Friday, March 21, 2014

He's Back...

  I'm happy to report that Quade is back to his happy self:) I don't know what type of stage he was going through or if he was teething or not feeling good. But it's over!! He is eating good again and loves his bath and anything to do with water. Wow, that was a long few weeks. But we made it through, and it won't be the last one for sure. I'm just not used to Quade being any kind of fussy or unhappy and that's what he was for 2 or 3 weeks. Poor guy. He did get a molar and four other teeth during that period. So we'll just chalk it up for teething. 
  Austyn is doing good. And Jordan has been working his butt off cleaning up all the trees around our place. Him and my parents have been so busy. We almost have all of ours done. What a mess! I've been busy mowing and spraying and doing all the springy things around the house. I love this time of year. I can't wait for Austyn to be done with school so we can play outside all day.  We planted daffodils last fall and it looks so pretty. I can't wait to get some flowers this summer to put in front of the house. 
  I'm loving this warmer weather, makes me motivated to go running with the stroller for my workouts. I put Austyn in the front of the stroller this morning and the 40 extra pounds on top of Quade's 30 and however much the stroller weighs was quite the push for 3 miles. Definitely got my workout this morning. Hope everyone else is enjoying the warm weather like we are. 


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

My Happy Boy Turns Crabby...

  As much as I'm reluctant to face it, Quade is changing into quite the determined young lad (to say it nicely). He is still happy and easy going the first half of the day. But when he wakes up from his second nap, he is a different kid althogether:( He is a little turd to feed dinner, and he screams the whole time in the bath tub. Which is something he used to love. I'm finding myself anxious and dreading the evenings with him, which I hate feeling like that. I've tried to feed him a big meal right when he wakes up thinking he's hungry. I've tried another small nap in the late evening thinking he's tired. But nothing works. All he wants to eat is baby food and snack foods for dinner, which is not going to cut it with me. He throws fits about everything, which is something I'm not used to either. I feel like I've tried everything the nice way. And all I'm doing is causing bad habits. And I know it's just a stage he's going through. But mean mommy is slowly creeping out in me. He is so picky with his foods too. It's driving me nuts. Gotta love this part of parenting, shooting from the hip and hopeing it works. I don't mind trying new things, in fact I love different approaches. I just hate causing bad habits, they are so hard to break. I know everything will turn out just fine in a few weeks when he moves on to a different stage, but it gets a little draining every evening. That's the beauty and the downfall about kids is that they travel through their different stages so quickly. Enough to keep you on your toes for sure. It's even puzzling Jordan. Usually when I get to this stage I'm grasping at any suggestions or ideas I can get and he usually has such a simple solution for everything. But not this time. Dang it! I totally get that it's a stage, but I'll take any thoughts on the issue. Sooner than later please!!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Motherhood...

  Some days there are times when the only way to define myself is by saying I'm a Mother. I think those days are the most exhausting, but also the most memorable. My most recent mom moment was while letting Quade run around without a diaper (first mistake), and suddenly he started to poop.  Without hesitation I dove off the couch and caught it in my bare hand. Earlier that day I was trying to catch one of our goats so I could give it a shot, and yet I couldn't make myself dive to catch the goat. But when my mom powers kick in I have no problem diving towards a pooping kid in the middle of the living room. Funny how those things work. I also have to say that in my last post I had said that Quade had never woke up in the night since 6 weeks. Well that came back to bite me in the ass. Friday night he woke up screaming. And the only thing he wanted is to be held and rocked. So I pulled my first all nighter with Quade and had a nice handful off poo all in a 24 hour period. And I didn't mind either one. The glory of being a mom. I'm sure that's not the last time I stay up all night for one of the kids for whatever reason. Down the road I bet I'll be wishing I was holding and rocking my baby in my arms at 2 am instead of wondering and worrying what he's doing at 2 am. Not sure I'll be wanting to catch anymore poop in my hand, but I'm sure that's not the worst thing I'll end up doing. I'm just forever grateful that a few sleepless night of teething is all we have to worry about. We have been blessed with amazingly perfectly healthy kids. I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be if we had serious health issues to deal with. 
  Austyn is our little spit fire. Sassy as ever. With an enormous imagination. She loves to help anyone do anything. She likes cooking/baking the best. She is still enjoying her pony, but with quite a cautious approach. And that's ok, because she is only three. She is learning so much in school. I love seeing her learn new things and then I love seeing how proud she is of herself. One of Austyns more funny/irritating at times traits is singing and talking. I'm surprised she doesn't talk in her sleep. From the time she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep, she never stops talking or singing. And sometimes when I put her to bed, she will sing to herself until I go in and tell her it's bedtime. She makes up songs about what she's doing or have singing conversations with me. It's pretty funny. I'm told I was the same way when I was her age. 
  Quade is walking all over now. He is getting so good at walking on uneven ground. We are working through his picking eating, and I can see if we keep up the consistency it will get better really soon. He loves the men in his life. He is a mans man already. Everytime Jordan walks through the door he freaks out and starts yelling DaDa over and over. He is getting all four eye teeth at the same time. He doesn't handle teething pain very well. It gives him the worst blistered bloody diaper rash for a day or so. It's miserable for him. But when he's not teething he is his happy self still and loves his new freedom that comes with walking. He loves to have his little hands busy with toys that require a little thinking. 
   Jordan is doing good. He's been busy trying to clean up all the trees and limbs that came down in the ice storm. He almost has all the brush done. But then he still has all the logs to work up and split and stack. Wood, the heat that warms you more than once(like four or five times)! He is beginning to take classes for his officer development program. He is always moving forward. 
   I'm just chugging along. Enjoying the kids as much as possible and the time I get to have with them. Because I know it won't be like this forever. I'm still working out and losing weight. Although slower than I'd like, but it's coming off. I have 7 more pounds to go, to get to my goal weight. Not too bad. Definitely doable before summer hits. 
   Hope everyone is doing great.