Tag Archives: toddler

“Mom Can I Help?”

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Do you ever hear those words and cringe? Maybe cringe isn’t the right word…it sounds a bit to harsh. Do you ever feel like when you hear those 4 words you could snap your fingers and be somewhere all by yourself and just focus on what needs done?

Just imagine…you need to stain so many pieces of wood and you only have a two hour time frame to do that. So you get to work. You work for two hours uninterrupted. You listen to music as loud as you want, or maybe catch up on that podcast you’ve become obsessed with. And you work! You get it done…ahh..

Then you get woke up from that daydream with “Mom can I help?”

Now let me stop and right here and just make a quick note and say that I seriously have an amazing ten year old. Matthew is always helping anyone and everyone that he can. He loves learning new things and always eager to lend a helping hand.

So…when he comes up to me and asks to help I almost always say yes. Especially when he says that Pa taught him how to stain so he’s really good at it. Saying yes is hard for me. I’m a Virgo through and through and perfectionism runs through my blood! Something I’m trying to work on is letting go of the reigns and putting my trust in someone else to do the job for me. Okay that’s a little far fetched…if it were anyone other than my kids asking I’d easily say “Nah I’ve got it. Thanks for the offer though.” Because let’s be honest…no one can stain a piece of wood as perfect as I can 🤦🏼‍♀️🙄 Please!

But I did it…I said yes. And guess what…he did amazing!! He might have put it on a little thick and will make sanding it a little bit harder but guess what…I’m 99% sure he will also offer to help sand so that will be a lesson learned on his part when his arms feel like they are going to fall off (don’t ask how I know that he will feel that way because I’ve never done this!).

I am so thankful for this boy and his helpfulness…even if he talks nonstop the entire time he’s helping.

Oh and another side note…I also had this crazy girl wanting to help me paint. So she did just that!

Moral of the story: kids will never learn if you don’t say yes! It’s hard…I know! Who has time to go back and redo what they messed up…you do! Time with your kiddos is so incredibly valuable. You can have the most amazing conversations sitting there staining some wood with your ten year old!

Here Chicky Chicky Chicky

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Guess what?

My kids got chickens!! I never thought in all my life that I would have kids that were so incredibly excited about chickens. But here I am, chasing chickens around trying to catch them so the kids can hold their chicken.

Now I’m not a bird person at all. I like to watch birds outside. I don’t like to have birds in a cage in the house and I certainly never planned on holding any chickens. I think they are all gross and I feel like if I touch anything that a bird has touched I will get a disease…even a feather! Do not touch me with some random feather you found on the ground! Now I know some people are bird people. I have a friend who’s daughter is amazing with birds…but that’s just not me.

So when Pa said he was getting a chicken coup and my kids could each pick a chicken I responded with “As long as they stay at your house!” And they did just that. These little chickees are living the best life at Ma and Pa’s. And every day when we are there we definitely have to go check on them.

Matthew’s chicken is Flugal (I know he will be so mad at me because I probably got that wrong) which means wing in some language. She’s a pretty black chick with white lines. He does awesome at helping take care of them. He gives them food and water and when he’s there and they need let out or put away for the night he’s on it.

Grant’s chicken is Snowball (She’s all white!). Snowball is the smarty pants of the bunch. She has to show them all how things are done. She was the first to go up the ramp into the roosting area and the first to lead the pack back out. She’s one smart chick! Grant loves Snowball as long as Snowball isn’t on his lap. He’s not fond of holding her.

Gracie on the other hand is my little animal lover. Her chicks name is Leah (yes she’s named after a character on Shimmer and Shine). She came up with it all on her own. She’s a black chick with white splotches. Gracie is so cute to watch with her chick. She talks so sweet to it and is constantly wanting to hold Leah and have her play with Grace. When I was trying to take a picture Gracie was saying “Come on Leah, come on girl, look at mom” then she took Leah into the playhouse so she could play with her.

So yes…my kids are now chicken kids and it’s the cutest thing to watch! Now if I can convince my parents to get goats!!

Moral of the story: It’s (usually) never a bad thing to get a new pet. It teaches the kids great responsibility.

I Smile Because…

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Look at this picture…what do you see?

After looking for a second you will obviously notice Grace being silly and Grant cracking up.

Look a little longer and some of you might be saying “Look at the counter and sink!” Or “Look at all that junk all over the floor!” Or “Is that a TV in her kitchen?”

Yes! Look in the background. You will see chairs scattered, a printer on the floor, a misplaced Spongebob desk that needs fixed. You will see a broken TV that I have been needing to get rid of for a couple months and yes that’s a plate of food that looked like a good place for Grace to put it when I asked her to put it away because I was helping Grant.

You might also notice that beside Grace is a sink full of dirty dishes. They are in there because I didn’t get a chance to help Grant do his chore of unloading the dishwasher yet. You will find a dirty counter in need of a good cleaning because eating healthy requires a lot of mess in my kitchen.

Also, what you don’t see is on the floor beside Grant are some bags of groceries that are still sitting there from yesterday when we went grocery shopping. There are two baskets of towels and blankets that have been sitting since Friday because our weekend was so busy and I haven’t had a second to get them done.

But what you don’t see is that behind the camera I have the biggest smile on my face. I smile because of Grace being silly. I smile because of hearing Grant laugh (which is seriously contagious and can turn your bad upside down the moment you hear it). I smile because Gracie wanted me to fix pancakes this morning and the color of choice was pink and orange. I smile because I get to wake up each morning to three beautiful kiddos. I smile because these two are the silliest and love to make each other laugh.

I smile because in this picture there is no disability. There is no disapproval. There is no discrimination.

I smile because in this picture I see love. I see laughter. I see acceptance. I see a brother and sister truly enjoying each other’s company. And I see pride. Pride in these two little people I get to call my own.

Because of this…I smile!

Moral of the story: sometimes it’s easy to look deeper and see the bad and judge someone because of what’s in the background. But sometimes it’s okay to take it for what it’s worth and find the beauty in it and smile!

Have a blessed day!

Slime…Every Mom’s Worst Nightmare

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Okay maybe not every mom. I will say I’m in that category. My kids love slime…I love when they play with slime!

What?! How is she a mom and loves when her kids play with slime? Because the entire time they play with slime…they are quiet. I get time to do things around here that I need to do while they enjoy some sensory play fun.

I will say I’ve heard other mom’s talk about how they don’t like slime because their kiddos make a mess and it gets on their clothes and carpet and anywhere else you could imagine. Well when my kids play with slime they play at the kitchen table. They keep the slime on the table. It has dropped on the floor or even their clothes but we have hardwood under our table so it’s not a problem at all. As for the clothes. They know to take that piece of clothing off and I run it under hot water and all is okay.

My nine year old loves slime. My 8 year old son with Cerebral Palsy loves slime. My two year old loves slime.

It’s a win-win for us all!!

Just recently on a trip to Target Matthew found some slime in a plastic petrie dish with a frog in it. Of course it was in the Dollar Spot for only $1 so we had to get three…one for each of them. That was the best $3 I have spent in a long time.

Not only have Matthew and Grace played with it for almost an hour at a time with no fighting or pestering (who knew a nine year old and two year old could pester each other so much?!) but Grant also loves it. Grace is constantly asking to play with slime. She’s played with the frogs in it, she’s played with her dinosaurs in it. She’s played with her little Hatchimal surprise toys in it. She loves slime!! And when she plays with it, it’s usually for 30-45 min at a time which allows me time to do anything I chose to do…which is usually feeding Grant or sitting with him while he watches his ipad 🙂

Moral of the story: Don’t get so wrapped up in the bad and negative of slime so that you don’t enjoy the good and fun of it!

Have a blessed day!

Not Again! {FREE Printable Potty Chart}

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So do you remember me talking about potty training? Yes the dreaded potty training that takes everything out of you but makes you oh so proud! Well…we are at it…again!

Yep you read that right. Grace was fully potty trained…well during the day, I was not even going to begin the night time craziness! Then she wasn’t. Okay so maybe it didn’t quite happen like that. The day after Christmas she got super sick with what I am guessing was a round of the flu. It was way way to cold to risk getting her out just to be tested so we stayed home and warm. She did great and had hardly any accidents even though she spent almost two weeks laying on the couch. Then she got better and the flu was gone and all of a sudden she forgot how to pee in the potty!!

What the heck!!!

So it didn’t start out too bad and I thought that maybe because she was feeling better and wanting to play she just didn’t want to stop and go to the bathroom…understandable. Then it just got worse and worse. She was not peeing in the potty at all and having accident after accident after accident. I wasn’t going to break so I kept her in undies and kept at it.

Then she started complaining about her tummy hurting…well kiddo you have to eat if you don’t want your stomach to hurt. Then it was her “Pee Pee” (okay we have boys and we’ve just always called it that. No we are not politically correct or whatever you want to call it but you do you and we will do us. Okay okay back to the story! Uh no…it has the be a UTI…right? Took her to the doctor this week and thankfully she went pee on the potty while we were there. Got a good sample and the results…negative! UGH! She had some redness causing irritation and then our amazing nurse practitioner…seriously we love her…said I would have to potty train all over again!!

NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Deep breath! Here we go!

So last time candy did the trick but that was so last year…see what I did there 🙂

So I decided it was time for a potty chart and bucket of prizes. I took my inspiration from this potty chart from Richly Blessed and made my own little changes. My printable potty charts are available at the end. Anyway…off to Target we go. The bucket is filled and we have a long talk.

Guess what?! She’s done amazing!!!! For the last 2 days she’s only had 2 accidents and gone potty so many times! I’m so incredibly proud of her…again…and she’s so proud of herself! She has to show everyone her potty chart with all her stickers. We took it to my parents house last night and she was looking all over for Ma. “Ma where are you? Me show you my stickers.” Ugh too precious!

So I think we might be good to go…one can only hope!

Moral of the story: even though you might fail and want to give up…keep pushing forward!

Have a blessed day!

minnie potty chartTo get the Minnie Mouse Free Potty Chart Printable click here

Mickey potty chart

To get the Mickey Mouse Free Potty Chart Printable click here

The Last Time

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Do you ever wish you had a time machine and could go back to a certain moment so that you can savor it one last time?

As a mom I have a lot of those moments but they are coming more and more with the growing of our final baby. Moments that you don’t realize at the time that it was the last time you will ever do that exact thing with your child. The last bottle you will ever feed your baby as you look into their big, beautiful eyes. The last time you will rock your baby to sleep. Those lasts that when you finally realize that it was the last it’s too late to truly treasure it.

I had one of those moments today. Last night I rearranged my two year old’s bedroom. Today we were playing in there and it hit me…maybe she’s having trouble sleeping because of her bed. I know weird thought. Well being the person I am when I get an idea I act on it. So I start taking her side off her crib. I was pretty proud of myself and she was so excited…until nap time.

For as long as I can remember when I put her to bed at nap time or bedtime she kisses me between the bars and gives me a big between bars hug. That’s our thing. So I put her down for her nap and there it was…it hit me hard…I will never get a between the bars kiss and hug again. Last night was the last time and I had no idea! If I had known I would’ve savored it just a little longer! I sat on my bed and bawled like a baby…quietly of course because if Matthew had heard me he would’ve been crying right along with me.

It really does break my heart how fast these kids are growing. I love the baby stage and if we lived in a perfect world I would be loving on a new beautiful baby right now…but we don’t…so we take the hand God have us and I have to say mine is a pretty good hand!! Even though I miss having a baby I truly love every stage of watching them grow. I know that I am so incredibly blessed! I have three amazing kids that are my everything.

I just wish it didn’t have to go so fast!

Moral of the story: always savor every moment as if it were the last time.

I will leave you with this poem that brings tears to my eyes! Have a blessed day!

Mom Mealtime Win

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Who would’ve thought that my third child would’ve been my most picky eater. Grace is really challenging me lately on the mealtime. She is 20 months old and literally eats nothing…she grazes. I know…I know she will eat when she’s hungry! But that’s the problem. All she ever wants is junk food! And this girl gets hangry!! Now here comes my confession – we eat junk food!! We are not all natural, all organic food eaters! We eat junk! But we only get the sweets after we eat the good food and that’s a concept Grace is having a hard time understanding. Now here’s her other problem – she’s a texture girl like her Momma! If she touches it and doesn’t like how it feels it’s game over!

To help find a resolution of course I took to Pinterest!! After searching and pinning I finally decided to serve lunch in an ice cube tray. Sounds crazy, right?! Well I honestly kind of loved the idea!! So I headed to the grocery store to grab a whole array of food!

 I prepared the food and put it on her tray fully expecting her to reject all the colors and options but guess what…she didn’t! Instead I got a big smile and she reached for blueberries and then the apples and grapes and even the apricots. She also tried carrots, ham, raisins, broccoli and cucumbers. She wasn’t completely sold on those but hey she tried! These are all foods I’ve offered in the past and she snubbed her nose to all of it.

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Would I say it was a huge success? No…but she was much more adventurous with her food and it’s definitely something we will start doing at lunchtime so I’m calling it a mom mealtime win!!