Little Stinker

On Tuesday night, Trent went to take back my Dad's work truck and visit Scotty. It took awhile. I had fallen asleep on the couch from being "pregnant exhausted". I woke up as I heard little, hesitant footsteps coming down the stairs. It was my little 2 year old. He had a giant grin on his face like he just accomplished something monumental. I was still trying to place the time and day...is it morning? Did I sleep the whole night down here? How come Kent is the first one awake?....until I realized that it was still night and this little stinker should be in bed. I took his hand (lately I haven't been picking him up because there's already one child that I'm carrying and that's enough extra weight)...and we go up stairs and I put him back into his crib. Now I made the mistake of falling asleep early so I'm no longer tired and jump on the computer to work on finishing Christmas presents. Not much time passes and I hear a thud and see a pair of bright, giddy eyes in my doorway. I scoop him up this time and tell him that it's night night time and he needs to go to bed. Lay him in the crib and close the door. It's not much longer before the whole thing happens again....and then again.....and again. After some time I figure that Brenden could use the sleep even if Kent refuses, so I no longer put Kent back in the boys room. The constant commotion of people coming and going in his room is making it real difficult for B to fall asleep. Kent starts at the tip of my doorway, and once he realizes that I'm not taking him back or telling him to go back into his room, he lays down on his blanket. Then he inch worms into the room a little more. Once he realizes it's safe, he scoots in a tiny bit more. He does this for awhile until he's full well into my doorway. I pretend he's not there so he doesn't get any attention or engagement from me. I figure he can find out for himself how boring Mom can be and realize it's not all that much fun staying up late. He eventually falls asleep...at almost 10pm....little stinker.

Trent comes home and sees his little buddy asleep on the floor in our doorway.  After he oooo-ed and awed about the little guy, he scooped him up and put him back into the crib. 

12/19/15

Halloween craft time

I got the chance to finally sit down with my kids and pull out some scissors and glue. I loved it. Made me feel happy and that this is what childhood is all about and family time. It might have even been the highlight of my week. For some reason, I felt like this was the best thing we've done in awhile. Maybe it's because I don't seem to have much time to do fun things with them since after school is filled with homework, snack, and then soccer 3 out of the 5 weekday nights, and with Trent gone late during busy tax season, I'm pulling double duty...being pregnant added another tricky wrench to this narrative. I convinced Trent that we "needed" supplies at Dollar tree, so he drove us there on the way home from Brenden's soccer practice at Bill Briar family park near his office. (Thankfully Joann's was having a $1 sale on their quarter fabric and I chose Halloween colors and got out of there before I wanted to also buy all of the other cute Halloween decorations). 

Then we had to wait a few days to carve out the time to sit down together and make something Halloween-y. 

Brenden and Kyleigh were scissor experts and made lots of great strips to place on our fake pumpkins. They painted mod pose glue like pros and soon enough we have a couple of high class pumpkins that certainly no longer look $1 😍

I love being a Mom, and especially to these guys. They're my crafting pals now. :)

Parenthood...planned or not.

Being pregnant with your fourth child can be both a whirlwind of activity as well as a motivation to slow down and savor these moments that really are fleeting. It truly wasn't so long ago that I was pregnant with Brenden and planning for our first baby and all the changes that would occur. We thought we were prepared....we bought all the swaddling blankets, diapers, and creams, we read a few chapters in the What to Expect book, and we knew we had good examples of parents to recall and draw from/upon. But, just like most things in life, you don't truly know what you're getting into until you're there.

Being a Mother is one of those experiences that you just have to try it to be able to understand.

I love being a Mother. The best part is when I see my little girl, Kyleigh, get big eyes and wide grin when she sees Kent come into the room. She loves him and nurtures him in a sweet way. I am so happy that the instinct of nurture comes naturally to her.

I am grateful I do not have to take this ride of parenthood alone. I have a wonderful husband. He is devoted to me and the kids. He is not selfish with his time and puts us in priority over other hobbies or entertainment factors. We couldn't have ordered a better husband/dad than the one we were given.

This life is short. In no time at all, we will be back with our Heavenly Parents and they, I'm sure, will be excited to welcome us home...similar to the way a parent welcomes home a returned missionary that has been gone for 18-24 months. It will be sweet.