I'm Really Sorry...

because I know this is going to offend some people, but I just have to tell you that it's true.

NKOTB are back! My parents will be thrilled. Especially my Dad who sat through several grueling hours at Reunion Arena with 1,000's of screaming girls. I will tell you he read the newspaper the whole time, but he insists that he did not. It's okay Dad. Thanks for taking me anyway!

I'll be loving you forever.

What Am I Doing Right Now?

Well, I'll tell you. I'm playing along in a game of tag that my college buddy Etta tagged me in. So, here is what I'm doing right now....

Enjoying the silence that bedtime brings to our house and I'm reading Etta's blog...

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(hi etta-remember how we use to beg you to iron our clothes? I just thought of that.)

while staring at my dining room table thinking how I need to clean it off and I really need to finished making my topiaries you see there....

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But all I can really think about is getting my sewing machine so I can use my new book...

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And I'm watching hubs over to my left, setting up our new desktop we purchased since he uses the laptop all the time and takes it away from me during the day so I can't read blogs...oh, the horror! How dare him use the computer for something productive when I really need to be reading your blogs.

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(thanks honey!)

And all this while waiting for American Idol to come on...yeah!

Roomtime!

A few months ago, I implemented "roomtime"- idea from In The Midst of It. It didn't go over too well with Bailey, but now she can play alone in her room (with baby gate up) for 30 minutes, without crying! YEAH! Cerys has always done well at playing by herself, so roomtime was no big deal for her. In fact, the other day she even requested it saying, "Mommy, me and Bailey need roomtime!" I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Bailey touching some of her My Little Pony's but still...

So, while I was having a few hours out the other day, Marc did roomtime... and came back to find Bailey's room like this:

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She figured she would just empty the bottom drawer of her chest. I'm just glad I was out and didn't have to clean it up! :)

Extreme Makeover: Doll House Edition

Well, we got Cerys a doll house for Christmas and she has just loved it. But there was one problem. The color of the house and the cute little furniture we got for it, did not match. And we can't have that. We bought the house because we liked the size of it, not too monstrous and we liked the open-plan for easy access to all the rooms. But we didn't necessarily like the red and blue paint. It also came with a few pieces of furniture, but as you can see from the first photo we found some nicer, cuter furniture at another store.

So, we took some of the furniture pieces to a local hardware store and they matched the paint for us. Marc got to work and now the house and furniture match and I can sleep better at night. Just kidding.

Before:

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See, random colors that don't match AT ALL

During-the-process:

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Marc, hard at work yesterday (see the nasty, grey-ness outside? it's been like that for weeks or at least it feels like it, I lost track of the last time I saw the sun.)


After:

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CUTE! We think so at least and Cerys loves all the pink!

Yes, Grandpa is taking a bath.

Giddy- Udated with details

I'm just a tad bit giddy today...why you ask? Because I'm going on a real life, no kids, eating out and a movie date with my husband tonight!!!!

That's all I wanted to say.

Well, thanks for being so interested in our date! We had a lovely time, even though the restaraunt staff had never heard of customer service. I tired to remain positive throughout the meal though. Usually when you order at "Starter" off the menu, it comes first, not after your meal, but hey. I'm not bitter or anything.

Then took a romantic trip to Tesco because I needed to buy Apples for today's Jolly Tots that I was in charge of because I had forgotten. Oops. Then we went to see Dan In Real Life. Oh my word! It is so funny! Not sure if I was just in the mood for this kind of movie, or what, but I was nearly crying at one point because I was laughing so hard. I know I'm totally behind the times, but only last week did we watch our first ever episode of The Office.

That Steve Carrell is hi-larious!

We chuckled through The Office, but in this movie, he is just sooo funny. So if you haven't seen it and you want a fun night out, I would recommend it. So, yes, it was a fun date and we enjoyed the ALONE time and eating something I did not have to cook. :)

I Got A New Attitude!

Just when your kids are annoying you and you think you can't stand another minute of the attitude, they do something precious that melts your heart and makes you cry. Or at least it does me!

My "friend" Sarah at In The Midst Of It- I say "friend" because I have never met this sweet lady in person, but her blog is the first one I ever found and I was hooked! I love her title, In The Midst Of It...doesn't that just describe life with young children? Possibly even teenagers, but I'm not there yet, thank God. I've been known to just bring Sarah up in a conversation with Marc and say something like, "Ya, my friend Sarah said...." And at first I would get a blank stare from Marc, followed by "Who's Sarah?" He doesn't ask anymore, because he knows and now when I say something like that, he will sometimes add on "Yes, I know, she's your blogging friend that you've never met in real life." Yep, that would be her. She is so encouraging and always shares from her heart.

ANYWAY, all that to say...I've really felt like I was "in the midst of it" lately...in the midst of attitude, tantrums (mine and theirs!), time outs, toilets, food battles, etc. I was feeling very defeated as a mom and just really struggling. I was convincing myself that I am not really cut out to be a mom, that it was too hard for me to do...oh, the lies we believe! Last night, Marc had gone over to a friend's house to watch the Cowboy game (we don't have the channel that show NFL games, I'm terribly sad about can't you tell? but don't worry, we get all the college games) and I was home alone. The house was quiet and the girls were fast asleep. I lit a candle and sat down to read my Bible and I just started crying. I felt so overwhelmed and frustrated, so I just let it all out and talked to God about how incapable I was as a mom and how I never thought it would be this hard. I never felt any different, just more tired from all the crying I did.

This morning, I was bound and determined to be positive and make it a good day. It did not start out well. Cerys woke up in a mood of all moods and we had several fits and crying spells BEFORE breakfast. I remained calm and patient, all the while thinking, "See God, I told you, I just can't do anything right! She doesn't want pig-tails in her hair, she asks for blueberries on her cereal and now she won't eat them!" Today was our first Music and Movement class down at this arts centre in town. I enrolled the girls thinking it would be a fun thing to do since they both love dancing and wriggling around, and hey, it gets us out of the house once a week. By the time we were at the bus stop waiting for our bus, Cerys had calmed down a bit, thankfully (because I had threatened a million times that if she did not behave we would not be going to our music class! what? more torture for me to stay home with a moody 3 year old, why do I even threaten with such a thing!). Anyway, we made it to our class and both girls were semi-cooperative during the 45 minutes of pretending we were insects and butterflies, fluttering around the room. Did I mention it was raining (big surprise, I know!) today and we got slightly wet on the way to our class? We were doing just fine, Bailey under her rain covered stroller, Cerys on the buggy board in her rain coat and wellies and me, with a rain coat on and the hood secured on my head...or so I thought! We turned the corner and WHOOSH! Our hoods flew off and Cerys Princess umbrella blew inside out. Nice. And pretty much the same thing happened on our way back home.

So, after a fairly uneventful afternoon and evening, we were getting the girls ready for bed and had just read our Bible story when we started singing Jesus Loves Me. All in one moment, Cerys leaned over on me, put her arm around me and for the first time Bailey opened her sweet little mouth and said "Ge-shush" and sounded all high pitched like she was singing. And of course I started crying! It was a sweet moment for us as a family and for the first time in a while I didn't feel like a frustrated, fed-up momma.

It's those moments that like I said when I started this novel-post that just when I think I can't handle anything else, they go and do something so precious and it just melts my heart. To hear the name of Jesus come from a chubby little toddlers' mouth is just priceless to me.

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise..." Psalm 8:2 NIV

I'm Going Insane, Please Help

Thanks y'all for your comments! I greatly appreciate it and feel less alone in the meal-time battle!!! Our mistake is probably that we are reacting and they know it frustrates us! So we shall press on! I thought 3's were fun, but so far I think they are harder than 2's...and Bailey's coming up right behind her! Lord help us.


Ok, calling all my mom friends- I want to know what you do for picky eaters. Am I the only one with picky eaters? I would love to know how you handle this meal-time madness and what tips/tricks helped.

First of all, I'll tell you that whatever I make for dinner is what is for dinner. Everyone is served the same thing. I don't give sugary snacks (usually fruit, cheese, crackers, etc) and they don't drink all day long. I've gone to cutting out snacks all together and this still did not get my girls to eat. Bailey will eat better than Cerys, but now I think it's just a power struggle with Cerys. They eat breakfast and lunch fairly well, but dinner is just becoming ridiculous. We've tried the "eat 3 bites" thing and Cerys has been known to sit with one nasty, chewed up mouthful of food at the table for an hour! She is stubborn. So the "eat 3 bites" won't work, since she keeps the first bite in her mouth for so long. We've tried Dobson's method- what you don't eat will be served at the next meal -breakfast, then again at lunch if it's not eaten. This has worked a few times, but only after coaxing her to swallow the food. I'm tired of this battle. We are tired of this battle. Tonight did not go well. I was already out of patience with them and then after making yummy chicken, homemade mashed potatoes and black eyed peas, Cerys would not even touch it! Bailey ate her mashed potatoes, but nothing much else.

I know this should not be a battle, every parenting book says that, but I just worry that since Cerys is so skinny to begin with that she is not getting enough! I feel like she barely eats anything. I've tried acting like I don't care if she eats or not, but it does not seem to work. Nothing seems to work.

So, any advice you have would be great! Hurry, before I lost my mind!!!!

I need to go have some coffee now.

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