A Ponytail Holder Meltdown

The best thing about being a stay-at-home mom is that you get to be with your kids all day long. The worst thing about being a stay-at-home mom is that you get to be with your kids all day long. I mean it. The entire day. 6:30am until 8pm. Oh sure, if you’re lucky you get an hour or two of naptime. But if you have more than one kid you have to coordinate naptimes. Which pretty much only happens on the vernal equinox with a full moon or when Billy Ray is feeling proud of Miley. That was mean Lord, forgive me. It’s always worse in winter because we have to stay in the house most of the day.  And if you do go anywhere, they’re with you then too pulling things off shelves, dumping goldfish on the ground and generally making you wish you had just stayed home. I hear myself being impatient with Abi and I hate the way I sound. I don’t sound like a good mom.

So Friday’s Ponytail Holder Meltdown was a long time coming. It’s crazy cold out. We’ve been in the house for weeks. Weeks. It didn’t help that we were all sick last week. Making everyone, including me, extra whiney. The girls just follow me around all day long. They want to be wherever I am. Usually demanding to be held or wanting more milk or a snack or to be read a book. When I’m cooking. When I’m trying to vacuum. When I’m trying to fold laundry. When I’m trying to use the bathroom.

The baby sloth forcefully wraps her arms and legs around her mother's legs preventing her
from getting anything done. Only when her mother picks her up will the baby sloth release her freakishly strong grip.

And then there’s Madelyn. That child. She is the most destructive and messiest creature God ever created. She has earned herself some new nicknames: Godzilla. The Tazmanian Devil. Tornado. Everything I clean up, she follows behind me and dumps out. I put clothes away in a drawer, she pulls them all out. I put dishes in the dishwasher, she takes them out and tries to throw them on the floor. I put the books back in the basket, she throws them around the room. I try to sweep up and she stands in the middle of the dirt pile trying to pick out the food crumbs to eat. I find hot glue gun sticks in her clothes drawers. I find toys in the pantry. I find my makeup under our bed.

And then of course there’s the package of ponytail holders. Tiny little multi-colored rubber bands. Hundreds of them. She loooooves to dump them out. And then throw them everywhere. And then roll around in them. They are all.over.our.house. Everytime she dumps them we spend 10 minutes crawling around on hands and knees picking up those tiny little devil ponytail holders. Then on Friday it happened. She had dumped them and I had picked them up THREE TIMES before noon. I’m on my hands and knees picking up those gosh darned things one-by-freaking-one and Madelyn is rolling around in them and Abi is trying to help pick them up but every time she tries to put them back in the package she accidently spills more than she put in and I started crying. Crying. Over ponytail holders. Why? Why to these kids have to be so constantly messy?? Why can’t I have five minutes to use the bathroom without someone trying to stick their head in the toilet or unraveling the toilet paper roll?? Why are there always dirty dishes no matter how often I run the dishwasher? Can I go one day without having my shirt smeared with snot or peanut butter or paint? Right there in a sea of ponytail holders I felt myself coming unglued – whoa, you’re losing it sister! This is redonk and you need to get a grip.

ponytail holder plague

We made it through the rest of the day. My knight returned home to the castle saving me from crazy town. He barely had his coat off when I announced, “I’ll be upstairs, don’t let anyone come up!” And pretty much took the stairs two at a time and spent 20 minutes sitting. By myself. Not doing anything. The next morning I told Adam I wanted to get out of the house for a little bit by myself and he said ‘of course’ because he’s fabulous that way. Also, I think he could tell I was about to lose it. Even though I didn’t dare tell him I cried about ponytail holders. I went to Gramz Bakery, got a cup of coffee and read while watching it snow. Ahhhhhh.

With my batteries recharged, I returned home loving my children again and knowing I have the best job in the whole entire world. Yes, my girls are messy and needy. But they are little and they won't be little for long.  



I mean, you'd have to be crazy to not want to spend the day with that face, right!?



Arctic Vortex, Part 2

We got 4 inches of snow. Again. School was cancelled. Again. Then we had a 2 hour delay. Again. The temp is below zero. Again. To make things even more fun Madi had a nasty cold, Abi had a nasty cold that turned into a double ear infection and I have the Sinus Infection That Will Not Die. Even with antibiotics. I can't even talk about the amount of snot that has consumed this house over the past 10 days. What is most baffling is how we even got sick. We've barely been out of the house in weeks!

And now, our decreasingly enthusiastic attempts to fight cabin fever...



There's not much worse than a sick kid. Even though Abi gave up naps (yes, I know.
feel sorry for me.) about a month ago, she just couldn't help it. Poor baby.





Apparently Madi hates being stuck in the house. She went to the closet all by herself
and put on her boots and hat and kept trying to open the front door. She's a hoot.

 

Somebody's feeling better. I'm pretty in love with this picture. It totally sums her up. 



One night this week after dinner Adam and the girls were feeling really antsy. I was still sick.
We don't have tv anymore and we're kind of running out of entertaining things to do that we
we can all enjoy. So we made indoor 'smores. That's one of our favorite things to do when it's warm out.
It was actually really fun. Just don't look at my dirty oven. Eww.



The Girl Who Never Ate Anything

According to “A Christmas Story,” every family has a kid who won’t eat. In our family, that’s Abigail Grace. The hours of my life I have spent trying to get that child to eat. I did everything right. When I was pregnant I read all the articles and books. (That was back when I was an idiot) I ate a variety of foods so that even in the womb she would learn to like a variety of flavors and foods as these articles and books assured me it would. When she was a baby I made all her food. Again exposing her to a variety of foods and flavors: Squash and sweet potatoes with brown rice, turkey with cranberries and apples and so on. Store bought food never touched her little lips. I even made homemade teething biscuits. I only had one kid, ok? I had a lot of spare time. (well, I still did all that for Madi but my house wasn’t as clean)

As a toddler I started involving her in the cooking process. You know how experts always say kids are more likely to eat their dinner if they helped prepare it. I bought cookie cutters and cut her food into fun shapes. I mixed food coloring in her yogurt. And yet, here we are, three years later and the girl wouldn’t finish a plate of food for a free trip to the North Pole. The moral of this story is that books and articles and experts are generally full of it. If you have been a parent longer than a year you already know this. I digress…. We’ve tried all the tricks. “Take 3 more bites and you can be done.” “Eat half of each thing on your plate and you can be done.” “Take a bite of broccoli and then you can have a bite of pears.” “Take a bite and I’ll tell you something fun we’re going to do tomorrow.” “Take another bite and I’ll tell you who is going with us.” “Close your eyes and open your mouth, I have a surprise for you (then shove in something she doesn’t like).” “Take a bite right now or you’re sitting in time out.” “You can get up but you’ll have to finish your plate later before you can have any snacks.” “You’ll just have to sit here by yourself until you take 3 more bites.” “Hurry, take a bite, Santa’s looking in the window!” “If you don’t eat some more you won’t have any energy to play later.” “Take a bit and then show me your muscles, and I’ll see if you grew any.” “I’m setting the timer and if you haven’t finished before it goes off you don’t get a treat/dessert.” “You know what animal likes carrots? Rabbits! Can you take a bite like a rabbit!?”

We always try to eat dinner as a family. But it seems like every night we all leave the table feeling frustrated and defeated. Not closer and more connected. I refuse to feed her junk, even though I’m sure she would eat it better. We never make her clean her plate. Just take at least a few bites of everything. I worry about her not getting enough. The pediatrician says as long as she’s eating a variety of proteins, veggies and fruits she’s fine. But she barely weighs 30lbs and is in the 20^th percentile for her height and weight.

And then there’s Madelyn. Who I caught literally eating out of the trash can yesterday.



you would think she was being tortured. nope. just being asked to eat a delicious, well-balanced meal.



The Arctic Vortex

In his emails to teachers and staff, Dr. Quick (the superintendent) refers to the weather system causing the school cancellations and delays as "The Arctic Vortex." I swear. Its seems slightly dramatic. And yet, after 5 snow days, countless 2-hour delays, multiple feet of snow and weeks upon weeks of below zero temps it's starting to seem more accurate. I tried to find the record for the number of coldest days in a row, but didn't have any luck. Anywho - I think it got down to -20 degrees for a few days. And that didn't include the windchill. We've basically been hermits since Christmas. It's just so flipping cold I hate to even take the girls out in it if I don't have to. Which, I must say, is a major perk to my job. I can enjoy the beautiful snow from my inside my warm house, wearing fleece pants.

Being hermits does have it's challenges. Like entertaining a three year old and a one year old with endless amounts of energy in a house that's too small. I have to say I've kind of gotten used to it. I definitely get stir crazy. But our house is soooo clean. For lack of anything better to do. Adam's had so much extra time off we've cleaned out every single closet in the house. Reorganized the office and pantry. Rearranged our furniture. It's amazing. It's also been a great excuse for us to get creative and play as a family.



we've played lots of dress-up




Abi says she is Mary and this is Baby Jesus. I must say,
I never pictured Mary dressed quite like that.




We've built some forts. Which produced some awesome hair static.

Had some adventures with playdough. Abi said she made a "pokey-pine." Love it.

 


I've done some baking with the assistance of my sous chefs. And boy are they helpful.

  

and made lots and lots of crafts

 

We signed Abi up for a weekly gymnastics class at Foundation For Youth
in hopes of burning off some energy. She loves it and it's been a great chance for her
to work on *ahem* listening and following directions.

 

We did venture out in the snow a couple times when it was warmer.
And when I say warmer, I mean 30 degrees.
Middle pic - Poor Madi. She didn't have any snow pants or boots yet here.

 

One day a couple weeks ago, it got up to about 40 degrees. Downright balmy.

  

We braved the cold last week for Abi's dentist appointment.
She did so awesome. I could not have been more proud of her. She laid super still and never
made a sound during the whole cleaning. I was so proud of her I bought her her first
milkshake on the way home. Not sure if this makes me the worst mother in the world or the best.



A Case of the 'Whys'

One of Abi’s Great Aunts makes jewelry. I recently bought a rosary bracelet from her and Abi loves it so much Aunt Linda made one for her in her size. She loves it and wears it all the time. Since it’s a rosary bracelet, it has a crucifix charm on it. Abi already knows what a cross is and that it’s Jesus on the crucifix. As she’s admiring her bracelet we have this conversation:

“Mommy, why is Jesus on the cross?”

“Because he died on the cross.”

“Why did Jesus die on the cross?”

“Well…Jesus had to die for our sins so that we can go to heaven someday.”

“Why did he have to do that?”

“Well….because he is our savior.”

“But when are we going to go to heaven?”

“I don’t know. No one knows when they will go to heaven.”

“But Jack is in heaven.”

“Yes, he is.”

“What happened after Jesus went to heaven?”

“He lives there with God and he watches over us and keeps us safe.”

“Why does he do that?”

“Because he loves us.”

Shew. That girl is full of ‘whys’ lately. ‘Why is Grandma Jean laying in that bed?’ (a casket) ‘Why isn’t she waking up?’ ‘Why is it cloudy?’ ‘Why is the snow melting?’ ‘Why are my eyes blue?’ ‘Why did all the leaves fall off the trees?’ ‘Why do zebras have stripes?’ ‘Why do I have to go to bed?’ ‘Why do I have to take a bath?’ ‘Why can’t I stick my finger in the outlet?’ ‘Why can’t I eat snow off the bottom of my shoe?’ ‘why does that lady have such a big bottom?’

Most of the time I am happy to explain ‘why.’ That’s how she learns about the world and I always want her to be inquisitive and thoughtful. I want my girls to think for themselves, to ask questions and make up their own minds about things. If we dismiss her questions as silly or annoying will she eventually stop asking ‘why?’  But some days after the 147^th ‘why’ of the day I just want to scream the dreaded “BECAUSE I SAID SO!” Or even better, “go ask your dad.”

I pray for patience on those days. And wisdom. Because let's get real here, I have no clue what I'm doing. But mostly I pray that God will give me the words to explain the hard questions like ‘why did Jesus die on the cross?’ That’s something I don’t think I completely understand. How can I explain it to my 3 year old? And ok, I know she truly cannot understand any of that at her age anyway. But when she’s older she will.

Right now she thinks Adam and I know everything. We are her source for right, wrong, heaven, hell and everything in between. What an awesome (and terrifying) responsibility. Someday she will probably think we don’t know anything about anything.  Or worse, that she’s smarter than us.

2013 Top Ten

Last year I did a 2012 Top Ten Post. It was really fun to look back at the year as a whole and remind myself how blessed we are and how much fun we had. So I decided to make it a tradition. It’s been another great year with lots of memories to choose from.

And now the 2013 Top Ten:

10. 60^th & 30^th Surprise Party

I like to call 2013 “The Year of Parties.” Just in 2013 I planned a diaper party, a bridal shower, a baby shower, a bachelorette party, birthday parties for both girls, and a surprise party for Adam and his dad. We hosted 100 people at the surprise party and despite the rain, it was a success. They each thought the party was for each other and I think they were both surprised. We loved being able to show these two great guys how loved they are. It was touching how many friends and family came out to celebrate with us.

9. Adam Drove a Lamborghini

For his 30^th birthday, I surprised Adam with a chance to drive a Lamborghini (one of his favorite cars of all time) around the Indianapolis Speedway. It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. He was totally giddy. Adam works so hard and the girls and I are so lucky to have him. He deserved a dream come true. I’m sure he has something just as awesome planned for my 30^th this year. Hint, hint sweetie. Just kidding. Well, not really, but kind of. ;)

8. Halloween

This year was, by far, my favorite Halloween ever. Weeks before Halloween I asked Abi what she wanted to be and she proclaimed she wanted to be a black jaguar (We had just been reading an animal book earlier that day). We laughed and assumed she would change her mind. But she didn’t.  Which was fine by me because it was the world’s easiest Halloween costume. Madi was a zebra because I thought they should both be animals. Also a super easy costume. I’m all about easy these days. When Abi put her costume on she was soooo excited and wouldn’t take it off the entire day. She even wanted to wear it during her nap. Mask and all. And I totally let her because it was the sweetest thing ever. I took the girls around to family during the day so that we could trick-or-treat in our neighborhood at night. Which we have never done before. And actually neither Adam or I had ever walked around trick-or-treating either because we grew up in the country. And it was so awesome! We had so much fun walking around and seeing all the costumes. Abi just couldn’t believe all she had to do was say “trick-or-treat!” and people gave her free candy.

7. New Years Eve

The second part of this year has been great because we have emerged from the infant phase. Both girls sleep through the night, eat table food and I’m not breastfeeding. Which makes getting away so much easier and much less stressful. We’ve been able to do more things with our friends and with each other. I think New Year’s Eve was the most “kid-free” fun we’ve had in awhile.

6. Abe Martin Lodge

Over spring break we spent a night at Abe Martin Lodge. We swam, ate some yummy food and walked around Little Nashville. It was a great little break from the dreary winter weather.

5. Mr. & Mrs. Hurley

Kristen & Matt got married on July 20^th. It was a beautiful wedding. Abi was an awesome flower girl. But most importantly, I survived my speech. Which I worried about from the day Kristen asked me to be her maid of honor. It rained most of the day, which they say is good luck. But really I thought it was a nice analogy (or is it metaphor?) of marriage. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it rains. But you love each other through it all. And you can’t let it stop you from enjoying the day.

4. Michigan Vacation

Ahhhh….Michigan. I don’t think I could ever get tired of visiting you. Your beaches, your weather, your food, your wineries and beautiful sunsets. Taking a babysitter, Kyleigh, on vacation is the best idea ever. And I think we will continue that for years to come.

3. Baby Eve

 I thought it was the cruelest April Fool’s joke ever when Aaron called on April 1^st and said Sarah’s water had broken. But it turned out to be the very quick arrival of our first niece. Baby Eve is the cutest, sweetest and happiest baby. We just love her to pieces.

2. Madi Learned to Walk

Really, Madi hit a lot of milestones this year. But walking always seems like the most memorable one. I was starting to wonder if she would ever do it. We worked with her for months, even bribing her with snacks. But she was not going to walk until she was ready. Which we are noticing as an emerging theme with our children. They don’t do anything until they’re ready. And that leads me to #1……….

1.       Abi Finally, Finally, Finally Gets Potty Trained!!!

I am currently drafting my letter to the Vatican to have the potty training of Abigail Grace considered for a miracle. Just a couple weeks shy of her 3^rd birthday we decided it was time to force her because she was never going to do it on her own. After a couple weeks of anxiety (on my part), not leaving the house and too much poop and pee where it didn’t belong, she did it. Everyone told me she would but I didn’t believe them. I consider it my greatest victory as a parent. And possibly of my adult life.

Christmas & Grandma Jean

Each year Christmas becomes more fun as Abi “gets it” a little more every year. She was really excited about Santa coming this year and loved baking cookies. Whenever we asked her what she wanted for Christmas she would always say something different and usually she just named something she had just played with or that she could see in the room. But I think my favorite request was that she wanted Santa to bring her a basket of eggs. What? Wrong holiday kid. I taught her a few Christmas songs and she loved watching Polar Express, Elf, Rudolf and Frosty. Madi, of course, has no clue what is happening, but she was a big fan of opening presents.

Christmas is hands down my favorite time of year. I love the decorations, the music, the movies, the baking, the crafts and spending time with family. But here’s my confession about Christmas: sometimes I hate it. It seems like we’re flooded with Christmas as soon as the Halloween candy has been passed out. No one even talks about Thanksgiving anymore. We are blessed to have a lot of family close to us. But sometimes it gets to be overwhelming. We went to EIGHT Christmas parties/gift exchanges/gatherings, whatever you want to call them. And that’s after we skipped one, one was postponed and one is this weekend.  We have so many people to buy gifts for. And so many people buy gifts for us. We are grateful beyond measure for the generous people in our lives. But our small house can only hold so much stuff. Our kids only need so much stuff. And that’s what it starts to feel like Christmas is about. Stuff. Not Christ. No giving to those without.

We try to reduce. But we don’t want to miss seeing our families and friends. And after five straight days of cookies, candy, an abundance of gifts, no naps and no routines we are left with two very tired, very cranky, and seemingly ungrateful kids because they just doubled the amount of stuff they own in a few days time.

We try to make Christmas about Christ. This year I made my own advent calendar. Each day Abi opened an envelope and instead of a piece of candy or another small toy that will just turn into clutter, there was scripture for us to read and a small activity for us to do as a family like do a puzzle, make hot chocolate, drive around and look for Christmas lights, etc. The girls had their own nativity scene to play with and we discussed the Christmas story pretty much daily.

We try to make Christmas about giving. We picked a child from the giving tree at church and Abi helped pick out clothes and toys for him. We tried to explain not every child is as lucky as she is to get lots of presents. I don’t think she really understood, but she’s still only three. Abi and I rang the salvation army bell with some friends. Again, we tried to explain what the money would be used for. She rang her bell with gusto for about five minutes and then proclaimed she was ready to go home. And again, she’s three.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Abi must have gotten a ton of amazing presents and that she would have a lot of trouble picking her favorite. Her new sled? New stable? Stroller? Craft supplies? Monsters University? No to all. Her favorite gift? Chapstick.   

We are beyond blessed and made lots of wonderful memories.



the bell ringers



This year Abi and I made eight pans of homemade cinnamon rolls....mmmmmm.



cookie decorating

 



more cookies!

 

 

Christmas cuties





We actually had Christmas Day at our house on the 23rd. We wanted to
be able to open presents and just enjoy the day without having anywhere to go.
Plus the girls don't know the difference. It was great.



the aftermath




trying out her new shopping cart

 

fireman costume!



Santa brought Madi her own reading chair

 

Abi got the Playmobil horse stable from Grandma & Grandpa. It's super cute
but has lots of tiny pieces. So adam built her this table so she could keep in set up in
the office and away from Madi. She thinks its so cool to go in there by herself and play.




Christmas night at Dan & Jans. All the kids were wiped out.
Popcorn and a movie it is.



love these two



so sweet





The "babies." Stuffing their faces. Per usual.



Christmas Eve Mass



The best out of several attempts to photograph four adorable coordinating
kids under 3 years old at 9:30pm.



Mom gave each of the girls an apple juice in their stockings. And I realized Madi
had never had juice before. We let her have it and she was a big fan. She guzzled the
whole thing in about one minute!



new snow boots





Then three days after Christmas my Great-Grandma Jean passed away. She would have been 94 this month.  She lived a very long and very happy life. Her health had been failing the past few years and I’m glad that she is no longer in pain. And that she and Grandpa Homer are together again. My Grandma Jean, she was a special lady. She and Grandpa Homer were married over 65 years before he passed away. She was a farmer’s wife. If you know any farmers you know what that says about her. She has four daughters, eight grandchildren, fifteen great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren (Abi & Madi). Being part of five generations is such a rare and special treasure. It makes me so sad to think my girls probably won’t have any memories of her. They asked for people to share memories at her funeral, but I just couldn’t get my thoughts together enough.

Whenever we came to visit Grandma Jean would always have a snack for us. She always gave us cranberry juice and graham crackers. I could never eat those two things without thinking of her. If we were lucky enough to go at meal time you could count on chicken and dumplins. The best.

Once when I was about eight years old (I think) we were at a wedding, or a dance or something. I can’t remember. But people were dancing. I looked out on the dance floor and all of a sudden there were Grandma Jean and Grandpa Homer dancing. Square dancing. And they were good. And they were smiling and laughing, but taking it pretty seriously at the same time. I asked my mom about it and she told me that they used to do square dancing competitions and would even wear matching outfits. I was so shocked. Shocked in the way kids are to learn the adults they love have other sides to them than the ones they know. Like when I would run into students at the store and they would ask why I wasn’t at school. I remember watching them and thinking, “wow, I didn’t know old people could have fun together.” They were probably in their 60’s at the time. I still think about that as an example of how important it is to enjoy life with your spouse. There is no doubt that helped sustain their love for 65 years.

Her funeral was New Year’s Eve in the morning. Not exactly the way you want to ring in the new year. We had plans that evening (which you’ve already read about) and I didn’t know if I would even be able to enjoy myself. But Adam said he didn’t think Grandma Jean would want me to not have fun because of her. And he was right. I never heard her say a bad thing about anyone. She was an example of Christ to anyone who knew her. She always took time to talk with everyone and to write a special note in cards. I consider myself so blessed to have had a great grandma until I was almost thirty. You will be greatly missed, Grandma Jean.



Madi and Grandma Jean last Thanksgiving




Five generations