What is Memorial Day really about?

Do you know? Do you care? Memorial Day is the day that we remember those who have fought and paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

Our freedom.

The freedom to speak our minds and write our opinions on blogs like these. The freedom to go to a church of our choosing and worship whatever you believe in. The freedom to vote for who we believe should run our government.

Do you take these things for granted? Do you take for granted the men and women who have sacrificed EVERYTHING in order for YOU to have these freedoms?

I have a friend. She is the kindest, most loving, most faithful person that I know. Her husband was one of my husband's best friends. He was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2007. Their son was four months old. He only got to see his son in person for ten days. Their son will never kick a soccer ball or play catch with his Dad. Because his Dad believed in what is good and honorable about our country. And he volunteered to protect those freedoms. He paid the ultimate price.

So take a moment sometime this weekend to think about those who have protected us over the last couple of hundred years. Offer a little prayer for them and their families and say thank you. They are what make this country great.

And please remember that freedom isn't free.

Happy Memorial Day.

Erin

PYHO: Mommy I want blue eyes like you

 
My beautiful girl Miss H looks exactly like, and I'm talking spitting image here, her Daddy. Ever since she was born, people have told me how much she looks like him. I tried to fight it for awhile. "Look, she has my chin," I'd say. Finally, when her dark blue baby eyes turned into the chesnut brown of my husband, I threw in the towel. She is definitely his daughter.



Goodness is she beautiful. She has a smile that lights up a room. Her eyes twinkle with the happiness that exudes from her.

Then it happened. A few months ago, she really started understanding her colors. She would look at my eyes and say, "Mommy, your eyes are blue. My eyes are brown." She began pointing out the color of everyone's eyes. While we were staying at my parent's house, she was surrounded by blue eyed people - we all have blue eyes in my family. Now it seems that Baby B's eyes are a miraculously beautiful shade of blue.



Last week, Miss H was staring at herself in the mirror. She came out to the living room with a pout on her face. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I don't want brown eyes. I want to have BLUE EYES like YOU!"

I knew this day would come. I grew up wishing my nose was smaller, my thighs were skinnier, my boobs were bigger, and my hair was prettier. But I didn't begin to have those self image issues until my pre-teen years.

How is it that my three year old wants to be different already? Is this a body image issue? Or is this just that she wants to be more like Mommy?

I keep telling her that God makes everybody different and that He wanted her to have beautiful brown eyes like her Daddy. The other night she said to me during prayers, "Mommy, I want to ask Jesus why he gave me brown eyes." *SOB*

I really don't know how to deal with this. I thought she would let it go, but everyday now she tells me she wants blue eyes. I don't want her to have a self image complex as a preschooler. Any thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

Erin

Loving the stay-cation

For the past two weeks, I feel like I have been on vacation. Except, I haven't gone anywhere. My husband has been off the past two weeks, so we have been hanging around the house getting settled back in. We ran errands together when Miss H was in school. When she wasn't, we did fun things like going to the pool or the library. We slept in and took naps.

We organized our house and took back our living room from the kids. Toys are now stored in their rooms (with a few exceptions). I moved Miss H's too small clothes into Baby B's closet. I packed up the newborn to 6 month size Baby B clothes and washed the 9 to 12 month size clothes.

If you can't afford to go anywhere this summer, I highly recommend the stay-cation. I feel refreshed and renewed. I am happy. I have been able to release the stress of the last few months and remember how much I love my family.

My husband and I have been able to have some great conversations, something we missed over the last few months. We have also had some side-splitting laugh attacks.

I also feel like I have reconnected with my kids. With the stress gone, I have been able to enjoy Miss H's antics more and fret over the potty training debacles less. I have cuddled and smooched my baby and truly enjoyed the stage of babyhood she is in.

These are the things that I have been missing over the last four months. And I didn't even realize it. That is what stress will do to you friends. Don't let it get to you the way it got to me. Take a staycation. Love on your husband and your kids. Get back to the root of yourself and your family. Everyone will be the better for it. Trust me.

Erin

Movie Madness

This weekend we decided to take the girls to see a movie. We chose Oceans because we figured that was something both Miss H and Baby B could enjoy. So we loaded up the diaper bag and headed out to our local theater.



Miss H LOVES the movies, probably because she knows she gets to eat her favorite snack...popcorn. We have taken Baby B to movies before and she behaved well. I had no reason to believe that she would behave otherwise. WRONG. The little cutie could not keep her mouth shut. She has recently discovered her voice and felt that everyone in the theater needed to hear it. She was also wriggling all over the place trying to grab Miss H's hair, popcorn, and straw.



So out we went.



I purchased a veritable buffet of snacks for myself and we sat on a bench in the movie theater hallway. One of those snacks happened to be Twizzlers (one of my favorites!) Baby B was feasting on her favorite snack, Puffs. At one point she reached for one of the Twizzlers. I figured, what the heck? And let her have at it. She was just playing with it, bending it in different directions, looking at it with amazement.



I watched the people going into and coming out of the theaters. A mom and dad with four kids all dressed nicely. Couples on dates. A lady with a large Coke in one hand and a large Popcorn in the other using her tongue to pull the popcorn into her mouth because both hands were full. I love people watching. I was lost in my thoughts and observations. It was actually really relaxing.



Choke! Gag! Bleck! Cough, cough, cough!



Snap back to reality!! Baby B is gagging herself with the Twizzler! Whilst I was daydreaming, my little baby decided she liked the taste of a cherry Twizzler and was quietly gumming it before she tried to shove it down her throat.


She was fine. It was over before it really got started, but I still feel guilty. Chalk this up as a big Mommy fail!


Erin

Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Book Review

Recently, I was given the opportunity to read Laura Bennet's (of Project Runway fame) book Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilletos. This book could not have found me at a better time since I nearly lost my mind a few weeks ago (which you can read about here.) Didn't I Feed You Yesterday is a hilarious look inside the lives of Laura, her husband, and their brood of six children (five of whom are boys) all living together in a two bedroom Manhattan loft.

Among all the craziness that comes along with raising children, Laura maintains her sanity, her identity, and her style. One of her secrets to staying sane is booking herself a dentist appointment to take time for herself. When I read that, I was reminded of how I tend to put myself last, and that I need to do a better job of taking care of me.

She also writes about listening to a flight attendant instruct her during pre-flight to place the oxygen mask on herself first before assisting small children. If you aren't surviving, you won't be able to take care of your kids either. It makes total sense, and yet, I continually make the mistake of doing the opposite. I try to help my kids before I can breathe myself.

Another area of my life where I tend to struggle is with my sense of style. I find myself reaching for the same pair of jeans and t-shirt day in and day out. Laura writes that style is "about making a conscious decision to present yourself to the world in a particular manner." I found it admirable that she is able to get dressed up everyday and I made it my mission to break out of the mommy-style rut.

I loved reading this book. Laura has an easy, conversational writing style and the chapters are more of a collection of short stories which makes it easy to put down and pick back up. Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? is a must read for any mom who feels like she may be getting sucked under!

I was given a copy of Didn't I Feed You Yesterday by the author, Laura Bennett. I was not compensated in any way for this review. These are my opinions only.

Erin

Pour Your Heart Out - Finding a routine

 

I have been out of the blogging routine for so long, I feel like I can't remember how to do this anymore. I have no routine and it overwhelms me. Adjusting back to life at home is more challenging that I expected it would be. I have so many things I want to do, and I want to do them all RIGHT NOW.

I want to go to the gym....like everyday. I want to take Miss H to the pool to swim. I want to write on my blog, and read and comment on your blogs. I want to sign up for sewing classes.

I need to clean my house, do my laundry, and prepare meals for my family. I need to work on my new "wobby" as a Macaroni Kid Publisher Mom, which I absolutely LOVE doing.

I want to connect with my friends on Twitter and Facebook. I want to upload pictures from my camera for the last couple of months and update my family blog. I want to go pick blueberries.

I want. I need. I want. I need.

Breathe.......................

This is my reminder to myself that everything will get done in good time. That I just need to take some time to get back into my routine.

Erin

Playing catch-up

Phew! What a week it has been!! Last Saturday I packed up two cars, two kids, two additional adults, and a cat and started the trek back home. For the past four months I have been staying with my parents while my dear husband was traveling for work. It was definitely the right decision, but I was so ready to get back home.

The trip went great. Baby B slept a little and played quietly *most* of the time. Miss H watched her movies and didn't have any potty accidents on the road which was something I was extremely anxious about. We drove halfway on Saturday and spent the night in a hotel. Part of the sleeping arrangements were for Miss H to sleep in the big bed with me. This has never been attempted before.

We laid down at 8pm and it was nearly 10 before she fell asleep. She was whispering to herself and pretending to be Princess Tiana. After she finally fell asleep, I managed to drift off as well until about 11:15 when I heard..... THUMP. I sat straight up and looked around. Sure enough, Miss H was on the floor...and still asleep! She fell out of the bed and didn't even wake up. Mid-way through the night I managed to transfer her to the pack and play and bring Baby B into bed with me. A fun night was had by all, let me tell you!

On Sunday, we finished the drive and arrived home to what would be Miss H's second Christmas in five months. She was so excited to see all her "new" toys that she forgot about using the bathroom. We had a few accidents the first few days home, but now seem to be back on track, thank goodness!

Baby B is now sleeping in her own room in her big crib for the first time in her entire life. I let her fall asleep on her own, which took 10 or so minutes of crying the first few times, and now she is taking two naps a day and sleeping mostly through the night. By mostly, I mean there is some fussing at times, but she gets herself back to sleep, and I am still nursing her around 4 am. Trust me, I am NOT complaining. We have had a long road with her sleep issues and I am so glad that things seem to have settled down.

During this past week we have been getting settled in. Miss H is back at school two days a week, and I am getting back to the gym. There was major unpacking and organizing accomplished as well as grocery and sundries shopping.

I think the thing about this week that has been the biggest shock to me is how happy I am just to be in my own house. I absolutely LOVED being with my parents and was sad to leave them, but there is just a peace within me now that wasn't there before.

The best part of the whole week was yesterday evening around 6:30 pm watching my daughter run into the arms of her Daddy. She gave him a big hug and put her head down on his shoulder. He gave me a big hug and a kiss and "bonked" Baby B on the nose. It was a wonderful reunion and it is pure bliss having my family back together in one place again.

I am truly blessed this Mother's Day weekend and I hope all of you are as happy as I am today and everyday.

Erin

Giveaway Winner! And I'm back!!

The winner of my first giveaway from Cheryl at Take a Second Glantz is......

Kmama from The Daily Dribbles!

Thanks to everyone who entered and congrats to Kmama!!

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On another note, the girls and I are finally home. I am so excited to be sleeping in my own bed. The trip went well save a couple of hilarious mishaps! But that is another post entirely....

I am having some Internet issues so my posting will be spotty at best until we get it cleared up.

Thanks for sticking with me!!

Erin