mommyhood is not for sissies!

whew! what a week! Luckily the weather was nice for a few days and we took multiple walks, wagon rides, backyard playtimes, and basked in the sun. I even took an hour to weed part of my raised vegetable garden in anticipation of planting seeds within the next few weeks:) Sadie was SO excited when our tulips popped out of the ground this week! She helped me plant the bulbs in the fall and has talked about them several times since we planted them.

She has become quite the storyteller. Wednesday night BJ was playing with the kids out back while I was cleaning up from dinner and came out on the deck to see BJ and Sadie side-by-side sitting on ground looking at the sky talking. Simply adorable, so of course I joined them! She was telling the story about Pott, a little girl who jumped to the moon and what she did that day. (Pott is a little girl who appears in most of several stories and I assume the name comes from Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast).

Sadie is becoming so bright and lovely, but at the same time makes me want to pull out my hair sometimes with her temper! She can get mad as a pack of hornets in .0002 seconds! Her newest thing is stripping off her clothes when she is in a 'break'. Tonight we were leaving Fun Run and I had to literally drag her out kicking and screaming because she wanted more candy (she earned 2 tootsie rolls with tickets she won earlier in the night). Even on the car ride home while she is crying and blowing snot purposefully out of her nose she is trying to pull her pants down!!! (they were a little wet since she had refused to walk to the car and ended up half-way on the rained on pavement). This girl is also having lots of #2 accidents...I'm talking about A LOT of them. I blame it on tummy issues and some attention seeking, so I talked to my Parents as Teachers rep and got some good ideas, but geez.....this is why my post is mommyhood is not for sissies.

Asher is usually a sweetie pie, but man is he clingy!!! I can't walk out of the room without him crying and coming after me. Luckily he goes into the church nursery pretty well, but lately it has broken my heart when I leave him at child watch at the Y because he gets so sad and upset. And his new thing is biting! He has always been a face grabber (watch out for your nose!) and likes pulling hair, but I noticed when I held him the other day and he got mad at me for removing his hand from grabbing my face he got frustrated and tried to bite my shoulder. He did successfully bite Sadie's leg the other night. She can be pretty possessive of her stuff and not want him to get her toys and whatever she had he wanted and it was all over then.

I don't want this to be a 'downer' or complaint post, but I just need to get it out there that being with my babies 24/7 is hard work emotionally and physically!!! The rewards are priceless of course and we have a lot of fun and have sweet, tender moments together but not every moment is peaches and cream.

'Train up your child in the way he should go and even when he is old he will not depart from it' Proverbs 22:6

That is the prayer of my heart- Lord let me be a good, godly example for my kids. Let my attitude, tone, and heart reflect yours. You know how many times I fail and react out of anger or speak too quickly...please help me slow down and allow your spirit to guide and help me. I want your love to shine through me onto my kids so they may be your light. Amen

I'm Back!!!!

This is what we look like in case you forgot:) I am going to TRY to update this blog fairly regular since Sadie's baby book doesn't have any more room for me to write and Asher's is getting close....I want a way to keep memories recorded for our family and this is probably the best way for me to do that!

So, lets start with the year 2011- here is a review of the first 2 months:

January was full of snow, cold, and a few nice days thrown in there. We have been blessed with health this winter as opposed to some of our friends who can't seem to shake it! Asher is walking everywhere and exploring a lot more (especially the trash cans and toilets when he gets the chance). He has started a bad habit of waking up a few times a night just to get a quick cuddle from mommy then goes back to sleep....fast forward to February and we have a 'cry it out' week after his 1st birthday. After about 4 or 5 nights he got better at putting himself to sleep after he woke up but there are still the occassional 'MOM!!! I'm soaking wet' cries or last night 'I'm so stuffy I can't breathe!!!' nights. He has been a good eater from the beginning, but has decided to get picky all of a sudden. He LOVES fruit and most meat (even liked mini-turkey pepperoni's yesterday) but is very picky about veggies and other stuff. If he could live on bananas, grapes, blueberries, yogurt he would be in heaven.

Sadie is becoming a bright, sensitive, and fun little girl. She also has a temper. Her newest hobby is learning about animals and checking her 'field journal' to learn about what they eat and where they live (from Diego). Sadie has been taking gymnastics since October and is a little monkey on the parallel bars! She loves the trampoline and enjoys jumping on her little one she got from Grandma and Grandpa Leach for her birthday. Asher likes it too and even bounces on it:) Uno Moo, duck duck goose, simon says, and chase are regularly played at our house. And of course 'monster' with daddy, where he chases her and they make up silly rules about what Sadie can do to stay 'safe' from the monster. She loves being a big sis most of the time and uses a cute little voice and says to Asher 'hey big boy!' or 'aren't you a cutie pie?'. And of course he thinks she is the best thing in the world and that her hair is really fun to pull!

BJ and I love the responsibility God has entrusted us with to raise and train these 2 sweeties. We enjoy our time with them but are thankful to get a break every now and again, so the night before Asher's 1st birthday we were in St. Louis and my parents kept the kids over night so we could go out to Macaroni Grill (yum!), walk around Chesterfield mall (with all the Justin Beiber look-alikes), and stay at a nearby hotel. How nice!!!

We are excited to be and aunt and uncle for the first time coming up in June as Tony and Alison are expecting Elijah Michael!!! This is definitey baby season- yesterday I attended my 6th baby shower in the past 2 months- for real!

So......there you have it. Jan and Feb in a nutshell.