That's Life: Motherhood Edition

5.23.2018


I’ve been having so much fun with the kids lately. R is absolutely hilarious and has us laughing out loud on a daily basis with the things she says and does. I have an ongoing section in the notes on my iPhone where I write down the funny things she says. Hopefully at some point I'll get around to physically writing them down in her scrapbook.

J is the most adorable chunk, and I cannot stop kissing his squishy cheeks. Sometimes R will run over and shout right in his face, “J, YOU ARE SO CHUNKY” and then start pinching his cheeks together, which is cute but also always ends in someone crying, which is not so cute.


I’ve seen how much fun it is to have your child walk and talk, and I’m excited for J to do those things, but he turned 11 months old last week, and I have to tell you, I’ve been feeling super emotional about it. I feel like this year flew by, and I’m just kind of sad! People always love to say, “The days are long but the years are short.” YES. Okay, we get it. Honest truth: I hate that phrase so much. It straight up depresses me, and I think it’s supposed to be encouraging, but really it just makes me bummed out.

Someone please tell me how to freeze all the moments. Please and thank you.

Here's a little highlight video I made of the last 11 months with J. I have a much longer one I'm working on of his full year, but that won't be interesting to anyone but Jordan and I and probably my mom ;)

It should be visible below, or you can watch it here.


Don’t get me wrong. The kids are a handful, and I often feel like someone exploded a toy grenade inside my house, but gosh they are kind of the best ever.

We are pretty sure J loves sharing a room with R. The other morning, we heard them both awake and talking to each other for a few minutes before R burst into our room, loudly proclaiming, “Hey, it’s me!” J started crying, but he stopped as soon as we went in there to get him. He just wanted to join the party, which is just so like him. He loves looking around and taking it all in.

Speaking of sleeping, it's now been a full year since we transitioned R from a crib to a toddler bed. My friend sent me this meme a few weeks ago, which 100% accurately explains me feelings about how it’s gone this year.

Seriously, when I read blog posts about how so and so’s toddler “just laid down the very first night and went to sleep with no trouble,” I roll my eyes so hard. RUDE.

We have tried many different things, and I think after a year (a year!), we might have finally landed on a routine that has made a huge difference in how well R goes to sleep. She doesn’t always go right down and still comes out a few times, but we aren't having have an hour+ process of torture for all involved.
I bought this bike last year from a neighbor's garage sale for $3, and on Saturday I discovered that she can ride it by herself. Why is she 15 years old all of the sudden???? Someone hold me. And also let's have a moment of silence for my amazing garage sale find. I'm telling myself that's in exchange for all the hairbows I've been buying.

Oh, did I not mention I've become obsessed with bows again? Because guys, I've discovered that if I distract her, I can sneak a CLIP into her ponytail without her knowing. I'm baaaaack. Bye, money.

J is a ton of fun now that he’s crawling. When I get down on the floor and chase him, he screams and starts crawling so fast. He’s started clapping and waving, and he gets so proud of himself and has the biggest grin, complete with the sweetest dimples.

Speaking of J, the strangest thing happened about a month or so ago in regards to nursing. I had stopped pumping at work because I was getting basically nothing during the day, similar to what happened with R. But I was still nursing him in the morning and evenings, and I counted the milk I had in the freezer and I thought I was going to have just enough to get to his first birthday. 

Well, I went on an overnight women's retreat with some ladies from my church at the end of April, and when I got back J straight up refused to nurse. He would scream and push away and literally roll off my lap to get away from me, but then we would offer a bottle of milk and he'd guzzle it down. I would try nursing different times over the course of a few days, and he wasn't having any of it. I felt really bad about it! So we are doing bottles exclusively now, and I burned through my milk stash super quick and used the last of my frozen milk a week before he turned 11 months. I'm more mystified and annoyed than anything, but I won't say I didn't at first also feel a little sad and emotional about it. It hurt my feelings that he didn't want me anymore, and so suddenly! I wasn't prepared for it, but it is what it is.

J has definitely started to have opinions, and our sweet little boy can be feisty sometimes. I think it's the red hair coming out ;) But I can tell he loves his big sister so much. There are actually moments occasionally when they will play together! It only lasts about a minute or two before someone steal someone else’s toy or someone gets pushed over or banged on the head with a block, but those few moments are the best.
The first few weeks after we brought J home from the hospital, we honestly wondered what on earth we had done to ourselves. But I am loving their age gap (just about 22 months). We had some trouble getting pregnant with R, and I am just constantly thankful and grateful and all the feelings about my two babies.

My only complaint (other than ALL THE MESS ALL THE TIME WHY) is that they keep growing. Stay little forever, please?
Kari said...

"ALL THE MESS ALL THE TIME WHY." Haha, yes. You know those signs that say things like "In this home we do messy, we do mistakes," etc.? Well, I have a burning, devilish desire to make one that says, "In this home we DON'T do dirty, we don't do stinky, we don't do sticky, we don't do whiny," etc.

Maria said...

"Hey it's me!" Had me laughing out loud. She's a hoot. Please share more R-isms.

What a cute little guy! He seems to have the happiest, sweetest demeanor.

Kaity B. said...

Okay, question: How do you preserve videos of your kiddos? My phone is about to die and I literally can’t figure out how to save the millions of videos I e taken of them. I use GooglePhotos for all my pictures, but for some reason it never wants to back up my videos.

Kaity B. said...

Also, that’s so heartbreaking about his transition to bottles. Like, give Mama some warning!!

Audrey Louise said...

I feel like every time I look in the mirror there's an R scream "AUD, YOU ARE SO CHUCNKY" in my face. Hahaha. I'm kidding. Kind of. I love their little friendship! It's only going to grow and get better (and maybe a little worse sometimes) as they get older!!
J's joy in that last picture is so adorable!

Unknown said...

Love this idea for a post! And- I MISS THE CHUNKY PHASE!

Jen said...

I love this!!! These moments in life are truly the best!

Rachel Emily said...

See. YOUR bed transition story is why my son will be sleeping in his crib until he asks me why he sleeps in a jail and his friends do not. Isn't there enough drama with two year olds? No thank you.

Unknown said...

My daughter still sleeps in a crib and bedtime is a loonng process for us every night too. She might be 4 when she finally gets a bed, haha.

Kristin said...

I love this! That video is the most precious thing. Thanks for the reminder to get those little snippets. I may have to stick post-it notes with reminders around the house. Pregnancy brain is no joke and I imagine infant brain and toddler brain aren't much better!

Rach said...

I love that video of J and I would totally love the longer one too! Videos like that just make my heart happy! :) Also, when you figure out how to bottle up all the precious moments, let me know!

I'm sorry about the nursing thing with J. I can only imagine how hard that was. :(

But in happy news, I'm glad you guys have figured out a good bedtime routine for R! Not to mention that you are sneaking bows back into her hair. I love it! :)

Unknown said...

the bottle thing is kind of how it happened with William at 9 months. he just didn’t care at all anymore so i was like “okay fine geez!”. amelia did the same thing THE NIGHT OF HER FIRST BIRTHDAY. like bye mom don’t need ya anymore. like you said, rude.

Betsy said...

HE REFUSED TO NURSE? I just wrote a post about our experience with breastfeeding and how I plan to wean, and that possibility never occurred to me - at least not in the timeframe we'll be working with. womp!

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

that phrase is so true but definitely depressing. yay for time.
they are both super adorable, J is so chunky. $3 bike? that is amazing! can't believe she's riding all by herself, what a big girl.
i'm sure there are toddlers who go to bed without a fuss. i hope the parents are all smug and whatnot and they get payback when the kids are teenagers. my mum always said my brothers were great sleepers but awful children (i'm 97% sure she's joking), i was a good child and a horrid sleeper. can't win 'em all? lol

Callie said...

Yes about it being sad that the years are short! :-( I just finished a book called 936 Pennies, and it was all about slowing down time by making the most of each week we have with our kids - it was really challenging and encouraging to me, so now I'm recommending it to all my mom friends! ;-)

And that's so hard about J not wanting to nurse anymore. I feel like no matter when they quit, it's a little hard and sad!

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