flowing. Now, mind you I knew that I was having a postpartum moment.  Jenn and Susan were already on their way to buy an umbrella across the street, the kids had their rafts and goggles and were thrilled, the guys were digging into the pre-made lunch and everyone was happy. But I just couldn't help but wallowing in the not-a-good-enough mom moment. My 'moment' lasted about 10 minutes. I'm happy to say that with tears shed, baby fed and umbrella purchased we had a great day at the beach. Later as I was looking around at all the perfect moms and families I saw a much different picture. Everyone was having struggles at one point or another, kids were running down the beach with parents chasing after them, throwing fits and sand all at once, and some of those "perfect moms" well, they were looking pretty frazzled. The more I thought about it, the more I laughed at myself for thinking that anyone ever has it all together. There is no such thing as a perfect mom, and if there was, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to be one. How boring would that be?