Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for crazy bed head and baby smiles.

I'm thankful for my sweet, kind, and handsome little boy.

I'm thankful for sibling love

I'm thankful for my sweet, fearless little girl

And most of all, I'm thankful to call this my world...

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Monday Morning

It happened! That moment when all of your hard work comes to head in a few seconds. 

So I am going to brag on Bennett for a moment, if you don't mind...

I dropped him off at school just like every other morning. We pull up in the drop off lane. I hop out of the car and open his door. Our good-bye routine goes something like this...

Me: "love you"

B: "love you, too" (followed by quick hug and kiss)

M: "have fun and remember your morning manners."

B: "but not too much fun" as he is walks toward the building. 

Each morning the high school athletic director, Mr. S, greets the kids by the gym doors and helps them get to the correct place in the gym. Well, this morning wasn't any different, except as I began to pull away I noticed Mr. S had stopped Bennett as was talking to him. As I began to drive off, I watched and they were still chatting. I thought something may be wrong so I pulled out of the drop off lane and got out of the car. By this time Bennett had headed to the gym, but Mr. S saw me and probably knew I was concerned (by the way, I still hate dropping my 4 year old off at school. I swear I want to wait in the parking lot all day in case I'm needed. I don't and I wouldn't). Anyway, Mr. S popped his head out and said "your son has the best manners. He is so polite and pleasant. He greets me by name and says good morning everyday. I didn't know his name, so I stopped to talk to Bennett." 

YES!!! That moment, I had a mini party in my car, not because my child was polite, but because he is hearing me and listening!!!!! 

We have worked with Bennett on the importance of greeting people and greeting them by name. This has been a work in progress. He tends to be shy at first, but we are hoping to teach him some social graces that will instill confidence. 

What a way to start my week. It was the reminder I needed to keep going. Parenting is hard. A day doesn't go by where I don't pause and think this is challenging.  Keep going, they are listening. 

Let's Make A Deal

Yesterday, when I picked Bennett up from school, he was telling me all about the letter F that they are learning about. Words that begin with F, the sound letter F makes, how to write the letter F... You get the idea. He then said "my teacher asked each us of us to tell her a letter F word. So, guess what I told her??? I gave her the word fruit flies, because it has two F's. He was so excited that he had a "double F's."  And then, I told my teacher all about the fruit flies and bugs we have in our house..." 

About another three minutes into our drive home Bennett was sharing a story with me that he was telling the teacher. It went something like this...

"I told my teacher that when we have to sleep in the car..." 

Yep, that's right. In a matter of minutes, Bennett managed to tell his teacher that our house has fruit flies (I blame it on the organic produce) and we (mostly Charlotte and I) "nap" in the car. It took everything in my power to not email his teacher with a follow-up and justification on why we have an infestation (really, there were only a few) of fruit flies and why we nap in the car. 

I remember back-to-school night his teacher said "let's make a deal. I'll believe half of what they share, if you will believe half of what they tell you about school." Teacher, We. Have. A. Deal!!!! 

And proof, that there is some napping in the car :) 

Happy 10 Months

This little lady is 10 months old. Well, I can officially say her first birthday has been in the works for a few months. I'm very excited to celebrate this past year. 

Happy 10 months, Charlotte! 

Weekly Wrap-Up

1)

This little girl got her first tooth. It's so little, so sweet and so sharp. Ouch! It is a razor. With the arrival of that little, white tooth, she has been wanting to eat everything. At dinner the other day she ate a meatball. She loves, loves food (she comes by it honestly). 

2) 

We surprised Bennett with a special treat. Graham told him and I snapped this picture. I love his smile. It's so real and do genuine.

3) 

We can have a lot of fun doing nothing. Trying to snap a family picture, I'm not entirely sure what happened in the last photo. 

4)

This is the state of our living room and well, every room in the house, for that matter. I'll take it! It means I have happy, playful kiddos. 

5) 

Bennett has a major obsession the Legos. He wakes up early to play Legos and simply can't get enough of them. These were two of his latest creations. The creation was a car. Engine, spoiler, dashboard and all. The bottom is a rocket. Still in the works, but its off to a great start. Bennett can take almost any set, read the instructions and build it. He is now to the point of creating his own planes, cars, rockets, helicopters, etc... You get the idea. It Lego-madness here. 

Stay tuned... We surprised Bennett with a trip to LegoLand. 

Speechless

Bennett: Where did you learn to cook? 

Me: A lot of different places

Bennett: Like your mom? Could she make frosting, too?

Me: Yep, I learned a lot (of cooking) from my mom.

Bennett: Oh, what was her name again?

Me: Alice

Bennett: that's a really pretty name. Was she pretty like you? Do you think she would like me? Will you tell me all about her someday?

Weekly Recap

1) Seriously, why did it take me so long to figure out feeding my child with just a diaper on produces a lot (A LOT) less laundry!

2) The signature Charlotte head tilt! You say Charlotte and she tilts her head to the right. Sort of concerned me at first, but now it's kind of her thing.

3) After desperately trying to get Charlotte to nap (or even just sleep) this week, she feel asleep in the car. Trying not to disturb her sleep, Bennett and I drove up to Eagle Creek, laid down a blanket and watched boats in the beautiful fall weather. We talked about which boats were racing, which had pirates and which were stuck out at sea, surrounded by crocodiles! 

I really hope this boy is always so easy-going! 

4) Bennett had his award dinner for soccer. A Pizza Party (need I say more)!!! This kid was so excited about this pizza party. What a great season this little guy had! 

5) What a week!!! I didn't get an opportunity to post about finding the positives this week, feeling grateful or even keeping perspective. I had plenty of opportunities and situations to do so, though. Perhaps, packing a pillow and blanket for the car to nap is a situation where I was just so grateful to nap for 45 mins. Or that so many dear friends were on fall break and being able to enjoy some precious moments with them. Or hearing some much need words of advice. Perspective is what kept me sane this week!

Happy Weekend! This weekend is shaping up to be a fun, fall themed weekend!

Will he let me kiss on him forever?

Daddy's girl! 

My Partner in Crime ( or Parenting)

I'm lucky! I could leave it as these simple two words but let me explain. 

I'm lucky to have a husband who is right next to me in this journey. Sure, I realize I am fortunate because Graham shares the parenting load. He did a lot of the nighttime feedings, changes almost all dirty diapers on the weekends, seriously I could go on, but I won't! Where I feel so grateful and lucky is to have that person who makes this FUN!

A couple Friday evenings ago, we decided to take it "easy" with bedtime. We fed the kids dinner. Bathed and jammied them. Gathered all the necessary blankets and lovies and pillows to make a "road trip" fun. We were set! Ready to embark on our pretzel hunt. (Side note: I had read about a pretzel shop in the area that made homemade pretzels with three ingredients. My information came from Facebook and this new knowledge resulted in a series of texts to my husband that our mission was to find this pretzel shop. Tonight!). 

After about 20 mins of screaming from the baby, apparently tonight of all nights she hates her carseat, and a whiny, little boy we were starting to re-think our genius plan. But we were so close. Oh, so close. So we continued. Pulled up to their door 10 mins later to a sign that said CLOSED! Three hours ago! 

He laughed, I moped! I was setting aside a special set of my calories from the day and nothing seemed to fill that void.  

I guess my point... I'm lucky to not only have someone who shares the chores of parenthood, but also makes it fun. 

Thanks, Graham. 

Happy Weekend!

I really look forward to the weekends. Now more so than ever before. I guess it's a change from our daily routine (and no, I still haven't figured out a true routine) and the togetherness of our little family. My Friday/weekend posts are going to be sweet Bennett-isms from the week and/or pictures of the kiddos. 

1) This sweet face was all about daddy this week. We couldn't go anywhere without hearing "dada, daaaaadaaaa, dada." You get the idea. In fact, I recorded a few of these moments and sent them to Graham. 

2) shhh! Don't tell Bennett I said this, but I love that Charlotte is starting to "pick on" her. A trip to Sam's Club resulted in both kids sitting in the basket. Charlotte loved the company Bennett loved the attention. 

3) These two have a bond that I can't yet describe, but I love listening and watching this relationship grow each day.

4) I'm excited to try a homemade pretzel shop that I found here. They use three ingredients when making their pretzels. Naturally, they are nut and dairy-free. Score! 

5) Charlotte is on the move and into everything. What was an army crawl, log roll and scooting, quickly turned into a full on crawl and even bear crawl. Once crawling took off so did pulling to stand and the beginning stages of cruising. This girl is fast and momma was not ready for this stage. My weekend will be spent baby-proofing a few more rooms. 

And I will leave you with this sweet conversation between Bennett and me. 

Another cute one...

B: mom, wouldn't it be so much fun for us to go on a trip with daddy?

M: it would be fun

B: we could even take two cars so we don't bother daddy. Maybe me and daddy can ride together and you and Charlotte can ride together.

M: don't you think Charlotte and I want to see daddy, too?

B: well, daddy and I have things we need to talk about. Like school and work and Legos. 

Happy Weekend all! 

A Filled Bucket

So it is my hopes that with this blog I will post weekly... Mostly to keep my gratitude and perspective in check. 

And here is an example of finding the positive moments in a not-so-positive situation...

Are any of you familiar with the story "Have You Filled A Bucket Today? A Guide To Daily Happiness For Kids"

We kind of joke about the fullness of our buckets. What does it mean to have a full bucket?? I love this quote! 

 "Parents need to fill a child's bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can't poke enough holes to drain it dry." Alvin Price 

We occasional ask Bennett how is his bucket. Does he need extra hugs and kisses, etc...

Recently, he has started asking Graham and me about our buckets. He will ask if he can fill them with hugs. 

Bennett: mom, how's your bucket?

Me: I'm good, thanks for checking.

Bennett: well, you need a hug. There's always room for one more hug. 

From the words of a four year old. 

This conversation came at a time when we were having some difficulty with Charlotte's eating. I was anxious, worried and unsure of the unknown. He knew I needed my bucket filled up. I'm grateful for the kind words, thoughts and actions of our four-year old little boy. 

Jackie 

Perspective

I decided to start blogging again. Not because I have extra time on my hands. Trust me, I don't. I started blogging again because I wanted a way to reflect on all things positive through out the week. Some days are long, very long, however, I am amazed at how fast time flies by. But, despite the long days and short weeks, life is good. Sometimes a reflection  on the positive things in life is a perfect reminder to how good life is. 

Bennett is 4. Or if you ask him, he is 4 years and 7 months. And our little Charlie is 9 months. Where have these last several months gone??? This has been a difficult year to say the least. Charlotte has given us challenges and she has kept us busy. And by golly, both kids constantly make us worry (that's parenthood, right)!! Speaking of Parenthood, that show is wonderful... Thursday nights on NBC. 

Riley Hospital has a special place in my heart. There are some sick kiddos there. I can't imagine their strength and courage to battle whatever situation they are fighting. And those parents, they have an even bigger place in my heart. Our recent trip to the hospital made me so grateful that a) we aren't there anymore (by the way, the doctors and nurses were amazing) b) I will gladly juggle doctors appointments, and a hectic schedule because it beats walking the halls at 2am trying to get your little one to sleep.

At the end of the day, I have two beautiful, healthy and perfect babies (and not much else matters) 

Jackie