Mommy-cation!

 Dustin suggested that {i} use up {his} free plane ticket and go see my girlfriends in Austin this weekend, and who am I to oblige..... I need a break from the chaos of two children and these dreadfully long days with the hubs back in school! Elle is accompanying me for our girls weekend of pedicures, sushi dinners, relaxing on the porch with two of my dearest friends & getting a few sweet days away, just the two of us! We leave tomorrow! Although i will miss my toddler-bumble bee butt, I really couldn't be more thrilled for our ladies only adventure. AND to top it all off, Dustin is implementing his wee-wee's only, Daddy-potty training weekend-boot camp-pee-pee in the potty (or in a bush like a real man) weekend with Conrad. (Dustin has WAY more patience than I do, so I'm glad that he's ready to train the little guy.) I'm leaving him with a few of my pearls of wisdom from my potty training days as a nanny, but I know he will rock the potty training! Conrad's got his uber cool big boy undies and I think he's ready now too..... 

 The kids watching a movie in their pj's

Texas here we come!

SUNDAY sunday SUNDAY:

After an ex-hau-sting night with my baby girl, Dustin made the executive decision that we were most definitely staying home from church this morning and let me sleep in (thank you sweet baby Jesus, for my kick ass husband). We made some coffee, loaded the Chiclets in the car, rocked out to some major old school 90's rock, Radio Head style on our way to Glaziers for some grocery shopping. We gathered tons of yummy apples and such for our new Juicer, gifted to us from my dear friend Bobbie! I'm kind of obsessed with it at the moment! Anyway. This is what we wore. Nothing too fancy. 

 This moby was a gift from my mom 

back when Conrad was a wee-lil-man sandwich.

 Elle wore some awesome thrift store duds. 

The kitty in the pocket is my fav. What'a babe. 

 Mom let me rummage through her closet last night and pick out a few things. (I love being able to share closets....) This whole post baby bod stage is really a buzz kill some days. Nothing that I own appeals to me and everything seems to hug in all of the wrong places. Either my lady-jugs aren't concealed enough or my wretched mommy tummy is too obvious.... but thankfully mom had a few adorable flowy tops that I could borrow. {Thanks Mom!}
And besides, it's only been 8 weeks since Elle was born!
It seems like just yesterday....Wow, time flies! I love this silky, bright top. 

Top: Anthropologie, Jeans: The Limited thrifted, 

Hope you have a fabulous Sunday 

Go check out what the other ladies are wearing {HERE}

Bucket Butt:

 Jason ain't got nothin' on this little serial lady killer....

 He is WAY too excited about getting his butt stuck in this bucket. (Those crazy eyes....)

 The army crawl, bucket-off-my-butt move. Didn't really work, but nice try.

 Daddy arrived home shortly after to have tickle fights. 

 And Elle Macpherson thought it was all too hilarious. 

As I was cleaning, I looked over and saw him take a break from playing with toys 

to lay down and admire his sister.

Other than witnessing such uber adorablness,
I've been having some major behavioral issues with Conrad.

-Q: Why does my two year old make my life so hard sometimes?
-A: Uhhhh, Because he's two!

 His thought process during a time-out threaten attempt, "Go ahead Mom, threaten me with another time out. See if I care! I'll just keep doing more stuff all day long that you've told me a million times not to do because you know what? I'm in that kind of mood! SO deal with it!" Truth is, I haven't been dealing with it well at all. Why can't he just OBEY and LISTEN? He's going through this ornery stage where if I tell him not to write on the walls with markers, or on my couch, or on his sister while I'm trying to feed her, he gives me this naughty grin and does it anyway. Is he testing me? Why does it have to be a test? Why can't he JUST do what I ASK! Ugh. It causes me such anxiety. (And it always has to be right as I'm trying to get out of the door to get to an appointment on time or when my hands are full and I'm sweating balls trying to cook and have something hot on the table for Dustin when he comes home. It's always right in the middle of something largely important to me when he decides to be naughty.)

So after several time outs didn't work one afternoon, he wasn't tired or hungry or bored, he was just being a TURD! I threatened with a spank. And yes, he disobeyed again (in my head I'm thinking, please god, help him obey. I SO don't want to do this!) And then I did it. Two swats on his little naughty bare bum. He cried for a second and then we hugged and talked about it. I said I loved him and needed him to be a big boy and listen to me and he agreed. It was sad. Sadly, it was necessary. 

Later on in the week it happened again. He crossed me like a gun slingin' rebel cowboy. I kept asking him to come sit down so i could change his poopy diaper (again, I'm thinking, dear lord, when will this kid be potty trained! Ugh, the poop! The grown man sized monster turds! Gag!) After sparring back and forth, during this momentous stand off of dirty looks exchanged back and forth, I say, "If you don't get over here right now, you will get a spanking." Imagine if you will, dingle berries dangling from his tush. It's not pretty. And you know what he did, he gave me a squinty-eyed, furrow browed dirty look and marched his stinky butt right over and laid down. Thank god.

Discipline is so hard. It's hard to pick a parenting style and stick with it. Someone once told me, "Good parents shouldn't have to hit their kids." I'm starting to wonder though if spanking makes you a "good" or a "bad" parent. My thing is, every kid is different. For some kids, time out's don't effect them. It's not as big of a consequence. I don't believe that spanking (not beating a kid's ass raw, but spanking in love and not out of anger) does not have a lasting effect. I don't think he'll be 20 years old in his therapist's office telling stories of traumatic ass whoppings. I highly doubt it. I do believe that to love my child means to discipline him, which has a lasting effect. Some days though, If I threaten with a time out, he falls apart and begs me not to. He does exactly what I ask and doesn't fight me. Other days, not so much. I feel like he's giving me invisible middle fingers all day long. I can take away Sesame Street, toys, treats. Nothing matters. Nothing. He's just a rebel whose only cause is to shit all over my day.

I do feel confident in my choices when it comes to training my son up in a godly way, in a way that he will look back on his child hood/ teen years and be thankful that I didn't let him get away with
whatever-whenever-wherever. I hope he will thank me.

This transition has been very difficult (some days). He loves her so much. He's totally obsessed with her but it's me that he can't stand, I'm afraid. He hates that his time is divided up. I'm trying to make things special for him during this transition. He had a sleep over with my in laws one weekend and went to pet the animals at a petting zoo with my parents one weekend. It's just been such a funky few weeks. There are moments in my day when he's wearing me so thin emotionally that I just think, "Why can't you come with a MUTE button and a freeze button. I'd do anything for you to just stand quietly like a statue for 30 minutes!"

Have I become an enabler? Maybe I'm the problem. 

It's hard to explain that his sister is here to stay, and even if he's sometimes pissed off about it,
he still needs to do what he's asked. I hope he gets it soon.

So that's where we are. When he's not getting his butt stuck in a bucket and making me laugh so hard I CRY, he's getting his naughty butt in trouble, which makes me WANT TO CRY!

And so is motherhood.

No one said it'd be easy.

Taking the good with the bad. 

They Make My Heart Hurt...

In the best kind of way. 

 She found her hands! 

{Hope you're having a fabulous weekend.}

I Bet You Never Knew....

exactly how amazingly-made the man-stick, bacon rod, beastus maximus, Captain Winky, purple-helmeted spartan of love, wang, dong, wiener, Flesh rocket or whatever you've named your Johnson really is! Before you write me off as a total perv, let me explain!


When we talked about circumcising our baby, not knowing it would actually be a girl, we both had a lot of reservations about it. When we asked a doula friend what she thought, her opinion was hard for me to wrap my mind around. She argued that to circumcise the penis was to mutilate it. I didn't quite buy that explanation because Conrad's wee-wee sure doesn't look "mutilated". He really only complained for a day or two after his surgery and it doesn't seem so bad... I've always imagined that a circumcised peen would look more appealing than one that wasn't, having never seen an erect uncircumcised wang though, it's hard to judge that theory. You might want your sons "kick stand" to look like his Dads. I wouldn't want my son to be judged or made fun of in the locker room if his "big Lebowski" wasn't circ'd like the other dudes. And what if woman reject him because of his extra skin? (I guess that wouldn't be so bad actually.... it might help keep him pure during the very hormonal teen years. Maybe? I wouldn't want him to be with someone who didn't accept him as he was anyway.)


I think after seeing this video, and actually learning how the uncircumcised "man-asaurus rex" worked, visually seeing the job of the foreskin, kind of got both Dustin and I thinking. Is it really our right to alter our child's penis without his consent? Just because we think it "looks" better? We aren't so sure that circumcision is the way to go, just as we knew that culturally, even though cesarean birth is considered a normal way to birth a baby,  it wasn't the way we felt our baby should be born, (if there weren't life or death complications during birth.) Our feelings are very mixed having learned more about the topic.


Did we take away from our son, the choice to be cut or not to be cut?
Could sex really be that different for him if he hadn't been cut?
Is circumcision a cultural thing that we just "do" to our kids, making that decision to alter their body in a way that they might not want?
Would our son resent us if he were never circumcised? 


I highly recommend watching this video. The information in it will really get you thinking. 
Tell me what your thoughts are on the topic. I'm really interested to know how you feel.

It makes me feel kind of strange having made that choice for him. 

My feelings are very mixed. 

*Please only share your thoughts once you've viewed the video.

Ps, I'm not (that big of) a perv.
Pss, It's ok to be passionate about your opinion or disagree with me.
It won't hurt my feelings. 

6:23 ON A SUNDAY

He calls it "Sho-wow time!"

We call it "Sho-wer time!"

Either way, it makes my heart very very happy.

Getting Through It.

Dustin says she looks like a little old lady in her nighty-gown.

Elle received an owl with her name stitch on the back from my friend Natalie in the mail {Thanks doll.}

I found her the most adorable vintage sailor outfit....

Baby kisses.

A sweet-old man-checker at Target called her "Sleeping beauty" as she slept in her sling this week. 

My heart melts. 

This week has been.... good. And exhausting. But good. I'm thankful that God has graced me to get through each day. Right now, that's what life is about. Getting through. If I can get through each day without completely falling apart because my toddler is adjusting to his new life, tantrums are many and my patience is few, If I can manage to read him books before bed while Elle sits on the couch and Dad is at school, if we can get through a few books before she needs me again.... I hate cutting story time short but I'm only one Momma, If I can get through one shopping trip without a tantrum (oh, sweet baby Jesus, help my son to be a good boy who doesn't turn into a little demon child when I go to the store...each time.) , If I can check off at least one item on my to-do-list for the day, If I can put a hot meal on the table at least a few times a week..... I will eventually get the hang of it and be triumphant at juggling it all. Eventually. Sometimes it's nice to just throw out all of my to-do's and snuggle my babies in bed while we watch Signing Time for the third time that day OR get In N Out for the 2nd time that week..... But God is good, we will get through each day by his grace and although I can't be two people, I can be enough. I am enough for them even when I feel like I'm failing at life in every category, my God is pleased with me. How often I forget this. There is nothing I can't do when he is my refuge and help. I've needed that refuge in bigger ways lately. Oh, how I have needed him! {Sometimes you have to give yourself a little pep talk, right?!}

As embarrassing as it is, I too have moments of weakness where I "snap" and yell at my kid. "Mommy tantrums" If you will. Like today, for example. In the car, after a horrific trip to the store, baby #1 keeps telling me that baby #2 is crying. But he doesn't just tell me once as a kind reminder, he keeps repeating himself over and over and over.... deep breath. She's hollering and he's giggling, and repeating "baby crying mom! Baby crying!" I turn around like a crazy person and shout, "Enough! You don't have to tell me that she's crying. I have ears too! I hear her! DO not speak again... or.... OR I'LL PULL THIS CAR OVER...!" (When I say I'll pull this car over, I'm really saying, I'll pull this car over somewhere so I can sob and throw myself a pity party. Ugh. So that sucked. I had to apologize for my behavior. Then while saying our nightly prayers that night, I asked him what we should pray about. First we prayed for sister, then daddy, then Grandma then.... he prayed for his dinosaurs. It was so cute, I'm not gunna lie. Then he held on extra tight as I went to put him in his crib and he gave me a kiss (without me asking for one.) He still loves me, even when I mess up. Moments like that really make the not so glamorous moments when the sweet 2 year old who sometimes (oftentimes) turns into a little monster child at the store, or when I turn into a monster of a mommy, not so terrible. We're getting through it. The adjustment has been difficult at times, but that sweet baby girl owns my heart and it will get easier.


And, update on how the siblings are bonding: They're doing great. He is OB-sessed with her. He wants to hold her and kisser all the time. He helps me put her diaper on and when she's upset, he says to her, "You OK Ewiotte! You OK!" He hasn't tried to smother her yet or gouge her eyes out. Yippee!

A good word.
A good listen.
A hot Momma to be.
A good read. {watch the video. If only cesarean birth could be as lovely as portrayed in this video.}

{Have a great weekend.}

MerNaids Aren't Supposed To Be Scary:

We had a play date yesterday at the aquarium inside of the Silverton. I thought Conrad would LOVE watching half fish, half human-pretty-colorful mermaids swimming around with the sharks and fishes, but he was totally freaked out. Actually, he was quite terrified-at first. It took him a while to warm  up to the idea but once he saw his friends dancing with the merNaids, he decided they weren't so scary.... 

I thought we'd snap a quick picture together in front of the aquarium, with the lovely, mermaids, but right as I picked him up, he lost it and was half crying, half yelling and clinging onto my neck AND Elle's neck (She was sleeping in the sling....) It was sad. It was funnier than it was sad, but it was still sad. 

Hiding from the merNaids.  

Watching the "mernaids" dance:

On the way home, (over and over like a broken record), 

he kept wanting me to turn around and watch him dance like the mermaids. 

I don't want to forget how painfully adorable he is at this age. 

It hurts my heart in the best way when he calls them "mernaids." 

{Have a great weekend!}